Every traveler knows that packing light is a talent worth perfecting. Meeting TSA weight regulations requires patience, versatility and an exceptional display of restraint—which means items like wooden-heeled platform shoes and War and Peace are best left home. Innovative new luggage designs, however, are making packing less stressful by provoking a minimalist, utilitarian aesthetic that seems intended to send packrats scurrying.
Tumi Tegra-Lite: To create its new Tegra-Lite line of ultra-lightweight, sleekly contoured luggage, Tumi enlisted Milliken, a producer of plastics that counts race car builders and football gear designers among its clients. This high-tech collaboration required Tumi to overhaul its design process. Milliken’s super-strong Tegris composite isn’t pressed and stretched like the luggage brand’s traditional method of shaping; rather, it’s cut into sheets and folded to maintain the bonds that make up a lattice of highly durable plastic. The result is a 65-percent lighter rolling bag that’s built to withstand the battery of frequent travel. This is one suitcase that’s ready to get down to business.
There was a time when “carpetbagger” was used pejoratively, but this season designers just might take it as a compliment. From varsity jackets to roomy rucksacks, the key textile components for many contemporary designers are floor pieces. Whether it’s in the form of a ratty oriental rug or an intricate kilim tapestry, it seems that fashion is embarking on a magic carpet ride.
The Kilim Project: After a recent trip through the Middle East, German design collective A Kind of Guise returned to Munich with 50 kilim rugs. The flat tapestry carpets, all hand woven and some dating back to the early 19th century, proved far too attractive to keep on the floor, so the designers turned them into rucksacks. Each of the limited edition bags are accented with leather bottoms, a thick rope drawstring, and a shoulder strap. A Kind of Guise is not the only brand to use the home decor accent for carryalls—Hollywood stylist-turned-bag designer Simone Camille launched a series of leather bags featuring woven rectangular textiles—but theirs might be the most global.
When boyfriend jeans became a part of the fashion lexicon—not to mention a wardrobe staple—they ushered in a crossover era in which gender lines are increasingly blurred. While on the runway there’s been no shortage of haute cross-dressing (with models like Hanne Gabby Odile wearing tailored suits and Andrej Pejic donning a dress), independent designers are also keeping things ambiguous by going unisex.
AANDD: While the debate still rages over what to call men’s purses (Man bag? Murse?), New York-based accessories label AANDD has opted out altogether, creating a line of bags that defy gendered description. Since multidisciplinary designer Adam Davidson launched the label in 2010, AANDD has grown to include six styles, ranging from a nautical-influenced duffel bag to a card-size folio. Although the collection is expressly functional—the Tabloid Tote doubles as a laptop case; the Pocket Satchel, a camera bag—it also emphasizes sleek design, with just the occasional subtle embellishment (rope handles, horn toggles). Further proving the line’s lack of gender bias, the model featured on AANDD’s site is as androgynous as the collection itself.
Statement headwear caught everyone’s attention at this year’s New York Fashion Week parties, with one style in particular emerging as a definitive trend. This fall, a number of designers have put a contemporary twist on the timeless turban. Popularized on the Prada runway in 2007 and mainstreamed by MKA, the turban has become 2012’s answer to 2008’s horizontal hippie band.
Lovely Bands: Part-time actress/model Stephanie Kay is the design entrepreneur behind Lovely Bands. With a passion for fashion and an eagerness for all things DIY, Kay taught herself how to make her twisted turbans by watching tutorials on YouTube. She originally started sewing them for herself but upon being besieged by compliments and requests for personal orders, she realized that a legit accessories line was in the cards. Her first two turban collections, “Color Pop” and “Vintage Inspired,” are handmade in—where else?—Brooklyn. Among the styles are gold lamé and leopard spots—we suspect the subjects of Advanced Style would approve.
This sun-drenched summer has many people searching for the coolest new shades. Sure, Wayfarers remain a classic, but more experimental style hounds are test driving daring eyewear that, in the spirit of Gen Ys’ thirst for backstories, boasts distinct boldfaced names in their design credits. Here are a few eyewear lines that are building their brands through creative collaborations.
Colab: Colab founders Carl Tindall and Jonathon Miller describe their sunglasses line as “not just eyewear, [but] art for your face.” The Aussie duo invites some of the world’s most innovative mixed media artists to design signature frames. While they must face the challenge of designing with no direction, guest designers—such as Stefan Marx, Geoff McFetridge and Deanne Cheuk—have the benefit of complete creative control, as evidenced by some of the more outlandish specs they’ve fashioned. And, in a statement against mass production that’s in line with its artist-friendly ethos, Colab manufactures only 1,000 pairs of each design, making each one a very limited edition.
