Sports Classic: New York Mets hat

Last week I wrote about the really nice Oakland A's cap in green with the yellow brim.  Just like some people think those colors don't mix, there are people that think the Mets team colors of orange and blue don't mix.  I might tend to agree in other cases, but on the Mets cap, it just works for me.  The colors supposedly come from the main colors of the two National League teams that left New York City in the middle of the last century: Dodger blue and Giants orange.  The Mets organization was trying to drum up support by adopting the colors of those two much-loved baseball teams that left many a New Yorker broken-hearted.

To me, the color scheme of this cap is just playful and fun.  It's a stark contrast to the dour and somber colors of the Yankees.  When I see a person wearing Mets gear I think, There's a person who knows how to have fun and likes to party.  When I see someone in Yankees gear, on the other hand, I think that person is probably an anal-retentive prick who takes himself too seriously.

Furniture made from salvaged pieces of the Coney Island boardwalk

The Coney Island Boardwalk with wood (from Wikipedia)

For some strange and stupid reason, the City of New York has decided to replace the wooden planks of the Coney Island boardwalk with concrete.  Well, the reason given is that concrete will hold up longer, but that's not a very aesthetically pleasing reason.

Luckily, it seems that some of the wood from the boardwalk is being put to good use.  Olde Good Things has been salvaging the ipe wood that constituted the boardwalk and repurposing it as furniture, such as this handsome and sturdy mission style table:

Cover for Brett Easton Ellis's Rules of Attraction (Vintage Contemporaries)

I previously wrote about the book design for Vintage Contemporaries' edition of Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis.  I've since decided to read through all of Ellis's books in order.  So I went to the Strand to see if I could find a cheap copy of The Rules of Attraction.  They had a copy, but the cover was garish and ugly and I asked myself if I would be willing to pay a few extra dollars for an edition that looked nice.  I came to the conclusion that I would.  So I went to Barnes & Noble and found the Vintage Contemporaries edition.  The cover design is by David J. High and the cover photograph is by Chris Hiller, the same team that did the cover for Less Than Zero. 

I like this cover a lot too.  I was surprised it was a photograph; I initially thought it was a charcoal drawing.  It's a great study in grey value scale.  And only seeing a part of the bed makes you wonder what's going on in the rest of the room, hidden and out of sight.  It also could be an allusion to the harrowing opening scene of the book. 

I believe this is David J. High's website for his design studio, which appears to focus solely on book design.  Check out their portfolio, they've done some great stuff.

The best of Nom de Guerre's spring/summer 2010 line

Nom de Guerre's spring/summer line is apparently based on France's occupation of Algeria and Algeria's war for independence.  It's really just another drop in the puddle of military inspiration that so many designers seem to be having currently.  That means that there's a lot of camouflage in the line.  The camouflage pieces are the least interesting pieces in the collection, not to mention the fact that I would feel like a total poser douche wearing combat clothing without actually being enlisted in the armed forces.  Happily, there are a few pieces that aren't as annoying as the pieces which more closely imitate military uniforms.

The bomber jacket is great.  I like that it doesn't have a true collar, I like the cut, I like the double row of buttons, I like the pattern.  I wouldn't mind if this came in a more military-esque olive green color either.

This shirt also doesn't have a true collar.  Instead, it is more similar in style to North African jalabiyyas.  The shirt is really great.

I really love the pattern of this shirt. (God, it looks horrible with those pants.)

The jeans are quite nice.  Grey cotton denim is not something I've seen much for jeans, but it's a great alternative to blue or black jeans.

The boots in this pic are amazing.  I don't think they are actually part of Nom de Guerre's line, but I would love to know where they come from.

See here for Nom de Guerre's spring/summer 2010 lookbook and a lot more pictures.

Sports Classic: Oakland A's cap

There are people who think these colors don't look good together.  To me, they look perfect together.  Forest green and yellow; it's classic.  The official A's cap (currently made by New Era) is one of my favorite team caps, if not my favorite.  If I lived on the west coast, and if I could bring myself to root for an American League team, I'd be an A's fan.  Those are two very big ifs, however...

Deadline & 13th Witness Marcy Ave t-shirt

I saw this Deadline t-shirt using a photograph taken by the awesome photographer 13th Witness (who happens to be the son of graffiti legend Futura) at the Ssur Plus store.  The picture is of a Marcy Ave (Brooklyn) street sign.  Marcy and what avenue?  I have no idea because the cross-street sign looks to be covered in snow.  I'm not crazy about the design on the back of the shirt.  The front is understated (which I like) and cool, and the back doesn't seem to fit with that.  But the photo on the front is so cool maybe I can get over it.

Vans herringbone slip-ons

 Speaking of herringbone, these Vans slip-ons are also quite nice.  The weave seems thinner than the ones in the previous post, and they have a certain sheen that can pop on the street.  Very nice.

Vans herringbone Era sneakers

I'm a big fan of herringbone.  Herringbone anything, I say.  I also like the light blue coloring of the Vans logo; it fits very nicely with the dark grey upper.  I saw these on the Classickicks website, who seem to have them on sale currently.

Analog Shapeshift Boardshorts

Irvine, CA based Analog makes some really nice boardshorts.  This one is from their Shapeshift line, which comes in a number of color and pattern schemes, all based on the square and quarter-circle shapes.  I really like the bright colors and the influences from abstraction.  They are available at Turntable Lab.

Book design for the paperback Less Than Zero

This is an example of my buying a book mainly because of how intriguing the cover was.  Time and place are important in fiction, and I particularly like novels that are set in a city and give the reader a sense of what it was like to be in that city at a certain moment in its history.  So the picture of Los Angeles vanishing in mist, or smog rather, and the description of the story on the back cover as "set in Los Angeles in the early 1980s," together piqued my interest.  In a nutshell, the novel is about the boredom, drug-use, apathy, and nihilism of a group of Hollywood kids during the early stages of the MTV era.  The cover photograph, and the abundance of white/nothingness, does a good job of evoking this "lost generation."  Now, having read most of the book, it also hints at one of the images repeated throughout the story: a billboard that states, "Disappear here."

There are numerous editions of Less Than Zero, all with different cover art; this one is published by Vintage.  The cover design is by David J. High and the cover photograph is by Chris Hiller.

Grey kooky plimsolls from Topman

I really like these grey plimsoll shoes by Topman (see details here, they also come in black ).  They look more elegant than your typical plimsolls, and the light grey color is quite versatile.  I haven't tried a pair on yet, but they look really comfortable.

Book jacket design of The History of White People

I saw or read about The History of White People (by historian Nell Irvin Painter) several months ago and put it in my mental checklist of books to read, but forgot about it until I was browsing around in 192 Books the other day.  The title is attention-grabbing by itself; it's probably the first book that proposes to tell the history of the "white" people, whereas books about other races, cultures, or even subsets of "white" people are far more common.  (Note: In her introduction, Painter discusses the problematic aspects of discussing race in general, and the catch-all term "white people/s.") 

But what really caught my eye was the book's spine, which, unlike almost every other book you might see, contains horizontal text providing a brief synopsis of the book.  For this very reason, the book stood out on the book shelf.  Putting a description on the spine conveyed the message 'Look at this, this is important, you should be reading this.'

It would be nice to be able to go to a bookstore and scan the spines for whatever seems interesting.  But if every books started putting descriptions on the spine, shelves could look cluttered.  Plus it would limit the design possibilities for individual books.  I can also understand why designers might not want to place descriptions on the spines.  There can be a certain amount of mystery in a book title, which can make you intrigued enough to pick up the book and look at the table of contents or at the inside flaps of the book jacket.  And getting the book in your hands is a closer step to getting you to purchase it.  In any case, putting text on the spine was a neat tactic for The History of White People.

Reed Pages magazine by Staple Design

I was on the Reed Space store's website yesterday and saw that Staple Design (the creative agency that runs Reed Space) is now publishing a quarterly magazine, entitled Reed Pages.  The entire preview issue is viewable online. 

I read through the magazine and liked it quite a bit.  It consists mainly of interviews with street culture trendsetters, touching on how they started, what their design influences are, who their personal influences are.  The magazine follows Staple Design's overarching aesthetic of being "a positive social contagion."  For example, the interviewees are asked what advice they would give their 18 year old selves knowing what they know now.  There isn't much in the way of negativity or shittalking, which is nice.  Interviewees include graffiti artists Claw Money, the team behind Fader Magazine, and some of the employees at Hypebeast. 

Probably the most interesting article for me was a piece on Rivington Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.  The LES is currently ground zero for gentrification, the influx of "hipsters", and hipster backlash.  The magazine interviewed owners or employees from every business (or at least a good number of them) on Rivington St., asking them about where they would ideally like to have their business, what they think of the changes in the neighborhood, and how they think the neighborhood could be improved.  The businesses ranged from stores that have been in the area for decades to restaurants that opened within the past year.  For me, one of the most fascinating aspects of city life is the constant flux of businesses and people.  There are probably very few places in the world where that rate of change is as fast as it is in New York City.  I recently moved to a new apartment, and when I go back to my old neighborhood I'm surprised by all the stores and restaurants that have opened and the businesses that have left in just the few months since I've lived there.  An article like this that documents an urban neighborhood in the midst of change is very interesting. 

Reed Pages is a solid magazine, especially for design inspiration from some of the big names in street culture and street art.  The subscription price is a hefty $60 so here's to hoping they get it into circulation at the public library.