photo credit: @asvpxrocky
In recent months, a few underground rappers have been wearing a certain skull logo that’s accompanied with the word “Mastermind”. As fans of these artists I’m sure many of you might be wondering just what “Mastermind” is. This article will mainly focus on Mastermind Japan rather than Mastermind World, mainly because Mastermind Japan is by far cooler, more stylish, and has a rather rich history and legacy; and Mastermind Japan is the original brand. So let’s get right into the juicy details of what makes the Mastermind Japan label one of Karl Lagerfeld’s most favorite brands.
photo credit: Mastermind Japan
Since Mastermind’s inception in 1997 the brand has always maintained an exclusive and mysterious air around itself. This design ethos of minimalism, intrigue and secretive yet deeply inspired clothing comes from the brand’s founder and creative director Masaaki Homma/Honma. The brand itself is strongly reliant upon Masaaki Homma, his own personal design experience and preferences. Prior to Masaaki launching MMJ, he had worked in the fashion industry for nearly a decade, spending 6 years of that time working for none other than Yohji Yamamoto (founder of Y-3). The time Masaaki spent with Yohji clearly influences Misaaki’s designs for Mastermind Japan with the minimalist dark colors, attention to silhouettes and complex production techniques. However, Masaaki also drew from his own personal style and influences to create the iconic designs we see today such as his love for punk and his honest and masterfully executed approach towards the punk and goth aesthetics.
photo credit: Mastermind Japan
Initially, Mastermind Japan would find little to no success in the fashion business. Upon Misaaki’s start in 1997 he rushed all of his designs and forced himself to buy a store in order to get his clothing featured in booth at a Tokyo fashion show. At this time Misaaki had yet to design MMJ’s iconic skull icon and was beginning to face issues with money as he had put himself into debt. By the year 2000 Masaaki had already closed MMJ’s one store location and wanted out of the business fearing that he had made a big mistake
“I wanted to say, ‘I tried my best but failed,’ to all the people that had helped me including those working in the factories”.
However, this would not be the case, in 2001 Masaaki designed most of the iconic imagery and logos we see associated with MMJ today.
photo credit: Mastermind Japan
By late 2001, Masaaki was suffering from skepticism and internal sadness but was still determined to give it one last shot. His new attitude enabled him to essentially give no fucks. For his designs for the 3rd season of 2001, he started producing designs on 100% silk and cashmere shirts as well as one full leather shirt. In Paris in late 2001, preparing for the worst Masaaki set up what he thought would be his last booth at a design conference; this was not the case. At the exhibition Mastermind Japan would be noticed by a store in LA known as Maxfield and received his first order in the amount of a few million Yen (30,000 to 50,000 USD). Within two weeks of Maxfield stocking Mastermind Japan the designs were completely sold out and were being worn by high profile celebrities like Justin Timberlake, Future, ASAP Rocky and Tyga.
Almost immediately after Mastermind Japan’s success at Maxfield LA buyers from all over the world started getting in contact with Massaki. The opportunities Massaki had in 2002 would change the brand forever and give it the reputation it has today for high quality. Even though the clothes for MMJ were being made in Japan, no retail stores in Japan carried them and no store for Mastermind Japan existed. In early 2002, Massaki quickly changed this and began focussing on the Japanese market. At this time Massaki was also being advised by Maxfield that even though his designs sold, the price for his clothing did not match the clothing. This would also change in early 2002, as Massaki got more and more experimental with his designs. By mid to late 2002 Massaki combined both the concept of focusing on his home country and the pricing issue stating “I wanted to try to establish the label as a premium luxury brand – something that Japan never really had before. Brands likes Hermes or Chanel didn’t really exist in Japan, so I wanted to establish the label as a very high quality premium brand. As the label was not very well known back then I came up with idea of establishing the brand with the highest quality Japanese manufacturing”.
Tyga wearing Mastermind Japan
Soon Masaaki would learn that his decision to focus on higher quality clothing paid off extremely well, as his clothes flew off the shelves of stores. The designs coming out of Mastermind Japan after this decision would incorporate many different techniques of design and insanely high quality fabric. In fact, Masaaki was one of the first designers who incorporated Gore-Tex into every season. Mastermind’s prominence would lead to many brands requesting to do collaborations. This was something Masaaki would later become well known for. Between 2002-2012, Mastermind Japan would collaborate with innumerable other legendary brands and designers. Here’s a short list from that era: Goyard, A Bathing Ape (Bape), Julius, Hysteric Glamour, Nigo, Red Baron & Yamaha (see below for insanity), Theater 8, Fragment Design, Playboy, Visvim, Uniform Experiment. The list goes on and on.
photo credit: Mastermind Japan x Yamaha
As Mastermind continued to collaborate with other labels it’s seasonal releases would gain more and more traction. By 2011 Mastermind Japan had a dedicated cult following and a reputation for style and quality that put it in the upper echelons of streetwear and fashion.
photo credit: Adidas x Mastermind Japan
In 2013 though, Masaaki would officially put Mastermind’s seasonal collections “on-hold”. His reasoning behind the closure of the brand’s seasonal releases was that he wanted the brand to always remain legendary, his justification was: “…I thought the way to do this was to end the label at the highest peak of its popularity. If we wait until we lose our popularity, the value of the products will go down, but if we stop at the peak it will be remembered as this great brand or the great product.” In a sense Masaaki’s plan worked. However, Mastermind Japan would not go anywhere, for very long. Masaaki made it very clear after 2013 that Mastermind would continue to collaborate with other labels and designers. Here’s Mastermind’s most recent list of collaborations which are surprisingly even more high end or well known than the previous collabs: A-Girls, Anti-Social Social Club, Stussy, Adidas, Reebok, Carhartt, Nike, Suicoke, PORTER, Oakley, Champion, Comme Des Garcons, Timberland, Neighborhood(NBHD), The North Face, Moncler and many many others.
photo credit: Mastermind Japan x Comme Des Garcons
In 2015, even though Mastermind Japan’s official seasonal releases were over, it became clear Masaaki still wanted to deliver seasonal clothing to the die-hard fans that still were following his brand with his launch of three new divergent fashion lines: Mastermind A-Girls, Mastermind Homme and Mastermind Femme. All three of these divergent brands take the traditional Mastermind formula and follow it, however they seem to all have forgotten Masaaki’s rule’s and fondness of dark colors. As far as I can tell, only Mastermind A-Girls was released on a runway in 2015 as there is no trace of any release for the other divergent brands. In 2016, all three brands had official seasonal releases and runway shows (see below) which all look somewhat out of place for Mastermind as all of the clothes produced by the brand have the casual look that brands like Reigning Champ and Carhartt WIP have perfected. None of these brands look remotely like anything related to Mastermind Japan.
photo credit: Mastermind Japan
Mastermind Japan fans should have no serious need to worry though! For Mastermind’s 20th anniversary Masaaki launched another divergent brand known as Mastermind World. Mastermind World is a return to form and all of the traditional aspects of Mastermind Japan have come back under the name of this new label. Masaaki has said that he will eventually start releasing things side by side between Mastermind Japan and Mastermind World, the only difference between the two being their markets. Currently, Mastermind World is viewed by most to be a brand mainly tailored to and worn by hypebeasts but only time will tell which direction the brand will go and if it will take over for Mastermind Japan.
photo credit: Mastermind Japan x Vans
Mastermind Japan is and always will be a streetwear fundamental for the styles of the urban punk. The story behind Mastermind Japan is one many aspiring designers can learn from and a story that gives the clothes so much more value. From starting this brand in debt, with few connections to becoming a staple of high fashion and streetwear wardrobes around the globe, Mastermind and Masaaki Homma deserve every bit of respect they’ve gained. This year and the next are going to be very important years for the brand and it’s creative director Masaaki Homma, and they should be on everyone’s radar because Mastermind World might just revive this brand that is loved by so many.