AGENT CODE NAME: Timochi Warui
REAL NAME: Timothy Michael Anderson
LOCATION: UK
OCCUPATION: Freelancer/Dragoon
Describe your personal style.
A mix of '60s and '70s pastiche, thrift-store casual, and modern Japanese graphic design. Slightly preppy, slightly mod, and slightly punk, embellished with lots of skinny ties and colorful kicks.
Name your muses. Where (or who) does your style inspiration come from?
My fashion sense comes mostly music I listen to (and associated art and design), especially ska, Shibuya-kei, punk, yé-yé, and cool jazz. I love how genres like these have a way of fusing fun with cool, often by being shamelessly bold and exuberant.
What influences you in your fashion choices?
Color and cost. If I could afford to wear tailored Armani suits all the time, I probably would. But in this economy, I've got to be thrifty! And this is fine by me - I've always cobbled my outfits together from chartity stores, vintage shops, and clearance racks.
I suppose the '60s, '70s, and '90s influence my style quite a bit, but not when you look at those decades as a whole. I'm more influenced by particular subcultures from those decades (e.g. '60s mods, '70s rudeboys, '90s skater punks).
Has there ever been a constant in your style life?
Ska and punk band t-shirts and rectangular glasses.
I was 14 going on 15. Back then I was friends with lot of skateboarders, and their style definitely rubbed off on me - lots of baggy dungarees, corduroys, grubby Vans, and t-shirts, especially band t-shirts. I think I had maybe two collared shirts to my name, and they were both from a thrift store.
Can you name the time in your life where you felt that you came into your personal style?
It would have been my sophomore year at college, I suppose, when I was 19. This is when I started to wear skinny ties, pants that actually fit, and blazers. I was a regular at this night club in Los Angeles called Par Aviøn, and the people there were really fashionable, but in a fun, colorful, expressive way, not in a pretentious or self-conscious way. I think that crowd really had an impact on the way I dressed.
What stores do you frequent?
I find myself at H&M a lot, for cheap basics. The same goes for the Gap, but only in America or Japan - the UK Gap is too expensive for how bland it is. I also love Next for socks. They have the best socks. Back in Japan I bought an awful lot from the design t-shirt store Graniph, and in LA my favorite was probably Aardvark's, a chain of vintage shops. I think my all-time favorites, though, are Value Village, an absurdly cheap thrift store in Racine, Wisconsin, and Yellow Jacket, a vintage store in Milwaukee.
Name one item you own that embodies your personal style.
One?! No. I have three: dingy '70s gas station attendant jacket with LA Metro patches that my mom sewed onto the shoulders; '70s black blazer, made at "Zeke's Male Shoppe" in Racine and purchased for $2.50 at Value Village; and New Balance 574s in 7-Eleven colorways, part of the "Conbini Three-Pack." (I have the ampm and Family Mart versions as well.)
What one accessory/piece of clothing are you craving right now?
Onitsuka Tiger Mexico '66 Baja sneakers - white with black stripes and velcro.
What are your current obsessions (fashion-related or otherwise)?
I just started reading the Harry Potter books on Tuesday and I'm on the fourth one now (it's Saturday). They are like a drug. Other than that: the new Big D and the Kids Table album, QI, and summer beer - it's saison season! I'm also a little obsessed with the Kanye West Louis Vuitton sneakers, but I can't quite decide if they're awesome or awful.
Please name your top (in no particular order):
-Books
And Then by Natsume Soseki, Rice As Self by Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, and all the Calvin and Hobbes books.
-Movies
"Who Framed Roger Rabbit," "Rushmore," "Ratatouille," and
"Swingers." Also, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and
"Dr. Strangelove."
-Music
According to Last.fm: Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, Less Than Jake, The Aggrolites, Beck, Pizzicato Five, The Slackers, Big D and the Kids Table, and The Specials.
-Artists
Oskar Fischinger, Chuck Jones, Shag, Bill Watterson, Akira Yamaguchi, Jenny Holzer, Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, etc.
-Websites
heyben.com, avclub.com, iamaviking.com, beeradvocate.com, last.fm, doodlepipski.com, yhchang.com, and Wikipedia.
-Designers
Ha! I can't afford designers. But if I could, probably Fred Perry and Giorgio Armani.
What style advice do you offer to the masses?
Try your best not to get blood on your favorite shirt. You may never find another shirt quite like it.
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