Hint Tip: Atelier

We can't give away too much, but we suspect you'll know know what to do if we just tell you that Atelier New York, that dark horse of men's boutiques (Rick Owens, Undercover, Julius, Ann Demeulemeester), is having a relocation party on December 11, with a special performance by experimental-folk artist Scott Mou. But if you can't wait that long, the new store at 304 Hudson will be open starting December 2. Who needs mirth and merriment for the holidays when you can have distressed leather and chunky silver jewelry?

Hint Tip: Uniqlo

UNIQLO, the Japanese brand that brought cheap cashmere to the masses, needs your help. After winning the 2008 Cannes Lions Grand Prix award in advertising (not to be confused with that other Cannes), they've been asked to produce the official T-shirt for the same awards next year. So they've set up a competition and invited people from all over the world to design it. As long as the theme is the lion, the mascot of the festival (because it's persuasive?), the tee can be whatever you want. The top ten entries will be sold in UNIQLO stores and the winning design will be distributed to the esteemed guests of the 2009 Cannes Lions award ceremony in June.

The Beat Goes On

Belgian-born designer Natalia Brilli, who makes accessories by wrapping things in taut black lambskin, introduces her dark sensibility to Art Basel Miami with a rock band from beyond the grave. For the installation at Alchemist boutique (438 Lincoln Road)—before it travels to Barneys New York, Park in Vienna, Reborn in Montreal and so on—she's encased three skeletons (each one took 500 hours!), a drum set, guitar, amp and mic in her signature black leather. It's kind of like the Grateful Dead, but without all the unfortunate tie-dye...

Hint Tip: Frédérique Daubal

Our crazy French friend Frédérique Daubal—a graphic artist who's collaborated with colette, Palais de Tokyo and yours truly—has launched an e-shop, selling an assortment of odd things like stripy tube tops and I Hate Xmas pins...

Sink or Swiss

Our Zurich style correspondent PLAY on the Swiss Textiles Awards...

Bless the weird and wonderful imagination of Rodarte sisters Laura & Kate Mulleavy, whose go-go gothic vision—roughly resembling a pillow fight between a fairy-tale princess and Edward Scissorhands—won the 2008 Swiss Textiles Award. Who says dark times don't come with happy endings—and hefty prize money (100,000 euros)? Besides, you can't argue with a Vogue cover and Anna Wintour's nod of approval.



I had the opportunity to follow all the nominees, from fittings to the grand finale. It was amazing to watch Jean-Pierre Braganza spend hours perfecting his razor-sharp tailoring. Louise Goldin's extraterrestial knits and Richard Nicoll's pastel futurism blew me away. Throw in special guests Angela Missoni and Patricia Field, plus a judging panel that included i-D's Terry Jones, and you can see why global fashion villagers keep jetting to Zurich.


Richard Nicoll / Louise Goldin / Jean-Pierre Braganza

Last year's winner, Marios Schwab, treated us to an after-party aptly held in the old stock exchange, which brings us to the miserable world economy. Next year, the Swiss Textiles Awards will be celebrating its 10th anniversary—with past winners including Bruno Pieters, Bernhard Willhelm and Raf Simons, it will no doubt be a grand retrospective. But is the proverbial party over? It'll be a good opportunity to sober up, shed some weight and get a facelift.

And now, I humbly offer a tip to the organizers. Please no more monster shows. It really is quite hard, even for the most hardened fashion insider, to drum up enthusiasm for a two-and-a-half-hour runway show, even with Patricia Field's high-octane glam troopers. True, it's Switzerland, but even dry-as-bone bean counters lust for drama.

Taking Up Arms

Here at the Hint Blog, we dutifully refrain from regurgitating other stories and press releases. We think you're smarter than that. But this announcement, from our Icelandic friend Sruli Recht—who we first introduced you to a few months ago when he debuted his incredible quilted boots, then again for his collapsible cutting table—deserves a reprint. Verbatim. You'll either love or hate the old-fashiony biblical verbiage, but you'll never look at umbrellas (or knuckle dusters) the same again...

"The Saga of The Umbuster is as follows...

During the second year of this millennium 3 cheap and rough plaster-moulded aluminium knuckle dusters were smuggled into Australia by post inside a hastily wrapped box. The sender [herein referred to as “illegal weapons trafficker”] advised of caution in the moving of such contraband through international waters. Though we got lucky. That time.

The dusters were retrofitted and custom bolted to the tube of a second-rate Indonesian-manufactured Rain Umbrella. Presented as part of the the second year University collection, the ‘accessory’ was prematurely dismissed as simply a weapon. The good and upright men of the Victorian Police briskly agreed.

The handle was further developed into an ergonomic unit inside the virtual world of a Nonuniform rational B-Spline program known as 3D Studio Max. This new Umbuster was to be for use in the Rainbow Transmission Holograms of Unfurl, an installation with Martina Mrongovius. The handle was exported to a CNC machine and subsequently routed. From that point the Umbuster has travelled oceans and flight paths in its attempt at non-product realisation.

The Umbuster is introduced to the house of Guy de Jean who agrees to option an umbrella. The .obj files are presented to Mr Liu whose talents provide the handle remade. The handle and umbrella make acquaintance and are in good spirits. A meeting with Snorri Már Snorrason ensues and the packaging is prepared. And so our product currently known as Umbuster is on its last leg.

Cut to Tokyo city, dawn of November 2008. The now tired first modelled Umbuster is on show to the Japanese at design fairs. And there, in Aoyama these two weeks back, the runner gave out. The long held protector of rain and wind is laid to rest. This information was made known by the Dane that carried it back to the economically torn Iceland."

Shop Girl

If you think you're the biggest fan of Comme des Garçons for H&M, you haven't seen this video of a 12-year-old girl rapping about it. "Rei Kawakubo, can I be your friend? Rei Kawakubo, stalker fan letters I will send..."

School of Thoughtfulness

The good vibes started a couple of years ago when Marni asked under-privileged children in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Tibet, India and other countries to make crayon portraits of themselves, then printed the colorful results on holiday shopping bags. Last year Marni went further by producing and selling T-shirts made from the drawings, with proceeds benefitting the kids' schools. This year Marni asked children to paint themselves in an imaginary world directly on cotton shopping bags, five of which have been made into tees and tanks, again with proceeds going toward schools and hospitals...

Get Your Sneak On

By Lee Carter...

"The closest thing I have to a dress shoe is a pair of black ostrich lace-up sneakers," said Alexander Wang at the Nike Sportswear store at 21 Mercer Street just days before winning the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund in womenswear. "I don't really follow the usual dress codes for formal events. I think the most important thing is to feel comfortable. We're not in the Titanic days anymore."

Clearly Nike Sportswear knew what it was doing when it invited Alex to custom-design his own Air Force 1 kicks (other styles to roll out soon) in a new service called NikeiD Bespoke, exclusive to the Mercer outlet. My own appointment came later, so I tagged along to observe and advise Alex as he worked one-on-one with Nike's Design Director, Jesse Leyva, who gave us quite the education. Did you know Nike invented the word deubré for those little shoelace tags?

Alex moved quickly and intuitively, flicking through all 80-something swatches in a blur of denim, suede, leather and reflective materials—like an ambulance speeding down Santa Monica Boulevard. He settled on a mostly monochromatic mix of black croc skin for the upper, black patent leather for the Swoosh and in back a spotted gray/white pattern called Safari, which was introduced way back in 1987 by legendary Nike designer Tinker Hatfield.

"I had no idea what I was going to do coming in," Alex said, "but I always seem to gravitate toward the same aesthetics, whether it's my own collection, an interior or whatever. I go for tone-on-tone combos and I love graphic and textural qualities."

Every detail took on monumental importance. We gasped in horror when mock-ups came back showing red threading we thought might look interesting, but so obviously wasn't. The correction was made pronto and conversation returned to an amaaaaazing zipper on a windbreaker (which he bought) and how Michael Phelps is kind of dorky in real life, when he's not winning multiple gold medals.

At one point Alex asked Jesse if a large metal brush he saw on the wall behind us could be used to distress the shoes after they arrived in four weeks. Hmmm, does this mean we can expect distressed Wang sneakers in the future? "Maybe. It takes the wait away from breaking in your sneakers. Nothing looks worse than brand-spanking new sneakers." This must be true because I looked down at his feet and saw scruffy old Nikes probably from the year he was born.

Chanel on the Brain

More from Rebecca Voight's convo with Karl Lagerfeld at the Monnaie de Paris...

Lagerfeld says he "helped out" Anna Mouglalis with her costumes for the role of Chanel in the upcoming biopic "Chanel and Stravinsky, L'Histoire Secrete," directed by Jan Kounen. But he's much more excited about his own Chanel opus, to be screened in December as the opener to the house's Paris-Moscow Métiers d'Art pre-fall collection at Paris's Ranelagh theater. He cast Lithuanian model Edita Vilkeviciute (seen here), his latest discovery, as Chanel, along with the house muse Lady Amanda Harlech and her actress daughter Tallulah.

"It's a little Max Sennett type film," Lagerfeld explained to me (think flickering black and white silent slapstick), "about the life of Chanel from 1913 to 1923. And I've spliced in newsreel footage of WWI because I think it's interesting to juxtapose fashion with the horrible images of the trenches." He had originally planned to put the show on in Moscow, "but they (Russian customs) wanted to have the clothes three weeks in advance, which means we wouldn't have been ready and the situation seemed risky, so we cancelled."

Lagerfeld has recently returned from a visit to his new 1843 home away from home in Vermont, where he shot the Chanel spring campaign. He said he loves the house, which friends scouted for him. "It's perfect for all my Biedermeier furniture from my childhood days," he added. "I had to find somewhere to put it."

Showing the Money

By Rebecca Voight...

At least somebody's still making money these days. The Monnaie de Paris, the storied mint that churns out France's euro coins, went into full birthday mode on Wednesday to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the birth of Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, issuing a solid-gold coin with a face value of 5 euros, in reference to the house's iconic N°5 fragrance. The 5 oz. coin, limited to 99, features a Lagerfeld-made portrait of Chanel in trademark hat and pearls on one side and a quilted 5 on the other.

The cost for a gold coin is €5,900, but for those who find the price a bit steep in these copper-pinching times, the news from the mint is the coins have all been pre-sold—and we have a good idea who to. Anyway, the smaller silver coins are only €45. In total, the mint is issuing 11,900 pieces of Chanel money, which goes on sale December 1.

And so workwear-clad coin-makers milled with Paris paparazzi and fashion fanatics deep in the old Monnaie's workrooms while the gold heated up in the minting machine as we waited for the ever fashionably late Lagerfeld to arrive with France's Minister of Culture.

"Money sells," Lagerfeld later mused, after the first piece popped out of the machine. We then followed Chanel's Marie-Louise de Clermont-Tonnerre upstairs to the mint's gilt ballroom to quaff champagne before noon, of which Gabrielle would no doubt approve. As Karl Lagerfeld pointed out, "After 125 years, it's high time to celebrate."

Out of Africa

The Double Club, launching November 21, is the latest project from the Fondazione Prada. Conceived by German-Swedish artist Carsten Höller, the "influential environment," as he calls it, consists of a bar, restaurant and dance club in an old Victorian warehouse in London. By mixing contemporary art from the Congo (i.e. the stage dress of guitarist Luambo Makiadi, a painting by Mosengwo Kejwamfi) with that of the West (Andy Warhol, Carla Accardi, Olle Baertling), he aims to create a dialogue between the two worlds. But fusion, it is not...

Where There's Smoke

Here's a juicy little story for the ages. In 1964, Helmut Newton was hired to shoot the latest Courrèges collection exclusively for Queen magazine. Of course he was also working for French Vogue, and when they got wind of the exclusive, all Heloise broke loose and he was summarily fired. Until, that is, along came the next editrix-in-chief, Francine Crescent. Helmut considered his fashion work during her regime his best. Launching November 30 at the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin, Fired is an exhibition of these photographs. Read all about it after the jump...

Hint Tip: Surface to Air

Hint Tip: The Broken

Sean Ellis, the British fashion photographer who was everywhere in the late 90s (The Face, Arena Homme Plus, French & American Vogue, Numero, i-D and Harper’s Bazaar), in fact never went away. With his cinematic style, he just moved into filmmaking. First came commercials for Jean Paul Gaultier, Rimmel and Land Rover, followed by a few short films, including Cashback (nominated for an Oscar in 2006), which ultimately became his first feature, screened at Cannes. Now Sean wants you to know his second feature film, The Broken, will have its French debut on November 26. Fashion to horror films? It's actually makes perfect sense to us.

Meow!

Question: What did Peter Marino say at the Pin-Up party when floral artist (or florist, if you want to be all last-century about it) Tom Borgese presented a large bouquet of roses and calla lilies that had been spray-painted black, inspired by the fashion architect's famous leather outfits?

Answer: "That's the first bouquet I've seen that doesn't look like it was made by a pussy!"

(By the way, the party sponsor, Nicolas Feuillatte, is our new favorite champers. Damn tasty!)

photos JD Ferguson...

Peter Marino / Pin-Up's Felix Burrichter & artist Francesco Vezzoli


Emma Reeves, Felix Burrichter & Haidee Findlay-Levin / photographer Marcelo Krasilcic


photographer Xevi Muntane / Pin-Up's new issue

Hint Gallery: The Metal Ball

The Metal Ball, as we've cracked before, is not a bionic anything and has nothing to do with buns of steel. It's a remake of the Bauhaus Metallic Festival of 1929, when the seminal German school was wrapped in metallic materials and guests partied like it was, well, 1929. This year's event on Saturday was organized by Performa, the performance-art biennial...


Rufus Wainwright & boyfriend Jorn Weisbrodt / Cindy Sherman


PS1's Claus Biesenbach & Jesper Just / Andrew Andrew


Zac Posen / Anthony Hayden Guest

Nose Candy

Other than the venom-green walls of the elevator, color was scarce among the fashion set that gathered at the New Museum for the launch of Six Scents. Otherwise, with the olfactory collaboration between Seven New York, perfume factory Symrise and designers Gareth Pugh, Bernhard Willhelm, Preen, Jeremy Scott, Cosmic Wonder and Alexandre Herchcovitch wafting through the space, it might have been sensory overdose.

Let's just state for the record that the fragrances smell great. For his own take, I tracked down Seven's Joseph Quartana, who curated the designer list. Mostly he seemed relieved to have finally finished the store's first foray into the esoteric world of molecules, calling the project a "cherry-popper." Okay, and how has the response to the eaux de toilette been so far? The early winners are Preen and Gareth Pugh, who happened to be hosting the soiree, so I asked him what his favorite smell in the world was and if it had inspired his creation. His response was touchingly disarming: "Yes, that would be the smell of my boyfriend Carson's hair." Aww.

I then caught up with my old friend and downtown habitué Sophia Lamar, looking fantastic in an aubergine frock and shredded shoes of her own creation (now that's a positive recessionist measure). I asked her if she had a signature scent. Of course she does; she's forever been wearing Alexandra de Markoff perfume oil, which she mixes with Cacharel Pour Homme—you know, for that androgynous touch.

—Suleman Anaya


As Four's Gabi & Joseph Quartana


Gareth Pugh & Carson


The MisShapes

photos Eddie Newton/Stylesightings.com

Star Struck

By Sara Costello...

In Marco Perego's sculpture “The Only Good Rock Star Is a Dead Rock Star,” William Burroughs has shot Amy Winehouse in the head. He sits blank-faced with a rifle in his lap while Winehouse lies dead against a wall, a Minnie Mouse mask nearby. The work is part of the show “The Truth Is All of These Things. The Truth Is None of These Things. The Truth Is Some of These Things,” on view at Half Gallery, curated by tar magazine's Evanly Schindler. There is also a forthcoming book with an introduction by Carine Roitfeld.

Winehouse, of course, is a stand-in for Joan Vollmer, the wife Burroughs shot in the head during a game of William Tell in 1951. In an essay, art dealer John McWhinnie draws parallels between the two women, saying, “Both did stints in rehab, both were married to notorious drug addicts, both were artistically and intelligently gifted and operating in a man's world.” He goes on to say, ”Winehouse is on the verge of being rubbed out.”

For the Italian-born artist, it's more philosophical. “The French writer Arnaud says that the stars die for our sins. I see my William Burroughs/Amy Winehouse piece as an extension of that sentiment." For the record, Winehouse has just two years before she turns 27, when so many before her (Joplin, Morrison, Cobain and Hendrix, to name a few) chose to perpetuate their myths after death.

Comming to Blows

Rebecca Voight bought Comme des Garçons for H&M and lived to tell about it...

I lined up in front of H&M's Blvd Haussmann flagship in Paris half an hour before the 9:30 am opening yesterday and found myself surrounded by, and bonding with, a United Nations of Reiettes, as in devotees of Rei Kawakubo. A French girl in a black down jacket and red ballet flats, who'd been through this before when H&M collaborated with Viktor & Rolf, had already pre-shopped and priced her wish list online. A Japanese girl who works in Alber Elbaz's atelier at Lanvin, but who had the day off, worried she might collapse in the battleground we were about to enter. And during our entire vigil, a chain-smoking Belgian in head-to-toe Chanel, obviously part of an eBay gang, called friends in line in other European cities to compare conditions and fine-tune her buying strategy. Then a brawl ensued near us when a couple of Comme “fans" tried to crash the line and were ejected by the ferocious crowd.

Once inside it was like being on the set of Caligula. And, by all accounts, this year was tame compared to last year's Cavalli for H&M launch as apparently Comme des Garçons fans possess more decorum. But clearly that's relative. I witnessed clothes being trampled on by a diverse gaggle of style hounds and usually timid Japanese girls stripping between the racks of the men’s department to avoid the impossible lines for the fitting rooms.

Despite this, everyone in the store was happy. It was a slightly delirious happiness—like laughing gas. It wasn't long before the Metro was full of happy, mostly Japanese, customers clutching bags bursting with enough polka dots to make Yayoi Kusama jump for joy.

Hint Gallery: Claro Rio Summer

Natalia Vodianova, hubbie Justin Portman and their three kids just spent a weekend in Rio for the first annual Claro Rio Summer, the beach collections of Brazil’s hottest labels, masterminded by advertising exec Nizan Guanaes. It was also a model-lover's paradise as homegrown babes Isabeli Fontana, Michelle Alves, Fernanda Tavares, Izabel Goulart, Fernanda Motta, Ana Claudia Michels, Daiane Conterato, Barbara Berger and Viviane Orth stalked the runways. Even the front row was also a gift for the hysterical local press, with Valentino, Hamish Bowles, Hilary Alexander and Colette's Sarah Leffer hitting most of the shows and glittering dinner parties...


Valentino / Lady Gabriella Windsor


Ana Claudia & Isabeli @ Totem / Fernanda @ Isabela Capeto / Barbara @ Osklen


Hilary Alexander


Renata & Rojane @ Triya / Alex @ Carlos Miele


Daiane & Barbara @ Carlos Miele


Isabeli & Natalia / Michele @ Salinas


Natalia Vodianova & Hamish Bowles


Marcelle @ Rosacha / Isabela Capeto

Tokyo Street Style

photos by Rei Shito...


all: COSMIC WONDER Light Source



jacket, t-shirt & bag: HIRO
pants: Levi's
shoes: Dr. Martens



hat: vintage
one-piece & bracelet: Marjan Pejoski



left
coat: Drosofila
jeans: Gap

right
skirt: EGOIST
shoes: SANDRA



jacket: edit for lulu
pants: vintage
shoes: UNBILICAL
bracelet: Number (N)ine


photos by Rei Shito, aka STYLE from TOKYO

Terence Koh Revealed

When he's not plating shit in gold, splattering his semen on canvas or just carousing around, art-world bad boy Terence Koh likes to read French poetry and, well, carouse around. He opened up to Hint on the eve of Flowers for Baudelaire, a show of new (and his first) paintings at the former New York studio of Richard Avedon, presented by Vito Schnabel and France's First Brother Olivier Sarkozy. By Aric Chen

So what is Flowers for Baudelaire all about? Are there "flowers of evil" to be found here?
They're just a series of readymade canvases covered in corn syrup and then dusted with powdered sugar—the easiest paintings I can think of to make. I felt we needed something sweet for our moment right now in history. And yes, each painting is a flower. Each painting is evil. Each painting is a star in a universe. Making them was like making a Zen rock garden. Just raking sugar. Simple evil.

The show is at the former studio of Richard Avedon, famous for its cyclorama. Why there?
It's all about how Richard Avedon would see himself in a mirror. What would he do? Each painting is the eye of Richard Avedon. Not the black iris, just the white parts of the eyeball.



What's the Vito Schnabel connection?
We met through Stella Schnabel, his sister, who I met through Dash [Snow]. Everybody just meets everyone in New York if you have the will to make something in this city. We are kinda seeing each other, even though he's 100% straight and I have a boyfriend. We are like brothers, but without the guilt of genetics bearing down on us. We've known each other for more than two years and dating off and on for about a year now. We watch a lot of romantic movies together and he brings me to basketball games. I only go shopping with Stella, though. Vito doesn't really like to shop much, though I bought him a Juicy Couture sweater last week.

How is asianpunkboy [Koh's former alias], by the way?
He is my best friend. We have drinks at least once a week—Johnnie Walker Black Label on the rocks.

So what's next for you?
I hope to take the whole of next year off and do nothing, like go to Jamaica and rent a nice bungalow with all the modern amenities, except no TV and Internet. And just sit and read and go swimming and fishing in the sea, pick pretty seashells by the beach and read nothing but Marcel Proust.

—Aric Chen

Flowers for Baudelaire, November 13 - January 2009, 407 East 75th Street

Game Plan

In further proof of his enigmatic ways, notoriously shy Steven Meisel has just come out with a limited-edition jigsaw puzzle. Taken from his Patterns story for Italian Vogue, the 1000-piece puzzle is signed and numbered by the legendary lensman. $750 at Art + Commerce...

More Seoul street style from yourboyhood...

Kim Tae wook (29), designer

jacket _ Comme des Garçons Homme Plus
shirt _ Helmut Lang
pants _ Comme des Garçons Homme Plus
shoes _ Common Projects
bag _ Muji

homepage: www.cyworld.com/faketongue




Han Sang hyuk (37), creative director of MVIO

jacket _ vintage Yves Saint Laurent
cardigan _ UNIQLO
shirt _ BON
pants _ Muji
shoes _ Spris

homepage: www.brokenseven.com/blog/szabo




Yang Seung ho (22), Daily Projects buyer

jacket _ Patrik Ervell
cutoffs _ vintage
shoes _ Converse




yoc (38), designer

cardigan _ Stupid charrs
t-shirt _ Topman
pants _ Aem Kei




Lee Yun joung (33), stylist and EE bandmate / Lee Hyun joon (27), artist and EE bandmate

t-shirts _ vintage
jeans _ vintage / Levi's
shoes _ Momino / Moma

homepage: www.myspace.com/eetotalart


photographs by Hong Sukwoo, aka yourboyhood.com

Lighting Up

'Tis the season to be neon, at least judging from Gareth Pugh's Christmas tree installation in the Topshop flagship at Oxford Circus. Standing over nine feet tall, and with sixty white neon tubes, the tree brings together tradition and modernity in a way that "suits the mood at the moment," he says. "We are all looking to a brighter future." But wait, how come no gifts underneath?

Metal Filing

We know what you're thinking, but no, The Metal Ball is not a bionic anything and has nothing to do with buns of steel. It's a remake of the Bauhaus Metallic Festival of 1929, when the seminal German school was wrapped in metallic materials and guests partied like it was, well, 1929. C'mon, that was futuristic for the Twenties. And this time, The Metal Ball is organized by Performa, the performance art biennial that had Miuccia Prada enthralled last year. But wait, there's ore. Guests are asked to dress in metallics, which they can get at the Metal Shop—a pop-up store-within-a-store at Tribeca Issey Miyake selling the likes of Michael Kors, Puma and Patrick Ervell—through the day of the event on November 15. All of which is another way of saying the metallic trend is not over.

Hint Tip: Six Scents

The New Museum has it going on. Hot on the heels of their Elizabeth Peyton opening reception, where Marc Jacobs couldn't keep his hands off new squeeze Lorenzo Martone (and who can blame him?), comes the launch of Six Scents. We know you pored over our latest Beauty Duty, but just in case, Six Scents is the perfume collaboration between the scent masters at Symrise and six designers chosen by Seven New York. For the first in the annual partnership, the designers are Bernhard Willhelm, Alexandre Herchcovitch, Cosmic Wonder, Jeremy Scott, Preen and Gareth Pugh, who has hosting duties for the night...

Hint Tip: Bless

The notoriously shy Bless girls are cracking open their nutty world a little with a sample sale that includes every collection going back to the very first. That's right, pieces from collections N°01 – 34 can be yours: November 14 & 15 at 14 rue Portefoin, 75003, Paris. We've always had a soft spot for their fur wigs circa 1998...

Bike Curious

Now you can be green and chiffon pink and buttercup yellow. Acne's collaborative bikes with Bianchi, Italy's best-known bicycle-makers, are almost in stores. They're based on the original Pista racing model, first made 122 years ago...

Royal Flash

The run-up to the launch of Flash, a three-month pop-up restaurant in the Royal Academy of Art's regal new GSK space in London, has been well-publicized—as if its well-connected owners David Waddington and Pablo Flack, both of Bistrotheque fame, would have it any other way.

And with the launch on Saturday, the verdict is in: the hype is warranted. Not only were chef Tom Collins' creations delicious, but the guests—a tight-knit bunch—were in rare form. Giles Deacon and Katie Grand, who go back nearly twenty years with Waddington, were particularly chatty. Grand was likely still riding high on all the to-do surrounding Love, her new title with Conde Nast. But although she didn't let on if she knew who her replacement at POP would be, the rumor mill's list grows longer by the day, even if most people think trying to do POP without her would be impossible. But he/she who dares, wins. No?

Many of London's biggest fashion names were to be found across town at CSM course director Louise Wilson's OBE award celebrations, making Flash's pull all the more impressive. Arty types included everyone from the Int'l Herald Tribune's Alice Rawsthorne, megastar photographer Juergen Teller and his wife and gallerist Sadie Coles to the irreverent artist Simon Popper and trash art stars Tim Noble and Sue Webster. Also making an appearance was designer Bella Freud, daughter of the painter Lucian and great-granddaughter of the father of psychoanalysis. Rounding out the fashion contingent were Style.com's Tim Blanks, Nicki Bidder of Starworks, Dazed creative director Nicola Formichetti, i-D editor Ben Reardon, Arena Homme Plus' Jo-Ann Furniss and Lulu Kennedy of Fashion East, all of whom recognize that fashion is fueled by parties that aren't just big, but also big fun.

Following dinner, fashion's favorite bearded drag artist and playwright Johnny Woo hosted a spirited game of Gay Bingo. although everyone (see above) cheated. Woo and Grand's banter was funny, fashion types just don't argue with Grand. It's like having an inner policeman, Foucault-style.

—Daryoush Haj-Najafi

Hint Gallery: Halloween

Stylist Stevie Westgarth's Britney Spears-themed Halloween party in London. Polaroids by Bella Howard...


Gareth Pugh (center)