Kota Gushiken is a Tokyo knitwear designer known for clothes that are weird, wearable and made with real skill.

After his last showroom wrapped, he needed to get out of Tokyo. He couldn’t choose between Miyako Island and Bali, picked Bali for no real reason, and booked a flight for the next night. There, he met someone who told him, “flow your mind, but don’t follow your mind.” Back in Japan, his acupuncturist suggested they’d been talking about mui: being natural, without intention.

AW26 is Gushiken’s attempt at that. Rather than forcing a concept, he followed whatever turned up: yarns he happened across, colours that popped into his head, the people he met along the way. A cotton cable knit is bleached and dyed at the same time, so the colour shifts with heat and humidity and no two pieces turn out alike.