Miharayasuhiro: PUMA x Mihara AW12

By Alif Omar Mahfix  •  in Interview
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Your partnership with PUMA has spanned more than a decade with sneaker collectors and the fash savvy eagerly anticipating the unique designs season after season. How do you feel about the collection being successful and having created a cult following?
Regarding PUMA by MIHARAYASUHIRO, in the past, most of the people only know about PUMA as the famous brand for both sports and fashion products, but there are not so many people who know about the collaboration between PUMA and MIHARAYASUHIRO. In recent days, as sneaker collectors and fashionistas in the world started accepting the mutual collaboration, it became very successful.  PUMA is a well-known sports brand in the world and MIHARAYASUHIRA is identified as an avant-garde Japanese fashion designer. Through the collaboration, the energy from MIHARAYASUHIRO’s design was spread all over and it also served as a driving force for consumers.

Some designers visit foreign places or look at different cultures when they want to be inspired. How about you, where do you look for inspiration? What’s your creative process like when designing for the next collection? 
I am the kind of person who is easily influenced mentally and physically. To me, inspiration comes into your mind suddenly.  On one hand, we have learned so many different things from the past, from history.  On the other hand, we are living in the present.  These two things lead us to contradiction.  However, we have to move our mind to reconsider and to create design elements through finding out something new.  Some designers may think that inspiration is a gift from the god, and sometimes they distressed themselves.  But, I think we should always keep positive to be inspired.

Could you tell us which places inspire you most?
Of course Tokyo!  Then there’s London, Hong Kong, New York, Singapore, Milan, Paris.  I like Milan because of the old buildings and architecture. I like Paris because of its culture. Being from foreign country, I see these differences when I visit them.

What are the 3 most important things you consider when you design for PUMA?
Most important is PUMA’s history and origins. Secondly, I think of a pure idea. There’s 12 years’ worth of design and the challenge is to make something unique every time. Something that we’ve never done before. Lastly, its creative aspect. They give me the creative freedom in designing for apparel and accessories. For footwear however, I need to adhere to specific guidelines because we have to keep in mind the shape of the shoes.

For AW12, your collection was inspired by urban “bike city” Tokyo but incorporated python prints. Sounds like an unlikely pairing but it’s worked quite well. How did you come up with such unexpected design elements?
Tokyo is a concrete city with cycling all over the city.  The riders in Tokyo are fashionable.  They prefer fashionable sportswear with colours and many of them even wear leather shoes for sports. I used python print because the print makes this fashionable group feel exclusive – it sets them apart from the rest. Python print is considered as an image of people who recognise clothing as their common language.

Another important point is “comfortability”.  In the past, people consider physical comfort very important.  But these days, people think both physical and mental comforts are important. They could be satisfied by the good balance between function and fashion.