Japanese textile and clothes designer Akira Minagawa is known for his minä perhonen fashion label, which is characterised by a romantic, slightly naïve, style. The design is detail-oriented and conscientiously worked out.

Minagawa established the minä fashion label in 1995 and eight years later he added ’perhonen’, which is Finnish for ‘butterfly’. Minagawa chose this Finnish word because he often travels in the Northern countries, where he feels in harmony with the culture and lifestyle. He felt that the butterfly was an attractive and appropriate symbol of his design, evoking the lightness and colours of his highly feminine fashion.

Minagawa wants to create clothes that go beyond the limits of fashion and can retain (and improve) their functionality over the years. It is his idea that clothes should possess a timeless beauty that enables them to live through generations.

Scandinavian design is very popular in Japan and this enthusiasm is also very much in evidence in Minagawa’s fashion collections, where Japanese influences blend very prettily and creatively with those of Scandinavia. Thus, Minagawa is able to combine his fascination of the Northern countries with his own cultural roots and create the absolutely unique personal style that has made his designs so popular in the recent decade.