Christian Dada SS/19

Japanese label Christian Dada's spring/summer 2019 collection awed the runway with its Nobuyoshi Araki tribute

Founded by Japanese designer Masanori Morikawa, the brand Christian Dada has been a hot pick for numerous celebrities, including Lady Gaga and K-pop singer G-Dragon. The label's name itself brings together two seemingly opposing concepts; Morikawa's grandfather (a Christian and an embroidery craftsman who deeply influenced the designer's fashion style) clashes with the avant-garde Dada art movement, suggesting a duality between order and chaos.

For the brand's spring/summer 2019 collection, Morikawa simultaneously presented women's and men's collections, inspired by Nobuyoshi Araki's two-volume photography book Laments Skyscapes/Laments from Close-Range, which honoured the photogra-pher's late wife with an atmosphere of loss and absence. As a result, the collection presented an ethereal sense of sentimentality through anoraks, flowy fabrics, drawstring trousers and kimono-esque wide sleeves on an Oxford shirt, all of which kept the audience on the edge of their seats.