The Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes

Last Sunday my boyfriend surprised me with a couple of tickets for the World Press Photo 10 exhibition in Tokyo, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. I am hugely interested in photography as a media, and the field of photojournalism is definitely one of my favorite.
One picture is worth a thousand words, said some wise man or woman, and I do believe in this kind of iconic-zen-philosophy.

Being the fashion junkie I am, the pictures (and the story) that immidiately thrilled me, where the shots by Francesco Giusti, an Italian photographer, who portrayed some of the members of the Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes, in short "SAPE". The pictures can be somehow compared to high-class street-snapshots, like the Sartorialist ones. If I will ever have the chance to meet Mr. Scott again I will absolutely beg him to pay a visit to SAPE members. I am an appreciator of men's fashion and style, you got me.

The way those gentlemen from the Republic of Congo can be seen as modern dandies is fascinating, and shows how fashion does not know any boundary. And yes, FASHION IS ART.

From the World Press Photo 10 web-page dedicated to SAPE:

The Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes (Society of Entertainers and Elegant People, SAPE), in Congo-Brazzaville, dates back to the 1920s and 1930s when privileged Congolese returned stylishly dressed from visits to Paris. Members of the SAPE, known as Sapeurs, see themselves as artists and often have nicknames and distinguishing gestures or poses. Some have celebrity status.

To view more pictures of SAPE members, please refer to this page

Somen

You realize that there's something wrong with you when you start putting heart-shaped ice cubes in your Friday somen. I'm so obsessed with somen, some kind of Japanese capellini, served cold and dipped into some fish and shoyu souce. So fresh and perfect for summer.
The radish in my salad is home grown. I'm so proud of my radish, so pretty and tiny.

Tonight it will be a night of mayhem, because my friends and I will be going to the infamous club Atom, in Shibuya. Milla and I used to be regulars at Atom, since we were "friends" (in a very Japanese way) with some of the people working there. Fashion-wise, Atom is quite hell. Think of your local hooker, put a volouminous wig on her head, fake lashes and there you go, your average Atom girl is ready to shake her hips to some trance music. Well, you never feel out of place in Atom. My outfit for tonight will be outrageous, and yes, I'm so excited about it. On the other hand, I'm quite afraid to post any picture of it on my blog, because people could blackmail me forever if I ever post something like that. Uh, just kidding. Maybe I will post something, who knows. I just feel like going back to 2007, when I was into Shibuya-style fashion.

Quite a random entry. Sorry.

Lady Dragon

A while ago I bought the adorable Lady Dragon by Vivienne Westwood for Melissa. I have a thing for Melissa, their shoes smell like candy floss, are water-proof (and believe me, in Tokyo water-proof shoes can save your life. My poor Marc Jacobs ballerina shoes are about to die because of rain, stupid me) and finally they're very comfortable, as they take the shape of your feet. I am a hopeless Vivienne fan, being her a trurly revolutionary and inspiring woman. I love how she is following her own idea of fashion without stooping to any compromise, starting from her couture line to the more affordable Anglomania. I have been craving the Lady Dragon for more than one year, and finally I had the courage to get some. The color choice wasn't the best, so I went for the dove/blue ones, but... Yes, there's always a "but". I've had these shoes for more than one month, and they're still untouched. It seems I cannot put together a decent outfit. Any suggestion? Please?

Perfect weather in Harajuku

I should be working on a report in Japanese and a presentation, both due this Monday, but of course I'm here procastinating and therefore I felt the urge to update the blog.


I went to Harajuku/Omotesando, one of my favorite area in Tokyo. A lot of affordable shops, even more luxury shops and a high chance of finding some greate vintage deals. I will blog more about this in future.

Being Friday afternoon, it wasn't so crowded, and there was no sign of the weird kids that usually spend their week-ends showing off their crazy outfits on this bridge.

Yuki, looking very professional in his recruit suit. I still remember his wild and dyed hair. Japanese youth change their looks so drastically during the so-called "job hunting".

We then moved to Shibuya and met Milla, for some speed shopping. Bea, me and Milla.

Kuni and Ken. He has a Canon, and I have a Nikon, therefore we cannot be friends.

We had some pizza at the new Sbarro, and despite being your usual picky Italian, I can say it was pretty decent.

Around 8 we went to Shima, because Milla's friend and hair stylist needed two "hair arrange models". He is Mr. Masuda and works at SHIMA Omotesando. He did our hair and then took some pictures. I also got my make up done, and they had to use so much conceal on my eye bags! I really liked the way Mr. Masuda styled our hair, we need some curls in our lives!

dress SLY / shorts UNIQLO / sandals Fornarina / bag Gilfy

Chi mi ama mi segua

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Just sayin, but I would be happy if you can follow my blog on Bloglovin and GoogleFriends. I will have a giveaway when I will reach a certain number of followers, so stay tuned, freebies from Japan?! Yes, this and more on Tokyo Quadrille.

Usamimi

I didn't want to put these online, but the show must go on and I should be studying right now so, here we are.
Just a random outfit I wore to uni last Thursday. I took the pictures right after coming back home, so my make up is quite funny. I was quite tired and forgot to use proper settings for my camera and the horrible pictures came as obvious result.

Sunday, crappy Sunday. Oh oh oh.

dress H&M / vest FUGA(my boyfriend's) / leggings LDS / glasses Tokyu Hands / necklace Vivienne Westwood

This is war.

1 new Tweet. Oh, it's @topshoptopmanjp. The new Kate Moss for Topshop collection is out in Japan, finally. And then, I happen to click on the link. I laugh, uncontrollably. Topshop Japan, please stop making a fool out of your consumers, it's not even fun anymore.

Lace Trim Blouse

Topshop UK: £50
Topshop JP: ￥15.700 (£119)

Open Back Playsuit

Topshop UK: £80
Topshop JP: ￥25200 (£191)

Pansy Print Maxi Dress

Topshop UK: £85
Topshop JP:￥26250 (£199)


And here, a random treat for you all...

Cape Dress By Meadham Kirchhoff

Topshop UK: £300
Topshop JP: ￥68250 (£512)

I cannot take it anymore. Ok, we live in Japan, we live far away from "Western Fashion", so we deserve to be charged for our sins. But seriously, is charging more than the double admissible? A 20% extra charge would be ok, but charging more than the 50% sounds more like a joke. When my friends and I had our legendary stroll with Mr. Scott aka The Sartorialist, I had a chance to discuss the matter with him, and obviously what he said made sense. It's import merchandise, so naturally it's more expensive, and charging extra money for foreign brands is legit since it somehow protects local Japanese brands. But this. THIS-IS-MADNESS.

I invite my fellow readers from Japan to boycott Topshop Japan. It's ridiculous. We are not stupid, and want our money worth.

Any comment and thought on the matter is really appreciated. Is Topshop so overpriced in your country? Would you still buy Topshop clothes if you had to pay this amount of money? If you want to check out the page with all the prices, here we go.