Left: Prose dress;  Middle: Bless scarf;  Right: Wood Wood pants

So I’ve posted about Prose, Swash, and Vilsbøl de Arce recently and was happy to find that Ssaw, based out of Stuttgart, Germany, carries these lines and more. They have a nice, limited assemblage of items so you won’t be overwhelmed by too many choices. And guys – O.M.G.they have the Prose dress I’m nuts about (see above and click to enlarge)! Unfortunately, I’m a little tied up buying inventory for the Pour Porter shop, so I’ll just have to admire it from afar. They will ship internationally, although at the moment their delivery terms are all in German. Prices are in euros, and you’ll have to forgive me for being too lazy to do the conversions for you today

Left: A.P.C. bracelet;  Middle: A.P.C. jacket;  Right: Unknown brand shoes

So I admit that I was mostly ogling the beauties above (in the women’s section), but British menswear company, Folk has plenty of nice preppy essentials for the guys and the gals who like to wear menswear. No time really to post my favourites from the clothing sections or the prices, so be sure to click over

I couldn’t find much information about 12 lbs inc., but it appears to be a small, Japanese menswear label that specializes in perfectly worn-in basics like tee shirts and casual jackets in a variety of natural fabrics like linen cotton fleece, organic cotton, cotton cashmere gauze, rib knit, silk waffle, and more. The clothing is released under the name of v:room. I wish I could find more information on them including stockists! I guess I’ll just have to keep an eye open to see if any online shops start carrying the label.

Here is another label who I’ve noticed popping up on a few online shops I frequent, recently. Nude: Masahiko Maruyama has been creating beautiful basics with a soft, worn-in quality for men and women since 2004, but it’s only been recently with the expansion of online shopping selections that the label has gotten more exposure and has been more accessible.

Maruyama’s pieces are characterized by natural fabrics in classic cuts, some with subtle prints or treatments. I also like the fact that the collections focus on separates rather entire looks-it makes it easy to imagine them blending seamlessly with one’s own wardrobe. There are also particular silhouettes that reappear each season, like the perfect trenchcoat or slouchy sweater, and if you go back to the debut collection and work your way to the most recent you can see a consistency throughout that contributes to the timelessness of all of the pieces.

I’ve posted pieces from the A/W 07/08 and S/S 08 men’s and women’s collectionsThe A/W 08/09 collections are presented in Quicktime format. I’ve posted the women’s items on the left and the men’s on the right.You can find pieces for purchase here in the States at Forward by Revolve and Opening Ceremony.

Swedish brand, Hope, is another label chock full of slouchy, wearable clothes that you’d be hard pressed to not integrate easily into your existing wardrobe. Again this is a label I’d found out about several years ago but never featured, and recently I’ve been seeing select pieces on a few U.S. based webstores (lagarconne and creaturesofcomfort in particular). Designer, Ann Ringstrand, worked for H&M as assistant buyer and designer prior to founding the label.