admin Shoop designers Miriam Sanz and Yohei Oki are new to Tokyo, and moved here from Madrid in June. Sanz’s Spanish influence brings a freshness to the Tokyo Fashion Week calendar, with Oki’s Japanese heritage simultaneously providing a foundation that helps them fit in here. “We are two designers who have grown up in completely different cultures, so I think we can find new things and perspectives from that,” said Oki backstage.
For their spring show, which took place in the underground driveway of Japan’s National Stadium, those perspectives came in the form of industrial techwear that was tempered by a softly sensual flair equal parts masculine and feminine (gender is something the designers take a loose approach to). Nylon jumpsuits were studded with metal poppers, bondage pants and jackets were belted at the knees and elbows, and sheer and sparkling lurex hoodies drooped as low as dresses.
The softer staples in wool and cotton were inspired by the baby clothes that the pair have spent a lot of time around recently—their 8-month-old Mika was backstage grinning happily at the commotion. Elsewhere, baggy pinstripe trousers were slashed at the sides to reveal the inner satiny lining, which gave them the look of fancy track pants, a clever nod to the louchely dressed-up vibe in fashion currently.
Shoop’s overall identity feels a little ungrounded—the designers have just moved over 6,000 miles across the world, after all—but there are fun details to be found in the medley. Some of the cutouts on the track jackets were so sensitively done that the visible skin could have been extra stripes on the fabric. Was there a deeper meaning behind those particular details? “It was just the kind of mood we were in,” came the explanation. Sometimes the whim is the way.
