A Conversation with Takahiro Miyashita

What is the concept of the collection and thoughts behind the title? Will the new era arrive? Is now the new era? Is now already gone? Is there an end? or a beginning? Is now the our time…? These not easily digestible questions led me to arrive at the title “THE ERA”.

What garments do you have in the collection?
Many clothes in the collection are back to front. For example, I’ve applied the reversing technique which I’ve been exploring for last few years to 1960’s classic three-button suit. In recent years I started to cycle and it led me to think about human postures of not only walking but cycling, resulting in various ballon-ish silhouettes in the collection. Inspired by street culture of wearing clothes with their tags on, I created garments with tags hanging on the outside. This collection is heavily inspired by the films “The Beatles: Get Back” and “Summer of Soul”, a story of Harlem Cultural Festival known as Afro-American Woodstock. Both films are about events in the summer of 1969 and it was historically significant summer for music. People appear in “Summer of Soul” were all dressed uniquely and they reminded me of the importance ofdressing with free intuition and creativity. It looks to me they were taking an act of dressing quite seriously and I aspired to that attitude. Thus I too explored my free intuition and creativity and asked myself “in which order of garments can we dress ourselves?” in the collection. 

Your collections are an honest reflection of what’s on your mind then. What was on your mind for this collection?
Billy Preston was always on my mind for this collection. Preston documented in “The Beatles: Get Back” was exceptionally cool. People always praise him as an extended member of great The Beatles. I had “I want to be like him!” kind of an instant sensation when watching the film. For me, when Preston started to play keyboard, music started to sound more colorful. I think he contributed his own color to The Beatles. The collection is predominantly in black and white with occasional blasts of vibrant colors favored by him and his peers. 

There are more classical pieces in this collection compared to past seasons. Any thoughts behind?
I have studied and archived in my mind many classical garments from US and UK – it is only natural for me to revisit those pieces time after time. This seasons’s concept, garments for all, led me to base the collection on classical pieces so that anyone can wear. Conceptually, it is the amalgamation of various Afro-American music such as Jazz, Soul and Blues. Yet it is not the revival of existing silhouette and materials but exploration of new silhouettes and materials. In recent years, I started to feel that the essentialism has gone too far. On the contrary, I find certain redundancy meaningful in garments. 

Why did you go back to the making of video this season?
We shot the video in the location which resembles of The Beatles’s Apple building, with multiple cameras and used various editing technique such as reversing and mirroring. I identified myself with The Beatles when they stopped playing live and started to focus on studio recording and editing. 

What was your thoughts behind the music with your own lyrics?
I wanted to make sort of an intro music for a serialized movie. Lyrics were composed based on my own writings which I’ve kept in my notebook. I was thinking how to express my emotional ups and downs, sort of emotional breaking point and thought sacred yet ominous sound of organ was quite fitting. It was before I decided to incorporate the influence of Preston, the keyboardist. I started to keep records of my thoughts and ideas in the form of writing and drawing after I discovered works of the Beat Generation and this routine became a quite useful tool for me to generate ideas for the collection. 

You are yet to return to Paris. What is your thoughts for Paris and Paris Fashion Week?
To present the collection in Paris Fashion Week is my life’s dream. Naturally I’m eager to go back there as soon as possible. I too am adapting to the current situation and trying my best to present the collection creatively in different ways. I think diversifying the way of presenting the collection has definitely been a constructive opportunity for designers. This being said, Paris has been and will always hold a special place for me, like Blues musicians aspiring to make music in Memphis or Nashville.