Japanese designer Yuki Yagi spends a lot of time digging through the vast collection of printed matter located inside his newly minted showroom and research library in downtown NYC. So much time, in fact, the 2,000 books and magazines from the fashioner's own vault served as the inspiration for his brand vowels' Fall/Winter 2024 collection, out next week.
Where Yagi's debut capsule set the groundwork for vowels' "true streetwear" design language, this next collection is "more vibrant" and "pop," he tells Hypebeast.
Natural duck down jackets and Primaloft cashmere chore coats lead the line, alongside a bonded wool three-layer shell coat galvanized by Tokyo's salarymen uniforms. Meanwhile, alpaca blend cardigans, tessellated sweaters and hand-stitched bombers pump up the brand's knitwear division, on a color palette inspired by nature's green moss and Japan's terra cotta flame lanterns.
There's a strong sense of order in Yagi's designs; hence, it's not surprising that his process is formulaic: "After thorough research, I go outside and observe whether similar pieces are being worn, then, using intuition, I tweak the design elements until it’s refined and finalized," he explains. The results are timeless silhouettes flipped, stripped and reimagined for the modern-day.
"I see these clothes being worn by you, my team, myself, and anyone who values well-made pieces over fleeting trends," Yagi says of his clientele. This universalism underscores the collection's campaign, which was shot across Japan by Nigel Shafran in places including Yagi's birthplace of Kyoto, his grandmother's Totori house, and the late sculptor Masayuki Nagare's Takamatsu studio.
vowels' Fall/Winter 2024 collection will launch online and in the brand's 76 Bowery showroom on September 10. Prices range from $135 USD to $1,500 USD. Take a look at the line in the gallery above.
Click here to view full gallery at Hypebeast
