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【Feature】Interview|Peter Do Part 1
lulamag.jp/fashion/interview-07/peter-do
PETER DO creates strong, tailored silhouettes with delicate details.
The brand embodies a new culture of working collectively, between digital and real life worlds with a team, a family behind the brand.
New York-based, PETER DO depicts timeless and contemporary clothing for a modern woman.
At an event at ADELEIDE, a select shop located in Minami-Aoyama, we asked the designer to share his view on fashion, and the prospects for his eponymous brand.
So you were posting your works on Tumblr?
Yeah, I had a really popular blog where I had a lot of followers so I was posting outfits and a lot of pattern making, draping, and stuff like that.
Even right now you post a lot of behind the scenes on Instagram. And other brands only started to do that very recently.
At the time, people were asking me “Why do you post your designs on the internet? People could steal your ideas”.
But the way I see it is that people will take your ideas either way so I didn’t really see the point of not doing it.
I’ve always wanted my design process to be as transparent as possible.
It’s been a way for me to meet new people.
The five of us that started the brand together met on Tumblr 8 or 9 years ago.
We are natives to digital culture but believe in the importance of in real life culture.
Your Instagram page is clearly your biggest revenue.
Did you deliberately make it that way or this that happened organically?
It happened naturally.
When I first created my Instagram account (@the.peterdo) I had about 2000 followers and it just grew so fast, so unexpectedly.
I think it’s because when we post something, people share it.
Because of that, we would get a lot of followers.
It’s never planned. I don’t know how you can plan that.
Since I run the account I just post whenever I feel like it.
Since I take the bus to work, I would post during my commute or when I’m having lunch.
It’s intuitive.
Do you think that is the way that the fashion industry is going towards?
Instagram/ online stores instead of actual stores.
I like to go to the store and touch the clothes, so I think that stores are still important in some ways.
I appreciate the fabric.
I need to touch the garment, to get a feel for the clothes.
But I know if you don’t live in a city that has those kinds of stores, you will naturally rely on social media and online shopping.
It just really depends on where you live.
PETER DO is a millennial brand.
The founders met on the internet and our buyers from our first season found us on Instagram.
So everything happened through a digital network.
But I also think it’s important to have stores like ADELAIDE to specifically voice and fine-tune the brand image according to the market.
I think that when you are an emerging brand, you do need a store with a reputation and a certain level of taste to support you.
PETER DO is all about monochromatic and simple colors.
However, your Mark Rothko-inspired dress shows a different side of your brand.
Could you please elaborate more on that?
We love to challenge ourselves, so when I asked myself “what don’t I like? Bright colors”, we decided to incorporate colors into the new collection.
We’ve always been known for the monochromatic looks and I wanted to give the clothes a different dimension.
What are the future prospectives for the brand?
How do you want to be known as or how do you want Peter Do to be known as?
We just want to be free for as long as we can.
When I started the brand with my friends, it was from a place where we felt there were a lot of things we don’t like about the industry.
People are really unhappy in fashion and we don’t want to work in that kind of environment.
So right now, we are only focusing on the things we want to do.
In terms of future goals, we would love to do a show in NYC, maybe in two seasons.
We would also love to open a boutique in New York.
Peter Do:
Designer based in New York City.
After winning the inaugural LVMH Graduates Prize in 2014, Peter moved to Paris to design under Phoebe Philo’s CÉLINE and later at Derek Lam as the senior designer in New York.
He launched his namesake label in 2018.
His impeccable eye for fabric and timeless design keeps fascinating women all over the world.
ADELAIDE
03-5474-0157