The days are getting shorter, and contrary to popular belief, it is harder to see in the dark. Sure, you could buy a boring flashlight, but where is the fun in that? Urban Outfitters has a really nifty and ultra compact LED flashlight battery. It really is a simple idea — just stick an LED into a 9V battery and bam, instant flashlight. And unlike every toy you got when you were a kid, the battery is included. For $8, this could be a nice little stocking stuffer.
Many of us strive to be green, but despite our efforts much of our clothing probably still comes from sweatshops and is produced in ways that is unhealthy for the Earth. The designers we highlight are usually of the good-for–the-planet ilk, but the German apparel brand armedangels is taking an even more involved position. They call it the “social.fashion.revolution” movement. They use only organic cotton in their clothing, avoid long distances for shipping to reduce Co2 emissions, pay their farmers in India more than minimum wage, and donate a portion of their profits to charities dedicated to educating children in India and improving the quality of drinking water. (Breath) but that wouldn’t matter nearly as much if they didn’t have cool, covetable designs. Each item they sell is limited to 2,000 pieces and their new “scribbled and twisted” line features hoodies, long sleeved and regular tees designed with various sketches including line drawings of Gorey-like owls, block lettering, and their armedangels logo. If their designs and their movement strike your fancy, you can become one of their “eco warriors,” which will allow you to submit designs, complain about the state of the planet on their message boards, or potentially become a model or photographer for the brand.
Fashion week at the tents in Bryant Park is getting to be quite the event. Twice a year a who’s who of designers and celebrities come out to see the latest threads and be seen amidst the madness. Who needs it? Not designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. He’s managed to put on his own innovative runway show far away from the steps of the New York Public Library and without those leggy personality-filled models ruining the presentation by tripping on the catwalk. With the help of France’s Four-H visual and music production crew and the wonderfully collaborative folks at Lego, Castelbajac is showing off his Spring/Summer 3001 collection in highly animated fashion.
You can walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, but if you buy your own pair of ospop Tian Lang Trainers you’ve got the chance to go much farther than that. The Shanghai-based shoe brand is offering you the travel opportunity of a lifetime. Starting today and running through January 15th, each person who purchases a pair of Tian Lang Trainers is automatically entered into ospop’s Road Less Traveled China Sweepstakes. The grand prize winner along with one friend will be whisked away to Shanghai, China where you’ll witness a modern marvel of urban planning and industry. You’ll enjoy the thrill of riding the world’s fastest train on the way to staying in the world’s highest hotel. It won’t be all hi-speed and high rises, because after that, the winners will be on their way to the rural Henan Province to tour ospop’s factory and meet some of the students helped by the company’s education initiative. Your final stop on your excellent five-day Chinese adventure would make a Wu Tang member jealous, as you visit the historic Shaolin temple where kung fu was invented. All this could be yours and you don’t even have to win the Showcase Showdown. All you need is to buy a pair of sneakers.
The advent of the Internet has more or less made television the antiquated way of keeping up with the informational Joneses. Monitoring the World Wide Web for what’s going on is as easy as HTTP. Unfortunately, the sites you check aren’t always on the ball or up to date. The folks behind OneRiot have their own way of keeping you up to speed on what everybody’s talking about. The social search site from the minds behind me.dium relies on feedback from users, rather than computers, to decide what’s relevant to readers. Content popularity is not displayed based on the whole of Internet searches, but the activity of the site’s community. OneRiot prioritizes search results in order from emerging, surging or raging, depending on how many members of their community are currently visiting a site — like instant Nielsen ratings for your own demographic. So instead of finding out that countless amount of people all over the world are searching for nude photos of the Philly Phanatic, or that tons of people you don’t know are watching Two and A Half Men, you might get caught up on something that is actually relevant to your interests. How novel!
As the mercury drops, many of us find it too cold to wear our favorite T-shirts. So, unless you live in a tropical paradise, it is time to dust off your chilly clothing. Cookies -N- Cream has just dropped their new Fall ‘08 collection titled “Under The Influence.” It consists of four sweatshirts inspired by Basquiat, Paper Planes (M.I.A), The Cookies Mob and KITO Wanted. All of the items are available in limited quantities, so click quickly.
On my recent trip through China, I was lucky enough to be a guest at The Luxe Manor hotel in Hong Kong. Even despite the typhoon, I had a very nice stay and would absolutely recommend this hotel to anyone visiting the city — if you want to get away from the main island and stay somewhere a little bit quirky. The hotel is located on Kimberley Road in the very busy Tsim Sha Tsui district in Kowloon, but it’s very much a breath of fresh air amidst the ruckus of shopping, etc on the streets below.
The Manor is a reinterpretation of a European mansion, with lots of mythical character and a very modern twist. It also has all the luxury you would expect, with wireless VoIP Telephones, WiFi, very impressive security keys, flat screens, HD on demand, and the like.
I stayed in a deluxe room (pictured above) and found it to be very comfortable– but the real gem of the hotel are the six themed suites on the top floor, which I was given a tour of. Some were more my style than others, but I applaud them for their creativity. My favorite was the Safari themed room (secret fantasy maybe), which has an intricate lighting system which allows you to lay back on the couch and see a faux sparkling night sky.
The days are getting shorter, and contrary to popular belief, it is harder to see in the dark. Sure, you could buy a boring flashlight, but where is the fun in that? Urban Outfitters has a really nifty and ultra compact LED flashlight battery. It really is a simple idea — just stick an LED into a 9V battery and bam, instant flashlight. And unlike every toy you got when you were a kid, the battery is included. For $8, this could be a nice little stocking stuffer.
