Editorial
AURALEE’S MATERIAL OBSESSIVENESS
25 April 2024Ryota Iwai’s Auralee adopts a meticulous approach to fabrics.
To many, the landscape of fashion is something that moves at breakneck speed: a frenetic, shapeshifting industry that conjures up trends just as quickly as it makes them disappear. However, there are brands that exist outside of this transient whirlwind, quietly creating clothing that’s considered and refined, yet ultimately exciting. Tokyo-based Auralee is one of those brands.
Rather than focusing on seasonal themes or trends, Auralee instead obsesses over the minutiae of garment design and materiality — a product of Ryota Iwai’s deep appreciation for fabrics and their construction. Through this deep-rooted love of materials, Auralee proudly creates all of its own fabrics: a slower, more immersive process that lends each of its garments a tactility and beauty that’s unparalleled.
The latest collection from the Japanese label is the perfect embodiment of this material love affair. Take the Hard Twist Canvas Smock, for instance — its canvas fabric is made using densely woven and tightly twisted slub yarns, which then undergoes a process whereby it’s repeatedly beat and gently washed, achieving unique variations in colour and texture. Or the Wool Poplin Blouson, which is made using raw super 120 wool that’s processed with an anti-shrink treatment, which is then spun into an extensively compacted wool poplin that holds a natural, wrinkled appearance. Ultimately, each garment created by Auralee undergoes this meticulous process, a labour of love that symbolises the brand’s material obsessiveness.
AURALEE AT END.
writerJack Grayson
|photographerSam Atkinson
|stylistElliot Adams
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