The Restless Ingenuity of Japan's Foremost Leather Punks
There's a chance that you'll only know what Blackmeans is if you're deeply plugged in to a certain branch of Japanese menswear. It's a shame because the brand's restless creativity deserves a lot more love.
The 17-year-old Blackmeans was founded around a loose collective of Japanese dudes who love punk and love leather.
Its best-known export is high-end leather jackets and a couple choice accessories, including a circular coin pouch and leather-wrapped "brass knuckle" lighter cases. The look is over-accessorized DGAF crustie who's actually clad in several hundred dollars' worth of clothes.
I especially appreciate Blackmeans' specificity, which is reflected in its Fall/Winter 2025 lookbook.
The "scab" patchwork, the piecemeal puffers, the oversized cargo vests, the skinny jeans: They're all brand cornerstones retooled and remade.
That sukajan-inspired shirt embroidery that reads "CURIOSITY SEEKER?" That's the Blackmeans ethos in a nutshell. You need not be a Disclose fan to get the picture, though it'll probably elucidate why this isn't mere punker cosplay.
Blackmeans has very real fashion aspirations. But it's been admirably consistent since 2008, a factor that always makes me think of the ever more famous Kapital.
It wasn't so long ago that it debuted a collection on the catwalk, for instance, and it consistently partners with tastemaking stores to showcase its ever-expanding offering, always building on a design language rooted in Vivienne Westwood and the Sex Pistols, Johnny Thunders, Siouxsie Sioux, Patti Smith, and all the rest.
You'll find prefaded sweaters, meaty leather jackets, fur trim, and plaid pants in Blackmeans FW25 because it consistently seeks curiosity. A boundless quest for newness that never turns its back on what came before. The leather jackets are still here. But there's also so much more.
