Helmet of the Will is a new T-shirt label. They print understated graphics on soft, organic shirts. We haven't seen them in person, but they look pretty cool on Steven Alan's site.
Another day and another exclusive denim shop makes it online, while Blue in Green focuses on ultra-exclusive Japanese denim, Denim Bar's selection draws more from Europe and The States. Highlights include jeans from Julian Red and Denimbirds, both Swedish labels that are very difficult to find in the US.
Jeffrey Campbell wedge at Oak
It seems like every week we do a post featuring the latest goods from Creaturse of Comfort. Well, this week we decided to end the madness and do one big round-up of all the spring goods currently in stock and online.
There's stuff from Alexandre Herchcovitch, Isabel Marant, Carson Potter, Rachel Comey, Sunshine and Shadow, VPL and more. Go here to see all new arrivals.
Carson Potter dress
Eley Kishimoto tank
It's muted, it's deconstructed, it's nothing if not avant-garde, and it's in Charleston? Elsa Esturgie is a niche French label that's been creating its take on women's clothing for 10 years. It's carried in reliable avant-garde outposts in New York like IF and Butter, but we found the brand at Worthwhile's website. Worthwhile of Charleston, South Carolina that also carries a good bit of Vivienne Westwood.
Here are a few pieces from Esturgie's Spring 2007 collection on sale now.
And here are some gorgeous pictures from Elsa Esturgie's archives. Some of these clothes are 10 years old and 1) you could tell someone they're from the Fall 2007 collection and we don't think they'd think twice about it 2) they would still turn heads on the street today or probably 10 years from now.
To the best of our knowledge, Henrik Vibskov's Fall 2007 wasn't covered in the usual online outlets. A few of the looks were posted on Superfuture a while back, but now they're on the company's site. The outfits are pretty crazy looking, but many of the individual pieces look quite nice to us.
When a Paris native first introduced us to Colette in 2001 we were amazed that such a shop could exist. It was one of the original inspirations for creating this here website. IHT has an article on Colette's 10 year birthday.
After lying fallow for a period of months, Gurej's site is alive again with the spring collections. As before, they have a difficult to pin down selection ranging from beach-casual to banquet-formal, basic to flamboyant, stocking super-trendy designers mixed with clothes from some guy named Jean Paul Gaultier. Have a look.
Jean Paul Gaultier dress
Le Magnifique T-shirt
Steven Alan dress
Vera Wang skirt
Now through April 30, Velvet da Vinci is showing "Golden Clogs, Dutch Mountains", an exhibition of new jewelry from the Netherlands.
Keep Duke sneakers w/ design by Jennie Olsson
New at Factory People, T-shirts from Surface to Air Black Label and clothing from Estuay. S2A we've talked about more than once before, but you should know about Estuay as well. This is the women's clothing label of Surface to Air. Originating from the New York arm of the collective, the label has both Asian and European influences apparent in its arty collection.
Yes, we've mentioned Opening Ceremony's Spring 2007 collection before. But, as more and more pieces of the collection make their into some of our favorite stores, we have to say it again. This is the season that what began as a line of basics for a store of the same name has really come into its own. The dresses, coats and separates they're putting out these days is on par in creativity and construction with many a hip New York label.
Mala Brajkovich night shift dress at No-One.
Alexander McQueen flats at Aloha Rag
So this is only peripherally related to shopping, but we had to share. Pearce was a gorgeous shop/gallery in Venice that sold the furniture and sculpture of Alma Allen. The store closed a while back and owners Alma Allen and Nancy Pearce moved to Joshua Tree to build a house/studio. The building/planning process along with anecdotes about high desert living is being cataloged on their site.
Which brings us to the funny part. The site also has the audio of a ridiculous errant message left on Ms. Pearce's cellphone a while back. Follow this link (.mov movie file of message accompanied with desert illustrations) and thank us later.
Erotokritos dress at Browns
Scout has been added to the lineup of stores at Refinery29 Shops, and the first items of theirs on the site are edgy designer items from previous seasons at sale prices. A candidate for The Sale Rack if we ever saw one.
Vivienne Westwood coin purse $98 (originally $228)
Society for Rational Dress cinch dress $158 (originally $228)
Filippa K cardigan $124 (originally $248)
Vivienne Westwood cropped jacket $394 (originally $788)
Vivienne Westwood curtain shirt $248 (originally $496)
Two weekends ago, the de Young museum in San Francisco kicked off "Vivienne Westwood: 36 Years in Fashion." Running through June 10, the show chronicles Westwood's career from the early days as an originator of punk style to her most recent collections. We went a few days ago. You should too.
For spring, Creatures of Comfort has picked up the Antipodium line. The young British label has that hip, casual style that many New York labels are trumpeting these days.
Yoox has a small collection up from Gavin Douglas that caught our eye. Douglas won the Fashion Fringe award for 2006, given each year to a promising UK fashion designer.
Lamp/Lamp at Chocosho
We're pretty sure we've run into H Fredriksson before, but we really noticed the label these past couple of weeks when we ran into it at Anica and Factory People.
H Fredriksson is Helena Fredriksson, a Brooklyn based artist/designer with no formal fashion training. Fredriksson takes an artistic approach to fashion (see her artist statement on her site), starting with creating her own prints to draping fabric as one would make sculpture. Her Spring 2007 collection is her best collection yet. While several pieces in her previous collections seemed intended as canvases for her artistic work, the latest collection combines unique and flattering silhouettes with the same distinctive prints. This season has a "hippest girl at the garden party" aesthetic that we quite like.
Ann Demeulemeester sneakers at Aloha Rag
Anica, a San Francisco boutique that we first talked about a few months ago, recently relaunched its site and added Spring 2007 collections. The lineup of labels has gotten even better since we last checked in--Leyendecker, Karen Walker and Jovovich-Hawk among others are in store now, United Bamboo and Vena Cava are on the way.
Rag & Bone utility shirt at Factory People
Prints are the theme of these latest updates from Seven.
Austrian designer Peter Pilotto featured cool digital prints.
Obestity and Speed was obsessed with skulls.
Kenzo Minami did great geometric prints.
Rachel Comey's fall collection is now available for viewing on her site.
This season includes a small collaboration collection with gallery owner Mirabelle Marden.
Modbag, the online retailer of fine vintage handbags we recently added to the guide, is having a trunk show at Modern Times now through March 18th. Hundreds of vintage bags and accessories await.
New Dandyism, an online men's clothing and accessories shop, made its debut last week. The name is indeed a perfect description of what the shop is trying to do. "Dandyism" is of course a reference to dandies, those suited, pocket-squared creatures of style. "New" is a nod to the modern ways this fashion and design consciousness is expressed, via those hallmarks of street style, the T-shirt and the hoodie.
So, New Dandyism looks to a young crop of designers creating clothes that blend streetwear chutzpah with traditional sartorial refinement. The opening lineup is small, including Danish brand Wood Wood, Obedient Sons, Nicholas K and Loomstate. Future updates and the following season promise more fine labels. It's the first time to our knowledge that Wood Wood's clothing has been available online from a US store and if you're a fan of their loud but intelligent T-shirts as we are that's a good thing (imagine, a streetwear label that produces T-shirts without "clever" phrasing or thuggish graphics).
Wood Wood T-shirt
Wood Wood T-shirt
Obedient Sons henley
Loomstate Jeans
Nicholas K shirt
Nicholas K jacket
Mended Veil necklace at Ooga Booga
It's official, Alexander Wang is this season's Gryson--that small, newish label that finds itself in all the best boutiques overnight. Mick Margo is the latest stockist and many of the pieces are available online via Refinery29 Shops. The site has done a great of photographing the items. We like the line even more now that we've seen all the little details.
New at A.P.C., tie-dye never looked so stylish.
We've long admired Cydwoq shoes for their exquisite craftsmanship and quality leathers. What we haven't generally admired is the bulky, almost frumpy shapes of the Cydwoq shoes we'd seen--a little too much granola for our yogurt if you know what we mean. So when we saw the latest pairs of Cydwoqs at Worthwhile we almost didn't recognize them. The obvious quality of the leather and care in the construction is still apparent, but these new designs have finally gotten in touch with their feminine side.
Sinzi Katoh tote bag at Waraku
In his first collection, desginer Jason Cauchi has already made a big impression. His Dallin Chase line has debuted with a small, focused collection, the idea being to create the perfect dress. We're thinking he succeeded, as the collection reminds of the feminine chic aesthetic of Chloé. The collection is available at EVA as well as dozens of other fine boutiques. Click here for a complete stockists list.
The only necklace you'll ever need? Colette brought together 10 of the hottest jewelry designers to each create a charm for most unique necklace. Including charms from Tom Binns, Husam el Odeh and Atelier 11, the result is wacky and wonderful.
Pieces from the collection we pictured alongside our interview with Rachel Comey are now available at Oak.
For those shoe addicts out there, you should definitely include a pair Ms. Comey's shoes in your collection. We saw them in person at her studio and they're exquisitely constructed, the wooden heels in particular.
In other Oak news, Henrik Vibskov's collection is starting to arrive. His unisex sunglasses, available in black, red and white, are our favorite accessory of the season.
Vanessa Bruno shirt dress at La Garçonne
We often want to highlight a singular something without talking much about the designer that designed it or the store that's selling it. We've mostly ignored these one offs but from now on we'll posting/tagging them as "quick bits." A picture, a link to the designer and store, a quick description if absolutely necessary, and that'll be it.
About a month ago, we mentioned a warehouse sale Creatures of Comfort was having to lighten up its past seasons' inventory a bit. The warehouse sale has now moved online and will be around until March 9th. There are over 200 items on sale, so definitely look through the complete selection for some unreal deals on edgy designer clothing and shoes.
Alexandre Herchcovitch cami top $67 (originally $225)
Eley Kishimoto shirt $87 (originally $343)
Eley Kishimoto silk camisole $45 (originally $335)
F-troupe denim flats $15 (originally $120)
Item deleted by request
It's good to have things you can depend on. While we like to cover what and who is new in fashion, whether it's the '80s reinterpreted by Alexander Wang or the bohemian girl reinterpreted by Jovovich-Hawk, there are certain designers we keep coming back to for their brand of style. Whether or Spring or Fall, 1997, 2007 or we imagine 2017, Martin Margiela does Belgian minimalism and does it well. Spring 2007 collections now available at Aloha Rag.
If you've been to any of a number of boutiques around the country you've probably seen a pair of Dolce Vita shoes. Every season, the New York based label produces a simple, stylish lineup of flats, heels and boots and sells them for reasonable prices at specialty boutiques around the country. A while back, Dolce Vita opened a flagship store in New York's Lower East Side (and later, one in LA), featuring the complete line, some new ventures into clothing and the clothing of a handful of other labels. Dolce Vita is the latest addition to our guide.
The bulk of the Spring 2007 collections arrived at Satine. The line-up includes items from Y & Kei, Sari Gueron, Zero Maria Cornejo and Jovovich Hawk.
The latest addition to our guide is Catbird in Brooklyn. Not only do they have some fun clothing and accessories, but is seems they've cornered the market on unique, funky jewelry.
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