Last night BPMW and Black Swan Wines hosted Wine & Wicker, an indoor Gatsby-esque garden party at the Black Swan party space in SoHo. Guests were encouraged to dress up, view botanical paintings by Subversive Jewelry designer Justin Giunta, and play croquet to the sounds of River Alexander and the Mad Jazz Hatters.
Pics after the jump...
Uh oh-- Bruce Pask, style setter and men's fashion director for the NY Times, is finding his pared down basic chic look a little boring. Now he's feeling like rolling up his jeans, a la My Three Sons! Here's what he wrote in The Moment today: "The other morning I was putting on a pair of jeans to go to work — a regular, nicely worn-in shrink-to-fit pair of Levi’s that I’ve had for quite some time. I put on a pair of sand suede Clark’s desert boots (I’ve been wearing them a lot and loving them lately), looked in the full-length mirror… and felt totally boring. After many traditional jeans-wearing years, with the 501 hem hitting the shoe, this felt ordinary, banal even…and a bit off...."
What's a fashion editor to do? Keep reading.
And don't miss the comments-- there are some angry people out there...
Aloha Rag, founded in Honolulu in 1991 by Tatsugo Yoda, recently opened their first mainland store in New York. The new location will carry of the designers that define the Hawaii store and online selection, including a limited edition collabo with Japanese label Garment House Mania, select 3.1 Phillip Lim, Lanvin, Martin Margiela, and Yochinori Kotake Design, in addition of several smaller, independent designers from Japan and New York. We love the cool, clean array of men's and women’s clothing, but Aloha Rag’s accessories collection is what impresses us the most – unisex totes and sneakers from Lucian Pallat-Finet, Ksubi sunglasses, spring-y cotton scarves from Golden Goose are just a few.
Aloha Rag 505 Greenwich Street, NYC , 212.925.0882
NY Times “Consumed” columnist, and Murketing blogger Rob Walker has a new book coming out, called Buying In. In the book Walker argues that while we’ve been hearing that brands are dead, and advertising no longer works, this accepted wisdom misses a much more important and lasting cultural shift. As technology has created avenues for advertising anywhere and everywhere, people are embracing brands more than ever before–creating brands of their own and participating in marketing campaigns for their favorite brands in unprecedented ways. Increasingly, motivated consumers are pitching in to spread the gospel virally, whether by creating Internet video ads for Converse All Stars or becoming word-of-mouth “agents” touting products to friends and family on behalf of huge corporations. In the process, they–we–have begun to funnel cultural, political, and community activities through connections with brands. “Buying In’ won’t be available until June 3, but you can pre-order a copy here.
Design Week kicks off in NYC this Thursday and there are tons of great events all over town. Check out a full schedule on Core 77. We're definitely stopping by Dror Benshetrit's party at Yigal Azrouel, the new Yohji store designed by Junya Ishigami , the Streetlab show featuring Dutch design, Hardcore: new Finnish Design Panel moderated by NY Mag's Wendy Goodman, and Core 77's invite-only ping pong party.
While it often seems impossible to make money in the fashion business, Forbes magazine has shown us otherwise. their recent issue profiled several fashion billionaires, including Bernard Arnault (25B), Francois Pinault ($17B), And Ralph Lauren, pictured here, (a mere $4B). "While you know the brands, the designers and the supermodels, chances are, you've never heard of the people actually running the show. Despite bankrolling the tastes of millions--and making billions doing so--their names remain largely unknown," the article says, Watch the Video: The Stylish Billionaire. ( Forbes/ JC Report)
London’s Fred Perry recently dropped their Autumn/Winter Men’s Laurel collection. The piece are slim, neatly tailored silhouettes in shades of gray, orange and blue, inspired by the distinctly British mid-60s guitar and early-80s punk rock movements. Narrow trousers, button down collars and v-neck sweaters in tartan, intarsia chevrons, and 80’s color blocking reflect period trends, yet manage to feel new with modern details, like the multicolored-yarn stitched Laurel insignia on a bomber jacket. More pics after the jump.-- KB
BPMW is going international and taking the (capsule) show over to Paris! The show is scheduled for men's market week, June 26-28 at the Hotel Liberal Bruant, a 17th century chateau located in the heart of the Marais District. Confirmed brands include some of the most sought-after progressive designers in the market, including: April 77, YMC, Nom de Guerre, Fifth Ave Shoe Repair, Julian Red, Endovanera, Penfield, Wood Wood, Yoko Devereaux, Hope, Public School, Fred Perry Special Product, Silas, Simon Miller, RRG and Garbstore.
Visit www.capsuleshow.com/paris to see a full list of participating designers and to register for entry.
The young menswear industry and skateboarding have always had a relationship of mutual influence, so it is with considerable interest that we turn your attention to Deathbowl to Downtown, a film by Nichols and Charnoski that documents both the history of skateboarding and the artistic and athletic culture that surrounds skateboarding today. The film also explores the interaction of urban planning, design, and fashion, and how street style has evolved, focusing primarily on New York. View more stills from the film after the jump. -- KB
Redeem is one of the hottest boutiques in the nation’s capital, selling all our favorite brands and doing fun things with the local creative community. We caught up with the owner, Lori who shared her best sellers with us. HOLLA! Pics after the jump.
Wrath Arcane
Fremont
Anzevino & Florence colorchange tank
Anzevino & Florence
Poste’s been selling the best of contemporary men's shoes and sneakers set within the leather-furnished luxury of a gentleman's club since 2000. Located on the very posh South Moulton street in London, the shop’s got an unbelieveable brand roster including Common Projects. John Varvatos, Hudson, n.d.c., Timberland Boot Company and Opening Ceremony, to name a few. If you’re not heading over to London right now there’s always mail order. Poste has a great web site and informative shoe blog with great pics and product info. Now if only we could shift that pesky exchange rate in our favor…We've got some pics of current hot styles after the jump.
New Balance 420
Converse by John Varvatos Slip Low
Buddhahood Stanley Lace Up
Dries van Noten lightweight loafer
Lacoste Rene Plimsoll
With a resume that boasts stints at Vivienne Westwood, Nudie and Fillippa K, Rickard Lindqvist is poised to become one of Sweden’s hottest young designers. Originally trained as a classic tailor. Lindqvist’s roots are still obvious in his current collection where traditional, high quality garments take a surprising avant garde turn. The line is only available in a handful of stores in Scandinavia and Japan, so for now, we will enjoy watching the video of his fall/winter 08 runway show. Watch it here.
More photos after the jump.
The Shipley & Halmos label has already racked up its first accolade after less than a year in business. The National Arts Club will bestow designers Sam Shipley and Jeff Halmos with its inaugural Young Designer Award on May 20. The organization hopes to make the champagne affair an annual one, recognizing and celebrating the freshness of fashion. "We chose them not only because they design for women, but also for men, and at the club we're really interested in getting men interested in fashion," said Chrishaunda Lee, chair of the fashion committee. To toast the occasion, DJ Cassidy is working with the designers to generate an original soundtrack for the evening.Shipley and Halmos were two of the original founding members of the much-lauded brand Trovata, which has since disbanded and is run solely by John Whitledge. Shipley & Halmos' first collection is in stores now for spring, and is stocked in Manhattan at Barneys New York, Steven Alan, TG-170, and Mick Margo. (The Daily)
The talk of the upcoming all black Italian Vogue issue is picking up speed. We've been hearing about everyone from Ashanti to Jourdan Dunn to Takara (that larger than life contestant from America's Next Top Model) shooting with Steven Meisel for the issue, which aims to bring awareness to color discrimination in fashion.(JC Report)
Howard Socol, the chief executive of Barneys New York, who restored the company’s stature after it fell into bankruptcy in the 1990s, has told colleagues he intends to resign, according to people knowledgeable about the situation.The people, speaking on the condition of anonymity because Mr. Socol was still completing his plans, said he might announce his resignation as early as next week. They said that Mr. Socol had disagreed sharply with the new owners of the chain over its strategy, especially plans to expand the Barneys name overseas. (nyt)
