The seed of the idea for this season was planted during a visit last year to Paris’ Musée des Arts Décoratifs, which hosted a bamboo-themed exhibition. It included a katagami stencil of the pattern made by the plant. Black-and-white works in ink particularly reminded IM Men’s design team of shadows created by bamboo, according to Sen Kawahara, one of the brand’s designers.
“It looks very elegant and at the same time mysterious,” Kawahara said. “We wanted to express those feelings and inspiration into the garments for this collection.”
That was accomplished in this richly textured, fine-tuned lineup.
A series of clothes made of bamboo thread woven with organic cotton, called Bamboo Shadows, came with hand-printed patterns appearing on outerwear in black-and-white and -gray. Nobutaka Kobayashi, an IM Men designer, described those as “atmospheric, graphic images.”
Bright pink and green also popped on the runway, on broad-shouldered light nylon garments designed with a dye-flow technique, nodding to the ancient kimono colors sported by the fictional character Princess Kaguya, from “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.” “It’s a very imaginative story,” Kobayashi said, adding the tale is mysterious, as the princess ultimately, with no explanation, returns to the moon.
Garments were imaginative, too. Take the Bloom nylon jacket’s broad collar. “It’s got layers of pleats around the neck,” explained Yuki Itakura, an IM Men designer, adding that was inspired by the junihitoe kimono.
He and his colleagues deftly worked dyed denim, jacquard weave and pleats — all to great effect.
