March 23, 2021 |
The sheer epic-ness of a Noir Kei Ninomiya show could make any fashion naysayer crave an IRL catwalk experience. Like his mentor, Rei Kawakubo, Kei Ninomiya will be showing strictly in Tokyo till the pandemic is well and truly behind us. He called his latest collection Metal Couture, showcased in front of an intimate, socially-distanced audience straight after the Comme des Garçons show earlier this week.
There’s always a dark underbelly to Ninomiya’s collections: his impressive floral structures often come worn with BDSM harnesses. His headpieces? As beautiful as they are menacing. Though, this time around, things got even grittier. The cocooning dandelion and roses that have informed collections gone by were replaced by cactai-like prickles, shielding leather jackets, bulbous tulle frocks and couture-like hoop skirts. The ideal attire for making sure your fellow supermarket-goers keep two meters apart on your next trip to Morrisons? Maybe so.
Organza concoctions kept in spirit with Ninomiya’s gothic side, paired alongside polka-dotted dresses which had an air of Comme and a spikey puffa jacket which appeared like a cluster of outlandish matter – all worn alongside the brand’s latest collab with Church’s. You could call it escapist fashion, though Kei Ninomiya’s protective layers couldn’t feel more attuned to reality.
Photography courtesy of Noir Kei Ninomiya.
