That’s really what maturity has done for me; I see myself in clothes better than I did at a young age. Before, I would look at myself and see the clothes, and I would see me, and think, “gosh, that just isn’t how I thought I saw myself in my head.” And now I really, I feel like I look like me.
I’ve only more recently become sort of fascinated by things that have been repaired and kept alive for a long period of time. It sort of goes into the whole workwear ethos. These clothes were worn by people who wore them out of practicality and necessity. There is so much imbued in that stuff.
I think that's why it stuck so fast because I immediately jumped into this really dramatic cowboy boot that changes the way you walk, changes the way you hold yourself, changes so many things. I loved that - I loved feeling changed because of something I was wearing.
I’ve always dressed from second hand shops. It’s just, I feel like in stuff that’s already been worn you have some of the soul of the person that has been wearing it, that’s inside it.
The thing is clothing is the only way, I tended to be pretty shy most of my life even in high school I was really shy, but the only way I was comfortable standing out was how I dressed. So then being stripped of that felt so sad. To the point, I remember that was my first thought when I quit, that I could dress however I wanted.
I’m very influenced by my environments. I think what has lasted is the stuff that I grew up with; I still go to some of the same vintage and thrift stores that I went to when I was fifteen. That was all we did, and it was all we wore! I didn’t know what designers were or anything. The thing that was cool in high school was to be decked out in exclusively things that you bought at Beacon’s Closet.
The funny thing about Japanese culture, if you grow up in the countryside all you wear is either a school uniform or school tracksuits. I always wanted to dress nicely on the weekends because that’s when you’d go out. But Fukushima, there is no place to shop. I’d read catalogs a lot when I was a kid.
If I’m still learning and discovering and changing at this age, then so will others. I think clothes are supposed to be fun and people should have fun with them. I think a lot of people have this thing in their heads, “I really want to settle into this uniform that people see and know.” It’s alright to get weird.
I was like 15, and my mom would always be like, "We are just going to the grocery store. You don’t have to have this on.” I was like, "Well, but I want to wear it.” My dad was always like, “Leave him alone! He can wear whatever he wants!” My mom was like, “I just don’t want to be seen with him out in public!”
A big thing for me and something that informs all my personal interest in clothes and style is I want to find what I feel is the quintessential version of that thing. And that could lead me to all different eras.