Tweet

Taguchi Maki: I feel like the team behind the graphics and “galaxxxy” products is somewhat different to that of a regular brand.

Kishi Hiromi: You’re right. Having Loco2kit on board makes all the difference. He used to be a construction worker. Our graphic designers we hire online or we go out and find ourselves.

     
● Works by “galaxxxy Café” head illustrator, “F*KAORI.”

Taguchi Maki: The parties that “galaxxxy” host are really fun too!

Kishi Hiromi: Thank you! We like to invite various artists along and host the occasional galaxxxy-esque party. We held a music party recently that we called “galactica.”

Taguchi Maki: How did the “galaxxxy” brand start out?

Kishi Hiromi: “galaxxxy” was established in February 2007, but before that I was working with “egg” (magazine) model, Watanabe Kaoru, as director-cum-designer for the same company under the brand “JSG.” But after a while at JSG, our ideas didn’t seem to fit in with what the company wanted to achieve and we began to feel restricted in our designs.
We couldn’t create the things we wanted to create. We decided to quit JSG and when we told the company, they said to us, “Why don’t you creating a new brand?” We thought, ‘This time around, we’re going to make a brand that’s packed with all the stuff that we like!’ and that’s how “galaxxxy” was born.

Taguchi Maki: What kind of brand was “JSG”?

Kishi Hiromi: Their concept was basically a “Japanese Super Girl” and targeted middle/high school age girls who read ‘gyaru’ fashion mags like “egg” and “Ranzuki.” At the time, Watanabe Kaoru and I really just wanted to make kawaii clothes that hadn’t been created yet. In that regard, nothing has changed from when I was with JSG to now with galaxxxy. The color scheme implemented in JSG designs was also quite similar to galaxxxy: intense.
The average length of the skirts we were making at JSG were around 30-35cm, but the ones we make now are 18cm. It’s basically just your panties on display (lol).

Taguchi Maki: So what were the designs you wanted to make at JSG but couldn’t, then?

Kishi Hiromi: Anime. When I was working there, I would get in trouble just for having anime figures sitting on my desk. JSG just didn’t want anything to do with anime. Apart from that I thought the things they made were really cute. I pretty much made the things I wanted to at JSG anyway, though. Secretly, I would take elements of things I considered kawaii in anime and turned them into clothes.
I guess there was also the fact that I always wanted to make the graphics and prints we used in our designs more unique and kawaii, but couldn’t.

Taguchi Maki: So you wanted to pursue your own artistic vision, incorporating these elements of anime. Was galaxxxy established as soon as you left JSG?

Kishi Hiromi: Yes. Galaxxxy was up and running in two months!

Taguchi Maki: That is quick! When you launched galaxxxy you were still a ‘grayu,’ right?

Kishi Hiromi: Do you think? I don’t know. I feel like if I said yes I would be doing a disservice to all the ‘gyaru’ out there.

Taguchi Maki: You were really ‘ike ike’ (wild)! Had you liked anime from around that time too?

Kishi Hiromi: I’ve liked anime since I was a kid. When I worked at 109 I would go out clubbing in Roppongi with the other shop staff and on the way home we would go to karaoke and I would sing anisongs (anime songs) and everybody would be like, “What is that? Anime? Never heard of it. But it’s actually kinda cool.” And before I knew it my friends, who were even bigger gyaru than me, would be humming anisongs themselves and I would just think to myself, “Yesss!”

Taguchi Maki: Which anime did you like as a child?

Kishi Hiromi: Mami-chan! (Maho no Tenshi Kuriimi Mami / Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel)

Taguchi Maki: How did you go about actualizing your first anime character collaboration item?

Kishi Hiromi: When galaxxxy was first launched, we were able to make a bit of a name for ourselves thanks to “egg” and former egg model, Watanabe Kaoru, but we held a meeting with all the galaxxxy members and discussed how we were going to expand our name and get more people to know about the brand. One of the members asked me, if money or the fact you are an adult were no issue, what kind of clothes would you want to wear? And the first thing that came to me was, “I want Mami-chan clothes.”
So I sent a love letter (an offer to collaborate on a clothing line) to Piero, the licensing company for “Maho no Tenshi Kuriimi Mami.”

Tweet