SSSTEIN SS27

It's been a while since I had the chance to stay in Paris during Fashion Week. If you've been following me for a while, you may know that I've often attended several shows in London and Paris, working with magazines or brands to cover the presentation of the new collections through my live sketches.

It's something that I've enjoyed quite a lot since the beginning; there is something unique about translating the excitement and adrenaline of a show into loose lines and watercolour washes.

This season, I decided to spend a few days in Paris to enjoy those moments again, unfortunately, I didn't anticipate the tremendous heat wave hitting the City of Lights, which definitely shortened my sketching sessions and made working far more challenging.

Despite this, I had the pleasure of attending for the first time the show of Japanese brand ssstein, a fashion label founded in 2016 by self-taught designer Kiichiro Asakawa in Tokyo. Originally launched as stein, the brand was renamed ssstein in 2024 as part of a new global identity while maintaining the same design philosophy.

Since its launch, ssstein has become known for its refined tailoring and understated everyday clothing. The brand presented its first runway show at Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo for the Autumn/Winter 2023 season.

After building an international following through stockists and Paris showrooms, ssstein won the Fashion Prize of Tokyo in 2025, helping accelerate its global expansion. The brand presented its first runway show in Paris in January 2025, initially off the official calendar, before joining the official Paris Men's Fashion Week schedule the following year.

Its third Paris runway show, for the Autumn/Winter 2026 collection, introduced both menswear and womenswear. The Spring/Summer 2027 collection marks the brand's fourth runway show in Paris.

Although feeling slightly rusty in the beginning, I really appreciated the opportunity to sketch live, finding inspiration right in front of me, with the models posing during the presentation, which felt almost magical.

I was especially drawn to the collection's soft colour palette of yellow, light blue, beige, and off-white.

Apparently, designer Kiichiro Asakawa drew inspiration from the quiet stillness of early mornings, describing the collection as watercolour slowly bleeding into the pages of a poetry book

Since I mostly used watercolour for my work, I found that connection both unexpected and poetic. It almost felt as though, without knowing it, my way of sketching was the perfect match for the spirit of the collection.

A heartfelt thank you to ssstein and the PR team for allowing me to be part of such an inspiring moment. Despite the heat wave, I feel incredibly lucky to have experienced it and to have captured the collection through my sketches.