In a dark tunnel in East London, designer Arashi Yanagawa brought punk and gothic rock alive again.
As the underground band Wild Daughter performed center stage, Yanagawa delivered a collection that let him revel in his ongoing obsession with music and subculture, filled with Nineties-inspired punk and rock references.
There was animal print and leather galore: Slim snakeskin pants were layered under a leopard-print tunic; trench coats came in glossy taupe or black leather; classic tailored suits were paired with corsets or see-through mesh tops, and leather jackets featured metal fringing.
John Lawrence Sullivan Men's Fall 2019
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Elsewhere, Yanagawa piled on the patterns and texture, layering snake and leopard-print separates with check coats or mixing matte and glossy leathers.
The rock star references and wet-hair, disheveled look of the models had a whiff of Hedi Slimane and felt a little too nostalgic of a time long gone.
But Yanagawa’s expert tailoring, as in a range of roomy, big-shouldered coats in heritage fabrics, added a more contemporary spin — and showed that he has the potential to take his designs in new, more current directions.