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Raf Simons red leather high top at South Willard ($675)

In the summer of 1995, posters started appearing on various walls around Vienna depicting women wearing delicate sheer tops. At the bottom of each poster: a phone number and the word "Bless". Thus began the fruitful and unconventional design collective that is Bless. As cataloged in Bless: Celebrating 10 years of Themelessness, the partnership of Desiree Heiss and Ines Kaag is not a only a story of unwavering creative spirit, but also of impressive entrepreneurial acumen.

Bless, for its first official edition (No. 00) created a series of fur wigs, photographed them and put out an ad in several fashion magazines around Europe. While they might have been expecting a substantial response, they received two. One was a representative of Martin Margiela who wanted to order a series of wigs to complement Margiela's latest collection.

When money became tight, Bless, for its 5th edition, produced not a product but an opportunity. They proposed a subscription to Bless that would guarantee supporter access to the following four Bless editions. The announcement read "Bless No 05 is a test of the conviction of Bless customers to the fashion that Bless pioneers..."

While Bless may be known primarily for its clothing and fashion accessories presently, the partnership did not produce what could be considered a fashion collection until their 9th edition. "Merchandising" as a collection was a commentary on a over branded world. Every piece had some sort of logo, embroidery signature, or depiction that identified it as Bless. To introduce the collection Bless simply placed friends wearing the pieces at other shows during Paris' fashion week.

Regular fashion collections appearing twice yearly did not commence until Bless No. 18, and since then there is a comfortable rhythm to the creative output: two collections a year to satisfy the fashion buying seasons, around two other editions, "Bless Advance" collaborations or "Bless Beauty Product" releases that keep Bless as Bless has always been: a design partnership that earnestly dances to the beat of its own drum.

Bless No. 00 Furwigs

Bless No. 09 Merchandising

Bless No. 13 Basics

Bless No. 17 Design Relativators

Bless No. 20 O.kayers

Bless No. 29 Wallscapes

Illustrated Example in Vancouver is making way for fall merchandise. All summer goods are 50-70% off.

Commuun black dress at Aloha Rag ($910)

Go to this page to take a gander at all the items at Mick Margo's end of summer sale. There are some great pieces in there from Gryson, Alexander Wang, Hache and Maria Bonita Extra, among other names.

Social healthcare and stylish shoes: on these matters we must acquiesce to the French, for they've studied both subjects thoroughly. For the latter, consider Les Souliers. The French online boutique has quietly managed to put together a selection that constitutes a veritable survey of talented European footwear designers from the direct and subtle Belgians, to the chic Frenchmen to the sensual Spaniards.

Berny Demore

Pierre Hardy

Balenciaga

Ann Sofie Back gabardine skirt at Browns (£155)

Invariably, every time we think we've seen every fashion related site worth seeing, a new one pops up on our screens. That's basically how we stumbled upon Milkshake Chocolate. The site is a seasonal zine in the tradition of zines that were popular on the web way back in the 1990s. Deliciously handmade and devoid of any kind blogging or content management system, each issue covers the more creative side of fashion by way of fun pictorials and interviews with a bevy of talented fashion and accessories designers.

A good place to start: their interview with Ines Kaag and Desiree Heiss of Bless, or their interview with up and coming British design duo Poltock & Walsh.

Bless sweater jacked at Doshaburi (670.50 EUR)

Frankfurt's Azita has a deal just for Jargol readers! Use coupon code "WELOVEJARGOL" until August 23rd for free worldwide shipping on all orders.

Fatal posted a selection of Bernhard Willhelm and Henrik Vibskov looks that will be arriving soon. Suddenly, the coming fall is looking considerably more cheery.

Look at the full lineup here.

Cheap Monday socks at Blackbird ($17)

• The IHT has an interesting article on the past and present of Tokyo's many vintage shops (IHT).
• Refinery29 has details about a LEGO themed Band of Outsiders installation that just debuted at Opening Ceremony in New York(Refinery 29).
• SHOWStudio today debuted the first few in a series of "Future Tense" videos that are created by up and coming fashion designers (SHOWstudio).
• The Critical Shopper on Rick Owens' recently opened New York shop (New York Times).

Ground-Zero was founded in 2003 by brothers Eri and Philip Chu, but we've only taken notice of it recently. It popped up in several of our favorite shops in Spring and is set to debut in a few more top-notch boutiques in the fall. The label is known for its bold graphic design (as Eri Chu studied the discipline) and if we look at the earlier collections the graphics are clearly the focus of the collection. Lately though the label has started to play with different materials and cuts in addition to developing graphics. Fall 2008, by our estimation, is their most noteworthy collection yet.

Available or available soon at Fatal, I Dont Like Mondays, Seven and Pixie Market.

Veronique Branquinho black wedge sandal at Scout ($468)