Juliette Longuet

Elie Akiba’s denim-centric store Lulu has found a new home at the Bal Harbour Shops in Miami. While shopping habits of his largely international customer base have changed, denim remains a performer. According to Akiba, customers who used to buy three or four pairs of jeans are now homing in on a single “It” pair with a special fashion item that justifies the price. Akiba has taken the idea of delivering service to a new level in Lulu’s latest incarnation of a store on the model of a French brasserie. A hostess greets shoppers and assigns them a server, who shows items behind a zinc bar complete with authentic trimmings such as Thonet stools, menus and complimentary drinks, from espresso to martinis. As in a typical French restaurant, discounts are given for ordering “le complet”. The three courses are made up of jeans, a T-shirt and sneakers. Receipts even feature a space for tips.
A blend of nostalgic SoHo and Paris, decor begins with brick walls, polished cement floors and white subway tiles. Akiba is now thinking to find a great space in NY!

The paint from the ‘Louis Vuitton’ graffiti was still drying as New York’s cool kids flocked to the Soho store to celebrate the launch of the latest Stephen Sprouse collection. The much anticipated Louis Vuitton & Stephen Sprousse Tribute Collection was released on January 8, 2009 at the SoHo boutique.

The complete worldwide launch will follow on February 2, 2009 though the Rose pieces will be available at Louis Vuitton stores worldwide starting Friday, January 9, 2009. With every new collection there are always limited edition pieces, which will only be available at the SoHo location: “a Stephen Sprouse graffiti skateboard replete with a hard case monogram skateboard trunk, and a Stephen Sprouse ‘Roses’ T-shirt.

The company hopes to sell three graffiti skateboards with trunks for $8,250 each, and 70 T-shirts for $250 each. If you don’t live in NYC you can get the collection on e.luxury.com and save on taxes! Proceeds will benefit Free Arts NYC.

Ray-BanWayfarer sunglasses are one of the most iconic sunglasses in the world, last spring they’ve partnered up with Marie Claire to launch Project Colorize, a new line of colored Wayfarers in collaboration with five NYC artists. This year for a more distinctive look, Ray-Ban is releasing a Colorize Kit. The ever-classic Ray Ban is releasing a customizable version of their Wayfarers which will allow you to color and stencil your shades to most accurately portray just how hip and original you are. You receive a blank pair of Wayfarers, a pack of markers and stencils for you to customize your own pair. Everything seems to be DIY-able, fun! Stay tuned for more info forthcoming. Similar to Adidas’ Adicolor shoes back in the 1980’s (and again in 2005), which paired all-white low-tops with 6 acrylic paints, paintbrushes and sealant for the leather so artists could customize their kicks, the Colorized Wayfarers will really allow you to make your mark.
If only the Wayfarers came with an eraser marker so you could continually update the look and colour of your shades - now that’s an idea.