Openers Japan covers the opening of the newest Giorgio Armani store in Tokyo’s Roppongi Hills District. This is a followup shop to their Ginza District Shop which opened in 2007. The interior of the new store was deisgned by Armani himself and includes walls of glass, granite floors and a three VIP lounges for those gentleman that need some personal assistance.

View more looks at products to be found at the New Armani Flagship Store Tokyo after the jump.

Treating all facets of Marcel Breuer’s work with equal weight, Marcel Breuer: Design and Architecture was developed by the Vitra Design Museum. Now on view at RISD, the exhibition covers his innovative furniture design, houses, and grand institutional buildings. Life at the Bauhaus and work in the United States are both explored. The exhibition runs until July 19, 2009.

Full information and a brief slide show at the RISD site.

A man’s wallet is the quintessential accessory, it says a lot about him when he allows the world to see it. So if you’re in need of a new  piece to stash your cards and cash check out the sleek minimal designs from wallet maker Güs. Designed in America and hand crafted in Italy these bad boys are ultra-slim, but heavy on style. Be sure to peep the amazing split-shot perforation, unique cut out card slots, and hand stitched corners . All styles are available in black or brown vegetable-tanned italian leather. Our favorites are the card case and the vertical wallet. Well done guys. – cw

More more views of the Güs Men’s Wallets after the jump.

B-Store are one of our favourite stores in terms of pushing the boundaries in a wearable manner. Sometimes they can go a little too leftfield, but most of the time you’re guaranteed a unique piece from their store.

The upcoming AW09 footwear collection is a hefty one. We’re pretty sure it would be information overload if we displayed the entire range at once, so we’ve split it into boot and shoes. The boots we’re showing today and the shoes tommorow.

As for the collection itself, workwear is an obvious influence, along with the more dandified faux-fur lined boots and suede/leather concotions. Unlike some workwear-inspired pieces, we could actually see the firm workwear crowd wearing some of these pieces. The only reason for them not to is that they’d be robbed of their authenticity spiel – meaning they wouldn’t be able to wax lyrical about how their clothing was made by travelling Japanese nomads who live on a diet of denim and Steve McQueen movies.

Take a look at the collection after the jump.

Everyone likes gangster films and crime tales. The popular conception of the Mafia is built on these – whether on television, the big screen, or general sensation. Salvatore Lupo, the leading historian of modern Italy, offers a nuanced view of the Mafia in his History of the Mafia. Tracing the Sicilian organization from 1860 to the present, Lupo assesses the traditions and codes that have kept the culture running. Lupo argues that the Mafia functions as alternative to the state.

Forthcoming from Columbia University Press.

Pre-order from Amazon.

The Cut have a nice little interview with Nicola Formichetti, a man who has so many job titles we’d have RSI by the time we finished writing them down. They quiz him on where he shops, favourite designer and trends he loves and hate. When asked which trends he hated, he replied:

Boring celebrity stuff. I’ve been working with a lot of great, eclectic actors lately, but I hate the whole idea of celebrity in America. It’s so boring — all fake smiles and big business. It seems like you can sell crap if you put a famous name on it. America’s crazy, you know?

Read the full interview over at The Cut.

A regular topic that comes up at Selectism is whether you should wear shorts above or below the knee. In the end it comes down to your build. If you’ve got the legs for it, wear above the knee shorts – if not, then don’t. You could even wear short shorts if you’re particularly proud of your stems.

We quite like the cut of these shorts – although you would need somewhat of a beach body to really make them look good. But if you were smart, you would have started working on the beach body a few months – everybody knows you can start piling on the Krispy Kremes when winter hits. (Matches)

01. The Future Mapping Company (above)

“The Future Mapping Company complements up-to-date map data with a strong focus on design, creating cartography for the twenty-first century. These maps utilise a cylindrical equal area projection(Don’t switch off!). This represents countries in their correct proportional size, something that a lot of maps do not do.” (hv)

02. Open Progress by TRANSALPINO

“German-Italian design collective TRANSALPINO was at the DMY International Design Festival in Berlin recently with Open Progress, an exhibition featuring 13 Designers, 7 days, 1 material. The material was waste material from a veneer factory and for seven days the designers worked with it to create “ad hoc objects connected in a kind of mind map – no object stands alone, each one is intrinsically linked to others.” (mocoloco)

03. Harley-Davidson Soundtrack

“The Harley Davidson Soundtrack Campaign by illustrator André Paiva combines the eloquent fluidity of music with the powerful Harley Davidson name.” (fubiz)

04. Traditional Fashion

“By Hisayuki Nakamuta. 1981. From tartan checks to button-downs.” Historical and biographical essays on the convergence of British, American and Japanese traditional men’s styles. Coolest book I’ve read in a long time. Company visits to McBean & Bishop, Robert White, Alan Paine, Baracuta, Rivetz of Boston, Brooks Brothers and Cable Car Clothiers.” (heavy tweed)

05. Bruce Willis and Bride Honeymoon in W Spread

“Lacking a summer blockbuster to drop on your head, Bruce Willis, 54, has offered up a somewhat kinky magazine editorial and interview with his new wife, Emma Heming, 32, shot by Steven Klein for the latest issue of W. The special effects are awesome! Trapped in the still-curing bowels of the Standard Hotel, the bride and groom contort and glower wearing Nina Ricci, Tom Ford, and, at times, little more than their own Lucian Freud–toned hides.” (thecut)

A nice offset button up cardigan from Japan’s Sacai. The asymmetrical buttons add a nice detail to the simple card while the corded pulls at the bottom of the garment allow you to taper fit it to your own desired look. Available now in grey or black for around 300$USD from Colette.

More views of the Sacai Asymmetrical Cardigan after the jump.

I think it’s finally safe to say that Emma Watson is the new Natalie Portman. The young actress is of course the highlight of the Burberry Prorsum Autumn/Winter 2009 campaign as shot by Mario Testino and designed by Christopher Bailey. We bring you some behind the scenes look from the shoot which took place in Westminster, which features classic outerwear for the latter end of the year.

More behind the scenes looks from the Burberry Prorsum A/W 2009 photo shoot after the jump.