Exactly two years have passed since Kozaburo Akasaka won the LVMH Special Prize on the strength of his first two collections. Looking back over that time period, the Tokyo-born, Brooklyn-based designer grew contemplative, considering the first chapter in his brand’s story to have closed. “The last two years I’ve pushed and grown outward,” he said on an appointment in his studio, located in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. “This collection, the feeling is more going inward. It’s the feeling of density—a storm, or rocks.”
The last reference point guided Akasaka to the landscape art and architecture he has always loved. There exists a kinship between his emotive designs and the spiritual connections embedded in the large-scale works of Michael Heizer, Robert Smithson, and Harvey Fite, whose Opus 40 environmental sculpture park in the Hudson Valley provided the backdrop for Spring 2020. Akasaka swept himself into a fantasy: “This is my wardrobe, if I was a landscape artist.” (As if to playfully underscore that point, he also served as the lookbook’s model.)
He introduced a touch of sportswear—a few well-cut tracksuits, nylon shorts, and anoraks—but a land artist’s sensitivity toward the environment led him to choose part-recycled synthetics, as well as a blend of organic cotton and recycled polyester for his T-shirts. Another smart bit of upcycling came through in his use of Kaya, a homespun hemp fabric historically used in Japan for mosquito nets. He used four layers of the stuff to create a thick, cottony cream gauze collared shirt that went well with summer-friendly versions of his signature suits, which came in featherweight linens, rodeo twill, and waffle-knit denim. Key graphics included an imaginary map titled “Land of Setting Sun” and the face of an Umibozu, or sea-bound spirit, embroidered on the back of a silk souvenir jacket as if to say, with excitement, uncharted waters lie ahead in Akasaka’s brave new world.
