Tokyo Pop-Up: Vogue Nippon x Comme des Garcons

This week Vogue Nippon, in collaboration with avanteguard Japanese fashion house Comme des Garcons, celebrated the launch of “Magazine Alive”, their new pop- up shop in Tokyo’s trendy Aoyama district. On hand to fete the event were some of Japan’s most prolific fashion editors, artist Takashimi Murakami (who designed the second floor of the shop with his signature pop- art infused flowers and designs), Comme Des Garcons creator Rei Kawakubo, and former protege- turned- fashion- powerhouse Junya Watanabe. The space itself (housed in the former location of the pop-up Louis Vuitton x Comme Des Garcons boutique) will be selling a  unique mix of apparel and limited edition accessories, in addition to “t-shirts bearing the manga likeness of Hedi Slimane, Marc Jacobs, and Donatella Versace.” If all this doesn’t sound exciting enough, there will also be silk gowns by Undercover, select wares by Martin Margiela, and the store’s stock will be constantly changing to coincide with the contents of that month’s Vogue- but  only till November when Magazine Alive will finish its run.

However, no Vogue event would be complete without a visit from the Kaiser of fashion himself- Karl Lagerfeld,  who whipped together an original window display featuring mannequins clad in silver lame and miniature dolls in quilted outfits just for the pop-up. The genuine curiousity and excitement this event has generated in the design community could foreshadow a new age of collaborations between magazines and Fashion labels, a symbosis so obvious it almost seems overlooked.

Below are two of the limited T-shirts  by Martin Margiela (left) and Takashi Murikama (right) available for now exclusively through Vogue Nippon.