P-CHAN DRAWS MANISH ARORA FOR VERMEERIST, THE “MINNIE MOUSE” OF TOKYO TOMOKO INUZUKA.

東京の最強に個性派レディーTomoko Inuzuka！彼女のVermeeristビームスでP-chanとマニッシュ・アローラのイラストで最強なコラボを実現！

Let’s talk about something happy! Bright! Colorful! Unique! Have YOU been to Vermeerist yet? … I want to bring everyone’s attention to Meiji Dori in Harajuku, where the boutique BEAMS owns a block of shops ranging from a music store to a Tokyo “culture souvenir” shop to International Beams Gallery, a high-end store. Before, you could ignore those and instead steal away to a private 2nd floor boutique to find Vermeerist. Unfortunately, it was closed last year, but instead of shuttering it forever, it has its own special space inside International Gallery now ( a relief it’s still running but I’m totally bummed the boutique closed though T_T) .

This is a special little space, founded by Beams veterans and wife-husband team Tomoko Inuzuka and Katsuhiro in 2003 and the two of them run the entire Vermeerist operation in tandem-all the way down to buying and assisting with sales in the store. The couple is known among the industry for being quite the dressers. Tomoko, for her unique, colorful style that is part retro, part cartoon with bowtie lips (think “Minnie Mouse”), part ethnic, part glamour and always over the top. Katsuhiro also has his own style of gentlemanly chic, but witha  flare for patterns and color. The store reflects their style a lot with a mix of vintage and new items, many of them brands that you would be VERY hard pressed to find ANYWHERE else. Here’s Tomoko:

From jstreetstyle

One of those brands is the inimitable Manish Arora. Where else are you going to find Manish without fail, in Tokyo?! 

中でも特筆すべきは、Manish Aroraを取り扱っているということ。日本でManish Aroraを見られる店舗なんてそうそう無いから、毎シーズン欠かさずバイイングしているこの店はファンの私にとっては天国のようなところ。 

To celebrate the release of the new 2013 collection, the shop teamed up with my friend and one of my favorite fashion illustrators Przemek Sobocki (nee P-chan) for a page in their catalog featuring the Manish Arora items.

It’s extremely lovely, take a look. 

There’s also an interview between P-chan and Tomoko online to peruse (Japanese only)

If you’re in the neighborhood, please be sure to stop into Vermeerist, you never know what you’ll find there.