crayon physics deluxe

kitsune noir posted about a game that won the Best Game at the Independent Games Festival and earned a $20,000 prize. I want this game for my DS so bad. Read about it, watch it, its calming and inspiring.

marni-tellectual

marni and prada, jointly, are knows as the thinking woman's italian labels. not brash and overt like other brands that rhyme with snersace and snucci or snolce and snobanna. there are generally two schools of opinion on marni and prada's designs: some say their intellectual clothing is moniker just code for ugly shit that no one looks good in. others, like this'n over here, say to that party stick-and-stones-may-shut your-trap-cause-no-one-asked-you. give me these marni items for s/s 08 pls.

reverse buyers remorse

isabel marant is an iconic french brand. the brand is cult-ier than the Heaven's Gate pack and its followers are just about as fanatical. her clothes are better than the fanciest of kool-aids and much more insouciant than black nikes. the styling is classic french gamine, but each piece is a stand out on its own. the garments are sized as 0,1,2,3...(a type of one size fits all small,medium,large set-up) and are effortlessly drapey and slouchy, but with a real weight that is comforting to wear. if only i had the common sense to buy it when i had the luxury of being around it everyday. i've learned my lesson for sure.

also: minor-excitement/partial rant: for s/s08 she included black in her color palette which is often not done, but really should be and is much appreciated by yours truly. no one, especially no one in fashion/design, is going to abandon black. i don't care if nytimes, vogue, elle, or whomever decrees it too somber. i don't care if the earth turns into a giant moon bounce with free kittens and $100,000 dollar bills for every one; people will still choose to wear black. so good. i am even more psyched that she includes black and dark neutrals as much as i do in my own wardrobe. that only gives me more reason to collect it all.

dig if you will. a picture

lace is frilly, delicate, tender, and ultra femme yes? no. not for miuccia prada. her lace is handmade (moneymoneymoneyyy), modern, dense, while retaining an airiness as lended by the sheerness of the fabrics, and forceful without being overpowering. check out the whole collection on style.com its alll good. prince out ya'll.

its milan already?

london fash week went by right quick! and now it's on to milan, which i personally find unappealing so i doubt i'll update regarding it. however, burberry and jil sander showed innovative, textural minimalism. both showed great contrast and movement from spring->fall yet the looks can be deconstructed into seasonless pieces that are classic without sacrificing design. (l-r 3 images each: burberry; jil sander)

no reservations

After watching this Anthony Bourdain show on the travel channel (you can watch the rest of the show on YouTube; the part above is where Anthony goes to eat at the 1$ buffet and introduces that he will be cooked for by royalty later in the show) and coupling it with my adoration of Wes Anderson's fantasy portrayal of this country in The Darjeeling Limited, I need to go to India. You can stay in these palace hotels, really, its cool. Also, Indian food: I need it. Not to say I am ignorant of the incredible amounts of people and the rampant poverty in India, I just feel like its a better place to aspire to visit than, you know, HelL-A, or Miami wit my gurrliezz. (Also due to the above factors it is no wonder that brands are pushing Indian Styling for spring. It's beautiful and fresh)

fall 08:print pattern texture

london fashion week started yesterday. so we, you, have several more weeks of runway chatter. im worse than a 7year old during a movie; plenty of comments and 2cents for every scene. hooray! this post is somewhat of an amalgam of pictures left adrift on my desktop and the first showings from london fash week. ive said it before and ill say it again: fall is the most expensive season. really you should shop at a thrift store for spring and summer barring a few pairs of shoes and other timely accessories and save everything for the cold months because you will be sorry once that cheap ass H&M coat's zipper breaks in the middle of an ice storm at 9pm walking home from studio. i got with the program this year and paid dearly for boots, classic cardigans&sweaters, tights, and jeans; the things i wear every day of the fall and winter months. to my credit they have lasted, worn well, and kept me frostbite free. fall always heralds print, pattern, and texture as well which may be a defense mechanism to combat the gray, cold days and sparse sunlight. excellent use of the three are as follows: alexander herchovich, temperley, eley kishimoto, and best of all, louise goldin with her sci-fi quilty-padded knits and topshop unique for super-sized sweaters and slick leathers. awesommeee.

TGFF: american sportswear classicists

thats what we do. we as in american designers. our over-riding fashion heritage: classic sportswear. Perry Ellis, Bill Blass, Geoffrey Beene, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs, Donna Karen. All iconic american designers, not to say other designers born in american are not american('merican for those readers fluent in appallacian), but american designers as the driving concept of wearability and heritage. as a world power with no blood royalty our political royalty and business tycoons have always swathed themselves in breathless, oft nautical or apres-ski-esque garments that exude vitality and, as ridiculous as this will sound, apple pie and freedom. what is more american than jeans and a plaid shirt with a cardigan jauntily tied around the shoulders at a chiller of a clam bake or back yard bar-b-que? keds and kegs; classic red white and blue good times. which is why friday i got a little giddy for the tried and true classics revamped by our own designers. below for clothes to salute and pledge allegiance to: (3 each L to R: Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein)

vday get laid

there are only three appropriate presents to give a love(r) for valentines day: food, jewels, sex. actually there is only one appropriate present and it is combining all of the above. Aussie chocolatier Baska-Jon's Sweet Talk chocolates are light years beyond stale conversation hearts and can be purchased at Baska-Jon for A$6 which is well worth it for 24-special treats. Alex & Chloe are a favorite go-to designer for smart playful jewelry. Whether it be a lucite silhouette of kate moss or this inverted diamond solitare i flip my shit and debate maxing out my visa so i can drape myself in finery and tell people it's from a design-minded secret admirer. Lastly, what is the gift that keeps on giving? Sexy accented English lessons from a Japanese tramp teacher. Bonus: you can learn in reverse how to say the phrases in Japanese. (nsfw, unless you work somewhere that allows you to yell 'first rate cunt lapping!')

sheer-ly you jest

har har har what a riot corpse bride. lol sheer pants at prada you say! who wears sheer pants! omg sheer overskirt and coat. no laughing matter; not funny. rather, insightful depiction of vulnerability vs protection and reinterpretation of modesty vs sex. can the two poles exist in harmony? who knows but this depth of sheerness tickles my fancy.

fashion week fall/winter 08 part 3: seasonless-ness

Even though today is the last day of NY fashion week (then on to paris, milan, london, and then and then and then) things are perking up! i do not recant my cynicism of earlier ny fash week posts because that shit is not doin it for me. do i deny its existence? no. will i purchase it/partake in its trend that will soon spawn? no. do i think it is worthless? no. i just dont like it and that is that. however my tastes skew a little off from general american in design xyz. ok, enough, on to the goods. shipley & halmos (of trovata) showed men's and women's looks yesterday and they are really wearable. the types of this i wish i had right now, very season-less, not too sweet not too salty just right. zero maria cornejo also had some great, clean, effective looks. monochromatic for the most part but the details and styling set them apart from the usual all-black fashion uniform. lastly, y&kei showed some very desirable ali mcgraw-on-acid looks. and i am about it. fall/winter 08 wardrobe title: 70s collegiate-beat-rockabilly-on-both-quaaludes-and-pcp. i can get into that. (images l-r 2 of each: shipley&halmos; zeromariacornejo; y&kei)

fashion week fall/winter 08 part 2

so, NY fashion week is coming along and there is a lot more boring nonsense. matronly frocks, pants so wide even the Ukranian models look obese, knee length everything, excessive bows and brocades, and other shit that i cannot recall because i dont want to nor do i care to. cathy horyn noted that there is a surplus of embellishment in what should more forwardly be a time of cleaner modernism. clutter of trim and gilt looks tired and old and almost condescending in the face of a recession and following several seasons of more and more is more. though not all of my commentary is scornful or depressed, i pulled the following images which i will personally be adapting as wardrobe direction. you can do what you please, but please, keep your neck bows, frills, and crushed velvet far away from me. (images l-r: benjamin cho, thakoon, karen walker)

fashion week fall/winter 08 part 1

so, youll be impressed, im programming cheats into my TI-83 plus calculator for a test tomorrow, scarfing Aloo Matar, chugging a corona, and snarking all over this weekends fashion shows. oh and watching that millionaire matchmaker show on bravo! Multi tasking to the extreme. Firstly, oh my god this millionare dude is BORING. TO FUCKING DEATH! i mean i know his matchmaker date is a vapid surgically enhanced drone but still! robots have a limit on awkward conversation. oh. thats my girl, draining her booze to make the date less hellish. ok on to the fashion: so BCBG, nicole miller, baby phat, erin fetherston, among others showed over the weekend. and get ready women ages 14-140: shit is gonna suck. medieval flappers nonsense and other grasping at straw trends. erin fetherston grew up a little from coquette into gamine, which is appreciated, but everything else so far is eh bordering on lame**. jezebel comments aptly and comically on the shows so far. whats more exciting is patrick robinson is grand poo-bah of the Gap and shit is lookin tight! please see above photo and this article for patrick's achievements thus far and plans for the american brand.

**alexandre herchcovich is so rad it gets it own post