Street and Structure at Ujoh
The intersection of street and structure, where workwear and streetwear collide with tailoring, is exactly where Ujoh designers Mitsuru and Aco Nishizaki conceptualised Spring-Summer 2027. Originally founded in 2009, the design duo have been expounding on hybrids, an amalgam of formal and casual elements, for Western audiences since they arrived on the Paris calendar five years ago. This season’s show, at the Maison des Métallos, was a continuation of that deep commitment to tailoring, but also a constant desire to disrupt the tradition.
With a shift in collective lifestyle, partly owing to the increasing heat and changing climate in recent years, Nishizaki was sensitive to a growing demand for lighter clothing. Their predisposition for the tradition was imparted with a sense of the ease and freedom of streetwear and workwear like denim from Okayama. The result is a considered effort to liberate each garment from its predetermined role or category, creating unexpected exits that begin with familiar tailoring and then are disrupted through openings, asymmetry and unexpected proportions. The cut is lighter, more effortless than in previous seasons, reflecting the sinuous lines of a skate bowl. Fabrics, too, are supple and fluid like while finishes are painstaking such as a floral pattern hand-painted using a technique called Hikizome.
“When we pare away the elements defined as necessary from a garment that is considered finished, we feel a sense of tension mixed with a thrill, and we really enjoy the process of creating it,” said Mitsuru and Aco Nishizaki, in a joint email statement.