Whether it's fashion, music, or sports, there is a style that only each person can bring out in any genre. "Style is Everything." That's right, someone said that style is everything. "Style Resume" is a series of interviews with adults who literally have style. Updated every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, the fourth installment traces the life story of Katsuyuki Yoshida, founder of Porter Classic.
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3. Heavily influenced by London culture.
I went on to Nihon University College of Art from Gyosei High School, but I didn't go to college at all because it was the height of the student movement. So I dropped out and went to Stuttgart, Germany in 1970. The reason I went there was because there was a bag shop there. At the time, you needed a place to stay if you were going abroad, and I think it was because I was connected to the family business. However, there wasn't much interesting going on there, so I moved to London after about 40 days.
I bought my first car and took it across the English Channel on a ferry to London, where I was surprised by many things. I wondered why it was so different even though it was in Europe. "Mr. Freedom", "BIBA", and by far the coolest was "ZAPATA". The founder went to India, and Manolo Blahnik took over. Both of them wore cool clothes. This is an important thing, but back then, no one had money, so they went to flea markets, bought cheap things, repaired them themselves, and wore them coolly. This was the basic culture. They had the awareness of "what they wear" rather than "fashion", and I still think it was a learning experience for me. I often went to flea markets and bought things that moved me when I saw them - even though they were mostly junk. Thanks to that, I became more discerning.
I spent a couple of years in London, still going to the movies and going to Paris on weekends, before moving to New York.
Profile
Katsuyuki Yoshida (CEO of Porter Classic)
Born in 1947, he was the first Japanese to be selected as a member of the New York Designers Collective in 1981. In 2007, he founded Porter Classic with his son, Reo Yoshida, and continues to create products that are "Made in Japan," such as sashiko culture.
HP: https://porterclassic.com/
Instagram: @porterclassic_official
