Somewhere in there, among the drove of reporters from every conceivable media and formats, is Edison Chen. Can you find him?

Finally, the CLOT x Disney retail concept known as Man Is In The Forest opened its door in Taipei City in the midst of fans and supporters over the weekend.  Situated in the trendy Xinyi District and near the once tallest building in the world, Taipei 101, the new store front featured a sparse layout designed by Makoto Azuma. Best known for his landscape creations, especially those done with fellow designer Kazuki Kuraishi, Azuma cultivated the store’s unique interior, quite literally. With special sponge-like planting blocks developed by Japan’s Suntory Midorie, Azuma nurtured more than 10 species of horticultural flora into a shape most identifiable with Disney – Mickey Mouse’s ears.

Derived from a pivotal juncture in Disney‘s animated classic Bambi, Man Is In The Forest is a distinctive take by CLOT‘s Edison Chen, Kevin Poon, along with Disney’s Ben Yue, on the intuitive relationship we all have with Disney animations. A fact especially discernible within the many other creative types involved in this project, including X-Large, MEDICOM TOY, SSUR, PAM, Bounty Hunter, Vanquish, 84/74 Lab, and more… Besides as a temporary storefront that will be offering limited edition items from the said group of designers.  The grand opening, with Edison Chen as host, marked the mid-point of Traveling Mickey Charity Auction, where fans can bid on one-of-the-kind Mickey Mouse vinyl set.  Half of the auction’s proceeds, along with certain merchandise sales from the store, will benefit local youth programs aimed creative development.

CLOT x Disney – Man Is In The Forest – Taipei
4F-10, No.12, Songshou Road | Map
Xinyi District, Taipei City Taiwan

When the original Back to the Future creative team learned of Nike’s desire to support Fox’s foundation with the release of the 2011 NIKE MAG shoes, Executive Producer Frank Marshall joined the effort. A concept was hatched to develop a ‘Lost Scene’ to honor the original Back to the Future films and characters, capturing Doc Brown’s efforts to make Marty ‘fit in’ during his visit to 2015.

Original cast members Christopher Lloyd and Donald Fullilove reprise their beloved roles and actor Bill Hader and basketball star Kevin Durant join the Back to the Future legacy as store clerk and customer. The sales manager is played by original NIKE MAG designer and Vice President of Design at Nike, Tinker Hatfield, who also oversaw the development of the 2011 NIKE MAG shoe. Hatfield indifferently informs Lloyd he has landed in the wrong year and the power lacing NIKE MAG shoes he is seeking for Marty McFly won’t be available until 2015. The film was created in collaboration with Wieden + Kennedy. To learn more, go to www.back4thefuture.com. To bid on the 2011 Nike MAG, go to nikemag.ebay.com.

Just when actor Michael J. Fox is set to appear on The Late Show with David Letterman in New York City, hundreds of industry insiders, media personalities, and celebrities attended Back For The Future event in Los Angeles last night.  With actual props and sets from Back to the Future franchise, including another Back to the Future II DeLorean DMC-12  mock-up, as the backdrop of the special gathering, hip-hop producer araabMUZIK took charge of the DJ booth while comedic actor Joel McHale (Community TV-series) punctuated the evening with laughters and performances.  Being that it was an event by Nike, the audience in Hollywood’s The Montalbán theater knew of the surprises to come.  A special deleted scene video, with Tinker Hatfield and Christopher Lloyd, debuted to the delight of many. But most attentions centered around the live auction – one of 350 ceramic miniatures of the 2011 Nike MAG and the very first actual size 2011 Nike MAG, both signed by Michael J. Fox himself.

There was one peculiar observation we made however, when Joel McHale raised the issue on missing Automatic Lacing System, Tinker Hatfield repeated once again that it was 2011 and not 2015.  Could it be that Nike will introduce a fully functional Nike MAG in 3 years?  Where is a time machine when you need one?

Still digesting the mysterious amenity package left by Nike when a succession of quick knocks on our hotel doors led us to another cryptic message left behind. It simply stated to look for “DocEmmettBrown88″ on the Internet. Within no time, we came up with this video on YouTube. Titled “McFly’s Closet” with tag line entry “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that looks like shelves and shelves of 2015 Nike MAG shoes”, the clip showcased a virtual sneaker closet. We wouldn’t think much of it but with the all-aluminum visor and Doc Brown’s frantic proclamation before… could this secretive Nike gathering mark the launch of Air McFly?  Can’t be certain just yet, but stay tuned to Freshness as more information becomes available.

It was something out of military lore.  There were no indicators, no hints, even our Nike hosts answered our inquisitions with smiles and simple responses, “You’ll see”…  Some hours later and still woozy from jet lags, we arrived  in Los Angeles for a “secret event”.   But not just any event, one that will include Nike Vice President of Design and Innovation, Tinker Hatfield, at its Keynote address.  Yet, everyone hushed up at our inquests at L.A. too.  Things became somewhat obvious a few minutes ago when we entered our hotel rooms.  In each accommodation, a tricked out amenity package with a sleek aluminum shade tagged with “It’s About Time” at the ear piece.  Along side it,  a Apple iShuffle with message from Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown saying “If my calculation are correct, for the next 24hrs you are gonna see serious stuff!” Things are becoming clearer now…

Photography: Freshness

Last season, fashion’s wild child, Jeremy Scott, stirred up the sneaker scene and brought a daring makeover of sneakers, and fashioned a tongue out of a furry teddy bear. That went on to become one of the fastest selling and most covetable sneaker, and this season, Jeremy Scott for adidas Originals brings around new furry friends—the JS Panda. Alongside the new successor of the Teddy Bear, the rest of the collection draws influences from jungle and military with ruffled camouflage track tops and tiger printed tuxedo hoodie. The collection will be hitting select adidas Originals stores and retailers in August and October, so check out the lookbook images and stay tuned for more detailed images to come.

In the introduction to his 1996 book, Style and the Man, designer Alan Flusser wrote, “…the most expensive clothes a man will ever buy are those that he rarely wears…” Though the quote was made more than a decade ago, Flusser’s notation holds true today, if not more so.  With jargon like “hipster” to “dandyism”, merchandisers and marketers made attempts to corral men’s styles into refined categories.  However, with the abundances of selection, plethora of labels & designers, and expanse of price ranges, there is a democratization of personal styles, more than ever.  On the streets of New York and other major urban centers around the world, you would see stylish man rocking pairs of Visvim’s, the tried and true Levi’s 501s, the nifty plaid shirts from J.Crew with a shawl collar sweaters from Nom de Guerre over it.  And to top off the outfit, a down puffer from Aether.   They don’t fall into any demographics, focus groups, and etc…   Instead, they are of their own styles.  And so, on this crossroad of ideals and interests, of trends and values, of individualism and pluralism, we introduce Juncture Magazine, our new endeavor which gives a curated look at contemporary style of men.

By the mean of destruction does not necessary equate to end of all. Instead, a re-birth of sort can come from it. So in honoring the ideals of its Destroyer Jacket, Nike and Nike Sportswear China enlisted a group of creative types to help it realize those ideals. Each an iconoclast in his or her field, these talents are setting the stage for China’s evolution from an industrial powerhouse to a creative force of the world. But first, much of the preconceived notions, both local and abroad, must be blot out. Hence, this group of selected individuals is known as The Destroyers. Freshness is on site and will bring you more coverage later today.

While soccer has dominated most of the world’s cardio-vascular activity (yes, we do believe cheering counts as cardio if you do it long and hard enough), after Spain had taken home the much coveted 2010 FIFA World Cup trophy, Nike unwinds from all the FIFA action and brings in a little orthodox tender loving care for all by reintroducing running as its Fall/Holiday 2010 focus. Freshness had just returned from Nike Running’s Fall/Holiday 2010 Greater China Media Summit held in Shanghai, at the revamped historical Shanghai 1933, which was first built in 1893 as a slaughter house and is now revived into a creative space for events, exhibitions, shopping, offices and more.

Running is one of the most aged, and most easily accessible sport there is. However, in an attempt to refresh running and provide an alternative point of view to a sport which has evolved from a pure cardiovascular activity into something more transcendent and spiritual, Nike aims to re-energize running by introducing an alternative point of view and also support its cause with new technology and key products.

The key technology for Fall/Holiday 2010 is the Dynamic Support (DS) system designed by Daisuke Furuya (one of the earliest developers of the technology). The DS system has been built into several key products including the Lunar Eclipse+ and the Lunar Glide+ II. Aside from the Lunar kicks, there will also be a Visibility Pack and a Race Pack, in addition to the incorporation of Lunar Glide+ II into the NIKEiD line-up.

The past month, Freshness Magazine quietly celebrated our 7th anniversary.  We want to take this opportunity to thank our many editors, contributors, and supporters.  But most of all, we want to thank our daily readers and occasional visitors for making Freshness Magazine what it is today.

Here is a brief look back at some of memorable stories we published in 2003. More after the jump.

After a hectic week, Freshness brought our good friend from NYC, DJ Clark Kent, around the sights and scenes of Taipei, Taiwan. Kent, who was in town for the Nike IAM1 Journey Event, not only fashioned a new Nike Air Max Lebron VII (7) at the grand opening event.  But he also took out a fresh pair of Nike Dunk SB Air Force 1 for the occasion -  the  Nike SB Dunk Low “Ms. Pacman” +  Air Force 1.  Feature a color filled vamp, in sequence with the classic video game, along with the signature Nike Air unit outsole, the design is most likely an one-of-one model. Still a nice piece to have in your arsenal.

> Nike

> DJ Clark Kent

An Interview with Ann-Marie Paz and Anthony Hope, Designers of Nike Air Maxim 1
Interview by: Poe
Produced by: Dan Hwang (DAN H.)

As the proverb goes, “your eyes don’t lie”. For some people, seeing is believing, and that’s what Nike’s legendary footwear designer, Tinker Hatfield tapped into when he created the original Air Max 1. With a visible Air Unit that is an icon in itself today, the see-through and exposed air cushion inspired by Centre Pompidou in Paris had become an integral part of Nike’s Air Pack today.

As Nike constantly challenges itself to create, recreate, innovate, and most recently, re-evovle, the team re-energized the quintessential Air Max 1 running shoe by working new modifications into preexisting elements to create Air Maxim 1. Air Maxim 1 was released with worldwide anticipation this year as many are psyched to see their favorite running shoes reworked in a modern context with the latest technology.

The task to re-evovle a favorite is always a daunting as well as challenging one. Freshness had a chance to speak with the masterminds behind the project of turning Max to Maxim– seasoned designers of the Nike Sportswear team, Ann-Marie Paz and Anthony Hope.

Check out our interview and learn more about the process, blood, sweat and tears ( maybe just the sweat) that went into the new classic, Air Maxim 1. Like we said, seeing is believing.

> Freshness Feature: An Interview with the Designers of Nike Air Maxim 1