Founded by Mihara Yasuhiro in 1997, Maison Mihara Yasuhiro has built a cult following by challenging conventional ideas of luxury and construction. The Japanese label first gained international recognition for its innovative footwear before expanding into ready-to-wear, celebrated for its deconstructed tailoring, distorted proportions, reconstructed silhouettes, and the philosophy Mihara calls “Sublime Meets Ridiculous.” A longstanding fixture on the Paris Men’s Fashion Week calendar, the brand continues to embrace imperfection, contradiction, and humor in equal measure.
Following Maison Mihara Yasuhiro’s Spring/Summer 2027 show during Paris Men’s Fashion Week, we caught up with Mihara to discuss why his creative process has no true beginning or end and the importance of imperfection. Photographer Joonas S’Diri captured backstage, giving us an exclusive closer look.
After so many years on the Paris calendar, does arriving in Paris still feel special, or has Tokyo always remained the true heart of Maison Mihara Yasuhiro?
From the beginning, I actually never had that sense of “specialness” when arriving in Paris. That said, it has been years since we moved the place to show our new collection abroad, and I feel it is the right place to do that for our brand. If anything, Paris is perhaps the place where you can receive a wider range of praise and criticism for your creative works.
Tell us about the starting point for your Spring Summer 2027 collection? Do you begin with a concept, a fabric, or a feeling when starting a collection?
The starting point of the collection actually began many seasons ago. It is like climbing the stairs – the story is seamlessly connected from the previous season to the next and then onto the one after that. No definitive beginning and no end to everything.
What challenges or discoveries emerged while developing the collection?
This season was for organizing ourselves. What we are fighting against in fashion is never static – it is constantly changing. Therefore, we must also adapt our ways of fighting according to the shift. To put it in another way, an antithesis-driven brand like ours, if the thesis itself changes, I think our approach and our expression to it must also evolve accordingly. It is not always important to have discovery or pure creation for the collection. Hence, this season was an essential period for us to reaffirm our true core.
Your pieces often appear distorted, reconstructed or intentionally imperfect. Why are imperfections important to you?
In a sense, imperfections are vital to understanding the perception of time. There are two kinds of imperfection: one heading toward completion and another arising from the dissolution of completion, and in both ways, you must be aware of the existence of time.
What kind of attitude do you hope people embody when they wear Maison Mihara Yasuhiro?
To live your life with a sense of humor.
Do you think fashion still has the power to surprise people?
Yes, I still think fashion does have such power; however, I don’t think every designer is harnessing that power. It is just that only a very select and limited few have been able to continue to successfully wield the ability.
How has your perspective on fashion changed since launching your label in the late 1990s?
Surprisingly, it hasn’t changed at all. I still think fashion is also a part of art. I think art has the power to compel people to think, and fashion is, I think, also the same.
Is there something you’ve always wanted to create but haven’t yet?
There are so many that it is hard to tell them here.
Are there any influences outside of fashion that inspire your work?
Art, Philosophy, Music
What are you looking forward to next?
I started a very private brand called “SOUND OF SUNRISE.”Truly, I try to keep it a brand that does not try too hard.
One question for fun, since it’s summer: if you were on a desert island and you could only bring ten tracks with you, what would they be?
1. Down Under / MEN AT WORK
2. Talking In Your Sleep / ROMANTICS
3. Life Speeds Up / THE CHURCH
4. Counting the Beat / SWINGERS
5. Tunnel of Love / SUNNYBOYS
6. People / MI-SEX
7. Bela Lugosi’s Dead / BAUHAUS
8. Local And/or General / MODELS
9. Love You Inside Out / BEEZEES
10. Easy Lover / PHILIP BAILEY
You just gave me a new summer playlist! Looking back over nearly three decades, what has remained constant in your approach, and what has changed the most?
What remains constant is the philosophy of “Sublime Meets Ridiculous.” On the other hand, what has changed is that I no longer use fashion for self-expression. I don’t think fashion should be a tool for self-expression.
Finally, what is fucking young to you today?
I have been DJing and creating music lately.
