With the rising respect for Japanese menswear within the late aughts, Popeye now not simply needed to introduce readers to the most recent international tradition. As an alternative it turned an vital media useful resource for creating and celebrating the distinctive cosmopolitan tradition rising in Tokyo. Beneath the editorial steerage of frequent The Sartorialist topic Takahiro Kinoshita, Popeye skilled a renaissance within the mid-2010s, with a definite new aesthetic that put trad-chic style set towards the town’s iconic mid-century institutions. And by reporting on related existence across the globe, it appeared like there have been really “metropolis boys” in London, Paris and New York as properly. By the late 2010s, Popeye stylist Akio Hasegawa pioneered the “massive silhouette” look of free sweat fits and sportswear that presaged the present extensive suits of J.Crew. Kinoshita later left to run Lifewear journal at UNIQLO amongst different initiatives, and Hasegawa presently runs his personal model Cahlumn utilizing Popeye alumni to make its spectacular catalog/journal.
Even right now Popeye continues to push a novel Tokyo aesthetic, and the viewers has expanded out from younger males to older guys, ladies, and overseas readers (who usually cannot even learn the texts). Regardless of the ads from main international luxurious manufacturers, Popeye has its personal sense of find out how to type such merchandise right into a laid-back look utilizing teenage fashions. There are children with nice type sense strolling over to the flower store in stylish grey sweatsuits or having fun with vintage ceramics of their tatami rooms whereas carrying high-end tanktop undershirts. In comparison with overseas style magazines, Popeye celebrates craftsmanship and concrete exploration, particularly amongst older eateries and generation-old outlets relatively than the most recent stylish eating places.
Popeye, particularly as a print journal, maintains a give attention to concrete, analog issues—actual objects, actual locations, actual folks. And this will likely assist floor the journal in a time of Instagram and TikTok. Even with its social media accounts, Popeye gives an aspirational perspective on dwelling in Tokyo and discovering the wonders hidden round a avenue nook or discovering a terrific jacket from a small clothes model. To today Popeye stays a “journal for metropolis boys”, and now these metropolis boys are in all places.
