In his typical mischievous self, provocateur Terence Koh logged on his blog the following “Deer diary, sorry nothing ever up long time. We are working on magik and pleased patient. Await new tings in October for love.” A gibberish statement not to tripped up your spell check function thought there is a truth in Koh’s entry. Introducing the Furry Sneakers and Moon Boots set from Terence Koh, boutique Opening Ceremony, and footwear maker FORFEX. In the namesake of the pockmarked outsole, like that of the moon’s surface, both extended the comfortable white FORFEX sneakers into the beyond. Headlined by Koh’s all-white signature, the Moon Boots received a boot conversion with quilted insulation while the Furry Sneakers underwent a thick layer of white faux fur. Meant for him or her, the two limited editions are only available through Opening Ceremony store fronts in New York, Los Angeles, Japan, as well as its virtual shop online at www.openingceremony.us.

Opening Ceremony has partnered with Keds to introduce the Keds Champion Series, a three-pack of classic sneakers designed around a baseball theme. Each shoe features a leather upper with contrast stitching reminiscent of a baseball, along with pinstripe detailing on the insole. The available colors options are a solid black or white, and one built with an eye-catching combination of yellow, red and blue. These will be available in September during Fashion’s Night Out at Opening Ceremony Ace Hotel storefront first, with availability at locations later.

Opening Ceremony at Ace Hotel
1190-1192 Broadway | Map
New York, NY 10001
TEL #: 646-695-5680

Opening Ceremony New York
35 Howard Street | Map
New York, NY 10013

Opening Ceremony Los Angeles
451 North La Cienega Blvd. | Map
Los Angeles, CA 90048

Opening Ceremony have prepared a special capsule collection for the Spring 2011 season that will be sold exclusively at Lane Crawford, a leading department store in Hong Kong and Beijing. The capsule collection looks back at the popular designs from Opening Ceremony and revitalizes them by using new fabrics and colors. Both mens and womens pieces will be available and these will be stocked exclusively at Lane Crawford stores in Hong Kong and Beijing. To commemorate the project, Lane Crawford ifc mall store and Beijing store will be turned into a month long conceptual retail extension of Opening Ceremony. Launch parties will be held on April 14th in Hong Kong and April 16th in Beijing where Opening Ceremony founders, Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, will make a personal appearance.

Ever heard of Classetball? We haven’t either, not till this past weekend when Nike Stadium NYC at Bowery introduced the event to the world. Founded by Olivia Kim of Opening Ceremony and skateboarding photographer Todd Jordan, Classetball was an event of seamless transition, from the adrenaline charging basketball game between New York Knicks and Miami Heat (New York won) to the calmer but equally nail-biting Academy Awards after the game. To make it more interesting, guests entered ballots before the evening started and took home the trophies. Who knew Champagne and beer would go so well together?

We previewed the third capsule collection from the partnership between Levi’s and Opening Ceremony last week; now we have product shots of the Levi’s Chambray by Opening Ceremony Spring Summer 2011 collection. The preview, done for OC by Terry Richardson, was pervaded by the photographer’s sense of hipster eroticism; now we can focus on the garments themselves. This closer look shows the chambray denim in all of it’s hazy glory, in shades of blue, and in on-trend orange and yellow. This preview covers the unisex Levi’s 505 silhouette in the collection, along with some drawstring chambray popovers, and a Levi’s Trucker Jacket in indigo or yellow chambray. Chambray, a denim variety woven with a colored warp thread and a white weft thread, but unlike its coarser-feeling cousin, it has an alternating one-up/one-down weave instead of a two-up/one-down weave. This new collection from Levi’s and OC is a solid way to keep denim in your rotation even as the weather gets better, and would be a great match for the Dr. Romanelli x Levi’s denim chukka shoe from last year. Check out the pieces after the jump.

Mid-Winter isn’t the hottest time of year for retail, but it’s often a busy time of year for the business side of fashion: upcoming collaborations are announced, Spring/Summer collections are previewed, and of course there are multiple buyer’s shows. This past week included all of those, but the story that transcends them all is clearly the news regarding the purchase of Nowhere Co. – the parent company of A Bathing Ape – by I.T. Limited, an established fashion retail powerhouse in Mainland China; more on the deal after the jump. Nigo wasn’t the only persona behind a an Asian fashion empire we covered this week; Freshness had an exclusive feature with Edison Chen, focusing on the creative work EDC does – and steering clear of the tabloid gossip EDC generates in his role as a slightly bad boy Asian celebrity. Stateside in the fashion business, the Compass footwear show held this week offered a look at many upcoming sneaker/shoe/boot releases. One piece of footwear that stands out from the week is the Jeff Staple-designed Timberland Chukka, done with Kinetics; we also featured a video interview Staple recently did for MADE in Berlin. And Nike – a brand that doesn’t need a tradeshow to showcase new products and projects – kicked off the American Made documentary this week from the Sportswear division, while Nike Basketball released the Kobe Bryan-inspired Ophidiophobia video, and a full showcase of All Star Game footwear at the Staples Center. The Spring issue of VMAN magazine can’t be overlooked either, with it’s Karl Lagerfeld-shot cover, featuring Kanye West with an actual $1 bill in his mouth – in each copy. Also, while Supreme has been dormant since the end of the Winter sale, this week brought hints at upcoming projects – one a standby project with Vans, the other a Terry Richardson shoot of Lada Gaga, seemingly destined for future ad campaigns/T-shirts. Other Terry Richardson work in the news this week was his shoot for the Opening Ceremony X Levi’s Chambray collection, featuring less famous but very fresh-faced subjects. And not to be overlooked among all the big names and celebrity were some really solid apparel releases, including the Spring/Summer collection from Bedwin & The Heartbreakers and White Mountaineering. Check these out, along with details on all of the week’s news, after the jump.

Just weeks after the Spring/Summer 2011 lookbook that Terry Richardson shot for Opening Ceremony, the fashion-forward retailer is back with another lookbook shot by the celebrity photographer – this time focusing on a collection from Levi’s revolving around chambray fabrics. This is actually the third capsule collection in the OC and Levi’s partnership, and one of the strongest and most fashionable yet; it’s comprised of four pieces for men and four for women, made from a colorful array of premium, Japanese chambray and lightweight indigo denim. Price points will range from $175 to $300, and the collection will be available at Levi’s stores, Levi.com, as well as Opening Ceremony stores and OpeningCeremony.com. Lookbooks from OC are often some of the most well shot in the business; in addition to the past seasons shot by Ryan McGinley, Terry Richardson has another edgy and charged piece of work. Check out the full look after the jump, featuring Anais Pouliot and PJ Ransone.

Yes, there was another major snowstorm this week, but most places took it in stride and moved on. In Freshness culture, it was a pretty busy week in Nike world (which isn’t that remarkable in and of itself). The Swoosh announced releases covering SB, ACG, Jordan, and Sportswear, plus a Black History Month collection.  Nike also kicked the week off with a media summit in Shanghai to showcase the Sportswear line for Spring/Summer 2011. This offered glimpses at a number of forthcoming shoes and apparel, including some vintage themed runners, some Athletics Far East and Athletics West apparel, and a number of interesting ACG items. Moving east from Shanghai to Japan, we saw the release of the Bapeon scooter. Yes, a Bape scooter, which should surprise absolutely no one, after the Bapesmoker released last November. And sticking with Bape, the label announced this week that it’s combination sale and pop-up Pirate Store concept is making a stop in London later this month. Sale prices on another sought after brand here in the States made news this week too, as Supreme announced one of it’s rare sales. In art this week, Terry Richardson brought his leering eye to Opening Ceremony, to shoot the retailer’s lookbook for the coming Spring/Summer season. Plus we saw the second short video of KAWS at the Aldrich Museum, from Steve Schinnerer, aka Paper Fortress. Finally, two interesting items from the Japanese apparel industry this week, as OriginalFake released the largest collection to date for Spring Summer 2011, and Loopwheeler announced their most colorful project to date, with a collection of patchwork style cardigans.

Photographer Terry Richardson’s unmistakable white wash backdrop and the flagrant use of flash found their way on the lookbook for Opening Ceremony’ Spring/Summer 2011 Collection recently. Headlined by one of fashion world’s current “hot topic”, 16-year old Lindsey Wixson (think of her as a cheekier version of Lauren Hutton), with Paolo Anchisi, and styling by Richardson’s collaborator, Mel Ottenberg, the shoot was one with all seriousness thrown aside and the models could be them “silly” selves, beside the beautiful clothes they wore of course. Look for the Spring and Summer 2011 Collection from Opening Ceremony to arrive at retailers in the coming weeks.

If Sam Flynn took an off day from his light cycle and decided to wander the city in style, this would perhaps be his off-duty uniform. Opening Ceremony goes tres geek chic with another movie-inspired collection, this time, dipping its paintbrush in the futuristic blue palette of TRON: Legacy. The collection of apparel and accessories delivers a retro-techy palette of orange, black and blue, and adopts flexible stretch spandex for classic garments like the tulip dress and biker jacket. The references are easy to get but the styling subtle. Nothing screams, “I’m a huge nerd with a life-sized, DIY lightcycle at home”, but it speaks more of “I’m interesting and don’t let my good fashion sense trick you into thinking I don’t enjoy a little sci-fi”. The collection is currently available at Opening Ceremony, and for those who don’t live near the stores, they are also available online.

Wale is touring across the U.S. KiD CuDi is making special appearances in promoting his new album.  Then where is Drake, the third member of this trifecta of upcoming hip-hop artists?  Contrary to popular rumors, the young Canadian wasn’t hibernating up north.  Instead, he’s been slaving away with friends Noah Shebib and Oliver El-Khatib of October’s Very Own (OVO) in creating their version of Canada Goose jacket.  Modeled after the classic Chilliwack, named for Chilliwack, British Columbia and a favorite for bush pilots for frequent the skies there, the October’s Very Own variant added hints of urban styling with nylon twill satin fabric as shell and lined with plush polyester fleece.  An accent of genuine coyote fur trim for an additional element of luxury.  Only 300 were made, 100 for friends and family, 200 is on sale now at high end boutiques such as Nomad of Toronto, Nom De Guerre, Nepenthes, Colette, Opening Ceremony flagship in Los Angeles.

Thanks to Opening Ceremony, where Umberto Leon and Carol Lim had the foresight to invest in American heritage companies and bringing them back to life and under the fashion spotlight, labels such as Pendleton and Timberland are enjoying a new found hay day in the world, and has traversed through stratum of retailers to arrive at some of the most coveted and fashion forward spots in the world. Opening Ceremony has now taken their mission one step further, and married Timberland to Pendleton to create a new roll-top leather boot which features a soft woolen Pendelton fabric ankle collar that can easily be worn up or rolled down. The fabric collar is in the pattern of Pendleton’s signature Native American blanket colorways, and the blue and red versions are matched quite perfectly with black and brown boots respectively. These are extremely limited in quantity, so do fill out the presale form to guarantee a pair!