A Japanese Fashion Statement

If you haven’t already heard of tokidoki, you just might be living with a tribe in the rainforest. Tokidoki is currently one of those hottest things to skim the surface of the Japanese consciousness introduced to the American urban couture straight from… Italy? That’s right, one of the biggest and soulfully aligned Japanese inspired artistic designs come from a land far removed from its adopted homeland.

Simone Legno an artist from Rome, Italy had fairly humble beginnings. He started tokidoki as an online diary/portfolio to feature his art, which when you’re talking to an artist, is the very same as their soul. A huge fan of Japan he chose the word Tokidoki, which translates to “sometimes” in Japanese, to signify his personal beliefs in life. “I love everything from the ultra modern happy face of Shibuya to the serious magic silence of Kyoto. I chose tokidoki because everyone waits for moments to change one’s destiny. By simple chance or meeting a new person, tokidoki is the hope, the hidden energy everyone has inside that gives us the strength to face a new day and dream something positive, that something magical will happen to us”

Since starting the website he was always swamped with emails expressing fans love for his art, but none more shocking than an email he got in early 2003. The co-founder of Hard Candy Cosmetics and her husband had seen Simone’s website and were infatuated with the artistic beauty and pleasant simplicity of his designs and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Move from Rome to Los Angeles and build Tokidoki into a brand to share with the world. It was an offer he couldn’t refuse.

His art has been internationally recognized, in Project FOX, Volkswagen selected 21 of the worlds top young artists to create the Hotel Fox, an exclusive hotel based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The hotel invited journalists from all over the world to experience the launch of their latest automobile, the VW Fox . Simone designed 2 rooms, the "tokidoki world" and "Japanese garden".

Mercedes-Benz even gave a nod to Simone as tokidoki was chosen to participate and design Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. The event is organized by 7th on 6th, the New York fashion company that also produces New York fashion week, which is the largest fashion week in the US. The Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week was visited by virtually everybody intimate with LA fashion and hosted 100,000 people in 5 days.

We think that’s just a tip of the iceberg. Simone now lives in Los Angeles and is living his dream, sharing the experience of the cute and playful yet sexy and sophisticated world of tokidoki. With Simone’s personal dream of making the world a more positive place, his light-hearted designs are a refreshing contrast to the gritty almost down-right offensive urban designs that clutter the market today, he just might be able to turn the tides and make the fashion world a much more vibrant place.