You’ve already met the Whillas and Gunn brand at (capsule) men’s shows over the past few seasons. For SS2011 the company is bringing its women’s styles to the (capsule) show in September. Whillas and Gunn is part of a family company from Australia that has been producing quality outerwear since 1972. They specialize in mainly oilskin cloth and heavy canvas products. “Inspired by passionate, rugged hands on people who lead interesting lives, which lead us down to a coffee farm in Antigua, Guatemala where we stayed on a family run coffee farm wedged between two huge volcanoes,” the collection features that rugged, outdoorsy look that’s so hot in menswear right now but almost impossible to find in womenswear. Classic outerwear styles come in natural fabrics like hemp, linen, cotton and light-weight oilskin with a punch of color like mustards, powder blues and reds to suit the Antigua environment.

When our good friend Mr Mort moved out West a while back to work on Dockers, we couldn’t imagine how the brand’s style profile could evolve from the official wardrobe of Casual Fridays to something cool. We spotted some fresh styles out in some cool stores in Copenhagen a few weeks ago, and now,  witness the evolution—Steve Alan x Dockers launches next month. Eric Wilson has the scoop:  IF ever there was a designer who was well suited to answer the current men’s wear call for the perfect pair of khaki pants, it would be Steven Alan. A decade ago, Mr. Alan expanded his retail and fashion-showroom businesses with a collection of signature men’s shirts that created an ideal ratio of fitted-ness to slouchy-ness, without any room for sloppiness. Now he has been tapped to develop a collection of khakis and sportswear for Dockers, which will arrive at Barneys New York and Steven Alan Annex stores in October. Dockers, you may recall, is not a fashion-forward brand. It is better known as a go-to resource for Casual Fridays, which makes the collaboration with Mr. Alan unusually intriguing, much the same as when Michael Bastian got his hands on Gant. (NYT)

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After studying at Instituto Catalan de la Moda, Toni Francesc created his namesake label fusing urban and natural style with innovation and experimentation.  Read on to get an idea of what’s in store for SS2011 and be sure to check out his full collection at (capsule) Women’s Sept 21-22 in NYC.

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NY finally got their Monocle shop earlier this week in the West Village. The store features a constantly evolving collection of fashion and lifestyle products as well as the new design collaborations from Oliver Spencer, the Tomorrowland x Monocle travel suit series, and the Ettinger card case. Covering just 188 sq ft, the store, located in a red brick landmark building, features Monocle magazine’s distinctive black-and-white design format, created by Monocle’s team of designers in London. The shop also has wooden floors, a slatted oak screen built by local artist and carpenter Kenon Perry, Vitsoe shelving, and a fully retractable glass store front.

535 Hudson Street (at Charles Street), NYC

In 1965, a Japanese magazine publisher sent photographer Teruyoshi Hayashida to Ivy League schools in the United States where he took a series of candid campus photographs that were later assembled into Take Ivy, a now-iconic ethnography that will be released in English for the first time by PowerHouse Books this week.  One of the most sought-after research and inspiration books, especially in the prep and Americana movements in contemporary menswear, Take Ivy has influenced designers including Ralph Lauren, Michael Bastian, and J. Crew’s Frank Muytjens. Racked caught up with Ed Heald, a 1968 Dartmouth grad whose photograph appears twice in the book—on pages 54 and 70—to get the scoop from the other side of Hayashida’s camera. Heald, a freshman at the time the photo was taken, came to Dartmouth from Hudson, Ohio. His father, grandfather, and uncle all graduated from Dartmouth. Read the interview after the jump.  (Racked)

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Meet Canadian born Cassandra Hobbins, founder and head designer for PROSE IV. Her collection is soft and delicate and it “caters to those of us who are intimidated by super cool people but still want to come across as modern and stylish in our own way.” After gaining experience in the corporate world of fashion, the opportunity arose for Cassandra to share her vision and wardrobe with the world (literally). This effortless chic look is a definite winner and we are excited to see more of PROSE IV. We caught up with Cassandra to find out more about her, her line, and what she has coming up for S/S11. Look for the first introduction of her line to the market at (capsule) Women’s, September 21-22 and check out more of this exclusive interview and pics from the S/S11 collection after the jump.(Santho Goonewardene)

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Over the course of the last few seasons, London-based designer Makin Jan Ma has used his eponymous label as a means to establish fully-realized personas for characters in an ongoing art project encompassing film, music and painting.  Central St. Martin’s grad Jan Ma describes himself as a filmmaker first, evident in the elaborate backstories he creates for his two main characters Guts and J. Sky, whose wardrobes and homes are brought to life in the segmented lookbooks for each collection.  J. Sky for example, as depicted here by model Felix B, made a fortune off of a Polish porn site and tends to forget birthdays.  The garments that make up the SS11 collection are similarly idiosyncratic, an androgynous mix of sheer fabrics, silk shirts, moon and camo prints and simple shorts.  Makin Jan Ma will be on hand this season at (capsule) Women’s New York, and will also debut a picture novel based on J. Sky and a collaboration with guitarist/model Raoul Colvile to set Guts’ journey to music.  See more from the SS11 collection below.  (Steve Dool)

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Shoreditch’s recently opened men’s boutique Hostem is a stand-out stop for shoppers combing the streets of East London’s ever-burgeoning neighborhood. Proprietor James Brown sought to marry his favorite, though often disparate, sartorial aesthetics under one roof, yielding a selection of offerings that are both austere and artisanal.

From the tightly edited cadre of brands (Ann Demeulemeester, Casely-Hayford, Adam Kimmel) to Hostem’s JAMESPLUMB-conceived interiors, the store’s concept of elegant, intelligent design unifies the space and its contents. “So many cultures have influenced me from living in Umbria to Los Angeles,” Brown explains. “It was important my various experiences were reflected in Hostem.” It’s fitting, then, that the décor—Swedish linen curtains, hand-painted hessian wall panels and front desk-cum-former church pew—contributes a balancing sense of calm and quiet. That the shop takes its name from the Latin “audio hostem,” or “I hear the enemy,” further suggests Brown’s potential antagonists are anything too gaudy or trendy. (JCReport)  More after the jump.

41-43 REDCHURCH STREET – LONDON – E2 7DJ

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Union labor will be used at New York Fashion Week for the next three years under a deal between the company that produces the biannual event and the union that oversees much of the stagehand and other theatrical labor at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts….The union had been engaged in a dispute with the producer over whether IMG should be required to hire union labor for all Fashion Week events held at Lincoln Center. While the contract between the union and the performing-arts complex gives the union jurisdiction over many events on the Lincoln Center campus, it does not require the use of union labor for events that take place on the plaza or surrounding areas, such as Damrosch Park, where Fashion Week tents started going up last weekend. (WSJ)