Awesome and Unusual Handmade Christmas Stockings From Etsy Designers Make The Mantel.



Not your usual Christmas Stockings, these three etsy stores sell handmade and unusual designs for the artisan holiday home. Hand-tooled leather with koi, flowers, bees and snowflakes from Moxie and Oliver, Burlap coffee sacks turned into elf stockings available with or without customization from Habitation Boheme and wild and modern patterns and designs for people and pets from Urban Creative

Adidas Launches Christmas Campaign With Snoop as Scrooge and An Interactive Facebook App That Lets You Un-Scrooge Yourself.





adidas has launched its pioneering Holiday Campaign for 2012, enlisting the help of some of the world’s finest sporting and cultural icons, to turn your social media content into a potentially timeline-changing classic Holiday Tale. At the heart of the campaign is ‘The Cautionary Tale of Ebenezer Snoop’ online film (shown in this post), offering you the opportunity to follow a digital journey to find and share your own Holiday Spirit. As the film closes, you are invited to find out if you are an Ebenezer, and if so, the chance to redeem yourself with an innovative Facebook app (screen grab shown below).



The film features global music heavyweight Snoop Lion alongside skateboard OG Mark Gonzales escorting viewers into the illustrated world of legendary Beavis & Butthead artist JJ Sedelmaier. ‘The Cautionary Tale of Ebenezer Snoop’ follows the path of the classic Holiday story, seeing Ebenezer Snoop confronted by the Ghosts of Holiday Past (Stan Smith), Present (David Beckham) and Future (Derrick Rose & Rita Ora), as well as a host of other Global adidas stars that keeps viewers going back to find more. As you continue on your journey through the tale, you return to Facebook to create your own story.


The adidas Holiday Facebook application produces for you, the user, a personalized journey that mirrors the structure of the Ebenezer Snoop film content. Snoop might not be the only Ebenezer. By aggregating your user data around certain Facebook activities such as comments, birthday well-wishes, & event responses, adidas creates your own uniquely tailored Ebenezer film (they choose all the times you declined invites, didn't respond to posts or didn't acknowledge friends' brithdays to prove your 'scrooginess'). The app pulls in these features from your Facebook timeline, proposing what your digital life could look like if you don’t mend your ways. The level of your online interaction determines the film which your journey takes – the storyline and content directed by your digital life.

Examples from my own Facebook page:



At the end of your personal journey adidas offers you the opportunity to redeem yourself by sending a Facebook greeting card featuring JJ Sedelmaier’s campaign illustrations to friends.



You can choose any of the ghosts from the animated tale to deliver your customized card:

David Beckham:


Derrick Rose:


Rita Ora:


Stan Smith:


The gift which accompanies the card is dependent on your Ebenezer levels – one possibility is a 15% e-commerce discount.

A truly interactive online campaign working across social media, adidas recognises the importance of the digital world to its consumers and presents a complete Holiday gift-giving solution to its fans.

“The Ebenezer Snoop Holiday Campaign is the most user-specific app adidas has ever created, examining consumer behaviour to produce a truly personalised online experience. There is so much noise during the holidays, we’ve created a simple yet effective app to cut straight through. The Ebenezer Snoop Facebook app aggregates your personal Facebook information to produce a film entirely for you. Using the Timeline we are suggesting how your timeline could look if you don’t mend your ways!” -- Gabriel Jaffe, Senior Digital Communications Manager, AG.

Creative Credits:
Production Credits
Client: ADIDAS
Creative Agency: SID LEE
Production Agency: JIMMY LEE.TV
Post-Production:MASS MARKET/JIMMY LEE.TV/ VISION GLOBALE
Production houses: Live action – CAVIAR CONTENT / Animation - J.J. SEDELMAIER PRODUCTIONS
Director: Live action – Jake Szymanski / Animation – JJ Sedelmaier
Grading: MASS MARKET
Editors: JIMMY LEE.TV
Sound Design : MACHINE HEAD
Sound Mix: LA MAJEURE

About adidas
adidas is a global designer, developer and marketer of athletic footwear, apparel and accessories with the mission to be the leading sports brand in the world. Brand adidas is part of the adidas Group, a corporation that includes brands such as Reebok, TaylorMade and Rockport.

About the adidas Group
The adidas Group is one of the global leaders within the sporting goods industry, offering a broad range of products around the core brands adidas, Reebok, TaylorMade, Rockport and Reebok-CCM Hockey. Headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, the Group has more than 46,000 employees and generated sales of € 13.3 billion in 2011.





Oh No. Yoko Designs A Ridiculous Men's Line For Opening Ceremony. Prices and Pics of Yoko Ono's Fashions For Men 1969-2012.




This holiday season, Opening Ceremony teamed up with Yoko Ono to create what they call "a very special apparel collection" consisting of 34 high-priced pieces available exclusively at OC.


above: Humberto Leon of Opening Ceremony with Yoko Ono (photo courtesy of NY Times)

Titled “Fashions for Men 1969-2012,” the limited-edition line is based on a book of hand-drawn illustrations (shown below) that Yoko presented to John Lennon on the occasion of their wedding. 43 years later, Yoko and Opening Ceremony have worked together to bring her sketches to life.



According to the New York Times, Ms. Ono loved the way her late husband looked in and out of clothes, so many of her pieces accentuate the 'good bits' e.g. nipples, buttocks and the crotch area.



The Times reports "“Men were always wanting us to look good and take off everything,” Ms. Ono said. “And we were never able to enjoy men’s sexuality in that way.”



Given that, I can only assume that the collection exemplifies what she believes is a way to enjoy men's sexuality. While it does nothing for me, you can decide for yourself. Below is the entire collection.

$595 One button two-tone jackets with a single mesh sleeve:


$485 Cut out jackets:



$145 Mesh cut out shoulder shirts:


$200 Eyelet (nipple) shirts:


$150 Eyelet (nipple) tanks:


$255 Cut out (sheer buttocks) trousers:


$250 Conservative (knee cut outs and hand on buttocks) trousers:



$335 Hand trousers:


$200 Jockstrap with an LED light:


$75  Hoodies with Yoko's sketched icons of buttocks, eyes and words:


$750 Men's Open Toe Thigh-High Boots:


$250 Men's Lightbulb Bra:


$245 Men's leather bell belt:


$400 transparent chest plaque with bells and leather neck strap that reads, “RING FOR YOUR MOMMY PIECE y.o. 69-12:



$55 Slip-on printed stretch knee pads:


Also available is a softcoverbook of her original artwork, accompanied by a CD recording of Yoko's 1973 composition "Anatano Te (Your Hands) and 3 printed posters featuring, respectively, her line drawing of buttocks, the word dream, and her sketch of eyes.

Illustrations by Yoko Ono brought to life in an animation by Lisa Paclet and Irina Dakeva:


all images courtesy of Opening Ceremony

Shop the collection here.






Nary A Nipple In The New 'SFW' 2013 Pirelli Calendar. Here's A Look At The Models, The Photos and A Behind The Scenes Video.



For the first time since I began this blog five years ago, I can feature the Pirelli Calendar without having to tag the post NSFW.





For 39 years, the Pirelli Calendar has been known for it's risque and artful photos of female and male nudity (like the Sexy Greek Gods calendar from 2011). But this year, the calendar, shot in Rio by photojournalist Steve McCurry, includes images of fully clothed models, actresses and singers along with pictures of Brazil's art and culture. A departure from the past, McCurry wanted this year's calendar to focus on women active in charity and let their sexiness and beauty exude from within. In addition to the models, the calendar features several images of Brazil's people, art and culture.

The models in the 2013 Pirelli calendar.
Brazilian model Isabeli Fontana:

Brazilian model Adriana Lima:

Actress Sonia Braga:

Singer Marisa Monte:

Italian-egyptian actress Elisa Sednaoui:

Czech model Petra Nemcova:

Tunisian model Hanaa Ben Abdesslem:

Ethiopian model Liya Kebede:

American model Karlie Kloss:

American model Kyleigh Kuhn:

American model Summer Rayne Oakes:


The press has only released 6 images of the 34 thus far, But I've included several more shots in the form of stills from a video about 'the making of' for you:

Summer Rayne Oakes stands alluringly amongst the bamboo:

A pregnant and sexy Adriana Lima:

Brazilian actress Sonia Braga amidst the ruins:

Capoeira masters practicing their art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:

A fruit seller at the market in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:

Street art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:


Other shots from the calendar:













Steve Curry talks about shooting the calendar in the "Behind The Scenes" video below:


The 40th edition of the calendar includes 34 color photographs, including 23 portraits of actresses, singers and models, nine photographs depicting Rio de Janeiro’s everyday life, and two pictures of graffiti art and murals.

Adriana Lima, who was photographed while pregnant, is joined in the calendar by Elisa Sednaoui, Petra Nemcova, Isabeli Fontana, Sonia Braga, Liya Kebede and Karlie Kloss.

Launched in 1964, the Pirelli calendar has attracted some of the most famous photographers over the years, including Herb Ritts, Albert Watson, Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, Annie Liebovitz, Mario Testino, Mario Sorrenti, Karl Lagerfeld, Terry Richardson, Peter Beard and Patrick Demarchelier.

Wish you could see all the past Pirelli Calendars? there have been several books published of Pirelli's calendars over the years:



The Press Release:
There are 34 colorful images in the 2013 Pirelli Calendar, bound together in a calendar-book: 23 portraits of actresses and models, nine images depicting bits and pieces of daily life, and two pictures entirely composed of graffiti and murals. These represent an expression of popular artistic expression that attracted McCurry's attention with their ability to reflect the social aspects he was interpreting, and became the background in many photographs.

The Calendar features 11 models, actresses and singers: Brazilians Isabeli Fontana (who appeared in Bruce Weber's 2003 Pirelli Calendar, in Patrick Demarchelier's 2005 edition, in Peter Beard's of 2009, in Karl Lagerfeld's of 2011 and in Mario Sorrenti's of 2012) and Adriana Lima (also in Patrick Demarchelier's 2005 edition), actress Sonia Braga and singer Marisa Monte; Italian-egyptian actress Elisa Sednaoui, Czech model Petra Nemcova, Tunisian model Hanaa Ben Abdesslem, Ethiopian model Liya Kebede, and American models Karlie Kloss, Kyleigh Kuhn and Summer Rayne Oakes.

"I tried to portray Brazil, its landscape, its economy and its culture, along with the human element" said McCurry. "This was the story I wanted to tell through my lens. For me photography is an important expressive means to tell large and small stories of daily life." In the background, Rio is bustling with life, with its historic quarters like Lapa and Santa Teresa, its favelas, its bars and nightclubs, its markets, dance centers and gyms, its schools and bus stops. The city appears at its most authentic, very different from the usual stereotypes. "I walked a lot through the streets, looking at all these moments of daily life and taking lots and lots of pictures," said McCurry. "I look for the moment of passage, when the image reveals a bit of tension."

“I would say I am a street photographer doing ‘found situations.’ You can photograph nudes anywhere. But these models are clothed, and each of them has her own charity. They are purposeful and idealistic people. So I wanted to photograph them in a special place, and Rio was perfect for this,”

Presented in Rio de Janeiro at the "Pier Mauá", warehouses at the old port of the "Cidade Maravilhosa.

Other Links to Pirelli posts:

• Pirelli Makes More Than Tires: Pirelli Films, Calendars, Clothes & Watches
 
• Models As Sexy Greek Gods & Goddesses For The 2011 Pirelli Calendar - ALL 36 PICS (NSFW)

• The 15 Best 2009 Calendars: From Pentagram To Pirelli