Yoshio Kubo's manifesto was spare on the page: "I always focus on new details for outfits. I try to see outfits from different angles. I make a story for each season, which people never imagine."
The U.S.-trained designer, who has based his eponymous yoshiokubo line in Tokyo, gave the collection an East-meet-West feel, playing with layers and volumes and deconstructing familiar codes.
"I destroy the silhouette," Kubo said backstage.
The looks would suit any self-respecting rocker. Kimono-style jackets are paired with drop-crotch trousers, while Western blazers are deconstructed by unzipping the shoulders, letting them slouch down shawl-like. Patchworks of white bandana patterns on black leather had a tattoo effect, reflected also in the temporary tattoos on some models' necks.
The 42-year-old Japanese designer worked as an assistant designer for haute couture house Robert Denes in New York after graduating from Philadelphia University's school of textile and science.
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BUCOLIC STORYBOOK LOOKS FOR MOTO GUO
Malaysian designer Moto Guo was the first to concede that the Armani theater was not used to such "crazy" looks.
The 26-year-old designer's collection looked like it walked out of a 1960s grammar school reader, with graphic lines, exaggerated details and soft shades alternating with garish patterns.
The show was built around the bucolic fashion story of a Japanese boy, depicted as a fanciful documentary about his life with an American voiceover.
"You see how he styles himself, what is his wardrobe," the designer said backstage. "Sometimes you understand. Sometimes you have to guess."
Exaggerated proportions defined the collection, including a huge rounded tie with zigzag detailing, jackets with mismatched external pockets and felt beanies in primary colors, some with propellers.
The final look featured a jacket with stiff, oversized arms that appeared fashioned from striped mattress pads.
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A WINTER RAWNESS IN MILAN
The Chinese label Consistence is keeping it raw for fashionable men next winter and fall.
Designers Fang Fang and Tien Lu base their brand in London, and their motto is balancing the casual and the formal.
The designers played with deconstruction. Suits featured what appeared to be a tailor's basting stitching, and sewn-in pockets were external, not internal. White shirts incorporated dark jacket sleeves, and rough frenetic stitching on shirts and blazers suggested a seamstress had let herself go to a rock music soundtrack.
Jackets were missing lapels, which turned up, on their own, as scarves. Belted straps worked as apulets or trailed off arms and backs. A sporty two-tone fur sweatshirt and bomber jacket ensured the label's luxury credentials.