" Eyewear may be an accessory, but it's an indispensable supporting actor for completing a style," says designer Toshiyuki Watanabe. A pop-up event focusing on his brand BLANC will be held from July 11th (Wed) to 22nd (Sun) at the International Creators section on the 2nd floor Isetan Shinjuku Store, Men's Building . We conducted an interview with him. "When choosing BLANC , don't just look at it from the neck up; take a look in a full-length mirror and judge whether it fits your style as a whole," he continued, explaining the reason behind this.

Event Information
BLANC Promotion

□ July 11th (Wed) - 22nd (Sun)

□ Isetan Shinjuku Store, Men's Building 2nd Floor = International Creators
▶Click here for event details

Toshiyuki Watanabe, designer of eyewear brand BLANC

We want our eyewear to enhance your individuality when you wear it.

—The idea that eyewear, though an accessory, is an indispensable supporting player is interesting.
If Watanabe eyewear itself stands out too much on the face, it becomes too conspicuous, and the wearer ends up being a supporting character. Comfort and ease of wear are certainly important, but BLANC 's current goal is for eyewear to play a role in creating the image of "how I want to dress" within the wearer's current style. We want the wearer to feel "fashion."

—Is that idea based on your experience as a buyer and store manager at a select shop, Mr. Watanabe?
Watanabe : That's right. It's become commonplace to go to select shops to buy shoes and bags to match your clothes. It's also become common to say things like, "I like what the buyer at that shop has chosen," or "That shop's selection is always reliable," but eyewear still has a strong sense of being something you have to go to a specialty store for. Especially with sunglasses , we want people to choose them as a fashion item that becomes part of their outfit, so we want BLANC sunglasses to become an item that people choose in that way over the next 10 years or so.

—It's like it "fits perfectly with your own style"...
Watanabe: In this age where social media is dominant, we're getting more and more "likes," but I want to create a brand that makes people think, "I want this!" Sunglasses are a unisex item, so I'd be happy if they looked good on both men and women, and if they became a part of the person's individuality. It would be the best if people felt like they "just clicked" when they put them on.

I never even considered starting an eyewear brand.

--Ms. Watanabe, you're from Fukui Prefecture. You participated in the launch of MIHARAYASUHIRO and served as the manager of the directly managed store and as a buyer for a select shop. Have you been influenced by Mr. Mihara?
I loved the shoes that Mihara Watanabe made. I was able to witness firsthand the process of him starting out designing shoes on his own and growing it into such a big brand, and I learned about the difficulties and joys of starting a brand from scratch. However, when I left the store, I never even considered that I would start my own eyewear brand. I was involved in fashion for 18 years, but I left the industry with the intention of resetting my life.

—So how did that lead you to start making eyewear?
While working as a freelance buyer, Watanabe traveled back and forth between Tokyo and Fukui, and he had a friend in his hometown who was involved in eyeglass manufacturing. He started making samples with the completely naive idea that "maybe I could make sunglasses." Looking back on that time, "I made a mistake" is a more accurate way to put it (laughs). But as he continued making samples, it became really interesting.

Sunglasses 27,000 yen

—What aspects did you find interesting?
Watanabe initially made three sample models, but they all looked terrible. He repeated this process several times, becoming increasingly motivated as he wasted samples, wondering, "Why do the samples look so bad when they look so cool in the illustrations?" He began to understand how the atmosphere of the product changes drastically when he made millimeter-by-millimeter adjustments to the samples and how it all came together on the face. He realized that this was a world where you couldn't just make something haphazardly, and that's when he started to find the process really interesting.

—So, when did you make your brand debut?
When Watanabe made about 15 or 16 samples, he showed them to a friend from his apparel days, and they were surprisingly well-received. The brand was featured in a fashion magazine even before it was released, so he had no choice but to start mass production. Therefore, the accurate brand history is that the brand had a pre-debut in 2012, and the collection started in Spring/Summer 2013.

What makes BLANC eyewear so appealing, offering a next-generation sense of "fashion"?