Yanagawa

LONDON, Jan 10, (Agencies): After making the challenging switch from boxing ring to catwalk, Japanese fashion designer and former boxer Arashi Yanagawa talked about rolling with the punches during Men’s Fashion Week in London.“Being flexible and continually learning is something that I take from both boxing and styling,” Yanagawa told AFP as he put the finishing touches to his collection in a cluttered studio space in east London.The 41-year-old heads up a fashion label he created called John Lawrence Sullivan — named after the legendary 19th century US boxer who is considered the first heavyweight champion of the modern era.After boxing for several years, “I felt I had achieved what I set out to. I was ready for a new challenge,” said a smiling Yanagawa, dressed in a camouflage shirt, dark green leather trousers and a black cap.“Another passion of mine since childhood had always been fashion, so it felt right that I take up a path in design. I wanted to take the lessons I had learnt from boxing — hard work and perseverance, and channel this into a new adventure,” he said.PassionYanagawa’s style is a mix of classical and eccentric, fluid and virile, and displays a passion for leather as well as hints from his past — some of his bags resemble punching balls.He now has three stores in Japan and is planning to expand abroad but the journey was not always easy, especially for someone starting out with no training.“The biggest challenge when I started was discovering the right factories and fabric mills to work with,” he said.“As with any new designer it is very important to find people that you have good chemistry with, who you trust and are right for the brand.”“Despite his non-fashion background, or perhaps because of it, Arashi is at the vanguard of a group of promising, young menswear brands that are taking Tokyo by storm,” the report said.Boxing is never far away for him and he draws parallels with the world of fashion.Also:NEW YORK: Madonna, Emma Stone, Willow Smith and US First Lady Michelle Obama are among 150 women chosen by editors of Harper’s Bazaar as the world’s most fashionable.The magazine’s first-ever such list comes in celebration of its 150th anniversary, Editor-in-Chief Glenda Bailey said Monday. Madonna was chosen as cover girl for the group in the February issue.The list, released Tuesday, is comprised of Hollywood A-listers, music elite, fashion designers, celebrity stylists, Instagram It ladies and other mavens.Star power definitely prevails: Rihanna, the former Kate Middleton, Liu Wen, Kristen Stewart, Naomi Campbell, Miranda Kerr, Kendall Jenner and big sister Kim Kardashian West, Kaia Gerber and her mother, Cindy Crawford, Beyonce, Zendaya, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Adele, Gwen Stefani, Riley Keough, Lupita Nyong’o, Amal Clooney, Gia Coppola, Cindy Sherman, Roopal Patel and Olivia Palermo.Editors of the Hearst magazine around the world — it has 32 editions worldwide — voted for their favorites.“Our lists were more or less the same,” Bailey said in an interview. “These women are renowned for style around the world. And they all have such very different styles. This is in praise of the individual.”The magazine plans a cocktail party to celebrate that fact and its listees the weekend of the Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony Jan 29. A series of other events to mark its 150th year are planned.