US

FASHION (/EN_US/TOPIC/FASHION) Kazumi Asamura Hayashi 13 October, 2016

see kiko mizuhara's i-D japan cover story

As i-D Japan issue two is released, we throw back to Kiko Mizuhara's cover story and interview from the
rst issue, shot by legendary photographer Nobuyoshi Araki.

(mailto:?body=seekikomizuhara'siDjapancoverstoryhttps://i
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Dress Vetements from Dover Street Market Ginza. Tank topand Choker Stylist's Own.
Dress Vetements from Dover Street Market Ginza. Boots Vetements from Adelaide. Tank top and Choker Stylist's
Own.
 Dress and Neck Piece Junya Watanabe Comme Des Garons. Earring Stylist's Own.

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Dress Noir Kei Ninomiya. Bra Rellik. Boots Vetements from Adelaide. Briefs and Choker Stylist's Own.
 Sweater Dior.

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Jacket and Shorts Louis Vuitton. Bra and Choker Stylist's Own.
 The moment she walks into the studio, the whole place comes alive. Her beauty and vivacious
personality are as captivating as ever, but Mizuhara has recently developed an unreservedly
condent presence as wellin a good way. With everything already set in place, photographer
Nobuyoshi Araki gets down to shooting right away (after a warm hug).

Kiko Mizuhara,25. A prolic model and actress, not a day goes by when she can't be seen on TV
or on the cover of a magazine. But she pays no heed to the ckle opinions and gossip of society,
with a fearlessness and an indefatigable drive that allow her to keep on going no matter what she's
up against. Mizuhara is proud of her multinational background and identity, and having already
conquered Japan,she told us that she now has her sights set on the rest of the Asian market.

Inuencing a generation, and what she's received in return

I think you just have to look to see that there are a huge amount of talented young people out there
today, in the generation between the ages of about 17 and 30. Thanks to social media, people in
Japan can now learn about and meet people doing awesome things all around the world, whereas
only a few years ago it felt like there was a kind of invisible barrier between Japan and the outside
world. Young people today are really free in that regard. It's like there's this sort of energy going
around right now, where young people everywhere want to create great things togetherI'm glad I
was born into such a great generation. I encounter loads of new things every day, and that gives me
a lot of motivation. I really feel like there are getting to be more and more interesting people out
there all the time, too It's totally different today to when I started out as a model twelve years ago,
you know? Japan was in its third wave of Gyaru fashion back then: girls were doing the whole
ganguro thing, walking around Shibuya in kigurumi onesies, and Kumi Koda was one of the most
popular singers around. Women really had a "strong" attitude back then. I feel like there was a
period after that when girls were more quiet and understated for a while, but recently you see more
women being strong in a different kind of way. It's like everyone's gotten sick of being conservative.
You can really feel the excitement in the air right now, and I want to take part in that kind of
movement, too. I really believe in the power of my generation.

New forms of communication

I've nally gotten better at English, so I'm putting a lot of effort into keeping in touch with the friends
(https://i
I've made through social media. The great thing about things like Instagram and Snapchat is that as
d.vice.com/en_us)
well as just communicating with people, you can also share your tastes with them. Stuff disappears
from Snapchat after 24 hours, so you can instantly share the stuff that's going on around you, right
then and there. I love how you can nd out what the people you're interested in are getting into, and
what's inuencing them. I'm kind of addicted.
 On the frequency of Kiko's Instagram posts causing a stir
Yeah, it happens. But I just feel like nipple is nipple. So what? It's not a big deal. But when that kind
of stuff happens it really drives home just how many people are looking at me and my posts. I myself
haven't changed at all, but as I put more stuff out there, the people who are watching me are
changing. And that means that way more people are criticizing me now. I've never once thought
about trying to sell myself in a favorable light, and my stance on that hasn't changed. But lately, I've
denitely been feeling that the more people watch me, the more this sort of thing is going to happen.

Making advances in Asia

I'm set to be in a few movies this year in China. I'm so happy it's nally been decided! I want to stay
true to my roots as an Asian. It would be ideal if I could make the move from Japan to the rest of
Asia, and then from Asia to the world: I was raised on Japanese, Korean, and American culture,
which I think is pretty unusual, and I'd like to use the unique background that I was blessed with in
my work.

How working in Asia has affected her

Asians outside of Japan are all super aggressive in how they approach things. I'd say China is
number one in Asia in that regard. Koreans also tend to speak their minds, and they're very
entertaining. They love to do new things but they're also good at imitating others, and they rise to
any challenge with a lot of exibility. They're very accepting, but I still think it's really important to
understand those countries' cultures and take a respectful attitude towards them it'd be really nave
to think that you could just go over to China and have work handed to you right away. I want to
work over there so I'm trying to learn a lot about Chinese culture right now to show good will and
I'm seriously enjoying it! Since I've had more opportunities to go to other countries in Asia I've been
able to look at Japan more objectively: I feel like we used to have so much originality as a country,
but we're in a bit of a slump right now. If Asia could pull together and work as one we could do
amazing things, and create some great entertainment too. But for political reasons, and because of
our national rivalries, we're not getting along very well right now. That's something I'd hope that my
generation could start to change. I want Asia to work together to make great stuff and share it with
the world.

(https://i
d.vice.com/en_us)Hopes for ten years in the future
Let's see I'll be 35. I'd like to make a kind of "union," where young artists and upcoming actresses,
singers, and creators can get together to create new things. I hope I'll still be working as an actress
then, but only in the kinds of things I really want to.
 Advice for the next generation
Just keep doing the things you like, and nothing else. Don't think about the business side of things,
because that'll come later.

Credits

Text Kazumi Asamura Hayashi

Photography Nobuyoshi Araki
Styling Erika Kurihara
Hair and makeup Katsuya Kamo
Hair and makeup assistance Yui Hayashi (Kamo Head)
Styling assistance Katsuyuki Naito and Ayano Santanda
Model Kiko Mizuhara at Asia Cross
Special Thanks Takayuki Mashiyama at Taka Ishii Gallery

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Twitter (https://twitter.com/i_D) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/i_D).

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Topics: fashion (/en_us/topic/fashion), fashion stories (/en_us/topic/fashion-stories), fashion interviews

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(/en_us/topic/nobuyoshi-araki), i-d japan (/en_us/topic/i-d-japan), japan (/en_us/topic/japan)

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