"It's not just about blindly seeking new things."

Izumi (MINOTAUR INST. Designer) I'm currently working on graphics with Matsuyama, but the techniques and designs for the T-shirts are often a repetition of what we did in the past. But what interests me is being involved in scenes where "something is about to happen, is happening." That's what makes fashion exciting to me, but I'm not excited by the parts of fashion that just repeat past trends and techniques. So, in order to create something that has never been seen before, I'm working with Matsuyama, who is in a completely different genre, and it's a lot of fun.

Wakita: I totally understand that. Technology creates new styles, but those styles often end up being repeated or fought over. I think collaborating with people from different backgrounds is important to break through that. You can see a world that you clearly couldn't reach on your own, and sometimes a new axis can emerge from that. That's exactly why Matsuyama and Izumi are collaborating, even though they're from completely different fields, but I think they're connected at an essential level.

Matsuyama (MINOTAUR INST. collaboration creator) : That's right. Ever since we started collaborating, it didn't feel like we were really drifting apart. We use the term "post-street" in this media, and I wonder if we can find a more modern style than the current classic street style by mixing technology and fashion.

Dismantling Awe / Installation / 2018

Wakita: That's really interesting. You certainly use modern styles and technology, but you can definitely feel the street vibe in your output.

Matsuyama : Also, simply by making full use of technology, things that were previously painstakingly made by hand can now be drastically shortened with the power of computers and the internet, and a huge number of creations are now possible. It feels like they're making good use of it, or hacking it. I think that kind of nuance is cool from a fashion perspective as well.

Wakita : Street culture is exactly what hacking is. It involves bricolaging urban structures and using them in ways that were not originally envisioned, pioneering new ways of playing. This is similar to the hacker mindset in the original sense of computer culture. I think it's not unrelated that many of the supporters of West Coast IT companies are from the street culture side.

Dismantling Awe / Installation / 2018

Wakita: This feeling may not exist in Japan, but in America, people from the early days of hip-hop were investing in startups, and Dr. Dre is a symbol of that. The Weeknd runs a startup support organization called HXOUSE in Toronto, and collaborates with design schools; I think he's truly hacking the social system.

IzumiWhen I was working importing New York brands, I watched countless times since the '90s to see how fashion and culture were born, who became iconic, and why brands spread. The tools we use change with the times, but the essence remains the same. Watching this over and over, I realized that what's born using the tools we have today, as the essence of the time we live in now, is a sign of respect for those people. My motivation is to transcend time and generations and share it. In Japan, I think many people think of fashion as a genre defined as "outfit." However, since I originally started out importing, I believe that culture and fashion are more about the human aspects of the people themselves, the real communities, ways of thinking, and cultures of the regions, rather than about imitation or decoration.

Wakita: I totally get that, and it ties in with what we said at the beginning. The culture and technology of the time are also fashion. Open source things are fashion, and hip hop things are fashion. It's the way to do something, and it's not just on the surface. If you look at it from that perspective, I think you can organize the current situation very neatly. If you look at culture and technology from a piercing perspective, you can find a kind of underlying fashion.

Izumi : In order to create graphics of fashion and to learn more about it ourselves, I thought that through these interviews and discussions with Wakita and the others, we could gain new insights and empathize with each other, which could lead to a movement.

Matsuyama: Listening to what you've said today, I get the feeling that rather than searching for a new axis made possible by combining fashion and technology, you may be pursuing the question, "What is the essence that fits the current era?"

Wakita: It's not just about blindly seeking new things. It's only now that we can see the true essence of things. It's interesting.