Hatra, the brainchild of Keisuke Nagami, sits at the intersection of fashion and technology. An intelligent designer with one foot in fashion design and the other in computer science, Nagami makes clothes that are futuristic and space-agey, informed by various digital programmes he manipulates to make what he refers to as ‘liminal wear.’ Founded 15 years ago, the brand has amassed a significant following in the industry; among the buzzy crowd were half of the fashion designers in Tokyo who had turned out to see what Nagami’s vision would look like on the runway.
The prints made up the strongest element of the collection. Chrome-like patterns and refractions of light rippled over billowing smocks, knits, and shift dresses. The result of a complex-sounding dialogue with AI, which Nagami manipulates to his advantage and treats as a form of alien intelligence, these futuristic abstract prints are his signature. “It’s not like a simple ChatGPT thing where you request an answer and get a response. It’s more like a journey, with fragments that spill out as you communicate,” Nagami explained backstage. His signature jacquard knits, made from six colors of thread, are striking and unique, appearing like supernovas blazing across the fabric. “I want people to feel the world flowing in [through the clothes],” he said.
Also great was the tailoring: trousers had asymmetrical flies or extra panels at the hips and chrome hardware at the waist, while structured jackets came with huge lapels broken up by seams or that folded out of themselves, origami-like. The way a pair of black pleated trousers swished was beautiful, too. Created using the 3D simulation software CLO, according to the show notes, the swaying fabric was Nagami’s way of exploring the “various images which are born and disappear continuously with the wearer’s movements.” The unsettling spherical bags, which sported mollusk-like suckers, were a collaboration with the sci-fi artist runurunu; models also held crystals or spiky objects that resembled alien artefacts, adding to the cosmic effect.
Overall though, there was a sense that Nagami’s potential lies deeper than what he showed tonight. Though rich with details, taken by themselves the pieces often felt underwhelming in a runway context, and could have used more edginess and theater to better match the adventurous ideas that went into them. As they say about the aliens: I want to believe.