--Is No Avenue a "platform for opening up culture" that's only possible in the 21st century?

My inspiration was the Parisian café "Café de Flore," founded in 1887. It was once a popular hangout spot for artists like Picasso, Dali, and Jean Cocteau. But even back then, there were artists, as well as neighborhood gents and children. It's amusing to imagine that something a neighborhood gent said while drunk after too much wine influenced Picasso and others. The same can be said of Shinjuku's Golden Gai, where Yukio Mishima and Shuji Terayama frequented. Come to think of it, Picasso once said, "Good artists copy, great artists steal."

--What is No Avenue's role in fashion?

I believe the work of fashion is all about creating "modality." It's an act of changing society and the state of clothing by proposing new "appearances" in the sense of new clothing and creating new movements. I want to keep this broad perspective in mind when I think about my work. Orikuchi Shinobu coined the term "guest" (marebito). It refers to a foreigner who comes from a different cultural sphere and brings festivals and new culture. I want to attract such people. I also want us ourselves to be like guests in fashion.

--What is your image of a guest in fashion?

A guest in fashion might be like a hacker. Looking back, I think the creators who shaped the era were hacking society. For example, once they created the concept of a collection and formalized it, they took advantage of the common sense that it's unthinkable to present old clothes, black items, or rags, and the lack of strict rules, and boldly presented them, surprising everyone. The shadow of the "guest" can be seen in places where culture has been liberated from the tenuous conflict between common sense and values. It's difficult to define fashion as a "guest" in the general sense, but for example, Julian Assange (founder of WikiLeaks) is not only visually novel, but also in his actions. Other notable figures include Peter Thiel, who is currently in the spotlight, and Masaru Sato, who started out as a theological scholar and later became a diplomat before becoming a writer.

Designers have tended to use people outside of fashion as icons and seek out new sensibilities, so I think they are subconsciously seeking out "guests." Perhaps characters like Yasuhiro Nakasone or Tsuneo Watanabe, who generally seem far removed from fashion today, could become "fashion icons." What's fascinating about fashion is the relative atmosphere of the moment, its wit, freewheeling, and the pursuit of individuality.

--Please tell us about your future prospects.

No Avenue does not yet have a history or past context, so we would like to proactively try things that would be too risky for already established organizations and companies with a past context, and move forward in a new direction. We also hope to collaborate with organizations and companies with such contexts.

No Avenue is about freely connecting the virtual and the real world. We need to organize our target audience and flexibly tune our monetization methods, and we are currently developing our own technology.

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