Opening Ceremony RSS

Left: a swatch of Opening Ceremony's Terazzo print. Right: Opening Ceremony Terazzo Short-Sleeve T-Shirt and

Terazzo Front Snap Skirt

Part earthy rock-sediment, part beachy hues, the Terazzo print in our Pre-Fall collection was inspired by a popular Belgian marble. "We looked at a lot of architecture and the materials used in buildings, and there's a lot of gray and red, a lot of warmth," OC womenswear designer Dylan Kawahara says. Then, the team added pops of aqua, a nod to the waterways of Belgium's cityscapes.

The print, which was created through layering shredded construction and recycled paper, is primarily used on clean, straight silhouettes. "The print itself is organic," Dylan says. "Dresses that don't have many nips and tucks help the print speak for itself."

Shop all Opening Ceremony Collection HERE

Shoot up the elevator to ACE HOTEL’s rooftop and wind your way past the bar to the pool. If it’s a Saturday during SOFT, you might just find the water occupied by a drag mermaid (floating, appropriately, in a giant Chanel compact). SOFT is the new, bi-weekly party thrown by veteran LA nightlife impresario Nacho Nava, whose popular Mustache Mondays party at La Cita, a stone’s throw from the Ace Hotel, has kept Downtown’s queer set pushing the limitations of what qualifies as “the weekend” since 2008. Nacho told us he met Ace Hotel’s Alex Calderwood on one such Monday night years ago after the company had just signed on to convert the old United Artists building into its new Downtown home. Once the doors swung open, Ace Hotel approached Nacho to organize a night for the rooftop space, and thus the bi-weekly performance event SOFT was born.

Nacho Nava was joined by Nina McNeely, another experimental nightlife and performance art vet, to organize SOFT. The two set forth earlier this year to create a night of “the most random of situations” with the help of their comrades in performance art, choreography, design, and music. As Nacho told us, “We want our crowd to leave SOFT taking in all the beauty and history of the Ace Hotel mixed in with the artists that collectively inspire the energy of Los Angeles.” The performances at SOFT are meant to enhance the experience, but not necessarily draw focus. “For each SOFT event we select a handful of designers and performers to collaborate on an installation, and we ask them to create something visually impactful with a subtle story to guide and inspire the performers,” Nina said.

Last weekend’s event featured OCLA alum and KTCHN art director Adrian Gilliland, who worked with the performance artists GODDOLL and Jasmine Albuquerque (whose drawings inspire all of SOFT’s video flyers), to create pieces that Adrian described as “an exploration of the rituals of self-beautification,” which manifested in the work as the process of applying makeup. Together, the artists worked on three collaborations: GODDOLL floating on a giant Chanel compact in the pool, Jasmine Albuquerque sharpening oversized fingernails to decimate a giant strawberry, and a final piece with both performers clad in white, applying glittery lipstick and sharing kisses for the remainder of the evening.

Regarding the challenges of activating Ace Hotel’s rooftop space, Adrian told us, “I had a great talk with Nina about what works in the space and what doesn’t. It’s important to offer something people can see from all angles, and be a part of, to walk up to, stare at, and take pictures.” The pool was an immediate attraction, and the floating compact served as the springboard for the other beauty elements. GODDOLL on the compact “was our take on Venus … the classic beauty reimagined in a modern way.”

The collaborations, which made the space pop without dominating the scene, embodied the spirit of SOFT. Nacho added, “We’re not trying to reinvent anything … we also aren’t trying to produce this raging, banging Saturday night party. SOFT is more about interacting and the sharing of ideas, a very subtly crafted sensory environment.” No word yet on who will join forces next

What do you get when you mix Lolita, a love of video games, and a free spirit? A fantasy-driven collection made of, well, dreams. For Ammerman Schlösberg's latest collection, designers Elizabeth Ammerman and Eric Schlösberg (who have thrived on the idea of “luxury cosplay” (costume play) had the intention of making the brand’s eccentric look more translatable and wearable—if you're a badass lady, that is.

Choosing the classic video game vixens from the '90s Soul Calibur as their muse, Ammerman and Schlösberg were inspired by players' ability to customize their characters' looks with no set rules. In addition, they fell captive to the idea of the cute damsel-in-distress with a dangerous dark side. “This season was our fantasy video game assassin girl,” said Ammerman to Purple Magazine.

Featuring a skimpy maid's uniform (MAID APRON DRESS), a Sailor Moon-esque skirt and top, and long mesh gowns calling back to the medieval or Elizabethan period, this collection draws on many diverse themes and time periods—alongside said video game references. A LBD, the Slash N Puff Maiden Dress, features white satin ribbons woven throughout. The FUR COLLAR LEATHER TRENCH COAT, trimmed with gold mesh at the hems, gathers with a sweet bow in the back (and there’s a bright, green fur collar to block out the cold).

Shop all Ammerman Schlosberg here
Dig the hair? See how you can recreate it HERE

Fur Collar Leather Trench Coat in navy/green

Slash N Puff Maiden Dress in black/white

Maid Apron Dress in black/white

Sailor Cropped Top in creme burgundy

Lame Velvet Cropped Top in gold

Slash and Puff Trousers in green white

New Yorkers are known for their penchant for black, but come summer months, we tend to avoid the all-black getups for fear of ending up looking like an outtake from this website. But of course, we can't always avoid the slimming color—it does match half our shoes, after all.

Luckily, there are several factors that are slightly more important than color when it comes to summer dressing—think airflow, fabric, weight, and coverage. And while some folks might say that black can help keep you cool by absorbing instead of reflecting your body heat, mesh, loose silhouettes, and cutouts never hurt, either. Here, we've rounded up the best pieces to keep your New York cool during the worst of the summer, with items that both look and feel summery, despite its hue. Just avoid the all-wool pleated skirts.

This Norma Kamali Racer Tee Deep V is the mesh bodysuit to wear under every tiny skirt, ever.

Break up the black with some sheer coverage, like Julien David's foil printed tulle skirt in black/multi.

Or top it off with Thierry Boutemy for Opening Ceremony's ethereal Royal Composition Short-Sleeve Top.

An all-black getup is totally appropriate in the summer, especially if it's a flowy deconstructed tank dress from T by Alexander Wang.

Look flawless in this striking Kamali Kulture Sleeveless Mesh Jumpsuit—the wide-leg silhouette is both airy and elegant.

Moschino's CHAIN TANK keeps the look sporty and chic—totes appropriate to go from ball game to bar.

Dare to show some skin with Christopher Kane's Leather Bandeau Dress.

For men, the Telfar Hooded Halter lets you bare some skin without going completely shirtless.

Lighten up a black shirt by playing with texture. Think Nasir Mazhar's <

Summertime has us floating towards any available body of water, and in an ideal world, we'd be poolside (or seaside) more often than not. Our newest editorial, shot by Samantha Casolari and styled by Haidee Findlay-Levin, is a tribute to those dreams: the best swimwear and cover-ups, captured in and around NYC's High Line.

View the editorial Here

In STRAIGHT TRIPPIN', OC friends and family share tidbits from their latest travels. This time, OC blog editor Alice Hines shares snaps from a weekend pilgrimage to Pennsylvania's Fallingwater.

Name: Alice Hines
Occupation: OC Blog Editor
Travel destination: Fallingwater in Mill Run, PA
Carry-on necessities: PRISM bathing suit, Kamali Kulture Square Cat Eye Sunglasses, extra-large OC tote bag, baseball hat, and, most importantly, BF and super fun travel companion, Jay.
Reading materials: I've been trying to practice my French, so I brought along an old copy of Madame Bovary from college and picked up Molière's L'avare (The Miser) at a bookshop in Harrisburg called the Midtown Scholar. This place is enormous and has a bigger foreign language section than anywhere I've been in NY!
Most over-played track on your iPhone this trip: "Analogue Bubblebath" by Aphex Twin
Favorite outfit to travel in: Jorts, duh!
Highlight of your trip: Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater is the obvious pick, but a close runner-up was ROADSIDE AMERICA, an enormous, but miniature, village in Shartlesville, PA. Both are masterpieces of architecture, in their own weird ways.
Souvenirs you brought back: A bag of perfectly ripe peaches from a stand on the side of the road

"Ohiopyle, ten minutes down the road from Fallingwater, is a gorgeous mountain town with a crystal-clear creek." -Alice

The quintessential Fallingwater photo-op. Not visible in the picture: the group of 30 CMU precollege students behind us taking selfie upon selfie. (Was the one wearing Google Glass able to sneak pictures inside the house? Still dying to know.)

The pool at Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater is filled by a natural spring in the surrounding moutains. Behind, the guesthouse where Frida Kahl

Pine-Sol, Mr. Clean, Fabuloso—these are the materials that color Reno-born sculptor Nick van Woert's landscapes. Rooted in the history of landscape painting of the American West, as well taking references from classical architecture, van Woert's works use everyday and found materials to put into focus a world that doesn’t exist anymore.

Yet this creative is prolific. Along with four assistants, van Woert works in the studio every day. At the end of 2014, the artist will have had 11 international solo shows since 2010––having just exhibited a solo show in June at the Museum of Modern Art in Bologna. Before another solo show begins in Amsterdam in October, I managed to catch up with him in his studio. With Bo Diddley playing in the background and ten motorcycles welcoming me into the entrance of a giant warehouse in Greenpoint, I already started to feel a part of van Woert's world.

CECILIA SALAMA: You recently came back from Italy. Can you tell me about that experience?
NICK VAN WOERT: I was in Bologna for a museum show at MAMbo (Museo D'Arte Moderna di Bologna). It was a crazy experience-–super stressful leading up to it. It was such a large space, and shipping is expensive, and I don't make small or light things, but it all worked out. It's nice to see my works in a museum setting. In a museum you can have a whole group of similar works.

You have another museum show coming up, right?
There's a big group show at the museum in Reno, which is pretty cool because it's a landscape show, focused around Lake Tahoe and Donner Lake. There'll be at least one Bierstadt painting. Bierstadt painted romantic, vibrant landscapes of the American West. The landscape doesn’t look like that anymore. The first landscape works I made were plexi boxes stacked on top of each other filled with materials that I see and touch every day, materials that make my everyday landscape.

They almost look like geological strata.
Pine-Sol, cat litter, Fabuloso, pulverized Play-Doh—they have a color and material relationship to the materials I see in Bierstadt's landscape paintings. When you put the purple of Fabuloso, and yellow of Mr. Clean, and cat litter next to each other, they start to seem like the sunset in Donner Lake.

Why cat litter?
It's a substitute for dirt. You want to pee outside, you pee in the dirt. If you want to pee inside, you can pee in cat litter.

What are you working on at the moment?
I've started to focus on walls. We used to live in caves out of rock. Then in classical architecture, we used marble. Now we use all artificial material—Sheetrock, styrofoam, aluminum studs. I am making these large pieces using the same techniques to make stucco walls—plywood, tar paper, metal mesh, but I'm also mixing cat litter with resin and "spackling" it on with a large spackling knife.

Do you imagine hanging these wall panels in a white-wall gallery setting, like you have here in your studio? They almost look like paintings to me.
Yeah, I like them this way. But I've always hated painting.

Really?
Well, I like looking at paintings, but I've always hated painters. It just feels like painting is constantly being recycled over and over again. For me, art is a material language and I feel like we live in a time where you should be aware of what materials you're using.

Have you ever made formal paintings before?

Over the weekend, Opening Ceremony and MOCA fêted the end of Mike Kelley’s retrospective at the Geffen Contemporary in Little Tokyo with a fun-filled evening of drinks, music, and excellent company. More than 4,000 Angelenos turned out for the bash and all of them were kept on their feet thanks to DJs Jason Yates, FUXUS, Psychopop, Dangel xxx, MR.IMD, and Friendzone—whose sets we teased here on Friday. Among the many who convened for the show’s send-off were Ariel Pink, Peggy Noland, and Bernhard Willhelm, and art world giants including Kenneth Anger, Brian Butler, and Brad Elterman. Attendees of our midsummer party were treated to free access to the last night of the show, including Mike Kelley’s Mobile Homestead, a plethora of drinks from the bar, and a full spread of Mexican fare from Border Grill’s taco truck. Saturday night’s event capped off four months of the museum's celebration of Kelley’s life and work, which has undoubtedly left its mark on Los Angeles for many more years to come.

Shop the Mike Kelley | Opening Ceremony collection here

Jason Yates. Photos by Steven Meiers, courtesy of MOCA

Kenneth Anger and Brian Butler

Ariel Pink

Reid Ulrich and Ian Markell

Renata Raksha and Peggy Noland

OCLA's Michelangelo (center) and friends

MOCA's Emma Reeves and Paula Morehouse

OCLA's Mischa (left) and friends

Attendees were treated to free access to the last night of the show.

Lisa Marie Fernandez has just under 400 swimsuits in her closet. It started with a Chanel triangle bikini, decked out with gold hardware and two embroidered Cs. Then it grew: never-worn vintage bikinis from the ‘60s and ‘70s, other suits picked up from her travels. So, it makes sense that the former Elle market editor would start her own swimwear line of sexy, graphic, neoprene pieces.

“The only way to be really new in swimwear is not to have a good silhouette but it’s through fabrication,” Fernandez told Opening Ceremony. “We were the first brand to do neoprene swimwear when we launched in 2009, other than back in the day.”

Her most recent breakthrough? Terry cloth, the textured cotton that hasn’t been around since the ‘60s. “There used to be a lot of terry cloth swimwear, but it didn’t recover from water—it would just bag out,” Fernandez said. But just as she found a more luxurious form of neoprene, she also gave terry cloth a makeover. In her hands, the cotton, towel-like fabric was developed to hold shape, creating a fabric that might actually—wait for it—look better wet.

Yes, these suits were made for swimming—and lounging by NYC's High Line, or playing beach volleyball, and maybe doing a cannonball or two. "We’re making swimwear to live with. What’s the point of owning it and not using it?” Fernandez said. “They’re not just made to sunbathe under the umbrella by the pool.”

Shop all Lisa Marie Fernandez HERE | View our swim editorial HERE

DEENA HALTER TWIST MAILLOT in taupe/black

Natalie Flounce Bikini in aqua/white

Jasmine Zip Tank Maillot in taupe

Poppy bandeau tie bikini in aqua

Genevieve Bikini in charcoal

Our resident baking babe MINI MARTHA transforms a late-summer classic, peach pie with vanilla ice cream, into an equally delectable ice cream sandwich.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream... sandwiches, that is. And, luckily, this is the perfect twist on the summer classic. I first made peach and buttermilk ice cream (adapting from a great NYT recipe). Then, after freezing the ice cream, I made sugar-cookie piecrust (from Magnolia Bakery). It's flavored like a sugar cookie but is flaky like piecrust. I decided to make the sandwiches small so that they can be eaten on the go—without melting halfway through eating it. I hope you enjoy them as much as my friends did!

Buttermilk Peach Ice Cream:
6 large or 8 medium peaches (just under-ripe)
1/2 cup of sugar
1 3/4 cups of heavy cream
2/3 a cup of sugar
1/8 teaspoon of fine sea salt
1/2 a vanilla bean
6 large egg yolks (5 extra large)
3/4 cup of buttermilk

Sugar-Cookie Piecrust:
2 sticks of unsalted butter
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of sugar
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of heavy cream
3 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt

1. Start with the ice cream. With the skin on, pit the peaches. Then dice them so that all the pieces are about the same size (it is easier to dice peaches before they are fully ripened). Put the peaches in a saucepan and add half-cup sugar. Simmer until the fruit is tender, about 7 minutes. Puree the fruit and the juices in a food processor—I like to leave some texture to the peach pure so I don’t fully blend it. Set the mixture aside and let cool.

2. Place the heavy cream and 2/3 cup of sugar and sea salt in a saucepan. Open the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds and add the pod as well as the seeds to the heavy cream and sugar. Whisk over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the milk is about to start simmer. In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks in a bowl until combined. Slowly add the hot cream to the eggs while constantly whisking. Add the egg and heavy cream mixture back into the saucepan and continue to whisk on medium heat until the mixture can coat the back of a wooden spoon and when running your finger on the custard coated spoon, your finger leaves a line (the custard does not cover the area that your finger had just been). Once the custard has reached this stage, turn off the heat and strain the ice cream through a mesh sieve and into a glass bowl (this is to strain out any scrambled egg as well as the vanilla pod). Add the buttermilk, and then the peach mixture into the custard base. Whisk the base, cover it with saran wrap, and place in the fridge to cool for about two hours, or until chilled.

3. Once the custard is chilled, turn on your ice cream maker and pour in the custard. Once the ice cream is finished, it will be a consistency similar to soft serve. Place it in a Tupperware and let sit in the freezer until hardened, overnight.

4. Make the sugar-cookie piecrust. Take the softened butter and sugar and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Continue beating and add one egg yolk at a time, beating until each is combined. Add the heavy cream and again beat until combined. Add the salt and then flour, beating until fully mixed. Pour the dough out onto a large piece of parchment paper and roll out with a rolling pin until about 1/8 of an inch thick. Chill the dough in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes or until slightly stiff. In the meantime, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the dough with a round o

Marques'Almeida is made up of designers Marta Marques and Paulo Almeida, who were raised in Portugal and are graduates of the prestigious Central Saint Martins in London. They've stormed onto the scene with an aesthetic that is part '90s DIY, part East London cool, and entirely their own. In celebration of our newly-opened OPENING CEREMONY SHOREDITCH location, where you can find their immaculate collection, we asked Marta to share a typical day for the design duo.

10:00 AM: Wake up, get dressed, and water the plants. I was obsessed about having a small garden in the terrace, but now Paulo takes care of it every day, as my obsessions don’t tend to last very long. I thought we could eat all homegrown vegetables, and because my sister (who lives in Portugal) was very successful with hers, I thought it would be super easy! Turns out there are bugs, wind, sun, and you have to water them constantly. In the end, you get a few parsley leaves.

11:00 AM: Have breakfast at AllPress. We love it here. It's a nice, semi-busy place to have great food and read the paper and some random magazines. It’s a particular treat when you wake up slightly exhausted on a Saturday morning, and you can go wild and have your own breakfast plate, with loads of amazing prosciutto, cheese, avocado, tomato, and a perfectly boiled egg. The other option sometimes is going for dim sum in Chinatown—we force ourselves out of East London and mingle with tourists, but it pays off since the dim sum menu in some places is incredible. (And, we never know what we’re ordering and all the weird things Paulo end up eating!)

12:00 PM: We normally then head to Columbia Road Flower Market with friends to buy some flowers, or more plants for our garden and have a little walk around.

2:00 PM: As it's the busy time of the year, we spend the afternoon at the studio doing some fittings and choosing materials. There’s always a deadline and something to do, and if not, it's the only quiet time we can actually look at research and think about design. During the week is more production management, sales, and even accountancy. We love being in the studio on weekends, when we can have a bit of fun with our team and fitting vintage buys and toiles we have lying around!

8:00 PM: After work, it's time to eat. I start thinking about dinner around 5 o' clock and then usually just obsess and nag everyone until we decide where to go! We usually choose Dishoom, a great Indian restaurant in Shoreditch—super-spicy but really good, incredible food. Or a Turkish place in Stoke Newington. Or The Ginger Pig Cafe, a Portugese restaurant, in Hoxton!

11:00 PM: After dinner, we head for some beers and glass of wine with friends on our terrace. We got used to having our friends around instead of going out. We’re obsessed with warm weather, and anything over 15 degrees is good enough to sit outside with a few drinks. And, although most of our friends are people we work with daily, we find ways of chatting and sometimes being stupid and bearing with each other for a ridiculous amount of time.

Shop all Marques'Almeida<

Leave it to the Brits to come up with something clever and fun for all ages. Developed by Berg Cloud Limited, this London import is 1.) too adorable for words and 2.) the perfect retro-future product. To another Little Printer user, you can send and receive direct messages or iPhone snaps, or print out games and puzzles for the kids (and yourself), all via the Remote app available through your smartphone, desktop, or tablet. And, if you're into Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, but looking for a little documentation now and then, the gadget gives you the freedom to print out your favorite moments (like a snap with your friends or family) and tuck 'em into your shirt pocket, your wallet, etc.

Want to feel like a retro journalist? Get headlines and up-to-the-minute news with the option to print out or push news directly to the printer in real time. And if the 160 free subscriptions don’t thrill you, Little Printer lets you create your own custom publication to share with other users—like a love note to your trans-Atlantic boo.

Shop the Little Printer HERE | Shop the OC Tech Shop HERE

LITTLE PRINTER in multi. Photo by Michael Elijah

Like that beloved holey T-shirt you'd never throw away, Area's new line is the product of love, late nights, and a few (worth-it) mistakes. Earlier this year, designers Beckett Fogg and Piotrek Panszczyk were experimenting with a hydraulic embossing machine––aka a hunk of 1930s steel only 20-somethings with a knack for strange fabrics would try––when they punched clean through their cotton. But, over time, the holes evolved into a beautiful, intricate mesh. "It was a happy accident that become a collection," said Beckett.

Now available at Opening Ceremony, Area's capsule collection of T-shirts, tanks, and shorts, will change your opinion on what holes can do for clothing. Unlike that frayed pair of denim, these pieces are delicately, deliberately perforarted, creating a subtle geometry that evolves over time. When you first buy a piece, its apertures are near invisible. Eventually, they evolve into small openings, and finally, a cobweb-like mesh. "The technique of embossing is temporary by nature, but with Area, it's an evolution," said Beckett when OC stopped by her studio on a recent afternoon. "[The texture] doesn’t completely disappear; it just changes."

What's more, the garments age differently depending on how you wash and wear them: Dry cleaning will give your T-shirt more texture, handwashing creates scattered, sparse apertures, and throwing it in your wash-and-fold bag will accelerate the mesh effect. "It also depends on the person wearing it, how much perfume you wear, how much you sweat," said Piotrek. "Every one of the shirts is completely different."

Unique pieces are, of course, inevitable when you're producing fabric using a massive piece of Great Depression-era machinery. The hydraulic embosser, which Beckett discovered at a New Jersey factory when she was still a student at Parsons, is typically used to stamp furniture leather or fake crocodile handbags. "The vintage metal plate we're using on the shirts was originally made for car seats!" Beckett said.

Meanwhile, the minimal and modern aesthetic of Area couldn't be further away from a gritty factory. Beckett, an alum of Calvin Klein, and Piotrek, an alum of Chloé and Emanuel Ungaro, took inspiration from Bruce Weber's O Rio de Janeiro photographs, Judith Shea's sculpture, and yes, the famous less-is-more sensitbility that Beckett picked up while at Calvin. "We don’t want to be a generic minimalist, though," Piotrek said. "It also needs to have soul."

Shop Area HERE

Piotrek Panszczyk and Beckett Fogg of Area in their studio-showroom on Canal Street. Photos by Michael Elijah

Area's T-shirts, stamped using a hydraulic embossing machine, come tightly folded in the same packaging they're wrapped in at their New Jersey factory.

"Everything we do is about texture," said Piotrek.

The designers took inspiration from Bruce Weber's photographs, Judith Shea's sculpture, and the famous less-is-more sensitbility that Beckett picked up while at Calvin Klein.

A mini-e

Left: A swatch of Opening Ceremony's Techno Tubular print. Right: Opening Ceremony Techno Tubular Jacquard Wrap Dress

Opening Ceremony’s Techno Tubular print, inspired by '80s Belgian dance clubs, gives the disco ball a digital update. “The print itself is meant to look like it came from the digital world, but in a cut-and-paste, rudimentary style,” OC womenswear designer Dylan Kawahara says. The print gets portrayed in two ways: an almost solid, deep black-and-blue option, as well as a vivid black-and-white graphic variation. According to Dylan, it really shines on jacquard items that show off its broken, fragmented design. “The silhouette has a lot of lapping and overlapping, so you can see the print in different ways,” she says.

Shop all Opening Ceremony Collection HERE

Outfit game changers, survival necessity, ~~sole~~ soul protectors—shoes really are everything. For this reason, nothing gets us more excited than a new pair of squeaky-clean sneaks, badass booties, or heavenly heels. Seriously, one look at OC's Pre-Fall shoe collection and our eyes turn into little, red emoji hearts.

Inspired by ancient Belgian architecture and techno-pop records, the old and new meet seamlessly in OC's latest. The curtain high-heeled sandal is soft and feminine, with a dramatic sweeping structure and fun '80s colors. And stomping around the city in Sylvie clog booties has never looked, or felt, so good. So what are you waiting for? Let's plant both feet firmly on the ground—and get to steppin'.

Shop all OC shoes here

From left: Opening Ceremony Slip-On Platform Sneakers in WHITE, NAVY, BLACK, TIGER RED, NAVY TECHNO, WHITE TECHNO, and COBALT. Worn with Acne Skin Used Jeans (online soon), OC TERAZZO STRIPED SKINNY JEANS, Opening Ceremony & Magritte DOUBLE REALITY SIDE ZIP PENCIL SKIRT, and T by Alexander Wang COTTON BURLAP FRAY DETAIL CUTOFF JEANS.

Curtain High-Heeled Sandals in aqua

Here at OC, we are struck by how often we end up in everyday conundrums. The ones that land you in the thick of semi (or full-blown) awkwardness, or maybe, the doghouse.

So, we turned to Simon Collins, the dean of the School of Fashion at Parsons. Collins recently penned a TOME that explores how and why people get to be so dang successful. To glean a bit of that for ourselves, we've launched Simon Says, in which Collins lends tongue-in-cheek, Brit-bloke advice to our pain-point questions and social entanglements.

Q: What's the definition of a good friend?

The excellent TV show Coupling suggested the concept of "Porn Friends." Meaning, if you reached an untimely end, your "Porn Friend" would rush to your apartment and dispose of your porn collection before your parents found it.

Recently, I heard that ladies of a certain age acquire "Whisker Friends." Whereby, if you choose to dash off and meet your maker unexpectedly, said "Whisker Friend" will pop over and pluck those pesky whiskers from your chin, the ones you’d been meaning to get to for ages. Now that’s devotion.

For my own part, I have "Plane Friends." Having lived and played around the world, I’ve had the good fortune to build a small family of friends from places as far apart as Sao Paolo, Hong Kong, Devon, Seattle, London, Bournemouth, and New York. Now, if I happen to slip from grace and need some real help, any and all of these friends would drop everything and head for the nearest airport, no questions asked, first plane to me.

Q: What’s the best way to end a lackluster conversation?

Life is too short for boring conversations or bad wine.

There are several ways to escape the terror of a dull interlocutor. Entry-level extraction can be as simple as looking at your phone and suggesting that while nothing was heard, it had in fact rung and you missed it but needed urgently to respond. In the vein of, "So sorry, got to dash."

Of course, there are some who might take this as a signal to arrange a follow-up. It’s here that I’m afraid my nasty English side peeps out. While edging firmly away, I smile broadly and agree energetically with whatever they are suggesting but crucially, I don’t actually do anything. "Here let me get your email," they might say. "Yes, yes," I reply, knowing very well I won't.

There are other, more persistent dullards who need a firmer hand. I favor certain phrases, like, "I have absolutely no idea what any of those words mean," in reply to their puerile question. If you're feeling feisty, try, "It’s funny—I can see you talking, but all I can hear is static."

Finally, there are some who won’t respond to simple human communication (people who like guns, for example). For them, I offer an expression of bemused astonishment at the fact that they can even talk, much less that they are talking to me. A bit like witnessing a chimpanzee quoting a Shakespearean soliloquy. I might hand one of these suckers a business card, like the ones I sourced on Fifth Avenue a few years ago. These were plain, white business cards that carried a simple message in a bold font: "Stop Talking.”

In our #ThirstyThursday series, TIPSY AND TAN, we ask consummate mixologists from New York City’s white-hot new restaurants and bars to create OC-exclusive drinks for our readers. Drinking on the job? Don't mind if we do...

If you only think we only hang out in Manhattan and Brooklyn, let us introduce you to Mar's. Hidden in beer-centric Astoria, the old-timey restaurant is fast becoming a go-to dinner-and-drinks spot in Queens, thanks to oyster happy hours, live jazz Thursday evenings, and a solid cocktail list. Bonus: The bartenders might be the best wingmen ever—especially Paul O'Halloran, an industry veteran with 30 years of experience.

"Once a guy was telling me he was bringing a girl here on a date," O'Halloran says. "And I said, let me tell you something as a bartender. Stop talking. Let the girl speak and ask the girl about herself. Women do it too, but guys always go on about themselves. And you see the girl sort of losing interest."

First-date tips aside, we had O'Halloran whip up a perfect summer cocktail: bourbon, elderflower liqueur, lemon juice, and a little booze called Cointreau Noir, a spin on the classic orange liqueur with some vanilla and almond notes. "Everybody wants boozy," O'Halloran says. "I’ve always joked that if I was going to open up a bar, I would just call it Boozies and have, like, five frozen margarita machines." Or, just grab a margarita at Mar's—Paul does have eight years with Bobby Flay under his belt, after all.

From Behind the Bar:

Name: Paul O'Halloran

Tell us about this recipe. It's citrusy, nutty, boozy, with a burst of bourbon. I call it The Calico because it’s layered; it made me think of a colored cat.

If this drink had a soundtrack, what would it be? Stéphane Grappelli, "Like Someone in Love." If you don’t smile while listening to Stéphane Grappelli, you’re dead.

Hangover cure: A big glass of water and vitamin B12. And Yoo-hoo totally works, because it has vitamin B12 in it.

Best place to day drink: The Sparrow. (Full disclosure: it shares an owner.) And it lets you get fall-down drunk. Go in there any afternoon, and you'll see what day drunk looks like, or should look like, or why I quit.

Your summer getaway: Provincetown. I don’t love the sun but I love the ocean. So I’m under the umbrella, then in the water, under the umbrella, in the water. Last summer I was next to these two old queens who were in a half tent, with umbrellas in front of it, reading their Kindles in the dark. And I wanted to be in there with them. And then they came out and went into the water. I’m exactly like that.

What are some red-light signs that someone's been overserved? Loud. Super loud. Become one of those drunks who whisper—it's way more fun.

Exclusive Recipe: The Calico

OC Alcohol Scale*: 6
"I would say have two of these, eat, have wine with dinner, and then have a nightcap."

2 oz. Bulleit Bourbon
1 oz. St-Germain liqueur
1/2 oz. Cointreau Noir
1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice

1. Pour bourbon, St-Germain, Cointreau Noir, and lemon juice and shake well with ice.
2. Coat the rim of a martini glass with lemon peel oils.
3. Toss a le

"Most Wanted" presents our favorite and most coveted items available at OC.

Convertible clothing doesn't get better than this. For Hood by Air's Pre-Fall collection, founder and logomaniac Shayne Oliver designed the Hooded Zip Sweatshirt and Double Zip Long-Sleeve Tee with dual functioning zippers. By eliminating (or adding) elements like sleeves, half-sleeves, and hood panels, you can adapt to the weather while maintaining an avant-garde edge.

Shop all Hood by Air HERE

Julien David, the Japan-based French designer, has been turning heads since he snatched up the prestigious ANDAM award in 2012. So it's not surprising that his new collection has us awestruck with its childlike magic and teenage surf-punk details. Most notable is the leopard prints rendered in metallic foil, looking almost like silvery mermaid scales.

"I started making these kind of tulle top overlays two years ago," David said. "At first it was only little threaded dot plumetis. Than last season I did embroideries, and this time around, we found this interesting metallic foil sheet in different colors."

A sassy, streetwear streak also runs throughout, which you can find in the bear print button-down and Bear knit jacquard sweater. The teddy bear, of course, is a childhood icon, but David does it with his own thoughtful twist: "The bear has different faces. Sometimes it's happy; sometimes it's worried. I wanted to find a character that we all know and give him different face expressions—I knew nobody would notice!"

These cheeky pieces, balanced with the precision of the military wool jacket, present a collection that's fun and, at times, outrageous, but has a low-key elegance all rolled up in one.

Usually, David has a running theme to inspire his collection (think desert island for spring/summer '14), but this time, each item is a statement that carries a storyline on its own. "It's the first time I'm doing a pre-collection," the designer said. "It's nice because I can make things I want to make without having to create a narrative like I do in the main collections. It's more item-based."

Another behind-the-scenes secret about the collection: "We shot the lookbook in the streets of Bethnal Green in London last winter. It was very cold. The looks with only the tulle top and tulle skirt—we could only shoot it in two minutes and go back inside to warm up. It was freezing!" What we do for the sake of fashion.

Shop all Julien David HERE | See our swim editorial featuring Julien David Here

FOIL PRINTED TULLE TEE

Military Wool Melton Coat in navy

Bear Knit Jacquard Sweater in light brown

Even if you’ve never heard Rob Moose’s name, you’ve probably heard him—the violinist/guitarist/composer/arranger/et al. has collaborated and performed with many an OC-favorite. Bon Iver? Check. Sufjan Stevens? Yep. Those heartbreaking strings in Bon Iver’s "Wash"? All him. The National, Antony and the Johnsons, St. Vincent, and tUnE-yArDs are on his CV, as are Jay-Z, Paul McCartney, and Dr. Dre.

“People are always like, 'Who are you?'” Moose says. “Are you a string arranger? Are you the guy who plays violin and guitar in these bands? Are you a classical chamber musician? If someone asks what I do, the answer is just, well, what have I been doing lately?”

Nowadays, that answer involves a residency at New York’s Lincoln Center with his chamber orchestra ensemble yMusic, culminating tonight in a collaborative performance with Swedish singer-songwriter José González. Of course, there’s also Moose’s most recent work with Alabama Shakes and the Decemberists, plus an upcoming tour gig with Glen Hansard.

We caught up with the musical polymath prior to yMusic’s performance with José González, bonding over a shared love for Lady Gaga and lamenting the Bon Iver Mariah Carey cover that never was.

JESSICA CHOU: You were commissioned to arrange ten of José González’s pieces as chamber arrangements. Had you worked with him before?
ROB MOOSE: I’ve really liked his music for a long time, and we’ve peripherally been around, but I had never met him. So, we didn’t meet until way into the collaboration—we had an e-mail dialogue going and he was just like, choose any of the songs from my catalog. It was both an honor and sort of a daunting task when someone says, "Yeah, do whatever you want."

How did you decide on the final ten?
He sent me three or four new songs that haven’t been released yet, one of them at least he’s never even performed live, and I chose two of those. Then I just created a playlist of everything he’s ever recorded and listened a few times without taking any notes, just letting it wash over me. Then I started taking notes, and putting it in two camps: “Maybe,” and “No.”

That sounds incredibly daunting.
I went on a retreat to do this work because I felt like it was such a big task to go into someone’s body of work, and I wanted to take myself out of New York and not get distracted. So, I went out to Orcas Island in northern Washington state, and it was amazing to be in a tranquil, quiet, natural place and to shut out this continuous background noise. I think it lends a sort of purity to the experience for me.

A lot of work you’ve done can sort of be classified as “pop” (like Sufjan Stevens). But, it seems like people don’t really give songs classified as “pop” the same respect they might give an indie band, or classical music.
There’s such a craft to really anything that rises to the top. Whether it meets your taste criteria is a different question, but I think it would be shortsighted to not at least admire something about a popular artist, even if you don’t like them. There’s something you can always learn from other people.

Right. And with a lot of popular hits, people don’t really listen because it’s “ju

Behind The Seams: Opening Ceremony's Terazzo Print

Partying Meets Performance Art At LA's SOFT

Role Play, Anyone? Ammerman Schlosberg Fall 2014

Back To Black: The New Yorker's Bible To Summer Dressing

OC Editorial: Hot Town, Summer In The City

Straight Trippin: Alice Hines' Pennsylvania Road Trip

In The Studio With Nick Van Woert

OC Fêtes The Closing Of MOCA's Mike Kelley Show

Pool Essentials: Lisa Marie Fernandez

Mini Martha: Peach Pie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Designer's Diary: Marques'Almeida

Little Printer: The Printable Social Network

In The Studio With Area

Behind The Seams: Opening Ceremony's Techno Print

Step Inside: Opening Ceremony Women's Shoes Pre-Fall 2014

Simon Says: Gather 'Porn Friends,' 'Whisker Friends,' & 'Plane Friends'

Tipsy And Tan: Mar's

Most Wanted: Hood By Air Zip Sweatshirt And Long-Sleeve Tee

Julien David Pre-Fall 2014 Plays With Teddy Bears & Mermaid Scales

Sound Check: Rob Moose