Fine Print | ‘The Purple Anthology’

Purple Anthology, Rizzoli, 2008 (Katja Rahlwes).

Art and fashion are usually filed away in decades not centuries, so it’s not often you hear someone say, “That’s so fin de siècle.” “The Purple Anthology” (Rizzoli; $60) examines this gray, or rather, purple area in art and fashion during the past 15 years of the prescient periodical Purple. This cultish French journal’s commentaries, collages and epic photographic essays pinned down a moment in flux, hovering not only between centuries, but also between the galleries and runways of New York, Paris and Tokyo.

The Post-Materialist | Berlin Generics

A report from our Berlin correspondent on design in culture.

My favorite design stuff in Berlin this week falls into the category of “rejigged generics.” I love it when rigid formats get twisted and loosened just enough to be individual, yet keep the satisfying uniformity that made them generic in the first place. There’s something very Berlin about this; it’s a non-conformist and unconventional town in the middle of a rather conformist and conventional country.

Rüdiger Schlömer, above, is a designer of “parasitic textiles” who holds regular knitting circles dedicated to remixing (the slow way, by hand) the standard fan scarves manufactured for German football supporters. Using a Flash remix interface on his Web site, Schlömer lets his parasitic knitters (including you) re-arrange letters from different scarves into new words they improvise on-screen, then knit together according to digital patterns. The results resemble the ransom notes Jamie Reid was parodying in his Sex Pistols graphics.

Fine Print | ‘Beloved Object & Amorous Subject, Revisited’

It’s hard to bring a fresh perspective to photographic portraiture, but Paul Mpagi Sepuya proves that sometimes the simplest approach yields the most rewarding results. His book, “Beloved Object & Amorous Subject, Revisited,” (Envoy) is straightforward enough: a series of shirtless young men — Sepuya’s friends, boyfriends and collaborators — pose deadpan against a plain white wall in his bedroom. The images are technically impeccable, but it is the subtle changes in mood and expression that draw us in: who exactly are these guys, and why do we care?

Soft Serve | Superduper Yachts, Who’s-Your-Daddy Test, Dinosaur on Ebay

Soft Serve scans newspapers, magazines and Web sites for “soft news” — coverage of products, trends and matters of style. Just the fluff, ma’am.

Someone better break the news to Paul Allen that superyachts like his mondo “Octopus” are soon to be outdone. The Monaco-based Wally’s Yachts has designed a “gigayacht.” The $200 million dollar “floating island” will include “a tennis court, pool and five accommodation decks including a main saloon, dining room, library, cinema, spa and fitness area.” Sounds positively titanic. … Stay-at-home mom’s now have a reason to commandeer their child’s Nintendo Wii. WiiFit, a high-tech alternative to Jane Fonda videos, will teach everything from Yoga to Aerobics. Oh, and there will be fun games too.

Fine Print | ‘The Endless City’

Did you know that the number of buildings over eight stories in Shanghai went from 121 in 1980 to 10,045 in 2005? That 56 percent of all London residents in 2001 were foreign born? And that 65 percent of New Yorkers belong to an ethnic minority? You will after flipping through “The Endless City” (Phaidon), a chronicle of the unprecedented shift towards urban living that the world has been experiencing since the early 20th century. In 1910, 10 percent of the world’s population lived in cities; we are currently at 50 percent and the projection for 2050 is 75 percent.