Top image: Silver Apples’ Simeon Coxe live (1968)

Japanese designer Mihara Yasuhiro is known for dizzying concepts and cut and paste aesthetic. His collections often feature hybridised streetwear silhouettes that collage unlikely design elements with distressed and shredded textiles. Last season featured layered trousers with sleeves sewn onto them, hand painted jeans and deconstructed cut-out hoodies.

For FW17 the designer has decided to have a quieter moment, not only as a means to strip back his practice but also as a commentary on the vast overload of today’s Information Age. His mission is to find clarity and concentration amid the noise, here reflecting on the process ahead of his show.

“We live in an age of information overload, it’s perceived that having access to all this information is an advantage but I think it’s a trick.”

“FW17 is about simplicity. We live in an age of information overload, it’s perceived that having access to all this information is an advantage but I think it’s a trick. I find it mentally exhausting and difficult to distinguish what influences my ideas and whether they are shaped by the intrusion of outside sources. My new philosophy is to take a closer look at a single tree rather than the entire forest. I know this seems abstract, but it’s how I approached the collection and I feel that the simplest ideas are often the strongest. It’s about focusing deeply on one idea.

In terms of the clothes, I have used new methods for pattern cutting, textiles and detail work – however, these new design elements are technical rather than aesthetic. For the shoes this season, I decided to design the sole by hand using clay and without the aid of computer software, which took a very long time!

Recently I have been listening to experimental music, such as progressive rock and electro. I appreciate the likes of King Crimson, CAN, and Silver Apples and even tried making songs by myself, with a synthesiser and sequencer. I like electronic remixes of jazz and pop by artists such as Lotus and Knxwledge. Influenced by my wife, I  also listen to jazz artists such as Robert Glasper and Brad Mehldau.

I’m excited to be back in London for the show, it’s a city that has a mysterious power of gathering lots of special talented people. I do love being in a city that’s totally foreign to me and it’s a treasure to meet new people, but I know London really well and my friends are able to attend the show – it makes it feel like home, like when I do shows in Tokyo.”

Mihara Yasuhiro FW17 show will take place on Sunday 8th January in London. Stay tuned to HERO for full fashion week coverage from London, Florence, Milan and Paris.