The Relationship Between Clothes and Happiness
Hello. This is Matsuda.
It's been a while since I last wrote a blog post, but as I've been engrossed in production before an exhibition, thoughts have gradually become clearer. I wanted to organize them once again, so I put them into words like this. I would be grateful if you could read it to the end.
I feel that much of my creative work is deeply rooted in my personal experience of finding my own happiness. The reason my thoughts became clear and led me to operate as a brand is largely due to a fundamental desire to share that experience with others and to help them feel it for themselves.
My personal understanding of happiness, at its core, is the acceptance of one simple truth: "My life is my own."
It means not forcing yourself into someone else's existing template. Simply doing that can significantly reduce mental exhaustion, and with less exhaustion, doesn't it create room to find happiness?
I believe that happiness is not determined by innate qualities like talent or personality, but rather lies hidden in the details of daily life and living, and it is something to be discovered.
When we get older, those who genuinely feel happy are not the ones who won against others or accumulated things, but rather those who are able to manage their own lives with their own hands.
It's about not lamenting what's lost too much, and cherishing what remains. It's about lightening relationships a little so they don't become too heavy. It's about treating your body with care. It's about readjusting your expectations. It's about being someone who can continuously adjust their perspective and the feel of their daily life.
It's about gradually stopping the careless treatment of oneself today. Among these, I feel that the relationship with clothing, which we face every day, also has a significant impact.
Why did you buy it? Why do you want to wear it? If your closet is filled with items you welcomed with such reasons, even if you pick them up casually, wouldn't it never be a careless choice?
Happiness, I believe, is not about extravagant, high-impact events, but about an increasing number of moments in daily life where you can quietly say, "This is good." In other words, it's about being able to manage your own mood.
Fashion can appear glamorous, closely connected to art and culture, sometimes sophisticated, and seemingly dependent on taste.
However, clothing is inherently something more integrated into life, and it is strongly connected to human life itself. I don't want people to forget that it is one of the big pillars supporting a person's happiness.
Has the accelerating cycle of clothing consumption made our relationship with clothes overly casual? Clothes should also be something directly linked to the total amount of opportunities we have to find happiness, and when viewed this way, they should definitely not be continuously underestimated.
By stepping back a little from overly casual consumption and embracing items that can be cherished with good reason, as one aspect of food, clothing, and shelter, I want to increase the number of people who experience their lives gradually becoming richer through that experience. To achieve this, I want to continue my creative work.