The slow creak of footsteps in the snow, the echoing hoot of an owl, the pitter-patter of rain. These were some of the sounds that played before Irenisa’s debut runway show, and served to convey a sense of the ephemeral beauty of the natural world that inspired the collection.
Irenisa was founded three years ago by Yu Kobayashi and Yuji Abe, a clever duo who share a love for craftsmanship. Abe is the more austere, minimal force in the creative relationship, while Kobayashi—who cut his teeth as a patternmaker at Yohji Yamamoto for five years—brings the flourishes of artistic detail.
“Our tastes are different from the beginning, and so are our ideas and design approaches,” said Abe. “There were quite a few conflicts this season, but eventually we found a similarity in our aesthetics.” After adjusting a color here, or sleeve length there, the two managed to reach a level of harmony that made their first runway show feel confident and convincing.
While the brand is still in its infancy, the duo have well over a decade’s worth of design experience between them, and infuse their clothes with the details to prove it. Cleanly tailored shirts were cut with complex patterns to facilitate more movement in the shoulders, and to fit well no matter how broad or slight the wearer’s frame (Irenisa primarily makes menswear, but intends for its clothes to work for anyone).
The bold corduroy used for some standout jackets and trousers was painted with sweeps of earthy grays and browns that recalled the bark peeling off a birch tree. That particular quirk was achieved by working with an artisan in Kyoto who practices kyo-yuzen, a dyeing technique that dates back to 17th century Japan and involves brushing dye into the fabric by hand—something that Abe said he chose because the three-dimensional ridges of the corduroy mean the dyeing can’t be done without human intervention (at least not yet, anyway).
The duo think of themselves as “clothing sculpture-artists.” If that sounds highfalutin, it’s all part of the plan. Irenisa’s thing is about “catching the sarcasm hiding in the chic,” which Kobayashi explained as trying to create elegant clothing while maintaining a sense of humor. In the modern fashion business, humor is crucial, especially when you’re going to painstaking lengths just to achieve a subtly different cut of sleeve. That beautifully dyed corduroy, for instance, is neither a time- nor cost-effective way of reaching the final result, but it certainly feels special, which is the desired effect, after all.
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