In a concrete bunker two stories underground, during a flash typhoon that finally broke the unbearable heat of the Tokyo summer, Chika Kisada’s show unfolded. Threatening techno thumped over the speakers, and the models came out and stood on a black geometric podium in the center of the space lit by vertical strip lights.
The small collection was full of fascinating propositions—the layered ballet tights in various skin shades, and the giant striped pannier skirt—alongside some impressive deconstructed pinstripe tailoring with sleeves that had been shorn off and embellished with black tulle. The logo dress T-shirt—‘Why be racist sexist homophobic or transphobic when you could just be quiet?’—originally came from a vintage shop. “The message resonated with me when I saw it,” she said backstage. The T-shirt, tattered into gossamer, was made in collaboration with a young artist called Hikari Hayashi, and added a fresh element of creativity and texture to the collection.
Kisada also spoke about how her ballet background, as usual, had fed into this outing. “The punk spirit and the energy ballet dancers channel into their performances has been a big inspiration for me, and I think that’s what I wanted to show with this collection,” she said. “Ballet dancers constantly struggle and grapple with themselves until they step onto the stage. That inner struggle is something I feel strongly in fashion as well.”
The struggle showed. From the beginning, the styling threw things off, and though the looks were never dull, they sometimes felt confused rather than revolutionary. High points came via a blue dress made up of a complexity of striped shirt fabrics spiced up with crinoline detailing, and the final look, which spliced a T-shirt/striped dress with eyelet fastenings at the front and sheer netting that half-covered the puffed-out skirt so that it looked as though it had been captured in a sack.
Kisada deserves her flowers for pushing herself to new places—her past few seasons have been a triumph in that regard—but her task now is to try and tame her explosive punk energy into something more focused—to balance the inner beast with more beauty. “The pressure keeps increasing,” she said. “But I think that makes me stronger, and more and more I feel that this is what creativity is all about.” By the time we emerged from the bunker, the storm had passed.
