Lauren Rodriguez has an eye for cool. The designer of Lorod is known for her deft reworking of American classics, taking a boxy denim jacket or crisp work shirt and twisting it just so to fit the mold of the downtown New York uniform. Thus when the young Parsons grad, armed with her camera, decided to head to Japan for the first time—passing through Tokyo, Hakone, and Kyoto—it followed that her lens would no doubt catch the unique contours of these three cities and their stylish denizens.
Here, Rodriguez shares a record of the people she met and the places she’ll never forget.
“Japan has been on my list of places to visit for years. My boyfriend was a part of a group show in Tokyo, so it was the perfect excuse to finally make the trip. We were there for two weeks with some friends who were also in the show. I was able to visit some of our stockists in person and source some amazing vintage pieces for inspiration. We started in Tokyo and went to Hakone, which reminds me of Big Sur, full of natural hot springs. From there we went to Kyoto, which had some of my favorite shops and where I found some of my favorite treasures. There were so many special people, delicious foods, and tchotchkes to be discovered.”
