Friday, July 6, 2007

im no sissy.

This post is going to be odd, different, awkward, crazy, funny (iknowyouguysaregonnalaugh). For some funny reason, the one thing that i really want right now, that i really would kill for, is.. a sewing machine. yes.that. i am afraid, i'm too as shock as ones who are reading this post right now. ok.

explanation; i guess i see it as a platform. i love making stuff.(by the way the corru boards and all..still untouched) but the thing i love more than making stuff is..making stuff that people wear everyday, t-shirts, bags, shoes, pants.. how sissy it may sound, i guess thats the way it is, and the only way to get started is to get myself these amazing,state of the art, "machines".

No. i won't post pictures of the latest sewing machines, that would be too gay. im not obsessing over one, i just need one.

instead of gay pictures of sewing machines, im posting stories of cool men who :"may" have started with these machines.

firstly is ofcourse NIGO.

Nigo never set out to become Japan's hottest fashion designer or an internationally famous arbiter of style, or to show young people how to rebel without losing their cool. But the fact that he is now one of the most influential movers and shakers of his generation—given how little attention he paid to cram schools, university examinations and the meticulous career planning that are still adolescent obsessions in Japan—does not strike him as particularly odd, either. In fact, he sees his focus on his passions, rather than on society's expectations, as the secret of his success. "I never planned too far ahead," says the 33-year-old, wearing a T shirt and jeans plus two necklaces and a giant watch dripping with hip-hop quantities of bling. "I just tried to do what I love and create the things that I wanted to create."

And what he has always loved to create is clothes.
As a fashion student, magazine stylist and DJ in 1990s Tokyo, Nigo could never find exactly the quality-crafted, cooler-than-thou T shirts he and his buddies craved. So he started making them himself, selling them to friends and out of duffel bags at parties and DJ shows. The shirts were strange but playful, aggressively designed affairs, frequently sporting simian motifs and obscure echoes of the 1968 sci-fi classic movie Planet of the Apes. Produced in limited quantities, they quickly became the ultimate badge of street cred among the hipsters in the back alleys of Tokyo's fashion-obsessed Harajuku neighborhood.


When did you start developing an interest in fashion?
At 12 my parents bought me a pair of Levi 501’s and some white Adidas Superstar sneakers. At the time I wasn’t too bothered, but later I discovered a magazine called Popeye & Olive. One day I read an article about Tokyo and they spoke about the best shopping areas. From there I developed an interested in 50’s fashion and music, which at the time was very trendy in Tokyo. I liked Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley. At the same time a Japanese band called the “Checkers” broke through; I liked the way they dressed, Rockabilly style; but until 18 I used to always wear denims and white sneakers.

When did you move into the centre of Tokyo? After school?
Yeh, I moved when I was 18. I wanted to become a fashion journalist. I enrolled in a fashion college wanting to specialise in fashion editing. That’s where I met Jonio, the designer who started the Undercover brand. Jonio introduced me to a lot of influential people like Hiroshi Fujiwarea, DJ and designer for Head Porter. And the MD of Astoarobot, the fashion store, who thought I looked just like Hiroshi so he started calling me “Nigo”, it’s a Japanese word for “number two”. I didn’t go to school very much. I used to go clubbing with them every night. I felt lucky just to know them and they turned out to be crucial for my future.

What were you planning to do after college?
I wanted to live in Tokyo. I found a part time job in the Popeye & Olive editorial office. They put me in charge of a part of the magazine and I was earning very well. Japan was going through a strong economic period and people were doing well in every sector. I was well paid so I didn’t have any problem finding somewhere to live in town. Then I met a girl called Hitomi Oukawa at Popeye & Olive and she gave me a job as a stylist. At the same time Jonio and I were looking after a section of the magazine on fads and underground sub-culture. It was at that time (’92) that Jonio said to me: “why don’t we open a shop with exclusive clothes?” So on the first of April ’93 we opened a shop in Harajuku. We called it “Nowhere”. Two times a month I would set about sourcing garments for the shop. It became a store where friends came to hang out – we didn’t really look after the customers coming through the door, but we were selling well anyway. (He laughs.) Shortly afterwards, Jonio and I felt the bought-in garments weren’t selling enough, so Jonio said: “Let’s stop buying garments from other brands and create our own.”

A Bathing Ape®. Where does the name come from?
I was spending my evenings with my friend Shin, when one evening we were watching a TV program called “Yo!! Rap City”, I told Shin that I was going to start a clothing line. Shin suggested we start it together. We thought more about it and one night we saw a movie called “Planet of the Apes”. We liked it a lot. So much in fact, the next day we met up and decided to take some inspiration from it: we called our new brand A Bathing Ape®. Shin was good mates with Kuyamada, the lead singer of a famous band called Cornelias. We gave him a T-shirt to wear at his gigs and he did, so more and more people started to get to know our stuff. At the time we used to produce about 30 T-shirts a batch. We’d give half to friends and we’d sell the other half. We carried on like that for two years, producing very few of them, giving away half and selling half.

In 2003 you had your tenth anniversary. I hear that in the New Year you’ll be opening in the US. It this true? What will you be doing?
I’m having a jewel made in a jewellery store called Jacob the Jeweller in New York. Loads of celebrities go there like Jay-Z, Mariah Carey and Pharrell (N.E.R.D.). Their pictures are on the walls of the store and mine too now. Some people are curious and ask who the guy is in my picture – and that’s how Pharrell and I met. And Jay-Z wears my sneakers at concerts. Anyway, we became mates. Pharrell told me that he wanted to create a clothing line, so together we created the Billionaire Boys Club (BBC) brand like Louis Vuitton did with Marc Jacobs. Pharrell is the designer and it’s good publicity for me.As well as BBC, DUB magazine (a top men’s lifestyle magazine in the US) put me on their front page so many artists got to know me and started wearing my sneakers. Even a song by Jay-Z talks about “Ape Kicks”. America’s a massive opportunity for me.

.pictures.

nigo.


two reasons. she's wearing bape. and shes cute.

ok ok so far i posted only one guy. but he made it. and i respect him for that, i dont idolize him like some people do to craze popstars, celebrity icons. I am just admiring him because he made it. and i wish i could make it like him. (yes, that refers to make clothes like him also.)

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