An exciting collaboration between two L.A. favorites makes its debut this weekend. Jennifer Parry Dodge of Ermie and Mitzi Guidry of Los Angeles Leathercraft team up on a small collection of tie-dyed leather bags. We have already fallen hard for Ermie's collection of hippie-ish patterned caftans, maxi dresses, and leggings, and now we can add these totes and wallets onto our list of must-haves.
The handpainted and handsewn goods will be available for the first time for lucky Angeleno's at the Echo Park Craft Fair, everyone else will be able find them on the Ermie shop in the coming weeks.
If you're somehow still on the hunt for an iPhone case after our round-up in January, and you happen to have Fool's Gold Records on your radar, their new wallet/iPhone collaboration with HEX might be a contender. The case comes in two colors, a more conservative black leather, and a very Watch the Throne gold edition, and each model can hold two cards. Not exactly George Costanza storage, but having a license and credit card handy is better than nothing.
Both colors are available from the Fool's Gold online store, and select HEX outlets.
Yanking those summer oxfords and madras shirts out of winter storage can be a disheartening experience, especially when we find that the grime on the collars seems to have intensified over the months. Wash & Stain bars from the Laundress have their uses year-round in removing stains, naturally, but we tend to think they really come in handy when the sun comes out and we've got nowhere to hide.
Having a little bit of Comme des Garçons in your wardrobe is kind of a must. This season, you can carry a little something from the Japanese label in your pocket wherever you go. The new zip wallets come in a variety of styles with bright anodized aluminum zippers and a reverse side dyed to match. The Comme des Garçons wallets, subtly occupying their own style wavelength, are just hitting shops this week and prices range from $135–$320.
Tres Bien is carrying a few of the Comme des Garçons zip wallets online.
French fashion house Louis Vuitton is known for its iconic accessories: coveted speedy bags, monogrammed leather suitcases, and custom trunks made by hand since the 19th century. Now the lux brand has created a collection of travel books that highlight various cultures from the viewpoint of artists who aren’t familiar with them. For the series’ first installment, Congolese painter Chéri Samba explores Paris with pigment-soaked brush strokes, French illustrator Jean-Philippe Delhomme (of Unknown Hipster fame) examines the sleepless streets of NYC, while Japanese artist Natsko Seki interprets London via her sanguine world of mixed media. Each year, new locations and titles will be added. Next up for 2014? Manga artist Jiro Taniguchi scouts Venice, and Italian comic book author Lorenzo Mattotti adventures in Vietnam.