Taking inspiration from a film for a fashion collection can be tricky: some designers, for example, tend to interpret the inspirations too literally, coming up with garments that look like costumes.
This is certainly not the case with Undercover's Jun Takahashi who explored in previous collections the possibilities offered by Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey", the dystopian world of Alex and his fellow droogs in "A Clockwork Orange", Walter Hill's The Warriors and Luca Guadagnino's "Suspiria".
For his A/W 2020 menswear collection Takahashi moved again from a movie – this time it was Akira Kurosawa's 1957 black and white film "Kumonosu Jo", literally "Castle of the Spider's Web", better known as "Throne of Blood".
The film is a version of Macbeth, relocated in the 16th century Sengoku period, so in feudal Japan, and it follows the vicissitudes of warrior Washizu, interpreted on the screen by actor Toshiro Mifune.
The film features a very physical scene with Toshiro Mifune trying to avoid a shower of arrows raining on him.
Despite the fact that Mifune wore boards underneath his costume to protect himself, he looks genuinely scared in this scene as he was really subjected to this frightening deluge of arrows fired at him by master archers.
The realism of the scene was produced by the arrows zipping close by, hitting the wooden building behind the actor and getting stuck in the walls.
Showcased at the Cirque d'Hiver-Bouglione in Paris (where the prolonged strikes caused its delay for almost an hour…), Takahashi's runway featured a section reminiscent of this iconic scene.
Washizu here was reinterpreted by a young man in a black layered ensemble and a white wool rope around his shoulder. He first had his encounter with the forest spirit that seemed to be hiding in what looked like a white mountain of fabric in the centre of the stage.
After the spirit, brought to life by three women hiding under the fabric, seduced the young warrior, foretelling his fate, there was the recreation of the arrow scene as a piece of interpretative dance.
Washizu danced and avoided a deluge of arrows raining down from the ceiling, getting stuck on the runway floor, creating an impressively dramatic effect.
And if the mood of the runway was inspired by a film that reset an English play from Scotland to Japan, the clothes – both men and women's wear – were a combination of Japanese and Western styles.
It was easy to spot samurai armours, but also the attire of hikyaku, that is couriers or messengers active in the Medieval times in Japan, recombined with Western-style outfits.
So a hoodie was matched with Nikkapokka pants, and geta sandals often accessorised ensembles that may have been filed under the streetwear category, elongating the silhouette.
Samurais headed to battle were evoked by striped haori jackets matched with striped stir up pants that contributed to give the ensemble an effect reminiscent of Courrèges; classic winter jackets were enriched with details borrowed from samurai armors – they were quilted, ribbed and decorated with studs, recombined with leather and knitted panels to create striking yet very wearable soft armours.
The knitwear offer hinted maybe at Mongolian rather than Japanese or Western styles, and conjured up nomadic adventures in faraway lands and in hostile climates.
Clothes were layered (a key trend for the next season), with longer pieces used as the base for shorter designs, while jackets at times combined sections of two different garments together creating asymmetrical and unbalanced, but intriguing effects.
Fabrics in contrasting graphic patterns – checks, plaids and tartans – were also juxtaposed to textiles with Oriental motifs.
Toshiro Mifune who played Washizu in the film then appeared in the prints on the puffer jackets and hoodies that will definitely be among the best selling pieces of the collection.
There was also a section dedicated to elegance with knitted kimono coats and silk dresses with orange chrysanthemums that, rather than hinting at the unsettling female figures in the film (the forest spirit and Asaji / Lady Macbeth), elevated the collection, adding to it a refined edge.
In his film Kurosawa moved from Shakespeare, but he integrated in the story different inspirations, including Noh theatre and Japanese history.
Takahashi did the same, avoiding culture plagiarism in favour of developing his own fashion narrative that, retelling a story of loyalty, betrayal and tragedy, proved that traditions can be brought forward and reinvented with spectacular effects.
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