Evisu Photo Book Tateoti

The Tateoti book is more expensive than a magazine, so I thought I'd give you a glimpse of what is good about it.

It's a similar size to a regular magazine, denim covered, and the first two thirds of the book is just full of photos of worn-in denim. The image captions include the denim grade and style number.



The last third is a bit boring (for me) with more artistic fashion shots.

(Sorry, I posted the same pic twice, here is the other one I meant to post)

Amazon Japan Ships Internationally Fast

I'd been meaning to actually purchase something from Amazon Japan for a while (for a long period of time they didn't ship outside of Japan). I just ordered a stack of denim magazines last week, and they arrived in five days!

I was surprised they arrived so fast. My experience with Amazon USA has always been a wait of approx. one month for the international shipping. I reviewed the international shipping costs, and Amazon Japan charges are more expensive but the cost per item is cheaper. If you are buying five or more books, then it is actually cheaper.

Anyway, I've got a pile of new magazines to look through. I'll post some quick reviews over the coming weeks.

ps. The Evisu Tateoti book is quite spectacular!

Lightning No.62 The Denim Book

Lightning magazine are releasing another denim book this month.

I'll be visiting Japan next month, but I doubt I'll be doing much shopping. The Australian dollar has collapsed compared to the Japanese yen... I might be able to afford this book.

Levi Strauss & Co. by Lynn Downey

I noticed this book on amazon:



I haven't seen it before. It looks interesting.
Does anyone have it? Is it worth getting?

Indigo Master (Lightning Magazine Vol.47)

I'm back from holidays. I didn't actually buy any denim, but I did get this magazine. It has lots of pictures of the denim masters, and worn in denim. If you follow the link to Amazon Japan, click on the picture of the magazine, and you can see some internal pages.

Article on Jenny Balfour-Paul

The Times Online has an article on Jenny Balfour-Paul (author of the indigo book).
http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/gardens/article2785493.ece

There's also a link to an exhibition at the Brighton/Hove Museum that Jenny has curated.
Indigo: A Blue to Dye For
29 Sept - 6th Jan 2008

Real McCoy's Funbook 2007

Earlier I mentioned the Real McCoy's magazine that I got at Kinokuniya in Sydney. It's really a catalog that you have to pay for, but it's got some great pictures and probably some good information if you can read Japanese.

Here are some of my favourite parts.

Layout showing the various parts that comprise an A-2.

The internal padding/insulation of a B15. I presume that this filling is quite similar to what is inside my Buzz Rickson's MA-1.

Indigo by Jenny Balfour-Paul

My copy of the new edition of Indigo by Jenny Balfour-Paul has arrived.

It's a big book. Shiny hardback. And it has more information and colour pictures than I expected.

I suspect that it is exactly the same as the previous edition, just a different publisher.


Interestingly the book is published with assitance from Olah Inc. New York, Blue Track Srl Italy, and Kurabo Industries Japan.

I ordered my copy directly from Archetype books in the U.K..

ISBN: 1904982158
Book listing

Send them an email if you want to order.

This is a pair of Levi's Jeans: The Official History of the Levi's Brand (updated)

This book has been discontinued/sold-out, so I ordered a second-hand copy from overseas. When the title says "The Official History of the Levi's Brand" I was expecting timelines, dates and information. Not so. What you get is big pictures of jeans, letters, receipts, Levis advertisments, and people wearing jeans, but most of the interesting pictures have had weird colour treatments, and the textual information has had excessive layout font and colour treatment so that it has become impossible to read.

A better title for this would be "The Big Colour Layout Disappointment".

Here are some examples of what I mean.

1/5 Stars

Don't waste your money.

Japanese Magazines

I was in Sydney for work, and dropped in Kinokuniya to get some magazines.

Lightning Real McCoys Funbook 2007

This is really a high quality catalog of the Real McCoys JP products. There are some Real McCoys Lightning catalogs from previous years.

Free & Easy

This is an old school magazine, I mean, it's a magazine about old stuff. Not antique stuff, but old hardwearing clothes and accessories. Either originals or replicas. There's plenty of pictures of Flight Jackets, Jeans, Leather accessories. This edition has a huge section on Steve McQueen. It goes into crazy detail about the clothes he wore etc.

I find the obsessiveness bizzare, but I also admire it.

Indigo
Also, it appears that the classic book Indigo by Jenny Balfour-Paul has been rereleased on Archetype books.


Amazon Japan Listing of Indigo

Archetype description of Indigo

This is great, I've been wanting to buy the previous edition of this book for a while, but it has been sold out. Now I just need a webstore that ships to Australia.