‘I have been working in fashion my entire career, but this felt very different and new to me,’ Tomoaki Nagao, more commonly known as Nigo, tells me. Technically, it’s his long-time British collaborator Toby Feltwell telling me this, as Nigo does not speak English. But his considered choice of words is not lost in translation.
In truth, ‘different’ and ‘new’ have always been the 52-year-old’s raison d’etre. He’s a fashion designer who until recently had never staged a fashion show. An artist. A DJ. A producer. Rising to notoriety with cult Japanese streetwear label A Bathing Ape, which he founded out of his clothing store in Shibuya, Tokyo, in 1993, he has worked with the likes of Pharrell Williams (the pair head up menswear brand Billionaire Boys Club) Marc Jacobs and Virgil Abloh at Louis Vuitton. Music-wise, Nigo has joined forces with The Neptunes, Kid Cudi, A$AP Rocky and Tyler, The Creator to name but a few.
