SHANGHAI TANG | WTAPS
Heritage aesthetics, reworked
Exclusively at shanghaitang.com
SHANGHAI TANG and WTAPS together announce a collection bringing two strong and very different aesthetics into the same garment. SHANGHAI TANG has spent three decades reinterpreting Eastern craft with Western influences as modern luxury. WTAPS has spent nearly as long in Tokyo building one of the most exacting wardrobes in Japanese street style. Both houses hold strong convictions around the importance of details and culture.
The Tang Jacket
The collection is built around the SHANGHAI TANG Tang Jacket. It keeps the two details that define it: the lining, the standing mandarin collar the house has cut since 1994, and the pankou, the knotted silk closures fastened by hand down the front. Each set of pankou (frog buttons) is knotted individually, and a single jacket's worth takes an artisan the better part of a day.
WTAPS has rebuilt everything around them. The body is wider, the shoulders dropped, the sleeves fuller. Pocket positions have been reset for how the jacket is actually worn, and the hardware specified to WTAPS's own standard. The result reads as streetwear in proportion and as tailoring in construction.
Exposed Edges
Rather than turn and close the hems, the collection leaves them open. Each exposed edge is then finished by hand to the same tolerance as a closed seam, so the construction is visible without being unfinished. This is not a distressing treatment applied after the fact. It is a decision taken at the pattern stage, born of the belief that nothing decorative that isn't also structural.
There is a practical benefit. An exposed edge softens with washing and wearing in a way a closed hem cannot, so these pieces settle into shape over the first year of ownership rather than looking their best in the first week.
Colour
Electric blue linings sit behind the mandarin collar and along the open hems, visible when the jacket moves. Vivid lining colour is one of the oldest habits in the house, and one place where SHANGHAI TANG has always been bold. Here it does the work of joining the two brands, giving a restrained Tokyo silhouette a flash of colour at the edges.
About WTAPS
Originating in 1993 under the precursor FORTY PERCENT AGAINST RIGHTS (FPAR) created by director Tetsu Nishiyama, the label formally established its apparel brand line in 1996 as WTAPS. Rooted in authentic uniform wear, outdoor gear, and street culture, WTAPS continues to present two directional seasonal collections each year.