IM Men Spring 2027
A poem by Song dynasty scholar Su Shi set the tone for IM Men’s Spring/Summer 2027 collection: “One can do without meat, but cannot live where there is no bamboo; lacking meat merely leads to weight loss, whereas lacking bamboo means losing peace of mind.” The idea of bamboo became the guiding reference for a collection built around texture, shadow and material experimentation.
The concept was developed following a visit to Paris’ Musée des Arts Décoratifs, where a bamboo-themed exhibition included katagami stencils depicting the plant. Ink-based black-and-white works particularly informed the design team’s thinking, evoking the shadows cast by bamboo.
The design team described the aim as translating these impressions into garments, with Sen Kawahara noting the dual qualities of bamboo as “elegant” and “mysterious.”
The collection featured bamboo thread woven with organic cotton, forming part of a series titled Bamboo Shadows. These pieces incorporated hand-printed patterns across outerwear in black, white and grey, described by designer Nobutaka Kobayashi as “atmospheric, graphic images.”
Colour appeared more vividly in sections of the collection, with bright pink and green nylon garments created using a dye-flow technique. These referenced the ancient kimono colours associated with Princess Kaguya from The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, a story referenced for its sense of imagination and mystery.
Silhouettes included broad-shouldered nylon pieces, while the Bloom jacket introduced an oversized collar with layered pleating around the neck, inspired by the junihitoe kimono. Designers also worked across dyed denim, jacquard weaves and pleated constructions, combining traditional references with technical textile processes throughout the collection.
