John Lawrence Sullivan punched his way into the hearts of Berlin Fashion Week to the sound of metal riffs.
The Japanese designer Arashi Yanagawa, who founded the label, was inspired by the shared mentality of his past career as a boxer and that of Norwegian black metal, he explains in an interview after the show. This includes strength, independence and looking forward. There is no going back!
Norway, with its snowy forests, also appears as a print in the collection. He got to know them through a visit to friends in Scandinavia who were active in the metal scene and had parties outside in the cold.
The collection is a perfect fit for Berlin, where temperatures climbed to minus ten degrees on Monday and snow partially covered the sidewalks. But it wasn’t just the conditions that were the same. Even if the German capital was not a source of inspiration, the look seemed made for the city and its residents.
Not only did the show take place in the industrial location Kraftwerk and was therefore in the same complex as the well-known techno club Tresor, the collection, dominated by leather coats, gloves and over-the-knee boots, also seemed to be made for the party-loving crowd. But they also impressed buyer Shuhei Iwasa from the Japanese department store chain Takashimaya. Rivet and spike details on pieces such as boots and bags as well as transparent mesh long sleeves rounded off the look inspired by subcultures.
The rock look was contrasted with straightforward tailoring, with the suit trousers being cut tighter again.
In addition to black, the color palette also featured individual accents such as silver in suits, green in knitted sweaters and shades of brown in coats with a fur look.
