An insider's guide to your favourite brands
Who started It?
Eri Utsugi was born in Tokyo in 1966. During her childhood, she was inspired by her mother and would recycle old clothes, rearranging their different parts and creating new styles.
In 1986, Utsugi entered the Joshiba Junior College of Art and Design, majoring in fashion, and after graduation she went to Paris to further her studies at the Studio Bercot. 'My teacher suggested Paris instead of London.,' she says. 'At that time, we thought Paris would be the best place to study fashion.'
While studying in Paris, her ideas about beauty changed and she began to look back to Asia for inspiration. She finished her course after a year, but passed up the chance to take an internship in Paris, having promised her mother she would return home.
Back in Tokyo, Utsugi became an assistant at Zucca, a new Japanese brand at that time. She stayed for 21/2 years, before joining a small business inside the skyscraper 109 in Shibuya, making clothes for devotees of '109 fashion' - blonde wigs with dark skin, and miniskirts and deep-V neck tops.
In 1997, she joined designer Tsumori Chisato. This gave her the chance to oversee an entire collection rather than focusing on details as she did at Zucca.
