55DSL’s Studio55 2nd Pic+Mix art exhibition is happening this Thursday, Dec. 3rd. Thursday’s event is a private viewing from 6:30PM – 9:00PM. This show will be running at Studio55, located at 55DSL‘s London Flagship store on 10A Newburgh street, from December 4 – 24, 2009 and sponsored by Tiger Beer.

Info and pictures after the jump…

The second show in this series is featuring talented experimental graffiti artist, Chu, and fellow street artist & illustrator, Disco Teck. Both will be working with the Monorex Agency. Using the tools of their trade, aerosol vs. marker pen to give a 360 degree installation that will seriously turn your head.

55DSL and Adidas Originals has a desire for maximum collaboration. They haven’t stopped at just their limited edition sneaker. In addition to bringing you 15 years of awesomeness via the XV/55 limited edition sneaker, they are also introducing five super cool t-shirts with cutting edge graphics that will blow your mind!

More info and pictures after the jump…

The first of the Experience Enhancer Device Project are the limited edition sneakers, which accumulates the experiences of the past 15 years of 55DSL moments, fun, and madness! Now, each of these five new shirts will represent one of the five themes of the project. And each graphic, drawing inspiration from graffiti, pop art and urban attitude, tells an irreverent and cheeky tale. Enjoy.

55DSL welcomes the Vasava x 55DSL x Atom Plastic Señor Blanco Art Toy in honor of the street wear brand’s 15th anniversary.

More info and pix after the jump…

Señor Blanco has been busy all summer traveling the world meeting celebrities, photographers, journalists and 55ers. Pictures of his travels can be found here. Only 1,555 of them have been made to honor the 15th anniversary of 55DSL.

The Vasava x 55DSL x Atom Plastic Señor Blanco toys are available at 55DSL stores, Kidrobot stores, , Kidrobot.com,  Atom Plastic stores, Atomplastic.com, and YOOX.com

Andrea Rosso, 55DSL’s Creative Director, chose Calvin Kwok to design the limited edition capsule collection.  Calkin Kwok was one of the finalists of the Cut&Paste 2D Tournament sponsored by 55DSL.  The capsule collection’s theme is MYSTICOOL, consisting of a mystical world where “cool is king” and inspiration comes from pendants, cryptic ruins, mythological creatures anda everything else in between.

The collection includes two men’s t-shirts, a hoodie and a crew neck sweater.   And for the ladies it includes two women’s t-shirts, a zipp-up sweatshirt and a dress.  The capsule will also include two 55DSL 15th anniversary celebration icionic pieces: the XV sunglasses created in conjunction with Safilo and the Vasava x 55DSL x Atom Plastic Senor Blanco art toy.  To purchase the capsule collection and for additional images…CLICK HERE!

More images on the flip…

Cut& Paste held 16 competitions in 16 different cities around the world, and now the Cut&Paste 2D Digital Design Global Championships sponsored by 55DSL grand finally is this Friday!!

More info after the jump…..

The big shabang will be October 16th in New York City.  55DSL Creative Director Andrea Rosso, along with the Cut&Paste graphic experts, will select the Cut&Paste Global Championship winner from the 2D competition.  This one lucky winner will have the chance to design a 10.55 t-shirt sold exclusively in the 55DSL flagship stores across the globe.  Also the winner from the June  competition in Hong Kong, Calvin Kwok, was selected to design a 55DSL capsule collection that will be sold exclusively on yoox.com this Fall (more about that later!!)  This contest features the best designers around the world, and its a full impact live event…so if you are in the NY area or will be visiting…you must not miss this event!

WHEN: Friday October 16th 7pm
WHERE: Hammerstein Ballroom
ADDRESS: 311 W. 34th Street  New York, NY
For ticketing information CLICK HERE!

Every week until December, one lucky winner will walk away with a pair of limited edition special collaboration XV/55 sneakers by adidas Originals as well as one of the many exclusive collaborative items created for 55DSL’s 15th anniversary.  To enter the competition, you must upload a picture of yourself at your most uncool state in 1994 (the year 55DSL was born) to the 55DSL Wall of Shame found at 55DSL.com.  You and your readers should enter as soon as possible, the first prize will be awarded on Sept 14th
Go HERE to submit your photo and to check out the full list of prizes.

Andrea Rosso: Fifteen Fucking Years of 55DSL

By Carter Higgins

I actually remember the first time I saw the 55DSL shield. It was tucked away in the corner of the Diesel flagship store on Lexington Avenue in New York City back in 1997. That corner of the store was almost like sovereign soil; something or someone else governed this little island of the Diesel brand but at the time I wasn’t quite sure what or who it was. This brand was not talking to most of the people coming through the doors looking for designer jeans. 55DSL was a snowboarder among skiers, a skater among golfers, a punk rock girl among the cheerleaders…you need more, make up some yourself!

After taking a closer look, it was obvious that the influence was coming from action sports, from skating to surfing. It was a designer brand approach to a culture, which at the time was really just about logos, big jeans and hoodies. 55DSL was bringing something new to the game:  really cool design and full collections, from outerwear to sweaters, board shorts to button-ups. After all, this brand was created by Diesel and was, in fact, named after Diesel founder Renzo Rosso’s favorite number.

Shortly after the 55 brand was formed, Andrea Rosso, Renzo’s eldest son, became the creative director and started to steer things even more towards action sports, eventually sponsoring major athletes and creating a small team in surf, skate and snow. As an accomplished skater and snowboarder himself, it was a natural fit and led to 55DSL breaking away from HQ in Italy to Switzerland for several years to be closer to the European snowboarding mecca.

Fast forward to 2009, the brand’s 15^-year anniversary, and quite a few things have changed since the humble beginnings in 1994. The brand is much larger with global offices/retail stores and is now situated happily between the worlds of action sports and streetwear. 55DSL remains unique and is still a defiant voice in the saturated world of street/casual fashion. We caught up with Andrea Rosso and his father Renzo for a quick chat about the brand. Enjoy.

Continuing with 55DSL’s 15th anniversary celebrations, a very special 10.55 printed jacket was created by the designer TURBOKRAPFEN in celebration of the masked Italian DJ duo the Bloody Beetroots for 55DSL.

To accompany this amazing collaboration, Mutado has created the video “Heavy Printing Zoo” which features the song “Awesome” by the Bloody Beetroots with special guests The Cool Kids. Users can even download the rambunctious animals that star in the video in the special section on the 55DSL website devoted to the Turbokrapfen x 55DSL x The Bloody Beetroots Jacket.

The jacket will be available starting in Fall 2009 and new ideas are in progress…rumors of special showcases and new videos are still brewing. Keep checking 55DSL.com for the latest updates!

Check out the Bloody Beatroots ft. The Cool Kids Video plus more pics after the jump…

The 55DSL x Dim Mak x Ferrino Survival Kit will launching worldwide and will be at the center of all in-store promotions and musical events this summer!

Also, you and your readers win one of these Survival Kits AND two tickets to camp at the Festival Internacional in Spain which will feature superstar headliners like the Kings of Leon, Oasis, the Killer, Franz Ferdinand and more!

Find out how to win here:

http://www.spin.com/articles/enter-here-win-trip-benicassim-ultimate-international-festival

55DSL’s Creative Director Andrea Rosso and his team collaborated with YOOX.com to create a capsule collection in honor of the 2009 Cut&Paste digital design competition designed to celebrate the brand’s commitment and admiration for the creative process!

Inspired from music and television, this collection is available exclusively on Yoox.com and consists of a unisex K-way jacket and two t-shirts in three color ways, as well as a men’s sweatshirt in two color ways. As always, it will encompass 55DSL’s artistic spirit and trademark graphics.  More pics of the the collection and a video after ther jump…

But the story doesn’t end there. Another collaborative collection will be designed by the winner of Cut&Paste’s 2D Digital Design Tournament, sponsored by 55DSL. The winner will get the chance to design the next 55DSL x Yoox capsule collection for Fall Winter 2009!