Masayuki Ino’s label doublet has a sense of humor. Some of the house’s most creative releases include T-Shirts sold inside mystery capsules, a bag designed as a shipping box container and denim pieces intricately hand painted with sushi art. The more outlandish and tongue-in-cheek the designs are, the more praise and attention the brand gets from fashion critics and buyers. In 2018, Ino won the LVMH prize over names such as A-COLD-WALL*, Botter and Charles Jeffrey Loverboy to receive a €300,000 EUR grant and one year of mentorship. The label’s stockists has grown since then — DOVER STREET MARKET, Antonioli, 424, RSVP Gallery and SSENSE to name a few are just some of the shops that proudly carry doublet.

In 2020, Ino became more experimental in almost all aspects of the brand. While loud graphics and colorful embellishments have become doublet’s identity, Ino confidently showed that he is a master tailor. There was precision in fit with his oversized suits, more daring fabric choices for outerwear pieces and more abstract cuts on trousers and knits. doublet runway shows have also received some praise this year as Ino’s FW20 was set inside a restaurant to recall his memories of family eateries in Japan. For SS21, doublet got spooky with a horror-themed program. Models were turned into zombies by makeup to walk down the runway wearing the designer’s latest collection.