The Shoe Surgeon tries his hand at another Yeezy Boost, this time reupholstering the Kanye West-designed sneaker with luxe materials. This custom Yeezy Boost 350 has been handcrafted with quilt-patterned and red lamb leather in a bright red and gray colorway
Balenciaga drops its newest line. This utilitarian-inspired menswear range was put together even before Demna Gvasalia’s appointment, in a similar manner to the seasonal women’s collection. Despite being dominated by a series of earthy hues, the impressive combination of dramatic cuts and intricate details render the garments more dynamic than the muted tones may suggest at first glance. Overall, the balanced display of contemporary silhouettes and more traditional menswear staples suggest Balenciaga’s future looks very bright.
Since the astounding success of Kanye West’s 2013 Yeezus tour, tour merchandise has become streetwear’s hottest commodity with the likes of Drake, Travis Scott, and most recently Justin Bieber following suit. With tour-related product consistently selling out at official pop-up stores across the U.S., this segment of fashion has become a fully-fledged business in its own right. And in the same way that the Yeezus wordmark appropriated the band logo of iconic heavy metal band Metallica, so have its imitators reached back into the distinct typography of heavy metal culture to add an element of false nostalgia and historical gravitas to their respective franchises. In doing so, however, the aesthetic of heavy metal has duly been sequestered for the profit of streetwear accounts that have no precedent in the subculture. Read on for our list of streetwear’s most prominent examples.
Jun Takahashi debuts the corresponding range for his JohnUNDERCOVER line. Comprised of more minimal and basic street-infused menswear pieces, the brand’s forthcoming collection is highlighted by reinterpretations of the military, varsity and coach jacket, which have been juxtaposed with cozy wool attires, oversized blazers and color-blocked henley shirts.
MIDNIGHT STUDIOS has officially unveiled its entire “ADORED” collection on its website. Whilst retaining the punk and youth spirit from its previous collections, Shane Gonzales demonstrates his progression as a designer with the inclusion of more cut-and-sew pieces and lesser emphasis on graphics. Highlights include a PVC layered leather jacket, asymmetrical tees with elongated sleeves, a grungy take on the varsity jacket and button-down shirts detailed with a self-tie belt.
Fledging streetwear brand Youth Of Paris highlights its most recent “Leave Me Alone” capsule range in a new editorial. Shot around La Madeleine in the French capital, Alex Lopez‘s latest drop is comprised of graphic tees and intricately embroidered hoodies and caps, which have been styled along with select items from FAITH CONNEXION‘s forthcoming fall/winter 2016 release, most notably a jumpsuit, sleeveless vest and distressed denim pieces.
Kanye West has released a limited edition crew neck in honor of Kobe Bryant and his retirement.
DONDA has updated Kanye West‘s online merchandise shop with the artist’s new long-sleeved crewneck top that pays tribute to LA Lakers legend Kobe Bryant. Kobe just closed his last game with 60 points, the very game Kanye was spotted wearing this shirt at, which sports the team’s bright yellow and royal purple colors with “I FEEL LIKE KOBE” across the chest and “THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME / MAMBA DAY / KOBE BRYANT / LOWER MERIONS FINEST” on the back to commemorate the beloved athlete.
Sports Illustrated has unveiled its list of the 50 most fashionable and stylish athletes, as decided by a panel of sports and fashion experts.
Victor Cruz of the New York Giants took the #1 spot, with Russel Westbrook in #2
Notable names include Cristiano Ronaldo, New York Rangers goalkeeper Hendrik Lundqvist, Russell Westbrook, Serena and Venus Williams, David Beckham and other fashionable individuals from all over the wide world of sport.
I attended the Magic Convention this Week at the Las Vegas Convention Center. I attended two seminars. The first was CREATING AUTHENTICITY FOR YOUR BRAND, DEVELOPING YOUR LIFESTYLE, AND GETTING YOUR MESSAGE OUT. The speakers were very inspiring and knowledgeable. The speakers were:
They both had created very authentic brands, and both catering to their beliefs and the community. Matthew built a scarf brand from basically nothing. He started out by making scarfs for homeless people and friends, and then it just grew and grew and he now has employees and a store in Venice Beach. He was very inspiring because his brand was a representation of his beliefs and himself. He wants to help his community, and help the world in a bigger scheme of things. He says it is important to keep your brand’s integrity by being true to yourself and doing what you love will be what drives you each day. Also he says it is important to be authentic to your values, and your scale. He doesn’t compromise his values for a bigger payday or order, and he likes to be at the center of everything in the company. His community and lifestyle keep his brand authentic, and keeps him happy with what he is doing. I thought his words were very important for a start up designer or business of any sort.
The next seminar was about INTERACTIVE BRAND STRATEGY. The speakers were:
This seminar was somewhat interesting, because I felt I am pretty good at social media already, but it was interesting to see the statistics of things. The most important thing I took away from this was that you MUST have clean distribution of your products. You must sell to trusted buyers, and know exactly where your product will end up. If you don’t you will find your product everywhere being sold at different price points and probably not marketed correctly, and this could create a bad representation of your product. They also explained how and when to get into Amazon, since it controls like 60% of online shopping. The rest of the seminar was about Facebook, Ebay, Instagram and things like that, which are fairly simple concepts to me. You just want to create something you believe in for your brand, and continue to push that concept and give followers what they want.
Our next challenge was to find 5 examples of surface design on garments. I was at the WWD portion of the convention, which seemed like a lot of ready to wear, bohemian style clothing. Less of crazy designer stuff. A lot of the surface design I came across was embroidery, beading, and dyes. 
Vogue Magazine has named mesh as a top 20 trend for Spring/Summer 2015. From left to right they featured Balenciaga, Calvin Klein Collection, and Versace. The trend was also spotted in Alexander Wang, Proenza Schouler, Dolce & Gabbana by Vogue.
see rit 