Setchu AW 26: From Arctic silence to clever clothes

Camz
Jan 18
3 min read

When fishing becomes a fashion research trip

At a time when the world feels like an all you can eat buffet of destinations, Satoshi Kuwata chose Greenland. Not for politics, not for provocation, but for fishing. Specifically Arctic trouts, which he had apparently been dreaming of meeting for fifteen years. Some designers collect vintage magazines. Others chase fish at the edge of the world.

Main colors of the collection:

He arrived months ago, before Greenland became a headline magnet and an awkward geopolitical fantasy. Reality, however, was less cinematic. The wind was so violent that standing upright outdoors was more a suggestion than a possibility. Kuwata mostly stayed inside, wrapped in silence, ice, and time. A week of enforced stillness might sound unproductive. In this case, it quietly fermented into a fall collection.

Greenland as a lesson in radical minimalism

Greenland offered no decorative distractions. No trees, no comforting colors, no softness. Just rocks, ice, brutal weather, and an overwhelming sense of nothingness. Nature at its most unforgiving and least Instagrammable. Yet this stark environment delivered its revelation indoors, at the Greenland National Museum in Nuuk.

There, traditional Inuit costumes and accessories told a very different story. Crafted from animal skins and designed for survival rather than spectacle, these pieces were exercises in pure intelligence. Every cut, every seam, every material choice served a purpose. Function was not a trend. It was a matter of staying alive. Their shamanistic presence resonated deeply with Kuwata, reminding him of the Ainu shamans of northern Japan. Different geographies, same reverence for nature, same resourcefulness carved out of necessity rather than aesthetics.

Playful functionality as a serious business

Resourcefulness is Kuwata’s native language. Years spent in Italy may have introduced him to butter and tailoring elegance, but his design grammar remains rooted in clever problem solving. His philosophy of playful functionality sounds lighthearted, yet it is anything but casual. This is rigor disguised as fun.

Unisex garments morph into bags through origami like maneuvers that feel closer to engineering than styling. A zip pulled here, a fold negotiated there, and suddenly a coat becomes a carryall. The idea was born from a practical need. Packing efficiently for fishing trips requires discipline. The result, however, is fashion that feels smarter than most of us before coffee. Fish, sadly, remain excluded from these beautifully foldable systems.

A show that felt like a ritual

The fall show unfolded at Setchu’s new headquarters, staged with deliberate restraint. Tools were laid out on tatami mats, not as props but as quiet declarations of craft. Guests sat on straw bales, somewhere between a rural ceremony and a fashion insider gathering that knew better than to clap too loudly.

What followed was half demonstration, half sorcery. In real time, Kuwata transformed padded oversized totes into a skirt and top ensemble, then into a navy overcoat of disarming elegance. Clothes here refuse to settle into a single identity. They deconstruct, reconstruct, and reshape themselves, flirting with asymmetry and controlled imbalance.

Tailoring that refuses to behave

Despite the inventiveness, nothing drifted into chaos. The discipline of Savile Row tailoring anchored every experiment, while Japanese restraint polished the final result. Silhouettes collided, rules were bent, but never broken beyond recognition. This was fashion in constant motion, yet firmly grounded.

Kuwata’s fall collection proves that silence can be productive, that extreme environments sharpen ideas, and that the smartest clothes often come from asking very practical questions. Like how to survive the cold, the wind, or simply the boredom of clothes that only do one thing.

Conclusion

From Arctic trouts to transforming coats, Satoshi Kuwata reminds us that fashion does not need noise to be powerful. Sometimes it needs isolation, discipline, and a slightly obsessive mind willing to fold a jacket ten different ways until it behaves. In a season crowded with spectacle, Setchu offered something rarer. Intelligence, restraint, and clothes that quietly outsmart the room.

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