Sartorial lessons from the cult Japanese pop artist who has influenced Mr Kanye West and Off-White’s Mr Virgil Abloh.

Good style, more often than not, is not about wearing clothes at all. It’s about personality. This can be observed most satisfyingly with Mr Takashi Murakami, a man who has personality in bucketfuls and dresses accordingly. The invariably cheery contemporary artist, often pictured grinning and bespectacled in some insanely layered and variegated getup, is rare in that he manages to straddle the fashion and art worlds with apparent ease and joviality – and combines the two rather well in his dress sense, too.

“Only Takashi Murakami Could Pull Off This Tentacle Skirt” applauded US Vogue last summer, after the Japanese artist was pictured wearing an octopus-esque skirt to an art show opening. The artist has also been making cameos on fashion’s front row for over a year now. He has attended some of the industry’s heaviest hitters’ shows including Raf Simons, Off-White, Louis Vuitton and Dior. Oh, and Mr Virgil Abloh’s creative career is at least partly down to Mr Murakami. The artist told Esquire last year: “[In 2017], in Chicago, I had a show at the MCA. Virgil came to see me, and he told me that the reason he entered into this creative world is because he saw my collaboration with Louis Vuitton with the multicoloured monogram.”

Mr Murakami’s trajectory into fashion has also been shaped by his fans. It might be something to do with his collaborations with Mr Kanye West and his friendship with Mr Abloh, but super-obsessive hypebeasts seem to gravitate to Mr Murakami as much as they do to the latest Yeezy sneaker drop. After being surprised that they recognised him at ComplexCon last year, Mr Murakami said, “I had no idea why they knew my face, but they were kind of otaku – geeky-looking, Star Wars fan kind of people who were shaking in front of me saying ‘Oh, it’s Takashi! Oh my god, oh my god!’”

Really, though, Mr Murakami’s popularity in the streetwear world, though serendipitous, makes total sense. Much in the same way that streetwear has married high fashion with street style in the past few years, Mr Murakami is known for melting the boundaries between high and low art. He is known for coining the term “superflat” to describe his work, which is often inspired by manga and anime, and riffs on Japanese pop culture and graphic arts.

Mr Murakami might not be a man whose style we want to emulate (we’re not sure we could if we tried), but he is a sartorial icon nonetheless. Though his hotchpotch looks may appear slightly shambolic, the artist knows exactly what he’s doing. From camouflage coats to white satin trousers, Off-White and Louis Vuitton bags plus sneakers adorned with his own instantly recognisable grinning-flower motif, Mr Murakami is good at wearing… well, anything he wants, apparently. And what makes a better dresser than that?

The artist featured in this story is not associated with and does not endorse MR PORTER or the products shown