Number (N)ine
REVIEW
COMPLETE COLLECTION
PARIS, June 26, 2008
By
Hands up anyone who thinks Brian Jones is the unsung genius of the Rolling Stones. Takahiro Miyashita is your man. After seasons of Cobain worship, the Number (N)ine designer has found another doomed rocker to build a world around. And what a world! One of his regular hegiras recently took Miyashita from Austin, Texas, to Butte, Montana, new geographical loci to add to his beloved Portland, Oregon, and Seattle. But he also had Jones on his mind, and what that hodgepodge of input yielded was something so jaw-droppingly peculiar that it was actually…mesmerizing.Start with the wigs, which mimicked Jones' Little Lord Fauntleroy bangs. (Squint at them sideways, and they could have been late-period Peggy Lee.) Progress to layer upon layer of Jones' dandy brocades, velvets, and laces, all tricked out with trailing cords, tassels, and ties so that they looked like eighteenth-century bondage gear (think Fanny Hill, for anyone who remembers that erotic classic, which is probably just about as lost to the YouTube generation as Brian Jones). Miyashita's attention to detail bordered on breathtakingly obsessive: "The nut buttons take on 11 colors in four contrasting tones, each with their own unique concha design," said the press notes. Case rests.
The designer called his collection "The Lonesome Heroes," echoing the open spaces of Texas and Montana. Leaving aside the obvious dig that any hero who dressed like this would invite loneliness, Miyashita's cinematic sensibility ensured a lushly consistent trip. As in acid, not road.
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