A gritty Shibuya back alley provided an appropriate backdrop for this season’s models, their tattooed chests and bruised faces (makeup, of course) blending in with those of the youth gangs who have long prowled these streets. The show unfolded in an aggressive succession of iconic bad boy staples such as torn jeans, oversized leather jackets, ankle-length coats, and unevenly faded hoodies, accessorized with turbans and ball chains. While these individual looks invited viewers to take a walk on the wild side, the collection still struck a balance with a subtle yet unmistakable air of elegance as a whole.

According to the collection notes, this season was inspired by the garments worn by laborers in 1950s and ’60s Germany. The roughness that pervades the collection thus limns not the pent-up frustrations of delinquent youths, but rather, those of tough-as-nails workers. The result is a new style that folds the ephemeral sheen of pervasive American exports—bikers, cowboys, rock stars—into the traditions of working-class European clothing culture.

When formulating the collection, designer Koji Kamiya said he sought to explore the dual themes of “impulsiveness” and “universality.” A tall order, it would seem, to simultaneously balance a hedonistic surrender to the zeitgeist with an absolute aesthetic sense impervious to the shifting tides of time. Yet Kamiya managed to collapse time, seamlessly sublimating these covalent binaries into something that resembles yet transcends “street style.”

It will be interesting to see where Kamiya takes this precocious new style—indeed so new as to not have a name to describe it—as the brand continues to grow and mature. If this latest collection was any indication, KAMIYA has a promising future ahead.


Photo by Shun Mizuno