Mister It.’s Takuya Isagawa has a lot of expectations to meet in Tokyo. He refined his craft under John Galliano at Maison Margiela in Paris, where he spent six years working on both the main line and the Artisanal collection. He came back to Tokyo in 2018 to launch Mister It., and has been slowly building buzz around it for the past few years.
This morning Isagawa held his first runway show in the Shibuya Hikarie, and we finally got a glimpse of what Mister It. is about. It took place on a raised runway running straight down the room; each look was spotlighted as it came out, leaving the rest of the hall in darkness.
Isagawa designs what he calls “haute couture for everyday life,” taking his experience of making clothes for VIPs in a Parisian maison and bringing it down to earth in his own quirky way. He wrapped almost every look in a strip of fabric that read “couture rhythm,” in a nod to pinning fabric to sewing mannequins when cutting toiles.
There were huge chunky knits and well-structured coats, but the most interesting pieces were the ones that showed off both Isagawa’s technical prowess and his sense of humor. He lengthened the back of a collared white shirt into a billowing dress, slashed armholes in the sides of coats and shirts to create capes with extraneous sleeves, and referenced cartonnage (the French practice of cardboard craft and covering with fabrics) in a windowpane check camel suit, complete with a hood and a tiny little window for the face to peek out from. Even the bicycle the model wheeled down the runway had been smothered in the fabric.
Later came giant heart emojis, which were made into a red scarf and a white dress. Though not visible from the front-view runway pics, there were also leather bags made in the shape of coat hangers— with working zips! Ridiculous in the best way, and a good example of Isagawa’s surreal approach.
Fun and friendship are at the real heart of what Isagawa does. He was in Paris only a week ago, and he recorded the sounds of the Metro, the rattle of sewing machines, and of his French friends speaking in broken Japanese, which he wove into the soundtrack for the show.
Was this one collection enough for us to understand who Mister It. is? When asked backstage what he was trying to convey with the show, Isagawa said: “Clothes are fun and have power. It’s really that simple.” Maybe sometimes it is.
Source link
