The Japanese designer presents the “Kimono Dress” collection at Paris Fashion Week 2025, pushing boundaries with bold experimentation and new creative challenges.
Paris, the world’s fashion capital, once again welcomed the unconventional talent of Chemi Akutami. This season, the designer staged his second self-produced show in the City of Light, in collaboration with mystyle-event. But the true highlight was his personal showcase, “AKITSU Chemi Akutami PARIS 2025,” where he unveiled 16 new looks that captivated both the public and industry insiders.
In his typically candid style, Chemi reflected shortly after the show:
“This time, it was a failure… The silhouettes and designs were good, but I made the wrong material choices, which ended up limiting my expressive range.”
A disarming admission, but completely in line with Akutami’s ethos. A true autodidact with no formal training or academic background in fashion, he has been a steady presence on the global fashion week circuit since 2019. His ability to consistently create fresh concepts has been the key to his success—but also an increasingly demanding challenge.
To combat this creative fatigue, Chemi decided to turn his own rules upside down: for the first time, he tackled a theme he had always rejected. This gave birth to the “Kimono Dress” collection, a title that evokes tradition but, in Akutami’s hands, transforms into something entirely unexpected.
Far from a simple fusion of kimono and Western dress, Chemi reimagined the concept through his own unique lens, crafting each piece with persistence and daring. The collection is aimed at a very specific audience: the “party people,” symbols of freedom and nonconformity.
Another fascinating aspect of the Akutami brand is its model selection process: no typical castings, but real open auditions, held this time in Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur, drawing around 300 applicants. Ultimately, four models were chosen: two from Tokyo’s general selection, one from the LGBT category, and one from Kuala Lumpur. For all of them, this marked their runway debut—an unforgettable experience.
The show’s finale saw Chemi walking alongside his creative partner and head of hair & makeup, Takashi Ogaki, highlighting the importance of teamwork in a project supported by a strong network of sponsors.
Despite his dissatisfaction with some technical choices, Chemi appeared calm and relieved at the end of the show, ready to transform the lessons of this experience into new creative opportunities.
The question now is: what’s next? One thing’s for sure — Chemi Akutami will continue to break rules and defy expectations, leaving his distinctive mark on the international stage.
