Emily Arakawa’s EMPATH is becoming the quiet uniform under loud pop
Japanese-Singaporean designer Emily Arakawa built EMPATH in Los Angeles as a small, deadstock-minded wardrobe. Charli XCX’s birthday Uzu and a growing pop roster have turned the quiet label into a soft-power signal.
Anika Rao
Charli XCX turned 34 in Chicago after a Lollapalooza headlining set and wore a custom black-and-white EMPATH Uzu to the birthday afterparty. Matching boy shorts, fishnets, Chrome Hearts cross. The dress was built for a performance pull. She put it on for herself.
That is the EMPATH story in one frame. A Los Angeles label with Tokyo muscle memory is suddenly sitting under the loudest pop wardrobes of the summer.
Our read: Emily Arakawa is rising because the soft-power girls finally found a brand that looks lived-in instead of launched, not because she invented a new silhouette.
Visa problem, brand solution
Arakawa is Japanese and Singaporean, raised in Tokyo until she left for college in Los Angeles at 18. Weekends as a kid meant Shibuya and Harajuku in peak gyaru and rock-indie years: distressed denim, slouchy knits, washed earth tones. She still chases that raw-beautiful balance, only cleaner.
She studied business at USC, not fashion design. Visa sponsorship pushed her into a tech job that could keep her legal in the U.S. Fashion internships in Los Angeles felt dead. EMPATH, a name she daydreamed at 15 or 16 because people call her Em, became the workaround.
She launched in 2021 while still at the corporate desk. First drop was a matching top and pant, shot on a roommate in a living room. After work she drove to the Fashion District for pattern makers and sample makers. Trial and error was the curriculum.
What the clothes actually do
EMPATH is modular city dressing: tanks that behave like second skins, skirts that hold a look, pants that move weird in a good way. Her favorite signature is the Stomata Slacks, a sleek-slouchy low-rise she keeps remaking. The Uzu is the breakout jersey: open back, hip pleats, multiway, $176, fabric from Korea, cut in Los Angeles.
Production stays small. Cut-and-sew has lived in LA with deadstock and natural fibers; newer pieces are moving to Japanese ateliers and mills she visits with her mom as translator backup. She has been clear that the ethical route eats her margins. She still wants friends to be able to save for a piece instead of treating the brand like museum glass.
Spring/Summer 2026’s Field Notes leaned icy blues, sun-washed creams, and faded yellows for hot days. A May New York pop-up with Hauteline on Orchard Street was her first solo NYC shop take.
Why Charli, and why KATSEYE matter
Stylist Chris Horan’s team pulled EMPATH for Charli’s London run. She wore the Willow Hooded Dress and the Uzu, then asked for a striped custom Uzu for stage. Seeing that same custom on her birthday cake photos was the personal flex Arakawa did not script.
The wider wear list now includes Kylie Jenner, Anya Taylor-Joy, Tinashe, and KATSEYE. That last name is the tell. A HYBE x Geffen global girl group and a Brat-era pop architect shopping the same LA indie rack means EMPATH is crossing fandoms without buying a billboard.
Our KATSEYE film Scene Report covers the authenticity pitch on screen. EMPATH is the off-duty texture those audiences are already fluent in.
Our verdict
Arakawa’s dream client list still runs Rosalía, FKA twigs, Gabbriette, Alex Consani. The more useful watch is whether EMPATH stays a pull favorite or becomes a permanent pop uniform with sportswear and accessories partners, the collaborations she has already named as next.
Our take: this is diaspora soft power through fit, not through logo. Tokyo weekends, LA sample runs, Japanese factories, Korean jersey, Charli’s birthday. If the next custom lands on a tour that diaspora kids actually attend, EMPATH stops being a gatekeep and becomes a reference.
Buy the Uzu if you want the receipt. Watch the Stomata restock if you want the real signature.
