Where shall we go wearing BEAMS? VOL.1 Lambda Takahashi (Stylist) | feature

The way of expression is changing, but the trend is going around in a 20-year cycle.

Lambda-san, you originally worked at "BEAMS", didn't you?

Yoshikawa:I am already a senior. However, our working periods do not overlap. You worked at BEAMS in the late 90's, right?

Lambda:I think that was about it. I was working at a restaurant in Shinjuku.

Why did you decide to join BEAMS?

Lambda:I wanted to know about clothes. Until then, I only knew about vintage clothing, so I wanted to learn about clothes properly. I wanted to learn how to wear a suit, for example. Especially in Shinjuku at that time, there were stores such as "International Gallery BEAMS," so there were all kinds of clothes. Besides, I had always admired BEAMS.

Yoshikawa:In the 1990s, when I was still in my teens, I worked at a vintage clothing store that also carried street brands. That is where I learned not only about vintage clothing, but also about street fashion. I then moved to Tokyo and joined a select store, so I guess my background is a bit similar to yours.

How did you find this "PAT MARKET"?

Lambda:Listen to the young kids. As you can imagine, it is difficult to find these back alleys by yourself (laughs). But of course I check Instagram, and even in Harajuku, I do my research by going around randomly to various stores.

The staff here are young and have fresh senses, and they are running the store while studying clothes. Their sense of style is just so interesting.

Yoshikawa:There are a lot of clothes from the 90s and 2000s.

Lambda:I am amazed that they know such brands. I even went to study them (laughs). I felt both nostalgic and fresh, and I got really excited. My taste in clothes has changed a bit (laughs).

Yoshikawa:I have a lot of "TUNE" and "FRUiTS" here...I miss them...I watched them on time in the late 90's.

Lambda-san, are you also interested in the fashion of the late 90's?

Lambda:This was the period when I was most into clothes.

Yoshikawa:TUNE" and "FRUiTS" were also shooting in Harajuku, and there were many such people even if they were not in magazines. Everyone was really unique, and I felt the power of their fashion.

Lambda:Indeed, the power was great. I think the influence of "i-D" and other foreign magazines was also significant.

Yoshikawa:At that time, magazines were the source of information. Or I would talk to the staff at the store, or ask my seniors. That was all I had.

Lambda:But when I went to a store to buy vintage denim after reading a magazine, they never sold it (laughs).

Yoshikawa:Indeed. There is that (laughs).

In the late 2000s, SPA brands began to emerge, and fashion began to become more and more uniform. 2010s, simple and high quality clothes, such as nomads, became the trend, and the number of people who had the unique style of the 90s and early 2000s decreased rapidly. This is why these fashions are so fresh and new. Is that why these fashions seem so fresh now?

Lambda:I sense such a counter attitude, especially among young people.

Yoshikawa:In the 90's, there were people wearing vintage clothes, street style, and backwoods style, etc. In the 2000's, it was still like that, and it was a real hodgepodge. It was a real hodgepodge in the 2000s. This store has all kinds of clothes that remind me of those days.

According to the owner, "Each member of the management has a different sense of style, and we mix and match the clothes we like.

Lambda:It is good that they have brands that are not Harajuku-like, such as Ficce, Parsons for Men, and Michiko London. It is interesting to try on clothes from that era and match them with each other and find that the lengths of the garments are strangely balanced. After all, there are silhouettes and balances from those days.

On the second floor, you can find a wide variety of back then. Did you two come from this area of fashion as well?

Lambda:I was wearing "Ape" and "Good Enough" when I was about 17 or 18 years old, before I entered a vocational school.

Yoshikawa:It was around the mid-1990s, wasn't it? I would wear vintage clothes, but I would also match them with backwoods clothes.

Lambda:Yes, it was easy to get into.

Yoshikawa:Even though it was the backwaters, there were a lot of basic clothes, right?

Lambda:Hiroshi Fujiwara and NIGO's coordination was also cool. They were wearing clothes from the back streets with vintage clothes, and I found the silhouettes and size balance interesting.

I think it's more of a calculation to make sure it fits.

Lambda:That's right. They were designed to blend well with old clothes, and now that I think about it, they were made in a manner similar to brands such as Ralph Lauren.

Yoshikawa:We are also making original items this season with the keywords of the 2000s, but we are basically using basic designs. For example, we try to make it easy to wear with clothes from that time period, such as those in this store, without feeling uncomfortable.

How was the "PAT MARKET"?

Yoshikawa:It was very interesting. I could look at them for hours, thinking "I used to wear this kind of clothes" and feeling nostalgic (laughs). (Laughs.) Our staff in their 20s are also digging out these very clothes, and I can feel their energy.