Sneak Peek At Armani's Costume Designs For Lady Gaga and Her Upcoming Asian Tour.

Giorgio Armani is pleased to be collaborating once again with Lady Gaga. The designer has created a select number of looks for the artist’s Born This Way Ball tour, which kicks off in Seoul on April 27th. The Asian tour will then move to Hong Kong (May 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th), Tokyo (May 10th), and Singapore (May 28th). The tour will culminate with performances in Australia and New Zealand.



The custom Giorgio Armani wardrobe created for Lady Gaga is characterized by extreme forms and futuristic materials – latex, metal, studs, PVC – crafted with couture savoir-faire. Each outfit is completed with detailed, other-worldly accessories.



The first design includes a black bodice made of tubular PVC elements connected with metal studs, with mirrored metal inserts to define a curvaceous design. The ensemble is highlighted by a matching headpiece, robotic thigh-high boots, and exaggerated gloves ending in mirrored nails.



Another look is created via a shiny black grid-patterned PVC bodice with matching headpiece and embroidered ankle boots. Highlights include shoulders outlined by a play of sharp spikes, black Swarovski jet crystals and flowing fringe, creating a moving architecture.




On the third black bodice, transparent Plexiglas, black crystals and luminous studs create a Cubist composition of abstract guitars. The matching headpiece follows in the shape of a keyboard; the boots are black vinyl.




The final design is a long tunic with leg-o-mutton sleeves made of skin-toned latex. Luminous PVC elements create flashes of synthetic light inside the garment. The same avant-garde lighting is featured on the triangle decorating the chest, on the headpiece, and on the platform of the matching latex ankle boots.




“Collaborating with Lady Gaga is always an exciting experience for me. I admire the way she uses fashion as a scenic element and as a means to build a character," says Giorgio Armani."She is an artist of many talents and great intelligence. Creating stage costumes for her is a stimulating and creative exercise."

Giorgio Armani began his collaboration with Lady Gaga on the occasion of the 2010 Grammy Awards ceremony, when the artist wore a series of outfits specially designed for her. Subsequently, he dressed her in select looks for the Monster Ball tour in 2010, as well as for a number of red carpet events and other special occasions.

all images and information courtesy of Giorgio Armani

Buy Lady Gaga downloads and CDs here

If This Tent's A Rockin', Don't Come A Knockin'. The Full Sized Retro VW Camper Tent.

Officially licensed by Volkswagon, this fun four-man tent is a luxe, full-size replica of the iconic 1965 Volkswagen Camper Van synonymous with 60s counterculture. It’s so evocative you can almost hear the Mamas and the Papas singing California Dreamin’ every time you feast your eyes on its familiar and classic form.





You’ll be the envy of the campsite. But there’s more to this highly realistic pretend hippie/surfermobile than mere good looks. Just like its vehicular counterpart you can stand up inside – handy if you don’t fancy crawling around on your hands and knees after a day at the main stage.



Factor in two zip-separated double-size rooms, allowing couples to sleep/knit yoghurt/spread the love in private, plus an outer that can be put up first to offer some shelter as you erect the other bits and bobs, and you’re looking at the greatest thing to hit the world of boho living since… well, since the original VW Camper Van. All together now, ‘If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to take your Vee-Dub Camper Tent…’

Product Features:
1:1 Scale – same size as the original T1 Campervan (1965)
Officially licensed by VW
Two zip-separated Double Size rooms
Doors open, just like on the original
Fly sheet doors separate inner compartments

Contents:
Tent
Fly
Poles
Ropes & Pegs
Setup Instructions

Dimensions:
External – measures approximately 398cm(L) x 187cm(H) x 155cm(D)
Internal – measures approximately 388cm(L) x 182.5cm(H) x 145cm(D)
When packed up measures approximately 85cm(L) x 35cm(H) x 35cm(D)
Weighs approximately 12.5kg
Measures: Length 398 cm, Width 155 cm, Height 187 cm
Weight: 13 kg
Category: Sun-Marquee
Color: blue
Material: polyester; metal
Attributes: outdoor use; waterproof



Or Buy it here at Design 3000

Pantone Angry Birds by Felipe Marcus

above composite by if it's hip, it's here

Brazil based illustrator and graphic designer Felipe Marcus had some fun matching Angry Birds characters to Pantone colors in this graphic art project.






via DesignTaxi via Thaeger

Paul McCartney Directs Natalie Portman and Johnny Depp in "My Valentine" video

“My Valentine,” the first single off Sir Paul McCartney's new album “Kisses on the Bottom” was directed by one-time Beatle himself and features the sickeningly stunning Natalie Portman and super sexy Johnny Depp.



Paul's daughter, fashion designer Stella McCartney, styled the black and white video which features the two stars simply signing the words to the song with hand gestures.



The guitar melody you hear throughout (despite seemingly played by Depp in the video) is actually played the legendary Eric Clapton.

“The inspiration is Nancy [Shevell],” said Paul McCartney, referencing his new wife (he reportedly sang the song at their wedding.) “The actual video itself is inspired by Irving Penn’s photography.”

He later told the crowd at the video's Los Angeles premiere, that his daughter, Stella, encouraged him to make the video: “I said, ‘I’m not sure I want to do a million-dollar video.’ She said, ‘So do something really simple. You know, Natalie. Ring Natalie up and ask her if she’ll do something.’ I said, ‘That is a good idea.’ So I rang her, and she was so kind to agree to do it. Then I realized it was a guy’s song, so then I rang Johnny. And he very kindly agreed to do it. A week after Stella had mentioned the idea, I was back here filming it.”

Buy or Download Paul McCartney's Kisses On The Bottom or My Valentine here

The Hillhouse Of Melbourne, Australia By Andrew Maynard Architects.

Interior:








Text about the home from Andrew Maynard Architects:

The problem/opportunity:
Design is complex. There is little that is more complex to design than a home, however fundamental issues offer an architect a starting point; where is the sun? How do we capture it in winter, how do we exclude it in summer?

The thin allotments that dominate Melbourne's northern suburbs often provide indomitable constraints to solar access and therefore require the production of unorthodox ideas to overcome these constraints and convert them into opportunities.

Original conditions:
The site faces north therefore relegating the backyard, the family’s primary outdoor space, to shadow throughout the year. In the 90s a two storey extension was added reducing solar access even further while creating deep dark space within the house. A family of five wished to create a long-term home, which could meet the requirements of three small children and their slow transformation into young adults over the years.

Response:
Rather than repeating past mistakes and extending from the rear in a new configuration, the proposal was to build a new structure on the rear boundary, the southern edge of the block, upon the footprint of what had been, until now, the back yard. The new structure faces the sun, the pure cantilevered box above acts as the passive solar eave, cutting out summer sun, while letting winter sun flood in.

Following the decision to build at the rear of the block a ubiquitous modern box was first imagined. Soon it seemed necessary to pursue the opportunity to activate this new, once shaded, now sunny facade. A seat along the new northern facade? Perhaps a series of steps like the Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti? But how does one lounge in the sun on steps. Perhaps a slope instead .... And the hill house evolved/emerged.

The new structure faces the original house. The backyard is now the centre of the house activated by the built form around it. Beyond solar gain, the benefit of the new structure being in the backyard is that it borrows landscaping from its neighbours’ gardens. The high windows about the entertainment cabinetry and the dining area are enveloped in trees. Internally one gets the sense that Hill House is enveloped by bush rather than part of the suburban mix.

Along one boundary a 2m high fence was created, but unlike most houses the Hill House has a one metre wide fence; a corridor lowered into the site to achieve head height. This in turn creates a lowered dining area. One rises into the living space. The change in floor level creates a bench seat for the Maynard designed ZERO WASTE TABLE.

Front Street no longer provides the main entry to the home. Family now enters via the side lane. The original house, now private dormitory spaces, no longer has a typical relationship to the N#@$%k street’s “front” door. The original house, as with most narrow blocks throughout Melbourne, demanded that visitors walked a long corridor past bedrooms to the living area. Stolen quick glances into dark private spaces always occurred along the journey. At the Hill House the entry is reorientated. The kitchen, the nerve centre, the hub of the house, is the new greeting point. Beyond is the park. Adjacent is the living space, the yard and the "kids’ house" beyond.

The old house is converted into "the kids’ house". The old house is as it once was. The rear of the simple masonry structure, though spatially connected, is not reoriented, a face is deliberately not applied. It is left honest and robust. With a restrained piece of “street art” to be applied.

Form:
Andrew is from Tasmania, a place dominated by its landscape. Built form is secondary and subservient to landscape. Melbourne is predominantly flat. Could this be why Melbourne’s architecture is adventurous? There is no landscape to confine therefore building is free to become landscape. Hill House is a response to this possibility. Melbourne is flat. If one is to explore the possibility of cantilevering off a cliff (a desire of many architects) one is forced to manufacture that landscape. A monolithic form is unsheathed from the hill and placed atop. A celebration of the synthetic, the manufactured. A simulacrum of both an undulating landscape and the pure architectural form.

You can view the construction of the Hillhouse here

Thanks to Knstruct for bringing this to my attention

Fishbowl Shaped Like A World Map Is A Trip For Goldfish.

Designboom (who promoted the design competition) featured this fabulous fish tank concept, World Trip, which won a 2012 TIFF award. The clear acrylic tank was designed by Takuro Yamamoto and is made to emulate a world map through which the little fish can meander.




all images courtesy of Designboom

TIFF Award 2012 will be celebrating the refined beauty and luxury of Thai homes and their outdoor lifestyle, the finest indoor/outdoor furniture and home decor accessories made in Thailand for the international market and unique leisure experiences in which aesthetics and environmentalism share equal space.

learn more about the TIFF Awards here