Keeping with SOMA’s unique tradition of innovation and having cutting-edge content, we’d like to introduce a new section to our magazine: I – Pose. This section portrays the winners of the online SOMA competition between readers of our magazine posed as their favorite celebrities. In this particular issue, we featured young creative minds from Tokyo and asked them to explain their reasoning for choosing who they decided to pose as.

I POSE LIKE: Jimi Hendrix
Name: Shintaro Nagamine
Occupation: Event planner/Blogger
“Jimi is my fashion hero—his style never gets old”

I POSE LIKE: Lady Gaga
Name: Mari Yabiku
Occupation: Free spirit
“Gaga’s fashion seems to represent her soul. Her performance and style seem to be a fight against her weaknesses. Now I am also fighting and confronting myself to become stronger. I like her style of expressing herself.”

I POSE LIKE: Liam Gallagher
Name: Mike Burns
Occupation: Editor/Promoter
“I dress like Liam Gallagher because he’s the last real British rockstar. I grew up on his music, and I have so many memories that seem to be soundtracked by Oasis.”

I POSE LIKE: Karen O
Name: Chiaki Marutani
Occupation: Cartoonist/Editor
“I dress like Karen O because she is an artist I am influenced by, and I respect her as a woman, an artist, and a person who has Asian blood. There are some female artists who have their own cool style in fashion… but no one dresses like Karen O.”

I POSE LIKE: Katy Perry
Name: Misa Hexagram
Occupation: Creator
“I like to dress similar to Katy Perry because she is so cute and looks so all-American. I like to combine elements of her style with my own personal style.”

TEXT BY Mike Burns
PHOTOGRAPHY BY Jake Hodgkinson