LOCATION: Tokyo, Japan
PHOTOGRAPHY: Sharleen King

I went to Tokyo with my beautiful mum and it was so much fun! When UNIQLO invited us to learn more about their brand in its eclectic birthplace, I knew it was an amazing opportunity to take my mum to experience and photograph the crazy city. If you don’t know already, my mum also doubles as my studio photographer and assistant when she’s not working on her fine art practice (she’s super talented!).

Two-flights and almost a whole day of travel later, we found ourselves exhausted and ready for a long sleep in our comfy beds at the ANA InterContinental Tokyo. After applying the Charlotte Tilbury Multi-Miracle Glow as an overnight mask to remedy my dry post-flight skin and the Mario Badescu Drying Lotion to calm my pesky breakouts (all these long haul flights are not kind on my sensitive, acne-prone skin), I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. ZzzzZZzzz.

Outfit #1: The Basic Wardrobe Essentials
 

We woke up surprisingly early on our first morning and a craving for caffeine led us on a mission to Roppongi Hills. Of course, we just ended up at Starbucks, but hey, we got coffee and that’s what matters.

At midday, we found ourselves in a cab on our way to the exquisite Andaz Tokyo rooftop studio for the UNIQLO JW Anderson press preview. If you don’t know by now, high-end designer JW Anderson just launched his second collection in collaboration with UNIQLO and, from the moment I laid my eyes on the 1950s Brighton beach inspired threads, I knew I was in-love. Nautical stripes, detailed sleeves, frilled collars and colour-blocked jackets; it was all sorts of fabulous with its clean lines and understated designs.

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing Jonathan Anderson speak, you’d know that he’s not only incredibly charismatic and inspiring, but also full of through provoking ideas. He spoke about personal style and creating your own ‘base level’, your own personal uniform of basics on which to build on, and this really resonated with me.

As you can probably tell, I’ve been subconsciously reaching for the same basic pieces in my wardrobe for years and that most certainly includes the humble and underrated oversized shirt. UNIQLO has been my number one destination for button-down shirts ever since I visited my first store in Shinjuku back in 2014. I bought the same style in three shades; olive green, navy and black, and I wear them constantly without even really thinking about it.

We spent the rest of the day immersing ourselves in the busyness of Shibuya and its infamous Crossing. After we’d navigated our way through the mass of excited bodies that were just as mesmerised by the electricity of Shibuya as us, we rewarded ourselves with a mouthwateringly delicious bowl of Ichiban ramen (oh, how I crave it just thinking about it!) and wandered the neon-lit alleyways of the city.
 

I’m wearing:

UNIQLO wool cashmere coat, pink linen shirt and black skinny jeans, Janessa Leone hat, CLUSE necklaces, Wanderlust & Co. necklace, 3.1 Phillip Lim bag and Acne Studios boots.

Outfit #2: The Perfect Boyfriend Jean
 

Early this morning I woke to the sweet, sweet sound of my mum knocking on my hotel room door with a tall takeaway chai latte. Oh Mum, you know me too well.

It was time to explore UNIQLO Tokyo City, the huge building housing the company’s headquarters situated right on Tokyo Bay. Did I mention they have the best view of Tokyo’s epic skyline? And a library so grand and inspirational you could live it in? And a collaborative layout like the streets of New York City? And cool cafes with great coffee? Yeah, I’m obsessed. And no, my at-home office with its small collection of design books no longer lives up to expectations. Le sigh.

Once again feeling inspired, we went to Tokyo’s luxury shopping mecca, Ginza SIX for lunch (not shopping – my credit card thanks me). We indulged in the most delicious traditional Japanese dishes at Ginza Sanada, including my favourite soba and takikomi gohan. Yep, craving these now too.

Wearing just a light merino ribbed turtle neck sweater and a pair of high-wasted boyfriend jeans, Mum and I spent the afternoon walking around Ginza and lapping up the warm sunshine. I’m pretty sure this was the first time I’d ever been hot in Tokyo and it was beautiful. I could’ve easily swapped the jeans for a skirt, but alas, my long affair with the black skinny jean has developed into a love for blue boyfriend jeans, and these ones were all too comfy for a day of window shopping. The only store I made an exception for was the UNIQLO Ginza store. What can I say? Its 12 levels of coloured-coordinated, neon-lit shoppable spaces really spoke to me.

We finished our day with an incredible dining experience at Gonpachi, AKA the über famous Kill Bill restaurant. My goodness, it was one memorable dinner in the best possible way. We enthusiastically filled our bellies with sashimi, tempura vegetables, dumplings and miso glazed cod, to name but a few. Oh dear, here come those craving again…
 

I’m wearing:

UNIQLO merino ribbed turtle neck sweater and blue high rise boyfriend jeans, ASOS baker boy cap, Quay Australia sunglasses, Zara backpack, vintage belt and Sportsgirl mule slides.

Outfit #3: The Cashmere Coat
 

I have been searching for the perfect winter camel coat for longer than I care to admit without any success, that is until I discovered this wool cashmere number from UNIQLO. It scores 10/10 for everything; the length, the warmth, the fit, the quality, the design, everything. I love it so much that I wore it on our last day in Tokyo despite the fact that it was another hot, sunshine drenched day.

We checked-out of the hotel in the morning and made our way to the suburban UNIQLO Kichijoji store, where the store philosophy is centred around collaborating with and supporting local stores. Pretty cool, huh? And we shopped up a storm. I stocked up on my favourite white UNIQLO crew neck tees (FYI, I always buy them a couple of sizes up), and a pair of pink and white striped pyjamas. Are you proud of my restraint?

We wrapped-up our Tokyo experience with an obligatory visit to Harajuku’s Takeshite Street, more terrible coffee (I may or may not have fallen asleep in the back of the taxi on the way back to the city) and crepes, complete with strawberries, chocolate mud cake, chocolate sauce and more cream than anyone needs. If I can give you any advice it would be, eat the crepes, all the crepes.

Before we knew it, we were at Narita Airport, waiting for our 10-hour flight back to Melbourne and, finally, the connecting flight home to Perth.
 

I’m wearing:

UNIQLO wool cashmere coat, crew neck white tee and white high rise boyfriend jeans, ASOS black beret, Wanderlust & Co. necklace, Zara straw bag, vintage belt and Sportsgirl mule slides.