The buzziest womenswear debut on Tokyo Fashion Week’s slimmed down schedule this season is Yuka Kimura, a 27-year-old Yohji Yamamoto alum who started her own brand, Mukcyen (pronounced muh-shan), in 2023. Kimura is the winner of the JFW Next Brand Award 2026, and thus kicked off a week of shows with her first outing for the brand.

The show unfolded in a Dune-like palette of skintight dresses, while the thick leather harnesses, corset jerkins, and chainmail detailing lent a medieval-vampire dark fantasy vibe. Layered cupro dresses, tops, and leggings clung and hung from the body like bandages. Appropriately these looks were part of what the designer is calling the “second skin series,” and had been infused with oil, which Kimura said increases the skin’s moisture content. Clothing meets skincare—handy.

There were deconstructed pink velour tracksuits too, and some of the models nursed small beaten-up teddy bears on their sleeves, but any softness was neutralized by the dangerous-looking silver claws from Tokyo-based jewelry designer Fangophilia. Kimura, who has bleached hair and eyebrows and wears a lot of body-con black, said of her aesthetic: “I like to look serious rather than fun.”

As well as a designer, Kimura is an influencer who has built a 200k-strong social following, her feed populated with the same dystopian techno-goth vibes as her runway. And while it would be easy to write her off as another fashion Instagrammer starting their own vanity brand, the fashion talent and potential was clear at this first outing. You could certainly see those second skin dresses on Tokyo’s edgiest club kids. “The ideal person I’m envisioning is someone who is assertive and unyielding,” she said. “It’s about more than just being popular; I want the women who wear my clothes to feel self-assured.”