Edward Steichen was a renowned painter and photographer whose reputation was slightly diminished by his more commercial work—for those lowdown ragsVogue and Vanity Fair. (They're not the artistic albatrosses they used to be, apparently.) While researching a traveling exhibition of his photography, curators William Ewing, Todd Brandow, and Nathalie Herschdorfer found a wealth of Steichen prints in the Condé Nast archives, and have collected them into a monograph to be published in time for New York Fashion Week. Edward Steichen: In High Fashion contains photos taken between 1923-1937, when the artist was chief photographer for both those magazines. They illustrate the development of portraiture (the sort that would go on to inspire Horst P. Horst, Irving Penn, and Richard Avedon), and feature everyone from Marlene Dietrich to William Butler Yeats (pictured). The idea? To reclaim some glory for Steichen, who, judging from the quality of his work, should hardly need any help.
$75, available in September at amazon.com

Charvet's first limited-edition retail product swings both ways (politically speaking): The French company has made two tie patterns for Saks Fifth Avenue. On a recent buying trip, the Saks folks jokingly asked the company to produce elephant and donkey neckware to commemorate the election year. The results? Pictured above. And not that we're taking a stance here, but we kind of prefer the elephants.
$195, available exclusively at Saks in August

If you haven't maintained a 24/7 surveillance of the Web's numerous sneaker blogs—and who possibly could?—you'll likely have missed some great collaborative kicks. (There might be a sucker born every minute, but there are at least four pairs of shoes made for him.) Luckily, graphic designer Nathan Gale, of London's Intercity Design, has put together the best of the best in a forthcoming compendium, Art and Sole, featuring more than 500 pairs. Of course, indexing them is the (relatively) easy part; as for actually getting 'em, you're on your own.
About $30, available in September at amazon.co.uk

[HintMag]

Wu-Tang Clan's RZA is an avowed chess lover at whose Web site fans can play the game "for prizes, or just for the joy of flexin' ya mentals." But if that's not aggressive enough for you, the emerging sport of chess-boxing just might be. Gaining momentum in the U.S. and Europe, chess-boxing alternates three-minute sparring rounds with four-minute speed-chess rounds; the winner is determined either by knockout, checkmate, or the ref's call. Lennox Lewis has spoken highly of the game, but no word as yet from RZA. Instead, he'll be addressing the U.N. in August on chess's potential as a tool for teaching peaceful conflict resolution.

[Time via The Morning News]

It might not run on surplus wine—whatever that is—but Lotus' Eco Elise, to be introduced later this month in London, is still the British manufacturer's most environmentally friendly to date. Fuelled by ethanol and methanol, the car's tricked out with rooftop solar panels and made of sustainable composites, including locally farmed hemp. (In a word, smoking.) Pricing and availability remain TBA, but we're fairly sure it's not as green as the bobsled the company made in collaboration with the RAF for use in the British armed forces' Inter-Services Ice Championships (see below). It can approach speeds of 85 mph—not bad for something with no engine.

[Autobloggreen]

San Francisco chef-restaurateur Michael Mina expands his burgeoning mini-empire tomorrow with a foray into cocktailing. The Clock Bar at the Westin St. Francis, whose rosewood-augmented interior was designed by the Rockwell Group (responsible for the mod-luxe decor at New York's Kittichai, among others), features space clocks sitting atop glowing glass columns. Knowing the time in Tokyo is appealing, we guess, but doesn't provide the impetus to visit—unlike, say, the drinks menu, which features standbys and new creations in equal measure (see the Rouge: black-pepper-infused Skyy, fresh lime, strawberry, pastis rinse, served up with cracked pepper and strawberry, $11). The chef's bar menu's also intriguing—soft-shell-crab po' boy? Yes, please—but imbibers beware: After a few of those cocktails, it's unlikely you'll be able to taste much of anything.
335 Powell St., San Francisco, (415) 726-4166, michaelmina.net/clockbar

[Thrillist]

What's better than a scantily clad woman in a martini glass? Not much, really. But a car in an hourglass comes close, particularly when it's one from BMW's new 7-series. Located in (where else?) Moscow, the ambitious display featured "sand" at the top, which trickled down to reveal the new sedan. It was meant to introduce the model to the world, but that plan was spoiled, of course, when images of the Bimmer leaked online. Uh, sorry about that.

[De51gn via Design Boom]

Tonight, Ricky Gervais kicks off a three-night stand of comedy shows inside the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden. No tickets? No problem. Make due with this vintage clip of the comic on his "obsession" with painting. (Trust us: It's funnier than his cameo in GTA IV.)

It's been a rough month for Americana—first Abu Dhabi buys the Chrysler Building, and now InBev has bought Anheuser-Busch. We'll be pouring out a Michelob tonight.

[NYT]

No tennis whites in sight as Lacoste celebrates its 75th birthday: The brand's artist collaboration with Visionaire launches next month, and, in the meantime, Alife Rivington Club's take arrives in select stores this week. The upshot? The classic croc's nowhere near Wimbledon's baseline. "We played with the polos to make them more like rugby jerseys," explains A.R.C. creative director Arnaud Delecolle. "The idea was to take that vintage, clubby feel, and apply to it a different game, one that's a little more rough." Available in red, black, gold, and purple, the six-piece collection features both jerseys ($175) and sneakers ($115, pictured.) "It's sort of like a uniform for sneakerheads, minus the shorts," says Delecolle. Downtown style: Not always a gentleman's game.
Available at Alife Rivington Club, 158 Rivington St., New York, (212) 375-8128; 451 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 655-2093; 411 Cordova St. W., Vancouver, B.C. (604) 685-6400, alifenyc.com

Hey, we like an enormous, roof-splitting angel as much as the next guy, but sometimes you just want to shop for Sheeshedar trousers from home. For those occasions, there's the new e-commerce store at alexandermcqueen.com. The site offers shopping by looks, like the aristocratic (and surprisingly restrained) one pictured, with a chevron two-button coat ($1,960), knit sweater with contrast-dickey collar ($1,145), cotton pants ($780), with ankle boots ($830) and a wool travel bag ($2,505). While that comes to more than seven grand for the complete package (which, in fairness, are sold as separates) there is at least one bargain: McQueen generously offers free ground shipping.

Audi has just unveiled a new foosball-table concept, which (sadly) isn't scheduled for production. (Something tells us the engineers just wanted one for their break room.) And hey, three makes a trend: Between this, the one from the Milan furniture fair, and Jared Arp's maple model from May, it's shaping up to be the year of high-design table soccer. We're not complaining.

[Jalopnik]

Five things worth knowing today

- It's Bastille Day. (Storm your local prison. Carefully.)
- HBO screens Sidney Lumet's Fail-Safe free in NYC's Bryant Park.
- Sour-beer lovers (we're sure you're out there) get their day in the sun at Portland's Puckerfest.
- Today in 1969, $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 bills were removed from U.S. circulation.
- And today in 1960, Christopher Guest go-to Jane Lynch was born. Below, Lynch's scene-stealing turn from Best in Show: