“The Starting Point Of The Season Came From Imagining A Winter That Felt Bright And Light, Rather Than Sombre”: Ryota Iwai On AURALEE’s Autumn/Winter Collection

The Tokyo designer founded his cult brand a little more than a decade ago. Now, it’s a shorthand for an in-the-know menswear purist – and it hits like a sprinkling of crisp morning sun.

The mood was giddy. Akin to the up-down energy prior to a major football game. The kind that spreads through the pub like a common cold in February. 

The travelling menswear corps might have been weary from back-to-back shows and presentations at Pitti Uomo and Milan Fashion Week before entering the Musée de l'Homme in Paris on a Tuesday January evening, but once inside, they gained a second wind. Old pals dapped up from front to second row, while warm glances and exchanges were shared across the seats. And then, as the last pieces of protective masking tape were removed from the runway floor, came a razor-sharp focus. What is capable of charging sleep-deprived fashion veterans with the energy of a child mainlining E numbers, you ask? AURALEE. 

The label was founded in 2015 by Ryota Iwai, a graduate of Japan’s prestigious Bunka Fashion College who earned early stripes as a pattern maker and designer at labels including the now-defunct Tokyo knitwear imprint Norikoike. At the time, menswear liked its logos large, its colours blocked, and its trends sportswear-indebted, so AURALEE (meaning “the land that lights up”) went left when most of the industry was looking right, with a clean, refined and material-focused line ushering in a different tempo.

“I started AURALEE simply because I wanted to create clothing from the materials stage, developing fabrics from scratch and then creating clothing that brings out the best of those fabrics,” Iwai says a few months post-show over email. “It was never my strength to design anything overly decorative or eccentric, but I felt that what I could do was diligently develop fabrics and make garments with great care.”

The early days brought both anxiety and excitement. “In addition to my goal of making clothing from original fabrics, more than anything, I wanted to make exceptionally high-quality versions of everyday clothing – T-shirts, denim, coats. I wanted to create things that felt familiar, yet somehow had never quite existed in the same way.” He envisioned clothing best suited to morning light. “I wanted to create a brand that had a sense of lightness. Even if we make a winter coat, I want it to be something that can be easily thrown on.”

Capturing apricity – the glow of the sun on a bracing winter’s day – was the genesis of Iwai's Autumn/Winter 2026 menswear offering. “The starting point of the season really came from the idea of imagining a winter that felt bright and light, rather than heavy or sombre. I genuinely love every season, but there was something particularly inspiring when thinking about the unique way light arrives in winter – slanted and not as direct – and the softer colours it brings, along with the freshness of the crisp, cold morning air,” says Iwai. Corduroy trench coats emerged spliced with cobalt leather jackets, and lightweight overcoats in pistachio green. Further injections of colour came through lime polos layered under military-style M65 jackets, scarlet collared knits and blousons, and faded slate trousers. 

The cast of a winter early-morning can be diverse. Whether the club kids catching a chill en route home, the early-bird runners pushing PBs, or shift workers mid-commute. However, Iwai’s mind goes less to people when picturing the scene, and more to his strongest creative spark: materials, their feel and form when draped on the wearer’s body. He’s also renowned as a master of colour, presenting garments in a delicate and considered palette each season. Hue references come, at times, from photographs, and at others, simply from the Pantone catalogue. “What is most important is the combination of colour with the material: the interplay of the two. I pay close attention to how colour works with a fabric's sheen and the way it absorbs, reflects, or develops light. Even with very vivid colours, I am always searching for that delicate balance so that the garment is something you can actually wear,” he says. 

AURALEE’s clothing is wearable, sure. But it’s the stuff strangers compliment you on in the coffee line – like the garment-dyed barn jackets from the brand’s Spring/Summer 2025 collection that soup up the workwear staple in soft pink and green shades – but doesn’t require too much heavy lifting. For Charlotte Collet, who has styled the brand’s shows and campaigns since 2019, it’s a potent menswear cocktail. “AURALEE believes in the strength of creating relevant products in every aspect. Singular colour palette, subtle details, developing its own materials and fabrics, function over design, the right price for amazing quality and no obvious branding. As soon as you see it up close, touch it, wear it, you’re hooked,” she says.

This intoxication goes beyond giddy fashion insiders and seeps into real-life wardrobes. “Our customers are increasingly gravitating towards brands that offer longevity and substance, and AURALEE speaks directly to that mindset,” says Yasmin Mehmet, Menswear Buying Manager at Harrods. “Clients are often drawn in by the exceptional hand feel of the fabrics, but what keeps them coming back is the versatility. The collections integrate seamlessly into an existing wardrobe, making each piece feel like a considered investment rather than a seasonal purchase.” 

Detractors could argue that AURALEE’s quiet clothing doesn’t change enough between seasons, with each outing at risk – if it is a risk at all – of coalescing with the last. And yes, while subdued, minimalist clothing is nothing new, the Japanese label’s innovations with fabric coupled with a colour palette with the gentle tang of a citrus sorbet are what truly move the needle forward. This consistency is AURALEE’s strength, with pooling wool slacks, selvedge denim, and easygoing twill shirting returning revamped each season. In short, these clothes aren’t boring; they’re the product of a masterfully maintained design language that keeps customers compelled. 

“I think most people fundamentally prefer things that are not designed to be thrown away quickly,” Iwai says. “Longevity is very important. And especially as someone who makes products, it’s incredibly difficult to achieve, even if you aim for it. I don’t think simplicity alone guarantees longevity either. Sometimes the most unexpected pieces are the ones that end up staying in your wardrobe for years.” Iwai maintains a consistent routine himself, cycling to and from the office daily, eating at the same spots and decompressing at the sauna or baths, as if treating his body with the same discipline and consistency as his creations.

That’s not to say that AURALEE is above trends. The brand’s Spring/Summer 2026 show saw an army of flip-flop-wearing models take to the runway. A high-fashion stamp of approval on the then-burgeoning toes-out trend that still holds strong at the time of writing. Additionally, its recent collaborative New Balance 204L sneaker is plugged right into the prevailing menswear appetite for slimmed-down footwear. “I think it’s important to observe and understand the mood of the world and the direction things are moving in. The hard but crucial part is finding the right distance from them. Movement is important. Without it, things become stagnant and uninteresting,” Iwai says. “Trends are movement, like rivers flowing, wind blowing, or pollen drifting through the air. I think what matters is deciding whether that movement is genuinely interesting to you and if it’s something you truly like.”

But moments driven by buzz merely supplement AURALEE’s role in defining the menswear of any given moment. Its easy suiting, shirts, shoes and even sneakers are designed for life – not flashy, just good, honest clothes. And in a world where trends move quickly, where skinny jeans were dead, but now are on the up, where quiet luxury ruled, but now bores, and mullets made a return, but the party at the back risks becoming too crowded, AURALEE is ballast. You could call it the calm in the storm – the guiding light of the winter.