Sacai’s Lace-Up Shoes Are All Business in the Front and Party in the Back

For her Sacai men’s fall 2017 collection, which showed today at Paris Fashion Week, Japanese designer Chitose Abe presented a lesson on cold-weather dressing.

The collection was titled “Hidden Madness/Cut Up,” and the designer worked her hybrid spell with a new subtlety.

Sumptuous, velvet down jackets had contrast interiors in windbreaker nylons, while traditional gun-club check blazers and Loden overcoats bore decorative touches on exaggerated turn-up collars.

A collaboration with outdoor label The North Face featured khaki MA1 bombers, parkas and down jackets. Word to the wise: Japan’s ski resorts have a cult following amongst hip winter sports cognoscenti.

When it came to the footwear, however, the action played out to the rear. Boots displayed vertical lacing at the back on either side of the zip, while lace-up shoes had their tongue and laces at the heel. The effect was gently eccentric yet utterly wearable.

“I took the whole idea of ‘cut up’ and applied to shoes as well,” explained the designer following the show. “The front and back parts are reversed so the laceup is happening at the back instead of the front.” She’d appropriated the idea from traditional workwear boots, she added.

Click through the gallery to view more looks from the runway.