When the name "Samsonite" comes to mind, I for one think of those hideously gnarly looking hard-shelled 80s suitcases such as this one:
Much to my surprise, I've come to learn that the company has it's roots in some pretty stylish pieces. Take for example this reissue of an original 1920s trunk- The piece is part of Samsonite's high end Black Label. The art deco style, detailing and metal trim on this thing are simply fantastic. I'd really love the white one above if anyone's got a spare $640 lying around. Wait, you DO have an extra $640 and would like to get me an early holiday present?... All you have to do is make your way over to our favorite trendy Parisian boutique Colette to pick one up!
Earlier this year I came across an older gentleman wearing what I believed to be a scarf under his button-down shirt. The scarf really complimented his button-down shirt and gave the outfit (which would have normally been average) some flare. The fabric of the scarf appeared to be silk and the colors were dark & rich...it really caught my eye. After speaking with the man, I was informed that the scarf was an “Ascot.” An ascot tie, or ascot, is a form of necktie, descended from the cravat which was widely worn in the early nineteenth century, made of linen and elaborately tied around the neck.
In the 1940’s, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn and various other actors were commonly pictured wearing ascots both in formal and casual attire. In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s the ascot made a comeback. Hollywood stars such as Al Pacino, Michael Caine and Michael Butler were men spotted rockin' this accessory. In The Godfather II(1972), Al Pacino’s character, Michael Corleone, is pictured wearing an ascot in a few scenes throughout the movie, referencing the appeal of the ascot during the period. Recently, Jeremy Piven made an attempt to revive the look in 2006. During his Emmy acceptance for best supporting actor, the Entourage star wore a navy blue ascot under a white-button down shirt and navy sports coat. I think he wore it well.
My encounter with the ascot sparked a quest to add one to my fly arsenal of apparel. Finding one proved to be a bit more difficult than I expected. Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom’s, Brooks Brothers and The Men’s Warehouse were stores I thought would carry the accessory. Unfortunately for me, none of them offered a selection of ascots. During a visit to San Francisco I came across an upscale boutique specializing in men’s formal fashion called The Custom Shop Clothiers. As soon as I stepped into the spot, my eyes were immediately greeted by a mannequin dressed in a white button-down shirt, black sports coat and a dark purple & black ascot. Needless to say, I bought it!
An ascot is a great accessory that can easily dress up any outfit. Draw attention to yourself and your gear this fall/winter season with an ascot, it’s a good substitute for the average scarf. It adds the little extra flare to take your outfit from ordinary to bangin'. Interested in adding one to your collection....your best bet is going online! Ascots range in price from about $58-$125, depending on the quality of silk, pattern and type. Are you a creative person? Do you have what it takes to make your own? If you think you got the skills, save yourself some money during the economic crunch and peep out this cool link that shows you how to make a retro-ascot necktie!
Do you already own an ascot but are unable to figure out how to tie one? Well bring it out of the closet, dust it off and take a look at these simple instructions on how to tie one.
FoundTrack's favorite NY contributor Gill Bumby just sent us this little preview of tonight's Presidential Debate. Enjoy, and feel free to place Obama and McCain into either the Penguin or Batman roles as you see fit... though the real question is whether Biden or Palin is Robin?:
And in related Bat-news, we're sad to report that composer and jazz trumpeter Neal Hefti, the musician behind the "Nana na na na na na BATMAN!" AND "Odd Couple" theme songs has passed away. In remembrance of him, here's the classic tune:
A few days ago we found out Nintendo is producing a remake of "Punch-out!" for the Wii. Today I stumbled upon this amazing tribute to said retro game franchise by painter Jeff McMillan, entitled "Punchouts." Behold the glory of this work which is available as a print at Gallery 1988:
And here's a little something from the "About Us" section of Gallery 1988. I fully endorse and support their "glorious year of 1988" inspired brand identity- make sure to click the following to enlarge and enjoy:
One of the most glorious pieces of retro 80s video game history is back! At a press conference this morning, Nintendo announced a new version of the boxing classic "Punch-Out!" for the Wii. I'm usually weary of remakes, but this one looks like it's kept the best of the original, including main character "Little Mac" and villains including King Hippo. Along with Street Fighter IV, the next few months look like a rad time for some vintage gaming nostalgia. Checkout this teaser trailer... the best part is they stuck with the oh so classic music theme:
Any of you kids that grew up in the 80s will totally remember the "Power Glove," a Nintendo controller that promised to be the pinnacle of video game technology, but ended up being a retrofashion treasure. Said fashion piece was first revealed in the 80s video game movie, "The Wizard" starring Wonder Years child star Fred Savage, AND Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis- a film that must have been financed by Nintendo's marketing budget, as it also revealed Super Mario Brothers 3 to the public:
Marchelle Madness from Bedtime for Toys (recently featured on TMZ.com) sent us this amazing Power Glove focused clip from the movie and it inspired this entire post. I totally want this little pimp's top secret briefcase!:
Checkout more 80s retro revival Power Glove action at the 1:13 mark of Hyper Crush's music video to "The Arcade" (produced by FoundTrack Friends Emile and Jamie of Six29 Entertainment):
Don LaFontaine, THE voice behind all those amazing movie trailers has passed away, leaving a major legacy in Hollywood History. Along with Stan Winston, LaFontaine is another major behind-the-scenes player in the film industry that has left this world in 2008. Can you imagine the trailers to classic hits such as Terminator 2, Shrek, Batman Returns, and Friday the 13th WITHOUT his regal voice booming over the montages? I could go on and on, but why not just HEAR his voice, watch his story, and celebrate his life?:
Those of you that grew up in the 80s or ever went to Chuck E. Cheese or Showbiz Pizza Place, might remember the animatronic Rock-afire Explosion band. Well looks like they're back for a reunion tour thanks to the interwebs and are covering everything from Usher to MGMT. My favorite cover tune of theirs has to be Madonna's "4 Minutes" - All the classic members are back including Mitzi Mozzarella (handling the Material Girl's vocals), Billy Bob, Dook LaRue, Fatz Geronimo, Uncle Klunk, Beach Bear, Rolfe DeWolfe, Looney Bird and Earl Schmerle. Grab yourself some game tokens, mediocre pizza and a pitcher and enjoy:
Have no idea how this popped up into my head, but it probably had to do with a bit of 80s nostalgia chatter that a colleague and I usually get into on a daily basis. On June 16, 1989, a sequel to one of the greatest Ivan Reitman films ever, Ghostbusters, was released, creatively entitled, Ghostbusters II. With said release came the necessary promotional nonsense, including this wicked rad single by Bobby Brown entitled "On Our Own." It managed to get pretty big on the radio at the time, and sadly I have to admit I purchased the single on cassette. Watch now and be baffled by it's glory:
Here's the remix video to N.E.R.D.'s "Everyone Nose." This mix features verses by Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West and Pusha T (from the Clipse). I'm usually not the biggest fan of director Hype Williams, but this video is pretty fresh and I'm a sucker for the retro Atari Galaga look it's got going on. Keep an eye out for these future couture Martin Margiela sunglasses that we featured a few weeks ago-
These guys here are called the New Balance RC576D "Brogue"'s. I haven't been a big New Balance fan until recently, but if they keep dropping stuff like this then I'm hooked. Love the retro slim profile of these which is more (less?) than can be said for their shoes. I'm a white shoe guy myself, but I have to say they look pretty awesome in the brown as well:
The best thing about New Balances?- even when they're in fashionable styles and colorways, they're still functional! Anyway, back to these guys, I'm not a big black shoe guy myself but I know a lot of folks are, so here ya go:
Classic Ferrari fans have something to look forward to - the Italian super car maker will be hosting RM Auctions' Ferrari: Leggenda e Passione sale at their Pininfarina facility, featuring some of their original and best condition cars. The car pictured above is the 1961 250 GT SWB Spyder California that was owned by actor James Coburn. Better make sure you put that Federal tax rebate credit aside - this curvy black beauty is estimated at $4.6 to $5.9 million.
Penguin Books has commissioned illustrator Michael Gillette to redesign the covers to the classic Ian Fleming James Bond novels (the original source material for the James Bond Films). Love this idea and hope it helps to sell some books and gets a few more people to actually read.
Penguin's earlier foray into hiring hip artists to redesign classic book covers saw Shepard Fairey (of "Obey" fame) redesign the covers to classic George Orwell novels "Animal Farm" and "1984." Given Fairey's avid usage of communist imagery, red tones and stars, it was a great fit with the undertone of Orwell's stories.
After a bit of controversy, looks like Rose McGowan will indeed be playing Barbarella in Robert Rodriguez's remake of the film, and that production is moving forward full steam. Trouble seemed to be brewing a few months ago when Universal, the studio behind the film, was reportedly peeved that Rodriguez cast McGowan based on the fact that they were an item. Personally, I don't mind her, but there's no way she can keep up with the O.G. bad-ass that was Jane Fonda. Checkout the rad vintage poster and trailer to Paramount and director Dino De Laurentiis' 1968 original and decide for yourself:
This one-stop disco-in-a-box was created by Berlin-based artist Niklas Roy. In its creation Roy has once and for all the ended the problem of not being able to have a dance party at a moment's notice. The box features 600 watt speakers, party lights, and most importantly a radar detection system that automatically senses a lack of dancing and turns the machine on.
Genius. Now this guy needs to apply himself to solving other major problems we face including the oil crisis and the horrible experience that is a visit to the dentist.
I've got to say, when I saw the first trailer to the new Speed Racer movie, I wasn't too pumped- the CGI looked like crap for one thing, and further more, the Wachowski Brothers' last directorial work on a movie pretty much sucked (think forced Matrix sequels...). This new trailer though has me pretty stoked- the effects look further along and the trailer is cut way better- the vintage cartoon fan in me is hoping for the best (for those of you that don't know the movie is based on a cult classic animated Japanese TV show from the 1960s):
Speed racer jump starts the summer movies season May 9th, 2008- worst case, it can keep us all entertained until Iron Man, Indiana Jones, and The Dark Knight come out...
For the summer of 2009, Paramount is making a movie based on another Hasbro toy franchise- a little title called "G.I. Joe." Now, I have to say I actually had no interest in seeing this- the director Stephen Sommers hasn't exactly had a career making movies of substance (wait, but then again neither has Michael Bay). Needless to say, these first two publicity stills from the movie have sparked a definite geek interest. Snake-Eyes was definitely the most badass character on the show:
He's being played by Ray Park (the awesome british martial artist that also played Darth Maul in the Star Wars movies). How do you think he compares to the original?:
* This has been a big week in 80s news- see example here
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hats! Holy $hit, these rule. Someone buy me one now! Which turtle did YOU relate to the most? Personally I thought that Donatello definitely rocked the best color, but I have to give it up to Michaelangelo since he had the a.d.d. personality i could relate to. These genius hats will be available this summer at BioWorld Merchandise. Until then, kill some time with the best saturday morning cartoon opening credits ever:
Lost Boys Sequel! Will this be a "so bad it's amazing" Snakes on a Plane for 2008, or is it gonna be vintage revival goodness? Who knows!? Who cares?! It's got Cory Feldman in it for god sakes! Checkout the trailer to Lost Boys: The Tribe- What's sure to be the #1 straight-to-DVD title of the year:
Oh and one more thing, checkout this 80s vintagey good publicity still:
Is it just me or does Nasty nass look like he's doing a Feldman impression with his outfit below?... sorry Nass...:
First we find out that Street Fighter II is getting an updated sequel. Now this:
Ninja. F'ing. Gaiden, people! If you never played Street Fighter or Ninja Gaiden as a child, I feel really bad for you. In fact, you're probably a communist or something. How they took the above, and turned it into this amazing madness, I'll never know:
When the name "Samsonite" comes to mind, I for one think of those hideously gnarly looking hard-shelled 80s suitcases such as this one:
In the 1940’s, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn and various other actors were commonly pictured wearing ascots both in formal and casual attire. In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s the ascot made a comeback. Hollywood stars such as 
My encounter with the ascot sparked a quest to add one to my fly arsenal of apparel. Finding one proved to be a bit more difficult than I expected. Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom’s, Brooks Brothers and The Men’s Warehouse were stores I thought would carry the accessory. Unfortunately for me, none of them offered a selection of ascots. During a visit to San Francisco I came across an upscale boutique specializing in men’s formal fashion called 
