Kiko Mizuhara and the Spring That Isn’t Coming Fast Enough

While everyone else cycles through the usual rotation of supermodels, I’ve had a quiet, persistent thing for Kiko Mizuhara. She’s Japanese-American, born in Dallas, raised in Japan, and if you know her at all outside of fashion it’s probably from Norwegian Wood—Tran Anh Hung’s 2010 adaptation of the Murakami novel, where she plays Naoko with exactly the kind of remote melancholy the role demands. In Japan she’s been a magazine fixture for years, the kind of face that sells everything from cosmetics to streetwear and makes it look effortless.

Reebok Classic tapped her for their spring/summer 2014 campaign, and the whole collection looks like it was designed specifically to be worn by her in photographs. Clean lines, muted pastels, classic silhouettes reworked into something that feels current without trying too hard. It’s women’s, which I note with full appreciation and only minor personal regret.