A Clockwork Purple

Sacai SS17
Fashion | 28 June 2016
Photography Gwenaëlle Trannoy

Since debuting her label in 1999, Japanese designer Chitose Abe has created collections founded in texture, fabric and drape. Reinterpreting and remixing her dedication to this three-pronged vision, she’s honed a unique place in the market. This weekend in Paris, the Comme des Garçons alumni presented her menswear collection, offering forty-nine looks that stuck closely to the brand’s mantra, “design built upon the everyday”.

The show opened with a series of stripped back colour-block looks, the first a hectic shade of pink. Simple to first look, but this designer’s clothes are deceivingly complex – they’re worked, complicated and thought out. The kind of garments that require close-up inspection, trying on, touching. They are carefully considered in terms of shape (often a little deliberately disproportionate) and fabric (many of the surface details have a complex tactility).

Abe’s time at Comme is still apparent in her collections and the way in which she interprets the military uniform and forward-thinking sportswear of the ‘90s. Here it felt retro, but freshened when crossbred with international textiles like American plaid checks and Afghan belt detailing.

GALLERYBackstage images from Sacai SS17

GALLERYCatwalk images from Sacai SS17





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