Iconix Brand Group, a fashion house, has expressed interest in purchasing Playboy Enterprises, but they have no interest in the famous magazine, its storehouse of interviews, or its photo archive of naked women.  Competition from the internet has rendered those resources less valuable.  On the other hand…

…the bunny ears brand hearkens back to an era when Playboy was widely read and epitomized the idea of the urbane sophisticate who appreciates the finer things that the swinging bachelor lifestyle promises.

So the company is seeking a partner in the publishing world to take the magazine and other Playboy-related assets.  All they want is the logo.

Link.  Image credit.

Behold the Dramatic Chipmunk Messenger Bag, made from thick faux canvas, with adjustable nylon strap. From the Neatorama Shop: Link (At a distinctly non-dramatic price of $11.95!)

It seems you can make a bag out of (or to look like) anything! An armadillo? Ground beef? Skunk fur? What I really can’t get my head around is why there’s a stall somewhere in the world selling hollowed out toads as handbags. Despite the zippable reptilian skin, golden chain strap, and dead toad eyes to keep an eye on your belongings, this bag is only for witches, wizards and Marilyn Manson. See these and a total of 50 of the most unusual bags seen anywhere.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by andybreene.

From Totally Absurd Inventions, which lists "America’s Goofiest Patents," here is the Gerbil Shirt:

The Gerbil Shirt wraps your torso in plastic tube passageways, making your bod a super highway of fun for Binky and Bart. The interior surfaces are textured for traction and have air vents for easy breathing.

The inventor suggests you can clean the Gerbil Shirt by attaching it to a faucet (remove pets first please), and you should avoid collisions and falls that could cause pet panic.

Link – via TYWKIWDBI

Many times in movies and other forms of entertainment, the contriving plot demands someone dress like a woman and fool other people, ostensibly people who aren’t blind.  OMG Lists compiled ten of the worst offenders, from White Chicks to Bosom Buddies.  It’s a pretty accurate list, despite my affection for Tootsie.

Link

Image: Tobi, screen capture by Fast Company

The online clothing store Tobi lets you upload a picture of yourself and then try on different outfits superimposed on that image. In Fast Company, Kit Eaton writes:

It has been redubbed Fashionista (much better than the original Webcam Social Shopper) and it works pretty much how you’d think it would: When you’ve chosen an item of clothing you like the look of, you print out a special AR barcode-like tag and hold it up in front of you while you stand before your Webcam. Zugara’s software then displays an image of the clothing you’re interested in superimposed on your body. By maneuvering the AR tag around you can position the apparel exactly how you want it to match your body–so you get to see a rough image of what you’d look like wearing the actual garment.

It doesn’t stop there: You can take a snapshot of what you look like, and the system includes motion-capture so you can make gestures and selections by waving your arms, much as you do when using Sony’s Eye toy on the PlayStation. You can also give the clothes a thumbs up or thumbs down so it can recommend more for you–something a bit like a physical version of Amazon’s “you might also like” service (or a live personal shopper). And, of course, you can buy the items you select. Not content with using one hot-topic technology, Zugara has also given Fashionista a dash of social media interactivity–you can post the snapshots you take onto Facebook, presumably to garner the opinion of your friends. Or you can add them to your profile on the site where your shopper friends can comment.

Company Website via Fast Company

Link | Image: Amazon.com

Photo: J.B. Spector/Museum of Science and Industry

The Galaxy Dress is composed of 24,000 LEDs, each measuring two by two millimeters, attached to four layers of chiffon and forty layers of crinoline. The whole thing can be powered by a few iPod batteries for up to an hour. It’s one of the recent creations of CuteCircuit, a design firm specializing in “wearable technology.” The dress is now on permanent display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. More pictures at the link.

Link via Fast Company | CuteCircuit

This Thanksgiving, after fighting the long lines at the airport, navigating the parking lot that used to be called freeways, and defusing family tension at the dinner table, everyone could use a little humor. So wear this T-shirt and hope that your family sees the humor in it and give you an extra serving of turkey!

From the Neatorama Shop: Link

Design by the talented Chris Murphy

Olympia Le-Tan makes handbags that look like books, with covers embroidered to resemble classics. What a neat way to show off your literary taste! Link to pictures. Link to artist’s site. -via Boing Boing

“It was so easy. You just wear it and drop it back in the mail to them,” Ms. Harris said. “I don’t spend $2,000 on a dress regularly, so it’s nice to be able to wear some of the more expensive brands I wouldn’t be able to buy otherwise. And instead of just buying one or two dresses for this season, I can still have a lot of things to wear.”

Rent the Runway was founded by two recent Harvard Business School graduates, Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Carter Fleiss. Ms. Hyman said she got the idea for the service last year after watching her younger sister agonize over whether to buy an expensive new outfit to wear to a wedding.

“Here was this young girl who loves fashion and was willing to spend a good portion of her salary on a dress that she’s only going to wear once or twice, and I thought, there has to be a solution for this,” said Ms. Hyman.

Jenna Wortham of The New York Times has the scoop: Link (Photo: Todd Heisler/NY Times)

Psst! Got a smart friend? Is he brainier than the average ursine? If so, here’s the perfect T-shirt: Brainier Than the Average Bear, only from the Neatorama Shop: Link

Photo: Dalia Birske

Martynas Birskys of the Vilnius-based design studio DaDaDa sells slippers made out of bread. For your comfort, you can select from various sizes and grains. It’s hard to argue with his sales pitch “eatable…dries itself… made from bread…first in fashion…needs no pressing…feels good in dry climate …won’t sag.”

Link via GearFuse

Longcat is long, and warm, too because he’s a scarf made of fleece, felt, and polyfil. Also available in Tacgnol style (black). This internet meme is brought to you by artist Heather Dugger. Link -via The Daily What

Arnie has a collection of around 350 patches and colors signifying motorcycle clubs from all over. Browse through and you might recognize your local club! Or just take a look at the many different designs. Link -via Gorilla Mask

"I asked myself: you want to wear a toupee? On the tennis court? I answered myself; what else could I do?"

But the wig began to disintegrate as he took a shower the night before the Paris final — "probably I used the wrong hair rinse," Agassi writes.

He panicked and called his brother Philly into the room. Together, they managed to clamp the wig together using clips and pins.

Agassi, 39, writes: "Of course I could have played without my hairpiece, but what would all the journalists have written if they knew that all the time I was really wearing a wig?

"During the warming-up training before play I prayed. Not for victory, but that my hairpiece would not fall off.

"With each leap, I imagine it falling into the sand. I imagine millions of spectators move closer to their TV sets, their eyes widening and, in dozens of dialects and languages, ask how Andre Agassi’s hair has fallen from his head."

Link

(Photo: AFP/EPA)

Jacki was Spaghetti Cat in 2008. You don’t have the time to make a better costume for this year, unless you have been working on it a while already. In case you’ve forgotten, here is the origin of Spaghetti Cat.

Brad O’Ferrell showed up at the “A Night To ReMEMEber” internet meme party in a Keyboard Cat costume.  All it took was a cat costume and a keyboard.

Matt Cutts is a LOLcat. Or he was for Halloween last year. The cheeseburger was a nice touch!

This LOLcat costume is perfect for trick-or-treating. You won’t get the full effect until you see the back of the t-shirt.

This Ceiling Cat costume should be easy to do, depending on the size of the ceiling. If you are going to sit on the porch and hand out candy, this would be OK. It might be a problem if you are a cab driver.

You can buy Hello Kitty costumes of all kinds, but making your own is a real accomplishment. Pink Daisy at Craftster made her own version of Hello Kitty for Halloween 2008.

This costume was posted earlier on Neatorama, but this collection wouldn’t be complete without Lime Cat, Melon Cat, Helmet Cat, or whatever you want to call this. Flicker user Alida Saxon’s brother put this costume together at the last minute. The helmet is a basketball painted green, and the fur was salvaged from a stuffed toy.

A warning: if you dress as an internet meme for Halloween, be prepared to explain yourself. Unless you’re meeting up with your online group, you’ll probably have to tell the whole story of your costume. If you’re willing to do that, the few who will “get it” will make the entire effort worthwhile.

The Electronic Rock Guitar Shirt isn’t just a t-shirt. You can actually play music on it. Use a magnetic pick over the string markings and press down on the frets with your other hand. There’s also a volume nob and an amplifier that fits on your belt.

Link via GearFuse

Image: Erin McKean

Erin McKean is a Chicago-based lexicographer who writes at the blog A Dress A Day. There she opines on various dresses that she sees and makes. Her most recent creation is a dress inspired by the classic video game Tetris. You can view more pictures at the link.

Link via Geekologie | Interview with McKean

Looking to torture your four-legged friend with the sound of squeaking balloons and the feeling of extra bumpers that prevent him from getting comfortable? Look no further than this adorable, yet highly unfunctional dog grape costume.

Link Via Craftzine Image Via Doggie Stylish

Still haven’t got your Halloween costume yet? If you’re willing to put a lot of work into the effort, consider this gory, historical and somehow, still beautiful headless Marie Antoinette costume.

Link Via Craftzine Image Via Make Magazine

It’s bound to happen: someone created a Halloween costume inspired by the Melon Hat Cat (AKA Limecat) Internet meme. Our very own Jill Harness wrote about this and many more weird Halloween costumes at Inventor Spot blog: Link

Artist Reid Peppard makes fashion accessories out of dead animals. Imagine cufflinks made from little mouse heads, a coin purse that was once a rat, or headbands with real wings. Shown is a hair comb made from a guinea pig. Link -via Digg

Artist Soomi Park created a LED rig that gives the user the appearance of having glowing eyelashes. Here’s her motivation:

An LED Eyelash project is brought into the world to find an answer to this simple question: Why do women want larger and bigger eyes? In particular, Asians tend to have stronger needs for bigger eyes as a standard of beauty.

Since relatively few Asians are born with big eyes, those without can only look for alternative ways to make their eyes look prettier – i.e., larger. They have a repertoire of skills to make their eyes look enlarged: makeup, jewelry, and plastic surgery. Their desire for bigger eyes are almost obsessive in that so many women look to plastic surgery in order to make their dream come true. Soomi calls this, the fetish of Big Eyes.

Artist’s Website via Make

I had two boxes, a large one for my body, and a smaller one for my head.  I cut armholes in the big one and a hole in the top, where the other box went.  I painted the whole thing orange, and cut out eye holes.  About fifteen minutes after leaving the house, I realized the total and devastating failure of my endeavor, and returned home a sad, orange robot disgrace.

I know there are other stories out there that beg sharing, like Susan’s as told to Lemondrop, among other confessions:

My brother and I dressed up as George and Martha Washington one year. (My Dad was a big history buff.) Yup, it was incredibly nerdy. And also kind of funny that I was about a foot taller than “George Washington.” (pictured, above).

More terrible costume stories at their site, but since I confessed, it’s your turn!  What costume idea of yours turned out to be less than you’d hoped for?

Link

Skeleton (Glow in the Dark) T-Shirt
Vampire Fangs	This Is My Halloween Costume	Witchy

Ah, I almost forgot to mention! We have a new selection of last-minute Halloween T-shirts. If you're at lost as to what to wear for Halloween, why not get one of these comfy T-shirts? You'll look great and support the blog as well! If you order in the next day or so, the shirts would definitely arrive by Halloween (USA orders).

From the Neatorama Shop: Halloween T-Shirt (limited quantity)

Link

If you’ve have a formal event coming up and need some fancy duds for your high-class baby, consider this fine baby tuxedo available at Corduroy’s Closet on Etsy.

Link Via Craftzine Image Via Corduroy’s Closet

Yep, a t-shirt with a fully functional graphic equalizer embedded on the front. It changes with the music around you, and even reacts to conversation! $39.99 from Think Geek. Link -via Everlasting Blort

Like many products appearing on high fashion runways, these one-of-a-kind products are not very practical — other than the fact that they can be eaten. The French-language video above shows many of the items available at a 2004 exhibition by fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier. At the time, Suzy Menkes wrote in The New York Times:

Surrounded by crinolines and corset dresses sculpted out of wickerwork (think bread basket) and stuffed with round and shapely loaves, the French designer emphasized the finesse it had taken to create the show at the Cartier Foundation for contemporary art (until Oct. 10). The exhibition includes a sculpted dress with two brioches to create Gaultier’s famous pointed-bosom gown for Madonna and a Kelly bag, lovingly shaped and baked, to celebrate his current role as designer for Hermès. Add umbrellas, hats and the signature matelot stripes re-created with inky dye.

Link via Urlesque (where there are pictures of clothes made out of chocolate) | Designer’s Website