Setchu presents its first fashion show, Tokyo on the Arno

The resolutely indie house Setchu unveiled its presentation at Pitti on Thursday. But its founder Satoshi Kuwata insisted: the “Tokyo on the Arno” collection marks the first, but also the last fashion show for the label.

And the collection is intended to be a very intelligent mix of the different influences of Satoshi Kuwata, of Japanese origin: kimonos are invited to Savile Row and Japanese iconography meets European society imagery. A collection that definitely makes you think and without a doubt one of the most successful of the season.

Presented at the National Library of Florence, on the banks of the Arno (strangely, there are practically no books there), this irreverent and timeless collection opened with looks of offbeat English aristocratic chic.

A noble but marginal couple, wearing almost matching fine wool dresses, gray tartan pants and a skirt, perfectly sum up the dialectical work of Satoshi Kuwata.
He trained at Huntsman and Davies & Sons, the latter being one of the oldest tailors on Savile Row. No wonder, then, that cuts are Satoshi Kuwata’s strong point, a skill possessed by few of his contemporaries and which he combines with a strange Japanese obsession with pleats. During the presentation before the show, he even folded a blazer into a small cardboard box, something a Westerner would only do with a shirt. He also incorporates pleats into most of his looks, an idea originating from his native country.
“In general, we don’t like having folds on a garment, but in a kimono, it’s the fold on the shoulder that makes all the beauty,” says Satoshi.
His men’s blazers, worn by a girl and a boy, had marked creases. Also notable is the brilliant trilogy of classic blue pleated shirts for these gentlemen. A high-neck evening dress was both cool and sexy, worn by a model whose mouth was covered by a small cut-out black fish.
Like many Asian designers, Satoshi Kuwata loves fishing. Yohji Yamamoto fishes throughout the Pacific, while John Rocha likes to fish in Alaska or the Bering Sea. Satoshi Kuwata prefers Japan.

This collection also expresses his desire to experiment with new things, such as deconstructed sweatshirts and sweatpants in pale gray jersey, or assemblies of kimono-peacoats. Ultra-pale gray denim was made from denim and paper and military-inspired leather pea coats completed the proposition.
Suddenly, the mood changed completely with fancy, multi-colored Mongolian lambswool coats. A silk jacquard jacket worthy of “The Tale of Genji” was printed with a rather familiar octopus kissing a geisha. Both the print and the image that inspired it were part of an installation unveiled upstairs after the show, including shoe lasts, collar details, jackets neatly folded in brown cardboard boxes , ultra-precise fashion sketches and drawings of the solar system dating back to the 16th century.
“We don’t have a fashion approach. We want to create a culture,” insists Satoshi Kuwata, winner of the 2023 LVMH prize.
In summary, the Milanese label Setchu is one of the most original brands on the market today. Cerebral, ironic, elegant and artistic, intelligent and commercial. This is also the opinion of Hirofumi Kurino, Asia’s most influential men’s fashion buyer, who purchased the total Setchu look for his United Arrows flagships in Tokyo.
The meeting of East and West continued after the parade at a dinner at a rehabilitated farm in the hills overlooking Florence. Japanese dishes like shrimp balls with fungi porcini mushrooms were followed by Tuscan tagliata with yuzu sauce.
We can no longer Tokyo on the Arno.