JOHN LAWRENCE SULLIVAN was founded in Tokyo back in 2003 by the Japanese ex-boxing champion Arashi Yanagawa. He named his label after the American heavyweight boxing champ of the 1880s. Yanagawa has big ambitions for his brand of mens and womenswear and has recently been propelled into the spotlight after collaborations with the Soviet super-stylist Lotta Volkova and fashion photography legend Willy Vanderperre. We caught up with the designer last year ahead of his much-anticipated London Fashion Week Men’s debut on Monday.
JOHN LAWRENCE SULLIVAN's spring/summer 2017 lookbook styled by Lotta Volkova
I am sitting in Bakuzambou, a quiet soba noodle restaurant nestled in a lively neighbourhood, and a stone’s throw from the river, about to eat lunch with Arashi Yanagawa, the designer behind Tokyo brand John Lawrence Sullivan. It’s a sunny day so he orders us both a plate of muho noodles – something he does from this restaurant at least twice a week in the warmer months. The thin, greyish brown muho noodles are made from buckwheat, and are served cold on a dark wooden tray, garnished with oroshi (grated radish) and alongside a small dipping bowl. It’s an unfussy yet ritualistic dish, and the kind of light, refreshing lunch Yanagawa ate in the days before he was a fashion designer, and fought as a professional boxer. Fitting then, that his first name means ‘storm’.
JOHN LAWRENCE SULLIVAN's spring/summer 2017 lookbook styled by Lotta Volkova
Despite his fighting background – or perhaps because of it – there is a sense of softness and precision that underpins Yanagawa’s menswear and womenswear. “Strong things always give some sense of beauty,” he says, snapping apart his chopsticks. “For instance, when I wanted to focus on creating beauty, I used very feminine shapes or materials that wouldn’t [usually] be applied to men’s clothes for my men’s collection. But at the same time, I could combine that with a hardcore leather or something.” The result is a brand with something of a masculine 60s rockstar at its core, edged with modern flourishes of feminine sophistication. The dichotomy between elegance and extremity is a concept he encountered through a Tokyo exhibition of the Dutch photography duo Inez & Vinoodh. He saw the words ‘elegant’ and ‘extreme’ on the exhibition website, and decided it encapsulated his brand perfectly. “There’s always elegance behind an extreme,” he muses.
Yanagawa himself was boxing champion of Japan three times, but met his comeuppance at international tournaments. The pursuit of success abroad is something he’s still battling in the fashion world: “To succeed overseas, it is essential to have the linguistic ability and personal connections. I have lived only in Japan, so I guess it made it difficult to promote the brand abroad. I’m not pessimistic about it due to the fact that my brand is gradually growing. But you know, some brands could easily do it in 1 or 2 years while it took us 5 or 6 years.”
JOHN LAWRENCE SULLIVAN's spring/summer 2017 lookbook styled by Lotta Volkova
Lately, he’s been trying to get to Europe as much as possible – his broad knuckles are decorated with silver rings acquired from Paris markets and the Bauhaus museum in Berlin – and he is studying English hard in order to break down the language barrier that keeps so much Japanese talent from expanding overseas. Being pigeonholed as a ‘Japanese’ designer is a frustrating reality that Yanagawa is aware of. “I don’t see myself as a ‘Japanese’ designer, or my brand as a ‘Japanese’ brand. That’s not important to me.” He sips his green tea, and the waitress comes over to clear the table, bowing like a clockwork toy. “I’m not trying to create something that the [Japanese] market wants, just to sell clothes. I’m more interested in creating something original.” Fortunately, for a champion boxer-turned-fashion designer, originality is unlikely to be an issue.
Text by Ashley Clarke