PARIS, Jan 27, 2006/ FW/ --- It’s purple, its orange, its yellow and green – Naoki Takizawa’s Fall 2006 menswear collection entitled ‘Color Addict’ brought sunshine to a very gray winter day in Paris.

Previewing the collection to the very intimate setting of the Issey Miyake showroom, Naoki Takizawa sent wide-legged ski pants cut like carpenter pants in orange, green and purple.

And with the background music playing a mix of R&B and rap, one get a feeling that this is Takizawa’s take on street wear. Of course, though the shape might be similar, the use of high tech fabric and down fill makes it as far from being streetwise. It’s more like for the ski slopes of the Alps.

Still, Takizawa did not forget the urban male at all. Sending loose-fitting suit jackets with rounded shoulders paired with generously cut trousers, the Japanese designer stayed within the theme by using color blocks wherein each cut and section of the suit were color coordinated within the color wheel.

And while the norm for suits is to make the seams as invisible as possible, Takizawa did the exact opposite. He emphasized the seam by adding slits of fabric with a different color, even different texture at times. It’s cool, it’s poetic, it’s the metro male.

With the models carrying bunches of flowers, the seem to represent lovelorn poets, who frequent coffee shops, recite their poems and sing their love songs every Friday or Saturday night in the same coffee shop.

When you start thinking that this collection is for the artsy group, Naoki Takizawa, without losing any rhythm and keeping the collection still very tight sends out ‘respectable’ suits, the kind that young urban professionals wear in warm shades of green, blue and gray.

Issey Miyake by Naoki Takizawa

Issey Miyake by Naoki Takizawa

Issey Miyake by Naoki Takizawa

Issey Miyake by Naoki Takizawa