Judging from some of the inspirations seen on the menswear runways, the real protagonist of the Autumn/Winter 2014 season will be our planet. There have indeed been designers in Paris and Milan drawing inspirations for their creations from satellite views of the Earth. Yusuke Takahashi at Issey Miyake explored instead our planet from the point of view of nature.
According to Japanese traditions there are actually five basic elements - earth, water, fire, wind/air, and void - and Takahashi decided to explore them not through books, but to experience them in first person during a trip to Iceland.
The collection followed a logical order opening with cosmic lines on dark backgrounds, continuing with prints, surface elaborations and textures that betrayed a mineral/geological inspiration, and reaching a climax with fluorescent padded jackets and details evoking the Northern Lights.
Earth was evoked through a dark palette; destructive fire appeared in the vibrant reds of bubbling magma-like digital prints, while the kaleidoscopic mix of colours in the closing suits could have been interpreted as hints at rainbows, or at the mutating nuances of certain minerals, going from yellow and red to purple, blue and green.
Urban and sports wear were present through reversible and practical jackets, functional backpacks and printed caps, but design-wise the collection was more focused on classic tailoring.
Innovation was added via futuristic textiles and in particular through a prismatic sort of tape that lit up classic pinstripe jackets with a metallic green nuance that indirectly referenced aether as the force of life.
While the main inspirations in this collection are strongly linked with the earth, they also seem to be indirecty referencing also the Neo-Geo movement for the vibrant chromatic combinations employed.
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