Technoculture Oligo Press
Review
Meticulously handmade as if to epitomize the proverbial devil in the details, yet evoking the innocence and transparent purity of youth, the unique style that Hikaru Kodama’s fluss has developed remains in rude health, as this season’s offerings demonstrated. The first item to catch the eye was a sheer knitwear outfit. In a pale blue and carefully interweaving a large bird motif, it was a highly characteristic example of Kodama’s knitwear aesthetic. His signature multicolor stripes here appeared in a polo shirt that combined fine knitted fabric with soft fur. Perfectly balanced in pitch and color, it’s abundantly clear just how much time and effort Kodama has poured into these items. From stars to moons and leaves, a crocheted vest linked various natural motifs, revealing the great pains he takes in making his designs. His monochromatic approach, apparently influenced by the American sculptor Matt Paweski’s work, has an exhilarating purity.
Nonetheless, something else lurks beneath the designs: something erotic seeming to betray that innocence of youth. Following on from the tiny, bloomers-like pair of shorts in his spring-summer 2024 collection and the ultra-high-waisted thermal underwear in the autumn-winter 2024–25 collection, he continued to put large amounts of flesh on display and overturn the conventions of menswear with an off-the-shoulder top and separate halterneck, and a jacket with big parts of the chest and back “cropped” off. This somewhat shady dimension is another essential aspect of the fluss brand.
But more than anything, what made the biggest impression were the outfits that suggested male maturity, from the tailored jacket that limned a grown-up shoulder line to the shirt-like coat, the simple yet slender pair of slacks, or the sheer military uniform. Constantly suspicious of masculinity and having advocated an antithesis to the socially constructed image of a man, Kodama now seemed to confront the kernel of a male look. He hasn’t got there quite yet but the cogent statements on masculinity Kodama made this time solidified his designs more than before, and left the viewer with a sense that his approach was changing.
Dealing with youth, the erotic, and masculinity, the collection was highly accomplished and incredibly intriguing. The new kind of masculinity that fluss is trying to reach is still a work in progress. I look forward to what the label presents next season as it continues to test out its ideas of what constitutes manhood.
