MILK

MILK

Founded	April 1970
Country	Japan
No. of locations	9
Website	website
Webshop	webshop
Twitter	MILK1970
Blog	blog
Instagram	milk__official_
Current status	Active
Lolibrary Link

While Milk has never self-identified as lolita, and instead set out to make clothing that matched the current generation's idea of "girly", Milk's items were frequently selected by early lolita to help construct their coordinates in the lolita style, and therefore, Milk is considered to be one of the earliest lolita brands. While most lolita-specific brands evolved their offerings as the definition of lolita fashion evolved, Milk has stuck with their roots as a "girly" brand.

Today, their work continues to match current trends in "girly" clothing while incorporating romantic and retro elements and has more in common with their own work from 30 years ago than with the mainstream modern lolita look. The founders of both Shirley Temple and Jane Marple worked as designers for Milk before branching off into their own labels.

Concept

In 1994, in an interview With Zipper, a spokesperson for MILK described the brand concept as "A girl's dream" (”少女の夢“). However, Milk's about page currently has this story as the brand concept:

It was in the year 1970.

High above the city, up in the sky, God was about to drink his cup of milk.

Drip drip…　God accidentally tipped over his glass!

The milk went pouring down right on top of Harajuku.

So, he decided to change the spilled milk

into a shop called “MILK”.

Sub-labels

Obscure Desire of Bourgeoisie (O.D.O.B.)

O.D.O.B. started in 1984 following Mode trends. The oldest existent trademark in the digital trademark lookup for O.D.O.B. was registered by Milk Co., Ltd. August 1990.

Milk Boy

Milk Boy is a line for teenage boys and young men which produces items which are a mix of retro and punk/street inspired. The oldest existent trademark in the digital trademark lookup for Milk Boy was registered by Milk Co., Ltd. August 1990, however the line started in 1974. MILKBOY was designed to be the exact opposite of the cuteness of "MILK". The famous interior designer Shiro Kuramata did the interior design for the shop, and it was very expensive. Customers included celebrities like John Lennon, David Bowie, and Hideki Saijo.

Land by Milk Boy

Land by Milk Boy is a unisex brand, mainly for T-shirts and miscellaneous goods. It was considered new in early 2021.

Dog Unleashed by Milk Boy

Dog Unleashed by Milk Boy was launched in 2005 as a line of clothing for dogs.

Vixen Products

Milk Co., Ltd. registered a trademark for Vixen Products February 1st, 2017, and registered a twitter for the label in March of 2017. The label had a collaboration with Casper in October of 2019, and seemed to do things like popups and a cafe. On Halloween, 2019 they posted to Instagram "vixen cafe: [Notice of long-term closure] We will be closed for a long time from November 1st (Friday) . In addition, we will inform you on each SNS when holding an event etc. Thank you for your cooperation." They have not yet resumed activity as of January 2022.

History

Milk was founded in 1970 in Harajuku by Hitomi Okawa. On July 12th, 1971, they filed trademarks for the name MILK for a few overarching categories that covered items like shoes/umbrellas/jewelry/bags

MILK's first store was on the first floor corner of Central Apartment. It was a long and narrow shop only about 33 square meters, with a warehouse in the back. The long shape meant that there was a lot of wall space, so the founder would pin up posters and put clothing in between. It was the age of psychedelic and flower children and the posters reflected that.

The first magazine that MILK was published in was An An (アンアン), it was also published in Olive a lot in the 80s. Before Popeye, the parent magazine to Olive launched in 1976, the founder made a sweater at MILK featuring the two Popeye Characters the magazine was named after. But back then she didn't know anything about copyright, so she got a complaint from the American publisher. She had watched it on TV as a child and made the sweater because they were familiar characters, but someone from the head office in the US came all the way to Japan and told her she couldn't make her own goods.

Initially, "MILK", was expensive and unrealistic for everyday wear, so it was mainly used as a stage costume for idols, however, people started wearing Milk as everyday clothing as time went on. In October 1994, Zipper interviewed 3 brands considered to be lolita at the time about lolita fashion. The media relations person for Milk said that 'I think what is now called lolita fashion is the fashion that milk has been making for a long time.'

There is a team of about 10 designers including the founder who still does design work as of 2021. The founder also sometimes works as a shop sales staff person as well.

Milk is currently owned by Milk Co., Ltd. (有限会社ミルク)

Locations/Sales Model

MILK sells via their online shop as well as many brick-and-mortar locations.

Shop List

Directly Managed Stores

Shop	Country	Address	Status	Socials
Harajuku	Japan	6-29-3 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001	Open	MILK1970 milkharajuku
Shinjuku	Japan	Shinjuku Marui Annex 2F, 3-1-26 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0022	Open	MILKshinjuku milkshinjuku blog blog
Osaka	Japan	Tennoji MIO Plaza Building 2F, 10-48 Hidenincho, Tennoji-ku, Osaka 543-0055	Open	MILKOSAKAten blog
Sapporo	Japan	PARCO 3F, 3-3-3 Minami 1 Jonishi, Chuo-ku, Sapporo 060-8502	Open	milk_milkboy_s milk_milkboy_sapporo blog
MILKBOY Harajuku	Japan	6-29-3 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001	Open	milkboyharajuku milkboyharajuku blog
LAND by MILKBOY IKEBUKURO	Japan	1-50-35 Higashiikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170-0013 Ikebukuro P'Parco 1F	Open	land_ikebukuro land_ikebukuro blog
LAND by MILKBOY SHIBUYA	Japan	Shibuya Parco 5F, 15-1 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0042	Open	land_shibuya
LAND by MILKBOY UMEDA	Japan	Umeda Est 1F, 3-25 Kakuda-cho, Kita-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka 530-0017	Open	land_umedaten land_umeda
MILK MILKBOY THE OUTLETS HIROSHIMA	Japan	4-1-1 Ishiuchihigashi, Saeki-ku, Hiroshima-shi, Hiroshima 731-5162	Open	MILKMILKBOYhrsm milk_milkboy_hiroshima

Notable Figures

Hitomi Okawa (大川ひとみ) - Founder/Designer

Rei Yanagawa (柳川れい) - Former (early) Designer, started Shirley Temple in1974

Megumi Murano (村野めぐみ) - Designer, started Jane Marple in 1985

Characters & Design Motifs

This section is incomplete, you can help it by adding information about: Mascots, common/original design elements

Gallery

• 

  Like a Doll Jacket

• 

  Bonjour OP

• 

  Taran-Cherry Jabot JSK

• 

  Black Cat OP

• 

  Velvet Moon Heart Bag