I became interested in Fashion through Punk culture and spirit as captured by Malcolm McClaren and Vivienne Westwood. This was a major influence that led me to design clothes. The whole idea of self-re-invention like Fujita did in Paris and the whole idea of “art on your back and not on your wall “ came from them.

Why do you concentrate on men’s fashion?
I designed both men’s and women’s at first, but when the interest in the men’s collection began to take off internationally, I had to put all my attention into that. It is nerve-wracking to get all the different parts of the collection finished on time. We do a photo shoot just before we leave for Paris and we often have hand-washed leather jackets hung up and drying right till the last minute.
    Also, I feel more comfortable designing clothes that I can wear myself. No matter how much feed-back I might receive about the women’s items I will never know what it feels like to wear one and thus I will never be totally certain how successful I am. I might do womenswear again, but I want to be sure it is just as good as our menswear.

What is the strongest aspect of your work?
I have a hard time considering my own work from an impartial perspective. However, as the importance of the foreign market has grown I have found myself designing for different ages, rather than the youngsters that dominate Japanese fashion.