New Menswear Boutiques in Tokyo
April 14th, 2008 - Tokyo
Three cutting-edge Japanese menswear brands—Soe, John Lawrence Sullivan and Heath—have recently opened shops in Tokyo. Of course, in this environment, a blink-and-you-miss-it store sign is a minimum requirement, so it's entirely possible that you might not have noticed these discreetly cool new additions to the shopping scene. Here's the report:
Soe - Nakameguro/Ikejiri Ohashi
The new Soe shop has amply expanded its floor space in the shape of an isosceles triangle, and designer Soichiro Ito revels in asking visitors to determine their own idea of its purpose. The duds inside are equally thought-provoking: tailored jackets with meticulously placed hardware accents, coats with double zippers, and his newer "Soe Shirts" line, which features dress shirts with splattered paint prints and geometric collars. Soe began participating in the Paris men's collection for the spring/summer '08 season, and with premier international shops snapping up the label's pieces, not keeping them on the radar would be, well, obtuse.
John Lawrence Sullivan - Nakameguro
Designer Arashi Yanagawa was a professional boxer before he traded in his gloves for thread and needles in 2003. His label, John Lawrence Sullivan (named after a fellow boxing champ from the '50s), makes clothes that are elegant but streetwise, with a focus on the tailoring techniques that Yanagawa learned on his own while living in England. But his entry into the fashion world doesn't mean Yanagawa's gone soft; rather, his constructions, often accented with edgy, military-style detailing, give your wardrobe a "one-two punch."
Heath - Harajuku
Heath, which debuted at this season's Japan Fashion Week, is the new project from the mastermind behind now-defunct brand Iliad, Gentaro Noda. With a successful
Uniqlo collaboration under his belt and established fans already in tow, the UK-raised Gentaro seems destined for more success. Heath's pieces carry an air of old-school Britain mixed with a moody, Japanese flair, and fittingly the new shop interior is filled with antiques, including a rusted chandelier. In keeping with the low profile of all of these shops, Heath announces its presence to the outside world with little more than a barely discernible logo—the treasures inside remain a well-kept secret.
—Misha Janette
jcreport.com
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