Mikage Shin is a Label That Embraces All The Spaces In Between
2024 S/S Collection│© Mikage Shin
Upon a marble countertop of muted whites and greys, a series of books are stacked beside swatches of loose denim samples. Printed on the book covers are the names of some of the most influential designers and fashion houses from this and last century. On the loose strips of fabric, deep hues of warm colours flow like a kaleidoscope. The atelier of Tokyo-based label Mikage Shin is adorned with eccentric mood board collages, archive pieces, fashion books, and fabric samples, and working within it, the label’s namesake designer and her team are preparing for their next season collection.
Notable for chic tailoring with flowy silhouettes and unique signature detailing, elegant would be an appropriate word to attribute to the brand. However, such pieces stand side by side with long-fringed jacquard shirts with loose strands and brightly coloured aimatsu shibori gloves with a unique, jagged texture, playful additions to the roster that would defy any inner-city office uniform.
Clearly defining the philosophy behind either Mikage Shin the label or Mikage Shin the designer is a difficult task, but it’s this exact ambiguity that provides both with such a standout identity; there is no extremity or binary to be pigeonholed in, and the brand finds some type of home along all notches of the fashion spectrum. Yokogao has been given the opportunity for an exclusive interview with Mikage Shin herself to provide insight into the development of her namesake brand, one of the most standout and lauded in Tokyo’s rich fashion scene of the last few years.
Between Homes
Mikage Shin was born in Tokyo to a South Korean mother and a Japanese father. Through her childhood, she had moved around the greater Tokyo area on around twenty different occasions. A multi-ethnic background and lack of a set community meant that a sense of identity was anything but clear-cut, but this instability provided Shin with a well-versed view of the greater metropolitan area she called home. “Tokyo is made up of many different cities with a unique identity,” she remarks. “Nakano, Azabujuban, Roppongi. They’re all Japanese, all Tokyo, but each has a unique feel, and people growing up or living in these places throughout the city live a different life with a different culture.” To Shin, Tokyo is about “inconsistency,” and it's this same inconsistency that may have led to a curious restlessness that has followed her throughout the years.
Shin’s interest in fashion and aesthetics started early, around the age of 10, during a period of time in Tokyo when luxury apparel for children was a thriving trend. With prominent youth speciality labels like Angel Blue and Mezzo Piano carving a prominent pop-culture space during the Heisei Era, the opportunity for creative expression via apparel was there to work with at the relatively young and formative age. From there, the style evolution developed in a way that can only truly happen in a city like Tokyo. “I would collect fashion magazines for all different types of styles, and I would spend all my money on them every month. I would buy five to ten every month. The girls' junior high school fashion magazines were the ones I liked the most.”
Shin attended and graduated from Waseda University and then began work in a more typical setting within marketing and advertising, but as time grew, the spirit of experimentation began to catch up with her. Bored with the constraints and modesty of typical office wear in Japan, especially for women, her interest in fashion grew deeper. At this time, in her personal life, Shin adopted the looks and influence from what is dubbed “mode-kei” fashion in Japan, a style embracing often monochromatic looks with more bold silhouettes built from more subtle design elements. Often in this vein, labels such as Yohji Yamamoto, Maison Margiela, and Hermes are mentioned—design houses with aesthetics that both stand out to the masses and are instantly recognisable to those in-the-know.
The swirling of these sentiments called for a change in course for Shin, to which she would go on to leave her advertising job in Tokyo and attend the venerable Parsons School of Design in New York City to study fashion at the age of 26.
Between All Identities
At first, Shin’s frustrations with worthwhile workwear at her previous job led her to approach design in a way that was more expressive and creative for women. “I realised that there was no choice for women who try to embody their intelligence, artistry, or fearless attitude. It was just ‘feminine’,” she says, and while this idea of female empowerment has been a defining trait of Shin’s design philosophy from the start up to now, it was the positive reception from her male peers at school that allowed her to go in a direction that defied the traditional gender binary.
“My first design submitted at Parsons was meant for women, but so many of the men in my class wanted to try it on and wear it.” It was then that Shin figured that, while her designs had a more feminine approach in mind, the pieces adapted well to any gender. The label’s website differs from many other brands, with an overarching “Collections” section sans a distinct gender separation.
Between Old and New
Well-refined by the Mikage Shin label is the use of fabrics and their implementation in ways unique to the brand. Much of the pieces are made using Japanese-made textiles and constructed in Japanese factories. Long-fringe jacquard from Gunma, denim from Okayama, and more are sourced from traditional artisans throughout the archipelago, but when used for the works of the Mikage Shin label, they take on a whole new form perhaps not historically seen amongst the fabric-makers’ clientele.
“The fabrics I choose have a specific ‘attitude’ to them,” Shin says, stating that there is a bit of an ambiguous factor in play when working with and selecting different textiles. “I’ll go to 10 to 15 different artisanal craft exhibition shows every season. Then, the artisans I meet will often introduce me to other craftsmen who I can work with.” Shin will also often be reached out to by producers directly. Her excitement and passion for what and who she works with are apparent in the tastefully edited videos that document the production process of many of the pieces that play at pop-ups. While these videos play, Shin will often elaborate on the process and her approach to using the fabrics.
Though these processes for fabric-making are long-established, as the years go by, the artisans and works themselves are disappearing. Shin’s work operates as a new means for these traditional textiles to be utilised, with new dyeing techniques and the implementation of more avant-garde silhouettes that many would likely not associate with these crafts in the first place. The label’s recent collections are representative of this, with the 2024 seasons introducing denim pieces with fabric sourced from and treated in Okayama. Through repeated acid washes and tumbling, the denim takes on the appearance of heavily grained wood for the brown and black version and a cascading waterfall for the blue version. A combination of old and new serves as a bridge in aesthetics that the Mikage Shin brand traverses with every collection.
2024 S/S Collection│© Mikage Shin
Between Cultures
At Parsons, Shin learnt the innate nature of Japanese influence in her design, despite being away from her homeland. “My classmates would tell me that my designs were definitely very Japanese, even when I didn’t think about it.” Indeed, there was a natural tendency to incorporate Japanese design elements in her work that have become signatures of the label: Asymmetric closures similar to those of kimono, yukata, and even hanbok from her Korean roots. Wide, flowy hakama pants with intricately layered pleats. Sleeves with inseams outfitted with vertical zipper closures that go up and down, a silhouette reminiscent of furisode.
Of course, these strong Japanese and Korean characteristics are results of heritage and nurture, but an extended period of time in a city like New York is bound to carve out its own space in any form of expression. It was in New York that the brand was initially founded and where its first year of operations was based, and a comparison of the initial 2020 lookbook and the more recent collections shows a distinct difference in background and setting. The first collection, A/W 2020, is shot against the backdrop of red brick corner stores, elevated apartment stoops, and paint-layered interiors of romanticised NYC neighborhoods. Beyond this, classic western tailoring takes most of the centre stage. Wool suiting is outfitted with high, three-button closures, and long trench coats with classic 20th-century detailing are styled with black briefcases. Muted shades of professional charcoal and smooth beige are reminiscent of 1960s American city workwear but with a twist—perhaps a simultaneous nod and objection to the attire Shin had to settle on in her office days.
It was this initial collection that introduced her signature item: the pleat coat, layered and flowy due to its oversized silhouette and visually distinct with a series of curtaining pleats that decorate the left side. This garment requires around seven full meters of fabric to produce and stands out amongst the sea of autumn-time vintage Burberrys. It can be likened to a pair of hakama pants reimagined into turn-of-the-20th-century outerwear.
Shin’s greatest influences can also be traced to between east and west. Japanese labels like Comme des Garçons, Sacai, and UNDERCOVER by Jun Takahashi are ones she cites immediately. From the other side of the world, the venerable Dries van Noten and Y/Project also come to Shin’s mind. “I am inspired by brands that are hard to define. It can be hard to explain what a brand like Sacai is like. I want to make clothing like that, where it’s difficult to define.”
“In New York, I learnt more about diversity, culture, and self-expression. People often dress to reflect their art and also their background,” Shin says. Ironically, it’s this lesson learnt in New York that would also have her embrace the Japanese elements in her design philosophy. “When I was in New York, a lot of the fabrics I liked were actually from Japan. It made me appreciate that heritage more.”
Shin broke out into New York’s lauded and competitive fashion scene with a boom, her early collection debuting at a student-centred show at New York Fashion Week, one of the three major fashion weeks in the world, along with Paris and Milan. Met with positive reception, the brand had been making noise since its early days and in the most intense of circles.
Between Cities
Of course, the year 2020 saw the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and with it, Shin’s decision to move back to her native Tokyo and continue operations there. To a point, the brand can be separated into a pre- and post-return to Tokyo. “Had I stayed in New York, the image of the brand would have been different from what it is now,” she says. Between the two cities, a question of market and logistics came into play. Resources, labour, and aesthetics had all shifted in approach, but Shin, being no stranger to change and adaptation, took the opportunity to hone in on the brand’s appeal within Japan’s market.
Just one year after debuting at New York Fashion Week, the Mikage Shin label made its Tokyo Fashion Week debut and would do so again the subsequent year. “The markets in New York and Japan are totally different. New York is much more diverse and international. Japan largely focuses on the domestic market.” With this, the approach to utilising what was available in her native Japan was a given, but through her studies at Parsons and life in New York, a means of international flair was also available.
For A/W 2024, Shin presented her work once again for Rakuten Tokyo Fashion Week. This collection’s playful use of different textures was perfectly highlighted, but then tastefully broken up by the striking neons of hand-finished arimatsu shibori work, including a head-to-toe look in bright pink that operated both as a statement and an exhibition of the distinct, unique textile. The signature detail work of the Mikage Shin label had also been at the forefront, with elongated, angular collars, rounded and concave hems, imagery of galloping horses, and elegant yet powerful chain adornments being prevalent throughout the pieces and looks.
The show was held against the backdrop of an all-marble motif exhibition room in Omotesando, perfectly fitting the white and grey marble motifs that serve as the label’s calling card. Cutting across the matted wall, a thin, vertical sliver of sunlight seeps in from the large frame windows, drawing attention to the central portion of the runway path.
The Japanese word "mikage" actually translates to “granite” or “marble” (御影), and Shin’s first name was derived from her father’s work in construction and architecture. It’s this that brought forth the use of the abundant motif in her work and branding, and perhaps the gradient of swirling greys and whites reflects the indefinite spectrum that the brand is centred around.
The Mikage Shin label has been worn and endorsed by a number of fashion-lauded celebrities, including members of the iconic J-Pop girl group Perfume and popular online fashion influencer/creative artist Asaginyo (@asaginyo). “Perfume are known for their uniform clothing as members, but each one stands out with their own style. I’m so happy that women who express themselves like that wear my clothing,” Shin states.
Between Now and Hereafter
“I want to try and break into more international markets,” says Shin, upon being asked in what direction she wishes to take the brand. Clearly, as a relatively young label, the Mikage Shin line has its fair share of influences that are building upon its image, but there are many more locations that are untapped and ripe for exploring. “We get a lot of people from different countries that visit our pop-ups. China and Taiwan are markets I want to try and get into more, but we have customers often from the United States and even Colombia.”
Mikage Shin pieces are sold at a number of retailers throughout Japan, including Lui’s and LOVELESS in Tokyo, LOVELESS in Yokohama, LOVELESS in Fukuoka, IN in Osaka, and more. I.T. in Shanghai and Hong Kong also stock the brand. Typically once a month, the team will host a thematic pop-up in Tokyo with occasional exclusive pieces, and of course, their online shop is always available.
In terms of design, Shin has been making efforts to adapt to a changing fashion scene in Japan, not just in regards to the tastes of industry but also in practical means. “Summers in Japan are getting hotter and hotter. I started out using wool twill and will still use it, but denim is becoming the uniform of the stylish Tokyo.” For many, this may lead to images of rugged, deep indigo jean jackets and bottoms, but with her distinct flare, Shin is looking to use the cotton fabric in a way that is refined and elegant while still maintaining its rugged and durable nature. Dressed up or dressed down, to Shin, the art of fashion can look good on any canvas. “My artist friend once told me, ‘Good art is attractive. You can’t help but to look at it.’ Fashion is wearable art. Fashion is the same.”
For a label like Mikage Shin, defining what is “attractive” is an unconventional task. Collections emphasise the elegance of simplicity yet the power of meticulous discourse. Charcoal-tinged tailoring can be refined yet striking; traditional techniques can be reimagined for the new; and a sense of aesthetic identity is like a piece of marble, where any portion of the larger slab can be the focal point.
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