Nana: Fashion has infinite possibilities, and new power is born from it. As a carrier of culture and times, fashion encompasses everything. From trendy to traditional culture, from celebrities, idols to everyone’s daily life, and from West to East, it is our discourse, our power, our time. Through Asian Voice, we hope to spread the local Asian fashion culture to the world by moving cross languages and borders.
Welcome to the world of SEE YOU YESTERDAY from Japan. In recent years, the fashion industry has been exposed to low pay, environmental pollution and other social news, making people lose confidence in the fashion industry. But Ulala, the owner of SEE YOU YESTERDAY, wants to show the world the right values of the fashion industry through the brand. As the brand’s message reads, “Create products that make everyone happy.” Not only the people who wear it, but also the people who work behind the scenes for the love of fashion and contribute to the industry.Store
Nana: Could you please give us an introduction about SEE YOU YESTERDAY?
Ulala: SEE YOU YESTERDAY stands for human rights in the fashion industry. Our concept is “Create products that make everyone happy” everyone includes the people sawing our clothes and bags. There are so many atrocious actions in the fashion industry. We want to send messages to the world through our art pieces.
Nana: What motivated you to create the brand initially and why you name it SEE YOU YESTERDAY?
Ulala: I was at school and learned what happens behind in the fashion industry. I thought the fashion industry is a very gorgeous, brilliant, and bright world but once again there are actually atrocious actions. People in developing countries work so hard in danger and get paid $2 in a day. Also many animals were born to be killed for fashion.
Since fast fashion became a big trend, it accelerated. I wanted to make the opposite brand of those horrible actions and show people what is the right thing to do. For the name, I lived in NY and came back to Tokyo often because of my work when I started my brand. and when I went back to NY from Japan, I always texted my friends in NY “See you yesterday” because Japan is ahead of time and I was going back to the past.
Nana: There is no shortage of vintage elements in the colorful, vibrant designs that catch everyone’s eyes each season. How do you come up and decide on the themes for new collections?
Ulala: To be honest, I am still studying fashion design and I think I am not there yet. Learning everyday, every collection, so our collection is gonna get better every year. Also I am deeply thinking about this consumer society. In the fashion industry, creating a collection every season is normal but as a free designer, I just wanna focus on one masterpiece and not a lot of pieces in the collection.
Nana: If it’s possible could you share a little bit about your next collection?
Ulala: I played some fun tricks on our new collection. but I won”t announce it on the internet. Only customers can enjoy those tricks so I hope they’ll enjoy it.Nana: Could you possibly share some impressed collaboration or event experiences that you have done before?
Ulala: I collaborated with Cloudy Tokyo which has been supporting education and women’s society in Ghana in 2018. I used African fabrics from Ghana. There are meanings of colors in the African fabrics. It was an amazing and beautiful experience to me. From the sales, we donated sewing machines to the factory in Ghana.
Nana: The brand’s promotional photos are full of power, color, and identity. What are some inspirations and strategies in the photoshoot? And are there any innovative ways for you to promote your brand that you can share to us?
Ulala: Photo shooting is my most favorite work. It’s fun to create a team. They are all my friends. The photographer I’ve been working with knows what I want to create and he knows my taste in colors so he always gives me some ideas while we are shooting. I also love random street shooting. I gather my friends and shoot with my film camera. and I edit and collage sometimes. It’s just for fun. My customers are so loyal and they love to see my works so I work everything for them. It’s not just promotions. I want them to inspire and surprise them in many ways.
Nana: Is it possible for you to share us some challenges that you’ve had when running your brand?
Ulala: Verdy invited me to ComplexCon last year. It was a big challenge to me. It was so tough but so fun. I wanna try it again. Showing my work at outside of Japan is what I always wanted to do and so happy to share Japanese quality and my work to the world.
Nana: Do you have any advices for our readers who want to build up their own brand just like “SEE YOU YESTERDAY”?
Ulala: Think about this society and don’t follow trends. Then think what you can do with your piece of art to this world.Think about this society and don’t follow trends.
