A relationship that has lasted more than a quarter of a century, dating back to our student days.
Is the connection between "non-native" and "Norma T.D. (Norma)" well known?
Fujii:I guess not much is known about it.
Noguchi:Yeah, I don't think almost anyone knows about it.
When did the relationship start?
Fujii:It was when I was a sophomore at Musashino Art University (Musabi), so I guess it was 1996.
Noguchi:It has been more than 25 years. I was enrolled in the junior college of Mousavi, which existed at that time.
Fujii:When I entered the school, it was said that there were backwoods types (laugh), but now there was a fashionable guy from Fukuoka. Maïko was wearing "Lavenhams," "Trickers," and "Russell Moccasins. It was, and still is, a somewhat Fukuoka-like fashion. I like traditional and vintage clothes.
Noguchi:Like "John's Medley," "St. James" and "Piccadilly"?
Fujii:Yes, yes. At that time, there was no one at Mousavi who liked clothes that could be recognized at a glance, most people wore trumpet-shaped pants, and there was almost no one to talk about clothes with. People with different directions eventually gathered together.
Noguchi:I was a model in Fujii's fashion show at Mousavi.
Fujii:Almost just remade old clothes. I was cleaning the other day and found some pictures from back then.
Noguchi:MUSABI is an art college, so everyone is studying constructive fashion, but Fujii is the only one who is ultra-realistic (laughs). We used to commute from Kokubunji to Harajuku every weekend. We used to hang out a lot. Even though we haven't seen each other for years, I can talk with Fujii just fine.
Fujii:Yes, I think so. It's a little different from my friends in the fashion industry.
