*Sub-Studio - 09.28.07 , 15:50 -

Black Sheep & CAST

cast1.jpgNOTCOT Note: Here’s another article from Anna Corpron of Sub-Studio!

Derrick Cruz of Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons and THECAST collaborated on a series of handmade accessories for their Spring/Summer 2008 collection. Picking up on Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons’ love for “Dark and Uncommon Goods” and THECAST’s edgy basics, the collaboration brings to mind a refined Wild West - accessories for the urban cowboy, perhaps. Shown above, the Cottonmouth is a solid metal snake bolo on a hand-screened gauze scarf.

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*notcot - 09.27.07 , 00:34 -

Acca Kappa

accakappa1.jpgAcca Kappa ~ an “Italian legend of luxury” ~ upon walking into the store at Century City i was told that this ancient brand was used on the royals. But what really drew me in was all the beautiful use of various woods (i’m a sucker for wood bristle combs… since my ancient Aveda paddle brushes as a kid, to the various Koh-i-noor ones i’ve recently used)… and their men’s line! Made me wish i was a guy so i had a good excuse to buy the “1869 Series Shave Bowl & Soap: Hand made bowl with East African Wenge Wood contains vegetable-based Almond shave foam” from their men’s 1869 line. I don’t think you fully understand how beautiful that bowl is! And the curvature of their nail brushes were amazing too (also the soap dish you can see below). They have hair brushes in both the darker woods as well as the lighter hand finished beechwood… and new to the store was the extremely eco friendly Bioceta line of 100% biodegradable line of hair brushes, nail brushes, body brushes, etc… they are made from a unique cellulose that is extracted from cotton. Anyhow, i was quite taken by the line, and i think the 1869 men’s line is definitely on my shopping list for the guys this year… as usual lots of pics from their site as well as some of the actual store (the store girl was nice enough to let me take a few!).

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*notcot - 09.20.07 , 17:03 -

Dominique Cohen for Target

dominiquecohenmain.jpgDominique Cohen for Target. You’ve probably heard about it. It was everywhere, as every GO Target collection seems to be. You’ve seen the ribbon pendant and broach. Well, me too. What i didn’t expect was that when running over to Target for a quick errand, the collection would actually catch my eye and have me hovering at the Target jewelry case. In fact i have seldom even looked in that direction when i go (i tend to go to target to grab method goods and toys usually). Beyond the adorably edgy. fun, gothy display, a fresh shipment had just come in, and i saw a pile of the gorgeous satin pouches and ring/earring boxes taunting me. So when i came back to it three times, i finally gave in and played with a few of the pieces, and purchased this Dominique Cohen Lace-Covered Bead Necklace with Ribbon Tie. The attention to packaging details surprised me, i didn’t realize that they created a series of brown satin corded bags (with a nice beige satin interior) printed with Dominique Cohen for Target on them, and the necklaces even have a tiny little “dom” tag on the silk ribbon. So if you’re ready for an overdose of closeups, as well as my roundup of some of the best pieces, and pics from the LA launch party, as well as some of Dominique Cohen’s high end collection that inspired these pieces… click on.

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*notcot - 09.18.07 , 00:27 -

Burberry Studs

burberrymain.jpgI seem to have grown a certain morbid fascination with this Burberry Studded line… it started with the so called exclusive Knight Bag for Neiman Marcus’ 100th anniversary (ok maybe i’m delusional, but it doesn’t seem to be showing up there anymore) that was showing up on the main Burberry site as well… then it moved on to the umbrella i couldn’t ignore with that ad in every fashion mag this month. And then i saw the actual bag over at Stanford Shopping Center (ghetto pearl pic below)… and tonight i just couldn’t help myself and wandered across all the various Burberry country sites and found all the different products and images. But the real question is… does this not seem like studded version of “bling it on” taken to what should be high end goods? My gut reaction is that it is “as seen on tv” meets high fashion? Check out how odd that trench looks with the overstudding. And the shoes are painful. But the umbrella, why do i still want it so badly? It has that sleek black badass slightly punk image going on… yet its burberry. My inner preconceived branding biases are so conflicted on this one. Is this like when they tried to change from plaid to dots? and now they are trying the studs? Ok done ranting, i just don’t get it.

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*ShadeElaine - 09.13.07 , 19:52 -

NotCouture Roundup

NotCouture #893NotCouture #900NotCouture #937NotCouture #935NotCouture #888NotCouture #928NotCouture #887NotCouture #913NotCouture #912NotCouture #911

Click pics to see more! I try to wear more colorful things sometimes, but hey, it’s more or less Autumn now and it’s time to tone down the bright colors a bit. So here’s some cool stuff that’s been popping up on NotCouture in the most basic not-even-colors colors that we at NOTCOT happen to like very much: black and white.

*notcot - 09.12.07 , 08:01 -

db clay wallet review

claywallets1.jpgNew wallets and website from db clay! (Not to mention an exclusive 25% off discount b/c they love us! Code: notcot25 - i think you get 2 weeks, so hurry it up.) New wallets are made out of eco-friendly TOPE (their first batches were out of gaffer’s tape)… which is “a synthetic fabric similar (in texture) to a vinyl canvas. However, Tope does not contain certain hazardous chemicals typically found in most vinyl-based products. In particular, Tope contains NO PVC, Tope is made from non-toxic raw materials (it causes no dioxin, heavy metal or phthalate pollution), Tope decomposes when buried, Tope is chlorine chemicals free and Tope is fabricated through a pollutant free process. Additionally, we have engineered a tremendously technical printing process whereby we print high resolution and full photographic images using environmentally friendly inks. To top it off, Tope is also vegan and animal free.”

Ok well green innovation aside ~ they sent over two wallets and i’ve been playing with them a bit, and making guys test them out of course. It’s a nice leather alternative, the subtle texturing on the two i liked is a nice touch ~ i’m in love with the black on black particularly. Ready to go as the perfect gift in its tissue paper lined boxes ~ and in case you’re wondering, it doesn’t at all feel like tape of any sort, in fact i’m quite impressed with how nice the quality feels, the only thing we’re waiting to see is how it softens up to shape to your pockets, etc. Afterall, how a wallet wears over time is how it ends up gaining some character. My one complaint? If you frequent europe ~ don’t bother trying to carrying anything over a 20 euro bill… the poor 50 euro bills stick out about a mm and were driving me absolutely crazy. Anyhow, more images below from every which angle!

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*notcot - 09.04.07 , 19:08 -

Cleavage Cupcakes

cleavagecupcake.jpgBefore you judge this post too quickly ~ i have a reason for it! Just hear me out. We’ve learned a lot since launching NOTCOT.org and TasteSpotting and now NotCouture… and one of the unintentional (and oh so obvious now) things we’ve discovered are trends that pop up each week (as things go through waves of popularity, we start to see a lot of repeats)… and also people tend to click a LOT more if there is a hint of cleavage on a NOTCOT.org post (yes, i know, it’s the internet, its a given)… what we didn’t expect? Cupcakes have the same effect on TasteSpotting! People LOVE cupcakes, so it has been an inside joke for us that cupcakes are the culinary cleavage (as coined by Colin). So when i saw these Cleavage Cupcakes in the store today, i nearly burst out laughing. Check out some of their other fun products below.

p.s. we do NOT front posts based on how much cleavage or cupcakeness they have, if the editors love it, we post it.

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*notcot - , 18:41 -

C&C Octopus

ccoctopus.jpgNothing some good old fashioned shopping can’t cure. Just spent a few hours at Century City ~ and couldn’t resist this C&C California Women’s Octopus Tank from their Summer Malibu Collection! Although seldom a fan of their printed pieces… how sweet are these octopi? Currently on sale over at Cusp (Neiman Marcus equiv of Barney’s Coop). Also check out the “faded black” (can we just call it GREY?) dress version below ~ not nearly as fun.

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*notcot - 09.02.07 , 22:41 -

NotCouture Roundup

NotCouture #884NotCouture #883NotCouture #853NotCouture #886NotCouture #856NotCouture #873NotCouture #868NotCouture #874NotCouture #867NotCouture #852Click the pics to find out more! Other than the fact that we are having a California heatwave of sorts… i think since we’re now into September ~ and its nearly after labor day… we are officially in Fall. So here are a few pics from NotCouture to get your shopping going this week ~ top row for the ladies, and bottom for the gents.

*notcot - 08.29.07 , 13:35 -

Coco Mademoiselle

cocomain.jpgOn relatively unexpected surprises in snail mail ~ just got this package from Chanel with their latest, Coco Mademoiselle, and a DVD preview of the upcoming film starring Keira Knightly. Their ads have been popping up all over with her lately (and by all over i mean in the expected 850 page fall/sept issues of every fashion magazine) - and there’s been the drama over how those aren’t her real ones. Seems like quite the launch in progress, with the “big event” launching at Mademoiselle-Forever in 2 days, and to top it off they are inviting a group of international bloggers to Paris weekend after next for the full experience. I’ll keep you posted on that how that goes…

As for interesting packaging ~ the interior box resembles a pack of cigarettes when i first opened it up… and i love the detail of the little wax seal with the Chanel logo and string on such a tiny bottle… and nice touch to have the hand written calligraphy on the note.

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*notcot - 08.28.07 , 15:52 -

Hunter Welly Warmers

fpwellies0.jpgI’m a warm weather kind of girl. I’m not a rain kind of girl whatsoever. And for some reason i desperately want Welly Warmers and some adorably simple Hunter Wellies right now. I didn’t even know Welly Warmers existed until about 5 minutes ago! So i blame Free People Blog for my new craving. Look how cute and cozy these look? More images below as well… Unfortunately Hunter’s official site isn’t quite ready yet, but these UK Boot folks seem pretty serious.

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*notcot - 08.25.07 , 13:19 -

NotCouture Roundup

NotCouture #801NotCouture #810NotCouture #816NotCouture #825NotCouture #833NotCouture #812NotCouture #815NotCouture #836NotCouture #829NotCouture #818NotCouture #778NotCouture #797NotCouture #837NotCouture #806NotCouture #841Click the images to see more! Yay! My roundup tool has been fixed to deal with the new databases, etc. So here’s my weekend roundup of what’s been going on at NotCouture… top row mens ~ middle row accessories ~ bottom row fall coats for the ladies!

*notcot - , 01:59 -

vedaPURE

vedapure.jpgvedaPURE - on my late night packaging/branding finds… how sweet is this logo? And check out the stuffed elephant that comes in the gift set below. And with product names like Butt, Butt Plus, and Butter…. as well as Supple, Nurture, Scrumptious… and for vedaDUDEs: Glide, Chill, Splash… this is a family line… ok, mostly targeting moms and dads to be, as well as new parents and babies. But nice packaging, and definitely a great go to gift for all those baby showers, etc.

“vedaPURE uses the most pure, high quality ingredients. Our promise and commitment to our customers is simple: we bring nature’s best ingredients together to make safe and effective skincare for the whole family. The vedaPURE collection is formulated with organic plant and fruit extracts, soothing oils and gentle ingredients. No hidden chemicals. No misleading labels. Natural pure beauty.”

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*notcot - , 01:18 -

Juliette Has a Gun

juliettehasagun.jpgJuliette Has A Gun. New fragrance line i first posted over at NotCouture as #457, but back then i hadn’t tracked down the website, and fallen even further for the packaging! I’m just in love with the branding and the logo of this whole line… luckily the west coast launch of this is available over at Fred Segal, so no excuses not to pop over there and check it out this weekend (being under 5 min away and all) - for you east coasters its at Henri Bendel - for euros and canadians, check the website.

So what’s the story with this new line? It is the brain child of Romano Ricci, the great grandson of legendary couture designer, Nina Ricci… and grandson of a great perfumer. .. and he has recruited the “untouchable master of perfumery”, Francis Kurkdjian, the brilliant creator of classic scents for Dior, Lanvin, Acqua Di Parma, and Davidoff… So how can they go wrong? Their site description of the line: “Juliette has a Gun creates perfumes made out of rose. Fragile but thorny, the romantic flower comes in different versions. Classy and sophisticated in “Lady Vengeance”, she can also appear sweet and fragile with “Miss Charming” Its Ambition? To lead a new rock & elegant trend in the perfumery world by creating romantic and original creations.”

*notcot - 08.22.07 , 19:19 -

Mari Urban Renewal

mariurbn.jpgConfession of the day: i totally google and google blogsearch ‘notcot’ (and tastespotting and notcouture) and get giddy when i find links and mentions to NOTCOT that are adorable, or from sites and people I end up totally hooked on. It is a guilty pleasure that people claim you’ll get bored of, but that’s such a lie. It just gets more exciting ~ especially all of the different languages, and its actually part of how i discover some incredible sites and designers. So today’s find that has me grinning like an idiot?

Mari Santos does magical things with giant tshirts… i found this DIYThing interview with her about her, her life, her inspiration, her Urban OutFitters Urban Renewal Project - “Urban was looking for 20 artist/designers to work on some pieces for their Urban Renewal line, so I submitted some of my designs to them. A couple of days later, I received an email asking me if I’d be interested in working with them–I said yes, of course. I’ll be customizing some sweaters for their Urban Renewal Artist Customized project, and they’ll be sold in select Urban stores sometime during the holidays, so I’m really excited.” (CONGRATS!)

Basically - long story short - she mentions her love of NOTCOT.org in her interview, and then i also noticed she links us on her page as well! All of which i noticed after completely falling for how adorable her Tshirt surgeries are (see her Urban Renewal Entry page)… and i’m so blown away i had to share it with you… more that i love below.

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