Hello again. What a wonderful fourth day of spring it is in Chicago. Guess what? Storm (my favorite mutant) decided to give us some 4 inches of snow. Mind you, it’s been a little over a month since the last time it snowed, giving us about 9 inches. Nonetheless, life continues and is Mondays are a drag to get out of bed, today was no different. I had to hit the snooze about 4 times to finally get up.

I am a night owl. I love staying up late. Watching TV or on the laptop looking at fashion or searching for my next blog post topic. So, I had a friend who recently went to Tokyo. She was amazed with all the fashions it has to offer. Being a designer herself, she’s actually really good and fabulous on top of that, she left Tokyo with the mentality of moving there. With Tokyo Fashion Week Wrapped up, I can honestly see what she means. Speaking of menswear alone it is some of the best fashions I have seen. And trust me I like Bottega Venetta, Dries Van Noten, Rick Owens, Tim Coppens and E.Tautz just to name a few.

Not for nothing though, Tokyo is and should be a top contender in menswear along Milan, London and Paris. I like New York but let’s be honest its been slacking a bit. Speaking of course Menswear wise but we shall see what happens this July when New York hosts its first Men’s Fashion Week.

Tokyo has been showing some great promise, showing amazing designer talent. For instance, Nior Fr which is a minimalist brand yet is all about the details, cuts and styling that made this collection successful. Designed by Syota Masuda it was a collection of all in black with a hint of grey and some lamé printed on the pants. Detailed zippers on sweaters gave the collection a hard edgy look without losing focus. It was slim, it was fit, it was amazing.

I was really impressed with Discovered. It was grunge meets American-Indian with a touch of Asian flare. It was impressive in the sense that it was laid back, grunge it was polished and luxurious. This brand is known for mixing things up and styling it in a chic way. You can not argue the talented designers for this brand. You get the touches of Asian and American sense, you also see the great details on the Native American influences on the printed ponchos. It was a superb collection and I really want some of these pieces shown.

Yoshio Kubo is known to be influenced by street wear. To be honest Tokyo’s natives were the main street style trend setters. Yoshio knows his stuff, the street wear influences are very remote, these men are trend setters but in a more upscale luxury way. They are polished, they are groomed and they have impeccable fashion sense. I liked the patchwork blazer, the printed bomber paired with fitted sweat pants. There was a color blocked coat with an amazing oversized hood. My personal favorite a Chanel-esque tweed jacket. It was simply magnificent.

Facetasm might just be a brand that may replace one of dear favorite menswear brands. Focusing on tailoring and construction this show was great. Showing tunics in colorful prints yet masculine at the same time. A black pullover that seemed torn but stitched together raw like gave it an amazing detail to it. An outerwear jacket that seemed simple yet complicated and origami like shaped on the sleeves. The collection had a great balance of idea and wearability, some thing that is sometimes lost from these other well-known brands and designers.

Thanks again! I have a busy weekend ahead of me. So please make sure you are going to my twitter and instagram for a fashionable weekend.

G!