Cool Hunting
| 23 May 2007view entries from: this week | this month | view previous day | view next day |
DEAR:55 and Travessia Boutiques
by Ami Kealoha
Two new boutiques recently broke ground on the Lower East Side. Williamsburg antiques dealers Moon Rhee and designer Hey Ja Do were bored with the typical local vintage store fare. Now, their newly opened DEAR:55 on Clinton Street with its gleaming spaceship white glow, offers a modern twist on the norm. Inside the alabaster space is a meticulous selection of vintage and current collections, including Vivienne Westwood and Rick Owens plus Yohji Yamamoto and Comme des Garçons from the '80s. Stay tuned for Dear's contrasting men's store all in black.
Over on Stanton Street, the LES welcomes another newcomer: Travessia. Owner and artist, Hiroko Rodriguez, opened her store/gallery to address the continual overlap of fashion and art. Striking a balance between antique and industrial, Travessia's dark stained floors, found furnishings, and antique letterpress trays holding Klasica jewelry, create a homey vibe that's clean and uncomplicated. The first installation, featuring the works of Julia Chang and Harumi Ori, is set alongside T-shirts by Klasica, bird print dresses by Custommade, and a bubble-sleeve blouses by Baum Und Pferdgarten.
by Lisa Dionisio
Oliveira Lar
by Phuong-Cac Nguyen
Oliveira Lar is São Paulo–based designer Marcelo Sommer's cheeky line of housewares turning kitsch into a fashion statement. The motifs on the mugs, ashtrays, salad bowls, pillows and plates ring of holidays spent in the countryside hunting deer and frolicking in the countryside—an old but familiar pastime shared between many cultures and still synonymous with a time when leisure was no–fuss and came easy. The collection's anchoring piece is a deer head available in plaster, acrylic or wood. In fact, in true homage to the period from which it was inspired, you probably wouldn't be able to tell apart an Oliveira from its contemporaries if one of its pieces was placed among the shelves in an American mid–West Salvation Army store. This, definitely, is the charming quality of the line.
Oliveira is the second label to emerge from the famous designer, known for his creative output in his previous eponymous line (now sold to a different company). (The other is Do Estilista, which debuted to wide acclaim at São Paul Fashion Week earlier this year.) The collection ranges from $25 for the mugs to $90 for the pillows, and is available at Garimpo + Fuxique, his shop inside Bar Treze and Surface to Air, both in São Paulo.
See more images here.
Salaryman Services
by Ami Kealoha
When you're a salaryman (Japanese white–collar worker), time is precious. You've got to look your best. Always. So, in between meetings with clients, busy business men head over to Menza where they can pay ¥500 (around $4) to have their suit pressed in ten minutes, ¥1,000 ($8) gets eye brows trimmed or shell out ¥300 ($2) to have staffers with pom–poms cheer while salarymen chug an energy drink. (Pictured below.) Other services include useful services like hand massages, watch cleaning and selecting a working man's "image color." Me? I'm a navy.
And if your gorgeous salaryman locks need a trim? Head over to QB House, which is located in convenient places like subway stations. There's a single light that tells customers how quickly they can get their hair cut. Green means no wait. Yellow means 5–10 minutes. Red means more than 15 minutes. (Pictured above right.) Buy a ticket from the vending machine, tell the stylist what kind of 'do you want and an LED monitor counts off the time. Customers get a quick "air wash," then the stylist gets to work. Sweep up hair? Ha! Vacuums tubes are used. The mirrors the customer looks in even doubles as a closet (to save time getting your coat afterwards). In addition to a haircut in ten minutes and for ¥1,000 ($8), customers get free combs as well as a souvenir. Lucky them.
by Brian Ashcraft
SureFire Titan Flashlight
by Tim Yu
If you're going to have one flashlight the limited–edition Surefire Titan could be it. Compact enough to carry everyday it's the first dimming LED flashlight on the market.
Rotate the bezel to adjust the brightness from zero to 65 lumens to provide the right amount of light for use in any situation. Made of corrosion–proof titanium, its durable LED protected by a scratch–resistant sapphire window, it's waterproof and hard–wearing.
At a hefty $500 it should last a lifetime. Contact SureFire for purchasing details or order online here.
