ISSUE No 3

SEPT 2012

(capsule) CAPSULESHOW.COM

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WEARETHEMARKET.COM

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80 EIGHTH AVE/№ 202 NYC

RETAIL ALCHEMISTS

For over seven years French husband and wife team Clarent and Carol Dehlouz have transformed the Parisian retail scene with FrenchTrotters—their carefully curated, innovative retail environments and eclectic selection of hard to find labels and products with a focus on craft and quality. Now with several stores in Paris, they opened a large flagship in the heart of the Marais in late August. We caught up with Clarent to learn more about his approach to creating the perfect retail experience.

THE END OF MINIMALISM Why Trying Is The New Not Trying by Ray Siegel

If you wear a few extra bracelets—they call it an arm party. “They” are the people that we’re meant to look to for advice on "what's cool." Technically, I'm one of them and I'll be the first to say it’s getting harder to determine as trends come and go at a pace that’s more of the day than of the season. Two years ago, I’d have said that I think it’s cool to wear the same thing every day as I was a big supporter of the jeans and t-shirt thing. I'll still rep that look until the day it dies (which should be never) but lately I’m seeing way less of that on the streets and on myself. In place of the plain-old I see nothing but “arm parties," loud prints (I never thought I'd see hot rod flames on a Prada chiffon dress) and some pretty tricked out shoes. It seems we’re all saying, “fuck it!” by piling it all on at once. Calvin Klein is alive and well and still putting forth pared down everything. The wildly popular Celine—though bold—is inherently minimal in its concept. So what’s changed? Is it that Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj secretly coerced everyone to follow suit?

Capsule: Tell us about the new flagship. Why are you opening a new shop? Clarent Dehlouz: Our new flagship store is the result of eight years of developing different projects. We wanted to gather everything under one roof in order to show a global vision of French Trotters: our multibrand selection for men and women, our own label, which is also for men and women and all our collaborations. There is also a homeware corner, as interior decoration and furniture have always been very important in our concept. We will also have a little kids’ corner. We needed a big space and were lucky to find it right were we wanted, on rue Vieille du Temple in the Marais, next to where we had set our men's store 3 years ago (now closed). C: Who is your target customer? CD: Our target is pretty wide. We always try to stay accessible. We like the idea of welcoming in our store a mix of different kinds of customers from locals and tourists, hipsters to bobos, and from all ages. What links all our customers is the love of nice products, well crafted and with a story to tell. C: You have such a distinct aesthetic and well-curated brand list. How do you choose the designers you work with? CD: We always follow our tastes. We get inspiration from all our travels or simply in our daily life. We like clean design and craft. Simple products with a strong identity. Nice fabrics and attention to details. It's also important to mix styles in our selection. From Scandinavian design to American preppy, Japanese vintage or ethnic style. C: Will you still be focusing on Made in France and locally produced products? CD: Locally-crafted products are very important. It means you have people close to their production. What is really interesting is when the production is part of the concept of the brand and using a specific

knowledge. Today our FrenchTrotters label has two lines. One made in France with the shirts and jackets made in Paris and all the knits made in Brittany. Our second line is made in India. It's very interesting because it allows us to create our own prints and dye (which we couldn't do in France). We also work with artisans in small villages for the embroidery. C: Who designs your in-house label? What are some best selling items in the collection? CD: My wife Carole designs the women’s and I design the men’s. Our best selling piece for women for SS12 has been our Jackie jacket. Our customers went crazy when it sold out. We had dozens of requests since then and we have it back for FW12 with new fabrics (Ikat and Liberty). For the men, our shirts are very popular. Some our customers only buy our FT shirts. The cut is narrow but still comfortable and we use very nice fabrics. C: Do you have any special collabos or exclusive product lined up for the launch? CD: We have our new collection of "FrenchTrotters × Veja" sneakers with new colors a new style. We have for women our "Avril Gau x FrenchTrotters" shoe collection. For men our FW12 collection of Alden "exclusively for FrenchTrotters" with a new last which will be exclusive to us. We have a special co-branding with Bleu de Chauffe : a backpack, a camera strap and an iPad case. We will also have a collection of home linen. And many other projects and events... (continues on back page)

Perhaps we can blame the economy for another social disaster: Tackiness! But it’s a form of tackiness we’ve come to accept and even like. The recession in 2009 spurred a welltimed “it’s cooler to be broke” trend. A friend and I once overheard a French woman explaining our undone look to her friend, “It’s a typical for American kids to dress like bums, but they're clothes are really expensive.” She was right on the money. I’d probably hunted through an overpriced bin of white T-shirts for a month before I decided to splurge on the better fitting $100 one over the $40 option. Those women would be pleased to know that we’ve gone back to flaunting like it’s the '80s—only we’ve managed to be even more flashy. It seems like a direct reaction to those few depressing years we had. Luxury was put on hold—and gasp—fashion show invites were printed on cheaper cardstock. Though still in the midst of a recession, we’ve collectively decided to step it up. There’s been other changes—one being the return of hip hop to mainstream culture. If you’re listening to the lyrics, they’re telling you to be a baller. And that anything understated is lame. As for the excess jewelry technique, rappers are very into that too. His name isn’t 1 Chainz! I’ve embraced it more than a former plain T-shirt-wearer ever could. I’ve still got those tees on standby, but right now I'm rocking Prada car prints with ice like an NBA player. It’s absolutely a nod to the hip hops gods and to my personal fortune that's missing a few stacks—or to use the sole term that hip hop and fashion have in common: Racks.

Ray Siegel is an online fashion editor @RaySiegel

VIGNETTES

#ingoodcompany Ryan Kibler is a New York-based freelance photographer and a long-time friend of the Capsule Community. You might know him from recurring editorial work in publications like Bullett Magazine and WWD, or perhaps from the infamous GQ.com editorial featuring Adrianne Ho in UNIS NY. Kibler did a portrait series at the Capsule New York Men’s show using a vintage 4x5 Polaroid camera. “I come from a generation that is obsessed with instant gratification. I feel like Polaroid is a modality of that need that holds more weight than digital snaps. There’s something about the chemical reaction and the molecules mixing that feels more permanent. I feel like I fight the digital analog battle inside myself everyday,” he says laughing.

Capsule’s always been about more than just clothes. We’re a community of makers and shakers and we don’t stop at apparel. This season, Capsule invited some dear friends to take over small spaces and do their thing. Interspersed throughout the floor will be experiential environments and installations that are the result of some of the best creative minds we know going wild doing what they do best. Keep an eye out at the show for more incredible experiences and spaces.

TUNE IN

Greg Armas, owner of the Lower East Side boutique and clothing collection Assembly New York, tells us about his latest music interests. Matter at Capsule Men's

>How would you describe your taste in music? Lately it’s dark waters… I really admire unconventional timing, difficult sounds, and odd harmonics harnessed into beautiful songs… It can be really minimal. >Where/how do you prefer listening to music? I don’t use headphones because I always lose them but I have to be with music constantly. If I don’t listen to something (anything) my brain will just start to play its own radio stations.. not always a good thing. I have tube amps that I use at home and work and listen to a lot of vinyl.

SS13: THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL Looking ahead to SS13 doesn’t require searching for the next big trend so much as preparing yourself for when it bangs down the door at Capsule this season. Everything will be centered around extremes—big prints paired with bigger prints, flowing fabrics extravagantly draped on the body, and exaggerated silhouettes that will give the wearer an added presence anywhere she goes. Jumpsuits, shorts, and surf details will be big for SS13, and even basics are taking their role to the next level with plenty of vibrantly colored t-shirts and ultra-crisp white shirts making an appearance. For everybody who is trying to dip into this season by mixing their one “loud” print with a tiny stripe and making sure to coordinate it all with a same-color solid, this is not your playground. “Go big or go home” never felt so right.

>Where do you go to find new music? What attracts you to a new song or band? It’s always been friends but now online services like Grooveshark, and so on can turn you on to someone else's great playlist with tracks and bands you’ve never heard before. So now it’s Internet strangers as well. Thank you unsung heroes. >Do you have any all-time faves? What makes them your favorite? Reggae, because it has the best intentions. >How do you select the music you play in your store? What's playing now? We create playlists democratically of the employees’ favorite bands and have massive shuffled playlists. This summer has been a lot old psych/prog/jams like Sensations Fix and newer good sounds like Regal Degal and Gary Wilson.

Illustration by Nan Lawson, nanlawson.com

California Dreamin’ - Eddie Hazel and… - Alex Oriental Experience Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark And Hilldale - Love Dam Üstüne Çul Serer - Selda Shummy Poor Clessford Idea In Tragedy Taprest Noodles - Staff Carpenborg & The Electric Corona Waterfall - Aguaturbia Pop Electronique No. 1 - Cecil Leuter Mein Maschine - Cos YamaYama - Yamasuki If It’s In You - Syd Barrett

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Picking Daisies Daisy McNairy just graduated from high school. But she’s not your average teen. She’s well travelled and well versed in the global fashion scene. We asked the 17 year old daughter and muse of designer Mark McNairy to tell us what she’s into right now…”I know what I love and I’m pretty set in my ways right now. Every time I stray, I regret it. I wear and use things until the last possible minute so quality is essential. I’m also really lazy when it comes to getting dressed, I often find menswear more interesting and if something’s not perfect I won’t buy it. Lately I’ve just been really into just throwing on my dad’s clothes and calling it a day and then maybe adding some accessories that remind me that I’m a girl… “ Here’s what’s in Daisy’s closet these days… Paul Smith tortoise shell frames #294 Supply of white T-shirts Permanent red nails Bowers & Wilkins headphones The perfect black heels Revlon really red matte lipstick Nike liberty collection McNairy black leather Jodhpur boot Ipod nano wristwatch Leather wallet with a zipper Rose gold jewelry from Love Adorned Sugar Fresh lip product Black thigh high socks Printed baseball caps Naked and Famous jeans

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FRESH FACES

These designers are making their Capsule debuts

KAHLO - The KAHLO girl finds her identity in impeccably cut, high quality, slightly androgynous garments that are built to last long after the current trends become yesterday’s news. Embodying the personalities of the designers, close friends Fay and Rachelle, KAHLO represents a philosophy of effortless beauty and power that will serve its wearer well for many seasons to come. 1 ANTIPODIUM - Geoffrey J. Finch created Antipodium after escaping his rural hometown for the allure of London’s brash and unapologetic approach to fashion, finding his niche in a potent combination of sexy and witty designs. Antipodium is Finch’s ode to the stylish eastLondon set that he welcomed into his studio every day, providing the inspiration behind his signature “tongue-in-chic” designs. 2 SCA ULVEN - Designers Sara C. Andersson and Marte Ulven draw from deep roots in Nordic culture for the core aesthetic that defines SCA ULVEN. The brand is driven by clean graphic forms, exaggerated silhouettes, a balance of oversized and fitted shapes, and functional details that proudly reference both of the designers’ Nordic backgrounds. 3 LE MONT ST MICHEL - To say designing runs in Alexandre Milan’s blood is a bit of an understatement. Le Mont St. Michel is 99 years strong and counting, and Milan uses the brand’s rich background combined with a love of graphic art and 80’s pop/rock influences to create a unique, vintage-inspired look that only a centennial brand steeped in history can truly master. 4 VEDA - Leather pieces are an essential part of any women’s wardrobe; it’s a miracle garment with the ability to add visible inches of confidence to anyone who wears it. VEDA recognizes the strong appeal and has built itself to be an ultimate destination for all things leather, from the perfect leather jacket to the newest innovations in leather designs. 5

MANIAMANIA - Marrying occult imagery with pop culture references, MANIA MANIA accessories is the lovechild of Oyster Mag's former Art Director and the former Fashion Editor of Russh. Joining forces in 2009, the duo began designing jewelry that drew inspiration from their creative muses like David Bowie, Kenneth Anger, and Andre Breton. Their design process involves a combination of sketching and wax carving, and each piece created with faceted crystals, brass and soft suede leather is entirely one of a kind. 6 CHAO - Understated elegance has the potential to speak louder then any seasonal trend, even if it happens to be prints on prints on prints. Maria Chao aims to reach that potential with simple, subtle designs that continually explore a balance in the relationship of fashion and art, which is all reflected in Chao’s minimal yet strong aesthetic. 7 ANAGRAM BY GARY GRAHAM - Anagram is like Gary Graham’s younger sister—you know, the one who rolled her own cigarettes and discovered new bands before they even knew they were good. Playing off of the definition of ‘anagram’ (to rearrange in order to discover something new), Graham takes key silhouettes from his signature collection and reworks them with a youthful, eclectic vibe designed for a more independent, brazen customer. 8

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ALTEWAI.SAOME - Founded in Sweden in 2009 by Natalia Altewai and Randa Saome, Altewai.Saome strives for an eclectic offering that seeks to explore dimension and depth while still attracting a trendy, chic crowd. The current collection takes inspiration from geometric lines and shapes, creating a clean cut look that is both vivid and powerful. 9

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PPENING HA HAPPENING W NO NOW 25 Years of Reading at Aesop Aesop is celebrating their 25th anniversary of keeping the world smelling fresh with “25 years of reading at Aesop”, a curated collection of books that have inspired the Aesop team, spread over the past 25 years. Stop by any of Aesop’s stores to pick up a poster that illustrates the concept and browse the featured works, as every store will keep a copy of each book on hand for everybody to touch, smell, and otherwise try to absorb some brilliance. LN-CC Vinyl and Audio Shop LN-CC (Late Night Chameleon Café) is a well-curated destination for everything needed to emulate that lifestyle we all pretend to live online through obscurely titled fashion blogs. The concept shop stocks a wide variety of brands alongside a bookstore and an impressive library of rare vinyls and vintage audio sourced from Japan. The owner, Dan Mitchell, has hosted everything from a pop up shop by legendary record dealer Nick the Record to an exclusive album release by DJ Harvey, and now, watch out for the launch of an LN-CC label.

BAD GIRLFRIEND

A Case for Cuteness Caboodles was the necessary container girls needed to separate their butterfly clips from their barrettes in the 80’s. Available in a wide range of colors and materials, they were personalizable, and the hidden compartments inside were designed to keep tons of tiny treasures neat and tidy. Now, Caboodles are back for a new generation of obsessive organizers. A re-release lets the modern girl keep her lipgloss, eyelashes, stickers and other accessories squared away.

Bad Girlfriend is a New York-based garage rock band who sing about love and heartache. The band's name, which comes from the phrase, "she's such a nice girl, but such a bad girlfriend," reflects the struggle many women face between being a “good girl” or a “bad girl.” We sat down with Brianna Lance, lead singer of Bad Girlfriend and head designer of reclaimed vintage line The Reformation to talk music and fashion influences, NYC practice spaces, the blues and Lydia Lunch. >

VFiles × Ebbets Field Keep it sassy and apathetic with the V Files x Ebbets Field Flannels Whatever Snapback set. Give one to your angsty best friend and walk around the mall together. VIA V Files.

Above Tree Line is back for a second season at the New York women’s edition of Capsule. The performance-driven show-in-show delivers functional, outdoor gear with a fashion friendly slant. From camping equipment to trekking boots, all natural soap, classic parkas or cozy socks, Above Tree Line brings an assortment of garments and accouterments to keep you looking fresh in the great outdoors. Be ready for anything.

C: You design for Reformation full time in addition to your music career. How do you balance the two? BL: Poorly! I don't really prioritize sleep, so I'm prone to pouting like a little jerk. The only thing that makes it doable is that all my best friends are either in Bad Girlfriend or work at Reformation. My life is like being in two ridiculous female cults. My only real link to testosterone is my patient boyfriend. BL: They are so different. Designing clothes is like being a servant to woman. You think about what makes them beautiful and what they want and hope to create something they love. It's aesthetic and thoughful. Music, however, is much more personal and from the depths, like meditating very loud. Wild, loud meditating with other people. C: Garage rock made in NYC usually doesn’t happen in garages— where do you guys practice? BL: A complete shit hole practice space in Williamsburg. The hallway always smells of pot and rotten ranch dressing. A garage might be more glamorous than our practice space. C: Some of your songs like Boxer and Tricky have some pretty heavy blues influences in them– where does that sound come from?

Catch the Rainbow Adding a splash of color to one’s surroundings can now be done by robot. Dutch artist Edwin Deen has designed a sprinkler that will make everything within a 5 foot radius all the colors of the rainbow. Pot of gold not included.

BL: Those songs are basically about the blues, heartache and bitterness. We all listen to so many kinds of music that when we are writing different things just pop out to fit the mood. C: Are there any designers that really inspire you right now? BL: Always! Past and present. Right now, though, I love Chiuri and Piccioli for Valentino and Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy. Both lines produce clothes that seem like heightened reality. But I will always love Karl Lagerfeld. He's such a boss man. C: Kim Gordon or Lydia Lunch? BL: Lydia Lunch C: Leather or Lace? BL: Both at the same time.

Snap and Go Never freeze up in front of your friend’s iPhone again. The Bosco is a free-standing photo booth that sends images straight to all your social media platforms. "The idea is to create a self-portrait experience that looks and feels high-end," says co-founder Nick Fehr. Rent one from its Brooklyn-based creators and put your face on blast. Skill Exchange Visual designer and blogger Kate Koeppel of MiPiaceKate. com wants to bring back the art of using our hands as tools, one workshop at a time. The San Francisco based initiative, Skill Exchange, aims to educate on both traditional and new hand skills, like mending clothing or cultivating your own urban chicken flock. It’s well worth a class, because you never know when these skills will come in—you guessed it—handy.

Brianna Lance: Actually, drawing came first. I always took whatever outlets were available. I have a chaotic brain and making anything seams to calm the waters.

C: How does designing a dress compare to writing a hook?

Micro Festival The publishing industry will come together and talk shop later this year at the Micro Festival, an independent publishing festival held in Milan from October 12-14. Organized by Marco Nicotra and Giuliana Tammaro of creative agency La Caffettiera, the festival brings together exhibitors, external guests, and showcases of zines, live music, and mini-workshops.

Taste Test There’s not much left to say after you’ve been named the top restaurant in the world for two years running. Rene Redzepi drives NOMA to be the end game for perfectly created Nordic dishes that serve a dual purpose as finely crafted cuisine and individual works of art. Now, Redzepi is adding the NOMA FoodLab to the business to provide an “experimentarium” where NOMA chefs can continue dreaming up their masterful dishes, like poached deer served with foraged ramsons, pickled juniper berries, beet leaves, snails, chanterelles, and fiddlehead ferns.

Capsule: What came first, music or fashion?

C: Bacon or Tofu? BL: Tofu

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For the full interview check out wearethemarket.com

ART BREAK

Photographer Tell All NY-based photographer, Sandy Kim, documents all the messy and intimate parts of being a young artist in New York—friends, first loves, body parts and all. The oversized Sky High is a limited edition catalog, created by Unpiano Books and Evergold Gallery, in honor of Kim’s first solo show in San Francisco.

Four shows offer a welcome distraction from the circus of fashion weeks.

London Nathan Coley: A Place Beyond Belief, Haunch of Venison, 9/7 - 10/3 Gravestones and protest placards find pride of place in former Turner Prize nominee Nathan Coley’s sprawling exhibition, which investigates the shared currents that underlie both public protest and public mourning. An installation of recycled headstones, on which the names of the dead have been removed, is a highlight, along with a series of black and white photographs taken at social, political or religious gathering sites, and censored with a delicate application of gold leaf. haunchofvenison.com/103 New Bond St New York Richard Phillips, Gagosian, 9/11 - 10/20 Known for his hyper-realistic portraits of pop culture figureheads, including, most recently, his second short film featuring Lindsay Lohan, Phillips presents new painting and video work in Gagosian’s inaugural show of the Fall season. No word on whether La Lohan will make an appearance, but there’s a good chance you might spot her at the afterparty. gagosian.com/555 West 24th St

Roadtrippers We’ve all been there—that one friend yells “Roadtrip!” and everybody’s on board to go out and discover the world, right up until you’ve been on the road for fourteen hours and the only thing you’ve discovered is even more annoying pet peeves about everyone else in the car. Roadtrippers is a new web-based tool that ensures up to 28 fun and stress-reducing pit stops along the way to your final destination. Just plug in your end stop and choose from a wide variety of exciting attractions along the way based on the group’s interests, from side hikes to taking an hour to rest at a secluded beach off the beaten path.

Milan Peter Lindbergh, Known and “The Unknown” Galleria Carla Sozzani 9/6 - 11/4 Peter Lindbergh’s monochromatic vision has captivated the fashion world for over 30 years, and in this two-part exhibition, Galleria Carla Sozzani offers a selection of 40 iconic, glamorously unsettling images from his magazine career, as well as a personal project that spans decades of work, representing the photographer’s non-commercial work. galleriacarlasozzani.org/Corso Como 10

StoreFrontLab We all know that a storefront gives that significant first impression of a shop aesthetic with the hopes of drawing people inside, but it can also be a place of community and creativity all on its own. StoreFrontLab, based in San Francisco, is building on that idea by using its own storefront space to host any and all experiments that hold community interest, from a day-long reading or lecture to setting up an art installment for a month.

Richard Phillips (top), Sophie Calle (bottom left), Peter Lindbergh (bottom right)

Paris Sophie Calle, Pour la dernière et pour la première fois (For the Last and First Time), Galerie Perrotin 9/8 - 10/27 Known for her poetic conceptualism, Calle traveled to Istanbul in 2011 and began this intense project. In the artist’s words: “I went to Istanbul. I spoke to blind people, most of whom had lost their sight suddenly. I asked them to describe the last thing they saw.” The haunting results embody both memory and absence, articulating the gulf that separates the viewer and the object of their gaze. perrotin.com/76 rue de Turenne

BPMW 80 8TH AVE/No 202 NEW YORK, NY 10011

TIP SHEET

Just a sampling of what the Capsule community is bringing for S/S 13.

RETAIL ALCHEMISTS

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C: Are women as attuned to small batch, artisanally crafted clothing as men have become over the past few years in your opinion? CD: Women really care about the style before everything else. Of course they are sensitive to the craftsmanship, especially when it comes to shoes and bags. But they won't get as obsessed as men can be about knowing every detail about the garment. Probably because womenswear offers a wider variety and more creativity while menswear stays a lot more basic and the small details make the difference. C: Over at Capsule HQ, we are constantly navigating the differences between the way men and women shop, and relate to clothes via the Internet. With men’s and women's clothes under the same roof, do you take different approach to each gender? CD: Indeed, we really take care of the men and women separately. Neither one depends on the other. This has always been one of our strengths — to be as strong with the women than with the men. Both have a special attention and direction. Carole as the eye for women and I have the eye for men. C: Tell us about the décor and vibe for the new store. Who designed the interiors? CD: The new store keeps the same aesthetic we have developed in our other shops. We've been working with the same architects and put together all the ingredients we like. Wood, 50's inspired furniture, polished concrete, vintage tiles and cactus! The space is pretty big (200sq/m) but it is divided in 5 different rooms so it still feels warm. It's like a big Parisian apartment with high ceilings. The place has lots of character. C: What percentage of your customers are international? How important is e-commerce? CD: We have about 40% of international customers. Many of them know us through our online store. Our online business as been growing increasingly over the past three years. The web is becoming more

and more interesting today with the emergence of all the social media which gives a real interaction with our customers. They can follow the daily life of the stores, our buying and the workshop. We can really share our concept and spirit through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo, etc. It's very interesting. C: Tell us more about your social media activity. CD: We have a very good team for Internet and our online store. For the social media, I try to take care of it myself as much as I can with tools like Instagram, Vimeo, Facebook/Twitter, etc. Updating with pictures or videos daily. It can be content about the store news, behind the scenes, our buyings, travels, places we like, etc. Our customers are very eager for these kind of things! It gives a strong proximity with people following us and it strengthens our identity. C: We're embarking on fashion weeks for SS13— what looks and key items do you think will be most important for next spring? CD: I feel SS13 is really into the California culture with a lot of fancy prints. For our own collection there will be strong prints as well, embroidery, nice fabrics such as crepe, chambray and linen. Colors will be faded and warm (orange, green, blue, etc). An ethnicchic style with a strong Parisian identity. C: Over the past few years we've seen the rise of the specialty store as a global fashion force. Have you seen this happening? What do you think are the key ingredients for a successful specialty boutique? CD: It's all about finding the right alchemy. The selection of product is of course the main ingredient. The interior decoration and the display will then be critical to give life to the products. And a good staff to welcome and advise the customers. The emergence of specialty stores is not surprising. People want to shop in an environment with a strong identity that will highlight the products they buy. They are not only buying the product but also the story behind it and the retail concept. ☺ Frenchtrotters.fr

100% New York focuses on body conscious silhouettes with sexy draped fabrics. Albertus Swanepoel will be showing his signature hats, inspired by Africa, street style and music. Expect wider brims and casual shapes. AltewaiSaome collaborated with Kunoqvist to produce a collection of sunglasses for women and men. The designers at Ariana traveled to Cuzco, Peru, to source and develop unique fabrics for their collection of footwear. A new style is the midwedge. Baggu just opened a shop in Brooklyn, and are launching a mini surf line in collaboration with Brooklyn surf shop, Pilgrim. Bedford Street Laundry is inspired by 90s hip hop and streetball. Beth Richards will feature swimwear and après swim styles with mesh accents. High waisted bikini bottoms are a must. Spring 2013 brings the 50th Anniversary of Birkenstock’s iconic Madrid Sandal. Bliss Lau is expanding it's BLISS LAU FINE collection this season with much more silver and gold, sexy jewelry that can be worn directly on the body as well as into form fitting leather waist belts. CHAO collaborated with Swiss born and New York based artist Olaf Breuning. Christine Alcalay returned to her native Vietnam, and her SS13 collection is heavily influenced by the trip, and reflections on her childhood. Cold Picnic is inspired by terrestrial impact craters, the American Midwest, natural sculptures formed by wind erosion for their accessories and home lines. Over at Cri de Couer, the influence for SS13 was a bit PJ Harvey grunge of the 90's, a bit Teddy Girl of the 50's. Lots of masculine influences but revamped in a feminine way. Daniel Palillo’s colorful cotton-based collection is inspired by the Universe. Desideri’s new collection is called Mid Night Dream , and crystals, stars and hearts are the main focus, alongside 14k gold filled , sterling silver , leather and Swarovski crystals. Flotsam and Jetsam’s new collection is called Aquarian Morning, and all pieces are an homage to water. Resin adds flowing color to the jewelry or create liquid transparency. Fresco Towels takes inspiration from the California lifestyle using indigos, plaids, ponchos, and terry. Hillary from Collina Strada made her collection of leather bags and accessories much more girly than usual. A RTW collection of printed and solid silks is new for SS13. Hyden Yoo was inspired by a 1967 song from Astrud Gilberto, “Bossa Na Praia,” which he considers a “perfect representation of the feminine hyper-sensual but soft nonchalance, right before the 70's hit.” The SS13 color palette is a mix of beach, jungle and urbanism. The patterns and prints in the ISM Mode collection are hand dyed with hand made dyes. Jenny Grettve has been inspired by the music of Clara Schumann, the distinguished 19th century German musician and composer. The collection includes a selection of white floor-length dresses combined with trousers, skirts and jackets in neon colors and new textures. Rob from Jungmaven spends his time camping, hiking, and surfing, beaches. His 100% hemp jersey, hemp/linen blends, reflect his lifestyle. Women’s is new for SS13. KAHLO’s SS13 collection was inspired by the artworks of Australian artist Del Kathryn Barton and her intricate and meticulous technique look for perforated leather clutches and handbags and a new capsule range of footwear. Lambillotte takes inspiration from the 1920’s; draped waists, low scooped necklines, a free, less structured silhouette and plenty of silk and natural fibers. The team over at Loup are developing new fabrics which they will share at intimate events and trunk shows. SS13 is influenced by Frida Kahlo and Henri Matisse paintings, and a French woman traveling to Mexico by way of New York. The three sisters behind the Swedish label Minimarket are intrigued by Shangri-La. Earthy tones and minerals like emerald and chalk built from earth observation photos of the area where Shangri- La might be hidden, are combined with fluorescent colors. MACHA is reviving the ‘70s in a 1990s kind of a way with details from the Toureg Tribe of N. Africa featuring textures in high polished chrome, braided rings and necklaces and big sculptural bangles. Miquella offers Swarovski crystal chains wrapped with leather and silk. They’re opening an accessories boutique in London in November. Nettie Kent is feeling an ancient vibe and using different finishes such as an antique gold over bronze to achieve an old heirloom quality to her jewelry. ORA is debuting a new line of black diamond friendship bracelets and is experimenting with bone, shells, wood and unique fish vertebrae pieces. Sagan Jewelry has a refined punk look, with subtle touches of romanticism. Featuring gold-filled, antique silver and gold brass mixed with feathers and semiprecious stones. The designer at Seventhirtyone looks to Scotland for its beautiful scenery and uses all shades of green in silks and textured fabrics. Uzi is working with natural textured fabrics cream, grey and black with pops of brick, wine, blue and red and have new hand screened prints all sewn in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Warmi explores the circus aesthetics in the 20's employing a dusty yet bold color palette. A contemporary, symmetrical, multicolored 'lace' effect on tops and dresses is achieved with a crochet technique.