The Tamesis
Cold weather has been a major motivator for designers around the world this fall. Daisuke Obana, writing from Tokyo, reports that temperatures in Japan have dropped unusually low, but earlier trips to Greenland, Finland and Iceland have informed this season’s N.Hoolywood Compile offerings. Those northern adventures, the designer said, “provided a very quiet, almost tender inspiration,” which was evident in the snow showers that covered the models in the collection’s video and lookbook, the faux fur collars on hooded jackets, and some beautifully patchworked sweaters that mixed cable knits with Nordic patterns.
Chilly here quickly turns to coolness; this is not a collection designed for the slopes, but for the streets. So this matches what the designers observed during their travels. “I was originally looking for a stronger sense of history and local presence, but Greenland and Iceland unexpectedly showed themselves to be urban and modern,” Obaner said.
Denim is a cornerstone of the modern wardrobe, and this season the brand’s jeans stand out as hero pieces due to the intensity of their dyeing and the robustness of their material. Corduroy is everywhere this fall, but in this collection (look 16), it was slanted horizontally, which the designer said “subtly pays homage to Eddie Bauer’s historic ‘All Purpose’ down jacket.” O’Bana’s historic exploration of cold-weather dressing created a cute yet awkward swollen silhouette. Bumble, the abominable snow monster of the north, would agree.
