Palace Bag For Life.

From Palace, a brand not known for it's affordability, comes ultra cheap "Bag For Life" bags.  at only £10, it is still 10 times the price of a supermarket bag for life, which usually comes in at £1.50, but it is Palace, so it could be £100 times, and still sell.

Bold, yet simple in white and green, with a recycled logo repurposed into a Palace triangle, with Palace writ large on one side and Bag For Life on the other.  And in typical Palace style, rather than product information, the site has on the normal product info bullet points, "The most jarring - Noises - In the world - Are foxes sessioning - And your mums voice".

Bell & Ross BR 01 Laughing Skull.

Taking inspiration from the warrior pirates of old, and historically long before that, the skull has been a symbol of bravery in the face of death.  We all return to bone after death, so what better way to laugh in the face of death than by wearing his grinning visage on your body as a emblem, or better still, as a tattoo?

Bell & Ross know and understand this, and have four times released Laughing Skull edition watches, nodding the military roots and inspiration of the brand.  The fifth generation model of this wrist-watch repeats the tourbillon movement of the previous generations, but adds an animated surprise, the previously static skull, this one "laughs" as it's wound, and extremely clever addition.

A crossbones type face, croc strap, BR-CAL.206 In-House movement, and a light diamond and full diamond edition and priced from £7,000 this is a real statement piece.

Louis Vuitton FIFA World Cup 2018 Collection.

Continuing the partnership that began with Louis Vuitton creating the World Cup trophy travel case in 2010, LV have produced a special edition leather goods collection to commemorate the tournament.  The capsule has everything from small leather goods up to keepalls, and all pieces are constructed from football leather shaped hexagon pieces of textured Epi leather. in contrasting black, red, blue and white, as a nod to the colours of country flags.  A final touch, the luggage tag can be embossed with any of the 35 participating country flags.  Expect proces to be from £300.

Frankly, while the world cup trophy case had a sense of occasion to it, this collection is more  of a cynical cash grab.  Not since the ugly LV cup collections of the late 1990's to early 2000's have such ugly collections been seen by the house.  But more than that, Louis Vuitton is a brand that is supposed to be about tradition, and quality, which is able to demonstrate a selection of quality products imbued with qualities that exist due to their history.  Words like heritage, respect, timelessness are supposed to come to mind.  

None of this is evident here.  Just like the "so-hot-right-now" Supreme collab which will be meaningless in 5 years, these ugly bags have nothing of LV other than the branding and price tag, and it is truly sad that they will be written about with glowing effusive praise, bought and sported by celebrities due to being provided to them by their stylists, desired by consumers, and purchased by those with too much disposable income.  They will be profitable for LV, which is the problem, another nail in LV's coffin, as they move further from their roots, and cease to be respectable.  It's looking like Goyard is one of the only houses left with self respect at this stage.

COMME des GARCONS CDG Line And Breaking News Capsule.

COMME des GARCONS is launching a new mid-priced capsule, titled "CDG" it's reminiscent of the "shirt" line in terms of target audience, but bang up to date with the street wear silhouette so popular right now.  

The initial launch collection contains oversized hoodies, sweats, bombers, stadium jackets, and tee's, all with the new "CDG" logo.  Also, they are launching the line with a "Breaking News" capsule, of six collaborative tees with artwork from Adam Lucas, Anti Social Social Club, Better Gift Shop by Avi Gold, Brain Dead, Cactus Plant Flea Market and Dreamland Syndicate, all featuring CDG printing.  The concept being announcing the new line.

Pieces will cost from £50 to £500, and all available from July 20 in Japan, and worldwide from late October.  Pieces will be stocked in COMME and Dover Street Market stores

Nike "Just Do It" Air Max 1.

Is this anniversary release a direct result of the success of the OFF-WHITE x Nike "The Ten"?  We say yes.  Could this have even been conceived if that collab had not happened, and been successful?  Not in this form no.  The collab showed Nike that you can just randomly throw relevant text all over a sneaker and have it be ridiculously successful.  Sure, they would have commemorated the 30th anniversary of the "Just Do It" campaign, but never in this way, never like this.

So what are we looking at?  White leather upper, bright orange accents all over, orange laces, and scattered all over the shoes, the Nike logo's and "Just Do It" advertisign text from the the last 30 years.

A bold shoe, maybe one for the collection and re-sale rather than on the foot, and a price point at £100 to be attainable at retail.

OFF WHITE "The Ten" Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star

The Ten Nike capsule released in 2017 has been one of the most hyped releases ever seen in the footwear game.  The deconstructed silhouette from Vigil Abloh's mind took Nike's classic streetwear pieces to another level, and as has been said many times, the collab made sense, unlike Supreme throwing in with LV, Nike's are the original streetwear, so it works on so many levels.

Originally intentded to be part of that release was this three way collab, Nike, Converse and OFF WHITE,  putting the deconstructed twist on the Chuck Taylor's.  Featuring the details that blew up all the Nike pieces.

Available from Converse and OFF-WHITE direct on May 12, and selected retailers, costing £100.

COMME des GARCONS BLACK Nike Dover Street Market Night Track.

Released yesterday in DSM at certain Nike outlets, a special limited edition COMME des GARCONS BLACK Nike Night Track sneaker. Matt leather, with Patent panels, vintage nike tongue swoosh, subdued midsole, and translucent rubber outsole with multicoloured speckles.  The CDG logo on the rear, and CDG Black inside.

A sharp, elegant low top for all seasons, all black, for all outfits, and enough little touches to make it special.  Available now, for £140 per pair.