Selectism

Invader developed for the past 10 years his graphic universe, made of computer pixel and of one of the most ancient material: mosaic.
Those invasions, meticulously documented & archived, are now a real colorful network around his home city, Paris, but also around the whole world for 40 cities on the 5 continents have already been invaded by the artist.

As a parody of those mapbooks Parisian taxi drivers always carry with them, Invader started a serie of plastic covered Invasion guides to show us what is behind the visible part of his craft.
After Invasion de Paris and Invasion Los Angeles, the third volume, Invasion in the UK is about the invasion of the country ever since 1999 when it started in London to spread to Manchester and Newcastle.

Invasion in the UK is a very personal journey through England’s urban landscape & it presents Invader’s work through hundreds of pictures & archives collected during those 8 years of invading the United Kingdom.

The book is now available at Colette.

Just yesterday we started reporting about the 2008 fluo color trend. Fred Perry and Dover Street Market are as usual on the fore front and just released a series of fluo polo shirts in collaboration. Overall they offer 5 colors in this series, each one featuring both the Fred Perry and the Dover Street Market logos embroidered on the chest.

Check out the other colorways after the jump.

Common Projects has become one of our new favorite sneaker brands over the past 2 years. Simple and subtle aesthetics, nice colorways and the golden serial number is a nice touch as well. The brand smartly enlarges their collection every season. For Spring/Summer 2008 they add perforated leather sneakers, mixed (leather and patent) sneakers and some fresh new colorways. Strong pieces from previous seasons they also keep in the collection. Furthermore they added more dressy leather shoes. Pics via Superfuture.

Check out a first preview of some of the new Spring/Summer '08 styles after the jump.

We continue to report about the Visvim New Year Collection. First we showed you the FBT and Kiefer Hi's that come in two black colorways each, with red or respectively blue accents. Along with the shoes they will also release items out of their Ballistic luggage series. The Ballistic 20 backpack and the Ballistic E-Cat 28 messenger bag also each come in two black colorways with red/blue accents. Via Figure.

Last week we presented you already a wallet out of the Ortega x Beams x Porter collection. Today we show you the other pieces of the collection, which also consists of pouches and a messenger bag. All bags come in woven materials, made by traditional Mexican mill Ortega. All in all a very nice collection, that is now exclusively available at Beams in Japan.

Porter has released a new Grocery Tote, which looks exactly like the paper bag that you get in a supermarket, but it is not made out of paper and of course reusable. The bag comes in the same brownish color, has the same handles and even comes with the triangle pattern on the edges, imitating the paper cutter. Inside it has a light blue lining.

More pictures after the jump.

For the holiday season this year Barneys New York is celebrating in green. For the occasion they asked several designers to either donate for charity or to create eco-inspired one-offs.

French luxury leather goods brand Goyard came out with a remix of their most popular bag. It comes in green, and features the recycling logo in gold. Not only the color hints at the theme, the bag is actually made out of recyclable canvas, unlike their regular collection. The bag goes for 1065 USD.

Undercover released the "Free Burma" t-shirt. On the front it features a photo print and "Free Burma" written underneath it. On the back it has written "We Are Buddhist, Too". A nice t-shirt with a strong message. Via Jun Takashi.

It is now available at Undercover flagship stores, TaipeiUC and also at the Undercover Hong Kong store. More pics after the jump.

Visvim has announced the New Year Collection. In this pack they have put two of their most successful models, the Kiefer-Hi and the FBT. We have seen these two styles in many different variations and materials. This time they used black glossy leather on both models. Each model comes in two colorways, each featuring black glossy leather and altering red or blue accents on the sole, giving this pack a more sporty look.

We think this pack will be especially popular among sneaker lovers. It has been released today at Chapter World. Check out many more detailed pictures of both sneakers after the jump.

The Visvim Kodiak jacket, part of their Fall/Holiday '07 collection, has now been released in the Honeyee store. Made out of Gore-Tex Paclite, this technical jacket reminds us very much of the classic Italian biker jacket, featuring the waist belt and lots of pockets. The check pattern details along the zipper and the neck are a nice touch and give it a more classic feel.

The Kodiak jacket is definitely one of the stand-out pieces in this Visvim collection. After the jump you can check out the other colorways and detailed pictures of all the functions.

We have presented to you already the general release of the Dr. Romanelli Surgical Strike collection. The military inspired collection has been first shown at Maharishi in London. The brand has always had a tight relationship with Japanese brand Sophnet. Thus they made some special edition jackets, with lots of special embroideries and patches, that will be exclusively available at Sophnet stores in Japan. Via Honeyee.

More detailed pictures after the jump.

Arkitip, one of our favorite art magazines, now also offers framed prints in their online store. You can now buy prints from Michael Leon, Kevin Lyons, Andrew Schoultz, Matzu, Todd James, Rostarr and others ready to hang on the wall!

Puma has teamed up with Serpentine Gallery to create the Reality Bag as part of their Spring/Summer '08 Urban Mobility Range.

"Working with Julia Peyton-Jones and Hans Ulrich Obrist, PUMA created The Reality Bag as part of its ongoing commitment to helping support young talent. PUMA will donate US$100 to the Serpentine Gallery’s Education and Public Programmes from every bag sold, which represents an integral part of the Gallery’s long-standing commitment to supporting art, architecture and design.

The Reality Bag is an exciting new product, adapted from the PUMA Urban Mobility Edition Bag, which launched last season. The Reality Bag is designed to reflect the world inside and out through a clever use of innovative materials and design detail. To develop the concept of this original accessory, the Serpentine Gallery invited artist John Armleder to create its look and feel. Armleder also created the concept of the content and invited young artists to create artworks to go inside each of the 1000 Reality Bags. This makes The Reality Bag an original, multiple artwork containing original pieces by the artist himself and by invitees including John Trembley and Philippe Decreuzat. Many other artists will contribute books, DVDs, or anthologies, as Armleder plays with the idea of the bag as a portable gallery. The result is a truly individual work of art."

Definitely an interesting project and the right direction by Puma. A couple of months ago we were a bit worried about the direction of the brand. Once a sport brand, they are now more known for their fashion inspired collections and collaborations. That of course also makes business more volatile, because trends can be over at a certain point of time. But so far, Puma does not seem to slow down, and in part that is due to special projects such as this one.

The Reality Bag will go on sale at select store as of January '08.

Japanese brand Dead Lotus collaborated with Pro-Keds on a sneaker. The lo-top comes in premium black leather, a contrasting white sole. The Dead Lotus skull logo comes in a subtle way on a silver button on the side of the sneaker as well as in the form of a signature on the tongue.

Armth has released the sneaker today. Check out the details after the jump.

Approaching the end of the year, Visvim still has some nice releases waiting for you. One of the best sneakers to drop this season is for sure this Visvim Logan Lo Elk, that just got in at ACU in Shanghai.

Available in black, white and brown, the Visvim Logan Lo Elk comes with the entire upper in elk leather, which is as soft as it can get for a sneaker. The toe box comes covered in fur, much like the Nome labeled sneakers that we have presented you this season. We are glad to see that they covered the toe box in tonal fur and did not mix in any cow patterns. This way the sneakers stay clean in look.

After the jump a more detailed look at all three colorways.

Once again we are obsessing over one of the latest Taschen releases. This time the German publishing house released a book about Valentino Garavani, the Italian fashion designer.

"Think Valentino: think luxury. Think elegance. Think red carpet. Fashion’s most beloved upholder of refined decadence and the most exciting couturier in business is known around the globe simply by his first name. Only a few years after opening his fashion house in Rome in 1959, Valentino was already at the height of success, counting Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Kennedy, and Audrey Hepburn among his devotees. Over forty years later, not much has changed—he’s still dressing the top celebrities, from Gwyneth Paltrow to J.Lo, though now his business is a major economic force in Italy and his fashion house is among the most famous in the world."

Taschen has released a regular edition, which just consists of the book and an Art Edition, which is the one that we present you here. The Art Edition is limited to 100 copies worldwide, each coming in a nice box. Also they are accompanied by four prints of original drawings from the 1950s and 1960s, all signed by Valentino, and authenticated with a stamp on the back.

Any designer that has been at the forefront for such a long time deserves to be recognized and for sure has some secrets to his success.

The Art Edition goes for 3'000 Euros. After the jump we give you a look at the four prints that come with the book.

Knitwear company John Smedley has an interesting project on the horizon for 2008 - Luxury Redefined. They joined forces with Better Thinking ltd. to create a new sustainable luxury t-shirt. The t-shirt has been developed in London, materials grown in Peru and made in England. As of Spring '08 the t-shirts will be available in mens, womens and childrens sizes.

Sustainability has been a rather big subject in fashion in 2007 and it will only become bigger. Our take on the subject was always, if they deliver good product that a slight premium, it will work and also make sense, but sustainability cannot be a selling point for a mediocre product. This John Smedley initiative looks promising, hopefully we can soon have a look at the final product!

Japanese jewelry label, JAM HOME MADE & ready made, got together with Disney to collaborate on a few pieces. Mickey Mouse finds its way onto several of their latest pieces. Our favorite is the more subtle pendant that only features the Mickey hands.

Luxury Japanese department store Isetan, will be releasing the new collection on the 2nd of January!

Firmament has started their Winter Sale. This means lots of really nice items on discounted prices. Make sure to head over there and check it out! Original Fake, Unrivaled, Visvim, Head Porter Plus, etc - it's all on sale!

Own Magazine is a rather new title in the world of fashion magazines. The interesting mix of western and Asian fashion makes them stand out. Now they released their first special issue, Annex.01. The theme of this special issue is "military", we also features Real McCoy's, Thom Browne , 3.1 phillip lim and McQ. The issue can now be ordered from their online store and goes for 25 USD. Get prepared for some beautiful photography.

Also make sure to check out their website - their webstore carries many Japanese fashion brands exclusively in the US.