MIXEDMATERIAL

Six of the Best: Striped Socks, Made in Britain

While we're waiting for all the new season clothes to arrive in-store, now is a good time to upgrade the basics in your wardrobe. I'm going to have a look at underwear in a couple of weeks (!) but for now, here are Six of the Best striped socks. The bright striped sock is now firmly established as a new menswear classic and they are available everywhere from Paul Smith to Marks and Spencer. If you want to wear the best, though, you should buy any of these pairs that are made in Britain. Support smaller manufacturers, nurture traditonal industries and brighten your ankles so the world can see. It's new fashion, the old fashioned way, and it's the future.

Bold Stripe Sock by Pantherella, £8.50 from Oi Polloi

Go: Indian Highway at the Serpentine Gallery

There are just a few days left to catch the Indian Highway exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery. Open until 22nd February, Indian Highway is an exhibition of contemporary Indian culture that features work including architecture, art and film.

Buy It Now: Sandwich Sponge

Mixed Material is going cheap and disposable for the Buy It Now this week, with a Sandwich Sponge from the Moma Store. Priced at $10, the sponge is designed by Jaewon Yang and Hyung Jeong Lee and is offered for a limited time as part of the Destination Seoul featured selection from the Moma Store. Why not get a whole loaf of them and make sponge sandwiches to see you through your spring clean?

Snapshot, 13th Feb 2009

The Crossover

Fashions shows are not, of course, real life. 

Young Eastern European boys don't generally dress head to toe in Gucci or Louis Vuitton and, fingers crossed, in real life I will never see somebody wearing the shiteous outfit, shown left, by DSquared from their Spring 2009 show - a show which managed to set new records in hamfisted styling, even for DSquared. 

This spring, there will, though, be looks that crossover from fashion show to real life and that are going to have a real impact on what you wear. See after the jump for a pick of the clothes that should make it into real wardrobes this season.

Snapshot, 12th Feb 2009

Six of the Best: Wall Clocks

There's still a bit of time before the clocks change - 8th March in the US and 29th March in the UK - but why not put a new perspective on the remaining dark winter nights with a great clock? Count away the hours before you're going have to start doing something with your evenings again and take your pick from a luxury watch face or twisted fonts from British design talent, or go international with a bit of whimsy or a modern design classic. 

Font Clock by Sebastian Wrong for Established and Sons. £459 from Icone.

Snapshot, 11th Feb 2009

Go: Hussein Chalayan at the Design Museum

Intellectual style can often seem a misnomer in the celebrity driven style culture that currently rules the fashion world. With designers worrying about generating heat around their own public image or chasing the insecure/universally adored to dress them on the red carpet, there's not too much space left for any real thinking beyond whether something will make column inches. 

As ever, there are exceptions that prove the rule and Hussein Chalayan is one such exception. Consistently provocative and stimulating, Chalayan produces clothes that are shocking in the best sense of the word. While I often struggle with the idea that fashion is a form of art, and with the endless retrospectives in prestigious cultural institutions of designer clothes that have been in department stores sometimes barely seasons before, it's clear that Chalayan is a worthy recipient of what should be a rarer accolade with his show at the Design Museum.

Snapshot, 10th Feb 2009