I have just finished drawing the print for the fabric, the last one at this critical juncture of FF’s 20 years in existence. In finishing the drawing, I started feeling listless, like I was about to return back home on a long flight. I devoted myself completely to drawing it.

In starting FERAL FLAIR, I guess I wanted to dare to create what had never been before been done and what no one else had tried. Thought I had no experience, I started with a drawing, and the aim to create a whole new collection. I wasn’t drawing with the plan to turn it into clothing as such, but drawing in the way that I fully used the 1130 mm width of fabric, drawing as if to create contemporary art on a canvas; without thinking about the next step. In fact, it turned out to be more difficult to have people buy and wear such defiant clothes than drawing them. But it was fun. I experienced so many wonderful encounters. And in this collection, the end chapter of FF 20, I dared to draw a design with which it was difficult to create clothing, while also thinking about wearability.

Why did I do so? Thinking it was natural that I would draw a design that was both saleable and easy to wear, I asked myself this question more than once. Every time, the answer was that it was simply necessary that such a designer existed. As an artistic pursuit is an exceptional one, I think that every designer should try to approach any new creation from a different angle. Of course, it is also necessary to sell.

For example, I guess that “being sold”(the clothes) if used as a romantic metaphor, would be “being joined.” “Being together” is the best wish for anybody, myself included, and if I didn’t “get joined” with others, I would be incredibly sad. (In other words, if my clothes do not sell, I’m sad.) However, in an artistic field, like a movie for example, if every film concluded with a happy ending, would everybody feel satisfaction? If every film has a happy ending, would that betray our expectations?

What if a man and a woman feel affection for one another but are not “joined together?” People on the outside looking in may never understand their state of their mind. But what if the sultry affection they have for each other were to continue beyond just a happy ending? If they hadn’t been joined together, maybe their sultry thoughts would never have cooled off nor dissipated. Rather, their thoughts for the other would remain forever ingrained, like a scar that will never heal, snowing silently at the bottom of each of their hearts. Sometimes, people may be moved more deeply than the proverbial happy ending. How about such a film? How about clothes that don’t fade like precious memories even though they are not what we consider commercial?

As I had previously worked with the company that has devoted itself to making Black clothes, I should logically and obediently have made Black clothes when I started FF, as everyone around me expected. But I didn’t. In fact, I tried to approach my new creations from a different angle. The reasons are difficult to immediately explain, but one of the reasons is that I’m not obedient. Indeed, maybe I wanted to resist their expectations. I also didn’t want to ride the mainstream of fashion; I wanted to see if I could create a difference.

FF started in 2001 S/S, and this collection is 2020/2021 A/W. 20 years and 40 collections; 20 years of defiance by drawing and using a full width of fabric. 20 years of resistance against the massive tide of fashion, and this is the last chapter. And with this collection, I have tried to make the Black clothes that I did not dare to create previously. Of course I was conflicted… 20 years have passed; 20 years to get to this point.

Where am I heading now? I have no idea yet, but I try to think in terms of approaching new creations from another angle. One thing I have realized is this: I had met so many special people in the world, people whom I regard as friends or companions, other creators and even customers. The only way to keep this connection to them is to keep creating clothes. It’s the only way I know.

For, having connected with such fascinating people leads me to believe that I should keep making fascinating clothes, now and forever. This is my motivation. Indeed, I keep recalling so many faces who connect us. (Actually, I have connected with people who have always supported us, even though we haven’t met in real life, and I imagine their faces. ) Those who I met at the pop-up shops and shop events, shop owners who bought FF collections, journalists, models, designers whom I met at the salon in Paris, the salon’s organizers, their families, those who have always supported us in the fabric making and other creative pursuits, those who have cooperated with us from every field… I recall so many of their faces. My motivation will only grow.

I really like you guys.

And I believe that I will meet those who I haven’t met yet, and meet again those who I have already met.

Isshi KANAMARU 2020.3