Who's afraid of a little color? Not Kolor's Junichi Abe. While the label is a healthy 10 years old, the Japanese designer (whose wife is Chitose Abe of Sacai) has been spicing up Paris men's week for only a handful of those, and he seems to be getting quite a kick out of it. After all, "formal is boring," he said backstage. "Life needs to be exciting. It needs lots of salt and pepper."
As promised in the very name, an intrepid color sense, rather than any of the usual touchstones, lies at the heart of the designer's vision. "I was not inspired by any film, any music, any era," he said. Instead, for his men's collection, Abe sprinkled color liberally in nearly every look, to mesmerizing effect. He splashed bold, incongruous stripes across layered tees, jackets, pants, and shorts—typically with a clashing bib-front insert—and expertly combined moody hues and flashy fluorescents.
In addition to his riotous colors, Abe managed to merge a variety of disparate fabrics, ranging from neoprene and perforated athletic mesh to a knitted material and stonewashed blue denim. While his occasional attempt at graphic block lettering (as in "Do Not Enter") and the few peeks of black lace seemed one too many details, such missteps were few in number. They served to stress just how good the hits were and how gratifyingly eye-opening the collection was overall.
