Here’s OK Go’s latest music video for ‘I Won’t Let You Down’, off their    newest album ‘Hungry Ghosts’.  Directed by Morihiro Harano, as usual, this quartet has once again created something visually engaging + fun, complete with aerial shots Busby Berkeley would’ve been proud of + on-point choreography.  I love how they start on robot scooters, where you wonder how fast do those things go.  Appealing to a retro vibe, to achieve this kind of synchronicity, with or without umbrellas, must have been super annoying to achieve + yet again, they pulled it off.

To me, this one is mediocre compared to all of their other videos, but still cool nonetheless.

Enjoy!

(via HIGHSNOBIETY)

How To Handle Someone Else’s Baggage

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When you think of repurposing a bag, I’m sure using it as part of a jumpsuit doesn’t come to mind, but brand Ayo van Elmar (AVE) has already done all the work for us.  Part of the the ‘Bag Lady collection’ which was inspired by the cry of a Bag, personified as human, bags are deconstructed + reconstructed to become wearable.  For their ‘Bag Lady Jumpsuit’, AVE’s Afro-European fusion flair inspired by the creative director’s cross-cultural experience, comes into play with both versions. 

Below, AVE takes leather details from a bag + adds them to the collar + yoke of the jumpsuit top, which includes a chain on the back + front of a sleeveless black leather jumpsuit with a flesh colored waistband.

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With this jumpsuit, in a colorful African print, the addition of a purse is a lot more obvious, which makes this one my favorite.  Notice the bag detail along the top front of the piece.  The handle of the bag is left intact, while the bag’s detachable strap is used as a back detail, to look like suspenders.  What looks like interior pockets of the bag, are used as side pockets on the jumpsuit, completing the whole look.

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For your very own ‘Bag Lady Jumpsuit’, it’s available now for purchase at Wowcracy.

For #FlashbackFriday, here’s fashion film ‘Topographic’ featuring threeASFOUR’s AW/14 collection which is all about exploring the varied visual aspects of Nature + its inherent sacred geometries through a topographic approach. Starring model Lily Mcmenamy, you see her walking down a runway that’s part of a 3D animated environment which looks like the inside of a fractal, after it unfolds.  

Like the film’s environment, the collection plays around with surface shapes, elevations + textures + how they relate to each other as well as to the terrain of the human body.  With each movement Lily makes, a piece comprised of overlapping pieces of fabric bends in the opposite direction of the swatches underneath, distorting the uniformity throughout the whole garment.  As with pieces that have a quilted effect, those look like their 3D shapes were flattened, creating a more 2D appearance. 

Warning: You might feel the need to jump inside your screen to experience this amazing 3D environment for yourself.  Strapping yourself to your seat is highly recommended

Enjoy!

 

Wake up to Tiga‘s dope music video for ‘Bugatti’, the infectious new single from his upcoming album.  Directed by Helmi, you are transported back to the 80s art directed by artist Maurizio Cattelan of Toilet Paper Magazine.  There’s  a hearty mix of everything from glossy red lips, video games to skiing with surreal touches.  You also get to experience what GIFs looked like before they even existed by seeing repetitive shots on a loop, to the electronic ‘untze, untze, untze’ beat + classic house vibe.

Enjoy!

WANTED: Silver Collegiate Backpack By Khoi Lee

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Besides metallics, there’s nothing I love more than something utilitarian, like a collegiate backpack, is given a new spin, so imagine the size of my smile when I came across this gorgeous ‘Silver Collegiate Backpack’ by Khoi Lee.  Part of the ‘Fall Backpack Collection’, it’s handcrafted in the USA from Italian metallic silver leather + features a black double industrial zipper closure, an interior patch pocket + an exterior double zip pocket.  I adore the mix of contrasting black details with all the silver.

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The ’Silver Collegiate Backpack’ by Khoi Le is available for purchase now at Not Just A Label.




As a fitness aficionado, this fashion film for Nike Women with ‘technical couture’ fashion designer Pedro Lourenço presented by NOWNESS, really hit home hard!  Featuring Pedro’s first women’s performance collaboration for Nike, which includes an eight-piece collection celebrating the sensuality of having a second skin made of finely knit mesh, woven satin + at times, an embossed crocodile motif, in couture-inspired silhouettes, just makes you not only want to dress like you mean business at the gym but might encourage many women intimidated by fitness, to give it a shot, just to look this good wearing Nike by Lourenço.  But it’s really no surprise that activewear design should take a backseat to form over function anymore, with the impressive new colorways available, including metallics + pieces created to come off as quickly as they go on, to make it from the gym to your next meeting, on time.

I’m sure when the first designers of athletic gear, were given the task to design, their creations only needed to perform well.  But as time went on + technology advanced, with the creations of different materials like spandex + lycra compounded with the audacity of some fashion designers to come, bringing fitness gear out of the gyms + into a woman’s daily wardrobe, design + performance had to come in equal measure.  In fact, Lourenço told NOWNESS what sparked his inspiration for this collection by saying, ‘I started sketching in the same way I do my collections: I had a crocodile Haute Couture coat from the 1960s as a reference, + I was thinking about how I could bring that into performance. There are lots of references to the way I create vertical lines on the construction of the garments.’  

Now in keeping with the Brazilian designer’s clean + simple approach to modern design + the presence of the late iconic Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in his work, with the mixture between organic + graphic, NOWNESS took to Morocco’s Atlas Mountains with filmmaker Abteen Bagheri to channel Lourenço’s spirit.  Add Jessy Lanza’s ‘As If’ as the soundtrack + you can almost see the sweat dripping down the model’s body in slow motion, which is mimicked through the electronic pulsing sound, coursing through the song.

Enjoy!

(via NOWNESS)

Oscar de la Renta Dies At 82, After Long Battle With Cancer

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Still in disbelief, iconic fashion designer Oscar de la Renta, lost his long battle with cancer yesterday at 82.  From dressing first ladies to most recently, George Clooney’s bride Amal Alamuddin, the end to such an impressive if not enviable long career of this Dominican born designer most likely sent shockwaves throughout  the fashion community, as they mourn his loss.  At the start of his fashion career, he worked with Balenciaga + went on to win plenty of Cody awards, the fashion equivalent of the Oscars, along the way.  But above all else, ODLR was part of the group of American designers which included Halston, Anne Klein, Bill Blass + Stephen Burrows, who raged war on French fashion design at the infamous 1973 ‘Battle of Versailles’.  The American designers not only served style unlike France had ever seen before, with no elaborate sets, it was also a landmark show by breaking racial barriers in featuring eight African-American top models including Bethann Hardison.  

This past Summer, as part of the final ‘Fashion Icon’ program at the 92Y hosted by Fern Mallis, de la Renta mentioned ‘to rest is to rust’ as his mantra, but now that he is at final rest, he will shine brighter than ever with such a legacy left behind.  

Rest in peace Oscar, you will be missed terribly but never forgotten.

Here’s a great fashion film teaser for ‘Black Current’, the first marketed + second solo collection by Phoebe Heess, shown at Berlin Fashion Alternative Week 2014.  

I have mad respect for her for using the Metatron’s Cube symbol as a focal point in the film, while imagery of models wearing pieces from the collection, spill out of it.  Metatron’s Cube, a sacred geometry symbol made up of thirteen circles, is considered by some as the ‘Fruit of Life’ which in turn is considered a 

blueprint of the universe, containing the basis for the design of every atom, molecular structure, life form, + everything in existence.  But it all makes sense as the ‘Black Current’ collection is inspired by the threshold between the net, quantum mechanics, magic + the functional clothing future practitioners or hackers might wear.

Phoebe’s style is based on the work by Pierre Soulages, whose monochromatic black works elaborate on what happens to the color’s different surfaces reflecting when lit, as seen in these Soulages pieces below.

(L-‘Peinture, 296 x 165 cm, 4 janvier 2014’ R-‘Peinture 309 x 181 cm, 12 décembre 2013’) 

By using contradicting materials, including mesh with leather, Phoebe accomplishes the same effect created by Soulages.  Thankfully, due to technology, the designer is able to create even more black variations of her signature style.

 

Enjoy!

(via NJAL)