While the weather enjoys its little schizoid episode down here, I find myself dreaming of spring days where the air is balmy, I actually feel like wearing shoes with soles as opposed to sneakers, and people suggest going out for drinks on a Tuesday just because.
Of course, even during these mythical spring days...I will need to stay fashionably warm, which is where Uniqlo comes in!
Uniqlo is a Japanese import which has alternately been called the H+M or the Gap of Japan. This past winter, they assaulted New York with a variety of pop up stores and massive flagship on Broadway in SoHo. They are known mostly for the candy store-esque variety of high quality cashmere and wool sweaters at totally reasonable prices. Seriously, walking into this store is amazing...just colorful sweaters stacked as far as the eye can see. I could hear the Oompa Loompas singing in the background (actually it was probably just Japanified emo).
I picked up an eggplant cashmere turtleneck and and pink merino sweater over New Years in New York and barely broke $100. I was also dying to pick up a pair of skinny jeans that I had tried on previously but hadn't been brave enough to buy at the time, but they were gone! Hell hath no fury like skinny jeans scorned, I guess.
Oh well, this spring Uniqlo is making like every other cheap and chic line (et tu, Target and H+M) and collaborating with a few well known designers for capsule collections.
First up is the line from cashmere designers Lutz & Patmos who are known for luxurious million ply sweaters emblazoned with skulls and pot leaves on them. The sweaters for Uniqlo appear DEA cleared, chunkier knits in mostly soft neutral colors with architechtual silhouettes. Yuh-mee. Check out more info about the sweaters at The Shophound and Elle.com for more photos.
The store is also carrying designs from two lesser known designers (at least on non-rising sun shores) Kino and HALB. From the picture I've seen of the Kino stuff (HALB is menswear), they look feminine, delicate and cool. Color me interested.
I'm headed up to the city this weekend and plan on doing more than a little damage at Uniqlo, but what I'm most excited about is the next wave of capsule collections, expected to hit shelves in mid-April. One of my absolute favorite designers, Philip Lim is helming one collection, while Alice Roi fronts the other. Check out more with pictures and drop dates for more collections at nitro:licious, who seems to have all the scoop.
In the meantime, I'm off to learn Japanese and try to send Uniqlo nasty messages about bringing back some shipments of skinny jeans and asking them why New Jersey seems fit for stores, but not our Nation's capital? I mean, Menlo Park? Seriously?
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