The Shophound

POP-UP ALERT: Herman Miller Launches Its New Collection With A SoHo Pop-Up

The Shophound is still traipsing around Los Angeles right now, but we couldn't help noticing that back home in New York, Herman Miller, the legendary furniture and design brand is opening a Pop-Up store in SoHo today to introduce the Herman Miller Collection, the company's current portfolio of modern furniture designs from contemporary designers, iconic figures like Charles and Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi and important designers of the past whose names may be less well known like Ward Bennett, whose striking scissor chair is pictured on the left in the image above. PSFK tells us that the Pop-Up will run during New York Design Week and through the month of July, and will include artwork from galleries in the area as well as a curated accessory area with items chosen specifically to coordinate with Herman Miller's distinctive modernist design aesthetic.

Herman Miller Pop Up Shop, May 9th through July 1st at 68 Wooster Street between Spring & Broome Streets, Soho
Herman Miller New York Popup Shop Can Furnish An Entire Home Art And All (PSFK)

SCENTS IN SPACE: ODIN Creates A Pop-Up Environment For Its Fragrances

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We weren't quite sure what to expect when we were invited down to Odin New York, one of our favorite stores in the East Village (or anywhere, really), to preview a special pop-up store for Odin's Fragrance and Home Fragrance lines in the concept shop next to the mini-chain's original East 11th Street store. After all, don't they sell those things at Odin all the time anyway?

When The Shophound got down there yesterday evening, we immediately understood the point of the whole venture as we encountered a striking environment inside the tiny retail space. Working with the Odin team, the innovative design firm, Snarkitecture created a deceptively expansive installation using plaster casts of the brand's fragrance bottles precisely positioned and suspended to form a pristine and unexpectedly serene setting for the product lines (pictured above). We also got a chance to finally meet Eddy Chai, one of Odin's co-founders, and discovered that their fragrance partner is a former co-worker of ours from way back when The Shophound was just a fledgling sales associate.

The installation opens to the public today, May 1st, and will remain for six weeks. The first 50 customers who make a purchase from the award winning fragrance collection during the first week of the concept shop with receive a plaster cast bottle as an artifact from the shop (which also happens to make an excellent if quirky paperweight). The next week, customers will have to settle for an Odin New York x Snarkitecture tote bag decorated with a rendering of the installation.

Odin New York Fragrance x Snarkitecture Pop-Up 330 East 11th Street Between First & Second Avenues, East Village

COLLABORATION DEFLATION: Bleecker Street's KARL by Karl Lagerfeld Shop Will Finally Stock Actual Merchandise

A couple of months ago, The Shophound and several other blogs were breathlessly informed that Net-A-Porter would be launching Karl Lagerfeld's new diffusion line KARL with a pop-up shop on Bleecker Street, but they were less clear about the fact that the store would be "virtual" in the sense that it was really a kind of showroom where you could see the collection before ordering it from the website. This proved kind of disappointing to customers who flocked to the store hoping to try things on and buy something and take it home that day, like you do in a real store. A few days later when merchandise to bu arrived, it sold out almost immediately, leaving the iPad-filled shop to its previous "virtual" state.

Racked tells us that starting tomorrow, March 1st at 11 AM, the Bleecker Street space will finally reopen with enough merchandise to keep it going until August of this year with no frustrating fake-outs. Moreover, shoppers who show up tomorrow between 5 PM and 8 PM will get free champagne, and the first 25 who arrive between those hours will receive a free, limited edition tote bag. It's a real live store now, folks. It's almost like when Pinnocchio finally turned into a real boy!

Karl by Karl Lagerfeld Returns to Bleecker Street Tomorrow (RACKED)
KARL by Karl Lagerfeld 375 Bleecker Street between Perry & Charles Streets, West Village
Previously:
Diffusion Frenzy: KARL by Karl Lagerfeld To Debut In A Downtown Pop-Up Tomorrow (1.24.2012)

LIMITED TIME ONLY: You Have Until This Weekend To Check Out Jeremy Scott's Pop-Up In Hell's Kitchen

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If you had asked us ten years ago what the likelihood of Jeremy Scott's fashion line being around in a decade, we would have shrugged our shoulders and said, "Who knows?" After all, the prospects for a designer whose signature style can safely be described as "cartoon character" can be limited, and for every Vivienne Westwood or Jean-Paul Gaultier who survives, the Highway of Fashion is littered with the discarded labels of designers who thought they were more amusing than their potential customers did. Scott, however, is not only still around, but flourishing thanks to, among other things, a canny business sense, a combination of celebrities who need things to wear in music videos and smartly arranged collaborations, particularly with Adidas Originals. The Adidas line has been particularly successful, and so the sneaker giant's yearlong Hell's Kitchen shop has been hosting a two-week pop-up for Scott which will close up after this weekend. Ths Shophound stopped by over the weekend to check it out, because, as far as we know, this two week experiment is the only Jeremy Scott store that exists anywhere. Inside we found lots of bright, colorful clothes in the designer's typical, outlandish style, so if you always wanted a dress printed to look exactly like an actual potato sack, or have had a long-standing hankering to dress just like Fred Flintstone on some day other than Halloween, this is the store for you. We aren't judging anymore.

There are also plenty of Scott's Adidas sneakers in store including the newest versions of his justifiably popular Hermes-styled winged hi-tops (That's Hermes, the messenger of the Greek Gods, not the French leathergoods company). Prices run from affordable t-shirts to the thousands for more elaborate pieces. The winged sneakers run around $300, but even if you aren't ready for the flamboyance of a full Jeremy Scott outfit, it's still worth a trip for the sheer entertainment value of the store. Presumably, after this weekend, the shop will be converted back to its original stock of Adidas Originals, SLVR and Y-3 brands, and close down permanently sometime in May. It remains to be seen whether this store has raised the shopping profile of a neighborhood that despite its popularity among young New Yorkers remains pretty bereft of fashion, though it doesn't appear to have had an effect quite yet. Still, the unassuming location is part of the store's charm —which is what everyone says before some catalyst turns a pleasant little neighborhood into the next Bleecker Street.

Jeremy Scott through February 26th at Adidas Hell's Kitchen 715 Ninth Avenue between 48th & 49th Streets, Hell's Kitchen

POP-UP PREVARICATION: Karl Lagerfeld's Bleecker Street Pop-up Is Only Virtual Until Tomorrow

We're going to go out on a limb and say that Net-A-Porter was just a bit misleading in their press release on Tuesday, because they didn't fully explain that the pop-up shop on Bleecker Street launching Karl Lagerfeld's new KARL line would not be featuring actual merchandise. Silly us, we thought that if you launched a collection at a storefront on one of the city's favorite shopping streets, that there would be goods to buy.

Our friends from Racked tell us that a long line of shoppers descended on the store yesterday morning, and the first 50 people in line got gift bags with items from the collection as promised, but when the shop opened, it was only a display allowing visitors to win items from the collection by using the KARL mobile app and pointing their iPads or iPhones at the window. Net-A-Porter staffers were on hand with iPads to assist the non Apple-equipped, but there was nothing to actualy buy and carry away at that time. On the plus side, they reportedly had hot beverages, so ...free coffee for those who didn't win anything?

You can buy it online at Net-A-Porter right now, and Racked promises us that the shop will start offering real merchandise live tomorrow, Friday the 27th of January, so you will still have your chance to shop KARL like a regular, old fashioned tech-free customer this weekend.

Karl Lagerfeld's New Collection Launched With No Clothes (Racked)
Previously:
KARL by Karl Lagerfeld To Debut In A Downtown Pop-Up Tomorrow

 

DIFFUSION FRENZY: KARL by Karl Lagerfeld To Debut In A Downtown Pop-Up Tomorrow

Net-A-Porter.com will be launching the new KARL by Karl Lagerfeld collection online tomorrow, but to garner a little extra bit of buzz, the luxury e-commerce giant has chosen five international cities to sell the line live and in person, and guess what? One of those cities is New York! Starting at 10:30 tomorrow morning, the collection will be available at 375 Bleecker Street, and the first 50 customers will receive a special gift from the collection. The other lucky cities are London, Paris, Berlin and Sydney. In case you were hoping to catch a glimpse of the Kaiser himself, you will have to get up really early and jet off to Paris which is where he will be making his public appearance, but one lucky winner in each city will be awarded a $1,500 shopping spree, which is roughly equivalent to half a Balmain jacket.

To win the loot, you need to download Net-A-Porter's KARL game and play it, putting yourself in the running for the shopping spree, but even if you don't hit that particular jackpot, just console yourself that you are in the only city in America where you will be able to buy the collection in a shop and take it right home without waiting for the UPS truck, or, if you are particularly extravagant, Net-A-Porter's pampering white glove hand delivery. There's always something to be said for instant gratification!

KARL by Karl Lagerfeld Pop-up shop 375 Bleecker Street between Perry & Charles Streets, West Village

MOVIE MAGIC: H&M And Sony Team Up To Promote "The Girl With the Dragon tattoo"

We can't really encourage you to run down to West 14th Street to H&M's Blink-and-you'll-miss-it Dragon Tattoo Collection by Trish Summerville pop-up store because it'll be over by the end of today. We have to wonder a little bit why H&M would go to such expense for a temporary store that doesn't even take advantage of the weekend shopping traffic in the Meatpacking District, and then we remembered that it probably didn't cost H&M a dime. Our guess is that Sony Pictures which produced the film "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" footed the bill which was probably a drop in the bucket of a presumed blockbuster's promotional budget.

Still, it's too bad if you missed it, because Sony/H&M did a more than respectable job turning whatever raw space was there into a grungy, gloomy Stockholm city corner/cybercafé (cybercafé, what a quaint concept in the age of the iPhone). In fact, the setting is far more interesting than the special capsule collection inspired by the movie's urchin-like central character, Lisbeth Salander. Mannequins throughout the shop are fitted with not-iPad tablet devices (by Sony!) that alternate showing snippets of the film and serving as incredibly unflattering little electronic mirrors, and racks are suspended by rugged chains for a dungeonlike effect.

The real winner here is costume designer Trish Summerville, who otherwise would be working in relatively anonymity behind the scenes, and now gets her name on the label of a line that will be sold in H&M stores worldwide with Sony picking up a big promotional tab. The actual clothes, motorcycle jackets, jeans, hoodies, biker leggings and Rick Owens-y draped knits in lots of black and gray are not unlike what lots of New York women have been wearing for years (think of a scruffier version of styleblogger favorite Elle senior style editor Kate Lanphear), so they should sell nicely and have some life beyond any mass inclination women might have to dress like the film's slightly scary character.

Of course, if the movie flops when opens next week, those "Dragon Tattoo" displays are going to look a little sad, but for now it's all promotional buildup with breathless anticipation.

Dragon Tattoo Collection by Trish Summerville available at H&M stores now.

POP-UP ALERT: GQ Teams With Park & Bond For A Meatpacking District Holiday Shop

There may be a dearth of menswear on the West side, but downtown, it's a different story. Starting tomorrow, GQ will be teaming up with nascent men's online retailer Park & Bond for a ten-day pop-up shop in the Meatpacking District. The site and the magazine have already been collaborating on a series of monthly picks since Gilt Groupe's latest venture launched this past Fall, so this is a quick move from online retailer to freestanding store, even if it's temporary and has a little help from an iconic magazine. Whether or not there will be a permanent Park & Bond store sometime in the future remains to be determined, but, for now, the temporary store will carry the monthly “GQ Selects” items as well as GQ’s “Best Stuff of the Year,” as featured in the December issue. Therer will also be other merchandise plucked from Park & Bond's impressive roster of men's designers and brands including outerwear, apparel, denim, accessories, footwear, watches (new and vintage), tech and grooming products from labels such as A.PC., Common Projects, Etro, Filson, GANT, Jack Spade, Lacoste, Mackintosh, Oliver Peoples, Orlebar Brown, Paul Smith, Simon Spurr, Thom Browne and Vilebrequin. For tricky gift giving, the store will have a special group of gifts under $50 to make your Holiday Shopping that much easier. Various other special events are also scheduled throughout the 10-day duration of the store
Oh yeah, we hear they'll be serving drinks, too, which should be enough to get pretty much anyone down there posthaste.

GQ at Park & Bond 414 West 14th Street from December 8th-18th 11am to 6pm Wednesdays-Fridays, 11am to 7pm on Saturdays and 11am to 5pm on Sundays, closed Monday and Tuesday between Ninth Avenue and Washington Street, Meatpacking District

YOUR WEEKEND ACTIVITIES: A Screen Goddess's Jewels Meet A Pedigreed Flea —UPDATED—

Since you should be getting your Holiday shopping started this weekend, there are two wildly different events happening that you won't want to miss. We can't guarantee that you will find any gifts, but at the very least, they should be extremely entertaining, and worth braving the crowds.

First, there's the long awaited return of The Pop-Up Flea, the annual showcase of artisanal and heritage menswear brands from A Continuous Lean's Michael Williams and UrbanDaddy's Randy Goldberg. It's a little later this year, and has moved north to NoHo at 159 Bleecker Street for one weekend only. We don't have an official line-up, though we are fairly sure that Shophound fave L.L.Bean Signature will have another display, making it the rare opportunity to shop this line in person in NYC. They and other participants often bring exclusive items just for the event that are unavailable anywhere else. Other labels that have appeared in the past have included Gitman Vintage, Alexander Olch, Billykirk, Gant Rugger, Schott and Riviera Club among others. If you know someone who is mad for classic American brands (and if you are at all hipsterish or even slightly hipster-adjacent, then you definitely do) pull on your Red Wings or your Wolverine 1000 Mile boots and get over there.It opens this afternoon at 3 PM with afternoon drinks, so get off work early.
UPDATE:
Click on the little image at right for a current roster of the Pop-Up Flea participants this season. There are a lot of the familiar booths with some familiar items, but newcomers include former J.Crew designer Todd Snyder's debut collection. Standouts to us included Isaora's striking garment-dyed down filled hoodies and Rancourt & Co.'s American made-boots and handsewn loafers. L.L.Bean Signature has shelves and shelves of their deluxe Bean Boots with canvas and Horween Chromexcel uppers which will likely go fast.

If your tastes run more toward the luxurious and opulent, then you may have heard that Christie's is opening it's exhibition of items belonging to Elizabeth Taylor this Saturday. The display runs through December 12th, and can be seen only by purchasing a time-specific ticket. We don't think we can overestimate the interest in this auction. Aside from the mind-boggling jewels (which are worth going out of your way to see by themselves), Taylor had amassed an incredible collection of Couture clothing from the world's most coveted labels over decades as well as some of her film costumes. Then there are other objects like Vuitton luggage, costume jewelry and all kinds of memorabilia that will be sold in a series of five separate auctions over four days. This is as big as this kind of thing gets. You know, like when a toothbrush sells for five figures. She was an extraordinary star with extraordinary stuff, and we wouldn't miss seeing it. If you can't make it this weekend, the exhibition will be up until December 12th, after which the auctions will start. Somebody, somewhere will be getting some incredible jewelry for Christmas this year.

The Pop-Up Flea 159 Bleecker Street at Thompson Street through Sunday December 4th, NoHo
The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor at Christie's 20 Rockefeller Plaza on 49th Street, Midtown

POP-UP, POP-DOWN: Target's Missoni Pop-Up Sells Out & Shuts Down

Among the most horrendous of the Fashion's Night Out nightmare stories we have heard have been tales of the Missoni x Target Pop-up store near Bryant Park. Though the store opened at 6:00 PM, customers began lining up early in the day, and many of those who waited hours and hours found a miserably ransacked house of chaos when they finally arrived inside.

According to The Cut, by 10:00 AM this morning the shop, which was to have stayed open through tomorrow, was completely out of merchandise and shut its doors permanently. Of course, everyone will get another chance at the collection, The line is scheduled to hit Target stores on Tuesday the 13th, plan carefully, or simply by it all online.

Missoni for Target Pop-up Store Forced to Close Early (The Cut)