Xaris Project SS26 POIESIS PT. II

In a sunlit private residence in Los Angeles, designed by minimalist architect of light and concrete Tadao Ando, the latest collection by Xaris Project unfolded with a quiet but resonant intensity. This was a study in contrasts, chiasmic intersections, and spatial philosophy made tactile. The label, which takes its name from the Greek concept of chiasm, where opposites cross and merge, creates a world of hybrid silhouettes and architectural references.

Concrete Dreams and Ephemeral Textiles

Xaris Project’s SS26 collection draws heavily from brutalist architecture, particularly the spatial and lighting philosophies of Tadao Ando. Concrete, usually cold and immovable, becomes the metaphorical weight in garments otherwise softened through curve, flow, and asymmetry. The result is not an austere visual, but a lyrical tension between structural rigidity and fluid movement.

“I love these ideas of visually harsh contrast,” the designer explains. That dichotomy is perhaps most vividly embodied in the use of washi-polyurethane blends: textiles that are simultaneously stiff and breathable, structured yet translucent. Inspired by Japan’s impermanent architectural culture, the washi pieces mimic concrete’s imposing presence but yield to the body’s motion, reinterpreting Ando’s interplay between light, shadow, and solidity into wearables.

Retrofuturism Reimagined

Though their background is not in architecture, the mind behind Xaris Project thinks architecturally. Inspirations stretch from the metabolist visions of Kisho Kurokawa, whose Nakagin Capsule Tower and tea house projects informed past lookbooks, to the fluid silhouettes of 1930s Streamline Moderne, found in the designer’s own Los Angeles home.

That retrofuturist spirit courses through the collection’s forms. Tailored blazers with dropped shoulders, fencing-inspired boxy jackets, and collarless leather coats recall both past and future with equal conviction. Inspiration references to the Disco Volante by Alfa Romeo and the coach-built bodies of the 1950s further affirm the label’s fascination with transportation-era aesthetics, vehicles that were designed not just to function but to dream.

Precision and Pattern

Construction is a central protagonist in this story. From double-compartment 3D pockets to hidden asymmetrical vents and sleeve seams rotated for fluidity, the garments are feats of pattern making, produced in Japan with an artisanal sensibility.

One standout piece, a leather poncho, highlights this complexity. “It’s not very practical,” the designer admits, “but the silhouette is very interesting.” Another, an asymmetrical trench with invisible horn buttons and integrated geometries, echoes the triangular-circle dialogue often found in modernist sculpture and sacred architecture. “We wanted to find that hidden harmony,” the designer notes, a phrase that echoes throughout the collection like a design mantra.

Materials as Memory

The collection’s deliberate use of heavyweight materials, even for spring, evokes the permanence of architecture. From untreated steer leather to stiffened washi and milk protein-infused cottons, each textile resists ephemerality. “We’re focusing so much on the difference between structure and lightness,” designer K explained. Even softer hemp and Okayama denim pieces are manipulated with tailored restraint, resisting Americana tropes in favor of geometric clarity.

There’s a nod, too, to the Chashitsu, traditional Japanese tea houses with specific spatial proportions. By referencing these structures both directly and atmospherically in the garments’ balance and detail placement, Xaris Project extends architecture’s logic into intimacy.

A Statement Without a Signature

Notably, the designer behind Xaris Project chooses to remain anonymous, not as an act of withdrawal, but as a conscious gesture toward the brand’s ethos. Just as its garments reveal themselves slowly, hidden seams, asymmetrical vents, layered geometries, the identity of the maker becomes secondary to the experience of the object. In a landscape saturated by personality-led fashion, Xaris Project stands apart in its quiet insistence that form, concept, and construction are enough.

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