The first 20 looks in this spring Ambush collection are part of a new seasonal capsule named Wksp—short for ‘workshop’ and dispensing with the ‘r’ and the ‘h’ as well as the more regularly marginalized vowels. Unlike the title, this collection read as near-fully formed: a functionally geeky, technically-rendered fashion sportswear proposition that was subtly branded, punchily colored, and featured an attractively abstract heat-map print by Hagihara Takuya. Down the Zoom from Tokyo, Yooh Ahn said: “I’ve been doing a lot of outdoor activities which got me thinking how I could bring reality to a daily wardrobe without making it mundane.” This first edition, she added, was mountaineering inspired. “It’s something seperate to the main collection but which can co-exist alongside it,” she added.
Continuing the ascent at around look 20 the atmosphere changed to something softer and hand-rendered in a black crochet shirtdress embroidered with flowers from which hung colored pieces of wool. The tactility and texture of crochet developed as the chief theme across the collection, reproduced by slicing into leather coats, a lemon skirt, and a lavender shirtfront. Alongside it ran an attractively botanical inspired element that included a skirt and bodice both fringed with tussocks of green stem-like cord and later—in the collection’s more overtly hand-fashioned final section—an unmissable abstract wildflower kaleidoscope in sequin.
The menswear, especially in that opening section, was executed with typical deftness while the womenswear marked a more confident pitch at the conventionally feminine than has been seen at Ambush previously. Said Ahn: “Femininity has strength. And I wasn’t trying to hide this before, it’s more that we are still quite young with apparel and I have been spending more time on the men’s line because we have more men’s customers. And now I just feel more comfortable doing womenswear in a way that she doesn’t necessarily have to be like the girlfriend of that guy, but they need to live in the same universe.”
