“How would you design Vanity Fair?” Mario Lombardo replied tersely : “Not at all.” White on white—from abstract painters Kasimir Malevich and Robert Ryman to the humble tennis shoe, pale monochrome on top of pale monochrome has always proven a classic style. That’s clear in Mario Lombardo’s poster concept for K-Swiss’ You Gotta Know Your Classics poster campaign, “Blond On Blond,” where the words and colors (or lack thereof) literally deconstruct off the page. It’s a witty homage to the all-white tennis style epitomized by the K-Swiss Classic shoe…..

Non-Format is one of the most acclaimed design collectives working today. A duo made up of Kjell Ekhorn and Jon Forss, since Non-Format began in 2000 they’ve won all number of awards in their field, as well, their clients range from the coolest to the biggest. Non-Format’s contribution to K-Swiss’ You Gotta Know Your Classics campaign, for example, uses oversize type to crushingly illustrate the theme with subtle absurdist humor and a nod to Constructivism.

Everybody loves a Classic ! whether it be an object a person a sentiment or in this case here simply an evergreen Classic trainer. It’s more than stood the test of time, since 1966 in fact and keeps on setting the standard. It’s also a design aesthetic and to expand on that 8 emerging worldwide designers were asked to interpret their own take on a or The Classic in ‘You Gotta Know Your Classics’ and the results are as striking as they are varied !

Rolling Stone called 1999’s Fruit of the Vine—the first film from filmmaker duo Rick Charnoski and Coan Buddy Nichols, aka Six Stair—“a seminal work of scraped knees, bruised elbows, and big air.” The filmmaking duo made the visceral, exciting Fruit of the Vine in homage to the world of pool skating, and the authenticity and spontaneity of skateboard culture finds itself infecting every frame of Six Stair’s work. Read on for their latest piece “K is for Kalifornia” …..

Norwegian design collective Grandpeople started putting their distinctive mark on everything from fashion and music projects to high art and advertising. Spanning avant-garde electronic-music album covers and stylishly groundbreaking retail posters for basketball kicks to the cover of Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Fight Club, whimsical illustrations for Tokion magazine and edgy rocker t-shirts, Grandpeople clearly can do it all, and with innovative panache.

As prime mover in the design company Value and Service, Sean Murphy serves as a key element in London’s vibrant design scene. K is a prime mover in the design company Value and Service, Sean Murphy serves as a key element in London’s vibrant design scene. Murphy and Value and Service prove versatile in their many innovative projects, putting their mark on everything from books to fashion to branding:

Dutch design team Cobbenhagen Hendriksen were first out the gate to interpret ‘You Gotta Know Your Classics’ in Chapter 1 of this unique initiative and this is how they went about it: “Choosing Helvetica, which is used for the K-Swiss logo, we referred to a Helvetica sticker sheet you can buy in every office-supply shop ….”

Eight forward-looking designers from Berlin to Bergen, Seoul to SoCal recently got inspired to look back and visually re-interpret the history of K-Swiss’ flagship shoe, the Classic – itself a timeless design that has endured since its introduction in 1966 at Wimbledon. In some ways, the K-Swiss Classic is the perfect shoe to project different design points of view onto: its pure white lines are a minimal masterpiece, a tabula rasa with which to project a fresh sensibility.

We love telling a good story here at KSPACE, as much as we love playing around with the idea of all things classic – past, present, future and even future primitive. So we’re delighted at this time to be unrolling a story not previously told, of an iconic brand steeped in ‘the Classic’ and better yet we get to tell it with the help of eight highly credible international designers over the next couple weeks – it goes a little something like this …..

We knew our friends at Palladium had it going on, but we didn’t know they were rocking runways… as in fashion runways. Seems that in their arsenal of canvas and rubber boots, a storied French history and hip kids, Palladium has been holding their secret weapon for next fall’s style avalanche. Seems that Neil Barrett, the famed menswear designer has collaborated…

ou’ve peeped the low-tops, but as to not exclude the ladies from the high-top mix, K-Swiss is dropping a few new colorways of its Surf & Sand high top. There is an all black upper, and four Spring colorways will catch much attention going into Easter in yellow, pink, green and lavender.

High tops for the holidays! K-Swiss does a limited release on a Classic, with a twist (0r two) — a high top in fall colors. My favorite is this pair of blood red kicks in patent leather. No pun intended: they are pretty killer.

We’re all about good vibes and festive cheer here in the KSPACE and certainly no grinches, yet nor were we gonna get involved too deeply in compiling all the latest Xmas tunes – HA but a yo ho ho along came the good folk at Stereogum who have done all the holiday cheer compiling for all of us and come up with a mighty stellar list i might add – AND they’re all downloadable if you have the urge to show just how groovy and resourceful you are at your family dinners and after parties !

You can use headphones to listen to illegally downloaded music, but you can’t download headphones. Therefore, it’s no wonder that music stars are putting their name on artist-branded headphones! Dr. Dre started the trend with his “Beats” model, which has exploded into a full-on product line. Now, everyone’s in on the act – even Lady Gaga, whose “Heartbeats” put a spiky, arty, weird fashion twist on your typical earbuds.

One of the perks of working at Kspace is we get to actually try out the dope K-Swiss kicks as they come out (and occasionally they let us keep them). I was surprised when I first tried out the new Tubes cross trainer: I was intrigued visually by the holes (i.e., “tubes”) perforating the heels, which I discovered provided a springy bounce to my movements.

True to its name, K-Swiss’ flagship triathlon shoe, the K-Ona, was inspired by Hawaii, where the globe’s greatest athletes battle for Ironman supremacy in that competition’s World Championships on flats warmed up by the tropical sun. Speaking of hot, now K-Swiss is introducing a new set of colorways that move beyond Hawaii…

The twins look like they have a ways to go on getting the 266 Pairs of the super Limited Edition Partners & Spade & K-Swiss ‘Ping Pong Classic’ ready for us. ha But luckily they did not really have to nail polish a stripe on each pair themselves – what may not be so lucky is if you miss out on gettin’ one of them pairs for yourself !

Manu Chao has always been an iconoclast, from his inclusive, multilingual blend of punk and world sounds to his tireless quest for spreading his ethos of justice and understanding via music-as-protest. But when we heard about his new project – recording an album with a bunch of psychiatric patients – we were understandably intrigued….

This weekend in LA is a one of a kind evening of LA’s master beat-makers. While many electronic artists in the UK have discovered the open-minded audiences here, the main draw for many in the dubstep and hip-hop communities is the budding talent pool of artists here in LA.

Table tennis is making a come back in a big way, with the Hard Bat Classic last month and now with the launch of the “August Sweatout Ping Pong Classic” which K-Swiss has teamed up for a special shoe collaboration. Andy Spade and Anthony Sperduti of Partners & Spade…