introducing POGGY

first stop: magic house, a newly-opened coffee spot in the 'burbs of the capital. its spacious interior is peppered with original artworks, including pieces by richard prince, jonas wood and masaomi yasunaga. customers sit in patchwork armchairs designed by dr romanelli, sipping hand-dripped coffee and admiring the artwork up close.

ept: there's a huge amount of art here. do you have any favorites?

poggy: "personally, i'm a sucker for barry mcgee and tom sachs. i like barry mcgee because he derives his art from skate culture. i like tom sachs because his head is full of pretty wild ideas, and he loves japanese culture- he's made tea bowls and so on. it's fascinating to see how different ja-panese culture can be when it's interpreted abroad. i'm a big fan of that way of thinking."

the next spot on the list is moveable: poggy's custom-built porsche 911. he's driven to magic house in it, so we head outside.

ept: this porsche is one that you designed with them in 2025, alongside your own capsule collection. can you share some of your favorite spec? what makes it special?

poggy: "well, the porsche 911 is notable for its r/r layout, which means that its engine is in the rear even though it's nearly 60 years old, the make-up is pretty much unchanged, and that's what i love about it. there was a time when porsche tried to change it, but there was such a demand from fans that they just kept it the same. it looks more-or-less the same too - whether it's a model from the 70s or from the present day, it's instantly recognizable as a 911.

what im trying to say is that- i work in fashion.it's fun and fast-paced, with trends changing every half-year, and you have to follow along. i often feel like it whizzes by. but with the 911, it's not like that. it's steady, and there's so much to learn from that."

driving the porsche brings creativity to his routine.

"people talk about the 'skater's eye,' right? as skaters move around town, they're always on the lookout for good spots where they can do tricks. they consider the landscape in a different way, and the same thing is true when driving my 911. it's a manual car - not an automatic so during my daily commute, i find that it tests my creativity. i'm constantly thinking of possible manoeuvres to get around the roads.

over the past few years, fashion and car culture has gotten closer, and there are many ways in which they have become interlinked. tokyo auto salon is a custom car event that draws car lovers from all over the world to japan every january. it feels like the car equivalent of paris fashion week.

the custom car culture runs deep - people are truly invested in maintaining the cars in their original condition and preserving the parts. you could say that the porsche 911 is similar to levi's 501s. even though the detail has evolved throughout the years, they're still 501s. same with the 911. i see a real affinity between the 911 and fashion itself."

poggy had a couple of design details in mind when designing his porsche.

"i had the seat pattern, interior details, and the color custom-made," he says, opening the door to show the interior. "this pattern is dress mackenzie tartan, which was used in porsches back in the 70s, the era i was born. for the car body, i chose a color that they used around that time."

"magnif stocks everything from fashion magazines that i read in the 90s, to mode fashion titles and even traditional-leaning men's classic fashion magazines. it has loads of inspirational fashion resources.

these days, you can find pretty much everything by searching digitally, or with ai, but here you can find hyperspecific fashion references that go beyond the internet. i come to find inspiration like that. when i was last here, i picked up an old copy of 'last,' a men's dress shoes fashion magazine. i also got an original tote bag, they're pretty neat."

poggy goes over to the counter to pick up a bag, and yasunori nakadake, the shop owner, jumps in.

"if you turn it around, there's a spot for one magazine to pop out, so you can see the logo!"

poggy chuckles and continues.

"in japan, select shops started in the 70s, when american fashion wasn't as common. they played a big role in bringing that culture over. and it didn't stop there - they also brouaht fashion from britain, france, and so on, picking only the best items as seen through a japanese lens. before i became independent, i worked at japanese select shop, united arrows, for over 20 years, so i can appreciate how magnif has selected fashion magazines from france, britain and america, from a specific japanese perspective."

"take amekaji, for instance: for americans, levi's jeans weren't fashion items, they were simply workwear, to be thrown away when they got old but japanese people explored this and found a style, turning them into something fashionable - the magazines analyzed culture from abroad and gave it a whole different meaning, and exploration wasn't limited by genre, as you'll see here. nowadays, there are less niche magazines, but shops like this hold a mountain of clues for anyone who wants to start digging; and for japanese people, it's a great place to rediscover things that you thought you already knew."

poggy has picked ao chochin, a dining bar in ebisu, as his final stop on the tour. we meet there just before it opens. yoshimaru, the bar manager, greets us warmly and gives us seats inside as he's setting up.

ept: what's the reason behind ao chochin, poggy?

poggy: "over the past few years, the amount of record bars - both in japan and further afield - has increased significantly. ao chochin, uses one of the oldest speakers in tokyo. it's from an american theater hall in the 1920s. it's very cool that there's such a huge, quality speaker in this small space. it's very japanese, i think. apparently, if they play the speaker at full volume then the windows would smash.

sometimes, even though record bars are really particular about their sound systems, they overlook other aspects, such as drinks, but ao chochin is different. it's run by akiyama, a renowned japanese-style [kaiseki] restau-rant, designed to enjoy great japanese food [and drinks] while listening to music."

the fare is so good that poggy doesn't have a set order.

"i'll see what ingredients [yoshimaru] has in that day. he can make just about anything, and on rare occasions, he'll even make sushi. i've heard that he used to be a sushi chef - his food is delicious. when i eat here i feel very inspired.

style isn't just about clothes - it's the car you drive, the shops you visit, the art you like, and so on. all these things make up a personal style. as someone who works in a creative job, i'm constantly getting inspired, every single day. that's why i picked these places - honestly, it feels like they could only exist in japan."

the interview is over and this time it's poggy's turn to ask the questions:

"anyway, what would you like to drink?"