A new fashion spot has opened in Aoyama, Tokyo. It's a select shop called "ICON" (5-39-1 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo), under the total direction of Eiji Hatanaka, director of the shop "IDOL." Tiffany Godoy and Tomoyuki Yonezu of creative branding studio "EROTYKA TOKYO PARIS" participated as visual identity and total creation partners. The shop, which was originally a residential building, was completely renovated and planned around the concept of "building a home," and consists of seven rooms. Each room showcases products with a different theme.
The shoe rack just inside the atrium entrance is lined with sneakers from adidas by Raf Simon and Umit Benan. To the right, in the dining room, is a pop-up shop for PIECE D'ANARCHIVE. Japanese incense and candy, which were inspirations for the designer, are also on display.
The pop-up room, which was originally a garage, is currently hosting a pop-up shop for Krisvanassche. An installation by Casely-Hayford is also on display until September 23rd.
The bedroom in the basement is the library. Photobooks and books selected by Twelvebooks are placed on the bookshelves and on the bed, and stationery is lined up on the desk. Additionally, a life-size cutout of Joe is displayed in the T-shirt section of KAJYUMARU, a new brand launched by Joe of Tokyo Dandy. The adjacent powder room showcases favorite products used by Hatanaka and Godoy, including NARS cosmetics, hair butter from creative hair salon THE OVERSEA, fabric care products from THE LAUNDRESS, and Escentric Molecules, the trending fragrance whose scent changes depending on the wearer. A large table is set up in the main living room on the first floor. Along with clothes selected by Hatanaka and others, vintage magazines like "Mr. High Fashion" and "Vogue" are placed by the window and on benches, creating the atmosphere of visiting a friend's house.
Photographs by The Overseas, a collaboration between The Overseas and New York photographer Tim Barber, are displayed throughout the store. The work that launched Barber's career is also on display and for sale.
"With a 'house' theme, I wanted to create an atmosphere that wasn't simply a place to buy and sell clothes, but one that felt like visiting a friend's home. It was a place where conversations about items that caught my eye, like, 'Where did you buy that?', naturally flowed," says Hatanaka.
Although Hatanaka has worked in fields such as graphic design and space production, it was the impact he felt when he saw the visuals of Ann Demeulemeester in a magazine as a junior high school student that led him to enter this world.
Now, a year after opening IDOL, which also houses a cafe and studio, he naturally came to the desire to create a shop based on fashion, the roots of his career.
"Influenced by my mother who loved making clothes, I would devour the collection magazines we had at home as a boy, and that's when I became interested in fashion. My selection criteria aren't just about the look of the clothes, but also whether there's something about the designer's attitude towards making clothes that I can relate to behind the products. I offer life-sized styles that you'll want to recommend to friends," he says.
Future plans include providing food, creating original characters, and collaborating with creators in new fields and the shop "idols."
Opening hours are from 12 noon to 8pm.
