Nigo

And, uh, after leaving that, I, I started a position, uh, as an independent director for Human Made.

Um, so I'd written my thesis on Nigo and Bathing Ape and then was invited to be on the board, which felt very f- full circle.

I think after that trip, I think it got you to start writing for BOF.

Yep.

And so n- I, th-...

My latest book, Blank Space, is a cultural history of the 21st century, and one of the criticisms of it is that I talk too much about this, but I think it's critical, which is in 2003 Pharrell Williams came to Japan for the first time.

And he was introduced to Nigo.

And he saw what Bathing Ape had become.

He took the established code of luxury and rewrote it for a new demographic that the establishment was trying to lock out.

And in a similar vein, you have Nigo in Japan, the founder of a bathing ape.

Nigo helped shape the modern definition of the creative director.

This is a huge critical point because Nigo wasn't necessarily sitting in a room cutting patterns and sewing hems like Charles James.

His genius was being an excellent curator and a global tastemaker.

Right.