This season, Anthony Calydon, winner of the 2026 ANDAM Pierre Bergé Prize, presented its first-ever installation through a collaboration between RUN x ANDAM FASHION AWARDS PARIS and JFWO. The presentation featured playful looks made up of items with the brand’s signature overlock stitch and ribbed knit.

We spoke with Anthony, the designer of his eponymous label known for its colorful bags, socks, and shoes with decorative shoe tongues, at the venue, where the brand’s pop DNA was on full display.

──How are you feeling after presenting your installation?

First, I’m very happy that we were able to bring all the collections together under one roof and present them in so many different ways. The presentation came together wonderfully, thanks to the support of many people.
Some people who came to see the presentation have known us since our previous pop-up event with kiosque. Others were discovering our brand for the first time, thanks to the media coverage we’ve received since the Pierre Bergé Prize. I’m glad we were able to create an opportunity for people with varying degrees of familiarity to experience the brand firsthand.

──This was your first-ever installation—did you have a specific theme in mind?

In Paris, we’ve held many showroom exhibitions and pop-up shops for our community, but this time, we had the opportunity to present our first installation here in Tokyo. We didn’t set a specific theme; instead, we focused on sharing the brand’s evolution since its launch three years ago with a Japanese audience. We showed clothes, accessories, and the shoes we made in collaboration with Adidas, hoping to build a community in Tokyo and Japan, as we have in Paris.

──Tell us about the brand’s connection to Japan.

We’ve had a long relationship with kiosque, a select shop in Tokyo. Their buyer reached out after discovering us on Instagram, and they have stocked us since our very first collection. At the time, we sewed everything ourselves and didn’t have the capacity to take on many orders. But we decided to work with kiosque as our first retail partner, partly because I’ve always loved Japan and wanted an excuse to visit Tokyo often. This is the city where we shot our first look and found our first stockist. And now, it’s the city where we had our first presentation. It’s been very interesting to think about what it means to have this presentation today in a city that we have such strong ties to.

Another connection I feel to Japan is the time I spent with Yohji Yamamoto in Paris. I had the opportunity to show him my first collection, and we had a long conversation about it. At the time, I was really struggling to figure out how to break into the fashion industry and establish my brand as a self-taught designer making pieces by hand at home. The encouragement I received from him then really helped me to find my way.

──It’s wonderful to hear that you feel such strong ties to Japan. Can you tell us about where you find inspiration for your collections, which have a very playful feel?

I don’t have any clear, defined inspirations, but I think maybe pop culture, video games, and manga play a role. For example, superheroes in anime, games, and comics are always wearing extremely iconic costumes, right? Even before launching Anthony Calydon as a brand, I’ve always felt it was very important to have my own signature, the way Yohji Yamamoto has always centered the color black. My drive to create comes from that search for a look or outfit that captures the brand in its most authentic form.
This is the philosophy behind each of my collections; I always ask myself, can you immediately recognize this as Anthony Calydon? That’s why I think it’s important to use the same materials and make them shine, so that people will remember the brand.

──That sounds quite different from an approach that focuses on seasonal collections.

That’s right. I want to keep up the overall approach we’ve taken so far while pushing to expand the possibilities for the materials we work with. We’re putting energy into finding new applications and exploring new realms. For me, this process of exploration is what drives creation and motivates me to keep going. Each new collection results from pushing this material innovation to the limits, whether that means introducing a new fiber, using threads in new colors, or creating fresh color combinations.

──Can you tell us about your brand’s growth from a business perspective?

Right now, our energy is focused on e-commerce. In terms of our market, about half of our customers are in France, followed by the United States, then Japan.
Since we sell mostly online, we have to consider distribution logistics, and our reach is still limited. That said, I’m looking forward to continuing to build a larger audience in Japan in various ways, including by holding more pop-up shops. This installation was made possible through the generous support of ANDAM and many others, but I hope that as we move forward, the brand will grow until we can consistently put on our own presentations.

INTERVIEW by Tomoko Kawasaki
PHOTO by Harumi Obama