Christian dada was the first official fall winter show of the tokyo fashion week season and it set a tone for excellence for the rest of the week.
As the recipient of the DHL designer award designer Morikawa was under pressure to produce something good; especially after taking a break last season and going in a casual direction. Which was a bit of a let down since Dada is tokyo’s answer to McQueen, to Pugh to Anderson and the other cerebral designers who fashion lovers yearn for in this age of “luxury tshirt brands”
But fears were alleviated just sitting down; a full chorus and orchestra-slash-rock band was waiting. 14 singers, 3 electric guitarists, a pianist, a percussionist, 2 drummers a bassist, and violinist. And one man with his hand over his heart. I kept waiting for this man to DO something but in the end, he just stood there. It’s like a movie that cuts off before it finishes…”is that it?? Something MUST happen right!?” but perhaps that is my anxiety taking over..
Luckily, the runway was so captivating I could ignore that guy. The black baroque embroidery that turned to gold, the rubber studs on tshirts and pocket clutches gripped my interest. These details alone made for a beautiful collection of elegance and rock, a pitch-perfect collection for today’s edgy consumer of high fashion.
And this is before we even get to their feet ! I heard that Osaka-based cobbler Masaya Kushino would be collaborating with dada and could hardly imagine what he would come up with, given his track record for artistic couture. This time he placed bird bodies–made from real crow feathers– on vertiginous platforms of fur. It was a miracle the models didn’t tumble, which may have been a grace of god; the theme for the shoes was “stairway to heaven” after all.
Dada said his theme was “Phoenix” the bird of rebirth. Dada is stepping out into the world and spreading his own feathered arms.
