TOKYO: A Fashionable Feast

Tokyo is a delicious buffet, not only of food, but of fashion-forward apparel. One feels the shopping power of the Japanese market. The retail scene is replete with the requisite British, French, Italian, and American designers who compete with equally strong Japanese names.  Rei Kawakubo, the lady behind Comme des Garçons is one strong name.

Kawakubo, and her husband, Adrian Joffe, own and manage several shops, one different from the other — in product offering, art cum fashion display, mood, and personality — showing great examples of what the retail experience should always be: fantastic product, constantly changing, always exciting.

Dover Street Market Ginza (DSMG)

The Dover Street Market Ginza is a heady retail experience. (There are DSMs in London and New York, too.)  Rei Kawakubo’s idea, DSMG is a six-floor multi-brand wonder of wonders: one walks through well-curated displays of clothes, artfully presented.  It features constantly-changing products, principally Comme des Garçons different brands mixed with one-off collaborations by buzzed-about brands like Louis Vuitton, Raf Simons, Visvim, Sacai, Nike Lab, and more.  Each display fixture is a creative presentation, either in white, acrylic, or dark wood, showcasing and never competing with the merchandise.

Comme des Garçons is not only a label, but Kawakubo’s defining vision and reflects her attention to detail in her clothes, shops, magazines, retail strategy. She positions herself as “anti-fashion.” In her husband’s words, “Every collection starts with one concept, a word, one feeling, what was interesting to her in that particular moment.”

There are four other designers in the company who are responsible for their line, free to express their art, set the prices of, and execute, their vision: Junya Watanabe, Tao Kurihara, Fumito Ganryu, and Kei Ninomiya. They all started as pattern makers and have risen to the position they hold now, with the support of Kawakubo. They all contribute to the success of the Comme des Garçons name, by catering to different market preferences.

Trading Museum, Omotesando

Another brainchild of Rei Kawakubo, the Trading Museum is a concept store located on the second floor of a fashion-forward Omotesando building. It uses a museum format to feature edgier Comme des Garçons outfits inside glass cabinets on loan from the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

The Good Design Shop, in the same building, displays graphic CDG sports shirts behind piled-up gift boxes, houseware, and pottery.

Aoyama

The Comme des Garçons store in Aoyama is the mother lode: timeless black, white, or dotted shirts, pants, jackets, shoes with just the right asymmetry or cut, and edgy detail. One can spend hours just checking out each nook, where delights are either hanged or folded.

Aoyama is also lined with many tasty brands and the statement buildings that house them. Issey Miyake has three stores, Yohji Yamamoto has a two-story flagship, Sacai, Tsumori Chisato  (yes, Cartier and Prada,too), to name a few.

Visvim, Omotesando

Cult Japanese label Visvim founded by Hiroki Nakamura has an impressive flagship store F.I.L (Free International Laboratory). A huge boutique by Japanese standards, it has a wooden floor and gigantic statement pieces of wooden altar-like furniture. Shoes (it started out as a footwear company) welcome the customers.  There are huge closets with rotating displays of vintage-inspired, last-a-lifetime jeans, and shirts for men and women.

Little Cloud Café serves coffee (not free) using beautiful ceramic drippers, to be enjoyed on seats inside the store or on the terrace.

Cat Street

Perpendicular to Omotesando and very close to Harajuku, charming pedestrians-only Cat Street is dotted with many interesting shops located inside even more interesting architecture. Lanvin, Opening Ceremony, Adidas go side by side with local brands.  Ragtag buys and sells previously-owned designer clothes at a discount, an idea that works in a city where living space is limited.

Tourists can shop tax-free in Japan. The process is unlike the European VAT, where one gets a tax refund at the airport. In Japan, upon the point of purchase and for as long as he brings his passport, the tourist’s bill excludes the eight-percent tax slapped on locals. In department stores and retailers like Tokyu Hands, a tax refund desk gives the tax back in cash. Of course, smaller shops may not give this service.

If you need an instant Tokyo fix, Jappy Gonzalez’s impeccable taste shows at Univers. He carries Comme des Garçons, Visvim, Sacai, Porter, among other habit-forming brands.

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Please tell me where to walk the talk. Email: cecilialicauco2@gmail.com.