KUON FW20 Revamps European Workwear With Lavish Japanese Craft
Rich patchwork, hand-dyed leather and upcycled textiles.
KUON‘s brand vision has evolved each season, with Fall/Winter 2020 demonstrating yet another shift, bringing designer Shinichiro Ishibashi to the forefront. With Ishibashi’s name emblazoned front-and-center on the new tags stitched now inside each garment, KUON is prepared to fully own its unique identity.
That identity is a hybrid of Ishibashi’s distinct design ethos, with FW20 inspired by William Adams, an Englishman who settled in Japan during the 17th century Edo period. The result is classic European workwear updated with heritage craft. The familiar barn jacket, for instance, is rendered in washed-out denim, complete with stunning sakiori (traditional Japanese rug weaving that utilizes fabric scraps) at the collar.
That time-consuming technique also lends multi-colored appeal to the sleeves of a satin stadium jacket, while boro patchwork elevates boxy T-shirts, pullovers, trousers and a striking hat/jacket/cropped pant set. No garment lacks this hands-on approach to craftsmanship; an otherwise conventional — if lavish — leather jacket is treated with indigo dye, complementing dip-dyed pajamas.
Check out the FW20 lookbook above and expect it to arrive later this year via stockists like KUON’s own web store and stockists like STUDIOS, which we recently profiled alongside CEO Masato Tani.
