TRAVERSE TOKYO

I like the old Japanese saying '"Mochi wa mochiya" which means something like let the professionals (specialists) do its profession, so I'm not the type to take the photo myself and create something out of it.  I definitely do understand the desire to own every part of one's creation,  but that isn' t my style to play. Even with making a catalog or doing an editorial in a magazine, I let it out of my hands and let the photographer and the stylist hold full responsibility of the creation. I believe that in this environment,  the creative staffs' imagination amplify more and gives a higher performance. And actually they usually do come back with an outcome that exceed my expectations.  Also the addition of their unique perspectives also widen the boundaries of the brand's  image too.

We sell our products in Hong Kong and Singapore, but my main initiative isn't looking outside Japan.  I think more on expanding domestically.  Like just last february, we opened a store in Kyoto. But as for any country under the influence of fast fashion, more people are starting to enjoy fashion itself. Until a decade ago, there was a clear border between a fashionista and a someone who's not and say, the difference of what Japanese people wore and other asians' wore were clearly different but  nowadays you can't really see the difference. Globalization is seen here in the fashion industry too and the looks of how people dress up is starting to level out. They sell the same things in Tokyo, London, New York or Hong Kong, wherever you are.  I kind of miss the days when each city had its own original atmosphere and smell to it.

I would say the originality that comes from within the creator will play a more important role. Nowadays, its hard to judge someone's background by how they're dressed. For example back in the day, only smartly dressed people used to go to fancy restaurants, but now people like us who are dressed down casually go to these restaurants too. You'd be surprised how many of  these casually dressed ones are  actually richer than the smart looking ones. You just can't tell much by people's  looks now. Since our exterior looks are averaging out like that  I believe the inner values of each person will get more focused in the coming days. Since the popularization of the internet,  the time spent on face to face communication has decreased quite a bit, but we might be at a point that this old school way of communicating could be the key again for the coming era of building strong inner values.

A special tee shirt  collaboration series with Kiyonaga. A take on Mapplethorpe's photography with a different selection of photos lining up side by side with this season's uniform experiment flower series.  Kiyonaga selelcted 10 of his favourite photos and TRAVERSE in turn chose three out of that to be made into the collaboration tee shirts. The photos chosen through this project has brought a new light on the image of  Mapplethorpe's photography in fashion. Photos are printed  on the front, and a typography of Mapplethorpe, uniform experiment, and TRAVERSE TOKYO on the back.Also note that the black body edition is only for TRAVERSE TOKYO and doesn't exist in the UE flower series.  This deluxe collaboration is sold exclusively right here at TRAVERSE TOKYO.

Robert Mapplethorpe was an American photographer born in Queens, New York. He is famous for sexual nude photos (some banned to enter Japan) but also left excellent works on other themes like the flower series and the still lifes. He actively participated in liberating SM and gay culture, but died on March 9, 1989, from complications of AIDS. His relationship with Patti Smith and other celebrities and artists lead him to shoot their iconic portraits throughout the years.