On its 10th anniversary, Seven by Seven puts its heart into its runway and flagship store. | feature

PROFILE

Junya Kawakami

Born in Niigata, Japan in 1978. After graduating from high school, he moved to the U.S. at the age of 19. In 2013, he started "7×7," a store in Shibuya named after his nickname in San Francisco, and the original products he made there became the roots of the current "7 by 7" brand.

It's difficult to communicate.

-First of all, thank you very much for your first time on the runway. How do you feel now that you have finished?

Upstream:Thank you. I am glad I did it. I did what I could do at the moment, what I was inspired by, and thought it would be good if I could show that. I received compliments from my seniors, such as, "You were much more elegant than I thought you would be" (laughs).

-What was the impetus behind the timing of the show?

Upstream:To put it bluntly, the timing was right for a variety of reasons, but if it had been a few seasons ago, I don't know if I would have done it even if I had been approached. It was not a runway brand to begin with. However, we had the background to make a variety of products, and the timing was right for us to start the store, so we thought we would give it a try.

-Did you have a sense that you wanted to add excitement to the brand?

Upstream:That's right. I also felt that the way the brand was being seen was becoming more solidified, so I thought about whether it would be better conveyed if people could see it up close on the runway.

-What exactly do you mean by "a solidified way of seeing"?

Upstream:It's like "Seven by Seven = remake denim" or something like that. People really don't get the idea. The image of denim and blue is very strong, and it is difficult to convey the fact that we are changing things. Even when people see our exhibitions, it is still difficult to convey what we are changing.

-I feel that this is one of the realities of the brand, although it is difficult for outsiders to mention.

Upstream:But I always thought that if we were going to put on a show, we had to do it in our own way, otherwise it would be meaningless. There is no need to fit in with others, and there is no need to do something amazing because it is a show. There are many people who will be seeing Seven by Seven for the first time, so I focused on showing what we have been doing for a long time once again, and on showing the identity of the brand.

-Please tell us about your "homey" show.

Upstream:I wonder. I guess I wanted to make sure that the customers could see the clothes.

-Oh, by the way, the runway and front row were quite close.

Upstream:Yes, I did. That was our goal from the beginning. I wanted people to understand the texture and what we were doing, even if just a little, and I wanted to do it straightforwardly. I wanted to be straightforward. Of course, I was directing, but I didn't want to overdo it. This time I had the help of director Shigetaka Kaneko, who immediately grasped my intentions and made it simple and strong.

-I think this is what made the Seven by Seven runway so memorable.

Upstream:I thought that since other brands would be using a variety of expressions, it would be good to show the brand's character in a straightforward manner, without differentiating it from them. It would be uninteresting if everyone was heading for the same place. Basically, the runway this time was largely a coincidence. I think it will be interesting to see how past relationships and people we meet at this point in time will gradually come together.

-I have heard so far that you seem to be a bit objective, even though you are of course the most involved party in this case.

Upstream:Once the show started, it was something else. I was like, "Okay, let's go! I felt like I had a bird's eye view of the show. It was a strange feeling, like I had a bird's-eye view of the show, and I wasn't nervous at all. I had already seen what I wanted to see from the beginning, and it was just a matter of how to make it look tight.