Style Resume. Shimazu Yoshiyuki #10

2025.8.22

Text： Kenichi Aono

Edit： Suzuki Yusuke

Whether it's fashion, music, or sports, there is a style that only each person can express in any genre. "Style is Everything." That's right, someone once said that style is everything. "Style Resume" is a series of interviews with adults who, as the name suggests, have style. Updated every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, the 12th installment traces the life of Shimazu Yoshiyuki, who works as a stylist and creative director.

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10. I started my journey in Paris in 1981.

When I was 20, my mother died of cirrhosis of the liver. She had divorced and remarried, and I had mixed feelings about my mother, but when she passed away I felt that she had really loved me. At the same time, I felt a strong sense of responsibility to do things on my own, and so I decided to go to Europe.

I had originally intended to go to London, but decided it would be better to travel across the continent, so I headed for Paris. After arriving in Paris, I traveled to Spain, Italy, Casablanca in North Africa, Morocco, and Marrakech, and then up the mountains to the Berber people, and so on for about six months. I was a late hippie. It was a journey that opened up a pure, believable sense of hope.

When I returned to Paris, I was asked by chance to help out with the ISSEY MIYAKE show. I was asked to number around 150 outfits that Issey had put together, and now that I think about it, this was probably my first job as a stylist.

After that, Atsuro Tayama (fashion designer), who was working for Yohji Yamamoto Europe in Paris at the time, contacted me. That's how I ended up working on the YOHJI YAMAMOTO shows for a while. From there, I also worked as a fitter for the Comme des Garçons and World's End shows, and it was a valuable opportunity to see Paris Fashion Week from behind the scenes.

He enrolled in a French language school called Fiup after being introduced to it by Yoichiro Sato, a photographer who is still active in Paris. However, he had to leave after about three months because he had to go on a trip soon after enrolling (laughs).
In 1981, he went to Spain, his first destination. He cut his hair short to save money before heading there. Pictured next to Shimazu is a Citroën 2CV, a car that represents France.
This photo was taken in 1981 with Takeshi Yajima (right), who was formerly with VAN and later became a designer for apres seize.
In 1982, in the first apartment I rented in Paris. It was a neighborhood called Barbès, with a large African population, and the security situation was quite bad.
In a photo taken in Barbès' apartment, on his desk is a Donald Duck figurine of the same age, made in 1959 and purchased in LA!

Profile

Yoshiyuki Shimazu (stylist and creative director)

Born in Kumamoto Prefecture in 1959, he is a Kyushu man. He moved to Paris in 1981 and began working as a stylist. He has moved freely between various fields, including magazines, advertising, musicians, and shows, and is currently the creative director of F is For Fender, an apparel brand by guitar manufacturer Fender.

Instagram @shimazuyoshiyuki