Gap and Pantone T-Shop

Earlier this month Gap and Pantone set up a pop-up shop on 5th Ave in the company’s ‘concept store’ space.

Combining the popularity of Gap t-shirts and the prowess of the worldwide color coder’s energetic shades, Gap and Pantone announced the opening of a color-filled t-shirt shop in Gap’s rotating concept venue adjacent to its flagship store at 54th and 5th Ave.

The Gap & Pantone T-Shop will be open till Sunday, Feb. 8.

“We wanted to create an explosion of color and bring some warmth and optimism to our customers,” said Patrick Robinson, executive VP of design for Gap Adult and gapbody. Noble intentions those.

Pantone Inc. provides professional color standards for design industries. Each year, Pantone selects a “color of the year.” 2009’s color is PANTONE 14-0848 Mimosa, a warm, engaging yellow that Gap will spotlight with exclusive Mimosa tees available for purchase at the Gap & Pantone T-Shop.

Brand tie-ins such as this should hopefully help Gap out of the financial doldrums the company has been seeing in recent years. For Pantone it brings the concept of colour-coding, from the environs of design studios, to the consumers, and makes for a good exercise in brand-building.

As an aside, i'm looking forward to more instances of Pop-up Retail globally, and wonder when the Indian market would be ready for a concept such as that. For more on Pop-up Retail visit trendwatching.com.

Runway fashion

For those not from within the fashion business, you would imagine that designers mainly pay painstaking attention to the clothes and hair and makeup looks they put together. But more-so now in recent years than ever before, designers spend a lot of time and energy working out every detail of the show, from music, to runway, to backdrop and lighting.

The runway forms a setting which supports, plays up and portrays a more complete vision of the collection on show.

Take a look at these interesting runways from a clutch of fashion weeks.

Wood chips strewn on the runway at the Ausländer show at Rio Fashion week Fall/Winter 09.
Photo Courtesy: Refinery29.com

Seen at Rio Fashion week Fall/Winter 09, this runway is a collage of passport size photographs.
Photo Courtesy: Refinery29.com

A roughly hewn wooden runway at Lanvin Spring 08.
Photo Courtesy: Piercemattiepublicrelations.com

In Delhi, designer Tarun Tahiliani goes temple-style with golden spires, lotus blossoms et al.
Photo Courtesy: Coutorture.com

Icicle-shaped chandeliers and a blue backdrop set the tone at Gaurav Gupta's Fall/Winter 08 show.
Photo Courtesy: Coutorture.com

In Mumbai, Sabyasachi Mukherjee goes regal with a burgundy velvet runway and ornate chandeliers. Fall/Winter 07.
Photo Courtesy: nj.com

Photo Courtesy: Refinery29.com

But the award for most original concept and execution has to go to designer brand Redley who's show at Rio Fashion week took place in the middle of a jungle on a mountaintop about an hour outside of the city. As lensman Pete Miszuk relates, "During the show there were huge butterflies floating everywhere in the air. It was completely surreal."

Wearable Peace

I recently came across the work of Kali Arulpragasam, sister of rapper M.I.A and ex-ad executive who left the big game world of advertising to study jewelry design at Central Saint Martins London. She went on to create an edgy, avante garde jewelery line that highlights world issues through highly original pieces that push the traditional boundaries of form, design and reason.

Retailing under the London based label Superfertile I first caught sight of one of Kali's previous collections entitled 'Terrorism affects Tourism' while working on a jewelry project myself.

Intricately etched pieces which tell the story of countries torn by war and terrorism. Places we associate with strife and grief emblazoned and encapsulated on pendants for wearing, almost akin to armor.

In an interview to the New York Times, Kali of Sri Lankan origin voices, "There’s more to these countries than guys with guns standing in rubble."

"What are the plants like? What music are the kids listening to?" she asked and ventured to portray.

Images are hand-cut and plated together to create a mural in gold and silver: Haiti’s depicts children playing soccer under banana trees; Sudan’s shows cows and fishermen.

Some customers, Arulpragasam says, have taken to hanging them on the wall. “That’s the irony of it,” she mused. “People are treasuring them, while the actual nations are being destroyed.”

The necklaces, $800 to $1,000, can be custom-ordered from superfertile.com.

Trendspotting: Hemline Economics

I just read this piece on the New York Times website which i thought was an interesting trend deviation and thus worthy of sharing.

Bill Cunningham with the New York Times put together this multimedia trend spot on the fall in hem-lines observed on dresses and skirts on everyday women on the streets of Paris and New York.

"Revolutions to fashion usually begin because of world events. Will fashion history repeat the drastic hemline changes that followed the 1929 crash?" he ventures.

Above from left:

L'Wren Scott Headmistress wool dress, £1,830.51.

Donna Karan Diamanté cashmere dress, £1,323.
Thomas Wylde Madagascar silk dress, £628.43, all available at Net-a-Porter.com.

With photos shot over September 2008 into the New Year, Cunningham relates that this period appears much like the post-recession era of the 1930s, when hemlines plunged along with the downward spiral in global economy.

While younger women are still showing preference for the prevailing full skirted minis, with ample leg on display, the 30 somethings are unmistakably gravitating towards more modest hemlines that finish at the calf.

Above from left:
Wren Skating Skirt, about $275, available at Mick Margo and Thistle & Clover
A.P.C. Corduroy Full Skirt, $200, available at A.P.C. and La Garçonne
Karen Walker Wool Full Skirt, $365, available at Creatures of Comfort

What's different though is unlike the 30s, women now wear pants. Pants appear in the form of fall 08's favoured look of opaque tights worn under cropped jackets and coats. But again this look finds patronage with 'em young 'uns.

An interesting set of observations if any.... Take a look yourself and come back with musings.

Plantable Eco Calendar 2009

I dig all things green (though i'm not as green as they come, oh well, i do have a few decades wherein to get my act together), and i love creative design. So whence the twain meet in terms of a Plantable Eco Calendar for 2009, i had to share et blog all about it.


The Plantable Eco Calendar, as it's makers the Botanical Paperworks company reveal is twelve months of completely plantable(!) pages made with 100% post-consumer waste and 100% recyclable into wildflowers. Notice the little seeds in there?!

Keeping track of the year with this 5 x 5 inch handmade plantable paper monthly desk calendar creates beauty and leaves nothing behind but flowers - and a completely reusable tin. When a month passes by simply plant the seed-embedded page and wait for wildflowers to grow. :)

Could it get more awesome?