Rainmaker’s signature is its capability to include Japanese sartorial touchpoints (specifically the kimono silhouette) into up to date clothes. This season, designer Kohichi Watanabe targeted on that cross-continental dialogue extra explicitly, and primarily based this assortment on the interaction between Japanese aesthetics and Western components.
Watanabe sought to mix a few of these idiosyncrasies collectively—see a white cotton shirt that wraps across the entrance like a karate gi, a softly structured grey suede jacket, and wool coats whose sleeves elegantly curved over the arms like bygone Japanese clothes. As has been the case together with his previous few collections, the imposing technical outerwear stole the present—he used Polartec fleece to create cloaks that strapped over coats and puffed out the sleeves, lending them a gorpcore samurai vibe.
It tracks that Rainmaker is predicated in Kyoto. The previous capital of Japan might not have the worldwide trend clout of Tokyo, however its style degree is mostly thought of to be extra refined and understated than its sprawling successor, and it has retained extra of the historical past of previous Japan. So it’s with Watanbe’s garments. Although conventional Japanese clothes largely fell out of favor after WWII (these days folks usually solely put on kimono on particular events resembling weddings, funerals, or journeys to the theater), the designer constantly re-ups its spirit in a method that feels convincing and up to date.
His blanket-like coats, fuzzy vests, and uber-sleek tailoring have the form of attraction that travels. Whether or not Rainmaker’s prospects will put on it on the streets of Ginza, Brooklyn, or East London hardly issues; this assortment would look simply as nice on Mars.
