• Uniqlo opens Girls Concept Store for the ladies in Marui Curren - http://is.gd/l3sf #
• Japan’s new “Ambassadors of Cute” - http://is.gd/l3VF #

Powered by Twitter Tools.

With the looming recession, many fashion brands are re-evaluating their raison d’être. “Are we providing an escape from reality? Or are we creating timeless pieces to be bought as long-term investments?” For Japanese indie brand Scye, our recessionary 2009 may just be the perfect year for the brand’s core concept: great-looking classic pieces in high-quality fabrics and comfortable cuts.

The new Autumn/Winter ‘09-’10 collection plays further with the designers’ favorite classic designs and fabrics, and like always, they hide all the real innovation beneath the naked eye. Scye’s clothes must be worn to be truly experienced. Pattern cutter Hideaki Miyahara’s signature pivot sleeve on Scye’s coats may look generically “neat,” but you will bless the designers each time you freely swing your arms around.

This season’s collection largely emphasizes the true essence of raw materials, in a loose 19th century prairie feeling. Tweedy wool jackets have that classic burlap grain, perfect to wear when buying feed at a Nebraska general store, while other wool jackets use non-dyed lambswool straight off the beast. One fur sweater comes in yak fur. And yet, many of the natural wool pieces have sparkly shawl sequin collars and pocket-edges — bringing rugged chic into a Eighties party atmosphere. Like many brands, Scye offers a candy-striped cleric colored button-down for men, but the designers toned down the colors in a vintage wash for a totally different effect than the standard preppy model.

In good Scye style, most of the women’s line is identical to the men’s — only produced in smaller sizes. But they hit a more feminine stride with a red plaid nylon-esque silk bottom: skirt in the front, shorts in the back. The poodle-jacket in teddybear fake fur is also a nice touch.

Scye Basics has some incredible retouches of everyone’s favorite coats. The duffel coat (pictured above) fits like a charm and has a few non-functional decorations (like the three buttons at bottom) that mark it off from the pack.

Our original article on Scye: http://mekas.jp/en/brand-profiles/310.xhtml

• I saw my first new orange springtime large-scale furoku Cher bag on the morning train. It begins… #

Powered by Twitter Tools.

• http://is.gd/kKov - On Japan’s Herbivorous men. They dress in a “gentle” kind of way. #
• http://is.gd/kL9I - I don’t think Koakuma Ageha actually sells 300K copies. This # is uncertified. My guess it’s actually less than 100K. #
• http://is.gd/kNo4 - Uniqlo pulls out the big flash programming to make you seasick ? goes with the marine theme, I guess. Blazers–>yunibare #

Powered by Twitter Tools.

• (N)umber Nine R.I.P. - http://is.gd/kCIt - I wonder what is going on here #

Powered by Twitter Tools.

• FRUiTS magazine opens a select shop in Shinjuku Marui One. http://is.gd/kcM1 #

Powered by Twitter Tools.

• Rollers: http://is.gd/jMOG - Notice that they are all middle-aged. This is the way it works. It’s all the same ’80s guys. #

Powered by Twitter Tools.

今度こそっ！マリンルック！！

毎年この時期のトレンドで浮上するのが“マリンルック”だ。私も去年、ボーダーパーカーを購入した記憶があるが、今年の“それ”には勢いがある。

「毎年マリンテイストは出てきますが、今年は早くからニットやカットソー、ワンピースを求めるお客様が多いです。ショップで提案しているのは、ボーダーワンピースにロングダブルテーラードジャケットのミックスコーディネイト。それぞれのアイテムで楽しめますから」。表参道ヒルズにあるセレクトショップ『KiwaSylphy』の販売員の方が話してくれた。

実際に表参道沿いのショップには、トリコロールカラーのニットや紺ブレ＋ホワイトパンツ、ハイウエストのセーラーパンツやセーラーカラーのニットを着たトルソーを多く見かけるし、3月号のsweetでは、100人のプレスが「春のリアル売れ筋」でTOP1にオススメしている。メンズ,レディス共にGジャンを押すブランドもちらほら目につくが“マリン”との相性は抜群だ。（画像はsweet3月号より引用）

どうやら今度こそっ、街に“海気分”が溢れそうだ。

Every year around this time, the fashion industry starts pushing the “Marine Look.” Last spring, I felt compelled to buy a striped parka, but it seems like the marine urge is even stronger this year.

One of the store staff from Omotesando Hills select shop KiwaSylphy told me:

“Marine style comes out every year, but this year there have already been a lot of customers who are looking for marine knits, cut-and-sew, and dresses. The store suggests mixing a striped dress with a long double-breasted blazer, so you can have fun with each of the items separately.

Lots of shop windows along Omotesando Avenue have mannequins wearing tricolore knits, navy blazers with white shorts, high-waist sailor pants, and sailor color sweaters. The March 2009 issue of popular fashion magazine Sweet recommends marine as the #1 “Real Selling Item of Spring” in a poll of 100 press officers from brands. And all the denim jackets I see brands pushing for both men and women also work great with the marine look.

Whatever the case, it looks like the streets will be overflowing with navy boys and girls in a few months.

(Picture from the March 2009 issue of Sweet.)

• The bad guys know to hit up UNIQLO for money: http://tinyurl.com/chh2hb #

Powered by Twitter Tools.

Wandering around Shibuya select shops, I keep repeating the same experience. I am drawn to a very simple, yet innovative casual shoe only to discover that — once again — it’s from Keds Japan. This would be a completely unproblematic situation for the normal Japanese shopper, but with a size 13 US (31 Jpn) foot, no domestic company of any merit makes my size. And since all these great Keds are Japan-only, not even the American home company can come to my aid.

The U.S. side of the company only seems interested in a single style of men’s shoes — the classic Champion — while the Japanese partners have created an incredibly broad product line of various styles, perhaps to adequately match the diversity of looks out on the Tokyo streets. Their dirty brown Cushion Welt II is the sleek buck you wish Bass still made, and the white version would look great with a seersucker suit in Spring. The Edifice collaboration kicks in the picture at left feel both eco-Bohemian and deconstructed. These gum duck shoes give LL Bean a run for their money.

The lesson: Japan is not just home to a panoply of foreign and domestic brands, but each foreign brand often has to work a lot harder in Japan to come up with novel products for the millions of incredibly sophisticated Japanese customers. Keds U.S.: take a lesson from your foreign partners and step up your game back home. (Keds Custom is pretty great, though. Just extend it to men, please.)