Without this taking anything away from his talent, there is always a risk that a creator who has found his formula tends to repeat himself. It’s about avoiding falling into your own traps without losing your customers, something not easy when you come back to greet the public every three months. Chitose Abe is one of the fashion virtuosos from Japan, discreet greats capable of refreshing stylistic exuberance. Each season, she plays with the codes of women’s and men’s wardrobes, with great dexterity, and regularly gives lessons in (re)construction (without condescension) by building bridges between different wardrobes.
She is moving away this season from the spheres of streetwear and workwear to dwell on a seemingly more formal and classic fringe of clothing: coats cut in gray fabrics with tennis stripes echoing male suits, flat lavallières are distilled everywhere, especially on turtleneck sweaters or off-center at the chest level of a blouse. True faux trompe-l’oeil make it look like a model is wearing three layers of jackets or four white shirts of widely varying lengths, or a sand-colored woolen wrap skirt that stops below the knee with a shoulder strap – in reality the shoulder strap of a bag integrated into the fabric.
Mixing is king at Chitose Abe: the cream-colored pleats of a very low-cut dress are mixed with a transparent black stretch texture on the side and worn with a cropped suit jacket whose waist is redesigned as a belt. As a nod to the work of the couturier, whether he is alone in his shop or at the head of a studio endowed with great resources, the Japanese designer leaves construction points (which allow an initial assembly of the different parts of a garment) appear in the form of white threads fluttering around a black skirt with large pleats.
Rokh, kiss kiss
At the Englishman Rok Hwang at the head of the Rokh brand, founded in 2017, which parades an hour after Sacai at the Amelot garage in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, we find a bit of this deconstructivist touch which animates the fashion of Chitose Abe or that of his compatriot Junya Watanabe. Rokh splits a staging tribute to office life, and dresses women more or less overwhelmed by their occupations. We remake the world at the photocopier in a dress coat with openwork under the chest or a cropped leather shirt with a bustier chest. The collection takes on the reverse all the trends that have trickled out since the confinements. Here, we’re not scruffy, we’re not wearing cuddly clothes, but a strapless black leather dress with a pleated and zipped bottom to be transformed into a mini – we’ve also seen a lot of “mutant” clothes this season at Paris – wide black jeans with double high and low waist worn with a strapless black velvet bodysuit with a very low neckline, an ultra-long dress close to the body and draped in places, covered with a kissing mouth print that illustrates the spirit of the collection, sexy and not sissy.