Shopping With Thundercat Is a Lesson in Denim, Anime, and Japanese Design

Bruner and I have blocked off some time to explore Blue in Green, which he explains is one of his favorite New York shopping pit stops. Located in the immediate radius of a handful of powerhouse brick-and-mortars—a hulking Uniqlo, an evergreen Reformation, a luxury Saint Laurent, and a perpetually hyped Supreme—the store has been here for 16 years. But it’s still a new discovery for many, the store’s manager Madeline Hutchens explains. “People just kind of wander in here,” she tells me.

I don’t blame people for curiously stumbling into this cozy haven, far from the more sterile shopping destinations around us. The interior is reminiscent of a well-traveled dude’s apartment, with delicious, butter-soft leather chairs as centerpieces, a slick coffee machine, and a sound system that could easily be plucked straight from a well-manicured ’70s interiors magazine. The store, named after Miles Davis’s song “Blue in Green,” brands itself as a “Japanese and American selvedge denim store in NYC.”

But it is so much more than that, too—a cornucopia of reliably well-made brands like Kapital, Ten C, Studio D’Artisan, and more. “We changed a lot, but we still keep denim,” says Naoki, the store’s buyer who just came back from Japan, who is handling a patchworked, floor-length coat by Kapital that he has sourced for Bruner. The store has a personal relationship with its dedicated customers. According to Hutchins, Bruner is an especially beloved client; a few months ago, he came in and gave everyone tickets to his show.