Over the years, there have been many attempts to add a pinch of glamour to some of the world’s most pedestrian sports, and this week sees two – one of which works quite well, whilst the other is, pun intended, a car crash. Meanwhile, as summer approaches, we find new luggage to pack and a very stylish place to spend a few days. Read on to find out what we liked (and didn’t like) this week…
NUDIENT Luggage Collection
You might not recognise the name so much, but it would be hard to miss Stockholm-based Nudient’s ubiquitous ridged phone covers, which are the chic alternative to Hello Kitty and Pokémon cases. Now you can upsize the look as the brand launch their first full-sized luggage collection in the same textured design. Made from hardwearing polycarbonate and recycled plastic, the cabin case and check-in case come in a choice of four sophisticated colours – we love the Urban Grey ones – and might just persuade us to change allegiance from our usual Away favourites.
Aimé Leon Dore Golf Collection
Once famously described as ‘a good walk spoiled’, golf has never been on our radar as a cool sport, and that is unlikely to change. Having said that, Aimé Leon Dore’s second collection of golf attire and accessories make it at least look better. Boxy cuts make the shirts and shorts look more urban than driving range, and the bucket hats and caps have an undeniable swagger. Let’s just hope we don’t see a certain fat orange president squeezed into one of the polos on the links at Mar-a-Lago any time soon.
Rhude X Pirelli ‘Champion’ Capsule Collection
Another attempt to give fashion chops to a seriously unstylish sport appears this week in the form of a collab between LA streetwear brand Rhude and Pirelli, as famous for their nudie calendar as for their tyres. Sadly, this is much less successful, relying, instead of creative reinterpretation, on logos and trademark colours slung across basic hoodies, caps and zip-up jackets. Nothing here that you couldn’t see on a local garage forecourt (with the exception of an oversized ‘Rhude’ added to the already over-complicated graphics), and promoting fossil-fuel heavy motor racing seems decidedly last season to us.
Wave House with Paul Smith Collection
One fashion/automobile collab that did work was the Paul Smith Mini decades ago, but equally successful has been a long-term relationship with upscale upholstery makers Maharam. To celebrate this, Smith has worked with Design Within Reach to produce a bunch of iconic sofas and chairs from the likes of Knoll and Eames, all covered in his bold but sophisticated fabrics. And if you can’t afford to actually buy them, the pieces have been used to furnish the beautiful mid-century Wave House in Palm Desert, which is available to rent for a short – and very stylish – vacation. Book us in now, please!
Clarks Originals Wallabee Slip On
The heritage English shoe brand Clarks Originals has always frustrated us to some extent. They have two or three iconic styles (mixed in with a lot of hideous ones, it has to be said), but they seem reluctant to learn from the likes of Birkenstock and do much in the way of design interpretation, missing out on great potential for something really cool. One (comfortable) step in the right direction, though, could be the launch of a new slide version of the classic Wallabee, where the suede moccasin style has lost its back to become a great fusion of nerdiness and chic. If only they had thought to expand the colour palette into something a little funkier…
