Rainmaker’s Kohichi Watanabe and Ryutaro Kishi are entering their blue period. Their spring 2022 collection, presented in a film shot at Kyoto’s famous International Conference Center, spans a spectrum of azure, cerulean, turquoise, and cyan. Despite their penchant for minimalism and clean lines, this isn’t the optic color blocking of the late aughts that has returned elsewhere; Watanabe and Kishi approach their palette with sensitivity and a bit of sprezzatura.
Western shirts in Prussian blue are half-tucked into pleated slate trousers, long patterned tunics peek out from underneath V-neck sweaters, and patterned anoraks are buttoned just at the collar over clean navy suits. The pair design simply—no excess or irony is ever present in their work—but style their collections quite gesturally.
It’s easy to picture Japan’s coolest dressers picking up some of the styling of this collection—and its best pieces too. The sartorial trousers, thick knits, sporty windbreakers, and leather shorts have a worldliness about them, even if the collection is firmly rooted in the brand’s Kyoto history and only available through a small network of Japanese retailers and wholly owned stores. Reporting from afar, one hopes that Rainmaker’s imprint will grow; the brand could find success on the backs of smart dressers the world over.
