In Japanese, the loan word ‘gap’ is used to describe a surprising difference or contrast: like a bodybuilder with a penchant for flower arranging, say, or a grandma who listens exclusively to hyperpop. Fumito Ganryu’s spring collection applied this conceptual gap to clothing, taking seemingly contrasting elements—workwear and tailoring, the high-fashion and the everyday casual—and delighting in the difference. The Comme des Garçons alum, who is 50 this year, had especially been thinking about the clothes he wore in his salad days, and the chasm that exists between then and now.
Suit jackets were tightened up in what he explained was a rebellion against the oversized look of the moment. “I felt that the sharp, slim-fitting jackets from the 2010s offered the best silhouette I’ve ever worn in my life, and it might be the right time to express that kind of style again,” he said during a showroom walkthrough in Tokyo. Back in those Hedi days of yore, those tight jackets were commonly paired with drainpipe trousers, but Ganryu proposed more roomy silhouettes too. “I found that unbalanced proportion cool,” he said.
Another throwback style reimagined for the moment were the tight tees, given contrasting bandeau layers across the chest to be more flattering at any age. “I used to wear skintight tees when I was younger,” he said, “so I wanted to create an inner layer like that, but that wouldn’t be too form-fitting.”
Elsewhere, cargo coats and tailored jackets were livened up with pocket watch chains that were both decorative and functional: the T-bars could be linked at the chest, said Ganryu, so that you could drape the jacket over your shoulders and not worry about it going askew. Many of the looks were accessorized with avant-garde hats that looked like tasseled lampshades, intentionally styled with more low-key pieces (another gap).
Overall, it was a collection about appreciating the in-between moments of fashion; the gaps in aging generations and in shifting trends. “The transitional phase is where the chaos lies, and that’s actually what makes it so fascinating,” said Ganryu. “Transitional periods create all sorts of gaps, and designers who take fresh risks in those spaces, well, that’s the kind of creator I want to be.”
