Key Closet

My name is Niyi Maximus Crown. If you've been reading my blog then you know exactly what I'm about. I like things that are shiny and I like things that sparkle. I am Swarovski's biggest fan and I am obsessed with diamonds and other precious gemstones. So when I come across a brand like Key Closet I can't help but get a little bit excited.

This Luxury casual wear brand features T-Shirts hoodies and tops all embellished by hand with embroidery, spray paint, hand applied foil and Swarovski crystal. All tastefully done to produce a wearable work of art

But that's not where it ends because Key Closet are also Responsible for the £7000 pair of jeans.


Now when I first heard the price the first thing I said was "lets be real if the jeans are going to cost £7000 I really do hope it's got some diamonds on it somewhere". How ironic because they do. The hand made, one of a kind, jeans are covered in 1309 stones including real diamonds, over 160 nail heads and beautiful hand painted accents.

I shed a little tear.

Click here to check out the website.

Billionaire Boys Club Hunting Backpack

This season it seems that Billionaire Boys Club have taken a very Ralph Lauren approach to things. We see a lot of hunting themed prints running through their typical blazers and T-shirts. Which brings me on to this pretty cool find for a/w 09...

Available now

I'm not really a backpack sort of person but it seems Billionaire Boys Club make the perfect kind like the gold leather Diamond and Dollar backpack from last season.

Give Me Goyard!

It's funny how the world works isn't it. Everybody is totally in love with the accessories from brands like Mulberry and Louis Vuitton and make no mistake, so am I but there is another brand that in my opinion wipes the floor with all the known heavyweights for the simple fact that they are not common. Let's face it. Everyone knows a Louis Vuitton bag when the see one. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but on the flip side the bags are so recognizable that the streets are littered with people carrying counterfeits and it has lost that air of exclusivity. And so my dear disciples of glamour I introduce you to...

GOYARD...

As you can see these pieces are stunning. Mere pictures don't really do them justice as the attention to detail is incredible. The level of exclusivity surrounding these bags is epic. If you go to the Goyard website you won't find a single image of their ranges, there's nowhere to legitimately buy them online and they only ever sell through their own stores. In London Goyard pretty much does not exist. This to me is what makes a perfect brand.

The best news of all is that they are opening a store right here in London. Which means I am going to be poor as that's where all my money will be spent.

How amazing is that giant trunk!

Raf Simmons for Dr Martens

A/W is always my favourite season.

People don't make shoes like these for the summer.

Dr Martens rock my socks!

Return of The Crown Pt4

One thing I forgot to mention while I was away is that I committed the most atrocious act of self indulgent narcissism.

I joined Twitter!

Follow me to stay up to date with my daily musings and irrelevant shit-chat. It's great fun

Money Clothing SS10 Preview

Today I received the Money Clothing SS10 lookbook. In case you don't remember, Money Clothing are the ones who brought us that dream of all dreams, the Swag Bag lined with dollar bills.

Here's a sneak peak of what's to come...

My obsession with Money and the things Money can buy sit so well with the ideas of Money clothing. From the Gold foil on the tees to the dollar bills in the back pocket of the jeans. It's tastefully conspicuous and I like it.

Return of The Crown Pt3 - Flashing Lights

In my time away from blogging I took time to shoot for the August issue of RWD magazine. I wanted to keep the concept pretty simple this time around So I went for a futuristic urban look.

Have a look at the shoot entitled Flashing Lights...

I'm quite pleased with the turn out of this shoot which is out now by the way should you wish to get a copy of the magazine.

P.S
Click Here to see the last shoot I did for RWD.

A quote I found today

There is nothing more dreadful than imagination without taste.

Oops?

In no way am I trying to run any kind of comentary on the whole Chriannah situation because quite frankly it's none of my buisness. He hit her and I'm sure he's sorry.

Now onto more important matters...

I'm guessing this is his retail therapy. You know, considering all the stress he's been under and all that jazz. At $300,000 I sure hope it works. I know it would for me.

This spectacular piece was created by Jason of Beverly Hills who is known throughout the Hip-Hop community for his work. In fact, a few of his pieces were featured in the Hip-Hop Crown Jewels auction at the Philips De Purey gallery in New York last year including that infamous Crunk Ain't Dead necklace previously owned by Lil Jon.

P.S
In case you were wondering exactly how big this guys name is, well he even made a necklace for Michael Jackson.

I've waited so long for this...

I've been waiting to hear the full version of this song for so long. I first heard a snippet of it on Master Shorties Myspace months ago and felt that I needed to hear the rest or my life may just come to an end.

Finally...



Great stuff.

Dominic Jones will complete my life...

Just take a few minutes to absorb the fabulous amazingness of what you are about to see...

Did you see those gloves? Oh my sweet bejeezees. I need them. I need them as though my life depended on it. They are the most amazing pair of gloves I have ever seen in my whole entire life.

Below is more of Dominics work...

I don't really know anything about this guy but let's face it, I need to get to know. Click Here to see more of his stuff.

P.S
Dominc Jones is king!

Modern Traditionalist

I am 20 years old. In the 20 years of my existence I have witnessed the evolution of menswear in the same way that anybody else would. I have come to realize though that in the past decade or so the rate at which menswear is evolving seems to have been sped up. I blame my generation for this but it is not necessarily a bad thing. What is a bad thing however is this...

Can you imagine walking into a shop to purchase a double breasted suit Jacket only to find that the one you have picked up seems to have a substantial amount of buttons missing? And as you hastily search for another it then dawns on you that they all have missing buttons? It would be devastating. You would have to look elsewhere would you not? The problem is, this doesn't appear to be a mistake. Not only does this appear to be intentional but it's a trend that seems to have followed through to the likes of Alexander McQueen and Prada. Even Lanvin is in on it. Quite frankly I am disappointed.

Since 2004 I noticed that the mens suit jacket was gradually loosing its buttons and I was all for it to begin with but I really do believe this to be a step to far. Honestly speaking, this is the nicest example of such sartorial abominations. This suit by Gianfranco Ferré as you can see is extremely well cut, almost like a diamond but unfortunately it's not flawless. There is just no point.

I take pride in the fact that my background is in tailoring however I am a little embarrassed to be associated with a generation that insists on defiling menswear in such a maner. Don't get me wrong, the first single button suit jacket I ever saw was from Dolce & Gabbana and it completely changed the way I viewed menswear. It was glamorous and yet still masculine, it was young and fresh but still to be taken seriously. My eyes were opened to a new silhouette, one that I would swear by even to this day but honestly I don't think I will be embracing this new style quite as openly.

I'm sure the single buttoned suit was greeted with exactly the same hostility when it first arrived but only time will tell weather this new shape will be as successful.

P.S
Here's what a real suit jacket should look like...

Who the hell is Alexis Mabille?

And where have his creations been my whole life?

That is all I would like to know.

The wait is over...

NEWS FLASH!!!!!

What you are about to see is the fashion equivalent of a black American president. Too many times has menswear suffered discrimination in the fashion industry and I have always felt strongly about this subject however next season we will be one step closer to sartorial equality for next season see the release of the Christian Louboutin menswear collection.

No this is not a hoax...

All I can really think to say is "About fucking time". In all honesty I can't wait. Let's be real, if the mens collect is even half as good as what the women get it'll still be pretty amazing.

Bape Date

So last week saw the re-opening of the Bape store right here in London. For some reason it closed down, I'm not going into the details, there's no need for gossip. The main point is that it's back and all is well...

The launch party was last Friday, it was wicked. Not only one of the best industry parties I've ever been to but most probably one of the best parties I've been to in general (Yeah I know I should get out more but I'm too glamorous for that). It was good to see Pharrell again after a whole year and Mark Ronson was spinning some of the baddest tunes. I don't have any pictures from the party but I can say it was packed like some kind of house rave. To be honest all I remember is arriving at 11:30 (walking straight in, I don't do ques. You should know that already) and 4 Mojito's, 2 Martini's, a Sambuca shot and a glass of champagne later I was sitting on the curb at 3:30 in the morning throwing up diamonds while my date was trying to drag me to the nearest McDonalds which by the way was closed, I was way too drunk to be as furious as I should have been. Everything else about that night is a bit of a blur.

Fun times!

P.S
Come to think of it I do remember quite a bit about the party. All I'm saying is "scandalous".

From G-Shocking to Z-Shocking

So it's been approximately 1 year since my life was blessed with the honour of working with Pharrell Williams. Now, in my initial post (click here) about the day I did not mention the jewels. Pharrell wears some serious blingage. Make no mistake, he has nothing on me in terms of quantity however when it comes down to quality and price range, well let's just say I'm smoking from a different pipe. Anyways, I remember on the day of the shoot it was his diamond encrusted G-Shock that caught my attention. What you guys need to understand is that it's all well and good seeing pictures of him wearing it but these pictures mean nothing until you actually see the thing in person. I wanted to cry. I was so overwhelmed. Since that day I made a promise to myself, that I too would one day have a diamond encrusted G-Shock.


Ladies and gentlemen, that day is soon to be upon us for I have discovered the most amazing discovery know to any true desciple of glamour.

The are called Z-Shock

White gold, yellow gold, platinum, diamonds or Ziamond cubic zirconia it's entirely up to you.

The don't just do G-Shocks either...

Make no mistake, you can't buy champagne for the price of lemonade these things aren't cheap but the quality is unquestionable. I do have a problem though not with the price (I've been saving my pennies for a while now) the problem I have is I don't know which one to get.

P.S
When you go to the website you'll see that they have an endless celebrity following, it's actually quite impressive. Why don't you follow them on twitter too. Click Here.

Return of The Crown Pt2 - My Flaws are Perfect

As you are all aware I've only just started updating my blog again. As promised I have come to tell you what I have been up to in my absence. So you all know Perfectly Flawed right? What? You don't? O.K well it's one of the coolest brands to come out of London this side of the millennium. Quite frankly there's no excuse not to know. Anyway, I got my modelling face on for the SS09 collection and all I can say is, damn I look good.

The thing about Perfectly Flawed is the work that goes into the design process is actually immense. Each garment is hand printed in London so you can be guaranteed that every product has been personally inspected for quality by the designer himself and everything is limited edition. Let's be real, Perfectly Flawed is a hot brand. The T-shirts are hot, the vests are hot the tracksuits are hot. There's no reason not to own something from there. Click here for the online store.

P.S
I literally live in the stuff I love it that much.