If It's Hip, It's Here (Archives)

Kanye Does Kicks For Louis Vuitton & His Live From Paris Message

PARIS — Marc Jacobs and the Louis Vuitton men’s studio director Paul Helbers have some design competition this season. Kanye West, who was sitting front row at the Vuitton show, has designed a line of five LV sneakers. Only one design was featured in the show —(the red one shown above) a monochromatic midtop with no frills, save for a quilted flap in the back, all the easier to tuck pants into.

Above: kanye's shoe on the runway show in Paris

“The inspiration came from a jacket with a huge collar in the movie ‘Dune,’ ” West says. “Most sneakers focus on the tongue, so I wanted to do something different.” West knows whereof he speaks: he says he has no idea how many shoes he owns, but he does know that he routinely needs to send shipments off to storage. The LV-meets-Kanye kicks will be available at Louis Vuitton stores in June.

Here's a look at a few of the others:

above: kanye shows off his Loafer for LV on his own blog.

Above: Another of the shoe designs

Above: Kanye and Marc show off the kicks at the Paris Runway show

On his own blog today, kanye put up some pics of LV shoes for ladies:

I do not know when or if the women's shoes are going into production, but will be sure to keep you posted!

Here's an interview with kanye about the collaboration, read it here.

UPDATE: the shoes drop tomorrow, here's the final line up, all the photos and the prices!

Maison Martin Margiela Men's RTW Fall 2009 Collection Is Criminal

The latest men's collection from MMM is criminal. Or at least the collection appears that way. Clever fashion designer Martin Margiela shows off his 2009 Men's Ready To Wear Fall Collection as a police line up.

Clad in his apparel, models don booking placards as they stand against a wall with the horizontal measuring markers. Looking forlorn, guilty, scared and in some cases, bored, the clothes still hold their own. The new collection consists of linear silhouettes and reinterpretations of classic looks.

There were plenty of conceptual design devices (very MMM), including a rain jacket that appears to be 'stained' with water drops on the shoulders, and an “after-party” shirt with a faux red wine stain. With Diesel owning the company, jeans were a strong element in the line. And as is typical, Margiela never seems to run out of unique ways to showcase his work. Just take a look.

special thanks to WWD for the photos
Martin Margiela Men's Fall 2009, Photos by Dominique Maitre

Maison Martin Margiela

The Art of Chocolate. Oops, Reverse That.

above: chococlate sculpture by Paul Wayne Gregory

Not many things are more appealing to me than art or chocolate. So, the combination of the two is something I was destined to blog about. Whether it's replications of historical sculpture, of everyday objects or modern abstract creations crafted with actual, edible chocolate, here are some you can admire, some you can order and all you can eat.

Custom Chocolate Sculptures by Paul Wayne Gregory:

Inquire about them here. (special thanks to Betsy Wills for this one)

Chocolate sculptures by frenchman Patrick Roger.
Below the chocolatier with "Harold":

and his chocolate penguins:

Chocolate City:

created by Naoko Tone and Atsuyoshi Iijima from the Chocolate exhibition at the 21_21 Design Sight space in Tokyo.

Canadian-born Cosimo Cavallaro created this controversial life sized chocolate Jesus in 2005:

And followed it up with more Chocolate Saints in 2007:

And here's artist George Heslop with his life-sized chocolate Jesus on the Cross (this one's not edible, folks):

Beautiful Valentine's sculptures in chocolate by Joseph Schmidt:

the above sculptures are not for sale

Artist and award winning Pastry Chef Gerhard Petzl's chocolate sculptures:

Here's the Gerhard with his World's Largest Chocolate Santa made just last December:

Not going to travel the world to attend Chocolate fairs, museums and exhibits, but still want a sweet piece of art? Perhaps not as artfully crafted, but certainly as delicious tasting, consider these other fun chocolate items:

Chocolate Gifts You Can Buy Now.

Endangered Species Chocolate Wall Trophies:

available from the W Hotel Store or Walteria Living

The Chocolate Pie Chart:

From Matt and Mary. Buy it here.

Painter Girl's Animal Print Bars, Chocolate Frida Tribute Bar and caramel filled chocolate paint tubes are made to order. Get them here.

Jessica Walters' handmade chocolate shoes.
Available as one large shoe: