OVERCOAT’s Ryuhei Oomaru builds a bridge for the next generations

Doubting what’s considered as good and find your own value

– The series of collaborations with Peter Miles is remarkable. What was it like working with him, and what do you respect about him?

Oomaru： Peter’s ability to sublimate humor into beauty always amazes me. His output is as natural as if it had always been that way, but it also has a very calculated and sharp edge, which I feel is his talent or sense of style.

– How would you define having a “good taste”?

Oomaru： I think it means being able to have fun even when unexpected things happen. Things often do not go as planned, but it is important to be able to go back from 0 to 1, look at things in a flat way, and extract the interesting parts. I think people who can do that have good taste, and people who just get depressed when things don’t go well don’t have good taste.

As for things, I am attracted to things that are somehow out of tune with what is considered good by the public. Personally, I am attracted to sneakers that are covered with dust in a store in a deserted shopping street. Of course, not everything is attractive. Things are very dry, so I think it is important to be able to separate facts and feelings and judge whether something is beautiful or not based on your own sense of beauty.

– What advice would you give to companies that wish to be like yours with their own taste while being global?

Oomaru： As with the previous question, I think it is important to have the ability to think on the spur of the moment, because everything often does not go the way you want it to go.

– Is it something you can learn to gain?

Oomaru： No, it is not. I think it is more like forgetting what you have learned. I think the essential thing is to understand basic dressmaking and then discard everything you have learned. For example, you don’t remember everything that came out of the restaurant you went to on your anniversary, but the thing that suddenly popped into your head, “I ate that at that time,” is the thing that really moved you. Today, there is so much information that it is difficult to find the essential things, but that is why I think it is important to let go and forget.

– You’ve worked with many renowned New York’s luxury brands people admire. Where do you see those brands in the future?

Oomaru： For example, a sweater made by a mother has a strong feeling on the maker’s side, and no matter how beautifully we make it, it cannot be fulfilled; I think it is the ultimate luxury. I don’t know how to achieve such a thing, but I feel that the closer we get to that side, the more luxurious it becomes.

Oomaru： That is one of the reasons why we opened our Tokyo atelier last November. We don’t have an iron here just for show, but our staff really make clothes in this space. This display-like glass desk is also used as a workbench. I think that is the kind of luxury that is not for show.

– Do you have any plans for the future?

Oomaru： In the future, we would like to scale up both in scale and expertise, while maintaining the identity of the brand with the right partners. By “the right partner,” I mean a partner who understands Oomaruseisakusho 2, not just its superficial aspects, and with whom we can mutually improve.