This season, Christian Dada’s Spring Summer collection entitled ‘Losing Power’ is questioning the idea of losing influence in our modern consumerism world, partly taking inspiration from the work of French street artist Zeus and more specifically his liquidated logos. True to designer Masanori Morikawa’s Dadaist and the punk philosophy, the destructive aesthetic of the melting motifs and words is an artistic expression of a world falling apart. These dripping images are richly translated within Christian Dada’s language; liquidation effects and details are achieved through a jacquard technique, or bleached on cotton tartan.

Consistently mixing Eastern sensitivity within a Western wardrobe, traditional Japanese techniques are instilled into intricately worked pieces, elevating the punk attitude to a couture level.

With the mission to preserve a very high and authentic quality, a melting Hawaiian print is designed by a specialist Japanese craftsman based on a real Aloha motif. Fifties souvenir jackets are also interpreted through an upscale Japanese lens with drawings by Kuniyoshi Kutagawa, a famous print maker and painter from the Edo period, embroidered on the back of short satin robes.

Japanese cultural heritage references are represented in the form of bomber style jackets crossing on the chest like a Jinbei, or in the patchwork style embroideries- evoking Boro folk art textile. Multitudes of patches are sewn on a water soluble fabric, creating a ragged effect after dissolution. The same notion of beauty in imperfections is surfacing on the cracking texture of a zipped jacket- with black pigment application on brown leather, or within the ancestral mud dyeing technique that gives depth to the shades of dense looking trousers.

A soft and distressed quality is also present-  soft alpaca and linen fabrics are used for chambray style blue suits, some embellished with famous fashion icons’ quotes such as “My life did not please me so I created my life” by Coco Chanel. Or the ultimate “Fashion fades, style is eternal” from Yves Saint Laurent, embroidered purposely as falling down words hanging on the back of a black smoking jacket. The Christian (Dada) logo dripping on the front of an elongated baseball shirt plays on a double meaning, such as visual disturbances seen as an open critic against a society where money represents the biggest power.