Takahiro Miyashita’s well-documented musical obsessions could only slant one direction for Spring 2017: David Bowie. The spirit of reinvention inherent in Bowie’s multiple stage personas was the underlying theme in this, the strongest collection the former Number (N)ine designer has put out under his Soloist imprint. In fact, scratch that: This season, the line was semi-officially rechristened Takahiromiyashita “The Skoloct.” No idea what that is? Me neither, until a few hours ago.
The Skoloct is a fictional creature invented by Tsuyoshi Nakano, a Tokyo-based artist friend of Miyashita: The two collaborated on the collection, which prominently featured the character, a mysterious life-form from Harajuku that sort of looks like a cross between Bugs Bunny and Jake the Dog from the Adventure Time animated series. He’s not quite so anonymous to fans of Pharrell Williams and Nigo’s cult label Billionaire Boys Club, who collaborated with the Skoloct for a 2014 range.
But what does this bunny have to do with Bowie? The notion of transformation, apparently: A series of arresting, recycled bandana masks allowed wearers to “transform” into the Skoloct, while a signature graffiti-style tag became a print, a jacquard, or simple defacement over the brand’s logo. Those masks will be sold, but will likely become collector’s items. They’re more geared to editorial, and deserve plenty. The rest of the collection riffed around two themes: mourning for Bowie, in a series of all-black garments based on Japanese silhouettes and tech reinterpretations of traditional Zen textiles; and evolution into Ziggy Stardust. Sounds like an extreme proposition, but actually both sides were eminently wearable, fine clothes without gimmicks but embedded with enough design to excite. It got silly, sometimes. Which was fun. Miyashita offered a one-arm, one-leg Ziggy jumpsuit in print-heavy spandex, alongside other glammed-up gear-like crocodile-imprint metallic leather trousers, and jewel-colored python boots with a price tag peaking somewhere around $5,000.
Speaking of shoes, the other big news was the brand reissuing footwear by John Moore, an ’80s design legend and one founder of the “House and Beauty and Culture”, alongside Christopher Nemeth. Miyashita managed to wrangle a deal to team up and make white rubber versions of his Toe Patch combat boots. They didn’t fit into the Bowie boxes, but they looked great all the same.
