Nylon Blogs

Citizens of Nylonia:

We have just entered an epic battle in the neon universe.

Our Swatch style story and video, starring Shenae Grimes, has been pitted against brutal opponents in a fight to the fashion death.

Only one magazine can win the Swatch contest – and eternal hipster glory – and if you help us do it, we can promise, the results will be fantastic.  (More glitter!  More street style!  More peace, love, and rock n’ roll!)

To watch our Swatch video, where Shenae takes us shopping in her California neighborhood, and vote for us, click here.

Help us, Obi Wan Kenobi and NYLON readers of the galaxy – You’re our only hope!

Warning: the amazing graffiti at the Hotel Au Vieux Panier in Marseille will probably make you want to book a trip to France immediately.

The hotel has allowed artists like Tilt, Tober, Grizz and Don Cho to let loose in five of the rooms and decorate them however they want.

It’s the perfect noncommital solution for anyone who’s sick of their room- you can spend a couple of nights in the crazy graffiti bedrooms and then check out as soon as it starts to give you a headache.

Now, about that plane ticket….

The keffiyeh is a traditional Middle Eastern scarf worn by many desert cultures, including Arabs, Persians, Northern Africans, and Jews.  It dates back to ancient Mesopotamia, but because it was adopted by the Palestinian Revolt in the 1930s – and used again from the 1960s onwards as a sign of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) – it’s often associated with warfare, and specifically with Hamas.

Weirdly, the scarf is also a ubiquitous fashion accessory, sold at street fair stalls and worn by many college students – some because of its political associations, and some because it has a cool pattern and folds nicely into a jacket.

In 2007, Balenciaga made their own keffiyeh, which landed on Style.com’s Must Have list, despite the protests of those who’d lost family in various Middle Eastern bombing campaigns.  Then yesterday, a version appeared at Y-3′s Moroccan-themed collection, this time remade with a sportier pattern and colors that complimented their runway clothes. (See the whole collection here.)

How do you feel about the Y-3 Keffiyeh?  Is it political, controversial, cool, or just another fashion accessory that looked fun on the runway?  Tell us your thoughts!  And if you need more information, read the surprisingly thorough rundown on the history of the keffiyeh on Wikipedia.

Although the title of her book might suggest otherwise, the latest from Laura Owens isn’t about fruits or nuts…not really, anyway.

Instead, she uses the joke about California being filled with fruits and nuts as a jumping-off point for her collection of 1960s newsprint from the state.

Each of these hand-made pages is plastered with random articles and photos from San Francisco and LA, then later screenprinted with her own illustrated alphabet of fruit and nuts.

Random? Yes.

Kind of awesome?

Also true.

So if your coffee table needs a jolt of humor (and whose doesn’t?), buy it here.

Attention, Street Style Junkies:

Now the super-cute clothes in Japan can actually arrive in your American closet.

Last Year,  ZOZOZOTOWN.COM launches in the US.

It’s a massive Japanese fashion site with more than 500,000 items from over 700 Japanese labels.  You can check out what’s popular in trendy neighborhoods like Shibuya and Harajuku, and you can find major deals, too – right now, their winter sale is happening, and it’s got discounts up to 80% off.

Click through to see some of our favorite outfits from the site (the leopard print sweater at left is by Snidel, and you can get it here.)

Just one thing – although you can pay with an American credit card, the prices on the site are still in yen.  Open this Google converter in a separate page when you shop to see the exchange rate.
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Moleskine’s already tackled your closet, your Pac Man obsession, and your everyday to-do list.

Now we’ve found one more reason why you can’t leave home without your Moleskine, even on vacation.

The company’s just rolled out a mini-collection of four luggage tags featuring the classic hard leather cover, stretchy closure, and notebook-inspired interior.

Plus, at just $10 each, you can buy one for all of your suitcases.

If your New Year’s resolution is to “travel more,” take the first step and buy the luggage tags here.

Fact: billboards are usually pretty boring.

But luckily more and more people are trading lame ads for big-time pieces of art.

First came Nate Lowman’s massive portrayal of Julia Roberts on an LA street corner.

Next, the movement’s spreading cross-country with The Billboard Art Project.

In cities like Nashville, Baton Rouge, Riverside, and Chicago, the digital LED billboards are transformed into colorful works of art by emerging artists.

So next time you’re on a road trip….pay attention to the billboards.

Who knows what you’ll see?

Click here for more info.

As New Yorkers, it’s against our nature to look at a subway map.

Even if we’re lost in Brooklyn at 3 in the morning, we still cringe at the thought of someone mistaking us for a tourist.

But sometimes we travel and actually are, you know, tourists.

And we needs maps.

Enter Zero per Zero, the brains behind these adorable little transportation guides for anyone traveling to the Far East.

The pastel-colored packets have subway and railway maps, area maps, and other transporation info to help you navigate successfully and without looking like a camera-toting dweeb.

There’s even a pocket for your passport and tickets, so you can keep all your stuff in one handy place, as well as stickers to decorate the maps with your sight-seeing notes.

The maps are available for Tokyp, Seoul, Osaka and Hokkaido, each customized to reflect their city’s identity.

And yes, we totally wish there was one for New York (though we won’t admit to ever using it).

$12 here.

–MICKIE MEINHARDT

A new family of pandas have arrived at the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland!

They’re setting up a Panda Cam this week, but in the meantime, you can see photos from their flight to their new home.

Also: Do you think the in-flight movie was Care Bears, or Kung Fu Panda?

Also-also: Pandas are allowed to sit in the exit row?