While waiting for my flight transfer from Narita, Tokyo to Manila, I went to browse at the airport bookstore. Tune is one of the magazines I found.
It is a slim monthly volume of 48 men's streetstyle looks. It is part of a trio of publications, with Street and Fruits.
I like the confluence of patterns on this guy, as contrasted with his plain beige shirt.
Patches and patterns! Plus a burst of color.
This man's bulky jacket narrows down to leggings, then finally to bare skin right above his boots.
It is as if the butterflies all came from the nest of red-patterned fluffiness.
I would have also chosen this image for the cover. Quite simply, it is all about seemingly disparate items — like his beret, necklace, and drop-crotch pants — coming together in a subtly stylish ensemble.
For a moment there I thought this gentleman was Giovanna Battaglia. Amazing how the casual kimono is combined with the hood and the sneakers.
Repeating elements bring harmony: the black and white print and sharp angles of the accessories.
What drew me to this image is how unplaceable it is. Moscow? Somewhere in Scandinavia? Or is it an era of China lost in time?
Besides the gloves (the opposite of fingerless), what is great about this outfit is the precise combination of proportion and silhouette. The shirt hanging out of the high-waisted jacket, taken with the turtleneck and the harem pants, somehow conjure a sense of the regal. Made contemporary by color contrasts.
I don't usually like silly pop glasses, or even intentional holes in clothes, but again, it is how they go well together when joined by the floral pants, the studs on the leather jacket, and of course, his tassel necklace.
Skirt, kilt, shorts, or skirts? Whatever these are, they look good. Notice how the double zipper echoes the flow of fabric.
Good how this leopard print was rendered masculine enough for this man's cardigan.
This last ensemble looks dark and dingy. I don't think it would have been as thoroughly effective without the contrast of his straight hair tied back so smoothly.
As a last note on a topic I wish to explore soon, some may question the practicality of publishing streetstyle magazines, when people already get their daily style fix from the web — Style Arena in my case, for Japanese streetstyle. After much deliberation, I finally bought Scott Schuman's book, The Sartorialist, even if I could just as easily download all the images I wanted for personal perusal. With the recent release of the iPad, does anybody still prefer physical books over electronic ones? Any thoughts on this? I'll tell you more about what I think in a subsequent post.