After a week dominated by shocking news from over the Atlantic, it’s been good to find refuge in less worrying and contentious things. Whilst definitely not burrowing our heads in the sand, we enjoyed a more creative collaboration than we usually see and looked forward to some childhood friends making a move into the world of fashion. In a weird and dark mirror to political life, however, there was the comeback of another problematic convicted felon…
MM6 Maison Margiela and Salomon
Maison Margiela don’t do so many collabs so when they do see fit to turn their insanely creative minds into a joint project, you know they are pretty sure they can do a good job. Just launched is a small collection with Salomon that comprises both clothing and shoes, divided into two groups, one using bad-weather resistant Goretex and the other comprising seamless stretch pieces. The jury is out on the ugly drawstring shoes (like putting your feet in a bin bag…) but we LOVE the minimalist raincoats with their elongated welt pockets. Let’s hope this is the start of something more regular.
Mike Tyson x Kith
Doing the rounds a while back was a rather strange meme featuring bad boy boxer Mike Tyson holding two pigeons to look as though they were kissing. Anyway, fast forward to the eve of his upcoming fight with Jake Paul, televised on Netflix, and lifestyle brand Kith have released a t-shirt featuring said photo. What it all means, we have no idea though the brand points out that the word kiss, when spoken by the boxer in his distinctive lisp, sounds like Kith. For a fighter notoriously famous for sexual assault and biting off an opponent’s ear, the image is definitely as ironic as it is iconic but maybe it’s the first attempt to rebrand a gentler, pigeon-fancying Tyson. Good luck with that.
NN.07 Mountain Sprezzatura
So-called pony skin (actually calfskin with the hair left on) is a great leather to use for shoes, giving, as it does, an extra layer of texture and interest at ground level but sadly it isn’t used half as often as it should be. Perhaps people worry their feet will look like two guinea pigs… NN.07 have ignored that anxiety though and produced a limited edition of mountaineering-style boots in a wonderful piebald design guaranteed to bring a rugged edge to your footwear collection. The random nature of the skins also means that each pair is entirely unique.
Our Legacy
Founded way back in 2005, Swedish brand Our Legacy have adopted a softly-softly approach to the fashion business, quietly building a loyal clientele that love their vaguely nerdy take on clothing. Seems that despite their quietness, they have been on the radar of luxury giant LVMH who just announced the acquisition of a minority share in the brand under their Luxury Ventures branch which aims to develop small companies. At the moment the aim is to use the investment to open more stores (currently Our Legacy have stand-alone in Berlin, Stockholm, London and Seoul) with no intention of messing with the product at all. We hope this remains the case and that the investors keep to back seat support in a brand that seems to be doing very well on its own.
Acne Studios x Moomins
Many of us were brought up reading (or being read) stories of Moomintroll and his adventures in Moominland and, as part of the series 80th birthday celebrations, expect to meet up with them all again as they burst back onto the cultural landscape. Launched this week is a collab with ACNE Studios as part of their Face collection where the lovable character – along with the Snork Maiden and Little My – is scattered across hats, t-shirts, jeans and hoodies. But this isn’t the last chance you have to connect with your inner child: Danish brand Rue de Tokyo are releasing their own take on the velvet-nosed character in a capsule collection in the new year. Mercifully though, no sign yet though of the rather creepy hattifatteners that scared Graham as a young child…
