What exactly does the word "fashion" refer to? The answer is likely to vary from person to person, or even from one hundred different people to another. I'd like to pose this simple question to those living in the world of "fashion"—both the past and the future.

The person who posed this question to us today is Ari Yanagi, born in 1986. It's difficult to pinpoint her title. Her activities span a wide range, from drawing to accessory making to clothing design. After studying at a fashion college, she studied fashion at "Kokono Gakuen," run by designer Yoshikazu Yamagata. Last year, at the "Zetsumei Exhibition" held at Shibuya Parco, produced by Yoshikazu Yamagata and Mikio Sakabe, she presented clothing in an installation in addition to an exhibition of her paintings.

Her words got me thinking about the future of fashion. This was her first interview.

--When did you first become interested in fashion?

It was when I was in high school. When I saw the CD cover of Black Sabbath (a British rock band formed in the 1960s), I wanted to know more about their lives and try on 60s fashion. But at the time, I had no desire to become a fashion designer. I even laughed at a classmate who said she wanted to become a fashion designer, saying there was no way she could do that (laughs).

--What made you decide to become a creative leader yourself?

When I was in high school, I didn't want to go to college. But I did want to leave the countryside. Then, by chance, I happened to see a fashion show on TV, and when the designer came out at the end of the show, I saw him being applauded. That made me think, "I want to be someone who gets applauded." From there, I decided to study fashion at school, and enrolled at Vantan Design Institute. It was like learning a trade. Even so, I didn't think of becoming a creator as my future dream, so it must have felt a little strange to me.

--What was your student life like?

After completing the foundation course, I studied in the Fashion Artist Course, which isn't based on mass production, but on making one-of-a-kind clothes and simply creating a portfolio. It's somewhere between fashion and creation. At vocational school, I was inspired by my classmates' knowledge of many brands and their passion for pattern-making. But studying the trends in fashion design didn't resonate with me. So, at the time, I couldn't talk about fashion with my friends.

--And then you went to "this school," right?

What I thought when I went to "this school" was that, in the end, it's me who creates the designs, so if I really wanted to create, was going to school the right thing to do? It's fun to go and learn. However, I strongly felt that being taught meant that I was too dependent on others.

Continued on 2/2.