27 January 2025 |
Unleash the beast, Sacai style. This season, Chitose Abe chose to take a walk on the wild side, peppering her signature hybrid designs with “untamed and unrestricted” flourishes, as if adapted to brave harsh conditions of the wilderness. Blown-up images of sand dunes might’ve lined the catwalk, but the clothes that paraded before us were built for chillier climates. Abe had looked at Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are (1963). The children’s book’s loveable monsters not only appeared as graphics on jumpers but were channelled via aran knits and deconstructed suit jackets that sprouted with scraggy, faux fur. More fuzzy excellence trailed the hem of skirts that jutted in delightfully awkward formations and chocolate brown duffle coats, while cartoonish soft-to-touch boots courtesy of an Ugg collaboration anchored many of the looks.
All of this hairy goodness was met with a go-outdoors utilitarianism, like bombers fused with tailoring, or long-lined blousons cut from techy fabrics. The brand’s ongoing collaboration with Carhartt now included wipe-clean workwear jackets, multi-pocketed skirts and outerwear welded with ribbed knits, all in forest greens and muddy browns. Adding in dangling Sacai-branded water bottles and a symphony of nylon bags collaged into one mega-sized backpack, and you had well-equipped garb that looked pretty darn fantastic, too.
Photography courtesy of Sacai.
