YOSHIO KUBO

The Japanese designer Yoshio Kubo got his fashion education and experience in America. He studied at the Philadelphia University School of Textile and Science, where he graduated in 2000, and worked for 4 years in New York as an assistant designer for haute couture designer “Robert Danes”. In 2004, influenced and stimulated by the chaotic assemble of cultures in the States, he returned to his homeland, where he founded his original label Yoshio Kubo. "There are so many ways of getting dressed in the world, and still people choosing simple outfits for their daily life, therefore, I am interested in designing clothing that makes people think about what they are wearing and the meaning of details," he explains. His debut in Japan's Fashion week was in 2008, thankfully to his success, he established his name. Up to this time is style is distinguished by deconstruction and recreation of traditional tailoring, along with patterns and nature-inspired prints.

Yoshio Kubo’s fall/winter men’s wear collection may have been slightly more toned down compared to some of his previous offerings, but it still had the same street-style edge. Kubo showed several tailored suits in gray and black, but with unexpected details such as panels of contrasting jacquard fabric and ribbing around the ankles of trousers. Camouflage and animal motifs — like a tiger or large lion head — appeared on slim-fitting shirts, wide capes and varsity jackets. All-over prints of hand tools and autumn leaves added a whimsical feeling.

My favorite look from the collection goes to the 4 piece gray ensemble (minus the tiny man bag).  What’s your favorite look?

FALL 2013 MENSWEAR - Miharayasuhiro

A member of the new guard of Japanese designers currently carving their niche outside Nippon, Mihara Yasuhiro brings a fresh vision to the menswear circuit every season. AW13 explored the slick style and devil may care attitude of Chinpara (which means “punk” in Japan), while inspirations prior have ranged from 1950’s biker gangs to youth culture and the navy. It would appear Mihara was logging onto the Rotten/Vicious connotations of the word when he referred to "the non-conformist attitudes of the seventies" in the notes that accompanied his presentation. But look up "punk" and you'll find that the word used to mean "gangster," and that rang much truer with the story Mihara was telling on his catwalk. Don't think Black Flag, think Black Rain, a 1989 movie by Ridley Scott that starred Michael Douglas as a cop facing down Yakuza, the local mafia, in Tokyo. They were just the kind of hard-faced, slicked-back, sharp-dressed young men Mihara offered up as models tonight. "Violent, but with their own culture," he explained postshow. Like a gang, in other words, or maybe even a secret society.

The skull-and-crossbones embroidery was typical of the Sukajan jackets worn by Japanese thugs. The tone-on-tone print on a jacket could have been yakuza tattoos. Reptile prints and weaves also suggested the snakes that are stalwarts of gang tattoos. When Mihara gilded a snakeskin suit, it was just the sort of outfit you'd imagine an arrogant young hood donning to draw attention to himself, though anyone who stared too long would get a good kicking from the wearer's solid metal-toed shoes.

In this context, there was a bizarre delicacy in the traditional embroidery techniques used to weave real gold through a python-patterned suit and matching puffer vest. But the dark inspiration weighed heavy on the collection. The palette was somber, mostly black and charcoal, bar some flash-the-cash prints. The silhouettes tended toward the lean formality that seems to be the favorite of gangsters everywhere. Mihara is such an expert technician that his hybrid of biker and puffa jackets could be a must-have piece of outerwear come Fall 2013. Though disparate in theme, Yasuhiro’s collections are unmistakeable in the urban earthiness that ties each one together.

Diesel Black Gold Fall 2013 Menswear Collection

Diesel's latest collection for Black Gold envisaged a psychedelic rock band on a worlds tour—plural, as in our world, the next, and the next. As The Cosmic Tour—Diesel's name for the collection—tripped through the universe, it did so in slithery, rock-god style. This collection was a natty, suited-up one, spit-shine polished right down to its patent-leather penny loafers, but the breath of other planets came through via satiny fabrics a man from Mars would love. Hairy furs and geometric prints, extrapolated from cathedral-meets-concert-hall graphics, tricked out the lot. Below you will find my favorite pieces and fashion stylizations from the Fall 2013 Diesel Black Gold collection.