"Snow is a letter sent from the heavens."
This phrase, left to us by the physicist and essayist Ukichiro Nakaya, stands as a symbol of a uniquely Japanese scientific culture, one in which natural science and literary feeling are bound tightly together. Nakaya was the first scientist in the world to grow artificial snow crystals, and at the same time he wielded a lyrical pen, working before and after the war to root "the mind that does science" in Japan.
A snow crystal takes its shape as it is guided by the temperature and humidity high in the sky and by the shifting of the wind. As it falls to earth, each crystal captures within the fine form of six petals, everything in the heavens it has touched along the way, drifting down one by one. Just as a letter tells us something about its sender, a crystal carries down the expression of the heavens above. From here, the two motifs of "snow" and "letter" rose up.
The gaze turns back to an era when communication was entrusted to paper and ink, and traces once again the outlines of a time when stationery carried people's feelings. Under the philosophy of "Applied Archaeology," T.T has taken American vintage, and workwear above all, as its starting point, and has applied a method of rebuilding it through Japanese sensibility. The focus this season was the clothing used in postal work in the United States and Britain around 1950. Vintage clothing, like a time capsule, holds not only the outline of an era but even the body warmth of those who once wore it. When the uniquely Japanese sense of beauty around "snow" is laid over this, the clothing of labor begins to take on a new warmth and a poetic quality.
Frost gabardine, woven from four colors of twisted yarn
Lot.330 US LETTER CARRIER
In freezing temperatures, postal workers went out and gave themselves to the work of delivering letters to someone who was waiting. It is as if even the clothing they wore had been touched by frost.
This is a zip up jacket that USPS, the United States Postal Service, began to adopt in 1953. It has the short length common to workwear of that period, and is fitted with two large flap pockets. The signature detail of reinforcement patches on the shoulders remains, while the more formal decorative elements have been pared away, making it a piece that opens easily into everyday life.
The fabric is T.T's own twisted melange gabardine. Using a yarn called "kemono gasuri," which has a texture like animal hair, four colors are twisted together to bring out depth and a softly faded surface. The idea drawn from "snow" eventually crystallized into the fabric itself, giving it a poetic texture, as though frost had settled gently upon it. Available in two colors: Melange Charcoal and Melange Blue.
The trousers are also tailored from the same original fabric that carries the expression of frost. The base was the slacks used in American military uniforms of the 1930s. The framework of the high waist and straight silhouette is kept as it was, while the balance has been redesigned to suit the body and the life of today.
From "Kira zuri," an ancient Japanese technique
Lot.601 TEE SHIRT
What was drawn from the motif of "snow" was the ancient Japanese technique of "kira zuri," or mica printing. Mica is a natural pigment of mineral origin, once used in ukiyo e prints and Japanese painting to depict the shimmer of snow. In place of ordinary ink, T.T used mica blended with shell pearl for the print. Taking further inspiration from "sumi" ink, which was often paired with mica in ukiyo e, the T.T staple tee shirt was first dyed with sumi, and then mica was printed over it.
The tee shirt holds within its simple structure the rational manufacturing approach of America. With its waste free design, taking a tube knitted marudo fabric and simply opening holes for the neck and arms, it faithfully reproduces the design of that era, including a boat neck with no shoulder slope and a doubled neck rib. The fabric was slowly knitted on a loopwheel, machine in Wakayama Prefecture, the only place in the world where these machines still remain. Precisely because the machine is so inefficient, knitting only one meter per hour, the result has an airy, uneven quality and a rich texture. Made from USA cotton, the fabric is finished as a jersey stitch with a dry feel and a character all its own.
Besides sumi mica, the colors prepared are Charcoal and Beige. All are garment dyed in their finished state, so natural variations of light and shade appear in the seams and in the texture of the fabric. Together with the uneven quality unique to loopwheel knitting, no two pieces show the same expression, even within a single color.
T.T original selvedge denim
Vintage denim was studied thoroughly, and from that study T.T wove its own original fabric. Indigo dyed yarn with a green cast was chosen for the warp, and a slightly raw, unbleached yarn for the weft, following the colors of the original source. The yarn count was then adjusted and the density of the weft increased, achieving a 1/2 right twill structure. Unlike standard left twill denim, this brings out an expression with real depth.
Selvedge denim is woven in a narrow width. So when the size is made larger, a seam has to run across the back. This is not a limitation but rather an unavoidable trace that vintage pieces have carried through their history, and we looked to one example where this seam ran casually along the side. The silhouette is a relaxed fit that leaves room for layering and a thick inner garment. The buttons carry a custom engraving, and along with the back hardware, iron was chosen. The metal is deliberately left unplated, so that as time passes, rust will appear, and the jacket will begin to live through the same time as the person who wears it. The signature leather patch was dyed with mud on the island of Amami Oshima, another color carved by earth and time.
What sets the denim jacket of the 1930s apart is the flap added to the patch pocket. In an era of scarce resources, this was a clear sign of higher quality. The stitching that holds the pleats on the front body was also reinforced more firmly, and the piece rose one step higher in its completeness as workwear. The single pocket design reached a kind of high point here. By using the black lacquer buttons and copper rivets of the light ounce denim of that era, the work of restoration has been sharpened even further.
Taking the denim trousers of the 1930s as the starting point, the silhouette and the details were studied thoroughly and designed anew. The rise is deep, made for wearing with suspenders. The straight silhouette, which falls directly from the hips through the thigh and down to the hem, carries the rugged quality of the era as it was. The measurements, once generous to allow free movement, have been finely adjusted for the present day. The black lacquer buttons and copper rivets used in the light ounce denim of that era are adopted here as well.
