Harajuku Streets: Coverall

Another vintage lover I've met on the streets of Harajuku is Hide. As I've come to expect now, he only wears vintage. This day he was wearing a Can't Bust 'Em, an old sub-line of Lee, denim coverall and a leather backpack of unknown make. So simple, but it hardly gets better than this.


Hide is 26 and has been into vintage for about 5 years. He's also a hairdresser, a common profession for people who get their picture taken because of what they wear here. Hairdressers are actually some of the biggest trendsetters here!





Thanks Hide!

TAROCK with ricco, Ura-Harajuku

It has suprised me how high and consistent the level of the vintage stores here are, in terms of both goods and the atmosphere of the interior. In many stores there's literally a thousand little things lieing around for you to look at and they all create such an intriguing world.

TAROCK with ricco is one of those stores that maintain a high level in all areas. Pretty much every shop here carries American vintage from the first half of the twentieth century but they all have a slightly different profile.
This shop does have some workwear pieces but isn't focused on it. I'd say it's more of a casual and sometimes dressy store that also has small odd items and accessories. TWR also has many quirky one-off items that you won't find elsewhere.

One of the owners, Kentaro, is also a person who has inspired me a lot here in Tokyo. He wears mostly vintage but a lot of the time in his own way, like very oversized workpants and a workshirt with unpatched holes like shown below.
Akiko is equally great as an inspiration if you're a female.

Akiko and Kentaro.

I feel that this makes vintage even more interesting since it's a way of making it your own based on how you wear it and with what. The looks are not what you could find in a photo of the '40s and I appreciate that even though I'm also a fan of authenticity. There's just so many people into vintage here, it is a 'trend' or maybe rather 'style' for sure, so I like to see individuality and creativity.
Kentaro also wears designer stuff like that of Margiela together with these old pieces. I'm not a fan of designer clothing in general but I find that it works for Kentaro.
Partly because of him I now not only like vintage but also find myself appreciating more ecclectic pieces and ways to dress.


Let's have a look around inside TAROCK with ricco!





A thousand lil things!







The women's side is just as good as the men's.




Wonderful flower print Lees on the right. Items like these are why I like this shop so much.




More traditional Americana items can also be found here.

There really isn't any reason to buy replicas when you have vintage shops like this. The deadstock flannels are great and can generally be had for less than a new shirt. I prefer worn out ones though and they're even less expensive! They can usually be had for 3000-6000 yen(which used to be $30-$60, but now it's a bit more. I don't even want to think about how much the price has changed for us Europeans..).



A one wash denim workshirt from the early '50s and a brand that I had never heard of before-- Fly's. The tag alone makes me want it.





It seems that robes are coming out big this spring in vintage Tokyo. I want to wear one too when it gets warmer and this is the one I want!

By the end of this post you probably got it--if you go to Tokyo, don't miss TAROCK with ricco! I will keep posting my favourite vintage shops here, next up is ZOOL or 3DAM.

Short stories

Hi, I'm alive and well(well..). This time I have a few interesting tidbits to share.

Samurai wallet progress
Some of you might remember that I won a very nice wallet from Samurai a year or two ago. It was produced in a very limited number, 3 for customers of Samurai and one for the boss of Samurai(his name escapes me).
The interesting thing is that it has a denim in-lay, something which I hadn't and still haven't seen before.
Mine is still completely untouched but Mr. Samurai has given it infinitely more wear-time than I have.
Here is a photo of his wallet from Lightning Magazine no.1 2009.


Edwin Vintage Collection
Do you remember the new Edwin Vintage Collection that debuted this fall? Did anyone get a pair? How do you like them?

In the Meiji jingumae(Harajuku) station there is a poster showing off the collection. I found that to be a little amusing. If you happen to see the poster you should also visit the Edwin store since it's very close by. They also carry Lee Originals and Wrangler Blue Bell, which are both made by Edwin.


Cuff
I found an interesting post on The Fedora Lounge regarding trends and cuffs in the 1950s.
Here's what the user Warbaby said;

As someone who was in high school in the mid to late 50's, I can give you the straight skinny on what was cool in jeans style - at least for one particular region and culture. It wasn't a hip place like L.A. or N'Yawk, but a small town in Arizona (which should give it a certain cachet for jeans style authenticity).

New, dark blue jeans were definitely not cool, nor were deep turned-up cuffs (only the dorkiest of dorks wore them that way).

The usual treatment for breaking in new jeans was to wash them every time your mom did a dark wash and when they were dry, lay them on the bed and beat them soundly with a baseball bat or big stick til they softend up. Hanging them out in the Arizona sun certainly helped the fading.

As for the cuffs, some kids wore them plain and uncuffed, but the really cool guys, the ones with DA haircuts and their cigarettes rolled up in their t-shirt sleeves, reverse-rolled their cuffs like dress trousers. You bought them with legs a lot longer than your own, turned a deep cuff under, then turned the cuff up on the outside about 1" to produce a narrow cuff that matched the rest of the jeans. The first few times you had to iron them that way, but eventually they'd stay. Being unwilling to take unnecessary chances with my coolness, I sewed mine...

Don't know how it was elsewhere, but this was the style in that one place and time.

It made me think of this post at ethandesu. I may try it one day.

Reading material
One of my treasured readers, The Buzzard, was kind enough to post a link to an interesting article vintage hunter Brit Eaton. A kindred spirit.

Vintage blog
Another dear reader, Dana, has a great vintage blog herself. Check out her leather jackets.

Harajuku Streets: Daisuke

Yesterday I did my first real 'vintage snap outing'. The two previous people I've shot have been more coincidental but now I've started thinking that it's really interesting to see vintage items actually being worn and coordinated with other vintage pieces. (Would be great to hear what you think about it.)

Omotesando dori is still packed and might not have what I'm looking for anyway, so I set up my tent on Harajuku street. As I've mentioned before, this is where most of the vintage shops are located so it's logical for me to go there.
I'm now learning how take street snaps and it's a little more difficult than it seems and takes a little more time, too. Capturing the spirit of a person and place like The Sartorialist can is very hard.

What I do now is that I hang around on a parking lot, leaning on a vending machine all day. It's really a very relaxing thing to do for me, it gives me a lot of time to think, about clothes but also everything else in my life, and looking at people is fun too.

Daisuke was the first one I shot yesterday and he was a real easy catch as he works at ZOOL, one of the absolute best vintage shops, right next to my spot and was having a break when I saw him.
He's 26 and has been into vintage clothing for about 15 years. They certainly start young here, I'm just a rookie in comparison!
His favourite garment is '30s and '40s leather jackets. He collects them and has about 50 jackets!






He's wearing a '30s-'40s Brown's Beach jacket, a '50s shirt, WW2 work pants and '50s engineer's boots. The only item that isn't vintage is his Dapper's, a brand that makes reproductions as well as new but vintage inspired designs, cap.

The Brown's Beach jacket is a very sought after item and quite rare too. What's special about the Beach jacket is the speckled wool fabric, it's like a blown up salt and pepper fabric.
Go here to look at better pictures of an identical Beach jacket.

I guessed that his pants were U.S. Navy and so did he when he first got them, but he was then told by a U.S. vintage dealer that they weren't. They're just work pants, but they are very similar to Navy pants.

What dates them to the WW2 era is the laurel leaf button that can also be found on Levi's and many other brands of the same era.


Thank you Daisuke!