Luka Sabbat is Tired of Gatekeeping in Fashion
Tokyo in the blink of an eye is becoming the adopted hometown of the world's creatives.
Luka Sabbat shot by Noah Dillon in Tokyo
But there’s something about Tokyo’s creeping influence that seems less trendy, and rather a sign of a more lasting global cultural shift towards the East. With Tokyo at the forefront of what’s new and now, creative people from all over the world inspired by Japan and broader East Asian cultural innovations, want to do more than take a short trip to Akihabara and then bounce. We are seeing the rise of an international scene who making Tokyo their home long term.
Luka Sabbat is prime example of a creative who has adopted Tokyo as their second home.
Shot by Mayu Uchida
Aside from Tokyo being the launching point for makers across disciplines to push boundaries or simply get their name out into the world through pop-ups, live shows, street art, or small capsule collections, the city has something special… dare we say it, a sense of creative optimism. In the eyes of some, this sense of optimism right now is definitely lacking in previous cultural strongholds like New York City.
Maybe it’s because rent in these “creative capitals” is skyrocketing, riding public transit feels post-apocalyptic, or more subjectively, there's the sense that there’s more judgment and less freedom to try something new in other cities, that attracts people to Tokyo. Aside from these practical reasons, the internet's ability to make global culture more accessible and the declining emphasis on Eurocentrism in the arts [which by no means completely abolished in creative scene] has introduced the new generation of makers to a large array of Japanese innovators- such as heavy hitters Yohji Yamamoto, Katsuhiro Otomo, Yayoi Kusama, and Tadao Ando who have inspired people from abroad to relocate to Japan because of their appreciation for these legends.
Shot by Mayu Uchida
A part of the wave of international creatives drawn to the Tokyo is Luka Sabbat, one of Tokyo’s newest residents- who’s been in love with the city since his teenage years. For those who aren’t familiar with Luka, he’s an actor/model/well pretty much everything. In his words, he’s a “creative entrepreneur” who you may have seen in campaigns from Tommy Hilfinger to Ralph Lauren Fragrances, or lending his eye for design and creative direction with projects for Champion and Maison Margiela. Currently, he plays Luca Hall in the American TV series Grownish alongside Yara Shahidi.
Raised in NYC and briefly in Paris, Luka was born into a fashion-centric family, with a designer father and a stylist mother, surrounded by some of fashion's best [Virgil Abloh and Matthew Williams] as his friends and mentors. Luka’s rise is partially attributed to his use of social media like Instagram during New York City’s Soho 2010s heyday, when he was just a kid snapping pictures of his coveted wardrobe, tweeting honest and irreverent thoughts about style, and loitering around Broadway-Lafayette with his equally well connected and well-dressed friends. Luka in many ways is still regarded as a style icon representing the ethos of the 2010s, especially the decades' insistence on blurring the boundaries between streetwear and luxury [a prime example being the first Supreme X Louis Vuitton collab in 2017], and the industries new respect for what was once deemed “lowbrow” fashion spurred in part by visionaries Tremaine Emory and Kim Jones.
These days Luka’s style and outlook on fashion has changed, he’s tired of “gatekeeping in fashion”, and is on some “new shit”, trying to be a source of knowledge for his followers as he documents his archival fashion escapades one Insta post at a time while continuing to collaborate on artistic projects within a variety of creative spheres.
sabukaru got the chance to speak with Luka outside Trunk Hotel, in between cigarettes and coffee, scratching beneath the surface the standard “teen influencer” label he’s been given, touching upon everything from his anime-inspired outfits to why Tokyo holds a special place in his heart.
Shot by Mayu Uchida
Hey Luka, thanks for taking the time to talk with us. For those who may not know you, can you introduce yourself to the sabukaru network?
I’m Luka Sabbat, I guess… whatever the fuck that means. And I just like to make stuff and shit, you know what I mean? My job description is weird, ‘cause like, it's kind of seasonal. During Fashion Week I work in fashion, and then when I’m not involved in Fashion Week, I'm an actor. I'm really bad at introducing myself ‘cause, I don't even really know who I am. You know what I mean? I'm figuring it out.
You’ve said that Tokyo is the last city you've fallen in love with. As someone who travels constantly, what are specific places and people that bring you back to the city? What are the main differences between the artistic community in NYC and Tokyo?
Luka Sabbat x About You Capsule Collection Editorial
Tokyo's actually the first city I fell in love with. But the last city I fell in love with is Marrakech, Morocco which I visited last year. But yeah, I'm obviously still in love with Tokyo, which is why I'm back here!
Yeah. This is like, I mean, for better or for worse, It depends on how you look at it. To me, it's a better version of New York City, but it's also in other aspects, not a better version of New York.
Most people here have a very high taste level, and I also think people here are so much more dialed-in. In New York, people are into a lot of niche things, but I love that people here get obsessed with one thing. I like that there's an entire town, or neighborhood, that’s dedicated to vintage bookstores and shit like that.
In Tokyo, there’s an underbelly of all these subcultures that are super specific, which I find cool. Not to say New York doesn't have that, ‘cause there's obviously all these like little cliques. But here, I feel like on average people are just more dialed into niche topics and interests.
Luka Sabbat x About You Capsule Collection Editorial
Yeah, you’re right, people in Tokyo are really committed to a certain niche!
Like, on god, it applies to archival fashion. My friend Ako who works at LAILA, well actually I think she owns and runs LAILA…When I buy an article of clothing from her, she has a label with a picture of it on the runway and a detailed receipt for every single thing in her store.
For example the year it was made, if it was a sample, if it was runway, if it's part of an edition of 10, if it's a 10th-anniversary piece.
I think a lot of people in America gatekeep because they want to seem cool. Well versus here, they're all about education. When I'm dealing with people here, they're so happy to teach me something.
Which is why I love this city versus New York. A lot of people act too cool to teach you something ‘cause they want to keep knowledge to themselves, which I find very unfortunate.
What were your first steps behind the camera within design and fashion, how did you develop your artistic/fashion identity?
I was kind of like just testing shit, I guess. I was in high school when I started Hot Mess with Noah Dillon. I guess that was me being curious and me wanting to do stuff. You know, from a young age I was around Virgil [Abloh] and Matthew Williams and Heron Preston. It's funny ‘cause at the time, all these guys...they were into was like streetwear and it's turned into high fashion and, you know, everybody's turned into a pillar of the community.
I guess just seeing all my older friends. Because at first, I was modeling, making clothes, doing shoots, making art, and making furniture. Mainly, Virgil also is one of my biggest inspirations, he’s who I would consider my mentor, still to this day. I was like 15 or 16 when I started hanging out with him.
I just felt like there's nothing that I couldn't do because Virgil was just doing everything. What I loved about Virgil especially was the fact that every idea could just be made, a lot of people try to refine ideas, and that's how nothing ever gets done. But he would just do it.
For example, some people try to be a perfectionist about everything and like never feeling like anything is good enough. Like, if you have an idea for a t-shirt, just do it. No matter how primal it is. An idea is always a work in progress.
So when I was about 17, I started Hot Mess with Noah. I wasn't necessarily good at taking photos or styling, you know what I mean? Noah Dillon of course was always a good photographer. Which is why I naturally was attracted to him. But he's gotten so much better over the years.
You know, we were just trying weird shit. Doing weird shit with lighting. Then like doing our first art show and photos, like we wanted to do shit and I guess I found my identity by just trying everything.
Could you tell us a bit more about Hot Mess?
Yeah. I think Hot Mess at this stage of our life is done. It's dead.
It just started off as a creative collaboration, a creative company. It was like our outlet for doing weird shit.
But it was a very pivotal point in my and Noah's career, into finding our creative identity. It's more like Luka and Noah Dillon,‘cause we're both our own people, you know what I mean? And we actually still work together all the time. So, Hot Mess is still alive in spirit. We still have projects coming, but I just don't think it's labeled as Hot Mess anymore.
Luka Sabbat and Noah Dillon in Tokyo
Truth be told, you were one of the first “Kings of Soho” part of Soho’s 2010 heyday in NYC, where do you see the same kind of energy in Tokyo?
Not necessarily, but that's not a bad thing. I think it goes back to niches and subcultures. There's so many different neighborhoods with different kinds of groups, like pockets, cool kids that hang out in Shibuya. And there's also like, what's there's this other neighborhood I went to? I forgot what it's called, but for lack of a better example, there's a million Sohos here.
Around here it's a bit more like fashion people gather at places like Lion [a music bar in Shibuya]. There's like, there's, you know, it's kind of like it's a different crowd than like others. I am not tuned in enough yet to know who the kids are out here, doing that shit like in Soho but I'm sure that they exist. I hope that when I move here I find these kids.
Luka Sabbat x About You Capsule Collection
What's cool also about Japan is you never get used to it. You always find some new shit. Just when you think you’ve figured it out, you find some new shit. It never ceases to surprise you and amaze you.
You always find a new spot, a new bar, some new store, like a hundred percent. And you just like crazy spots, like in residential areas. There's cool stores on the third floor of a building.
Shot by Mayu Uchida
What are some and coming Japanese streetwear brands you have your eye on?
Yes, and no. My friend Shohei introduced me to some. I don't remember all of their names because I was, uh, intoxicated when he told me all these things.
Plus, like, he named like 12 brands and like, I don't know, I'm not Japanese and I don’t know how to say like half of them. There's a lot of creatives out here and there's a lot of kids making sick shit, but they're like they're at their house, working on one piece at a time.
There's just so much cool shit out here.
What do you want to see more of in general, within the fashion industry. What are you sick of?
So, my new style on Instagram would be posting like a runway photo, especially when I wear archive clothing. I want to give the exact reference because basically I'm tired of people gatekeeping fashion as if it's not public knowledge. I guess this would inspire me if I heard someone was doing that when I was first getting into fashion. That's why I'm changing my Instagram's whole purpose. Before that, I wouldn't tell people what certain things I was wearing were, I wanted to be niche and for others not to know what I was on.
Luka Sabbat in Tokyo
I was like oh, “I don't want random people to know about these 2004 Winter Margiela pants”, you know? But like now I’m thinking, why the fuck not?
That's how I got into fashion, you know, like seeing other people I thought were cool wearing really, really, special pieces. I want to do that for people who are part of the next generation… I'm like, why are people gatekeeping pants?
Like, why are you being secretive about a jacket? Like there aren't multiples of this. Also, the jacket wasn't made for you. Especially with art, you know, and fashion…people gatekeep all these vintage things, dude it wasn't even made for you. You're buying something old that is being upcharged and resold to you.
Luka Sabbat x About You Capsule Collection
I want people to be more open. I want it to kind of be more of an open book when it comes to clothing. Like people get so serious at the end of the day.
Dude, they're just clothes. Yeah. I'm like an anti-hipster. Stop being too cool. It actually makes you lame.
You challenge conventional masculinity through your style and you have previously said that you don’t believe in gendered fashion, where does this ideology come from?
How did you get into that? The thing is I never thought about that and it's actually just me being me.
But I like that it's being perceived that way. I’m just thinking shit's cool but I'm not sitting here thinking “I'm bending gender norms or anything.” It's like these heels exist in my size, and they make legs look long. [laughs]
I like how they make me look. I feel like a bad bitch. You know? Clothes exist and like they [referring to womens or genderbending fashion] make me look good. There should be no limitations. Whether your wearing a fucking kilt or a skirt or fucking heels, who fucking cares? If you feel like you look sick, you just look sick. In no shape or form did I ever try to be revolutionary. It's all referential. I mean Lenny Kravitz, who's kind of my big bro in a way,he already did everything I did.
History repeats itself. I don't wanna compare myself to Lenny Kravitz, but it's been done before. I'm not the first to do it and I won't be the last to do it.
It's just what I do. You know what I mean? There are a million other kids that also do it. I guess I ended up having a platform which, you know, influenced people, which I'm glad about! I’m dabbling into shit that might not be [makes air quotes] “conventional”, but like, what is conventional about fashion?
That's what style is, being able to do all these different things pulling all these references from movies. One of my favorite movies is True Romance. That's inspired me…all the military jackets with the blazers under it, et cetera, et cetera.
Luka Sabbat x About You Capsule Collection
So, although that wasn’t your intention to genderbend fashion you’re fine with being perceived as doing that?
Nobody ever made me feel weird about it ‘cause I knew I looked good. Like how is somebody in Abercrombie and Fitch jeans going to tell me about my Rick Owens heels. How are you gonna talk to me about style, when you're not even stylish?
Fashion is bigger than clothes. Like in the drag scene, the makeup and there's the punk scene, there's the grunge scene, there's a metal scene. Fashion is a form of expression. The people that usually hate on style don't use fashion as a form of self expression.
They're not trying to look cool. It's like people wearing whack ass jeans from whack ass brands and are telling me about what I'm wearing. Dude, like look at the shit you are wearing.
The people that usually throw stones are the ones that live in glass houses.
You’ve starred in an anime called The Sun and The Snake, did that come about from a love of anime/manga? What were some of the first anime/manga you got into?
Oh, big time dude. I grew up watching shows like Soul Eater, Bleach, Elfen Lied. I also heard about the new Chainsaw Man thing. I really want to watch that. I’m super into anime and games, a lot of my style inspiration comes from video games.
There's this fit I did a few years ago with leather biker boots. They reminded me of Paul from Tekken, which was my like style inspiration for that fit.
Luka is inspired by Japanese pop culture, such as Paul from the game Tekken, who he’s drawn fashion inspiration from.
I had this one outfit with a Haider Ackerman peacoat and heels that was inspired by Sephiroth from Final Fantasy. Anime and manga have definitely affected the way I am and think to this day.
Are you reading any manga or watching any anime now?
Unfortunately not. I still have a love for it though. I'm gonna watch that new Chainsaw Man. It's just so hard to keep up, because when I was a kid, I had all the time in the world to read manga, but I don't anymore, you know what I mean?
I've grown to be really into film and movies and scripts. So I kind of became an actor. And f building off of that.
sabukaru focuses on documenting subculture, are there any Japanese subcultures or fashion icons that have had an impact on the way you dress or what you design?
Subculture and Japanese fashion, it's more like a way of life. I love how fashion or an interest is a lifestyle out here. From the way people dress, going back to the self-expression thing, people really abide by who they are. I'm sure there's posers out here, there's posers everywhere in the world. But, what I'm saying is people for the most part here are really true to who they are here. And from the way people design things here, you can tell it's genuine.
Luka Sabbat x About You Capsule Collection Editorial
You know you go to people's houses and their clothes match the interior design of their homes. Verus like, you'll go to like LA, New York, and some kid wearing fucking full Rick Owens and all this other shit, you’ll go to their crib and they have whack-ass furniture. People really go out of their way to encapsulate everything around them to match their style, they have this cohesiveness. Like a lifestyle curation. I'm trying to curate my lifestyle too.
What are your next moves, is there anything you're excited about that you want to mention to our readers?
Well, we just finished shooting my collaboration with About You. It's my first capsule collection. And I'm really excited for that, because I’ve never had a capsule collection before.
Luka Sabbat x About You Capsule Collection
People always ask me, why don't you have a brand? And I say it's too stressful. I don't have the infrastructure for making a brand. It's annoying getting fabrics and producing, so finding somebody else that has the infrastructure is great. For this upcoming capsule collection, I was really meticulous about everything and sometimes there’s a lot of pushback, but I’m always thinking if this is the right level, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Luka Sabbat x About You Capsule Collection Editorial
I'm actually really happy with the end product and I'm excited for the next one. We're already started designing the next capsule, and hopefully this is like an entry point for my window into design or something.
Shot by Mayu Uchida
