Where did the anarchy go? Studs, safety pins, camouflage, and bondage are just trends seen everywhere from runway clothes to mass retail stores. Fuck off!
But maybe there is hope in the new mini temple to defiance, the just opened second-hand store Haruno Tokyo. Run by Ryota the former manager of iconic Shibuya second hand store Nude Trump, this small chamber is a blast back-to-the-80s neon pink universe filled with vintage treasures.
Don’t miss the beautiful Versace silk shirts, a series of rare European army jackets, authentic Seditionaries’ bondage jackets, or one-of-a-kind pieces from local designers such as hardcore guy-liner SKIN or iLiL by Rachel, who makes patchwork pullovers with graphics “SHINE” (which means DIE). Ouch!
http://www.haruno-tokyo.com
Sassy French pin-up girl, Olympia le Tan clicked her heels to Tokyo not long ago.
This time around she brought not only her iconic hard cover book clutches, but racks of summer clothes, as well as her Japan exclusive line Ex-Libris.
Her saccharine sweet collection is cherished in Japan’s republic of kawaii by a wide age range. They showed up in full force for her bash at IDOL, loosing their Moby Dick’s over the 2014 S/S collection that features navy-inspired striped summer dress with sailor collars, cotton candy pink coats with marine button and relaxed sweat shirts adorned with embroideries of fish motifs.
http://www.olympialetan.com
Gap’s newly launched culture project Blue Box Presents was overseen by Kunichi Nomura-Tokyo multi-man who’s in all the right places-from producing events with Bruce Weber, and to cameo roles in friends’ films Lost in Translation Sofia Coppola, and Wes Anderson’s The New Budapest Hotel.
He gathered eight Tokyo personalities who made their own personal statements mixing their clothes with Gap basics (wait, this concept sounds vaguely familiar-hello The Reality Show!), and were then captured in classical portraits by Jiro Konami.
Frankly speaking, effortless is not our thing and didn’t feel super excited about it, but to our surprise, the result of each portraits were actually uniquely different. Some of our faves were Daichi Watanabe, frontman of a Japanese rock band Black-Cat-Chelsea, Daito Manabe master of three-dimentional digital mapping, and yummy mummy model Yoshiko- one of our besties.
Ambush’s latest collection Mondage is made for those with a weakness for bold, powerful and BIG jewelry (just like us!). The Kayanesque neck-craning gold necklaces and primitive bead embroidered chokers are to die for.
Born and based in Tokyo, the brand is the brainchild of Verbal and his partner in crime the ultra-stylish Yoon who both have a hard core penchant for hip hop culture (no surprise as Verbal is a frontman of Japanese cult hip hop group m-flo, u know?).
The Ambush universe is old-school-bling-bling elaborately mixed up with Tokyo street style, runway fashion sophistication, and cult and contemporary aesthetics. They keep the surprises coming with inspirations that have included Jodorowsky and collabos with designers like Juun J. or Sacai. Check out Yoon here wearing a heavy metal tribal ear-cuff with multi-circle parts sagging backwards. Stretch it out girl!
http://www.ambushdesign.com
Escaping from the hustle and bustle of the city, and popping into a retro building from Showa-era, that’s where the runway show of Christian Dada was held at.
It was a very subtle and cozy atmosphere until a roaring drum sound started and a rockabilly-haired model walked into the runway in a giant coyote-fur coat and skinny leather pants.
British rock exposition, one of the journalists sat next to us whispered, and indeed the show was entirely dedicated to a various age of British rock legacies ranging from classy ted’s uniform of Edwardian suits, oversized punk mohair knit paired with pleated kilt (which actually was mashed up with shorts), shimmering gold jacquard ensemble which David Bowie would definitely love (the textile later on was found that it’s made out of Japanese renowned Nishijin-ori artisan…super luxury!!), to a curtain call with the models all dressed in Union Jack T-shirt.
So, is this tight, sexy and British kind of style the new direction of the young talented designer Masanori Morikawa? Well, the only thing we know is that he and his brand is stepping into to the next phase, challenging a presentation in Paris next season. Wishing you the best of luck, my man!
http://www.christiandada.jp
