DSM Kei Ninomiya Guest Designer

DSM Kei Ninomiya
Guest Designer

News

Edition 110

18.03.2026

Picture courtesy of John Marchant Gallery from the book “eight fold year” by Jamie Reid

The announcements continue for the program of special events at the upcoming edition of Pitti Immagine Uomo, no.110 (Florence, June 16–19, 2026).
The Guest Designer in June will be DSM Kei Ninomiya. The spirit of DSM – the first label by Dover Street Market – takes center stage through the vision of Kei Ninomiya, the Japanese designer acclaimed for his conceptual approach and already at the helm of noir kei ninomiya, his personal label developed under the aegis of Comme des Garçons.
During the days of Pitti Uomo in Florence, DSM Kei Ninomiya will stage the Spring/Summer 2027 menswear collection with a runway event in the distinctive style that sets him apart.

Going to Florence, I felt a sense of both its historic, solemn side and its open, welcoming atmosphere. Pitti Uomo is an historic event that supports creativity.
I also appreciate the very positive and open-minded attitude of everyone involved. I am honoured to have been given this opportunity.

— Kei Ninomiya

It was with a sense of spontaneous enthusiasm that we wished to invite DSM Kei Ninomiya to the exceptional context and audience of Pitti Uomo. In this project, Ninomiya distances himself from the structural complexity and experimental audacity of noir, revealing an absolute versatility in shifting skins without weakening his vision. Inclusive, ageless and agender, the wardrobe signed DSM Kei Ninomiya opens up to a broader and more transversal community: it captures a contemporary sensibility, reflects its collective and authentic energy, and remains attentive to a plurality of voices. Yet it firmly resists any limiting definition, avoiding the allure of labels in order to affirm a full and radical creative freedom.

— Francesca Tacconi, Special Events Coordinator at Pitti Immagine

About KEI NINOMIYA
Kei Ninomiya is a Japanese designer known for his innovative, modular approach to construction.
After studying French literature in Tokyo and attending the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, he joined Comme des Garçons as a pattern maker.
Under the mentorship of Rei Kawakubo, who directed him to establish his own label within the CDG umbrella, he launched noir kei ninomiya in 2012. His sculptural, meticulously crafted work debuted on the official Paris Fashion Week calendar in 2019.

About DSM Kei Ninomiya
Untitled, untethered, undefined
The new Dover Street Market brand was launched in June 2025 with the SS 26 collection of DSM Kei Ninomiya.
A new chapter in the ever-evolving DSM universe, the DSM brand will act like a vessel to nurture all kinds of creative endeavours, projects and experiments. It is imagined as a panoply of different categories, sometimes encompassing collections of varying sizes, appealing to a range of tastes, sometimes purely product based, and always without borders and pre-conceived ideas about what a brand should be and how it is sold and when. Departing somewhat from the idea of the existing and continuing DSM brand development division, DSM brand will be its own brand, working in concert with in-house designers as well as with outside partners with their own visions and ambitions.
The first brand, DSM Kei Ninomiya, is entirely different from his own brand, noir kei ninomiya, being more accessible and thematic, and for all ages and genders. Further propositions, to be announced soon, will each have their own identity, becoming further inscriptions on a shared canvas, adding to the different engravings on the thread of expressions that is dsm, all the while reinforcing the belief that its identity emerges through the coexistence of many voices, through the respectful admiration of inclusive communities and through the unwavering adherence to the doctrine of creation.
Always remaining untitled, untethered, undefined.