Sacai: the science of success
Sacai's collection of future classics made the Japanese label the toast of Paris Fashion Week. Caroline Issa explains why it deserves the acclaim
Sacai autumn/winter 2014
The Japanese label Sacai has been gaining momentum for the last four seasons and its Tokyo-based designer, Chitose Abe, is quickly becoming one of the most original and influential voices in fashion. Slowly but surely it has moved on from quiet, insider-y presentations to a full-blown runway show with impressive attendance.
Some enthusiastic fashion editors in Paris were already calling it the show of the week, if not the season, before several of the big brand shows had even happened. So, what is all the fuss about?
Chitose Abe has stayed true to her vision since her debut, and more and more people are becoming enamoured by it. Sacai doesn't sit in the conceptual fashion camp along with other Japanese designers like Junya Watababe or Rei Kawakubo's Commes des Garçons. There are no weird lumps and bumps or the kind of ruffles that seem so old-fashioned; there are just wearable classics with a twist. The magic is in the mixing and morphing of layering, juxtaposing elements in ways that actually make sense, clothes that can really be worn.
Her pieces feel like she's played experimental scientist to invent a whole new sensibility – one that is relevant and fresh. But when I wear a Sacai piece, it doesn't feel like I am carrying clumpy, experimental ideas by someone else, like the clothes are using me as a canvas; rather the clothes help me exude a sense of control and confidence. The humorous touches look like my idea and it’s this tongue-in-cheek attitude that is sure to get you stopped in the middle of the street by people asking to see every side of your coat.
Her polished art of hybridisation gives a leather biker or a Mongolian fur coat a new genome, while a bomber morphs into a tailored jacket like a Siamese twin, and padded down melts into knit – all of it covetable and gorgeous.
One could get a true sense of the warmth of feeling from the most impassioned clapping at the show’s finale. There was a lot of love in the room for this collection of wearable, future-classics confirming that Sacai was truly deserving of all that rapturous praise.
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