The Rattle: MOB x KAWS Limited Edition Bikini

by Roseanna Roberts

After seeing huge success from their first bikini collaboration with KAWS' last year, the female streetwear fashion line Married to the Mob (aka MOB) have teamed up again to launch a second limited-edition bathing suit with the artist. The look this year, called "The Rattle," is a little more feisty, a refreshingly provocative design compared to the playful "hands" debut of 2006. With a glammed up reptilian theme, a gold split tongue and fang motif slithers across the black lycra itsy-bitsy, commanding nothing less than a confident personality (like the ladies of MOB) to suit up.

One viewer on the MOB website summed up the style as, "a modern day Garden of Eden, except this bitch ain't afraid to eat the apple or frolic with the serpent."

Based on the sell-out responses of last summer, 200 "Rattlers" are up for grabs this time around (twice as many as the 2006 edition). The string set hits shelves this Friday (tomorrow) and are available at four exclusive locations: ALife, New York; Original Fake, Tokyo; Colette, Paris and the MOB website.

Tempus Temple of Time 2007 All‐Black Commemorative Collection

by Watchismo

I'm not sure what happened or when, but it seems everyone and their mother wants an all-black watch these days. Whether PVD-coated, carbonized, ceramic or whatever, people want to be a part of the horological Blacksploitation of luxury timepieces. So, that brings me to the September 2007 Tempus "Temple of Time" watch festival in Singapore. The largest watch event in Asia, it's also likely becoming one of the most influential. This year's event features a Commemorative Collection of all-black watches, including the Richard Mille's PVD RM016 (pictured left). For more info and images, go here.

Super Sunglasses

by Ami Kealoha

Super, the newest project from Pig Magazine's Sean Beolchini and the Beckerman brothers, has taken the classic Wayfarer-style sunglasses and upped the ante with a virtual rainbow of unisex options—turquoise, cream, red, yellow, and blue—not to mention superior construction. Handmade in the legendary sunglass factories of Italy, each pair of slightly oversized frames is reinforced with Zeiss lenses and a gold-plated brand stamp inside. Achieve true technicolor vision with a pair of Super's Retro style sunglasses—the most buzz-worthy and color-conscious shades around. Approximately $130.

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by Loryn Hatch

The Art of the Grid Notepads

by Tim Yu

Without grids our lives would be much messier—not to mention less aesthetically pleasing. Grid-It! notepads, specifically Le Modulor by Le Corbusier, helped me to get more organized at home and at the office. Originally designed for his architecture practice, the grid system is based on mathematics and proportions of human anatomy. Different grid lines, lengths, spaces and sections encourage an alternate kind of note taking. The upshot is a structured method for scattering ideas across the page, making me think more laterally and the page ends up looking pretty different than most of my notes. It's also a nice size to keep topics condensed, sectioned and, more importantly, to the point.

The notepads are available in specialized shops worldwide and online from Magma starting at £7. More info here.

Schambra Bags

by Leonora Oppenheim

The dedicated craftsmanship of Schambra bags embodies the phrase "beauty is in the details." (See detailed images here.)We discovered these instant classics at the First Exposure show in London a few weeks ago. The care and attention paid to the form and function of these work and travel bags by the designer Kirsten Schambra Stevens was immediately obvious as she showed us each one inside and out. With pale soft leather that will wear beautifully with age, richly-colored satin lining, practical sizes, useful pockets, small fastenings, and the subtle embossed message that reads “Crafted to Love you Back,” we very much like Schambra's design ethic of making things to love and to last. Kirsten says these are "beautiful products made for a reason, to be enjoyed over time rather than just a seasonal basis."

Kirsten is a contemporary American designer who clearly delights in the traditions of old school European craftsmanship. Based out of Amsterdam, she sources all her materials from Italy and the production takes place in a small family-run workshop in Poland. She says her approach is "intended to create pieces with timeless style for everyday use, made from the finest quality materials that age and mellow with wear." Each design is a limited run; they make a maximum of 20 per bag and every bag is stamped with an individual series number. By signing up to Schambra's mailing list you can be among the first to see each new design emerge. Look out for a new color in August. We think the combination of modern sleek designs with traditional production values puts Schambra bags above the rest.

A Conquista do Espaço

by Phuong-Cac Nguyen

Fake people in slightly off situations, intricate murals created using the city's dirt: These works were created by some of the biggest names in graffiti and contemporary art in the excellently-curated "A Conquista do Espaço: Novas Formas da Arte de Rua" (The Conquest of Space: New Forms of Street Art) currently on display in São Paulo at SESC Pinheiros and SESC Pompeia. The exhibit visually discusses how physical space motivates the form street art takes and how its appearance wins over that space.

Eleven international artists—Alexandre Orion (Brazil), Blu (Italy), Buenos Aires Stencil and Run Don't Walk (Argentina), Fefe Talavera (Brazil), Leon Reid IV (U.S.), Mark Jenkins (U.S.), Onesto (Brazil), Sam3 (Spain), M-City (Poland) and Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada (Cuba/U.S.)—transformed the government-owned public rec and cultural centers into a mesmerizing Disneyland of detailed, carefully executed pieces made for the space they occupy. (See more images here.)

Kids fiddle, unafraid, with Jenkins' fake thugs dressed in baggy clothes that sat on benches, while adults followed the nature-meets-city fight depicted in a magnificent picture story line by Sam3. Orion, famous for his graf work (the success of which at times depends on the public's unwitting participation), puts a new spin on the words "clean art" by making a mock representation of his previous work, turning a tunnel into a visual catacomb with the use of rags and water. Blu's fantastic and wildly intricate outdoor mural explores painted versus real guns, and Leon Reid IV seeks to spin metaphors about urban life using already-existing structure.H ere, his chain-wrapped mannequin lassos one of the building's poles threatening to bring it to collapse.

The exhibit, curated by São Paulo artist collective Base-V, is on display until 23 September and includes workshops and talks led by the artists themselves.