Last year, fans of now defunct fashion label Ganryu, were left crying into their drop-crotch jeans and fiddling with their batwing cardigans, when news reached them that the brand’s owner, the vast Comme des Garçons Group, was closing the label. Fumito Ganyru was the former pattern-cutter at Junya Watanabe turned designer, who spun together streetwear with clever design; workwear fabrics with bold exaggerated shapes. It was the most “street” offspring of the Comme stable. Then it was gone. But now he’s back and showing at Florence menswear week, Pitti, under his own full name and independent. So what do we know? We know he’s still incredible – more so. Us fans of Ganryu-old will wear just about everything, for next Spring, as the designer ran a studious hand over sportswear codes and a world of relaxed tailoring including a “best basics” of hoodies and t-shirts, blousons, cardigans and shorts. When we tuned into the show’s slow piano and dripping water soundtrack, it all started to make more sense as the clothes riffed on long hooded cloaks worn in desert climes through to diving-fabric-alike coach jackets and wide trousers. A bright green T-shirt simply said ‘WATER’ on the front. To add to the mix, a look inside the average washing machine drum, as wide trousers stuck to skinny ones and hung off the back; a yellow jacket hung round the front of another. Each model wore flip flops, of a kind, held in place with clear rubber fastenings as if combed from a beach. A topical, environmentally-conscious and beautiful return to fashion for Fumito Ganryu.
