TROPICAL WORLD

Mihara Yasuhiro has come a long way since starting out as a footwear designer with his 1996-launched store, Archi Doom. Known for his playful take on garments, the Nagasaki-born creative now shows his menswear at LFWM, having carved his niche through an unflinching dedication to contemporarily simplified design.

Titled ‘This is only a start’, his FW17 show honed in on the idea that there’s a lot more to minimalism than meets the eye. The Barbican Conservatory formed a backdrop of tropical cacti and plants and a Coy pond – a natural and organic environment fitting – playing host to manipulated silhouettes that challenged the conventional pursuit of stripped back design. “Is not the pursuit of “Simplicity” in fact complex and advanced?” Yasuhiro asked.

Cast in an earthy palette of browns, greens, blacks and purples, his pieces showed us that simplified design can, in fact, be more than meets the eye. Yasuhiro went on to employ deformed detailing, panelling, panelling and drawstring embellishment, adding richness to otherwise minimal pieces. Square-mesh coats with textured embellishments brought a contemporary feel. Classic can easily become cool again, but in this instance, it’s what lies beneath the surface that’s ultimately alluring.

Photography by Tomas Turpie