When we think about flowers and blooms, our minds immediately conjure up vivid colours, soft pastels and the romanticism of a Spring bouquet.
Yet, so far, every time Japanese designer Kei Ninomiya moved from a floral theme in his collections, he seemed to reference a Gothic decadence, a certain funereal beauty and dark "Fleurs du Mal".
The thread continued in his A/W 2019 collection, showcased in the Salle Wagram basement during Paris Fashion Week.
The collection opened with designs that dramatically distorted the human body in a classic Comme des Garçons style. These structures (because it would be impossible to call them dresses…) were composed of circles that formed a trellis-like sculpture on which ruched taffeta elements were anchored. This was just Ninomiya’s latest experiment in his stitchless technique.
A former Comme des Garçons pattern cutter (he joined the house in 2008), the designer mainly works with black, hence the name of his line, Noir Kei Ninomiya.
But, as we have seen in previous numerous posts about him, his monochromatic palette allows him to expand his research on textile techniques, experimenting with innovative seams and flexible elements.
More experiments along these lines followed in this collection with taffeta elements climbing over a nude tulle skirt, or a sort of wicker sphere that was woven around the torso of a model or employed to create a skirt, almost a crinoline from a distant and dystopian future.
Ninomiya's universe is intricately complex as he seems to create some of his designs following the rules that regulate geodesic domes, or painstakingly assembling his creations bit by bit, aggregating together small elements and forming modular dresses.
Fashion-wise this is certainly not new as Paco Rabanne was the first designer who assembled clothes rather than sewing them, but this is a new and ingenious way of doing things, as Ninomiya doesn't stop to one technique, but keeps on experimenting and implementing, using buttons, hooks, rings and knotted fabric.
The collection wasn't all just technical as there were softer moments and more wearable pieces such as tuxedos with cropped jackets, biker jackets reinvented as corsets (like Rei Kawakubo, Ninomiya has developed a passion for reinventing this wardrobe staple), plus functional aprons and trousers with pleated seams (a welcome addition in Ninomiya's universe).
In between showpieces and wearable clothes there were conceptual pieces that are definitely not for the faint-hearted but that prove highly desirable like Ninomiya's origami skirts or his vast sculpted skirts that seemed to be made with pillow-like elements or with inflatable tubes.
The runway closed with over the top sculptures covered in organza flowers: silhouettes and volumes became bigger, swallowing the models, while Ninomiya relaxed his rigid rules and also employed powder pink for his blooming confections (on the runway there were also some splashes of purple, plus the red of the roses decorating the wigs by Azuma Makoto).
There have been more critics, fashionistas and influencers following the label since Ninomiya started doing a proper show, and also collaborated with Moncler's Genius Group project.
This sudden interest, the spiritual connection between him and Rei Kawakubo and maybe a sort of link between this collection and the moods in Comme des Garçons' A/W 19 presentation make you wonder if Ninomiya may be destined to become the legitimate heir of Kawakubo one day in the distant future. Long may she reign, but, if that ever happens, the scepter of the voluminously conceptual and the intricately complex will be in safe hands.
