Originsexamines some of the most iconic figures, brands, stores and neighborhoods in the Highsnobiety universe, breaking down how they left an unforgettable mark on street culture.This installment looks at fragment design founder and Japanese streetwear OG, Hiroshi Fujiwara.
With a legacy in fashion and culturestretchingback more than 30 years, there’s more than one reason Hiroshi Fujiwara is commonly referred to as the godfather of streetwear. Mover, shaker, maker of all things coveted and collectible, Fujiwara can be connected in some way to virtually every corner of contemporary fashion. In fact, in some ways, it's easier to define him not through who he is or the things he’s done,but through theworld he has created.
It’s a story that starts in the late ’80s and the early days of Tokyo's Harajuku scene,leading all the way up to collaborations with some of the world’s most famous brands. Part musician, part designer, part curator, part consultant — some might say Fujiwara is the archetype forthe multi-faceted creators now defining mainstream culture. But he’s more than any one of those things;he’s the guy that connects the dots between them.
The early days, GOODENOUGH, and Ura-Harajuku
Your Highsnobiety privacy settings have blocked this Instagram post.
Hiroshi Fujiwara moved to Tokyo from the town of Ise in the early ’80s at the age of 18. During hisearly adolescence, he’d become fascinated with London'spunk rock scene. After visiting London, a friend suggested he travel to New York as well.
He arrivedamidthe eruption of hip-hop, and quickly fell in love with the scene, bringing records and DJculture back with him to Tokyo. His travels and growing international network of friendseven led to him hooking up with Shawn Stussy in Tokyo and becoming the vanguard of the InternationalStüssy Tribe inJapan.
Over the next few years, the backstreets of Tokyo’s creativeHarajuku district would evolve, with Fujiwara atthe center of it all. In 1990, following in the footsteps of labels such asHysteric Glamour, Fujiwara launched GOODENOUGH.
Influenced by Fujiwara'sUScontemporariesand hispassion for punk, hip-hop, and style, GOODENOUGH gavethe scene some of its famous names, such asBAPEcontributor and C.E co-founder Sk8thing.It is commonly heralded as one of the first true streetwear brands.
NOWHERE
Your Highsnobiety privacy settings have blocked this Instagram post.
During this period, Fujiwaracame into contact with Jun Takahashi and Tomoaki Nagao, who shared many of his passions. Nagaobore a striking resemblance to Fujiwara, sixyears his senior, earning him the nickname “Number Two,”or “NIGO” in Japanese.
Takahashiand NIGO were in the process of putting togethertheir retail store NOWHERE, whose doors opened in 1993.The store started out selling imported American goods and memorabilia, andeventually expandedto stock product by Fujiwara and NIGO.
It also stockedFORTY PERCENTSAGAINST RIGHTS, an anarchist-inspired label by Tetsu “TET” Nishiyama of WTAPS fame, and Fujiwara and Takahashi's AFFA (Anarchy Forever Forever Anarchy). In 1993, Takahashialso founded his own label, UNDERCOVER.
NOWHERE was ground zerofor a movement that would birth and nurture brands such asA Bathing Ape, WTAPS, NEIGHBORHOOD, SOPHNET., and many more.
fragment design
Your Highsnobiety privacy settings have blocked this Instagram post.
As Tokyo fashion and the broader world of streetwear evolved, Fujiwara remained at the center of it allandGOODENOUGH gave way to a new project: fragment design.
A combination of cultural archive, design agency, consultancy firm, and marketing project, fragment design served as a space for Fujiwara to collaborate with brands and companies on a one-to-one basis, releasing all manner of goods, from clothing to electronics, watches, and beyond.
Vast in scope and elusive in interpretation, fragmentchanges depending on the angle from which you approach it. To some, it’s little more than the placement of two lightning bolts on a product. To others, it’s a roadmap of the history of lifestyle and culture, with everyproduct certifiedas culturally vital.
Either way, one thing is clear: those two lightning bolts are a stamp of approval that’ll never fade.
fragment design collabs through the years
Highsnobiety / Dominik Schulte
1 / 4
To create a comprehensive list of fragment design collaborations would be virtually impossible. In fact, it might be easier to list the brands Fujiwarahasn’t collaborated with.
Amongthe most noteworthy, however, areLouis Vuitton, Carhartt WIP, mastermind JAPAN, visvim, Converse, as well as numerous collaborations with Starbucks on everything from cups and thermal mugs to loyalty cards — Fujiwara even designed a Starbucks store in 2011.
Some of fragment’s most popular collabs have been onsneakers, creating premium editions of countless Nike silhouettes, as well as brands under the Nike umbrella such as Jordan Brand, Converse, and Cole Haan. Butin terms of the Nike connection, that's just the tip of the iceberg…
HTM
Nike
1 / 4
Threeletters,three names: Hiroshi, Tinker, and Mark.That’s Fujiwara, legendary Nike designer Tinker Hatfield, and Nike chairman, president, and CEO Mark Parker.
Since its foundation in 2002, Nike'sHTM project has been a vanguard in innovation and experimentation,pioneering Nike's Flyknit tech among others.It has created new interpretations of classic Swoosh silhouettesandimplemented the brand’s latest technological developments in new and unexpected ways, including moccasin designsandthe Sock Dart.
“Hi & Lo” exhibition with Takashi Murakami
Takashi Murakami's collaborative exhibitions with OFF-WHITE and Louis Vuitton's Virgil Abloh have been causing astorm in 2018, but Murakamicame together with countryman Fujiwara as far back as 2008 on thejointexhibition “Hi & Lo.”
"Hi & Lo"combined Murakami’s trademark flower designs with the rainbow checkerboard pattern Fujiwara has implemented across multiple fragment projects.Exclusive products were also created for the exhibition, including a pair of visvim canvas sneakers decorated with fragment and Murakami branding details.
Levi’s Fenom
Your Highsnobiety privacy settings have blocked this Instagram post.
Another pivotal collaboration with a major brand, the Levi’s Fenom label was launched in the mid ’00s, capitalizing on the selvedge denim trend.
Levi’s Fenom jeans featureda number of elevated details, includingprecise distressing, premium Talon-branded zippers, metal keyring holsters, and collaborative branding. Made in Japan and produced in limited quantities, thejeans commanded high prices and demonstrated Fujiwara’s gift for leveraging a trend into a marketing exercise.
The Levi's Fenom imprint stands alongside contemporariessuch asNEIGHBORHOOD’s iconic Savage line, visvim’s Social Sculpture, and the likes of Samurai Jeans and Iron Heart as some of the highest-quality denim ever.
honeyee.com
Founded in 2005 by Fujiwara and SOPHNET. founder Hirofumi Kiyonaga, honeyee.com was created as an online magazine bringingthe latest news in fashion, streetwear, and Tokyo culture. Think of it as the journalistic arm of Fujiwara’s all-encompassing cultural curation project, comparable to the website you’re reading right now.
Although Fujiwarasold the website several years ago, it has gone from strength to strength, and continues to be one of the go-to places for updates from the Japanese fashion scene.
the POOL aoyama
the POOL
In 2014, Fujiwaralaunched his most ambitious retail project yetwith the opening of the POOL aoyama, a concept store located in a converted residential swimming pool facilityandretaining much of the original space’s architecture and feel.
The storeboasted a wide range of homewares and collaborative products, including limited-edition items bybrands such asWTAPS, SOPHNET., NEIGHBORHOOD, and UNDERCOVER. A wide range of the POOL-branded objects incorporated the aesthetics typically found in a municipal swimming pool. It might sound strange, and that's because it kind of was.
In the end, the POOL aoyamawas short-lived, closing aftera year, butthose who visitedcertainly won't have forgotten the experience.
THE PARK・ING GINZA
The Park・ing
1 / 4
Continuing in the same vein asthe POOL aoyama, Fujiwara’s next retail endeavor was THE PARK・ING GINZA, which opened in March 2016. Like its predecessor, THE PARK・INGoffered a conceptual retail experience in an unexpected location — this time, a multi-level parking lot in Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district.
Once more, there were limited-edition and collaborative products beforethe store closed itsdoors just 12 months after opening. Perhaps you're noticing a pattern at this point.
Ring of Colour
Your Highsnobiety privacy settings have blocked this Instagram post.
Launched late in 2015 and described as “a digital media collection of things worth knowing about,” Ring of Colour was anevolution of what Fujiwara hadstarted with honeyee.com.
Part Instagram feed, part Tumblr blog, part news site, it’s a place where Fujiwaraand likeminded peers can share discoveries, news, and tidbits. The site hasn’t been active in recent months, but it remains another example of how dialed in Fujiwara is when it comes to all thingsart and culture.
Moncler Genius
Moncler Genius
Given Fujiwara’s inherently rebellious streak and almost preternatural grip on contemporary trends (this is a man once dubbed “the living internet” by SSENSE), his involvement in Moncler's Genius series was always assured. The project gave free rein to some of fashion's most creative contemporary designers, including Pierpaolo Piccioli, Craig Green, and Palm Angels, letting them reinterpret Moncler's elevated technical outerwear.
The first part of Fujiwara’s collection was launched in the courtyard of Florence’s palatial Museo Nazionale del Bargello in June 2018, but it was no tea and scones affair. Rather, former punk Fujiwara brought the noise, decking out the lavish surroundings with industrial flight cases, lasers, and smoke machines. Think The Sex Pistols spitting at Renaissance masterworks.
Fujiwara's collection took cues from Moncler’s history as an outdoor specialist, with cozy staples making up the bulk of the offering. Six months later, he contributed a co-branded Moncler x fragment snowboard made in collaboration with Burton to the year-ending special items drop.
THE CONVENI
THE CONVENI
1 / 2
The latest iteration of Fujiwara’s concept store series is THE CONVENI, which opened in August2018 in the basement of GinzaSony Park on the site of the formerSony Building.
As its name suggests, THE CONVENI is a take on the 24-hourconvenience stores that litter Japanese cities, selling sodas and refreshments alongside branded shopping bags, homewares, and ceramics, as well asthe usual array ofcollaborations.
THE CONVENIis still going strong, but don't be surprised if it shuts its doors in August 2019. _
Highsnobiety / Eva Al Desnudo
With someone whose resumé runs as long as Fujiwara’s, it’s difficult to summarize his career in a single article. Rizzoli's 2014monograph Hiroshi Fujiwara: Fragmentdemonstrates this—you can literally fill a book with the thingshe has created.
Hisis the legacy of someone whose work transcends thesimple process of creating and selling products. Although he is best known forthe products he has created and the logo he has stamped on everything from coffee cups to basketball sneakers, the bigger picture is an expansive project of curationwithincontemporary consumer culture. Fujiwarais the godfather — he rocked up in Tokyo as a teenager and nothing was the same again.
For the most comprehensive study yet on “The New Luxury” and which brands and consumers define it, download our full white paper here.
