"Weekend Reading" is a weekly rundown of our favorite stories from around the web.
Is there a story worth scoping out that we missed? Discuss this past week's headlines, and share your favorite stories from the week that was in our comments section below.

VFiles Names Participating Designers and Launches Own Line
"Former Hood By Air fashion director Paul Cupo will design luxury unisex streetwear brand VFiles Yellow Label."

via: Business of Fashion

Inside The Culture Of Sexism At Riot Games
"Over the course of several months, Kotaku has spoken to 28 current and former Riot employees, many of whom came forward with stories that echo Lacy’s. Some of those employees spoke on the record; most spoke anonymously because they feared for their future careers in the games industry or they were concerned that League of Legends’ passionate fanbase would retaliate against them for speaking out. Many of those sources painted a picture of Riot as a place where women are treated unfairly, where the company’s culture puts female employees at a disadvantage. Other current employees, speaking on the record, disputed that account, with some top female employees telling Kotaku they had not personally experienced gender discrimination at Riot."

via: Kotaku

Is Luxury’s Love Affair With ‘Drops’ More Than Marketing?
"High-end brands are implementing Supreme-style ‘drops’ to better connect with young consumers who crave newness at the speed of Instagram."

via: Business of Fashion

Notre Debuts Private Label Collection With Graphic Tees
"To kick off its brand new Private Label collection, Notre drops a wide variety of graphic T-shirts. Encompassing washed orange shades and neutral black, the collection of long- and short-sleeved tees boasts a disparate selection of colorful printed details. The “World Game” shirt offers a tribute to soccer along with a quote from R. Buckminster Fuller, while the “Sunrise” tee blends illustrative planets with Notre branding. Meanwhile, the “Access to Tools” T-shirt is available in various colors and lengths, including pastel tie-dye and washed blue, sporting embroidery at the chest and a large “NOTRE” print on the rear. Finally, “Send More Chuck Berry” is emblazoned on the front of a black short-sleeved T-shirt, while “Use It or Lose It” features a rear graphic that ties in with the planetary themes of the “Sunrise” T-shirt."

via: Hypebeast

Haider Ackermann Opens Up About Berluti: “I’m Still Close with All My Exes”
"Haider Ackermann follows his heart. It's brought him to some interesting places. Today he's in Paris, where he has lived and worked for the past eight years. That's the longest time he's spent anchored in one location—ever. “I'm not ready to move,” he tells me. We're walking along the busy Rue Saint-Honoré on a sunny summer day. “Unless…unless there is a new love affair—and then I'm out of here again.” Ackermann's most recent love affair didn't take him away from Paris. If anything, it helped him create a deeper connection to the city. It lasted nearly two years—three seasons, in fashion-speak—and ended with a public breakup that, considering the tumultuous state of the industry in 2018, wasn't exactly surprising but was, for many people, hugely disappointing."

via: GQ Style

The Summer Loafers Went Crazy
"Today’s designers are taking the icon of tasteful style and warping them with bizarre colors, patterns, and materials."

via: GQ

These Trippy 1980s Ads Were Created for a Japanese Department Store
"Bonnie and Clyde actress Faye Dunaway sits in a darkened room, staring intently at the camera. In front of her is a hard-boiled egg, which she slowly picks up, peels, and begins to eat, half smiling from time to time as she continues in her task. Perhaps surprisingly, this isn’t a Lynchian interlude in a particularly bizarre episode of Twin Peaks; rather, the surreal, 90-second-long film is an advert for Japanese department store Parco–as directed by photographer and fine artist Kazumi Kurigami."

via: AnOther

Here’s the Story Behind Prada’s $1,790 Banana Bowling Shirt
"While $1,200 is steep for an item that splits opinion right down the middle (not unlike its design), Prada is also charging $1,790 for an equally divisive padded flame and banana print bowling shirt. But this isn’t a matter of Prada trying to cash in by creating fashion meme-bait — the brand has been in the “ugly-chic” game for years, and even the bananas have a history."

via: Highsnobiety

Review: In ‘BlacKkKlansman,’ Spike Lee Journeys Into White America’s Heart of Darkness
"As the movie reminds us — right at the end, when it makes a harrowing transition from re-enactment of the past to raw, present-tense video — we currently have a president whom David Duke likes very much. Rather than add his voice to the chorus trying to explain how we got here, Mr. Lee (who shares screenwriting credit with Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott) muses that we might have been here all along. Which doesn’t mean that nothing has changed, but rather that the racist attitudes and ideas Ron finds among the Klansmen (and around the police department’s station house, too) are durable and tenacious facts of our national life."

via: The New York Times

How Tom’s of Maine’s Founder Created a Fast-Fashion Alternative
"Being a keen problem solver and an entrepreneur at heart, Chappell starting thinking about creating clothing from a lightweight fiber that would not only be comfortable on your skin but would insulate your body. While he had found wool to be itchy and scratchy, he also decided it was a miracle fiber: It cools you off when you need it to, it retains heat when it’s cold out, and it doesn’t hold stink. The trick would be to remove the itch."

via: Fast Company

Tags: weekend-reading