It will be a different perspective from the vintage buyers in Tokyo.
What is your impression of the Seven by Seven brand?
Honma: I sometimes see these clothes at select stores of my acquaintances or when I go to the countryside, and I think they are very Junya-like. He does bold things, but I think he is shy about it. I feel that kind of subtlety.
I have the impression that your interpretation of vintage clothing is also unique.
Honma: I agree with that. The items I was picking in San Francisco at the time were also unique. There are three types of vintage clothing: items that can be worn right now, items that are called masterpieces, and items that are interesting as art pieces or materials. I think he was unique because he had all of them and picked items based on his subconscious judgment.
Honma: Also, San Francisco has a lot of different cultures. Hippies, gays, skateboarding, surfing, graffiti, sign painting, and of course beats. The gays and blacks are all very fashionable, so the items released by these people are an unbelievable non-selective hodgepodge. It really is a melting pot. When you pick among them, you get to see a lot of different clothes, and you learn a lot. So it's no wonder it has a unique context. You get a different perspective from Japanese vintage buyers, but not from American ones either.
Upstream: The influence of the "as is store" we were talking about earlier was still a big factor. There was no one to teach me about vintage clothing, so I just had to look. That was interesting. When you are taught, you can only see things in that context.
What was the atmosphere like?
Upstream: It was a huge warehouse.
Honma: It's super big. There was one guy who was picking women's underwear all the time. Apparently, he once found a $100 bill in a bra, and he couldn't forget it, so he kept picking.
Upstream: That kind of thing happens, doesn't it? Since the place was frequented by people living on the streets, it was a common occurrence to see people dressed differently when they entered than when they left (laughs).
Honma: There was a lot of shoplifting and the security was really bad. There were mysterious auctions, right? Boxes of stuff we didn't know what was in them would come out in droves, and we would bid on them while looking through the wire netting.
Upstream: There was (laughs).
Honma: Once I bought it, it was really full of a ton of garbage (laughs).
Upstream: It seems that sometimes they win. It is a gamble.
How long does it take to get a bid?
Honma: I think it was roughly $25 or so.
Upstream: After that, the prices went up quite a bit, sometimes over $100. Sometimes I would open the box and find a box full of Emilio Pucci vintages.
Honma: It's an American pepti-dream (laughs).
That was about 25 years ago?
Honma: That's right. When San Francisco was not as fashionable as it is now.
Upstream: It was only when IT companies started coming in that things changed. There were so many dangerous places just by walking around. That was interesting.
Honma: But there are worse places now, aren't there?
Upstream: I hear the Tenderloin and the downtown area is devastated.
But, Mr. Kawakami, why did you stay in San Francisco?
Upstream: It just happened. I wanted to go to the U.S., and I could have gone anywhere, but the place I was referred to was San Francisco.
Honma: As I recall, there was always a car parked in front of Junya's house with toys stuck all over the hood and such. I was taking pictures of the decorations, which were so badass, when a cool guy with a strong beard came out and said, "What are you doing? He came out. He had "KING" tattooed on each finger, which was his son's name. He said he was in a band called "Booger Eater," which sounds like something you would pick your nose and eat. and a very small child came out. He was so cute.
That's a great episode (laughs). It's the kind of moment you can never encounter in Japan.
Honma: It was really interesting. I went to Las Vegas the other night to see the Dead perform live. I went to see the Dead perform live in Las Vegas the other night, and all the fans were selling stuff in a parking lot called Shakedown Street. I joined them and sold some stuff, and for the first time in a long time, I felt like I was in touch with American nonsense, but in a good way. It was like everyone was just doing what they wanted to do.
Upstream: It was an amazing time, really.
