I may not be the most religious person on the planet, but I recently visited the newest temple erected in Tokyo, one dedicated to the house of Alexander McQueen. This one is special, if only because McQueen is one of the most notoriously “shy” brands on the planet. It is also one of the most incredibly detailed and meticulous and mesmerizing. Step inside..
I have found the most comfortable avantgarde fashion in the history of things.
The idea of “comfort” comes up a lot in the discourse of avantgarde fashion, and it makes sense; avantgarde is never meant to be comfortable, it is the antithesis of comfort. It’s is about design and aesthetic. High fashion is not *supposed* to be comfortable!!
But WAIT. What I am about to say may come as a shocker, but in one of the most successful “mode” brands on the planet, I have found the most comfortable clothing…
“It’s kind of in the middle of nowhere, with farmland where people grow vegetables, and then you have this huge incredible airport-like structure there,” says Andreas Melbostad of his studio, within the mega-brand known as Diesel in a small town in Northern Italy. “And I live in New York City, so it’s a different world”. He’s the creative director of Diesel Black Gold, and he was in Tokyo to explain what that “world” is.
Sample sales are amazing. I am an muthereffin EXPERT at traversing the sample sale scene, and coming out with perhaps the weirdest, most head-scratching pieces in there. But I employ them like a pro. Take this Martin Margiela MM6 shirt piece. It’s the orange thing in the photos. It’s just a front piece of a tuxedo shirt or jacket, like the bib/collar. It’s basically a necklace and offers no real coverage. It is an illusion, and enigma, but damn if it’s not cool (it’s em em six, afterall!).
Procured some incredible photos of Tomi Kono’s work. Welcome to his world….
Comme des Garcons Junya Watanabe’s 2014-15 collection shown in Paris was a study in black textures; oodles of patchworked pieces in movement, like the bits and pieces of a broken record slowly inching in different directions. Watanabe is as stoic an entertainer as can get, as he never shies away from dramatic hair that complements the avant gardeism of the clothes. But you’re never sure if it’s cool to actually get really excited about it all (Unbridled elation at a Junya show? That would be such a faux pas, darling).
Well, how about some excitement and raucous applause for the hair artist Tomi Kono who created the incredible works of art to match the cerebral 2014-15 FW collection shown in Paris…
Handbags. They’re a necessity, but they are possibly the most boring accessory in the history of luxury consumer culture. While new sizes and colors come out, since the beginning of time they have generally been the same shape (rectangle), the same material (leather) and, if you buy well enough, will last a lifetime anyway. Bags are an extremely important part of keeping luxury brands afloat- but you can only have so many leather rectangles, no? Well there is one kind of bag that is making us talk about things, and it is one of the largest trends of the late 00’s so far…. the “prop” bag.
Seen most often in self-professed “otaku” (geek) designer collections in Tokyo, digital pop-collages are a huge thing. Avatars, pixels, characters, eyeballs, cosplay, pop-objects and analog media motifs are often plastered together in a way that purposely looks like a job done on MS Paint.
So what an incredibly unexpected surprise to see Paris’ adopted grandfather Yohji Yamamoto who is known for his blacker-than-a-black-hole clothes dipping into the same psychotropic Akihabara-inspired fashion..!
