I believe that clothing is a small form of self-expression. When I moved to Tokyo for college in 1965, IVY style was in its golden age, but I didn't like it, so I often wore JUN's women's brand ROPÈ. I was 20 kg thinner than I am now, weighing only 48 kg. After the bubble brand culture, I used to wear ISSEY MIYAKE and PAUL SMITH for a while, but as I got older, it became a hassle to go shopping, and now I buy exclusively at ZARA and GU in Odaiba, which is easy to stop by by car. I am wondering if this is because I have lost the desire for self-expression with age, or if it is because I have found other ways to express myself.

What is different from life in the 1900s, where I have spent most of my life, is the overwhelming development of the last 20 years. I, too, make great use of the convenient goods like smartphones that have become available. You might say that the contemporary life is a life of living with a smartphone. However, I actually make decisions based on my own evaluations after visiting exhibitions and on paper books as primary sources of information. Therefore, even though contemporary life is changing on the surface, it may not have changed much from the 1900s on a deeper level.

The Takahashi Ryutaro Collection is becoming a huge volume, and I am occupied with the question of how to pass this on to future generations.