Takahiro Miyashita is a quixotic soul. Amid this loving, highly tooled return to one of his great founts of source material—Seattle grunge—were some fantastically intricate and layered garments. These included a series of jackets and topcoats whose hoods extended to reveal prints of photographs taken by grunge-scene chronicler Charles Peterson and which were lined with prints of snipped song lyrics handwritten by Oscar, the young son of a former colleague with whom Miyashita has worked on a collection previously. A whole range of pieces featured Peterson’s fantastic prints and included shirts with reversible front flaps that could be worn three ways. There were some excellent Texas-produced cowboy boots with welted soles, and reversible nylon jackets and pants that on one side featured a glinting starscape and on the other were far plainer—wearable dichotomies between youth and experience. Surprisingly outspoken for this whisper-discreet designer was a huge terry poncho–meets–picnic blanket with an enormous font label print. Absolutely beautiful and fresh feeling were the few long bomber jackets made of vintage American quilts that Miyashita had sourced from antique vendors.
For a designer who has returned often to Americana, this felt like an especially deep and vital incorporation of his obsession’s fabric into his work. It’s a pity he was not at the showroom to deepen our understanding still further, but this was a classic collection full of grunge references that Soloist aficionados will delight in.
