I walk through a wrought-iron archway, up a sweeping staircase in the grand foyer, and into the venue space, where I’m transported back (figuratively speaking, of course) to the street. Steel barricades are lined up to form a runway. When the show begins, models march down it at a fast clip, as if rushing to reach their offices or the metro, hoofing it back home, or transitioning straight from work to a night out. The opening looks show Ujoh’s signature strength — a polished kind of ease that looks effortless because it is — but also a bit of something else.

But first, some background: A former pattern cutter for Yohji Yamamoto, Mitsuru and Aco Nishizaki founded their brand in 2009. The duo are not just designers, but surgeons when it comes to patternmaking and fit — obsessive about every cut and fold. That’s what I’ve always loved about Ujoh, ever since I attended my first show almost three years ago. The beauty of their work lies in the details. The concept can be about shape, as the designers are always looking for (and finding) new ways of cutting. Or about effusive layering. Or about fusing different concepts and fabrics. 

This season, the duo continue to explore ways to look cool and crisp in the broil of Japanese summers, a journey they began last year. This results in a collection grounded in contrasts. Sharp angles meet loose, easy drapes. Super-light construction meets athletic details. Layered garments of different materials meet modular, functional design made up of detachable finishes and practical details, while relaxed proportions are set against more tailored pieces that wear nicely from day to night. 

It’s this collision (or rather, cooperation) between sportswear, casualwear, and workwear that serves as a throughline for the brand’s spring-summer 2027 collection. “I thought, it needs to be really easy to wear and light,” Mitsuru tells me via his translator backstage after the show. “So, there was something about: How can we bring that into the collection but without just staying within tailoring? It was about finding an Ujoh way to have a mix.” 

That mix involves denim this season, something that’s new to the brand. But Ujoh took this all-purpose staple and folded it into its universe as naturally as anything else. (It almost feels like it’s been there all along.) There are inventive, asymmetrical new plays on the denim jacket — sliced in diagonal, one-shouldered designs. Easy dresses which, via the convenience of zippers, can be opened up for ventilation or transformed thanks to detachable components. 

Another standout crossbred item of clothing: a denim skirt-pants hybrid featuring overlapping panels that button at the waist. “Basically, it’s two different pieces that you put together, and you can open [them] or take them away,” Mitsuru tells me via his translator. “It’s [made of] two pieces … like two sleeves that you put together.” There are also cropped separates with exposed pocket flaps promoted to the front, and other fluid, bias-cut tops (denim fused with a semi-sheer fabric) that lap about the body. 

The color palette feels like that of a moody city at the end of a day, awash in muted grays, browns, blacks, and indigo — with a smattering of dusty pinks and purples, the colors of the sky’s last blush before sunset. What stands out are a handful of looks featuring brightly colored florals, inspired by a traditional Japanese technique in which artisans hand-paint flowers onto 65-foot rolls of fabric that are typically made into kimonos. Each roll takes a full day to paint, then another week to fix, steam, and apply color to the background. 

Backstage, Mitsuru shows me a video of an artisan at a factory in Kyoto, painstakingly painting each flower. “This comes from the fact that nowadays, people are using AI more and more, or different ways to draw things,” Mitsuru says. “But these pattern makers still draw everything by hand. It’s their way of continuing to do everything by hand in this era. That’s why [we] also wanted to pay respect to all the factories that are still not taking shortcuts with technology, but instead remain really traditional.”

This season, we also see the designers collaborate with Dickies, an American rugged workwear giant, and even launch Synth — a new line of Ujoh that blends its signature tailoring with sportier silhouettes. All to say that, as the collection shows, Mitsuru and Aco are nimble thinkers, able to build upon their brand and push themselves in new directions that still feel true to who they are. Still, it’s designers’ knowledge of tailoring and fit, and their embrace of slow and deliberate craftsmanship, that makes this collection one that’s especially beautiful to me. And for that reason, also one that’s perfect for the times we’re living through.