As explained by Jun Takahashi while discussing the parallel Autumn Winter 2009 womenswear collection, Earmuff Maniac returned to the technical research he had begun two winters earlier. Takahashi described AW09 as a development of his “super-technological” AW07, having stepped away from the conventional show calendar so he could spend more time researching and developing it.
In retrospect, Earmuff Maniac sits at an important transition within Takahashi’s body of work. It retains music & punk references and motifs commonly associated with 2000s Undercover while introducing a more systematic interest in performance and product design.
And after two years, Earmuff Maniac was born. Takahashi presented a subdued, survivalist wardrobe of tailored blazers, parkas, cloaks, heavy gradient knits and knitted leggings in predominantly black, grey, brown and muted gradients. Menswear incorporated technical materials such as GORE-TEX and phase-change material (PCM) linings, which absorb excess body heat and release it again as temperatures drop. The extent of this research became even clearer in the parallel womenswear, where microencapsulated thermal technology descended from NASA-developed research kept models warm while the collection was photographed in sub-zero conditions. Yet rather than resembling conventional outdoor equipment, these technologies were concealed within everyday clothing and contrasted against distressed surfaces, leather, fur and deconstructed construction.
Like all his collections, music remained as equally as important. Peter Saville’s Unknown Pleasures artwork for Joy Division appeared across cloaks, outerwear, accessories and linings, often becoming part of the garment itself rather than functioning as a conventional graphic print. The image originated from 80 successive radio pulses recorded from CP 1919, the first pulsar ever discovered: a rapidly rotating neutron star whose beams of radio waves sweep past Earth at regular intervals. Its transformation from astronomical data into one of music’s most recognizable graphics created a fitting dialogue with the collection’s technological and futuristic direction. References to experimental electronic duo Silver Apples also appeared throughout the season.
Unlike a conventional runway collection, AW09 menswear was initially presented through a studio series released through Takahashi’s own (now defunct) blog. The photographs placed the models inside an almost endless black environment scattered with reflective surfaces. A later Men’s Non-No editorial moved the collection outdoors into forests and open landscapes, where reflective technical coats, heavy layering and protective silhouettes made the collection’s relationship with the environment considerably more explicit.
Seen beneath the black Unknown Pleasures cloak in the August 2009 Men’s Non-No editorial are these coveted 78 Denim. Sharing the numbered nomenclature of Takahashi’s AW05 85 Denim, the jeans feature similar extensive distressing and shredding across the front and back, a silk-blend waist band and knee backing beneath the aggressive blowouts, and is finished with Patti Smith lightning bolt tattoo embroidery on the left knee.
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