Hokuto Katsui and Nao Yagi of 14-year-old label Mintdesigns poked fun at the cliche flora that normally haunts warmer temps by breaking down the motif into geometric, imprinted shapes. The result was a well thought out mixture of playful textiles formed into easy-going silhouettes. The drawn flower appeared throughout the collection but in surprising ways whether it was silver foil stamped into a polo shift dress or painterly drawn into a sleeveless blouse.

Unashamedly girly, Keita Maruyama made sure to play up bold colors, flirtatious prints, and ladylike shapes. At times Maruyama’s inspiration of nature and its organic elements this season was subtle in the embroidered and printed chiffon pieces; other times it was amusingly in-your-face with the maximalist ruffles and lace components. Make no mistake Maruyama’s high society woman was exactly that – and she really loved pink.

Teppei Fujita of Sulvam fame looked to Western Americana for his reinterpretation of classic raw denim, Old-West workwear, and cowboy boots. Studded, fringed, and dyed what could have been overwrought with stale design was stimulatingly stylish with an effortless vibe. Fujita, formerly of Yohji Yamamoto tutelage, had a craftsmanship that clearly showed the impact of the older generation. Yet, his fearless take on already established motifs showed an expertise in patterns and editing that was surprising to see in a brand so young. What was also noteworthy was the casting of the collection – a bevy of Japanese faces fully dominated the line-up for a meeting of Western aesthetics with Japanese cool.

Atsushi Nakashima went back to the future with his offering for Spring 2016. Inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s novel “2001: A Space Odyssey,” the color palette of black, white, and red were molded into ath-leisure designs of a different realm. Pops of olive, gold, and silver were the space-like neutrals that gave it all balance. It was not your average sportswear with synthetic textiles like neoprene reigning dominant yet the styling was relevantly modern while looking into the days of tomorrow.

Designer Yasutoshi Ezumi looked to the architect Frank Gehry for inspiration this spring and the outcome was a deconstructed showing with menswear influenced textiles. Trench coats, pin-stripe blazers, white button ups and baseball jackets were all dissected to look refreshingly modern than the workwear of today.

Hanae Mori stands as the first Japanese female designer to be accepted to show couture to the Chambre Syndicale. For Yu Amatsu’s third collection for the brand, that important history fact and the influence of the West was apparent in the Spring 2016 collection. Amatsu thought about water, particularly the American Great Lakes, and used light textures, prints, and flowing silhouettes to mirror the bubbles, waves, and ripples of the tidal element. Swarovski crystals were woven into looks in the middle resembling the ice chips which later evolved into a glacial prism print. This all made way for the colorful bloom of Spring with floral prints sprouting at the end.

A 3D programming student turned knitwear design graduate, Motohiro Tanji brings a keen technical eye to the usually staid world of knit. This season he offered up a mostly monochromatic collection — punctuated in the middle by two entire looks in red — of intricately made clothing with great detail. But where other designers may have ended up in an over-designed danger zone of fussiness, Tanji’s knits were relaxed and effortlessly beautiful.

Menswear designer Yoshio Kubo brought plenty of drama to this season’s catwalk — driftwood and chandeliers lined the middle of the runway, which the models strode purposefully down to a backdrop of smoke and pulsating music. There was a menacing theatre to the collection, with the Arab Spring/Paris riots inspired head coverings and a dominate theme of military green, khaki, and beige colour palette. Mixed in amongst the hard was a soft romanticism consisting of vintage floral, nautical, and geometric prints. If this is what the revolution looks like then we say bring it on.

There’s great beauty in simplicity and Dressedundressed quietly hammered home this point in their latest collection. With subtle imperfections — such as raw edged trench coats, denim jackets, and jeans — and muted colours, the largely androgynous, beautifully tailored clothing was crisp, lightweight, and endlessly wearable.

Menswear brands in Tokyo tend to inspire cult followings amongst painfully hip young Japanese men, and if the audience was anything to go by, Factotum certainly has some of the hippest devotees out there. And it’s no wonder, with a collection consisting of just the right amount of pieces to satisfy the eccentric, the monochromatic minimalist, or the oversized sportswear enthusiast. This season the Factotum man is equal parts serious as he is irreverent — think a surfer into brutalist architecture and industrial post-punk… or Pharrell on an expedition into the Amazon rainforest.

Pleats, ruffles, ribbons and wild hair and makeup may make Facetasm seem, at first glance, a little gimmicky. But look closer and you’ll find sharp tailoring and fresh ideas. Wide-legged pinstriped trousers and oversized coats and jackets were where this collection felt the strongest, but the orange high-visibility construction worker vest felt the coolest. Get past the noise and Facetasm’s Hiromichi Ochiai offers an oasis of complex-but-chic separates.

You may not have associated Onitsuka Tiger, one of Japan’s oldest and most illustrious athletic companies, with surfwear, but thanks to Andrea Pompilio, you do now. Set to dulcet-turned-dub sounds of a California Dreaming remix — easily one of the best soundtracks of the season — Pompilio gave sport and street a high energy, nonchalantly sexy and slightly futuristic going over

Shinsuke Morishita, the man behind Lamarck, is a young designer who looks to the past for inspirations to progress and evolve. This season Morishita set his sights on ladylike demureness, a concept that has been known to go very wrong – some designers maybe spent a little too much quality time with their grandmothers at an impressionable age. But with his mix of textiles and techniques, this season Lamarck was definitely more modern than mumsy.

A brand with strong philosophical roots (‘matohu’ itself is a Japanese concept to do with the duality of beauty and restraint), this season the design duo of Hiroyuki Horihata and Makiko Sekiguchi played with airy femininity and subdued practicality. Retro graphic prints went from sombre tones to muted and then vibrant colour, and silhouettes shifted from dainty to masculine and back again. All in all, this season Matohu was about constant evolution, of embracing the past whilst freeing yourself of sentimentality.