Japanese designer [Shinichiro Arakawa](https://www.instagram.com/shinichiroarakawa_official/) has seen and designed it all. Throughout his time in the fashion industry he’s taken on challenge after challenge, creating everything from the beautifully frivolous to the stylishly functional. Most designers seem to understand their niche, and stick with it. In this regard Arakawa is an exception, with his work leading him to create a variety of designs built for explicitly different purposes. 

Born in Japan, Arakawa’s foray into art was rather humble, first starting off doodling on his grandmother’s newspapers. After winning an award for an oil painting he made in highschool, Arakawa’s varied interests in art would put him on the path to where he is today. Throughout his body of work, there have been consistent themes, a key component of which is the way that he balances both beauty and functionality. This flexibility and willingness to create a wide variety of art is part of what makes Arakawa so interesting; though what makes him so exceptional is the fact that he does it all so well. Recently ARCHIVE.pdf took the time to catch up with Arakawa, who graciously gave us a look into his long and storied career.

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**Growing up as a child, what inspired you artistically? Were you artistically inclined as a child?**

During my childhood, there was a period when I was left in the care of my grandmother, and spent time with her drawing on newspaper. This was the starting point for my love of art. My first oil painting, a portrait of my grandmother, I created in high school won the grand prize which is still displayed in the principal's office at the high school. 

**Initially what drew you to the world of fashion and design?**

In my youth, I believe it was when I saw the silhouette of the clothing worn by a friend swaying in the darkness of a nightclub in Tokyo.

Arakawa backstage at his A/W 1997 show in Toyko. 

*Following a chance encounter in a Tokyo nightclub, Arakawa decided to apply his fine arts degree to the world of fashion, rather than more traditional fine arts. After his graduation in 1990, he relocated from Tokyo to Paris to pursue a career in the fashion industry. In Arakawa’s telling, these next 3 years proved crucial to him becoming the designer he is today. In particular the time he spent as an intern and assistant to Christopher Nemeth at his label had a deep impact on the young man, both on a personal and professional level.*

**Were there any defining moments in your adolescence or young adulthood that have left a lasting mark on your design philosophy?**

I believe the influence of the people I spent time with in Tokyo, Paris, and London was significant.

**What was working as an intern for Christopher Nemeth like?**

It started with helping in the decoration work for the opening of Christopher Nemeth's atelier in Camden Town, London. During the atelier opening party, I helped with cooking in the kitchen and cleaning up the hall. Many people from the fashion and music industry in London attended the party, and I remember how stimulating it was. After that, I worked in London and Tokyo for several months. In Camden Town, I even worked as a chef preparing breakfast. It was amusing when, being Japanese, I made an English breakfast with sausages and beans for everyone. Apart from that, I engaged in tasks such as sample sewing, interior construction of the atelier, and assisting with shop staff.

Evenings were spent drinking beer or playing billiards in London pubs. There were times when we walked from Trafalgar Square to Camden Town, engaging in conversations. During that period, I was still enrolled at Studio Bercot in Paris, so I remember discussing life in Paris, friends and family, and London's fashion. I was told that if I wanted to become a designer, merely working as a designer's assistant wouldn't be meaningful, so I made the decision to start my own brand. From Christopher Nemeth, I feel I learned more about a way of life than just the art of making clothes. Though I may not be living up to the lessons I received even now…

**Out of all the roles you took on as an intern at Christopher Nemeth's label, which helped you the most when you later worked as a designer?**

I remember being told that the human body has no straight lines. I haven't used a ruler much in clothing production.

Shinichiro Arakawa's A/W 1995 show held in Tokyo's Shimokitazawa district. 

*Eventually gaining the confidence to start his own label, Arakawa’s eponymous brand held its first show in Paris in 1993, after which he held runway shows in both Paris and Tokyo. While designing, he often reflected emotions he himself felt as a designer, using these feelings to inspire and fuel his creative vision season to season. Themes of collections ranged from what many observers considered quite political to more existential questions of whether one should be free or merely a functioning cog in society, with his designs reflecting these ideas.*

I conducted a collection with silkworms as the theme. (1998 S/S Collection)

The collection revolved around the contrast between the silkworm, which sacrifices itself for the silk that humans wear, and the wild silkworm, called 'kusamushi,' which belongs to the same species but can fly freely.

Silkworms bred for silk production, despite having wings, cannot fly, and their eyes and mouths do not function. Conversely, the wild silkworm, or 'kusamushi,' can freely jump around, with functional eyes and mouths, but it is considered a pest as it feeds on the leaves of the mulberry tree, which is the food source for the silkworms bred for cultivation.

Whether we, living in the present, align more with silkworms or 'kusamushi' is uncertain. Creatures deemed pests tend to be eliminated, but I believe the true pests exist elsewhere.


“Shinichiro Arakawa's show was particularly popular, with people packed in with anticipation, even if they were standing, hoping to catch a glimpse of the show more than an hour before the show started. Titled 'To All Hard Workers', the show was a social satire that likened the lives of hard workers to those of a silkworm. The lineup was stoic and humorous at the same time, with items such as crisp shirts and suits topped with cocoon-like knitwear from the top down, and shirt dresses with the cuffs sewn together. Overall, a crisp, mannish style seems to be the trend this spring.” (Excerpt from CUTiE January 1998.)

**You opened your first boutique in Paris in the 90s, what was that like? What were some of the differences you noticed between showing collections in Paris versus Tokyo?**

I had a great time as I was surrounded by many friends. Paris is a place that helped me grow, while Tokyo feels like my hometown. I had different feelings about each collection. In both cities, I feel that unless my background and way of life are incorporated and expressed in the work, my message will not get across.


**Tell us about 0cm4, your involvement with the film production, and the line that followed.**

I participated in 0cm4 by helping with the content, theme, and fashion. There is a lot of footage that has not been released yet. Also, my own directorial work 'BOMBYX MORI' that followed, was left unfinished.

*Not to be confined to just one area of design, Arakawa began collaborating with Honda in 1997. During this collaboration, Arakawa worked tirelessly to create clothing that was both functional and stylish. In particular, he focused on protective gear for motorcycle riders, that while remaining effortlessly cool, would also protect the rider in an accident. Arakawa was sucked into the world of functional design, going so far as to ride motorcycles on the highway himself. Eventually this love of motorcycles and high speeds led Arakawa to his current label. Focused around creating a perfect blend of form and function, resulting in beautiful yet protective garments, the label’s works truly are both from, and for, motorcycle riders.*

**Did you ride motorcycles a lot growing up or as an adult before designing motorcycle rider clothing?**

I've been riding since a young age. However, after coming to Europe, I wasn’t able to ride. Now, I ride European-made motorcycles.

**What was your time working at Honda like? What design roles did you take on there?**

I was involved in designing apparel for Honda.

There were two types of involvement with Honda: one was my fashion line with a design priority, and the other was the design of Honda's genuine motorcycle gear.

For the fashion line, there wasn't much difference from my previous experience in clothing making. I simply created what I wanted using the Honda logo. However, it was different for Honda's genuine motorcycle gear. One of Honda's company policies is to create items that are usable by a larger number of people, similar to motorcycles and cars. This meant designing products with good performance that could cater to various individuals. It involved setting the same size to accommodate both taller, slender individuals and shorter, heavier individuals. For example, designing so that both can comfortably wear the same size, such as a large size. This made the silhouette completely shift, and it was a very challenging task. I learned that there are various aspects to clothing design.

Motorcycle wear has a strong element of being a tool for human use. It's intriguing to balance both the functionality to protect the human body and the style.


“As the name suggests, Arakawa First Division has partnered with HONDA to present a new style of bike fashion in a more creative way. However, this is not just a self-indulgent collection, but rather a DJ-like remix that pays homage to the original ‘bike fashion.’ In fact, most of the clothes used in this show were remade from materials taken apart from existing racing items, such as overalls, blankets, and umbrellas. Not only will they be doing bike fashion this time, but they are also planning to collaborate on various items in the future, so why not look forward to it?” (Excerpt from H Magazine September 1997)

**Did anything in particular draw you towards the world of motorcycle riding and functional motorcycle clothing? In particular, what is it like currently designing functional motorcycle clothing?**

I believe the starting point was doing motorcycle fashion in collaboration with Honda, but at that time, the popular items were T-shirts, blouses, dresses, etc., printed with the Honda logo, lacking functional elements typical of motorcycle gear.

Around that time, I began receiving requests from people at Honda and in the motorcycle industry to design functional yet fashion-forward motorcycle gear. This became the catalyst. The desire to create something that didn't exist and the inclination to make life enjoyable when the world seemed dull had been present in me for a while.

Designing for functionality was a complete departure from the dresses created for visual beauty and aesthetic appreciation. Unlike the work of creating dresses indoors, focusing on curves and beauty, functional motorcycle gear involved wearing a needle-pierced toile while riding a motorcycle on the highways of Tokyo. It included verifying, modifying, checking comfort, mobility, wind resistance, etc., all while speeding along the Tokyo highways. In a sense, my clothing carries a great weight as it can be the difference between life or death for a motorcyclist. It's enjoyable to infuse my own sense of fashion into such clothing.

**In your earlier collections from the 1990s it seems like you centered around cultural criticism as inspiration. Do you still agree with those critiques, and is there anything happening now culturally that inspires you in that same manner?**

It's a bit unfortunate, but since starting the design of motorcycle gear, I haven't been creating clothing with cultural themes as much. Maybe it's because I'm not in an environment where I can be culturally stimulated, or perhaps such places have become scarce... While I can't directly compare 1990 and 2023, it feels like the city has become a bit more subdued. The fact that it has become subdued might, in a way, be a source of stimulation.


Shinichiro Arakawa's A/W 1999 collection.

**What comes first for you in the design process? How has this process changed over the years? **

Design can only go in the direction where the compass in my head is pointing… I don't know where it's pointing, and I don't know where it will suddenly turn in the future. It doesn't always point in the right direction, though.

**Looking forward, what message, if any, do you want your clothing to convey?**

The message embedded in the clothing may change depending on the times. Now, unlike before, there is a greater emphasis on custom-made production, so it might involve more individualized messages. It always brings me joy when my thoughts or expressions are communicated to others and appreciated. I hope to enjoy conversations through clothing.

**In terms of sparking conversations about clothing, what conversations do you think are worth having currently?**

Clothing reflects the creator's emotions at that moment, like a mirror. Wearing clothes made with love helps ease uneasy feelings.

**Of all your previous projects and collections, is there one that sticks out to you the most to this day?**

They all left the same impression on me. I still remember them like it was yesterday.

**Is there anything we didn’t cover in this interview you would like to say or talk about?**

Even though I've been away from the world of fashion for quite a long time, I am genuinely delighted and grateful that there is still interest in the pieces I used to create. Thank you very much.

*While Shinichiro Arakawa’s name may not have instantly rung a bell for you, his work has always had a following of people who appreciated his ideas and craftsmanship. Despite this, information and imagery on Arakawa is scarce in books and on the internet. We’re very happy to announce that with permission from Shinichiro-san, we are able to share these rare images from his personal archive. Going through collection by collection, featuring editorials, advertisements, and more, [click here view the full archive.](https://beta.archivepdf.net/archives/shinichiro-arakawa) Follow Shinichiro Arakawa on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/shinichiroarakawa_official/?hl=en) to stay up to date on his latest designs!*

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An exclusive interview with one of Japan's most obscure designers.

From The Runway To The Roadway: Interview with Shinichiro Arakawa

[Alan Bilzerian](https://www.alanbilzerian.com/) has been a staple in the Massachusetts fashion community for over 5 decades, and continues to make an impact in the fashion industry globally. After getting his Bachelor’s of Science in Finance from Nichols College, Bilzerian found his love for fashion through a post-grad Europe trip. He shifted focus professionally and soon opened Body Shop in 1967 in Worcester, Massachusetts with his wife Bê.

*“We started in 1967, and over the years I grew out of being one in a group of people in a routine. My idea was to get out of this system of retail and explore my own way of looking for new ideas. I traveled Europe and saw a chance to separate myself from the rest of the pack. We started to make a few things and buy them and it turned into something very successful. The attraction of what people really wanted kept making me go back. It was feeding into my satisfaction with what I had started... It was initially selling Issey Miyake in the 70s in Worcester, Massachusetts.” - Alan Bilzerian*

Body Shop was a fresh and new perspective towards fashion in the ‘60s and ‘70s, stocked with printed corduroy trousers, bellbottomed Landlubber jeans and velvet Western shirts. It allowed Bilzerian to expand his imagination for fashion retail, breaking barriers and pioneering new directions in fashion. 

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After 13 years in Worcester, Bilzerian and Bê decided to shift the business to the heart of Boston, as they relocated to Newbury Street in 1980 and renamed the storefront Alan Bilzerian. With a keen eye for emerging designers and brands, Alan Bilzerian was one of the first shops to showcase the works of Walter Albini, Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake, Giorgio Armani, Katherine Hamnett, Rick Owens, Alexander McQueen and Rei Kawakubo's Comme des Garçons. Alan and Bê worked extensively to introduce Japan’s “Big 3” to the Western world, and developed deep personal relationships with Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo, and Yohji Yamamoto. This helped the designers access a new audience on the other side of the world, as collectors and enthusiasts devoted their attention to the brands that Bilzerian showcased. 

Alan and Bê also kept a close eye on European fashion, as they purchased Alexander McQueen’s premiere collection and John Galliano’s graduate pieces for their store in Boston. They were also strong supporters of Martin Margiela’s initial collections, bringing the Belgium designers’ genius perspectives to Boston and beyond. 

Alan and Bê have devoted their lives to curating tasteful and timeless fashion collections to their clients and community. However, they are not focused on the commercialization of clothing. Their goal from the beginning was to showcase creativity through fashion and build a genuine community. 57 years later, their goal has not changed.

The ARCHIVE.pdf team was given the opportunity to interview Alan and Bê on a crisp Boston Saturday morning while capturing some of the most iconic and never-seen-before moments in the two’s journey in fashion. We are very excited to showcase this interview and let Alan and Bê tell their amazing stories. It’s time to give them their flowers.

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**Hello, Alan. Hi, Bê.**

**Bê:** Nice to meet you. 

**Nice to meet you again. It's been a while, so you wouldn't remember me. How have you been?**

**Alan:** I'm not bad. I'm hanging in there, for an old man. 

**It's a matter of perspective, isn't it? Well, tell me a brief history of the store. How did you two meet?**

**Bê:** We met in Paris. And then... [some] years go by. We met again because I was in Italy working for Fibucci, which I'm sure you don't know but he was like one of the big new upcoming stores in Milan. And he asked me to redesign his shop in Milan. So, I came with my friend, we came to the States. We were going around and I wanted to make his store into a diner, an American diner. So, that's when I met Alan again. 

**You think that it was meant to be, that you two both had interest in fashion?**

**Alan:** In fact, yeah. I was looking for velvet jeans in the late ‘60s – ‘68, ‘69 – and I was in a showroom in Paris and I asked the guy I was working with, ‘Do you know anybody that carries [an] unusual small production that I can bring back that's exciting?’ So, he gave me an address on the back of a match book and I got in a taxi. I'm in the taxi, I'm going, ‘Oh shit, I'm going to get screwed on this one.’ And he takes me to this residential area in Paris. 

In the back of the house that I was dropped off at was an incredibly beautiful small factory. I went in the factory, opened the door and they were making these incredible dresses in suede, very, very Native American but much more sophisticated. 

I wanted to redo everything and the woman said, ‘Can you wait a minute? I'll call the designer.’ I'm there for about 40 minutes and in comes the designer. I said, ‘I want to do this, I want to do that, I want to change this.’ At the end of the conversation with the woman who owned the factory, she said to me, ‘Are you going back to Paris?’

And I said yes. And she said, ‘I'll give you a lift.’ So, we got in her mini-moke and we drove into Paris together– we were both with other people [at the time]. But when we drove up to her house, there were three people standing in front of her apartment that were very close friends of mine. When we drove up, they were going, ‘Hey Bilzerian, what are you doing?’

**Bê:** At that time I had a band of musicians from New York staying in my place in Paris. So that's why those friends that he knew from New York were staying with me, and they were surprised to see him, and he was surprised to see the band. 

Hat selection inside Alan Bilzerian includes TAKAHIROMIYASHITATheSoloist.

Avant garde clothing displayed inside the Alan Bilzerian store. 

Carol Christian Poell: Disparate black gloves, drip rubbered gloves, fingerless gloves. 

Coats and outerwear hanging on racks inside the Alan Bilzerian store. 

Japanese and avant garde designer items displayed inside the Alan Bilzerian store. 

**That's an amazing story. So you had the store set up before you even went on that trip to Paris? You've been going to Paris for a while.**

**Alan:** Yes. I've been going for quite a few years. I started in 1967, going to London. Well, that's when we first opened, in 1967, and a year and a half after we opened I said, ‘There's not enough here for me.’ So I started to travel to Europe by myself and I did England, France, and Italy, and I started to do Fair Isle sweaters. I don't know if you know Fair Isle sweaters– very, very beautiful. They're very valuable now because nobody does it anymore. And I was collecting all kinds of unusual clothing from the ‘30s. I brought things to Margaret Howell and Jean Howell to remake, because they had the capacity to do that. But I kept on going back every time I had a season to change. And when we started, [it was] in a tiny little shop. It was $115 a month [to] rent– I can't forget these figures. 

And it just progressed and progressed, and it absorbed my way of working. And I got to know Europe better than any of the [other] companies. 

**Bê:** That was good for you. Back in those days, the American generation was not traveling to Europe that much. It was an unknown territory, for you to go on vacation with your parents, but you don't go for work to research. 

And Alan has a very big bug about trying to find things. He loved to go hunting. That's his passion. He still loves to go hunting for interesting things, new things. That's why he still became known as having new things, different things, things that you would not expect. When we met in Milan after we were together, I introduced Alan to Prada. He had a store in Worcester, and he was the first one to have Prada in the US. People don't even know who the hell he was. 

**Alan:** Prada was selling me keychains.

**Yeah, I thought they started as a luggage outfit. **

**Bê:** Prada was working in her father's shop in the Galleria Passarella, and she was making jewelry for the store. That was her first passion, way back then. 

**Because they go by families. A lot of those historical families, especially in Western Europe, were multi-generational. So they would inherit the father’s [business]. **

**Bê:** Yeah, you pass them down. Some of them continue successfully, and some are not capable [of continuing]: It's stuck with the parents because the new generation doesn't know how to carry on. 

**Right, right. It's not unusual because Hermes has been, I don't know, maybe three centuries… So is that the same case for you? Riviere told me that you started the shop.**

**Alan:** No, In 1967 I opened a shop called Body Shop, and that's where it started, with $115– tiny little shop. 

**And your father was in real estate? **

**Alan:** Yeah, my dad was in real estate and I was very bored with what he was doing and I wanted to do something completely off the floor. Five years later we moved to a little bit larger store and it was called Moon. When we moved here, we put it under my name. 

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**What was the reasoning behind putting it under your name? You think it had more prestige doing it that way?**

**Bê:** It was me who instigated that. We were driving looking for a location, and we found a location and Alan said, ‘Should we keep calling the store Moon or should we find a new name?’ 

**Alan:** At that time it started to be too much related to the moonies. 

**Oh, right, Reverend Moon. **

**Alan:** Yeah, exactly. And it was sort of… uncomfortable. 

**Bê:** That's when I told Alan, I said, ‘I don't like any of those names that don't represent anything. Use your name.’ And he said, ‘are you sure? You know, my name is pretty strong. It's very ethnic.’ I said, ‘Who cares? I know that a name is good if you become successful. If you're not successful, the name is not good and it doesn't matter.’ 

**Al:** That's true, that's very motivating. But how did you come about starting the store in Worcester instead of Boston? Or Boston was an evolution of the store in Worcester? 

**Alan:** The Boston store was an evolution of Worcester. It drove me absolutely nuts to have people coming into the store and saying, ‘I had to come from Philadelphia; I had to come from Maine; I had to come from Vermont…’ Every day. Everybody said, ‘What are you doing here?’ And it actually worked on me: I got a beating every day. Plus, there were so many things emerging, where I missed out on a lot that we should have had. 

**Bê:** The city has a limitation. 

**Alan:** Yeah, you're talking about a city of 250,000 compared to a real city. They don't even have an airport. They have an airport on a thimble, a needle head. I mean, people brought their own planes to come and shop in our store. But I thought in my mind that the city would grow in the speed that I was growing. But it never really came about. 

**So as a consumer it was sort of like a treasure hunt, but as a business person it was very limiting. **

**Alan:** Well, yeah, it was. I would be so excited to bring these things to the shop and then it went… it was just an emotional flatness. I was exhausted by the excitement of what I was trying to drive through the customer… They didn't really care. I can't blame them. I mean, they're not doing what I'm doing. And so I just said this is not working for my psychic exposure. 

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Bê and Alan Bilzerian stand outside their namesake store, which has run out of Boston since 1980. 

**You had the establishment in Boston for how long now? **

**Alan:** We opened in 1980. So from 1980 to 2024, it's been an incredible ride. 

**Bê:** And it was really a perfect storm. It's all because we moved in ‘80 to Newbury Street. The real estate people told us, ‘You are crazy, you should move here. There's nothing happening.’

**Alan:** Yeah. This is the worst block. 

**Bê:** And I said, ‘I'm going to stay here.’ It's better to be in a place that is a little bit exclusive than instead being in the crowd there.

But that year, I was invited by the president of Issey Miyiake to come to Japan to go to the hot spring. It was a perfect situation– I really wanted to go to Japan because I felt like something [was] going on there. Because at that time we had the Walkman coming from Japan, we had all the high tech DVDs, and everything was in black... I really wanted to know what was going on, so I went to Tokyo. 

[Alan] opened the store, he was busy. [When] I arrived in Japan, a friend of mine called me at the hotel. He said, ‘There's a dinner party. I want you to come.’ I just landed after 15 hours. He said, ‘Just take a shower and come.’ So I went to dinner, and he introduced me to Rei Kawakubo from Comme Des Garçons. 

**Alan:** They hadn't come to Europe yet. 

**Bê:** This is before they debuted. And she invited me to her showroom the next couple of days to go and look at her clothes, her collection. 

I went there and I was out of my mind. I wanted everything. And she said, ‘Just tell me what you want, and we’ll ship it to you.’ At the end, I said, ‘You should go to Paris and do the show. Your collection's incredible.’ And she said, ‘Will you give me some names? Who to invite to my show? If I do the show in Paris, who should I invite?’ I said, ‘I'll send you a list of stores in the US that you should invite, and the press that I know in Paris.’ The rest of the week, I went with Mr. Tada from Issey Miyake to the hot spring. 

Then, I came back to Tokyo and I was with the director of Isetan, which was the big department store. He showed me the store and I saw in the corner [on a] stand, I looked at the thing and, my God, these trousers are so unusual, they're really nice. I asked everybody around me, ‘Do you know this company?’ The ticket only said waist, nothing else.

Nobody knew. I finally got an address. The taxi drove me there, and it was on the outskirts of Tokyo. I went into that shop and there was an older lady who received me and she was very rough. She said only two, three words of English. ‘Sit down and wait.’ And then a little bit after, the director came in. He took me to the showroom, it was a warehouse kind of place. I saw all those things and I went crazy. I said, ‘This is the best thing that could happen to me. This is unbelievable. You guys have to be showing this, nobody knows you exist.’ And he said, ‘Just put everything you like in a box and we ship it to you.’

Then he said, ‘Will you sit here? The designer wants to meet you.’ The designer shows up. It was Yohji [Yamamoto].

And we sat down and talked about fashion; about everything. And then the director said, ‘Bê, can you stay an extra day? Because of Japanese law, we have to have documentation.’ 

**Alan:** It's very complicated. Because at that time there were quotas on each particular fabric. So anyway, you had a file for a license to ship to America. 

**Bê:** So anyway, I said, ‘I fly tomorrow, but I'm going to see. I have to tell my husband I'm not going to be home tomorrow.’ And he put out the phone and said, ‘Call your husband.’

I called [Alan] and said, ‘I found this incredible collection, it's going to be better than when we found Armani years ago. It's so new, It's so different. I have to stay.’ 

Alan said, ‘I don't care what the hell you do. They just stole my Porsche.’ Click. [Laughs] And Yohji started laughing, and he said, ‘I like your husband. I want to meet him.‘

**Did you find the Porsche?**

**Alan:** Well, what happened was half an hour after I went to the front of the building, then to the back, [I said] I know I parked it here. Two minutes later, the phone rings. It's the police: they said they're coming down to arrest me. They said, ‘Your car was in a hit and run.’ 

**Bê:** So anyway, Yohji and Mr. Hayashi organized to ship everything. And I came home with all those boxes, and I'm telling you, we opened the box and it was like a fire was happening. Customers were coming in, going crazy. That's when we were at number 12. 

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**I thought you were in this spot?**

**Alan:** No no, we were at number 12 because we moved in 1980. We were open for only four years and then I bought this building. So we had to wait till the leases ran out and then redo the building, and then move the store from 12 to 34. 

**Bê:** So that's when Yohji and Rei started showing in Paris. 

**Alan:** It was perfect timing, it was absolutely perfect timing. 

**Bê:** The Yohji collection was all black, Rei was all black. And the first show they did, Women's Wear Daily, had the front page with the big name, ‘Sarunaya,’ bag lady because they had a sweater. So nobody was ready to accept this invasion of fashion from Japan. 

**And it was very racially charged too because the title was ‘Hiroshima Chic.’ It was a very famous title for them. **

**Alan:** Well they didn't want to give them a vehicle. [John] Fairchild hated the way they had all of a sudden emerged. And [Yohji and Rei] never spent any money on advertising. So they didn't want to actually give them any position. 

**Bê:** Fairchild resisted because Rei and Yohji went to Paris, and Paris embraced them. The French recognized that before New York, and the explosion happened there. [In America], they said, ‘Oh no, we're not into that; the bag lady, the clothes are not clothes, they are trash.’ 

But the consumer here didn't care about the price. They were into it. I mean, it was insane. And that vehicle made us even stronger. We were the first store in Boston [to carry them]. People, even from New York, were coming here. 

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**The stereotype nationwide is that Boston is a very conservative city, and I would assume back then it was a different atmosphere compared to that. **

**Alan:** No, no. It was very, very conservative. It was just that there were pinpoints of timing. People were reading about it, they were waiting for this to happen. They didn't know where it was going to be, who had it, who was going to be the first. We just happened to have the perfect timing of having the emotion to say, you know, I have a feeling something is happening in Japan. 

Before that, when we met Mr. Tada, who was the president of Issey, I went to the first show in Paris of Issey. It was in the basement of La Coupole, a huge restaurant. It was like 8:30 in the morning, I was dragging my ass to the show. I saw the show and I'm going, are you kidding me? I was so inspired and after the show I went backstage and I said I want this from my store in Worcester. It was in Worcester we started Issey. 

**Rest in peace, it is too bad he passed away. **

**Alan:** Yeah, yeah, great friend. He gave this dinner in Paris and he only invited one store out of all the people that were there, everybody else was press. 

**Bê:** It was his birthday. 

**Alan:** It was kind of like, the way I started as a hippie with long hair, and looking for the most unusual, and found Issey. We had Issey in 1968, 1969, in Worcester, with Prada, [and] Armani Black Label. 

**Bê:** But then here in 1980, with Rei and Yohji, it made us even more hungry to go hunting. I mean, we've been lucky, but it was very interesting to find an unknown designer that has something to say, that maybe we suspect it, but we don't know what it is.

At that time in Boston– maybe it's a coincidence and it's just a perfect situation– it was a lot of professional people, architects and people in the art field or design field, who were really interested to find us, and what we discovered gave them inspiration, and gave them energy, even in their field. 

**Alan:** You know, it was very interesting. Constantly people from Harvard, constantly people from MIT. It's still the meeting road. Architecture and design and fashion are still crossing us all the time. When I want to be inspired, I buy a new architectural book to see who is putting something in Brazil, who's making something anywhere in the world. It can't be just Italian or Japanese. 

Alan Bilzerian walks the runway at Yohji Yamamoto Spring / Summer 1994. 

Alan Bilzerian attends Maison Martin Margiela's debut show, Spring 1989 at the Cafe De La Gare in Paris.

**Do you think the ‘70s and ‘80s were the “golden age of Boston cutting edge fashion”?**

**Alan:** The ‘80s for us were so fantastic. We felt that we had something that nobody could really duplicate, and it was so far out compared to what everybody was wearing. Nobody wanted to make the attempt to go towards that. They didn't know what was coming. They didn't know the feeling that was emerging…. It just kept on getting bigger. Kept on getting stronger. 

**I was curious about how folks that were older than I was, how they happened to adapt in the environment on Newbury Street; how Alan Bilzerian, and maybe a couple of other shops, fostered this environment of fashion around the ‘80s. **

**Alan:** It was two completely different pictures. We had a completely different symbol of who we were at that time, because we really instigated that entire image of the Japanese. Between Rei, Issey, and Yohji, which were the three pioneers coming to Europe and showing [that] they were the depth in Japanese fashion, we didn't deviate from that. We were committed. 

**Bê:** We got so involved with Yohji that he wanted to meet Alan, and the relationship developed into a friendship and then he asked us, ‘Can you help me? I want to open a store in London. Can you do it? Can you help me?’

So we ran around looking for the perfect place for Yohji. We put down the idea on paper of what we wanted, he said, ‘You can do whatever you want.’ I said ‘Can you tell me, do you want the store to black? You want it white?’

He said, ‘I don’t know, you do it.’ [Laughs] So we opened London and New York at the same time.

**Alan:** We became very close friends. Many times he stayed in our house, when Bê wasn't feeling well. After a show, he got on a plane and went back to Tokyo and called me up and he said, ‘I'm going to be in Boston next week.’

**Bê:** He came just overnight to see me because I was very sick. 

**Alan:** Rei and him came here when they were together. They came and spent the weekend with us. That was a long time ago. 

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Isaac Sellam black passager bag on display at Alan Bilzerian. 

Rick Owens black leather shearling-lined biker jacket on display inside Alan Bilzerian. 

Hats displayed on top of a shelf inside the Alan Bilzerian store. 

Detail shot of custom Alan Bilzerian hangers. 

**How do you feel about those designs becoming the mainstream? Do you think that's a good thing? **

**Alan:** They're really not so mainstream. You know what I mean? They're individuals that are always going to be separated from the bunch. Maybe with some of the secondary things that they've done–

**Like Commes Des Garçons Play. **

**Alan:** Exactly. 

**Bê:** Or like Yohji does Y-3. So that is more mainstream, and that will be more exposed. 

**Alan:** I think that these people are the essence of unusual aspects of taking fabric or understanding… They're very conscious of the street. They're very, very modern in a lot of ways. 

**What I love about those designs is the intensity and the detail to the craft is what I find very attractive. The Japanese aesthetic. There was one example of a business that's been around for 400 years, and all they sold was Gyoza or something, only one item. **

**Alan:** And then, they just focus on that one thing. Making it better. 

**And just reiterate, reiterate. Like this here, the average designer wouldn't think about putting a back button to reinforce. And you know how long I’ve had this jacket? **

**Alan:** They've taken every single 1940s or 1930s piece that's ever been made apart. And they've gone through the waistbands, the interfacing, all the actual aspects that make the piece not look on the outside very good, but the inside better. 

And that's one of the keys of success with them, where people say, ‘this is my favorite piece of clothing. What do you have that I can continue with that's exactly like that?’ You know how hard that is to tell somebody, ‘we don't have anything? We don't have another thousand dollar pair of pants?’ That's part of the whole rhythm of what they do. 

**Well they're not alone, right? Because their influence transcended to other designers from other nations like Ann Demuelemeester, Dirk Bikkembergs… **

**Alan:** Margiela.

**And you've got the ones like Poelle, right? What do you think about that designer? **

**Alan:** Oh, Carol's a completely different project. Carol's on a completely different wave. I bought Carol's first collection 35 or 40 years ago— I stumble on these things. The nose or something tells me where the smell is and I find it. 

**From Austria, right? **

**Alan:** Yeah. I bought his first collection, this guy that I knew had it, and we bought it and it was absolutely incredible. Then he went through some kind of… I don't know what he wanted. And then he reinvented himself again and we were there to continue with him. And now he's like, the god for the kids. 

**Bê:** And you have people that emerge like that, like Maurizio [Altieri], we used to go and buy his shoes and his clothes. Maurizio from Carpe Diem. 

Carol Christian Poell leather boots and drip sneakers on display inside Alan Bilzerian: Ice-Dart Handled Sneaker, U-Officer Prosthetic, Black Tornado Zip Boots, U-Boot Prosthetic, U-Jack Prosthetic Boot

An up-close look at Carol Christian Poell leather boots and drip sneakers on display inside Alan Bilzerian: U-Officer Prosthetic, Black Tornado Zip Boots, U-Boot Prosthetic, U-Jack Prosthetic Boot

**What brands excite you? **

**Alan:** I think still Japanese small companies keep on emerging as technical and fabric-oriented. The best denim in the world is coming from Japan. There's a whole area, like Worcester would be, where denim is being made in Tokyo. That's where every beautiful piece of selvage denim is being made. 

So you can't say that Japan is already played; that tune is not going away. They work so much harder to make something, like the knife handle that's been made for 400 years. These people will make the best fitting jean in the best fabric that they can, and they won't give the indigo dye formula to anybody. When they die you've got to come up and make your own formula, you have to find the root and make your own dye. And if you can’t find the color that they've been [using] to make the denim so beautiful, too bad. That's your problem. 

**Bê:** But I also think that because there's so many names, and so many big names everywhere, you can be in Milan, or in Paris, or on Madison Avenue; everything's the same. 

**Alan:** People keep on coming into the store and saying, ‘You know I'm so bored with seeing the same merchandise in every store.’. 

The success of what we are about is hard work. It's hard work. You go to Europe. We don't go to a show, we're going to pound the pavement, to be exposed [to] basically everything that we can totally feel that there's gonna be longevity. 

I met Margiela, before Margiela was ‘Margiela’, because he worked for Gaultier. When I met him, I knew what he had done, and then I went to his first show. We bought it for Worcester. We sold 12% before sale [Laughs]. I couldn't even swallow, and I said, ‘Oh shit, this is unbelievably bad.’ So sometimes you're not on the road to where the consumer is. 

**Bê:** If you want to make a lot of money, you go mainstream. We are not.

**It can't be just the money. It has to be something else. **

**Alan**: It's the passion. It's the emotion. It was always the stimulation, more than having a big, beautiful store. I mean, Barney's did their thing, and it’s sad that they're not around, because people need to see different images of big and small. 

**Would you say that your primary customer respects you and stays with you over all this time because they know the amount of work that it takes? Is it trial and error? **

**Alan:** I think they're committed to us because they feel that the staff has the same allegiance [to them] as the designer has to us. You know, we're family on both sides. We're family to the designer, and family to our staff, and the consumer reads that. The people who shop here all the time, they see the same stability. 

**Bê:** We have customers who have been shopping here for 30 years. You know, a customer from Boston, she went through a very hard time health-wise. Our staff after work would go and visit her, on their time. 

Then they come here, the customer comes here and we treat them with respect and the consideration of, you know, their advice. It's something that you can’t have in department [stores], it's very difficult to cultivate that. 

**Yeah, sustainability, right? **

**Bê:** Talking about the time when Boston was so hot, that’s when we decided to ask Jean-Paul Gaultier to do a fashion show in Boston. That was very special. Jean-Paul came in at that time, he gave carte blanche to do the whole thing on our own. He shipped the collection, and he flew from Tokyo to Boston that day to come to the show. 

**Alan:** That was a great time. 

**Bê:** Back in those days, we could do those things. It was very interesting. 

Yohji Yamamoto black and white asymmetrical puff-sleeve collarless women's jacket from alanbilzerian.com

Carol Christian Poell flat half-circle four pocket ripple-effect jeans with scar stitching from alanbilzerian.com

Avant Garde Elena Dawson silk velvet blazer outerwear in olive from alanbilzerian.com

**So how's the evolution in your eyes, from since you opened the store until now? What's your overall feeling about the whole fashion world?**

**Alan:** I think people are very interested. I think the new generation is very, very conscious of how they look. I think there's always going to be, even if you're on your phone all day long, I think people are still very, very interested… There's an evolution, though. 

**Bê:** There was a gap at one point, that the young generation, I mean what we call the young, was not as interested. But then now is the rebirth of young people, but really young– 17, 18– who are really passionate about real fashion. 

**Alan:** Yeah, it was a little stop gap there. 

**Bê:** The gap was because that generation was so focused on social media that they lost the value of real— the identity of fashion— activity. 

**Alan:** That's what happened. That period was very strange. It was almost like a numb period. Everybody was numb with social media. 

**Bê:** And then the real creativity kind of was numb, too. Now it's like a rebirth. The energy in music, in fashion, in sport, in everything, is so new.

**People are realizing they need to touch more than visualize the product. **

**Alan:** Well, they're just getting through the massage of COVID.

**Bê:** We just hired a young girl who graduated from university. She's 24, 25, and she said to me at the interview that she wished she didn’t have social media anymore. She wanted to cancel her account. She said it invaded her life, and she doesn't want that anymore. 

**Well, you know, like my son, he wants to invest in archival products, like the camera, [and the] fashion. And it's the same thing for music collectors. They want to get the vinyl records. The same thing. They want to see the history. **

**Alan:** They want to go back and really trace where this whole thing came from. They want to know, they want to understand. They can't even believe that we're still using Macintosh and JBL speakers. We're like from goddamn, the cave land. They go, ‘is that what's playing this music?’ Because everybody's synthetic. There's no depth in what we really see in people. 

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Letting Alan and Bê tell their amazing stories. It’s time to give them their flowers.

From Boston to the World: A Conversation With Alan & Bê Bilzerian

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Comme des Garcons: Free Interpretation of JR by Rei Kawakubo, 2015.

Khan Delin

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From its inception as a leather motorcycle riding-gear company in 1988, Richard Stark has transformed Chrome Hearts into a cult-classic brand that churns out handmade jewelry, most notably in sterling silver; apparel, eyewear, luggage and leather goods; and handcrafted furnishings and home items. And let’s not forget all the oddities that exist within the Chrome Hearts world, such as toilet plungers, baseball bats, nail polish, tools, bicycles, and much much more. Three decades later, Chrome Hearts still produce their products in California, and the brand ethos has not significantly shifted. Privately owned by the Stark family, the brand still captures the ‘Fuck You’ essence that existed in the late 80s and early 90s, and their authorized retailer list can still fit on one page. 

Chrome Hearts traces its roots to a Hollywood carpenter, Richard Stark, who, after a serendipitous movie costume design opportunity, co-founded the brand in a Los Angeles garage. Initially renowned for high-quality leather goods adorned with sterling-silver motifs, Chrome Hearts gained prominence among rock and punk bands, ultimately earning Richard Stark the CFDA Accessory Designer of the Year award in 1992. The brand's journey, marked by a split among founders in 1994, continued with Laurie Lynn joining and steering it towards global and digital success. Chrome Hearts maintained an aura of exclusivity, opening flagship stores worldwide but avoiding direct online sales. Its recent mainstream surge, fueled by hip-hop endorsements, led to adaptations, embracing e-commerce and online resale. Despite memes and widespread logo saturation, Chrome Hearts, still owned by the Starks, stands resilient in its commitment to timeless designs, heritage, and non-conformity in the ever-evolving fashion landscape.

Chrome Hearts Richard Stark Photograph

Chrome Hearts

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The book, Issey Miyake: East Meets West, came out in 1978 and features an impressive contrast of designs influenced by both Eastern and Western cultures. East Meets West was the first ever monograph that was created about the living fashion designer, and its importance is unquestionable. With over 200 pages of full bleed color images featuring some of Issey Miyake’s colorful clothing, the book truthfully depicts the designer’s passion for design, culture, and authenticity. From editorial photos shot by the likes of Noriaki Yokosuka (as covered in our previous post), to the capturing of runway spectacles that combine movement with clothing, it goes without saying that East Meets West immerses you into the fantastic world of Issey Miyake.

Issey Miyake was revered as a mystic figure with a profound understanding of humanity. Born in Hiroshima in 1938, witnessing the city's destruction by a nuclear bomb shaped his existential perspective. Miyake's career began in Paris, influenced by the May 1968 protests, and later, he established the Miyake Design Studio (MDS) in 1970. His design philosophy focused on simplicity and pragmatism, creating garments that made life easier. Collaborations with artists like Irving Penn and a commitment to sustainability marked his influential career. Miyake's contributions extended beyond fashion, impacting Japan's creative scene, and his ethos of moving forward and fostering curiosity transcends art and clothing. After relinquishing design control in 1999, he focused on innovative textiles until his passing. Miyake's legacy is defined by a relentless pursuit of progress and curiosity.

East Meets West

Designer Issey Miyake and photographer Irving Penn first met in New York City in the 80’s. Penn and Miyake kicked it off and eventually Irving Penn flew to Japan to photograph the early days of Miyake’s Design Studio. Penn was able to view the behind the scenes of Miyake’s experimenting with his process of creating the pleats for “Pleats Please!”. The book shows some of Miyake’s most famous pieces in beautiful detail photographed on clean white backdrops with bright light to capture the pleat pattern. The models all were draped in garments of bright colors and intricate patterns and pose in an almost theatrical manner. During this time in the 80’s Miyake had been working with several ballets and theatre plays doing costume design. As a child he also had always wanted to be a dancer so we continue to see these performance arts inspiring Miyake with further collections. The photos were used as advertisements for Issey Miyake, they also made this limited run book of the stunning photographs the two artists collaborated on in the 80’s.

Issey Miyake Photographs by Irving Penn


For almost 5 decades, Issey Miyake has been pioneering the concept of modern Japanese heritage in fashion. As a survivor of post World War II trauma, Issey Miyake was born into the destruction of his country and participated in its rise and redemption. After his studies, Miyake would travel to Paris then New York to accumulate experiences and ideas to build his fashion empire. His Western travels would land him back in Tokyo, where he established his namesake brand that would ultimately revolutionize Japanese fashion and global fashion as a whole. Miyake has spent the past 5 decades reinforcing his design motifs: texture, shape, fabric, proportions, and technology. He blends these motifs with his equilibrium balance of Eastern and Western heritage. Miyake often references his Western experiences but never forgets his Eastern roots, creating a different world for his garments to exist in.

Making Things

Issey Miyake

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Exchange

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The collection booklet displays some background details on Jun’s process for the collection as well as imagery and descriptions on how to customize your Undercover Small Parts garments. Jun's collection booklet features designs done in collaboration with New York graffiti artist Futura 2000. Futura’s 'Pointman' figures are drawn wearing different pieces of clothing from the collection. Undercover’s 1998 Small Parts/Exchange collection was a highly original and clever idea for Undercover and has continued to be referenced and collected.

Punk. Fantasy. Couture. Counterculture. Believe it or not, all of these words and more come to mind when people hear the name ‘Undercover’. From its highly acclaimed collections capturing the essence of the times, to collaborations with a wide range of brands including Supreme and Nike, the Japanese cult brand is a pioneer in combining youth and countercultures with high fashion over the course of decades. Its impact on both fashion and culture as a whole is simply incomprehensible, but perhaps we can gain a clearer understanding of it through it’s founder Jun Takahashi.

Born in 1969 in the countryside of Japan, Jun Takahashi radiated rebellious energy from the very beginning, becoming infatuated with English punk band Sex Pistols and punk-esque designer Vivienne Westwood from a young age. This fascination with clothing led him to enroll in Japan’s prestigious Bunka Fashion College, where he would create Undercover together with his friend Hironori Ichinose. The beginnings of Undercover consisted of clothing inspired by the work of Vivienne Westwood, but soon began to find its own voice and soon enough its own cult following. Takahashi, together the Japanese fashion figures Hiroshi Fujiwara and Nigo, created the ‘limited streetwear’ formula before the likes of Supreme ever did, creating a mysterious aura around his brand as a result. This strategy of incorporating high quality clothing with youth and streetwear sensibilities would build up Undercover’s notoriety over the years, eventually taking the spotlight on the world stage from its debut Paris collection at Paris Fashion Week in 2002 and beyond. The rest is history: Undercover has proven itself as a force to be reckoned with, influencing both people in the fashion industry and creatives who dream for greatness. With Undercover’s existence in this world, who is to say that greatness is just a dream?

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Though many passionate followers of Undercover would say that its greatest collection to date is SS2003 ‘SCAB,’ a select few would state otherwise. During the winter of 2005 Undercover presented ‘T,’ an esoteric collection that incorporated the concept of deconstruction and reconstruction. From the religious symbology on the runway to the designs of fictional German bands under the equally fictional record label ‘Undercover Records,’ many found 'T' to rival the likes Undercover’s earlier collections by a long shot. Many found it to be reminiscent of Maison Martin Margiela’s work; this is not a surprise given that Jun Takahashi was influenced by Martin himself as well as Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons. In commemoration of this collection, the Cream Spring Edition book was released solely through Undercover’s Hong Kong store. It features backstage photography of the construction of the collection, sketches of the various clothes and designs by Jun Takahashi, photos of the runway, various interviews from both Jun and Undercover staff, and more. This combination of aesthetics and valuable information only brings its reader deeper into the world of Undercover and 'T'.

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Cream Spring Edition Issue 04

Scab

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The various references to the 'Crust Punk' Aesthetic & Ethnic fabrics used created a tense atmosphere in the showroom. With subtle references to 9/11 during a tense time Jun Takahashi stepped in a realm which no designer at the time had even wanted to think about. He closed the show dressing models in a array of multi coloured burqas. In which shocked the crowd in a way nobody had expected, helping the collection & designer reach new levels of credit & praise from both media & consumers. 

undercover_ss2003-scab-runway-looks.pdf

ss2003 Scab Runway Looks

Underman

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Jun Takahashi has always been known as an innovative designer who loves referencing history, culture, and his own personal life in his works. This particular 2011 season is yet another example of this endeavor, as depicted in the 2011 'UNDERMAN' Photo Book. The SS2011 Undercover collection titled 'UNDERMAN' features a fictional hero in the year 20XX who restores lost souls incapacitated by the forces of evil. With the story and costume design by Takahashi and photography by Katsuhide Morimoto, Underman was Takahashi's portrayal of Japanese superheroes through fashion. Besides the extensive clothing collection, Takahashi also created a lookbook using a booklet binder of trading cards and a set of miniature figurines in collaboration with Medicom Toy.

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Underman Photo Book

Under the Cover

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This Spring/Summer 1996 collection from Undercover, easily named 'Under The Cover', welcomes us into the young creative mind of budding designer Jun Takahashi. The book was created along with the collection and gives us a brief look at drawings Takahashi had made in order to design and produce the garments. He used monster-type figures you would see in horror movies as models for the collection. The book shows us behind the scenes photos as well as detailing how the masks and characters were created. The cenobyte-type figures seem as if they are trapped in some colorful prison or hospital and all wore clothing that matched the design of their complex features. The color blocking walls surrounded the figures, sometimes posed with objects and small environments, as if each were in their own cell. 

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Exchange Booklet

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In 2015, Undercover designer Jun Takahashi launched a retrospective exhibition in commemoration of his brand’s 25th anniversary. The exhibition went into great detail on the cult brand’s history and designs, from the early days being stocked in Ura-Harajuku’s NOWHERE store, to an expansive selection of runway looks and designs surrounding the brand’s unique vision. Labyrinth of Undercover was released alongside this exhibition, featuring select looks from all of Undercover’s runway shows, from 1994 to 2015. In addition to the runway looks is also a full list of collections with descriptions of the corresponding themes and meanings. The book eloquently serves as a time capsule through which readers can grasp a substantial understanding of the cult brand's legacy from the 90s to the modern day.

Khan Delin

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