PROFILE
SEVEN BY SEVEN designer, born in 1978, moved to the U.S. in 1998. For the 2020 AW season, he collaborated with artist Masakatsu Shimoda on a long-awaited project.
PROFILE
Born in 1967, artist, traveled in China, Tibet, Nepal, India, and Europe for two years starting in 1994. In 1997, he started a Weekly Series in a weekly magazine with the drawings he brought back to Japan.
My taste is made up of things from the 80s.
Kawakami-san and Shimoda-san first met in a special issue of the magazine "SWITCH" featuring the stylist Michiko Kitamura.
Artist Masakatsu Shimoda
Shimoda:Mr. Kitamura was making a fashion page with a monster theme. He approached me and asked me to make denim masks and clothes for him. The pattern for the clothes arrived from the pattern maker, but since I can make a dinosaur mask but not clothes, I was like, "What? (laughs). (Laughs.) Then, Mr. Kitamura introduced me to Kawakami-kun.
SEVEN BY SEVEN Designer Junya Kawakami
Upstream:Out of the blue, I got a call from Mr. Kitamura. I didn't really understand the content of the call at the time, but I was sure it would be interesting, so I wanted to cooperate. When I visited Mr. Shimoda's atelier later that day, I was surprised as soon as I entered the entrance. I was surprised. There was a dinosaur mask that I had seen in a Comme des Garcons collection. I did not recognize Mr. Shimoda's name, but I remembered that mask vividly.
So that's where it all came together.
Upstream:Yes, I was attracted to Mr. Shimoda's personality. I was also attracted to Mr. Shimoda's personality and thought I would like to work with him somewhere. Whenever I come to this space, I am always stimulated.
Shimoda-san's atelier has a tremendous amount of information.
Shimoda:There's no way I can concentrate, right? I've been trying to clean every day, but I keep putting it off, and this is what I end up doing. My ability to organize things seems to be pretty poor, and I lose track of where things go when I'm cleaning. My wife tells me, "Don't bring anything back from here" (laughs).
Upstream:I, too, have a room full of things and clothes. In particular, I have a mountain of old clothes. As Mr. Shimoda said, I get stimulated by touching things. In the case of clothes, I often get ideas by touching the fabric.
Do you feel safe when you are surrounded by things?
Shimoda:I like it a little tidier (laughs). The things here are biased toward the 80s, and my tastes haven't changed since I was in high school. I was heavily influenced by anime and sci-fi movies, and my taste in music was made up of what I was listening to back then. I like today's music, but I still listen to David Bowie and Julie (Kenji Sawada).
Upstream:In my case, I guess the most stimulating time for me was in the 90s and early 2000s. When I was living in San Francisco after graduating from high school, I was inspired by everything there.
Kawakami-san, I heard that your first overseas experience was living in San Francisco, which led you to Seven by Seven. Mr. Shimoda's first time abroad was in China, where he went to eat Peking duck, wasn't it?
Shimoda:That's right. My first trip abroad was to eat Peking duck, and I stayed there for two years (laughs).
Have you been to San Francisco?
Shimoda:I don't have any. But I liked the beatnik atmosphere, so when I was in my 20s, I used to travel around with a paperback copy of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road". In fact, I drew the cover art for the book that is now on sale, and I thought it was a strange thing to happen. I like Paul Bowles and the literature of that era a lot. I thought I could go to the U.S. anytime I wanted, but surprisingly, I haven't been able to visit. I've only been to New York and L.A., where I was able to go for the presentation of the Garçon collection.
