Godzilla shoe designer celebrates Oscars red carpet

URAWA, Japan (AP) — A Japanese work that attracted attention on the Oscars red carpet was not a film, but rather peculiar shoes whose heels seemed to be held by Godzilla’s own claw.

The shoes are the work of Ryosuke Matsui, who recently described his joy at seeing “Godzilla Minus One” director Takashi Yamazaki and his special effects team from Japanese animation studio Shirogumi walk the red carpet and win the Academy Award. Academy for the best visual effects, all while wearing their shoes.

“The director loves my shoes, he calls them his uniform,” Matsui told The Associated Press in an interview.

At 35 years old and with a fashion career spanning barely a decade, Matsui runs his own brand called Hazama, which means “the space between” in Japanese.

Hazama, a small company with just six employees, offers feminine ensembles with full skirts as well as gothic themes, kimonos and sweaters in gradient colors, jackets with repetitive motifs reminiscent of Andy Warhol, sofas and coffee tables and, of course, shoes with crazy heels and a touch of kitsch.

One pair has a gun trigger that you can actually pull, albeit without bullets, while another appears to be jammed in alien blood-red teeth.

“Dark fantasy” is what Matsui calls his motifs. His imaginary world is full of strange creatures like witches, scary penguins and iridescent polar bears, where objects suddenly melt, a face can be replaced by a giant rose or a horrible hand grabs your heel from underground.

Those in-between spaces of his brand are the filters through which Matsui sees and expresses his fascinating stories inhabited by “the people” he has invented. The designer says he would love to have his own cafe or work on an animation project.

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“Of course, cool people look cool no matter what they wear, but clothes can change the way you think, how you relate to the people around you, it works as that door to building your confidence,” he said. .

Matsui’s friendly and no-nonsense attitude challenges his demure image. Sitting amid piles of boxes and packages of clothes in his office on the outskirts of Tokyo, he wore a Hazama hoodie with rainbow-dyed fangs of an “aurora shark,” with ripped Yves Saint Laurent jeans and Nike shoes. He said that he wasn’t wearing his Godzilla shoes because he was working.

The Godzilla shoes originated as a special request from the film’s producer for the Japanese release in October of last year. The attention they received at the recent Academy Awards ceremony was somewhat unexpected.

It took Matsui about a year to finish the three initial designs, actress Minami Hamabe’s 75,000 yen ($500) shoes, Yamazaki’s 88,000 yen ($600) shoes, and boots decorated with jagged scales, with a priced at 105,500 yen ($700), from Ryunosuke Kamiki, the film’s co-star alongside Godzilla.

The first batch of the shoes which included hundreds of pairs was sold out. Plans are afoot to produce more, perhaps in different colors, such as gold, in homage to the Oscar statuette.

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Interest has been enormous, according to Matsui. But, in theory, everyone who wants a Godzilla shoe should be able to get one, eventually.

Growing up in a loving family that sent him to piano and swimming lessons and to intensive “juku” schools (fee-paying institutions that offer supplementary classes), Matsui graduated from the prestigious Keio University and could have easily become a successful ” salaryman” like other young Japanese.

But she didn’t want to let go of her then blonde hair.

Although he has always respected fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto, he deliberately focused on the color and texture of the fabric, rather than Yamamoto’s black and strong lines.

When asked about his international ambitions, Matsui acknowledged that he is very happy to work in Japan. His dream is surprisingly local: creating styles for Bump of Chicken, a Japanese rock band.

Plus, he’s afraid of flying on airplanes.