There’s a moment early in each year in which the air just shifts. The mood changes. Your clothes start feeling and fitting different.
The arrival of spring is a much romanticized topic, so much so that Ryota Iwai decided to build his latest collection around it: those first few days in which the weather is still in transition, but when the certainty that better days will come permeates the atmosphere and lifts the general vibe.
There’s a phenomenon in Japan called Haru Ichiban, Iwai explained through a translator. It speaks of “the strong winds of spring,” which herald the arrival of the season with a series of southerly gusts that blow in warmer temperatures. Here’s the thing about those first few breezes of warmth—they become addictive after a long winter. Necessary. Once you’ve tasted the sweet lightness of springtime clothes again, it’s impossible to go back, even if the weather is noncommittal.
Which brings us to this collection. Iwai crafted it as an ode to the charming mannerisms that this specific weather evokes. He referred to windswept hair and clothing, of the way one peels off layers—around the waist or neck, over the shoulders—when the sun is shining more warmly than anticipated (“you know, when you wear too much!”).
Iwai also made his assortment feel truly transitional by embracing the liminality of the almost spring. Stateside we call this “fool’s spring. To better align with the reality of the dates in which spring clothes are delivered in stores—it’s usually still cold when they hit the racks in early March—he offered a range of light leather jackets and separates and tropical cashmere suiting. As in tropical wool but in cashmere; Iwai develops his own fabrics, and to great effect.
Just as memorable was the color story: Vegetable green, citric yellow, the purest red, and some very sweet blues were set against the warmest of neutrals. Iwai’s clothes—colors, fabrics, and proportions included—have a neat tranquility to them. They’re uncontrived and inviting.
So, what has all that fuss been about men in flip-flops? When Jonathan Bailey stepped out last week at a Jurassic World: Rebirth photocall in a full outfit by The Row accessorized by a pair of grosgrain flops, the internet just had to chime in. The look was divisive, to say the least. Some argued it was chic, others that it was entirely too casual and retro (as in, frat boy circa 2007) for a premiere. Today, Iwai styled almost every one of his looks with a pair of flip-flops. They’ve been trending at the men’s shows (see also, Prada and Louis Vuitton), but Iwai has a knack for making familiar pieces look and feel equal parts aspirational and realistic. He’s turned this former flop skeptic into a true believer, at least.