L´Univers de Julius

| 17 December 2009 | Fashion

Chaotic lines and dark Aristocracy. A place where luxury bondage meets introvert delicacy. Meet Julius.

L´Univers de Julius. In this article, I would like to explore the universe of a quite enigmatic Japanese visionary, artist and designer, named ''Julius''. The label Julius has always been surrounded by controversial autism and emblematic tailoring. Here, the focus seems to be on materials, design and the clothes, as opposed to decorative elements, champagne and athmosphere. Henceforth, Julius does not issue clear collection presentations or illustrative press releases; instead, one remains left in the dark, reminiscing on what spirit the collection exactly embodies. At times, all we journalists get, is a name, or a working title, if you will.

The label's last two collections, of which a selection can be viewed below, were called: ''Neurbanvolker'' and ''CANON 2# Protectionism''. Little further information was released at the time, even in rare interviews, one can only attempt to capture the sheer delicacy of his tailoring, his preference for leather and his simplistic return to man & utility. Nonetheless, your editor would like to try to capture the cultural and corporal essence of Julius; his universe and emotions.

What could be observed primarily, is his obsessive usage of chaotic lines, black, heavy materials and the almost promordial bondage ''wrapping'' of his mannequins. Realistically, one could attribute this to closeness, the clothes become one with the bearer and therefore entering his ''circle of life''. Julius originates from Japan, Tokyo to be precised, a cosmopolitan place, a true myriad of chaos, life; a location where one can never seize to travel. The collections seem to incorporate this busy-ness and are stretching the omnipresent Tokyo-esque soul. In my opinion, his runway shows are not the main experience, the private showroom afterwards, where one can feel and observe the details of the fabrics and tangled tailoring, that is where one truly feels Julius' chaos.

Henceforth, once can unfortunately not avoid touching upon the androgenous nature of Julius' universe. As an artist, he is clearly inspired by the likes of Leonardo da Vinci and Giacometti. Despite the fact, that those two visionaries, are amongst many menswear designer's strongest muses, Julius seems to focus on a different side of their vision and achievements. Their works, as indicated by some reviewers, transcended the lines of gender, to such an extend it did not exist anymore.