Posts with tag japan

Japanese line Ambush doesn't take itself too seriously, as evidenced by their highly amusing Bheeeeetoven collection (yes, spelled like that) currently available at Frution in Las Vegas and online. Sure, it features the bust of the famed composer, but it's not exactly made for the classical radio set.

Sure, she won an Oscar for directing Lost in Translation, but can Sofia Coppola's celluloid skills translate into the world of fashion? Apparently, Louis Vuitton is willing to take the risk on her sartorial skills, they're letting her design a range of shoes and handbags that will be launched in Tokyo -- ironically the setting of her acclaimed film -- and the sold in luxury stores worldwide.

Of course, we already know that LV and the Coppolas are BFFs ever since Sofia and her father posed for Annie Leibovitz for LV's "core values" campaign. But that doesn't appear to be the only reason the French luxury designer tapped Sofia for the project. Apparently, Sofia has a background in fashion design that dates back to her pre-film days. After graduating from the California Institute of Arts, Coppola started her own clothing line named Milk fed, which, appropriately enough, is sold exclusively in Japan.

[via BlackBook]

You've got to hand it to the Japanese, they always seem to be a step ahead when it comes to adopting new technologies. Did you know they had the iPod back in 1985? Okay, that's a complete lie. Still, in light of their latest innovation -- the shower suit -- we'd believe it if you told us that they were building an elevator into outer space. Wait, they are. Well, almost as impressive as the space elevator, a Japanese company ironically named Australian Wool Innovation has designed a suit that you never need to take to the cleaners!

According to the article, just rinse the suit for 3-4 minutes in warm water, hang it up, and let it drip dry -- "if hung properly, no ironing is needed." Nice. Although we're pretty sure that a handheld shower head would work best, it seems like just about anyone could handle this modest cleaning task. Apparently, Japanese executives have been wearing this suit for a year already, and because of its success, AWI wants to take the technology into ladieswear -- and then worldwide.

Instructional suit-washing video after the break.

One way to find products gentle enough for sensitive skin is to shop for baby products. Japanese pharmacist Yoshikiyo Nowatari, way back in 1957, decided to turn that idea on it's side, and make a gentle, chemical free body care product that the whole family could use. The Yu-Be line is the result.

Yu-Be's glycerin-based formula is free of artificial colors, fragrances, oils and petroleum, and enriched with vitamins E and B2. It also contains camphor, which is sort of a wonder ingredient that soothes irritations, is a mild local anesthetic and is anti-microbial.

Today Yu-Be Moisturizing Skin Cream is the top selling medicated, vitamin-enriched skincare cream in Japan, probably because you can use it for everything. And now you don't have to go to Japan to find it. Sephora offers it online, for the relatively affordable price of $24 for the 2.75 ounce jar.

Cool and versatile layers are all the rage this season, and we just discovered the lightest, airiest pieces that we are dying to add to our wardrobe. The new Korean line Eryn brinié just opened their first U.S. store in SoHo (on Broadway between Spring and Broome), and and it's filled with their fall collection in translucent shades of grey, lavender, mauve and ivory.

We love all of the amazing independent designers out there. In order to find out more about just what makes all of these creative types tick, we present to you an ongoing segment called Indie Designer Interviews.

If you love cute, girly, Japanese street fashion inspired trends, you're going to love today's featured designer, Stephanie McCann of Sugarpop Clothing. This UK-based label is stocked full of adorable duds sure to thrill your inner child.

We've officially seen it all. Everything. We will no longer be surprised and/or amazed by the offspring created when technology and fashion get together, usually after having one too many at the office Christmas party. It happens.

A company called Kuchofuku has created the answer to all of your sweating in the cubicle blues. They have created a shirt with built in air conditioning that is powered by your USB drive. Seriously. No longer will you have to sit and sweat in the office because Ted in accounting, who refuses to retire, feels a chill.

Anyone who knows anything about Aussie songstress Kylie Minogue knows that she is always sure to choose some flamboyant stage wear, most memorably the Moulin Rouge-style costumes she showcased on her last tour, which was appropriately titled Showgirl.

We've talked before about her Spiderman-themed outfit (or pretty sexy designer threads, depending on your opinion) but now she's unveiled pictures of the rest of her tour outfits for the world's press to admire/gape at in astonishment.

Triumph International of Japan have a track record of producing innovative/weird bra concepts such as a bra to promote the use of chopsticks (sounds potentially dangerous!) and a bra which could be turned into a shopping bag (whether as it is being worn or afterwards, we're not clear). So why not create a bra which incorporates some nice green, sustainable solar power? (Apart from the fact that underwear rarely needs a power source, of course...)

A new trend is taking over the streets of Japan, literally. People are running in huge numbers, particularly young women who live in the cities.

The fad is especially strong in trendy Tokyo, where women's corporate marathon clubs are meeting before and after work to do a few laps around the Imperial Palace. The main goal is to "stay healthy, pretty and sane" with the extra benefit of getting to show off special marathon gear from Danskin and New Balance.

Japanese Vogue is sidesteping the recent controversies over too young or too thin models and going straight to animation.

Reuters reports that the June issue will showcase the popular - and fashionable - Hello Kitty wearing items from the fall and winter John Galliano for Dior line.

Our only question is why did it take this long? Hello Kitty is everywhere!

Feeling the heat?

If so, you might want to look into Japanese Kuchou-fuku's air-conditioned clothes. The shirts and jackets keep the wearer cool with two small fans sewn into the back of each garment. The fans are powered by a pocket-sized rechargeable battery pack.

They aren't the most fashionable thing I've seen, even in any of the 10 different styles and a variety of colors, but they do help the environment because they use about 1/50th the energy of a small air conditioner. If you don't mind that you might look like a human blimp, you can get one of these shirts for 11,000 yen ($96).

I recently stumbled across another website about Japanese street fashion and, out of my outrageously long list of bookmarks with the same topic, I must say this is my favorite so far. It's well organized, frequently updated, and there is a refreshingly low number of Gothic lolita outfits.

Although a lot of these ensembles require an absurd amount of boldness and confidence to carry, anyone can take a note or two and learn about experimental layering. Check out the guy in the upper-right photo. He's wearing a smart black jacket over a thin cardigan over an apron -- that's right, an industrial apron -- over a thin t-shirt. It shouldn't work, but somehow, it does. A lot of the pictures also come with some close-ups of accessories, which range from bizarre wristwatches to home-made bags to creative ear piercings. Seeing sites like this always inspire me to ransack my own wardrobe, mixing and matching in new, exciting ways. It makes me feel like I've spent a load of money buying new clothes when, really, all I've done is take what I already own and put it to a different use.

The whole website is in Japanese, but it's fairly easy to navigate. There are updates every week, so this site will never lose its cool.

If you're more interested in the streets of Helsinki than Tokyo, check out Hel-looks.

Just when you thought that guy who stole 1,500 pairs of shoes was weird, now comes news of a Japanese man who stole over 8,000 items of women's clothing. But he wasn't re-selling them, and he wasn't giving them away to any lady friends. As it turns out, Maeyasu Kawamura stole the clothes simply so he could sleep buried in them.

According to police, "He seemed to like the smell." Gross!

All in all, the cops found 2,400 pieces of lingerie, 600 kimonos, 1 wedding dress, and 5,200 items of other clothing all piled up to the ceiling in the man's small apartment in Osaka.

How is it possible to sleep under all that stuff? Would you suffocate? I'm sure I don't own more than a few hundred items of clothing -- if that -- and there's no way I could sleep if all of them were piled on top of my bed. But 8,000? That's just creepy!

A gold bathtub valued at $988,100 was recently stolen from the guest bathroom at the Kominato Hotel Mikazuki in Kamogawa, a city south of Tokyo. The tub, which weighs in at 176 pounds, was mysteriously lifted from a 10th floor room in the hotel.

The bathtub happened to be a well-known amenity of the resort hotel -- guests and visitors were allowed to use the glitz tub for a few hours each day. But despite the ostensibly public access to the tub, the valuable piece was secured only by a chain attached to the bathroom door.

So far, the police have no leads on the case since there were no witnesses or security tapes documenting the theft.

I guess the lesson to be learned is that if you have a million dollar gold bathtub, you really ought to attach it to the floor.