The Comme des Garçons office in Tokyo, with its unflinching pale light, feels more like an art gallery. Tao Kurihara would not want you to think that her Spring/Summer collection is a work of art, though. As a member of the Comme crew, Kurihara's pieces reject commerciality in favour of individual expressionism, subversive silhouettes and handmade application. The collection drew inspiration from Tove Jansson’s book series 'Moomins' and the beloved characters introduced to Japan through 1990s television series.

The show opened with Kurihara’s laissez-faire interpretation of the fantastical elements within Jansson’s illustrations. Sheer black tulle, delicate and witchlike, floats over harlequin prints featuring Jansson’s self-portrait. Tao's palette—a mix of fuchsia and sepia-tones—recalls the retro veneer of the Moomins television show. Tailored jackets, some playfully misshapen through ruching, edge on Edwardian. When it comes to pattern mixing, Kurihara emerges as a libertine. She harmonises florals, gingham, and polka dots to conjure the idyllic meadowscapes and whimsical narratives of Jansson's world, paying homage to the Finnish backdrops that shaped the Moomins' universe.

Daisuke Yamada’s feathered headdresses nod more literally to the themes of adventure and independence in the book. Raven-black feathers, arranged in dramatic arcs, mimic birds frozen mid-flight, transforming the models into otherworldly creatures plucked from mythical realms. Tao’s collaboration with Patrick Shoes offers a quick tether to reality. Sensible lace-ups reminiscent of children’s school shoes balance the dramatic balloon sleeves and flared shoulders of her silhouettes. 

A patchwork babydoll maxi combines embellished florals, broderie anglaise and cotton, recalling Tao’s practice of mixing mediums, as seen in her widely celebrated 2007 ready-to-wear collection featuring up-cycled wedding dresses and bedcovers. A series of all-white ensembles are crowned with more abstract headpieces, these ones resembling deconstructed clouds or mangled halos. They reintroduce Tao’s leitmotif of innocent femininity, first glimpsed in her 2005 debut label as Rei Kawakubo and Junya Watanabe’s protégé.

The final looks appear in a cellophane-like fabric, polka-dot printed with Jansson's portrait and layered with smoke-toned and magenta ruffles. Tao's silhouettes grow bolder and more abstract here, with forms verging on the nonsensical. Exaggerated hips and shoulders define some pieces, while others adopt trapezoidal shapes, each silhouette augmented by asymmetrical ruching. Excessive folds and pleats are draped as tulle skirts that cascade with sculptural flair. A deliberate play of contrasting palettes also reveals itself: cool-white blouses offset riotous black fabric in an effort to merge the dreamlike with the structural. Flowing powder-blue skirts, held up by sashes draped over the shoulder, close the show on a surreal note, with the final models gliding down the runway as if drifting atop storm clouds. In this final moment, Tao reminds us that fashion is the most compelling when elusive, nostalgic, and unapologetically complex.