YOKE Spring/Summer 2027 Uses Surrealist Dépaysement to Make Leather Look Like Denim and Fur Feel Like Summer
Summary
YOKE Spring/Summer 2027, titled "Dépaysement," takes Meret Oppenheim's Surrealist practice as its conceptual framework, building the collection around material transformation and the dissonance between what fabrics appear to be and what they physically areKey fabrications include leather embossed and discharge-dyed to resemble denim, a herringbone pattern embroidered in wool-acrylic yarn onto industrial nylon, and a cupro-strip and kid mohair knit that references both washi paper and pile warmthThe season introduces a first collaboration with Spanish brand HEREU on leather sandals and a new partnership with Tokyo product design brand Pøsitum on bags, alongside continuing collaborations with TSUCHIYA KABAN, foot the coacher, Marbot, REPRODUCTION OF FOUND, and '47
YOKE's Spring/Summer 2027 collection, "Dépaysement," takes its name and conceptual direction from Meret Oppenheim, the Surrealist artist whose practice centred on removing familiar objects from their original contexts and reintroducing them through unexpected textures. The collection applies that logic to fabric: materials traditionally associated with Fall/Winter, including fur, long-pile fabrics, leather, and wool, are deliberately relocated into a Spring/Summer context, while fabrication techniques are used to make materials appear as something other than what they are.
The leather that reads as denim is the collection's most technically resolved piece. Produced through a combination of intricate embossing and discharge-dyeing by Japanese artisans, the leather replicates the surface character and visual weight of denim while remaining entirely leather in construction. The press release notes that the result achieves a distinctive character and presence unattainable with actual denim, positioning the fabrication decision as additive rather than deceptive: the goal is not to deceive but to produce something new through the gap between appearance and material reality.
The herringbone textile operates on a related dissonance. A warm wool-acrylic yarn is embroidered in an all-over herringbone pattern onto a cold, industrial nylon base, creating a surface that carries the visual and tactile associations of F/W suiting on a foundation that is structurally S/S. The contrast between the warmth of the embroidered yarn and the industrial coldness of the nylon beneath it mirrors the central tension Oppenheim explored in Object (Le Déjeuner en fourrure), her most iconic work, in which a teacup, saucer, and spoon covered in fur placed incompatible textures in direct contact with one another.
The knitwear introduces a further material hybrid. Lightweight cupro is finely cut into narrow strands and twisted together with kid mohair, producing a yarn that combines the crisp, paper-like touch of traditional Japanese washi with the softness and warmth of mohair pile. Separately, cupro layered with flock printing creates a material that carries the surface richness of corduroy alongside an elegant drape that corduroy itself cannot achieve. Both pieces use fabrication to close the gap between two material properties that would not ordinarily coexist in a single textile.
The womenswear line, introduced last season, continues its gradual integration with the menswear collection this season, building what YOKE describes as a seamless gradient between the two. The approach draws directly on Oppenheim's declaration that the spirit has no gender, with familiar garments reinterpreted through material transformation to connect them to new values beyond conventional masculine and feminine codes.
Collaborations extend the collection's material logic into accessories. Pøsitum, a Tokyo-based product design brand working at the intersection of interiors and fashion, transforms everyday objects into bags with new functions. A first collaboration with Spanish brand HEREU produces a collection of leather sandals. Continuing partnerships with TSUCHIYA KABAN, foot the coacher, Marbot, REPRODUCTION OF FOUND, and '47 introduce new collaborative pieces for the season. As a direct homage to Oppenheim's Object, YOKE has also produced a folding fan printed with a fur motif and paired with a faux-fur case, placing an object designed for cooling inside a material associated with warmth.
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