Style resume. Shimazu Yoshiyuki #8

2025.8.18

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.

8 13

08. I want to work in a field related to the clothes that musicians wear.

I quit part-time school, took the entrance exam again and enrolled in a full-time high school, but I continued to play in a band. However, I was listening to a lot of great music and I realized that I couldn't compete with that. Eventually, I learned about art directors and costume designers in the music industry, and a vague desire to work in a field related to the clothes musicians wear began to grow in me, so I decided to go to Tokyo, specifically Harajuku, after graduating from high school.

In March 1977, after my high school graduation ceremony, I boarded the overnight train "Sakurajima" and headed to Tokyo, a 25-hour journey. Later, when I was working with Eikichi Yazawa, I mentioned the experience, and he started saying, "You were also a night train rider, weren't you?" (laughs). I was somehow happy about that.

In Tokyo, I was thinking about getting a job at Hollywood Ranch Market, but I started out working part-time at a bar in front of Shibuya Station. Around that time, London punk was emerging, and Akafuji in Harajuku started stocking some Seditionaries clothing, which sparked my interest and led me to travel to London for about two weeks.

One day, I found out that the graphics for Do! Family were done by Tatsuhiko Manabe of WORKSHOP MU!!, so I called him to say I wanted to work there. WORKSHOP MU!! has done artwork for Niagara and Sadistic Mika Band, and I loved Manabe's illustrations, so I really wanted to work in Harajuku.

He took over the hard rock band Majinkai from his predecessor. The band consisted of four members: vocalist, guitarist, bassist, and drummer, with Shimazu playing bass. Seiji Uchida (deceased), who played drums, later became the second vocalist of Crystal King.
He bought a Greco Les Paul around 1973. Later, he became a bass player and bought a 1974 USA Fender Pressure Bass in 36 monthly installments. He still owns it and says, "It's become a vintage piece (laughs)."
I'm not sure, but there were traces of the name being carved into the neck of a Greco Les Paul.
He bought a Seditionaries parachute jacket in 1978. He also bought a T-shirt at the same time.
Marx is on the back of the parachute jacket.
It's extremely rare to see the Seditionaries and the "SEX" tags, which were popular in London at the time, side by side!
I still own about 80 of The Beatles' singles, almost a complete collection.

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