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Shibuya Zarny fled to Japan from Burma with his parents as a child and began his fashion career as a model in Tokyo before going on to make clothes for the royal family.
“Fashion is an art that allows me to survive,” the designer, whose brand recently held a 10th anniversary exhibition in Bangkok, told AFP.
The fashion show had Southeast Asian influences in its designs, from leaf and eye motifs to the jewellery worn by shirtless male models under their colourful jackets.
Zani’s parents came to Japan as political refugees in 1993 when he was just eight years old. As a teenager, he dressed fashionably as a way to avoid being bullied.
His mother first taught him to make clothes and it wasn’t long before Zani was scouted to become a model on the capital’s dance floors with his slender figure and focused gaze.
“We didn’t have Instagram then,” he recalls, and in order to see and be seen, he would hang out in bars, malls and a quirky photo booth called Purikura.
Zani frequented Shibuya, the youthful district that he later named after.
“Shibuya was really dangerous back then. There was a whole underground community there” filled with gang members, he said.
As his career took off, Zarny founded his own eponymous brand in 2011, and a year later he finally obtained Japanese citizenship.
The budding designer presented 70 longyis, a traditional garment tied at the waist, to Myanmar’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
In 2012, she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in a lavender gown, a moment Zani said “changed my life.”
– ‘brave heart’ –
In the following years, in addition to his fashion shows, Zani also served as a mediator between Japan and Myanmar.
In 2019, he even accompanied Princess Yoko of Mikasa, Japan, on a visit there (dressed in an original Zarny costume).
Now, Suu Kyi, who has been detained since Myanmar’s 2021 coup, is raising funds for others who have fled their home country.
When the military seized power, Zarni was flooded with messages asking for help.
“Many refugees from Myanmar come to Thailand through the border,” the 39-year-old said.
He took immediate action, working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and organizing an event in Tokyo.
“The Burmese people have lost their self-esteem and they are sad. So I want to show the power of my fashion and give them confidence and a brave heart.”
Zani’s professional network in Myanmar is scattered — just one of the challenges he has faced in recent years.
As the coronavirus pandemic stopped people from flying to parties, demand for his pricey clothing plummeted, ultimately forcing him to abandon his showroom in Tokyo’s upscale Omotesando district.
One of his top clients — politician Shinzo Abe, for whom he once made suits — resigned as prime minister in 2020 and was shot dead two years later.
– Starting from the beginning –
But Zarny is no stranger to starting over, and has already dabbled in interior design.
He has also created a suit for the captain of the refugee team at the upcoming Paris Olympics and hopes to one day be able to present his designs to the public.
Today, Zani runs his studio from a small apartment north of Tokyo, with dozens of small paintings depicting idyllic Burmese scenes hanging on the walls.
“My grandfather was an art professor and when I was a child I missed Burma so much so he painted these watercolours for me,” he said.
A recent show in Bangkok generated strong demand from Thai patrons, which led Zani to reflect on his roots.
“I kept wondering: Where am I from? Am I a Japanese designer, or something else?” he said.
“I finally realized ‘I’m from Southeast Asia,'” Zani said, adding that he wanted to focus on this “original” source of inspiration. –AFP
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