With the looming recession, many fashion brands are re-evaluating their raison d’être. “Are we providing an escape from reality? Or are we creating timeless pieces to be bought as long-term investments?” For Japanese indie brand Scye, our recessionary 2009 may just be the perfect year for the brand’s core concept: great-looking classic pieces in high-quality fabrics and comfortable cuts.

The new Autumn/Winter ‘09-’10 collection plays further with the designers’ favorite classic designs and fabrics, and like always, they hide all the real innovation beneath the naked eye. Scye’s clothes must be worn to be truly experienced. Pattern cutter Hideaki Miyahara’s signature pivot sleeve on Scye’s coats may look generically “neat,” but you will bless the designers each time you freely swing your arms around.

This season’s collection largely emphasizes the true essence of raw materials, in a loose 19th century prairie feeling. Tweedy wool jackets have that classic burlap grain, perfect to wear when buying feed at a Nebraska general store, while other wool jackets use non-dyed lambswool straight off the beast. One fur sweater comes in yak fur. And yet, many of the natural wool pieces have sparkly shawl sequin collars and pocket-edges — bringing rugged chic into a Eighties party atmosphere. Like many brands, Scye offers a candy-striped cleric colored button-down for men, but the designers toned down the colors in a vintage wash for a totally different effect than the standard preppy model.

In good Scye style, most of the women’s line is identical to the men’s — only produced in smaller sizes. But they hit a more feminine stride with a red plaid nylon-esque silk bottom: skirt in the front, shorts in the back. The poodle-jacket in teddybear fake fur is also a nice touch.

Scye Basics has some incredible retouches of everyone’s favorite coats. The duffel coat (pictured above) fits like a charm and has a few non-functional decorations (like the three buttons at bottom) that mark it off from the pack.

Our original article on Scye: http://mekas.jp/en/brand-profiles/310.xhtml