SOLE MATES: Whenever Sandra Choi sees her old friend and longtime collaborator Motofumi “Poggy” Kogi, creative sparks fly. The fashion expert has just been named style curator for Jimmy Choo’s men’s collections, and is among a clutch of “cultural innovators” featured in the London brand’s spring 2026 men’s campaign.
Choi, who marked Kogi’s appointment with a cozy dinner at Caviar Kaspia during Paris men’s fashion week, said she loves working with him because he’s Japanese, and therefore “obsessed with anything he can make beautiful. He’s obsessed with function and materials. We have a mutual respect for making beautiful things — and craft is really important to us, too.”
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She added that Kogi, a fashion curator and founder of Dear Boro, a clothing line focused on denim and tailoring, is an ideal partner because “his style looks outwards, and I want to look outwards, too. To be fair, I can do women’s, but I need that certain freshness and reminding of what men’s really is. It’s about craft and respect.”
The two first met years ago when Kogi was the buyer for United Arrows & Sons, the menswear arm of Japan’s United Arrows department store. In 2021, they worked together on the “Jimmy Choo/Eric Haze Curated by Poggy,” collection, which featured sneakers, bags and small leather goods that were covered in Haze’s graphic art.
Kogi, who’s been touring Paris with his 19-year-old son, and visiting as many museums as he can, said he likes working with Choi because she “respects the heritage and basic elements of menswear, but she also adds her twist of glamour on top of it. That’s what makes it really interesting for me.”
Asked what the upcoming men’s collection will look like, Kogi would only reveal that he and Choi are working together on an English rose design.
Guests at the dinner on Saturday night included Romeo Beckham and girlfriend Kim Turnbull; actors Kelly Rutherford and Archie Madekwe; the Japanese hip-hop artist Vingo and all-round creatives Sarah Andelman and Michel Gaubert.
