Remember there is the word dress in dressing up. That was the takeaway from the fall collection of Sacai where designer Chitose Abe cut a lineup’s worth of them out of a masculine wardrobe.
Staples such as bonded neoprene parkas, army sweaters and suit jackets were spliced with elements traditionally considered part of the female wardrobe, ranging from A-line shapes and ruffled hems to elegantly pleated sheer panels to lace inserts that swung out from pleats.
What had the audience a-twitter were the thigh-high boots cunningly disguised as tuxedo trouser legs that stood on their own, with nothing holding them.
“What I’ve been doing for 25 years is pursue a new silhouette with our signature hybrids,” she said backstage, and it showed in how eminently wearable the results were.
Statement knits, made oversized in yarn and proportion, nodded to the early days of Abe’s career. They were given structure by the tailoring element she fused into them.
Further on, she took pairs of blazers and bisected them, rebuilding them into single entities that featured here a drop collar effect at the back, there a sleeve and shoulder hanging from transparent tulle on the upper arm. Others looked like a cropped over-layer had just been shrugged on as a styling effect.
Ultimately, the result felt fresh and current, at once wholly Sacai while being in step with the dressier route that’s been taken by many this season.
