Selectism

This past week we came across a new site with a very interesting concept in music - Awdio. To sum it up, through their service you can listen to music being played in shops, clubs, bars, fashion hotels, restaurants in real time.

"While online music startups and most labels are trying to figure new rules for their business models, a small UK based startup has found a smart way to answer that question. Nearly all music services are based on providing access to a catalogue of recorded music whether it is on demand (eg: iTunes or Deezer) or on discovery mode (Pandora/Last.fm). But a big chunk of the quality music is not recorded and is played live is in clubs, fashion hotels, restaurants, shops, DJ festivals and other cool places (i leave aside radio music). This music usually ends up in CD collections because of its quality and uniqueness (think of the Buddha Bar collection, the Cafe del Mar and many more). And this is the music Awdio

Awdio™ revolutionizes the way you listen to music! Real Time Music! What everyone can get now in one weekend is what music addicts would get in a year, touring around world’s best Live music sources… Straight from the sound systems of the most respected clubs, venues, hotels, shops, studios & festivals… from Electronic Music to Hip Hop, from new Jazz scenes to alternative Rock, from Lounge sessions to the most underground Dj sets, wherever you are, whatever you like, Awdio™ provides pure Live music. From San Francisco to Melbourne, New York to Paris, Sao Paulo to Hong Kong, Awdio™ is streaming 24/7 real time music content, from and on worldwide time zones.

Awdio spots the coolest places around the globe where live music is played and makes exclusive agreement to distribute and stream it live in real time. They gathered so far 50 hotspots like the super trendy Colette Shop in Paris, the 1015 in San Francisco or the Favela in London. They have created a technology that enables any live music source to be streamed over the internet with high quality sound." Via Techcrunch.

A great concept. Instead of listening to specific songs, you can choose the environment/place where you know music that you enjoy is being played. Seeing Colette in the mix also totally makes sense! It will be interesting to see where they go with the concept and if they add video any time soon!

We take a first look at the Spring/Summer 2008 collection of one of the craziest designers out there, Bernhard Wilhelm. With him you never know if you should take everything he does so serious. Please go and have a look at the photoshoot of his Spring/Summer '08 collection after the jump, its really funny! Wearable? We are not sure, at least not for a lot of people! Creative? Oh yes!

Now head on after the jump...

Earnest Sewn, the denim paradise, always hosts little pop-up stores in its back rooms of their Meatpacking District location. French brand Repetto was in there for the past three month and now coming up is Trovata. The Californian brand with mainly typical American Life influences will offer their collections in the space for a 3 months period. Via Refinery29.

Should you be in the area, make sure to pass by!

Today Wallpaper announced their 2008 Design Awards. They covered a lot of ground this year, judging products in many sectors including - furniture, restaurant, hotel, private house, city, fashion, grooming and more.

We do not agree with all the choices they made, but a good amount is definitely outstanding. Check out the winners here.

New York already has one of the nicest A.P.C. stores in Soho, and now luckily they got another one, A.P.C. Surplus. The new store, located in Williamsburg, will be carrying will be acting as an outlet and will also carry special vintage one-offs, making it definitely a store to check out once in a while. Via Men.Style.

A.P.C. surplus store, 33 Grand St., Brooklyn, (347) 381-3193, apc.fr

Make sure to take a look, it's open now!

Our friends at WeAreTheMarket.com are reporting about a very special  collaboration between our favorite avante-garde highend streetwear brand, Wood Wood, and Arkitip. While most magazines focus on selling ad space, Arkitip has gone in the opposite direction, creating unique, limited-edition, hand-numbered art books that focus on high quality production. For the upcoming issue, #44, the Arkitip curators have gathered past, present and future contributors, and pulled together a motley crew of diverse artists for a group show entitled Highmath. The show, consisting primarily of work on paper including silk screens, lithographs and hand-done originals, will exhibit both existing and never before seen work. The Arkitip team has handed over design and production responsibilties of issue to Wood Wood.

Our friends at WeAreTheMarket.com are reporting about a very special  collaboration between our favorite avante-garde highend streetwear brand, Wood Wood, and Arkitip. While most magazines focus on selling ad space, Arkitip has gone in the opposite direction, creating unique, limited-edition, hand-numbered art books that focus on high quality production. For the upcoming issue, #44, the Arkitip curators have gathered past, present and future contributors, and pulled together a motley crew of diverse artists for a group show entitled Highmath. The show, consisting primarily of work on paper including silk screens, lithographs and hand-done originals, will exhibit both existing and never before seen work. The Arkitip team has handed over design and production responsibilties of issue to Wood Wood.

Silas is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2008. The brand has created a strong following over the years, by constantly pushing boundaries and collaborating with the right people on the right products. To celebrate their 10th anniversary, they got together with Wired h, the Seiko sub-brand, that make radio controlled solar powered watches, that we presented to you several times already. The 10th anniversary edition comes with a special leather bracelet and also has "Silas 10th anniversary" written over the dial. A hint of gold details give the watch a nice premium look that is underlined by a small sequence of rhinestones. Via Hypebeast.

The watch will be released in Japan this coming February!

I am sure we can all name a laundry list of products on the market - commodity items that are necessary in life, that you cannot live without - which simply work... on a mediocre level.

The beloved umbrella has for centuries been one of the most under-engineered products of modern times. Humans simply do not walk out into pouring rain in their right minds and expect for their umbrellas to survive a wind gust of rain.

Well Senz Umbrellas seems to have come up with a solution: an umbrella which will auto-position itself to face the wind, all the while guaranteeing that it will not snap inside out. Innovative? Hells yes.

The Senz comes in a few models: the Original and the Original Mini.

We should also mention that it won the 2007 Red Dot Award. God bless Dutch innovation. Available through the Senz Online Shop.

The term "man bag" has made it awfully difficult for the average American male to consider some sort of day bag outside of either two choices: an attache attached to their palm, or one of many courier varietals. Unlike their European and Asian counterparts, the day bag simply does not fit with the ideals of a man man.

Lucky for us, the minds behind the BillyKirk brand  have been developing  exceptional leather products to introduce the Americano male to a new world of bag fashion (since as far back as 1999).

Take for instance the BillyKirk No.95 Satchel Bag. This hand stiched leather satchel  borrows much from a traditional WW2 Belgium Map case - but has been redeveloped from a single piece of cowhide to be a slightly larger fill. Absolutely no details were left untouched on the No.95 from its silver snap clips, to the adjustable arm strap.

This is top teir American leather works at its finest. Handmade in the USA by  the Amish in Pennsylvania.  Instant  classic.  Available now at Blackbird Seattle or the BillyKirk Online Shop.

Number (N)ine has become one of our favorites in recent years. In case you are in NYC or Tokyo, make sure to visit their flagship stores, it's a real experience. Their upcoming Spring/Summer 2008 collection stays in the grey and black tones and distances itself from graphics. The clothes are in general cut very large and worn very relaxed, also the brand suggest layering in their new collection.

Some outfits work and look good, inspiration as usual comes from the world of rock and Nirvana in particular. But we are a bit disappointed by the collection, because it has no pieces that really stand out, one could almost call it boring. The last collection was much better and more interesting than this one. True Number (N)ine fans will of course still go for it! Our favorite pieces are the ones inspired by the classic duffle coat, which are probably the most special ones.

You can view the complete line here.

Men.Style.Com has put up a new Market Report 2008, telling us what to buy and what not to buy, what to get rid of. Looking through the report we can see that distressed denim will be back, after the long raw denim trend. For once it will also be nice to put on a pair that is just comfortable and does not need a year to get to that point. Also the houndstooth on linen is something we are looking forward to. When Spring time comes around, it will be a perfect outfit for sure - lightweight, dressed, but not too dressed up.

There are also a couple of things in the guide, that we cannot really follow. Rolled-up pants? This thing that Thom Browne has brought on us is just something we are not so sure about. On a hot summer day maybe, otherwise, nahhh! Also they give you the advice of purchasing a classic Patek Phillippe watch. Since when has that ever gone out of style? A good watch is just a must-have and a Patek Phillippe wristwatch is probably as good as it gets, a piece that you pass on to the next generation, a piece that never goes out of style and also never really should be in a trend report. At least in our opinion!

Make sure to check out the report yourself!

It is incredible seeing Mastermind Japan going into their 11th year and still you will hardly find any goods by the brand that are not black and do not carry the skull and bones logo. The drive to deliver superior quality with a subtle aesthetic just seems to work.

Here we give you a look at some of the first releases out of their Spring/Summer 2008 collection. A nice new windstopper blouson, skull denim pants, cap, scarf, ties and also a Fragment Design x Base Control underwear collection. All these goods are now available at Cliff Edge.

After the jump you can check out the rest of the pieces.

VMAN presents in their current issue the Boys Toys feature, previewing goods in several sections - sneakers, bags, gadgets, etc. We give you a first look at the sneaker preview for Summer '08. They take a look at Adidas, Raf Simmons, Hogan, Pierre Hardy, Car Shoe, Paul Smith and a couple of others. In terms of bags (you can see those after the jump), they preview Calvin Klein, Balenciaga by Nicolas Ghesquiére, Louis Vuitton, Burberry Prorsum and Y-3.

It looks like sneakers in the high-end sector are becoming quite colorful in 2008. Does not heart is especially brands such as Hogan and Car Shoe come a bit down from their classic trip, because in terms of quality and silhouette they always had nice goods.

After the jump a look at the bags.

One of my favorite pieces in the current Nom De Guerre collection. Smart design and it has all the nice details - the belt, the high collar in wool with the extra closing strap, the leather buttons, etc. I could go on forever. If you are lucky you still find it and maybe also on sale. Context has some left as well!

I cannot wait for the Spring line!

The ultimate style icon has now also found his way onto stamps. A new set of extra-long British stamps featuring covers from the James Bond novels has been issued by the Royal Mail today. Issued to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the James Bond creator, Ian Fleming, each stamp begins with the cover from first edition hardbacks before progressing through paperback versions from the 1960’s, 70’s/80’s and current Penguin editions. Definitely a must-have for collectors and James Bond fans. Via CR.

S.N.S. Herning has become one of our favorite knitwear brands this past year. Just the other day we were lucky enough to pick up some of his heavy knit scarfs, the best we have come across to date.

Yet in another limited edition for Dover Street Market London, the brand has created the Sparkling Party crewneck. The buttons are a nice detail and also look, the lines come in sparkling wool. For a special occasion the perfect piece. It is available in red/navy and also in blue/sliver.

We present you another one of our favorite labels, Obedient Sons. Their Spring/Summer 2008 collection is very strong and we especially enjoy the choice of colors. Both the light colors looks nice, but our favorite is the navy blue/red combination and the light pink. Also the mix of sportswear and casual outfits is well balanced, making sure that you find something appropriate for any occasion. We see influences from the colonial style, college clothing as well as smart city chic.

We are looking forward to see the line in stores. After the jump some more pictures.

We have seen more flannels this Fall/Winter season than in the past 10 years all together. They came of course in the form of shirts, sneakers, bags, accessories, jackets, you name it. Without wanting to bore you, we still do have to show you this fresh flannel shirt by PRPS. The sea blue color looks nice, but what makes this shirt stand out is the approach and amount of customization. It almost feels like the people from PRPS took the same approach as with their denim - lots of custom work, adding value to an otherwise pretty basic product. On the pockets, cuffs and other spots there are nice embroideries smartly changing the look of the shirt.

Definitely one of the best flannel shirts we have come across this season. It is now available at Commonwealth.

As the first shoe of the new year Ubiq presents a winter boot of the classic kind. The Carphill is inspired by a classic hiking boot and is sort of a premium version of that. It comes in brown leather, and black and beige suede. The simple aesthetic looks really nice and if you want a quality winter boot that also performs when it gets a little more rough, then this is the way to go!

Chapterworld has them available now. After the jump pictures of the other two colorways.