Cover of Life

Well here's a name I haven't heard for eons. Well, nearly two years, anyway. Remember those layered trousers I was all about when NJAL's The Shop was still shiny and new? Well, Fashion156 today reminded me of their label, being Ethosens from Japanese designer Yui Hashimoto. I seem to think that they didn't have a website up and running when I was pining after those trousers, since I don't remember all those scrolling lookbooks, or the fact that each year has one name for both the A/W and following S/S collections. It's rather a good idea, I think, as it allows the designer to just work with one theme for the year, and yet be able to make season appropriate pieces within that construct. Anyway, the title or theme for the A/W 10/11 and S/S 11 seasons is 'Cover of Life', with the tagline 'What wraps you?'. Both seasons are full of minimalist pieces that are everyday wearable, especially for the more laid back gentlemen who can pull of wearing a pair of sweats in public. What I enjoy so much about Ethosens, however, is the unexpected reconfiguration of the suit to create new basic menswear pieces. For instance, the trench onesie. Now, I think it would be horrible to ask a guy to wear it with a pair of tights or leggings, like in the above picture on the left. However, when paired with a pair of pants underneath like on the right, I think it takes away at least most of the unflattering aspects of the onesie, and makes it conceivable that someone older than ten and not on the runway or at a fashion week would wear it. 

Not convinced? Yeah, I'm not really either. But I think you'll easily enjoy the other pieces pictured here. For instance, the outfit on the left that, at first glance, seems to include pants with a layered top portion, but then upon closer look reveals itself to be a bit of trompe l'oeil on the bottom of the shirt. Or the mid-length coat/structured smoking jacket that was a suit jacket and pair of pants in a previous life. The pieces below are pretty sweet too. But I really hope to never again see a guy in tights off the stage/ice/bike.

The not-so-pop-up Shop

This is really weird. I just got a new computer and now my blog looks very weird to me. Is this how it looks to everyone else? Hmm...unsure how I feel about this...

Anywho, today's the unveiling of the September edition of NJAL's The Shop. I'm also unsure how I feel about this. I knew that The Shop would be bigger than in previous months, but I was kinda hoping that meant Lara would have more picks than the past curators. However, it simply means that, along with Lara's new picks, there's all the stuff that didn't sell from The Shop in July and August. I kind of find that sad. I liked to think that people were frantically clicking and buying up the last of the wares before The Shop closed down for the new edition. I even pictured all my favorites safely flying to their new homes. But, at the same time, I guess I feel like I've been reacquainted with some old friends, as two of my most favorite pieces from The Shop that apparently never sold are available once again. Hmm...Anyway, here are my (new) favorites from September's version of The Shop:

1) The Soldier Dress by Davorka Pozgan. Nothing needs to be said about this piece. Just look at it.

2) Overall Dress by Awareness and Consciousness. It's one size! And modal! And black! And it's not even a dress!

3) Jogger by Vilde Svaner. I think these are new anyway. They're not listed in 'Lara Stone's Choice', but I don't remember seeing them before, at least not with these particular photos. Anyway, these look way too comfy to pass up. Plus, they are one size fits all AND are made of organic cotton and recycled sweatshirts. And while these are actually unisex, I think women get the better deal, as we can wear the waistband as a bandeau. Not that I would necessarily, but I like having a greater degree of laziness as an option.

And, here are two of my old friends:

1) You know what these are. Too bad this time I can't be tempted.

2) This time around, this is classified as Womenswear, not Unisex. I think I can agree, as I think this model makes it look even better than last time around.

I'm really curious to see what they do with The Shop in the future. It would make me even sadder to see it absolutely bursting at the seams in a couple of months because the pieces weren't selling in large numbers. It's good for the designers to still have their pieces available for sale, but I do like the idea of rotating stock, like those pop-up shops in the UK I always read about. We shall see I spose. Now, onto doing some rehab on my legs. I do hope my bike will forgive me for hurting it.

All's fair in love and fashion

Well, another lovely email in my inbox has added even more temptation to rack up those credit card charges. Whilst listening to MJ for the last 2 hours (I led a very sheltered childhood, so I have about 45 years of music to catch up on!), I've been oogling and doing calculations in my head on almost every piece NJAL's The Shop. Of course the most affordable of my favorites has sold, but that has not quite deterred me. For curiosity's sake (and possibly driven by MJ), I wandered into the menswear section. And, my goodness, these Layered Trousers by Ethosens are seriously delightful! The mix of comfy cotton lounging pants and the bottom half of a men's suit jacket/coat is absolute genius, and definitely quirky enough for my sometimes odd layering sensibilities. I know the stylish men out there should get this instead of me, but the July collection has been up for 6 days now, so I think it's fair game! Now, how do I go about finding out what my men's size would be?