A line of cool zip-up Star Wars themed fleece hoodies by clothing company Mad Engine are scheduled to be released in August 2012. Designs come in R2-D2, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Boba Fett, and a Stormtrooper. You may remember we posted about a similar line of hoodies by Ecko.

via Technabob and R2D2Central.com

images via TheForce.Net

In the portrait series “Foam Sculptures,” Dutch photographer Suzanne Jongmans adorns her subjects in packing foam costumes and creates wonderful portraits of them in a style reminiscent of 17th century Dutch Golden Age portraiture. We recently wrote about another painting-themed portrait series: Airplane Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style.

via PetaPixel & Beautiful/Decay

Artist Heather Mattoon has created Cat in Clothes, a delightful series of cat paintings where each cat gets a name and a personality to fit its unique outfit. Fine art giclee prints of the portraits are available at her Etsy shop, HeatherMattoonArt. Currently, they are also available to purchase at Fab. She also does custom painted portraits of pets.

Henry is not yet a teenager but likes to hang around the older crowd to feel a little bit cooler. He is wearing his favorite pajama onesie.

Harold, part time used car salesman, part time science fiction aficionado.

Camelflage panties are specially designed to disguise cameltoe. Their mission: “Smooth out women’s Labia Majora all over the world!!” They are available in thongs or briefs.

A statement from Shannon, the inventor of Camelflage:

Cute tight little yoga pants, front row, right by the big mirrors for the whole class to check out my yoga poses, and something else…the dreaded…”cameltoe.” That’s where the idea for Camelflage was conceived. I looked at department stores, on-line for a solution for this problem. There was nothing. There were blogs and YouTube videos posted of women complaining about the same problem “cameltoe,” and how embarrassing it was for them. They were needing a solution too. So, I designed a patent pending women’s panty that has a built in flexible, breathable, insert to smooth out her “Labia Majora” AKA “cameltoe.” Covering the insert is a Sportek wicking fabric that pulls moisture away from your body and keeps you dry.

Sun-Staches are a line of fun sunglasses that feature dangling mustaches. They come in a wide variety of styles including The Fu Manchu, The After Party, The Swag and more. Sun-Staches were recently seen in the Call Me Maybe tribute video featuring Justin Bieber, Selena, and Ashley Tisdale.

Buy them. Wear them.
Catch eyes. Turn heads.
BE THE PARTY.

Wedbush Securities’ analyst Michael Pachter recently stated on Bloomberg TV that Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg’s signature hoodie shows investors that “he doesn’t care that much” and is “a mark of immaturity.” TechCrunch has posted that Zuckerberg should upgrade his hoodie to the fancy Gray Executive Pinstripe Hoodie designed by San Francisco-based fashion company Betabrand. It’s made from 100% superfine worsted merino wool, has a paisley tie-cloth liner and will ship by June 22, 2012. Betabrand, you may recall, also designed the Dress Pants Sweatpants.

via TechCrunch

First, Greece-based fashion designer Lina Petrauskiene of Etsy shop LinaSpyroS created the dress that we called the “butt cleavage dress”. Now she has introduced an “unusual sexy dress” to her shop that we can best describe as a body portholes dress. The back of this dress is riddled with large open “portholes” that give a “below-deck” view, while the front gives the appearance of an ordinary cocktail dress.

It is design to flatter the women’s figure.

Climbing Up Tights are fashion tights recently posted by Turkey-based blogger Duygu Fidanoglu of Combo-Monster. These whimsical tights show a man climbing up one of the back seams and are sold by Turkish brand Penti.

via Tracy Parker

The Chain Lock from BOND Hardware is a repurposed brass-plated door chain lock that has been made into a fashion necklace.

Bond hardware: A line conceived for the everyman, the everywoman, a reinterpretation of the necktie, a modern approach that suits you. You’re bound to want some around your neck. Made in U.S.A.

via Heavy Browsing

images via I Don’t Like Mondays

photo by Christina Offutt Rowley

Preppy fashion company Lilly Pulitzer has designed limited edition boxes of Nabisco brand Barnum’s Animals crackers. With Nabisco’s parent company Kraft Foods, they recently released 2 million of these signature print boxes to bring awareness to the issue of children worldwide who “can’t smile because of facial deformities.” As part of this campaign, money will be donated to Operation Smile, an international charity organization that will help these children get corrective surgeries. These signature boxes can be tracked on their Cracker Tracker map. I spotted a few of these boxes at my local Nob Hill Foods in Alameda, California.

photos by Rusty Blazenhoff

Italy-based graphic designer Lumen Bigott has combined Keds brand sneakers with images from familiar online companies in her 2011 concept project, Social Media Shoes. She has more images at her Behance portfolio.

I’m a big fan of inspiration blogs, I also spend a lot of time in social networks and I love fashion: those three things are responsible of this shoes collection. The idea was to find the most important graphic elements of my favorite social networks and apply them to my favorite pair of shoes trying to keeping alive the essence of each brand.

via Flavorwire and Bored Panda

The Vans Rubber Waffle iPhone 4 case was styled to take on the distinctive features of a Vans skate shoe. It was created as a promotional item for the company’s employees and later was available at Vans stores. It now looks like the item can only be found through an auction site like Ebay.

via Technabob, OTWS and Jay Mug.

images via OTWS and Technabob

Much to the delight of the internet, redditor Captain_Auburn_Beard has shaved his facial hair into the batman logo.

via reddit

photo by Captain_Auburn_Beard

Top Drawer Thrift uses “transgender mannequins” which they call Trannequins to display merchandise at their Austin, Texas store. Proceeds from the store benefit programs at non-profit organization, Project Transitions, which serves the HIV and AIDS community by “providing hospice, housing, and support in a compassionate and caring environment”.

My name is Scooter. I’m a trannequin at Top Drawer Thrift Store in Austin, Texas. I’m a plastic bio-dude and I look fabulous in lipstick and a short skirt.

Mick Jagger + Michael Jackson = heaven.

via Yard Sale Bloodbath

images via Top Drawer Thrift

Finnish makeup artist Jangsara has translated several Avengers characters into cool eye makeup designs. These superhero-themed eye designs and their tutorials were created by Jangsara in anticipation of the The Avengers movie release on May 4, 2012.

via The Mary Sue and Fashionably Geek

Flint and Tinder is an ambitious apparel startup by Jake Bronstein that will manufacture premium quality men’s underwear entirely in the United States. Bronstein has partnered with an American garment factory and is raising the $30,000 startup costs by pre-selling the underwear on Kickstarter. The name of the company has an interesting backstory:

The name comes from something the first (and only) venture capital firm – banker-types who invest in businesses – we went to for money said. After a lengthy presentation regarding our plans to “reignite American manufacturing by offering higher-quality products at competitive prices,” the guy on the other side of the table said, “the only way to reignite American manufacturing is with a flint and tinder.”

It was his way of saying he wouldn’t invest. It’s also a bit of a misnomer – it takes flint and steel to make a spark, though tinder will help get you fire from there. But it also has a ring to it. Sometimes even rejection comes with a silver lining.

via Put This On

The Top Belt Jumpsuit designed by fashion house Viktor & Rolf was made to look like extremely high-waisted pants. They are available to purchase at Shopbop.

This strapless, wide-leg wool jumpsuit features pleating and a detachable leather belt. Welt hip pockets and cuffed bottom hem. Hook-and-eye closure. 22″ leg opening. Bandeau lining.

via Heavy Browsing

image via Heavy Browsing

On April 23rd, immaculately dressed gentlemen and ladies assembled outside the Abercrombie & Fitch flagship store in London to protest the company’s plan to open a store on Savile Row, the London shopping street that has long been the home of fine British tailoring. Protesters carried signs that read “Give Three Piece A Chance.” The protest was organized by The Chap, a British gentlemen’s magazine.

via The High Definite

photos by Stephanie Wolff

The Pizza Shirt is just that, a shirt that looks like a pizza. It comes in either Real Deal Pep (pepperoni) or Garden Swag (vegetable) toppings. As Pee-wee Herman comments, “It’s a shirt! It’s a pizza! It’s a pizza shirt!”

Nothing could be more fabulously vogue, chic, and fashionable than coating your human body with a cheese covered gift from the gods. Visit a pizza region of the world and disappear in our realistic pizza camoflage.

via Pee-wee Herman

Construction Overhead is a hat that appears to be in the midst of construction, complete with scaffolding and tiny construction workers. The hat was created by London-based hatmaker Sorenson-Grundy.

via My Modern Metropolis

Color Forecast shows what colors are trending in real time in the fashion capitals of Paris, Milan and Antwerp. High speed cameras are strategically placed in these cities and the color information is analyzed by software created by Pedro Miguel Cruz. Ad agency Happiness Brussels created the project for retail chain Pimkie.

…The cameras are connected to Mac Mini’s with color tracking software developed by Pedro Cruz…
The software analyzes the passing colors and shows in real time which colors are worn the most.
All colors are then compiled in nice infographics, so you can follow how the cities evolve and how trends change.

via Wired

Studio Roosegaarde along with Anouk Wipprecht have designed Intimacy 2.0, a line of futuristic high-tech fashion garments made with leather and opaque smart e-foils which become “increasingly transparent based on close and personal encounters with people.” Their video shows how the garments transform from opaque to transparent.

Social interactions determine the garments level of transparency, creating a sensual play of disclosure.

INTIMACY 2.0 features Studio Roosegaarde’s new, wearable dresses composed of leather and smart e-foils which are daringly perfect to wear on the red carpet. In response to the heartbeat of each person, INTIMACY 2.0 becomes more or less transparent.

via Animal

The Souper Dress is a screenprinted paper pop art dress that was made and sold by Campbell’s Soup Company in the late 1960s. In a case of life imitates art, this dress was inspired by Andy Warhol’s 1962 artwork titled Campbell’s Soup Cans. I recently spotted a framed Souper Dress at La Grande Orange Grocery in Phoenix, Arizona. M’m M’m Good!

Campbell’s Soup Cans by Andy Warhol, 1962

photos by Rusty Blazenhoff
images via The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Retronaut and Wikipedia

A reporter in this 1977 British Pathé mini-documentary takes to the streets to talk to folks about the platform shoes craze. The video’s full-version is available at British Pathé.

Girls and men walking. Reporter interviewing various people about the claims that platform shoes being health hazard. An expert talks about it but is not very good in convincing a girl not to wear them. More people on the street being interviewed. Some people say they look ridiculous, shoe salesman defences them with bizarre explanations etc. The end of an item shows the reporter wearing platform shoes and having difficulty walking. Voiceover informs that most of the injuries happen in the first few days of wearing them. Reporter walks off with difficulty.

In January 2012, New York City-based photographers Alex Troesch and Aline Paley traveled to Matehuala, Mexico and captured some wonderful images of the Los Socios and Los Parrandero crews wearing some very long and pointy boots. TIME LightBox recently published the set of images and they report that in “northern Mexico, the pointy boots trend is more about flash than fashion.”

“They’re worn by people who want to impress other people,” Troesch says. In fact, one boot maker they met had transformed a regular pair of shoes into pointy boots for a client who wanted to impress the jury of a dance contest. That’s how the fervor started—but not everyone is a fan. “Sometimes you’d hear people teasing others about wearing the boots,” Troesch says. “Still, it was very interesting for us to witness how such a common object—cowboy boots—worn by so many people in northern Mexico could be reinvented and reappropriated by young teenagers whose eyes and ears are so many times directed towards the other side of the border.”

Members of “Los Socios” pointy boots crew, posing on the rest of an old mining field of Matehuala.

via LightBox, Design You Trust and Archie McPhee’s Endless Geyser of Awesome

photos by Alex Troesch and Aline Paley for TIME LightBox