Talking About the Abstraction Fall/Winter 2014 Lookbook

It’s strange how brands put out Fall/Winter lookbooks when it’s not even Summer in the northern hemisphere yet but I digress. Japanese label Talking About the Abstraction has definitely been on my radar as they have been consistently delivering strong lookbooks for several seasons now.

While the styling may not be for everyone, there’s definitely easy pieces here that I would even recommend to guys who are even more timid with their style. There’s certainly a lot of brands in Japan really killing the whole re-purposed vintage Americana thing but the approach this brand takes has a certain edge to it that is hard to pinpoint. I will say that few brands have put together the grungy art professor aesthetic better than seen here.  After the jump for all the looks.

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UNDERCOVERISM FW14 Lookbook

I’m happy to review the new Undercoverism FW14 lookbook for you guys. This collection comes off the Pyschocandy collection which was a monochromatic homage to the aesthetic of Jesus and the Mary Chain. For Fall/Winter 2014 Jun has selected a palette of muted earth tones and combined them with some patterns and more colorful prints/colors. The collection continues to define the evolution or ‘growing up’ of Undercover as a men’s brand.

Over the years UC has shed some of it’s more punk/streetwear roots and transitioned into a more straightforward collection of men’s staples with  subversive design elements sprinkled in throughout. This is a path that many of the OG Harajuku menswear brands have followed (WTAPS, Neighborhood and Visvim come to mind). For this collection the outerwear is the most exciting category. There’s some great coats and jackets in here , from the wool coats to signature UC updates takes on varsities and MA-1s.  The duck boots here also are a standout and I’m excited to see more photos of them in the coming weeks. Check the rest of the line after the jump and share your thoughts on the collection in the comments.

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Han Kjobenhavn FW14 Collection Video

Han Kjobenhavn AW14 show from Han Kjobenhavn on Vimeo. Danish designer Han Kjobenhavn likes to avoid convention: he’s consistently used a creepy senior as a model for his collections. Last year he opened an intimate low-key shop in Soho. For his Fall/Winter 2014 collection Han Kjobenhavn sent out the models supporting weirdo gas masks, being … Read more

KOMAKINO FW14 Collection

KOMAKINO delivers more strong pieces for Fall/Winter 2014 with a collection inspired by industrial and electronic music. The usual brand signatures are here : graphic detailing, color-blocking and military themes. I first became interested in KOMAKINO after seeing their well-executed MA-1s at Opening Ceremony and have been tracking the brand since. I feel it’s a brand that actually rides the line between high fashion and streetwear quite well and in this regard it reminds me of Nom de Geurre (RIP).  The standout outerwear pieces this time around are the leather trench and MA-1 bomber. While I’m admittedly sick of fashion camo,  KOMAKINO did do a respectable job of remixing the German Army (Camo Flecktarn).

See all the looks after the jump

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Rick Owens FW14 Details and Behind the Scenes

Having tracked the evolution of Rick Owens for the better part of a decade it’s always fun to see what he puts out each season. The main theme in his design career has been refinement, not necessarily re-invention. Fall/Winter 2014 continued his slant towards minimalism and it’s cool to see Rick continue to pare down some details while still experimenting more with volume and shape. The three looks from this season stood out to me the most are above in particular the military vest piece. I’ve seen many good takes on similar pieces but Rick definitely was able to give it a luxe feel. I also like the look with the layered black shorts as it’s an obvious homage to the Adidas shorts everyone wore in high school. Although I don’t intend on buying too much Rick in the near future, I do love the idea of wearing and styling Rick as expensive gym clothes/streetwear. Ultimately that’s what draws me to the brand as it’s branding and price-point serve to project one image, but Rick has always been about a confluence of disparate inspirations both high and low.

Also respect to Rick for somehow both designing some hybrid between a nun’s headpiece and a du-rag AND playing a chicago footwork track by RP Boo for the finale.

“I think all men want to project a certain amount of authority in the way that they dress. Défilé means parade, a military thing. I was thinking about how a young man reacts to authority, the way he is hard-wired to reject it in order to move forward and create his own authority. I remember rejecting authority and I remember how urgent that was – school! Cops! Teachers! Parents! Everything. A lot of what I do is a memory of that reaction. A man who’s interested in dressing, is interested in expressing himself. And part of that is rejecting standards” Rick Owens

See plenty of detail shots after the jump

Backstage Photos by Lea Colombo via Dazed

Many close-up detail shots after the jump

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Saint Laurent FW14 Editorial w/ Tadanobu Asano

Honeyee presents their take on the Fall/Winter 2014 Saint Laurent Paris collection by inviting  famed Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano to model. Asano has starred in films including  Ichi the Killer and Thor and is a household name in Japan. The best piece here is the leather rider, but Asano also pulls off the varsity and is in the 1% of human beings who can wear a white fur overcoat well. 

More images after the jump

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