Slotting neatly in between the lifestyle brand adidas Originals and the sport-inspired luxury label Y-3, adidas SLVR is a collection of innovative pieces – pure, streamlined in form and stripped of excess. Even the SLVR logo echoes these key elements in a reduction to three clean and parallel bold strokes. So in love are we with SLVR’s clean shapes and fluid lines that we’ve partnered adidas to launch the very first SLVR pop-up store in Asia Pacific.

Located on Level3@ Front Row, the store-in-store reflects the brand’s contemporary design elements within the minimal functionality of the space, characterised with a balance of raw wood and polished steel.

The SLVR store-in-store launches with its A/W09-10 collection - a smart, pared down, subtle affair with poplin, organic cotton and water-resistant nylon in the brand’s signature shade, gun metal grey, and simple black with strong accents of dark bordeaux, cobalt blue and lime green.

Simple and unassuming, say ‘hello’ to a collection of everyday essentials that ask to be layered, combined and rearranged in infinite ways.

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Here’s a gorgeous video of SLVR’s FW09/10 campaign to get you started.

The adidas SLVR pop-up store launches at Level3@ Front Row from 11 September 2009 | 5 ann siang road

www.adidas.com/slvr

SLVR offers creative solutions for the production process which also take the environment into consideration. The Zero Waste Tee is produced in only three steps and its interlocking pattern creates absolutely no waste.

With an eye to the environment, SLVR products reduce complexity. The Seven Piece shoe is made of only seven pieces (most sneakers use 25-30) that are stitched together instead of using environmentally aggressive glue.

The S/S09 collection of Raf Simons x Dr Martens is now 20% off. Keep an eye on the iconic 3-eye shoe and heroic mandals in chromo leather and wet patent; finished with a red welt stitching and signed off with the Raf Simons signature on the footbed.  Also look out for the same Raf Simon’s attitude and mood translated into Dr Martens in the upcoming A/W09 collection. It will be pewter, gold, brassy… and amazing.

Raf Simons x Dr Martens S/S09 is now 20% off at Front Row | 5 ann siang road

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I have a fascination for taxidermy. I do… I think it’s absolutely beautiful. I once wandered into a taxidermy shop in North London and it was filled with the most amazing jungle of stuffed animals. Peacocks, beavers, bears, birds, fishes - I felt like Alice in the rabbit hole of morbid Wonderland. And before you judge me or go all Peta warfare on me, taxidermy can be done ethically. Some say it’s a new form of Memento Mori (latin for ‘remember you shall die‘, a genre of art that serves to remind people of their own mortality.) That excuse aside, artistic taxidermy doesn’t need to be cruel.

A case in point: Reid Peppard, a london-based designer uses taxidermy in her accessories line, RP/Encore, but only with creatures that were victims of roadkill, pest control, or those that died from natural death. Her only exceptions are ‘feeder rats’ (rats that are bred and killed for the sole purpose of feeding snakes).

“RP/ENCORE challenges our attitudes towards fur, leather and waste.  In a world where leather is worn with out question by most, and replaced by un-biodegradable plastics by the rest, it is ironic that the image of an animal preserved using taxidermy is still enough to cause widespread outrage and fist banging. It is for this reason I taxidermy the prolific, consequential vermin result of London’s excess.  A member of the UK’s Guild of Taxidermists, I use both traditional and alternative methods of taxidermy to preserve and embellish creatures that are widely thought disgusting and unnecessary. When they become sculptural headpieces, necklaces and cuff-links, the specimens cease to be waste and become objects to behold. RP/ENCORE makes use of the city’s leftovers.” (Source: Kingdomofstyle)

And btw, she’s a vegetarian.

RP/Encore is both abrasive and fascinating in equal measure. The Vermin collection features a Rat Bowtie - literally a leather bow tie with the corpse of a white mouse’s head protruding from the center (morbidly cute, actually). Large White Rat Wrist Chain is a good-sized taxidermized rat that dangles from your wrist (I can imagine twirling this to good screaming effects at the bus stop). Slightly grisly and a tad diabolical though is the Large White Rat Coin Purse - you put your change in the rat’s belly (lined with black velvet).

Read more of Reid Peppard’s motivations in her interview with DazeDigital.

Speaking of which, I had a sneak preview of the new MELISSA A/W10 shoes. It had a plastic-fied rat that lay across the straps as a design feature… It’s as quirky as it is ethically correct. Boss refuses to buy them for the store. Tsk tsk, what a waste. They are too cute. Running a petition to get this in.

Image source: Hermès

Hermès is calling in the recession. The luxury house’s Collier de Chien cuff bracelet can now be yours - free, with a little effort and glue. Possibly one of the most knocked-off cuffs, you can stave off buying the fake and make your own in any pretty paper you fancy. Simply download the pdf, cut along the lines, and follow the step-by-steps.

Make your paper Hermès Collier de Chien bracelet here.

And don’t they have humour. The flash to the pdf gratifies the less fortunate with a knowing line: “I want it, I’ll have it!” Easy, you get the iconic dog collar cuff bracelet in paper. Nevertheless, the helpful suggestions are some very good looking examples when made out of graph, purple tartan, or water-colour splashed pattern paper. Art Attack gone haute!

As luxury brands would go, the Hermès website is a bit of a pleasant surprise - fun things packaged in both luxe and wit. Alongside the usual run through of the brand’s history and iconic products, they’ve allowed bandwidth for quirks such as a charming, stop-motion animation of an aeroplane assembled from the distinctive Hermès orange boxes, and a classic fruit jackpot slot game using its Fruits and Arche de Noé wallets.

Progressive luxury branding that makes for a fun click-around. Yay! I’m youthful, not rich yet, but I’m impressed.

Japanese art and fashion initiative Cosmic Wonder Light Source has seemingly taken its A/W09 collection to a prairie where the knowing gather to diffuse light. Find melange knitted pullovers paired with patched denim;  softly worn madras checkered shirts, decked with a jaunty bow tie, and tiled mosaic pattern dresses that sometimes have circular plastic and foil screen printed on. Welcome to Alternative Prairie Fashion Week. Not the easiest pieces to wear perhaps, but if you could… the light is yours.

Cosmic Wonder Light Source 3 A/w09 is available at Front Row | 5 ann siang road

The pictures finally came in. A rather long wait since the runway show took place at the 72-13 Resuscitation exhibition last month…

There’s so much to look forward to from Woods & Woods though. Its A/W09 collection is an antidote to banal design; Woods & Woods heightens national design pride with its traditional tailoring techniques updated with male/female interplays in its A/W collection. Featuring mostly menswear, the collection is a robust autumnal palette of heather greys, roasted browns, , true blacks and white washes, accented by surprises of jade bottle green and canary yellow.

The tailored jacket and the shirt-full-of-hidden-details is a constant feature in the Woods & Woods’ signature, and designer Jonathan Seow has made his key A/W statement in these. New jacket silhouettes moved from tapered oblongs to boxy to cropped.  And none were left to fend on their own as the look intended is only a look when paired and layered with a shirt peeping from behind a collarless jacket and paired with exposed, reflective zips and inner seams on rolled-up trousers - recalling those worn by courier cyclists (though the press release says the collection is inspired by Russian Constructivism).

The pieces that craned a few necks in the audience were a jacket with a shawl lapel that crossed over each other, and a canary yellow cropped jacket with a white funnel collar - adorable on the boy-model with the pout and jawline. “Morning…”

Shirts were given the block treatment with contrasting fabrications that went from  cotton to wet-look coated silk, or made merry with clever pocket details. There was particular interest in a sheer viole collarless shirt worn under a coated-silk gilet that fastened with a zip and traditional button loops, traditionally used on the pockets inside jackets.

This is a preview of the collection and not available in-store yet. Watch this space in the coming weeks though. We are optimistic about its arrival.

Savings first!

The French anti-brand is now on sale at Front Row. No better time to gather a couple of well-edited, simple casuals that make for efficient styling.

The Spring/Summer 2009 collection is now at 30% off (excluding A.P.C denim), while past seasons’ items are a further 60%-70% off.

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The A.P.C sale takes place from now till 31st August.

Front Row | 5 ann siang road

These are amazing….

Was updated to this gem of cool from postings that’s been making shared-rounds on FB. Could be huge, could be of cult value, maybe not…doesn’t ney matter!

Talk about royal satchel lineage: these Cassette clutches are made by Corto Moltedo, a luxury bags label designed by Gabrielcorto Moltedo (his family owned Bottega Veneta before PPR bought it into its luxe stable). The flagship’s store in Paris, with a pop-up store due to pop at Galarie Lafayette but there are ways to get this without chalking up carbon footprint. Via the Mayor of Asia apparently….

Word is it’s available in patent bubblegum orange, gold/ blue/pink lame and a slew of other colors - enough for every day of the week/month…including a new one that’s pink nappa. PINK NAPPA! Just the SKU description is enough to make you go all valley-girl-speak: CUTENESS!

Image source: Corto.com