SAVE OUR SPECIES / LACOSTE

To help fight for world's wildlife conservation, Lacoste partnered up with IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) and created a limited-edition “Save Our Species” collection of polo shirts.

In a simple but powerful gesture, Lacoste replaced it's iconic crocodile logo with a line of emblems featuring 10 of the most threatened species in the world. Each polo shirt, rendered in white, is produced in a limited number of copies corresponding to the remaining population size of the respective species in the wild.
Featured animals are:  Those animals consist of the Vaquita dolphin, Burmese roofed turtle, Northern sportive lemur, Javan rhino, Cao vit gibbon, Kakapo parrot, California condor, the Saola, Sumatran tiger, and the Anegada ground iguana.

// SOS ensures the long-term survival of threatened species, their habitat and the people who depends on them. SOS - Save Our Species channels funds from donors to existing frontline conservation actors working to protect from extinction some of the world's most threatened species of plants and animals. //

[Sources: NotCot; Lacoste; SaveOurSpecies; HighSnobiety]

FACE / YUMNA AL-ARASHI

Yumna Al-Arashi's photographic series captures the last generation of Muslim women with facial tattoos:

// The facial tattoos are often reflections of local astrological beliefs. The designs can be symbolic tributes to the stars, the moon or the sun depending on each woman’s personal preference. Although many women adorn their faces for cosmetic reasons, most believe that the intricate drawings connect them with the spiritual world and protect their households from evil forces. In either case, Yumna says, the tattoos are a manifestation of female strength: “These metaphysical connections translate as very powerful in these communities. Women are authoritative figures. They are the family’s decision-makers, they understand the land and animals’ needs best, they know how to use herbs to heal and they can cook. These are all essential survival skills.” The tattoos are symbols of matriarchal power in communities where women sustain the livelihood of their families. Men, Yumna says, are merely there to assist.

Face not only captures the Maghreb’s matriarchal communities, but also comments on the slow disappearance of female facial tattoos. “They started vanishing when capitalism was introduced to the region; corporate power is a dominantly male force. This in turn, saw the dissolution of the agricultural and natural power that women had controlled,” Yumna says. “It’s so easy for the media to tell people that these countries are backwards and that these women are repressed.” Yumna’s photography questions Western ‘progress’ and its orientalist preconceptions of Muslim communities by highlighting how the onset of capitalism has reorganised these traditional communities in line with a patriarchal social order. //

[Source:  It’s Nice That; Yumna Al-Arashi ]

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

// Forgive me, Mr. Palmer, but I can’t resist the urge to give you one of my all-time favorite pieces of advice: "If you’re going through hell, keep going." //

[ Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard; NCIS; Season 14, Episode 13: Keep Going ]

JOHN BERGER / WAYS OF SEEING

// A woman is always accompanied, except when quite alone, and perhaps even then, by her own image of herself. While she is walking across a room or weeping at the death of her father, she cannot avoid envisioning herself walking or weeping. From earliest childhood she is taught and persuaded to survey herself continually. She has to survey everything she is and everything she does, because how she appears to others – and particularly how she appears to men – is of crucial importance for what is normally thought of as the success of her life. //

[ John Berger - The Ways of Seeing ]

[ source: Dazed ]

THE ISHU 'PRIVACY SCARF' / SAIF SIDDIQUI

// The two-toned geometric-patterned "privacy scarf," invented by 28-year-old entrepreneur Saif Siddiqui, is made up of special light-reflecting crystals that bounces back a flash at the offending camera, rendering pictures dark, grainy, and useless. (It also works with video camera lights.) 

The young creator was quoted as saying the point of his product is to make people more aware of the importance of privacy and allow us to be better in control of it. In the meantime, it's a great solution for stars who don't want to interact with the public

It’s no surprise that high-profile, constantly papped people are drawn to these scarves, but regular folks are buying them up, too. In a world where nearly everything seems to end up on social media, with or without one’s permission, it's nice to have the option to not accidentally be in somebody's selfie. While most of us don't spend our travels trying to avoid TMZ photographers camped out at LAX, there seems to be a growing interest in privacy and the internet, or at least in controlling one's own literal image. //

[ Condé Nast Traveller, The Ishu  ]

VANTABLACK / SURREY NANOSYSTEMS

//There's black, and then there's Vantablack.// 

Developed by a British company Surrey NanoSystems, Vantablack is currently the world's darkest material, absorbing up to 99.965% of light in the visible spectrum. It is so dark that the eye has difficulty understanding what it is seeing and the perception is thus limited to 2 dimensions. Vantablack ("Vertically Aligned Nano Tube Arrays") consists of a "forest" of carbon nano-tubes that are so densely packed that most of the light gets trapped inside the material.

Vantablack is mainly being used in research applications now from stealth aircraft and weaponry to calibrating space cameras and telescopes and increase their optical efficiency.

British contemporary artist Anish Kapoor has exclusive rights to use the Vantablack pigment in his art. //Vantablack seems a natural choice for Kapoor's experimental inclinations given his forays into working with stainless steel and mirrors. Kapoor's sculptures are designed to unsettle the viewer and distort their surroundings, so working with a material that functions as a portable abyss seems like a nice step up.//

[ Sources: dezeen, cool hunting, dazed digital ]

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

// Women's Day can be a reminder to women and lovers of women to band together and support each other! Remember the incredible accomplishments of historical women, and celebrate the accomplishments of women today! Be confident in your own sexuality, beauty, ability, belief and body and show trust and kindness towards other women of all races, bodies, backgrounds and beliefs. //

[ Frances Cannon: What it means to be a woman today, illustrated; Dazed Digital ]

[ Source: Dazed Digital ]