Kensuke Ishizu once said, "I don't create fashion, I create customs." ”
In 1950, in the era of "men dressed up will be looked down upon", Kensuke Ishizu knocked on the door of the country with the Ivy Look, not only creating fashion and customs, but also creating the era and culture, leading a generation of young Japanese men's fashion concepts, but also greatly influencing Japan's post-war culture.
The term IVY, derived from The Ivy League on the East Coast of the United States, represents the style of dressing of upper-class American college students in the 1960s.
Perhaps even the locals did not notice this so-called style, but Kensuke Ishizu made the Ivy Look, which originally came from the other side of the Atlantic, a classic, unshakable basic paradigm in the Japanese fashion industry, and even decades later, the American Ivy style under the Japanese aesthetic was reversed to the United States. In a June 17, 2009 article, The New York Times introduced take IVY, a photo album founded by Kensuke Ishizu, and hailed it as "a treasure of fashion insiders."
Dancing teenager, full of spirit
Kensuke Ishizu was born on October 20, 1911 in Okayama Prefecture, Japan, and was born with a golden spoon. Honmei runs a shop called "Paper Ishizu" that specializes in the wholesale of paper. The family lives in a large shop and house near Asahikawa, which covers an area of about 500 to 600 tsubo, and is one of the few large families within a radius of tens of miles.
Kensuke Ishizu, who came from an exquisite background, showed an extraordinary passion for dressing from an early age. In elementary school, he was transferred because he looked at the collar uniform of the new school next door with seven side-by-side buttons; in middle school, he designed a school uniform for himself under the condition that the school clearly and strictly stipulated the "black and white" dressing system.
After graduating from a local high school, in 1929, Kensuke Ishizu turned around and entered the Department of Commerce at Meiji University. During the university years, during the Great Depression of the world economy, under the cultural atmosphere of "Showa Modern", Japan also fell into a short-lived hedonism. Originally pursuing fashion and fashion, he enjoyed the bustling and lively life of the metropolis, purchased valuable British high-end suits, and played in dance halls all day long, dressed conspicuously.
In 1939, during the Japanese invasion of China, the Ishizu family's business and life were negatively affected. Kensuke Ishizu was also kicked out of the house for beating up his father's client. After that, he decided to take his wife and children to Tianjin, the "international port" at that time, and took the opportunity to help the family department store.
In terms of life and business, Kensuke Ishizu, who had long lived in the Japanese concession, could be said to have not been really disturbed by the war. During this time, he came into contact with a large number of people from different countries. Among them, what attracted him the most was the variety of different costumes on people's bodies.
Gifted with language, he quickly mastered English, Russian and Chinese, and was responsible for the external propaganda of Okawa Foreign Company, printing his own advertisements in the Tianjin Daily every day.
Department stores in Japan at the time were mandated to supply supplies for the war, while Okawa Yoko was exempt from political constraints and thrived among high-end retailers, and the business of suit production was booming.
However, on August 15, 1945, Japan was defeated, Tianjin was taken back, and Kensuke Ishizu was briefly imprisoned. Later, because of the Japanese-English translation for the US military, things took a turn for the better.
He became acquainted with the American soldier O'Brien. It was precisely because this friend had studied at Princeton University, one of the Ivy Leagues, that Kensuke Ishizu was first exposed to the charm of "Ivy fashion" .
Break through from 0 and push open the door of the country
In 1946, Kensuke Ishizu and his wife and children were repatriated to Japan, where he experienced the bitterness of war for the first time. According to later scholars, he was forced to leave a fortune worth about 20 million US dollars in Tianjin.
Back in Japan, he was penniless and had to start from scratch.
Still passionate about clothing, he started working for fashion manufacturer Lenaun the following year. He used the experience and contacts he had accumulated in department stores to master the purchase channels that were difficult for ordinary people to reach. The quality of the fabric and the excellent tailoring made him famous in Kansai and became a top gentleman suit manufacturer.
In 1951, Japan and the United States signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan, and the US military lifted the occupation of Japan. Based on the impact of the Popularity of the United States in its own country and various Westernized aesthetics, Kensuke Ishizu lamented: "From now on, it will be the era of the American style. That year, Kensuke Ishizu quit his original company and opened a clothing store in Osaka with his colleague Kazuo Takagi, Ishizu Shoten .
In order to enhance the brand's memory point, he renamed the company VAN JACKET and launched the brand VAN.
The word Van is taken from the English language and means avant-garde and avant-garde. Ishizu said the inspiration originally came from the satirical magazine VAN, but also with permission from the magazine's publisher and photo critic Kazuhira Ito.
However, although Ishizu had great ambitions in the field of fashion, in that era, the Japanese authorities generally regarded Western youth fashion as the source of evil, and men's dress was looked down upon by the world and criticized by elders, which was like a taboo existence. The costumes of Japanese men are either simple and uniform school uniforms, or black, white and gray suits, and there are few colorful and designed clothing.
Against this backdrop, he accepted an invitation to serve as a fashion consultant for Men's Clothing, Japan's first men's fashion magazine. It was a wise idea to join a publisher and run a magazine – it was the fastest way to spread information and culture to the people at the time. Through the propaganda of magazines, it is more or less possible to open up the minds of some people.
The magazine later became a fashion guide for men in Japan.
As a fashion consultant, Kensuke Ishizu is very fond of ivy culture, always "smuggling" to promote American ivy fashion, and added a lot of personal insights to it.
In 1956, he made his first trip to the United States, toured the eight Ivy League schools, saw the casual and exquisite clothes, and made the "IVY LOOK" special for the first time.
Three years later, Ishizu embarked on a two-month european and American fashion expedition.
According to W. David Marx in an article in The New Yorker, "During the trip, Kensuke Ishizu came to Princeton From New York, and he thought that the students' soft tweed suits, striped ties, button-down shirts, and khaki pants were not only youthful, but also decent enough for their elders. In addition, for japanese consumers after the war, this style is durable, functional, traditional, and its material is also clean, which is undoubtedly a cost-effective choice. ”
Practical, traditional, and youthful —it was the compatibility of these two attributes that made Kensuke Ishizu determined to launch Ivy costumes in large quantities.
Lvy prevails, reverse output
"Ivy style is not a fleeting trend that everyone follows, but a respectable tradition, it is not just clothing, but a way of life".
In the 1960s, as Japan ushered in an era of reconstruction with rapid economic growth and the emergence of trendy ideas, Kensuke Ishizu became the "god of male fashion" who created Japanese lvy culture.
The economic level of the people gradually rose and became rich. The deepening of American culture makes this part of the "new middle class" willing to pursue higher-end material consumption and pleasure. Beauty-loving ladies began to wear dresses and learn the most fashionable outfits in the West.
Kensuke Ishizu happily buys a hat in London.
In 1962, Kensuke Ishizu began directing the company to produce Ivy-style clothes. The following year, the brand innovatively supplied a full range of goods. At the same time, they began to promote the concept of "dressing" for a younger audience.
Manuscript of Ivy-style clothing from its designers.
On the other hand, Kensuke Ishizu maintains a close working relationship with Men's Club. The main reason is that VAN needs to help promote the "Ivy Style" through the influence of Men's Club. Instead, Men's Club needs VAN to provide it with the most popular content every month. This win-win bundle of interests has greatly promoted the effectiveness of the work.
Driven by retailers and media, ivy style has become a popular trend. By 1964, it had become the most popular trend among Young Japanese people. For example, the Ivy style of jackets and buttoned down shirts, which are based on student fashion, has completely changed the fashion culture of young people.
In Ginza's Miyuki-dori (みゆき通り), many young people wearing it gather together and are known as the "Miyuki clan". Even the social news of the time reported it as a social phenomenon: some idle Japanese youths, dressed in IVY costumes, walking the streets with van logo shopping kraft paper bags.
But the colorfully dressed young men picked the wrong time — on the eve of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, when Japanese authorities were trying to remove anything that might offend foreign tourists. Because for Japan, the Olympic Games are not only a sports event, but also an opportunity to return to the world after World War II, and there can be no difference.
The authorities have even repeatedly asked Kensuke Ishizu to issue a statement urging young people not to gather in Ginza again. However, even if the patriarch spoke, the effect was very little. On September 19, 1964, police arrested two hundred people in Ginza wearing plaid shirts and loafers in ginza in the name of searching for contraband. After this incident, the Miyuki clan declared its end.
Maybe the Miyuki lost the battle for Ginza, but Ivy Style and Ishizu won the battle.
In 1964, Kensuke Ishizu received official recognition and took over the design of the official uniform of the Japanese delegation to the Tokyo Olympics and the uniform of the Sankai Atomic Team. The National Railway Corporation of Japan, the National Police Agency, Japan Airlines, Yamaha Corporation, etc. have successively adopted ishizu-designed uniforms.
In 1965, VAN JACKET edited a film shot that spring at an Ivy League school in the United States and held a large demonstration across the country. The launch, named "TAKE IVY Ivy Festival," invited owners, clerks, and customers of VAN franchise stores across the country to attend.
Led by Prince Akagi of Tokyo, to metropolitan areas such as Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Sapporo, to Kyoto, Kobe, Okayama, Hiroshima, Kokura, and Matsuyama, and finally to Nagoya, every event venue was packed with fans – a month-long event that covered the whole country and was a huge hit.
TAKE IVY Ivy Festival ・Tokyo venue ticket.
Although take IVY, a hardcover one-shot published by the women's pictorial newspaper (the publisher of Men's Club), is now enshrined as a bible by IVY fans, it did not initially stir up any waves — half of the thousands of copies in circulation were bought by VAN and distributed to customers.
In the decades since, however, the book has gained immense popularity among fashion experts overseas, with the original sold at eBay auctions for thousands of dollars. Then, foreign countries push the local in reverse. In 2006, with the assistance of SHIPS, 1,000 limited replicas were released in Japan, and they sold out in an instant.
Create customs, create times
In the years after his defeat, Kensuke Ishizu, with creativity and perception, planned the naming and logo of VAN, and established the brand image and identity. And these are still full of immortal vitality, which makes people have to marvel at his sensitivity to fashion.
Printing paper for van trademarks.
As everyone says, he created not only fashion and customs, but also the times and cultures – directly involved in planning and writing, and laid the foundation for the current cultural scene through the MEN'S CLUB approach, as well as the prototype for the composition of major male magazines such as music, film, food and cars.
In addition, in terms of language and culture, he made great achievements, creating many fashion terms and Japanese English. For example, TPO(T——Time、P——Place、O——Occasion),Tシャツ(T-shit),トレーナー(trainer),スウィングトップ (swing top) and so on, consolidating Japanese fashion terminology. The most famous of these is TPO, which means that clothing needs to vary with time, place, and occasion. For example, some industry terms, such as キャンペーン (指 organized publicity campaigns), プレミアム (指獎品), are also derived from VAN's corporate strategy. According to relevant information, as of now, the use of these phrases has been fixed, and the total number is not less than 500.
The "Master" of the Master
Issey Miyake and Kensuke Ishizu at the Lithuanian Olympic Uniform Presentation.
Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo once said that Ishizu was their mentor in costume art.
The father of UNIQLO founder Masayoshi Yanai used to run a VAN dealership. The van concept was integrated into UNIQLO's blood since its inception.
Although fashion has risen and fallen like a tide, in 1978, the popular VAN also ushered in the fate of bankruptcy. However, Kensuke Ishizu managed to go from how he first liked young people to how to make all Japanese people like it, and finally influenced the whole world. Japanese fashion lovers will remember who taught them their first tastes – the teacher of all fashion.
Cultural appropriation is a recurring issue in the current fashion industry, and it should be acknowledged that the flow of information in the West will inevitably have an impact on Eastern culture in the process of cultural globalization. Under this influence, mixed with local customs and conventions, it has derived a fashion style belonging to the local culture, which also has certain reference significance for the independence of Chinese fashion design at present.
Zhao Fan/Wen
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