Robert Kime and Tory Burch Resurrect a Soulful Textile Legacy in Nara

universal color,” says Londonbased designer Robert Kime, who traveled to the island with famed client Tory Burch last year and returned with an exquisite collaboration.

Amid the looming splendors of pagodas and palaces, the designers found themselves taken by a quotidian family of remnants—scraps, in fact, from trousers, scarves, linings, and obi, among them.

The ensuing 12-piece launched late spring, reviving motifs from remnants both modern and antique. “We leaned heavily into the blues,” Kime says. “There is a humility about each of the designs—and indigo is a humble dye, yet it goes with everything. You simply would not find these types of patterns in Europe. They are uniquely, and simply, Japanese.”