CLASS Schools Us on the Next Big Things

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This past weekend's CLASS Trade Show brought together contemporary clothing lines with retail buyers; and secondarily, journos and bloggers who were invited to take a peek at/drool over the offerings. Most of the lines were pushing their offerings for fall, which seemed appropriate, given Saturday's torrential downpours. Like Rock & Republic's moody, broody, dark and dramatic jeans, leggings, jeggins (yup) and jackets; and Mark Nason's tall boots. For us, it was an exciting opportunity to see the latest from up and coming, or brand-new brands: we were wowed by playful looks by LA-based 3rd and Army, sophisticated but urban menswear from Loft 604; the cool rebirth of Zodiac boots?and just what the hell does one say about RVCA X Cobra Snake? We got news from old friends—much to our chagrin, ARKA isn't going into ladies' wear just yet, but they will be expanding their offerings for men; Dogeared are about to release a new line in conjunction with a big, freaking huge movie that we can't talk about yet; the ladies' line from Creative Recreation looks as good in real life as it does in photos. In the coming weeks, we'll feature looks (and giveaways) from a few of the standouts, but in the meantime, the photo gallery highlights a few of the notables.
· CLASS [Official Site]