NEW ARRIVALS - 30 Jun (Wed)

Good things come in small packages!
New shipment chock-packed with cool new pieces just in 30 Jun!
Helmut Lang, Rebecca Taylor, Diesel Italy, and more!

T BY ALEXANDER WANG Classic V-Neck Mini Pocket Tee

Alexander Wang’s love for contrasts is reflected throughout his work, where sexy juxtaposes with androgyny, and vagabond meets street-smart modernist. T by Alexander Wang, his lower-priced basics line, offers the same ideals, except it’s centred around tee-shirt dressing. Think good ole’ stretched-out necklines, muscle tees, mini patch-pocket detailing -- but all made from soft and refined fabrics. The idea is to bring an element of luxury to humble day-to-day garments. Indeed, lots of designers out there must be going: Now why didn’t I think of that first?

Here’s one pick from the T by Alexander Wang collection that’s really a no brainer. Slouchy, insanely comfy, and flattering to all body types, this classic tee with a V-neck and a plucky pocket can do no wrong with broken-in jeans (for the M.O.D/model off duty look), or underneath a tailored blazer and slacks (for work).
And if you’re travelling on a limited wardrobe, these would make great layering pieces for you to create a variety of looks since they neither crease much nor take up much space in your suitcase :-)

*Available in an array of colours.

P.S. Check out our new Alexander Wang kickass-looking studded sandals, too. Goes perfectly with the tees!
Also, gentlemen of taste and refinement, stay tuned for T by Alexander Wang for men. Coming soon :-)

Chic chicks in their T by Alexander Wang

Etc.

While waiting for the Paraguay vs New Zealand match (because who doesn't love an underdog?), we have been mightily amused by the Brazilname Generator.
Type in your name, and the site will tell you what your moniker would be -- if you were a Brazilian soccer player. It’s even displayed on a Brazil jersey.
As you can see from the above, we are “Wondermominho”. Hehe, not bad, eh?
Have a bit of fun and create your own stylish concoctions by clicking here.

But hey why do Brazilian soccer players have only one name?
This has led us to an informative article about how the Brazilians get their names, and no they don't use the BrazilName Generator :-P

WORLD CUP POLO SHIRTS

So as you know, the fact is there is a small tournament called the “World Cup” taking place at the moment and the entire world has gone into a football frenzy.
If you are watching the matches intently, why not make your World Cup experience more complete or show off your football fever a little bit with these custom fit cotton World Cup polo shirts?
Alternatively, if you have been rendered a "World Cup widow", hehe, hey, maybe getting one of these limited edition shirts for your man will remind him of the existence of the wonderfully supportive woman he fell in love with ;-)

CAR SHOE (Italy) Monogram CS 1.0 collection

You've undoubtedly seen them. The so-called “driving shoes” -- footwear intended for those Porsche pedals and Maserati mats -- that are showing up on the feet of well-heeled men not just in automobiles, but at the office and the clubs. The preeminent purveyors of the genre include the well-known Tod’s and Hogan and the lesser-known (if only in these parts) Car Shoe.
The descriptively-named Car Shoe was established in 1963 when Gianni Mostile, a shoe artisan from Vigevano (a city in Northern Italy), combined his passion for hand-made shoes and race cars to create a driving mocassin with a grip sole made from small rubber plugs. For his inventive footwear, Mostile was even awarded a patent by the Italian Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Car Shoe soon earned both a high regard among its industry peers as well as an impressive group of followers known for their impeccable fashion sense (JFK, Roberto Rossellini, Giovanni Agnelli, Lapo Elkann).
In 2001, luxury goods giant Prada acquired control of Car Shoe. (It is said that Car Shoe had long been making loafers for Prada's Linea Rosso line.) Under the Prada Group, Car Shoe has enjoyed excellent growth, expanding from unisex drivers' shoes to collections for men, women and children, including bags and sports shoes.
Come check out the characteristic and elegant Car Shoe Monogram CS 1.0 collection sneakers for the gentlemen -- now in store!

Car Shoe in Milan, Rome and Singapore

REBECCA TAYLOR "True Blue Bye Bye" Dress

Since Icarus, birds have been inspiring humans, including fashion designers, to greater heights.
This year in particular, all prints and colours bird-related are hugely popular. Avian chic is big even in interior-decorating -- bedding, upholstery, ornaments, even lighting.
From sparrows to parrots, fashion houses like Miu Miu, Tsumori Chisato and Paul Smith can’t seem to get enough of this exquisite natural motif, and the result is some pretty birdalicious clothing :-)

Here’s a sweet and whimsical bird-print dress from Rebecca Taylor, cutely named the “True Blue Bye Bye Dress”, that'll make you fly away on fashion’s wings!

NEW ARRIVALS - 22 Jun (Tue)

MORE NEW ARRIVALS.

Happy Tuesday dear friends!

So there's this little competition called the “World Cup” going on. (Heard of that? Well done you.)

The best thing about the World Cup so far is the open use of vuvuzelas :-p

The next best thing about the World Cup is the sportswear fanfare.

No matter what your allegiance, our newly arrived World Cup polo shirts will let you and your soccer-loving pals to be united in one respect: looking super (foot)baller!

Also just in:-
T by Alexander Wang, Paul Smith women and men, Ed Hardy Jeans, Rico (Japan), All Saints, Number (N)ine (precious dead stock!), agnès b. Sport b., and new footwear for ladies (Steve Madden, No 704b.) and gents (Timberland Japan Exclusive, Car Shoe of Italy -- owned by the Prada Group, really popular in Europe right now).

Until later, take care and “Ke Nako”~~~

Happy Father's Day

Father's Day, started by a woman named Sonora Louise Smart-Dodd (one of six children raised by a single dad) out of love and gratitude for her father, hits its centennial this year.
Here's a Happy Father’s Day... to all the dads out there who didn’t try to scare the cr*p out of their kids with sparklers :-)

PRINGLE OF SCOTLAND Icon Polo Shirt

June is flying by, and Father's Day is here! (Well, almost.) Are you in need of a last-minute gift for the super man/men in your life? A polo shirt tends to be a welcome gift for dads. Affordable and presentable, it can be worn to work on a Casual Friday, or for a day on the links. Pringle of Scotland, one of the oldest and most established names in the British knitwear industry (and not to be confused with Pringles the potato chips, hehe), has a smart and solid polo that comes with a contrast embroidered regal logo. So classy, you may want to buy two!
(RRP US$175)

(Or if you prefer a shirt or a tie, we stock those, too, of course -- traditional gifts that Dad never tires of!)


PRINGLE OF SCOTLAND
Pringle of Scotland is a knitwear company with a long and proud history.
Established in 1815 in the Scottish Borders, Pringle’s trademark argyle sweaters, twinset and golf-wear became increasingly popular in mid 20th century when it found fans among the likes of Edward, Duke of Windsor, and the early ‘Sweater Girls’ who included sophisticated leading ladies such as Dame Margot Fonteyn, Deborah Kerr, Jean Simmons, Bridget Bardot.
However, the later part of the 20th Century saw a decline in the company’s fortunes. A perceived “stale-ness” and declining sales saw the company shrink to a shadow of its former glory.
Thankfully, despite its slightly vulnerable position, Pringle gained a fresh lease of life in the new millennium when it was acquired by SC Fang and Sons, a Hong Kong-based textile dynasty and worldwide knitwear manufacturer, in 2000.
Over the next decade, the Fang family would invest more than £50 million into Pringle, as a vision and strategy was put in place to diversify the knitwear-centric heritage brand into high-quality and sophisticated tailored wear for a younger market, and to re-establish Pringle as an international luxury fashion label.
Like Burberry, Mulberry and Daks to name a few, Pringle of Scotland has since enjoyed a renaissance driven not only by a successful repositioning, but also by the recent ‘post-modern’ love affair with all things retro.

While it may have nothing to do with snack chips, Pringle does have a funny bone and appreciates a good laugh. Last year the brand commissioned David Shrigley (the Glasgow-based artist whose “faux naive” yet mordant illustrations often depict the humour in everyday life as seen with a distinctly British sense of humour) to make a bizarre but delightful little video about the company :-)

Pringle of Scotland creative director Clare Waight Keller (Tom Ford's capable senior designer during his Gucci days), who has earned considerable praise for mixing her own daring vision with Pringle's storied history, talks about the Pringle Spring/Summer 2010 men’s collection:-

A long-time supporter of the arts, Pringle also made the bold move of presenting its women’s Spring Summer collection in the form of an artsy short film, created by New York photographer Ryan McGinley in the lush Scottish countryside. The campaign stars Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton (herself a Scotswoman), who dashes around trees and climbs through a castle window dressed in beautiful frocks from the Pringle collection. (This collaboration is the first in a series of creative projects planned for the brand with the aim of promoting Scotland’s renewed cultural surge.)

Footnote: Regrettably, in response to the changing nature of the market, Pringle has closed its last remaining mill in the Scottish Borders in 2008.

Etc.

With the tagline “Capture the True Beauty of Every HD Moment”, Samsung’s new HMX H205 digital camcorder is being promoted in a fun little viral video campaign featuring an amazingly skillful man who can absolutely flick and hurl a business card.
(If this guy is real and if he ever needs a new job he’d be a pretty darn good assassin.)
Happy weekend to you :-)

[Video produced by London-based The Viral Factory.]

MOSCOT "LEMTOSH" (Unisex)

Girls love him and most men want to be him, Johnny Depp is often photographed wearing a pair of retro-themed tortoise glasses: the Lemtosh by Moscot.

New York eyewear institution Moscot has been around since 1915 when founder Hyman Moscot sold hand-made spectacles from a pushcart (vintage before vintage was cool!).

Since then, Moscot has grown into one of the most venerable brands in the game.
Depp aside, Moscot specs have been preferred by artists, intellectuals, just about every cool guy through the generations -- including Buddy Holly, Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Moby (they’re cool, right, hehe?).
Moscot’s designs have a definite retro charm and appeal to them -- some of the classic frames haven’t changed much since the 1930s.
While they may have that nerdy look, these time-tested frames really up your geek-chic quotient by about a hundred as soon as you put them on :-)
The Moscot Lemtosh is unisex and if it is your kind of style, then snap up the limited pairs available instore now!
(RRP US$229)

Famous faces in a variety of Moscots:-

(L to R) Dr. Henry Kissinger, Andy Warhol, John Lennon

Woody Allen

Benjamin Button aka Brad Pitt
Kanye West
(L to R) Nikki Reed (Twilight), January Jones (Mad Men)
(L to R) Korean stars MC Mong, Kim Ju-Hyeok, Lee Jeong-Jae
Japanese actor and trendsetter Odagiri Joe
Japanese fashionistas

Moscot eyewear Spring/Summer 2010 ad campaign. Nice!

3.1 PHILLIP LIM Faux-Wrap Pleated Dress

The just-right balance of chic and comfort, this 3.1 Phillip Lim number will seamlessly take you from day to evening, from casual to dressy.
We suggest pairing with gladiator sandals for day, and platform pumps or even ankle boots for night.

LACOSTE x CAMPANAS Special Edition Polo T-Shirt

Lacoste has been around forever and yet seems really recharged lately.
The label has teamed up with Brazilian-born brothers Fernando and Humberto Campana -- renowned for their furniture creations made from discarded materials (and the odd stuffed animal) -- to create a range of limited edition polo shirts for men and women.
The dynamic design duo have had a thing for crocodiles since childhood. In Brazil they grew up in a village near the Jacaré river (the term jacare means alligator in Portuguese), and there were indeed many living specimens in the water.
In 2004, the Campanas popped people's eyes out with their Alligator Chair, upholstered with cuddly toy alligators, which shows how the reptiles pile up in their natural habitat, the mud beds, during the dry season. Philippe Lacoste (grandson of Lacoste founder René Lacoste) bought a chair and must have had a brainstorm while sitting in it because the next thing the Campanas knew, they were invited to collaborate with the brand.
The whole nest of crocs just adds an irreverent touch to an otherwise ordinary two-button-placket white cotton pique tennis classic.

The inspirations:-
The outcome:-

The Campana brothers themselves sporting the polo shirt with a float of crocs.
Hey, but what's this? They seem to have gotten a few bonus crocs -- three, to be exact -- on their special shirts. Then again, I guess that's what you get for being the designers.

DKNY Large-Dot Jumper

Unabashedly winsome, this DKNY romper with a self-tie belt brings childhood wiles to a chic daytime look!
Pair with gladiator sandals or espadrilles, or heels or platforms for a grown-up-girl edge.
With a self-tie belt and on-seam hip-pockets.
(RRP US$295)

3.1 PHILLIP LIM Tie-Back Shirt/Shirtdress

Love the cutout back and the unexpected ribbon detail on this crisp cotton shirt/shirtdress by 3.1 Phillip Lim!
If you think it's too short as a dress for you, simply team it with leggings or pipe jeans, add a great jacket, a belt or a scarf, and change the overall look of the garment :-)
(RRP US$375)

Etc.

An old clip from 2006, but in light of recent events, we thought you might be interested in revisiting it.
This has got to be one of the most iconic catwalk finales of the past decades. The image of Kate Moss floating through the air in an elegant Alexander McQueen creation, swathes of fabric swirling around her -- it's a hologram! So ethereal, so fleeting, it sends chills down our spine. Just shows how ahead of his time Mr. McQueen was. RIP.

P.S.
In case you're wondering -- the beautiful music is from Schindler's List; written by John Williams, with Itzhak Perlman on the violin.
Also, in a shameless pitch: We have a sheer silk scarf by Alexander McQueen -- very chic for wrapping around any outfit for an infusion of cool, or just lovely as a gift.

VIVIENNE TAM Butterfly Dress

Born in Guangzhou, Chinese-American designer Vivienne Tam and her family fled Mainland China after the Communist revolution, when she was just three. They moved to Hong Kong, where Tam grew up and studied design and dressmaking at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
In 1982, Tam packed a first small collection of her designs in a plastic duffel bag and went to New York City.
Nearly three decades later, Tam, now fifty-three years of age (she doesn't look a day over thirty five!!!), has continued to make energetic waves in the international fashion world.
Well-known for her forward-thinking attitude and indulgence in Asian art and symbolism, Tam has unveiled recent collections (both Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter) that draw influence from the fifty year anniversary of the Chinese ballet and that focus on a story of romance, independence, freedom and transformation.
Tam was particularly inspired by the violin concerto "Butterfly Lovers" (written in 1959 by Chinese composers), which was built around three acts: Falling in Love, Opposition to an Arranged Marriage, and Transformation into Butterflies.
It is said that the melodies of this concerto are derived from a Shaoxing Opera work on the same subject, that is, the best known and most popular traditional Chinese love story "Butterfly Lovers".
As is Tam's trademark, patterns and prints are the standouts in her latest collections, which are reflected with beautiful butterfly designs in vivid hues.


The super-prolific Tam is known not only as a clothing designer, she has also
• lent her creative touch to the staff uniforms at the now-defunct high-end restaurant Wakiya (at the Gramercy Park Hotel owned by Studio 54 co-founder and style impresario Ian Schrager);
• madeover Mickey and Minnie Mouse at the Hong Kong Disneyland (him in a bright red Mao suit and her in a cherry-blossom red dress);
• designed a collection of outfits featuring pandas to raise funds for the endangered animal’s Sichuan quake-stricken habitat;
• costumed the characters in the Animax movie LaMB;
• brought an infusion of fashion to Hewlett-Packard laptops;
• starred as guest judge in Season 7 of the hit reality series “Project Runway”
(among a gazillion other things).
Seriously, have you ever met a more productive pentagenarian?