The audience is seated in obedient half-moon rows that carved the space of the French Communist Party’s old Oscar Niemeyer designed head quarters, forced to listen to a piercing shrill digital static scream, awaiting for something to happen and break the noise that has somehow transformed into silence after a little getting used to. The anticipation is palpable, and suddenly, French and American flags rose from underneath the floor, and four Agent Smith dopplegangers marched sternly into the room, and took stage before the audience. Behold, it appears like we are having a conference. The Agent Smiths in shrunken black suits delivered a public announcement, and suddenly, ranks of astronauts baked to a perfect Ken doll tan with golden lips and helmet, sunglasses and hair to match marched in. They stopped, and suddenly, Johann Strauss II’s Blue Danube Waltz comes on. It seems as if Apollo 11 has landed in an Aldous Huxley alternate universe. But this, is Thom Browne’s Spring/Summer 2011 runway show at Paris Fashion Week.

Last year, LACOSTE brought in the Brazilian design delight, the Campana Brothers to create the French heritage sportswear label’s fourth Holiday Collector’s Series, and the design duo took inspiration from their famed chair to create a polo pieced out of a collage of embroidered LACOSTE alligator logos. This year, LACOSTE heads for the orient for inspiration, and found contemporary ceramics master manipulator, Li Xiao Feng, to be the collaborator for the fifth installment of the  Lacoste Holiday Collector’s Series.

This can be said about everything in life. Once time passes, and something has happened, there is no way back. One can attempt to fix or erase the traces, but the fact of occurrence is something irrevocable. There is nothing quite as fitting as the act of tattooing, to really convey the feeling of “No Way Back”. In preparation for YSL’s Spring/Summer 2010 Men’s Runway Show in Paris, Creative Director Stefano Pilati has commissioned Amsterdam-born, USA based photographer and filmmaker, Ari Marcopoulos, to create a short film featuring tattoo legend, Mark Mahoney, named “No Way Back”.

Remember when we were children, one of the funnest and forbidden thing to do was to read someone else’s diary. Thanks to the internet, accessing someone’s thoughts no longer required plotting, scheming and crazed execution. However, with a burgeon of blogs and blog rings that are growing faster than weeds on accidental fertilization in the summer, it is hard to siphon out the worthwhile  ones from those that are just thoughtless rambles. Now, the label which has redefined contemporary French chic, A.P.C., has joined in the online journal fun, and started a blog, which is called the A.P.C. Journal. And mind you, this is one blog that any fashion conscious being should be adding to their blogrolls immediately.

The House of Balenciaga has come a long way. It has not only survived a tumultuous century since 1918, but also traversed through cities, embodying different styles and evolving into one of the most coveted global luxury labels with 150 points of sale around the globe. The mention of Balenciaga easily nuances with the extraordinary silhouettes and beautifully intense detailing in its dresses for women, and recently, its iconic Motorcycle Bag introduced in 2001. And ever since designer Nicolas Ghesquiere has gotten on board, his experimental and futuristic approach to design has drawn the fashion spotlight back on the luxury house with robust magnetism. In 2004, Ghesquiere took his creativity to the men’s line and has since then began to expand Balenciaga into areas both new and previously neglected. Last Thursday, as a mark of determination to expand the luxury house’s work in menswear, Balenciaga has unveiled a new men’s store in Paris on Rue Varenne, with notable neighbors such as Le Bon Marche, Polo Ralph Lauren and A.P.C. on the Left Bank.

Perhaps no longer the journey of a man’s wardrobe per se, but  is definitely another journey well-deserved of some travel logging by Louis Vuitton and The Selby. After seasoned photographer, Todd Selby (of The Selby) has collaborated with Louis Vuitton last season on documenting the journey of a man’s wardrobe from the Louis Vuitton workshops to the wardrobes and men all over the world where carefully crafted pieces will reside and be used, the duo continues their partnership into Fall 2010. As a part of collaborating with Louis Vuitton’s Men’s Press Office for the celebrated luxury house’s Fall 2010 campaign, The Selby had previously visited the Louis Vuitton family home and bag workshop in Asnières, and has now posted up a pictorial log of the other part of his journey– to the Louis Vuitton design studios in Paris and the luxury house’s Fall 2010 Men’s Runway Show.