Embracing "Hometown" With Hirofumi Kiyonaga

Hirofumi Kiyonaga, founder of SOPHNET., uniform experiment and F.C. Real Bristol, is the latest guest to join HYPEBEAST CN’s series Breaking Bread. In episode five, Boris Yu chats with Kiyonaga at Mimosa Aoyama, a 22-seat restaurant specializing in Shanghainese cuisine nestled in Tokyo’s quaint Minato Ku. This episode follows interviews with Hiromichi Ochiai as well as AMBUSH‘s Yoon and Verbal.

Dubbed “Hometown,” the episode sees the two discussing why Kiyonaga decided to move back to his hometown Kyushu after spending so many years in Tokyo, while covering his art collection, football and his perspectives on food and fashion.

Kicking off the interview, Kiyonaga mentions how the first job he landed was with A.P.C., which marked the beginning of his career in the fashion industry. He was 20 at the time, and by 30, he decided that he wanted to start his own label, which is how he came to be the founder of SOPHNET. and all its sub-labels.

The two continue to talk about food — homemade chicken tempura as Oita’s (Prefecture in Kyushu) most signature dish and how he barely sees it in the Kanto area of Japan — and how Kiyonaga sees a bridge between fine dining and fashion, and the future of how the two will evolve together, for example, how clothing stores are embracing cafe culture into its own.

This episode features references to the following:

00:53 – The Beginning of Career
04:03 – My Hobby of Collecting
09:29 – Hometown Kyushu
11:33 – Food and Fashion

Watch the full “Hometown” episode above, and stay tuned to HYPEBEAST for the final episode of Breaking Bread Season 1 with Hiroshi Fujiwara.

In case you missed it, check out SOPHNET.’s rustic FW20 video lookbook.