At Paris Couture Week FW25, Yuima Nakazato offered not just a fashion collection, but a haunting meditation on the fragility of the human form, and the primal, almost sacred role of clothing as protector, second skin, and silent witness. Inspired by a deeply intimate journey to the icy wilds of Finland with dancer Evgeny Ganeev, Nakazato transformed the runway into a sanctuary for philosophical storytelling — where art, memory, and couture converged.

Titled in essence by its underlying question — What does the body need to survive? — the collection felt both elemental and avant-garde. Large-scale prints of frostbitten skin and snow-swept silence appeared like ghostly echoes across tailored pieces, taken directly from Nakazato and Ganeev’s photographic expedition into sub-zero extremes.

The garments told a tale of tension between protection and exposure. An aged silver chain-mail dress, audible as it moved, shimmered with strength — yet was made not of metal but of fragile ceramic, reminding us that even armor can break. In other pieces, wool was hand-knitted with metal chains, fusing comfort and constraint into sculptural garments that almost pulsed with inner conflict.

Holographic, semi-transparent fabrics, layered like ice crystals or gills, shimmered in cool tones pulled from frozen tundras. Supported by wires and minuscule fasteners, these fabrics floated and shifted, creating an illusion of breath and motion — as if the garments themselves were evolving in real time. Nakazato’s tailoring played with modularity: zippered slashes, vest-like overlays, and plastron panels felt like adaptive shields, both armor and embrace.

The collection’s finale performance transcended traditional runway theatrics. In the center of the space, Nakazato himself slowly tipped ink from suspended ceramic bowls onto a white shroud that veiled Ganeev’s body. As the dark stains blossomed like wounds, the dancer twisted beneath, then rose, carrying torn pieces of the stained fabric as extensions of his own transformation. These cloth strips danced like living sculptures — raw, reactive, and symbolic of the collection’s emotional depth.

This show wasn’t merely about garments — it was about sensation. About the cold that bites, the fabric that shields, and the moment when one must emerge from suffering and step, shivering, back into the light.

With this collection, Yuima Nakazato reminds us: fashion is not always decoration. Sometimes, it is defense, memory, ritual — even resurrection.