absence: part 1: model life

snapshots of a photoshoot for a Japanese fashion Magazine 'Cool Trans'.

go-men // na-sai // an open letter

Gomen Nasai

Sorry to all the followers who I abandoned for the past 4 months !

Life in tokyo has not been easy, but in saying this, it has been an incomparable experience to date.

I can't really express how different my current life is to that of my previous. I am employed in fields doing aspects of what I had always enjoyed and yet becoming involved and greatly enthused in new aspects of what I had also enjoyed.
I am busy, I am tired, it is not uncommon to work a 12-18hr day. As a westerner, this is a crazy thought, to the Japanese it is the 'norm'. However, I really love it! I have always loved working hard and pushing myself into greater tasks that I hadn't known I would be completely capable of.

I am officially working as a,
- full-time model
- an assistant editor for a men's fashion publication, handling all english translated web media
- a DJ
- a stylist, and even
- a bartender

There's no stopping there... I am continuing to branch out and take on new challenges, new collaborations and new connections.

But for now I can say, "So far, so good".

No more apologies. I take responsibility for being shit at blogging. It will improve from this point on!

DOZO YOROSHIKU ONEGAISHIMASU!

GHE††Ø ≈ G∑ΧHÅ

Hey readers!
SO very sorry for my poor performance here... I can not use any excuses, I'm just a bad blogger lately!

I thought I would share my above outfit post that I wore on the weekend to Tokyo's most exciting party FancyHim! This weekend was pretty special for me, as it marked the 1 year anniversary of my love affair with Tokyo, since we met! So it was fitting that a FancyHim party was on to mark the celebration! FancyHim is a gay/lesbian/bi/straight (but really, it's gay) party in Tokyo that rolls around every so often and brings out the best dressed and craziest of party-goers. So the pressure was on!!
I had decided that I wanted to,
a) be in theme of ghetto vibes, and
b) wear the most amazing biker jacket EVER taht was gifted to me as a farewell present from best-friend/ex-housemate/colleague/life inspiration Nadia!!! This jacket is so special to me, and I think to the both of us, for many reasons!! I waited a long time to wear this jacket and this was the perfect time!!

This is what I wore:
A * P O P Custom accessorized cap, fitted with a bandana and chains
A * P O P Custom made Bandana Kaftan (made on the day of the party!!)
NADIA NAPREYCHIKOV Custom made Iridescent Biker Jacket. Imagine the coolest fucking thing in the most amazing papery chameleon-like fabric (it literally changes color every time you move), then times it by 10 and that's roughly how amazing it is!
The turtle-neck jumper was really just for warmth... No exciting stories there... It's just fucking cold.

Anyway I hope you like it!
I promise I will try harder to post more things!!
But as I have said before, please follow me on instagram [ @a_p_o_p ] in the meantime!!!

<3 <3 <3 A * P O P

M∆ISØN M∆RTIN M∆RGIEL∆ X H&M

The other night I had the chance to attend the private preview party for H&M's latest collaboration line with Maison Martin Margiela.

My friend Yuki (Tokyo's own wunderkind blogger and party host/DJ) of 'The Green Eyed Fox' invited me to join the party of champagne, cocktails, canapes, chocolate and of course the collection!

I was not only pleasantly surprised but thrilled with the collection, because it was a revisitation to the archive pieces that are so identifiably Margiela... Not only are H&M offering one of the best and extensive collaboration lines (I believe) to date... but the price points are completely achievable! In fact, observing the flesh-toned, bikini clad leotard at a price I can roughly recall being around ¥5,000-¥7,000, I know friends who own the original designs will be shocked at the mark down price!!

anyway here are the happy snaps from the evening!

also look out for the zipper design I am wearing... it is an original A * P O P creation that I designed and made in Melbourne, merely days before I left for Tokyo! Constructed completely from zipper upon zipper, it is intricately bonded over the shoulder and has important attention to detail to the function of adjusting size.

ps. i am very sorry about my terrible posting delays!! I have been pulling ridiculous 12-13 hour days of work!

arabian rock

crazy sunday night in shinjuku with some good friends who I haven't seen for a year...
Yu and Yukako... they are two of my greatest friends here in tokyo...
I met Yu last year... I was doing a lot of shopping in the iconic store CANDY where he worked...and so we hung out and since have become close friends... Yukako is his long-term girlfriend, who I met for the first time this night, aside from the many facetime chats between melbourne and tokyo...
the restaurant was called Arabian Rock... it was a themed restaurant with costumes, flames flying and lots of pot rubbing... tokyo is all fantasy and it's one reason why i love it so much!
the second set of photos were taken in a random karaoke bar in shinjuku-nichome* where it was all very wild and theatrical... thanks for the welcome party friends!