This season’s theme “NIBROLL,” references a drug that appears in Ryu Murakami’s epoch-defining novel, Almost Transparent Blue. Set in the vicinity of a U.S. military outpost in 1970s Tokyo, the novel depicts the hedonism of a generation of Japanese youths indulging in a bacchanal of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll in the company of American G.I.’s. This eroticism was reflected to suggestive effect in asymmetric shoulder-baring shirts torn at one sleeve, knits seemingly slashed by a bobcat’s claws, collar-like accessories that would be at home in a fetishist’s boudoir, and coats draped seductively over lingerie. In particular, the blackbird motif seen in the collection is a reference to a hallucinogenic vision that haunts the novel’s protagonist.

The nihilistic decadence of Almost Transparent Blue provides a fertile playground for Akatsukigawa’s artisanal approach. His tireless attention to detail was evident in a collarless jacket made with intricate jacquard fabric, constructed to reveal deliberate frayed edges along each meticulous cut. Literal fireworks flew onstage in the finale, as the show concluded with his signature deconstructed take on a Mao suit. Adorned with a smattering of black flowers and detachable sleeves pulled down nonchalantly off the shoulders, the look was a resounding coda that amplified the decadent atmosphere.

In the collection notes, Akatsukigawa writes that “almost transparent blue” is the “color of hope.” Yet the color was conspicuously absent from the runway. Perhaps this deliberate omission is indicative of Akatsukigawa’s cerebral, contrarian nature. As this season’s collection showed, HEōS is a brand that does not take the easy way out.