A Feel for Fashion: Suzuki Masafumi

Tokyo-born fashion expert, opinion leader and journalist Suzuki Masafumi is currently a freelance editor and columnist for the leading Japanese newspaper, Asahi Shimbun. For nearly a decade, he directed GQ Japan and was the editor-in-chief of Engine, a car and lifestyle magazine. Masafumi’s perceptive take on men’s fashion reflects his deep culture and knowledge of the men’s luxury world.

What creates an emotional response for you in fashion today?

I am more interested in reworking past fashions, including pre-modern ones, and clothes worn by people in pre-Westernized or non-Westernized cultures, rather than fashion that chases a “newness.”  I believe that now is the time for a renaissance to take place, because it is in the past that the future lies.

Often we see several designers arriving at a similar idea during a season. How do you explain this creative intuition?

This is because the zeitgeist is at work. It is also an expression of how those who feel this spirit are groping for it.

How do you feel about designers expressing or interpreting their worldviews in their collections? 

Fashion is nothing more than a metaphor for the designer’s view of the world.

How would you like to see fashion evolving this year?

I would like to see an unrestrained explosion of freedom; [fashion] unencumbered by anything.  

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.