Dear Shaded Viewers,
For SS22 season, designer Mihara Yasuhiro questions whether everything has to have a newness or freshness to it, the answer is hidden in his latest digital show for his namesake brand titled “Usual”.
Just like the previous season, Maison Mihara Yasuhiro’s short film starts in beautiful Tokyo, with the designer’s old friend dressed in a corporate uniform, entering an underground gay bar called “Kids”, a place the designer often went to when he was young.
A video within a video, we pass through the TV screen at the bar and enter the airport where our protagonist has become a pilot, walking past eccentric characters all dressed in the latest MMY season. The choice of location perhaps hints the passage of time, whether we should take a journey towards the new or stay where we are.
Mimicking streetwear – underground Japan; the collection is neither too loud nor bold, but elevated just enough. What caught my eye in the lineup were the experimentations with denim; the models wore beautifully deconstructed denim jackets with angelic arms, torn jeans with a mesh of different fabrics, long double layered denim skirts… All which looked worn in and organic, as if the clothes were torn, not because of a deliberate attempt by the designer, but because they were worn so many times. Oversized knit sweaters were unwinded, prints on the hoodies were deliberately worn off, denim jeans were stained, leather jackets had lost their colors…
Yasuhiro’s approach to deliberately age his clothes is definitely punk if you ask me, especially in an industry where the “new” is celebrated and the “old” is out in one season. It pushes one to rethink the value of clothes and the memories they hold within.
