Can’t login to your Gmail account?

It’s driving us crazy too.

But consider this your invitation from the Google Powers that Be to take that latte break, power nap, or much needed stroll down procrastination lane. In fact, we’ve rounded up a few great sites to browse that are just perfect for those days when Gmail tells you “enough is enough”, or, well, “could not complete your request”.

1. FFFOUND!!

Nice pictures of cool things.

2. Newser

My guilty pleasure. It’s a news aggregation service that provides mostly tabloid level stories– but with pictures!

3. Free Rice

Mindless. Free. Rice. And somehow you’re also helping to save the world.

4. FARK

An up to the minute compilation of hard-to-believe-they’re-true news articles from around the world.

5. Apartment Therapy

Inspiration for your home. It’s very DIY yet modern.

If these links just aren’t cutting it for you and you really, actually, do have something you’ve just gotta send out, here’s a way to get around the 502 error. Simply head over to iGoogle, and you can read and send messages via the dashboard’s gmail link. What do you do when your Gmail is down?

Steven Meisel’s Red Alert. Red Hot.

Courtesty of Steven Ignant, who has a wonderful “behind the blog” series, like this one about Jeff Hamada von Booooooooooooooom.

Fashion Spoons, Cooked Two Different Ways

Check out this neat spoon collection by designer Jurgen Lehl.

Who is Lehl, you might ask? Gius  from The Fashion Spot says that aside from fashion, Lehl also “designs various items ranging from furniture and tableware to jewelry, [who] above all else …tries not to create ‘unnecessary or useless things.'”

Liehl adds, “I don’t want to make things which will harm nature or be environmentally unfriendly. As far as I create things, I try to make things that will last for a long time.”

That’s what we say about vintage. Fantastic, Lehl.

On a mostly unrelated note, here is a great photoshoot titled “Spoon”
by Kristian Schuller:

Shiny Shiny Comments on Fashionistas’ Comments

I stumbled onto this comment recently about fashionistas:

“Fashionistas are always making comments like ‘bat-winged jackets are really cool’ and then inventing spurious reasons about sleeve-trends and how bat-wings/retro-tailoring/apricot leather captures the zeitgeist as proof for their statements.”

Well, it’s not really about us, but bat-wings are indeed very cool.

Flash that Clutch!

The Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU attracts such oddball projects, including the Botanicalls.

I love the anti-paparazzi clutch bag (another project from the Interactive Telecommunications Program), but what does it look like? And if everybody in front of the bar carries one of those bags, does the whole place just explode with one enormous flash?

Meet the “Gaudy” Guys: Vincent

Get to know Vincent, the co-owner and creative director of Avant Gaudy.

Personal aspirations/hopes:
Run a fashionable online vintage clothing store.

Professional goals:
Let Avant Gaudy be as cool as the Renaissance Society.

Favorite movies?
Little Miss Sunshine and El Topo.

What T.V. shows are you currently watching/still addicted to?
Nature documentaries

What kind of music do you like? What bands are you listening to?
Fantastic Mainstream, Milt Jackson Orchestra

Favorite/essential book?
House of Stairs by William Sleator

What do you like to do for fun?
Make cupcakes, stews and barbecues

Things you love? (People, places, things, etc…)
Bjork, Sonar, Gaudi’s architecture

Favorite Designer?
Rei Kawakubo

Favorite fashion/beauty magazine?
Visionaire 48 Magic

Favorite clothing item/accessory that you own?
Vintage YSL shirt

How would you describe your personal style? 
The Emperor’s New Clothes

What is your most recent purchase?
Zamorano cheese and Pâte de coings

Guilty pleasure?
Making meals that take a long time to cook

What are you an expert of/random knowledge?
Issues on antitrust, general equilibrium, hedge funds, anti-Keynesian economics

Favorite Food?
Grilled Sardine Sandwiches by the Bosphorous River

What web site do you have to check everyday?
Women’s Wear Daily

Favorite Famous/Inspirational Quote:
Make mistakes.

What is your favorite item from Avant Gaudy?
Khaki Jumpsuit

YSL’s Juxtaposition of “New Vintage”

Stefano Pilati, YSL’s creative director, recently said in Women’s Wear Daily about YSL’s New Vintage: “For me, my aim was more in the challenge, actually. […] It was trying to give fashion a value that is a bit beyond the visual aspect or the consuming aspect.”  

So, it seems that Pilati attempted to use recycled cotton drill from YSL archives to add an additional story in the process of designing fabric into shapes that can be sold as style, and thus justify either a new reason for potential customers to buy his clothing. Currently, the zeitgeist of 21st century fashion seem to resonate with being conscious with one’s consumption, being mindful of one’s waste, and being environmentally-friendly — ideas that Pilati seemed to have fully exploited when he was interviewed at their release party in Barneys. There seems to be much value in the idea as supposedly most of the 60 pieces in the New Vintage collection was sold halfway through the party.

“We have totally lost our minds…”

A recent quote from Women’s Wear Daily cited the motivation behind Rebecca Moses comeback, despite the current economic downturn. “We have totally lost our minds,” Rebecca Moses said with a sigh after seeing astronomic designer price points in magazines and how immune people seem to have become to them. “I have always designed an exclusive product, but the customer I left in 2004 is a very different woman now, at least in financial standing. I thought, ‘How can I deliver fashion in a significant way?’ I like to be stylishly correct. […] I don’t want to do cheap clothes; I want to design smart clothes. The consumer is up for grabs. There is no brand loyalty. She shops the high end and the low end.”

It sounds like the ‘we’ that Rebecca Moses is referring to include women who want to buy high-fashion designer pieces and the designer who sells it. The line was cited to wholesale from about $22 to $60. So, if the markup is five times the cost, then consumers can buy it from $110 to $300, at full price. At this cost, Moses described her style as “casual glamour,” while the manufacturer, Mark Wolk, described it as “versatile and democratic.” The “democratic” reference seem to refer to the new line’s positioning to attract both the women who actually bought designer pieces and the women who wanted to buy designer pieces, but couldn’t afford to.