Ever the renaissance man, it can be a bit hard to keep track of all the different projects Pharrell Williams is working on at any given time. From his traditional role of producing bangers for hip hop’s elite to making waves with his various fashion endeavors, the man is branching out now to scoring the Oscars along with Hans Zimmer and the set up of his new Billionaire Girls Club line. GQ sat down with Williams recently for a brief Q&A, chopping it up about his Academy Awards involvement, the influence of his personal style, and more. Hit up GQ for the full interview with the Billionaire Boys Club leader now.

There is something quite masterful about dressing well, and we do not mean a dress shirt, a tie, and a suit. Anyone can pull that off. But to incorporate something like a Junya Watanabe jacket effortlessly with a pair of Visvim or just a baseball cap, you literally become the poster boy (or girl) of what many are seeing fashion is heading into, an amalgamation of street wise style and high fashion. But don’t tell that to Chris Gibbs of UNION Los Angeles. He’s been the leading advocate of this front for over a decade now.  Recently, street style photographer Tommy Ton (of Jak & Jill fame) stopped by the shop on South La Brea to capture Gibbs, along with wife Beth and associate Ryan Eccles, in their element. via: GQ

Brandon Svarc, owner and designer of premium denim brand Naked & Famous Denim, took some time out of his busy schedule to visit GQ and show off “The Craziest Jeans in the World.” First up is the heaviest pair of jeans ever created, made from Japanese selvedge denim and weighing in at a hefty 32oz. Even the leather patch is heavyweight at 15oz. There’s raspberry scented scratch-n-sniff denim, blanket-lined jeans, a collaboration with Japanese brand Oni featuring its signature super-slubby denim, and finally, a glow-in-the-dark pair of 15oz selvedge denim jeans. For the denim connoisseur who thinks he’s seen it all, this is a video well worth a look. Check it out after the click.

Even excluding international affairs, there was definitely no shortage of news this week. The attentions of the sports world and beyond has been focused on All Star Weekend for weeks; the event has finally arrived, bringing with it a deluge of product tie-ins, major ad campaigns, and celebrity events. Nike was obviously a major player, releasing not only All Star themed shoes, but a high-budget film short featuring Kobe Bryant (plus a peek at round 2 of one of the most hyped up shoes ever – the Air Yeezy). A more artistic tie-in was the AJ 1 as customized by Dave White, to be auctioned for charity. And basketball obviously isn’t the only focus of attention this week, which also included New York Fashion Week, a supernova of creativity, buzz, and gossip. One of the many events was hosted by VMAN, invitations to which included a cash insert, to play on the recent Kanye West issue of the magazine. Honors for the most groundbreaking show go to Moncler, however, and if you didn’t hear about it, read below. There was quite a bit of notable news from the street fashion side of things this week too; one main highlight were images of the soon-to-be-released Spring Summer 2011 collection from Supreme. Spring collection previews also came from CASH CA and adidas Originals, while Dr Romanelli released a capsule collection with A Love Movement, which is as stunning as usual. Ye wasn’t the only musician whose shoe project got attention this week; more information about the collaboration between Swizz Beats and Reebok came this week. In art news (and BAPE news), KAWS released images of a new BAPE/Milo mashup on his Facebook page. Plus, ALIFE made art news too, with a concept vending machine installation at The Hole, featuring work by some darlings of street art. Finally, Nike didn’t deserve the only advertising award this week; Porsche also deserves honorable mention for an innovative campaign which leveraged it’s social media presence (and compromised a GT3).

With a few more hours to go before a facebook attempts to revolutionize the Internet again (with a new full-service email launch), it seems as though next week promises everything great to happen in the world. But before we leap into the unknowns of facebook email, and try to deal with facebook’s gradual take over of our social lives as well as inbox, let’s recap all things great and small which happened this week. In New York City, Supreme has finally released its first fresh collaborative shoe (a brand new model) with Nike, and Kid Cudi held an impromptu performance at BAPE Store New York, which would have almost erupted into another riot. Meanwhile, moving uptown, Ralph Lauren closed off a block around its mansion and put on a spectacular light show in celebration of its 10 years in digital experience, and another American great, Levi’s opened up a fresh concept store in the chic nightcrawler’s favorite Meatpacking District. TRON: Legacy continues to command our attention with new trailers and new boots, and last but not least, GQ shared a great insider look at what happened behind the scenes of its recent controversial shoot with the Gleekers.

For GQ’s November issue, something quite controversial happened as the folks at GQ had sex-ed up the Glee cast members, Lea Michele, Dianna Agron and Corey Monteith. Some has deemed the photo shoot shot by Terry Richardson to be overly salacious for a show portraying high school life, but some have stood by the interesting take on Glee. Whether you are in camp righteous or camp enjoyment, GQ has just released a behind the scenes video of the photo shoot, documenting the cast members working with Richardson. Watch Lea rip her shirt open and Corey knock over some drums in this video.

It isn’t just about revolutionizing the way hip-hop world dresses (thank you for being one of the forerunners of skinny jean rappers), and it isn’t just about stealing spotlight from little girls and nices shoes, fast cars. Kanye West is a byzantine character with a myriad of interests and a variety of friends as eclectic as a flea market (recent attendees for the screening of his short film, “Runaway” include designer Kim Jones, stylist Virgil Abloh, and Central St. Martin’s students, and random gawking fans). He not only raps, sings like a robot, but has dabbled in art, collaborated with Louis Vuitton in designing kicks, and swept the world away with his Tweets. This is a man who is everywhere because he is determined to be, and brings the spotlight ON him everywhere he goes. And so, when GQ attended West’s Runaway screening in London, they pondered and came up with a list of 100 things West has taught them (that said, the GQ folks are big Yeezy fans) through the film.

New York City has been extremely busy (since when has it not been, but even more so this week, mainly with thanks to Nike) recently, and because of that, Freshness has been extremely busy as well. We have ran around the town from Madison Square Garden to the Apollo Theater in tracking down the World Basketball Festival and bringing you the freshest coverage straight out of the frontline ovens, then we tailed Paul Rodriguez and the rest of the Nike SB team who have landed in New York City to help launch the new Nike SB Zoom Paul Rodriguez IV (P-Rod 4) collection. On the other side of the world, we brought you the event recap of SOPH.’s new store opening in Hong Kong, where Hiroshi Fujiwara and Hirofumi Kiyonaga both made appearances, and also Brooklyn-based creative collective’s latest installation in Lisbon, Portugal. Run around New York City and jetset with us (metaphorically speaking) with a quick recap of what went on this week.

Love him or hate him for that one-hour special on ESPN when announcing his finalized decision to join the Miami Heat (perhaps you think that was an easy way out…like Michael Jordan did); or, for his nickname, “King James”; or simply, for the fact that he isn’t Kobe Bryant– there is no denying that LeBron is the man of the moment and much buzzed about. Quoting the famed phrase, all press is good press, right? Well, in the case of GQ’s journalistic ode to the King, there is only good press. In celebration of a summer of LeBron, GQ has created a special microsite, compiling everything from interview to feature, fashion picks and blog and forum about all things King James. The microsite, named “LeBron James Can Take The Heat”, is perhaps as up close and personal as you can get to the King. Peruse if you love him, and peruse over and over if you are a radical in the game. Because, after all, you keep you friends close, and your enemies closer. images via: GQ

There is a “rustic appeal” to the images created by Todd Selby. Yes, it is voyeuristic. However, there is a sense of warmth to each photo created by the photographer/blogger; an intimacy between the audience and the subject that is usually not found on the best portrait images, let along the ones with voyeuristic origin.

A bit hard to believe but Number 24 Kobe Bryant has been in the NBA for the last 13 years now.  After 4 NBA Championship titles, 1 NBA Finals MVP, and 1 NBA MVP, the Black Mamba is pose to take on the world again this year. Before the start of his 14th season, Bryant sat down with GQ writer J.R. Moehringer and famous photographer Terry Richardson for a candid one-on-one interview/photoshoot. One selected photo from shoot is also the cover of the March issue.  The GQ March 2010 issue is now available at news stands, bookstores, and magazine shops worldwide.

A style bible for every men, the all essential GQ just announced its latest round-up of Best New Designers in America for 2010 in its latest March issue.  And despite the worst recession to hit State-side in recent memory, it is heartening to see that none of its effects have dented the creativity of these young guns.  Joining the rank and file include Southern Gentleman-esque of Billy Reid, California grown-up aesthetics of Caulfield Preparatory by Vincent Flumiani, Burkman Brothers‘ urban leisure lifestyle, updated 90s’ grunge from Marc Jacobs alum Richard Chai, NoLiTa veteran UNIS by Eunice Lee, and finally, revamped proprietor of all that is cool and Americana, J.Crew by newcomer Frank Mutyjens.