Yep, I’m back at it again. I’d like to finish these up so I can move onto some other translation projects I have waiting in the wings. This is the natural place to solicit suggestions…except I have comments turned off so I don’t have to deal with moderation. You understand, I’m sure.

PEACE NOW

Unlike MAXICIMAM, the last brand’s designers to be featured, I do actually own a few items from punk/gothic brand PEACE NOW. One of the ways I quickly expanded my J-fashion wardrobe when I was starting out in the mid 2000’s was to buy used items off of major secondhand retailers, such as Closet Child, and the more everyday, casual items that brands like PEACE NOW put out were often extremely cheap. We’re talking like, under $10 for separates, maybe $15 for a dress. Almost twenty years later, a lot of these items are still in rotation, for the same reason I bought them in the first place – they’re casual basics that I can wear whenever.

The roomy pockets of these wool culottes once impressed my students so much they made a point to tell me

If there’s any J-fashion enthusiasts in the house, you might be wondering about the exact relationship between PEACE NOW and gothic brand BLACK PEACE NOW. According to the Brand History timeline printed after all the interviews, BLACK PEACE NOW was created as a gothic subline in Spring of 2000, three years after the first PEACE NOW store opened. (Raine Dragon has noted that these “Brand History” features aren’t always accurate, but they usually handle the basics okay.)

I’m not sure how well-known either PEACE NOW nor BLACK PEACE NOW were in the US by the time they opened a (short-lived) store in San Francisco. They were pretty well-advertised in magazines like KERA and Gothic & Lolita Bible, with visual-kei frontman HAKUEI from Penicillin doing spokesmodel work for them. (Full disclosure: I remember this solely cuz early 2000’s Kelp thought HAKUEI was quite a looker. I even gave the band a listen, but it was right on the edge of the type of music I like, so that didn’t go anywhere.) Located in the NEW PEOPLE building in Japantown across from the US branch of lolita brand Baby, The Stars Shine Bright, it seemed like it might do okay…but clearly it didn’t.

A July 2009 snapshot of the New People fashion page

My own memory of it is super hazy, and the more I dug into it, the more I realized why. For one, I had this idea that PEACE NOW was actually a sub line of BLACK PEACE NOW, not the other way around. Reading the English description above, I see where I got that idea. But it’s not unusual for brands to change their messaging like this for different markets, so it’s very possible that this wasn’t just a wonky blurb.

Adding to my confusion is the fact that h.NAOTO also occupied that same spot for a bit. So I thought, well, I can use the ol’ Wayback Machine and nail down the dates they were open, right? Right?

Well, not quite. I’m reasonably confident that h.NAOTO did open their US store in the New People building in October 2011. (No, they didn’t last all that long either.)

A September 2011 snapshot. The following snapshot in October announces they did indeed open on schedule

So that must mean “BPN USA” closed sometime before that, right? Sort of. The last entry I can find on their defunct store blog is dated January 7th, 2012, and I was so thrown off I didn’t think to look more closely at their address listed over on the right.

Me prolly paying too much attention to their slight shift in how they position PEACE NOW and BLACK PEACE NOW

See, 15 Kearny Street isn’t the NEW PEOPLE building, but rather where the other J-fashion stockist in SF is – Harajuku Hearts, which shares a space with Angelic Pretty USA. That BPN USA would move over there makes sense, not just from a business standpoint, but also from my messy memories. I rarely ever go to Harajuku Hearts/AP USA – unlike NEW PEOPLE, it’s in a part of SF that I have no other reason to be at. (Plus, it’s very annoying to park over there. Even by SF standards.) The Angelic Pretty fans out there would, on the other hand, be there fairly often, but you might have picked up by this point that that is not a club I hold membership to.

From a promotional Youtube video dated September 8th, 2012

But wait, it gets worse

See, both PEACE NOW and BLACK PEACE NOW no longer exist. They were part of a larger wave of brand deaths about ten years ago. I remember this only because one said brand, BANANA FISH, started selling off the remainder of their stock on some major auction site, and a friend of mine gave me a heads up about the sheer number of silly cat shirts I could acquire for cheap.

I wasn’t kidding

One of the characteristics of brands going under was ‘suddenness’ – one day you’d be buying something off their webstore as always, and the next week they were gone. It seems like PEACE NOW went the same route. Between March and April of 2013, their website goes from perfectly normal to non-existent.

No sign of impending disaster here

So ostensibly the US operation disappeared at the same time, right? Not quite. From what I can gather, they hung on for a few more months, if only to sell their remaining stock.

What a juxtaposition

Anyways. Normally I try to give a little brand history of my own before these interviews, and arguably this rabbit hole of “when and how did the brand die where” does qualify, but I apologize for not showcasing more of the ‘glory days’, so to speak. I also ended up on a separate rabbit hole courtesy of a little blurb in the Brand History timeline connecting PEACE NOW to MIRACLE WOMAN, a subline of CREAM SODA, aka The Clothing Brand of the Japanese rockabilly scene. All of that will feature in a separate post, eventually, and I promise it will be an interesting ride, unlike this meandering mess.

Actually, there’s more bad news

I’ve mentioned every time I translate one of these interviews from this particular series that they are…lackluster. I’ve never used the word milquetoast as much in my life. This particular interview is the first one, and…it seems like something went horribly wrong. There’s no intro sentence about the brand. Inoue is never asked some of the stock questions, like “How did you become a designer”. Instead, it starts with several questions about the current collaboration with artist LIEN (whose interview is on the opposite page). As a bonus, it ends with Inoue awkwardly explaining that she can’t really answer the final interview question.

Anyways. I had plans to finish these out, but now I’m thinking I’ll just do one more (an interview with Uehara Kumiko of Baby, the Stars Shine Bright), translate the Brand History timeline (which has far more concrete information than all of the interviews put together), and move on to literally anything else.

To start with, given that you are currently working on items in collaboration with LIEN, tell us about some of the difficulties you’ve had.

	Things like incorporating ideas without losing the original concept, 
	and deciding on colors, I’d say.

I see. So how exactly did you decide upon the emblem and T-shirt designs?

	Out of the many options, I chose what was the closest to our brand’s
	image.

So this time working alongside LIEN, what did you re-experience in terms of her work's appeal?

	Hmm, well I was impressed by the breadth of her work.

Do you have a specific example?

	The fact that she’s not just involved with the artwork, but also the
	physical product side of things.

I see. Well then, let’s change the conversation to talk about you. I have a number of questions I’d like to ask.

	Sure.

First off, how would you describe the job of a designer?

	Hmm, well it’s fun. But also frustrating. When I say frustrating, I’m
	talking about times when I can’t think of new designs.

As you would think, it’s frustrating when you can’t think of new designs.

	Exactly…But if you know a coping mechanism those times aren’t so
	bad, usually…

I see. Then, conversely, what are the fun times like?

	When I finish making a design I like so much my heart hurts. At that
	moment I feel truly happy.

Precisely because of all the difficulties along the way, it makes the joy of reaching a place of satisfaction all the greater, right?

	That’s right, haha. Yeah, the gap between the good times and the bad
	times is pretty intense…

Do you have an image of what kinds of items would you like to make going forward?

	Hmm, I’d like to try to make structured clothes with a lot of attention
	paid to silhouette, and clothes that use all sorts of check fabrics.

I’m looking forward to it.

	(laughter)

Well then, this is the last question – please tell us your goals going forward, or dreams for the future.

	Uhhh…how do I say this...well, if I can’t even imagine what things will
	be like six months from now, I can’t even begin to know about the
	future.