Concrete Hermit T-shirts

Concrete Hermit is a ‘post-neo-old-skool’ T-shirt, print and book shop in London’s fashionable Shoreditch. They work with a number of selected graphics artists to produce their products which are as quietly anarchic as they are desirable.
Their products are also available through their web-shop where you’ll find amongst, other things, these monster T-shirts by Motomichi, which ably illustrate the Concrete Hermit aesthetic: quirky and amusing, with a strongly graphic design.
They’re all fairly reasonably priced too – between £25 and £30. I know North Americans might find that extortionate, but here’s it’s the price of a sandwich.

Yay or Nay: Visvim suede hybrids

Visvim are a high end Japanese
clothing brand. They tend to focus on Bape-esque copies of popular American
trainers. Personally, I’ve never understood this trend or its popularity.
Paying £300 for what it is essentially a pair of fake Nike Air force ones doesn’t
appeal to me.

Visvim have been doing the same
things with Converse All-stars and now these
hybrids between old school Kickers shoes and leisure trainer’s soles. For
me, this is the worst kind of hybrid, marrying the ugliest part of shoes and
trainers to make one awful shoe. That’s before we even get to the price tag,
which is a hefty £170. While they’re not to my taste, maybe you do? If you
think this are really pretty and underpriced then let me know in the comments
section.

Baracuta Tweed Jacket

Tweed is a trend that hasn’t quite
taken off yet, which means there’s plenty of time for people to jump on the
bandwagon without looking like they’ve jumped on a bandwagon. Baracuta have jumped onto this trend with
this tweed
jacket.

Elasticated cuffs don’t suit most
jackets but they’re perfect for this, giving the jacket the modern twist that most tweed
needs. It’s vintage mod styling whilst maintaining the on-trend look and you can buy it from the Start boutique for £215.

Apolis Activism Trench Hood

Moral stalwarts with an eye for fashion, Apolis Activism, have concocted this slightly strange but very wearable hybrid from the purest American cotton, a little environmental awareness and a lot of imagination.
The jacket takes some of the design elements from the classic trench coat: the double breast, the shoulder flaps – and gives them a biker twist with some very modern hardwearing detailing.
It’s a long shot but I think it kinda works. I can see it in with some tight black jeans in an Ann Demeulemeester way.
You can get the jacket from Context clothing.

Irrational hate #1: Toggles

Toggles are
the ugliest things in the world. Why do designers insist on using them? They
look more like blunt daggers rather than something you’d use to button your
coat. They’re unnecessarily over-sized and can be guaranteed to make coats look
like something secondary school kids would wear. They can’t even button a coat
by itself – they need the help of some equally ugly little pieces of rope.

Toggles had
been rightly thrown to the fashion cesspit, leaving them in the hands of pushy
mothers who forced a XXXXL toggled coat on one of their children. But some
designer had the bright idea of bringing back the lumberjack trend and with it,
toggles.

Whilst I
have no irrational hate for the rest of the lumberjack trend, all I want is a
little quality control. If you’re going to revive a look, at least show some
discretion.

YMC Double Zip Jacket

YMC – You Must Create – emerged from Duffer of Saint George many moons ago with their particular brand of quirky colourful designs. This shiny nylon mod-inspired mac is a bestseller at Oak and is also available from YMC’s on-line store.
The jacket has versatility built into the design with a choice of two front zips, depending on how slim you want it to be or presumably how many pies you’ve eaten, you greedy pig. Zips conceal pockets on the front and sleeve as well as a hood.
It’s probably not quite warm enough for the cold snap we’re experiencing at the moment in the UK (innit freezing?), but it will be perfect for the long cold slog into spring.

Jeans to bike in from Self Edge

Continuing my quest to uncover the most stylish bike wear, I’ve come across these jeans from Iron Heart and Self Edge designed with the cyclist in mind.
The catchily titled SEXIH03 are fashioned from the heaviest weight Japanese denim, making them extremely hard-wearing. They also have a number of features designed for extra comfort and resilience when you’re pedaling: Extra belt loops will keep your belt in place against the downward pull of your jeans; a crotch seam which has been moved forward by an inch for extra comfort and decreased wear; rear pockets which will carry a D-lock; and a higher rise at the back and lower rise at the front to accommodate the seated cyclist and stop you flashing your bum crack to drivers whilst you’re waiting at traffic lights.
These babies are severely limited edition: only 125 pairs have been made in indigo and only 25 in black. They’re retailing for $360 and are available from www.selfedge.com from December 1st.
[via High Snobiety]

GoodShapeDesign

Print designer Wayne Pate runs a bit of a cottage industry under the name GoodShapeDesign, screen-printing his striking designs onto cotton tees and heavy stock paper, both of which can be purchased through his website. Boasting a “simple minded approach to concepts and ideas”, he rates the quality of the materials he uses for his products on a par with their design, which is encouraging to hear from a designer.
These three designs are just a selection of the delights he has on offer. From left to right the 3-D cube, the Russian-inspired Cody Hudson and the whimsical Sergeant Pepper are all yours for between $25-30, so they’re very reasonably-priced as well as being proper gorgeous. Get on over to GoodShapeDesign to explore the whole collection.

Freemans Sporting Club so-bad-it’s-good T-shirt

When I was younger I had a friend who’s family had framed posters of wolves howling at the moon and eagles in flight. Their holiday snaps would show mother draped supine and dreamy across tree stumps or sitting beatifically in a stone circle. There was something endearing about the family’s unselfconscious naffness.
There’s something of same tree-hugging pseudo-spirituality which has been captured in this Freemans Sporting Club T-shirt available from Refinery29. Label co-owner, Taavo Somer’s design depicts an empty kayak, perhaps deserted by a Native American who has gone into the woods to marvel at nature’s beauty or smoke a peace pipe. Click on the pic to see the beauty close up. It’s now in the sale at a very reasonable $20 so its dead cheep. Refinery promise that its printed on the softest cotton which they claim will like you’ve owned it your whole life.
Yes, I know it’s awful, but don’t you think its charming?

Vane’s shawl necks

I love a shawl neck – the kind of collar which creates a sort möbius strip around your neckline. It’s like a less bulky hood and I find it very pleasing on the eye.
Vane’s latest collection contains a number of shawl necks, including this black and white striped number. Its modelled in a street style on their website but it would work equally well in a sort of smart-casual style-y, with some nice straight-legged black trousers. Perfect work wear for those of use who need to look professional but not straight-laced.

Men in ponchos?

I
must admit, I have next to no clue about what’s in and out in women’s fashion,
but I am reasonably sure that ponchos aren’t in. Could this be why fashion
labels seem determined to push these things onto men?

It
makes perfect sense. There’s probably a ton of out-of-work poncho makers who
banded together to conspire on how to get ponchos back in fashion. They
probably tossed out a few ideas and decided on the foolproof idea of getting
Kate Moss to wear it. After this failed, they settled on making it a menswear
item. This can be the only possible reason the closest thing to a cape is
making an appearance on a catwalk.

Trompe L’oeil t-shirts, Martin Margiela does it best

There’s been a lot of trompe l’oeil T-shirts around for a while. From the classic 1970s tuxedo tee a whole family of descendents have emerged: from a tie and braces, to a leather jacket, a camera, or a scarf. It’s become quite the craze.
It’s a favourite of designers Castelbajac and Margiela each of whom regularly include trompe l’oeil designs into their collections.
I don’t mind it as a look but I think it’s a bit tricky. I don’t like to look cute and I think this is borderline cute. It’s difficult to find examples which are tasteful or have a bit of an edge. This Margiela t-shirt just about manages it though. Not too shabby, Martin. 

Patricia Field launches Barbie line and puts a rude word on a T-shirt

Man, I loves me some Patricia Field. Whenever you hear about something cool that happened in New York, it always comes back to Pat. The whole club kid phenomenon, Pat was there, John Waters’s early film shoots, Pat was there, Sex and the City, Ugly Betty and The Devil Wears Prada, Pat was there. She’s the embodiment of New York style: big, brash and unapologetically tacky. Some day I hope to be just like her.
Pat’s latest collaboration is with Mattel, designers of Barbie. This week she’s unveiled a line of clothing inspired by the little plastic poppet. One of the T-shirts is emblazoned with the legend: “I want my Dream House” – how funny is that?  There’s nothing for men unfortunately but it’s a great collection and I’m pleased it exists even if I’m not going to wear any of it.
Inspired by news of this collection, I checked out the House of Field menswear collection on-line and uncovered this T-shirt, which carries some of the frankly filthy language Pat hears on the runway. Poor Pat! It looks a bit of a strange shape but it’s long, has a deep V and is by Patricia Field, so what do I know? Get it here.

Wemoto T-shirts and Hoodies

Wemoto is an über-cool German street label with a great line in prints. Started by three friends, Stefan Gregor and Patrick, the boys have got 5 collections and a number of impressive collaborations under their belts.
This season, their T-shirts are fairly standard skate and street wear : big slogans and pop art inspired bold prints. They’re not going to set the world alight but they’re totally passable and I’m sure will find a market. However, their hoodies are an entirely different proposition – the cobalt blue wood print, the grey fractal print (pictured) and the block colour hoody are all some kinda wonderful. I’d have any one of them (if you’re offering). I also love the fact that the model is like ‘Yeah, I know, I can’t believe it either". Get em from Limitees and from Wemoto’s on-line store. 

Trend Watch – Star Print Hoody

A few weeks ago now, I spoke about the star print hoodies that I’ve seen a few places: Rykiel Homme, Energie and my fave, Pharmacy Industry. Well here’s another from Brandish favourite, ASOS.
A star print works brilliantly under jackets and coats and is just the right combination of sophistication and street.
ASOS are also carrying this version in white and grey for a very affordable £25. Their website also tantalisingly shows a black version which must be out of stock. However, I like the white/ ecru version best. It’s noice, it’s unusual, it’s different.