Berlin Fashion Week: John Lawrence Sullivan explores boxing and black metal for AW26
John Lawrence Sullivan boxed its way into the hearts of Berlin Fashion Week with a collection soundtracked by metal riffs.
Japanese designer and label founder, Arashi Yanagawa, explained in a post-show interview that he drew inspiration from the shared mentality of his past career as a boxer and Norwegian black metal. This includes strength, independence and a forward-looking perspective. There is no looking back.
Norway's snowy forests also featured as a print in the collection. Yanagawa discovered this aesthetic during a visit to Scandinavia, where he has friends active in the metal scene who host parties outdoors in the cold.
The collection was a perfect fit for Berlin. Temperatures in the city dropped to minus ten degrees on Monday, with snow partially covering the pavements. It was not just the weather that made for a perfect match.
Although the German capital was not a direct source of inspiration, the aesthetic seemed tailor-made for the city and its inhabitants.
The show was held at the industrial Kraftwerk venue, part of the same complex as the renowned techno club Tresor. The collection itself, dominated by leather coats, gloves and over-the-knee boots, seemed perfectly suited for the city's party scene.
The pieces also impressed buyer Shuhei Iwasa from the Japanese department store chain Takashimaya. Stud and spike details on items such as boots and bags, along with transparent mesh long-sleeved tops, completed the subculture-inspired aesthetic.
The rock-inspired aesthetic was contrasted with clean tailoring, featuring a return to narrower-cut suit trousers.
The colour palette featured accents of silver on suits, green on knitted jumpers and shades of brown on faux-fur coats, alongside a base of black.
This article was translated to English using an AI tool.
FashionUnited uses AI language tools to speed up translating (news) articles and proofread the translations to improve the end result. This saves our human journalists time they can spend doing research and writing original articles. Articles translated with the help of AI are checked and edited by a human desk editor prior to going online. If you have questions or comments about this process email us at info@fashionunited.com