Who else expresses their personal style as uniquely as Haruki Murakami? A Jazz lover who ran a jazz café before his debut, a marathon enthusiast with 25 full marathons under his belt, a cat dad who writes novels while sipping beer with a feline on his lap. Haruki’s distinct tastes are woven into every book he writes. It makes you wonder: what’s his fashion sense like?
©sabukaru.online
Cool, Wild, and Haruki
Honestly, trying to figure out the author’s fashion sense isn’t easy. Even though more than half of his essays dive into his personal tastes, finding insights on his fashion style is a challenge. Does that mean he’s not into fashion? That’s an easy no. In a November 2021 interview with The New York Times he admitted that fashion plays a big role in his development of new characters. The type of clothes and the way they wear them says a lot about a person’s stance and personality.
©nytimes.com
Consider his iconic novel, Norwegian Wood (ノルウェイの森, 1987). When Watanabe first meets Midori, she’s clad in a green polo shirt—an intentional choice, as "Midori" means "green" in Japanese. The story also features Naoko’s elegant camel-colored coat, which vividly recalls her refined style, and the grape-colored round-neck sweater Naoko gifts Watanabe as her final present. These sartorial choices are not just mere details but deliberate touches that infuse the narrative with layers of meaning and emotion, highlighting fashion’s profound role in storytelling.
©imdb.com, ©mubi.com, ©letterboxd.com
Still, what we find in his essays about fashion is surprisingly ordinary. Or maybe, it’s more like the title of his essays—cool and wild. This is a man that in his youth was so into herringbone patterns that he dreamt of getting his first suit in that style. He even had the passion to custom-make a modest olive-green British three-piece suit for a wedding. By the time he was nearing thirty, he decided to embrace a more laid-back style. At a literary award ceremony for the journal Gunzo, he showed off his wild side by showing up in an old cotton suit he bought at a clearance sale, paired with worn out tennis shoes.
by Anzai Mizumaru, who has collaborated with Haruki. Haruki is the man second from the left©fashion-headline.com
”I've got my own fashion muse”
Even Haruki has his favorite pieces. He’s got six Brooks Brothers blazers and a 15,000-yen duffle coat from Van Jacket. His love for the duffle coat is particularly strong—despite the ever-changing winter trends in Japan, from maxi coats and knitwear to leather jackets and puffer parkas, he’s stayed loyal to his duffle coat. He’s even weathered the teasing from his friends who wonder why he’s stuck with the same piece.
©fashionnet.vn
©ivy-style.com
He’s also got his own fashion muses. In an interview with Uniqlo’s LifeWear magazine, he mentioned drawing a lot of inspiration from classic American films. He cites George Peppard from Breakfast at Tiffany’s(1962) and Paul Newman from Harper(1966) as personal style icons. However, he notes that both are known for their suit-centric looks, which don’t quite align with today’s trends. So, it’s less about dressing like them and more about channeling that timeless, sophisticated vibe.
©themoviescene.co.uk
©moma.org
COMME des GARCONS and Haruki
“As both God and everyone around me knows, I’m not exactly one to obsess over fashion. In the summer, it’s T-shirts and shorts; in spring and fall, Levi’s jeans with a sweater or trainers; and in winter, I layer on a leather jacket or a J. Press duffle coat. My shoes of choice are Nike joggers. I do have a couple of pairs of dress shoes—brown and black wing tips from Regal—but they’re sitting in my closet, gathering dust like forgotten relics.” He says.
But Haruki’s attitude towards fashion took a complete turn when he discovered Rei Kawakubo’s COMME des GARÇONS. Everything changed in 1986, when he visited a COMME des GARÇONS factory in Gotō-ku for a series on factory tours.
COMME des GARCONS FW86©rejectsmagazine.com
Fashion enthusiasts often struggle with the notoriously tricky COMME des GARÇONS, so how did Haruki Haruki come to embrace Rei Kawakubo’s distinct style?
Haruki’s adventure with COMME des GARÇONS actually began before his factory visit. He bought a summer jacket and a T-shirt from the brand’s boutique at Seibu Department Store in Shibuya. Although he initially thought the clothes looked like something out of a circus. Despite this, his wife reassured him and ultimately led him to buy the pieces.
Haruki points out a few things he appreciates about COMME des GARÇONS:
1. The clothes are surprisingly comfortable.
2. The more you wear them, the less you notice their uniqueness.
3. There’s a coherent philosophy behind the designs that he finds appealing.
After touring the factory, Haruki’s opinion of the brand shifted to a more positive light. He sensed a deep pride and genuine joy from the people behind the clothes, which made him want to appreciate his jacket even more. This newfound appreciation led him to frequent the COMME des GARÇONS store near Aoyama about three times a year. There’s definitely something captivating about Rei’s designs.
You couldn’t believe how much he loves T-shirts.
When we first heard that Haruki was writing a book about fashion, specifically "MURAKAMI T"(2021), our reaction was something like, “Wait, what?”. We’re sure many of his fans had the same surprise. And to top it off, the essays were serialized in the renowned Japanese fashion magazinePOPEYE.
The Japanese edition of <MURAKAMI T> ©hyperjapan.co.uk
POPEYE magazine, the fashion guide ©ebay.com
At first glance, it might seem like he's just a hardcore T-shirt enthusiast with a wardrobe full of tees. Take a closer look, and you'll see that a lot of them are actually promotional items, souvenirs, or event swag from various publishers. The rest are mostly thrift store finds. The sheer amount of t-shirts may easily decieve you into thinking that’s where his fashion taste ends.
The T-shirts featured in Murakami T ©nytimes.com, ©vanityfair.com
Then again, taste is NOT about being right or wrong. It’s just about gathering the things that speak to you, piece by piece, until they form your unique style. Taste doesn’t demand attention; it just quietly waits for you to embrace it. The real challenge is knowing what you genuinely love. If you can figure that out and stick with it, that’s all it takes to claim it as your own.
Thanks to Haruki, we’ve stumbled upon Horace Silver, the legendary Blue Note pianist, developed a liking for plain tofu as a beer snack, and now dream of sipping rum-spiked coffee in the heart of an Austrian or German winter. So, here’s a big thank you, Haruki-san.
