Converse, the shoe made for playing, has collaborated with Comme des Garçons PLAY, the label made for playing, to create four styles of the Converse Pro Leather sneaker. The court shoe that debuted in 1976 and evolved into an iconic lifestyle sneaker has evolved again, courtesy of Rei Kawakubo, to feature PLAY’s signature quirky heart-with-eyes logo placed randomly, ensuring uniqueness.
$130-140 at the Dover Street Market website (May 28), the Comme des Garçons store in NYC (May 28), Paris and London (June 1), Tokyo and throughout Asia (June 21)
Now brighter, lighter and more supple than ever, leather is increasingly the material of choice for summer...
1. Balmain mint green zipped biker jacket, $6075 at Ssense
2. Balenciaga fuchsia leggings, $1,595 at Net-a-Porter
3. Boudicca white Storm Trooper jacket, $2,397 at Patron of the New
4. Acne paneled metallic dress, $1,250 at Net-a-Porter
5. Carven lilac biker jacket, $1,295 at Bergdorf Goodman
6. Proenza Schouler perforated yellow skirt, $1,650 at Barneys New York
7. Rick Owens cream loose zip vest, $2,030 at The Corner
8. Marni sleeveless red coat, $1,900 at Net-a-Porter
9. Versus patent leather-bonded lace pink top, $715 at Ssense
10. Richard Nicoll color-block dress, $1,780 at Net-a-Porter
11. Miu Miu red bomber jacket, $2,990 at Net-a-Porter
12. Jean-Pierre Braganza pale blue biker vest, $1,680 at ODD
13. Rag & Bone neon cracked-leather biker jacket, $1,795 at Net-a-Porter
14. Jil Sander pale pink shift dress, $2,920 at Net-a-Porter
15. Givenchy red leather pants, $1,860 at the Webster via Farfetch
An idea so good it had to have occurred before, Vivienne Westwood has released Chaos, a limited-edition collection of slogan T-shirts based on her punk originals of the 70s. These were the ultimate DIY tees, essentially two jersey-cotton rectangles stitched together and emblazoned with any of a range of middle-finger sentiments.
The "Tits" and "Cowboy" prints harken back to Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s Kings Road shop, SEX, while the Chaos print comes from the fall '08 Gold Label collection and the Do it Yourself graphic hails from the spring '09 collection. That show communicated the perils of climate change, a cause Westwood continues to champion, as seen in the Climate Revolution tee from her recent spring '13 collection.
The new Chaos collection also pulls from Vivienne Westwood's jewelry and accessories archives. The penis-shaped safety pin from 1993 has been reissued, featuring the face of Queen Elizabeth with a safety pin (turned penis) through her mouth. The Seditionaries boots, based on the original boots Westwood made in the seventies that were worn by the Sex Pistols, have also been recreated.
Where were these when Gwyneth Paltrow went to the Met Gala?
Available at Vivienne Westwood in London (Worlds End), 430 Kings Road, and online.
Mukluks have nothing on Phoebe Philo's spring heels for Céline. You know the age of the reptilian shoe is over when you're slipping your feet into a bed of mink, like something out of a Flintstones' Easter egg hunt. And no matter how bizarre they are or how much of a toy they must look like to cats, they're the very height of luxury. Bonus: never again will you have pinched toes.
Around $5,000 at Céline stores
Are we witnessing the couture-ization of punk? Today, one day before the Met's Punk show opens to the public, the subject of the museum's greatest fashion spectacle in modern memory, the house of Alexander McQueen, announced the launch of a bespoke service. The news, coming just months after the men's flagship opened on the famed Savile Row in London, recalls the late designer's origins in bespoke, toiling for Anderson & Sheppard and Gieves & Hawkes before branching out on his own.
Here's how it works. Bespoke clients head down to a workroom in the store's basement, where they're measured by the label's head tailor, who hand-drafts and cuts the pattern. Following that, there are two or three more fittings over the next eight to ten weeks. Clients choose from an assortment of exclusive fabrics, prints and patterns, all of which is cut in the house style—which is to say a trim silhouette and a sharp pagoda shoulder, a McQueen signature. Prices start at £3,600 for a two-piece suit, and escalate briskly for three-piece suits, morning coats and so on.
Alexander McQueen men's, 9 Savile Row, London, W1S 3PF, +44 (0) 207 4948840
The last time Comme des Garcons had one of their "shopping festivals" in New York—which they call Market Market (so good they named it twice!)—the racks seemed to stretch forever in the vast Croatian Church on the West Side. People were given enormous shopping bags when they walked in, and often they needed more than one. Because when Comme is 70% off, one hoards.
Now comes the sequel, Market Market 2. Beginning May 10, Comme will once again put out their best old stock, all the brands under the Comme umbrella from the last eight seasons. As before, the merch is replenished and rotated each day, so no chance of shopping fatigue.
Comme des Garçons Market Market 2
May 10 - 13, 10 am - 7 pm (Sat: 12 - 8 pm)
127 W. 30th Street (between 6th and 7th Ave)
Like a cut-off tee for the eyes, these Miu Miu sunglasses all but guarantee long gawking from strangers. At first glance, the various sunnies in the spring capsule collection resemble regular cat-eyes, but with one key difference: they've been truncated, as if with a razor. Hence the name, Rasoir. Available in various combinations of black, white, pink, and tortoiseshell.
$320-355 at Miu Miu stores worldwide
Opening Ceremony has reopened its Tokyo flagship, decamping from its Shibuya location—which opened in 2009—to Omotesando. Giving Yayoi Kusama a run for her money, Ben-Day dots abound, in bright blue, green, pink, and lavender on the walls and floors. The store, with its painted wooden horses, ostriches and llamas, turns up the kawaii quotient, charming and coaxing shoppers into snapping up exclusive merch (Kenzo, Rodarte, John Derian, Toga, Peter Jensen, Tripp, Pamela Love, House of Hackney) and OC's seemingly endless collaborations (Kiko Mizuhara, Chloë Sevigny, Yoko Ono, adidas Originals, DKNY).
Opening Ceremony, 6-7-1-B Jingumae on Cat Street, Omotesando, Tokyo
Why go all the way to the California desert and wag your tail if you're not going to tease the boys?
1. Jeremy Scott heart-shaped sunglasses, $255 at Luisa Via Roma
2. 3.1 Phillip Lim "Chill Out Slut" tank, $150 at Kirna Zabete
3. We Are Handsome Lynx leggings, $335 at Ssense
4. Rihanna for River Island knot-front cami, $45 at Opening Ceremony
5. Opening Ceremony x Spring Breakers cropped tee, $40 at Opening Ceremony
6. Ksubi Alberceque distressed denim shorts, $200 at Net-a-Porter
7. Stella McCartney leopard-print platform wedges, $760 at Barneys New York
8. Proenza Schouler snake print mini-skirt, $675 at La Garçonne
9. Miss Selfridge Barbie tank, $38 at Miss Selfridge
10. Betony Vernon Pierced Penis pendant, $295 at Betony Vernon
