John Skelton is a longtime Sang Bleu family friend whose contributions to the cause have ranged from interviewee to stockist. His latest project LN-CC is a multi-layered retail concept bringing together a sharply curated selection of fashion, music, and literature. Balancing a strong online presence, with an appointment-only store/venue/showroom, also shows typical commitment to the needs of a contemporary customer base – one which he knows inside out. Sang Bleu grabbed five minutes with John in New York after fashion week to talk shop.

Sang Bleu: LN-CC feels like a very natural progression, was it essentially the vehicle needed to bring together a group of people you always wanted to work with under one roof?

John Skelton: Yeah, kind of.  We live in a world where work, friends and the things that we know and love are all the same thing. We always had the people around us and the vision in our minds, we just needed a platform to be able to execute it without any restrictions and doing it ourselves was our only option really.

SB: Has the crossover into combining menswear and womenswear been a particularly exciting development for you?

JS: The women’s thing is something that i had been wanting to do for such a long time and had had so many requests about so yes it is exciting for sure. At the minute our women’s selection is really limited, it was important for us to launch the site with both men’s and women’s product but we also wanted to take time to build a really strong brand list. Next season will be a lot different and as of October when we begin to receive pre-collections you’ll start to see the full strength and direction of our women’s offer. I think that women need an independent store online, the market is dominated by big players but their selection is so dry. Hopefully what we’re doing will mix things up a bit.

SB: How will the collective feel of the concept be reflected in both the real and digital environments of the store?

JS: This is one of the most important things about what we are doing.  We have invested so much time and energy into our space that I’m sure people will get a much stronger feel for what we are all about when they can see the physical representation.  The store sums up the diversity of our group by incorporating so many different areas in a very deep and specialist manner, not just with the men’s and women’s offer but by covering music, literature and art/tattoo as well so its definitely got a very broad flavour and appeal.

SB: Which new element of the project are you most excited about exploring further in the future?

JS: We’ve got a few things going on in the background that we hope are going to change the landscape forever but I can’t really talk about them right now.  The most exciting thing for us at the moment and coming in the near future is definitely the development of the space which should be ready by the end of October.  It’s really starting to take shape and I think will really give us that extra dimension.  the other thing will be the launch of our Japanese site which should be around the same time.  We are working on a new concept with some Japanese guys based in Tokyo which we will roll out early next year but the basics will be in place real soon.

LN-CC LN-CC LN-CC

Sang Bleu is happy to announce that its sister company B&P recently produced this special version of its “Didot” typeface on behalf of Adrien Pelletier, new Art Director of l’Officiel Paris. Speaking of B&P, we are currently working on a brand new website and several new releases, coming out very shortly on www.swisstypefaces.com!

Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe? The usual approach of science of constructing a mathematical model cannot answer the questions of why there should be a universe for the model to describe. Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?

—Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time

Yesterday, I went to see Damir Doma’s “SILENT” collection (click HERE to see images), and had the biggest crush on some super leather bags, nonchalantly stretched out on a white bed: playful and baggy shapes made out of thick and matt fabric, adorned with suttle metallic systems to complete their perfect functionality.

As the shamans say “Now everything is suspended between heaven and earth.” Especially bags, right?

Yesterday we attended to the Launch of the 26th issue of iconic french fashion magazine Encens. It took place at non-any-less-iconic NY store Atelier on Hudson street. Needless to say, the cream of the crop was to be found among the attendees. Pictured here Zana Bayne (wearing a very impressive new piece of hers), Nikki Moose & jewelry designer Jonathan Goldstein.

Of course, those who work in pain management quite properly want to bring relief to those who suffer unbearably.
Of course, chronic pain is debilitating.
Of course, the effort to find drugs to neutralise the pain are comprehensible and laudable.
…
Is it the transhumanists’ wish to do away with pain that is a curiosity, as it seems to deny–along with so much else–the ordinary experience of being alive?

Above: a leg being taken care of by Thomas Hooper.

Just found a quite nice bondage shirt by A.P.C.

I already had the Tshirt. Totally impressive. White on dark gray cloth. But the hoodies is seriously sick. So I just ordered mine from the Shirts and Destroy online store. (another thing i do on restless nights… online shopping!)