The anticipated collaboration between architect Zaha Hadid and sportswear brand Lacoste has finally taken shape, and it doesn’t disappoint. The shoes, rubberized structures that wrap around the leg (angle high for men and calf high for women) are as conceptual and beautiful as Hadid’s architectural creations themselves.
[via WWD - subscription req'd]

It’s hard to get kids to see the joy in cooking when they could just drive through McDonald’s and get a happy meal with a toy for no effort whatsoever. In Japan, there are whole lines of entertaining cooking tools that are great for even big people taking on the skillet. CScout Japan profiles several of them, including a sushi roller, a mini sandwich maker, and one fun contraption that looks like a game of Mouse Trap:
Somen (thin noodles eaten chilled during the summer months), when served nagashi-style, are sent down a bamboo chute. During the course of the journey [...]

There is a ton of anticipation over Spike Jonze’s upcoming reimagining of the classic children’s book Where the Wild Things Are, and now enthusiasts can own a little piece of the magic. Medicom has produced a set of Where the Wild Things Are figurines, including a range of wild things creatures as well as the hero Max himself. The vinyl toys will be available in Fall 2009 – just in time for the movie release.
[via Hypebeast]

Muji art director Kenya Hara, who says he doesn’t design things, but rather happiness, talks about the concept of emptiness.

[via Influx Insights]

The fashion designer who brought “trucker chic” to the mainstream is now producing wine – and sources say it might actually be quite good. Ed Hardy is known mainly for loud, graffitied t-shirts, trucker hats, and jeans worn by the likes of Britney Spears (and her kids), but designer Christian Audigier is now betting that his very recognizable brand will help push bottles too.
[via Luxist]

The newest mainstream company to put on its green thumb is Payless, which has just brought organic shoe line zoe&zac to shelves. Following its string of extremely successful designer collaborations over the past few years, hopefully this will be one more step toward mainstreaming ethically sound consumerism.
[via Racked via Fashion Herald]

Sure it looks a lot like BAPE or a Kanye West album cover, but that’s what the kids want this summer. And we actually like how wearable and unpretentious Kidrobot’s new “KidPunk” line is, even if they do describe it as “combining 80’s punk edginess with KidRobot fun.”
[via STREEThing]

As we mentioned, the Vice Magazine fashion issue (pig and all) has hit the streets and as always, it’s a great read. In their city-vs.-city matchup, the magazine makes some bold claims about what’s in and what’s out across the globe. In a nutshell, it boils down to this:

Girls in NYC are sluts; boys are rockabilly
In Stokholm the boys are Xanax incarnate; girls don’t care
In Barcelona boys are dressing like girls and girls are dressing like boys
Melbourne boys are dressing up in a retro kind of way, and the girls are just copying years’ old trends
Girls in Montreal are cute [...]

There is so much serious, snooty editorial about fashion, we always appreciate when Vice comes out with its Fashion issue. Their most recent is no different. From the interview which hails Kai Kühne as a renegade fashion star before getting him to admit that he doesn’t understand fashion, to the article which claims in all seriousness that epaulettes (those ornament-like shoulder accessories on army uniforms) are the future of fashion, to the amazing cover featuring a wild pig (see above), the whole thing is a breath of fresh air.
Vice Magazine: The Fashion Issue 2009

In this economy, some women may be looking for ways to feel more powerful when they get dressed in the morning. These boots by Stella McCartney are a sure bet.

The movies aren’t usually considered a sensory experience, despite several historical attempts at scented cinema dating back to 1916. But soon you may be able to actually feel what’s going on in the movies – perhaps a Michael Bay explosion or an Angelina Jolie drop kick…or even better, to experience a real emotional reaction based not just on what you’re seeing in a movie, but on on actual physical stimulus.
Researchers at Phillips Electronics just debuted a jacket lined with 64 vibration motors at the 2009 World Haptics Conference. As described by Paul Lemmens, a Philips senior scientist, the jacket is [...]

Or for anyone else who wants to look sharp without compromising their safety, really. The maker of the cool man’s Snuggie, the Blankoat, has now come out with a bulletproof handkerchief dubbed The Damned, made from “lemon Military Grade Ballistic Strength Aramid Fibre – to protect the hearts of men.”
Sruli Recht

If you still have the disposable income to buy Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent and Stella McCartney, you might also want to buy a plane ticket to Paris and visit a new store in the Marais called Merci. The shop is the brainchild of high-end childrenswear designers Bonpoint, who decided to use their fashion industry muscles to do a little good in the world. They’ve stocked their store with custom pieces by some of the world’s most coveted designers, donating 100% of the profit to a children’s cause in Madagascar (does anyone know which one? Would love a link).
We love to [...]

The one-for-one model isn’t working so well for OLPC, but it’s doing wonders for a small company called TOMS Shoes, which donates one pair of shoes for every pair sold. The shoes have a distinctly traditional look to them (they’re modeled after the traditional Argentinian alpargata, a simple slip-on canvas shoe), but they’ve certainly crossed over into the mainstream. As TOMS preps to launch its most recent design collaboration with Element Skateboards, PSFK talks to founder Blake Mycoskie about where the company came from, and where it’s going.
What was your original inspiration for TOMS and how did you turn it [...]