Hello. The other day, we held the first physical show of "Yoshiokubo" in five years in our office. At the same time, it was also released online. Did you all have a chance to see it?
I've been running the brand for over 10 years, but this is the first time I've tried something new. I used a female model to test whether the clothes would look good on women. The reason I decided to try it was because a shop I wholesale to said, "There are a few girls who want them."
Originally, I had a clear distinction between men's clothes and women's clothes, and I hated the idea of unisex. Of course, users are free to wear whatever they want, but as a designer, I wanted to make a clear distinction. This is because I strongly believe that clothes are meant to attract both men and women, and women and men.
That's why Yoshiokubo's men's clothing has a masculine silhouette, and is not designed to be feminine, and of course, they don't make dresses. When creating a collection, they have deliberately avoided designs that women could wear. For example, they have never made soft or see-through T-shirts, and the thickness of the fabric is more men's.
The reason I decided to have women wear the clothes this time was because, rather than being in the context of recently popular "gender neutral" or "gender free" styles, I thought I might be able to explore wider design possibilities by getting rid of the fixation on "how it should be." There were two types of looks shown in the runway show: one designed entirely for men that was skillfully coordinated, and one made for women specially for the show.
Naturally, what a male designer thinks of as a woman's product is different from what a female designer thinks of as a woman's product. That's why it's difficult. There are styles where women wear men's-like items, like a T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers, but that's not what I'm aiming for. My image is something that is made for men, but looks good on women too.
I don't like wearing denim loosely or in a casual way. It has to look beautiful. After I decided to do it, I actually had a fitting with a stylist on a woman, and I saw the look that was it. For the first time in over 10 years of running my own brand, I discovered new possibilities, that it could look good on women.
If you think about it, Yoshiokubo, a men's clothing brand, has always placed importance on beauty at its core, so it's only natural that it would work depending on the coordination, but when I actually tried it, it really worked. I'm proud to say that some of the pieces, such as the bottoms, are masterpieces, including the beauty of the patterns.
This time, we also had a buyer from women's fashion come and see the pieces in person. We haven't had a chance to hear their reactions properly yet, but we're looking forward to hearing what they think. We'd like to appeal to women in their 20s and 30s who want to wear something different from others. We hope you'll introduce our collection to any women you know.
Yoshio Kubo
I've been running the brand for over 10 years, but this is the first time I've tried something new. I used a female model to test whether the clothes would look good on women. The reason I decided to try it was because a shop I wholesale to said, "There are a few girls who want them."
Originally, I had a clear distinction between men's clothes and women's clothes, and I hated the idea of unisex. Of course, users are free to wear whatever they want, but as a designer, I wanted to make a clear distinction. This is because I strongly believe that clothes are meant to attract both men and women, and women and men.
That's why Yoshiokubo's men's clothing has a masculine silhouette, and is not designed to be feminine, and of course, they don't make dresses. When creating a collection, they have deliberately avoided designs that women could wear. For example, they have never made soft or see-through T-shirts, and the thickness of the fabric is more men's.
The reason I decided to have women wear the clothes this time was because, rather than being in the context of recently popular "gender neutral" or "gender free" styles, I thought I might be able to explore wider design possibilities by getting rid of the fixation on "how it should be." There were two types of looks shown in the runway show: one designed entirely for men that was skillfully coordinated, and one made for women specially for the show.
Naturally, what a male designer thinks of as a woman's product is different from what a female designer thinks of as a woman's product. That's why it's difficult. There are styles where women wear men's-like items, like a T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers, but that's not what I'm aiming for. My image is something that is made for men, but looks good on women too.
I don't like wearing denim loosely or in a casual way. It has to look beautiful. After I decided to do it, I actually had a fitting with a stylist on a woman, and I saw the look that was it. For the first time in over 10 years of running my own brand, I discovered new possibilities, that it could look good on women.
If you think about it, Yoshiokubo, a men's clothing brand, has always placed importance on beauty at its core, so it's only natural that it would work depending on the coordination, but when I actually tried it, it really worked. I'm proud to say that some of the pieces, such as the bottoms, are masterpieces, including the beauty of the patterns.
This time, we also had a buyer from women's fashion come and see the pieces in person. We haven't had a chance to hear their reactions properly yet, but we're looking forward to hearing what they think. We'd like to appeal to women in their 20s and 30s who want to wear something different from others. We hope you'll introduce our collection to any women you know.
Yoshio Kubo