Mastermind Tokyo Holds a 1/1 Swarovski Denim Collection

mastermind JAPAN has a 1/1 Swarovski Denim Collection coming exclusively to MASTERMIND TOKYO, and it lands after two denim releases since August: the BAPE capsule on August 15 and the EVISU and roarguns collection that went global on October 16. No release date has been announced for the new one. The name and the store are the only fixed details, and the brand's history with crystals fills in the rest.

Exclusive to One Store, With No Date

The collection is called 1/1 Swarovski Denim Collection, and mastermind JAPAN says it is coming soon exclusively at MASTERMIND TOKYO. MASTERMIND TOKYO runs an online store at mastermindtokyo.com, where Swarovski crystal pieces already sit in the catalog: a Swarovski tee with a crystal decorated logo on the chest and the skull on the back, a loopwheel long sleeve tee in a Suvin and Giza cotton blend, and a Swarovski crystals sweatshirt with the skull.

The denim line has no listing on that store yet, so the brand's own announcement is the only source for it. Those listings matter because they show the denim is an extension and not a first attempt. The crystals have lived on jersey and fleece for a while; denim is the new surface. mastermind JAPAN has not said how many pieces are in the collection or whether the 1/1 refers to the title of the line or to individual pieces, so this article treats it as a name and nothing more. What is confirmed is the venue, the Swarovski crystal setting and the denim base, and each of those has a precedent in the brand's own catalog and its recent collaborations.

Three Denim Stops in Three Months

The BAPE capsule was the 19th collaboration between BAPE and mastermind JAPAN, released on August 15 at BAPEXCLUSIVE Aoyama as a Vintage x Grunge set built around faded denim and knitwear. The 19th collection was shot on an iPhone by RK. The second stop was the October 16 release of EVISU, mastermind JAPAN and roarguns, a seven piece collection that debuted at GR8 Tokyo before going on sale globally at 12 p.m. that day, according to Hypebeast.

Complex describes the EVISU pieces as including a Type II denim jacket, jeans, a sweatshirt, tees and accessories, with black overdyed denim, multi pocket construction, custom hardware and Swarovski crystals. That makes the new collection the second time since mid October that crystals and denim have appeared together under the mastermind name, and this time the pairing is reserved for the brand's own Tokyo outlet.

Homma Has Been Setting Crystals on Clothes Since at Least 2011

Masaaki Homma started the label in 1997 after working for Yohji Yamamoto, and by the fourth season he had settled on the skull and crossbones that now sits on nearly everything. Swarovski has been part of that vocabulary for more than a decade: in April 2011 Hypebeast covered a mastermind JAPAN x Swarovski Elements button up shirt, and the same year the brand made a collection unified by the crystals.

In a 2014 Hypebeast interview about Gore Tex, Homma said that trial and error let him experiment with all sorts of things, including attaching Swarovski crystals to clothing. Hypebeast's tour of the 2017 MASTERMIND TOKYO pop up also noted crystals on drawstring closures. The 1/1 collection is the latest chapter in a pattern that predates the current denim run by fifteen years, and it comes from a label that Homma announced in 2011 he would retire as a main collection at its 15th anniversary, then revived as mastermind WORLD for its 20th.

A Coming Soon Every Few Weeks

The 1/1 announcement is the third new item from the brand in about three weeks. mastermind JAPAN teased a MOONRAKERS Airfreak Ultra Light as coming soon on October 22, and the MASTERMIND TOKYO news page lists an Alpha Industries x MASTERMIND WORLD item dated November 5. Each one points to a different partner or material, so no two of them share a category: a Toray spinoff's lightweight fabric, an outerwear maker, and now crystals on denim.

Earlier this autumn the brand also versioned a coin purse from the Inden Ya and JIZAING deerskin and lacquer line with its skull graphic, released on September 16. Taken together, the run shows a label working through leather, nylon and denim in one season. For the 1/1 collection, the name and MASTERMIND TOKYO are all that has been confirmed.