HYKE SS19 at the Graham Foundation

Published June 06, 2019

HYKE SS19 at the Graham Foundation Large
HYKE SS19 at the Graham Foundation Large

We may be biased, but we're of the opinion that Chicago is one of the most photogenic cities in the world. Spotlighting some of the locations that make it so unique is a key part of our creative practice.

This season, we're proud to introduce HYKE, one of our favorite brands from Japan, to Chicago. HYKE was founded in 2013 by designers Hideaki Yoshihara and Yukiko Ode, and in six years has developed an identity grounded in understated, elegant functionality. Yoshihara and Ode take cues from performance outerwear—as evidenced by their ongoing collaboration with The North Face—but always apply their own unique twists to garments. The woven cut-out field jacket, for instance, edits a familiar shape, adding to it via subtraction.

Yoshihara and Ode's tendency to subtly subvert structure reminded us of the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in Fine Arts, an organization devoted to "the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society." Based out of the Madlener House in the Gold Coast, the Graham Foundation produces exhibitions, events, and publications, and offers project-based grants to individual practitioners and organizations doing work probing the present and future of architecture.

The Madlener House was completed in 1902, the work of Chicago architect Richard E. Schmidt and designer Hugh M. G. Garden. It's a Prairie-style mansion, characterized by a sense of openness created by long horizontal lines. Though the style came into popularity over 100 years ago—due in no small part to Frank Lloyd Wright—it feels as contemporary as ever. Kind of like the sorts of military and performance outerwear HYKE references in its designs.

The Graham Foundation is located at 4 West Burton Place. Its current exhibition, a solo show by Chicago-based artist Nelly Agassi, runs until August 03.

HYKE SS19 at the Graham Foundation Large
HYKE SS19 at the Graham Foundation Large
HYKE SS19 at the Graham Foundation Large HYKE SS19 at the Graham Foundation Large
HYKE SS19 at the Graham Foundation Large
HYKE SS19 at the Graham Foundation Large HYKE SS19 at the Graham Foundation Large

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