Streetwear’s New Guard

NEW YORK, United States — “There’s a new kind of streetwear emerging and you can see it in brands like Hood By Air, Off-White, Pyrex and Pigalle,” Marcelo Burlon, founder of multi-category streetwear business County of Milan, told BoF columnist Susanna Lau last month.

Since its early days, the term “streetwear” has grown to encompass companies ranging from Stussy — a $35 million brand founded by designer Shawn Stussy amidst the surfing and skateboarding culture of Laguna Beach, California, swiftly embraced by the hip-hop scene and later sold in major department stores — to the venture-backed, multi-channel retail giant Karmaloop, which generated $130 million in revenue in 2011 (the last year for which figures were released by the privately-held company). The category is known for taking simple items like baseball caps, graphic t-shirts and varsity jackets and transforming them into branding tools for young kids looking to assert a visual identity.

As a result, Shayne Oliver — founder and designer of Hood By Air, which blends bold graphics, striking silhouettes and high-fashion elements borrowed from designers like Raf Simons and Helmut Lang — resents the term “streetwear,” which he feels can have juvenile and overly commerical connotations. “I feel like there’s something demeaning about it, like, ‘Oh, that’s streetwear,’” he says. But others amongst the new wave, like Burlon, see their roots in companies like Stussy. “Shawn Stussy is a very inspiring person who somehow opened a door for a group of creatives people that influenced all of us. The mindset and the similarities that we share keep growing as the years pass and stay contemporary through time.”

Stussy’s references often came from high fashion brands, like Rei Kawakubo’s Comme des Garçons and, most famously, Chanel. Some of the brand’s most enduring designs are self-aware reinterpretations of Chanel’s iconic interlocking C’s (replaced with two S’s) and signature fragrance (a minimal graphic that reads “Stussy No. 4”). But, crucially, the label filtered high fashion through the unique lens of subculture, blending the feel of an exclusive brand with a distinct type of cool, exhibited through graphic prints, wardrobe staples and a rough-around-the-edges authenticity.

It became a powerful formula that influenced future tastemakers like Hiroshi Fujiwara, who began Goodenough and Fragment Design; Nigo, who would establish A Bathing Ape; and former Stussy shop manager James Jebbia, who, in 1994, would found seminal New York clothing brand Supreme. “When Supreme came around, streetwear was something that people could covet,” allows Oliver. “It was like: ‘Yo, this is what we are. We’re here making clothes for the street — for us.’”

As the first generation of streetwear brands grew in popularity, it wasn’t just the aesthetics of high fashion brands that inspired them. They also began to employ luxury-like strategies of exclusivity and scarcity to generate demand for their products. Special products sometimes sold out the same day they were released, generating hype and eventually leading to the snaking lines often seen outside Supreme stores on the day highly-anticipated collections or collaborations are set to drop. “Limited-edition things were king and products were treated like: ‘There’s only a hundred of these and they’re numbered,” remembers Virgil Abloh, designer of Off-White. Some of the labels he lauded at the time were Crooks and Castles, Alife and Nom De Guerre. “I directly pay homage to all those, because those are the brands I grew up on.” But the currency of cool is forever fluctuating. “The taste of now is more of mixing high-low; it’s more iconic and cool to wear a Louis Vuitton bag with a Supreme t-shirt,” observes Abloh. “Celiné and [Nike] Air Force 1’s look cool, but there’s a design mentality around that, which I’m trying to be a part of.”

Perhaps no boutique better reflects how much the market for streetwear has evolved than Union. Founded back in 1989 in New York’s (then gritty) Soho by James Jebbia and Mary-Ann Fusco, the store stocked labels with subculture appeal, like Duffer of St. George and Pervert. “Over the past 25 years, the scene has matured and now you can see its influence in every pocket of fashion from streetwear — straight, no chaser — to men’s contemporary to high fashion,” observed Chris Gibbs, Union’s current owner.

Gibbs thinks there’s a cult appeal to brands like County of Milan, Hood By Air and Off-White, which don’t just sell clothes that fit, but unique messages and identities that consumers can align with. “You can get the same style of garment — or pretty damn close to it — from a lot of different designers,” he points out. “People end up picking the brands — really lifestyles — that they’re down with, and ride with them.”

“Each of us created his own unique world and vision,” says Burlon. “It’s not like a cult-y thing. It’s more of a network. A cult is like, very secretive, and this is more of a network of ideas,” reflects Oliver. Abloh adds: “Marcelo, myself, and Shayne have a certain kind of mindshare.”

Alongside their interests in subcultures, Oliver, Burlon and Abloh share a passion for music and nightlife, and all three lead parallel lives as globe-hopping DJs. “[We have] different tribes, different principles, but they’re all rooted in culture,” says Abloh.

The immediacy of the Internet and the instant access to inspiration that platforms like Tumblr can provide have also shaped all three designers. “The Internet helps us be connected to the past and to the history,” says Burlon. “What better way to make something than converge new ideas with something that has history,” adds Abloh.

But it isn’t just about unearthing the old, insists Oliver. “It’s not like we’re like trying to like trigger people’s memories or link ourselves to some sort of past message. It’s meant to be fresh, you know?” He compares it to playing a Dolly Parton song in the middle of one of his DJ sets as opposed to a Dolly Parton song playing at a country music night. By artfully reintroducing the old, it feels subversively new.

But do these new upstarts have the potential to grow like Stussy or Supreme?

“It’s one of those funny things: The generation behind it is always gonna try to overthrow the one that’s in front of it. I just hope that we do live up to the James Jebbias and the Shawn Stussys,” says Abloh. “It’s sort of our duty to pick up after the all the streetwear legends. It’s a glimmer. I don’t think it’s real yet.” Abloh declines to reveal Off-White’s current revenue, but says the company is “meeting goals.” Its website currently lists 31 stockists. Burlon’s County of Milan boasts over 250 stockists. Meanwhile, Hood By Air is currently sold at 90 retailers.

Oliver believes that a market for this new guard exists, but it’s less about “streetwear” and more about a unique blend of meaning and accessibility. “Just because it’s a t-shirt just doesn’t mean it’s automatically in the context of streetwear,” he says. “Everyone wears t-shirts and that’s why I started a t-shirt line.”

But accessibility is relative. Hood By Air’s Classics t-shirts sell for $110 to $190; Off-White’s “Caravaggio” t-shirt retails for $305; Marcelo Burlon’s t-shirts sell for about $290. In contrast, the average t-shirt from a brand like Stussy or Supreme hovers between $26 and $45.

Burlon says it’s a combination of high-end product, scarcity, celebrity association (fans of County of Milan include the rappers Pusha T and Drake, as well as NBA player LeBron James) and independent spirit that “make the sense of luxury” — and justify the prices.

“Ultimately, we’re independents and that means we’re playing our own game, without any type of rules or restrictions. I think people feel that and they recognise themselves in this process.”

Crème Caramel

 

Sexual impulse is put under a retro-filtered microscope in Canada’s short, Crème Caramel. Giving the popular pudding top billing, the Barcelona director collective depict a portrait of desire for the latest in NOWNESS’ weekly series #DefineBeauty. Having shot music videos for Scissor Sisters and Phoenix, Canada’s Nicolás Méndez, Lope Serrano, Oscar Romagosa and Alba Barneda deconstructed the sensual yet somehow irreverent features of the female form. “When you are obsessed with someone, it’s not just with that someone—it’s with the shape of the hips, the color of the nipples, or the shade of her hair when she comes out of the shower,” says Serrano of their inspiration. “We were thinking of a metaphor that represents the heterosexual male view of the female body: something sweet, tender and beautiful—a crème caramel.” The directors captured the trembling dessert—which they insist is an aphrodisiac—alongside hyper-stylized visual motifs that include kaleidoscopic illustrations and 1970s records. While Serrano crafted the drawings featured in the short, a chance encounter with French band La Femme as he listened to the studio stereo resulted in the climactic soundtrack, “La Femme Ressort.” “When you’re making work based on visions of a woman’s body, you cannot lose your own desire, which is instinctively sexual,” says Serrano, who also cites Godard’s chapter for the 1969 multi-director feature Love and Anger as a reference. “But we’re not insisting on the simply erotic notion, it’s also anatomical: a wonderful succession of details.”

The i-D One Issue, No. 1, 1980

http://i-d.vice.com/en_gb/look/gallery/671/i-d-issue-1?utm_source=idfb

Saturdays Surf NYC’s Co-Founders Talk About the Brand

While it first started out of a passionate love for surf culture, New York-based Saturdays Surf NYC has turned into a seriously influential force. Colin Tunstall, Morgan Collett and Josh Rosen all co-founded the brand back in 2009, continuing to spearhead its numerous operations. Amongst other things, this includes running a coffee shop, designing a full range of menswear apparel, and also curating a namesake magazine with non-advertisements and rare interviews. All of this takes an unfathomable amount of work, surely, but the powerful trio has so far pulled off each progressive move with grace and casual vibes. Here HYPEBEAST got a moment to catch up with the guys in New York for a conversation on Saturdays’ creative process, beach culture in an overtly metropolitan city, why they chose to expand in Japan, and the future of the brand itself. Enjoy the interview below.

http://hypebeast.com/2013/11/saturdays-surf-nycs-co-founders-talk-about-the-brand

With New Launches, i-D and Dazed Embrace Digital-Age Dynamics

i-D and Dazed, two of fashion's most respected youth-focused media companies, are adopting new digital-age approaches to content, platform and monetisation.

LONDON, United Kingdom —  Today, British style bible i-D, which was acquired by global digital media and publishing group Vice Media in December of last year, is overhauling its online presence with an innovative video-driven experience. The move will be swiftly followed, next Monday, by the launch of Dazed Vision, “the in-house video arm” of Dazed Group, independent publishers of Dazed & Confused, DazedDigital.com, AnOther Magazine and AnOther Man.

In recent years, the media habits of young fashion consumers have changed dramatically. And the new launches — by two of fashion’s most respected youth-focused media brands — reflect a media landscape that’s being radically re-shaped by the dynamics of the Internet, giving rise to new approaches to content, platform and monetisation.

http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2013/nov/18/terry-richardson-fashion-shameful-photographer?CMP=fb_gu

The BoF 500

The BoF 500, an innovative, multi-channel initiative, exploring the people shaping the global fashion industry, curated by the editors of BoF and powered by social media. Discover it at http://www.businessoffashion.com/bof500

Business of Fashion, the brainchild of fashion business adviser and writer Imran Ahmend, has just launched the BoF 500, a list of the 500 most influential names in the global fashion industry. The BoF 500 was whittled down from an original list of over 2,000 leaders and agenda-setters within the industry and includes fashion designers, executives, retailers, creative heads, media members, models, digital entrepreneur, and those working behind-the-scenes. The list includes unique characters such as Brazilian designer Pedro Lourenço, who at 23 is the youngest on the list and Iris Apfel, the 92-year-old muse and current senior member of the list. The BoF 500 has a page devoted to each of the 500 members with information on what they are doing, and the list can be broken down based on country and role. Have a look for yourself here.

BBC Three - Secrets of the Superbrands (Fashion)

Alex Riley thinks he's immune to brands. When it comes to fashion, technology and food brands he just goes for the cheapest and what works for him. He's convinced he's not seduced by the advertising, celebrity endorsements and hype which surrounds the big global brands. So how did that pair of Adidas trainers get in his wardrobe? And how did that can of Heinz Baked Beans make it into his shopping trolley? And why does he have a Nokia mobile phone in his pocket rather than any other make?
With the help of marketeers, brain scientists and exclusive access to the world of the superbrands Alex sets out to find out why we buy them, trust them, even idolise them. Programme created by the BBC

Fashion week's celebrity circus

When Fashion Week Was Made of Simpler Cloth

The drumbeat for Fashion Week started a month ago in my in-box, and now it’s up to oblivion level, white noise in the black season.

I can’t get ready for Fashion Week, though. (And part of me wants to return the F and the W to lower-case status, so I don’t feel as if I am actually attending a trade show.) Maybe it’s the 45 shows on my plate that give me pause. Besides, the things I love about the four-city tour are almost all personal, like getting up at 5 every morning to “make the doughnuts” (an expression I first heard from Michael Kors to describe, in my case, a review for the newspaper) or a slow walk at night back to my hotel (Paris, let’s say) to digest the day, especially a day of decent shows and gossip.

At the start of my fashion-writing career, when in Paris, I used to send photos from The Associated Press, then near the top of the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, and afterward walk down the street. It was generally midnight. Sometimes you would see models going into Thierry Mugler’s place or hanging out in the little cafe nearby. But the street was pretty empty. I was never scared, as I might be a little today. I used the time to give myself a little pep talk, along the lines of “there are good days and bad days,” and, undoubtedly, to reconnect with normal things, which in Paris were always around you.

Now, almost everyone uses a car and driver, a convenience that gradually became a necessity. As for pictures, it takes about 30 minutes to move a day’s worth of images. I like the speed of things nowadays — it has a merciless appeal — but when you are a little more footloose you can’t help but believe that decisions are more in your own hands. I think many people crave that power.

Take, for example, this business of commanding guests at shows to tuck in their legs and handbags, so the photographers can get a tidy shot of the clothes. It’s pretty embarrassing, like sitting in study hall. One of the great things about pictures of shows in the ’60s, or ’90s is that the scene is messy. The models seem at the center of a respectable orgy. Some of this realistic quality still exists. But the goal today is branding, and that expectation, that everyone will be doing it during FW, can really put the starch in your collar.

By CATHY HORYN (the times, August 23, 2013, 4:18 pm)
http://runway.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/23/when-fashion-week-was-made-of-simpler-cloth/?_r=0

Designer calls for a halt to fashion week's celebrity circus

Oscar de la Renta halves his guest list for show in New York as critics say too many poseurs crowd the runways

Some of America's most prominent fashionistas are calling time on the overcrowding, demand for endless "newness" and general hoopla that has become an obsession in the industry.
Before this week's opening round of New York spring-summer 2014 presentations, Oscar de la Renta, one of the most respected figures in American fashion, has announced that he will halve the number of people at his show. De la Renta, a former couturier for Jacqueline Kennedy, said decision-makers in the business should not have to fight their way through "30,000 people, and 10,000 who are trying to take pictures of all of those people, who are totally unrelated to the clothes".
His call for a new, sober approach to replace the traditional, celebrity-infused fashion week frenzy has struck a chord. In the New York Times, leading fashion journalist Suzy Menkes echoed his call, rueing the pace of high fashion, which she described as "a whirligig that seems to be spinning out of control", with designers being asked to produce as many as 10 collections each year.
In an earlier article, Menkes told of how she could hardly get into shows "because of all the photographers snapping at the poseurs". She wrote: "There is a genuine difference between the stylish and the showoffs – and that is the dilemma. If fashion is for everyone, is it fashion?"
In the same newspaper, critic Cathy Horyn reminisced about the messiness of fashion in an earlier era, when the models seemed to be at the centre "of a respectable orgy". With the fashion conglomerates focused on global branding, guests are commanded to tuck in their legs and handbags so that photographers can get tidy shots of the clothes. "It's pretty embarrassing, like sitting in study hall," Horyn wrote.
The notoriously fickle industry is being transformed by social media technology. As the control and judgment of a select few is challenged, designs and ideas that would once take months to reach the public are now global – and illicitly replicated – in a matter of seconds. Fashion is changing, and with it the fashion show, said industry consultant Robert Burke.
De la Renta, who this year engaged John Galliano to design some of his collection, represents a counter-reaction. "If a show is highly chaotic and a real circus, the people that do matter aren't going to be put into the best of moods," he pointed out. "Do you want to jeopardise the experience of the 100 people that matter with the 500 people that don't?"
Burke described a "circus" of bloggers and people holding out phones and posting on Instagram and Facebook. He said that the number of people taking photographs is dramatically greater than even five years ago. "Sometimes you can hardly see the show because people are jumping up to photograph each other," said Burke. "Designers want to bring the focus back to the clothing. Bloggers and celebrities are important, but there needs to be a balance."
Some designers, such as Tom Ford, already show their clothes to a select few and forbid photography. But with fashion's global audience accustomed to instant pictures and streaming, Ford's approach may not be the answer either. Business is business and, without orders, the fashion show would cease to exist.
British fashion creative Simon Doonan, author of The Asylum, a fashion memoir published this week, said that publicity is all fine and dandy, "but at the end of the day designers need orders. A discerning buyer makes their selection objectively. Their choices are not based on which designer gets the most celebs in the front row."

• Edward Helmore
• The Observer, Saturday 31 August 2013 13.04 BST
• http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2013/aug/31/fashion-week-celebrity-circus 

Making the Cut – A Cut Above on Building a Brand and Belgian Style

Visit the Belgian city of Antwerp and you’ll find yourself in one of the world’s top — and most overlooked — fashion destinations. Growing up in an environment where, on any given day, one could rub shoulders with Raf Simons or the Antwerp Six fostered a passion and sensibility that prompted Robin De Flô to open A Cut Above in 2008. The retailer quickly became one of the city’s go-to spots for high-end streetwear and a meeting place for creative types from diverse fields and backgrounds. When, in 2012, the decision was made to shutter its doors, A Cut Above channeled its retail savvy into a first collection of pared-back, high-quality garments. We recently had the opportunity to sit down with De Flô for a chat on ACA’s beginnings and evolution, along with the Belgian fashion scene from which it sprung and the label’s plans for the future.

Be sure to visit A Cut Above’s website for more information, as well as our online store for a selection of the label’s goods.

Original article here. 

Why Is Japanese-Made Fashion So Expensive?

With a failing global economy and an increase on “fast retail” where the focus lies more on cost over quality, many fashion enthusiasts are questioning labels, their prices and ultimately their products. Japan has always been known for their high standards, but unfortunately is no exception to the aforementioned doubts. So does the country have justification for what they put out, or will we see an end to “high fashion” from the Far East? There are a few underlying factors and examples that may help shed some light to this matter.

Material

Artisans from yesteryear Japan were synonymous with handcrafted, exquisite detailing in their fashion and general lifestyle, and such aspects are commonly found in modern day apparel. The details are further supported by the use of rare and delicate materials, fusing function and fashion together for the end-consumer. Many are already familiar with the use of leather from cowhide, but the Japanese have consistently found the fabric from more unorthodox animals; luxury streetwear fashion brand visvim has often used the rigid texture from deer, elk and even antelope. Cattle leather may seem commonplace, but the treatment of such a raw material may differ in Japan from the rest of the world, utilizing exotic oils and chemicals to help set them apart from what people may initially perceive. Aside from the material and the process, one must also remember the before and after of leather use into the equation – it is often forgotten that such animals may be hard to find and acquire, the raw material must be maintained properly during the process, and afterwards must undergo intense testing to pass all quality control standards, of which may take more time and consideration for rare materials not often used due to their lack of documentation.

Production and Manufacturing

The workers within the production line may not be what most expect – a conveyor belt of uninterested, mindless drones whose goal is to execute one single task over and over again until their shift ends. Americana relic experts The Real McCoy’s production room is comprised of young, energetic, knowledgeable workers, free to think on their own and indifferent to the desperation of a minimum wage salary. They work under a direct connection to the company, either as generation clothiers or simply fans of the brand. It may seem trivial, but a 26-year-old Japanese native with a respect for local brands will always have a sharper image of what they are doing in fashion over an immigrant in their 40s or 50s perhaps sending paychecks home for their child’s schooling. A younger eye and unweathered hand working at their own pace will be able to notice a missed stitched or misaligned eyelet long before a factory worker ever could. And while this methodology may produce a smaller amount of units per season, the quality surely makes up for it and, ironically, may end up selling a higher percentage of the product in the end.

Wholesaling and Pricing

Most are unaware of the wholesale system in Japan and how it actually differs from other markets. An inside source gives insight into how, for starters, conventionally it is the buyers that set the retail price margins on their own prior to purchasing. Japanese fashion brands however set their own retail prices under guidelines found in fear marketing. This skews the profit margins greatly and cannot be compared with international finance. For instance, wholesale prices of 50%-60% of retail pricing is considered common, with certain discounts naturally depending on order amount or sheer quantity. Most brands however delve even lower, with wholesale prices reaching as low as 25%-35% of the item’s “in-store to the customer” price. This would ultimately break down to approximately 30% of the sale going to cost of the garment, 30% to the brand, and 40% to the store. Furthermore, the production affects pricing as well – traditionally the big brands’ method of production is purely in-house, while Japanese independent brands hire outside agents to aid in aspects such as pattern-making, production management and so on. Outside hire not only benefits the brand with unique styling that may differ season to season, but also requires independent salaries and a higher overall budget. Material procurement is also a factor, where Japanese brands produce zippers, cloth and buttons originally rather than source from other countries. A relative lack of trade show attendance solidifies this point; most Western brands visit such events as Premiere Vision in Paris on an annual basis to assemble their collections. Finally, one must keep in mind that the wages for workers in Japan is incomparable to those of Chinese or Indian workers, which in the end again goes into cost.

Customer Service

While Western patrons may not take notice of the shop they’re in, consumers in Japan tend to take their shopping experience a little more seriously. You’ll often find features in a boutique available that may not seem obvious or conventional, but are certainly appreciated. One retail outlet of considerable mention is A Bathing Ape, notoriously known for their finite details in their products but also in their retail locations. Exclusively constructed by famed design firm Wonderwall, their use of aluminum and concrete is only the tip of the iceberg in the appeal of the BAPE STORE chain. Keen eyes will notice the camo-embossed leather sofas, Ape Heads seared into the hangers, custom-made amenities like receipt holders and credit card trays, jaw-dropping displays of excess, etc. While all of this may seem unnecessary, customers find themselves visiting, returning and even traveling to new shops simply to experience the atmosphere. To further support the shopping, customers are treated with services not available outside of Japan, such as loyalty cards, item transfers from store to store, and on occasion even free delivery. Subscribers to BAPE MANIA, an exclusive annual membership loyalty program, are given special deals and exclusive gifts sent to them in the mail, plus a select number of “Premium Days” in the year where they can enjoy discounts on a large number of items.

It’s impossible to calculate exactly what goes into the cost of each and every brands’ premium products released, but consumers must remember there are multiple factors that must be considered. Companies like Uniqlo and H&M are certainly disrupting the natural order of things in fashion and style previously dominated by runway traditionalists and exotic clothiers. The future of fashion will not be as clear cut as many feel — either a defined path towards fast retail or a return to handmade craftsmanship and quality. What the future fashion scene will see is more collaborative efforts between these two options and hopefully a balance between the two will emerge, offering yet another alternative to choose from.

 images and article source.

Take My Picture

TAKE MY PICTURE from GARAGE Magazine on Vimeo.

When we set out to make this short, our intention simply was to observe the phenomenon of fashion bloggers and street style stars. As we started to review the footage, two salient trends became apparent: fashion editors frustrated by the ensuing commotion outside of shows, and the rise of "peacocking" street style stars as a result of the proliferation of blogs. This film examines these themes from both perspectives.

The Rise of Fashionable Technology

I’ve always been fascinated by the next big thing. I still slap myself for missing the boat in a major way three years ago.

“There’s an app for that.” With those five words, Apple launched what is now known as the app economy. It’s not an exaggeration – the app economy has created nearly 500,000 jobs according to The Miami Herald, and it has birthed fast-growing companies such as Rovio and Zynga (albeit it has seen better times). It is also projected to be worth $55 billion by 2015.

It was the BlackBerry and the iPod that initially ushered in the age of mobile devices. As hardware gets smaller and grows more powerful, the devices are now bred in another form. These new devices are sleeker, better-designed and offer more practical methods of improving our lives. They can help us track our habits, improve the way we feel, and offer more control in our lives.

The most bizarre part is a lot of the new technology take the form of accessories. Let’s look at some products that are bringing about the rise of fashionable, wearable technology, firstly by examining the most practical of fashion functions: clothing.

Improving Clothing Function

The essence of clothes, in addition to fashion, is to protect wearers from the elements. Japanese company Fast Retailing has focused on using technology to improve their garments functionally. In comparison to typical fast fashion companies (Zara and H&M), which manufacture small batches of items to follow trends extremely quickly, Fast Retailing’s primary subsidiary UNIQLO maintains its low prices by manufacturing large batches of clothes up to a year in advance.

Because UNIQLO is known for its basics, demand for its items are forecastable and stable, and UNIQLO is able to continue manufacturing in large batches. UNIQLO’s offerings resonate well with consumers because it weaves technology into its items. This includes technology like HEATTECH, a technology used to generate and retain heat in its fabric, and AIRism – the counterpart of HEATTECH – UNIQLO’s cooling fabric. This technology allows UNIQLO to create basic articles of clothing that stand the test of time.

Fashion and technology are starting to converge. While fashion companies like UNIQLO are making it happen, there are even stronger catalysts coming from the other side of the field: technology companies are churning about gadgets disguised as fashionable accessories. How will these changes improve our lives?

Altering the Real World

Google’s Project Glass has made a strong statement in 2012. This concept device connects to your smartphone via a set of glasses, and displays information on a screen built into the lens. You can have your text messages, emails and media beamed into your field of vision, or summon them via voice command. Google Glass also has a built-in camera, which means you can snap photos and video clips hands-free (and inconspicuously).

Project Glass is one of the harbingers of augmented reality; as this video demonstrates, in addition to integrated communication, it can overlay your world with maps, reminders and all sorts of neat additions. Glass holds some serious implications for the way we communicate with others, the way we interact with our environment, and the accessibility of information.

Despite riding the cutting edge of technology, Google Glass has been embraced by the fashion world. Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg armed her models with several pairs for a fashion show that took place a few months ago. “It’s a very important component of making technology desirable and compelling,” said Google co-founder Sergey Brin in an interview. “It’s got to be stylish and fashionable.”

It’s Brin’s, and Google’s hope that its integration into fashion will remove some social risks and accelerate mainstream adoption of this technology (or prevent it from ending up on this list).

Tracking Biometrics

While a device like the Google Glass is capable of adding on a layer to our visual reality, other devices are dedicated to bringing more clarity to a less visible aspect of reality. Wearable technology and audio device manufacturer Jawbone recently launched the second version (after a disastrous first) of its biometric bracelet, UP. The Jawbone UP’s premise is built on the principle of changing habits: the first step to improving your life, and building better habits, is tracking and dissecting your current habits.

The Jawbone UP primarily tracks three types of information: activity (such as steps throughout the day, which then measures calories burned), sleep (hours spent, and how much of it was deep sleep), and the types of food you eat (either through scanning a barcode, or manual input via UP’s food glossary feature).

The Jawbone UP syncs to users’ iPhones via a headphone jack, and the measurements are then compared to the goals they had set for themselves. This gives users insight into where they can improve most in their health, and how much they must adjust their daily routine in order to reach their personal goals.

In addition to its tracking ability, the Jawbone UP also has an outstanding built-in alarm clock function. Built on its abilities to measure user sleeping patterns, the UP also has the ability to wake users up with a gentle nudge while they’re in a lighter form of sleep. A review on The Verge claims that this function makes waking up a lot easier.

Giving Watches Superpowers

In addition to telling the time, watches have doubled as a fashion statement. The Pebble e-paper watch goes beyond these two functions by connecting wirelessly via Bluetooth to users’ iPhones or Android smartphones.

The Pebble is built using a high-resolution e-paper display (similar to a Kindle), which makes its image readable even outdoors. The use of a digital display means that the watch face can be customized according to user preference; it can display time digitally or as a traditional analog watch face.

The killer feature of the Pebble is its ability to run apps. The Pebble watch is connected to your phone, which means that it can act as its remote control and display (i.e. change music while you’re on a run, measure speed with its accelerometer if you’re a cyclist, or display text messages and alerts). Pebble’s team makes its product expandable by allowing third parties to develop apps, and so the watch comes with an open SDK.

The possibilities for Pebble apps are incredible. For example, its built-in vibrating motor (I unsuccessfully tried to find another way to say that) combined with its connectivity to users’ phone means that it can serve up reminders based on user locations. If a user needs to buy milk today, it could display a reminder when he’s near a grocery store. The concept of the Pebble is simple enough; it builds on the power of current mobile devices. This next piece of fashionable technology builds on the power of something everyone already uses every moment of their lives: the brain.

Opening up the Mind

The InteraXon Muse is a headband that measures brain waves. It has four sensors: two in the front, and two behind the ears. InteraXon founder Trevor Coleman likens it to a pulse reader for the mind. “The same way taking your pulse will tell you how your body’s doing during physical exercise, this’ll tell you how your brain’s doing during mental exercise,” explains Coleman in an online fundraising campaign video.

Its initial application is based on tracking brainwaves. Users will be able to look into how certain activities are affecting their minds. Is the yoga class truly relaxing? Is the new promotion too stressful? Is the memory-training class they’re taking working?

Within 10 years, InteraXon believes that Muse will be able to control other computing devices and toys, match users up with other individuals of similar brainwaves, and stay alert on long drives. This is huge – it could potentially extend to other connected devices, which holds enormous implications not only from a science-fiction telekinetic standpoint, but an extremely practical one for the bedridden or the paralyzed.

InteraXon is connecting the mind with the physical world. It has already created campaigns to demonstrate how the mind can control many things (ranging from a thought-controlled beer tap to mentally controlling lights several provinces away on the CN Tower). In contrast, Nike is looking to build upon people’s current physical capabilities by using technology to improve the way they perform in their lives.

Breeding Further Change

Nike has consistently been on the forefront of technological change. They were one of the first to leverage the power of mobile technology with the original Nike+iPod equipment, which connected with earlier variants of the Apple iPod and iPhone to measure exercise performance.

The Nike+ service evolved to take the form of a bracelet, similar to the Jawbone UP. Dubbed the Nike+ FuelBand, this product similarly measures physical performance (without the sleep or diet aspects that the UP tracks). While its feature set is more focused in scope, it is connected to devices via Bluetooth and served as a much more reliable product than Jawbone’s first variant of the UP (which received complaints as UP bracelets randomly stopped working).

Recently, Nike announced a collaboration with TechStars to launch their own accelerator and help entrepreneurs bring their ideas to reality. It is focused on companies that plan to build software on the Nike+ platform.

The benefits of having entrepreneurs join the Nike+ accelerator is access to the extremely impressive TechStars network, which ranges from powerful investors to experienced mentors. The accelerator also helps with funds – in exchange for supporting each company with $20,000, TechStars will be taking 6% of each company entering the Nike+ accelerator.

Data has been huge when it comes to making decisions in corporations, and has been crucial to improving bottom lines. Now, these devices, platforms and applications mean that data can be accessed by consumers to improve their health, well-being and quality of life.

While the main function of technology has always been to make life easier, the importance of design used to be overlooked by most companies. Now, the fact that technology is becoming more fashionable simply means an even quicker permeation into mainstream culture.

While apps have made a huge dent on our world in an extremely short amount of time, their effects will pale in comparison to what fashionable, wearable technology has in store.

Herbert Lui is passionate about entrepreneurship, art, and technology. In his spare time, he covers technology and startup news for Techvibes. If you want to connect (or heckle), please feel free to reach out on Twitter.

Original post here

Adrian Joffe is preparing to bring Dover Street Market

http://www.style.com/trendsshopping/stylenotes/010713_Adrian_Joffe

matters of taste rugby ralph lauren - a eulogy

Today, a friend of mine was issued a death warrant. It may seem absurd to attach such melodrama to a clothing brand, let alone one owned and incepted entirely by one of the largest apparel companies in the world, yet I can’t help the way I feel. For those who don’t know, buried in the annals of a Q2 report in WWD was the sad news that Ralph Lauren will be shuttering its moderately priced collegiate-inspired Rugby label. Eclipsing the arrival of Rugby’s impending doom were particularly ebullient earnings: Ralph Lauren Corp. reported a net income of $214 million with net revenues of $1.9 billion, both higher than the projected numbers.

Adding to the frustration is the brand’s reasoning for nixing Rugby – that they’d like to “focus resources on higher growth [and] more scalable global opportunities with the core Ralph Lauren brand.” Wait, what? This could mean a number of things. First of all, it’s very likely that the brand wasn’t making enough money. Stores closed in Palo Alto, the West Village and more since expanding across the nation from a single concept that popped up in 2004 on Newbury Street, Boston. Rugby also opened, however, in London, Tokyo, Manhattan and East Hampton, to name a few of the 14 current locations. Ralph is a shrewd businessman and understands that an aspirational image as powerful as Rugby’s can often overshadow manners of cash flow. It’s for that reason that I ascertain the brand has been declared shuttered not only because it wasn’t making enough money, but also due to a disconnect with Ralph Lauren’s corporate plan for the label. With so many horses in the Polo stable, Ralph is ready to consolidate.

Rugby has never been an authentic brand. From the start it was conceived to entrap a collegiate clientele more interested in motif-emblazoned braces and chunky shawl collared cardigans than scrapping in the scrum. In fact, multiple prep schools in England have outwardly expressed dismay at the label’s brash attempts to copy age-old crests and slap them onto blazers for the masses. Yet despite its old-money Vineyard Vines target demographic, something happened to Rugby: It somehow became cool. Downtown kids like myself started to outgrow their streetwear inclinations yet still yearned for touches of “Fuck You” ostentation. Gone were our Billionaire Boys Club diamond and dollar sign hoodies. In their place came Easter egg cashmere sweaters, brightly striped football scarves and varsity jackets covered in the aforementioned imaginary school crests. Rugby played an important part in helping my generation “grow up” without losing the juvenile mischief present in much of its collections. It’s also undeniable that the brand forced competitors like J. Crew and Brooks Brothers to step up diversity in designs. No longer were a skinny and an average model of dress shirt enough. All of the sudden, 19 year olds were clamoring for spread collars and notch lapels. Rugby didn’t just indoctrinate its fans into a world of vintage Americana, but it also educated them. For competitors, this was dangerous. As a result, menswear offerings in particular got better and more affordable across the board.

Indeed, Rugby must not fit into Ralph Lauren’s desired niche anymore. Perhaps the powerhouse is banking it all on the lower-end, grungy Denim and Supply line hocked by EDM superstar Avicii. Perhaps “the Company” has grown tired of the trickle-down effect Rugby has had on younger clientele – providing Purple Label swagger in the form of pinstriped suits and French cuffed shirts to a group who may never have outgrown its inclination towards the well-designed and supremely affordable Rugby brand. I’m not in a place to answer the question of “Why?” I can only lament and tell my side of the story.

Rugby was always about lifestyle, somehow authenticating itself more than any other brand in its price-point. While labels like Abercrombie labored under the direction of a crazed youth-obsessed leader, Rugby managed to entice the hip, interesting and supremely stylish set without even trying. Despite the highly manicured stores and borderline ridiculous lookbooks, Rugby actually embraced youth culture with laudable nonchalance. The brand’s blog not only pitted local store’s outfits against one another but also featured recommended music and restaurants that came from the boutique’s employees themselves. And what employees they were. I had the good fortune of working at RRL in Washington, DC while in college (that store is also now shuttered) and spent a solid amount of time cavorting next door with friends who worked at Rugby and the highly underrated Rugby Café. Between DC and my native Manhattan, I discovered a set of ambitious, artistic young people who actually embodied the brand they were hired to serve as mannequins for. You could walk into a store, play some foosball or play around with a navy and yellow Rugby ball, grab a drink next door and maybe leave with an oxford shirt.  But that sale wasn’t the logic behind stepping into the boutique. Fans of Rugby went to the retail locations for an experience. In my case, I even ended up with some new friends, good conversation and a back catalogue of preppy wares that is sure to last me a lifetime.

A few hours ago, Rugby’s Facebook page posted the message:

 “Ralph Lauren Corporation has made the strategic decision to close Rugby stores and the ecommerce site. The stores and site will remain open and operational until the close of business on February 2nd. There is plenty of time to get stocked up on your favorite pieces until then.”

I wish they had written something more emotional, more honest and more in-touch with the accidental fan who has found himself purchasing their wares consistently for the last eight years. I wish they had appealed to the family, the lifestyle that Rugby has come to represent to me. Nonetheless, the brand’s demise has been as corporate as its conception. In the wake of shuttering its doors, I will surely miss Rugby. But then again, I will still inevitably feel like a goofy badass in my skull-and-crossbones sweaters and obnoxiously striped collegiate blazers. And no one can take that away from me.

Douglas Brundage is a contributor to Hypebeast Magazine and a marketing strategist living and working in NYC.

Martin Margiela

ON Monday night at Martin Margiela’s runway show, an event that marked the 20th anniversary of one of the most influential and enigmatic designers on the global fashion stage with a collection based on the highlights of his career, Mr. Margiela, as is his custom, was nowhere to be seen.

An anomaly in an industry that places enormous value on the image and accessibility of its personalities, Mr. Margiela has maintained an astonishing elusiveness. He refuses to grant face-to-face interviews and has rarely been photographed, a provocative stance intended to emphasize two dogmatic principles: first, that Mr. Margiela’s designs, as confounding as they may be, should speak for themselves; and, second, that the work he shows is inherently the product of a collaborative team, not one person. 

Hence, he does not take a bow at his shows, and all correspondence from his atelier here is traditionally written in the plural form with the signature “Maison Martin Margiela.”

This policy has led Mr. Margiela to be called fashion’s invisible man. His influence, perhaps as great as that of any living designer, is less often questioned than is his very existence.

Over the last year, however, the significance of Mr. Margiela as a living, breathing person — albeit ultimately unknowable — has taken on a new dimension. He has told colleagues that he wants to stop designing and that he has begun a search for his successor at the house.

Early this year, Mr. Margiela, 51, approached Raf Simons, another well-regarded Belgian designer who at the time was renegotiating his contract with Jil Sander, proposing that Mr. Simons take over the collection, according to associates of the designers. But nothing came of the conversation, and this fall Mr. Simons agreed to a three-year contract renewal with Jil Sander.

On Monday, Renzo Rosso, the chief executive of Diesel Group, which acquired Margiela’s business in 2002, added to the speculation that Mr. Margiela had not been involved in recent collections when The International Herald Tribune published this quotation from him: “We are very happy with Martin, but for a long time he has a strong team and does not work on the collection, just special projects.”

After the show on Monday, Mr. Rosso would not clarify Mr. Margiela’s role, but said that the company was working with a headhunter to find a designer “to complete our team.” Asked if Mr. Margiela was leaving, he said: “Never say never, but I cannot imagine. I love him.”

Mr. Margiela’s importance was obvious at the anniversary show, which included renditions of his great and witty conceptual designs: coats made of synthetic wigs, bodysuits that fused parts of trench coats and tuxedo jackets, and mirrored tights made to look like disco balls. But his impact is even more obvious on the designers he has influenced, including Marc Jacobs, Alexander McQueen and everyone else who showed pointed shoulders this season. Azzedine Alaïa recently called Mr. Margiela the last individual vision. 

A graduate of Belgium’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts and a former assistant to Jean Paul Gaultier in Paris, Mr. Margiela was among a group of designers from Antwerp who caused a shift in fashion in the late ’80s by tearing apart and reassembling garments at the seams, introducing techniques that would have a lasting impact on everything from streetwear to haute couture. The acceptability of shredded jeans, for example, owes a debt to Mr. Margiela. But he has worked with such anonymity that only dedicated fashion consumers instantly recognize his name.

“Martin’s influence in fashion has been quite vast,” said Kaat Debo, the artistic director of the ModeMuseum, or MoMu, in Antwerp, where a retrospective of Mr. Margiela’s work opened this month. “Often what you see in the mainstream today is something that Martin introduced 20 years ago, and in a shocking way. For example, the showing of unfinished clothes with frayed hems or seams on the outside, which he did years ago, are things today that are seen as quite normal.”

Mr. Margiela’s runway shows have been alternately electrifying or humorous or sexy or just plain weird, as when he introduced a hooflike shoe in 1992 that has since become a Margiela signature. More recently, he presented a pair of $600 sunglasses that look like a censor bar. He has shown coats reconstructed with a sock at the elbow or sleeves protruding from the front and back; jackets with the sleeves turned inside out into capes; and, in 1994, an entire collection based on what Barbie’s wardrobe would look like if it were blown up to life size. (click)

Kim Jones

Man like Kim Jones over on the Observer this past Sunday (HERE)