The more authentic the function, the better.
I know that your profession requires you to go out on the town for research.
Ikeda:All year round. In Tokyo, the Aoyama area is probably the most common.
What kind of coordination do you tend to wear when you do that?
Ikeda:I don't feel like it's for that purpose, but my recent styling theme has been dress-down or dysfunctional. Today's outfit is exactly the same. The boots are made of GORE-TEX® and the bag is made of nylon for functionality, but the clothes I wear with them are made of natural materials, and I dare not use the waterproof property of GORE-TEX® (laugh).
A: I think one of the trends now is to incorporate functions into street wear.
Ikeda:The more genuine the function is, the more interesting it is because it becomes an offshoot of the overall coordination, and I personally think it is fine if you use it for that purpose. In that sense, both Danner and Briefing are genuine, and I think it is possible to incorporate them into everyday coordination.
I think it is important to have a good overall balance, not to make everything functional. When you walk around town, do you ever use a small shoulder bag like the one you have now?
Ikeda:Especially in summer, we use it a lot. The fabric of pants becomes thinner in summer. If you put a smartphone or wallet in the pockets of such pants, the pockets will become sloppy and lose their silhouette. In such cases, I use them as sub-pockets.
Linen pants in particular are a good choice. And the waist is also stressed.
Ikeda:That's right. I also use these bags when I travel. Especially in Europe, where pickpockets are common, I usually carry a mini shoulder bag, put my phone, wallet, and passport in it, and slip it inside my coat. The gussets on these bags give them good storage capacity, and the lack of unnecessary decorations makes them easy to slip inside a coat.
This may be a bit of a digression, but perhaps because of my occupation, I have a strong sense that it would be boring to be the same as other people. That's why I always read a paperback book on the train because I don't want to look at my phone as much as possible (laughs). This bag is the perfect size for a paperback book.
What about the design aspect?
Ikeda:When I first saw it, I was struck by how casual it was, in a good way. Generally, collaborations tend to push out each other's character, but this one was very casual in that sense. The bags are as much "Briefing" as possible, and the shoes are as much "Danner" as possible. It's a good balance.
It is true that each item seems to be a minimum common denominator of Danner's leather and Briefing's iconic webbing belt.
Ikeda:Yes, it is the smallest image, not the largest. And as for the shoes, there is a little bit of "Briefing" webbing belt sticking out from the tongue. The black lace-ups on them don't look a bit like John Moore's, and I thought I could wear them with that kind of feeling.
