Strap One On

It's been a long time since Howdy Doody (what an awful name that was, wow) jerked about his little black-and-white TV stage on human-operated strings, entertaining spellbound and rather unsophisticated children to no end. Nowadays children occupy themselves with Playstation, Wii and diabetes testers, so what better moment for Motoki Ito to bring back the marionette, the inspiration for the fall debut of his 1to3 line?

As the name 1to3 suggests, the manager of Seven New York with no formal design education has leapfrogged into the retail foray with his all-black, Druid-like men's and women's get-ups that you adjust by way of strings and straps. A pull here or there changes the length of a sleeve or a leg. Or, as they're also removable, you can tie a strap around your neck in a floppy bow or lop one on your shoulder in a kind of po-po-mo hot mess. Whatever you choose, you're your own puppet master.

• Posted Oct 18, 2009
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