Poggy Style : Dressing for Work and Play

Poggy Style is the modern man’s guide to getting dressed, from Motofumi “Poggy” Kogi—a sought-after fashion tastemaker and street style star known for his refreshing perspective on men’s dressing for today.

In Japanese culture, there is the concept of hare (roughly translated as festive or extraordinary occasions) and its antonym is ke (roughly translated as ordinary, or day-to-day). It is often said that living a life of ke alone withers the spirit. Human beings need the occasional moment of hare, and they should dress accordingly.

Resolving this tension of dressing for both work and play, and for both formal and informal settings, is what has driven Poggy over two decades of design and curation. By mixing streetwear savvy with what is referred to in Japan as “Traditional” Western fashion, he challenges rigorous definitions of what is done or not done, inventing new ways of dressing up. In his own inimitable way, Poggy shares with readers how fun and appropriate it can be when you break the so-called rules. His sartorial approach is casual, but with a little effort: a hoodie layered under a tweed jacket, a tailored suit styled with sneakers and topped with a wide-brimmed hat, a basketball jersey paired with a cozy vintage coat.

In contrast to fashion titles devoted to the collections of one creator, Poggy Style is all about self-expression, and how inexpensive or lovingly worn items can be extremely versatile or can express one’s individuality: a new wabi-sabi sensibility.

Motofumi “Poggy” Kogi is based in Tokyo and is a fashion curator and designer. He started working for UNITED ARROWS in 1997, and started his own independent practice in 2018, and his own label POGGYTHEMAN. Jun Takahashi is the founder and designer of Undercover. W. David Marx is an author of books on Japanese fashion culture.