My First Apartment and Inspiration: Ace Hotel and Minimalism

Yesterday, I moved into my first apartment on the second floor of a Victorian house. Complete with leather wallpaper, the house was built in the teens as a single-family house and converted into a two-unit house in the late fifties. A built-in cabinet, closet and dresser furnish my 100 square foot room. I picked this room because of my recent interest in efficient spaces and simplistic minimalism. I envision the limited closet and dresser space forcing me to further thin my wardrobe and thus help reform my consumerist urges. (I strive towards minimalism however I still need to find space for my three garbage bags full of shoes).

Growing up, I shared a slightly larger room with my brother up until the age of thirteen. Everything in this room was built in, including the beds (and dressers underneath them).
Last summer I swung by the Ace Hotel in downtown Portland (Oregon). Their minimalist rooms with built-ins furnishings are awesome. During my time at Rogues Gallery, I flipped through many architecture and sailing books looking for rustic rooms for brand inspiration. My recent trip to the Wharton Esherick house over Thanksgiving reiterated affirmed much of my architectural and interior design taste. For example, I am going to put my mattress directly on the floor sans box spring or frame.

Here are some photos from the Ace Hotel in Portland Oregon and other minimalist dwelling that I hope will inspire my new room. Unfortunately, I imagine that these photos will merely expose contradictions between what I do and what I want.

What is going on?

A couple days ago, I stumbled across an article stating that CD players are seeing a major resurgence in sales in the UK. According to a recent article in the Daily Telegraph, A UK newspaper, portable CD player sales are up 50% from last holiday season. Department stores like John Lewis are stocking these players for the first time in four years.

I am completely baffled. Why would anyone buy a CD player for 30 dollars when they could get a 1gig flash mp3 player for 20? Cost aside, the mp3 player is much smaller and can hold much more music. Sometimes I think I have a handle on technology and then anomalies like this force me to rethink.

Here are some articles and blog postings disusing this phenomena...

Daily Telegraph, Portable CD Players Make a Comeback
The Guardian, Are you getting a CD player for Christmas?

Just Finished My Last Paper

For the last week and a half I have been writing papers and studying for exams. I have never liked school, and this miserable process, memorizing useless minutia that i will forget in two weeks, reiterates my fundamental objections to the American college system.

To get me through studying and writing papers, I turned to these songs for inspiration.

In the last two days, Ennio Morricone's masterpiece made me feel like the Capital Asset Pricing Model is as exciting as robbing a bank or stealing 250000 dollars in gold. This song could even make Olympic Curling exciting.

I also played Gordon Lightfoot's historical classic, The Wreck of The Edmunds Fitzgerald, on repeat.

I will resume normal daily postings tomorrow.

Urban Outfitters

I have always resented Urban Outfitters.

In high school, I used to call out Van's slip-shod J.A.P.'s (Jewish American Princesses) for wearing their "Jesus is My Homeboy" shirt, affectionately purchased at "Urban," for weeks on end. This lack of creativity in their selection and blatant copying of trends bothered me. Or perhaps my time spent as a salesmen at a skateboarding/snowboarding boutique watching tweens cycle through the Urban Outfitters across the street like commuters at subway turnstile. Or maybe it's because every time I go into the men's section, I see clothes very similar to ones i own selling at a fraction of the price. I rationalize this phenomena by saying, "Ohh the quality of this shit is miserable, my Paul Smith shirt will last forever, plus organic cotton makes me feel good about myself."

Recently my view of Urban Outfitters has evolved from disgust to respect.

Urban Outfitters is well positioned to exit this recession as prime youth retailer for multiple reasons.

First, many competing boutiques will shut down leaving the hipster field open for Urban Outfitters to capitalize.

Secondly, Urban Outfitter's Men's buyer, Dan Leraris, is doing a great job of picking brands. A recent article in the LA Times, "American Heritage Brands Make A Come Back" discusses Urban Outfitters role at the forefront of the revival of the American Heritage brand/work wear movement. Their awesome selection of LL Bean, Filson, Pendleton, Sperry, and Red Wing resonates extremely well with the direction of men's wear. By carrying these brands, Urban Outfitters will win over the demographic of men shoppers, like myself, that have avoided their merchandise due to quality issues and thus transfer Urban's brand image of that of cheap t-shirts to quality men's clothing.

In addition to carrying these quality driven brands, Urban Outfitters is doing a great job of launching more economically priced sub-brands for premium brands like Rogues Gallery and Patagonia. For Spring/Summer 2009, Urban will carry a line designed by Alex Carelton (head designer and founder of Rogues Gallery) called Never Sleep.

This Fall Urban Outfitters and Patagonia teamed up to offer a retro line of fleeces. By branding themselves as a viable distribution stream, premium brands, like Rogues Gallery and Patagonia, will use Urban Outfitters as a vehicle by which to launch mass market sub brands. This relationship will prove lucrative for both designers like Alex Carelton and Urban Outfitters while not compromising the image of their premium brands.
Maybe the pricing of this new merchandise will be out of reach for many Americans struck by these hard economic times, but I doubt it. These brands' image of classic quality are the essence of what men want in clothes and will "last." This perception bodes well consumers in a time when they are tightening their belts and focusing on the essentials. Wouldn't you rather have a pair of quality, leather Red Wing boots than two pairs of neon Dunks?