You Probably Missed One of Fashion Week's Biggest Collabs

Y-3’s Spring/Summer 2027 runway show was a hit of sensory overload. Models sprinted across the runway then performed elaborate dances that borrowed the movements of football drills, but some of them were actual footballers — like former French international turned DJ Djibril Cisse, Spurs’ attacker Mathys Tel, and Lyon’s Selma Bacha — although it wasn’t always easy to tell since the lights were constantly oscillating between being close-to-pitch-black and clinically bright white. 

Wait, was that a Number (N)ine collaboration?

Y-3’s new collection includes one of this season’s biggest link-ups and yet, because it was largely hidden by the theatrics of the show or styled under layers of new-season black sportswear, it felt like a small subplot. Somehow, a coming-together of two of Japan’s foremost fashion geniuses slipped under the radar. 

One of those geniuses is, of course, Yohji Yamamoto, the “poet of black” who founded Y-3 together with adidas, while the other is Takahiro Miyashita, who recently retook control of his edgy street-fashion line Number (N)ine fifteen years after selling it.

Miyashita’s first move came a few months ago, when he released a new selection of Number (N)ine’s signature item, the graphic tee, with the brand’s signature nihilistic musical mood. His second move is linking up with fellow countryman Yamamoto, or Y-3 to be specific.

This meeting of well-established designers was a story largely told in black — their preferred monochrome color scheme — and takes many forms. 

Y-3’s sportiness was emphasized by shiny taped seams punctuating both two-piece suits of technical fabrics and football shirts, while Number (N)ine’s grungy oeuvre was best felt through loose distressed knits created using reflective yarns and the inimitable logo. And their inventiveness combined most prominently in the footwear department.  

Y-3 and Number (N)ine’s shoes are, on the outside, what looks like a techy zip-up cross-country ski boot, but unzip the outer layer to reveal a regular pair of old-school leather lace-up hiking boots hiding inside. Even in this current age of hybrid shoe ubiquity, it’s a crossover I’ve never seen before and considering it’s kinda two shoes in one, the final result is surprisingly sleek. That’s the kind of never-before-seen experimentation you get when two masters of their craft are in the same room.

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