Young Japanese brand Tellsit presented their A/W 2012-13 collection – Pressure, with a very low key show in a rather unremarkable building in Shibuya, but on entry you did feel like you had stepped into a slightly dreamy world where everything just seemed a little off. Now on their second full collection, they are making a name for themselves as the cult street brand of the moment, where menswear essentials are given a healthy twist in an echo of the height of brands like Undercover’s subversive branding. The path of incorporating brand identity through distinctive details is definitely the favored approach to logos these days, and the fashion feels all the better for it. In Tellsit’s case, the distinctive ring design on the back pocket of jeans and hands that are all over their knitwear are good design in and of itself – the fact that it invites you into a cool little club is just an added bonus.
In the installation the clothes were suspended from wire hands that reached down from the ceiling, but ultimately it was a no-frills raw affair that Japanese streetwear aficionados are primed to respond to right now.
The line-up in the collection was on the limited side, but according to the designer, Tellsit is all about doing a handful of items perfectly – which in turn makes them all the more recognizable. The attention to detail in jackets like the above was obvious, but even the basics took every opportunity to incorporate a nice little flourish and detail wherever possible.
The bizarre faux-layering of items like this is a really big feature in cult streetwear right now, and it has really helped them justify their cost against the rise of fast fashion, as everyone knows just how labour intensive it is to put items like this together.
Love the arms that grip your own arms in the above.
The panels in the hoodie above are ambitiously complicated - again, a feature that is going to mark out the next generation of street brands this A/W.
The centerpiece of the collection was this deliberately trippy jacket – check out the details:
Cute and creepy in equal amounts.
If you want to see more, then you will have to keep an eye on Tellsit’s homepage, but like all cool brands there is literally nothing there. Instead I invite you to look at their current season collection which is on sale now.
