Shinyakozuka Autumn/Winter 2025 at Tokyo Fashion

Shinyakozuka Autumn/Winter 2025 / AW25 at Tokyo Fashion

Moon, House, Bird, Frame: These motifs frequently appear in the art I create. I had settled on the idea that the moon and house were “scenery I often see on walks” during Shinyakozuka ISSUE #4, but the reason why I often depict birds and frames remains a mystery to me, even now. About a month before the previous show, I suddenly had this thought: A frame is used to make the painting more appealing or to emphasize its theme. Its role is exactly like fashion. If the ‘art’ represents you, then the ‘frame’ is fashion. It might be a stretch, but I found that thought beautiful. As for the bird motif, the reason I draw it remains unclear, but just before last summer, I bought a T-shirt on a flea market site. The shirt had “I wish I could fly written on it, with a penguin illustration. While drawing. 1 began to think of myself as a flightless penguin.” I thought the design was cute, but at the same time, I admired how “birds” often symbolize freedom and lightness..

During that time. I was unexpectedly surrounded by penguins. For instance, the song I kept listening to started with the phrase “Penguin Guesthouse. And when I was wearing that T-shirt at dinner, a friend showed me photos they’d taken of penguins at the zoo, If I were a bird, I could travel lightly and powerfully to my destination. But realizing I was a flightless penguin, I wandered aimlessly like a stroll, swayed gently like swimming breast-stroke, and after ten years, I feel like I’ve finally arrived at the destination to the destination.” It feels like finally arriving at the bus terminal in the early morning after a long overnight journey. I think this is the starting point to walk toward the true destination.

Reaching this “destination to the destination” felt like the end of Chapter 1 in a way. Wanting something fresh, I decided to change my approach to drawing this time. I usually use an iPad with a pencil tool, but this time, I used an oil painting tool. What I realized was that with the pencil tool, I added “shadows” to create depth, but with the oil painting tool, you can’t achieve three-dimensionality without adding “light” with white. “Adding light” I thought that was a great concept. When I thought about what “light” means to me, I realized it’s “words.” In art or photography exhibitions, annotations or titles add depth to flat works. When reading poetry, the words feel like light cutting through a dark scene, defining its edges. Words are my light. Perhaps that’s why I write these long, winding texts. To create a bit of depth, a little clarity. I want to add a few words that may or may not mean something. There are probably many penguin people out there. In fact. I believe everyone reading this has a “penguin-like part within them. I hope to create “frames” and “a few words” that might make people think, “maybe, just maybe, I could fly too.”

Shinyakozuka AW25 / Autumn/Winter 2025 runway show is inspired by a dream. One night, I had a series of dreams, similar to the eerie kinds I often had as a child. They were so unsettling that I thought. “I don’t want to sleep anymore. but the day after, I dreamt about this runway, where a song played, and the collection came to me. Listening to that song repeatedly, I pondered many things: The early morning bus terminal. The destination to the destination., Paintings and frames. People and fashion., Words and light., Penguins. Niches., The beauty of the crescent moon when I looked up.

All of these thoughts intertwined and connected. The more I researched and faced penguins, the more they felt like my own story, not anyone else’s. Over the months. I continued project-ing my thoughts onto penguins. I even visited penguins and learned that they come in many forms: Penguins with star-like qualities who make eye contact with the camera., Penguins who gaze at the sky with no interest in anything else., Penguins who just keep walking., Penguins who fly through the water.

Meeting these different penguins was wonderful. I don’t want to create a “Now you can fly kit. Instead, I want people to feel a small flicker of hope, to think. “Maybe I can fly.” Even for just a moment, and be able to take a step forward again. Though It’s just communication through fabric, a communication through material things, a communication through a fuzzy, uncertain, and conveniently interpreted worl. Dview, I truly believe in the idea that it reaches the penguins. And while I’m not trying to help them fly. I believe wholeheartedly in the beauty of imagining and walking forward. Walking is okay too. Penguins are wonderful. This is a song of praise for penguins. In other words, it’s an affirmation of the niche. It’s an affirmation penguin. This is my next destination, after arriving at the bus terminal. That morning, as I woke up when the moon was still visi ble, half asleep, I imagined walking into a café, sipping on coffee and breakfast, looking up at the moon, and sharing these words with someone-it’s a scene I truly think is beautiful.

“Good morning.” “I wish I could fly.” “Nevermind.”

Words by Shinyakozuka