FASCINATE

The fundamental idea is the same.

In the 25-26AW season, we expressed the slightly structured, artisanal side of that era in a modern way, experimenting with interesting patterns and making statements through materials.

In contrast, with 26SS, I focused more strongly on another side of that era.

Yes. It’s the atmosphere of European streets from around the 1990s to 2000s that I saw in photos when I was young. It was the era when avant-garde brands like Ann Demeulemeester and Veronique Branquinho emerged. What fascinated me wasn’t necessarily their clothes themselves, but the way young people would take those clothes and wear them with their own sense of style, that unfinished, raw feeling really captivated me.

Exactly. Taking seemingly worthless vintage clothing and making it look cool purely through sense and styling, that’s the image I had in mind.

The starting point for this season was the idea of mixing The Viridi-anne’s slightly eccentric design sensibility from around 2008 with that European street vibe of the era. In contrast to AW’s structured approach, this time I kept the patterns as simple as possible, focusing on the silhouette and that effortless “ease” when worn.

I wanted to create clothes that you’d want to wear every day, pieces that don’t make you look like you’re trying too hard when you wear them. In terms of specific items, the first one that comes to mind is the leather jacket.

This perfectly embodies the image of “a piece you’d expect to find in a thrift store with no value, casually picked up and thrown on by a kid from the streets.” Through processing, we’ve recreated the look of a jacket that’s been worn for five or ten years, but at its core, it’s just an ordinary, unremarkable jacket no one would pay much attention to. That’s the effortless kind of cool I wanted to express.

I think one of The Viridi-anne’s signature images is the nylon parka with a tactical vibe. At one point, we even leaned into a more authentic outdoor-wear construction with seam tape and such, but what ultimately feels natural to us is expressing unique character through garment dyeing and special processing.

This season, we took pitch-black fabric and over-dyed it in black again to achieve an even deeper shade of black. The other variation was treated with a vintage finish to create a worn-in, uneven black that looks like it’s been worn for years. I like it so much that I even made a personal one for myself.

This material and this set-up combination are my favorite style this season. Cotton tencel is initially quite stiff, but after processing, it develops a perfect texture, substantial yet soft, with just a bit of drape. I wanted to fully bring out the charm of this material.

Exactly. That perfectly captures the image I wanted to express: young people on the streets of Europe in the late 1990s to early 2000s. It’s like they’re wearing workwear you’d expect an older man to wear, but in a rough, casual way. The belt is just wrapped around with no buckle, completely unpolished. That sense of not trying too hard is exactly what I love.

I even had two sample pairs of these pants made for myself and wore them throughout the Paris exhibition. Of course, I also placed an order for the jacket.

It started when I went to an exhibition of the painter Aubrey Beardsley this spring. I’ve admired him since my twenties; he was a painter from the late 19th-century Art Nouveau period, and I was once again deeply moved by his decadent and beautiful worldview.

From there, I began researching various Art Nouveau patterns and thought it would be interesting to express those slightly old-fashioned designs, like medieval wallpaper, through embroidery. In the context of 2000s fashion, it might have a bit of the vibe of old Dries Van Noten as well.

That piece was intentionally designed to feel “messy,” or rather, to look a bit “unfinished.” Personally, I really love it. It almost gives off the vibe of something handed down from your mother, like a hand-me-down sweater.

The zipper area is shrunken while the other parts are stretched out and loose. This kind of calculated “messiness” connects directly to what I call “ease.”

I’m extremely pleased with these. Though honestly, since they’re quite expensive, I’m not sure how well they’ll sell (laughs). The AW boots turned out so well that for SS, I asked to create shoes instead. I told them I wanted something sleeker than the bulkier boots, and together we started from selecting the wooden shoe form.

That’s exactly right. I specifically requested, “Since they’re in-heel shoes, could we wrap the heel entirely with a single piece of leather?” They were able to make it with no seams other than at the back of the heel. I think the result came out incredibly well.

Past in-heel designs tapered downward and were a bit unstable, but this time, by flaring out the heel slightly, we achieved both stability and a modern design aesthetic.

Yes, that’s exactly right. This was a method that was common among avant-garde brands in the 2000s, but I’ve noticed it’s rarely seen these days. However, if we were to do it, I wanted the print to look more like a pattern rather than a direct photograph.

So, I spoke with Eda-san, the photographer who has been shooting our looks for years, and used some of his personal works — photos of forests and rivers.

The aim was to create a visual ambiguity, where you can’t quite tell if it’s a landscape or just a pattern when worn under a jacket.

As for accessories like keychains and belts, I wanted to express a sense of nonchalance by letting them hang loosely, almost carelessly. Even the smallest items are infused with this season’s atmosphere.

I’m glad to hear that. Without changing the core of what we do, we want to continue honestly creating things that we ourselves believe are cool.