For the third consecutive season, Japanese brand Children of the discordance, which has debuted in Milan calendar in July 2020 on the occasion of Milan Digital Fashion Week edition, will present its collection at Milan Fashion Week in a digital format.
“I am very excited to be part again of Milan official calendar. I really look forward to finally join Milan with an on-site show, but I am thrilled to have once again the opportunity to connect digitally with a global audience and to offer a new perspective on Japanese contemporary culture. I hope to live up to expectations”. said Shikama Hideaki, Children of the discordance’s creative director. “I strongly believe we will be free from the negative feelings only by continuing to communicate and constantly searching for new ways of expression.”
PROGRESS – SS22
fashion movie Directed by Keita Suzuki, already director of the AW21 movie dawn, the SS22 fashion films titled PROGRESS will explore new forms of contemporary Japanese street arts and will feature once again a live performance. This time, Japanese dance performers KING OF SWAG [Dee/YOSHIKI/SKIBOI/Yusei/Taiki] willl be paying tribute to the brand’s SS22 collection.
“Together with skateboarding and hip hop music, hip-hop dance is part of my history and a component of Children of the discordance’s identity”.
While searching a new way of expression for this season, the memory of his first encounter with hip-hop dance and the vibrant street culture of Yokohama, the designer ‘s hometown, leads Shikama to introduce a presentation format that incorporates dynamic dance to SS22 PROGRESS.
“Since my mid-high school years I got to know hip-hop dance as part of the RAP/DJ/DANCE hip-hop culture, which was deeply rooted in my hometown Yokohama. There were many local dancers and dance teams, and many shows and contests were held every weekend. During this period when I was most into hip-hop and street skating. I met a lot of people and my friends at the time and they still support me in various ways. It is thanks to them that I was introduced to KING OF SWAG
PROGRESS – SS22 collection
Titlled PROGRESS the new SS22 collection wants to represent a further step toward the new beginnings envisioned in AW21. “The last collection was named dawn, and this new collection is named PROGRESS. I believe the period of stagnation s over for us, and we are ready to progress forward.”
Inspired by native American heritage, hippie culture and traditional Japanese textile and patterns, PROGRESS brings together diverse and apparently very distant references to pursue the designer perpetual quest toward new applications of vintage fabrics. This season’s creative process started indeed from the material itself, from the textiles and their underlying cultures, with the clear intent of bringing together diverse elements to show the inherent resilience and power of the textile.
“This time, we are presenting a collection that uses Japanese deadstock fabric. I have been seeking to showcase Japanese Kimono culture for several years. After researching about native American and Japanese textiles and culture, I believe I found a new way to nicely merge these cultures together. Through this collection I would like to show the strength of a fabric which has been handmade and has been passed along for a long time. I hope that in the journey out of the pandemic, the world will progress with same strength and prove the same resilience”.
Native American and hippie culture are adding new elements and means of expression to the COTD collection, while the kimono fabrics are a tribute to the textile heritage of Hachioji, a city in the outskirt of Tokyo known for its tradition of silk kimono fabrics and tie fabrics.
Shikama sourced discontinued silk jacquard fabric from one of the four textile weaving factories still left in Hachioji today. His fascination with kimono fabric started more than a decade ago while visiting a textile weaving factory in Hachioji where he learned that they were producing fabrics for fashion houses. “I thought it was some kind of fate that the story of the dead stock of kimono fabric from 50 years ago came finally to me after this time, and I tried to use it with the most affection for this collection.”
As for last autumn winter, SS22 will present a stronger stress on black and white, and a study on shades of grey. Lighter colours, such as pale blue and turquoise, already anticipated and introduced in March AW21 Tokyo release, will be combined with grey, and khaki.
All images courtesy of Children of The Discordance