I used to want to be a photographer.

So this is your 10th year with the brand?

Watanabe (Japanese newspaper): Not exactly, but it's not the same. At first, I was making gloves and accessories as a brand, and that was in 2004. It was in 2007 that I started to do a full-line collection or exhibition as BEDWIN & THE HEARTBREAKERS, so if I think about it, it has been 10 years since then.

When you started DLX as a company, the first brand you worked on was Deluxe, wasn't it?

Watanabe (Japanese newspaper)Yes. However, Deluxe started from the beginning by making a proper line of clothes, while Bedouin wanted to start by proposing something new, so we started small, making jackets, gloves, sunglasses, and so on. We started small, taking orders little by little from local wholesalers, and having a few select stores in Tokyo, such as "Made in World" and "Space," stock our products. I think it took about three years, and we gradually expanded our business. In 2007, I changed the name of the brand to something like "band" and started making clothes for each season based on the theme of my favorite music or album, and it has been 10 years since then.

I think it is interesting that you make clothes with music as the theme, but what were you trying to do before making clothes in the first place? I remember that you went to art school and were trying to become a photographer .

Watanabe (Japanese newspaper). I'm going to say that (laughs). I did think about becoming a photographer. Rather than taking fashion photos, I wanted to take portraits of my friends and landscapes, so I traveled around Europe. Then I moved to London, where there were many interesting people, and I wanted to take a lot of pictures, but I just couldn't press the shutter. I would miss the moment, or forget to press the shutter (laughs). (Laughs.) Then I became aware that I was not suited to take photos of the moment, that it was not in my nature to do so. In the meantime, I used to be a model, and I had always loved clothes, so I thought I would try making something with that in mind.

So you actually started making clothes while you were living in London?

Watanabe (Japanese newspaper). so . With my seniors and friends. That was the Tenderloin, and I worked there for 6 years. At that time, I decided to do it with HUE, who was a classmate of mine from elementary school. He had just returned from New York and had something he wanted to do in his own way, so we started working together in the form of Deluxe. After I quit my previous company, I started small, slowly searching for what I wanted to do, and I thought it would be interesting to form a Bedouin.

Up until that time, you were pretty much a street fashion fanatic, and your own style was like that, wasn't it? Was that the concept that led you to want to propose a new style as a Bedouin, or was it because you were getting older and your interests and what you wanted to wear were changing? I think that Bedouin was the first Tokyo brand to pioneer the use of cropped pants, and to express a somewhat clean look by combining them with shirts and plain T-shirts, thereby shifting from the street style that had existed until then. I think this was the first Tokyo brand that gave shape to what boys after the Urahara era, or rather, after street fashion, could wear when they got a little older.

Watanabe (Japanese newspaper)Before I started, I used to wear denim and T-shirts and maybe a little bit bigger than usual. But around 2004, I started to think that it would be nice to express menswear, such as shirts and ties, in a casual, street-style manner. It was just before I reached my mid-30s, and I was thinking a lot about what I should be wearing from now on. Nowadays, high street, or street wearable by adults, has become common, but at that time, there were not many people like that. Of course, there were skaters who wore clean shirts, but the street style of wearing T-shirts and denim was still the norm.

In such a situation, I began to think that it would be nice if I could propose a street brand that would offer a different way of wearing clothes than in Marunouchi, while wearing a jacket with a tie. I also wanted to match it with a plain T-shirt. Today, we are seeing a revival of the logo and graphical styles, but at the time, logo items were still in their heyday, and I felt that I had had enough of them. So I wanted to make simple, street-style items and wear them now. At first, people didn't understand what I was talking about. At first, people didn't understand what I was talking about. Because there was a clear distinction between men's wear and street wear.

At first, the clothes did not sell at all, but in 2007, when I started to produce a full line of clothes, I guess such a sense of style became accepted, and they started to sell. Now, the times have come full circle, and things like graphical styles, shorts, and oversizing are back, but that is also the style I used to wear when I was younger, and that is what makes it interesting. . That's something the younger generation has taught me.

The 90's were a time of freedom, both in terms of clothing and culture.

What do you think about the 90's revival that has been going on for the past several years? In the early 90s, we were still in our teens and young, and we had a lot of fun, didn't we? At that time, there was also a 70's revival, with people who loved the dead and tie-dyeing. More than 20 years have passed since then, and today's children look at the 90s from the same distance that we looked at the 70s back then. We have finally reached the age where what we used to really wear is coming back as a revival (laughs).

Watanabe (Japanese newspaper)(laughs). In the 90's, I used to wear 70's style flared pants and long hair, and I remember adults saying to me, "I used to dress like that too. I remember that I used to dress like that. I know this. I can now understand how adults felt back then. Of course, it is not exactly the same thing, but just like music, I can go back to how I felt back then. For example, there is the feeling of putting on oversized sleeves and saying, "Oh, it's so comfortable, I remember now! I remember it!" Or I may be impressed and think, "Wow, I didn't know I could wear that in that way. I have a certain amount of drawers, and I feel that I am able to make clothes again while enjoying them.

My roots are in the 90's, because I was at my most impressionable period, and I think it was a time when I absorbed a lot of things. It doesn't mean that I will never grow up, but I would like to hold on to the feelings I had then for the rest of my life. . Of course I like the 50s and am interested in the 60s in terms of culture. But what I felt from the end of the 80s to the 90s, when I met all kinds of people and traveled around, was really special. In the 90s, there were so many things, and I think that freedom was born out of the saturation of various things, and I feel that the current situation is similar to that. I don't mean a revival of styles.

Clothing is for communication.

The 90's were the last time we could say what the decade was like in a single decade. The rest of the decade was changing so quickly that it is hard to say what the 00s and 10s were all about, even looking back on them now. The 90s may be the last era in which we can freely do various things while reviving various eras, and yet still feel a sense of the era.

Watanabe (Japanese newspaper). the truth is, there was a lot going on, grunge and new school . . Hip-hop became major, and so did the backstreets, so there were both tight silhouettes and big silhouettes, in fact. . In 1992, I went to New York for the first time in my life, and then I went to London in 1994. I went to London in 1994, and I was like, "Wow! (laughs). I was surprised by people and things I had never seen before, and I was influenced by them, but I think I was most affected by the trip itself and the flow of time during the trip.

I was going to discos in the 80's, but in the 90's, I was going out every day (laughs). I would go out with guys and girls and meet them over drinks. Clubs were more like hangouts or social places for people to go on weekdays, and I think they were used more casually back then. For girls who liked clothes, the club was a place to get dressed up and go out. If you put on a new outfit and don't wear it to the club, where on earth are you going to wear it to? I thought. I think the days I spent getting dressed up and going out at night to show off my new clothes, talking about what to wear and what not to wear, are the roots of who I am today and my lifestyle.

That did happen. I would go out to clubs and have my whole body checked (laughs). (Laughs.) There were young people and adults in the clubs, and they would look at your whole body and judge you. They would look at me and say, "This guy is not just an ordinary guy," or, "He is a good-looking old man.

Watanabe (Japanese newspaper)I've seen people who are returning from overseas, who got something locally and are wearing it, and they are dressed so differently that it's kind of unfair! . So it's not like the clubs of the past. So, it's not like the clubs of the past, but I think the underlying concept is to wear clothes and go out and have fun, and to use that as an opportunity to expand one's world, and to make clothes as a tool for that purpose. That is why I buy clothes. Otherwise, I would just be a collector of clothes. I guess there is a way to collect and enjoy clothes alone, but I think that fashion is for buying clothes and having fun with others.

Clothes are there for communication. Of course, in the end, the most important thing is to make the wearer happy, but I think it is important for the wearer to go out wearing the clothes. I wanted to propose that kind of thing to people, which is probably the main reason why I opened the store. Of course, there were other reasons as well. Instead of relying on exhibitions, we wanted to sell our own clothes and meet and talk with customers. Now that more than 10 years have passed since we started the brand, I feel more strongly that we want to be linked to the town and to the people.

I want to cherish the current mood , and override myself.

What do you think about the next 10 years? Until now, there were of course things that I wanted to wear at each point in time, but I think the next 10 years will be different. For example, I used to be very particular about which vintage 501® I wanted to wear, and then I started wearing raw denim, and then I started wearing stretch denim, and so on. Now that you are 45 years old, do you want to make clothes that you can wear in the future, or do you not pay attention to your age? To begin with, I find myself more casual than I imagined I would be even though I am older (laughs). (Laughs.) Do you want to keep that kind of feeling? What do you think?

Watanabe (Japanese newspaper). (laughs). When I was young, I was somewhat desperate to have my own style. I would wear plain white T-shirts for the rest of my life! . or make the oxford shirt my trademark. . But I think I've had enough of that. . I've come to think that fashion must be an override to begin with. . You can't erase your old self in the first place. For example, there was a time when I wore silver pants or something (laughs). (Laughs) However, five or ten years have passed since then, and I want to cherish those embarrassing pasts, and I think they are the reason I am here now. I may return to my old style of clothes in cycles, and when I do, I will not just go back to the same old style, but I will have a slightly different, overwritten version of myself that I would like to do now.

I have no desire to spend the next 10 years dressing this way or making this much, but rather to cherish my current mood and overwrite my past self. In the past, I absorbed my current mood from my seniors, but now I am getting it from the younger generation. I do not only get inspiration from them, but I also have my own experience and knowledge, so it is not just the present, but I want to overwrite it with my own style. Even when I am over 80 years old, I still wear Air Force 1s like Takeo Kikuchi (Takeo Kikuchi), and I want to be an adult like that. I want to wear what I want to wear. I used to really dislike things that made me feel like I was forced to wear them, and I want to keep that in mind. I would like to make my own rules in the process. I think it is important to have a store for that purpose.

So, I would like to invite people who are interested in Bedouin's current brand and its future to come to the store.

Watanabe (Japanese newspaper)Yes, I do (laughs). I try to go to the store as much as possible to communicate with customers, and there are many books and records in the store that are the basis of my work, so please stop by and talk to them.