After two successive and successful catwalk shows that have catapulted Christian Dada from the underground to the face of Tokyo Fashion Week, designer Zoo Morikawa eschewed the runway for an ice cool installation at Bellesalle Shibuya Garden. Whereas the catwalk deprived Christian Dada of the all important context he has previously enjoyed in guerrilla shows in the street in front of Candy, Fake Tokyo, here Zoo was in his element surrounded by ice monoliths that housed his collection, a deafening noise and feedback soundtrack making communication all but impossible and the designer himself hiding under a hat while the aforementioned ice began to melt.
For his collection Christian Dada froze his work into blocks of ice that were then stacked on top of each other and placed under bright lights that, thanks to the slowly melting ice, actually gave the entirely static installation a sense of movement as droplets of water ran down.
As ever Christian Dada’s exemplary taste for subversive men’s streetwear shone to the fore in paneled parkas, sleeveless biker jackets and casual shorts and worker trousers, and his women’s was as decadent and luxurious as ever. This time his raw meets luxe aesthetic was picked out well in crocodile leather that appeared in cut out panels on the majority of his collection and on his women’s intricate lacing and embroidery. Elsewhere there was a tangible step up in quality all round in wool mixes that I am looking forward to handling at the showroom that have all been given a unique distressed flavor thanks to the freezing process employed throughout the collection.
Thematically Christian Dada was returning to ideas of corrupted nature in flowers but from oily leather, but also the idea of substance, of clothes as works of art and gravitas – through the freezing process the transitory trends are isolated and preserved, even if it is for only as long as the ice lasts.
The ice arguably makes the clothes more beautiful while captured, and when they emerge they will do so damaged by the process. Christian Dada certainly seems poised to tackle issues of value and transience and clothes and I for one am really looking forward to these ideas being explored now that he as put his finger on his signature style.
I absolutely loved the dark icy blue and restrained quilting on the above.
All the while his women’s seems on the way to become his couture line.
Stay tuned for the full collection direct from the showroom later next week and needless to say we will have our key shows and presentations from Tokyo Fashion Week for you very soon indeed.
