STYLE NOTES: WE SPY SACAI

Autumn/Winter 2014 Sacai collection

Although Japanse fashion house Sacai has been on the style radar since the brand’s birth in 1999, it has been a well kept secret of the sartorial cognescenti. That was of course until Paris Fashion Week when the brand “graduated from underground to unmissable” in the words of Lisa Armstrong, fashion editor at the Telegraph. Get set for this brand to become a household name in fashion.

Designer Chitose Abe (pronounce it Chitosay Abay) has been at the helm of what ‘till now was an undiscovered style gem for the past 15 years, having previously cut her cloth at Commes De Garcons with Junya Watanabe before deciding to head out on her own. Abe is a real designer’s designer and her mastery with clothes is evident in her most recent collection which features tweeds, leather, Mongolian sheepskin, cashmere and wool. Injecting an element of style and real ingeniousness Abe’s garments seemingly morph from one thing to another. What looks like a skirt in the front is revealed to be culottes in the back. The cashmere jumpers and cardigans are enhanced with delicate and feminine sunray chiffon pleats at the back.

The Japanese fashion aesthetic, a fusion of utilitarianism with youthful cool, that Abe and her peers Junya Watanabe and Rei Kawakubo possess in seemly limitless supply is, I feel, as massively influential to fashion globally as ever, despite Swedish brands being tipped as ones-to-watch this year. Sacai Autumn/Winter 2014 managed to mesh perfectly the “wow” of the showpiece with wear-ability and versatility factors, important in times when sustainability and longevity are vital. The leather and sheepskin coats were particularly lust-worthy items, and the tartan-print chiffon pleated skirts where a nice alternative to the wool-blend body-con versions seen this winter. 

Autumn/Winter 2014 Sacai collection

STYLE NOTES: WE SPY SACAI

Autumn/Winter 2014 Sacai collection

Although Japanse fashion house Sacai has been on the style radar since the brand’s birth in 1999, it has been a well kept secret of the sartorial cognescenti. That was of course until Paris Fashion Week when the brand “graduated from underground to unmissable” in the words of Lisa Armstrong, fashion editor at the Telegraph. Get set for this brand to become a household name in fashion.

Designer Chitose Abe (pronounce it Chitosay Abay) has been at the helm of what ‘till now was an undiscovered style gem for the past 15 years, having previously cut her cloth at Commes De Garcons with Junya Watanabe before deciding to head out on her own. Abe is a real designer’s designer and her mastery with clothes is evident in her most recent collection which features tweeds, leather, Mongolian sheepskin, cashmere and wool. Injecting an element of style and real ingeniousness Abe’s garments seemingly morph from one thing to another. What looks like a skirt in the front is revealed to be culottes in the back. The cashmere jumpers and cardigans are enhanced with delicate and feminine sunray chiffon pleats at the back.

The Japanese fashion aesthetic, a fusion of utilitarianism with youthful cool, that Abe and her peers Junya Watanabe and Rei Kawakubo possess in seemly limitless supply is, I feel, as massively influential to fashion globally as ever, despite Swedish brands being tipped as ones-to-watch this year. Sacai Autumn/Winter 2014 managed to mesh perfectly the “wow” of the showpiece with wear-ability and versatility factors, important in times when sustainability and longevity are vital. The leather and sheepskin coats were particularly lust-worthy items, and the tartan-print chiffon pleated skirts where a nice alternative to the wool-blend body-con versions seen this winter. 

Autumn/Winter 2014 Sacai collection