Bubbles: Vintage Fashion Boutique in Harajuku

Last weekend, Tokyo’s newest vintage fashion boutique opened in the heart of Harajuku. Located on the second floor of a building on the same street as many of Japan’s most famous streetwear and sneaker shops, Bubbles Harajuku offers a very different atmosphere and style. The shoes at Bubbles are more likely to be 1980s Christian Lacroix or 1970s Chanel than Nike or Adidas, and the t-shirts are more likely to be classic Thompson Twins or Scorpions tour shirts rather than the latest from Harajuku neighbors Supreme and Ice Cream. In addition to the vintage items, the shop also stocks a limited number of handmade and indie fashions from young Japanese designers.

Bubbles Harajuku Boutique

Though Bubbles Harajuku just opened, the shop’s owner Coi is no stranger to Japan’s vintage fashion scene. Coi – who you might recognize from FRUiTS or other Japanese fashion magazines – previously worked at the popular Harajuku resale shop Kinsella. While working at Kinsella, she travelled the world with the shop’s buyer – hitting resales shops, swap meets, and other locations throughout Asia and America in search of interesting items to bring back to Tokyo. Now that Bubbles is finally open, she is ready to share the treasures she found.

The Bubbles shop aesthetic shows Coi’s love for vintage styles from America and other countries, with a strong focus on the 1970s and 1980s. E.T. has a special place in the store’s interior design, and vinyl records from bands like The Cars, The Clash, Roxy Music, and even Barry Manilow are strewn about artfully, along with various retro toys and some extremely awesome 1970s wallpaper.

The fashion offered at Bubbles includes a carefully selected collection of 1970s and 80s fashion – everything from vintage tops, dresses, skirts, and pants to footwear and purses, to colorful 1980s leggings, to lots of pins, accessories, and handmade items (zakka). Besides the vintage goods, a small number of new original pieces from young Japanese fashion designers and accessories from popular-on-the-streets-of-Harajuku Japanese accessory brands like Pe-Poco are also available at Bubbles. In the future, Coi may be adding more original items and even some of her own pieces under the “Bubbles” brand name.

Rather than try to explain too much to you, have a look at all of these pictures of the new shop and you’ll get a good idea of what it’s about. As usual, you can click any of the pictures to see them in high resolution.

 

Special thanks to Coi for giving us the full Bubbles tour. We definitely recommend that you stop in and say “Hello!” to her the next time you’re in Harajuku. This shop isn’t far from Spinns, 6%DOKIDOKI, and Nadia, so there are plenty of reasons for you to make the trek, no matter where in the world you might be coming from.

Here’s all the important info on Bubbles Harajuku :

  • What: Bubbles vintage boutique
  • Where: Harajuku – 1st floor, just off Meiji Dori, near LHP & Astro Hall
  • Address: 4-32-12-1F Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (new address Jan 3, 2012)
  • Address: 4-32-2-2F Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (old address)
  • Phone: 03-5772-7126
  • Nearest Station: Harajuku Station or Meiji Jingumae Station
  • Map: Bubbles Harajuku Map
  • Website: Official Bubbles Blog (Japanese)

All photos by Photographer Kira.

Comments are closed.

  1. Love. It.
    I’m so there!!!
    Well…I’ll definitely drop by in April, anyway. ;)

  2. Omg such a nice shop! I have never seen anything like this :)

    Stylebykarro.blogspot.com

  3. wow, i love this shop even I need to ‘crawl’ the corridor to reach there… wanna shopping there so badly…the lantern-ish sleeve white shirt, OMG… I WANT IT!

    take a look my Uniqlo redesign plaid shirt to become vintage-lantern-ish sleeve jacket@ http://bit.ly/gGaFIa

  4. I adore Coi. ★ She’s one of my favorite people in Tokyo. I love Kinsella and I’m happy to see her open Bubbles.

  5. Very cute. I’m going to be in Harajuku in 3 weeks and I’ll definitely check this store out. :)

  6. Woohoo – another cool vintage store to explore…and I leave for Tokyo in just one week! So I’ll be there to check out the goods very soon.

  7. Tragic Angel

    Beautiful shop and so roomy too. Really good eye as well. Wishing success.

  8. Awesome store concept and visual merchandising. I wish we had stores like that in Singapore.

  9. this is so cute! i love the way the shop is laid out and how the clothes are arranged. wow i wish i lived over there then i would be in heaven ^^

  10. aaaw wish we had shops like that here in uk! my fave is the red pola dot dress.

  11. Oh i love vintage stores, and this one looks really interesting ,too bad i don´t live in tokyo :)

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  13. ahhh the black and white suspenders are nice ! the store looks so cool ~

  14. WOW!!! This is so great!
    I would only buy in this shop if I were from Japan.
    But unfortunately Japan is 12 h by plane away from me :/

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  19. Hi there.

    I really hope that somebody can help me. I would love to buy Lowtop Platform Converse from Nadia Harajuku – CAN ANYDODY HELP ME :-)) ?

    Fantastisk style you have in Japan (amazing)

  20. very nice…………………………………….