Acne Studios takes the emoji to the next level with its newest capsule collection, just in time for the app’s update. Inspired by the everyday object’s transformation into an emoji, the Swedish brand adds a little dimension to these pictograms. Hyper-detailed versions of emoticons—like bananas, microphones, and donuts—are embroidered in large-scale on crew-neck sweatshirts. Other versions include subtler patched on faces, pig snouts, and everyone’s favorite bad-day-emoji-of-choice, emblazoned with an appropriately apathetic face. The hot dog gets special treatment, getting a more graphic representation on T-shirts and sweaters.
Acne Studios’ new collection is now available in stores and online.
Frank + Oak enhances its visual identity and overall ethos through a newly-transformed mobile app, website, and store concept that allows consumers 24/7 personal styling and 2-hour deliveries in select markets, among other features. The transition comes from a high-speed year of 13 store openings—including its first international brick-and-mortar—and amped up products and online services. Externally, the clean design includes minimal typography, suggested featured products, a fresh color palette, and a brand new logo, the “step up,” while in-store programming ranges from a new merchandizing plan—products will now be grouped in four distinct zones—to lifestyle supplements in the form of lounge areas and one-on-one appointments. “Every change we’re making is considered and only in the service of making the experience better,” said Frank + Oak CMO Eric Alper in a statement. “Our brand transformation is not merely a visual change: it’s about owning our purpose.”
Since 1998, the company has been sharing its distinctive take on the world through carefully compiled city guides, offering tasteful selection of addresses, city walks, and various cultural events, produced by a team of 50 editors, translators, copy editors, production experts, as well as noted photographers. Now, each guide will be available from Apple’s App Store—listing almost 500 updated addresses—which allows you to personalize your traveling experience by searching all nearby businesses by location or topic, create and view favorites, and even send a postcard from the guide’s gallery of pictures. Joining the new app, Louis Vuitton has produced a small leather case with the monogram pattern, designed to protect iPads and smart phones.
The app will be downloadable for free on the App Store starting tomorrow, November 5, 2015.
Louboutinize, verb: To impart the joyous spirit of Christian Louboutin. So states the latest development from shoe design label Christian Louboutin: Louboutinize. The new photo filter app, soon to be popping up on Instagram feeds worldwide, is both an ode to the Louboutin past and a jump to the Louboutin future, joining the ranks of high-fashion labels releasing apps for further consumer interaction (see: Armani Sounds). Energized by a flashing bolt of electricity upon loading, the app features a live feed of global uploads, each sporting the designer’s signature red-lacquered footwear or photography inspired by the Louboutin name. Available exclusively for iPhone users with new filters expecting to drop at regular cadence (including one designed for Louboutin Homme), the app provides an easy upload to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for those who, as the app so eloquently states, want to Louboutinize!
Gone are the days of the single faceted fashion label, as Giorgio Armani’s proactive boost in lifestyle enterprises reaches impressive new heights. While the new made to measure campaign takes the advertising world by storm, the Italian fashion house is not sitting idly back. With a state-of-the-art, high-end residential complex currently in development for Beijing, music-streaming app poised to burst onto the Apple Music/Tidal playing field, and a brand new exhibition space, the Armani lifestyle brand is more integrated and overtly extensive than ever before.
Image: Armani.
The new Smart Hero-Central Park Plaza Residences, a collaborative effort between luxury furnishings subdivision Armani/Casa Interior Design Studio and Smart Hero Group, will be part of the largest urban park in Asia when construction completes, as well as the leading green building complex in China through environmental integration with the nearby Chaoyang Park. The Beijing residency will join the already lucrative Armani Hotel chain, which boasts upscale locations in both Dubai and Milan, and supplement the ever-growing Armani property sector
Image: Armani.
The residence, voted one of the “Top 10 Contemporary Buildings in China” by China’s Ministry of Culture, is designed by Ma Yansong and boasts an impressive peak and slop exterior design, mixing Western design with Eastern philosophy. As with any Armani property, the brand oversees all aspects of the interior and style design, including the specially created furniture pieces by the Armani/Casa collection, and will blend seamlessly with the established aesthetic already curated in the previous properties.
Image: Armani.
The lifestyle presence extends even further through Emporio Armani Sounds, the latest tech effort that combines the exhilarating world of fashion with the world-class audio of Spotify, adding to Armani’s digital space. Branching off of the fashion brand’s DJ series, Emporio Armani Sounds x Standard Sounds—whose Vol. 2 occurrence closed last fall’s New York Fashion Week— the app showcases EA’s rich world of music and features performances, handpicked playlists, and interviews by artists like Mark Ronson, Calvin Harris, and La Roux. Armani-produced fashion content will go live on the app on a weekly basis and users will be able to discover what songs are playing in nearby Emporio Armani stores instantly.
Image: Armani.
After 40 years of continued operation and growth, the brand also celebrates with a new Milan-based exhibition, Armani/Silos, a four-floor dedicated space, that chronicles the numerous themes and inspirations of the brand. Including daywear, exoticisms, color-schemes, and light, important moments from the label’s history are housed in the converted ’50s storage facility and nestled in a honeycomb layout that is arranged by aesthetic relation.
While Armani/Silos is currently open and Emporio Armani Sounds is available now for both iOS and Android devices, the Smart Hero-Central Park Plaza Residences is projected to complete construction in 2017.
In partnership with innovation company AKQA, German writing utensil specialists Montblanc introduce the ScreenWriter app, a new digital experience that compliments the brand’s StarWalker Extreme ScreenWriter pen, enabling one to sketch, take notes, and express thoughts on a tablet with the precision, elegance, and style expected of Montblanc’s instruments. The app allows users to compose free-hand messages directly onto the iPad in a range of nibs, inks, and paper styles to easily customize and share personal messages.
Image: Montblanc.
Given Montblanc’s long history in pen-and-paper, these innovations mark a distinct step into tech for the storied brand. By bestowing its renowned expertise onto forward-thinking products, Montblanc establishes itself as a force in the ever-expanding world of writing technology.
The StarWalker Extreme Screenwriter is available online, and the ScreenWriter iPad app is available for free download now.
Give your smartphone a glimpse into the legendary world of Hermès by downloading the brand’s new interactive mobile application entitled Tie Break. The fun and informative app—which hit Apple and Android app stores this morning—targets the man on the move, and is intended to give users a random dose of the French fashion brand’s newest collections and patterns, as well as a whimsical view into its men’s silk universe. With the pull of Hermès’ signature orange-colored tie, the app reveals one of seven “breaks,” which include animated gifs, video arcade games, funny phrases, as well as how-to’s (the tutorial on knotting a tie is particularly helpful). Users can even post the results of their luxurious experiences on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook. Along with the new app, literal ties from the house’s upcoming Spring/Summer 2015 will don QR codes located on the back of specially marked pieces, enabling users fast access to to the mobile program. Ideal for those times when you’re waiting for a car, in a tragically long line for lunch, or to keep from dosing off at a boring meeting at work, Hermès’ Tie Break will ensure your jam-packed day is infused with a little style.
Tie Break is available for Apple and Android devices now.
Download the Tommy Hilfiger App and watch the Hilfigers come to life when you scan the Tommy Hilfiger ad featured on the back cover of our May/June 2013 issue. Download the official Tommy Hilfiger app and experience it now.
