Japan Fashion Week: Y's Red Label Turns Black

Japan Fashion Week is just getting under way, but Y's Red Label is already making headlines—literally. Designed by Michiko Suzuki, the collection unofficially kicked off the spring/summer '09 runway celebration last week. Hauntingly titled "Witch," the show featured pieces from Red Label's third collection and was held among the trees of a park at dusk—headlined with a banner that read: "I'll paint the whole world black. Then the light will fall and caress it."

As the audience sat in near darkness, several black figures made a mystifying entrance with bobbing fiber optical lights. This eerie glow gradually increased, revealing a sleek but somber set of tapered pants and blazers with giant black sequin discs or patterns of rubber screenprinting that glimmered in the light. The collection eventually transformed into a post-futuristic old world aesthetic of long loose sweaters and maxi skirts. The look was accented with sticks, bones and birds in mid-flight (engineered by Yoshiko Kajitani, of accessories brand Yoshiko Creation Paris) that jutted out of puffy Quaker skirts or perched on models' messy braided heads.

When asked about the significance of the bones, Suzuki explained: "When you think about life you also think about death. It's the same thing, I think." Echoing this sentiment, the show was set to a resoundingly solemn soundtrack that included "How To Disappear Completely" by Radiohead and orchestral arrangements by Alberto Iglesias. "A black world is dangerous, so the sparkling accents represent the light, which are our hopes. I've become stronger as a designer, and I know what I want to show that now," said Suzuki.

—Misha Janette