Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty is published to coincide with exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art organized by The Costume Institute, and celebrates the creativity and originality of the designer.

Arguably the most influential, imaginative, and provocative designer of his generation, Alexander McQueen both challenged and expanded fashion conventions to express ideas about race, class, sexuality, religion, and the environment. Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty examines the full breadth of the designer’s career, from the start of his fledgling label to the triumphs of his own world-renowned London house. It features his most iconic and radical designs, revealing how McQueen adapted and combined the fundamentals of Savile Row tailoring, the specialized techniques of haute couture, and technological innovation to achieve his distinctive aesthetic. It also focuses on the highly sophisticated narrative structures underpinning his collections and extravagant runway presentations, with their echoes of avant-garde installation and performance art.

View the full cover after the jump. And, revisit our earlier coverage here.

This is one of those books that all fans and appreciators of design have been waiting for. Phaidon is set to publish “the only comprehensive monograph of Dieter Rams’ work” this July.  As Little Design As Possible: The Work of Dieter Rams by Sophie Lovell,  is an expansive 400 page book that brings the reader many never-before-seen photos,blueprints, illustrations, and “materials from Rams’ personal archive. After 35 years as head designer for Braun, “Dieter Rams has influenced the world of product design more than anyone else in his field” as have his products. But the book does not stop at just Braun works. His furniture work from the 60’s for Vitsoe is also well explored and documented.

Apple’s V.P. of Design, Jonathan Ive, who discusses Rams’ influence on his own iconic designs in the forward of the book as well. It is simply a strong document and reference (of sorts) for all fans of Dieter Rams and design. As Little Design As Possible arrives in July. Pre-order from Amazon

Photography: Jeff Carvalho/Selectism.com

Many more  looks inside As Little Design As Possible: The Work of Dieter Rams after the click.

Crap=Good turns us onto this sound sculpture video, which is strangely hypnotizing to watch.

Curated turns us onto this:

See more over at Curated.

Colour us intrigued. How would a velcro belt would work on us – would we feel like we were five again? And how well would the velcro hold up if you have a good meal? These are all pertinent questions that must be answered. While the sleekness from the outside can’t be denied, we probably feel silly having a belt that used the same material as LA Gears. (Forward)

Now that we’ve featured more t-shirts than humanly necessary, we’re starting to wonder about the little things – you know, how to wear them and all that jazz. For us, the question is whether we roll the sleeves. Thankfully Won Hundred have made that heartbreakingly difficult decision for us, making the sleeves a contrast turn up. All it needs a few more rolls and this shirt will be good to go. (Paper Scissor Stone)

We’re accustomed to seeing the contrast pocket on t-shirts, less so on shirts. While it moves the shirt away from office suitability – we can’t imagine wearing this to a job without some joker making a comment about the pocket being ruined in the wash – it does make it nice and smashual. And there’s even a club collar, so you can double up on your trends in one piece. (Bows + Arrows)

This jacket had to find it’s way here one way or another. The world’s gone pattern crazy and a few have gone – dare we say it – overboard. We like a pattern as much as the next person, but even we’ve found our tipping point. Which is why we like this jacket so much, it’s not as crazy as other patterned jackets we’ve seen and it’s got all that gore-tex goodness tech geeks love. The only problem is the price tag, which not many folks will love. (Someday)

Start with Typewriters has an interesting interview with George Cleverly’s creative director George Glasgow Jr. While the entire interview is worth a read, we especially enjoyed finding out about the shoes influences.

“What influences your shoe designs? Music? Art? Designers?

What’s interesting is that we make shoes personally for some of the biggest names in fashion today. So perhaps they take inspiration from Cleverley. For me, I like to look at the old styles in our archives, which were made for Cary Grant, Rudolph Valentino, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper… These were true original fashion icons, in my opinion, and very elegant men, so their styles are of great interest to me today. I think in modern day, I admire Charlie Watts for his style. He has been a Cleverley customer for over 20 years, and every shoe we make for him is unique and stylish but still elegant.”.

Read the full interview over at Start with Typewriters.

Kick off this week with this nice little Labri Siffre ditty.