There is a softness to Japanese designer Tomoaki Okaniwa's The Viridi-Anne that's pleasant to see in a menswear collection. Everything appears to be made of natural fabrics, too.
The website is obnoxious beyond belief, but it's worth the headache to see the pieces. I've posted photos from the S/S 09 collection, A/W 08/09, and A/W 09/10 collections.
Two more photos after the jump.
I stumbled across a gold mine of avant-garde designers at Barcelonian shop, Doshaburi. I spotted items from Marjan Pejoski, Cosmic Wonder Light Source, Poti Poti, BLESS, Fabrics Interseason, Pelican Avenue, Awareness&Consciousness, and Boessert Schorn, and the list goes on and on!
The selection is amazing and they ship worldwide. Prices are in euros, so if you’re here in North America you’ll have to do the conversion yourself. They’re currently having a 30% off sale so there are deals to be had.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Another quick reminder that Pour Porter now has a Twitter account so you can know instantly when a new post has been made. I will occasionally be doing smaller mini posts there as well.
Also in other exciting news, the new Pour Porter is soon to be launched!
I posted about Cosmic Wonder quite some time ago and since then, designer Yukinori Maeda has expanded it from conceptual clothing label to include a book project, exhibition space, new clothing line (Cosmic Wonder Light Source) and expansion into installation and performance - although, if my memory serves me correctly, Cosmic Wonder has always included some kind of performance aspect in the presentation of its collections. From what I can gather, Cosmic Wonder has become the umbrella term for the larger project and Cosmic Wonder Light Source is the clothing portion. Cosmic Wonder isn’t simply the realization of Maeda’s singular vision, though; collaboration plays heavily into every aspect of the project.
The latest Light Source collection featured models in an office-like performance setting. I love the humourous Monstera leaves as necklaces. I’ve posted several photos of this collection below and a couple photos from the 2006 Cosmic Wonder exhibition.
This was Friday's daily wear. While it's finally warming up here and the full days of rain and tornadoes seem to be over, we still get the classic big afternoon thunderstorms so this poncho is perfect for that.
I almost forgot to mention that Pour Porter has a Twitter account (I know, I know) now.
My husband is responsible for my discovery of Jerry Waese’s amazing sketches. He first spotted the artist several months ago on one of our favourite blogs, Urban Sketchers and was blown away by his fantastic use of colour and his free and incredibly expressive line.
Most of his sketches are done in crayon, ink, and pencil, although he has other pieces in acrylic and pastel in other albums on his Flickr photostream. Be sure to check it out as his work is consistently really good. You can also find a nice little interview of the artist here.
Hooray, time for another Bless post. I’ve featured them a few times previously, but hadn’t checked out the latest collections in quite some time. The Berlin based avant-garde label was founded by Desiree Heiss and Ines Kaag in 1995 but the label isn't just the work of the founders. A group of permanent collaborators with varying backgrounds contribute to the creation of each collection. Bless is essentially a creative project and the label stages exhibitions that don’t always involve clothing and accessories. What I appreciate the most about the label is its sense of humour.
Their latest collection, No. 37 New Sheheit is featured below.
Extremely awkward models aside, San Francisco shop, Light Vision stocks some nice pieces from tiny labels where everything is handmade by the designers. The site is only a few months old so it’ll be exciting to watch it expand.
I recognized well-known label Mociun, and the conceptual Open Clothed, which is also stocked at previously featured favourite Portland shop, Stand Up Comedy. If you want to support independent designers and the shops that support them, Light Vision is a good place to start!
Sonia Boessert and Brigitte Schorn of Boessert-Schorn make relaxed and comfortable deconstructed clothing, and it’s a shame their website has such tiny pictures of their pieces.
I like wearable clothes, but most particularly wearable clothes that are interesting, and this label certainly qualifies as such. Most of the pieces are constructed of jersey, wool, and cottons.
I’m one of those fans of big bags. You can fit all sorts of 'essentials' in them and still look put together. They’re especially handy when traveling! I think this Obey bag is the perfect summer tote.
Swedish brand, Hope, is another label chock full of slouchy, wearable clothes that you’d be hard pressed to not integrate easily into your existing wardrobe. Again this is a label I’d found out about several years ago but never featured, and recently I’ve been seeing select pieces on a few U.S. based webstores (lagarconne and creaturesofcomfort in particular). Designer, Ann Ringstrand, worked for H&M as assistant buyer and designer prior to founding the label.
tags: japanese, layering, menswear, neutrals, softness, the viridi-anne