a peak at my-wardrobe.com's fall winter 2010 selection

online retailer my-wardrobe.com celebrated their 4th birthday yesterday. to celebrate, they were giving out £400 of vouchers every hour to their facebook fans. was at work all day and missed out on that, but i made sure i did not miss out on their press day later that evening to have a peek at what would be stocked come fall winter 2010.

one of the items that everyone was talking about, was the rayban wayfarers. these were reworked, and the "metal" bits on the side were actually made from 18k white gold. the limited edition sunglasses will retail for about £300+. i thought that was very very cool. if i won that £400 voucher it is going straight for these sunnies.

exclusives for fall winter included this corduroy jacket from universal works. i love the multi layering, and the corduroy is really soft to the touch.

and some of my favourite shoes from the evening:

i really really love this pair of leather and canvas sneakers from paul smith. i am so getting these when they are available online.

patterned sneakers from paul smith

multi colored brogue boots made exclusively for my-wardrobe.com by grenson

and a pair of delicious suede boots from grenson. i want this too...

edwin jeans is one of the labels that the e-tailer will stock come fall winter 2010. their denims are amazing, the colors so beautifully aged, i love the vintage feel.

on display was also a very soft and lightweight padded jacket from polo ralph lauren. i love the soft auburn orange, the subtle drawstring ropes and the worn out american flag on the sleeve, love. i wish winter will come sooner.

a pretty cool selection they have for fall winter 2010. click here to see more from their site.



+

"the documentary & a dream"

j.lindeberg very kindly sent over their large format biannual, entitled "the documentary and a dream". more than just a lookbook, it documented art works, interviews, collages and a selection of the most arresting images around. the images are so inspiring, i picked up my camera and started shooting the book with some of the manual functions:

the book is available at their stores (for browsing), and you can also view the online version here. i love the book, another one to add to my small but growing collection of coffee table books.

+

youtube sundays - john lewis: never knowingly undersold

music plays a big part in commercials/adverts. british departmental store john lewis's latest advert recites the journey of a woman, from young to old, pulling our heart strings, sending the message that we can rely on the store for generations as they are never knowingly undersold.

the beautiful piece of music accompanying the advert was "always a woman to me" performed by fyfe dangerfield, lead singer of the guillemots. it is a beautiful cover of the billy joel classic, and i hope it would be released as a single soon.

if you like this advert, you might also like their previous advert released around christmas 2009, featuring a cover of "sweet child o'mine" by swedish folk band "taken by trees".

nice heart warming adverts featuring children and motherly figures and beautiful music, john lewis sure knows how to pull our heart strings. great branding i feel.



+

gap menswear fall winter 2010

sean o'pry and taylor fuchs for gap fall winter 2010 / credit: gap

gap recently released pictures of their upcoming fall winter 2010 collection. two of my favourite looks were the ones above: the toggle coat and the sweater with similar detailing. i wished the theme would flow through to the rest of the collection, however the rest of the looks were pretty classic and safe.

the toggle coat above bears a resemblance to one of the coats that i am personally very keen on: the hooded camel colored coat with leather toggles from gucci fall winter 2010. however gap's version seems to be lacking a little oomph. the toggle sweater looks great though, i hope it translates well on the shop floor. and that's one reason for me to pop into gap when the new collection arrives.



+

Gucci Icon temporary store - London

the third stop in the gucci icon pop up store series, after new york and miami, finally made it's way to london. the store opens today in covent garden for 2 weeks, and it stocks a series of sneakers made specially for the travelling pop up stores, and 2 designs exclusive to london. at yesterday's opening party, host mark ronson went matchy matchy, and wore a pair of the sneakers exclusive to the london pop up store. i actually rather like the matchy matchy styling, and i really like his shirt. really like it.

model douglas booth attended the event, also in a pair of the icon sneakers made specially for the pop up stores. it's actually one of my favourites from this series. it appeared to be white monogram neoprene with blue croc-effect leather. sure it looked like any other pair of vans shoes, but there's something about it that i really like. and i really like his overall styling, laidback but stylish.

i have to make time to visit the pop up store.



pic credits: getty images / gucci



+

a few pictures from Topman fall winter 2010 press day

i love the quilted pieces. they do it in brighter colors and a slimmer cut to make it look more chic and flattering. i really want that blue quilted top with corduroy elbow patches.

i like the cut of the trousers, very flattering, and love the styling with the shoes.

i really like it. trousers, socks and boots.

the accessories were really good too. the pin brooch looks naturally aged, unlike some of the mass produced ones out there. i really like this, will grab one when it arrives in stores.

i am also loving this huge pendant/necklace. the metallic gold pieces look well aged, even the ribbon looked carefully stained. i want this piece too, perhaps to hang it off a canvas bag.

i always find that topshop has very nice accessories. looks like topman is slowing catching up.

l00o00ve.

+

J.Lindeberg fall winter 2010

we had a gloriously sunny afternoon earlier today, and i took a stroll to j.lindeberg's showroom to preview their fall winter 2010 collection. their showroom is about 15mins walk away from my office, perfect excuse to get out and about. there were a few pieces that i really like from the lookbook pics, and i was rather keen to see and feel the collection up close.

the collection is filled with very wearable pieces, and jackets are cut shorter and cropped for a more flattering shape and proportion. here are a few of my favourite pieces:

i love this printed canvas shirt. from the smaller collars to the stiff cotton material, it's just perfect for the summer days ahead.

another printed canvas shirt, paired with a tailored herringbone coat.

yes! i really do like this fair isle sweater! bring on christmas!

the scarves were lovely. those were beautifully made, and would really go with anything from the wardrobe. i wished i pulled open my drawer and see these instead. great colors.

and a very interesting detail on the elbow patches of a wool cardigan. that's actually the inside of the elbow patch, which is nicely lined. the patch was then blown/treated, and what's on the exterior of the elbow patch then became like this, where 2 materials seemed to fuse into 1, i think that's pretty cool.

lovely day and i had a great time browsing the collection. click here for some of the lookbook pics from the fall winter 2010 collection.

+

Barnabé Hardy fall winter 2010

.: barnabé hardy parka with detachable hood in dipped lamb / barnabéhardy.com :.

i am a massive fan of balenciaga menswear. i've talked about them numerous times, and showcased a few of my treasured pieces on here. back in april 2009, i wrote that i was somewhat disappointed with the current direction that balenciaga menswear is taking. after the romantic yet epic adventure themed fall winter 2007, balenciaga menswear seemed to have taken on where hedi slimane have left off with dior homme. it is difficult to see their womenswear going strength to strength, leading the pack, but menswear just that bit lucklustre, capitalising on the skinny boys regime, and recently the harem wearing brigade.

and true to my suspicion, balenciaga's previous menswear designer have left the building. sorry to shatter the illusions of every balenciaga menswear's lover: we all love nicolas ghesquière, but he probably oversees the entire maison and menswear is under the helm of someone else. that someone else up until 2007, was barnabé hardy. after cutting his teeth at balenciaga and launching the label’s menswear in 2002, hardy decided to fly solo with his eponymous collection of leather jackets.

i am so happy to have found barnabé hardy's collection. for lack of better vocabulary, his leather jackets are to-die-for. i found that bit of the old balenciaga menswear that i love, that bit of tough romanticism that the current balenciaga seemed to have passed on.

bomber jacket in dipped lamb & detachable mink / racoon collar

embroidered military jacket in dipped lamb. limited edition 10 pieces

"target" bomber jacket in dipped lamb 

multicolor jacquard round neck sweater in merinos

the piece that i am most probably going to cross the eurotunnel for, is the above shearling biker jacket & multicolor jacquard knitwear in merino wool. i've been on the hunt for the perfect leather jacket for ages, and i think i might have just found it. i need both jacket and sweater, des-per-ate-ly. yes i want that snood too.

bring on winter already, paris is calling. i love barnabé hardy!

all pics: barnabéhardy.com

+

Spanish bullfighter Cayetano Rivera for Loewe

spanish bullfighter cayetano rivera with one of my favourite travelling bags: the loewe gold suede amazona weekender. i love this bag and have featured here quite a few times. i really can't fault it: the combination of the luscious gold suede with the dark brown handle and trims, the golden padlock, the discreet logo, and now showcased by a man. i herald the return of men in campaign pics. men, not boys.

the weekender just got a little more desirable.

p/s: it's pronounced "low-eh-vey". but don't ask me how to pronounce cayetano.

cayetano rivera for loewe spring 2010 / loewe.com

muchas gracias señor, you can hand the bag over to me now.




+