Japanese fashion talent scout on Instagram stars, dressing weird and where’s hot right now
- Yu Masui is a fashion chameleon who looks for the rare and unusual wherever he goes, and has a knack for mixing up different styles
- We talk to him about Insta-stars, why Shanghai and Tbilisi are fresh right now, and why Vetements making ‘weird’ fashion mainstream is not a good thing
Yu Masui is a regular of the street-style scene at fashion weeks worldwide, cutting a striking figure clad in an eclectic mix of designer brands and street market finds.
His Instagram account is a quasi-daily record of the outfits he puts together. Thanks to his knack for mixing it up, it feels like he never repeats an outfit.
Rarely does he do a “total look”, only going down that route as a strong show of support to the talents he loves. And in his Instagram stories, published multiple times a day, he does not shy away from sharing his unfiltered lifestyle and opinions.
We caught the Japanese editor and LVMH talent scout on a rare week when he is at home in London, after the end of fashion month and before he sets off towards destinations including Tokyo and Shanghai in search of the freshest fashion talent.
On his personal style
“I’d wear anything, menswear, womenswear. You can see it in what I wore today: there’s some masculine, some sporty, some ridiculous, some feminine. What attracts me foremost to a garment is how fun it is. It’s not about beauty; it’s about fun and being fun for me to wear.
“Take Doublet for example. The brand really fits my aesthetic and his designs always put a smile on my face because there are witty details. The bathrobe I was wearing had these Do Not Disturb tags. That’s the kind of thing I like.
“To be really honest, if you look at some of my clothes, they’re really simple. It’s just about how you dress them. My outfits depend on where I’ll be going, what I’ll be doing or even what I’ll be eating.
“For a late lunch at the newly opened Din Tai Fung in London, I dressed in a Chinese-inspired theme, with a Kenzo jersey tracksuit in a floral print and a knit vest. It’s really important for me to find inspiration in life.”
“I don’t wear a costume. Because of what I wear, people think that I wear a costume. I dress in fashion, in a different way. Everything I wear is actually designed by designers.
“They’re fashion items styled in a costume-y way. If you go to fashion week in London, you have a bunch of people who look ridiculous. I look ridiculous but at least I’m wearing [something by] designers. It’s dedication to fashion.
“My style hasn’t really changed much since I was 17 or 18. I’ve always dressed like this. Some have commented that I’m an attention seeker. But no, that’s just me. How I’ve dressed hasn’t changed in forever. Some people want to be Insta-stars, but I just dress in things that I like.”
On shopping
“I don’t really shop much. It’s really difficult to find things I want to wear in stores, so I usually order directly from the designers. But I’m always on the lookout for things you don’t see otherwise, in night markets, in shopping malls. I like mixing – high and low, established design and emerging talent. It’s about finding something that’s truly unique.
“Take Bryanboy for example. We ended up talking about the same brand from Thailand recently because despite looking like he is always wearing head-to-toe designer, he’s also looking for something completely unique.
Now, outside fashion shows, it’s a bit of a joke. Everyone looks like everybody else. It was a bit ‘wait a minute, those people who were taking the p**s out of us now want to join the circus’
“My eyes attract things. My eyes and nose are pretty amazing. I can pick out something I want from a night market stall from a distance and I can find good food too. Whenever I’m in an unfamiliar area and I pick a restaurant, I later find it in a guide book or whatever, so I can sniff out the good food too.”
On his pet peeves
“The most annoying question I get asked is: ‘Did you make this yourself?’ It may be meant as a compliment but I find that really disrespectful to the designers. People who are not in fashion don’t understand how difficult it is to create those clothes. I’m not creative or skilled enough to make those beautiful pieces.
“I hate styling people. I only ever style myself. I write about street style trends for newspapers but people can wear whatever they like.
“When I started dressing up, no one else was doing it and it felt more special. It’s getting weird in a way. Then Vetements came on the scene, making ‘weird’ mainstream and mainstream editors started dressing like us. It became a circus. Now, outside fashion shows, it’s a bit of a joke. Everyone looks like everybody else. It was a bit ‘wait a minute, those people who were taking the p**s out of us now want to join the circus.’ At that point, I felt like wearing jeans and T-shirts.”
On packing
“In my work as a journalist and talent scout, I travel extensively to fashion weeks big and small. People assume I have tons of luggage but most of the time, I am actually quite compact because I tend to plan my outfits well in advance. I’ll add some extra in case I have other events I need to attend but overall, it’s really easy.
“In a nutshell, it’s because I basically don’t like to carry too much stuff around.”
“When I was looking for a place in London, I wanted somewhere central. The neighbourhood around the Barbican is quite lovely and truly at the centre of everything in London.
“It’s very quiet at the weekends, too. The building was designed by the same architects who designed the Barbican itself, and is typical of the era.
“It’s such a mix of people, from the original Londoners who moved first to young families, and also the creative class of architects and media people who came after the privatisation.”
On what is fresh now
“Right now, Shanghai is really exciting, especially the Labelhood shows. It’s one of the cities I really like right now, along with Tbilisi. And we should all be looking at Copenhagen and its Fashion Week, who have just announced they’d be focusing even more on sustainability. Denmark is really leading on these ideas too.
“If I had been asked what fashion was twenty years ago, I would have said it was passion but now, it’s work. I’m more passionate about other things now, like travelling and discovering new things. “Restaurants, stores, talent, I love it. That’s why I love new fashion destinations, they’re exciting.”
On his collection
“I have less clothes than people think. Wearing the same thing every day is boring, so it’s all about changing details and styling.
“The Japanese empress is always wearing the same garments, adapted, tailored, remade into something else, and retouched in the details. It’s a very respectable and good example of a sustainable wardrobe.
“You could call me a collector. I’m like the most disorganised person in the world and my clothes are scattered between my home in London, storage, and my hometown of Hamamatsu in Japan … I still have beautiful show pieces from Balenciaga when Nicolas Ghesquière was designing, which I keep because they’re so beautiful.”
“I buy and wear what I want to wear. I’m travelling all the time and what I want to wear is in my suitcase anyway. It’s not a collection, more a pile of clothes. Except for the Balenciaga.”
