The masks is slowly slipping. Khoki, the nameless collective of designers who’ve for the previous couple of seasons been lighting up Tokyo with their idiosyncratic, happy-go-lucky strategy to menswear, are slowly being pulled out of their self-made obscurity by the far-reaching arm of the style machine. As a semi-finalist for the 2024 LVMH Prize, the foundations of the competitors dictated that Khoki’s founder Koki Abe needed to publicly reveal his identify as the person behind the model.

The designer stopped in need of any additional particulars, nonetheless, hiding his face on the line-up of semi-finalists’ portraits with a mass of hair, Cousin It-style. If Khoki makes it via to the finals, nonetheless, then a face have to be proven. Them’s the foundations.

At a preview of the autumn assortment in Tokyo, Abe spoke excitedly about being shortlisted for the prize, however careworn that no matter occurs, nothing has modified about Khoki’s strategy: the model strictly operates as a gaggle, a machine of which Abe himself is solely a cog.

That sense of unity was conveyed most actually this season within the colourful embroidery that was woven throughout a chore jacket and trousers. Every member of the staff had added one thing that indirectly represented himself: a villainous wolf for the member who grew up watching cartoons; a motorbike helmet for one who loves his bike; skeleton arms for the resident goth; and a pack of cigs for the chainsmoker on the staff.

Elsewhere, the model showcased its chops for sample reducing and quilting (two issues the staff’s members are exceedingly well-trained at), splicing pinstripe suiting with jersey sweats to create an fascinating new proposition that deftly blended the suave with the sloppy, or incorporating American quilting into black leather-based bikers. There was heaps happening, however for probably the most half it was cohesive—you’ll be able to inform that staff Khoki bounces nicely off of each other and this lends a lightheartedness to their garments that comes via due to it. That’s not simple to do.

Different concepts this season had come via on a staff analysis journey slash trip to Greece and Romania final 12 months, they usually’d put maps from the journey into the liner of the jackets as a memento. “It’s just like the experiences we share turn into the design. That’s the place the enjoyable comes from, and that’s what Khoki is about,” stated Abe.

If a face reveal does occur when the LVMH Prize finalists are introduced later this week, will probably be bittersweet. That the group have chosen to be quiet about themselves has felt like a genuinely contemporary strategy that style wants extra of; side-stepping all of that sticky ego enterprise by merely being a gaggle of younger designer mates who’re making garments collectively as a result of they love doing so—and are good at it. As soon as upon a time, which may have been sufficient.