Daisuke Ueda

Daisuke Ueda is a Japanese model from Fukuoka who pursued an international career after seeing what a fashion photograph could offer. An image of Lars Swenson in a Dior Homme campaign photographed by Hedi Slimane prompted him to seek out Swenson’s Japanese agency, Donna. He sent a résumé himself, hoping the same agency could help him work overseas.

In a John Smedley interview, Daisuke described the persistence behind that ambition. During a difficult period, when he was contemplating returning home, encouragement from his management helped him commit to another attempt abroad. He had earned a qualification in psychiatric social work at university and spent three months working at a day-care facility to fund his flight to New York and initial living expenses. The move became something he could finance through his own effort.

His international career developed at a time when Asian men were still sparsely represented on European runways. Speaking to DA MAN in 2015, Daisuke recalled how few Asian models he encountered when he began working in Milan and Paris, and welcomed the larger casts appearing in subsequent seasons. He singled out his Vogue Hommes Japan cover with Steven Klein and Nicola Formichetti as the assignment that made him proudest.

That interview also revealed a practical understanding of his profession. Daisuke distinguished the attention paid to presenting clothes in Japanese editorials from the emphasis on atmosphere he encountered in Europe. Asked about his personal style, he called it country, connecting his clothes to his rural upbringing.

The following decade brought major advertising work that gave his career a new center of gravity. Alec Soth photographed him for Bottega Veneta’s spring-summer 2024 campaign, while Brioni cast him in its fall-winter 2025 collection imagery. Canali booked him for consecutive fall 2025 and spring 2026 campaigns, establishing a continuing relationship with the Italian house.

By fall 2026, his casting made experience part of the appeal. In Dunhill’s campaign photographed by Ethan James Green, Daisuke joined a cast spanning generations. Jil Sander’s fall-winter 2026 campaign placed him in a more enigmatic role; a cinematic figure within Simone Bellotti’s vision for the house.

His work had developed beyond the early distinction of being one of relatively few Japanese men on the international circuit, with his individual character becoming a reason to build an image around him.