Ujoh (Q9403)

Designer Mitsuru Nishizaki hails from the school of Yohji Yamamoto. He spent seven years as a patternmaker for Y’s and Yohji Yamamoto, learning how to meticulously cut and drape before launching Ujoh in 2009; along the way, he developed a certain yen for deconstruction. That desire struck him this season as the best way to move Ujoh forward. “Scrap and build,” he explained after the show. “I wanted to make a new introduction—leaving the zippers open, one piece cut up.”It meant dabbling with avant-garde tailoring thatnonetheless remained wearable. A pinstripe blazer on model Rina Fukushi came apart at the shoulder seams, letting the striped work shirt below spill out the back. Other jackets had zippers running along the spine, drawn open to meet in the center, while double-face wool and mohair coats were torn up the arm to let ruffled sleeves peek through. The sliced-up suits felt like an accessible way to try slightly off-kilter dressing. So did a series of sheer, floor-grazing flounce skirts, slit high up one side and embroidered with pink, blue, or black thread. “It’s paisley, which is a classical motif, but I tried to make it sporty,” Nishizaki said, pointing to the collection’s other athletic nods (tearaway gabardine trousers, for one). A bit of edge, done easy.