Third Stone, the company that carries the popular brand JULIUS at Isetan Shinjuku Store, Men's Building 2nd floor, debuted a new brand, NILøS, with its Fall/Winter collection last year. Ahead of the pop-up store opening on Wednesday, April 6th, a special 3-hour live stream celebrating the release of "Søil / ENA," produced by sound artist ENA, will be broadcast exclusively on DOMMUNE from 9 PM on Tuesday, April 5th. This will showcase a new crossover between fashion and music.


From the NILøS Spring/Summer 2016 collection


If Julius is techno, then Nils is dark hip hop.

For its second season, the new brand NILZ presents a collection themed around the Icelandic legend of "Troll." We spoke with director Yuji Takahashi and designer Tatsuro Horikawa about the brand's origins and more.


Photo on the right: Tatsuro Horikawa, designer of NILøS.

Tatsuro Horikawa's Julius is a brand that pursues cutting-edge themes and presents collections focused on high fashion, but Nils' theme is relaxed street fashion. If Julius is techno, then Nils is dark hip hop that loosely creeps and clutches like dubstep or drone. I am in charge of the design in consultation with director Takahashi.

Yuji Takahashi: Since the end of 2014, when it was decided that the new brand I'm directing would launch with the Fall/Winter collection, I've been developing the concept, working on the brand concept and tag design. The brand name NILøS comes from "Nil," which means "nothing," and with a zero slash and an S, "NILøS" represents a collection of nothingness. People wear clothes and listen to music, but I felt a sense of unease that they are only grasping the surface of that world, that they only understand the surface. This led me to the idea of "What kind of culture am I carrying?" and NILøS [Non Ism Line øf Self] is something that brings together zeros for returning to nothingness, returning to originality, and exploring oneself.

When I heard the brand name NILZ from Horikawa Takahashi, I thought it was cool because it had a tribal feel and a team-like sound. I also thought it was beautiful that Zero was there as an answer to Julius.


Photo on the left: Yuji Takahashi, Director of NILøS.


Just as the sound is different, the underlying mindset is different.

Takahashi 's first collection focused specifically on T-shirts, a symbolic item of street style. As a result, it became a small collection, but I think it is very conceptual and clearly showcases NIL'S street style.

Designing T-shirts with large logos is difficult with Horikawa Julius, so it's fun to design them with Nils.

For his second season in the Spring /Summer collection, Takahashi chose "earthy" as the keyword, and by focusing on places rich in local character, he arrived at Iceland. He focused on Iceland's desolate land, the landscapes created by its harsh and vast nature, the presence of guardian spirits/symbols of the land, and the sounds that express its rich soil. Interpreting the land and ground as the original form of "street" or "road," he developed the collection with the theme of "Trøll," linked to the "troll legend" of trolls who became part of Iceland's nature and continued to protect towns from disasters.

Horikawa Julius's collection theme for this season is "sefiroth," and it draws inspiration from the ancient Kabbalistic philosophy of Sephiroth, which states that all matter exists according to a set of laws. Specifically, it incorporates the concepts of yin and yang, and black and white in a cultural sense. Looking back now, "Troll" was the street interpretation of that concept.

At the pop-up store on the 2nd floor of the Takahashi Isetan Shinjuku Store, Men's Building , you can purchase not only the latest collection, but also collaborative items that incorporate the world of "Troll" through graphic expression and material usage, such as iPhone cases in collaboration with CLAUSTRUM, a revolutionary metal item brand from Ginza, Tokyo, and records sold as a set with T-shirts.




Clothing is an important element that supports culture from the ground up.

At Takahashi Nils, we want to propose scenes and culture through fashion. I myself have attended fashion parties such as Drachma Night, started by DJ DRAGON and stylist Takashi Kumagai at a club in Nishi-Azabu, and I experienced a moment of inspiration where "the customers and brands were having fun together at the party." I want to recreate that feeling at Nils, where I thought, "There are cool adults in Japan who wear these kinds of clothes and listen to these kinds of music." We are planning to hold a party at CONTACT on Monday, April 18th.

Horikawa: It's true that nowadays there are fewer brands that are linked to culture such as music and art compared to the past. Clothing supports culture from the ground up, so we want to take on that challenge with NIL'S. The music we release from NIL'S is not for club tracks, but music that fills your everyday living space. It's perfect for people who like dark, black clothes, of course, but we also want people to listen to it in their daily lives.




I want to create something that allows the wearer to express themselves.

I want people to wear Takahashi Nils and go out into the city, and to integrate it into their lives in a real way, just like music. With this pop-up, I want people to first look at the clothes and get to know the breadth of the musical worldview. Julius is a brand that gives a worldview through music, clothes, and places, but Nils is a brand where the wearer creates the world. If you create a scene, interesting things are bound to happen, and I want to create something that the wearer can communicate.

Horikawa: I want to mess up the current division between "mode/street" in the fashion world. I want Nilz to reach a wide range of people who love fashion.


From the NILøS Spring/Summer 2016 collection

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