Uniqlo Cashmere Now in Pantone Colors

Pantone has always had a special place in the hearts of designers, but about a year ago the NJ-based company realized its brand could use a little boost with the non-artsy set. Smartly, they started by opening a Japan division, and began partnering with a slew of companies to create products splashed with their signature colors.
Coming on the heels of their t-shirt collaboration with Uniqlo earlier this year, the latest is a line of delectable cashmere sweaters by the always-on-trend Japanese clothier. The sweaters come in 20 delectable Pantone colors (yes, it’s too indulgent to by all twenty, even though at $130 a pop, they’re still quite affordable), and the launch is set to coincide with Uniqlo’s London store opening in November.

Art, fashion, and music collide at this anti-Hollywood retail escape

Nestled in the heart of L.A.'s Chinatown area sits one of the city's best-kept retail secrets—Ooga Booga. Creating a storefront set-up focusing on her personal aesthetics rather than seasonal trends, owner Wendy Yao opened Ooga Booga in 2004 with the sole purpose of supporting independent, underground culture by consolidating fashion, art, music, and DIY publishing all at one destination.Carefully selected, the store merchandise consists of rare and unique items and serves as a hybrid of equal parts boutique and art space. A rack of garments designed by Opening Ceremony, Susan Cianciolo, and hard-to-find pieces from European design collective, Bless, are thoughtfully merchandised alongside sneakers from Keep, a Los Angeles-based label. Making it even more interesting, Yao likes to mix up the super new with worthwhile finds from the past. "I'm interested in archive pieces along with seasonal merchandise," she says. "Rather than focusing on trends, I like to come at it from a different angle by having a selection to filter through."Soccer ball-shaped handbags by Bless and decorated ceramic mugs by Los Angeles artist Pentti Monkkonen exude just the right amount of urban kitsch. In keeping with the independent spirit, Ooga Booga also stocks mix-tapes compiled by Calvin Johnson, legendary hero of the underground band, Beat Happening, and founder of K Records. New releases from Los Angeles underground post-punk band, No Age, share a space with zines and accessories created by local artists, along with art books by Paper Rad and Wolfgang Tillmans. Beloved by art collectors, style renegades, music aficionados, and the like, this haven for all things indie is a refreshing detour off the typical L.A. routes. Says Yao, "I hope to communicate with people by supporting different kinds of creative culture that I believe in."

favorite looks

After sweating out a slow, safe New York Fashion Week, it was off to Britain where the temperature was down, but a new generation of young designers and labels was just warming up. Almost a celebration of the city's fortunes, London Fashion Week emphasized color, quilting and layers upon layers of layers. From tuxes to tie dye, here are our favorite London looks.

1. Layer Cakes—Famous sweet-tooths, British and London-based designers turned out collections of crafty, confectionery looks including profiterole evening wear by Nathan Jenden, pure candy from Giles, layers of ruffled icing from Christopher Kane and tiers of both stiff and supple pleating from Modernist, Erdem, and Richard Nicoll. From left: Christopher Kane, Nathan Jenden, Richard Nicoll, Erdem.

2. Fruit Cup—Looks like those sherbet tones smuggled aboard our plane as the same blush pinks, opal blue, melon, and fuchsia cleared customs and met us on the runways at Louise Goldin's phenomenal display of virtuoso knit design and colorful shows by Aquascutum, Erdem and the always playful Jenden. From left: Erdem, Nathan Jenden, Louise Goldin, Aquascutum.

3. New West—Alexander Wang beat the Brits to the punch, apparently, with his New York collection that owed as much to trailer-parks as West Broadway. Richard Nicoll tapped the cinematic Western for his fall line, but Christopher Kane's so-bad-it's-good '80s denim pieces and Nathan Jenden's clogging costume truly brought the frontier home. From left: Christopher Kane, Danielle Scutt, Nathan Jenden, Christopher Kane.

4. Jacket Policy—From unstructured blazers to the alluring three-piece suits, workaholic New York designers spent a great deal of time and yardage providing the quiet strength and precise tailoring of formal menswear to women's lines. Continuing the trend, Todd Lynn, Jens Laugensen, and Paul Smith Women, all experts in the code of Saville Row, continued the trend with matched jackets and skirts, relaxed blazers, evening-appropriate trousers and slick, sexy tux tops. From left: Todd Lyn, Jens Laugensen, Jens Laugensen, Todd Lyn.

5. Quilting Bee—Ethic prints, batiks, and Native-American motifs have been seeing creeping into a lot of collections on both sides of the Atlantic in resent seasons. Leave it to London and pacesetters like Christopher Kane and Marios Schwab to move a back-burner trend to center stage with extremely bold print choices and tribal-inspired quilting effects. From left: Christopher Kane, Christopher Kane, Marios Schwab, Marios Schwab.

6. Killer Queen—Bordering on costume, a number of our faves presented varied takes on underground princesses including Erdem's diaphanous chiffon gown with a punky cropped vest, Jenden's full-skirted number with a striped blazer and black baseball cap or Giles' shredded scrap gown with Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die studding. From left: Nathan Jenden, Erdem, Erdem, Giles.

7. Optic Fiber—With enough frenetic op-art to make Bridget Riley dizzy, designers like Matthew Williamson, Eley Kishimoto, and the precious Kane used these boldly graphic abstract and nature-inspired prints to make themselves heard over the competing volume of Native-American and ethnic-batik prints. From left: Matthew Williamson, Eley Kishimoto, Matthew Williamson, Eley Kishimoto.

8. Backtracks—Always obsessed with sport and velocity, racerback tops, shirts and, dresses have been big on the streets and in the studios of New York for years. Again, the Brits have trouped and twisted another colonial trend by moving the racerback to the front with cut-away pantsuit by Modernist, swimwear-inspired layered dresses by Louise Goldin, and a particularly flirty little black dress by House of Holland. From left: Modernist, Modernist, Louise Goldin, House of Holland.

9. Stardust—Get out your rhinestone applicators and sparkle glue; editors loved Alexander Wang's sequined sweatshirt with denim cutoffs in early September. Weeks later, the disco decadence continued with Anne-Sofie Back's use of fist-sized silver paillettes on cocktail dresses and shoulder wraps and Richard Nicoll's light refracting sequined pants. From left: Anne-Sofie Back, Ashish, Richard Nicoll, Ashish.

Dream Academy

It's not always the case that family and business go hand and hand. But the three sisters behind up-and-coming Stockholm-based line House of Dagmar have successfully made their fashion gig a family affair, too. Named after Kristina Tjader, Sofia Malm, and Karin Soderlind's shared hero, their late grandmother, House of Dagmar brought the trio together over their love of fashion and their desire to give their similar style a distinctly familial twist. "Our grandmother was very feminine and chic," says Tjader, one of the two designers behind the label who, along with Malm, built the brand from its knitwear beginnings the full collection it is today (Soderlind opts to stay behind the scenes as the line's main press contact). "This is something that we remind ourselves of everyday."

Always looking to the past to find classic silhouettes to renew and retool, this fall the sisters took inspiration from "after-ski retro glamour of James Bond," says Soderlind, who along with her partners, mixed rich wools with classic winter cuts. The result is long, luxe cardigans in updated alpine patterns, modern variations on the skinny ski pant, and ribbed knit jumpers. And, it's their upcoming collection where the sisters hope to shine. Selected by Gen Art to present their spring/summer 2008 collection at the Fresh Faces fashion show during this past New York Fashion Week, the girls once again took cues from a bygone era, looking to the work of Abstract Expressionist Jackson Pollock. The collection features neutral-toned egg-shaped silhouettes, a nod to un-worked beige canvas, splattered with bright prints reminiscent of one of the Action painter's dribbles. "The common thread throughout the collection is the idea of a work in progress," says Tjader.
And with the collection already picked up by Opening Ceremony and Fred Segal, it seems that House of Dagmar has itself come along way from the trio's days growing up in Gothenburg, learning how to sew from their grandmother. "To see our clothes in New York and America is a dream that we never thought would come true," says Tjader. "It's amazing."
House of Dagmar is available at Opening Ceremony in both New York and Los Angeles. For more information, go to http://www.houseofdagmar.com/.

Take a Tour of Coco Chanel’s Apartment

Shortly after naming Keira Knightley the new face of Coco Mademoiselle (replacing a debased Kate Moss), Chanel has released a beautiful short film starring the actress as “a modern day Coco Chanel — a mysterious and independent woman that takes destiny into her own hands.”
You can watch the film on the perfume’s new interactive microsite, which also allows you to go behind the scenes of the filming, and – most impressively – take a tour of Coco Chanel’s actual Paris apartment. Coco was a revolutionary figure in her time, and her persona remains a powerful force in the fashion world to this day, so to get a glimpse into her apartment is a real treat.

Unforgivable Woman fragrance launch to broadcast live on MySpace

Sean "Diddy" Combs will make history on Wednesday, when he launches his first women's scent, Unforgivable Woman. It isn't that the rapper has stumbled upon a never-before-used top note, but rather, the launch party at a $35 million townhouse on New York's Upper East Side will be broadcast live on MySpace. Starting at 10 p.m., viewers who log onto www.myspace.com/diddy will have unlimited access to red carpet arrivals and select insider moments from guest celebrity hosts, who will guide viewers through the party with cameras set up on each floor of the manse to capture all the excitement and beats courtesy of DJ Soul. There goes the neighborhood.

Fashion Week - Spring 2008

After seeing the high lights of Rodarte collection, my conclusion is.... none, in other words, in my point of view nothing is new. It does not surprises me, I am not saying that nothing is pretty, on the contrary, the problem here it is just that, nothing is worthy of adjectives like brilliant, magnify or surprising.