Christmas Time is Here

Mayer Hawthorne, sometimes referred to as a Throwback Soul Artist, or as described by the NYTimes as if the last 20 or 30 or 40 years of pop music hadn’t happened- isn't quite as easily compartmentalized as it might seem. He follows up a collaboration with Snoop Dogg with a smooth cover from the Charlie Brown Christmas Album. He says of his upcoming album you're going to hear more of my affinity for Steely Dan and the Beatles and the Byrds and the Hollies and the Doobie Brothers -- probably some Public Enemy and N.W.A too. Totally dig this guy- the Green Eyed Love Classic Remix is awesome.

Mayer Hawthorne - Christmas Time Is Here by Mayer Hawthorne

Impossible Soul

Sufjan Stevens current manifestation, blending late eighties/early nineties music and aesthetics is fascinating. Check out his new video for Too Much where he rocks a vintage eighties sleeveless Nike t shirt. A review of a recent concert used words like electro-folk hippie-intergalactic dance party to describe his performance of Impossible Soul. On a recent TV spot on Fallon  it looks like Keith Haring did his wardrobe. It seems difficult to put a finger on what he's about- here's another description awe-inspiring, euphonious, spiritually rapturous indie-folk techno-pop dance party. He says, he's sick of being Mr. Strummy Strum.

Black Ivy

Love this shoot on Street Etiquette called The Black Ivy, inspired by the college style of the Black Ivy League. The African bags, beads and scarf accessories are a cool update on trad prep outfits.

Functional Work Wear

The NYTimes post today about the Tribes of San Francisco was an interesting examination of style in San Francisco. Having lived in San Francisco for a year I agree that sartorial needs here are more balanced with functional ones that reflect a more outdoors if not exactly athletic lifestyle. The article however misses a key component of dressing in this city- the weather. Layers aren't necessarily about styling, they are also about dealing with the shifting temperatures through the day and across the different parts of the city. It was a learning curve to get this right which included how to tie, wrap or carry a shed layer.

It was also an education in why some garments really work there like polar fleece- its not only warm, its light to carry. A pleasant surprise was the denim jacket which has it's workwear roots here from the Gold Rush era. Mine got a lot more wear in SF than in NYC. Something about it's weight which was too heavy for east coast warm weather or too light for cool weather was more appropriate here. The corduroy collared, blanket lined Storm Rider was more meaningful in NYC - but I always wished it was longer and less heavy. I love some of the newer interpretations of the engineer jacket, but ironically what's fashionable despite it's genre is not something that always 'works' that well.

Gathering Steam

For some reason this avalanche of push-pinned black-and-white photos—vintage portraits, cabinet cards, and casual snapshots rivetted me. Maybe because I spend a lot of time looking at, studying, sometimes buying paper epehemera just like it but the fascinating new information this image provides I think is the display style, chaotic and organic- organized into almost eerily beautiful tableaux. Its yet another dot in the increasing interest in Victorian/19th century aesthetics- like the tintype imagery in this NYTimes spread, Just in from the 1890's clustering around a trend concept that continues to gain momentum called steampunk ( here's the British take on it). These, for example are steampunk USB's.

If you look through the other images from the source article Still Life describing Jeffery Moss' home, you'll also see a fresh combination of this era's maximalist aesthetic with more minimalistic 20th century pieces- almost like the interior decoration version of pairing t shirt and jeans with victorian tailoring and facial hair.

Nighthawks Address

Does the diner pictured in Hopper's Nighthawks really exist?

"Nighthawks," Hopper said in an interview later, “was suggested by a restaurant on Greenwich Avenue where two streets meet.” The location was pinpointed by a Hopper expert, Gail Levin, as the “empty triangular lot” where Greenwich meets 11th Street and Seventh Avenue, otherwise known as Mulry Square. This has become accepted city folklore. Greenwich Village tour guides point to the lot, now owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and tell visitors that Hopper’s diner stood there. But did it? from Nighthawks State of Mind NYTimes

Dark Sider

Could not resist this version of the Top Sider by Brooklyn based shoe company Bed| Stu called Uncle Buck - I bought the black color which has such a great beat up look and looks cool with cut off old black/grey jeans. Just need this to complete a goth/noir inclined nautical update. I also quite like this collab between J Crew and Sperry. Sperry was also one of the brands mentioned in this interseting article today in the NYTImes posing the question Will Last Century’s Styles Open Today’s Wallets?

Worked at Sea

My friend Edie has a great collection of textiles which are family heirlooms from Maine which I had the pleasure of taking a good look at and photographing for future reference. They included blankets and quilts, which are great references for color and some amazing sailor's embroidery like the ones pictured above which were presumably greeting cards.

Cape Cod

Every year I design some kind of group of designs around anchors and boats and life by the sea. These nautical themes endure and never seem to go out of fashion. I finally got around to do some for my own store- so check out the Cape Cod section if you are in the mood for lobsters, whales, anchors and ropes - all inspired by my vacations there that I absolutely loved.

New Wave

Vintage Ocean Pacific apparel circa eighties has been a big source of interest for me as inspiration for color palettes as well as graphics for surf tees for a while now but it looks like its starting to really take off this summer not only with some great references to the archives in Op's current line but also in the eighties aesthetics ( lots of mod patterns, angled layouts ) from a variety of board short companies.

Footwork

I finally got round to working on the new Keds shoes that are now available in Zazzle and I have to say, I think this is really cool. I was really only working with graphic images that were already being used on t shirts and the results were great- check out wheels and motorcycle club. Coincidentally, one of the images on the inspiration/concept board I was drawn to for this vintage motorcycle/auto group was a pair of red sneakers. Looking forward to designing more specific ideas using the exact templates.

UPDATE Just discovered that keds have a cool website up called The Original Sneaker.

+ Media: Shoe of Champions

Soup to Nuts

This article about the 'neuromarketing' logic for redesigning the Campbell Soup tin left me confused. Especially when it says that Campbell's three biggest sellers—chicken noodle, tomato and cream of mushroom, the soup can labels immortalized by Andy Warhol—will remain the same, but the other labels will be redesigned. Isn't that the holy grail of good design- so good, so deeply embedded in the public psyche that it should be left alone? The old design works for the best sellers- as its done for half a century, but its necessary to retool the others because..?

Tiki

I'm working on Summer 2011 and am looking at a lot of Tiki designs for inspiration. Love the mid century color palette of these orchid vases (nice with the orange background). I also like them for the more primitive Easter Island aesthetic which looks a little more African than the usual kitschy 50's mask versions.

Brad vs Frank

There's been a lot of Brads on the catwalks, in the magazines, lots of horn rims and clean cut American Prep Classics. But inevitably, as it always does, the pendulum swings the other way as witnessed by the arrival of Frank at the D Squared Show. Although Frank opened and closed the show, the in between part was a blood spattered nod to all the young dude vampires and more about goth than androgyny. The goth staples served up - a lot of black, some skulls, leather, metallic chain like acessories, a little make up and they threw in some Hockey (they're Canadian).

In the documentary I just added, American Goth, the Goths interviewed struggle a little with the ingredients that define a Goth. Apparently they have eclectic tastes in music and are pretty well read. They overlap Victorian, fantasy, punk and metal. There's your East Village thrift goth and your Rick Owens Paris Couture goth. I'm curious to see if there is an American Goth look that references the vintage bad boy, outsider, rock rebel aesthetics through to the modern day dark lord sportswear of new designers like Odyn Vovk that can actually have a broad commercial reach.

Sunday Riders

I just discovered that youtube has some new features like customization so I redecorated my channel. I also discovered that playlists can be embedded so I have a couple of cool playlists to show - the first is the Bruce Brown documentary On Any Sunday , the other is Wheels, a selection of various short clips spanning various eras of bike riders. These are great resources for just taking in the aesthetics of the sport like the Rin Tanaka Books. I'll be adding more to Wheels as I find them on youtube.