Ordinarily, a Doublet show is something of a funfair. But although Cabaret was the theme of the Fall show, Masayuki Ino said he wasn’t feeling quite as much into fun and games as usual. The world, he said backstage before the show, has made him too heartsick for that.
Instead, the designer offered up something of a Frankenstein-meets-Demagorgon collection, swapping out straight-up silliness for wellness-inspired clothes, for example hand-painted shirts that incorporate real therapeutic magnets to enhance circulation (in a sly move, those shirts come embroidered with a single golden arch), or leather coats with studs reprising the acupuncture points that balance energy flow in classic Chinese medicine.
Elsewhere, a “Heal tech” sweatshirt with a neon green heart slyly riffed on a well-known trademark while also making a case for enhanced sustainability, and a “Nap” sweatshirt extolled the power of catching shuteye. Amid the pop-culture references and in-jokes, the designer made a case for sustainability too. Trenches pieced together from leftover fabric, with an assist from 3D modeling, had helped reduce waste to less than 5% the designer said. Those and a few other pieces—a white coat with red lining, a double-breasted beige jacket, a leather bomber, a couple of destroyed knits—will likely be a welcome form of therapy for his base.
