“Formless form” was the theme of IM Men’s elegant fall 2026 collection. Notions of sunrise and sunset also guided its creative direction.
“Whenever we are exposed to a scene like [that], we have this mindset which is telling us we need to be impeccable, we are proper,” explained Sen Kawahara, an IM Men designer. The aim was to express that in clothes.
The idea was to not be constrained in the creative universe, like in a formal silhouette, either. “We want to free up that creativity and then try to express the sensation, the reaction to such notions,” he said. “Then translate it into our expression of a piece of garment.”
The clothing for fall was meant to be simple, practical and beautiful. That was all highly achieved.
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Used for the opening “Clay” series, for instance, was a textile created with the inherent elasticity of a knit for single pieces of cloth giving an organic, sculptural aspect. A black jumpsuit, with roomy sleeves and trousers, came fashioned with that.
Inspiration for color was gleaned from sunrises and sunsets, and their gradations of hues, according to Yuki Itakura, another IM Men designer, who with Nobutaka Kobayashi makes up the design team. For gradation wool, each roll of fabric was poured with dye.
An outerwear series had cloth designed with hand-applied gradations. One double-breasted coat was of ocean blue at the collar, shifting downward into gray then a light robin’s egg blue and dusky pink.
There was rich layering and draping throughout the collection. “The essence lies latent, concealed within the form itself,” Kawahara said.
