A Day With Craig Ford
Craig Ford has had a considerable impact on the London and British fashion scene. As an important visionary who brought the original BAPE STORE to London, he has also gone on to help develop the British brand presences’ of various respected streetwear brands including BBC | Ice Cream, aNYthing, AMBUSH and Gourmet among others through A Number of Names. Furthermore, he has also been one of the catalysts behind the fledgling London menswear tradeshow known as Jacket Required. Ford recently took us on a buying trip with him to Tokyo which included a run-in with several notable personalities. Follow his day-to-day jaunts over at his HYPEBEAST blog.
A DAY WITH Craig Ford
BAPE LONDON® owner, a number of names* owner, Jacket Required co-owner
Craig Ford has had a considerable impact on the London and British fashion scene. As an important visionary who brought the original BAPE STORE to London, he has also gone on to help develop the British brand presences’ of various respected streetwear brands including BBC | Ice Cream, aNYthing, AMBUSH and Gourmet among others through A Number of Names. Furthermore, he has also been one of the catalysts behind the fledgling London menswear tradeshow known as Jacket Required. Ford recently took us on a buying trip with him to Tokyo which included a run-in with several notable personalities. Follow his day-to-day jaunts over at his HYPEBEAST blog.
NOWHERE® welcome mat. Sorry but no pictures beyond this point. All I can say is that the SS12 collection looks very strong, with some great new print treatments, fabrics, and collaborative items. I thought this FW11 BAPE® collection really got back to the core values of the brand.
11:00
AM
Next port of call. C.E exhibition Harajuku. There was a typhoon the week before in Tokyo, which blew down trees in the city so a lot of people couldn’t make the exhibition.
04:00
PM
Say goodbye to SK8THING at the C.E exhibition.
05:30
PM
COLD Coffee, NIGO®’s latest flagship store for HUMAN MADE. (It also sells Curry Up tees, but they are behind the counter and you have to ask). HUMAN MADE is historic clothing, authentically reproduced to the highest standards by Warehouse. Thanks in part to SK8THING’s graphics, it offers a new modern new slant.
06:30
PM
Mr Peanut.
07:15
PM
NIGO® behind the counter at Cold Coffee.
08:00
PM
Arrive at Genius Tokyo, an interesting club in Ginza, not my usual stomping ground.
10:00
PM
Club over. Time for group photo. Various friends & friends of friends. (L to R) Koji / Daisuke Kawaguchi / Atom / Masafumi Watanabe / Jun Maemuta / Jey Perie / Kunichi Nomura / Craig Ford / Hideki Hue Kimura / Takashi Kumagai / Haruchika Mitsui.
01:45
AM
Bebetan collects his jacket from the cloakroom.
02:15
AM
Camelot club in Shibuya.
02:45
AM
My view from the taxi home.
04:15
AM
10:30
AM
Entry buzzer at NOWHERE. Time to see what’s instore for BAPE SS12. I have been coming to see the collection in Tokyo for 10 years now and next year will be the London Stores 10th anniversary. I still remember being blown away the first time I saw everything in full. I am never disappointed, as they always seem to push new ideas, and make products that make people go – “why didn’t I think of that.”
01:00
PM
NOWHERE BAPE SS12 exhibition with a view of a SK8THING ’50’s Car Hop graphic.
05:00
PM
Geiger counter at the C.E exhibition. It makes the familiar (from the movies) ticking noise when the levels change which can be a little concerning.
06:00
PM
Cold Coffee to meet NIGO. Customers, remember the store is only open Friday thru Sunday – Old School.
07:00
PM
Inside NIGO®’s new office NIGOLD somewhere in Tokyo. A HUMAN MADE paper mache ad display, as used by some old workwear brands.
07:30
PM
NIGO® at Cold Coffee.
09:00
PM
Dinner with the Bedwin & Deluxe crew. I met Bebetan (far right) a year ago and we just started working together to sell the brand in the EU for SS12. He lived in the UK for a while, so he has a different sensibility than other born and bred Japanese designers. Had a great meal together in a traditional/modern Japanese restaurant in Aoyama.
10:15
PM
In the club. Mirror balls, suits, dresses and R&B bangers.
02:00
AM
After hours champagne courtesy of Taichiro Takahashi, manager of Genius Tokyo, who is a fan of Bedwin & the Heartbreakers, Deluxe and the Tokyo fashion scene in general.
02:30
AM
We pour out of Genius looking for the next venue. Head towards Le Baron, but get sidetracked…
03:00
AM
1210 VIP room. At Camelot with Jey & Daisuke.
04:30
AM
Melatonin. Time for bed. I discovered melatonin at a stag weekend in Montauk this year (congratulations Joseph & Sky). It’s a great relatively natural way of combatting sleeping problems when traveling. I didn’t have to use it this night, as a few drinks is another good way of combating sleeping problems.
