It’s not often that you hear screams of horror at a fashion presentation—even at the most hideous of collections. But Mikio Sakabe is good at getting a reaction.
This season the designer held a presentation in a 90-year-old Japanese house that is purported to be haunted, and is used as an escape room for horror fans. Each of the dimly lit rooms—10 in total—contained one or two models, their faces obscured by hair and wearing Sakabe’s jarringly cutesy clothes. Some curled up on the floor shivering in fear or sat facing the wall; others banged a wall sporadically, or hid inside closets before suddenly springing out (eliciting those aforementioned screams). Hidden in a red glowing alcove in one room was a man threateningly wielding a crowbar, his murderous grimace broadcast on a fuzzy television.
Sakabe is a big horror fan, and had been thinking about how to forge a connection between Japanese horror and fashion. “Even as an adult, entering a place like that—a slightly eerie room—can easily transport you into that unique world, which I find fascinating,” he said. “I feel that horror is the easiest way to enter a fantasy world.”
The details were hard to make out in the dimly lit windowless rooms, but it wasn’t really about the clothes; Sakabe understands that people don’t buy into garments themselves as much as the universe that surrounds them. “Recently, I’ve been focusing more on conveying a sense of the world I create, rather than just showing the clothes. People who want to see the clothes can come to the showroom; I think experiencing this unique world first will leave a more lasting impression,” he said. “If it was too bright, the clothes would be visible, but the atmosphere would be completely lost.”
The designer can afford to lean into his wackier impulses. His footwear brand, Grounds, is the commercial driver of his business—the bubble-soled sneakers are a common sight on streets from Tokyo to Shanghai. Plus, Sakabe has a cult fanbase for a reason. The twisted blouses, holey knits, super-shouldered blazers, and deconstructed sailor collar schoolgirl uniforms here were appealing, wearable, and strange enough to easily find their way into the lives of those who enjoy them. Like the horror films Sakabe likes so much, his clothes offer a portal to another world.
