brands/labels you loved who are no more.

[Guest jmatsu]

Matsu, you know if Beauty;Beast is still around?

I used to quite like the stuff that trickled my way back when the internet wasn't what it is now...

Or are they just doing Oki-Ni now?

that's a good question. hadn't thought of them for a while. haven't seen that shit for a while. i just did a quick search and they seem to still exist.

cotton,

how did you get into bb? were they big in your country years back??

[Guest jmatsu]

Seesway Satiate

I just liked the name tbh

temple of jawns really knows alot about jap brands!!

[weirdnjfan1]

axion shoes

the kareem campbells to be exact

Axion used to be so fresh... They tried to revive that brand so many times and it just never made it. I heard that on the latest go around something happened where the brand (new investor) couldn't afford the import fees so tens of thousands of shoes just sat in a container in Oakland for months and months and finally shipped back to wherever they were produced and offed for pennies on the dollar or something along those lines.

I just heard recently that it's starting up again. No riders yet, but it's should be interesting to see who they get.

[Charlie Delta]

that's a good question. hadn't thought of them for a while. haven't seen that shit for a while. i just did a quick search and they seem to still exist.

cotton,

how did you get into bb? were they big in your country years back??

Nope not big at all, never made it into stores even, just not for the NL market I guess, the distributor of Evisu in Europe back then also did some other brands, one of which was B;B, and samples used to end up real cheap on their sample sales, thought what they did was quite cool, tried finding out as much about it as possible, which was quite hard with the internet not being as advanced as it is these days, anyway, ended up with a couple of pieces which I wore quite alot and I'm still hanging on to (most fun was an oddly cut grey blazer lined with a silk printed with those porn phonebooth cards, fun!)...

/story

[Guest jmatsu]

Nope not big at all, never made it into stores even, the distributor of Evisu in Europe back then also did some other brands, one of which was B;B, and samples used to end up real cheap on their sample sales, thought what they did was quite cool tried finding out as much about it as possible, which was quite hard with the internet not being as advanced as it is these days, anyway, ended up with a couple of pieces which I wore quite alot and I'm still hanging on to...

/story

after hearing this it all makes sense as to why oki-ni did bb for a while.

what bb have you got? i only owned a bag...

[Charlie Delta]

Had the jacket I described in the above post (post edit), a denim jacket, jeans, 1 or two printed tees, some allstars prison issue looking trainers with crazy square toes, a bag with a puzzle pattern stitched in, small hooded puffy windbreaker type jacket, weird skirt-type pantalon trousers, that's all I can think of right now.

Fun stuff, still like it.

Wouldn't mind seeing what they are up to/have been up to.

[Guest jmatsu]

Had the jacket I described in the above post (post edit), a denim jacket, jeans, 1 or two printed tees, some allstars prison issue looking trainers with crazy square toes, a bag with a puzzle pattern stitched in, small hooded puffy windbreaker type jacket, weird skirt-type pantalon trousers, that's all I can think of right now.

Fun stuff, still like it.

Wouldn't mind seeing what they are up to/have been up to.

http://www.beautybeast.co.jp/index2.html

[Guest jmatsu]

they still in biz. oki-ni still doing shit. and some shop called madame killer in nyc.

OH WOW. they do wedding dresses. OR DID...i dunno

shit looks pretty good. too bad their distro seems alittle weak. or maybe it was a calculated maneuver to get away from the malls.

[Charlie Delta]

Haha, that was obvious, thanks.

Stuck to their thing it seems.

Stuff I have was all a bit more techy though, not as seriously goth...

(actually quite like the blog header image, wouldn't look too out of place on an older Undercoverism Tee)

[Guest jmatsu]

Haha, that was obvious, thanks.

Stuck to their thing it seems.

Stuff I have was all a bit more techy though, not as seriously goth...

here's the thing though. in their first stages they were pretty goth and known for leather bag. seriously. probably one the first "goth" looking brands to ever really make it big in japland. they were in malls an on t.v. an shit.

u gotta buy this:

[Charlie Delta]

Yea, that's kind of what I remember and also the pieces that were in FRUITS, but I remembered it being more of the techy-goth as opposed to the drapey stuff I see here now so far. Indeed lots of armor looking leather but with weird joints and velcro and lots of leg pouches/bags. Ha!

[Guest jmatsu]

Yea, that's kind of what I remember and also the pieces that were in FRUITS, but I remembered it being more of the techy-goth as opposed to the drapey stuff I see here now so far. Indeed lots of armor looking leather but with weird joints and velcro and lots of leg pouches/bags. Ha!

yeah this was the 2nd renaissance of harajuku (even though bb be from fuckin osaka). when milkboy was doing it big. and when that one brand libertine was everywhere.

[mrip]

tsubi............lol

[Guest jmatsu]

tsubi............lol

duh... lol

balance (jp).

[Charlie Delta]

So you're saying that the more techy stuff was the 2nd Harajuku renaissance?

When abouts was this?

Also, could be that they just send lots of toned down stuff to Europe which was mainly what I was exposed to, apart from a couple of pics on websites that were near impossible to navigate (but seems like they still haven't gotten the hang of that yet...).

THIS:

YES!

[Guest jmatsu]

So you're saying that the more techy stuff was the 2nd Harajuku renaissance?

When abouts was this?

Also, could be that they just send lots of toned down stuff to Europe which was mainly what I was exposed to, apart from a couple of pics on websites that were near impossible to navigate (but seems like they still haven't gotten the hang of that yet...).

yes for bb. cause nobody probably knew what to make of that kansai import label when it first trickled to uh.

2nd ren- when shit was seen as more profitable or being more marketable (or for some reason more companies/financial institutions wereinvesting). i personally would say 1999, but this hasn't been documented. this is what i've heard from friends, colleagues, and various harajuku locals, personal observations.

[Charlie Delta]

Cool, interesting to hear.

Was all over FRUITS though, or atleast the book, some people head to toe in it even.

Also 4 pretty cool pics in that Style Deficit Disorder book that documents Harajuku (you know it? If so, curious what you think of it and it's accuracy) along with a small description saying that it enjoyed domestic mainstream succes in 1998 and that Yamashita took a hiatus in '00.

I'll have to dig those pieces up again.

[Guest jmatsu]

Cool, interesting to hear.

Was all over FRUITS though, or atleast the book, some people head to toe in it even.

Also 4 pretty cool pics in that Style Deficit Disorder book that documents Harajuku (you know it? If so, curious what you think of it and it's accuracy) along with a small description saying that it enjoyed domestic mainstream succes in 1998 and that Yamashita took a hiatus in '00.

I'll have to dig those pieces up again.

yeah i remember when there'd be people all up in that shit.

i have seen style deficit disorder in various bookstores and only briefly went through it. 1998 sounds about right, maybe, but i guess it depends on you ask cause there was just so much shit happening.

[dismalfuture]

What happened to Complete Finesse? That really was more up my alley back then.