HP Laptop Gets Fashion Makeover From Vivienne Tam & Lets You Rock The Runway

The hottest fashion introduction on the runway Tuesday night at Bryant Park's Mercedes Benz Fashion Week wasn't necessarily the wardrobe, but what the supermodels were clutching as they strode down the runway of the Vivienne Tam show: a Hewlett-Packard laptop clad in the signature Vivienne Tam peony design.




The press release:

Vivienne Tam and HP unveiled the design of the new must-have digital clutch on the catwalk today at Tam’s fashion show during New York’s Fashion Week at Bryant Park.

The HP Vivienne Tam Special Edition notebook represents the first time a computer company has partnered with a globally renowned designer to create a notebook PC that offers all the style and power needed for a delightful technology experience. Tam also worked with HP to design the notebook’s accessories and packaging.

“When I was approached by HP to create a special edition notebook, I could see the design in my head instantly,” said Tam. “The notebook is a true reflection of the needs of a modern woman who cares about fashion but is also passionate about her technology. I wanted to create a notebook that would appeal to women of all ages, ethnicities and income levels across the globe.”

The top of the notebook is gleaming red and bursting with peony flowers. The peony design is meticulously carried inside the notebook, under the keypad. The notebook also features a complementary embroidered storage sleeve that helps keep the exterior protected while being carried as a clutch.

The peony design features a unique blend of Asian and Western cultures, antiquity and modern style, technology and fashion. It was inspired by Tam’s “China Chic” style, which is recognized from the runways in Milan to the Olympics in Beijing and represents her personal mantra to live well and be beautiful.

“The peony is the national flower of China. They are beautiful and symbolize prosperity, good fortune and happiness,” said Tam. “Their many layers are similar to a modern woman who is as savvy in expressing herself with her personal style as she is with weaving technology into the fabric of her rich and multi-faceted life.”

“With ‘China Chic,’ Vivienne Tam reinterpreted traditional Chinese art into a global fashion trend,” said Satjiv Chahil, senior vice president, Worldwide Marketing, Personal Systems Group, HP. “With her spring collection, Tam has helped HP take the personal computer from a necessity to a lifestyle and fashion ‘must have.’”

Above: Designer Vivienne Tam poses backstage at the Vivienne Tam Spring 2009 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at The Promenade, Bryant Park on September 9, 2008 in New York City.(Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images North America)

The HP Vivienne Tam Special Edition notebook is expected to be available early next year. Let's hope this special edition Vivienne Tam HP Laptop is the first of such many stylish tech items to come.

Not only is the product fun, but the HP microsite promoting it is equally enjoyable.

You can walk the Virtual Runway clad in Vivienne Tam by uploading your photo and choosing various gowns here.

See? Here I am, rockin' the runway!

Go ahead, you know you wanna do it!

Have The Mandate Press Make Your Cards If You Can't Design. Or Even If You Can.

Most places that offer stock designs for business or calling cards look fairly cheesy and cheap. But not the ones from the Mandate Press. Actual letter pressed text on nice stock that comes in the form of one of seven standard design styles or you can design your own ( line art only, no photos). For $95.00 you get 250 cards.


Above: The Secret Agent

The seven styles that they have are suitable for almost every personality type and/or profession. For the more conservative and traditional, there's the Aristocrat or the Secret Agent.


Above: The Runway

For the edgy, there's the Pirate or the Rockstar. For the artsy or modern minimalist, the Artist and The Runway. And for the more feminine, the Femme Fatale.


Above: detail of Femme Fatale

Above: detail of The Artist

Above: detail of Rockstar

These are far better looking than most people's business cards. So if in doubt, take a look at their options, trust these guys and get yourself some here.



Who is the Mandate Press?



The Mandate Press is a custom letterpress shop located in Salt Lake City. They print a wide variety of jobs, ranging from small runs of invitations and business cards to high volume commercial work.

Soop Dishes Up Some Fun Tableware

Soop is a multi-disciplinary design company, designing products for the home and commercial environment, from tableware to small items of furniture. Some of the following plates are presently in production and available at various design stores or directly from Soop. Others are looking for production and distribution. All of them are imaginative and fun.

Plate is for Pea (earthenware with pea trick booklet, presently in production):



Above: A plate that actually encourages you to play with your food. Attempt tricks from the accompanying booklet and score as many points by flicking, rolling or even spitting peas into the numbered dimples.

Pretty Nasty (bone china, presently in production):






Above: A series of decorative plates with pretty floral patterns that, on closer inspection, are made up of nasty houseflies, beetles, slugs and snails.

Ready Meals (earthenware, in production):



Above: Ready Meals are seven 10" dinner plate designs, one for everyday of the week, with mix and match recipes (e.g. chips, beans and sausages, beans on toast etc). All you need to do is prepare, cook and place your food on the right outline to serve up a diner's delight.

Crumbs (biscuit tea plates made of bone china, presently in production):




A Diner's Delight (earthenware, seeking production):


Diner’s Delights are six plates with classic American recipes to try, (All American breakfast, hamburger and fries, T bone steak and fries, macaroni and cheese, Thanksgiving dinner and waffles and ice cream).


Contact info:
44 (0) 20 8995 7105
for any sales enquiries

Need To Sniff Out An Unusual Gift? Lucky Scent Is The Place.

If rare, chic and unusual scents for men and women are what you're looking for, you can stop searching. Lucky Scent's online store and Scent Bar in Los Angeles have everything you need. They have a huge selection of hard to find, exclusive scents and scented gifts.

From European fragrances for both men and women that are hard to find as well as bath and body products, candles, teas and other goods, you'll find them here. And if you don't want to spend a fortune (many are quite costly) they sell tons of samples as well. Here are a few examples of their unique offerings:

Stoned Candle and Stoned Perfume




Stoned, which boasts diamond dust as one of its ingredients, is a perfume unlike any other, truly a liquid jewel. Created for the acclaimed English jeweler Solange Azagury-Partridge by the renowned perfumer Lynn Harris, this is a striking, mysterious, fantastically smooth blend, as complex and multifaceted as the gems that inspired it. It starts with the top accord of honeyed citrus and heady flowers, rose and jasmine. The heart is dark and warm, with labdanum, treemoss and heliotrope creating a sumptuous, enveloping effect, which adds an incredibly attractive retro quality to the fragrance, making it reminiscent of the luxurious perfumes of the past. In the base, musk and vanilla showcase the duality of Stoned, its glamorous, arresting, at times animalistic side and its surprising, cozy comfort-scent feel. This is truly one of the most breathtaking scents we have encountered lately— it is as opulent and chic as the most fantastic couture gown, and yet there is warmth and softness about it, which feels like a loving touch, and which we find absolutely irresistible. ”One day every woman wakes up wanting diamonds”, believes Solange Azagury-Partridge. We believe that after smelling Stoned, every woman will want to own this beautiful scent housed in this gorgeous glass flacon. $285. Candle, $60.00

moslbuddjewchristhinda


A spiritual blend centered around sandalwood, MoslbuddJewChristHinDao is a perfect harmony of scents, each one carefully chosen to represent one of Earth's major religions. Fans of 10 Corso Como will delight in its familiar opening, a clean sandalwood/sweet wood combination that's both enchanting and spiritual. This cosmically in-tune fragrance unites all: Men and women, faithful and the unbelievers with its unisex— or unifaith— appeal. $300.00

Terracotta Carved Pebbles With Solid Scents


Carved and chiselled by a potter, the terracotta Amber Pebble contains an exclusive solid fragrance releasing the rich fragrance of Amber. Warm and intense, it will slowly waft through the air over a long period. The fragrance is carried through the air and is intensified by heat or humidity in the room. Available in three sizes. Presented in a black box lined with paper.

Dr. Vranjes Rosso Nobile Decanter and Room Scent


This Dr. Vranjes fragrance fills the home with the original fragrance of the essences of fine wine: a bottle to hold the precious fragrance of Rosso Nobile, an exclusive decanter to air the extraordinary fragrance, vines to spread its intense fragrance in an even more original way. The top notes are dominated by strawberry and blackberry, completed by citrus aroma; mildly fermented notes added to a bloom of violets and roses form the body with its intensely voluptuous character; delicate notes of the most notable tannins of wine complete the unique harmony of base notes. Pour the contents of the bottle in the decanter and stir the fragrance slowly to facilitate airing. $350.00

Auguste perfumes in hand painted porcelain decanters:



Auguste is a collection of fragrances inspired by ancient books, handwritten by one of the many Grasse perfumers between 1905-1920. These old books, grimoires, abound with recipes of perfumes of exceptional quality, elegance and unique character. The Auguste parfums are neither imitations nor pale reproductions, but original formulas. To respect the methods used at the dawn of modern perfumery, the company did not use filtrage or glaçage, and the result is the trio of perfumes that are memories of the olfactive spirit of a beautiful, long-gone epoch. Auguste is a true artisan creation; bottles are hand-poured, presented in hand-painted porcelain bottles with cork stopper, and available in very limited quantities.

Royal Creme by Winifred Wikkeling:


This paraben-free balm achieves its healing hydration through a rich blend of naturally sourced ingredients including shea butter, wheat protein, honey and lavender flower extract, in keeping with the Dutch respect for nature and the environment. Uniquely rich yet quickly absorbent, Royal Creme leaves the skin soft, radiant and supple – a feeling that lasts all day. $95.00

Tihota


Rapa Nui for sugar, Tihota is, quite simply, The One. The One that will call to you every moment you’re not smelling it, The One that you’ve only had hints of in other vanilla perfumes, The One that lasts and lasts, The One that has perfectly captured the essence of the pure nature of fresh vanilla beans and has harnessed it beyond your wildest dreams. It inspires obsessive devotion with its fragrance of smooth, vanilla bean pods dipped in honeyed water and left to steep. The result is the pure magic, an unbridled vanilla, sweet, raw and achingly desirable. Of course, Tihota isn’t the first perfume to focus on the dark sweetness of vanilla… perfumery is filled with vanillas, but this smells like the dream of a master perfumer who was obsessed with vanilla and was finally given free rein to worship the note with no apologies. It is, without a sliver of a doubt, the finest pure vanilla we’ve ever had the honor of carrying, and it’s so beautiful it pains us to put the bottle down.

And if you happen to live in the Los Angeles area, they've opened a scent bar where they encourage you to come, sit and sniff.






Scent Bar
8327 Beverly Blvd (map it)
Los Angeles CA 90048
323 782 8300

Or buy online here.

The Sensory Deprivation Skull & The Wellness Skull

The Sensory Deprivation Skull is a chamber of sorts in which you can sit and essentially cut yourself off from the world. Created in 2007 by Joep van Lieshout of Atelier Van Lieshout, it's comprised of reinforced fiberglass, measures 150 cm tall by 110 cm long and 137 cm wide and is available in a limited edition of 10.







Joep van Lieshout seems to have a thing for skulls; he also created the Wellness Skull in which a sauna is housed and several other sculptures based upon the human skull.



The Wellness Skull is an impressive large skull. Just like Wellness centers it has a few places to relax. In the neck of the skull is a small bath. The head of the Skull contains a sauna. When it is working the hot steam pears out of the eye sockets.




Joep van Lieshout about the Wellness Skull: “The heavenly power is the big unknown, the death of the hereafter, the skull of physical shell of the mind. The earthly power is a economical power, money plays an important role on our contemporary society. Gradually the faith loses all importance and is replaced by an alternative ‘self experience’, through travelling, sporting and wellness centres.


Joep van Lieshout was born in Ravenstein (The Netherlands, 1963). He lives and works in Rotterdam since 1987. Photo and copyright: Merlijn Doomerink

Atelier van Lieshout (AVL) was founded in 1995 by Joep van Lieshout. The name Atelier Van Lieshout emphasises the fact that the works of art do not stem solely from the creative brain of Joep van Lieshout, but are produced by a creative team.

Atelier Van Lieshout
Keilestraat 43e
3029 BP ROTTERDAM
The Netherlands
T: +31(0)10 244 09 71
F: +31(0)10 244 09 72
E-mail: info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Harbournummer 291