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        <title>Highsnobiety</title>
        <link>https://www.highsnobiety.com/</link>
        <description>Online lifestyle news site covering sneakers, streetwear, street art and more.</description>
        <lastBuildDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 10:00:03 GMT</lastBuildDate>
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            <title><![CDATA[Fine Then, Suit Yourself]]></title>
            <link>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/relaxed-tailoring-shop-online/</link>
            <guid>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/relaxed-tailoring-shop-online/</guid>
            <pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 10:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Sourced via our friends from MR PORTER, we put together a playbook of how to master relaxed tailoring, for a summer of effortlessly sharp dressing. ]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>One thing about classic tailoring is that it can feel a little… stiff. People are quick to hit you with a &quot;Where are <em>you</em> off to?&quot; line over a shouldered blazer that looks even the smallest bit out of place. </p><p>For most, tailoring has long carried the weight of something reserved only for big occasions; rigid silhouettes for  rigid events. But more recently, the narrative has shifted, the fits have loosened up, and fabrics appear and feel as though they can breathe at last — as can their wearer. In other words, tailoring has finally learned to relax.</p><p>No longer dormant between black tie-optionals, what we’re after now are pieces that live with you. A blazer you can hang over any random t-shirt, pants that belong at at a wedding as much as they do a regular Tuesday, a vest you can stuff into a bag without worrying about it crinkling because it actually gets better with wear. Some materials, like linen, thrive on these imperfections, with a few wrinkles only adding to their charm.</p><p>All this to say, it&apos;s no longer about locking into fully formal sets. In fact, it’s better to not. A buttoned sports coat with denim? Tailored trousers with a tee? These slight mismatches are exactly what make it feel current.</p><h2>Relaxed Tailoring Is A Man&apos;s 2026 Uniform</h2><h3>Lightweight</h3><p>The assignment? Tailoring minus the stuffiness. Think airy cottons, shapes that move and crease. These are the blazers you throw on without thinking, the ones that don’t require an entire ensemble built around them. Easy but never careless.</p><h3>Leg Room</h3><p>This is where the shift really shows, in pants that are wider, draped, with just enough volume to alter a silhouette towards something more elegant, yet no less appropriate for mere casual day-to-days. These hold their own with a fitting top portion, but read just as right with something simpler. A quiet centerpiece, hard at work.</p><h3>&quot;Suitility&quot; </h3><p>Somewhere between tailoring and workwear. More texture, more function, less fragility, these are clothes you wear, re-wear, and don’t overprotect. They&apos;re structured enough to feel sharp, and utiliatrian enough to lean on for... everything.</p><p><em>Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit </em><a target="_top" href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/l/hs-style-guide/"><em>HS Shopping</em></a><em> for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.</em></p>]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Vans' Skate Loafer Is Literally Bigger Than the Office]]></title>
            <link>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/vans-loafer-mid/</link>
            <guid>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/vans-loafer-mid/</guid>
            <pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 09:18:23 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Now available in two mid constructions, the Vans Loafer Mid somehow succeeds in feeling even more alien than it did before.]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Just when you think we’ve settled into the new era of weird sneakers, and not much else can happen, something always comes along to remind us that there’s no such thing as settling in.</p><p>This time, it comes in the form of the Vans Loafer Mid, exclusive to Japanese retailer Billy’s, which puts a new, even weirder spin on Vans’ leather loafer.</p><p>As if the moc-toed, tassel-accented Vans loafer wasn’t enough of a deviation from usual programming for the California skate brand, the minds behind some of the world’s most understated kicks have lengthened the ankle.</p><p>Now available in two mid constructions, the Vans Loafer somehow succeeds in feeling even more alien than it did before.</p><p>Built atop Vans’ signature vulcanized rubber sole unit, the silhouette is delivered with hard-wearing matter leather uppers in black and brown.</p><p>Classic loafer features like leather tassel detailing to the vamp and a pinched moc toe contrast with a familiar Vans silhouette which is made even more analogous with a now ankle-height collar.</p><p>The Vans Loafer Mid comes not just as a head-turning new silhouette for the brand, but also as a statement of intent. In a saturated sneaker market, Vans is willing to one-up itself and its competitors, and we have to say, as weird as it is, the outcome is surprisingly wearable. </p><p><em>Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit </em><a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/the-hs-style-guide/"><em>HS Shopping</em></a><em> and subscribe to </em><a target="_blank" href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/l/newsletter/"><em>Shopper</em></a><em>  for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.</em></p>]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Vans’ Stripped-Down Skate Sneaker Is the Definition of Simple Elegance]]></title>
            <link>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/vans-authentic-ease-sneaker/</link>
            <guid>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/vans-authentic-ease-sneaker/</guid>
            <pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 08:38:56 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Vans' Authentic Ease sneaker is a simple shoe that looks built to live a life of ease. But to be clear, this thrasher still shreds.]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Vans is getting back to the basics with an understated take on a<a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/vans-premium-authentic-44-knit-sneaker/"> classic Authentic sneaker</a>. The Premium Authentic Ease is a simplified version of one of Vans&apos; gnarliest thrashers. </p><p>Vans&apos; Authentic Ease ditches traditional sneaker hallmarks like a structured eyestay and pronounced collar in favor of 2-eye laces and a raw-edged opening.</p><p>So to say the Authentic Ease is pared back would be quite the understatement. Instead of the typical thick cotton laces that are all but synonymous with skate shoes, the Authentic Ease wears thin, flat laces that bolster the sneaker&apos;s unassuming disposition. </p><p>The leather upper’s crepey wrinkles add a layer of delicateness to the already delicate design.</p><p> In fact, the only real structure comes at the outsole, where Vans&apos; signature rubber platform affirms the shoe&apos;s position as a true skate sneaker. </p><p>Despite its lightweight presentation, the Authentic Ease sneaker, available on the <a href="https://www.vans.com/en-us/p/shoes/icons/authentic-5310/premium-authentic-ease-shoe-VN000ECPJVY">Vans website</a> for $80, should still be able to hold its own at any skate park. It’s just that the Authentic Ease&apos;s upper is so simple, it transcends time. It looks like it should exist in a age before skate sneakers, more like the concept of a sneaker than an actual functional shoe. </p><p>Maybe it&apos;s what you&apos;d get if you asked someone to draw a sneaker from memory with no reference material. There are no frills to speak of, and in an era<a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/vans-premium-authentic-2026-flower/"> where overdoing it</a> is the norm, the simplest Vans sneaker still stands out.</p><p><em>Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit </em><a target="_top" href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/the-hs-style-guide/"><em>HS Shopping</em></a><em> for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.</em></p>]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Wales Bonner’s Hand-Woven Sandal Is the Wildest adidas Yet]]></title>
            <link>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/wales-bonners-adidas-summer-2026-karintha/</link>
            <guid>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/wales-bonners-adidas-summer-2026-karintha/</guid>
            <pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 08:31:19 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[You've seen adidas x Wales Bonner Sambas. But you've never seen a wild adidas x Wales Bonner Karintha sneaker-sandal handwoven in Brazil.]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Karintha is <em>the </em>Wales Bonner x adidas sneaker. Not because it’s the shoe everyone associates with the longstanding collaboration — that’d be the Samba, a model Wales Bonner almost <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/adidas-samba-trend/">single-handedly popularized</a> — but because it’s the shoe that Grace Wales Bonner designed herself.</p><p>Up until now, though, the Karintha has just looked like an adidas shoe. It’s been made distinct for its wavy thin sole and Wales Bonner’s <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/wales-bonner-adidas-karintha/">signature high-texture fabrics</a>, but it’s always recognizable for its sportswear influences. </p><p>The Spring/Summer 2026 Karintha, however, is unrecognizable. </p><p>The all-new Karintha isn’t a three-striped sneaker but more of a sandal informed by leather hand-woven in Brazil. But the wavy and sporty sneaker sole remains, creating a point of contemporary contrast against the handmade upper. </p><p>That tension has always permeated throughout Wales Bonner’s excellent adidas sneakers, where rustic <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/wales-bonner-adidas-karintha-sneaker/">handstitched details</a> and crochet stripes jar against mass-market adidas sneaker classics. And you see more of that across the SS26 selection that <a href="https://www.adidas.com/us/release-dates">releases on</a> April 27, from Wales Bonner’s pony hair Gazelles to Adios runners with a handwoven tongue. </p><p>But the clash between contemporary adidas sneaker and old-fangled handwrought embellishments peaks on the woven Karintha. Which is to say, the most Wales Bonner sneaker of them all got the most Wales Bonner treatment. </p><p><em>Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit </em><a target="_top" href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/l/hs-style-guide/"><em>HS Shopping</em></a><em> for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.</em></p>]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[The World's Rarest Denim Makes an Insane Pair of Jorts]]></title>
            <link>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/kapital-century-denim-jorts/</link>
            <guid>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/kapital-century-denim-jorts/</guid>
            <pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 08:26:30 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Kapital's Century Denim is some of the world's most prized denim, so to see it put to use for giant jorts — instead of jeans — is insane and amazing.]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Does it get more insane than Kapital Century Denim jorts? I put it to you that it does not.</p><p>Kapital&apos;s Century Denim is perhaps the Japanese brand&apos;s single most prized material, a bespoke <em>sashiko</em>-stitched cotton denim often dyed with traditional persimmon or ink treatments that leaves it rigid, ready to be broken in. The process of making Century Denim is so intensive that, legend has it, Kapital has to enlist four separate factories just to produce it.</p><p>It looks unlike any other raw denim on the market because it <em>is </em>unlike any other raw denim on the market. Though sometimes still offered in indigo, Kapital&apos;s Century Denim is more frequently earthy and brown, its countless little stitches creating three-dimensional texture exaggerated through wear. Even as Kapital&apos;s tastes have evolved — although, folks, let&apos;s be clear! <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/kapital-lvmh-lcatterton-investment/">The LVMH deal</a> changed nothing in the brand&apos;s day to day — Century Denim has been a constant (as has its prices. That extra processing costs a pretty penny).</p><p>Even its application has hardly changed. Until now, Kapital almost exclusively deployed Century Denim in conventional trucker jackets and jeans, never anything weirder than an overall. These giant jorts represent a radical departure for a radical textile.</p><p>About time, really. Kapital has evolved to centralize the goofy, fun — but always well-made — stuff that used to be a blip in its huge collections. But enough smiley-face camo and bandana tees! It&apos;s about time that Kapital&apos;s signature material followed suit.</p><p>These shorts are part of Kapital&apos;s typically gigantic Spring/Summer 2026, which includes everything from XXXL rugby shirts to palm tree-printed chore coats. The overarching theme is beachside livin&apos; (mind you, the collection&apos;s title, &quot;Isla Bonita&quot; is probably not <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpzdgmqIHOQ">a Madonna reference</a>) and the shorts are a direct homage to the cropped pants worn by rice farmers who toil on Japanese islands.</p><p>And they&apos;re good, too! Kapital gets <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/kapital-runway-show/">a lot of hype</a> for a lot of reasons but it really is great at making clothes. </p><p>These shorts could&apos;ve just been oversized jean-shorts made of Century Denim and still been a big deal. But they&apos;re instead thoughtful cropped trousers fitted with pleats on their front and rear that reign in the volume, while deep angled pockets keep necessaries from tumbling out. The shape, combined with the fabric, really makes it clear that these are the final boss of jorts — these things simply do not get cooler or wilder (or wider).</p><p>Available at stores like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.blueingreensoho.com/collections/new-arrivals-1/products/century-denim-kome-kome-jorts-deep-sumi-n7s">Blue In Green</a> for around $500 in both <em>kakishibu</em> and <em>sumi </em>variations, the Century Denim jorts are just plain good. They don&apos;t really need to be justified. What a beautiful way to flip the script on a well-established Kapital klassic.</p><p><em>Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit </em><a target="_top" href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/l/hs-style-guide/"><em>HS Shopping</em></a><em> for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.</em></p>]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Tudor Just Brought Back the Rolex of Tudors]]></title>
            <link>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/tudor-monarch/</link>
            <guid>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/tudor-monarch/</guid>
            <pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 08:25:05 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Tudor is celebrating its 100th year by bringing back its long-forgotten range of Monarch sports watches. And they're more luxurious than ever.]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Tudor has entered its 100th year in the business, and the Swiss watchmaker is popping open the champagne. Well, the champagne dial, that is, one attached to a criminally underrated sport watch from of recent vintage.</p><p>To mark a century of rugged tool watches and horology that punches <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/tudor-black-bay-54-lagoon-blue/">above its weight</a>, Tudor is reviving a forgotten wristpiece. The Monarch, a sports watch line central to Tudor’s offering in the early 2000s but overshadowed by the <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/tudor-black-bay-chrono-blue-flamingo/">Black Bay</a> launched in 2012, is finally back.</p><p>The 2026 Monarch boasts the new calibre MT5662-2U movement, which is Master Chronometer certified by METAS and helps justify its price ($5,875) at the top-end of Tudor’s range. And the newness continues onto the outside, featuring a steel bracelet and 39mm case with sharp angles unlike the Monarchs that came before, yet the 2026 Monarch still carries the vibe of an early-2000s sports watch. Much of this retro feel comes from the yellow champagne dial with its textured, vertically brushed finish Tudor created to evoke old papyrus paper.</p><p>The dial matches that of Tudor’s <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/tudor-1926-luna-watch/">first-ever moonphase watch</a>, released last year, and its unveiling has been met with equal levels of <a href="https://wornandwound.com/watches-wonders-tudor-surprises-with-the-oddly-appealing-monarch/">surprise</a> at this year’s <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/tag/watches-and-wonders/">Watches &amp; Wonders</a>. </p><p>The Rolex-owned watchmaker was expected to bring out limited-edition takes on fan favorites for its centennial. And Tudor did just that at the watchmaking convention, presenting several Black Bay designs like the first fully blacked-out ceramic and a sapphire blue Black Bay 54. </p><p>But those were expected, somewhat, whereas the Monarch’s revival was a left-field choice. This isn’t a widely-known watch nor one that’s been building a buzz among vintage collectors, yet its few small tweaks made it arguably the standout from Tudor’s big 100th-anniversary moment. </p><p><em>Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit </em><a target="_top" href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/l/hs-style-guide/"><em>HS Shopping</em></a><em> for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.</em></p>]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Moncler Doesn’t Need Cold Weather to Make Noise]]></title>
            <link>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/moncler-summer-2026/</link>
            <guid>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/moncler-summer-2026/</guid>
            <pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:02:13 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Moncler, the outerwear brand famous for its winter-ready jackets brought its signature puff to a new Summer 2026 collection that's light as air. ]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We should’ve known that one day, the king of the cold would bring the heat to summer. Moncler’s Summer 2026 collection flips the script, translating the brand’s signature <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/asap-rocky-moncler/">arctic-ready outerwear</a> into a transitional wardrobe fit for warmer days. The collection is full of pillowy-soft fabrics that’ve been engineered to be light as air yet ready for anything.</p><p>The lookbook leans into layering with field jackets, light down gilets, and washed nylon shells and parkas made to slip in and out of, rain or shine. And as we deserve, the campaign is fronted by actor Jamie Dornan — a man both meltingly hot (he was Christian Grey in the <em>50 Shades</em> films, after all) and notably Irish, coming from a land of all manner of weather conditions.</p><p>With Moncler’s spin on summer staples comes a more seasonal color palette: the women’s selection is flush with pastel pink and Creamsicle orange, florals, and gingham, while the menswear is rife with grass greens, sky blues, and sunset-ready deep reds. </p><p>As we’ve come to expect from a brand as famed for its outerwear as its <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/moncler-grenoble-fw25/">lavish events</a>, Moncler’s Summer collection isn’t dropping without a few stunts up its puffy sleeves.</p><p>The brand’s new collection is bringing an entire zoo of larger-than-life animals to boutique locales around the world. </p><p>Milanese shoppers hungry for grilled <em>polpo </em>may be compelled to scale <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/gentle-monster-haus-nowhere-seoul/">10 Corso Como</a> to reach a massive inflatable octopus wrapped around the boutique’s inimitable facade for Milan Design Week, while whales, seahorses, crab, lobsters, and flamingos can be found everywhere from <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/raf-simons-ginza-2025/">Dover Street Market Ginza</a> through to Miami’s Design District. </p><p>Call us crazy, but these lighter layers and pleasantly puffed-up animals have us convinced that we actually do need to pair our favorite summer shorts (or <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/best-pants-for-summer/">shin-sheathing pants</a>) with a flash of Moncler. </p><p><em>Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit </em><a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/l/hs-style-guide/"><em>HS Shopping</em></a><em> for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.</em></p>]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Farmers Deserve Fun The North Face Gear, Too (EXCLUSIVE)]]></title>
            <link>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/the-north-face-sky-high-farm-goods/</link>
            <guid>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/the-north-face-sky-high-farm-goods/</guid>
            <pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 18:38:50 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Sky High Farm Goods x The North Face is deeper than a range of playful outdoor gear. This is one part of a mission for food equity. ]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Sky High Farm Goods isn’t your usual proprietor of local farm-grown goods. As well as jam cooked from organic strawberries and grass-fed beef tallow balm, the label’s logo graces <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/balenciaga-sky-high-farm-workwear-shirt/">Balenciaga denim shirts</a>, <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/dsm-sky-high-farm-capsule/">Supreme beanies</a><strong>, </strong>and <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/kaws-sky-high-farm-nike-air-force-1/">Nike x Kaws</a> tees. </p><p>Since this collaboration-crazed farm-affiliated fashion brand started in 2022, it’s done it all from workwear to sportswear to streetwear. One category has remained elusive, though, and an upcoming Sky High Farm Goods x The North Face collaboration will plug that gap. </p><p>“This is our first foray into truly functional outdoor apparel,” Daphne Seybold, co-founder and CEO of Sky High Farm Goods, tells Highsnobiety. “Our ultimate goal has always been to produce performance-driven garments that meet the demanding utility needs of farmers and other tradespeople, while straddling fashion and culture. This capsule is a direct reflection of our identity as an impact-led brand committed to generating net positives for both people and the planet.”</p><p>We got Sky High Farm Goods double-breasted suits (in collaboration with <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/denim-tears-tremaine-emory-interview/">Denim Tears</a>) before we got Sky High Farm waterproof outdoor gear. Which is kinda wild because the latter is the kind of stuff you actually need in the great outdoors — like, on a farm, for instance.</p><p>On April 23, the duo launches a range of what Seybold calls The North Face&apos;s &quot;time-tested icons,&quot; like weatherproof mountain pants and a shell jacket (“an essential layer for wet-weather farming,” according to TNF’s press release). Sky High Farm Goods’ interventions are ensuring the materials are 100% recycled and decorating the all-black outdoor gear through fuzzy appliqués and all-over prints of the brand’s moon and strawberry logo. </p><p>“We were deliberate in how these graphic elements showed up across the collection, creating a system of dress appropriate for the outdoors,” says David Whetstone, The North Face&apos;s director of global collaborations and energy. “While Sky High brought a lightheartedness, when [the logo is] applied on black, the intensity of The North Face is present.” Ensuring this branding is legible is vital because it carries Sky High Farm Goods’ vital message. </p><p>Seybold, a former marketing executive at COMME des GARÇONS and Dover Street Market, started the brand to both raise money for Sky High Farm, a New York agroecological farm, and to spread the word about food equity. After all, as she <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/sky-high-farm-goods-on/">previously told Highsnobiety</a>, “If you look at the media impressions between fashion, food, and beauty — the categories we&apos;ve decided to enter into — those media impressions dwarf [the ones for] climate talk.”</p><p>The hope isn&apos;t just that you wear these outdoor clothes embellished with a fun strawberry and moon, but that they inspire you to dig into Sky High Farm Goods&apos; greater calling.</p><p><em>Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit </em><a target="_top" href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/l/hs-style-guide/"><em>HS Shopping</em></a><em> for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.</em></p>]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Kaytranada Goes Underground]]></title>
            <link>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/kaytranada-dj-interview/</link>
            <guid>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/kaytranada-dj-interview/</guid>
            <pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:48:16 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[In this cover story from the spring issue of Highsnobiety Magazine, one of the biggest DJs in the world is hiding out in LA, reimagining his relationship to his own sound.]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For the moment, Kaytranada lives in a rented Hollywood Hills home which, by the neighborhood’s standards, is modest and tastefully decorated. It’s sort of like a sane person’s idea of having money: a deep pool, warm tones, enough furniture that you can tell there are humans around. </p><p>This isn’t the first place the Haitian-Canadian superstar has rented in Los Angeles, and it won’t be the last. “The curfews were terrible in Quebec,” he says, lounging on the couch where he now makes a lot of his beats, remembering the early COVID lockdowns that inspired his move. “I was like, ‘Lemme get the fuck out of here.’” But right now — as he bides his time before another tour, another album cycle — it’s as good a place as any to hide. </p><p>Kaytra, who was born Louis Celestin 33 years ago in Port-au-Prince and grew up in Montreal, moved to LA right as the world was slowing down and his life was speeding up. His second album, the lush, propulsive <em>Bubba</em>, released at the tail end of 2019, netted him a pair of Grammys (for Best Dance/Electronic Album and Best Dance Recording, the latter for the Kali Uchis–assisted “10%”). The record industry that had once seemed so distant was clamoring for more of his time, more of his attention, more of <em>him</em>. Still, the journey west was less part of a master plan than it was a fit of restlessness. </p><p>The impulse to flee must have been strong, because in person, Kaytranada does not read as antsy or nervous. He’s slight and reserved but poised: He will stand stock-still and explain why <em>The Infamous </em>might be the best rap album ever made. The house where he lives is free of clutter but full of equipment: on a kitchen island, a coffee table, wherever there’s space. It gives the impression of someone who, on one day, might immerse himself so fully in work as to forget anything else exists — and on the next, might simply tweak drum sequencing on the way back from grabbing a glass of water.</p><p>This half-decade in America has seen Kaytra become bigger — in terms of sheer commercial leverage and the expansiveness of his influence — than anyone could have reasonably expected for a shy kid obsessed with pushing the limits of rhythm in FL Studio. Kaytranada seems to agree. “You could do this, you could do that so you can become bigger,” he says, ventriloquizing the people who pull him into meetings and point to spreadsheets, slideshows, and marketing decks. “And I’m like, ‘I’m fine.’”</p><p>So today, in midwinter, exactly halfway between the release of his fourth solo album, <em>Ain’t No Damn Way!</em>, and a summer tour in Europe, Kaytranada is burrowing back underground. It’s the opposite of the trajectory followed by virtually every popular artist. But it’s what Kaytranada believes he needs to do to stay tapped in with what made him fall in love with music in the first place. He says he’s been telling people this next album will be the “last serious one” before a flood of more idiosyncratic projects: “Mixtapes, beat tapes, EPs.” </p><p>He concedes that he’s said that before, only to go back on the decision. But dating back at least to the press cycle around 2024’s <em>Timeless</em>, Kaytranada has seemed exhausted with the overdetermination of modern blockbuster rollouts. “Prince would just put out an album every year,” he says, leaning forward for emphasis. “Madlib would put out projects whenever he wants.” The artists he admires from the past weren’t so precious, basically. “For me,” an album should be “just a document of what you went through — you look back at it and you’re like, ‘Okay, that’s how I felt.’” </p><p>The retreat is nothing new; relative isolation is Kaytranada’s natural state. Where hip-hop was once a strictly social endeavor, his earliest forays into the genre were online. When he was 15, he fell in with about a dozen other aspiring producers who would upload their beats to YouTube. “We were the only ones watching,” he jokes, “giving each other props.” Spurred on by the tantalizing amount of music one could torrent — and by a particularly gifted 13-year-old of whom all the others were jealous — Kaytranada threw himself into the depths of The Pirate Bay, combing through old German prog-rock LPs, obscure disco, new wave, library music, anything with a synthesizer. He was modeling himself, as both a producer and crate-digger, after Madlib and J. Dilla, prizing the inscrutability of source material.  </p><p>By the time he released his debut album, the thunderous-yet-shimmering <em>99.9%</em>, in 2016, he had already blown up online with a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IQ0XL7qyWo">Janet Jackson remix</a>, opened for Madonna, and signed to XL. Just as tellingly, he’d seen his style widely imitated, but never truly replicated: legions of producers across genres pushing drums forward, trying to blend soul, funk, and R&amp;B with myriad dance genres, yet never quite matching the Kaytranada atmosphere, one that’s both totalized and totalizing. </p><p>Rap was always the organizing principle. No matter what other influences come flooding in — new jack swing, classic boogie, the krump music he’s been tinkering with lately — Kaytranada comes back to the same question: “What is the hip-hop version of that?” That first album featured MCs from different cities, subgenres, and eras (Phonte from Little Brother, Anderson .Paak, Vic Mensa, GoldLink). Even the songs without a guest verse, like the Karriem Riggins–anchored “Bus Ride,” would not have been out of place on a Slum Village LP. </p><p>Kaytranada quickly distinguished himself as an adept, adaptable collaborator, meeting guests somewhere between their native styles and his funhouse version of them. But for a long time, these working relationships existed only in the digital world. “I would get vocals back, I would get the entire Pro Tools session,” he recalls of these early days, assembling his first two albums mostly in Montreal. “There would be millions of takes. But I had the patience to go to every take and eventually go, ‘This is the right one.’ That’s why it kind of sounds very homemade. It was definitely not <em>studio</em>, definitely made at home on my laptop.”</p><p>**</p><p>By the time the initial COVID lockdowns lifted, though, things had changed. For one, the industry writ large returned to an in-person session model; for another, Kaytranada had hit a new stratum of fame and was finding himself in studios with artists whose work he grew up studying. The move to LA in 2021 made some of the logistics easier, but it also took him far out of his comfort zone. When he recounts these stories, you can see his shoulders tense, the stress of interference still weighing on him.</p><p>The idea of going through the entire creative process with another artist — or, worse, A&amp;Rs and executives — lingering behind him made him freeze up. (Later on in that rented home in the Hills, we talk about the story, famous in producer circles, of 9th Wonder being flown to New York while Jay-Z was recording <em>The Black Album</em>, given an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0--cdtxuIA">R. Kelly sample</a>, and told to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ar8k74ZAoo&amp;list=RD_ar8k74ZAoo&amp;start_radio=1">flip it</a> on the spot.) The Quebec cocoon was gone. </p><p>And then, during a session with the Angeleno soul singer Georgia Anne Muldrow, an epiphany. “We were just vibing, going through these beats,” Kaytranada explains. “I was very shy to make beats in person, too shy to express myself. I was used to people doing their own thing.” Muldrow clocked this, and wasn’t having it. “She was like, ‘Come on, Mr. Producer, whatcha gonna do, Mr. Producer? Whatcha gonna do?’ And then that fucked me up in a way! It was like, damn, this shit is serious. I had to be more serious than that.” </p><p>“I’m very shy, too,” Muldrow says. “It’s the shy ones who get a chance to know their surroundings more and understand the human condition; we take the extra time to take it all in before engaging. That’s gold in translation for being a producer. And so seeing that type of quality in Kaytranada, I just loved to encourage him. It’s the very same shyness that is the source of his versatility in style and groove. </p><p>“Really, he’s a sponge. That’s the only reason I kept” prodding him, she adds. “I wanted him to assert what he observed in real time, and make it fun.”</p><p>The encouragement set Kaytranada off in the right direction. But it’s one thing to literally make beats in front of an audience. It’s another still to assert your style and sensibility. “It’s definitely something you become obsessed with,” he says, “the sense that they’re never going to get it.” He describes the pressure he felt, early in his career, to “turn the swing down sometimes” — to make beats more pop than R&amp;B if he imagined that’s what an artist wanted, a deflating process made all the more frustrating by being self-enforced. This only abated when he realized there would be no pleasing everyone, no matter how far out of his preferred pocket he went. </p><p>“Of course some people are not going to get it,” he says of his current mind state. “But it’s still what I want to express. It’s still coming from the heart. It’s still 100 percent me.”</p><p>This reserved streak is noted even by rap’s most elusive living artist. “When I met him, it seemed to me that he was a man of few words,” says Mach-Hommy, the acclaimed rapper whose face is always masked and whose name has never been revealed. “After a few months of working remotely on a little house music album, K slowly began to communicate in more and more detail. He eventually shared his origin story with me, what it was like growing up in Quebec... He told me how electronic music was never his real aim, and how his real passion lay in the creation of dark and moody sample-driven hip-hop. <em>Montreal shit</em>, as he so succinctly put it. I think he described his success in the electronic music scene as a ‘happy accident.’”</p><p>The pair’s first collaboration, a single from Kaytranada’s 2021 EP, <em>Intimidated</em>, was a nod to their shared heritage. “$payforhaiti,” part of the proceeds of which benefitted Mach’s Pray for Haiti Trust Fund, is a bright, skittering cut delivered partially in Creole; “#RICHAXXHAITIAN,” from Mach’s album of the same name, feels even closer to how that nascent house LP might sound. “Two Haitians in a post-apocalyptic Tinsel Town,” Mach says of their chemistry. “What could go wrong?”</p><p>When Kaytranada was a teenager, he paid close attention to the battle between Lupe Fiasco and Atlantic Records over what would become the Chicago rapper’s third album, <em>Lasers</em>. It was a catalyzing event for Kaytranada, who decided to make whatever contractual concessions were necessary to retain creative control over his career. It’s something he’s demanded in all his recording contracts — and extends to his attitude about sampling. “A lot of people are skipping sampling; they just don’t want to go through the bullshit and the lawsuits, or even [calling rights holders],” he says. “But I’m a hip-hop head. I’m a purist when it comes to that.”</p><p>And yet any career that includes a string of arena dates across Europe, as Kaytranada’s will this summer, suggests an enterprise so big it would be difficult for one person to steer. There are trucks to take monitors and pieces of a stage from Berlin to Warsaw (and to Zurich, then Munich…) and an unending string of interchangeable hotel rooms where Kaytranada will take his production equipment but, he anticipates, rarely touch it. When he tours, he says, “all my creativity is just poured into when I perform.” There will be tens of thousands of fans dancing every night, tracking the minute changes he likes to make to the studio versions of his songs. He says the sheer scale will never stop being a little surreal. </p><p>Still, Kaytranada knows that sometimes the best thing you can do is wait. So for now, he’s biding his time, working on beats from the couch — some presumably the krump mutations he teased — while movies play quietly in the background. </p><p>He works most nights between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. Otherwise, he’s rediscovering things that never got their moment. “I was always a fan of Raphael Saadiq,” he says, “but I never really listened to his second record,” 2004’s G funk-inflected <em>Ray Ray</em>. “Now, it’s one of my favorite albums.” Back then, he shrugs, it just wasn’t the time. And so until the perfect moment, Kaytranada will be here: tinkering, listening, conjuring something unlike anything that came before.  </p><p><br><br><br></p>]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[The Future of Smart Eyewear Just Got a Whole Lot Clearer]]></title>
            <link>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/ray-ban-meta-prescription-glasses/</link>
            <guid>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/ray-ban-meta-prescription-glasses/</guid>
            <pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 10:41:38 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Ray-Ban Meta expands its AI glasses lineup with two new optical-first styles built for prescription wearers.]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Gone are the days when your glasses were simply a pair of glasses. We’ve seen tech become integrated into just about everything we touch in recent years, and things aren’t about to slow down. </p><p>Ray-Ban and Meta have been a fundamental part of said innovation. Through its ongoing partnership first brought to life late last year, we’ve been given a front-row seat to what the future of eyewear actually looks like, and this time, it&apos;s getting personal.</p><p>For a while, AI glasses were a flex reserved for those with perfect vision. Not anymore. Meet the Ray-Ban Meta Blayzer Optics and Scriber Optics Gen 2, two new optical-first styles built specifically for prescription wearers. </p><p>Slimmer and more customizable than ever before, the new frames come with interchangeable nose pads, adjustable temple tips, and overextension hinges offering an extra 10° of rotation. Translation: you&apos;ll wonder how you ever left the house without them.</p><h3>Ray-Ban Meta Blayzer Optics - Gen 2 </h3><p>Meta AI is keeping pace, too. Live Translation now covers Japanese, Mandarin and Arabic, and hands-free food logging and nutrition tracking have been added for those who want their glasses to do more than look the part. They’ll do that too, don’t fret.</p><h3>Ray-Ban Meta Scriber Optics - Gen 2 </h3><p>New seasonal colorways, including Shiny Transparent Grey and Shiny Transparent Peach, are available for order now, with the full collection expanding globally later this year.</p><p>Blurry vision? No problem. The future&apos;s finally in focus. </p><p><em>Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit </em><a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/l/hs-style-guide/"><em>HS Shopping</em></a><em> for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.</em></p>]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Benetton Recruits All Ranch Hands for Jean’s West Drop]]></title>
            <link>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/benetton-goes-ai-cowboycore-with-jeans-west/</link>
            <guid>https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/benetton-goes-ai-cowboycore-with-jeans-west/</guid>
            <pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 10:16:27 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Benetton have dropped Jean's West, a Western-inspired denim collection for 2026]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Literally. For its latest collection, Jean’s West makes a return as a standalone brand within the Benetton Group, reviving a look that taps into the mythology of the Far West with a little twist. Bringing a distinct 2026 feel to 1880’s California, Benetton weaves its signature denim with western influences and it’s clear: denim really can tell a story in every seam, wash, and stitch.</p><p>The collection draws on the original western aesthetics Benetton has been tapping into since the ‘70s, but it’s far from being “just” a nostalgia trip. The focus is on comfort and ease, which basically means no stiff fabric or break-in period; It’s like finding your favorite pair of comfy, worn-in jeans straight off the rack. There’s bootcut, regular, and carpenter cuts for men and cropped, bootcut, and turn-up options for women. Most importantly, everything is designed to have that relaxed, lived-in vibe that makes denim a wardrobe staple in the first place. </p><p>Jean’s West isn’t just about the denim, though (even though some may argue that’s the best part). The tees, sweatshirts, and accessories also take heed from the wild frontier, with western-inspired graphics and small details that are just as home in an everyday look as they are down on the range. Embroidered caps, colorful bandanas, and statement pieces like a denim trench coat or a paneled skirt top off the western look—and just like that, you’re one step closer to channeling your inner cowboy.</p><p>The collection is available from the end of February on <a href="http://benetton.com">benetton.com</a> and in 40 selected stores where you get the chance to dive into Benetton&apos;s western world even more.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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