Hint Fashion Magazine -- Shop Tart

Something's gone awry at the factory—or at least that's what the new men's collection by Hussein Chalayan for Yoox seems to suggest. One shirt pocket is way askew on an otherwise flat black, unassuming drawstring jacket. Unzip another and the sleeves fall away at the waist and dangle around the ankles. Khakis are as boxy as hospital scrubs and a slightly parabolic long-sleeved heather gray T-shirt cocoons on itself to make a cardigan. While Chalayan, ever the sartorial conceptualist, intends the look to be functional and adjustable, it's also subtly outrageous, a claim few can make. The tightly edited range appears to a comment on how easy it is to break from a uniform—one tiny discontinuity violates the entire aesthetic—and how bizarre the nature of a uniform really is. —Liz Armstrong

It's a Yohji Yamamoto moment—Yamamoment?—and not only because he's just launched Coming Soon, the super-casual women's and men's line seen here. Exactly two decades since he inaugurated his New York flagship in Soho, and hot on the heels of a new store in Antwerp, he's set to open a gleaming new Meatpacking space (1 Gansevoort St.) on February 2. Designed to resemble a lightbox, Japanese architect Junya Ishigami has sliced up the triangular building (formerly Boss Models) to form a publicly accessible cement courtyard and create more windows through which lights will beam at night. While the new venture will carry only Yamamoto's signature women's and men's lines, as well as his new Stormy Weather pearl collaboration with Mikimoto, the original Grand St. location will continue to house all of his myriad lines. Meanwhile, directly across the street, Y-3 will open its own New York flagship on February 5—for sportier fans. Stay tuned for new stores in Paris and Prague.

Topshop, Christopher Kane, Jonathan Saunders, Richard Nicoll, Todd Lynn, Louise Goldin, Marios Schwab, Husan El Odeh

We'd rather chew a limb off than hear about one more designer diffusion line. But proving there's an exception to every rule, Topshop flexes its sponsorship muscle by producing capsule collections from the brightest names in London. Christopher Kane, Jonathan Saunders, Richard Nicoll, Todd Lynn, Louise Goldin, Marios Schwab and jewelry designer Husan el Odeh have all put their noses to the fast-fashion grind to create pieces worth the now-customary launch riot. Highlights include Kane's black leather bondage dress (great for Carine, non?), El Odeh's perspex cigarette box on a chain, Nicoll's ruffle dresses, Lynn's perfect white shirt, Goldin's red knit dress and pretty much everything from print prince Saunders. —Dean Mayo Davies

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Study fashion at Parsons The New School for Design in NYC

Karen Walker, Den, Carrots, Oak, Reborn, Little Red Riding Hood

It seems like yesterday that we were cheering the launch of cozy little Den (which really is the size of a den, but smaller) and its concept of carrying only one label at a time—and already they're on their fourth. First up was Cheap Monday, followed by Rag & Bone, then Tim Hamilton; now it's Karen Walker, for whom Den will be the only spot in New York to find the Kiwi's super-sized sunnies and the only outlet in all the U.S. to carry her full spring collection... Why go vegetarian when you can go to Carrots, San Francisco's newest multi-label boutique, named by sister-owners Melissa and Catie Grimm after the family business down in Bakersfield. New-crop labels from Band of Outsiders to Peter Som are among the pickings… Back in New York, flora of another kind branches out as Williamsburg-based Oak opens a second shop across the river at 28 Bond Street. Apparently a tree also grows in Manhattan… Those of you not located near a fashion hub should bookmark these links pronto: Reborn and Little Red Riding Hood. From Montreal and Berlin, respectively, the new e-shops sell a wide range of goodies, from Raf Simons' graphic tees to vulgar-licious scarves by Gerhard Blum.

Heads up, Brits. New York designer Andrew Buckler has taken retail aim across the Atlantic with the opening of a store on Artillery Lane. The new address in London's Spitalfields—chosen for its history as the entrance to Henry VIII's armory—is loaded with the kind of tailored-denim, dandy-punk men's looks that have already found fans in Iggy Pop and The Rolling Stones. Back in the States, the Royal College of Art graduate and former Daryl K men's designer has also just opened his second New York location (93 Grand Street, Soho), where the raucous French band Rock&Roll held captive all who made it out to the launch party. —DMD

Read previous store news in Shoptart Archives

Register for Hint's weekly email newsletter ("a little Hint"), including Shoptart updates

<< Home