Well that’s one way to start a fashion show. As we gathered in the vast circular atrium of Tokyo’s Telecom Center Building, a drone that was filming the runway from high above careened into the steel beams of the roof, sending sparks flying. There was a lot of mechanical buzzing before the drone slowly but spectacularly crash-landed in the center of the runway, obliterating into a hundred plastic pieces. Whoever said fashion wasn’t dangerous?
It was a rocky start to an otherwise consummate show for Harunobu Murata, a Jil Sander alum who each season expands on his oeuvre of elegance. His collection this time was full of interesting propositions, including drop-waist dresses, button-up shirts as big as bedsheets, and chic cashmere sweatpants. Denim appeared for the first time, but in true Murata fashion he elevated it by hand-smocking each piece for over twenty hours, 20 the resulting dresses and skirts a rich and layered texture.
According to the notes, Murata intended to evoke the ever-evolving beauty of water. He did this most effectively through the iridescent organza shift dresses, which looked almost fluid as they reflected a floaty gradient of pink and lilac, and the raffia fringing, that cascaded down skirts and dresses like waterfalls.
It was a freer, softer, and more uninhibited collection from Murata, who in a few short seasons has gone from tentative Euro-minimalism to becoming one of Japan’s most reliable and confident womenswear talents.
Speaking backstage after the show, the designer attributed his serene attitude to a newfound love for cooking, like making pasta from organic lemons and tomatoes that he gets from the local farmer’s market. “It made me realize that maybe there aren’t that many things in life that we really need, and if we were able to appreciate the simple things more then our lives would be incredibly rich,” he said. In an industry currently grappling with the definition of luxury, a call for simpler pleasures that feel closer to nature has a fresh appeal. The fallen drone might as well have been a metaphor.
