So Mr. Yamashita I’d like to begin with asking what your upbringing was like? what did your family do for a living, what were you interested in as a child? A lot of your collections have a fairytale theme, were there any fairytales or fantasy books/animes you watched/read as a child that had a lasting effect on you?
I was born in Nagasaki-city, Kyushu, and have an older sister.
My father worked for an urban development company for Nagasaki-city. I always imitated my mother and loved drawing what I daydreamed, but unlike her, my father really hated when I drew. I assumed he wanted me to be like him, working for a development company. He was like my natural enemy.
There is a religious association named “Maria”, and those sisters took care of me since I was at mission school. Nagasaki- city has a rich historical culture which came from Christian persecution back in the day. There was a group of people who used an upside-down cross to suppress secret Christians.
I don’t remember reading a lot of books in my childhood, but Disney might’ve affected my fairytale theme heavily. My older sister got married to an American, she has a PhD in Genetics and science policy, and is working in Washington D.C now. Just FYI, my niece, Lisa Steen is an up-coming film director in LA, so please check her out.
What was the first time you were introduced to fashion and what made you want to pursue it?
I’ve been interested in fashion since I was teen. It was a very important communication skill to show my own style so I could talk to girls without words on the way back home from school. Sometimes I used written letters to communicate too. Since I was little, I felt strongly insecure and had a distrust for “words” because I had difficulty communicating with and understanding my family. I had a strong sympathy with “Enjoy the Silence” by Depeche Mode in 80s. I always heard this song deep down in my heart at that time and now.
I think the reason to have an interest in fashion is the possibility of clothes used as a communication tool. Fashion enables us to speak something with delicate expression which words cannot. Those style represents who he/she is. I think fashion is to know/understand people through their style.
When I explain how I define “fashion” to young creators at fashion school:
A piece of cloth represents “a word”, then styling with it creates a “sentence”, and sets of those styles or environments like a collection creates “one page”/ “one chapter”, then by continuing those collections into a brand you create “one book”. A collection name refers to the heading of the chapter, and the chapters make a story. Thus the name of the brand means the title of the book.
The most important thing is what you want to tell/express to the world not what you want to make.
Who are some designers you look up to?
I don’t have any masters I learned from in fashion. I don’t have experience at fashion school or belong to a certain group; I dont completely belong anywhere. So Im always inspired by my friends such as:
Adam Howe http://www.adamhowe.com
Simon Taylor http://connects.co.jp/creator/87/
Norbert Schooner https://models.com/people/norbert-schoerner
Chrisopher Nemeth https://christophernemeth.co
I respect them so much and had lots of inspiration from them. Unfortunately, Chris has gone now, but his DNA is still alive.
How did your architecture background influence your style of designing?
To me, clothes are your smallest shelter, also an architecture to represent oneself. There are definitely some common perspectives with architecture.
You use biblical references such as Ezekiel 25:17 as a theme for your brand, why do you use these quotes and what do they mean for your brand? were you raised religious?
It might be related to my childhood in Nagasaki, but I don’t belong to any religious group. What I am interested in is the approach of a metaphor applying to many religions not just one religion itself.
Religions have rich stories which have the absolute symbol of god. They have difficulties and happiness through their histories and many customs and styles which let people believe, love and sympathize with that religion for many many years. Those metaphors make the world expand with bible and scripture.
You were only 20 when you participated in the Marui Design Audition, what was the collection you auditioned with like? Did it resemble any of the collections you put out later on in your career under Beauty:Beast?
My experience at the Marui design audition didn’t affect anything later under Beauty:Beast, however it was definitely a turning point.. I became determined to make my career in fashion.
My father was very strict and old-fashioned. Since I was little, I felt so much pressure from his expectations of me to be a great person that would make Nagasaki a better city. So my illustrating or drawing was very insulting and unintelligible to my father, thus he cut me off once he knew I participated in this audition. His expectation of me to be an architect that made a huge impact on people was too much and not realistic for me. I preferred to create something meaningful and precious for even one person.
That is the reason why I applied for the audition, it was to go against my father who told me “how meaningless art is” or how “nobody cares about your paintings”. Even I had no idea about how to make clothes at that time.
My illustrations for the audition depicted unbalanced-shape models whose scapula was enlarged and dropped wearing super long sleeves. When I passed the primary examination, I was very satisfied because the judges had interest in my illustrations and wanted to see actual garments which meant what my father said about my work was wrong. Of course I wasn’t going to make actual clothes for the second stage, but my American friends pushed me to finish this project, so I decided to make my first garments. As I had no idea how to make clothes at the time, I was so shocked to realize it needs so much work and lots of materials to create even one piece. I was wandering in town holding materials and sketches in each hand. I found a place that had a sewing machine and met a kind women there. I asked her to help me out but she said it was impossible to make my clothes without patterns. She introduced me to a pattern maker who helped me finally make a pattern for my garment. However it was too difficult for the seamstress to sew. So now I was wandering in town again holding fabric, patterns and illustrations to look for someone who could sew. Fortunately a repair store next to town I randomly walked by was interested in my design and its unique shape, then finally I could have actual garment. The grey set-ups we made of alpaca were called Dumbos by the ladies helped to sew them for me. Haha
So my story was going to continue, but this was an extreme experience for me, I gained incredible appreciation for all people I would meet to help on this project and found the passion to seek a career in the fashion industry. I learned how grateful I am to share/ create values through meeting other people, and realized myself I could not have done anything without them.
How did you come up with the name Beauty:Beast? Can you explain the dichotomy of the beauty and the beast in human nature? What does your slogan “more than one culture of origin” mean to you?
The name Beauty:Beast obviously came from the French folk tale Beaty and the Beast. I launched my brand in 1990, coincidentally Disney released the movie, Beauty and the Beast, a year after.
Since I was little, I questioned how I could get my father to understand me or what I could do to be understood by others.
I was struggling with how to communicate with others, even the people I really liked. In my college, beside my major in architecture, I took some classes in Psychology and loved to read books on religion. I was so afraid of being misunderstood by others even though I knew I would really like to communicate with them.
But through my experience, I found fashion could be my activity to communicate and share values with others, so I was looking for the title of that activity through a brand name. I didn’t want to use my name for the brand because I believe brand names should represent all the people who create and share the brand’s values together.
For me, sounds are a great tool to to express and have others understand me sympathetically, so I wanted my brand name to sound like something everyone knows. There were so many options but finally I came to beauty:beast because everyone knows the classic literature since it was probably read by their mothers in their childhood, also it conveys the image of inner beauty which humanity inherently has regardless of appearance.
However there is a difference between the true story and what beauty:beast means, it’s to show people we could be a beast with a beautiful heart.
I always attracted sweetness and kindness from others, but was afraid of connecting with them at the same time because by communicating with others I knew eventually I would need to accept another side of me. I would be sad and have self-hatred and feared being comfortable with my one true self. So this was my life journey to find myself.
“25 to 1” is a brand concept to represent the idea and “:” in beauty:beast also represents the idea of two words becoming one word. It was invented by my friend Simon Tylor. The Beauty:Beast logo was also designed by him, and we’ve used his design ever since.
My slogan “more than one culture of origin” was invented by my friend Adam How. It means taking many beautiful aspects of many cultures to express a common idea. I want to say that the tool of communication enables us to share values through fashion even if we have different languages or cultures.
What was the theme and vision for your first Beauty:beast show in the Osaka Collection? What in your brand do you think resonated with the harajuku youth that made it get popular so quickly ?
The theme for first collection in Osaka was “Bird Nest”. It represented a combination of tailoring and bondage fashion; a fusion of stereotypical restraint and bondage fashion as an antithesis to the release of the naked body. I think the Japanese working class ( called salaryman) would like to wear a suit as bondage fashion now but at that time, all my looks were too avant-garde to be accepted because people questioned why they were worn. This collection didn’t have a huge impact on my career later on, however the antithesis was slightly accepted by some people as a brand.
You’re brand seems to be influenced by punk culture and fashion. Can you tell me more about your interest in punk culture, what punk music do you like? Did you ever frequent punk shows?
My idea of bondage fashion was strongly inspired by Malcolm McLaren. Sex pistols, Sid Vicious and Vivienne Westwood were symbols of his idea that influenced me a lot. Musically at that time I got a strong inspiration from “Red Mecca” by cabaret voltaire.
Other musical favorites of mine;
Frank Martin
Requiem, FUTURE
Thelonious Sphere Monk
John Coltrane
Steve Reich
In the U.S. currently my favorites are 16volt, Nerve, Acumen Nation, DJ Acucrack, Hellbent, and in Europe: Hecq, Ben Lukas Boysen.
What are some other influences/references for your collections? Like tv, visual arts, movies…
I love old black and white movie. I’ve always been inspired by Charlie Chaplin’s or Buster Keaton’s silent movies. I’ve watched Singin’ in the Rain by Gene Kelly over and over because im obsessed with the psychedelic portrayal of the town.
Also I love David Cronenberg, Christopher Nolan and Ridley Scott. P. S. I was surprised “Dark Knight” by Christopher Nolan in 2008 was the same title as my collection in 1999.
What are some of your favorite animes/mangas? Do you watch any currently if so which ones?
My favorite is Howl’s Moving Castle by Hayao Miyazaki.Currently, I love this song from My Hero Academia, “peace sign” by Kenshi Yonezu.
Two consistent characters in the Beauty:Beast franchise is the Dark Knight Bunny and the Blue Haired-girl/fairy. Can you tell me how you came up with these designs and how they represent your brand?
The “Dark night” shaped like a bunny and its spiritual girl “Think” were original characters in manga style created at the beauty:beast atelier in 1998. At that time many talented young models were dead because of diseases, I thought we needed iconic female figures who could live forever. Like Marilyn Monroe, heroines featured in manga or videogames represented everlasting beauty. Nowadays, Manga is popular culture but at that time it had a negative image as “Otaku culture.”
When I was working on “Dark Night” collection, my father passed away because of cancer. I went back and forth from Nagasaki to Tokyo often, and it made me imagine what the future would be like after my death. Those thoughts created the “Hyper drive” collection, and the “dark night” bunny was born.
The story is about Mcqeen Tosh (becomes dark night bunny later on) versus the king of AI, Altamit AI. It begins, Altamit AI makes an ultimate decision to takeaway all values and perspective from human beings who struggle and constantly make mistakes. Altamit AI leaks special noises through installed security monitors and speakers in the town that take away peoples’ values through the sounds. They lost purpose and passion to live because of the lack of values and finally all human life ceased. Mcqeen Tosh got in an accident in the chaos city and lost his body but he was reborn as the Dark Night by combining his sprit and MDNA which his father used to invent mechanical DNA.
After this transition he couldn’t understand his new existence but fortunately met his spiritual guide, Think. Think is his spiritual guide and has always be with him In his soul. his true existence. Think whispered to him, “imagine an animal you like”. Then the Dark Night was born. Their new story begins.
This story is a metaphor of seeking to find yourself which is part of the beauty:beast concept.
When did you begin to make music and how did you learn? Who are some of your biggest musical influences and favorite artists?
My music was released by Bad New Records in 1997. The purpose of the activity was to create music for fashion shows and boutiques. Created with a laptop, analog Casio sound source and recorded nature sounds. It was a key tool to communicate with customers at DJ events.
How did Beauty:beast change as a brand once Base:six adopted it?
Base:six was an apparel company build by 6 people; the theme was ” slow fashion” to stop the fast fashion cycle. It was the antithesis to trend of fast consumption( clothes, house, cars etc…) . Trough Base:six we tried to curate our works with the strongest concepts to have timeless value in the market. So under Base:six, pieces of beauty:beast was more focused on its concept and remained only items which had a pure and strong voice.
These days, social media has become a main tool to communicate with others and we need a clear definition of fashion. It gives us instant value which we only have at a certain moment wherever/whenever however, currently social media can give us only audiovisual information which doesn’t have strong effects as much as sense of smell or tactile sense gives us. When people see high-fashion over social media, they get the buzz of seeing a new style visually, then they are able to enjoy a cheap replica of it made by a fast fashion brand, and then it is thrown away the next year.
Because of this speed and cycle, fashion has become chaotic. There are so many existing styles at the same time that concepts and ideas are scraped off. I think it’s time to define what fashion really means to people.
What has it been like working with big brands such as ASICS, FILA, and ADIDAS? How do you feel like you creatively contributed to these brands?
I contracted with those big brands as Takao Yamashita. Since I stopped fashion shows in 2000, I was looking for places where I could show and express my ideas through fashion. So working with big brands was a really good experience to learn pros and cons. in addition, I had a great experience with asics learning about sports technology. Sports brands seem to look for their positioning within fashion field, unfortunately I think only Y-3 has found that right position. I think the reason why sports brands have difficulty blending in with high-fashion is that they have different purposes for clothes; athleticism>lifestyle.
What are some brands or designers you are excited for today that maintain that creative punk flare that beauty:beast has been known for?
I don’t have any unfortunately…
I like the rock taste by Hedi Slimane and the beautiful fit and drape shapes by Rick Owens, I also like FACETASM and ANREALAGE, but they are not what I’m looking for.
What are you working on now? Whats the status on Beauty:Beast? Would you be open to doing a full runway collection anytime again?
I will launch “TAIGA LIONA” (Japanese driven workwear brand) in FW20 collection this year. Also I’m running DUMMY RUN which I started right after the project with asics and the theme is a fusion of fashion and lifestyle technology. DUMMY RUN is a TECHPUNK couture brand which is made with technological material such as UV protection or Anti-virus and using modern catting silhouettes.
As a futuristic couture brand, every item is made-to-order, not selling in retail stores, not going on sales, completely made for one customer. The theme is “Anti Fashion Theory”, we show this concept through the way we sell and market. Last year, I established DUMMY RUN with Mr Otani who contributed to Yoji Yamamoto Paris for decades. Of course I’m under rebranding beauty:beast too.
Unfortunately, I don’t plan on a runway collection now. I only have a limited area and people to share my idea through those brands. I am looking for a good partnership to sympathize and share my passion to send my ideas to the world. I have lots of requests for new collections from customers and buyers though…
It would be great if I could have an opportunity to share a new collection via online ( prob online collection) for not only people who could come to the physical show but all of people who sympathize with my brand’s near future.
Currently, I feel like the majority of the fashion community is into brands and logos and fitting in rather than expressing themselves and standing out as individuals. This is a stark contrast to the Harajuku fashion culture of the 90s. Why do you think this is? and what do you think has to change for people to get back into the Harajuku mindset?
I think “fashion” people see now is misinterpreted fashion; it’s publicity fashion created with social media.
Publicity fashion needs something easy to understand/ aware like logos or prints to appeal to people via phone. This is not a problem of the fashion industry, but natural circumstance because users like us depend on it. Also even those media infrastructures iare developing day by day, but fashion has not found the best way to express itself through this function yet. Thus 2D-presentation becomes main stream to approach people as much as we can. This is a bad aspect that in 2019 people depends on digital a lot.
I think if the fashion industry finds Hybrid presentation, online culture would be much more fun like the 90’s. Experiences at boutiques would be like experiences in Disneyland.
There is a new rush of interest in archive Beauty:Beast pieces amongst the youth and fashion lovers in the U.S. Why do you think this is?
It might sound a bit political, however objectively Japanese people are willing to make the same alignment as others; they do not like things others do not do; they like to wear UNIQLO and pretend peace. This means the nation ignores how the young generation feels and looks for a leader who could pretend we have a peaceful country; it would hardly accept outstanding individuality or expression.
I think from a fashion-perspective, Mr Trump, the leader of the United States is an outstanding leader even a bit aggressive sometimes but he makes a clear vision for the country and his behaviors create an antithesis among especially the young generation. The more a leader’s opinion is stronger, the more an antithesis in fashion becomes stronger.
For example, the PUNK movement, people reacted instantly to the majority opinion at that time. I think the dissatisfaction people have drives a certain movement, and it also becomes motivation to create new designs. Fashion is is a tool to propose an ideal world beyond languages, society, race and border. Clothes is a sign and metaphor to express feelings.
To express feelings through fashion, all spots, lines and surfaces need thoughts and meanings. All substances have a reason to be created. I am very fortunate if beauty:beast is like that to some people.