Mihara Yasuhiro
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9 International Herald Tribune Monday, July 2, 2007 **** Mille-feuille! Thousands of layers A S P E C I A L R EPORT iht.com/style Photographs from the Paris shows. YVES SAINT LAURENT HER MES RAF SIMONS Men’s Fashion M ihara Yasuhiro, the Japanese designer, showed a powerful collection full of pieces that found the perfect balance between inventive and wearable. The sporty collection included double front-zip track suits, sweaters with pixilated designs and fascinating computer-manipulated flower print tops that morphed into organic-looking ribcages. Tailored suits that from far away looked straightforward revealed, on closer examination, a back cut out in netting, stretch fabric inserted at the armpit or a track suit waistline. Already known in Asia for his popular sneaker collaborations with Puma, the designer, whose label, Miharayasuhiro, had some more sophisticated looks in his repertoire. The white tailored shirt that seamlessly ended in a waistcoat or the black button-down short-sleeve tops that finished in an elastic hem, scooping longer in the back for a snug fit, were examples from a designer with a bright future ahead of him. — Jessica Michault Striking a balance T here is only one way to cook up a fashion show this season and that is to play with different layers. The mille-feuille ap- proach — a thousand ways to arrange wafer-thin slices — is the overwhelming theme of summer 2008 menswear collections. The recipe is to take sheer sweaters and layer them over shirts that are themselves half trans- parent or to have translucent nylon jackets inter- act with misty voile tops. ‘‘It feels free,’’ said Raf Simons, who provided the most thought-provoking version of the layered look. ‘‘People so encapsulate themselves and only inform themselves on the computer,’’ said the Bel- gian designer. ‘‘It is a safe environment without risks, but there is a need to get out.’’ The designer’s philosophical vision was equally a practical one. The clothes he sent out took risks, with tunics layered like dresses, but resolutely masculine, shown with sporty, colorful sandals and boots and with the giant backpacks that symbolized explorative travel and gave solid- ity to the silhouette. Everything seemed fresh and different: shorts cut loose with a double layer that could be in an un- likely fabric, like taffeta. ‘‘Material world’’ was printed in faded letters on the tunics and shorts that opened the show. That too had a double mean- ing: a deep exploration of fabrics from nylon to cot- ton and being in touch with the diverse universe. Another inventive idea was drawstrings to cre- ate silhouettes, puckered to shape the waist or pulled in at the knees. Strong, mannish colors from pine green to ink blue were interspersed with orange and yellow to give a frisson of multi-ethni- city. After recent collections of precise tailoring, Simons as fashion explorer was a fresh departure. The art of fashion is to make things look like they were meant to be. But at Yves Saint Laurent the designer Stefano Pilati tackled art with a cap- ital ‘‘A,’’ as both he and his models wore shoes splattered with paint to walk a canvas runway. This Jackson Pollock wannabe look also appeared on shorts and pants and an artsy jacket had in- serts of crude and chaotic patchwork. Since Pilati has decided to pitch an intellectu- al/arty look for YSL, the silhouettes were dedic- ated to ‘‘work wear,’’ meaning roomy painter’s smock shapes and short, boxy jackets. The alter- native was the loose sweaters curving up at the front. In this fashion comfort zone, nothing was fitted to the body and, although the clothes sug- gesting laid-back sophistication, they were not de- signed for seduction. Art was a pitfall for Viktor & Rolf, whose David Hockney-inspired collection did not make ‘‘a big- ger splash’’ with its feeble print of swimming pool ripples on a shirt or its puerile schoolboy jackets with an outline like varsity braiding. Such themes have to be as deeply felt as Hockney’s original work was, expressing the lapping warmth of the West Coast and its sexual freedom, to be anything other than a fashion gimmick. There was the Hockney look again — with signa- ture bow tie and owl glasses — at Paul Smith. But at least the British designer understood the Hock- ney heritage better from ‘‘my own artist friends when we were young.’’ Bright colors and stripe and polka dot patterns were dosed with beige tailoring. Only polo shirts and shoes added primary colors. It made for a relentlessly upbeat show but mixing layers rather than just colors would have added a further dimension and enriched the offering. Lanvin’s show hit the spot, with its ultra-light layers that had the slithering texture of nylon but were, in fact, washed silk, bringing a luxurious but never heavy feel from silk shirt to shiny metallic shoes. The designer Lucas Ossendrijver, working with Alber Elbaz, has lightened up Lanvin menswear in every sense, making it not a haven for tailoring but a play on elements of a masculine wardrobe. There were shorts of course (what is the 2008 season without them?) and airy bow ties. But Lanvin caught that balance between formal and casual with its ocean colors from gray to deep- est blue and green and always with a literal light touch: a trickle of gleaming sequins down a tie or even an other-worldy shimmer to a laptop case. When Ann Demeulemeester opened her show with a Marcel Duchamp interview on the soundtrack and with DaDa printed across the chest, the heart sank. Not another designer influ- enced by last year’s DaDa exhibition! But the Bel- gian designer used the inspiration to turn her own nonconformist approach onto an intriguing riff on layers. And it worked beautifully. Translating her poetic vision, De- meulemeester’s inserted graphic deck chair stripes in black and white or fiery red to show an ultra-long shirt flowing from under a shorter T- shirt with a thigh-length jacket as the top layer. Cardigans partnering the jackets, a pinwheel brooch on a lapel and soft pants with a narrow cuff all made for easy but stylish summer wear. At Her mès, the whisper-quiet luxury was a touch dull since blouson jackets with rich colors and textures — a zingy lime green or russet suede — were too much the focus. A raincoat with a dropped belt and v-necked sweaters, often with sheer stripes, were other sartorial alternatives. But the designer Véronique Nichanian under- stands that the essence of Hermès is supreme lux- ury and from an ultra-fine sweater to short- sleeved shirts in necktie-patterned voile, she nev- er betrayed that heritage, yet made it seem like a casual, summery collection. ‘‘It’s about trying to dress up and feel good after someone has broken your heart,’’ said the Aus- tralian tailor Jsen Wintle. His tailoring was no revolution, but he used subtle codes of slashes, seaming and even an openwork line on a sweater to point straight to that broken heart. Who would have guessed that behind Véro- nique Branquinho’s modest, feminist façade there is a rock chick longing to get out? From the moment that some Antwerp rockers started their performance, the designer abandoned her ‘‘f ilm noir’’ heroes of past seasons in favor of a scruffy sloppiness of big lacy sweaters, rolled-up shorts, pajama-striped pants, metallic trenches worn with flat toe-hold sandals. But this was not a show to top the fashion charts. When clothes require detailed attention, a pre- sentation is more practical than a show. The lush greenery of palm leaves and bright flowers cre- ated a tropical landscape for Kenzo’s models. Riffs on shirt fronts, from the tucked dickie to tiny pleats at the front, deserved close inspection. ‘‘I adore men in short shorts,’’ claimed Sonia Rykiel as she watched from the front row the suits, where the tailored mini-pants rose from sober Bermuda length to high thigh. Rykiel Homme, with its knitwear heritage, scored with sheer sweaters, while the shorts suit is a solution for scorching city summers. Suzy Menkes is the fashion editor of the Interna- tional Herald Tribune. ‘I wanted to turn the page,’’ said Kris Van Assche (at right with model) to explain the variations on a white shirt in his first Dior Homme collection. From the tiny tucks on the dickey front, through origami folds on a collar to a tracery of openwork stitches, the designer’s debut collection was rich in detail. It was shown not on the runway, but in a grand and gilded Parisian mansion, the better perhaps to understand the flow of high-waist 1950s- inspired trousers from Christian Dior’s era. In this 60th anniversary year, the master’s taste, as seen in old portraits, appeared as seven neckties — polka dot, Prince of Wales checks or knitted textures. After Hedi Slimane, the previous designer, brought a minimalist, pencil-sharp look that made Dior menswear rock, this season looked like a conscious decision to turn away from all that sleek modernity. Van Assche’s concept of evening, day and morning wardrobe was shown in groups of suits or tuxedos and had some graphic elements in the tailoring or in the black-and-white trellis shoes, some embroidered with a caviar of beading. But here is the conundrum: Can a romantic designer — who may, in fact, be nearer to Christian Dior’s own sensibility — give the cutting edge of tailoring and cool that rejuvenated the brand? — Suzy Menkes LAN VIN Photographs by Chris Moore/Karl Prouse PAUL SMITH A NN DEMEU LEMEESTER JSEN WINTLE MIHAR AYASUHIRO The Collections Paris Suzy Menkes Dior Homme: Back to the gilded glory days Information + 33 (0) 1 40 73 73 73
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International Herald Tribune, July 2, 2007Mihara Yasuhiro, the Japanese designer, showed a powerful collection full of pieces that found the perfect balance between inventive and wearable.For more from Jessica Michault, go to http://www.jessicamichault.com
Transcript of Mihara Yasuhiro
9International Herald TribuneMo n d ay , J u ly 2, 2 0 07
****
Mille-feuille! Thousands of layersA S P E C I A L R E P O R T
i h t .co m /s t y l ePhotographs from the Paris shows.
YVES SAINT LAURENTHER MESRAF SIMONS
Me n ’s Fashion
M ihara Yasuhiro, the Japanesedesigner, showed a powerful
collection full of pieces that foundthe perfect balance betweeninventive and wearable.
The sporty collection includeddouble front-zip track suits, sweaterswith pixilated designs andfascinating computer-manipulatedflower print tops that morphed intoorganic-looking ribcages. Tailoredsuits that from far away lookedstraightforward revealed, on closerexamination, a back cut out innetting, stretch fabric inserted at thearmpit or a track suit waistline.
Already known in Asia for hispopular sneaker collaborations withPuma, the designer, whose label,Miharayasu hiro, had some moresophisticated looks in his repertoire.The white tailored shirt thatseamlessly ended in a waistcoat orthe black button-down short-sleevetops that finished in an elastic hem,scooping longer in the back for a snugfit, were examples from a designerwith a bright future ahead of him.
— Jessica Michault
Strik inga balance
There is only one way to cook up a fashionshow this season and that is to play withdifferent layers. The mille-feuille ap-proach — a thousand ways to arrange
wafer-thin slices — is the overwhelming theme ofsummer 2008 menswear collections.
The recipe is to take sheer sweaters and layerthem over shirts that are themselves half trans-parent or to have translucent nylon jackets inter-act with misty voile tops.
‘‘It feels free,’’ said Raf Simons, who providedthe most thought-provoking version of the layeredlook. ‘‘People so encapsulate themselves and onlyinform themselves on the computer,’’ said the Bel-gian designer. ‘‘It is a safe environment withoutrisks, but there is a need to get out.’’
The designer’s philosophical vision wasequally a practical one. The clothes he sent outtook risks, with tunics layered like dresses, butresolutely masculine, shown with sporty, colorfulsandals and boots and with the giant backpacksthat symbolized explorative travel and gave solid-ity to the silhouette.
Everything seemed fresh and different: shortscut loose with a double layer that could be in an un-likely fabric, like taffeta. ‘‘Material world’’ wasprinted in faded letters on the tunics and shortsthat opened the show. That too had a double mean-ing: a deep exploration of fabrics from nylon to cot-ton and being in touch with the diverse universe.
Another inventive idea was drawstrings to cre-ate silhouettes, puckered to shape the waist orpulled in at the knees. Strong, mannish colorsfrom pine green to ink blue were interspersed withorange and yellow to give a frisson of multi-ethni-city. After recent collections of precise tailoring,Simons as fashion explorer was a fresh departure.
The art of fashion is to make things look likethey were meant to be. But at Yves Saint Laurentthe designer Stefano Pilati tackled art with a cap-ital ‘‘A,’’ as both he and his models wore shoessplattered with paint to walk a canvas runway.This Jackson Pollock wannabe look also appearedon shorts and pants and an artsy jacket had in-serts of crude and chaotic patchwork.
Since Pilati has decided to pitch an intellectu-al/arty look for YSL, the silhouettes were dedic-ated to ‘‘work wear,’’ meaning roomy painter’ssmock shapes and short, boxy jackets. The alter-native was the loose sweaters curving up at thefront. In this fashion comfort zone, nothing wasfitted to the body and, although the clothes sug-
gesting laid-back sophistication, they were not de-signed for seduction.
Art was a pitfall for Viktor & Rolf, whose DavidHockney-inspired collection did not make ‘‘a big-ger splash’’ with its feeble print of swimming poolripples on a shirt or its puerile schoolboy jacketswith an outline like varsity braiding. Such themeshave to be as deeply felt as Hockney’s original workwas, expressing the lapping warmth of the WestCoast and its sexual freedom, to be anything otherthan a fashion gimmick.
There was the Hockney look again — with signa-ture bow tie and owl glasses — at Paul Smith. Butat least the British designer understood the Hock-ney heritage better from ‘‘my own artist friendswhen we were young.’’ Bright colors and stripe andpolka dot patterns were dosed with beige tailoring.Only polo shirts and shoes added primary colors.It made for a relentlessly upbeat show but mixinglayers rather than just colors would have added a
further dimension and enriched the offering.La nvin’s show hit the spot, with its ultra-light
layers that had the slithering texture of nylon butwere, in fact, washed silk, bringing a luxurious butnever heavy feel from silk shirt to shiny metallicshoes. The designer Lucas Ossendrijver, workingwith Alber Elbaz, has lightened up Lanvinmenswear in every sense, making it not a havenfor tailoring but a play on elements of a masculinewardrobe. There were shorts of course (what isthe 2008 season without them?) and airy bow ties.But Lanvin caught that balance between formaland casual with its ocean colors from gray to deep-est blue and green and always with a literal lighttouch: a trickle of gleaming sequins down a tie oreven an other-worldy shimmer to a laptop case.
When Ann Demeulemeester opened hershow with a Marcel Duchamp interview on thesoundtrack and with DaDa printed across thechest, the heart sank. Not another designer influ-
enced by last year’s DaDa exhibition! But the Bel-gian designer used the inspiration to turn her ownnonconformist approach onto an intriguing riffon layers. And it worked beautifully.
Translating her poetic vision, De-meu lemeester’s inserted graphic deck chairstripes in black and white or fiery red to show anultra-long shirt flowing from under a shorter T-shirt with a thigh-length jacket as the top layer.Cardigans partnering the jackets, a pinwheelbrooch on a lapel and soft pants with a narrowcuff all made for easy but stylish summer wear.
At Her mès, the whisper-quiet luxury was atouch dull since blouson jackets with rich colorsand textures — a zingy lime green or russet suede— were too much the focus. A raincoat with adropped belt and v-necked sweaters, often withsheer stripes, were other sartorial alternatives.But the designer Véronique Nichanian under-stands that the essence of Hermès is supreme lux-ury and from an ultra-fine sweater to short-sleeved shirts in necktie-patterned voile, she nev-er betrayed that heritage, yet made it seem like acasual, summery collection.
‘‘It ’s about trying to dress up and feel good aftersomeone has broken your heart,’’ said the Aus-tralian tailor Jsen Wintle. His tailoring was norevolution, but he used subtle codes of slashes,seaming and even an openwork line on a sweaterto point straight to that broken heart.
Who would have guessed that behind V é ro -nique Branquinho’s modest, feminist façadethere is a rock chick longing to get out? From themoment that some Antwerp rockers started theirperformance, the designer abandoned her ‘‘f ilmnoi r’’ heroes of past seasons in favor of a scruffysloppiness of big lacy sweaters, rolled-up shorts,pajama-striped pants, metallic trenches wornwith flat toe-hold sandals. But this was not a showto top the fashion charts.
When clothes require detailed attention, a pre-sentation is more practical than a show. The lushgreenery of palm leaves and bright flowers cre-ated a tropical landscape for Ken zo’s models.Riffs on shirt fronts, from the tucked dickie to tinypleats at the front, deserved close inspection.
‘‘I adore men in short shorts,’’ claimed SoniaRykiel as she watched from the front row the suits,where the tailored mini-pants rose from soberBermuda length to high thigh. Rykiel Homme,with its knitwear heritage, scored with sheersweaters, while the shorts suit is a solution forscorching city summers.
Suzy Menkes is the fashion editor of the Interna-tional Herald Tribune.
‘I wanted to turn the page,’’ said Kris VanAssche (at right with model) to explain the
variations on a white shirt in his first DiorHo m m e collection. From the tiny tucks on thedickey front, through origami folds on a collarto a tracery of openwork stitches, the designer’sdebut collection was rich in detail. It was shownnot on the runway, but in a grand and gildedParisian mansion, the better perhaps tounderstand the flow of high-waist 1950s-inspired trousers from Christian Dior’s era.
In this 60th anniversary year, the master’staste, as seen in old portraits, appeared as sevenneckties — polka dot, Prince of Wales checks orknitted textures.
After Hedi Slimane, the previous designer,brought a minimalist, pencil-sharp look thatmade Dior menswear rock, this season lookedlike a conscious decision to turn away from allthat sleek modernity.
Van Assche’s concept of evening, day andmorning wardrobe was shown in groups of suitsor tuxedos and had some graphic elements in thetailoring or in the black-and-white trellis shoes,some embroidered with a caviar of beading.
But here is the conundrum: Can a romanticdesigner — who may, in fact, be nearer toChristian Dior’s own sensibility — give thecutting edge of tailoring and cool thatrejuvenated the brand? — Suzy Menkes
LAN VIN
Photographs by Chris Moore/Karl Prouse
PAUL SMITHA NNDEMEU LEMEESTER
JSEN WINTLE
MIHAR AYASUHIRO
Th eCollections Paris S u z y
Menkes
Dior Homme: Back to the gilded glory days
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