Attachment | Kazuyuki Kumagai
Creator of his namesake label and its counterpart Attachment, Japanese designer Kazuyuki Kumagai has been crafting his clothing business for a decade. He entered the world of fashion working with Issey Miyake, eventually creating his own label that has succeeded both in Japan and overseas.
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Kumagai was born in Aichi-Ken – a Japanese prefecture located in the centre of the main island of the Japanese Archipelago. A centre of Japan’s automotive and aerospace industries, it’s main city Nagoya is famous for being the home of automotive giant Toyota. In a way, Nagoya could be described as a kind of Japanese Detroit, an environment which may well have influenced Kumagai’s penchant for an industrial feeling in his designs. In his early years, the designer’s main passion was Kendo – the “way of the sword” – a modern Japanese martial art of sword-fighting based on traditional Japanese swordsmanship, Kenjutsu. It is a physically and mentally challenging activity which perhaps prepared Kumagai with the discipline necessary to become a designer.
While working at Issey Miyake, Kumagai’s specialty was researching alternative new techniques and materials from industrial and medical fields amongst others, later becoming the assistant designer at the esteemed label. This experience has also fed into the creation of his own brand, which nowadays takes form in two labels, Attachment which is more focused on Japan’s domestic market and Kazuyuki Kumagai, the international diffusion line carrying his own name.
How did the label’s story begin?
15 years ago Japan was at a major turning point. It was the beginning of the end of the so called economic “bubble” era. I felt that the eighties movement exemplified by the Holy Triumvirate of Yohji, Issey and Comme was about to come to an end, and a new fashion movement combining both street and high fashion elements was needed. This became Attachment; a label utilizing traditional Japanese fabrics and techniques and combines them with the latest design and street style. We used unique methods such as tanning with Persimmon juice, and materials such as a fabric that was traditionally used to construct bags to filter sake, for example.
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What drove you to create Attachment?
At the time when I started the label in 1999, there were very few new young Japanese labels. There was a boom of import designers and then there were the street culture influenced brands such as A Bathing Ape. I tried to create a new type of Japanese label which had the best of both worlds. We started as a very small independent company and in many ways we still are.
How did the process carry on?
Straight away we were picked up by the influential Tokyo select store United Arrows, this led to popularity and us being able to develop our own following. After 3 years we were able to open our own small store here in Daikanyama and begin to develop our own brand identity and our own design world. Part of this was creating our own Attachment Magazine with long time collaborator, photographer / designer / film maker Mote Sinabel. The magazine allowed me to work with and introduce young new underground musicians to our clients; Babyshambles, Dirty Three, The Rapture etc. We also got to travel and expose the scenes in different cities such as Paris, London and NYC. We got to shoot the re-union tour by Bauhaus and I ended the project on a high note by doing an issue with Blixa Bargeld of my favorite band Einstuerzende Neubauten in his home city of Berlin. I knew I could not beat that so we stopped just before we did the runway in Paris. Most of the time, the development of the brand runs parallel to my interest in industrial and rock music. This influence has grown stronger as the brand has carried on.
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Tell a bit about the decision to diffuse the label into two lines.
We debuted the label as Attachment in Paris in 2006 and showed in a gallery with installations and musicians. After a couple of seasons I decided it was time to make a runway show and really show the international market and press what the label was all about. I am a big fan of high quality, real clothes – basic items such as military inspired pieces, biker jackets etc, and these have always been extremely successful for us here in Japan. However, I realised that to make a successful runway debut and really reach the international market I would need to concentrate on a more refined, high- level aesthetic and since there are only so many samples it is possible to take to Paris from Japan every season, I decided to separate into two distinct lines. This also allowed me to expand and refine both expressions in a more thorough and satisfactory way. Street taste is very popular for buyers in Japan and I think it always will be so. The international buyers and press are looking for something new, unique and original, this was more the style that Kazuyuki Kumagai became.
What are the elements in garments that you focus on?
For me the key issues will always be the originality and specialness of the textiles. I still do a lot of research into new fabrics both here in Japan and when I travel in Italy and around Europe. We have found that Japanese textiles and Italian leathers are usually the best in the world. So I am searching for the perfect textiles; simple, elegant and minimal.
How has showing in Paris affected you?
Showing in Paris has resulted in an increased popularity and press coverage for the label both here in Japan and across the world. We now have 3 dedicated Attachment stores across Japan and we were also asked to open our own corner in Isetan in Shinjuku, which is one of the most influential stores here in Japan. At the end of last year we decided to combine out 2 separate Tokyo stores into one large 150 square metre Daikanyama Flag ship store. The concept of the store reflects our new policy of mixing the brands and has been designed to be more welcoming to new customers than the old, darker and somewhat secretive stores. It is still based around concrete and metal elements but has a lighter, airier feel..
For the SS10 season we were unfortunate to not see a runway show.
FW 2009 was our fourth fashion show in Paris and by that point, I felt that we had communicated what we had to say through that medium. I felt like that project had been completed and that a new avenue of expression needed to be found to match the changing mood of the times as we descended into the recent recession. My new project is the missing of the 2 labels and showing the street and the “international” collection together. We might do installations or other special projects but I feel the mood of the runway is not suitable for these times.
What direction do you see Attachment taking now?
Basically the spirit of both Attachment and the Kazuyuki Kumagai label is to move forward into the future and to collaborate with various artists, photographers and musicians etc., I wish to push myself creatively and to continue to search for that excellence in both technique and materials which is my ultimate goal and fulfilment.
visit attachment.co.jp to view the current f/w collection from both Kazuyuki Kumagai and Attachment.
Interviewed by Arto M.
Cover photo by Tosiya Suda