DESCENDANT

It was almost 10 years ago I thought of 100 standard items when I started DESCENDANT. The mood is the 1990s and the clothes look like something an older man in the US would wear and wonder what else DESCENDANT needs. After thinking about it, I figured an oxford button-down shirt, tucked chino pants and denim pants are essentials and decided to make them the DESCENDANT standards. These are the roots of the standards and I continue to create them to this day.

Even though I wore button-down shirts when I was younger, I didn’t wear them like a traditional American would have and wore them more like a punk style, with something spray painted on, so it didn’t look like a conventional button-down. It was a standard item, but how I wore it was a little different.

However, what we create at DESCENDANT is not something different, but rather are basic American classic button-down shirts. In fact, there is an image and inspiration from the outfits worn by former US President John F. Kennedy while he stayed in Hyannis, Cape Cod, a summer resort he used to visit with his family. A long sleeve button-down shirt tucked in the chino shorts, no socks with boat shoes, along with a golden retriever dog. The sleeves are casually rolled up.

The pattern of the shirts may differ each season, but the styles we have been making as of late are relatively loose-fitting. The armholes are wide and when worn tucked in, the armholes come close to the waist, which is a characteristic point. This oversized silhouette is something that naturally appears when a child whose body is not fully developed wears an adult shirt. The style can only work because the size doesn't fit or suit them. I thought it would be nice to have a shirt with a proper shape but worn oversized like a boy would, leading me to the larger size. That could be where the '90s feel comes from.

When I choose the Oxford fabric, I try to select ones with good rough texture after washing. Something firm and crisp, a degreased feel. A degreased Oxford feels nice, don't you think?

The way I wear the shirts has also changed. In the past, I would button them up to the top, but now I feel comfortable opening the second and third buttons from the top; maybe it’s because of my age, but it’s strange that I gradually became less conscious/concerned. I’m naturally changing, such as tucking the shirts in the pants, rolling up the sleeves, unbuttoning the cuffs, etc. On the other hand, when I visited LA the other day, I saw teenage boys wearing button-down shirts in their own ways, opening or closing the front without even thinking about it. It was awe-inspiring. When you think about it, a button-down shirt is an item that can be worn in various ways.

By the way, my old friend Rian, who works at VANS, whom I got together with in LA for the first time in a while, always wears button-down shirts. In what you might call a preppy style fit, sunglasses, button-down shirt, denim pants and VANS’ Authentic on his feet. It was different when we first met, but he always dresses like this every time we meet now.

Spoken by Tetsu Nishiyama