Category — Trends

I spotted this interesting tid-bit last night and thought I would post it to kick off the week. Ruffy, the protagonist of the popular manga series ONE PIECE, will be gracing the cover of the January 2010 issue of Men’s Non-No, which is, according to Mekas, the sales leader of all Japanese men’s fashion magazines. The article goes on to explain that this is the first time a manga character will be featured on the cover in the mag’s 24-year history.

It’s actually part of an interesting trend that we’ve see gain steam over the year. The blurring of boundaries between manga and real-life probably hit a high-note back in September when you had a group of wives step forward into the public to complain about their husbands who were cheating on them with girlfriends who resided within the Nintendo DS video game Love Plus. The husbands were sleeping, taking baths, and basically doing everything aside from having illegitimate children, with their virtual mates.

The new issue of Men’s Non-no, which hits stands on December 10th, looks like it may be setting us up for another year of combat in which we must fight to protect our homeland from those thieving virtualists. We will not forget the moments of silence and days of mourning as wives watched their husbands disappear with 20-somethings in short skirts and binary code. Nor will we forget the magazine models who now face extinction. We have been awakened to danger and called to defend our freedom from those who seek our occupations and our societal standing.

In Japan of course. The October issue of Nikkei Design (out Sept 24) highlights a new trend in product branding;  hot pink. Companies across all industries appear to be picking up pink buckets of paint and taking their brushes to whatever they can get their hands on. A number of the products were understandable but I was a bit thrown by the car and refrigerator. I have to say, my favorite is the EGG Mouse. That is one good-looking mouse. I should devote an entire post to that mouse.

Lets work through this top to bottom.
Sony VIAO laptop W series | Mitsubishi Electric refrigerator
Lamy Safari Pen series | Rico CX2 digital camera
AU KDDI PLY cell phone | Itochu Karakoron Kyoto series of traditional accessories (embracing their inner-barbie won them an ADC Design Award)
Takemoto Foods PONTO chocolate packaging
Nissan Skyline Crossover (hard to tell but shown in “sparkling rose-silver”)
Elecom EGG Mouse mini | COSE Esprique Precious line of makeup

via Nikkei Design

I saw it once… then I saw it again. Do I smell a summer trend? I swear that one day during the summer I will make an attempt to pull this off. I’m not guaranteeing it will look good, but I will make the attempt!

image from Paul Stuart’s show window courtesy of The Sartorialist

Jude Law on the June 2008 cover of Japanese fashion mag UOMO

Patchwork is funny. It’s like the Sacha Baron Cohen of fabric. Everywhere it goes it stirs people up and they either love it or hate it! Patchwork has always been around but just recently I’ve noticed an influx of patchwork within our visual culture. It could very well be that I just caught sight of a small pool of brands, but let me show you what I mean… here are some examples (from mainstream to not so):

Patchwork cap ($60) and Patched vest ($148)
Both from J-crew

Souk Chic area rug ($150) from carpet tile maker FLOR

And last but not least…this patched hen doorstopper ($39) from eco-conscious VivaTerra

I can’t help but recall an incident earlier this year when a certain controversial patchwork bag was unleashed onto us; the Louis Vuitton Tribute Patchwork Bag that retailed for $42,000. For those of you who missed the story, no I don’t have an extra digit in that number. The bag is made up of 15 different previous LV bag styles and only 24 were made. But wouldn’t it be rad if the whole patchwork fad ignited from here!?!? I know, I’m such a glutton for conspiracy.

The LV Tribute Patchwork Bag