Following an £80 million renovation, the popular Royal Lancaster London hotel reopens today. Designed by English design firm Studio Proof, the new look is a perfect balance of mid-century decadence with a classiclly contemporary feel.
“The hotel has had a rich and celebrated past, having opened as one of the most chic hotels in London in 1967. 50 years later, Royal Lancaster London will reopen in 2017 to once again be one of the most stylish hotels in the capital,” Sally Beck, general manager of the hotel, said in a statement.
The grandiose hotel houses 411 guest rooms across 18 storeys, with each boasting scenic views overlooking Hyde Park and the city skyline. It’s also the site of over 16 event spaces able to accommodate 3000 people — surely this site will be a destination for stylish jet-setters from across the globe. Additionally, the hotel’s award-winning restaurant, Nipa Thai, is holding its grand opening to coincide with the reveal of the rest of the space.
New York-based tailored menswear brand Descendant of Thieves opened a pop-up shop near busy and buzzy Soho. Helmed by designers Matteo Maniatty and Dres Ladrohe, the small-scale label — each piece includes its date of birth on the tag — has maintained a sophisticated mystique since its inception in 2009, and a temporary retail space is the opportune moment to connect with the public IRL. In addition the designer’s signature slim-fit shirts and trousers, the new space will feature new items unavailable online, as well as a series of mystery packages. But hurry! The shop is only open through the end of the week, so check it out while you can.
The Descendant of Thieves pop-up shop is open today through Sunday 11/13 at 251 Elizabeth St, New York, NY 10012.
Canadian artist Maxwell Burnstein has amassed a significant following since introducing his collages to the world on Instagram, earning praise from the fashion world and audiences alike. We caught up with him before the launch of G-Star Raw’s Elwood X25 denim line, where he created live collages on-site inspired by the dynamic prints of the collection.
EH: I love that you’re able to make your collage process a live experience. Could you explain a little more about the project with G-Star? G-Star invited me to their 5th Avenue Store in New York City to support the launch of the new G-Star Raw Elwood X25. The FW17 capsule collection from Pharrell Williams reinterpreted the brands classic Elwood jean in 25 prints, inspired by cultural symbolism like Kimono embroidery, animal prints to natural camouflages. The campaign photography will be cut up and collaged with the X25 product line live on-site. Installing the collages as they’re made, patrons can engage in a live art performance and be part of a living exhibit.
EH: Is there anything in particular that drove you to work with G-Star? I grew up on the G-Star brand, familiar with the innovative product lines and creative initiates. When I was approached with interest in working with them on the Elwood X25 launch, I felt my analog collages would be a natural extension of G-Star Raw’s devotion to craftsmanship and construction.
EH: What is the most challenging part of your process? And the most rewarding? Cutting photography in an analog process can be time consuming and tedious, limited by the amount I can adapt the paper fibers I use. There is no room for error as every slip is visible, and can often ruin a nearly finished work. The craftsmanship is visible in analog collage which can’t be mimicked digitally. It extends to installations and live art performances, where the physical creation of artwork can still be valued in the age of digital collage. EH: Are there any key themes or things you try to incorporate into each collage? Every artwork is designed to evoke a new feeling, whether showcasing a single piece or collective body, they speak to a larger narrative. Outside of my work in Fashion, my exhibits tend to focus on historical events and figures. These works look to modernize traditional photography and concepts such as my show for the American inauguration Cross the Party Line, or focused on old Hollywood icons in Death of an Icon, which released this past October 2017 at Contra Galleries in New York City. EH: Who are some designers or fashion figures that have influenced your work? I draw a loft of influence from my contemporaries in the collage artist’s movement, collectively promoting the value of our work. I have made an effort to build relations with those I see as pushing collage into the mainstream, always trying to promote their efforts alongside my own. This is an emerging industry, where analog and digital collage artists alike are working on a global scale from their respective countries. Supporting your community is part of my practice as an artist from Canada. EH: What would be your dream collaboration? I would like the opportunity to work with leading art galleries and events around the world, from Art Basel in Miami, White Cube Gallery in London, to the Art Gallery of Ontario in my hometown of Toronto. Everyday there is a new opportunity thanks to the countless support I have been receiving with each coming project, making my dreams ever closer.
G-Star Raw Elwood X25 is available in stores and online now.
Established in 1830, Pennsylvania-based label Woolrich is among the oldest outerwear brands in the country. Combining its timeless American design ethos with a future-facing initiative, the company has announced its partnership with Japanese tech and sportswear giant Goldwin for a line of tech-infused outerwear.
“This agreement is a milestone in the growth of an iconic American brand,” Nick Brayton, President of Woolrich Inc. said in a statement. “And it will translate into further acceleration of our growth.” While the development of the capsule collection is still in its earliest stages, the combination of a classic heritage brand with Japanese technology and activewear will surely yield compelling results that will continue to blur the lines of tech and fashion. The SS18 menswear collection will show next June and the FW18 capsule will be available in September 2018.
California-based men’s skincare line Max Green Alchemy has released a range of natural Scruff Rescue products that tame your mane while also caring for the skin below the beard. The lightly scented Beard Oil is the perfect treatment to keep your facial hair looking its healthiest. Beard oils are basically there to keep your follicles looking lively, and moisturize them so that the hairs don’t feel coarse or dry.
On the other hand, the Beard Tamer is a two-for-one cream that benefits the beard and the skin. While standard moisturizers may have trouble penetrating deeply through beard hairs to reach the skin, the Tamer contains proteins, shea butter, and green tea extracts that tighten, moisturize, and reduce puffiness. Additionally it helps give your beard a shape without it looking messy. You get the best of both worlds.
On the road promoting the launch of CÎROC French Vanilla, a new flavored vodka made in collaboration with Diddy, we catch up with French Montana to talk about his new beverage, style evolution, and other exciting projects to raise a glass to.
Congratulations on the brilliant campaign! Can you tell us a little bit more about the inspiration that went behind it?
I’ve had an amazing year, and I always look to my Brother Diddy for guidance and he has given me the opportunity to front my own Cîroc flavor – French Vanilla, the video is about the culture of hip hop coming together to celebrate our hustle and successes as a community and how we all can win as a family
Diddy is renowned for his fashion sense – has he inspired your style evolution?
Diddy influenced everybody. He influenced three generations including mine. There’s nobody that listens to hip hop that wasn’t influenced by him.
Who are your biggest style influences?
Hustlers from New York that were driving fancy cars and wearing fancy clothes. Specifically in Harlem and the Bronx. This trickled down to rappers like Diddy and myself.
What’s next for you going forward – any other exciting projects in the works?
Me and A$AP Rocky have a mix tape coming out, there’s my new movie “Respect the Shooter” and my next album.
Anything else you wanna add?
Be yourself. When you be yourself, you become something nobody else can.
Since launching in late 2014, The Arrivals has become synonymous with effortless city cool. The New York-based outerwear brand, the brainchild of serial entrepreneur Kal Vepuri and architect Jeff Johnson, rapidly blossomed from word-of-mouth digital buzz and a sleek design sensibility that combined functional design savvy with high-quality performance materials. While the brand currently retails online, its launching a series of pop-up shops in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco to provide a rich IRL experience for its growing fan-base. We caught up with Jeff Johnson at the launch of the pop-up shop in Soho to learn more about the themes behind the space.
Could you describe the concept around the series of spaces?
Absolutely. Basically I think that being an outerwear brand in New York, there is this tension of performance, but also the idea of being expressive. Think about street style, outerwear is not just a functional thing, but when you put it on, you kind of know who you are and who you want to be. At the same time, it has to be functional.
I think for the store and even for the pieces themselves, it is always on this natural tension of function, performance, and individual expression. So within the store, we wanted to make apparent. And the store itself has super refined surfaces, like mirrored podiums, stainless steel hanging elements, but at the same time we have lava rock, pumice stone — this juxtaposition of the refined versus the rugged. I think that’s who we are as a brand.
One of the terms we use when speaking more internally, is this idea of being ‘out there.’ Out there, in a lot of circumstances, you can imagine an REI or Patagonia commercial and it hints to someone on a cliff or in a tent. On the other side of the spectrum, you can go to Bushwick or some random place in Queens and there all these kids in platform shoes and they’re also getting out there.
Neither you or your partner have a fashion background – how has that benefitted your brand?
I think that my background, when I studied and trained and I worked as an architect before I did this, I think that one of the biggest components of architecture is you try to create an idea that people believe in, I think that’s the romantic part, and this thing has to work, it has to be a space that keeps people protected, allows functions to happen within it, so I think there is some very fundamental principles that are very related on a one to one relationship. At the same time I think there are a lot of parallels from architecture whether it’s again material performance, ideas of versatility of use, is this a jacket just for one occasion? Or can we have modular elements. When we were talking about making the space, we found the space, and everyone said we couldn’t do it, it’s too short notice, that we were crazy. I think there’s almost this thing about being from outside of the industry, being young we have this element of naïveté.
There’s a little more of ‘Well, why can’t we do this?’ Why can’t we try it, maybe it’s not going to work out, but we’re surrounding ourselves with the most talented people, and working as hard as we can, so far it’s paid off. So I think it adds this ability for us to just go for it, to try it, so I think those kinds of things, pulling from my career in architecture, and Kal coming from a business background having so much experience with a lot of these young direct-to-consumer brands but brands from so many different spectrums, and being able to observe what are the trends and tendencies of these brands that do succeed and pulling those learnings from a portfolio of 150 companies and being able to have that as a resource is super valuable, so I feel like there is a nice synergy that is made possible.
I was talking to someone else about how having a unique and outside perspective is a benefit since you don’t have to follow any rules. You can make them up as you go and ‘Why not?’ is the key thing.
Even just in the space, it’s this idea, that paradigm between performance and expressive — the rope holding merchandise is actual climbing rope. So there’s really this thing of how can you bring these traditional things that have a performance-only function and weave it into this very designed space, so I think that’s something that’s part of it and the atmosphere.
Actually my wife, who I married a few days ago, designed the space. It’s been so nice to work with her. Working with someone you don’t have to communicate much with, because your design language is so similar, she has a pretty good sense and vice versa. There’s so much trust, that she is going to put the pressure on herself, but it’s just a fun way to create a space, with minimal time and people telling you it’s not possible to come up with something pretty special.
The Arrivals pop-up shop is open at 42 Crosby St, New York, NY 10012.
When I meet Sunni Colon in person, he is warm and charismatically affable — a textbook sunny disposition. A reflection of his California upbringing, it provides a soft contrast to the mellow ambiance of his genre-defying music. We met at Founder’s Lab, an event and production space in Williamsburg, to go through the stage design of his new project, Manifest 1.0. The immersive installation will serve as the stage for a performance art residency where he’ll play tracks from his debut EP — 2016’s funky Thierry Disko — along with unreleased material. We discussed his new multimedia agency, psychedelic influences, and the marrying of sounds with material before the opening of his show.
Could you give some background on the presentation?
Essentially, I started a company called Tetsu, which is a design and multimedia agency. But pretty much with Tetsu I was able to conceptually build a world around, I guess, whatever’s in my head. Which is essentially what my album sounds like. So we recruited all the best people — sound designers, architects, other creatives — that we knew and allowed them to come into this space and build this project which is Manifest; it’s a beta project. We’re still testing and trying to figure out how this shit works.
You went to school for engineering, which is evident in the technical design of the space. Are there any key influences that were involved in your process for designing Manifest 1.0?
Yeah so, I’m really inspired by a lot of esoteric design. Mainly because I love playing with natural light, but also artificial light. Just natural light, and the sun to whatever kind of solar light that is emitted. There’s so many artists that are so amazing like Doug Aitken to James Terelll. All of these different artists inspired me.
From the aspect of sound design, it definitely came from me really being into a lot of psychedelic music. I stem from psychedelic rock, Italian psychedelic rock, french psych… and there are no rules to those actual sounds. They literally warp things. Everything is played with as a very interdisciplinary fashion. There’s also going to be a short film that I directed – the first film I actually ever directed – that is going to be projected onto three different walls. I want to form this so people would literally feel like they’re in a very vulnerable space, just like I am when I’m performing these new songs no one has ever heard before. I’m doing it in a weird fashion where it’s like I’m testing my album.
Like a listening session.
Yeah! I’m performing it but people are gonna see me, but they’re not gonna fully see me. Visually that makes it very vulnerable for me because when I’m in that enclosure I can’t see anything out there. It’s literally just plexy.
It reminds me a bit of the panopticon.
Exactly. It feels weird being in there because, even yesterday when I was rehearsing, I was like wow, I’m having a very intimate session with myself. The way the space feels and the way the performance is gonna be – you can’t focus on me – so you have to focus on everything else. We’re not allowing phones, so you almost have to feel like you’re in this weird vulnerable space.
You recently released a song with Kaytranada “Little Things” – are there any producers you’re interested in working with?
I produce all my music so working with Kay was very interesting. I would definitely love to work with Arca. I come from an electronic world but I also come from a very acoustic world ya know. So someone like Arca, he’s very electronic. When you talk about someone being formless, Arca’s formless.
I worked with DJ Falcon recently who is a producer from Paris. He’s amazing, he’s basically the father of Daft Punk – not even the father, he’s like the big brother. And it’s funny because he produced on their last album and now he’s working on his first album ever. He’s finally putting it out, and I’m on two tracks. It was crazy working with him because we were surfing and skating all day, then going to his studio in his crib – it was amazing. So that was another producer I worked with and would love to work with again. And Daft Punk too.
Any finals word on the show?
With this project, I’m very thankful to the team that worked on this with me. Without every individual on this project, this shit would have never been able to happen. I’m super appreciative of that because I come from a world of doing things on my own. I feel like the men and women in there come from the future of tech, the future of science, the future of sound and art. To bring all of those people into one space is a dream come true.
Manifest 1.0 will be on display from October 19-27. Tickets are available now.
Styled by Savannah White.
Los Angeles-bred denim label Stampd has expanded its line into home goods, releasing the Superior Life Goods capsule collection of designed household accessories for fall. Following the launch of the brand’s newly designed website in September, this move sees the label moving beyond cult fashion status into a greater lifestyle entity.
Inspired by creative director Christopher Stamp’s ability to find art in the ordinary, the collection of monochromatic household products and tools perfectly integrates aspects of modern design with utility. Decorative furnishings including an explicit welcome mat, incense, candles, and a coffee table art book will give your home the instant bold Stampd treatment. Elsewhere, a butterfly knife, lighter, and branded measuring tape among other tools elevate the mundane with a sleek makeover that highlights functionality.
The Stampd Superior Life Goods collection is available online now. Peek some items below.
“Jijibaba is a Japanese term for Grandma or Grandpa, but for me it’s also a word that a child could say easily. So for me, it’s like the beginning and the end of life. It’s playful,” declared Jaime Hayon, product designer and co-founder of menswear label Jijibaba, at the launch of his collection in Dover Street Market New York.
Since its global reveal at London Design Week, the brand has quickly become a surprise hit among industry insiders. Designed by European industrial designers Jaime Hayon and Jasper Morrison, the pair’s debut collection has received enthusiastic response despite neither coming from a fashion background.
We spoke to Hayon to learn more about his first venture into menswear, challenging the traditional fashion cycle, and the future of the ‘why-not?’ brand.
To start, you and Jasper don’t even consider Jijibaba to be a fashion line.
Mmhm. Some items might not be permanent, but some of them will — we don’t have a specific seasonal idea. If you design a collection by the season, you already determine the life and death of the product. Sometimes you find something you love, then it’s immediately unavailable — it’s not because people are tired of it, but because the fashion cycle is a tool that makes people want to renew their clothing constantly. We don’t work like that — we tell people we will introduce the clothing when it’s ready. There’s not a summer or winter collection, this is just how we do things.
Do you want to continue working with people who don’t have a fashion background?
Yeah, that’s the idea. For now, we want people that don’t see fashion as fashion. For us, to have a completely virgin approach is what we want. When I designed the patterns on some of the shirts — I made some drawings with pencils — when I was in the factory the guy didn’t know what to think. It was a novel approach to him. In my opinion, being unfamiliar with the matter makes you more creative on the matter.
Do you have any plans to expand into womenswear?
Absolutely! We just gotta get a woman on board who wants to make some nice clothes. We have some people in mind, people that are making amazing stuff like furniture and even graphic designers. I don’t wanna keep only the industrial point of view, we eventually want a graphic designer or artist to come on board and do something great. The other day I was looking at an incredible glass-blower. I was looking at the color that he used and I asked ‘what would you do for us?’ and immediately he had an idea. So we’re very open. And there’s still shoes to do, glasses, accessories… there’s a lot of possibilities.
And no pressure to rush it out anytime soon.
Yeah, we’re seeing what people like from this collection. Obviously some people in the fashion business are surprised by what we do. Even our clothing rack system is quite interesting because we can mount it in different ways — it’s completely modular. It’s actually the first thing Jasper and I have designed together.
After debuting your collection at Dover Street Market London and now New York, are you interested in opening up a permanent space?
Why not? For sure — we will. We already have a design for it. We’re gonna need space. The ability to make anything — clothing and products, etc — is like why not? We’re a ‘why-not’ operation, which is interesting in terms of proposing something that people might not be used to in the fashion world. This is why we’re here at Dover Street Market. For us to be here is an honor. But I talked to them for 5 minutes and they loved the idea – they said ‘you guys are different, and we like that.’
As summer comes to a close and the world prepares for the dark embrace of fall and winter, it’s time to take some consideration the post-summer hair damage. Sun exposure can lead to dryness and the colder months aren’t much better — find out how to keep your hair healthy and moisturized all season long with a few key products below.
Image: Sans [ceuticals].
For post-summer damage, try Sans [ceuticals]’ Moisture + Protein Infusion spray. The serum is equipped with proteins, vitamin B, and Keratrix — a natural active ingredient that restores damaged hair — that all help strengthen hair fibers to keep them healthy and moisturized during the dryer months. Additionally, the Nourishing Hair Hydratant is also equipped with ingredients like sunflower seed extracts, which prevents breakage and promotes growth — perfect combination against harsh winter conditions.
Image: Fig + Yarrow.
Dryer months can lead to grooming pests like dandruff, and when you wear dark colors the evidence is all too clear. Denver-based skincare company Fig + Yarrow offer a simple solution with their Hair + Scalp tonic. This rich oil is full of moisturizing properties like coconut oil, argan and avocado extracts, designed to penetrate deeply into the hair and scalp — a moisturized scalp is the key to eliminating and preventing dandruff.
Image: Maapilim.
Finish off your look with a simple product — Maapilim offers a Hair Paste pomade that provides a strong hold with a natural appearance and moisturizes the hair. The product is water-based, meaning minimal buildup and efficient abilities in protecting against hat hair.
British designer Erdem and fast-fashion juggernaut H&M have revealed their fall capsule collection. This collaboration marks the designer’s, renowned for his romantic floral womenswear since launching his namesake label in 2005, first venture into menswear. The label’s heritage is evident in the traditional silhouettes and utilitarian structure of the garments which feature an array of muted plaids and other printed patterns. Elsewhere, floral prints and ruffled collared shirts add a modern Victorian element to a dark and elegant menswear collection — a marrying of elements perfect for seasonal transition.
The collection will be available at H&M stores and online on November 2.
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