On July 27th, I had the chance to sit down with GASHICON, the illustrator and designer of HANGRY&ANGRY, at Otakon (A three day event held at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland, USA). There were some complications in this interview, but I had thankfully made it "on time" as GASHICON was 10 minutes late herself, thus making all of her interview times shorter. Instead of the 30 minute interview we were to have, it became 12-15 minutes, so not all of the questions that we, VKH staff, had prepared were able to be asked. In the time it took to set up, she was fairly curious about what VKH was about, so I explained we covered Japan in general--mostly the Visual Kei genre. She had two translators sitting beside her as we spoke. I asked the questions based on her previous answer so to make it feel like we were going in order. Some of the questions were about here Fashion Show prior to the interview (it was at 11am and we have it covered here). Though the interview was very short, Ms.GASHICON gave us some very valuable answers!
Ran: Would you please give us a short introduction about yourself?
GASHICON: I am the HANGRY&ANGRY designer, GASHICON. I design both the characters and fashion. For the character, HANGRY is a Punk cat and ANGRY is a Gothic-Lolita characters.
Ran: Where does the concept of HANGRY&ANGRY come from?
GASHICON: Where it first comes from is h. NAOTO. Their character is based on the punk aspect as well as the goth aspects that h.NAOTO have. HANGRY represents the Punk aspect and ANGRY represents the Gothic aspects.
Ran: What would you describe your current outfit as in one word?
GASHICON: (laughs) Normally I do not wear white clothing, even in the HANGRY & ANGRY things I only wear black things. So usually HANGRY & ANGRY is black and red colors, but today I decided to use a different concept.
Ran: Which part of it do you like best?
GASHICON: Hmm... The fabric of this skirt has a specific design. Also, the feel of it is very different from other fabrics. If you touch it, it feels soft at some part, and rough at others. Because of how unusual it is, I like it very much.
Ran: h.NAOTO has different clothing lines along-side yours. What is it like to collaborate with other designers?
GASHICON: Everyone has their own brand attributes and, since everyone has different views and attitudes, I learn a lot of new things--such as views on how I design my clothing. The designers are all unique with different backgrounds, and from talking to them, I can look at my work from all different points of view.
Ran: How do you choose your fabrics?
GASHICON: The reason is I think of the tone of the colors. Black and red, for example, has many tones, meaning it can be interpreted in many different ways. Now I think about the tone of the colors.
Ran: How do you come up with the designs?
GASHICON: I always think about HANGRY and ANGRY would wear in terms of style and how they would look in it.. Like HANGRY would look cute in this and ANGRY would look cute in that. Those details.
Ran: Who would you say you are more like, HANGRY or ANGRY?
GASHICON: (laughs) That is tough to say. I usually say I am more like HANGRY, but "off-screen", I am more like ANGRY.
Ran: How did you feel about this morning's fashion show?
GASHICON: In Japan I have many fashion shows, but today I was able to show off a lot of the clothes I really wanted to show and, in terms of that, I had lots of fun. When models walk around, I hear cheers. Hearing those cheers, I realize that people really like HANGRY&ANGRY.
Ran: How do you choose your models?
GASHICON: When I look at the photos I look at their expression and think about how much the person wants to express themselves. Also and how bright their smiles are.
Ran: What are your future plans?
GASHICON: Back in Japan there is a show in Autumn and I plan to take part in it. My next goal is to participate in more shows, but I definitely hope that I will get to go to more shows and conventions in the US like this.
I would like to thank GASHICON for taking the time out of her tight schedule to sit with me for this interview! I would also like to thank Mr.Victor Albisharat for giving VKH assistants ability to work the fashion show that morning as well as during the interview! (thanks again Misumi!) Also see our Live report from the HANGRY&ANGRY fashion show!
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