Cool Hunting Video Presents: São Paulo Fashion Week Summer 2010: The Bikini

by Cool Hunting Video

by Gregory Mitnick

For this season's video documenting São Paulo Fashion Week's summer shows, we narrow our sights on the the bikini. With help from a few fashion types—editors, models, designers and others—we take a look at the most quintessentially Brazilian wardrobe staple.

Ghostly Discovery iPhone Application

by Brian Fichtner

Ever ahead of the music industry curve, Ghostly International today released its first (100% free) iPhone application, Ghostly Discovery, a slick listening app that uses mood-based tagging to generate playlists from the Ghostly International and Spectral Sound (its dancefloor-oriented arm) catalogues. Designed in conjunction with o2 creative solutions, Discovery represents a unique departure from the "if you like this, you'll like this" approach to streaming music.

The steps to creating a playlist based on one's mood is pretty straightforward. After getting familiar with the seven mood colors in Ghostly Discovery, users can select a hue that meets their emotional state (yellow is energetic, for example), then toggle the digital/organic and faster/slower sliders. The app then generates a track listing based on these parameters. While tracks are streaming, users can tap the menu under the cover art to get an artist bio, favorite a track, or purchase it directly from the iTunes store. Once a user has registered his email with Ghostly Discovery, he can visit his collection of favorite tracks online and share these as a unique playlist with friends (this feature is super beta at the moment, as there is no way to delete or re-order one's favorites).

Curious to see how effective the song tagging was, I ran Discovery through a battery of mood tests. Introspective / digital / slow gave me a melancholic track by Solvent which met the parameters perfectly well, though was wholly inappropriate for the summer weather at hand. So I reset the indicators to energetic / organic and slightly fast. This gave me a Four Tet remix of Matthew Dear's Deserter. It seemed to be a pretty upbeat, sunny day selection, befitting my current mood. Eager to hear what an aggressive / organic / slow song sounded like, I reset the indicators once more and got a rather dark and menacing track by Twine. Lastly, I wanted to see what Discovery would dish out if I maintained complete neutrality. The first number, a Deru Remix from Lusine's Podgelism, was a meandering, chill tune—neutral, in fact.

Naturally, since Discovery just launched, there are a few improvements to be expected. One major complaint is that the playlists are always ordered in the same sequence. If you continue to set the indicators to frenetic / digital / fast, the playlist will open with the same track and proceed in the same order. While the application interface is both polished and subtle, some of the fields are difficult, if not impossible, to read in daylight. Finally, I would love to see a second generation that takes advantage of the iPhone accelerometer and flips the app orientation to a vertical layout.

Still, if there's one final word on Discovery, it's the chance to hear something new. I've been listening to Ghostly artists for about a decade now and thanks to this new app, I've just discovered 10:32, Australian Tim Koch's new project with Ghostly. What's my music mood now? Energetic.

Check out a brief Skype interview with Sam Valenti IV, founder of Ghostly International, along with a demo video of Ghostly Discovery, after the jump.

Alidra Alic Jewelry

by CH Contributor

by Laura Neilson

Alidra Alic's dreamily surrealist "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" collection gives a stunning glimpse into the jewelry designer's looking-glass aesthetic. Inspired by the decorative floral motifs that emerged from the romantic period of the 1800s, the mostly resin and plastic-based creations exude a wondrous, logic-defying sensibility.

To craft the collection, the Copenhagen-based designer applied self-invented techniques to create hundreds of plastic forms—a rigorous process which can take as long as six months to complete. She also incorporates additional materials, such as freshwater pearls (like in the "Drink Me" ring, pictured below) and precious stones, as well as gold and silver.

The outcome makes for a fantastical series of lightly-colored rings redolent of illustrations from the pages of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.

While these grandiose pieces may not be ideal for everyday wear, consider them the perfect props for your next mad tea party.

Visit Alidra Alic for more. See more images of the collection and other work after the jump.

Photo credits: Dorte Krogh and Katrine Rohrberg

We Make Magazines: An Interview with Andrew Losowsky

by Fiona Killackey

In spite of naysayers proclaiming the death of magazines year after year, the Colophon International Independent Magazine Biennale thrives on. Proving that in our increasingly digital age online publishing can co-exist with—and perhaps even increase the popularity of—this tangible vehicle for thought, We Make Magazines: Inside the Independents, a new book produced by two of Colophon's curators, highlights and celebrates the best of the world's independent magazines.

CH caught up with Andrew Losowsky, media expert, journalist, author, magazine addict and We Make Magazines editor to discuss new media, the current global economic crisis and why we're not ready to let go of the magazine format just yet.

What's your link to Colophon and what do you think Colophon offers the magazine industry?
I'm one of the curators, along with Mike Koedinger and Jeremy Leslie.

I think that Colophon offers the magazine industry a place of encounters and discussions where the focus isn't purely on making money and raising circulation, but on the joy of making magazines. It helps point to a future where print exists for those publications that make the most of their qualities as digital media increases in number and popularity, print is no longer the default option. Those who want to use it should be bold, brave and exciting with it—or go online with everyone else.

What impact is the crisis making on the magazine industry?
It depends on what kinds of magazine and where [it's published]. The biggest issue facing most magazines is the disappearance of print advertising budgets—and many people are wondering if they'll ever come back.

It is true to say, I think, that independent magazines, which are the focus of the book, have in general been less affected by the crisis than some of the mainstream newsstand titles, for a number of reasons—including because few of them have ever tried to boost circulation figures by offering cut-price subscriptions, one of the biggest financial issues currently facing big titles. Also, independent magazines are usually created with extremely limited resources regardless of the state of the economy; the crisis is just another challenge to have to deal with in the struggles of making a magazine.

What do you believe makes a magazine worth reading?
That it fulfills its mission, whatever that may be. That it combines design and editorial in imaginative ways, that both give the readers what they want and gives them what they don't know yet how to ask for. That it surprises, delights and creates discussion every issue.

What's next for you?
I work on many different projects, as a journalist and a writer. My book of photographs and short stories, "The Doorbells of Florence," just came out and I'm also working on a couple of new book projects. I also write a weblog about magazine-related issues, Magtastic Blogsplosion, and beyond all that, Colophon2011!

Pick up a copy of "We Make Magazines" from Gestalten or Amazon.

The 225 Forest Store

by Ami Kealoha

Newly opened in Laguna Beach, CA earlier this month, 225 Forest brings all of Nike's action sports brands—Nike 6.0, Hurley, Converse and Nike SB—under one roof for the first time. The two-level space offers more than just a shopping experience, with the upper level dedicated to workshops (pictured below) where customers to customize products by appointment.

"Converse Ink," one of the custom services, allows visitors to print any one of dozens of artist designs available onto blank Chucks or t-shirts using a 3-D ink jet printer. The concept, which made its world debut at 225, also features exclusive footwear and apparel.

A NIKEiD Design Studio provides a one-on-one consultation on how to trick out Nikes online with advice on colorways, models, fabrics and other personalized options.

For Hurley fans, a sublimation machine heat presses exclusive graphics onto board shorts while you wait. All custom services purchased donates $1 to Laguna Beach High School's art program. To book, visit the 225 site.

See a couple more shots of the interior after the jump.

225 Forest
225 Forest Avenue
Laguna Beach, CA 92651 map
tel. +1 949 494 7907