Change of scenery

I arrived in Tokyo yesterday, and this is where I'm going to stay for the coming year.
Of course, I managed to check out some stores even on my first day.

I found a pair of Evisu 2001 No.1 Special in a used-clothing store. What's interesting about them is that they had Levi's arcuates stitched on the backpockets, not paint and not the usual kamome gulls you normally see. Only problem was that the inseam was very short.
I'm going to look around if I can find more of these and also hear what they are and when they were made.

I also went to the Ralph Lauren store in Harajuku. It is of course awesome and I think they are the best American brand to do amekaji, american casual style. Better than Engineered Garments in my opinion.
I liked the Polo line, which is a little bit more dressy but still casual, as well as RRL. The prices were a bit ridiculous though, a one-wash pair of RRL jeans were 34,000 yen while Pure Blue Japan and Eternal jeans are 18,900 yen, for the same quality.
RRL also makes a very nice distressed and patched pair, but they cost 72,000 yen. Also worthy of notice is their waist overalls and the books they had in the RRL section, one called Rebel Style, displaying Marlon Brando's, James Dean's, Paul Newman's and Jack Kerouac's style, and a book with images similar to that of Library of Congress.

If you're on a budget, though, you can just go to the store next door, GAP. They're concentrating really hard on amekaji now too, and they have very nice blazers, oxford buttondowns and baseball jackets. The cuts are slightly updated and quite slim, too slim for my taste, but might be great for someone else.
Of course, they're also making jeans. They have one line which is made from Cone Mills denim in the U.S. The one-wash jeans cost 6,000 yen and the nicely washed ones slightly more. The denim is a bit thin, though.
They also have a premium line, also in Cone denim. It's more expensive at 20,000 yen, but uses heavier and slightly nicer denim and it has all the 50's details, but it's still not worth it compared to Japanese brands.

Nearby is a Lee/Wrangler store. I saw some 1964 Wrangler Blue Bells and 1942, 1959, and 1930 Lee Originals. Apparently they shrink more than I thought, because I've tried on several used pairs, which are perfect in 28, but the unwashed jeans are always too big.
One of the staff gave me his umbrella when I was leaving because it was raining. I'm going to return it today.

Almost next door is a Levi's store. The Japanese LVC range is slightly different. The 1933, 1937 and 1944 all look slightly different. The '37 and '44 look better to me, especially the denim.
I was expecting it to be just the same, so I was actually surprised to see this!
They also have a 125 model and a 1922 501 and bunkhouse shirts in other fabrics.

And lastly, I had my first Japanese ramen, it was cheap at 550 yen and very good! Let's get fat!!

Evisu F/W 2007

Evisu has been trying to regain their reputation as the world's best brand for denim and jeans for some time now, and their latest effort is their first full men's and women's collection, shown in New York City at Bryant Park's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.
This was a nice surprise to me; both that they actually did a full high-end line and the look of the line itself.
The collection was supposedly inspired by "twentieth century Japan, and the merging of the East and the West" but the collection looked more like just mid twentieth century and not so much Japan, apart from a few kimonos and pieces from the women's line, which to me is a good thing.
Not everything was good though, there were a couple of things that were a bit too spaced out, like the jeans with selvedge on the outside..
The thing I liked seeing the most was the fact that there was one pair of jeans that were very inspired by late 1800 501's, I really hope to see more retro designs like that!

'Read More' for runway photos and more!








Indigo silk satin dress to the right.



Indigo silk and denim hakama suit.


Print says "58% don't want washing."




No gulls! Nevda style one-pocket jeans.



Designers Bonita Newby and Johnny Diamandis. I wonder what his jeans are..

I don't want to hype this collection too much, it certainly isn't the best of this year, but because of what I've been seeing from Evisu EU Ed. my expectations were.. well, I actually didn't have any expectations! That's why I was so pleasantly surprised by this collection.
I hope that Evisu will keep improving, and improving in this case pretty much means;

• start selling jeans from the Japanese line outside of Japan, or at least start making jeans to the same specifications as those
• start offering jeans without the gulls
• stop giving away jeans to celebrities
• focus more on authenticity and quality of construction of denim, than on innovating designs

I know that things are at least going in this direction, since some things are made from denim from Japanese mills like Kaihara and Kuroki.
Also, Hidehiko Yamane is now on the board of the directors, hopefully he still "has it."

Other news about Evisu - they just opened a flagship store in Copenhagen. Not too far away from me, hopefully I'll be able to visit it soon.