PELLE MORBIDA is a brand for adults who know the essence and seek elegance. With the motif of a boat trip, the "ideal form of travel," the bags created based on that concept are truly suitable for mature adults. This brand was created by Yoshimasa Hoshiba, who serves as creative director. He coined the term "bad boy" and, as a founding editor of the popular magazines ``LEON'' and ``OCEANS,'' has produced a series of hit projects, and is well known in various media such as television and radio. Currently, he is active as the editor-in-chief of Kodansha's web magazine "FORZA STYLE". This time, we will introduce Mr. Hoshiba in three parts, from his early life to establishing his own fashion perspective, and his current activities such as Pelle Morbida.

Childhood growing up with three generations of tailors

-First of all, could you tell us about your path to becoming an editor?

Actually, my family has been a tailor for three generations, and when I inherited it, I was the fourth generation. Our house was next to the factory where my father always made suits, and my father was surrounded by fabrics and swatches from Italy and England, sewing suits and using the sewing machine. I grew up watching him cutting suits.

I remember when I was in kindergarten, my father had a suit made for me. The next time I graduated from elementary school, I had a navy blue blazer with gold buttons made for me. And I wore gray flannel pants. But at the time, I thought to myself, ``What a cramped outfit!'' After all, at that time I was obsessed with ``Kinnikuman'' and ``Captain Tsubasa.'' As a young soccer player, I only liked and wore sportswear like Nike and Adidas, so to be honest, I really hated the formal, classic clothes that my father made (lol).

My best friend who I met in junior high school, Mr. Miyashita, former designer of “NUMBER (N)INE”

-If you were an elementary school student, you might think so (lol).But what about middle school students? I think it's time for fashion to change.

I agree. When I was in junior high school, I had the decisive opportunity to fall in love with fashion in my life. I made a great friend, and he was really cool. Later, a brand called ``NUMBER (N)INE'' *1 was created, and Takahiro Miyashita was the designer for that brand. He was actually my classmate, and we became best friends when we were in the second year of junior high school, and we go everywhere together. At that time, the fashions called "American Casual" and "Shibu Casual" were starting to become popular in Shibuya, Harajuku, Ueno, Okachimachi... I went to all the shops in Tokyo that are said to be fashionable. Of course, back then I couldn't afford to buy much, so I feel like I was able to enjoy fashion with little money by buying used clothes. I think this is what made me fall in love with clothes.

When I became a high school student, a ``shibu-kaji'' fashion was popular, but I really liked the orthodox and basic white Ralph Lauren shirts, blazers, and gray pants. It's orthodox traditional fashion. I wore ripped jeans and Red Wings, and I had long hair... A friend named Miyashita said, ``Hoshiba would be cooler if it was traditional and basic.It's definitely better to go as is.'' From then on, I started to like the style that is rooted in traditional fashion, which is the basis of my current style.

-Does that mean your style has solidified?

It's only a little bit at that point. Then, when I graduated from high school, I told my parents that I was going to take the university, and they gave me about 300,000 yen for the entrance exam, but I ended up spending it all on clothes and playing games (lol). It costs about 30,000 yen per school to take the test. About 10 schools cost 300,000 yen. However, since I had used up all of my money, I naturally had to work instead of going to university. I worked part-time at a store called ``TOP DOG'' in Shibuya, and worked in sales at the select shop ``BEAMS'' through a friend's tips. There, I learned a lot about clothes from my seniors.

Meet a magazine editor for the first time as a POPEYE model

-Then you become an editor. What was the trigger?

It was actually around that time that I entered the magazine world. I was working part-time in sales five days a week, and during my day off, Miyashita invited me to work. ``Popeye'' was doing a snap shoot in Omotesando and the stylist wanted me to come, so I said, ``Let's go together.'' So I went there, and suddenly it was featured in the next issue, and the stylist said, ``You guys are cool and have great taste, so please represent our readers and be a model for POPEYE.'' When I say model, I mean something like a reader model now, but I started working part-time at BEAMS five days a week and working as a reader model the other two days.

Whenever I go to a photoshoot, there's always a stylist, photographer, hair and makeup person, and when it's over, it's like, ``Let's all go out for dinner.'' At those times, there was a certain person who was paying the money. you know. At the time of the photoshoot, it looked like the person was doing almost nothing, but when it came time to pay for it, he paid for everything, and it seemed like he had a lot of money when it came to fashion. I was wondering, ``Who the hell is this person?'' and it turned out that he was actually the greatest editor. He called me ``Boy'' and said, ``Boy! We'll be filming again next time, so please come by 5 a.m. on 〇〇.''

―Was that the first time you thought about working as an editor?

I agree. Up until then, I had thought that being a stylist would be a good idea, but when I heard more about it, I learned that the editor was creating the pages of the magazine and was also ordering work from the stylist. Then, I started thinking, ``If I become an editor, I might be able to do more things.'' Then, through a friend, I met another editor-in-chief, and I told him that I wanted to work as a magazine editor.

However, the person asked me, ``Have you graduated from university?'' When I told him honestly, ``I haven't,'' he replied, ``I didn't graduate from university when it comes to TV, magazines, and mass media. I was told, ``There's no way a human could do that.'' When I said, ``We can do something about that,'' he asked me, ``What can I do?'' and I declared, ``I can't beat anyone when it comes to clothes.'' Then he said, ``If you're going to say that much, then I'll watch it as if it were a part-time job.'' That was when I was about 20 years old.

From there, I started working part-time at a publishing company, and after three months of coming to work earlier than everyone else, wiping tables, cleaning ashtrays, and doing other things, I was told, ``You can become an editor.'' Ta. World Photo Press Co., Ltd. is the company that publishes "Mono Magazine."

Esquire's first Milan collection

At first, I was running a street culture information magazine called MA-1, but it disappeared after about two years. Then, I was assigned to Mono Magazine, but since I had a strong desire to do fashion, I thought, ``What should I do?'' Then Kitao, a popular stylist, said to me, ``There's a company looking for an editor who loves fashion like you.The entrance exam seems to be difficult, so why don't you take it?'' It's called ``Esquire Japanese Edition,'' which is originally a Japanese version of an American magazine.

However, when I accepted the offer, I realized that all the people at that publisher were talented. The editor-in-chief is from the University of Tokyo, and my boss is from Sophia and ICU. All at famous universities. There were four interviews: one for the president, one for the manager, one for the editor, etc., but I thought there was no way someone who hadn't graduated from university could get in. But, miraculously, I passed the exam. At the time, I was like, "Wow! For a magazine like this!?"

-How old were you then?

I'm 23 years old. So, as soon as I joined the company, I was told to go overseas. As soon as I joined the program, I was sent to Germany and spent about 10 days reporting on watches in places like Basel and Geneva. When I returned, I was asked to come and cover the Milan collection by myself. I was surprised, but I had actually wanted to see the Milan collection for a long time.

I've been reading a lot of foreign fashion magazines and books for a while now, and in one of them I saw a really cool couple meeting up in a European town, wearing sunglasses and nice suits, having a spa and a cigarette. There was a photo of the scenery. The two of them had the title of fashion directors. I thought, "These two are super cool. I want to be like them."

Just as I was thinking about this, I suddenly found myself going to Milan. I don't speak English or Italian, so I used gestures. I was thinking about it while looking at a map in Italy. When I met people from various industries, I bowed my head and told them, ``Excuse me, I'm from Tokyo and I don't know anything, so please tell me.'' It could be someone from Senken Shimbun, a buyer from Isetan Research Institute, or someone from BEAMS. These very senior people really took care of me and taught me a lot of things. I still meet people from that time at work.

Interview with Yoshimasa Hoshiba Part 2

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