藤原の人生を通じて変わらず傍らにあった音楽は、本号全体にも通底している。ダニー・アカレプス(Danny Akalepse)とレオン・ミシェルズ(Leon Michels)が設立した、ニューヨークを拠点とするインディペンデント・レーベル「ビッグ・クラウン・レコード(Big Crown Records)」の創立10周年を祝し、藤原は同レーベルに所属するインドネシアのバンド、ジ・マーローズ(Thee Marloes)の楽曲「What’s On Your Mind」のリミックスを2曲制作した。併せて掲載されるファウンダー2人との対談では、レーベルの成り立ちと、両者が共有する音楽的感性を掘り下げる。インダストリアルデザイナーでありDJのユージン・ワン(Eugene Whang)と、韓国のバンド「ヒョゴ(HYUKOH)」のフロントマン、オ・ヒョク(OHHYUK)による親密な対話では、その友情と今日におけるテイストのあり方が語られる。
Pre-order: It will be shipped at the end of November.
A Magazine Curated By is pleased to announce that its 30th issue has been curated by Hiroshi Fujiwara, the Japanese designer, musician and cultural figure whose influence has helped shape contemporary fashion, music and popular culture for more than four decades.
Widely regarded as the ‘Godfather of Streetwear’, Fujiwara emerged as a defining figure in Tokyo’s cultural landscape in the 1980s. Initially drawn to punk and later hip-hop, he was among the first DJs to introduce both to Japanese audiences, bringing records, ideas and influences from New York and London to a new generation in Tokyo. His role in the emergence of Ura-Harajuku culture, the establishment of GOODENOUGH, building AFFA with Jun Takahashi, and, later, Fragment Design helped establish a new vocabulary for streetwear. He has also worked with brands including Louis Vuitton, Nike, Levi’s and Moncler, challenging the boundaries between independent creative practice and established fashion houses. Yet his influence extends well beyond the products he has designed. Fujiwara has long served as a bridge between creative communities, fostering relationships and exchanges across disciplines and geographies. As a DJ, producer, designer and cultural intermediary, he has built a career on recognising connections between seemingly unrelated worlds, often anticipating cultural shifts before they reach a wider audience. For A Magazine Curated By, Fujiwara brings together an international community of artists, musicians, designers, photographers, filmmakers and writers whose work reflects his wide-ranging interests. His issue of A Magazine Curated By offers an exploration of taste, curiosity and the act of observation, revealing the people, places and ideas that continue to inform his perspective.
‘ WHAT I LIKE MOST. THE THINGS I LOVE. THE THINGS I ENJOY. IT'S ALL HERE. AND I WANT TO SHARE IT WITH YOU.’ – HIROSHI FUJIWARA, on his experience of curating the issue.
Tokyo emerges as both a personal archive and a city in constant transformation. The issue’s principal fashion story, photographed by artist Kiichiro Yoshimoto and styled by Reina Ogawa Clarke, pairs images and locations from the Japanese photographer’s Tokyo Timeslip series shot in 1984, against images taken in the same location of contemporary Shibuya – being the first time the artist has photographed fashion. A photographic inventory of Fujiwara’s curiosities and everyday possessions, captured at his home, offers an intimate portrait of his world, while another series documents spaces across the city that hold personal meaning for him. In a playful reimagining of Japanese convenience food, photographer Hugo Yu and food stylist Pearl Jones transform dishes from Fujiwara’s favourite restaurants across the world into pre-packaged konbini meals.
Music, a constant throughout Fujiwara’s life, runs through the issue. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Big Crown Records, the independent New-York based label founded by Danny Akalepse and Leon Michels, Fujiwara created two remixes of What’s On Your Mind by Indonesian band Thee Marloes, one of the label’s artists. An accompanying conversation with the founders explores the label’s origins and their shared musical sensibility. An intimate conversation between Eugene Whang, industrial designer and DJ, and OHHYUK, frontman of South Korean band HYUKOH, explores friendship and the nature of taste today.
Fujiwara’s personal art collection and artistic affinities inform a series of portfolios throughout the issue. An avid art collector, he brings together some of his favourite artists, including Ana Scripariu-Ochiai and Keita Morimoto, who explore the physical and conceptual boundaries of the frame, while Ai Weiwei reflects on history, authority and memory through his exhibition Button Up! at Factory International. Kozo Miyoshi, one of Fujiwara’s favourite photographers, discusses his contemplative approach to image-making in an accompanying portfolio and interview. The issue also returns to Fujiwara’s roots in Ise, his hometown, through a photographic essay by Masaou Yamaji documenting the centuries-old Shikinen Sengū ritual at Ise Jingū. In a more playful exploration, VVS ToolsTM imagines ‘products’ that have never existed, bringing speculative objects and garments to life through augmented reality.
Fujiwara’s curiosity also extends to the ways reality is represented and experienced. In Primary Sources, a conversation between journalists Plestia Alaqad and Noor Tagouri examines independent reporting, the limitations of established media and the responsibility of those documenting stories from within their own communities. Through a selection of his favourite documentaries, Fujiwara shares his fascination with real stories and historical events. Discussing the mechanics of suspense, one of Fujiwara’s favorite genres, professors Murray Smith and Uri Hasson explore its use with directors Hitoshi Ōne and Moshe Zander. In an essay by Ian Erickson, the collaborative nature of architecture is explored.
‘Hiroshi Fujiwara might be one of the most impactful voices in contemporary fashion — and yet one of the most enigmatic. His practice of crossing boundaries between different creative industries established the contemporary paradigm and way of work for any creative field. Approaching his issue, Hiroshi chose to exclude anything he has produced, rather focussing on the things — films, art, history, music – he likes, which ultimately drive his way of thinking. This issue is one of the most personal objects Hiroshi has created, inviting the reader into an intimate dialogue with the elusive creative.’ — Blake Abbie, Editor-in-Chief, A Magazine Curated By
The issue also returns to the cultural influences and creative instincts that have shaped Fujiwara’s own practice. Simon Barker, aka SIX, reflects on punk and its enduring legacy, while Fujiwara and Yutaka Fujihara discuss denim’s cultural significance with Tetsuya Suzuki, photographed by Shoichi Aoki, founder of FRUiTS magazine. In a revealing essay, cultural writer and mind behind Nike’s imprint Nicholas Schonberger attempts to articulate the design principles behind Fujiwara’s practice. Known for his discretion and economy of words, Fujiwara has rarely sought to explain the thinking behind his work. Drawing on their conversation, Schonberger identifies the recurring instincts and ideas that have guided his approach to design and collaboration, offering a rare framework for understanding a creative practice that has shaped contemporary culture for more than four decades.
Alongside the standard edition, 300 limited-edition copies will be produced, each featuring an embedded NFC chip and an exclusive 45 RPM vinyl record from Big Crown Records featuring the two new mixes. The NFC technology allows readers to experience the speculative creations by VVS ToolsTM in three dimensions, bringing the imagined objects and garments beyond the printed page. These elements extend the publication into physical and digital formats, reflecting Fujiwara’s longstanding interest in the intersections of design, music and technology.
‘Hiroshi Fujiwara treated this issue as a laboratory: a fashion story spanning four decades of Shibuya, an NFC chip revealing imagined garments, a vinyl record from Big Crown. A magazine you read, listen to and hold in three dimensions. Moving between music, fashion, design and art, and speaking to every generation, he was a natural choice for a thirtieth issue that celebrates culture at large.’ — Fatine Layt, Publisher, A Magazine Curated By
Throughout the issue, a portrait emerges of a singular creative mind, guided less by conventional methods than by an enduring openness to discovery. From the streets of Tokyo to the rituals of Ise, from music and fashion to art, architecture and film, A Magazine Curated By N° 30 reveals the curiosity and instincts behind a creative practice that has influenced generations.
- Pages: TBC Size: 230 x 295 mm Softcover Color, black and white