BAMIN NOTES | News: Valentine's Day Exclusive, Build A Bag To Win A Bag

Do something for you this Valentine's Day. You've got a lot of love to give, but we want you to treat yourself too.

BUILD a bag and share it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and/or Google+ using the social buttons below the bag on the page. 

Don't forget to mention @BAMINate and use hashtags #BAMINlove and #BAMINate so we can find you. We'll pick our favorite bags and announce TWO WINNERS on Valentine's Day (Feb. 14th).

Not sure where to start? BAMIN's getting in the Valentine's Day spirit by adding a splash of pink to a Neomesh Duffel.

DUFFEL | Neomesh + Matte Italian Leather in Pink & Black, $303

BAMIN NOTES | Trend: Musicians in Black, Godmother of Punk Patti Smith x Man in Black Johnny Cash

Traditionally, musicians and performers wear black so as to not detract from the music itself. Of course, black doesn’t have to be boring. Legendary musicians Patti Smith and Johnny Cash took wearing black to the next level, making the look an extension of their musical energy. It’s all black everything week at BAMIN, and we’re indulging our #TBT nostalgia with a glance back at Patti Smith’s androgynous punk styling and Johnny Cash’s timeless “Man in Black” on-stage presence.

Often referred to as the “Godmother of Punk” or the “punk poet laureate” Patti Smith’s music is a brilliant fusion of poetry and punk rock, and her androgynous, menswear-inspired wardrobe has made her a long-time muse for designer Ann Demeulemeester. Though Patti Smith is still killing it in the style department and still has a penchant for wearing lots of black (and black leather), she used to give her outfits more whimsical names: the “tennis player in mourning,” a black-on-black ensemble paired with white Keds; her Anna Karina-inspired in Bande à part look echoed the dark sweater, plaid skirt, black tights and flats; and her long black sweater, black tights, white socks with Capezios take on Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face. 

Patti Smith’s style has an affinity for masculinity, though we like to think of it as more utilitarian. For that practical yet stylish punk rock cool, accessorize your favorite leather motorcycle jacket with a unisex Black Leather Carryall $515.

Johnny Cash may be a country music icon, but his music also notably blended elements of rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and gospel. And while Cash has a famous protest song titled “Man In Black,” he was also known for his on-stage styling as the “The Man In Black.” Cash actually owes his signature look to stylist Manuel, who made Cash nine all black outfits because there was a special on black fabric (how practical!) but told Cash, “‘You should wear this color. It's your vibe, it's your aura. Something tells me you should wear this color.’” Johnny Cash’s head-to-toe black looks completed his image as the sensitive outlaw.

If you plan to embody the spirit of The Man In Black, you’ll need a black button-up, a long and tailored leather coat, slick boots and this Leather Overnight $515 for those long trips away from June. Just don’t forget to kiss her before you go.

MOMENTS | Mash-up: Art x Theory x the Color Black, Pushing New Boundaries with the Blank Slate Color 

We’ve curated the best of digital age-inspired creativity—from user-generated content, mash-ups, and remixes to collaborations between multi-disciplined makers.

When Russian artist Kazimir Malevich unveiled Black Square (1915), he ushered in Suprematism, one of the most radical developments in abstract art. Influenced by avant-garde poets and an emerging movement in literary criticism, Suprematism used the monochrome in the “rediscovery of pure art which, in the course of time, had become obscured by the accumulation of ‘things.’” It’s been a century since the introduction of the color black as the “zero point,” a void for the old, thus welcoming the freedom to feel and create something new. As you’ve noticed, we’re working an all black everything theme here, so let’s take a look at some of the best all-black paintings that have emerged in the last century.

Robert Rauschenberg began his series of black paintings in 1951, and among these works is his Untitled [glossy black painting]. The piece was Rauschenberg’s exploration of the boundary between painting and collage and used collaged, dipped, and painted newspaper fragments to add a third dimension to his paintings.

In the same era, there’s abstract artist Ad Reinhardt. Reinhardt spent the better part of 1953 until his death in 1967 on his all black paintings, which he described as, “A free, unmanipulated, unmanipulatable, useless, unmarketable, irreducible, unphotographable, unreproducible, inexplicable icon.” The profound, self-reflection that Reinhardt’s black paintings produced was a reaction to how, when everything is in motion, art should be still.

Sergej Jensen’s black monochromes painting on hemp, Untitled (2008), is a more recent take on the all-black painting. The piece places its focus on the material as a means of achieving form. As the black paint dried, the hemp canvas warped and cracked stretcher bars, a representation of the tortured state of internal struggle.

It’s a new year, and a new blank slate. We want to leave those tensions of the past behind, so grab your Black Leather Overnight with Neomesh Sides $405 and get ready to embark on that new adventure. 

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BAMIN NOTES | Trend: Jean-Luc Godard x The French New Wave, the Prevailing Influence of New Wave Fashion 

The French New Wave is known for its radical experimentation with visual and narrative filming techniques, all while making bold fashion moments. The movement started in the late 1950s and 1960s, shifting focus away from conservative period pieces and towards the concerns of the working class, like the social and political upheavals of the era. And while the films featured the simple street styles of the time, the characters often embodied a certain je ne sais quoi that made the accessible yet stylish looks feel so iconic. The movement’s most prominent pioneers include Jean-Luc Godard, who, at the age of 84, is still finding ways to introduce new techniques to the formal innovations of film. So in celebration of Godard’s experimental 3D drama Adieu au langage (2014), we’re taking a look back at some of the most timeless looks from his New Wave classics. 

Anna Karina, the poster girl of the French New Wave (and Godard’s ex-wife) also starred in his technicolor Pierrot Le Fou and Made In USA, but right now, we’re vibing her styling in Godard’s black and white films. Bande à part’s iconic “Madison dance” scene, performed to soul music composed for the film by Michel Legrand, features Anna Karina in her girly French best—dark, oversized sweater, plaid skirt, men’s hat, and black high socks. We can’t forget the large, tweed coat she wears in her turn as tragic actress turned prostitute in Vivre sa vie either, mostly because it makes us want to grab a Black Leather Overnight $575 to embark on our own tale of New Wave fatalism.

Anna Karina may be the quintessential face of the French New Wave, but Brigitte Bardot holds the throne on the other end of French allure. In Le Mépris, Bardot works the classic Breton stripe with a demure cardigan, but the teased blonde hair and thick headband immortalizes her look. As for the men, Jean-Paul Belmondo embodied a don’t-give-a-damn effortlessness, when he’s accessorizing his slim cut trousers with fedoras or his ever-present cigarette in the mouth. It’s the kind rouge sophistication that calls for a Black Leather Briefcase $505. 

So whether you’re channeling French gamine Anna Karina or iconoclastic bombshell Brigitte Bardot, don’t forget that extra bit of je ne sais quoi.

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BAMIN NOTES | News: BAMIN (Build And Make It Now) x Shop Spring App 

BAMIN loves digital age innovations, so we’re super excited to announce our partnership with Spring, the app that combines e-commerce with the streamlined and personalized nature of Instagram. Spring lets you follow your favorite brands, and when you see something you like, simply swipe and tap to get it. It's a new year, and we're starting with a blank slate...in black. We're celebrating an all black everything theme with a selection of black bags unique to Spring. Because black is always on trend. If you haven’t already downloaded the Spring app, do it and be sure to follow us when we go live Tuesday, January 20th.

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MOMENTS | Mash-up: Frank Ocean Covers Aaliyah’s Cover of Isley Brothers' "At Your Best (You Are Love)"

We’ve curated the best of digital age-inspired creativity—from user-generated content, mash-ups, and remixes to collaborations between multi-disciplined makers.

Frank Ocean commemorated what would have been Aaliyah’s 36th birthday by sharing his haunting interpretation of The Isley Brothers’ 1976 single “At Your Best (You Are Love),” a song famously covered by Aaliyah in 1994. Referred to on Ocean’s Tumblr as “You Are Luhh,” the cover features Ocean’s soulful falsetto and some light instrumentation. His pure, wordless falsetto creates an intimate and stripped down rendition that is very reminiscent of Aaliyah’s version of the song (which was also sampled on Drake’s Thank Me Later track “Unforgettable”)—a cover of a cover.

This emotional tribute to the late and beloved R&B singer is the first new material we’ve heard from Frank Ocean since last November, when he released “Memrise,” his most recent solo song in two years. The last 20 seconds of “You Are Luhh” contains some funk-lite instrumentals from what sounds like a different track, and we can only hope that it’s a sneak peak of Ocean’s much-anticipated Channel Orange follow-up.

It’s Monday, and since we’re starting the week with Frank Ocean’s expressive tunes, the urban Black Leather Duffel with Orange Neomesh Sides $465 lets us channel our moody, poetic selves, with a hint of orange to take the edge off.

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MOMENTS | Throwback: #FBF BANKS Covered Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody?”

We’ve curated the best of digital age-inspired creativity—from user-generated content, mash-ups, and remixes to collaborations between multi-disciplined makers. 

It’s #FBF, and because today would been Aaliyah's 36th birthday, we’re revisiting one of our favorite covers—BANKS’ magnificent interpretation of Aaliyah’s 1998 “Are You That Somebody” for BBC Live Lounge. Aaliyah’s hit song was once referred to as "Timbaland's greatest gift to the world," and 13 years after her death, the legendary singer’s vocal influence is still heard in the works of artists who blend the R&B, bedroom-pop, and indie-pop genres. 

BANKS’ cover of Aaliyah’s single is a stripped down acoustic guitar rendition, but she’s given us some more adventurous covers too. Listen to her acoustic Aaliyah cover, then work out your week’s feelings with her neo-soul jam version of Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” before getting into the weekend with her sensuous rendition of The Weeknd’s “What You Need.”

It’s Friday, so let our Black Leather Briefcase $505 help you get through a productive work week.

Then remix it by switching out the sides to go from work to play with this Black Leather Duffel with Neomesh Sides & Leather Handles $465.

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MOMENTS | Mash-up: Illustrator Christoph Neimann’s Mixed Visual Mediums

We’ve curated the best of digital age-inspired creativity—from user-generated content, mash-ups, and remixes to collaborations between multi-disciplined makers.

You’ve probably seen legendary artist, illustrator and author Christoph Niemann’s work on the covers of The New Yorker, Newsweek andthe New York Times Magazine. Every Sunday, the visual storyteller sets aside to time to play with different visual mediums, which he shares on his Instagram. Examples of his work include combining his illustrations with everyday objects and photographs to create optical illusions. Of course, you can also peruse a more extensive collection of Neiman’s work on his Tumblr. 

For a little #TBT, Niemann launched an interactive animated app called Petting Zoo, which takes his playful illustrations and combines it with technology. Niemann built the app himself and spent a month wrapping his head around divs and JavaScripts and C.S.S. classes. The app has a zoo of 21 illustrated, animated animals that the user can swipe and tap at these creatures for their animated reactions.

In Vienna this upcoming summer? Christoph Niemann will have a solo exhibition at MAK.

If these mixed-media illustrations have you feeling as playful as we are, you can store your portfolio in this Blue Neomesh Briefcase with Orange Neomesh Sides & Black Leather Handles $260.

Or for a subtler look of whimsy, equip yourself with this Black Leather Briefcase with Blue Neomesh Sides & Blue Leather Handles $395.

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MOMENTS | Mash-up: Jon Hopkins x Late Night Tales Mix Series, Covers Yeasayer’s “I Remember”

We’ve curated the best of digital age-inspired creativity—from user-generated content, mash-ups, and remixes to collaborations between multi-disciplined makers.

Electronic musician and producer Jon Hopkins is the latest contributor in the Late Night Tales mix series. Late Night Tales combines exclusive covers with spoken word narration, creating “music and stories worth staying up for”. Hopkins covered Yeasayer's "I Remember" in his sampler and collaborated with poet Rick Holland for the spoken word track.

The mix takes samples from tracks by Four Tet, School of Seven Bells, Holy Other, HEALTH remixed by Gold Panda, Jónsi & Alex, and more. On his creative process, Hopkins explains, “I mixed by key and by texture more than anything else, using original sound design, pivot notes, and often recording new synth or piano parts to link things together in a way that flows as naturally as possible. I hope you enjoy it." 

Listen to Jon Hopkins’ Late Night Tales album sampler via SoundCloud.

For those late nights full of music and stories, an Orange Neomesh Duffel with Blue Leather Sides & Black Leather Handles $440 is just the thing you need to take you from night to sunrise.

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MOMENTS | Mash-up: WeevMee Transforms Your Instagram Feed Into Abstract Art

We’ve curated the best of digital age-inspired creativity—from user-generated content, mash-ups, and remixes to collaborations between multi-disciplined makers.

Design agency HUSH developed Weevmee, an app that takes your Instagram photos and weaves them into a one-of-a-kind piece of abstract collage art. Different variables, like the number of photos a user has and the number of likes a photo has, change the look and complexity and density of the image. The app’s software takes your 2014 Insta-photos and crops them into threads before using an algorithm that randomly weaves it all together. 

HUSH created this app to let users create something that “feels artistic enough to grab our attention, but contains enough clarity that it feels uncannily familiar.” It’s your year’s worth of memories transformed into a single, personalized image. The developers plan to expand the software that will allow users to create their image with criteria like geolocation tags or custom start/end timestamps.

As you can see, we’ve made our Instagram art with our BAMINate Insta account. We love Weevmee’s subtly collaged nature, so we built this fun mash-up of leopard, leather and neomesh: Leopard Carryall with Black Leather Sides & Orange Neomesh Handles $500.

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MOMENTS | Mash-up: Childish Gambino’s Synth-Pop-Funk Song “Sober” Gets A Surreal & Experimental Music Video

We’ve curated the best of digital age-inspired creativity—from user-generated content, mash-ups, and remixes to collaborations between multi-disciplined makers.

Actor, writer, comedian, rapper, singer, and producer Childish Gambino (Danny Glover) released a music video for “Sober,” the synth-pop-funk track from his recent Kauai EP. The video has a very David Lynch early ‘90s kind of vibe and takes place in an eerily lit late night food joint, where a strung-out looking Glover attempts to use goofy dance moves, failed magic tricks, and excessive staring to hit on a woman waiting for her take-out.

The video is a nod to Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel,” only it doesn’t end with the creepy, overly forward guy winning over the disinterested woman. Directed by Hiro Murai, the video shares some of the same surreal elements in “Sweatpants” and “3005,”with bizarre special effects coming into play as a not at all sober Glover’s antics intensify.  

Take a moment to watch Childish Gambino’s “Sober” video below.

And if the song has you looking for empty take-out joints to bust out into an improvised dance, you’ll fit right in with a sporty Green Neomesh Duffel with Brown Leather Sides & Orange Neomesh Handles $420.

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MOMENTS | Rehash: #FBF David Bowie x Marianne Faithfull Cover Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe”

We’ve curated the best of digital age-inspired creativity—from user-generated content, mash-ups, and remixes to collaborations between multi-disciplined makers.

Yesterday was visionary musician and master of transformation David Bowie’s 68th birthday! We celebrated by revisiting some of his best performances, like when Bowie and Marianne Faithfull performed a fantastically strange cover of Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe” at London’s Marquee Club in 1973. Marianne Faithfull dressed as a glammed up nun, and the occasion also marked Bowie’s last performance as Ziggy Stardust.

The performance premiered on The Midnight Special, and Bowie appeared on the condition that he would have complete creative control over the special. Bowie titled the cabaret-styled show “The 1980 Floor Show,” a pun on his song “1984” as well as an obvious nod to the show’s futuristic set.

It’s Friday, so start your weekend right, and watch David Bowie and Marianne Faithfull’s tantalizing cover of Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe”.

For all your late nights and numerous costume changes, our Ziggy Stardust-inspired Blue Neomesh Overnight with Orange Neomesh Sides & Black Leather Handles $270 is what you need.

And if you’re looking to go a little more incognito, the Black Leather Overnight with Black Neomesh Sides & Black Leather Handles $405, like Marianne Faithfull’s nun habit with an open back, is the perfect bit of surprising.

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MOMENTS | Mash-up: Artist Lala Abaddon’s Hand Woven Digital Prints 

We’ve curated the best of digital age-inspired creativity—from user-generated content, mash-ups, and remixes to collaborations between multi-disciplined makers.

New York-based artist Lala Abaddon creates her pieces by slicing up digital prints and hand-weaving the pieces together in a way that looks, from a distance, as if they had been digitally manipulated. Her work explores her interest in the process of deconstruction and reconstruction, taking images from her archive and weaving them together with something new. The woven aspect of her work also adds another texture to the flat photo prints. Adabbon’s upcoming solo show at Castor Gallery in NYC will take place in March 2015.

With a background in analog photography and poetry, Abaddon was interested in mediums that allowed her to create works that tell more than a single story. In an interview with Arrested Motion, she explains, “I wanted to make an image more than one image, like when you see a photograph or painting that has the weight of years behind it, but I also wanted to present it in a new or unique way that was fluid depending on the person viewing it.”

We love this blend of traditional and digital-aged techniques, and her confident use of combining colors and patterns. For the digital, multi-colored artist in you, there’s the Blue Neomesh Briefcase with Green Neomesh Sides & Yellow Neomesh $240.

Or for a more subdued, yet still colorful look we like a mix of classic leather and innovative neomesh. A Brown Leather Overnight with Pink Neomesh Sides & Blue Leather Handles $405 is perfect when you know you'll be working late on that important project.  

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MOMENTS | Mash-up: Panda Bear Launches New Interactive Website With New Original Score x New Visuals

We’ve curated the best of digital age-inspired creativity—from user-generated content, mash-ups, and remixes to collaborations between multi-disciplined makers.

Panda Bear (Animal Collective’s Noah Benjamin Lennox) launched a new interactive and very psychedelic website for his upcoming album, Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper. The interactive site features new music from Lennox and his co-producer Sonic Boom, as well as some new visuals from Danny Perez—who directed the teaser videos for the album—and graphics by Marco Papiro, Patakk, and Hugo Oliveira. 

Check out the website to unearth the bevy of new material, which includes unused material, reworks of album tracks, and our personal favorite, collaged sounds. Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper comes out on January 13th, but until then, you can listen to “Acid Wash” via NPR Music and “Tropic of Cancer” via FBI Radio.

Since the visuals have us craving something neon and psychedelic, we’re in the mood for a Yellow Neomesh Duffel with Blue Leather Sides & Orange Neomesh Handles $420.

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MOMENTS | Mash-up: “Pixel”, A Dance Performance Incorporating Interactive Digital Projections

We’ve curated the best of digital age-inspired creativity—from user-generated content, mash-ups, and remixes to collaborations between multi-disciplined makers. 

“Pixel” is a digital-era dance piece created by French choreographer Mourad Merzouki and digital designers Adrien Mondot and Claire Bardainne, known collectively as Adrien M / Claire B. The piece was also done in collaboration with hip-hop choreographer Cie Kafig. The hour-long piece is “a work on illusion combining energy and poetry, fiction and technical achievement, hip hop and circus.” The dance performance at Maison des Arts de Créteil France on November 15th and is currently on tour.

Merzouki was inspired by hip-hop and circuses, and when choreographing the piece, he sought to balance the different elements that come with live dance performance and digital art and technology. “We wanted to start a conversation about the synthesis between digital projection and the real body of the dancer,” says Merzouki.

So watch the video of “Pixel” below to get a glimpse at the incredible digital interactive dance performance.

We’re really moved by the innovative way dance and digital technology has been brought together. And if you’re suddenly jonsing to take some dance lessons, an Orange Neomesh Duffel with Black Leather Sides & Handles $330 is the perfect go-to bag.

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MOMENTS | Mash-up: Kanye West x Paul McCartney “Only One”, First Single in Series of Collaborations

We’ve curated the best of digital age-inspired creativity—from user-generated content, mash-ups, and remixes to collaborations between multi-disciplined makers. 

What’s a black Beatle anyway? Unless you’ve been in a weeklong NYE hangover haze, you probably know Kanye West collaborated with Paul McCartney to create gently auto-tuned ballad “Only One”. The first single from Kanye's new album is also first of several collaborations between West and McCartney. Ty Dolla $ign, who provided the ballad’s background vocals, told Billboard to watch out for a “crazy” song that he, Kanye West, Paul McCartney, and Rihanna have teamed up to produce.

In a press release for “Only One,” West noted that the lyrics came to him while holding his daughter North on his lap, as if his mother was singing to him, and through him to his daughter. You can find the lyrics at Kanye's site. West and McCartney began work on the poignant ballad earlier this year, with McCartney improvising the keyboard instrumental.

This track has us catching lots of feelings, but we also know this one’s a real classic. For something timeless that also has a little bit of a modern flair, there’s our Black Leather Briefcase with Neomesh Sides & Leather Handles ($395).

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