This season's theme is "SHADES OF GRAY."
How were gradations, tonal depth, and shadow in gray
translated into garments through concept and technique?
We spoke with Creative Director Takayuki Minami
about Graphpaper's Autumn & Winter 2024 collection.
Using various methods
to express tonal gray.
―Tell us about the theme for AW24.
Minami: The theme is SHADES OF GRAY. It explores gradations of gray - light and dark, contrast, depth, and the way shadow creates dimensionality. There were several inspirations, one of them being the work of British contemporary artist Alan Charlton. His pieces use canvases painted in subtle shifts of gray - from pale to deep - executed with industrial precision. The graphical arrangement of panels against the negative white space left a strong impression on me.
Minami: Gray has always been central to Graphpaper's identity, and it's a color I personally love. We've done collections in the past based on "how many greys can exist just within gray," but this time the approach shifted toward volume and optical effect. Rather than simply exploring shades, we focused on how light creates shadow on three-dimensional forms - then translated that effect back into flat garments. Like how architecture casts a shadow - we tried to express that phenomenon in two dimensions.
―Are there items where this is clearly visible?
Minami: This knit, for example (top image). The left side is darker, the lower part lighter, and the right even lighter — the eye reads it as three-dimensional. It's an illusion. We're expressing light and shadow on the flat surface of knitwear. The wool-nylon gabardine pants (bottom image) switch to black only along the inside of the leg - the part that naturally falls into shadow when worn. Instead of making sculptural garments, we achieved dimensionality through placement of gray gradients.
Items inspired by Alan Charlton's installation method: intarsia knit and pants with the inside panel switched to black. Shadow and volume represented on a flat textile plane.
Knit Fine Wool Intarsia Knit ¥40,000 + tax (top image)
Pants Wool Nylon Gabardine Track Pants ¥42,000 + tax (bottom image)
Minami: Single-tone gray pieces approach perception differently - the aim is to create visual effect through texture. Like how you only notice the painted brush strokes when you get close to a canvas. We engineered similar nuance at the textile stage - sometimes by raising the surface, sometimes by flattening it. Some fabrics are very technical; others rely on fiber blends or weave structure. It may not come through in photos, but in person you'll notice unexpected surface expression.
Minami: The knit uses intarsia (a method of knitting separate yarn blocks into patterns without carrying a yarn on the reverse side, giving a thin finish and clean, sharp motifs with minimal unevenness). From far away it looks like a simple diagonal line, but up close the pattern steps in tiny pixel-like increments - almost like 8-bit graphics. Straight lines are easy for most factories, but diagonal intarsia is difficult - we had to find a knitting mill specifically capable of it. The project began there.
Rather than a print, the theme is expressed through intarsia knitting, a technique that demands considerable skill.Texture as illusion - through
finishing and detail.
Minami: These jacket and pants are wool.
―Wool? They look like nylon.
Minami: Reversing material expectation is something Graphpaper often does.
―In hand it feels smooth, but yes - it's wool.
Minami: The surface is flattened through fabric design and shearing to remove fuzz.
―Is the slightly sporty design also what creates that illusion?
Minami: Right. For example, we made something like an old NIKE ACG zip-up - but in wool. And rather than sewing, we sealed seams with tape like a technical shell, reducing stitching.
Jacket and pants made from smooth, flattened wool.
Jacket Light Doeskin Stand Collar Jacket ¥68,000 + tax
Pants Light Doeskin Wide Cargo Trousers ¥45,000 + tax
Jacket Wool Nylon Gabardine Shell Jacket ¥52,000 + tax
Wool blouson pockets sealed with seam tape.
Minami: On the other hand, this flannel coverall and trousers intentionally push surface texture. Flannel is often made smooth using combed yarn (evenly spun yarn that has been through a combing process), but we added texture here. Like a painting where details emerge the closer you get - roughness, grain, bumps.
―Many pieces look completely different from afar versus up close. The eye is tricked.
Minami: It's a bit nerdy, but experimentation is always the heart of the collection line (laughs).
Uniform-grade flannel serge brushed for a soft, raised texture.
Intentionally not matching
gray too precisely.
―There are countless tones of gray, so how do you narrow down selection?
Minami: I prefer cool, blue-cast grays, avoiding reddish ones. When sampling, if it drifts red, we remake it. Japan tends to produce reddened gray - overseas brands achieve beautiful gray more often, maybe due to water properties, pH, climate… even leather often has better coloration abroad.
―How many gray variations appear in the collection?
Minami: Around five set tones - gray, charcoal, light gray, dark gray, etc. Normally we match every fabric precisely to a master color, but this time we allowed variation by material. Controlled coincidence adds depth to the gradation - a key approach this season. Layering different fabrics creates gray dimension.
A look combining near-tone jacket, pants, caftan, and turtleneck knit. Slight material shifts create natural depth.
Minami: The caftan is great for creating layers of gray. I bought one in Africa and found it interesting to wear. I wanted one more layer between short jacket and pants to generate shadow — skirts or waist wraps felt wrong, so we developed this in light wool. It works with sneakers or leather shoes.
―I also noticed accents beyond gray.
Minami: Brick and Neon Yellow. Alan Charlton would never use them (laughs). Brick came from Raf Simons' first Paris runway in AW1997 - gray and brick. It really stuck with me. Also, the title escapes me but there was a ballet film where gray and brick blended beautifully. I just love that pairing. Neon Yellow appears as subtle accent on belts and drawcords.
Brick and neon yellow accents. The nylon belt, a new item released this season, works well as a styling accent.
―The combination of gray and brick red conveys a very modern atmosphere.
Minami: But styled with hoodies under jackets, from a fashion perspective, the feel is surprisingly American-Casual - like late '90s to early 2000s streetwear. We reduced elements heavily - minimal stitching, no excess detail.
Standout items
for AW24.
―Which items should we pay attention to in particular?
Minami: We usually only make single-breasted leather jackets, but we tried double for the first time. We wanted refinement rather than biker-like ruggedness, so it's made in shearling. The collar can be worn up - as long as your neck is warm, you'll be ok (laughs). The teardrop-shaped zipper is from Italian maker Raccagni. Since we make simple garments, we tend to obsess over trims and detail.
Jacket Sheep Mouton Aviator Jacket ¥190,000 + tax
Minami: Our PERTEX pieces are also great. Light, thin, warm — exactly what we want for winter. It's like that person who looks strangely underdressed in midwinter yet never seems cold. The neck warmer can be worn matching or as an accessory — add tech to a knit look, for example.
