The trompe-l’œil effect is not at all new in fashion. Jean-Paul Gaultier and Glenn Martens at Y/PROJECT have made it an art. Japanese designer Mihara Yasuhiro, on the other hand, has made this visual illusion a good way to distract us in these stifling and overwhelming times of all kinds of crises on all sides.
His collection, entitled Superficial You, which was held in the remarkable Passage des Princes, was an opportunity for Maison MIHARA YASUHIRO to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Surfing on the theme of optical illusion, the collection included multiple pieces featuring trompe-l’œil effects, both in construction and in prints. The most notable examples: one side of a pair of sweatpants is actually a pair of jeans or vice versa – the same construction was applied to another pair but this time it was the denim front and a sweatpants back; a pair of black jeans with a vintage camera printed on one thigh; a knotted scarf printed on a t-shirt that actually looks like you’re wearing one under a leather jacket with a distressed effect; or a hoodie made from parts of several horizontal cut sweatshirts put together.
Even the wear of the leather jackets was done with this in mind, mimicking the vintage clothing Mihara Yasuhiro is particularly fond of.
Behind this mix-and-match, sometimes complex, we note however a perfectly executed mastery.