Extra Mustard On My Lindenberger S'il Vous Plait

Spring's face is almost upon us and its absolutely smeared with mustard. J. Lindenberg dives into the color trend with a pair of smart narrow trousers for your consumption. He also has seen fit to supply this washed voille shirt in another color I'm fond of: indigo. The washed, crumpled look may not be for everyone but that's why Jesus created steamers. Mr. Lindenberg is also serving up these sateen shorts in black. All items are available to order now at Oak.

Barbarian-Kara: Mihara Yasuhiro SS09

Mihara Yasuhiro has impressed me again, this time by blending tribal primitive simplicity with proper moto details. Incorporating disparate components into an attractive whole. The perforation on the boots and the steel toe on the sandals are both welcome surprises.

Something about the collection reminded me of a different sort of enterprising mind. T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia)

"All men dream; but not equally."

Certainly Mihara was dreaming of approaching a raw landscape, and meeting it with a careful strength. The pieces all have an acted upon, aged quality as well. Its a rare moment when something as straightforward as a boot can be transportive.

Neoboy and the Poptones

Jun Takashi posted images from his upcoming collections for Undercover "NeoBoy" and "Poptones" for Spring Summer 09. As usual I'm not only interested I'm impressed and there are a number of remarkable pieces included in these dual collections. Poptones harkens back to the early days of the rock and roll generation. An assembly of various plaids are present. Sharply tailored jackets are paired with slouchy voluminous trousers. Metallic threading and materials evokes images of sparkling Cadillac chrome.






Neoboy devolops a more dramatic urban approach but retains some pop symbolism.

The pairing of leggings, tall shafted boots with cutoff shorts is a winner for me. I'm a sucker for well employed digital printing.

More reassembled motorcycle jackets with knit sleeves from Jun. This time with much more restraint.

Sometimes You Get What You Pay For

The year Uniqlo first opened its flagship in Soho, New York they released a collaborative t-shirt collection. It was very well received for the humor, and also understated graphic patterns. Uniqlo in New York has gotten a bit better in terms of supplying a better variety of cuts and interesting pieces as they realized the market was welcoming to them, but the later tee collections have strangely never matched the first.

Maybe print design is something the company is just not good at editing. But most of the shirts look like they could be found at Urban Outfitters (though for three times the price).



The only one that stood out to me was, naturally, this women's zebra print shirt.





I wouldn't pay 15 dollars for any of these. Why bother Uniqlo? There are screenprinting guys with folding tables on Broadway with better designs than these. Hire one of them. That gripe aside Steven Alan's capsule line and the rumored Opening Ceremony fling are both firmly on my radar.

Clear Weather Dreams

A. J Press Nappa Driver's Glove w/Knitted Cotton Insert (J Press)

B. Filson Antique Tin Cloth Blazer (Filson)

C. Kris Van Assche Grossgrain Rose Pin (Luisa Via Roma)

D. Steven Alan Fall Reverse Seam Shirt (Steven Alan)

E. Timberland Earthkeeper Rippler Chukka (Cloggs)

F. Corpus Navy Slim Straight Leg Jean (Oak)

"Outside, the wind is slackening, the snow diminished to small flurries. The blizzard of the previous night has blown over, though the oppressive gray skies hang low still. This is but a temporary lull." - Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World.

Heir Down There

Ingelmo S/S 09 contains this low top in silver and gold

The Ingelmo family has built shoes for nearly a century. At the turn of the 20th century an Ingelmo had a shoe cobbling shop in Spain. Now the company is directed by that man's great grandson but they continue to work with the softest leathers, the best materials.

Designer Alejandro Ingelmo sat down with Nymag for an interview. He discusses his beginnings in fashion accessories, his suspicion of prints, where he sees women's shoes going in coming seasons, and Ingelmo designed bags on the horizon.

Spring Is Here (Retail-Wise...in a few places...ish)

Dior Homme € 473.00

I love spring. From the wrinkled, faded mountains of sale merchandise emerge the new goods from all my favorite designers. Luisa Viaroma has a bunch of luxury items available from the best vendors some of which will certainly be haunting me over the next few months.

Puma x Mihara Yasuhiro € 163.00

From left to right: a brand apart bag € 728.00, Rick Owens hooded washed leather jacket € 1863.00, Back Pocket Leather Jacket € 2012.00

Spring can't get here soon enough. Now that the parties are winding down its time to start saving those pennies. Maybe get a second job. One that's off the books.

All items are available now for pre-order at LUISAVIAROMA

Designer DNA

I first got wind of Yang Li in an interview on Dazed Digital and now Fashion 156 has serveral images to mull over. Li warps the structure of basics beyond their essence with a short sleeved jacket with micro lapels, and a shirt with wide front pouches that function as another layer.

Like in evolution all it takes is a couple of flipped chromosomes to lead to disorder or the next step in species future. Tinkering with proportion and composition, Li is clearly looking forward but he is not beyond making wearable clothes. The operation revolves around change and erasure. What is a jacket? Does that definition include the term long sleeve? Change in meaning over garment components leads to the erasure of preconceptions. The intended endgame: "creation of forms with no limits". The images reveal a promising effort from someone so young.

Follow Li here @ www.clothlabel.com.au/yang

The War on Chromaphobia

Thanks to Susie Bubble for reminding me. about this chronic wardrobe malfunction. Every year I tell myself I'm going to wear more color and sometimes I even trick myself into thinking that I am. Once while going on a spirited tirade about men not wearing any color I was silenced by a friend who noted that I myself wasn't wearing any color at the time and usually wear a lot of blacks and grays. A glance down at my outfit revealed that in fact I was only wearing black. How did this happen?

I'd like to say that its just a symptom of being a New Yorker but a New York Magazine article from last spring showed a few examples of New Yorkers who can't get enough of color. Even if those rare examples are strictly monochromatic. It was hard not to get excited about color again looking through the collections shown this year, as sober blues have given way to more vibrant yellows. Cyan, Neon, and Mustard. This year, of all houses, Gucci surprised me with a fun psychedelic collection, even if it was uneven.

Gucci and Jil Sander

Asos Slip On Boat Shoes £34.26

All three looks from Yves Saint Laurent SS09

Stefano Pilati showed a crisp range of delicate hues: salmon, navy, and many different earth tones. Every look combined luxury with comfort and teased a dialectic between vulnerability and strength.

My strategy to break away from black is simple:

1. I buy black because of its versatility, but earth tones and grays do the trick just as well.
2. Accessorize more. After migrating south for spring I found myself dressing down by default and therefore accessorizing more, but accessories allow for an easy addition of color to an outfit.
3. Watermelon sneakers.
   

The Next Big Trend: Watermelon Sneakers

I have a serious problem with watermelons. When I was ten years old I ate my last slice of watermelon. The sun was blazing that day. Some friends were over, and we were all eating watermelons like they were the last ones on earth. Two of my best friends, my little sister, and me had our fill of the melon. Afterwards, and too soon, we headed over to the pool. My sister jumped in last, and she was only in the pool for a few seconds. She immediately hopped out and started vomiting. Naturally I did what any ten year old brother would do while his sister was doubled over and ill; I exploded in laughter along with the rest of my friends.

Then looking at all of the melon colored puke. I joined her, and then my friends did as well. We were all gagging. We were all sick the rest of the day learning the hard way not to mix swimming and full stomachs. What had started out as good clean fun soon devolved into a grotesque nightmare borne from the sinister loins of melon patch hell. I recovered, but my taste for watermelon did not.

That said, maybe its just the black in me but I can't help getting a smile out of these Watermelon shoes made by Vans. They are releasing an entire line of watermelon sneakers in all styles. I kind of need them, at least for an inappropriate and racially insensitive halloween costume that I've been meaning to do for years.



(via HighSnobriety)

Looking Forward: Lone Costume SS09

The Korean designer Juun J bases his line Lone Costume around structural transformations and novelty. Veering off the familiar path of men's tailoring Juun pushes the forms into new silhouettes. The SS09 collection displayed earlier this year saw a departure from his past trench coat obsession with reproductions of the iconic motorcycle jacket, the cardigan, and oxford shirt with stunningly irreverent results.



The jackets were extended and wrapped around into cloaks. Cardigans were sewn into the waistlines of pants. It's hard to pick a favorite, but several of these pieces stood out as covetable as a double breasted jumpsuit in gray.



A few accents of color were present in a two button blazer with an extended back panel produced in coral and sky blue.




The jackets were layered and extended like a fruit being unpeeled but there was an edge to it too. Juun believes that Fashion is both an art and a business. Looking back on his collection its easy to see his attempt to bring his vision to life while also creating desirable clothes. Lone Costume is unisex but skews towards masculinity. The clothes are playful, relaxed, and progressive yet essentially examples of good tailoring.

His recent collection will be available for sale at Seven in the spring. Watch out, Costume tends to sell quickly. Some recent additions to Seven's stock already sold out like this hi-top collaboration with Reebok.

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Composite Sex: Highlights from Prada Linea Rossa lookbook S/S 09

Even from a collection which includes numerous feminized pieces such as scoop neck shirts that cropped just at the waistline and cropped jackets which suspended from from the model's shoulders, Prada's Linea Rossa line contains a number of covetable luxury sportswear items. The bronze woven hooded jacket is both modern and elegant, visually simply wonderful to look at. In this earth toned world shirts are fastened with zippers. While Miuccia Prada seems incapable of boring, her collections of late rely on applying delicate vulnerable shapes attributed to womenswear to the opposite sex. The range of bronze, beiges, and militant greens supply some contrast however many of the pieces propel the androgynous male into further, perhaps extreme, depths. The materials are light, often synthetic, much like the deployed concepts.

Black Arts: Antonin Tron SS 09

Designers like young Antonin Tron (and every one who lays their hand on a new material or method of construction) has a great design godmother in Elsa Schiaparelli. Once Chanel called her an "artist who makes clothes". Her humor, surrealist inspired shapes, colorful, and opulent garments are not just artistic clothes but prime examples of how fun fashion has been and can be. Elsa invented hot pink.

I came across this interview of Tron dicussing his current collection "La Jetee" with Dazed Digital. He discusses his inspirations: the Danse Macabre. The translation provides even more medieval looks for a moody spring. The looks towards this period, the high renaissance with its new worlds and unstable empires provide a fruitful comparison I'd like to delve into sometime soon here on the blog.




The embellishments of gold, and amber elevate the pieces and also add a sense of power and light to an otherwise gothic portrait of a man, while volume is built up with an elegant modern hand. I believe the drama would make Schiaparelli proud.

Renaissance Man: Bernhard Willhelm A/W 08/09

Bernhard Willhelm is a fascinating designer that every style obsessed youth knows about even if they've never seen a piece in person. Any man who sends models down the catwalk in pretzel and sausage inspired accessories deserves attention. I stand by my original (negative) impressions of Berhard's recent mens catwalk show. I was right. He needed to update the looks and he did, so I readily admit I am enthusiastic about how he has translated those medieval forms into fresh modern silhouettes. I am absolutely delighted by the presence of razorbacks in this collection and the graphic print on the sleevless tee is a smart play on renaissance iconography. T-shirt screen-printers take note.




The pieces are full of subtle detail (such as the denim collar above) and bold experiment (a 'cod piece' on slim corduroy pants)






I'm in love with the cowls on the oversized hoodies and sweaters, it cuts a great profile and opens up the neckline. I can't wait to add a piece or two to my collection and I'm sure I'm not alone. My only complaint is that I wish there was a drop more of color. The girls line is practically overflowing with rich dazzling color, in contrast.

Tom Ford S/S 09 Lookbook

Artist or celebrity? Provocateur or craftsman? Propping up dichotomies like those will get you laughed out of many an artsy social set but indeed James Joyce once naively drew a line to contrast Proper art and Improper art. Improper art is either Pornographic or Didactic. "Pornographic" art is crafted to inspire desire and "Didactic" art is of course instructive.

Tom Ford is guilty of at least being "pornographic" and at his best being "didactic". The designer and provocateur is a bit polarizing. Ford is not afraid to shock or delve into what some would call poor taste. This has lead him to be a style expatriate. "If I was ever going to become a good designer, I had to leave America. My own culture was inhibiting me. Too much style in America is tacky. It's looked down upon to be too stylish. Europeans, however, appreciate style."(NYT)

And that sense of freedom is present in this collection. The look is virile and bold. A nimble silhouette suggests the spirit of Marcello Mastrionni at play and work. The colors are rich, even decadent: plums, bronzes, and ruby red appropriate for a Medici. It may be the red, white, and blue suggest a hint of patriotism.

It may not be proper; it's too young for that. Its unlikely that Joyce would call it art at all, but will buyers care when the collection appears this cool, relaxed, and optimistic?

En-Garde

Two year old menswear label Garde Robe strikes a vein with reimagined staples. Experiments in outerwear continue to be a strong point for the young designer as Olivier Borde delivers clever takes on the denim jacket, the tuxedo, and peacoat. Borde uses bold asymmetrical shapes in patterns and patchwork like a prism releasing fractured beams of color. Silhouettes are soft and boyish. The shirts are silk, and the harem trousers are likewise lined in silk. The integration of toughness and angularity with soft lines and boycut jackets are sure to please followers of designers Philip Lim and Kris Van Assche.







Buyers and stockists should head to Olivier Borde pronto for Garde-Robe S/S 09.