CFCL Spring 2024 Ready-to-Wear

The Line—Saudi Arabia’s proposal for a street-less, carless linear city in the middle of the desert—looks like concept art for a Denis Villeneuve movie. It includes a mirrored 100-mile-long skyscraper measuring 650 feet wide and 1,600 feet high, and work has reportedly already begun on this sci-fi mecca that carves through the sand, with the aim of housing 9 million people. CFCL designer Yusuke Takahashi had been pondering the Line for spring, struck by the contrast between the bold, metallic slice of urban development and its arid surroundings. As a committed functionalist and tech nerd (Takahashi has always embraced computer programming in CFCL’s production processes, turning out seamless knitted garments that minimize waste), it led him down a futuristic path for the new season. He christened his typically taut seventh collection New Land—though he was careful not to neglect the human touch. “I feel it’s impossible for AI to catch up with human creativity,” he said in a preview the day before his show.