Labyrinth is a new-ish brand that been starting to make some waves in the wonderful of Japanese fashion, and here at Tokyo Telephone we’re not ones to rock the boat…
Sorry again for the rubbish puns, I just can’t help myself these days! I’ve wanted to talk about Labyrinth for a while now, and who can resist a brand that shares the same name as Bowie’s infamous movie? I love Labyrinth’s look: a mixture of 1970s ethnic influences and modern Tokyo style, that seems equally at home being stocked both Lumine in Shinjuku and La Foret in Harajuku. What first attracted me to Labyrinth was the amazing decor in each of their concessions in department stores – there’s the same attention to detail and singular aesthetic that calls to mind the amazing obsessiveness of Tokyo’s many vintage boutiques (click here to see our special features on the Tokyo vintage scene).
I guess you could argue that Labyrinth is kind of like a faux-vintage shop in that much of the clothing design draws heavily from retro fashion from decades past. There seems to be a split in terms of influences this summer, with most Japanese fast fashion brands divided between looking back to either the 1950s or 1970s. While RNA (and others) take on a 50s teddy boy cute look, Liz Lisa and Labyrinth have stuck with the 70s – not a huge leap for Labyrinth, but one that marks them out a little.
Popular trends from Labyrinth this spring are maxi shirts and dresses, plenty of lace and even a poncho! Very 70s… Labyrinth’s signature colours have been, since it’s inception, lilac, mint green, white, brown and various pale shades of pink and blue. It kind of feels like they’ve hit the nail on the head in terms of popular shades for this season, and with many other brands taking a rather similar route I’ll be interested to see how Labyrinth keep their strong identity and evolve with future trends.
Super-sweet 70s.
Cute coats.
Here’s a few images from the previous look-book – if you happen to enjoy unicorns and butterflies you’re in for a real treat!
