Archive for December 2006

Uniqlo have opened a pop-up store in Barkers Arcade on Kensington High Street. Nothing about the store is particularly new or exciting,  and considering previous offerings it’s pretty disappointing.

For emphasis Uniqlo have plastered ‘POP-UP STORE’ along the window, yet there is currently no end date for the shop. Looks like they are just trying to cash in on the guerrilla idea that worked so well for them in NYC, shame that this time they didn’t get very creative this time. 

related psfk articles
Site Visit: Uniqlo Soho Flagship
Site Visit: Uniqlo Container

Last week saw Bahrain sprinter Ruqaya Al Ghasara win the gold medal
in the 200-metres at the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar wearing a specially constructed hijab and a full-length
running suit that exposed only her hands and face. What’s very interesting is that Al Ghasara’s outfit is clearly branded by her sponsor Nike- you can’t miss the red swoosh placed across the side of her head.

Having already created jilbabs for Kenyan women to play volleyball earlier this year, Nike seem to be leading the way for branded religion.

cbc sports has an interview with the runner about her clothing choices- "Wearing traditional Muslim dress has encouraged me. It’s not an obstacle - quite the opposite" - worth a read

As a special gift for IF! subscribers AND for a limited time PSFK readers, we’ve published a beautiful 64 page PDF document with wonderful photography of New York’s finest windows. Taken by David Pinter.

IF!

The hi-technology Jawbone bluetooth headset has been launched in the US so the IF! team sat down with founder Hosain Rahman to talk about his new product and the market needs.

IF! (subscription required)

More uploads to the PSFK 2007 Trends hunt. James F Friedman gives his prediction for 2007: "Psychedelia is gonna be huge."  Richard explains why he thinks alternative fuel sources will be big in 2007. 
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Add your prediction to YouTube with the tag psfk2007

We’ve known director Alison Chernick for a while, it’s only now that she’s brought her documentary on artist Matthew Barney to the IFC in New York that we got a chance to watch her film. “Matthew Barney : No Restraint” follows Barney and collaborator Bjork on a Japanese whaling vessel as they create his work ‘Drawing Restraint 9‘. Alison has created a wonderful film that studies the complexity and obsession in Barney’s art. While it doesn’t try to explain Barney’s rather abstract art - by watching the film, you can’t stop developing a deep fascination for the artist’s approach to his work.

Film Times At IFC

Life Is Carbon points us to an English language magazine published out of Norway. Founder Jan Walaker and at director Bjorn Kusoffsky make sure that every issue of Hotrod is a completely different concept from any previous one. LIC says:

It’s always a pleasant surprise when picking up a new issue to discover radically different content, lay out styles and even different paper stock (paper grade is selected to suit the images in each issue)… Issue #28 was dedicated to Japan and based around a touring exhibition of Japanese artifacts and art, curated by Jan. Issue #29 was full of fantastic photography and artwork by Charlie White, Tova Mozard, Tom Sachs and Paul McCarthy, to name but a few. Issue #30 was basically a showcase of comtemporary Swedish photography at its best.

lifeiscarbon®: Scandinavian Eclectic

We bumped into Nima of Fly Magazine the other day on the way to the subway and he passed us the second issue of his DVD magazine. Fly features original, and sometimes often, film. This issue has 14 Fashion ’spreads’ where each one features the clothes of one designer and is based around a literary quotation. The result leads to some stunning visual work. We found the interviews a little more interesting - especially the interview with British artist Liam Gillik where he explains his inspiration and how he reacts to ideas. This interview itself is worth the $45 price.

Fly

Reveries republishes the salient points of an article on Brooklyn Industries in Inc magazine:

Actually, their overall marketing budget will continue to represent “roughly the same portion of revenue (two percent)” as before. It’s just that instead of spending their dollars on ads, Lexy and Vahap will invest in better window displays and fancier catalogs. “We were shocked to see how little impact our ads had,” says Vahap. “It was a painful decision, but we cut them off.”

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