Hikaru Utada features in Burberry’s The Trench, Portraits of an Icon campaign. And fashion sites don’t care.

Over the past couple of years Hikaru Utada has been popping up more and more at fashion week events. Before there was always some sort of connection. Around the time Hikaru first started popping up at fashion shows, it was for Sacai, which made sense given that Hikaru Utada featured as a brand ambassador for the 2022 Cartier collaboration with Chitose Abe — the founder and creative director of Sacai. And maybe this is when Hikaru got bitten by the fashion show bug. Because since then, every now and then Hikaru would show up to a fashion show.

Hikaru and fashion shows seems random…because it kinda is. But…it also kinda isn’t.

Whilst Hikaru may not be seen as an obvious star who is synonymous with fashion, compared to the likes of Ayumi Hamasaki, who has always been about glitz, glamour and showing off labels — fashion has always been a huge part of Hikaru Utada’s visual package. In their music videos, for their live performances. Ultra Blue seemed to be the point at which Hikaru’s stylist Kyohei Ogawa seemed to lock in on specific types of silhouettes and looks, which would become somewhat of a signature for Hikaru Utada. The outfit on the Ultra Blue album cover, which Hikaru wore for Utada United. The purple asymmetrical dress for Wild Life. The oversized red sweat-set for 40-Dai-wa Iro Iro. The Tomo Koizumi dress for the cover art for “Gold ~Mata au hi Made~”. The multi-coloured Issey Miyake for Science Fiction. You get the picture.

And ever since their return with Fantome, Hikaru’s off-stage looks have also been very consistent. Never flashy, but always carefully curated, styled and with a statement piece. Just look at pictures of what Hikaru Utada has worn over the past decade and you’ll see a clear theme. Sweats and blouses with really interesting cuts. Never anything with logos. Understated. Fashionable.

So, the more Hikaru started showing up to fashion events, the more it made sense. And it honestly started to seem like Hikaru was just doing it to get out of the house and have themselves a good time — which I also thought was cool and a bit of a subtle flex. ‘I’m bored. I’mma go to a fashion show’. OKAY BITCH.

Hikaru showing up to the recent Burberry show — I figured it was one of those ‘I’m bored’ moments. Burberry’s show was in London. Hikaru lives in London. So it’s just a taxi ride away. But it turns out Hikaru showing up to Burberry was business. It was still ‘Gurl, lemme have just one night away from my child to watch these skinny people walk around in trench coats and then sip some whine’. But it was also business, as Hikaru features in Burberry’s latest campaign — The Trench, Portraits of an Icon. Which is HUGE.

Hikaru Utada - The Trench, Portraits of an Icon | Burberry

I think it’s the first time Hikaru Utada has featured in a global campaign, which is kinda crazy when you think about it, considering not just how long Hikaru has been in the game, but the brands they’ve partnered with over the years. Despite Hikaru having been the face of many global brands over the years, the campaigns were always just for Japan. Nintendo. Just for Japan. Sony. Just for Japan. And now they’re in a campaign for a British brand and it’s a global campaign.

However, coverage of the campaign has not been great. And this is where you see today’s ‘journalism’ at work, where the writers of these articles and posts aren’t even curious about names they don’t recognise. Because so many of the outlets which broke the news of the Burberry campaign, mentioned Hikaru Utada by name — as they would, because it’s in the press release given to them by Burberry — but none of them featured Hikaru’s images in their posts. And in a day and age of clicks, virality and trying to capitalise on other forms of entertainment and media, you’d think more outlets would want to leverage this for extra visibility and reaching new readers. But nope. Because had anybody just Googled ‘Hikaru Utada’, they would have realised that they are SOMEBODY with a huge following that gets clicks. JYP also features in this campaign, and he wasn’t even mentioned in some of the articles I’d seen. And he’s the CEO of one of K-pop’s big three at a time when K-pop is global. So you would have thought outlets would have pimped his name and image, but nope.

Oh well. The fact that somebody at Burberry sought out Hikaru Utada is very cool. Somebody at Burberry has taste. And regardless of who didn’t post which shot — Hikaru still got their Burberry coin. And they would have got paid in sterling, which is great. Because, baby. The yen? Low. And that exchange rate? Horrible. And this economy? In the toilet.

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💿 Albumkaru Reviewtada: Precious | First Love | Distance | Deep River | Exodus | Ultra Blue | Heart Station | This is the One | Fantôme | Hatsukoi | Bad Mode | Science Fiction

💿 Singlekaru Reviewtada: Time | Dare ni mo Iwanai | One Last Kiss | Pink Blood | Gold ~Mata au hi Made~ | Nani Iro Demo Nai Hana (A Flower of No Color)

🎧 Spotifykaru Playlistada: Slaykaru Queentada | Hikaru Utada: R&B | Hikaru Utada: Ballads | Hikaru Utada: Bops | Hikaru Utada: Remixes