“When you get away from the bustle of the city, your mind can return to a soft neutral state. We wanted to express this neutral feeling through clothing,” said Yu Kobayashi of this season’s Irenisa collection. A former pattern cutter for Yohji Yamamoto, Kobayashi runs the brand with Yuji Abe. Together, these intelligent designers channel their talents for superior fabrication and chic tailoring into clothes that are beautifully clean and considered.
Kobayashi and Abe have expanded their range of materials, and the collection was rich with texture. A sleek leather blazer was a highlight in the growing womenswear offering, and the jacquard floral button-up shirts and trousers were also exceptionally well executed. A padded garment bag nodded more directly to the aforementioned theme of escaping the city: you can imagine it being carried by a very stylish salaryman taking the shinkansen out of Tokyo for the weekend.
As usual, the designers were at their best with the intentionally weird details they mixed in with the precise cuts and excellent fabrics. To wit: the buttoned-up polo necks that were pulled too tight, the super-high socks and culottes, and a membranous water-repellent nylon made into sheer balloon pants and an impossibly lightweight zip-up. Another interesting proposition: an ivory cotton trench coat that can be separated into a skirt and a jacket to be worn together or apart.
This season marks Irenisa’s 12th in business, and there’s a sense that the brand feels ready to level up. “We are still unknown to the world, so it’s often the case that people don’t pay attention to us,” said Kobayashi. It’s true: Irenisa is yet to experience the piranha-like wave of fashion bro mania that tends to descend upon the well-crafted Japanese menswear brand du jour (Auralee occupies this spot currently, with Stein not far behind).
But if Abe and Kobayashi can amp up the fun and release some more hero pieces while keeping their technical precision and rigor, increased recognition will surely come. The brand’s quality is uniformly top-notch and the details mostly unimpeachable. Indeed, in Japanese stores you’ll often see Irenisa placed alongside Jil Sander and The Row. For those who appreciate well-made clothes in beautiful fabrics that have a point of view, Irenisa is one to watch. “I’ve realized there isn’t much in Japan that can produce this level of tailoring at this quality,” said Kobayashi. “The question now is how we can compete on a global scale.”