Takahiro Miyashita parted ways from his former label, Number (N)ine, in 2009: The Soloist is his follow-up project. The obsessions, however, remain the same—music and musicians. For Fall, there were styles named after John Lennon, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, and Kurt Cobain; the latter, an overriding obsession manifest most obviously in a series of holey knitwear. Isn’t it always?
Miyashita cited the theme of this collection as youth—but not youthful. It was inspired by the state of mind, rather than the actuality. Age is just a number—here, the number was 6, the age of the child of a member of the design team whose drawings were the source of inspiration for many of the clothes. A violin scribble was knitted into a sweater, the image dissected to inspire F-hole-shaped pocket trims and embroideries—the latter exaggerated to resembled an “S” (for Soloist, see). Straps about the necks of jackets were inspired by the instrument’s chin rest; lapels were shaped a bit like a treble clef.
It all sounds gimmicky, but mixed into outfits, the references were dulled down into reality. When teamed with plain knits, military nylons, denim, or those moth-eaten Cobain cardigans, you hardly noticed that a lean shirt jacket resembled an Edwardian bodice, or that a cashmere coat’s shoulders were heaped with Victorian passementerie, like a Sergeant Pepper reject.
Practicality was worked into many garments: Patches on the legs and seats of jeans were designed not for visual effect, but to serve practical purposes while cycling. The patching will protect your seat and your trousers from the chain; a detached waistband will give you somewhere to hang your bike lock. Clever.
Other garments were lined with PrimaLoft, a wind- and water-resistant fabric, combined with luxurious bits of cashmere and velvet. Miyashita also gave his own spin on the season’s staple MA-1 nylon jacket, cutting it as a pullover with zippered sleeves. It felt fresh—which is saying a lot, seeing as we’ve seen it a dozen times a day over the past three weeks.
