Ten short years have passed since I began covering men’s fashion, both here in Japan and overseas. The fashion shows each season in Milan, Paris, and Tokyo are always so thrilling I can barely contain myself. I think of my job as telling as many people as possible, as often as I can, what great fun fashion is. So, it makes sense I’d find excitement in wandering about GINZA SIX. The designer brand boutiques here have so much to teach us about the fun of fashion.

Since making Jeremy Scott its creative director, Moschino, I think more than any other brand, has become a bold and lively embodiment of the fun of fashion.

Their iPhone cases, which at one point were owned by an estimated 30 percent of all fashionistas, convey the fun of dressing up even to young people whose funds are limited. They make every call that much more exciting; they make conversations with friends that much livelier. It’s something that helps generate real emotion and deeper communication.

The GINZA SIX store has a giant shrine-like display in the shape of a motorcycle jacket, said to be one of three anywhere in the world. Another showcase displays bear-shaped leather pochettes with leather fashioned to look like cardboard. Clearly, then, we encounter here the experience of fashion as fun.

The bear pochettes’ cardboard-like wrinkles are realistically re-created in leather. The cuts are rough to convey a casual, carefree flair. Some people may find this annoying or infuriating, but Moschino does their absolute best to be ridiculous. I believe working hard to be ridiculous is the most effective way to convey the “fashion is fun!” message.

KENZO is another brand that does everything it can to communicate the fun of fashion.

Since interviewing the brand’s creative director Humberto Leon several years ago, when the brand launched a sweatshirt with the KENZO logo and a tiger motif, I’ve been a bewitched and captive ambassador for this brand.

The highly Instagram-able logo has blown up now. Before, when the logo was less well known, I interviewed Humberto about his reasons for creating something with a logo. He mentioned his days as a student. “I went to college in a rural area, and I was really enamored with the logo T-shirts of the 1990s. So, the first time I tried one on, I found it tremendously exciting, that I was now among the fashionable.” The logo sweatshirt lends a helping hand to guys now who want to be stylish—want to attract admiration—but don’t really know how to manage this. It confers a confidence every time you put your arms through the sleeves. It’s a reaffirmation of the power of fashion.

UNDERCOVER has a somewhat different feel than Moschino or KENZO, but the brand’s stance of adapting to the trends of the time, precisely because it’s the natural inclination of the brand’s designer Jonio (Jun Takahashi), makes you feel just right.

For example, the items for Spring/Summer 2017 were based on the theme of improvisation, which fit in with our recent thinking: “Wear what you want to wear. What the clothes mean is up to the person wearing them,” which we call spontaneity. Looking at Jonio’s collection, you can see what today’s society and what men living today are looking for in clothing.

At the time of my visit, the GINZA SIX store featured the Shepherd UNDERCOVER line, launched in 2016. This line is based on clothes Jonio would personally want to wear. There’s an adorable little lamb on the chest that’s somewhat un-UNDERCOVER-like (!?). Grownup men just being themselves will enjoy putting on a shirt like this.

The store also has various small items that make perfect gifts. They, too, have small lessons to teach in the fun of fashion.

Text: Kaname Murakami, Photos: Naoki Yamashita, Edit: Yuka Okada