You wouldn't peg Rei Kawakubo as the type to believe in ESP. Yet between 1988 and 1991, she, together with Comme des Garçons, embarked on a magazine, Six, that explored visual representations of the sixth sense. Eight unstapled issues combined photography and illustration in artistic, imaginary ways that seem as fresh today in a new iPad app as they did twenty years ago. Launched over the weekend, Moving Six presents archival highlights with the extrasensory perks of sound, motion and interactivity.
Visit Moving Six on iTunes
Schuco turns 100 this year. Hardly a fuddy-duddy, the German toy company has collaborated with Vivienne Westwood on two collectible, hand-painted wind-up cars. Limited to 1000 each, the red model draws from Westwood's signature prints—orb, satyr, skull and crossbones—while the white model refers to the environmental causes she champions.
$195 (white), $205 (red) at Vivienne Westwood
As if Yayoi Kusama weren't dotty enough, she goes and applies her signature polka dots to a chess set, following an entire sales floor in Selfridges. Made from hand-painted porcelain and wood, it's one of 16 individually crafted sets in the exhibition The Art of Chess, currently on view at Saatchi Gallery in London. Other contributing artists include Maurizio Cattelan, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, Barbara Kruger, Paul McCarthy, Alastair Mackie, Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Gavin Turk and Rachel Whiteread.
The Art of Chess, September 8 - October 3, Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York's HQ, King's Road, London, SW3 4RY
Already known for dressing alien fembots, Vivienne Westwood is coming out with her own Android smartphone. The limited-edition phone, made in collabs with Sharp and the Japanese network Docomo, is called the Aquos SH-01E Vivienne Westwood and features an all-over camo print of Orb logos. Available now in Japan, the handset will ship globally later this year.
You can thank the formation of the European Union for the widespread—if belated—acceptance of absinthe across Europe, following a decades-long ban. As far as we know, however, it's still banned in the ol' U.S. of puritanical A (because of anecdotal, but not actual, evidence of hallucinatory effects).
So it'll be something of a speakeasy tonight when Maison Kitsuné and Pernod Absinthe debut their collaboration on the rooftop of the NoMad Hotel (not far from the French label's new store). Here's a look at the limited-edition bottle. An accompanying capsule collection will also be unveiled, which they're saying is the first fashion collection inspired by a spirit. Maybe not officially, but...
Lanvin's Alber Elbaz invokes the dizzy sugar highs of youth with his new bubblegum-flavored macaroons for Ladurée, the luxury French pastry company. The limited-edition set of eight macaroons in three colors—you thought bubblegum could only be pink?—comes in a fancifully sketched box tied with a ribbon.
$28 at Ladurée in France (9/25), the UK and US (9/28), and other countries beginning 10/1
As long as pigeons are going to deface the priceless structures and statues of Venice, they might as well be beautified as they do it during the Venice Architecture Biennale. That seems to be the thinking behind Julius von Bismarck and Julian Charriere's latest art project. Around 60 birds were lured into a contraption that spray-painted their drab-gray feathers various tropical colors, in effect making them over into much less objectionable parakeets and parrots. They were then photographed for an exhibition of photos, Pigeon Safari, and released back into the urban jungle. The harmless food dye lasts around six weeks, the biennale until November 25.
As they say, three's a trend. Or in this case, a Catclub. Hot on the paws of Karl Lagerfeld's Choupette and Grace Coddington's Pumpkin comes United Bamboo's fancy felines. The New York label is bringing back their crowd-pleasing cat calendar, in which they dress up twelve friends' cats in miniature versions of their latest collection.
For the 2013 calendar—not just a calendar, but a range of products under a new moniker, Catclub—they're raising funds on Kickstarter. They're already a quarter of the way to their $20,000 goal. A pledge of $25 gets you this poster and a magnet, while $40 gets you the calendar itself, definitely a collector's item. So what are you waiting for? Meow!
No hotel? No problem! Let the book For You The Traveller, well, book your accommodation. As described by its maker, artist Nabil Sabio Azadi, the limited-edition, self-published objet serves as a "directory of kind people who will act as a port-of-call to travellers passing through their region and bearing this guide."
Like a Lanvin campaign, these kind people are a diverse bunch. Young and old, they're scattered throughout cities and boonies across five continents, and cut across all walks of life, from farmers and metalworkers to urban designers and political analysts. Theoretically, if you can find them and you have the book in hand, they will shelter you. Think of it as a book lover's Couchsurfing.com.
Printed on recycled paper, bound with Tasmanian oak, and covered in recycled rabbit fur, the book will be available in select stores soon. In the meantime, pre-order yours here. All profits will be donated to Nouvelle Planète to fund the construction of five footbridges in the villages near Ambano, Madagascar, allowing villagers to earn a living and send their children to school in all weather conditions.
