The collection title, “WINKER,” comes from the Japanese-English word for a car indicator light. Nagami’s choice of title connotes the fluctuations of perception; that a shift in viewpoint can make the way things look instantly change, like the flashing of a car indicator light. That notion was adapted into various designs and deeply embedded in the collection. Most obvious in this regard were the numerous visual elements that seemed to capture fantastical snatches of light. The effect was actually achieved through the skillful use of coloring and bleach, but when viewed only through photographs, the garments appear to flash under the lights, as if made with light-emitting dyes and pigments. The delicately flowing visuals, reminiscent of toile fabric, were inspired by plants and bird feathers. A silver chain gave a sculptural and constructed dimension to a black dress, so much so that the outfit seemed to become a tailored jacket with an integrated chain if stared at for long enough.
“I have focused on the fluctuations of clothes too,” Nagami says. Taken at face value, he is referring to the beauty that arises from the creative use of material and design tricks to make clothes apparently “fluctuate.” And yet if we look at the layers of ideas that Nagami has previously instilled into his designs, it’s surely not just this. No, what Nagami means when he talks of the fluctuations of clothes is probably interlaced with the sense of how garments should truly look, and of the universal beauty that derives from that. Reproducing the inherent appeals of clothing that resides in traditional design, all while using the latest advances in AI to challenge people’s preexisting values about apparel: this is surely Nagami’s goal. If we apply that interpretation, it starts to make sense that he would cleave to classic forms that adhere to conventional shapes, instead of a new kind of outline the defies the contours of the body. This collection, in which the acerbity of a disquiet evinced by the fluctuations of perception coexisted with a universal beauty that never fluctuates, revealed glimpses of the dignity of this designer who champions liminal wear.