"Ever since I was a child, I wanted to be an architect," says Takahashi. He first encountered fashion around his third year of junior high school. As he went through his rebellious phase, he began buying his own clothes with his own pocket money. Around this time, the Ura-Harajuku craze was in full swing, and he would visit popular shops with his "fashionable friends." After seeing a map of the Ura-Harajuku area in a men's fashion magazine, he invited his friends to explore the innermost reaches of the area. However, the people around him weren't interested in going that far. "I realized I had a stronger love for fashion than most people," says Takahashi. He would even sand down worn-out denim and buy dyes to refinish it. His love didn't extend to clothing; he was also influenced by the boom in leather shoes like John Lobb, and became interested in shoemakers. It's not surprising that a boy who "loved making things with his hands" subconsciously envisioned himself becoming a fashion designer. However, it would take several more encounters, experiences, and time for this "fashion-obsessed" boy to turn it into a career. In his second year of high school, Takahashi began considering his future career. While he considered becoming an architect, he avoided taking the entrance exam and instead went straight to university through recommendation from junior high and high school. During his first year, he was able to take 10 classes across a wide range of fields, from fine arts like oil painting and sculpture to product, interior, and textile design. It's easy to imagine that this not only satisfied Takahashi's insatiable curiosity but also greatly broadened his horizons.
In his second year, he had to decide on a major, and he chose textile design. One of the reasons for this was, "When I went to a sewing machine shop and they taught me how to sew a shirt, they told me, 'The era of textiles is coming.'" While there's no way to know the basis for that advice, it was certainly spot on. However, in addition to fashion, "I couldn't give up on interior design at the same time. I thought I could do both." Being young also means being full of possibilities. It would take some time before he narrowed it down to fashion design.
"I took art theory classes and discovered contemporary art, becoming particularly fascinated with minimal and conceptual art." At the time, he also became interested in Paris Fashion Week, and "went crazy about" the work of Hussein Chalayan, whom he loved. His teacher recommended the perfect university for him, and in his second year, he decided to study abroad at a college in London that offered a textiles course as part of the university's international education program.
To be continued in 3/4.
