LEOPARD.

I am normally a big fan of Apple products. But I have to say with all due respect: F*CK LEOPARD.
More specifically: F*CK TIME MACHINE.
Einstein knew it.
Marty McFly knew it.
Hiro Nakamura knew it.
Traveling through time only brings trouble!!

I've just spent the last week trying to salvage my MacBook Pro. Its smoked. Done. I've sent it off to Apple...let's see what all that AppleCare gets me.
But in the meantime, I don't have the luxury to sit around and twiddle my thumbs and wait for Apple to figure out Time Machine. Thanks to them, I have just purchased a new Mac unnecessarily and am up till 4am reinstalling everything.
My advice: Leopard is OK. Just do not fuck with Time Machine at all. And be very careful about what apps, extensions and preferences you load onto Leopard. Its extremely sensitive.
Time Machine would be perfect if it could actually go back 10 minutes BEFORE you started using the damn program.

***Apologies if I have been out of touch to anyone...give me a few days to get back up and running...this has been a nightmare. Thanks for your patience.***

OK, i feel much better now.

BLACK FRIDAY. BLACK WEEKEND.

As everyone knows, this weekend is the start of the holiday shopping season. Reed Space will be closed Thursday for turkey basting...and then we re-open on BLACK FRIDAY with a special THREE DAY ONLY SALE. From Friday the 23rd to Sunday the 25th, the entire store (ALL clothes and shoes) will be 20% off their marked priced. Meaning, if something is 50% off, you'll get 70% off that item!
3 days only and the sale is finito.
All praise the Black Friday.
Ho-Ho-Ho.

NEWS.

I would love if someone could clarify something for me.
This always comes to my mind when I see something like this in a magazine or newspaper.
So you're reading about some city or village that has been ravaged by some natural or man made catastrophe. Supplies and medicine cannot reach the area. All access is flooded or blocked. The people are dying with no help in sight!
Then you see a photo like this:


A photographer capturing a victim not 10 feet away...He's probably standing in the same rancid water himself. How did a paid news photojournalist get there? How did he get out? Do they just chopper him in, have him shoot a few rolls and then pick him up while others die? I'm not trying to be a jerk...i'm really wondering. Cuz if that were the case, that would be really wack.
Anyway, maybe a photojournalist out there can explain how this operates to me. Just curious...

TIRED: US DOLLARS

WIRED: EUROS.



Gisele, the highest paid model in the world is apparently demanding to be compensated in Euros only. Maybe that was a clue to her insight about the US Economy.
Jay-Z followed this up with his recent video for Blue Magic, flashing 500 Euros instead dusty old Benjamins.
THEN, The WJS, follows THEM up with this interesting article:
"It's sad that rap stars can no longer show their style with a good old $500 U.S. bills (featuring President McKinley) and now need to flash $500 Euros (featuring some sort of suspension bridge).
I don't need the chairman of the Federal Reserve to tell me about the state of our economy. I just need Jay-Z, the new Alan Greenspan.
I don't blame Jay-Z. A stack of $50,000 in Euros would equal $72,000 in U.S. currency. And you'd need 144 $500 bills to equal a stack of 100 $500 Euros. I don't know if even Jay-Z has that large a money clip.
When I start seeing rap stars throw around the Canadian Loonie, then I know our economy is really in trouble."

Some have even gone so far as to BLAME Hova and Gisele for the recent stock market crash?!
To quote D.C., "WHERE IS JA?! I NEED SOME ANSWERS JA RULE!!!"

I, on the other hand, still demand to be paid in the only currency that matters:
Red M&Ms!!! Just a big bowl of red M&Ms...no other color. Just Red.

WHOREPRESENTS?

When it comes to athletes and Hollywood celebrities, the only possible way into their life is A) be a hot bimbo groupie or B) find out who represents them. People are starting to say that designers are the new athletes...and judging by some of the deals being inked with the likes of Starck, Newson, Murakami, et al, I would say that sounds about right. As designers, we're supposed to just design, create and innovate. Just like athletes are supposed to workout, train and improve their skills. We shouldn't be wasting our time negotiating deals, reading contracts and marketing our skills to others. ENTER: DMA. Designers Management Agency. A company that recognizes this potential and has successfully tapped into it. Jeff Zimmerman, Marc Beckman and Sam Sohaili are definitely onto something here. These guys make the deals happen that people buzz about and the cool part is that they prefer to stay behind closed curtains. Hey, puppet strings don't move by themselves.

PIECE OF.

Some call it a piece of art. Some call it a piece of shit. The top 31 SB Dunks of all time are reconfigured on this ONE PAIR of Dunks and Nike has called it the WHAT THE DUNKS?! Regardless, of your opinion on them, I am A) proud that our little Pigeon is represented on there and B) damn glad to have a pair. Thanks to SB Team for showing love.




Jean's reaction to them...

M.E.

I met Marc a while ago back when the Ecko Headquarters was in South River, NJ. My mom used to live there as well. I recently met with Marc and times have dun changed. He has the sickest office I have seen in my life. What looks like a basketball court behind us is ACTUALLY a fucking basketball court in his office. Along with a gourmet industrial sized kitchen and his own private receptionist and waiting room. There was a spiral staircase and a second floor that probably led to some opium den where you can smoke out of Rhinoceros horns or something. Mind you, this is just HIS office, in a huge building that houses the various forms M.E. can take (i.e., Complex Mag, Zoo York, Avirex, G-Unit, Cut+Sew, Unltd, Ecko Red, etc. etc.) Dude is 35 and has every right to be a dick. But he's not. I found him reserved, intelligent, quick with his thoughts, properly opinionated and wise beyond his years. An educated man that you can tell cut his teeth from the streets and the hustle. You can say what you want about his brand and his clothing, but you cannot deny props to the man behind it all. Jersey is in the house.

THE CHIP.

As Season 4 of the NRF is about to begin in the next few weeks, it's customary for the previous season's champions (ahem, that would be US! Team Terminator!!) to gather at the Nike iD Studio and create our customized trophy. Recently the Nike iD studio moved up to Niketown on the 5th floor. We went there to create our Kobe's that would serve as the canvas for our elusive chip. Now it's time to defend the title.


Can you believe this scraggly motley crew of a squad went thru 25 weeks of endurance to win the NRF? Damn, they must have had an amazing coach ; )
(l-r: Brandon Howard, Scott Hurwitz, Do Kim, Bang Lee, Tony Chan, Al Reyes, me, Brendon Callahan, Dan Gladstone..missing are Dao-Yi Chow and Stanley Lumax.)


Oh decisions, decisions, decisions...


Here are the 4 final design choices...which one is the final design? Which one would you vote for? Stay tuned to Season 4 for the answer.


Somehow, that looks so beautiful.

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While on the subject of swooooosh...thanks to Team SB for sending this convenient portable version of their new film NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH. Great looking photo book they created.

AIN'T NO SUNSHINE WHEN HE'S GONE.

Rest in peace Frank D.
We'll see you at the final table.
And NYC can kiss underground poker goodbye now.

EDIBLE COLAB.

Have you ever wondered how collaborations are born? Well, there are at least a few different ways, but the best way is the organic way...When it happens naturally. Like 2 friends strolling in the park and finally saying, "Hey, we should work together on something." Maybe something like this:
David Chang who is a world renowned chef and owner of Momofuku and Ssam Bar just collaborated with Crif Dogs in the East Village. Crif Dogs....how can I put it nicely...keeps it real. It's a guilty pleasure when you bite into their hot dogs, but one that you pay the consequences for unless you have the strongest of stomachs. I wonder what's next? I'm now predicting, Jean Georges x KFC...Daniel Boulud x Wendy's and Marcus Samuelsson x McDonald's on the horizon.

MY TOP 10.

Staple's Fall 2007 collection is all shipped out and should be hitting your local Staple dealer anytime soon. Most of it is now available at Reed Space or will be very shortly. I feel like its been ages since I designed this collection, well quite literally, it was about 14 months ago. So it's definitely nice to see this out in stores and people picking them up. It's hard to say which are my favorites because each one is a little labor of love. But these are ten styles that really stand out.


SIGNS TEE.
Let's start with a t-shirt. Yeah it's feeling cold in most parts of the world now. But a tee that causes some heat is the perfect cure for this. I call this "Signs Of The Times". The current state of the world is all but reflected in this shirt. Funny story: my printer refused to print this shirt because of the Swastika. I had to prove to them that the Swastika was a symbol used by Asians and Celtics long before Hitler bastardized it. The original version is shown on the tee of course. Get this shirt and school your friends.


ALPHABETA SCARF.
The weather is dropping and its necessary to keep your eye on the Weatherman. One of the main sources for inspiration this season was The Weathermen Group. Read all about them and you'll see the significance surrounding the football helmet. This simple multi-colored scarf shows all the letters of the alphabet on one side and numbers 1-26 on the other. The only letters highlighted are S-T-A-P-L-E and 1-9-7-5.


STPL POM POM BEANIE.
Staying on the topic of keeping warm, we have a lot of knit caps to offer this season. Ones with pom-poms. Ones without. Knitted ones. Ones with flaps. We got your dome covered. This one is one of my favorites.


STAPLETON 1975 DENIM.
Denim: You can find denim with holes. You can find denim with 75,000 stitch count back pockets. You can find denim with distress points and 47 various color washes. Or you can find the one pair of denim pants that you will cherish like an old friend year after year. And here they are. I say this without one ounce of personal bias. These jeans are dope. 14.5oz Italian selvedge denim. The fit is perfect. Selvedge details at back loop and coin pocket. Hidden rivet reinforcements throughout. These are keepers. Don't sleep on these just because there is nothing on the back pockets.

Two main goals I wanted for this Fall was to keep me warm. And keep me grown. The next three pieces exhibit these qualities perfectly.

KELLOGG CRICKET SWEATER. (Wool and cashmere v-neck sweater with contrast collar and rib.)


DARTMOUTH QUILTED SHIRT (Fully insulated shirt.)


SLOAN IVY LEAGUE SWEATER (Roll neck shawl collar crunchy wool collegiate sweater.)



CMU VARSITY JACKET.
You've seen it on Chris Brown. Now get one for yourself. The letterman jacket of the season. It comes in 3 colors: White/Black/Purple. Grey/Brown/Orange. And a graphic-less simplified Prince of Wales version for the grown-GROWN ups. Peep the interior embroidery: "Mightier Than The Sword."


FIGHTING PIGEON HOOD.
If the Varsity is out of your budget, we made a dope zip-up hooded version as well. Across the back in a tonal script embroidery, it reads "Only The Educated Are Free". It's a nice touch.


STANFORD DOWN JACKET.
And last but definitely not least, the only winter jacket you will need this season. It's based off a hunter's jacket. Complete with shell casing holders, down filled, suede shoulder and arm patches, internal backpack straps for easy release, 6 pocket front, 2 rear stash pockets and 2 internal pockets all in one very clean and seamless jacket. Water resistant to boot. Like I said; there is none other. It comes in black and olive as well.

VIDEO HELL.

Recently we had to creative direct a video shoot for a client of ours. This was one of the most stressful things I've had to do in my life. Especially as Creative Director; its important you act as the calm in the storm. Normally, if I'm stressed, I can release some of that but it's much harder when you have to bottle it all in. It got so bad, blood came pouring out of left eye. It was gross. That's when I had to wave the white flag and bounce.


The following day, the tables were turned on me and I was the subject of a video shoot. It was for the documentary Jordan Heads that is about to come out.

Yes, Satchel of Gravel (PKA, Don't Believe The Hypebeast) they asked me about sneakers again. I was recently blasted on this site (the US Weekly of Streetwear) about how I always talk about sneakers. I half agree with their commentary, but honestly, I can really only answer the questions that are posed to me. If someone asks me "What's your favorite sneaker of all time?"; I'm not gonna answer, "Let's talk about the election instead!"

ALIST SEATTLE.

If you're in the NorthWest, check out my man Allister Lee's Chinatown World Tour at Goods Seattle. We hosted the NYC stop at Reed Space a couple of years ago. Its definitely worth checking out.





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Speaking of Reed art shows, we recently also hosted the Scion Installation show it was pretty awesome. they just posted up this nice video clip to highlight the event. Check it out.