Better known as the street tailors the Japanese brand Deluxe have been combining their tailored approach to high quality clothing and mixed it with the form, flexibility, and functionality of streetwear for the past eight years. Paying very close attention to the finer details of each garment, over all the stages of production whilst staying respectful to their values and philosophies Deluxe has filtered it’s way through coming from a domestically known brand to one with international stature.
Conveying a strong sense of both traditional American and Japanese design, Deluxe have brought us their current season ‘Muddy Town’. Outlined with themes from Americas east coast the season pays homage to the golden era of popular American music, with subtle references to Chicago, Illinois, and some of the most famous places and faces of its time. It’s reference to places like Chess Records located on the outskirts of Chicago’s Chinatown at 2120 South Michigan Avenue, and giants like Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, Etta James and Aretha Franklin that Deluxe have paid close attention to. Taking the themes and classic silhouettes that the characters of this era had long ago made their own and combining them with original concepts elements Deluxe have produced a season to remember.
This past January we were given the chance to travel throughout Japan, ending up in Deluxe’ head office situated in Tokyo’s Shibuya ward, we sat down with Fujie Ikeda, Jey Perie, and designer Hideki Kimura better known as Hue to discuss all things Deluxe, and after their 15th collection how their brand has stayed true to their roots whilst keeping innovation in mind.
Firstly could you please introduce yourself to everyone, and provide a little background about yourself and Deluxe?
My name is Hideki Kimura but everybody here in Tokyo calls me Hue.
I’m the head-designer for Deluxe.
You’re based in Shibuya one of Tokyo’s central prefectures, is this just a showroom/office? Could you give us a little background on where Deluxe’ garments are produced?
We work in Shibuya where we have our office, design studio, and showroom.
All the design and press is handle from our Shibuya office, whereas the garments are produced in factory all over Japan.
How long has Deluxe been established and how long have you been involved?
Deluxe was established in 2003.
What was the inspiration behind the name Deluxe and the first initial collection that went into production, and how have the collections evolved over the last eight years?
Deluxe has a very generic and positive meaning. A simple word that’s easy to remember in all the major languages. Deluxe for me is synonym of value and quality.
The original designs were a more domestic, Deluxe used to be a very Japanese brand and from there people working in the company, friends and family came in from outside of Japan and vice versa saw Deluxe grow organically on a more international level, and has become less domestic. Also as a designer we are talking almost a ten year span, and what began as something when we were in our early and late twenties has now matured. Influences change and design evolves not necessarily on an entirely new level of course there have and always will be some similarities, the things we get into change and evolve, new styles have come and gone, and I think you can see this evolution of our personal life in the clothes, and I think most people can relate to this. The way I was dressing and the music I was listening to almost ten years ago has changed and undergone a certain evolution, but you can still see the roots of where I was before those points in time.
When I was young, I went out a lot, and I was apart of a good community in Tokyo, and this helped the way the brand developed, but I grew up and I got older, and we all do. The way I think and the basis of my thoughts is what makes Deluxe, so as a person and as a designer, I’ve grown up and matured over the years, and Deluxe has done the same with me evolving over this period of time however, where the brand has come from in the past, and its roots are still evident. Classics will always remain apart of the collection, the key items that will recur season to season, but I think the general mood of each season changes with us.
How did you become involved in the ‘fashion’ scene and what prompted your involvement in Deluxe?
I used to get involve fashion in NYC since I started my career, it’s always in fashion industry.
Very organically actually! I used to work in clothing stores when I was younger and back in New York in the late 90’s I started to get more involved in the creative and design process of clothing. When my long time friend decided to found our company I became the head-designer of our new brand Deluxe.
Where do you draw your inspiration from? Is it always drawn from the same places, or do you find inspiration comes from different places with every garment or collection?
I used to live in the United States, so a lot of my inspiration comes from traditional American culture things like, film, television, music, places, faces and many other areas of culture. I’ll then take these inspirations and meld them together with other inspirations, imagery, and information from areas of other cultures again people and places, these inspirations become the basis of each season so each seasons basis is always different as my inspirations change over periods of time.
