In conversation >>>

NYC based Fashion Design student  : Miles Nakamura 

w/ 11.11 Co-founder / Director :  Mia Morikawa

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Mia Morikawa : Hi Miles, it was great to encounter your work at your final crit last spring - at Parsons. Was particularly moved by the effort you made to weave and hand stitch your garments by hand. We are strong advocates of handmade at 11.11 - I resonated with your project immediately. Curious about how you arrived at the place to take that approach? 

Miles Nakamura : I’ve found myself generally repulsed with the approach people take to consuming, producing, and even just thinking about clothes. This lack of thought people have I find more present in the people creating clothes more than anyone else, I feel. So I wanted to take an alternative approach. By sitting down with a small loom and creating the fabric I’m using by hand, I’m forcing myself to confront the reality of the material I’m working with and the amount of effort that goes into creating what I can use so frivolously.

MM: How did it feel to be a student of fashion design this year?

MN: I’m in my third year right now, so I have what essentially is my “junior thesis” at the moment. It’s a daunting endeavor, to be honest. I try to juggle my responsibilities between my studio job, retail job, modeling, and school - and as more time passes, I feel school slipping in importance to me as I find my footing more in the real world. It’s a weird feeling of shedding my youth a bit but also makes me happy knowing I’m confidently stepping into a new world. 

MM: I come from a mixed background like you - from a young age establishing my values was a key in the journey of understanding and transmitting who I am, what I belong to and how I want to work. You’re from the bay area - right? Curious about how the multiplicities you hold informs your style. 

MN: I am from the Bay Area, and I have to say there is nowhere in the world I would rather be from. The medley of cultures and environments gave an educational and scenic backdrop to my upbringing. San Francisco is a place distinctly devoid of style - there are a few people out there who I think dress impeccably and do really cool things within fashion, but the average person you talk to is more concerned with dressing for the foggy weather than how their outfit looks. But its this kind of uninterested attitude towards fashion that drove me and influenced me, I wasn’t concerned with following some existing trend of fashion, but given an opportunity to seek out what interested me, as there was so little to go off of.

As for coming from a mixed background, I think that my work and style wouldn’t be the same without it. I reach heavily into my ethnicities, respectively, culturally, when looking at my own fashion. Generally, in any given outfit of mine or piece that I sew, there is some reference to a Japanese cut or textile tradition combined with an English tweed of sorts. This, though not an invention of mine by any means, feels very comforting to me as I feel I’m able to externally represent where I come from and give my own form to the cultures that formed me.

MM: Thanks for being a protagonist in our shoot - I really liked the all black look on you. It felt very unforced and natural.  What part of 11.11 speaks to your spirit?

MN: I’d say the whole attitude behind 11.11 speaks to me. Aesthetics, so often with consumer products, can be fabricated with ease, but with 11.11 the aesthetic surrounding the brand is not the result of calculated marketing but of genuine want, care, and respect for the fibers, fabrics, artisans, and clothes made. It’s a sort of thing that came through when we first met. You were so genuinely engaged by what I had done, and it was clear that the world you’ve built with 11.11 is really an extension of your beliefs and cares. It’s this feeling of genuine care that really draws me to the brand and speaks to me. 

An afternoon with Miles Nakamura   is now on view