Texas-born, Tokyo-raised and -based, 21st-century It-girl Kiko Mizuhara bestrides a multiverse of creative possibility and cultural engagement. The Korean-American who graced the inaugural cover of I-D Japan in 2016 with the tagline ‘The Future of Japan”, and whose Instagram handle matter-of-factly declares @i_am_kiko and counts five-million followers, can Hepburn [her father named her ‘Audrie’ after the actress] any Holly Golightly moment; can Birkin a bag, Gabrielle a tweed jacket, Coach any ‘Charlie’ , and Chung [Alexa] fashion ambassadorships at will, with a gamut of elite names, from Chanel and Dior [she was appointed the brand’s first Asian ambassador] Moschino, Marc Jacobs and Michael Kors to Jil Sander, Uniqlo, Diesel, Adidas and Opening Ceremony. She was the lead actress in Tran Anh Hung’s Norwegian Wood, the baptismal film of the prolific Japanese author Haruki Murakami's work, in 2010. She's also a regular muse for iconic Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki. She sings, too. And appears in both Japanese and Western music videos, notably two years ago as an outer space ‘Stargirl’ in I Feel it Coming by Canada’s The Weeknd - a video with more than 440 million YouTube views - and just two months ago on La Di Da for The Internet. Mizuhara is aesthetic impresario and 'empress-ario" incarnate. And in the trackless empyrean of insouciant style, she's done what all-else have found unthinkable and downright impossible: out-Sevigny'ed the original It-girl Chloë. For Mizuhara has it all, she has it all, and then she has some more. From Kiko to It-finity.

And now this veritable alkikomista has her own label, OK, acronym for Office Kiko, which she launched digitally last year on her birthday (October 15). The real-life store appeared in April in Harajuku, Tokyo then debuted in Taiwan two months ago, and is now in Hong Kong through an OK x i.t blue block collaboration in Hysan Place, Causeway Bay. Mizuhara designed the collection with younger sister, Yuka, also a creative force who DJ's and models in Tokyo. Kiko calls Yuka her "angel". The result is a series of clothes - t-shirts, swimwear, yukatas, accessories and even a special showroom featuring OK bedding, slippers, socks, and decorations in vibrant style. It's girliest, cutest eye-candy of the fun-girl and fan-girl-est kind; think marshmallowy soft, cumulous cotton-wool clouds, butterflies, tulips and cerulean skies. A veritable kikotopia, or ok-topia - of childhood memories, warmth, belonging and fun.

But Kiko being the stylepreneur of street and soigné, she knows a trick or two about leveraging saccharine into serious gaze and growing it up. “Well, the yukata," she tells us, "maybe instead of traditional geta [sandals] you could wear it with high heels, or even Docs. And then, off the shoulder, with a slip-dress. Accessorise new style rules for it."

Which is what Kiko has done throughout her luminous lifetime in the public eye, and why every Tom [Hilfiger], Dick [Mille] and Harry [Winston] no doubt wants a little of Mizuhara's hyper-wattage to enliven and embolden entry-points to their brands. Mizuhara was behind the so-called 'pizza outfit' worn by Beyoncé, which she designed for Opening Ceremony's F/W 2013 collection. Rihanna wore Kiko's designs, too. Sitting next to Mizuhara and her sister on a bed in the OK x i.t. blue block pop-up, Kiko's kineticism is explicit; she detonates charisma like continuous camera flash. She even surpasses her own Instagram. As the face that could launch a thousand luxurious ships the potential for would-be collaborations seems infinite; a Chanel 'Code Kiko' watch; a Louis Vuitton 'Kiko' vanity case, the 'Kiko' Coach bag, or a Dior men's black-tie silhouette with the word 'Kikodorable' emblazoned down the satin stripe and over the ribbon-ties on her shoes; head-to-toe Kiko, made-to-Mizuhara. 

Audrey Hepburn's Holly Golightly says in Breakfast at Tiffany’s that it's "better to look at the sky than live there” and Kiko concurs. “I wanted to do clouds because everywhere I go I watch the sky. It always makes me happy. When you’re having a stressful day and you look up at the sky you chill out and feel better,” she beams. Which explains her approach to the collection. “Most of my fans are young, like 12, 14, 16, and they think I’m in high-fashion and that it will be expensive. It’s not. And I didn’t want to do anything too complicated or hard to wear. It has to be easy and every product is buyable and affordable and young people get it.”

It’s this high/low, Kiko Gohighly, Kiko Go-lowly approach which endears Mizuhara to her legions of followers and encourages inclusion. Did Mizuhara, who grew up reading magazines over books, ever feel inspired in any way by the example of Rookie blogger, stylista, magazine maven and now actress Tavi Gevinson in the US?

“I was not really inspired by Tavi but I know what you mean; I feel we don’t have that kind of girl power idea, and we didn’t really have that feeling in Asia before now, but this project kind of gives that. We’re doing Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Thailand, and it’s amazing to see all these girls enjoying our products and being themselves.” She pauses and assesses the sky on the bedroom wall. “We will continue to do different looks with OK, a different feel, totally different, but I don’t know if I’ll continue making products. OK can be a place, or like an events platform, to collaborate with lots of artists, like my friends on this project, a lipstick artist and my best friend photographer (Monika Mogi), or it can be a book, a magazine, a musical, an experience of all kinds, a lifestyle.” When you’re Mizuhara, ideas teem. “I’m trying to connect all the pieces in my head. And it’s really hard to connect all of my ideas.”

In a stream-of-consciousness sixty-second moment she references a photography project with Yuka, “we photograph each other and we want to rent a space to show it”, a book, a collaboration with Japanese shoe-brand Esperanza, (which debuts on October 1); a project with Japanese video artist and cybergeisha Mariko Mori [that's a maybe], a collaboration with a Thai transgender artist, and an album Kiko’s “trying to make” with her sister, as she feels “music in general has become so boring. It’s not creative at all. We want to remind them that we used to have, and still can, make great music and inspire people.” 

Nostalgic with new-mondial spin, the Kikoverse is happiness you can wear and share. How long before Tokyo christens a new district Harakiko and Harayuka, or a new creative space yukakiko and kikoyuka. Lead on, girls. Up, up and away, and more than super OK. 

OK x i.t blue block, 6/F, Hysan Place, Causeway Bay. (Until September 18).

Images: Courtesy of Office Kiko