Simultaneously embracing and rejecting form was on designers Sen Kawahara, Yuki Itakura and Nobutaka Kobayashi’s minds when conceptualising their menswear designs for IM Men’s AW26 collection. Staged yesterday at the Collège des Bernardins – a 13th-century schoolhouse nestled in Paris’s Latin Quarter – the offering posed the question, “Could the sensation that rises in everyday life, that makes you want to straighten up, be expressed through a piece of cloth?”
This season, which marks the third outing of IM Men, the brand retained a focus on the versatility of a singular sheet of cloth and the transformative visual effect it can have when draped across the body. The garments honoured the codes of the brand’s eponymous founder, whilst still driving it forward as a pioneering force in technology-focused menswear. Elevating this specific collection were pieces which commanded a formal demeanour, interrogating what it means to be “proper” through dress.
Perhaps the most striking example of this symbolism was the Dawn segment of the show. Here, artisanal dying techniques and a colour scheme of sunny yellows and cobalt blues were employed for long flowing coats and scarves to evoke the beauty of the changing skies, from dusk to dawn.
As expected, the collection’s power lay in its outerwear. Pillowy whites, heather grey and soothing ecru shades reigned supreme. Wool was married with reversible satin and draped asymmetrically in a poncho-like structure, while heat-reactive insulated jackets enveloped the models in plush layers of warmth.
Streamlined suits crafted entirely from premium Japanese wool stole the show, as did woven, brightly hued Kasuri ensembles, which featured four different strains of yarn. To these, accessories added a surprising contrast. Elsewhere, the functional beauty of everyday objects was emphasised through supple pleated bags and a playful leather purse shaped like a quotidian coffee cup.
Proving that unconventional textiles can lend form to softly draped silhouettes, the designers succeed in satisfying the Issey Miyake man.
Photography courtesy of Issey Miyake.
