Really, Balenciaga?

I'm not sure what to make of these new hi-tops from Balenciaga F/W'09. On the one hand, I usually love everything that comes from Nicolas with unreserved abandon. However, this shoe just makes me think of pocket lint, and costs about $500.

Is it a totally failed attempt by an avant-garde designer to cash in on the streetwear craze, or could it be a secretly mocking comment on the state of fashion, implying that the whole designer sneaker culture is really just, well, much ado about pocket lint?

Via Slam x Hype

Discuss: Steven Alan S/S 2010 Video Lookbook

Steven Alan Spring 2010

For their Spring/Summer 2010 collection, homespun-luxury brand Steven Alan decided to unveil their lookbook in the form of a long, rambling video sequence instead of a glossy (or, considering it's Steven A, probably matte and raw-edged, perhaps with hand-stitched binding) book mailed out to retailers. It's basically an unstructured day-in-the-life of two exceedingly carefree and apparently jobless New Yorkers, who are way more relaxed, healthy-looking and tic-free than your average Manhattanites, and who also happen to deck themselves & their friends out in the entire Steven A. S/S10 collection by the end of the (looonnnnng) video.

Interesting concept that capitalizes on the popularity of internet video, lifestyle marketing and general hipsterdom? Yes. Does it work? Not sure. I can't help cringing at its hyper-calculated casual dialogue, and its envy-inducing idyllic landscape. I also am slightly weirded out by the inane party conversation that must have been designed to fit some notion of cool. All this careless tossing oneself around and asking coy/languid questions doesn't really inspire awe in me...but they must have done a focus group or two, no? Am I just a snarky meanster with twisted insides, or do you think the S.A. team may have overdone it a tad, too?

But I have to admit that they've made the clothes look awful nice.

video source: hypebeast

Really, Proenza Schouler?

scuba influences? REALLY?


http://www.style.com/fashionshows/complete/S2010RTW-PSCHOULER

new favorite thing

["untitled (computer)," brian alfred, 2000]

I've completely fallen in love with Brian Alfred after finding his book "There is a Light That Will Never Go Out" at Colette. Simple, melancholy city landscapes that strike some personal chord for me. There's something I can't explain that I love about the weird desolateness as well has humanness of cities and utilitarian objects, which is, I guess, why I never tire of walking around, even in ugly neighborhoods. Colette's book description reads:

New book from american artist Brian Alfred gathering 20 prints 38 x 28 cm.

limited edition of 1000 copies signed.
printed in Japan.
Published by utrecht.

Of course. Printed in Japan, only available in, uh, Japan. Or Colette. THANKS BRIAN ALFRED.

In the meantime, I've now fallen in love with the video, which, maddeningly, can't be embedded. Just click it and watch.

There is this one, which is entirely different...but amazing....

["what do the spaces and structures we create / say about who we are?"]

skyscrapers & studs

this weekend's lesson: skyscraper heels are best worn on top of a skyscraper.

a ridiculous weekend. normal blogging to resume shortly. oh, i guess it's relevant here that dieu and i did see the september issue, and it was good. i want grace coddington to be my friend real bad.

andre: "you know what, it's a famine of beau-ty. A FAMINE of BEAU-ty, honey."

"The Hills," immortalized 4evs

fantastic.

According to the Times' The Moment, "This isn’t a hidden episode of “The Hills: Vancouver”; it’s the latest exhibition by the local artist Karin Bubas, who has captured the principals of “The Hills” in chalk pastels, and whose show “With Friends Like These…” is on display at the Charles H. Scott Gallery through Sept. 13."

I think what makes these so wonderful is how they capture the static expressions that these characters deploy over, and over, and over, in their attempts to act real. They're real people whose lives aren't real enough to be "reality," so they act the parts of characters who are meant to be real...and end up the realest done in chalk pastel.

fashiontoast with butter

How fabulous is Rumi of fashiontoast?


(very.)
(just look at that angle and that expression and that light.)


She's also doing a tee collab with Borders & Frontiers, and her design of a blurred b&w image of a storm through a windshield is awesome; goes with my new love for b&w photos on tees.


She also has a captivating recent post of Kate photos, of which this one sent me into a ten-minute daydream about my time in Kenya when I slept under that same old-fashioned mosquito canopy. Merci Rumi.

working a fashion tradeshow has perks: free stuff

For the past 3 seasons, I've been part of the team that designs and executes S.L.A.T.E., the select streetwear section of MAGIC in Vegas. This time I was there for almost a week - multi-day setup plus 3-day show, oooof. Despite 15-hr days and walking miles across concrete convention center floor and staying working til midnight putting up foamcore...this season was still my favorite show so far. The mood was more positive all around than last show (which was in mid-Feb/recession freakout time)...we hosted a big party with Stussy at the Hard Rock (where I stayed, and which is more hilariously ridiculous than I even expected)...I pulled in Adidas Originals, Hot Air and Crooks & Castles for a VIP gifting event...got to meet a bunch of designers I'd been corresponding with...and I ended up with some pretty sweet swag at the end.

full whored-out-by-MAGIC regalia (thanks brand partners!): Lira tee, Married to the Mob jeans, Urge snakeskin flats

my daily necklace: badge, keys to the claw arcade game, Xlarge lanyard (thanks), and resin bowtie from Mr. Tastees (borrowed for a photoshoot and the sweetheart owners gave it to me)

I'm terrible at photoshoots, especially those involving my Canon and the self-timer...but I actually really love this Lira tee we had for Wednesday.

too impatient to take a better shot of this oh-so-meta tee from HomeRoom

oh yah, I totally rock out in my bedroom every morning in my Xlarge tee, free gigantic headphones and Zodiac boots, oh yah.

the lovely Melissa, new head of branding for the relaunch of Zodiac boots (!!!), gave me this pretty damn awesome pair before they even are released...

rainbow row: the pantone swatch

so much of a pun it's almost too much...but really, such a perfect concept that it's shocking these are only mock-ups. [full story: we made this / pantone swatches]

until someone at swatch picks up the idea, i'm making do with a new wrist candy from flud. the strap of my trusty men's timex from target finally started to disintegrate, and working with streetwear has finally rubbed off on me enough that i've caught the rainbow bug. see:

i kind of want to get a set of pantone color chips for myself now, just to have around. we have a set at work, but what's a girl to do when she wants to lose herself in marvelously organized colors at 9:55 pm on a saturday night?