On the final day of Paris Fashion Week, the swansong of an intensely packed fashion month, CFCL’s creative director Yusuke Takahashi was feeling appropriately philosophical, returning to the fundamental question that has long hovered over the brand: Can fashion contribute to shaping a better society?
This season, Takahashi drew inspiration from artist Joseph Beuys and his boundary-pushing ideas on humanism and social transformation. More specifically, Beuys’s felt works informed the large layered drapes that made up full looks from a single material. Thick knit dresses and jackets enveloped the body in continuous waves of fabric, challenging the viewer to decipher where one layer began and another ended. With their tactile volume and architectural curves, these pieces embodied Beuys’s notion of “social sculpture,” a concept that clearly resonates with Takahashi.
Balancing these conceptual looks were sleek, more commercial pieces such as sharply tailored trousers, collared shirts, sweaters, and zip knits in a palette of black, grey, bone, and brown.
This season also introduced a collaboration with VEJA, an apt pairing highlighted through their shared values of honesty and sustainability. In the same spirit, knitted fabrics were spun from non-mulesed New Zealand wool and Inner Mongolian cashmere, a thoughtful nod to ethical craftsmanship amidst the ongoing fast fashion crisis.
Elsewhere, draped dresses in royal red and deep purple showcased lighter, more fluid constructions made entirely from recycled polyester. Takahashi applied knitwear techniques to these pieces, crafting them without facings and allowing the fabric to fall naturally and elegantly.
Midway through the show, solid-coloured looks melted into pattern. Referencing Beuys’s 7000 Oaks (1982–1987), the designer introduced foil-printed motifs inspired by the bark of oak trees. These prints appeared on evening dresses ranging from body-skimming jersey styles to others built with pleated panels for volume.
From there, two-dimensional patterns evolved into more tactile looks. Silver tones reappeared in occasionwear, where plate-like knitted fringes were finished with metallic foil and thread. Paired with simple knits or sharp tailored blazers, the metallic dresses, shirts, and skirts shimmered alongside matching plated bags. Two fringed dresses were hand-adorned with 2,670 silver and black sequins, suggesting that a show can pursue sustainability and responsibility without sacrificing the pleasure of detailed craftsmanship and elegant design.
