These shades will blow those coveted Grey Ant pairs out of the water. The Yohji Yamamoto for Linda Farrow Sunglasses unisex collection, named Prototype, will launch in conjunction with Spring 09 deliveries and include four original styles made from titanium, aluminum, silver, and antiqued gold. You can pick them up at Yohji and Farrow shops. No word yet on the numbers in production, or the cost, but we're guessing they'll conjure a pretty penny from many a chicster.

In other collabo news, Raf Simons will be designing limited edition Doc Martins come Spring 09. Our Network Partner, Chic & Untroubled, reported on the collaboration as it was revealed during the Milan trade show Bread & Butter. If that (for lack of a better word) chunky sole never bothered you, this might be a very exciting day indeed. We're not particularly stoked to see the naked foot of a (admittedly fashion-forward) man peeking out from a cut-out Doc Martin, but alas, it's Raf Simons.

Somehow we feel like we've written that line before. So the scoop, if you were at all tuned into fashion happenings on Friday afternoon (we don't blame you if you weren't, everyone needs a weekend off now and again), is that Louis Vuitton and Commes des Garcon are going half-sies on a three-month pop-up in Tokyo. Specifically, in the Aoyama district, home to the Prada Epicenter and all things covetable in both architecture and luxury goods. The pop-up shop will of course house exclusive collaborations, namely, six one-off monogram bags designed by Comme des Garcon founder Rei Kawakubo. As Suzy Menkes rightly puts it,

"Although there have been many recent collaborations between ‘high’ and ‘low’ fashion, starting with Karl Lagerfeld’s mini collection for fast fashion store H & M, this meld is different, since it involves a beacon of individuality with a company at the heart of corporate luxury management, as part of the LVMH (Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton) group."

There are questions as to whether this joint-venture (instigated by Kawakubo--not, Marc Jacobs or LVMH) will alienate Comme fans. There are questions as to whether Comme is doing a little too much popping up and popping in (count a Speedo collab and an H&M collab, among others). There are also questions as to whether all of Louis Vuitton's bag collab antics might not undermine the brand's reputation for refined luxury (i.e. the days of the trunks and whatnot). Rei Kawakubo is titling her bag for Vuitton, 'The Party Bag' and we can't help but feel it's an overall sentiment for Vuitton's recent handbag endeavors. One big, 'however', is the recent Ebay victory LVMH had which only energized their intellectual property. That is, perhaps the answer to the last question is, despite contradicting whispers, no.

Our Network Partner, Fops & Dandies, came upon a sneak peek of Richard Chai's capsule collection for Target. The gal 'aint impressed. From what we can tell by the garments they're just exactly Chai's brand of femininity but not exactly align with what he claims is his inspiration, that is, the 1980's. When we first heard about the collaboration we were most excited because Chai has a reputation for selecting the right textiles at the right time. How does this translate to a fifty dollar frock? Our interests were piqued. What Fops and Dandies rightly points out is that, so far, Chai hasn't delivered, neither on the inspiration front, nor on giving us our bang-for-the-buck. It's difficult to speculate at this moment, and, as F&D points out, just too soon to tell. Below, check out Chai's current season offerings, all currently on sale. These garments are faraway from two twenties and a ten but they're significantly marked down and, well, the real thing.

This collaboration kind of makes us giggle. Adidas, next month, will launch their AZX project where a boutique is chosen to represent each letter of the alphabet (i.e. C is for Colette. Yes, really) and a collaborative shoe made. Our network partner, High Snobreity, clued us into the video, below, revealing which boutiques have been chosen for the project. Twenty six in all. Street wear can be so darn cute sometimes. For other Adidas goins on, be sure to catch up on the news. It looks like your either with Adidas (that is, collaborating) or your against them (that is, ripping them off and losing 305 million because they don't put up with that kind of thing). Ladies, I think it's clear which side of the cafeteria we're sitting on.

Corpus, the contemporary brand known for its prepster cum hipster aesthetic, is pulling out all of the stops for their Urban Outfitters collaboration called ByCorpus. Pretty young things playing hookie like they're starring in their own suburban film noir adventure does a successful look book make. Even though we've thoroughly outgrown the laid back 'indie' Urban aesthetic, we have to admit, we're tempted. We might skip the Urban signature babydoll dresses and mini-floral skirts, but a crisp, white ByCorpus blouse (and a pair of Cheap Monday's) might bring us back through those double glass doors just like the good old days.

Urban Outfitters, as we've reported on before, has wrangled brands like Spring & Clifton and Steven Alan for their collaboration efforts. As with any retailer, their attention to the demographic is reflected in their partnerships. Target, for instance, sticks to high fashion brands with a palatable aesthetic. They wait for a significant amount of buzz to generate before they secure their conspirators. Case in point, Proenza Schouler, Loeffler Randall, and Luella were all, at the time of collaboration, garnering a significant amount of peripheral attention all on their own.

For Urban Outfitters, however, their strategy starts with the hipster set--the kind that went to a good college and grew up riding in a Volvo. Urban Outfitters is choosing, that is, brands that are decidedly conservative (far away from what you might consider avant garde) though still definitely hipster (when hipster means creative/intellectual types who like the occasional St. Germain cocktail). For twenty-somethings (and many an NYU alum), that means easy-to-understand basics done by trusted contemporary brands, it means not having to worry that the printed t-shirt is a rip off, it means shopping avant garde straight from the designers who are known for that sort of thing and still getting chilled out ByCorpus blouses for a reasonable price. It's a win-win if you ask us.