Making its American debut this weekend: Sunday Sun, the upscale sibling to Swedish denim brand Cheap Monday. The line will be sold at NYC's Den—the 350-square-foot Odin annex—and includes sweaters and shirts like the Brandon button-down ($85), all in colors that range from gray to, well, charcoal. (And, okay, some dark browns.) But as you might expect, the highlight is the raw denim—pairs start at $150 for the so-called Storm jeans. Strapped for cash? The store will also be carrying selections from, yes, Cheap Monday.
Den, 328 E. 11th St., NYC, (212) 475-0079, dennewyork.com

Two noteworthy items from that little event going on now in Miami: beat.wave, the first, is an 11-foot arch (above) by German architect Jurgen Mayer H. It marks the entrance to the Pulse art fair and was created through an intriguing collaboration: The designer sent a 3-D model to several contractors, essentially daring them to figure out how to build it. The result is (ahem) the greenest structure in South Florida today.

Also, the long-awaited Sound issue of Visionaire will be released tonight at—you guessed it—a Basel party. Consisting of five 12-inch records with art by Cindy Sherman, Raymond Pettibon, and Mario Sorrenti, the issue has sonic contributions from U2, Animal Collective, and Linda Evangelista, who remixes her infamous "I don't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day" quote into a deliciously attitudinal piece of ambient electro. And yes, that's a good thing.
Visionaire 53 Sound, $250, visionaireworld.com

Ron Palillo—best known for being a Sweathog on Welcome Back, Kotter—has apparently been dabbling in graphic design, and has a new T-shirt on sale at Moli.com. Is the limited-edition tee a gimmick? Absolutely. But is it cool? Surprisingly, yes.
Rotter and Friends T-shirt by Ron Palillo, $37, moli.com

Nope, not Juno or Atonement—though we hear good things about both—but two new online clips: the trailer for Speed Racer, and Woody Allen's short on behalf of Speechless, a website supporting the writers' strike. The former is available here and, given that the film is directed by the Wachowski brothers, it's probably more entertaining (and less self-indulgent) than what you'll see in the theaters next spring.

As for Woody's latest, well, it's no Sleeper, but it's no Hollywood Ending, either. Watch below:

Art Basel is in full swing, and our roving reporter Gene Pressman has been hitting all the big parties. Last night's stops included Design Miami, where "they took these long plastic straws and piled them all around the atrium, and had white powder around the floors," he says. "It was the weirdest thing I've ever seen." (We're pretty sure it was an art installation.) See more pics in our slideshow.

The big winner of DNR's first-ever menswear awards? Tom Ford, whom the magazine has named Person of the Year. Other honorees include Black Fleece (Collaboration of the Year); Dolce & Gabbana (Style Icons); Ermenegildo Zegna (Newsmaker of the Year); and Paul Stuart CEO Clifford Grodd, who will receive the lifetime achievement award. The prizes will be given out this afternoon at—where else?—the Four Seasons.

Elsewhere, London's Cadogan Square is soon to be home to an apartment designed by Pringle of Scotland creative director Clare Waight Keller. The place costs more than $9,000 a month, and is said to closely resemble the line's aesthetic. We'll assume that means argyle wallpaper.

[Vogue UK]

Good news if you're taking JetBlue A320 from JFK to San Fran next Tuesday morning: The airline just announced that it will be their first flight with free wireless Internet. The service is pretty limited—you'll only be able to use mail and IM from Yahoo or BlackBerry, who are sponsoring the service. Even worse, it means there's one less place to hide from your boss over the holidays.

[CrunchGear]

Its eye-catching shape may not be for everyone—for the record, we kinda like it—but the new Pi from San Francisco-based Electrobike certainly reclaims the big red bicycle from a certain kids' TV show star-turned-movie-theater masturbator. In addition to being Design Within Reach-worthy (literally—that's where it's being sold), the two-wheeler also has some intriguing tech specs. To wit: a 48V, 100-amp electric motor that'll help it hit 20 mph without pedaling—insiders tell us that with a little modding, it'll push 50—and a range of 25 to 30 miles on a single charge. Gray Thom Browne suit not included.
Electrobike Pi, $7,500 for base model, dwr.com, electrobike.com

MORE: Check out our city bike Hotlist.

If you've ever wanted to see Bobby Kennedy in his bathrobe, now's your chance: That's just one of the images in Schapiro's Heroes, a new collection of documentary portraits from throughout photographer Steve Schapiro's 47-year career. Also included are shots of Martin Luther King, Jr., in a trapper hat, Andy Warhol lifting barbells, and Muhammad Ali being, well, himself.
Schapiro's Heroes, $50, powerhousebooks.com

Just launched in the U.K.: Facebook, the magazine, from Dennis Publishing.

[The Guardian via MediaBistro]

Sure, Japan gets a lot of cool stuff first—gadgets, fashion, and (of course) fetishes. But we're not sure about the latest: Kegadoru, a form of fashion where girls wrap themselves in bandages. The term means "injured idol," and the look is intended to appeal to men with, well, issues. No word on when Kegadoru will inspire a café in L.A.

[Mainnichi Daily News via BoingBoing]

Yep, it looks like the book has reached, well, the tipping point: Variety reports it's being made into a documentary by a team of directors including Why We Fight's Eugene Jarecki, Control Room's Jehane Noujaim, and  Super Size Me's Morgan Spurlock. (Funny, we don't remember the book having a chapter on gratuitous self-promotion.) The movie should see release sometime next winter.

PLUS: A doc you don't have to wait for—Paul Freedman's  Sand and Sorrow,  about the Darfur crisis, is narrated by George Clooney  and airs tonight on HBO.

[Variety]

Samsung's DB-UP5000—a.k.a. its dual-format, high-definition DVD player—finally has a release date (sort of). The device will drop sometime in mid- to late-December, and the price has dropped from a grand to 800 bucks. Still, as Engadget helpfully points out, it would be cheaper to just buy separate HD-DVD and Blu-ray players.

The brand will also release the Samsung Ace smartphone early next year. While it's ultraslim, it lacks a browser, touchscreen, and 3G capabilities. Well, at least you can't call it an iPhone clone.

Finally, Adesso just announced the AKP-170, a mouse that comes with a ten-key numeric keyboard built into the body. Doesn't sound very comfortable, but it will help you crunch spreadsheets that much faster. Just don't tell your boss.

[Adesso via CrunchGear]

The gents over at Motive have compiled a list of the ten most phallic cars of all time (including the TVR Tuscan, silhouetted above). Somehow, the Popemobile didn't make the cut.

PLUS: For more, um, shapely options, check out our sports coupe Hotlist.

[via Autoblog]

Twenty-five-hundred bucks may not get you much these days—have you tried ordering a coffee in London lately?—but it's still enough to score you a bottle of the new Grand Reserve Extra Añejo from year-old El Paso brand Dos Lunas. The stuff's an especially decent value, too, given that it comes in a handblown crystal decanter from Baccarat. So, does the content live up to the packaging? For the most part yes, thanks to a sharp, almost bourbon-esque bite that's complemented by a woodsy nose. (The tequila is aged for ten years inside a sherry oak cask—an industry first, the company claims.) Is it worth it? Well, you can always reuse the bottle.
Dos Lunas Grand Reserve Extra Añejo, $2,500, doslunas.com

MORE: Check out our añejo tequila Hotlist.

It was probably only a matter of time before L.A.'s Etnies—a.k.a. the skater's skate shoe—partnered with an obscure street artist. So who'd they...kick things off with? Write-Left, the design brand of Japanese-born artist Kenta Goto, who codesigned two different sneakers (plus the requisite T-shirt). The low-top Pablos above are our pick.
Write-Left for Etnies Plus, Pablo low-top, $90; Junior regular top, $94; T-shirt, $25, etniesplus.com

Benedict XVI finally has a Popemobile he can call his own (German-made, naturally)—a highly customized Mercedes G500. Its standard 292 hp V-8 should get His Holiness around Rome in a hasty fashion.

[Autoblog]

Our friends at art mag The Playground are curating Multiple I, a new exhibit at L.A.'s Architecture + Design Museum, and with works by Terence Koh,  Alex Norden (left), Floria Sigismondi, and others, the show sounds pretty solid. For a truly Miami Basel-worthy good time, crash tonight's opening party from 7 to 11.
Multiple I, Architecture + Design Museum, 5900 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, aplusd.org; opening party, tonight 7-11 p.m., rsvp@theplaygroundisfun.com

Art Basel doesn't officially kick off till tonight, but proving that you can't launch a hedonistic art fair without Lance Armstrong, the cyclist was spotted flying (riding?) solo last night at the Delano—no Olsen twin (or Gyllenhaal) in sight. (Though it looks like he made the acquaintance of New York gallerist Tony Shafrazi, above.)

Need a stocking stuffer for the traveling man in your life (a.k.a. you)? Try the new USB Media Remote from Outel (yes, the name is a light riff on a certain processor manufacturer), which lets you control your music and movies on your laptop from up to 30 feet away. It comes in two parts: the remote itself, and a so-called "dongle" that hides away in your computer's PCMCIA slot. What's not included: a tracker, should you lose the thing in your hotel suite (check the hot tub).
$30, USBGeek.com

Another day, another set of store openings to mention: Alexander McQueen is planning to open a Vegas boutique by Christmas, while Tom Ford has two Moscow stores scheduled for 2008. (Yes, sable-fur hats will be sold.)

Speaking of, we're wondering who will play Tom in Ridley Scott's recently announced Gucci family biopic. Let's just hope the movie's better than Pret-a-Porter.

Incredibly, the Triennale Design Museum, which opens tomorrow in Milan, is Italy's first museum dedicated solely to design. The work of architect Michele De Lucchi, who has also worked with Philips and furniture-maker Poltrona Frau, the structure is museum-worthy in its own right. Its most prominent feature: a towering bridge, above, that visitors must cross as they enter. On the other side they'll find the debut exhibition, The Obsession of Italian Design, which showcases 100 seminal Italian design objects plus new films by both Italian filmmakers and British director Peter Greenaway. That may seem like a curious inclusion until you consider the film that earned Greenaway his first Palme d'Or nomination: The Belly of an Architect.
Triennale Design Museum, viale Alemagna 6, 011-39-02-724341, triennale.it

For their first-ever New York men's store, which opened today, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana chose a design as loudly luxurious (yet somehow elegant) as their clothes. To wit: this chandelier, which was imported in 69 pieces from Italy and shines brightly over the two-floor location. (Perhaps it's a ploy to inspire shoppers to try the sunglasses, which are displayed prominently just inside the door.) The rest of the space is outfitted in brown- and black-lacquered wood, gray carpet, and (only on every available surface) the duo's logo.

The opening itself was typically Dolce, even if it did take place during the daytime. Male models clad in slim-fitting black suits lined the hallways, while a guy identified as the brand's best customer in Manhattan offered a paean to the designers: "While everyone else was trading baseball cards," he said, "I was following you two." Sweet? Creepy? Both? Also there: the dude from Dark City. And mini-burgers. Not surprisingly, they went mostly untouched.
Dolce and Gabbana, 825-827 Madison Ave., (212) 452-6460, dolcegabbana.it

Meet the best bike you can't get here: the MF range from Museeuw. The Belgian brand just won a product design award from Europe's prestigious International Forum Design, largely because it's the first to use frames made from light (but sturdy) flax fiber—the same material used for glass by carmakers like BMW, Audi, and Daimler-Benz. The company beat out 3,000 entries from 35 countries, and is introducing the new MF-5 next year. Check it out at museeuwbikes.be, though it helps if you can read Dutch.

MORE: Check out our city bike Hotlist.

[RoadCycling.uk via Core77 ]

Following yesterday's report in DNR that trade show operator ENK International and IMG were planning on bringing a menswear-only fashion week back to NYC in January—directly following the collections in Paris—we asked a few top local designers what they thought of the idea. The responses, like the designers we asked, were anything but uniform.

Patrik Ervell: "I think it's a good idea and I would consider participating. [But] to succeed they would need to get the big American brands back from showing in Milan: Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren."

Tim Hamilton: "The thing that gets me is that the Paris shows start in the middle of January. My goal is to show in Paris in January, so changing the schedule seems strange because there's a limited amount of models in menswear. Why make it more of a struggle for independent guys like me? I think the way the calendar is, it'd be a mistake for me."

Narciso Rodriguez: "I think this is very positive for New York and menswear designers. I would definitely consider showing here—the city is a great platform for fashion."

Marcus Wainwright of Rag & Bone: "The more people showing in New York the better. For Rag & Bone, though, given that we show both women's and men's together, I think we would still prefer to show during [women's] fashion week."

Daniel Silver of Duckie Brown: "I think it's great. Why shouldn't men be given their due and have their own fashion week? And all eyes are on New York right now. Having said that, is the press going to come? ...[I]t becomes difficult without the big guns like Ralph and Calvin."

Michael Bastian: "As a buyer, when you've seen Milan and Paris, it's like, 'I've already bought eight skinny flannel suits, I don't need one more.' The best thing would be if all the designers just came out with a video that went online at the same time, then customers could get an e-mail from the retailers who carry it."

With its brushed-silvered dial, onyx case, and eight-day nickel lever movement (including 13 jewels), this nearly 70-year-old Cartier desk clock would make quite an impression at the office. That F.D.R. monogram on the leather box doesn't hurt, either. Yes, that's the F.D.R., who used its unique four-quadrant system—which showed the time in Berlin-Rome, London-Paris, Tokyo, and San Francisco—during the Second World War. It's expected to sell today at Sotheby's for a mere $1,000,000. Kind of makes you wonder how much a GWB belt buckle might go for in 60 years.
Sotheby's Magnificent Jewels auction, 6 p.m. ET, sothebys.com

Samsung has just announced two additions to its compact entry-level S series. The specs ain't half bad, either, especially in light of the prices: $169 gets you a 7.2 megapixel processor, a 3x optical zoom, face detection focus, digital image stabilization, and video. The best feature? The "E" button, which lets you eliminate red-eye and manipulate color in the camera (i.e., before uploading your pics to a PC or printer). The only drawback may be the timing—unfortunately, they don't hit shelves till after the holidays.

Tide yourself over with our digital camera Hotlist.

[PR Web]

It may seem weird that a performance by a couple of robot-loving knob-twiddlers could become one of the all-time great live albums, but that's exactly what Daft Punk's 27-song Alive 2007 is. Also out today and worth your attention: Ghostface Killah's The Big Doe Rehab, the hard-hitting follow-up to last year's excellent Fishscale, and Wylef Jean's Carnival Vol. II, which is as all-over-the-place (in a good way) as Vol. I, thanks in part to guests like Norah Jones, Shakira, and (that old trick) Paul Simon.

But it's nice to see he's taking our fashion advice in the process, too.

[MSNBC]

British auction house Bonhams has just sold the world's oldest surviving Rolls-Royce (103 years young, and it still puts out as much power as ten horses!) for a cool $4.7 million. Look for it parked out in front of Marlowe & Sons by week's end.

Designer Ennio Capasa celebrates the 21st birthday of Costume National in New York tonight with a shindig at the label's West Village boutique, which will also fête the lavish new anniversary book published by Assouline. It's all very famiglia—Ennio and brother-cum-partner Carlo grew up in a big (and, we assume, black-clad) family in Apulia, in the south of Italy, and they've since extended their clan to include friends like Giada and Willem Dafoe. The latter is cohosting tonight's event, and also embodies the Costume paradox: soulful but decadent; gritty yet elegant; worn down, still sharp as a spiv.
Costume National, $91.25, costumenational.com

The Brand Pharmacy, a weeklong pop-up store opening tomorrow in Los Angeles, is part boutique and part installation (really, what isn't these days?). The endeavor is a collaboration between high-minded design brands JimmyJane (manufacturer of high-class sex toys); Filius, a young menswear line; and, most tellingly, CITIZEN:Citizen, known for its limited-edition art objects with nefariously practical purposes. E.g., "Cokespoon #1," a $265 gold Bic pen cap by Ju$t Another Rich Kid and Tobias Wong. ("Cokespoon #2," a gold McDonald's swizzle stick, was discontinued after the fast-food chain filed an injunction, but was subsequently inducted into SFMoMA's permanent collections.) "We didn't want to do some trunk show or sales night," explains Philip Wood, CITIZEN:Citizen founder. "That's where the notion of the Brand Pharmacy came from. We're dismantling the store, putting up a huge hospital curtain, and displaying the objects in medical cabinetry. The idea being we're creating a retail intervention."
The Brand Pharmacy at All Purpose, Dec. 4-9, 12-7 p.m., 144 South Flores St., Los Angeles, (323) 866-1828, thebrandpharmacy.com

If you don't already know that season four of The Best Show on Television is out tomorrow on DVD, anything we can say is probably unlikely to get you to watch it. Your loss.

Already a fan of The Wire? Buy the DVD set for the extras, which include two behind-the-scenes documentaries alongside six commentaries from series mastermind David Simon. Still not sated? Check out Terry Gross' November 2006 interview with Ed Burns (the writer and producer, not the lucky guy who's always posing next to Christy Turlington).

Also out on DVD: Superbad, which is a lot like The Wire except funny and about white people, and Ford at Fox, which collects 24 of John Ford's best early movies (including The Grapes of Wrath and My Darling Clementine) for the low, low price of $209.99.

Evidently the man behind the shrunken silhouette has a bit of a cruel streak. While giving a speech entitled "Tweaking the Timeless" Saturday on Manhattan's Upper East Side, he confessed that while it felt good to dress a model in a beaded lace suit for his Fall '06 show—held at an ice rink—"sticking him on skates and letting him fall felt even better." Well, at least the designer has a high pain threshold of his own, judging by his bare ankles in the subfreezing temperature. His talk was part of a conference modestly dubbed "Timeless: The Anatomy of Legendary Style and Icons," and Browne sounded a reflective note throughout. (Maybe it was the presence of his mom, who had come up from Allentown to see her boy.) "You don't often think of yourself outside of your own little world," Browne told moderator Andrew Bolton, adding that he was largely unaware of his influence on menswear. He went on to state that he didn't know what he was doing. Cheer up, Thom—things seem to be working out so far.

Speaking of, Browne's friends at Brooks Brothers dropped off DNR's annual list of American megabrands, which was published today. Also out: Ray-Ban, Chaps, Lacoste, and Bulova, while Perry Ellis, Gucci, J.Crew, Oakley, and National Geographic (?) were added. Fruit of the Loom pushed out Levi's for the top spot, presumably thanks to those goofy commercials with Vince Gill

According to today's Page Six, the rise of the Canadian dollar against the increasingly pathetic American version means potheads are taking a hit. (Sorry.) Prices for Canadian chronic—which, according to sources, is among the best—are up as much as 25 percent. Good thing Doritos are still made in the U.S.

Sir Norman Foster's long-delayed renovation of the Dolder Grand in Zurich finally has a solid open date: April 2008. Work on the 1897 hotel has been underway since 2004, and when it actually opens highlights will include a towering cupola-topped ballroom, a driving range, and a massive, 40,000-square-foot spa. Eco freaks will be pleased to learn that the Dolder will be partially powered by on-site thermal heat sources, but the best part may be a handful of suites by London-based United Designers, who claim the rooms are influenced by Alberto Giacometti and the Rolling Stones. Remember when rock starsdestroyed, rather than inspired, hotel rooms?
Dolder Grand, Kurhausstrasse, 011-41-44-456-60-000, doldergrand.ch