The Tamesis
Maybe we’re experiencing an artificial intelligence quagmire, but Pillings’ awkward beauty feels more human than ever. In the brand’s intentionally eccentric pieces, many of which are hand-woven, every groove or imperfection is considered and every crease is meticulously sculpted.
This season’s fashion show was held in the low-rise conference hall on the 12th floor of the Tokyo Transportation Hall. Tokyo Koko Kaikan is an old shopping mall in Ginza that Ryota Murakami chose for its nostalgic, slightly claustrophobic feel.
It unfolds to a soundtrack of stiff piano music. Knitwear unfolds over petticoats to create dramatic sculptural princess dresses, and the shoulders of a teal crochet dress are deliberately forward. Cardigans that look shabby, buttoned asymmetrically, or have lumps tucked into the hips. The thick woolen coat and skirt were rumpled and rolled up. The smooth coated leather moves like cardboard. The collection is even more gorgeous than recent seasons, retaining the cute, goofy style the brand is known for.
The mix of fairy-tale dresses and messy everyday pieces is Murakami’s way of blending fantasy with reality. “I wanted to evoke the feeling you get from a bird’s eye view of the clothes,” he said backstage later. “I think we live in an age where people tend to like things that are clear or have clear answers, but I think one of the roles of creation is to expand that murky gray area and find new value there.”
The colors—swamp green, preppy blue, washed pink—were also deliberately vague. “I wanted colors you couldn’t see in a box of crayons, so I chose some obscure colors that didn’t seem to have names,” he said. “The way I describe them is rotten pastels.” The details were too numerous to count: tiny knitted flowers sprouting from the grooves of cable knit; the back of a pure white blazer artfully pleated like a sheet; the toe caps crinkled as if they’d been soaked by the rain.
This time’s stiff silhouettes and knotty knits particularly echo Miuccia Prada and Rei Kawakubo: Prada is good at making awkward beauty magnetic, while Rei Kawakubo expresses the balance of tenderness and strength through avant-garde style. Of course, Pillins’ confidence grows every time he goes out. Starting this season, it will be available for the first time at overseas retailers including London’s Dover Street Market, which feels like a natural fit.
For further evidence of Murakami’s sensibility, look no further than the striped knit skirt suit that appeared midway through the show, echoing the unassuming rug in the room where the show took place. Murakami noticed this immediately and turned it into something beautiful.
