Those of you that know me and read my blog, know that I love Japan and snow!! These pictures represent both and I just had to share them. Wish I would’ve been there to see this for myself.
The Best of Tokyo Spring 2012 Fashion Week:
Japan’s had a rough year with all the natural disasters its had to endure, but the country is starting to return to some semblance of normalcy. Tokyo fashion week just ended over the weekend, and we’d say that the mood of Japanese designers for spring is pretty hopeful and joyful.
In addition to a lot of the trends we’ve seen in New York and Europe–like peplum, print-mixing, transparency, and playing with volume–Tokyo also served up a lot of its signature playfulness and attention to detail.
See below for all the highlights.
Photos: WWD
TOKYO STREET FASHION TRENDS FOR FALL 2011
Tokyo is filled with fashion isnpiration! I travel there as much as I possible can to find all the latest looks and do some credit card damage by buying out all of the stores over there LOL. But seriously the fashion trends that I picked up on while watching this crowd were just obvious right away. The first trend – glasses with no lenses (They call them “Tsubasa Glasses”). They’ve been around for several years, of course, but the percentage of girls wearing them at this event was extremely high. The second trend that was everywhere were gray knee-high socks. You can see several variations of them in the pictures below. Not sure exactly where this very specific trend came from, but it’s hot hot hot and I love love love it 🙂
Pictures are better than any explanation, so go ahead and take a look below.
Bubbles: Vintage Fashion Boutique in Harajuku
I WANTED TO POST SOME HAPPY NEWS REGARDING TOKYO. A NEW VINTAGE STORE OPENING IN HARAJUKU TO BE EXACT ( AND BOY DO I LOVE THOSE;) ) TOKYO HAS THE BEST VINTAGE STORES WITH THE BEST PRICES. CHECK OUT ALL THE PICS BELOW, YOU’LL LOVE IT AS MUCH AS ME 🙂 BELOW IS A LITTLE ABOUT THE STORE ITSELF AND ITS OWNER. READ ON 🙂
Last weekend, Tokyo’s newest vintage fashion boutique opened in the heart of Harajuku. Located on the second floor of a building on the same street as many of Japan’s most famous streetwear and sneaker shops, Bubbles Harajuku offers a very different atmosphere and style. The shoes at Bubbles are more likely to be 1980s Christian Lacroix or 1970s Chanel than Nike or Adidas, and the t-shirts are more likely to be classic Thompson Twins or Scorpions tour shirts rather than the latest from Harajuku neighbors Supreme and Ice Cream. In addition to the vintage items, the shop also stocks a limited number of handmade and indie fashions from young Japanese designers.
Though Bubbles Harajuku just opened, the shop’s owner Coi is no stranger to Japan’s vintage fashion scene. Coi – who you might recognize from FRUiTS or other Japanese fashion magazines – previously worked at the popular Harajuku resale shop Kinsella. While working at Kinsella, she travelled the world with the shop’s buyer – hitting resales shops, swap meets, and other locations throughout Asia and America in search of interesting items to bring back to Tokyo. Now that Bubbles is finally open, she is ready to share the treasures she found.
The Bubbles shop aesthetic shows Coi’s love for vintage styles from America and other countries, with a strong focus on the 1970s and 1980s. E.T. has a special place in the store’s interior design, and vinyl records from bands like The Cars, The Clash, Roxy Music, and even Barry Manilow are strewn about artfully, along with various retro toys and some extremely awesome 1970s wallpaper.
The fashion offered at Bubbles includes a carefully selected collection of 1970s and 80s fashion – everything from vintage tops, dresses, skirts, and pants to footwear and purses, to colorful 1980s leggings, to lots of pins, accessories, and handmade items (zakka). Besides the vintage goods, a small number of new original pieces from young Japanese fashion designers and accessories from popular-on-the-streets-of-Harajuku Japanese accessory brands like Pe-Poco are also available at Bubbles. In the future, Coi may be adding more original items and even some of her own pieces under the “Bubbles” brand name. (LOVE THE NAME 😉 )
Rather than try to explain too much to you, have a look at all of these pictures of the new shop and you’ll get a good idea of what it’s about.
THE HEP STAR STORE OPENING AT LAFORET, HARAJUKU
The Hep Star is the brainchild of the same design team which created the fashion label Suiren. While Suiren’s focus is high-end and avant garde, its younger, more playful sister brand Hep Star is intended for daily wear. The designers’ aim, according to their website, is to combine “basic wearable clothes, unique patterns, and highly mixable accessories” with “punk, pop, and military details”. The theme of the spring/summer 2011 is “cute cyber punk”, and includes easy-to-wear tunics and dresses – some in floral print – to be paired with leggings or frilly shorts.
While the Hep Star fashion line is intended to be “real”, the opening party on February 17th was out of this world. With the Hep Star making their La Foret debut along with 15+ other new shops, the place was packed with Tokyo’s beautiful, fashionable, and famous (check out Yone, Hello Jonte, and others below). Partygoers ate their way through a mountain of complimentary McDonalds cheeseburgers and the champagne flowed freely while gorgeous models styled in 80s punk-inspired make-up and big hair showed off the brand’s tunics, tees, and leggings.
Here’s all the info on the new shop:
- What: The Hep Star Shop
- Where: LaForet Harajuku B0.5F
- Address: 1-11-6 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan
- Nearest Station: Harajuku Station or Meiji-Jingūmae Station
- Hours: 11:00AM – 8:00PM
- Website: Official Website (English/Japanese)
TOKYO STYLE ^_*
IT’S NO SECRET THAT I HAVE A FASCINATION FOR TOKYO STYLE. THE PICS BELOW WILL DISPLAY WHY. THE GIRL’S NAILS AT THE END ARE AN ADDED BONUS….I DON’T KNOW IF I CAN WEAR THOSE NAILS BUT MORE POWER TO HER 😉
BubblesPop 