New Icons: This Bracelet Is Raw Power
Parisian Jewelry Line Le Gramme Tests the Limits of Minimalism with Their Gold Bracelet for Men
It is evident that Le Gramme co-designers Adrien Messié and Erwan Le Louër share a love of minimalist art. Donald Judd’s large-scale aluminum sculptures were one of the mutual interests that brought them together during a chance encounter at the Palais de Tokyo. But in our current world of excess, we must ask ourselves: What is the last frontier of minimalism? Austerity, in all its forms, leaves us cold, like a cliché dreamed up in less imaginative times. But what if we define minimalism as a new aesthetic honesty—a radical act that substitutes brand strategy for blankness?By stripping down gold, silver, and ruthenium to their most elemental forms, Le Gramme embraces jewelry for what it is—valuable metal. Their items are presented as pure commodities, designed around the weight of the metal itself. Fittingly, the label takes its name from the international unit of measurement, the gram, embracing a mathematical standard that feels simultaneously precise, restrained, and clever.Intimately minimal, the Gold Le 21 Grammes Cuff is a men’s bracelet that confesses nothing more than its weight and material: 21 grams of 18 karat yellow gold. Here, the clean lines of the piece leave space for the gold to come into its own. The bracelet’s appeal lies in the pleasurable sensation of the cold, heavy weight of gold on your wrist. Its beauty comes from raw physicality.It is this almost sexual candor that defines the new limits of minimalism, proving that simplicity has a primordial pull. Gold is simultaneously the most ancient and modern metal. It has been the main ingredient in Incan ceremonies, wedding rings, and iPhone motherboards for the past 3,000 years. It therefore feels dishonest to say that gold does not have a seductive power over us. It is power itself.
Rae Sremmurd: “Forever in the Flex Zone” Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi Speak Out on Their Creative Process and Being Married to the Luxury Game Saint Laurent , Comme Des Garçons Homme Plus , and 3.1 Phillip Lim , Slim Jxmmi and Swae Lee radiate an energy exhibited by those on top of the world. Despite its winter release, Rae Sremmurd’s debut album felt more like a soundtrack to the best summer ever. A “Tokyo drifting through the Hollywood Hills in a midnight blue Maserati” kind of summer. With a spot on Beyoncé’s Formation tour and the drop of quickly approaching, the duo is on a high so great that another Tupelo native, Elvis Presley, might have been struck with a tinge of jealously. 
Screen Test #4: Denim ASMR For this season, SSENSE has invited photographer Rebecca Storm to create a series of Screen Tests inspired by the ASMR video genre. Designed to invoke the spine-tingling sensation known as “Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response” with recordings of the hushed and soothing sounds of everyday activities, these videos have attracted a worldwide social media community devoted to the sensory ecstasy of the tactile.Invented for labor yet worn during leisure, the paradoxical character of denim is the subject of Storm’s latest Screen Test. 
Screen Test #3: Zippers ASMR An ASMR Study on the Zipper Featuring Saint Laurent, Dsquared2, Loewe, and More Shot at our headquarters in Montreal and inspired by the videos of Andy Warhol, the SSENSE “Screen Test” series is a way to evaluate the camera-readiness of our products.For this season, SSENSE has invited photographer Rebecca Storm to create a series of Screen Tests inspired by the ASMR video genre. Short for “Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response,” ASMR videos explore objects as objects, especially the spine-tingling sensations evoked by the sounds of crinkling paper, brushing hair, and hushed whispers.