“Compatibility…a form of software that is free and not constrained by the times.” This snippet from Fumito Ganryu’s press notelet tellingly insinuated that the garments were a form of code to be uploaded from the closet and then run on the hardware of the bodies wearing them. At a moment when digital metaphors seem everywhere, but with luck will be escapable soon, Ganryu’s take on summer 2022 compatibility was, thankfully, physically pragmatic and practically ingenious.
Examples of this included belted robe coats cut in the stretchy quick-dry synthetic more commonly used for surfers’ rashguards, designed to envelop the skin while being barely perceptible on it. Longer coats with reflective panels on the back were just as light, but cut in a water resistant fabric to allow for total compatibility between housebound slouching and midnight cycling. A formalized take on the French F2 combat jacket in olive cotton/satin was designed for multiple operational deployments, whether as outerwear or mid-layer: worn with a cropped and multi-pocket pant in the same fabric, it made for a refined survival suit. T-shirts featuring glow in the dark panels, shaped to resemble energy cells, made statements relating both to safety and self-confidence.
Perhaps less self-confident but certainly self-knowing was a striped shirt cut with colored sleeves that resembled those of a 1990s track jacket: Ganryu gamely confessed on our Zoom that this garment was partly a personal strategy devised to allow him to wear elements of the gear he’d loved rocking way-back-when, but which he suspected were a little youthful for him to stick to in 2022. Compatible across multiple generations and multiple contexts, this was a precisely built and fastidiously programmed collection.
