friday photo

(Photos: Antoine Bootz)

As we put the finishing touches on our Charles and Ray Eames Halloween costumes, we wanted to leave you with this Friday Photo from the Metropolitan Home Showtime House of earlier this fall. A group of designers that included Richard Mishaan, Pentagram's James Biber, a team from Surfacedesign (James Lord, Roderick Wyllie, and Geoff di Girolamo), and the dynamic duo of Christopher Coleman and Angel Sanchez transformed a pair of Tribeca penthouses into a parallel universe inspired by six Showtime shows. In honor of tomorrow's ghoulish goings-on, we're focusing on designer Marie Aiello's multi-room tribute to Dexter, which stars Michael C. Hall as a darkly lovable serial killer. Aiello, who began her career as a television producer, avoided the obvious (blood-red chintz, a bordello chaise, splatter painting) in favor of sophisticated spaces that wink at the passions of their would-be owner. Upon closer inspection, the chic living room (above) reveals a hearth surrounded by a DNA-themed pattern of mirrored tiles and a pair of glittering Swarovski crystal-encrusted skulls (inset), while the Trove photoprint on the back wall is a blurred close-up of Dexter's face. Our favorite touch? The 1953 Vladimir Kagan rocking chair, a mix of swooping curves and scarred upholstery.

(Photo: Nick D./The Martha Stewart Show)

One of our favorite things about Martha Stewart is her passionate-bordering-on-unreasonable love for Halloween. From spooky home decor to elaborate homemade costumes, she does her best to ensure that October 31 is a really good thing. Sorry, Christmas—according to Gael Towey, chief creative officer of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and acting editor-in-chief of Martha Stewart Living, "Halloween" was the most searched for holiday at marthastewart.com in 2008, and with Halloween falling on a Saturday this year, Martha is pulling out all the stops. The October issue of Living offers what Towey describes as "a parade of wicked and wild ideas for marvelous masks, devilish decorations, and deliciously deranged dishes to serve friends." Meanwhile, Monday's episode of The Martha Stewart Show promises a "Halloween Pet-acular." Translation: an audience full of creatively costumed pets and their owners. As if that wasn't exciting enough, fashion designer (and pet owner) Isaac Mizrahi will be on hand to assist with a festive pet fashion show. "Definitely tune in," advises Isaac. "Since my dog Harry is one of the very special guests."

Further proof of our theory that the history of the world can be written through its board games: Pank-A-Squith, a women's suffrage-themed game manufactured in the early 1900s. Designed to edify and delight in the suffragette palette of green, white, and violet, Pank-A-Squith was named for political activist Emmeline Pankhurst and then newly installed British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, a vocal opponent of women's suffrage. A catchier name—say, Votes for Women, Sufferin' Suffrage!, or Mall Madness—may have boosted sales, but the fine German craftsmanship has stood the test of time (a century, to be exact).

The object of the game? To propel your lead suffragette game piece around the 50-square board, stopping to protest (square 6 involves breaking the windows of the Home Office) and donate (a stop on square 16 will cost you a penny for Suffragette Funds) while evading imprisonment, shackles, and court appearances, all on the route to universal suffrage. Square 43 may represent the only time "forced feeding of hunger strikers" has appeared on a game board.

Enfranchise your family's game night on October 28, when Pank-A-Squith goes on the block at Bonham's during a sale in London that also includes a dynamite Russian chess set from the Cold War era: Communists versus capitalists.

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(Photo: Wright)

Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead to December, when this doozy of a model dive bomber goes on the block at Wright in Chicago. In our fantasy living room, it is a cast aluminum counterpoint to Marc Newson's riveted, riveting "Lockheed Lounge." Designed by Edward Heinemann of the Douglas Aircraft Company, the plane is a wind tunnel model of a Douglas BTD Destroyer, the American torpedo bomber developed during World War II for the United States Navy. The aluminum and enameled steel craft, the only one of its kind, is approximately seven feet long and includes moveable parts that didn't make it into the final design ("Sorry, Ed. We're just not feeling the defensive turrets."). And the wing-mounted cannons? Standard. "This impressive model demonstrates the progressive nature of industry propelled by war time commerce," notes Wright. Look for savvy bidders to propel the selling price beyond its $30,000 - $40,000 estimate.

(Photos: UnBeige)

Or at least highly unlikely seatmates. Who knew comedian, author, and erstwhile host of It's Showtime at the Apollo Steve Harvey had such a sharp eye for design? We spotted him and his wife sitting beside Harper's Bazaar editor-in-chief Glenda Bailey in the front row of Saturday's jaw-droppingly stunning Chado Ralph Rucci show (but more about that later). Other unexpected Fashion Week appearances included Mickey Rourke at Tuesday's Max Azria show and Michael Douglas, who inspected the ultra-feminine looks at Oscar de la Renta. Our personal favorite kept a lower profile. It was only on our way out of Sunday evening's Tuleh show that we noticed Wallace Shawn among the crowd. The beatific actor and writer had a front-row seat for a collection that designer Bryan Bradley described as inspired by the idea of "fashion as a short-story collection."

(Photos: NK Stockholm)

Have you noticed the band of young, design-savvy Swedish fashion labels that have overcome less than inviting names (Acne, we're looking at you) to take the contemporary market by storm? One of our favorites is Stockholm-based Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair (FASR), which neither repairs shoes nor is located on Fifth Avenue. Founded by Astrid Olsson and Lee Cotter upon "a dedication to traditional tailoring, patternmaking, and the old ways of the trade" and "a love of quality and details," FASR consistently delights with well-edited Club Monaco-meets-Rick Owens collections that keep our eyes trained on the krona-to-dollar exchange rate.

Now they've branched out into couture, kind of. FASR was one of eight Swedish fashion labels invited to create a one-of-a-kind piece for NK, the Swedish department store that was once home to an elaborate couture salon. The diverse looks (pictured below) took to the runway Wednesday in a show at Stockholm's Royal Opera, and the FASH dress (above) stood out in red matte satin, layered tulle, and detachable spirals of red and pink jersey. The inspiration? Naum Gabo and Alice in Wonderland: organic, twisted transparency crossed with fairytale fantasy. Or, in the words of the FASR designers, "A little bit of geisha, a little bit surreal, a little sweet, and at the same time freaky."

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(Photo: James and Karla Murray)

"Ideal Dinettes" sounds like an establishment dreamed up by Thomas Pynchon, but in fact, it existed for 55 years, selling utopian kitchen and dining room furniture until closing in 2008. The Brooklyn shop and hundreds more timeworn New York City storefronts are lovingly preserved in Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York (Gingko Press), a new book by photographers and authors James and Karla Murray. An ode to the endangered species of the mom and pop shop, Store Front takes the reader on a technicolor walking tour of humble neighborhood haunts (Ralph's Discount City) and New York institutions (Katz's Delicatessen), all captured in stunning oversize images alongside interviews with shop owners. The bittersweet chronicle of the urban retail life cycle doubles as a fascinating atlas of street typography. The book also inspired "MOM & POPism," a Gawker Artists exhibition in which graffiti and street artists including Celso, Under Water Pirates, and Zoltron applied their own colorful touches to life-sized reproductions of the Murrays' images. Check out their photographs of their photographs in a selection of installation shots here.

(All photos: UnBeige)

It's New York International Gift Fair time! The fun kicks off this weekend at the Javits Center, where we'll again be prowling the aisles of the juried Accent on Design division as a judge for the "Bloggers' Choice" awards. In the meantime, take a look at our photo album from the February fair. Amidst the merchandise extravaganza, we found covetable goods from old and new favorites, including Artecnica (with a booth softly illuminated by Starlightz paper stars, pictured above), Areaware, Jonathan Adler, Harry Allen, and Alessi—and that's just the A's! First up, DFC's line of ceramic Skull Boxes. They were designed for trinket storage, but we prefer to think of them as ice cream bowls for Damien Hirst. At just under 11 inches tall, they're the perfect size for a spin art sundae topped with a spun sugar butterfly.

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(Photo: Richard Avedon)

This iconic 1957 Richard Avedon photo, "Marilyn Monroe, actress, New York," is now in the collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art. Today the museum announced its acquisition of 39 Avedon photographs, more than doubling its collection of the late photographer's work. "We are very grateful...for the cooperation of The Richard Avedon Foundation, which enabled us to realize an acquisition that I had discussed with the photographer himself, and about which he was very enthusiastic," said Peter Galassi, chief curator of MoMA's department of photography, in a statement issued today. Acquired from the Foundation, the career-spanning photos date from 1953 to 2002 and include nine photos of Avedon's father that were first shown in a solo exhibition at MoMA in 1974. In addition to a pensive Monroe, there are portraits of Marcel Duchamp, Coco Chanel, Malcolm X, Bob Dylan, and fashion shots featuring Veruschka and Twiggy. A selection of Avedon's work is on view in MoMA's photo galleries through March 22, 2010.

(Photos: Discover Today's Motorcycling)

Continuing with last week's cycling theme, we bring you this pair of motorcycle helmets painted by Mike Shinoda (left) and Troy Lee (right) for "Celeritas," an exhibition of motorcycle culture-meets-street art that is on view through August 16 at SURU in Los Angeles. The show includes motorcycle helmets and "leathers" customized by the likes of Barry McGee, Mark Dean Veca, Audrey Kawasaki, James Jean, Stash, and Futura, whose spatter-painted headgear conjures visions of Sam Francis astride a Harley. Championed by actor John Hensley (Nip/Tuck) and Linkin Park's Joe Hahn, Celeritas kicked off earler this month with an auction that raised more than $65,000 for Riders for Health, an organization that provides motorcycles and maintenance training to aid workers in Africa who provide medical care to remote populations.