The scenery is changing and the flowers are blooming. Springtime is in full effect and seeing the sunshine after months of rain is nice to see- just as nice as the pickups! April also means another year of Caveman Corner- 2 years strong of sharing what I love and I can’t express enough how grateful I am that you guys take the time to read what I have to say 💚.
Here are some pickups I’m highlighting for the month of April that feature magazines, art books, clothes, and much more!
📚🧡🍊Dekopon Magazine Vol. 2
One of the coolest mags out is back at it again with a new volume! To me, Dekopon is an amalgamation of people who love fashion, trinkets, art and community - all things I and many others hold close. I especially enjoy seeing all the “street snaps” featured in each volume and it’s a great source of inspiration for style ideas! Other favorite spreads include a readers choice survey that asked readers their favorite seasons, mascot characters, style, independent designers and more, and “the spaces in-between”- a photo shoot set in a cold and desolate space with ambient lighting and winter-ready outfits that have a futuristic feel that I’m enamored with! I’ll keep saying you should check them out and keep up the amazing work everyone!
📚⚔️🪄Bravely Default Artworks
The 3DS holds some of my favorite games and Bravely Default is a new one I’ve been playing for a little bit- loving the sketch art style JRPG from Square Enix. This art book features many sketches and promo art of the main characters, villains, enemies, backgrounds and much more. The one fact I heard that really brought me into the series was that the creator of “Soul Eater” Atsushi Okubo was brought in to design some character costumes- me being a huge fan of his comrade me want to see it for my self! Bravely Default has to be one of the prettiest games I’ve ever played and this art book flaunts that statement with some beautiful work and is a cool resource for me when I try to draw more chibi-styled characters because they do it so well.
📚🤖💿“Techno Style” by Martin Pesch and Markus Weisback
Techno as a genre made so many sub-genres as the culture developed surrounding the ever-evolving scene. From house, to DNB, to euro and hardcore- many communities were developing new sounds and with that, a lot of great music was being made. While that was happening, the community would create amazing album artwork and flyers for shows that were happening locally and as technology evolved, so did the way people made music and graphics. Some of the coolest graphic design came out of the 90s to early 2000’s- tech evolving so rapidly with 3D becoming the brand new way to create and many used that and much more to express their music’s vision! This book is filled with flyers and album artwork- favorites being Intrance and Tokyo Ghetto Pussy. I’ve even searched up some of the artists from how cool their graphics looked- now having a handful of albums waiting to be listened to!
🚚🗾Buyee Haul
I’ve heard a lot of good things about Buyee from a couple of people- being a proxy site that acts as the middle man for things you’d buy off sites such as Yahoo Japan and Mercari. Once I’ve accumulated enough things, it was time to get them all together and ship them out to me! It being the first time, I decided to buy more small things like stickers and charms, but I also got a book, game and a tee. I love a lot of the older BAPE graphics from long ago and I found some inexpensive listings for some specific stickers, so I said why not! This was the case for a lot of Keroro Gunso merchandise that was exclusive to Japan and I bought a sticker sheet, charms and a couple posters from a McDonald’s collaboration! Next is a small book for the Japanese release of “Um Jammer Lammy” that features interviews, concept art, character portraits, character bios, DIY craft instructions, and a sticker sheet. Overall, the process was smooth and easy and for someone who’s using Buyee for the first time, I’d highly recommend you purchase a good amount of stuff before you get them shipped out - especially if it’s a lot of small things because there’s a 30 day period you can hold items and combine for cheaper shipping instead of paying a lot of shipping per item ;).
🧢👖👕Small Assortment Of Clothing Pickups
G-Star Jeans
Jeans puddling over the shoe has never looked so good with this pair of G-Star Triple A Bootcut jeans! As the name tells, these look especially great with any boot of choice, but don’t be afraid to wear them with other footwear.
Vintage Bapesta Pro Wrestling Tee
A Bathing Ape had some of favorite graphics in the 2000’s and this one is no different! This tee was made for a pro wrestling circuit hosted by BAPE and Leg Lock called the Zepp Tour and features an angry ape ready to chomp down 😤
Supreme x Undercover Lupin Tee
These two brands are goliaths of their own- Supreme being the biggest name in America and Undercover being one of the founding fathers of Japanese Streetwear. Both brands are filled to the brim with histories of their own, but this collection takes big inspiration from past Undercover collections such as “Chaotic Discord” from S/S 01, S/S 03 “Scab” and A/W 05 “Arts and Crafts”. Unfortunately many of the stand-out pieces were quite expensive so I decided to grab the tee! Loved watching the Castle of Cagliostro and Kazuhiro Kato makes some great illustrations!
Human Made X Undercover “ The Last Orgy 2” Tee
Two of the OGs in Japanese street fashion, Jun Takahashi of Undercover and Nigo of Human Made - also founder of A Bathing Ape, have a long history together. These two would both meet at Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo and become colleagues instantly. From there, they’d both open up a boutique called “NOWHERE” and participate in a monthly column called, “The Last Orgy 2” where they would talk about the things they liked. Upon reading about the history of the name, it’s quite inspirational that they were writing about what they love in the beginning - much like what I’m doing here at the Caveman Corner and having the shirt that connects with a moment in fashion history that hits close to home makes it all the sweeter. Also, this was part of the Buyee haul I got at good price!
Supreme x Hysteric Glamour Trucker Cap
Keeping on with the theme of Japanese streetwear comes a collaboration from 2017 between Supreme and Hysteric Glamour! I really like a lot of the truckers mainline Hysteric Glamour makes but haven’t found one for a good price until now. I got this cap from my local clothing flea market Worlds Worst Expo and I snagged this one for 40$! The hat was a bit loved, so it only took a bit of stain remover and a wash and now it’s good as new! Can’t wait to fill it with buttons and wear it a lot in the summer!