Collection reviews and interviews with designers from Paris Fashion Week.

1. Exotic tops inspired by tropical destinations, floated through the latest col-
lection of Yusuke Takahashi‘s for Issey Miyake, departing the creation from a
particular Japanese impression. With a conceptual attitude the designer creat-
ed a new connection between tropical retreat and the luxury approach. As music
sounds filled the space, models walked a white wood runway, drawing attention to
enchanting jackets and perfectly cut bottoms. As stylish as witty at the same
time, the collection was like a beating of a butterfly’s wings bringing freshness
and summer reminiscence. Straightforward suaveness found the expression in full
of board creases short forms and blotchy ocean blue prints. As the show advanced
the motifs moved into an amalgamate of vivid Hawaiian shirt and all-pervasive
digital prints. The secret thoughts and feelings expressed in the selection of
prints and dramatic graphics handmade by Kyoto artisans. Miyake’s distinctive
pleating was dyed with four different blue shades. Cobalt brought shine and in-
tensity. A touch of playfulness was akin to a fresh air of summertime. Takahashi
proved that his sprightly viewpoint was exactly what the fashion house needed to
move into the lead. In the interview the designer acquainted us with his career
story, philosophy of the collection and upcoming future plans.
I N T E R V I E W W I T H Y U S U K E T A K A H A S H I
T H E M E N S W E A R D E S I G N E R B E H I N D I S S E Y M I Y A K E

2. KAROLINA: How did your fashion ca-
reer begin?
YUSUKE TAKASHI: I had lot of influ-
ences from my grandfather who was an
architect and the relationship with
him made me realize how I was fas-
cinated by all kinds of designs. I
studied textile design, criticism of
art and fashion design at university
in Tokyo and London. As I was study-
ing, I realized that I was captivat-
ed by Mr. Miyake’s works and how he
continues to create something new. I
won the SO-EN prize for young fash-
ion designers and that is how I was
introduced to Mr Miyake. I joined
MIYAKE DESIGN STUDIO shortly after.
K: The fashion industry is very com-
petitive. What were your experienc-
es, when you first started?
YT: When I first started I was given
an opportunities to design a shoe
line for the collection at 132 5.
ISSEY MIYAKE. Those designs ended
up not being produced as a product,
however this experience taught me to
consider not only about the design
but also its productivity in order
to actually sell them as a product in
the market.
K: How would you describe the signa-
ture Issey Miyake style?
YT: Textile research, simple shapes
and comfort for everyday life.
K: What is the philosophy and main
inspiration behind the collection?
YT: I was inspired by exotic resorts,
and the SPRING SUMMER 2015 ISSEY MI-
YAKE MEN collection took on a pop and
tropical new dandyism.
YT: Unusual fibers such as abaca, pine-
apple and kibira (type of linen) were
utilized to make elegant and sporty
resort wear. I hope the collection
invited you on a journey through ram-
pant jungle to white sandy beaches,
diving into shiny emerald green seas
in search of dark ocean bed myster-
ies.
K: How important is the fashion week
presentation to you?
YT: Show is important for me as it en-
ables to show our teamwork and to get
feedbacks from international press;
it also helps me to understand the
expectations from our customers.
K: What is your favorite piece from
the SS15 collection?
YT: For me, the 1st look of the show
is very representative from this col-
lection with tropical textile, exot-
ic fruit prints and elegant attitude.
I like the blue gradation suit very
much, which is also characteristic
of this tropical dandyism…. And the
over sized gray coat represents a man
of the exotic resort very well.
K: What’s your approach when design-
ing a menswear collection?
YT: The pieces gone through research
and development to suit everyday life
of modern men.
K: What is your ultimate aspiration
and where do you see yourself in 3
years time?
YT: I hope I can continue my re-
searches and travel around the world
for great inspirations. My ambition
is to renew ISSEY MIYAKE MEN style
while keeping alive the heritage of
Mr. Miyake.

3. In the Spring Summer 2015 collection
the “Antwerp’s Six” designer combined
fascination and fear. Presenting the
full beauty of his collection along
with extraordinariness and overabun-
dance in equal degree he accentuated
a dissimilarity of the world we are
living. Experimenting not only with
motifs fusion but also with the pre-
sentation form he decided to show
the collection at Garage Lübeck. His
Men’s collection entitled „Whambam”
was a voice of disharmony, contrast-
ing a paradise with a veiled darkness
of the world. Walter Van Beirendonck
like no one else merged such murky
thoughts with such apparently buoy-
ant and chucklesome garments. Exotic
reconfiguration combining bird-alike
look, with make-up creation divid-
ing faces into two different parts,
being a sign of the world ambigui-
ty and unpredictability. Some sil-
huettes were kept in monochrome,
others bursted with colors. Prints
were perfectly mixed, brocade parts
added to suffused with floral motifs
for intensified richness highlighting
the sublimit tailoring of clothing.
Beautiful world full of variability
emerged through the collection. To
know more about a mix of inspirations
and designer’s inspiring work ethics
we spoke with Mr. Beirendonck.
KAROLINA: Your show was truly vision-
ary...
WALTER VAN BEIRENDONCK: You know, ev-
ery collection says its own story.
It’s important because the way I work
in fashion is also a form of communi-
cation and I really like to express
something.
K: What was your inspiration for this
year?
WVB: It’s a bit complicated, as it’s
more about the actual situation of the
world that we are living in. On one
hand it’s a beautiful world, beauti-
ful nature, animals, everything; but
on the other hand there is so much ag-
gression around, so much pollution and
constant war... That’s what I wanted
to express in this collection.
K: I can clearly see that in your
designs. The shark motive is a bold
expression of anger. In undistrurbed
nature, an animal that on it’s own is
not dangerous for anybody but here we
can see the aggression and pain. The
paterns remind me of ”horror vacui”.
By putting so many aspects together:
patterns, floral motives, animal fig-
ures, shining pieces you achieved an
expression of a chaos in the world.
T H E I N D E P E N D E V I S I O N O F WA L T E R VA N
B E I R E N D O N C K
Walter Van Beirendonck, the designer that and make us mindful
about modern world ‘s challanges, . Each of his collections is an
opportunity to broader the horizons, be more conscious and react.
For him the runway presentation is a moment to make a statement,
expressed with his silhouettes. His strong consciousness and care
for the world separates him from others through individualistic
and distinctive designs.

4. K: The collection is indeed very so-
phisticated.
What are your plans for the future?
Will your line go further in the di-
rection of rising awareness? Do you
plan any major changes?
WVB: I’m working very spontaneously.
I cannot predict how the collection
will evolve, It’s evolving every sea-
son. I have a complete freedom as I
have very loyal clients who are fol-
lowing me and who are also expecting
this kind of adventurous collections.
I recive a lot of respect now, from
press and buyers, as I do things in
a different way. It’s really difficult
today to find something original. There
is some kind of unification going on in
fashion and a lot of fashion houses
are creating the same things because
that’s “commercially” wise. They are
all about markting, I work in a dif-
ferent way.
K: Yes, minimalism is definitelly a
trend that many brands start to adopt.
WVB: Yes, but I’m working through emo-
tions and through excitement and I
believe this kind of delight is what
clients are searching for.
K: And for uniqueness...
WVB: In the end, I think it’s more
interesting to buy one unique piece
during the season and wear it together
with more minimalist or basic style.
It will make the look very sophisti-
cated.
WVB: That’s it. I called it WHAM-
BAM, it’s an expression that is sup-
posed to make people think and re-
act: to try to improve it or change
the reality. It was exactly what the
collection’s morive is about about:
beautiful nature, landscapes, beach-
es but also blood...
The second important inspiration is
Papua New Guinea, I think people
there are really fantastic.They have
incredible aesthetics and beautiful
rituals where they admire nature.
K: Is this what we are separated from,
as a european civilization?
WVB: Yes. There is also religion and
different beliefs, which are very
important in this collection. People
thought that the planes and boats
that appeared in Papua New Guinea
in the 40s, during the war between
Japan and Jamaica, were sent by God
and arriving from the aliens world.
The feeling for people, leaving thir
privative and peaceful life, who sud-
denly saw a plane must have been a
very big shock. One of those planes
that came was “Whambam”, so that’s
why i used this name for the collec-
tion.
K: Your collection is full of animal
motives, and nature. Could you tell us
more about the fabrics and patterns.
WVB: To me the fabrics are very im-
portant. I had a very particular type
of material in mind. I was searching
for couture-type of fabrics. Some of
them were made specially for the col-
lection. The way I combine them is
also very exclusive.

5. Spring/Summer 2015 drowned in mar-
velous and bizarre sphere of Henrik
Vibskov’s creation. Driven by a fan-
ciful notion of construction sites,
bricks, swimming pools and water
sports designer built an inner world
in the open air space of Parisian
Place Baudoyer.
Collaborating with Norwegian Nation-
al Opera and Ballet and choreogra-
pher Alexander Ekman, Henrik Vibskov
achieved a „show in show” effect,
with a full of expression water per-
formance and runway space around. In
a specially constructed pool filled
with water, dancers started the first
part of an unique show experience,
along with splashing water and el-
egant moves. Through the sounds of
the brand new music composition by
Mikael Karlsson with that references
to Tchaikovsky’s original Swan Lake
the runway part started too.
Models embellished with monk-like
headpieces and neoprene water shoes
walked the catwalk, presenting an un-
conventional collection bursting with
bricks motifs and urban inspiration.
Round and curved silhouettes, trans-
parency and the reflection of body
shapes all are consistent concepts
of the collection. Classical Vibskov
style shorts came along with long
and tensile upper bodies. Intensive
orange, white and mint sticked out
amongst subdued dark blues and curry
shades.
It has been the second season in a
row when Vibskov co-operated with
an organization in India to produce
hand-manufactured khadi cotton, us-
ing only traditional techniques. For
the first time, the designer came up
with producing styles using an inno-
vative mud and indigo printing tech-
nique. To know more about his inspi-
ration and the creation process of
SS2015, we have interviewed Viskov
just after his remarkable show.
C R E A T I V E S P H E R E S O F H E N R I K V I B S K O V
S S 1 5 C O L L E C T I O N
Karolina: How would you describe
your signature style?
Henrik Vibscov: We try to work on a
lot of different things. I try to
figure up little a bit of structure
motion into our collection, somewhat
of show pieces. As for that we tried
to move in on a new code by making
different structures and formations,
but at the same time we fancied for
a partly whimsical and funny show.
The most important element and sig-
nificant identification factor of Hen-
rik Vibskov collection is a print.
K: Your collection is certainly
abounding in bewildering prins.
HV: We do what we are good at.
K: What was the main inspiration for
the SS15 collection?
HV: The main inspiration was the
world of machines, the idea and pro-
cess of how we build and construct
buildings. Than we aimed to embody
a diconstructure effect by drawing
audience’s attention into the out-
landish things that were happening
in the water.
K: What „being in the industry”
means to you?
HV: It’s kind of mix, you know. I’m
trying to compound work with a drop
of fun. I like to play with garmets
design. This is my subsequent men’s
collection season. I feel strong af-
ter my presence around for a while.
K: What was the biggest challenge
amongst your Fashion Week prepara-
tions?
HV: I think logistics. The fact that
we are not based here [in Paris].
We create things in Paris but we are
still a bit outside, however it’s
also a big asset that we are not
based here.
K: What are our plans for the upcom-
ing months?
HV: There are a few. I will have
several retrospective exhibitions
going on.
K: Where?
HV: Moscow and Stockholm. As
planned, I will also collaborate
with Bjork in Brussel.
K: Congratulations on that and thank
you very much for welcoming us to
the show.
I N T E R V I E W W I T H H E N R I K V I B S K O V
S S 1 5 - P A R I S F A S H I O N W E E K .