For Spring-Summer 22, designers Miriam Sanz and Yohei Oki at SHOOP (@shoopclothing) looked into the concept of freedom, presenting a collection that pays tribute to and reinvigorates such notion through the authenticity of the human being parting from different and interesting perspectives that at first glance might seem mutually exclusive but that actually coexist. For this season, the designers feature a capsule collection made in collaboration with the prestigious Kishin Shinoyama, one of Japan’s iconic photographers.

For this collection, the brand mixed military and motorcycling elements which can be seen throughout the pieces, such as the waxed denim pieces and camouflage prints, combined with the brand’s contemporary wear signature mixed with its classic tailoring take along with tricot, denim, and freedom messages across a predominant color palette of earth tones, khaki, blacks, blues, and oranges.

The reinvigoration of one’s freedom through the body

The collaboration with Photographer Kishin Shinoyama consists of a series of pieces that recreate some of the artist’s photographs from its famous books “Nude” (1970) and “28 girls by Kishin Shinoyama” (1968) under the slogan “NUDE IS BEAUTIFUL” as well as through the recreation of the artist’s photographs on the prints of some pieces that claim the natural beauty of the human body.

The collection also highlights two other collaborations: one with hairdressing artists collective X-presion Creativos through a series of handcrafted custom hair visors, while some prints on the collection’s pieces were made in collaboration with graphic artist Daniel Benza, who collaborated with the brand in the past for its FW19 collection.

In the current context in which we find ourselves, it is possible that at some point one has come to question the meaning of freedom. For some it may mean an essential part of human nature, implying the longing desire that many may have to travel again, while for others it implies the constant struggle to regain it day after day through resistance referring to the current health context.

Through the use of naturalistic-nudist themes, which on the one hand denotes unrestricted and recreational freedom, and the military-motorcycling themes, which on the other hand reflect a spirit of solidarity and the human desire for community, the designers succeed in projecting that freedom is, of course, relative to the freedom of another person, with its appreciation depending on both natural and social conditions.

If we add to these two inspirational themes the element of the setting where the presentation of the collection was filmed (Radio Control Circuit of Rozas de Puerto Real), we can conclude that freedom will only be reinforced as one continues to drive or move on in life’s highway, whether through the big curves or the urban or natural terrain of life that in these two years has undergone multiple transformations in our different areas of life. However, we are reaffirmed that freedom is a state of being.

SHOOP SS22

#kishinshinoyama #篠山紀信 #lfw