Bottega Veneta is the fasted growing brand in the Gucci Group and right so. The way they brought this Italian classic back to life is impressive. The products are of outstanding quality, have their very own unique style, unfortunately also the according prices. Thomas Maier, head designer of the brand, has done a great job this past year.

Browns now has the collection on sale, and we came across this beautiful double breasted high neck short jacket. Very much inspired by the classic trench coat, it feature the belt in the back, as well as other attributes by this classic. At the same time it has a modern cut and a unique color. Just perfect!

So, if you want to snap it up at half price, you better hurry! Browns also has other pieces on sale, including some great home slippers and shirts

Japanese clothing chain Uniqlo has made quite an impact in its short time outside of Japan. New York has got its own Uniqlo flagship, London got a new store as well and Paris is following soon. Hopefully the expansion goes at this speed for some time, because if you do not have one close by yet, you are definitely missing out.

The quality is good and definitely more than ok considering the price. If you are in the need of any kinds of basics, Uniqlo is the place to go. With their recent addition of t-shirts, they now also offer in that section a nice selection.

Here you get a first look at their Spring/Summer 2008 collection. They offer very solid pieces in the line, nice classic shorts, striped tees, shirts and more. Details such as the light weight fleece scarfs and the hats, make the collection less standard and boring.

Uniqlo definitely offers everything you need to fill the gaps in your wardrobe. Check out some more Spring/Summer ‘08 styles after the jump.

Silas has been a brand pretty hard to come by in the last couple of years. Now Hanon has received a good amount of their Fall/Winter collection. The brand presents a nice range of goods, in general classics with a modern twist, always with attention to detail and quality in mind. Shirts, jackets and accessories are now available and definitely worth checking out!

The next year is not far away and so we are already starting to take a look at the new Nom de Guerre Spring/Summer 2008 collection. Nom de Guerre is exactly one of those up and coming high-end brands that we like to keep an eye on. They have a smart mix of casual chic and sportswear in each of their collections. The same is true for their new S/S ‘08 collection, where they also go a bit into American work wear. Smart design, nice accents and simple colors are trademarks of the brand.

Have a look at the S/S ‘08 looks after the jump.

Here a look at the Michalsky Spring/Summer 2008 collection. Michael Michalsky used to be the Creative Director of Adidas for many years and made quite a name for himself in that position. He also created together with Yohji Yamamoto the Adidas Y-3 brand.

About 2 years ago he left Adidas to found his own label, Michalsky. In terms of look it many times reminds us of Y-3. Premium quality, but still sporty. The brand is of course much more high-end than the Adidas collections. Michalsky made 3 labels, the other ones being his denim label, M-Michalsky, and Michamic, a sportswear label.

Here above you see the Spring/Summer collection of the main line. In terms of colors the line is dominated by black, yellow and turquoise. Overall very fresh, we also love the womens line. Hopefully distribution will expand soon, its still too hard to come by!

Nom de Guerre has become one of our favorite labels this year, especially after we checked out their new Fall/Winter collection a few months ago in their Broadway underground store. It was just very solid. We especially enjoyed the jackets and knitwear. But our favorite piece was the Deconstructed Deck Hood.

“The Nom De Guerre Deconstructed Deck Hoodie in black comes in a heavy weight cotton jersey with a brushed waxed cotton body. The centre front has a chunky antiqued brass zip covered with a full length storm flap fastened by matt silver D clasps.”

The clasps remind us of the classic Italian Fay jackets. The hoodie is made in Japan and that quality you can also feel. Along with other pieces from the new collection, the hoodie is now available at Oki-Ni.

The accessory market has exploded over the past couple of years and even for men there is lots of choice out there at the moment. We are big fans of Japanese brand Porter, which is still very hard to come by outside of Japan.

Nevertheless there are some companies out here that do a great jobs. The bag has become also for men an important accessory, to travel or simply to go to work with the laptop. We checked out the brands Moore & Giles and Krane.

Moore & Giles is a brand that has been around over 70 years now. The brand is based in Virginia and creates natural leathers. Now they offer an entire range of bags – laptop bags, tote bags, weekend travel bags and more. The fine leather and smart choices of the mix, is what attracted us the most.

We especially enjoy the large travel bags by the brand. They come in a big range of leather choices and looks great!

Krane is another interesting label, in comparison to Moore & Giles, definitely a more modern take though. Founded in 2004 by by Ken Chow – a graduate of the Menswear program at New York’s F.I.T and who interned with Marc Jacobs and Alexandre Plokhov of Cloak, the label presents a mens fashion line and a bag collection, which we look at now.

“Krane Design combines the practicality of vintage uniforms with details from modern industrial design in pursuit of forward, functional, innovative and individualistic everyday garments and accessories. Old school traditional tailoring techniques meet technology and a new school stylistic design attitude in delivering essential items that acknowledge the thoughts and aspirations of the new contemporary man.”

His bags come with the uppers made up of waxed cotton. Smart form giving and practical transformations, make his line multifunctional! (pics of the Krane bags taken from Blackbird blog)

This was out take on some exciting mens bags! After the jump some more pics of Krane bags.

Most of you should know Cheap Monday, the Swedish denim label, that set itself apart in the denim market by offering low priced denim, in a market dominated by very expensive denim. They placed themselves in premium boutiques at a price around 25% of all the other labels.

Already a while ago we heard that the folks behind the brand would set up several brands, with each brand name having a day of the week in it. They already operate Cheap Monday and two stores in Sweden, Weekend (only open Saturday and Sunday) and Weekday (only open Monday to Friday).

Now they introduce their latest label, Sunday Sun. Sunday Sun is the “upscale sibling to Swedish denim brand Cheap Monday”, as Style.com puts it. The collection consists of button-down shirts and sweaters, the flagship product being the raw denim, that will start at around 150 USD retail price. Even though the brand is more expensive than Cheap Monday, prices still seem to be reasonable. We cannot wait to get a live look at the line. In NYC the Den carries it.

Head Porter Plus is certainly one of the most consistent labels in the market and produce solid collections season after season. In their latest feature, Honeyee presents the Head Porter Plus Holiday 2007 collection. The collection consists of a nice mix of sporty outerwear and subtle mature styles. With Head Porter Plus you can never go wrong, as the line is so simple on one side, but features high quality materials and innovative details.

Some big names out of the Japanese fashion and art scene model the new collection in the feature. Check it out after the jump.

The Garbstore website finally launched. The brand that calls its style “unfamiliar vintage” has presented a really interesting first collection this season. The website gives you some more insight into the brand and they will also launch an online store shortly. You can already check out all the styles. Another interesting thing is, that the online store will carry Garbstore and also Japanese brand Mountain Research, which is pretty much impossible to come by in Europe. Mountain Research is also a very interesting brand, taking each season one theme and entirely dedicating themselves to this theme.

Check it out for yourself!