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The 3rd Saitama International Art Festival was held in Omiya City, Saitama Prefecture in 2023. One of the noteworthy aspects of this art festival, which was directed by the contemporary art team 目 [mé], was the program being shown in the large hall of the main venue. Programs such as movie screenings, orchestral concerts by civic cultural groups, performing arts, as well as preparations and rehearsals, were made available to the public. Among these performances, the fashion show held on December 3rd attracted many visitors.

However, this show did not unveil a new collection. It was a fashion show without brands or designers. The models were asked to come to the audition with the following direction: "Please come dressed as if you were coming to a family member or a friend's recital". In addition, all of the nearly 500 visitors gathered at the show venue had received the same instruction.

"I imagined going to my younger sister's ballet recital. I wanted to look simple and beautiful, so I chose a white knitted one piece dress. I also wore less make-up than usual. I thought it would give me a more formal older sister look." (Eimi Caton, model)

This show reconsiders 'fashion', which is losing its diversity due to the spread of social media and fashion marketing. It goes without saying that I wanted to overturn conventional fashion values in order to reconsider the clothes we wear every day. At the very least, the people who gathered at the venue must have approached clothes with a different mindset than usual.

"I thought about the live performance of my best friend's band. So I felt like I wanted to stand out as much as possible and be the first to cheer." (HIEI, model)

"All of my brothers play sports, so I imagined I was going to watch their tournament. I thought they would get nervous if I looked unusually smart. So I tried to choose clothes that didn't make them and myself nervous, but still gave them a special feel that was different from the my usual outfits.'' (Kenshiro Nakamoto, model)

We See Us with various contributors for Saitama Triennale 2023

VIDEO DIRECTION by Taro Okagawa VIDEOGRAPHY by Hiroshi Ito, Shuta Morioka (Spice Co., Ltd.), Atsuki Ito, Hana Shimizu, Eddie Goldbatt, Yuki Hori, Shunki Terada PHOTOGRAPHY by Riku Ikeya, Jun Yasui CREATIVE DIRECTION, SHOW DIRECTION & INTERVIEW by Takuhito Kawashima

The starting point for thinking about this fashion show was, as many people wonder, "What is fashion?" The answer I came up with is that clothes reflect your feelings for someone. "I want to be seen this way'', "I want to be nice to you'', "I want that person to like me''... If someone other than yourself exists for you, then there must be fashion. It may be a bit harsh, but I decided to define it that way. This also means eliminating ideas such as "what's trendy", "artistic work", "what's easy and comfortable", and "photogenic".

In addition to that, I also thought about the venue. The main venue for the Saitama International Art Festival was the former Saitama Civic Hall. Concerts and coming-of-age ceremonies were once held here. It was, so to speak, a "place for special occasions". I wondered if it would be possible to get back to when Saitama Civic Hall was bright and cheerful. If we do that, we will surely be able to share the charm of this place with the people of Saitama City (some say the Civic Hall is considered to be closed and will be demolished). How can we bring back the scenery of those days? When I thought about this, I realized that if people who wore clothes with the same "feelings'' gathered together, the scenery would be close to what it once was. If 1,000 people wearing rock t-shirts gather, people will probably ask, "Is there a rock festival around here?''

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