All Things Très Bien

Follow us on Tumblr and win loads of cash!

2012-02-10T16:54:00.000+01:00

Well, not really, but you have the chance to win a €400 bag from Mismo! (See the pics below)

Here are the steps to enter the competition:
1. Follow us on Tumblr
2. Like or reblog the post on Tumblr
3. Done!

Was it Marni for H&M or Marni x Très Bien?

2012-02-10T14:22:00.002+01:00

View the rest of the pics here

Post Overalls at Pitti

2012-02-09T11:54:00.000+01:00

For guys (like me) who hang at the intersection of streetwear and workwear, there were two destinations at Pitti: L'Altro Uomo and Touch!. Tucked in the back of the Fortezza complex, past the tailoring pavilion and street style photographers, past the guys standing around, looking at their phones, waiting to have their outfits documented by street style photogs, past the big standalone exhibits from high-street brands, was Touch!, the place to find Barena, Nanamica, Post Overalls, Yuketen, and Monitaly, and the men who love them.

Hannes, Simon, Anders and I stopped in at Post Overalls to flip through samples of the finest American workwear that revivalist Takeshi Ohfuchi had to offer. Mr. Ohfuchi has an impressive collection of iconic vintage stuff himself (sometimes documented on the Post Oalls blog, but we heard about the new season from his associates, including noted photographer Katsu Naito.

In the collection, we saw some incremental seasonal changes in Ohfuchi's steadfast designs: a centimeter of sleeve length changed; a zip replacing buttons. We’ve seen more and more color and pattern in the prints from Post, especially in the Menpolini shorts and work shirt models.

Hemingway might dig the Hunting World vibe of Post's new “Town and Country” styles, modified with safari details and suede trim. Afterward, we stalked and hunted down a cappuccino.

Dries Van Noten - Men's Collection Summer 2012

2012-02-08T15:18:00.001+01:00

All Black Everything - Jil Sander AW12 in Milano

2012-02-07T10:37:00.002+01:00

View all pics here

The new Acne store in Copenhagen

2012-02-06T14:43:00.000+01:00

Acne's second Copenhagen studio is a exploration of ruby hues. Maze like fixturings are covered in all shades of red layered with differing textures. Warm red flocked velvet juxtaposes red carpet, terazzo, and the red neon rooftop. The store frontage channels the experience of a Copenhagen peep show with it's windows blocked out to only reveal shoppers at head height.

Yuketen & Monitaly AW 2012

2012-02-06T09:28:00.000+01:00

View the rest of the pics here

A.P.C. spring!

2012-01-31T17:12:00.000+01:00

The trim tailoring, riffs on mil-spec and prep, and nods to outdoors seen in their Spring 2012 lineup are consistent with the cards A.P.C.’s been dealing recently, and simple to shuffle into nearly any closet. This spring we’re seeing pastels and slashes of color (including a dashing yellow), and more washes and fabric treatments for denim and cotton, but it’s not all sweetness and light. Military and hunt themes undercut the dominant, breezy French theme. Online shortly, shot on our new model Daniel.

Divine inspiration

2012-01-31T10:13:00.001+01:00

Several "great" ideas struck me when working on the flyer for the party in Copenhagen this Thursday, so I decided to go for them all. Be sure to come by if you're in the city!

Buying Nanamica AW12

2012-01-30T15:01:00.000+01:00

Pictures from the Nanamica stand at Pitti Oumo a while ago. Feels a bit strange to post this as we just received the first drop from the spring collection from the brand, hopefully it will be up online tomorow if everything goes as planned. Anyway, the fall '12 collection sure looks promising.

View the rest of pics here

Adrien Brody didn't make the final cut but...

2012-01-30T13:36:00.001+01:00

A short video from our headquarters shot and edited by our photographer Linus. Clothes from Dries Van Noten and Jil Sander, available at Très Bien.

Barena Autumn / Winter 2012 at Pitti

2012-01-27T15:31:00.000+01:00

Pics from Pitti Uomo in Florence last week. The Barena collection for Autumn / Winter 2012 is bigger than ever and looks amazing. Here's some of the styles we picked out. See all here.

Looking G-Unit at the Alden showroom in Florence

2012-01-27T15:03:00.001+01:00

Last week at the Alden stand at menswear fair Pitti Uomo in Florence, Anders and Hannes taking a break from the buying.

Great cookies & clothes: At Missoni in Milan

2012-01-26T17:41:00.000+01:00

View the rest of the pics here

Spring 2012 teaser video

2012-01-21T00:00:00.000+01:00

Randoms from Pitti Uomo in Florence

2012-01-20T18:31:00.001+01:00

Just got these pictures from Simon. He, Hannes and Anders were at the menswear show Pitti Uomo earlier this week. We'll post more pics from various collections during the next few days.

Anders and Hannes

From left to right: The Mister Mort dude, Angelo and Daiki from Engineered Garments

Jockum from Our Legacy at the Our Legacy stand at Pitti

Anders and Hannes doing the infamous Pitti stand

Shirt from the Gitman Vintage AW12 collection

Hannes, Très Bien-writer Pete and Anders

Spring is in the air, new collections on their way!!

2012-01-19T11:25:00.000+01:00

a CONSTELLATION within by Our Legacy

2012-01-12T16:55:00.003+01:00

Good old Our Legacy always deliver. While many other menswear brands produce similar items from season to season, Our Legacy always manage to deliver a fresh feeling to everyday styles along with many new and innovative ones. That's a great thing with the brand, somehow they know in advance what you want for each coming season. Like the Great Sweat Cold Grey Silk, from the first delivery from the new spring collection, with a fantastic washed treatment and some silk in the cotton mix to make it even more, well, great, not just another sweater. See the video below for guidance on how Our Legacy want you to dress for SS12.

The Green Soccer Journal 3

2012-01-11T12:02:00.000+01:00

Issue three focuses on the goalkeepers role on the pitch and features interviews with legendary keepers such as Bob Wilson, Tim Howard and the most expensive goalkeeper of all time, Gianluigi Buffon. In stores now, online tomorrow.

The Winter Sale starts 3rd of January 2012

2011-12-30T13:43:00.002+01:00

The TRÈS BIEN WINTER SALE is just around the corner and the rules are as simple as always. 30-50% OFF on all FW/11 collections. The time for this always very happy event is TUESDAY THE 3RD OF JANUARY at 7.00 AM CET. Note that this is the online sale, the sale in store will start on Thursday the 5th of January. Below the pic are some guidelines how early you need to get up or how late you need to stay awake.

Stockholm 7.00 AM

New York 1.00 AM

Los Angeles 10.00 PM

Tokyo 3.00 PM

Rio De Janeiro 4.00 AM

Sydney 5.00 PM

Happy Shopping/Très Bien

Acne SS12 first part soon online

2011-12-29T12:55:00.000+01:00

The sale @ WELCOME store starts today

2011-12-27T14:48:00.000+01:00

Junya & Comme SHIRT spring 12 videos

2011-12-23T14:40:00.001+01:00

Très Bien TV

2011-12-20T17:39:00.002+01:00

We premiere our new Vimeo Pro channel with our latest film in our In Motion series. Directed by our friends Aaron Bateman and Chris Calvert.

Acne Paris

2011-12-13T14:07:00.001+01:00

The Acne "conquer the world tour" 2011 continues with the 2nd Acne shop in Paris opening tonight. The address is 3 Rue Froissart in the Marais.

New publications

2011-12-12T19:08:00.001+01:00

It's always a headache to put upmagazines and publications on the webshop. For some reasons thingsalways fucks up, if it's not the VAT rate, which differs fromclothes, then it's something else. On top of that we kind of loosemoney for each issue we sell as the margins are terrible. But it wasdefinetaly worth it this time, see the earlier posts today for more infoabout our latest additions. And oh, sorry for the picture, justwanted your ATTENTION!!! Photo by Rita Lino.

Matter Magazine - Autumn Winter 11/12

2011-12-12T15:39:00.001+01:00

Titled 'Matter', the first issue features a collaboration with Rick Owens, an interview with Aaron Koblin, a discussion with the art critic Matthew Collings about art on the internet, and fashion from brands like Yves Saint Laurent, Tom Ford, Yohji Yamamoto and Jil Sander. Issue Autumn Winter 11/12 is now up online.

No skateboarding - Mathias Fennetaux

2011-12-12T15:33:00.001+01:00

"No skateboarding" is the story of French skater and photographer Mathias Fennetaux who decided to document all skateboarders that had influenced him and his generation growing up in the 90's. Seventy portraits all taken with the same square-format camera. In stock now, cop it here

032c Winter 2011/12

2011-12-12T15:02:00.001+01:00

032c has been around for several years and is always inspiring, for some reason we've never bought the magazine for Très Bien. Among other things the new issue features an in depth interview with Supremes James Jebbia who is known for not talking to media but probably felt that 032c will get the story of Supreme right, interesting read. Get issue 22 here.

And the winner is...

2011-12-12T11:40:00.001+01:00

The lucky winner of the stuffed Margiela bag competition we had a while ago is Rob Thomas, Congrats!! Thanks to everyone who participated and all positive words in the comments field and on Fb. Now we know that you wanted to win the cookies but still:-) 2011 is coming to an end and we also want to thank all our visitors and customers.

We hope that 2012 will be super for everybody, wish we could give you all cookies!

Launch 2011-12-15

2011-12-07T17:14:00.001+01:00

Meet Martin, our store manager at WELCOME

2011-12-06T16:22:00.001+01:00

We just had a chat with him, read the interview here

Competition: Win 50 kilos of Swedish gingerbread

2011-12-05T10:40:00.000+01:00

Well not really, but it is competition time again, and why make it hard on you. We decided to follow Father Christmas and just be nice. No rules or heavy Trivial Pursuit torture questions. One happy winner will get a leather Margiela bag filled with some goodies. The new Candy mag, some Swedish gingerbread (what’s left of them ), a Visvim scented candle, warm Falke boot socks and Christmasy Our Legacy shirt, Terry style.

~~Just like this post and type your name and e-mail address in the comments field below…~~

The competition has ended, a winner will be announced soon!

Candy 3rd Issue

2011-12-05T09:49:00.000+01:00

Get it here!

WELCOME one year

2011-11-30T11:32:00.001+01:00

Pictures from our Stockholm store, WELCOME, that we run together with the Our Legacy team. Thanks to everybody who showed up to celebrate our birthday.

View all pics here

Is that an Anderson's belt Justin is wearing?

2011-11-29T16:51:00.001+01:00

Slim Sune in Pre-shrunk Business 2

2011-11-23T09:32:00.001+01:00

Our Chief Technical Officer, as he like to call himself, or Jonas as we call him, did some quick n' dirty photoshopping with one of the pictures Linus took on Sune yesterday. Not hilarious, but I'm posting it anyway.

Neighborhood Fall/Winter 2011 looks

2011-11-22T20:50:00.001+01:00

Photos by Linus Morales

SHOP NEIGHBORHOOD

Welcome winter

2011-11-18T16:31:00.001+01:00

Favorite picks – Très Bien CEO Anders

2011-11-16T21:00:00.001+01:00

Anders, our CEO, the skipper of the ship, the baws or the govenor as we mostly call him, has picked his favorite pieces from the Fall Winter 2011 season in a short editorial shot earlier today.

What he's wearing? Check the full editorial here

Marco & Christopher at Welcome in Sthlm

2011-11-15T09:42:00.001+01:00

The Avant/Garde Diaries has created a short video filmed at Welcome where Marco Velardi from Apartamento magazine and Christopher Nying from Our Legacy discusses what they do, what inspires them and their mutual respect for each other's work, amongst other things.

New brand at Très Bien for SS12: Hiroshi Tsubouchi

2011-11-11T14:02:00.001+01:00

View the rest of the pictures

New line from Common Projects: New Editions

2011-11-09T15:22:00.000+01:00

Common Projects is known for making the most well designed and smartly engineered sneakers available - leveraging the same intense quality of Dior, Lanvin, or Margiela - but eschewing the fussiness, and sticking more closely to traditional athletic shoe aesthetics. And now that Common Projects is as close to perfection as a high end sneaker can be - the only question is, what’s next?

The answer is in the New Editions collection. For this new endeavor, launching in Spring ‘12 at Tres Bien, CP focuses it’s sights on more casual sneakers, and imbues them with the fanatic devotion to quality and design that has pushed CP so far. Imagine comfortable, everyday sneakers that you can kick around in without a second thought, and add in subtle but key upgrades like Vibram soles, leather linings, and by-hand construction: New Editions keeps the pricepoint and accessibility of truly everyday and everywhere sneakers, but still elevates casual footwear far above the ordinary.

Tokyo part 1

2011-11-02T15:57:00.000+01:00

The last of the buying trips for the season is Tokyo and here it's all about the Japanese brands. Wtaps, Undercover, Beams, Visvim etc. 4 fantastic days all around the city with perfect weather and lots of new collections to look forward to. More details to come the next couple of days.

OK view from the hotel

Surprisingly, Shibuya crossing was packed with people

Prada store on Omotesando looking crisp as always

Sin City mode in Nakameguru

Former employee Mårten took a short break from his studies in Hong Kong to meet up. Here outside the Gip store...

...which is the new Wtaps store in Shibuya

We also met Mr Terry Ellis, head buyer at Beams

And we spent lots of time walking around in nice neighborhoods

View the rest of the pics here

White Mountaineering Spring / Summer 2012 video

2011-10-27T16:55:00.001+02:00

Worn out loved ones

2011-10-27T12:05:00.000+02:00

We threw a small competition on Facebook a few days ago. The rules where simple, take a photo of your absolute favorite shoes ever and upload them to our Facebook, the ones that gets the most likes win. We got loads of contributions and the winner was chosen a few days ago, the Converse Chuck Taylor Lo Cuts in the 9th pic from the top. Here they are along some of our favourites.

JUNYA WATANABE COMME DES GARCONS MAN .. 4years old ..never washes!!

"Converse x Comme des garcons play"

"Love this shoes the most. mcnasty derby"

new balance 1500 x lamjc x colette
"vivre sans temps mort"

"Nike Dunk high Gucci style, awsome pair, green and red with pieces of denim on the sides, so nice with a military green chino, and oh yes on the backgroung nice vue of Paris, enjoy ;)"

"3 year old achilles! worn these bad boys like a hermit (around the world) and i grew old in them, so come on, please. i need a new pair of premiums!"

"A fan of Common Projects?"

"OL Scotch Grain Brogues"

"My first and only Converse Chuck Taylor Lo Cuts. Been using this pair since 2009 and it just looks, and feels better with age and wear! Love."

"my precious visvim lhamo folk"

"My favourite pair with my favourite friends"

"Lanvin tennis haute velcros FW08"

"My partners in crime for 7 years now. Nothing will tear us apart"

"This shoes was mistakenly thought to be an Undefeated Air Jordan 1 (I) ,and because of the hype of the supposed Undefeated Air Jordan 1, many pairs sold for $800+ at ebay . I got them in $130. my favorite forever!!"

"Hytteskor med kvaster, på danska! Kan det bli bättre..."

Sune in Crescent Down Works fall '11

2011-10-24T18:02:00.000+02:00

Shop Crescent Down Works

Snaps from recent visit to Comme des Garcons in Paris

2011-10-24T13:44:00.000+02:00

At the Our Legacy office

2011-10-19T09:37:00.000+02:00

With a joint store in Stockholm and being one of the most frequent brands at Très Bien, one might say that our collaboration with the Our Legacy boys is pretty solid. For FW12 we're stepping up the game even more though. More info on that coming soon..

View all pictures here

Buying A.P.C. for next summer

2011-10-18T11:59:00.002+02:00

View all pictures here

The Gyakusou collection online in a few hours

2011-10-14T17:23:00.000+02:00

Nike and Jun Takahashi, the founder and designer of Undercover, are releasing their Nike x Undercover Gyakusou collection tomorrow and Très Bien is one of the chosen few that gets to carry it. It consists of technical running gear from Nike in the take of Mr. Takahashi. These images are taken by photographer Katsuhide Morimoto and are shot around the old temples in the Tofuku-ji and Kozan-ji area. These are sites where you normally aren't allowed to run.

Takahashi explains in the pressrealese: "From the 1st collection, I have a consistent concept on color. I pick the ones that blend well with the nature and the city at the same time, which is an important concept for Gyakusou.”

Beautiful photography if you ask me, and there's also something creepy about them. Someone at the office mentioned the movie "The Ring" as a reference, or "Ringu", the Japanese original. I don't really know, but anyway, we're canceling the Friday night activities here to get the collection up in time at midnight, Swedish time.

View all the pictures here

Bootcamp Magazine issue 8

2011-10-13T14:16:00.002+02:00

Motoki Mizoguchi made a nice gesture sending us a bunch of the latest issue of Bootcamp Magazine. Up for grabs in our stores in Malmo and Stockholm as well as online. Oh, and did I mention that it's free?

White Mountaneering first drop

2011-10-10T14:30:00.000+02:00

We have a rule over here, we don't open the boxes right away after we get a delivery. We have a way we work with all that, but as soon as someone saw that the latest boxes was from White Mountaneering, we we're all over them. First drop will be up online and in stores later this week or early next.

Neighborhood Fall 2011

2011-10-07T15:12:00.000+02:00

Pictures from our last visit to Tokyo in May at the Neighborhood showroom where we bought the fall / winter 2011 collection. First drop will be up online and in stores this weekend or on Monday at the latest. The reason why we aint sure if we'll manage to get it up before the weekend is because the European Qualification game in soccer between Sweden and Finland later today, to be honest. Soccer is religion and Zlatan is GOD.

View all pictures here

Buying Patrik Ervell for spring '12 in NY

2011-10-06T11:38:00.000+02:00

Gitman Vintage pick for spring '12

2011-10-05T10:26:00.000+02:00

Chirs Olberding at the Gitman New York office

See all pics here

Soon...

2011-10-04T20:20:00.001+02:00

Randoms from New York

2011-10-03T16:08:00.000+02:00

Arriving in NY

Breakfast

KAWS + The Standard Hotel

McNairy showroom

James

Seavees spring '12

Master piece rugsack

Måns playing records

Swagga Jackin' Pt. 2

2011-09-30T10:52:00.010+02:00

Prada, Gucci, Visvim all have encountered it. Now our friends over at Happy Socks have had their first(?) as well. This is just too obvious...

Happy Socks?

Cotton Pop?

Missoni X Converse

2011-09-29T10:55:00.004+02:00

From the Converse First String collection. The Chuck Taylor X Missoni is here again. In 2 colorways and in very limited quantity. Online the 1st of October.

Raekwon talking New Balance

2011-09-28T10:31:00.000+02:00

Raekwon talks about his love for New Balance and how they used to take the train to Manhattan to cop gear back in the days. For me, I don't associate NB with American urban street culture that much. It's an American brand, sure, but for me it feels almost british and I'm thinking more of running gear than streetwear. Anyway, quite intresting to hear the Chef speak on his favourite NB models.

Meeting with McNairy in New York

2011-09-26T16:59:00.000+02:00

When I got to the Soho Building in New York earlier this month to visit the Mark McNairy showroom, I saw a gentleman with his back to me standing on the sidewalk, smoking and texting energetically. Wearing a wool and silk buckle-back suit vest, LVC denim, and a pair of McNairy x BAPE longwing brogues - there was no question about who this was. I said hello; we waited a few more minutes for Simon and Hannes to show up (during which time McNairy did not cease furiously texting Hannes at all).

Once everyone arrived, we headed up to Mark’s showroom and got right down to business - sorting through hundreds of samples Mark had on hand, to find the absolute cream of the crop to offer at Très Bien for Spring. Not an easy task - there was a huge amount of seriously fine footwear on display - from monk straps to mocs, bucks to boots to brogues - and a plethora of leathers, finishes, colors, and soles.

While Simon and Hannes put their buyer’s hats on and exchanged rapid-fire Swedish, I sat down to ask Mark a few questions. One of the many things I wanted to get from Mr. McNairy was his honest take on collaborating with Très Bien. His answer? “We just hit it off in the beginning. Not in terms of the product, but in terms of personality.” And that’s McNairy right there - the personality drives the product. Full write up of our talk and visit coming...

View all the pics from the visit

It doesn't usually get like this, desktop mayhem!

2011-09-26T16:27:00.001+02:00

Our Legacy Impressions AW11

2011-09-23T15:49:00.000+02:00

Some might say that branding is just in the way of the product. Never really grasped that, the magic included in a shirt from Dries Van Noten, besides the actual piece, is almost as important if you ask me, not at least because it's a lot of fun. Our Legacy always seems to be one step ahead with all that, besides making great clothes. They do the contradiction thing – so often used in fashion – with ease and confidence, on an almost back-in-the-day-Margiela level. This lookbook is a good example, with art direction and photo by TBS friend Tony Cederteg.

When they want to clash the art school look with a bit of street they throw in a pair of subtle grey New Balance 1500's that stand out just enough. When they want a more organic feel to the pics they, use an ordinary compact camera instead of something high-end, but without taking it too far making the pictures shabby and all that. Earthy colors, but still not boring. Throw in a nice old car in there, but don't shy out to give a Mazda 323 from the nineties (I know nothing about cars but something like that) some space as well. Ok, but what about the actual clothes? It's the best collection from The Legacy to date. Hands down.

View the whole lookbook here

Très Bien Beauty in NY

2011-09-23T10:57:00.000+02:00

"Normally for a small nail salon in NYC, you can normally get a mani/pedi for about $25-$30. This place was $45 for a mani/pedi combo (no spa special or anything like that - just the standard mani/pedi). Second, the woman doing my nails was very distracted and was the worst manicurist I have ever had. I asked her to push back my cuticles, she did not listen and cut them and moreover, she nipped me with the cutting tool and I although it did not bleed, anytime she put chemicals on my hands (astringent or polish) - it burned like hell."

Office treats

2011-09-21T13:29:00.000+02:00

We got a small faction at the office who has a sweet tooth for cakes. This is the last two weeks consumption...

Jonas and Viktor's prinsesstårta (princess cake) pt. 1

Elin's homemade apple pie with vanilla sauce

Jonas' homemade cake

Jonas and Viktor's princess cake pt. 2

Visiting Saturdays NYC

2011-09-20T17:12:00.002+02:00

We stopped by last week to scope out what pieces from the Saturdays line Très Bien will be offering for Spring ‘12. Saturdays founder Morgan Collet walked us through the Spring collection - which is dead cool, without trying too hard; Hannes and Simon picked out plenty of casual pieces for Spring 2012.

The courtyard behind the store

Saturdays founder Morgan in front of the store on Crosby Street in New York

The office in the basement of the store

View the rest of the pics here

Karaoke at E17th Street in NY

2011-09-20T14:51:00.000+02:00

We took the opportunity to do some T-Pain singing by artists with the epithet Lil', not too common at Karaoke bars back home in Sweden

Viktor Tell, founder of Happy Socks, murdering New York New York, the Sinatra joint

Viktor and Anton Klint in an duet

Common Projects showroom in NY

2011-09-16T17:30:00.001+02:00

During our buying trip to New York last week, the sidewalks were choked with fashion fans and glitterati alike. On Sunday, after a quick lunch, we ducked out of the fabulous madness for a visit at The News showroom, on Broome and Broadway, to check out White Mountaineering and Common Projects for Spring ‘12.

Unfortunately, the WM collection had already set sail for Tokyo (but we’ll be sure to catch up with them in a few weeks during our Japan expedition). We did, however, get plenty of time with Common Projects: Simon and Hannes got hands on with the footwear to select the best offerings for next Spring, and I also got a bit of time to chat with CP co-founder and all-around nice guy Pete Poopat, about the current state of affairs at the company, and about how he and partner Flavio Girolami keep creative momentum.

Stay tuned for a full interview - and of course for a very solid Spring lineup from the sneaker makers par excellence. It takes a subtle eye to appreciate everything that makes up the CP collection, but Pete and Flavio haven’t been resting on their laurels, and the Spring ‘12 collection is proof.

At the News showroom

This work inspired boot is new for spring '12

Also new for spring is a clean runner in mesh and suede

Common Projects SS12

Peter (left) from Common Projects and myself

See more pics here

Margaret Howell on her favourite designs

2011-09-14T13:21:00.000+02:00

Inventory made us aware of Margaret Howell's feature in The Guardian on her favourite product design. We were actually in the works to do an interview with Margaret ourselves a while ago, discussing the topic of design. While it didn't become a complete interview, Ms. Howell did deliver some good answers to Pete Anderson about, amongst others, the Anglepoise lamp, which is one of the items brought up in the Guardian feature.

TRÈS BIEN SHOP: A lot of design today, in clothing as well as furniture, architecture, etc seems to favour looking to the past for influence. Does Ms. Howell have a preferred era of design?

MARGARET HOWELL: For me there is an element of nostalgia in drawing influence from the past but it is taking that reference forward which is important (to reproduce is too literal). A new design which embodies an element of familiarity can helps us to relate to it.When I began designing clothes I looked to the 1930s, an era influenced by Bauhaus principles, economy in architecture, and clothes designed for a modern lifestyle. Photographs of my parents in their youth captured a casual elegance and the outdoor spirit of the time.Now I also find myself inspired by styles from my youth—the 1950s and 60s.

Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany

TRÈS BIEN SHOP: The appeal of workwear is very current, but in your design, and in your writing, you seems to have a unique idea of what constitutes workwear—less about resurrecting old-time details and more about honest and functional clothing. What do you think of the current cultural fetish for workwear and authenticity?

MARGARET HOWELL: Like the Anglepoise lamp, workwear is the result of the function it has to perform—a truthful, tried, and tested piece of design. Its fit is comfortable and every detail is there for a reason. Inevitably worn and sometimes torn it takes on an individual character. In the 1960s it was the fashion to wear military uniforms, detached from their real function they were rich and decorative. Today’s trend for workwear is more casual, choosing workwear designed for factory or land workers. Perhaps the present generation has grown up with man-made fabrics and sophisticated office dressing and now enjoys the simple authenticity and comfort inherent in workwear. Workwear has always been there for me because it suited my active, art-school life style, and my attraction to functional honest design. So I think workwear from the past or future will always be relevant. It is timeless.

Anglepoise lamp - George Carwardine, 1932

TRÈS BIEN SHOP: Is it correct that you live in East Anglia: is that correct? If so, can you talk about the decision to live there, rather than in a city?

MARGARET HOWELL: In fact I’m based in London but spend as much time as I can in East Anglia. I enjoy the pressure of work and buzz of London life, but equally I love the quiet of the countryside and being close to nature and the sea. The East Anglian coastal landscape is very flat where lines and shapes are clearly defined under broad sweeps of sky and ever-changing light. Modernist architecture sits well in such a landscape, as happily as the pastel-coloured cottages with thatched or tiled roofs.

Some more of Margaret's favourite product design pieces...

Abacus tubular steel lighting - David Mellor, 1955

Bow top dining chair - Lucian R Ercolani, c 1940

Alveston cutlery set - Robert Welch, 1962

Meccano - Frank Hornby, 1901

Church’s shoes - Thomas Church, 1873

Duffle coat - Unknown

Motorway signs - Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert, 1958

Royal Festival Hall - LCC Architectural Department, 1948-51

Polypropylene chair - Robin Day, 1962

McNairy samples for spring '12

2011-09-13T11:44:00.000+02:00

Mark's sample collection is huge. As Mark McNairy's shoes are handmade in the UK, he can easily produce a sample without too much trouble. And this really shows from his ever growing array of footwear he displays at trade shows all over. Mark isn't one who backs away from going a bit overboard with his designs, and more than often tries some really stupid unconventional styles, besides the more classic ones. Often he's on point, sometimes it's more fun than something you would take in as a buyer. Judge for yourselves, ~~a few styles are posted below, if you want to see them all we've put them together in a Flickr set~~.

Many (dare I say most?) of these styles will never see the light of day of stockists, since all are made to order, and the styles that don't get picked, don't get produced. We also have buyer's goggles when out on buying trips, and only see styles that we feel are a natural fit with the Très Bien Mix™, and perhaps neglect some of the styles you would've liked. Therefore we would like to ask you this: is there some particular ones, perhaps one of the more controversial ones, you would like see being made?

Update: Mark wasnt too pleased with us posting all his shoe models for spring because of the possibiliity that less creative brands would snatch his ideas. So sorry folks, but we had to remove these.

Outside the Y-3 show

2011-09-13T09:03:00.000+02:00

Simon and Hannes, Mercer Street NY. Photo by Daniel Lindström

We still love you Ralphie

2011-09-12T16:07:00.000+02:00

Don't get me wrong, we love Ralph Lauren over here, especially RRL. We're proud to be one of few stores that got to carry the line, and that (supposedly) Ralph himself was involved with the choosing, I mean, just to know that Ralph was looking at pictures of our stores and discussing us with his team is big. We're flattered to say the least. But unfortunately, since we started working with the people over at RRL it has been nothing but trouble.

You might have noticed that we were eager to put RRL in our brand list early January, but never actually got any products up. Or perhaps you saw the blog post with pictures from the RRL showroom in London, a blog post which mysteriously disappeared a few days after.

The initial talks with RRL were pretty promising — their guys were almost as excited as we were — and they said that with 99% certainty we would be able to sell the iconic brand online. This was all, naturally, before we placed our quite sizable order. Sometime after this, however, we were introduced to their detailed guidelines on how we weren't allowed to sell online — or even insinuate that we could — and just exactly how we were supposed to present the brand — again, not its individual products — on the website & blog, down to the very two-tone-brown-washed-out-zoomed-in product inspiration shot.

So come Spring '11, we received a whole lotta boxes signed Ricky & Ralph which we were supposed to sell to the dedicated RRL fans of Malmö — all four of them.

They will surley be pissed for me outing this, but we try to be transparent with things, lot of bull**** going on in this business. Anyway, Mr. Lauren is (almost) always on top of things and the new lookbook is crazy. To live up to all requirements from the brand is getting tiresome, feels like he's everywhere and that his people is coming after us. Perhaps getting a bit paranoid here...

With Oprah

Sarkozy and Mr. Lauren

With Young Money

With Jobs discussing the upcoming vintage treated snake skin case for iPhone 5

The Jasmine revolution

Parklife

2011-09-09T15:31:00.000+02:00

Johan Arrhov and Henrik Frick of Arrhov Frick, who designed the interior and concept of our new store in Malmo, Sweden, asked us if we could help them out by posting this. They're taking part in a development contest with three other architect firms for the future of Tegelbackskajen near Slussen in central Stockholm. Their idea is called Parklife, see the picture below.

If you would like to see it happen, please vote for them. Anyone can vote but the information is in swedish though. Vote here. Swedes can also send a text message with the text "Metro C" to number 72 700. One winner gets an iPad.

When u see something ill, that shit is whoa

2011-09-08T17:26:00.022+02:00

Anything ill u see is whoa

Fully equip it front to back that's whoa

Toe to toe, blow for blow like whoa

Pound the concrete like whoa

WESC ain't whoa

D.V.N. hold us down like whoa

Shop Dries Van Noten here

A little sumthin' sumthin' found on the web

2011-09-08T10:41:00.001+02:00

FW: Tres Bien in-sock logo

2011-09-07T15:44:00.021+02:00

Hey Karl,

Please ask Tres Bien, for preferred in-sock logo layout... see attached file.

Thanks

/Roy

Tricker Ltd

-----------------------

We appreciate if you guys could help us out to decide which version to go for, we're quite split on this one here at the office.

Please click the like button below if you think the logo should be placed like this...

...or "like" the picture below if you prefer that version.

Thanks!

Visvim 1st drop

2011-09-07T14:22:00.007+02:00

A first glimpse of what will come online very soon from Visvim. Three beautiful Skagways and the two tone Patrician from the Folk line. These and a bunch of clothes will be up in just a bit.

Raf, Ricky & XXL

2011-09-07T12:50:00.015+02:00

Some days ago we heard about Raf Simons getting the Fan Man cover, and now the Bawse and his team grace the cover of everyone's favourite Hip Hop mag (sorry, The Source). Hits Très Bien soon.

“I’m enjoying my last few moments at No. 2,”. “It’s like I’m watching the No. 1 man on stage, my legs crossed, I’m smoking big, hollering at the bitches in the crowd. And this album gonna do it. I got the formula.”

Best Iranian food in town

2011-09-06T11:03:00.013+02:00

At least once a week we have lunch at Nowroz, the best Iranian lunch restaurant in Malmo. If you happen to be there, check the top of the paprika spice bin before using...

Hannes got the whole shebang on the plate

True story

Ismael, the owner. Nice guy that makes nice food

Seen the other night outside Welcome store

2011-09-05T13:35:00.004+02:00

Fan Man puts Raf on the cover

2011-09-05T11:51:00.008+02:00

Our favorite designer hits the cover of the upcoming issue of our favorite mag. The 14th issue of Fantastic Man is available at Très Bien soon.

In Motion take 6: Back 2 school

2011-09-02T15:35:00.006+02:00

Number 6 in our series of short videos. Today Dino came, straight from school, on his skateboard to the office. We took him and his board to do some good motion.

Hat: Our Legacy
Backpack: Dries Van Noten
Hood: Adam Kimmel X Carhartt
Shirt: Our Legacy
Jeans: Acne
Shoes: Common Projects

Oprah interviewing Ralph Lauren at his ranch

2011-09-01T19:01:00.011+02:00

Four blog posts in one day, whew! Sorry for spamming your RSS feeds but we thought that this was worth posting. There's a lot of vid's all over the web for sure, but this is a must see if you're into Ralph Lauren.

Office Cranck pt. 2

2011-09-01T16:47:00.011+02:00

This is what we play at the Très Bien office at the moment. The-Dream's free download album, released a couple of days ago, download it here. You should.

New issue of Gastronomica in store and online

2011-09-01T16:18:00.015+02:00

Cop Gastronomica fall 2011 issue here

Neighborhood Technical Apparel

2011-09-01T09:25:00.004+02:00

First drop ships from Japan very soon. In the meantime, have a quick read about the brand history and inspiration here.

Today is the official "Bun B Day" in Houston

2011-08-30T19:51:00.021+02:00

We celebrated at the office earlier with some classic material from UGK and the Texas rapper until Très Bien head honcho Anders was like: AARGH, TURN IT DOWN!! We actually met Bun B in NY once, he said he knew about us. He was definitely lying, just trying to be polite, haha. Anyway, was trying to put the "Get Throwed" video in this post but on the iPad YouTube doesn't seem to feature the embedding code for the videos. But here's a pic of Bun looking cold (trill?) as ever.

Easy Ridin'

2011-08-30T08:59:00.006+02:00

Short clip presenting the Adam Kimmel x Carhartt Fall / Winter 2011 collection. Some bad ass hogs (or just models?) driving around on Harley's while Hank Williams the III plays the music.

Video summary - The Junya SS12 show

2011-08-27T00:13:00.003+02:00

A short video from the Junya Watanabe show back in June in Paris. We didn't know which metro to go for and didn't get a cab so we missed it. Looks like press and buyers had a great time out there, argh!

Eric C @ Welcome in Stockholm with two bags of Visvim

2011-08-24T16:08:00.003+02:00

In Motion Take 5

2011-08-22T13:23:00.007+02:00

The fifth part in our In Motion series filmed some days ago during a Junya and Acne photo shoot featuring Alan. Music by Asap Rocky, sorry for the 'tude, but it sure is catchy.

Jacket: Junya Watanabe MAN
T-shirt: Our Legacy
Pants: Levi's Vintage Clothing
Shoes: Tricker's X Junya Watanabe MAN

The heavyweight champ of the season

2011-08-19T15:57:00.012+02:00

If the patched Levi’s in the latest Junya collection was the main attraction, this jacket in collaboration with Aero Leather must be Nigel Cabourn's. The Coastal command jacket weighs in at several kilos with the hood hand-painted in Orange, fully lined in Sheepskin. Made in 86 pieces. We got our hands on a couple of them, in stores and up online soon.

Store manager Sune in the Coastal command jacket

Hey Alan!

2011-08-17T13:41:00.005+02:00

Alan, our new model, came by today on his visit from Berlin for his first photo session for Très Bien. We dressed him in the latest deliveries from Acne and Junya Watanabe. Up online next week.

Dries Van Noten AW11 show

2011-08-16T09:26:00.005+02:00

We received this yesterday from Marijn & co at Dries, the Men's Winter 2011-12 show. The first drop from Dries Van Noten is already instore and online.

Last week was extraordinary

2011-08-08T14:15:00.010+02:00

Besides all the new AW11 deliveries the Très Bien guv'nor Anders got married to his Cecilia this Saturday and the wedding was fantastic. Congratulations to you both!

Also, the party we held at Bakken in Copenhagen last Thursday was a blast. Loads of people, friends and collegues from the fashion biz and others came by to drink beer and eat burgers with sauerkraut. Thanks to everybody who showed up!

Then MFF, Malmö's football/soccer team, managed to get a 1-1 draw against Glasgow Rangers last Wednesday. Which means that Malmö went through, and that the Rangers are out of the qualification to the Champions League.

Our Legacy & Très Bien present the Burger Joint

2011-08-03T13:53:00.008+02:00

For the 2nd time, Our Legacy and Très Bien team up for a long night in Copenhagen. Burgers,drinks and nice tunes. The time for this happy event is THURSDAY THE 4TH OF AUGUST. We start at 7 and go on as long as we have the strength.

LOCATION:

Bakken
Flæsketorvet 19 – 21
Copenhagen

DJ'S:

Anton Klint (Tiedye)
Måns Ericson (Rollerboys)
Nico Muzzle (Snow Potion)
Oscar Villata & Jonas From Falun (Disco Devils/Oh Baby I Like It Raw)
Emil Broomé (Prejka, Très Bien Shop)
Jockum (Our Legacy)

FREE BURGERS AND BEER FROM 7PM to 9PM

Everyone's very WELCOME and it's free entrance all night.

SS12 buying at Acne in Stockholm

2011-08-02T16:13:00.007+02:00

View the rest of pictures here

Junya online today or tomorrow

2011-08-01T15:07:00.006+02:00

Japan as well as some other locations in the world has seen the first Junya Watanabe AW 11/12 launch. In Japan it’s of course a happening of quite some dimensions. People will queue to get their hands on the more limited items.

The autumn/winter collection sees a return to classic flannel fabrics, combined with the always present leather and corduroy. This shows in the mainline as well as in the collaborations. Let’s just dwell for a while on the Levi’s one. Each season (now over twenty!) will have a main attraction, or sometimes two. This is the one for AW 11/12:

Dry clean only, of course. There is a total of eight patches on the front legs of these jeans, two of which are leather or suede. A fantastic piece.

Among the other things in the Junya/Levi’s collection are jackets and, of course, a number of more jeans. As always, the collection is too big too really get a general view. Nothing else to expect. All the way through November, we will see more Junya garments arrive. Life can be exciting.

McNasty X Engineered Garments

2011-07-22T11:24:00.007+02:00

Daiki and Mark have made some nice shoes together. Three different longwings in a combination of smooth and grain leather. Shop Mark McNairy X Engineered Garments here.