I promise this is the last trickle of "When I was in Tokyo posts.." (I defy any fashion blogger to go there and NOT come back with two weeks' worth of bi-daily content). In addition to discovering the completely unfamiliar, it also felt good to find out more about something that I was vaguely familiar with. Miharayasuhiro is a fairly well-established Japanese label that I know primarily for its menswear as well as his collaboration with Puma. I know that its menswear looks awesome in real life when I see it layered up dudes and I can't guess what it is they're wearing until they tell me.
Other than that, with its limited stockists abroad, Miharayasuhiro and I don't cross paths that often...
On a visit to its store in Aoyama, I delved a bit further into Miharayasuhiro's wider offerings such as his womenswears shoes, something which makes sense as Mihara started off with a shoe line in 1994 when he was still at Tama Art University. Yasuhiro's shoe roots show in these sturdy heels from the S/S 11 current collection which seem quite weighty despite the transparent perspex heels.
Miharayasuhiro's way with adding a masculine foundations to its womenswear is evident in this rose-print which could also be a take on camoflage. Hong Kong stalwart store Joyce have a few of these printed pieces online as part of their exclusive lines...
I've never actually really been made aware of Miharayasuhiro's womenswear collections until I saw a six-page feature in Dazed & Confused's February 2011 issue talking up the S/S 11 collection which takes its primary motif from a Georgia O'Keefe photographic floral print.
I love the accompanying editorial shot by Marlene Marino and styled by Karen Langley where Tao Okamoto wanders around the pockets of 'quiet' in Tokyo, wafting in Yasuhiro's quiet but powerfully assured clothes.
For A/W 11-12, Miharayasuhiro doesn't stray from fortified clothes and yes, it might be too hot to be thinking about knitted gilets, shearling, cable knit coats and velvet capes but quietly planning another trip to Tokyo for a more weather-appropriate October, in which case, these wintry textures will feel absolutely right. There's an intriguing sense of drama in a red brocade fur-trimmed cape beyond the practicality of knitted bodywarmers and parkas in autumnal shades which prevents the collection from becoming a winter-season tick-sheet and not much else.
