There are many moments when I find the simple, unadorned black practice outfits worn by ballerinas and figure skaters during training—outfits designed for ease of movement—more beautiful than their elaborate, glittering costumes worn during performances.
Perhaps she wears these practice outfits without a second thought, holding no special attachment to her.

Perhaps part of why I find the simple practice wear so appealing is that it's clothing that has become completely familiar to her—so ordinary that she might not even notice how comfortable it feels.
Though not special, this clothing blends into her life like an extension of herself. Is it precisely because it isn't special that it blends in so naturally, without any sense of resistance?

Long before I became involved in design work, I often found more charm and beauty in unfinished things than in their completed forms. Perhaps it's partly due to my contrary nature, but I simply find myself drawn more often to the latter.

When I encounter that elusive potential and unpredictable incompleteness before something is fully finished, it feels like witnessing the moment just before a drama's climax. Somehow, my anticipation and imagination swell even more.

Come to think of it, the world seems wrapped in many unfinished things.
For instance, the beauty of nature knows no completion.
The full moon, of course, represents a kind of perfection—complete and beautiful. Yet the slender crescent moon, like a flake of ice about to melt away, or the moon on the sixteenth night, just beginning to wane from fullness, also possess a poignant beauty.
I prefer a cloudy sky to one that's completely clear. Clouds give the sky scenery and emotion.
Even the colors of the sunset sky have no final form; every single moment until twilight falls is utterly beautiful.
That dim, blue hour just before dawn, when the air is crystal clear, feels like a special, transparent time that stirs the soul to its fullest.

I prefer gemstones in their raw form over those meticulously cut and set in mounts. A rough-hewn gemstone, shaped over millennia by the accumulation of chance events within a harsh natural environment.
I actually prefer architecture before it's fully completed.
I like buildings that are about 80% finished, still unfinished..

With clothing, I prefer garments with natural wrinkles over perfectly smooth, flawless ones.
While the current trend favors clothes without wrinkles—so-called flawless garments that hide imperfections (though this isn't limited to clothing)—I still love clothes made from natural materials that feel gentle on the skin and soul.

In photography too, when shooting people, I prefer photos where the subject isn't consciously posing. When it comes to fashion photography, I prefer images with shadows—where the person wearing the clothes is the main focus, or where the clothing enhances the wearer's appeal—rather than photos that completely eliminate any distracting shadows, making the clothes the sole subject, as is common in many fashion photos.

Occasionally, our pieces are featured alongside other brands in newspapers or magazines. I like that FF is the only brand using shadowed photos, so it doesn't look the same as the others.

I also prefer makeup that brings out the person's natural charm rather than overpowering it.

For clothing prints, I like ambiguous patterns that are hard to define over flawlessly executed, perfect designs.
In a way, I prefer patterns that are almost solid-like, patterns that you can't really call patterns.

I prefer buds to flowers in full bloom.
The buds just before they open are especially beautiful..
I like their form, but I also like the feeling that they hold something latent within.
In Japanese kanji, the character for bud is written with the grass radical on top and thunder below, and I like that spelling too.

Isshi KANAMARU 2025.9