Kozue Akimoto

Well, my hair is black, so I decided to go with a white base to strongly showcase the black. If I’m in all white from head to toe, it’s too girly, so I added black accents. Onitsuka Tiger has a very sporty image, so I was surprised when I saw these more casual-looking shoes. I could probably wear these all the time!

It felt weird (smiles). The material has a kind of peculiar feel to it. They’re not clunky at all; they feel nice and light, like they’re filled with air. It’s hot this time of year, but these are so breathable that it’s not even a problem to wear long sleeves with them. I kind of felt like they were kids’ shoes when I first put them on. They would go well with skinny jeans or tight pants. I think it would be easy to make them part of an outfit.”

Mostly men’s and unisex clothes. I like to wear tight pants with big shoes. For sneakers, I usually get men’s too, they go up to 26.5 cm (laughs). Even for the same product, the ladies’ version is usually rounded or has a different shape, so I prefer men’s.”

Yeah, ever since elementary school. When clothes shopping with my mom, even if she said something like, “Oh, how about this? This is nice,” I always picked things that I liked. That’s how I ended up with a leopard-print coat (smiles). I’ve tried all kinds of looks, from gothic lolita and punk to “gal” fashion, but I think the rock look fits me best. That’s part of my fashion foundation that hasn’t changed for a long time.

Yeah, I like black. It’s the basis of my fashion approach. But I always try to incorporate new items too, in order to keep it fresh. I’ve been getting things that are black, but still girly, and just other things that I haven’t tried yet. One time, when making a photo album, everything I had on in all the pictures was black, so the editor had trouble working with that.”

Well, of course I’d be happy if girls looked up to me as a fashion role model. But more than that, I just want them to focus on emphasizing their own good points. I used to make up my face in the most trendy styles too, but I didn’t feel comfortable with them, and couldn’t get the looks right even when I copied an example. They just didn’t look right on me. So I thought that if the original example was different from me, then I would make up my face with a look that fit only me. So what I came up with was red lipstick, black hair and cat eyeliner. And that’s how I created the style I have now.

Right. Discover your own good points, find an appreciation for your own features, and develop them. If I have a cowlick, I’ll incorporate it into my hairstyle.
There may be many things about yourself you don’t like, but if you can view them as positives instead of negatives, you’re going to enjoy life a lot more.

Along with modeling, I’d like to try something different. I like doing promotional video work, and I’d like to do work related to clothing in some way. And privately, I want to dye my hair completely red someday. But I can’t even picture that myself yet (laughs). ”