Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo – AW21 Children of the discordance + FACE A-J

Children of he Discordance presented a second release of its Autumn/Winter ’21 collection at Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo teaming up with Face A/J

A second realest of DAWN, Children of The Discordance’s Autumn/Winter ’21 collection, was presented in Tokyo within Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo’s calendar as part of Face A/J initiatives. “Since last July we started showing in Milan, but these season I felt it was right to present both in Milan and Tokyo, as a way to connect more closely with Japanese audience and with our Tokyo community in this time of closure. It was also, I guess, a way to celebrate the return of the autumn/winter edition of Rakuten fashion week, which was cancelled one year ago due to the pandemic” said Hideaki Shikama, Children of the discordance’s creative director. The event took the format of a physical runway and was held on March 19th at 15:30 (Tokyo Time) at Tokyo National Museum Hyokeikan in Ueno, Tokyo. “Through my last digital shows at Milan fashion week, I presented the contemporary and modern side of west Tokyo, the street-culture of Harajuku, Shibuya and Daikanyama, which represents the surrounding around our headquarter and a huge part of Children of the discordance’s identity. Having the chance to hold a physical show in Tokyo, I wanted to reconnect with the other side of the city, the east and “downtown” side of Tokyo to re-contextualise the AW21 dawn collection. Downtown Tokyo is the hearth of craftsmanship, is where our production atelier and many sewing and dyeing factories we work with are located. It represents the city’s cultural heritage and a more serene environment where I can concentrate on my creations. This shows celebrates old Tokyo, its past and heritage, through a historical and emblematic location such as Hyokeikan” according to the designer. As a further trait d’union with Milan release, Japanese artist Hideyoshi, main performer in Children of the discordance AW21 fashion film dawn released in January on the occasion of Milan fashion week, appeared in the show to close the line up in turquoise dyed hair as a tribute to the collection tittle dawn and to the Tokyo release seasonal colour shade.

Children of the discordance Tokyo

The runway show saw re-edited Children of the Discordance AW21 looks and new inedited styles releases. The line-up showcased newly introduced oversized hoodie jackets featuring AW21 season main graphic printed on black and white fleece fabrics and presented lace pullover styles inspired by the designer’s archive. Sportswear elements were enriched by heavily distressed white jersey fabrics applied to sportswear styles such as sweater and shorts and long nylon windbreakers with tarot card prints on the back. A stronger focus on military and utility wear was expressed through field jackets, vests and cargo pants made with vintage nylon spanning shades of black, military dark grey and colonial camel. Children of the discordance’s iconic bandana patches remade styles were reinterpreted in new oversized shirt-jacket and coat styles and in the seasonal colour variation turquoise tributing the ‘dawn’ ’s sky which was applied to shirts and down jackets. The experimentations on contrasting leather patches pieces presented in January were complemented by oversized bombers made with small leather pieces patched to create a python leather feel. Within the Tokyo release, also inedited AW21 special pieces of Recouture by Children of The Discordance, the remade and up-cycled vintage sportswear brands sneakers series launched by the brand with its collections and new graffiti low and high-top hybrid sneakers-boots styles. On the runway was also unveiled inedited Children of the discordance + FACE.A-J AW21 special pieces created for the event. The collaboration items were made with death stock fabrics woven by Burkina Faso artisans and produced with the support of the International Trade Center project “Ethical Fashion Initiative (EFI)”, a UN agency, with the aim to support the employment of local women and their empowerment. The fabrics were sourced in partnerships with Face A/J, a project in support of the exchange between African and Japanese contemporary culture launched in 2019 under the creative direction of Hirofumi Kurino, co-founder and creative advisor of United Arrows and patronised by Japan fashion week organisation..