Holding a show all the way out in Yokohama just after 9 o’clock on a chilly Monday night takes some nerve. Still, there was a sense at Ancellm’s second runway show that designer Kazuya Yamachika had taken pains to get every detail just right. The venue—a former bank—was grand enough. “I’ve always loved the heavy, substantial architecture of the early Showa era, and this time we aimed for a slightly cleaner image with the clothes,” said Yamachika. “So even though it’s a bit far, the venue was a major factor this season.”
Yamachika is, above all, a fabric maniac. He puts no themes on his collections, and when asked about his inspirations or intentions he immediately turns to textiles. “It’s more about things I see and feel on a daily basis, or materials I like to touch, and I build the collection around those things,” he said during the post-show press huddle. “We’ve been trying out different things with various patterns and solid colors, applying different textures. I’m quite pleased with how it turned out.”
Yamachika conducts hundreds of mad experiments with fabrics each season—shrinking, washing, dyeing—and doing things that “you’re not really supposed to do,” like washing leather jackets. “I fail a lot,” he said. Still, when he succeeds—eureka! This season those moments were plentiful on the runway, from fuzzy wool cardigans to artfully dirtied denims, wide-wale corduroy, and rumpled leathers in a spectrum that spanned soft pink to apple green via a wash of earthy browns and chalky white. The distressed element—apparent in the rough-hemmed tailoring, faded work jackets, and chewed up sweater hems—was especially interesting, and helps Ancellm stand out from the many product-focused menswear brands saturating the market at the moment. All in all, a buyer-friendly collection, and worth the journey.
Latest from Ancellm
