Fashion feature: Everlasting Sprout Spring 2013

image:S.Whittle for Style WyldeThemes of isolation, loneliness and the distrust of loving others which are so prevalent in Japanese author Natsume Sōseki's post-war autobiographical novel Grass on the Wayside (MichiKusa), seem unlikely inspirations for the light and bright Everlasting Sprout Spring 2013 collection which debuted at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo last night. However, liner notes from the show which included the phrase "Michi kusa, Grass on the way side. I loiter about on my way, Under the bluest sky, with whitest cloud I keep walking", proved that indeed this was the starting point for Sprout designer Keiichi Muramatsu.

image:S.Whittle for Style Wylde

image:S.Whittle for Style WyldeAnd that in itself revealed the creative cleverness for which Keiichi Muramatsu is adored.  Never overly literal in his creation, Muramatsu forwent the mournful colors and funeral dirge music and instead focused his looks on the images of Spring described in the passage.  Muramatsu's grass green runway, bright floral and fauna prints and twee straw hats, combined with more traditional  Japanese embroidery and silhouettes   suggested the period of major transition for the country of which the novel describes.

image:S.Whittle for Style Wylde

 image:S.Whittle for Style Wylde

Exquisitely subtle in execution, yet utterly feminine, and just plain pretty the collection could  easily be imagined on the backs of the fashion savvy girls of ANY international city be it Tokyo, Manhattan, or Paris.

image:S.Whittle for Style Wylde image:S.Whittle for Style Wylde

image:S.Whittle for Style Wylde 

image:S.Whittle for Style Wylde

image:S.Whittle for Style Wylde

For more on Everlasting Sprout visit the label's official web home, and check out the Style Wylde galleries for a full set of images from the show.