KIDILL Fashions A Feeling With WESTFALL

Collaboration, significance and the future generation is a three-headed monster running rampant inside the mind of KIDILL founder/designer Hiroaki Sueyasu. This monster is his horror-core principle. No fears here, the monster is a cuddly one. If you try disarming Sueyasu’s loyal audience of punk-coded obsessives with a hug, they would likely hug you right back. Expecting a snarl or punch from a loving KIDILL brigade is so old wave punk. What Sueysu designs is a multigenerational feeling of punk ghosts past — Peter Murphy, Siouxsie Sioux, Winston Smith — into punk for today. KIDILL is the fashion destination for these counter cultural exorcisms. They morph into Adventuretime’s Finn possibly rocking a gimp mask; non-gendered skateboard clans; rap-metal concerts in New Jersey graveyards. Modern mindsets.

Through Sueyasu, KIDILL sits in fashion communion with a fan’s language of records. He does not collaborate, he has features. He does not design, he makes a playlist between traditional men’s tailoring and Japanese 90s streetstyle. KIDILL prints are album graphics, showspaces are considered concert venues. KIDILL’s punk fashion is not in the surface decoration, but the heartbeat and emotion of punk’s unifying power for outsiders.

This brings us to the fashion designer, and slight art outsider, Brett Westfall of WESTFALL. The Los Angeles-based, Dover Street Market Paris creative came to fashion through a pure heart, an intuitive ability to construct the best flannels ever and Rei Kawakubo’s endorsement.

Together WESTFALL and KIDILL produced Formal Anarchist, the latest KIDILL A/W 25 collection. Sueyasu staged the show, which was really a concert, at the expansive Césure in Paris. It was once the school campus of the Sorbonne-Nouvelle. So naturally Sueyasu chose sonic rancour with thumping taiko drums and woodwind flutes at war with symphonies. Under these percussive sounds, KIDILL married 70s punk with 00s cyberpunk. What stood out beneath a KIDILL cotton bolero were WESTFALL trademark strawberries. Bleeding berries lay beneath studded buttons or printed like camouflage wallpaper on roomy grunge shirts. Snoppy, a WESTFALL caricature created from the mind of Westall’s daughter, sprouted a mohawk for KIDILL A/W 25. WESTFALL prints and KIDILL tartans combined for a fringe-meets-lace slipdress that would make Ethel Cain smile. There was a familiar Sueyasu heartbeat again, assisted by WESTFALL to keep KIDILL feeling FRESH.

Six days after the Formal Anarchist show, Sueyasu and Westfall met at Dover Street Market Paris showroom to discuss their new collection, which had a Christmas surprise feeling to it. Here is their collective unboxing…

M-C Hill: Brett, besides finding a spiritual way into Hiro’s world, how did you meet in life?

Brett Westfall: We met first through Instagram, right? Started following each other?

Hiroaki Sueyasu: I think so.

BW: I think it was my first, maybe second season. He said, ‘Can I come to the studio or to the showroom?’ I said, ‘Yeah, sure.’ That's when we formally met.

M-C.H: Brett, your style of billboard art direction connects with Hiro’s approach because he loves a distinctive typeface or album cover. It's always musicality, but creative directed musicality in the design process. Let's get into the creative union. It feels obvious and natural.

BW: For me, I started following Hiro because I loved his work aesthetic. I could feel his energy and see his energy in his work. Once I met him and we started talking, I liked who he was as a person. We share a lot of the same likes in music and punk, things like that. When he would come to Paris I'd say, ‘Hey, check out this record, this music.’ Then last June, he came and I asked about doing a collaboration? He said, ‘That's what I came here to talk to you about.’ It was really organic in that way. That's how it started.

HS: What Brett does with drawing, everything he does is like a free spirit, like freedom. Which matches my mind exactly.

M-C.H: What Brett is doing, maybe the first sign is not too punk, but your spirit and mentality is very punk. Correct me if I'm wrong. Brett is driven by a creative inner compass. It's all about what symbol best explains his feeling of the moment. A strawberry or the ‘FRESH’ logo. In a way, that is very Hiro because Hiro loves that vitriolic emotional, guttural thing. So the fusion is obvious.

HS: Yes, it is very obvious.

M-C.H: Talk about the show last Monday, the band. How did that band tie into a punk ethos? One thing that Hiro said backstage was, ‘It's punk but also cyberpunk.’ That became obvious in the clothes. How did the band tie everything together?

HS: Back to the '90s, the cyberpunk style, I focused on that part but brought to the now, which is mixed with the now aesthetic, which I always do. That's why you can see detailed structures of the patterns and the makings.

I’ve been friends with one of the band members, the vocalist, for over 20 years. We share holidays together. We have a close relationship. The band was playing traditional Japanese music. You can see from their outfits, it's from the Edo period. Edo is the period when Tokyo became a capital city. It is like old Tokyo. KIDILL being from Tokyo, I wanted this feeling of the old mixed with present day Tokyo. Put together, it brings meaning.

M-C.H: There's a certain tribalism with the Edo and punk periods you are looking at. Also, your Jamie Reid stuff resurfacing into the collaboration, ties periods together. Next to Brett’s stuff, where there's fashion, but not fashion. It's all just wearing, which is also that effortless culted style of clothing. There was no extreme-one-plus-extreme-one equaling. It all just came together. Brett, what do you think about what Hiro explored?

BW: I think it's awesome. I love taiko drumming. I have CDs of taiko drumming. As far as Japanese culture, I've been immersed in this culture for more than 30 years. It's a part of my identity now. When I saw the presentation, it made me proud. For Japanese culture being here in Paris, hearing that being played with the collection, it made me teary. Seeing Hiro-san bring that part of his culture to Paris and represent it in such a loud way. That's my take on it.

M-C.H: Brett you’ve had such an emotional week.

BW: Yeah.

M-C.H: I know your spirit is one of generosity.

BW: Thank you.

M-C.H: I also know this week had big meaning for you with what Kawakubo-san did and now with Hiro. Hiro, there was a return to fashion in a way. I considered the ‘F*ck Forever’ collection’s tailoring. Your focused precision tailoring then. Also, ‘F*ck Forever’ was the first time you used fake fur. Fur came back in ‘Formal Anarchist.’ So these clothes were familiar. Like when we talk, it's just people that you know and care about. Why did you focus on the tailoring this time?

HS: For the tailoring you see the double layered blazers this time. This is like a collaboration with Japanese traditional tailoring. You can see very fine making, but they have pin badges in the punk way. Again, I want to bring the traditional together with a punk mix.

M-C.H: Even though the lines were cleanly defined, it still felt very punk. Again, what Hiro does, reaching back to problem-solve for today, didn't feel like 1971 in 50 years. It felt very now, but still, you knew the origin. That was interesting.

HS: The Sex Pistols and Sid Vicious wearing a formal jacket, I make exactly the same silhouette, but my way.

M-C.H: This is an iconic Sid jacket. The jacket wasn't as long on the runway.

HS: This is a really boxy silhouette that is longer.

M-C.H: Making it casual is more KIDILL.

HS: Very KIDILL! I used a lot of those Seditionaries series graphics this season. Also from the band, to show respect for The Sex Pistols.

M-C.H: Do you remember the dragon backpack from last season?

HS: The Dragon Backpack, yes.

M-C.H: Did you deconstruct that backpack on your moodboard to make it into clothes? Was there an abstract inspiration for that backpack? A muse in some way?

HS: Not really. I think that's the color palette I love. I often use those colours.

M-C.H: Remember the Spring 22 collection? It was dream punk almost, this alternate universe in a white room. For people who maybe aren't as familiar with KIDILL or WESTFALL, that collection is probably a good way into you two. It was idyllic punk in a light-hearted fashion, all floating and positive. Which then brings WESTFALL into the whole thing. This utopia in a dreamy way. What do you think about that?.

HS: The venue was huge. I wanted to invite many people who would never experience seeing the collection. Runway spaces can be so tiny. I was really happy about the place this time. We had so many people come and celebrate this collection. Also a white background makes the collection stand out. For the venue, a school. It's very anarchy, that feeling. And the title this season is ‘Formal Anarchy,’ which is tailoring a blazer, a school feeling. When kids are around teen age, they get in touch with their punk style, wanting to make everything for themselves, their tastes. With Brett's collaboration this time, you can feel a full power of culture from Tokyo back to the '90s. Kids had so many things from Europe or the US that they put into their own style in Harajuku. The magazines TUNE and FRUiTS, if you go back to that day, it stood out, which gave Tokyo their own street culture.

M-C.H: You would find a certain thing in a certain district.

HS: Exactly. I wanted to bring this feeling. That's why the venue used was perfectly suited for that.

M-C.H: Brett, in terms of the clothes, how are sales divided up? How are we approaching the line sheets aspect?

BW: For my part, Hiro-san told me what he was looking for. I made the artwork, sent all the artwork to him and said, ‘Do whatever you want.’ I knew that whatever he's going to make will turn out great. I had 100% trust. I know what he does, so I knew it would be great. Mutual trust.

M-C.H: What did you learn from the collaboration?

BW: Less fear. Less self-doubt. From what Hiro-san does, there's no fear in it. He wants to mix this and that. A lot of times for me with ideas, I don't know if this is good enough. I think trusting your inspiration to just go for it and not being afraid to try new things.

M-C.H: For Hiro, it's less about fear because he doesn't know any other way. It has to be this way because his spirit is possessed by it that moment. He is convinced ‘it’ will work in the moment. He is divining what will happen over the next year. It can't be wrong because this is all he sees and feels.

HS: From my view, I think that he is a great artist. From my side, Brett has something I don't have. Brett is a contemporary artist. That's the fascinating aspect to WESTFALL.

M-C.H: Brett is an artist trying to make fashion an applied art, right? Whereas you're trying to make subculture into an applied art. That's always your challenge. For Brett, ‘How do I reiterate my fine art instincts into a cut and sewn way?’ That's always your challenge. I get the fear and get the reluctance.

HS: For me, maybe making clothes is easier, but for Brett, he doesn't really need to make anything. It's just art. It comes. I don’t have that nature. So I really appreciate Brett for that part.

M-C.H: Will you both work like this again? Do we think this is the start of a long-term collaboration? One of the fundamental aspects of Brett's work is long-term projects with friends. This does not feel like a one-off because there's too strong of a synergy here.

HS: If Brett is okay, with his schedule, of course I love continuing this.

BW: I feel the same way. Anytime Hiro-san wants to work together, I'm open. Anytime. I'm ready.

M-C.H: Last question, what are your respective favorite pieces in the collection?

BW: I really love the long coats with strawberries all over. It says ‘KIDILL FRESH.’ It's hard, dude. I love everything!

HS: Same.

BW: Same?

HS: Yeah.

BW: Thank you.

HS: Yeah, of course. Thank you very much.

BW: I'm very happy to call you my friend.