Influence, Tier ①

- 30 x 22 in (76 x 56 cm)
- Edition of 60
- Giclée print on Hahnemühle German Etching

This magazine dates 1951. Only six years after the end of the war. Only six years after the fall of the emperor, and the complete reconstruction of the country's identity, they had magazines of Hollywood, covers of Ms. Monroe. Does it highlight how powerful she was or how powerful the machine of the United States was? Something dystopian in that. On the right, we have the influencing culture on the other foot. The Japanese Tabi shoe can be traced back to 15th-century Japan, through split-toe socks, for both holistic and physical balance for the elite and then, once a rubber sole was added, for the blue-collar worker's standard footwear.

I found the influences in Japan one of the most interesting and endearing aspects. In both directions. A culture so different from what I grew up in, with such pride and perfection in their ways, simultaneously such interest and expertise on the happenings elsewhere in the world. Tokyo clothing labels that take on the 90’s LA Cholo culture, more intentional, refined, and somehow more precise than the real thing. Alternatively, the industry-changing designs from Rei Kawakubo, founder of Comme des Garçons and Dover Street Market, took a Japanese avant-garde ‘anti-fashion’ and influenced European designers such as the Antwerp Six and Martin Margiela.

It goes both ways. The Japanese; Just Like Everyone Else Only More So, take themes, subcultures, and industries and through their examination of the aesthetics, they make them richer. In return, they deliver what I would claim as perfected designs that can be adapted back into the rest of the world. An exchange perhaps, where the Japanese improve on anything they touch, and we’re all the better for it. An exchange of worlds, the beauty of growing up separate. The beauty of separate cultures, so that when they meet something entirely new can be made of the combination.

It has recently been named as something negative; cultural appropriation. Whereas I think it’s fantastic. As Mark Twain said “There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations”. Therefore a pairing, a partnership between elements can bring a new perspective. A Japanese Magazine of the Hollywood stories I grew up to know, yet the characters I can’t read. Next to a shoe that has morphed into the new art-school-cool French fashion house bread and butter; a once traditional workwear shoe from an island far away.

Taking someone’s creation, adding your own experience and skills and putting it back on the shelf is how we progress, culturally and personally. It’s the justification of my work, so maybe it’s just that, a justification. People have asked me why this pairing, but people have been asking that question forever, why pork on a spit for a taco? Why tomatoes on a pizza? UK Hip Hop, Japanese Baseball, or Yoga in literally every beach town in the world. Because they show you something new and add something better, just as the Japanese have been doing forever but particularly since 1951. Thank you, Ms. Monroe.