Kazafuta Koki’s functional exoskeleton fashion 2014 AW 壱吾弐工機(カザフタコウキ) 世を生き抜くための戦闘ユニフォーム

Looking at this collection. it’s hard not to mistake the photos for GIFs, as the clothes appear to actually be moving ever so subtly, like cinegram animations. The curving undulations lend to the illusion of motion on the body. That’s part of the theme revolving around the debut collection of brand KAZAFUTA KOKI, calling it “Blueprint for strengthening the fiber exoskeleton”, There’s a lot of difficult words in there (in Japanese it looks even more like WUTsauce) but the designs themselves are not as out of this world as you’d expect. It’s actually very grounded… but is this a cyborg plan for fashion?

最初にこのコレクションを見たとき、洋服が生きているように感じた。まるで服自体が意志を持って形を成しているような。そんな壱吾弐工機(カザフタコウキ) の今季のテーマは”繊強外骨格化画” (繊維強化外骨格計画の略)。ブランド名もテーマも漢字がたくさん連なっていてなんだか難しいけれど、実際のルックを見ると納得できるかも。

つまりは洋服のサイボーグ化!?

Designer Noda used to be head of local brand PHIZ, but is starting fresh with Kazufuta Koki and decided to really push the limits in impactful fashion for the debut. The most fascinating thing here is what the eye can’t see; the curious textiles Noda used to make his pieces. I knew there was something going on here so I asked Noda himself to explain what futuristic sorcery was afoot…

…he said he used two main fabrics for the collection , the first being cardboard-recycled sweatshirt material. It’s a pretty common type of textile for sweatshirts and pants, but here he added nylon fibers which give it a sheen akin to a cyborg’s protective shell.

The other fabric is called Hyblizatec (?? I actually have no idea how to romanize this….) which is an incredibly efficient & high-tech water-resistant cloth. Water comes to say hello and doesn’t stay awhile. It literally rolls right off like oil and…water. Repelling each other like Eminem and Katy Perry.

It’s a modern “suit”-up for the man or woman who likes to have some functionality with their fashion. it’s amazing to see such a small brand experimenting with the high-tech textiles that Japan offers for as long as they can.

デザイナーはPHIZで活動していた野田さん。今回、壱吾弐工機(カザフタコウキ)として再始動をするということで、インパクト大のコレクションを引っさげてリスタートを切った。

何と言ってもおもしろいのが 、使われている素材。見ただけではよく分からないめずらしいものなので、野田さん本人に伺ってみた。