This year's Pitti Uomo guest designers were none other than Jun Takahashi and Takahiro Miyashita, two of Japan's most influential avant-garde designers. This is Undercover’s first show in Florence in nearly nine years, and TheSoloist’s first show outside Japan. Both designers worked around Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Undercover’s weird yet beautiful view was juxtaposed with the influence of western culture and youthfulness from Takahiro Miyashita, which was executed extremely well. After you're done reading, the entire show is below to see for yourself.

Undercover

Takahashi opened his show with an ethereal, optimistic approach, with pleated skirts, matching turtlenecks, and fleece tailored suits. However, as the show goes on he deviates into a hopeless view on an apocalypse-bound future. Garments included bold primary colors and lively graphics, but as bright as they are, there is a sense of doom that comes along with them. I’m personally looking most forward to picking up some of the outerwear, bottoms, or accessories.

TAKAHIROMIYASHITAthesoloist

Once again working with the Space Odyssey reference, Takahiro Miyashita refused the idea of a hopeful future. Everything shown was done in a dark color palette, creating a sense of loss, isolation, and destruction. Every look seems to be protection from whatever broken future Miyashita imagined. Masks, reconstructed and repurposed clothing, blankets: everything seemed to be put together as if it were necessary for survival. While this makes it more difficult to imagine single pieces worn in the real world, the collection features many looks that I am looking forward to seeing styled off the runway.