Despite all of the strange energy that was surrounding the brutalist space, the crowd had an air of intelligent comedy and reverence that was uplifted by Mikio Sakabe and his vision with this show.
Amidst a crowd of long, gloved sleeves and outrageous comic-like hats, I entered the parking garage that held Grounds’ most recent show in Paris last Thursday. Climbing the slanted floors of the garage, a plume of fog was crowding the light of the space, creating a unique microcosm for Sakabe’s guests to step into.
Facing the ramp that led to the next floor, I heard a soft, creature-like clomping making its way toward me- Sakabe’s first look in the collection. It came forth with bug-eyes, gloved sleeves, and carrying a grocery bag full of plastic. More creatures followed, slithery critters bouncing on their shoes, kimono-like suits adorned with appliques of decomposition, tendrils of hair gelled and growing off the crowns of their heads.
Grounds, a Japanese footwear brand founded in 2019, is expanding their name westward quickly and successfully by erasing the line between luxury and streetwear. Mikio Sakabe, the creative director of the brand, is the architect who imagines with intellect and humor, creating a sense of curiosity that causes viewers to look inward and reflect on the human experience. This season, Sakabe and his team turned his story toward Japanese horror lore- creating entities that seemed mischievous, intelligent, and a little bit evil.
It is ingrained in us that everything starts with the head: sayings like head to toe, bury your head in the sand, and head in the game, all nudge that the importance of ourselves stems from the mind. Sakabe, however, has flipped this narrative with Grounds, calling attention to humans’ unbreakable connection with gravity by dressing feet in chunky, cartoon-like 3D printed shoes.
This season’s collection seems a bit chaotic in theme; the strange, creature-like presence that are the looks as a whole, modern shoe silhouettes reimagined, the inclusion of trash and the idea of decomposition, and a call to Japanese culture in the kimono-like suiting. But Sakabe and his team have done a fantastic job at joining all of these concepts together, where they create a separate world that is just close enough to ours to be able to relate and reflect on it. In this separation, we have the opportunity to see ourselves in a new light and learn something.
In reflection on his message, Sakabe wants wearers to feel, “like they are floating, always ‘starting to walk’”. Calling attention to the overlooked simplicities of life, Grounds is a not-so-quiet reminder of the gravity that pulls us down, but the opportunities it gives us when we consider our connection to it not as an obligation, but as an opportunity. – Alex Dmitruk
Grounds Spring Summer 2026 at Paris Fashion Week
