Yoshi Is The Japanese Teen Taking Over Fashion
He has the swag of Sid Vicious, counts Virgil Abloh as a friend and mentor, and each week scours the legendary fashion temples of Shibuya to add to his collection of lust-inducing designer pieces. The model and Instagram sensation is now the subject of a new Dazed documentary, Yoshi is just 14 years of age. He has been taken under the wings of designers Yoshio Kubo and Abloh, he’s begun sketching, picking apart elements he likes and rearranging them. He says confidently one day he will be a famous fashion designer.
The new Dazed film follows Yoshi, whose unique sense of style on Instagram attracted the interest of major fashion designers like Yoshio Kubo, Rick Owens, Nicola Formichetti, and Helmut Lang.
In the film the cameras tail Yoshi as he browses his fave vintage stores. Yoshi draws and plays video games just like a normal 14-year-old kid. But, unlike a normal kid, he also shoots scenes for a music video from Japanese rapper Anarchy.
“I’m working as a model and as a designer too, so I earn money by myself,” Right now, I don’t have an agent or manager, so I always do everything by myself – I even negotiate my fee too.”
Just your regular 14-year-old model slash icon. Yoshi wasn’t born in Japan, rather Hiroshima, and he is only half Japanese as his father is Hong Kong born, the family moved to Tokyo when Yoshi was just 3. When he was just 11 he found his way into the world of designer fashion through the guidance of guy he met who used to rock Rick Owens and Yohji Yamamoto. From then on the young Yoshi was hooked, trading in his model car kits for designer duds. His Social Media profile blew up when her gate crashed an Off-White invite only party in Aoyama.
“I saw the party on Instagram and just went!”
Where the yellow logo belt wrapped bondage-style around his neck caught the eye of Virgil Abloh himself. Despite his punk-rock reputation, he is defiantly good. “No smoke, no, no, no, no, no,” he says. “No drink, no, no.”
These days the 14 Yoshi can be found scanning the designer districts of Harajuku, Shibuya always on the lookout for a new acquisition for his bulging designer closet.