Neo Tokyo Americana - Welcome to the World of AGNES KRUEL
Walk down the streets of Tokyo and it won't take you long to realize how much Japan is obsessed with American culture. Ever since the 80s and 90s, with "Ame-Kaji" [American Casual] and Urahara cultures leading the scene, western fashion and influences have been the center of Japanese styling. Japanese interpretations of the west are what helped shape the fashion scene today.
Today, there is a new generation of fashion, and a new generation of youth creating waves. Whether it be a revival of Urahara-esque clothing or functional brands, something new is being created in Tokyo every day. With this new generation of youth, more and more foreign talents are making a name for themselves, and becoming upcoming leading figures of the scene.
AGNES KRUEL is one of the young talents in Tokyo quickly establishing a unique status. Directed & designed by Agnes, AGNES KRUEL is a brand located in Japan, with inspirations and references ranging from anime to early philosophy. While still young, Agnes & his brand are on a path which nobody has taken before.
Born and raised in Atlanta, Agnes brings a unique perspective on fashion and style to Japan. With roots tied with music, fashion, movies, and many other subcultures both from the East and West, the young designer is doing things that you can't just do in the United States or Japan, something totally unique to him & his universe.
Agnes’s brand can be perceived from many different angles and perspectives: Americana meets Japanese subculture, the West meets Anime, Funny Games meets Evangelion. A wild ride through his cultural roots, subtle popular culture references from Eastern and Western Media & history, and a big portion of Agnes himself’s aura and energy.
His debut as a designer was a Made-In-Japan "12 GAUGE" bag, a monster of a bag & a hell of a package for a first piece. The bag gives you an understanding of his vision and approach quite clearly: shotgun shells, an armor belt strap, calfskin leather, along with an exhibition & editorial to launch the bag.
Don’t be misunderstood: AGNES KRUEL isn’t just another “up-and-coming streetwear brand”. Just look at the bag. High-quality leather with an insane amount of attention to detail. It was only a matter of time before they all sold out and landed in the hands of young Tokyo stars.
His cultural relevance and impact can not only be seen through AGNES KRUEL, but his extensive loop of friends and those surrounding him. From events with Tokyo Vitamin to hanging out with YouthQuake, Agnes is one of the leading figures of the youth scene in Tokyo ever since he moved here.
Just ask and look around the new generation of upcoming Japanese brands, designers, and artists; the name and persona Agnes Kruel will pop up at any event, party, or club. His cultural ties to the new Tokyo music and street scene are already on another level, from artists like Verdy to Youg Savage Coco.
To take a deeper dive into the mind of Agnes, we asked him some questions to give the world an idea of who he is, what he does, and why he does it.
Can you please introduce yourself to the Sabukaru team and tell us about yourself?
Hey! I am Agnes, creative director and lead designer of AGNES KRUEL. Umm where do I start? I suppose I’m just a bookish guy that ended up in the fashion industry. I guess the start of all this really began from my first trips to Japan. I’d always been a voracious consumer of cultures, beginning with my interests in music and literature since elementary. Around the same time I developed, like many others, an extreme fixation on Japan and Japanese culture.
This aesthetic fascination lead me into my formative interests in fashion and of course, anime. I’d been pretty deep in the Japanese fashion shit since I was about 12... buying DBS sneakers, scouring for my beloved Dior MIJ denims, and browsing HB and SUFU forums. From there I entered university where I was initially studying physics and philosophy. I actually had no intent on pursuing any type of career in fashion, I was much more interested in fashioning myself as an intellectual and perhaps going into academia. From 18, I began funneling all my surplus scholarship funds into plane tickets to Japan. I started visiting Tokyo once a year at the end of each school year or sometimes each semester. My first visitations were idyllic in every facet, everything I could’ve dreamed about and more. There, I could visit all the flagship stores of my favorite Japanese designers and pour over the endless troves of vintage treasures in the many Tokyo Burroughs.
After many occasions of going to Tokyo and partying at trump room only to return to the normalcy of my academic pursuits did it finally click that the career I was pursuing was not going to work out nor satisfy my desires. So I took it upon myself to start taking Japanese courses and begin applying for fashion schools in Tokyo. After flying to Tokyo a couple times for school interviews, I got accepted into one of the ones I wanted to go to. From there, it was a wrap, I dropped out of my university midway thru my final semester and immediately moved to Tokyo to start my new life.
What is the origin of “Agnes Kruel”? Where does it come from and where is it going?
I suppose the origin came from my disillusionment with all of the many brands/designers I’d once drooled over. I’ve been into every brand you can think of since I was a kid ya know? I’ve experienced and indulged in every fashion epoch of the last decade and a half. Of course, the great Japanese designers drew me to this country, but after consuming these products for years, I too, grew tired and bored. They became so drab and uninspiring to me that I no longer got that consumer dopamine from the purchases I once lived for. It was at this point I realized it was time for me to do something.
Fashion and designers as a whole have thrived on the fragile affectations of the bourgeoise. Forever posturing as “artists” while peddling pseudo intellectual pretension. Grifters, preying on the cosmopolitan consumer’s irreverence for art, history, and philosophy. It’s here where I kind of realized the vacuum that existed within this medium.
I find that these days most designers seem to only have an interest in form and color. I find this perspective to be a bit regressive, especially when viewed through the lens of art history. Emphasizing Form, color, and shape, from my perspective, seem to be a bit archaic and childish at this point. Although pleasing to the eye, they convey very little meaning and bear a grave lack of substance.
Furthermore, these predilections cater to an illiterate society, symbol with no significance. Which is why I have a bit of disdain for structural fashion and understand why it seems to operate within an echo chamber. This lack of embrace for the world historical and substance are the exact reasons why I believe fashion has historically been viewed as lesser in comparison to the more revered polite arts, forever to remain as an art of utility or a mere artisanal pursuit. I, personally, have much keener interest in symbol, metaphor, and logos. Employing relational understanding or dialectic to convey true meaning. What’s the point of an “artist” who says absolutely nothing? This is precisely why with, AGNES KRUEL, the goal is to interpret fashion through motifs that embrace historical materialism and symbolic literacy.
AGNES KRUEL is simply my world view materialized. A homunculus made from both my own world view and childhood predilections. There is an aspect of world building to it. My own cosmology....
As for where the brand is going... Only time will tell, the brand is still in its infancy and can take a number of paths but overall I only hope to reach a wider audience.
Currently I’m painting with rough strokes, touching the canvas too many times. With time I hope each stroke will become more deliberate and sophisticated.
You’re from Atlanta. How did your city background influence your style and how does it align itself with you being based in Tokyo?
To be fair, I gained much more from Tokyo than I ever did from Atlanta as far as style is concerned. But Atlanta informed my cultural background in a much stronger way! Going to school there, smoking gas with the homies, doing good ole boy shit is what made me. Catching my first fish, being outside, all that Georgia shit made me. It is exactly that juxtaposition which forms the foundation of AGNES KRUEL. The vulgar arts set against the polite arts, right on top of each other.
What parts of Tokyo culture play the biggest roles in your life and that of your brand?
For me, Tokyo affords me a particular type of clarity and stillness. It sounds cliche, but the tranquility I feel here allows me to think and create in a way I wasn’t able to prior. Furthermore, as a foreigner here, I honestly feel less of a need for conformity when it comes to my designs or preferences. There is less of a need for me to please. I am inherently different here which I feel allows me to expand and explore my individuality to a greater extent. This is priceless when the world we live in is saturated with creatives with homogenous identities.
When it comes to your brand, what are the most significant references?
Most of my design philosophy is centered around using symbolic combinatorics to achieve meanings within the vessel of a garment. The references are so disparate and scattered that it is tough to draw a straight line through all of them. But in short, the references are largely all historical in nature. They function as an analysis and commentary of some of my favorite thinkers, writers and actors throughout history. Like I said before, they’re mostly esoteric and without any historical context, I would imagine my designs are either meaningless or utterly lost in translation.
One of your shirts was a tribute to the Austrian horror film “Funny Games”. What other films inspired you as an artist?
Ahhh this is always a difficult one! I’d say the obvious ones would be “The Man With No Name” trilogy of course! From there I could also say my fond memories of being introduced to “Cool Hand Luke” by my father or first watching the Jodorowsky films for the first times as a teen, Porcile by Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Barry Lyndon of course being one of my favorite period pieces! I’m really into campy films as well so American Pie, The Goonies, and Total Recall rank among my favorites. Most recently I’ve been into German expressionism, though, I was really blown away when watching Nibelungen for the first time!
What kind of literature gives you creative ideas?
Of course it’s typically always whatever historical, philosophical, or obscure esoterica I’m into at any particular moment. However these days I’ve really been trying to expand my knowledge of poetry. These days it’s Milton, Goethe, and [William] Blake. I’ve also been heavy into Christian medieval thought particularly that which lies heavily on the mathematical aspects, specifically Nicholas De Cusa.
Japanese MANGA culture is all around us. What mangas or anime inspired you the most?
I of course have to start with the defining ones read and watched in my youth - Berserk, Jojo, NGE, Samurai Champloo.
Chiefly though, EDEN -IT’S AN ENDLESS WORLD-.
Beyond that Gankutsuou, Flowers of evil, Vampire Hunter D.
Who are your role models and people you look up to?
Ralph Lauren as a person that truly developed his world and lived and loved it in every aspect of his life.
David Lynch as the embodiment of Americana.
Babe Ruth - proper icon.
The Boss [Metal Gear Solid - particularly Snake Eater] - obvious reasons.
Jesus Christ - 🐐.
What does the term “Americana” mean to you?
I mean I inherently understand Americana in the traditional sense as in the popular cultural exports of America since time immemorial. However for AGNES KRUEL it’s a bit different. The brand began with the idea of contemporary Americana. What began with a vision of a “New Atlantis”/ Neo hermetic alternate timeline of America. A kind of mixture of Rosicrucian aesthetics combined with early American Christian mysticism [ie. Johannes Kelpius] mixed with the more rough and tumble, salt of the earth subcultural elements of America [ie. American frontier life + Post reconstruction America African American culture - Jazz / Blues / Rock and Roll].
Imagining that is what brought upon AGNES KRUEL. An inversion of Americana. What could have been and what should have been. This esoteric concept extends to the more literal in the actual aesthetics of the brand. I sought to reinterpret American staples [ie: Ralph Lauren, my favorite designer] as objects that could communicate something deeper and perhaps offer a form of commentary.
COULD YOU tell us more about your Tokyo crew and the community around you in this city?
I owe everyone who embraced me when I first got here everything. I honestly don’t think I could’ve done this without all of them. The whole young creative scene really took me under their wing when I first moved here and introduced me to everybody! Big shoutout to everyone from YouthQuake, Tokyo Vitamin, Breakfast Club, Verdy, Guapular, all the gang I see every week, all the friends I’ve met here [you guys too!], and my beautiful girl! But yea I mean it’s a pretty small community out here, everyone pretty much knows each other. All the homies are super talented and driven to get to where they want to go. And I genuinely think everyone wants to see each other succeed.
That’s a beautiful blessing in itself.
Where are some of your favorite places to hang out in Tokyo/Japan?
Breakfast Club, The few family marts I prefer to loiter in front of, and beat cafe mostly.... lol.
How does an AGNES KRUEL item go from idea to product?
Well, I’m still quite limited in my creative capacity simply due to my ignorance of the various processes involved in production. However, it usually begins with me figuring out what I would like to communicate, then a good deal of research, finally culminating in me interpreting whatever theme, commentary, or historical concept into a wearable garment.
The “12 Gauge Bag” is a stunning piece from your collection. Can you tell us more about its background and the process behind it?
Well the “12 Gauge Bag” was the first design I ever drafted ever. It was thought up years before the brand ever started and really came to life when my girlfriend first drew it up for me! I knew that I wanted our first offering to establish that we were not going to takes from anybody and that the brand would be inventing its own genre. Even at the time of its production, I was like a baby fumbling around, I knew nothing of the steps of production sourcing, nor any semblance of factory connections. Therefore, it went through many iterations of sampling before it became the bag we have all seen.
It was particularly difficult to produce as my first piece because it has a multitude of moving pieces and we produce each component ourselves for the most part. As far as the design goes, it was my first visualization of Contemporary Americana, strong in both its cultural/symbolic signifiers and its aesthetic form. A bag meant to be worn by Pinkerton agents in the parallel world of AGNES KRUEL.
What does a day in the life of Agnes Kruel look like?
Wake up around 9 AM, stretch, go to the Breakfast Club and dine on the same 4 boiled eggs and yogurt I eat every day. There, I will read whatever I’m reading at the time and conduct some research into whatever topic I’m interested in at the moment.
What do you like to do when you're not designing?
Very little of time is actually spent designing, most of my time is spent on research or doing the things that make me me.. ya know?
You have some quite eccentric tattoos. Do you have any favorites? Do they have meaning?
The Bruce Conner piece I have on my chest titled “Christ casting out the legion of devils” and the Tauroctony I have on my stomach. The Bruce Conner piece is a pretty good visualization of my world view. The tauroctony is there because I had a period in my early teenage years where I was quite fixated on studying Mithraism, which culminated in me going to view the famous tauroctony sculpture, which left me a bit mesmerized.
Is there anything you want to tell young kids of today?
Read, read, read..., illiteracy will contribute to your further detachment from history. And without some form of historical anchor you will be adrift clinging only to that which has been fed to you. Beyond that, go outside, develop genuine interests, and maintain hobbies. Creative scenes are much too homogenous these days, largely due to overexposure to the works of others which leads to a sort of desensitization to that which is great.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!
Images via Agnes Kruel
SS21 Images by Billy Fischer
Words by Casey Takumi Omori
Interview by Johnny Terror & Casey Takumi Omori
Layout by Casey Takumi Omori
