[ANTHEM A] First Participation Questionnaire
Brand information / About the designer
── What inspired you to become a fashion designer? Describe developments leading up to the brand launch.
Because my parents work in garment manufacturing, clothing was always a very familiar presence to me from an early age.
I felt that clothes were not merely something to wear, but something that reflects a person’s inner world and the atmosphere surrounding them.
Not only in fashion, but also in music and art, I have always been drawn to things that possess elegance yet carry a subtle sensuality—a quiet sense of tension beneath the surface.
Wanting to give form to that sensibility through clothing—something I had experienced so closely with my own hands—became the clear motivation for me to pursue a career as a fashion designer.
The path to launching the brand
Both designers had long worked closely with skilled artisans we had known and trusted for years, directly handling projects alongside them.
Through this, we came to deeply appreciate the excellence of their craftsmanship, while also witnessing firsthand the challenges currently faced by manufacturing sites.
As we considered what we could do in response, we arrived at an answer shaped by our own background in OEM and other production work.
The starting point of ANTHEM A was the idea of creating a brand that produces during factories’ off-peak seasons—supporting craftsmanship while building something of our own.
── What is the brand’s concept? What do you want to communicate through fashion designing?
ANTHEM A is built on the idea of Mixture Style—the coexistence of opposing elements.
Strength and fragility.
Masculinity and femininity.
Roughness and elegance.
Stillness and movement, light and shadow.
By layering these contrasts within a single garment, we aim to create an ANTHEM—a tribute that celebrates the wearer’s individuality, mood, and way of life.
── What is your source of inspiration in creating fashion? What is your process of developing a design concept?
The inspiration comes from the duality and subtle nuances within the human psyche—
strength and fragility, reason and impulse, refinement and eroticism.
We also draw from art, architecture, music, history, and culture,
crossing eras and genres while focusing on structure, negative space, and a sense of tension.
Another key source is the inherent character of materials themselves—their history and relationship with nature:
raw textures, the beauty of aging, expressions born from chance, and the colors and forms found in natural elements.
The contrast between the city and nature is equally important—
the coexistence of inorganic structures and organic forms and hues.
While each season has its own theme, the core of the brand always lies in opposing elements and a sense of subtle “in-between” beauty.
By layering psychological shifts and narrative depth, we approach the process of making clothes.
── Who are your current stockists (areas, retail formats, etc.)? Describe the typical followers of your brand.
Both menswear and womenswear collections are available primarily through select shops in Tokyo, as well as across the Kansai, Kinki, Hokuriku, Tohoku, Shikoku, and Kyushu regions, in addition to a number of overseas retailers.
Our brand’s audience is largely made up of people in their 30s and 40s.
They tend to have a strong sense of personal style and aesthetics, and enjoy fashion freely, wearing our pieces in ways that reflect their own individuality.
── Which brands, designers, styles and cultures have had the most impact on your fashion designing, and why?
My influences span a wide range of genres.
I’m particularly drawn to the fashion scenes of Paris and London in the 1980s and 1990s, which I believe have had a strong impact on me.
Beyond fashion, my interests extend to music, art, architecture, history, vintage clothing, philosophy, mythology, and religion—right through to subcultures and anime. I think my curiosity is simply quite broad. (laughs)
What consistently draws me in is a sense of beauty that embraces contradiction and leaves space unfinished.
A quiet sensuality born from tension, softened by moments of openness and subtle nuance.
About 2026 AW collection
── Why have you chosen Tokyo (Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO) as the venue for presenting your collection?
To expand the number of menswear and womenswear stockists, and to further increase brand awareness—both domestically and internationally.
We also aim to express and communicate the brand’s world and its Mixture Style more fully in a physical space, allowing people to truly experience and feel it firsthand.
── What is the concept / image for your brand’s 2026 AW season?
This collection is the prelude to a journey inward.
ANTHEM A 26AW explores the light and shadow, contradictions, and chaos that reside within the human interior, framing them as a vertical world and quietly descending toward the core of the self.
Unseen emotions, concealed inconsistencies, the awakening of the subconscious,
and opposing elements such as light and darkness, front and back,
are not denied, but accepted as they are.
An encounter with the unseen self,
with the inner presence once avoided.
Rather than rejecting these aspects, the collection embraces coexistence.
This is not a journey toward answers,
but a season that traces the prelude to awakening — a subtle sign before meeting a new self.
Detail:
Soft materials are contrasted with deliberately hard treatments,
while light-absorbing fabrics reveal shifting expressions through movement and angle. Stripes developed through knit techniques move between plane and volume,
forming silhouettes that resist clear definition — a quiet, indeterminate otherness.
Sculptural forms and fluid, draped lines form the foundation of the collection.
Within a minimal and composed atmosphere, decisive colors and materials are interwoven, containing a sense of tension and release, and a quiet mysticism throughout.
── What is your vision for your show / installation?
The 26AW collection is conceived as a complete journey of self-reflection.
We plan to incorporate narrative-driven direction and styling to express this story throughout the collection.
Future
── What are your brand’s future outlook and goal?
• We aim to carefully and steadily expand our sales channels both domestically and internationally, growing a community of supporters and kindred spirits around the brand.
• Through sincere craftsmanship, we will continue to devote ourselves to proposing new forms of fashion that make use of Japan’s exceptional and evolving technologies.
• As we work to grow the brand and ensure the long-term continuation of Japan’s traditions and technical expertise, we aspire to directly employ aging factories and artisans within our own company.
By passing these skills on to younger generations and preventing the industry from fading away, we seek to build an environment in which artisans, factories, and the brand can support one another—
and together achieve meaningful, sustainable growth.
About TOKYO
── What does Tokyo represent for you?
While undergoing constant redevelopment and defined by modern architecture, it is also a city where, once you step into the backstreets, human warmth and personal connections remain—alongside pockets of humidity, shadow, and depth.
At the same time, it feels like a place where culture is constantly being born.
It is a strange and compelling city in which inorganicity and emotion, tension and openness, coexist simultaneously.
── Which parts / sites of Tokyo do you like most? Why?
I am drawn to places where culturally significant architecture from periods of rapid modernization has been preserved.
The location we chose for this shoot was also a registered tangible cultural property, built in the early Showa era, and it was a truly beautiful setting.
── What are your favorite / recommended shops (of any genres, e.g. fashion stores, homeware stores, food services), facilities and sites?
Atelier Macri is a place we are close to both personally and professionally, and it is a truly wonderful space.
The staff’s knowledge and refined sense of aesthetics, combined with the comforting, welcoming atmosphere, make it a place where you can relax and lose track of time.
