I’m a stylist for mainly magazines aimed at women around the age of forty. I also do catalogues for apparel companies, as well as oversee coordination at their exhibitions or storefronts. Additionally, I became director of the brand N.O.R.C. this February, which now has me involved in the making or planning of clothes as well. While I had done some decision-making regarding materials, colours, details and the like in my collaborations with apparel companies, I don’t often get the opportunity to present ideas about the kind of clothing I wanted from scratch. So, I find this to be extremely satisfying. I’m not a designer, so I think of my role as being to find ways of presenting things that are already out there in a better light, something which applies to my work as a stylist, too.

For example, when coming up with ideas for apparel I usually start from ideas like “I need something like this when putting together an outfit” or “this is something that will suit the mood of today”. N.O.R.C. is only available online and thus a brand that needs to sell clothes in tune with the now in a timely manner, which is I think a good match for my method of creating things.

Women’s magazines will have themes for each feature or project, and brands, too, will usually have requests for me to do things a certain way. So, it’s not like I simply get to put together outfits I like or make clothes as I want them to be. Rather, what I strive to do is get a good grasp of the points I need to address and then present styles that make the other parties happy. Also, while trends may be important, there’s no point in following them if they don’t make you look good. If we’re dealing with a magazine for those under thirty, the readers are going to be young and cute anyway, so they’ll look fine wearing trendy clothes even if they’re inexpensive. That isn’t enough for those around the age of forty, though. I’m in this line of work because I want to share the thrill of shopping for clothes to put together nice outfits with everyone, and this is why my goal is to make others happy with my styling ideas.

I went to study abroad in England before I became a stylist, and it was through visiting the flagship stores of brands like Burberry or Aquascutum and exploring vintage shops that I learned the value of treasuring items with history and a universal nature to them. In Japan there is a strong mind-set that being stylish equals keeping up with ever-changing trends, so it was a very eye-opening experience for me. I’ve been actively working traditional men’s items into my stylist work ever since. Some examples are these Church’s leather shoes, this Borsalino hat and this umbrella from Fox umbrellas, all of which I use regularly myself. I was always getting these kinds of long-established products as presents from my guy friends or seniors at work during my twenties, and while I may have questioned their logic at the time, I’ve come to understand their appeal as I’ve gotten older. I used to spend all my energy worrying over what clothing or accessories to buy that were in fashion. Now, though, I have my own baseline style that I instead update a bit each year.

I’m actually really all over the place (laughs). I’ve always had a love for vintage items that change as time goes by, which is why I used things like Hermes bags, but I never gave much thought to what I put in them…

There was a friend of mine, though, that paid attention to what they put in their bag, like going to the trouble of picking out their own leather pouches and business card holders instead of using those that came free with magazines, or using items dyed in their own colours. I was really impressed with how good all that made them look. Devoting effort to even those minor accessories really gives one a nice appearance. This Glenroyal pen case was my first step in trying to be a bit more like that friend. I had the folks at Watanabe & Co show me some Glenroyal products when I paid them a visit to lease some British brands for work, and once I heard about the label’s history and painstaking craftsmanship, I knew my choice was made.

Working as a stylist means that I have lots and lots of meetings, during which everyone will usually have their mobile phones, notebooks, pen cases and the like on the table. There was one meeting for some project a while back where everyone else had these nice leather pen cases, which got me thinking that I wanted something proper like that for myself, too. And so I’ve been using this Glenroyal case that I picked up at British Made Aoyama for the past two years. As for why this colour, I generally go with black for all of my accessories. I find it very useful because it’s just the right size and has a zipper, and the smooth texture of the bridle leather feels really good in my hand when I pick it up. I also like that it allows me to project the image of someone who “has it together” (laughs). The truth is, it’s usually the men I meet in my line of work that compliment me on the pen case, although they do usually remind me to make sure I take care of it properly.

While the case is certainly nice enough for a fancy fountain pen, unfortunately the only writing utensils I keep in it are the plain old ballpoints I normally use. My work can have me going around to as many as fifteen different places in a day to lease clothes, so often end up leaving pens here and there, and occasionally even taking home one of the PR people’s pens by mistake… That’s why I’m not picky about the pens I put in the case, as long as they look cool enough (laugh).