Takahiro Miyashita’s fall collection was what the designer called “a cacophony of eternal pieces,” made up of a selection of reimagined items taken from the designer’s own wardrobe. How intimate! And how very Miyashita.
He called it Days of our Youth, a look back on his favorite eras—punk, as usual, shone through—and it served as a retrospective journey through the clothing that has taken the elusive designer from his teenage years to now.
Black and white photographs featuring carefree-looking adolescents from Joseph Szabo’s 2003 book TEENAGE, were stitched as patches across double-breasted overcoats, sleeveless leathers, and textured knits, mostly in black except for a few houndstooth and Glen plaid pieces and some transparent vinyl jackets.
The tunic-like dresses gave some of that familiar priest-like macabre-ness that Miyashita excels at making stylish, and he’d also brought back the skeleton bone details from his previous collection as ribcages fastidiously stitched across bombers and coats – a motif he’s loved since childhood. The fabrics, including tactile tweeds in various weights, were wonderfully soft to touch. Miyashita himself is never at his showroom previews to put everything into context, but you forgive him for it because you can feel him in the clothes.
The best detail was that the tunics, with fastenings at the back, had clever straps so that you could do them up yourself even if you had no one around to help you. Clothes for a true soloist in every sense.