CITYist

With its many abilities and a design so sleek and debonair, Hard Candy’s Stylus pen is the Fred Astaire of writing utensils.

Some people are attached at the hip to their iPod—literally. With the Hoodie Buddy, this musical attachment gets even easier, eliminating the need for earphones.

Forget those obnoxious plastic cases, techie friends. Your gadgets can be protected and remain scratch-proof with ZAGGskins. You can DIY or choose from the many designs on their website—from skins for iPods to Droids, they have it all. Their website is super simple to navigate, with hundreds of designs to browse, from holidays to college logos. We especially adore the wooden design for the iPad pictured here. Don’t forget to add these to your holiday gift list!

New York City-based designer Gary Graham’s pieces conjure up imagery of a metropolitan wonderland with unique textures and prints in quirkily layered ensembles. Lucky for us, Graham has launched a new website so we can gaze at past collections and look books galore. Graham’s skirts, jackets and other separates offer a solid alternative to stuffy office wear, while the draped shirts and dresses, luxurious fur and knit leggings provide alternately romantic and trendy weekend looks. Stay tuned for behind-the-scenes news, event listings and even the designer’s online journal for a look into the design process (think sketches and insiders’ views of the studio). All in all, it’s a young professional’s online shopping paradise.

The coveted iPad case is all the rage when staying technologically savvy and fashion-forward. Now, Trussardi 1911 has entered the game with its patterned leather cases, coming in classic black, grungy camouflage or sassy leopard-print pony leather ($300 each). The Italian artisan brand has applied its skilled workmanship to the well-crafted pieces, so you can be sure your e-reader will be safe within its plush leather clutches. Look for the iPad cases starting in November at Trussardi 1911 boutiques. As accessories go, the leopard print is our favorite. Now we just have to get an iPad.

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but there’s no doubt these Hello Kitty headphones are to die for. SANRIO, Inc, the brand best known for creating the cultural phenomenon, Hello Kitty, is teaming up with AERIAL7, a headphone brand known for its eye-catching design and celebrity customer base, the like of which includes DJ Jam, DJ Neil Armstrong, Dr. Dre and Warren G., to produce these adorable Hello Kitty x AERIAL7 headphones.

We may have found the most expensive phone in the world. Well, not for nothing, we suppose: one model of the Vertu Ascent is fashioned from aerospace-grade aluminum ($5,500) while the other, a titanium model requiring the metal to be heated to 860 degrees and molded under 630 tons of pressure, rounds out at a whopping $7,800. What is the upside of these phones, you ask? Well, they have really good internet connection (quad-band 3G and GSM network, if that means something to you) and the titanium model has a lot of memory, 32GB to be exact. Also, no more worrying if your phone gets a bit wet. We’d imagine you could drop these things out of a plane or into a vat of boiling lava, no sweat. James Bond will be jealous.

While most salons have a stack of outdated beauty magazines collecting dust on a side table, Chelsea’s De Berardinis Salon is now offering iPads for its customers to elegantly browse through websites and publications of their choice. And when such luxury extends to the reading material, you can bet the actual salon services will be top notch as well (hair cuts range from $100-$200, highlights start at $170). Simply curious about the iPad? Stop by for a blowout ($50) and get your chance to peruse Apple’s latest device.

The hallmark of good taste is a truly quirky and mind-opening vintage collection—one that isn’t limited to clothes. Just ask Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai, the edgy designers of Vena Cava. The two have decided to host their very own garage sale, complete with an 80s paperback called Bad Dates, a 1982 Volvo station wagon, a 60s circular lemon-colored phone and, oddly enough, Mayock’s birth certificate and social security card (don’t ask us). Well, there are clothes too: a YSL safari jacket, a Contempo biker jacket and of course some treasures from Vena Cava.

Lulu Guinness offers the signature Lips Clutch in nearly every color under the sun—from crimson to silver metallic, neon yellow to a Swarovski crystallized version. Now exclusively for the month of May, you can own an American flag Lips Clutch. It’s a bit shy of the Fourth of July, but Brits have long enjoyed the “Union Jack” print, so it’s about time us Patriots get recognized. In honor of the clutch and the live launch of the e-commerce site (if that’s not a buzz term, we don’t know what is), the Lulu Guinness team hit the streets of NYC—or mostly, Washington Square Park—to test the product among the natives. Now that’s guerilla marketing. Check out the best street shots—and the clutch—after the jump.

Children’s phone covers these are not. For those that would like to jazz up their mobile devices with just a dash of kitsch but a dose of art, Uncommon enlists design gurus to create aesthetic phone covers suitable for pop culture-savvy adults. The idea isn’t merely to offer better decoration for your iPhone, however. Uncommon seeks to expose up-and-coming artists to a broader audience by using your phone as their canvas. And if the pre-made casings don’t suit you, upload a photo and custom-create your own. After the jump, a run-through of our favorites.

The Bird by Scott Wilson

The lines at a Meatpacking club on a Saturday can rival the weekend checkout at a Manhattan Trader Joe’s. If the force field of VIP lists seems impossible to penetrate, then you may want to try a new mobile app that has just made it’s way to NYC: Guestlist Nation. The app allows iPhone (and soon Blackberry and Android) users to surf a list of available club offers, instantly RSVP and get a covetable spot on guest lists. Rather than trolling the internet or sharpening networking skills to breach party lines, Guestlist Nation offers a solution indicative of the Internet age: free and scandalously easy.

The iPad has been out for less than a month and it has already spawned a crystal-encrusted version as well as the world’s first iPad DJ. Steve Jobs is no stranger to the creation of hype—sending the iPad well on its way to becoming the latest indispensible gadget we never knew we could live without. Everyone is scrambling to get a piece of the pie, including Dooney & Bourke—whose practical, appealing and casual iPad covers offer an aesthetic option for protecting your latest iGadget.

With all the options available on the internet—from flash to simply embedding videos—it’s rather surprising that more designers haven’t taken steps to present their products more creatively. Rachel Comey’s new men’s footwear line, however, does just that. Shunning static images in place of short vignettes showing the shoes in actual settings, moving on actual human feet, it’s an interesting way for consumers to ponder their purchase and see the coveted object in action.

Technology is advancing at a frighteningly rapid pace. Take, for example, OrigAudio’s Rock-It speaker system, which transforms any object—a lampshade, a coffee maker, a skateboard—into a speaker.

Vertu, the best-known company for selling luxury mobile phones, has a new addition to their Constellation Collection. The newest mobile phone is called the Vertu Constellation Ayxta, hand-built in England, integrating ceramic, black leather, a sapphire crystal screen, stainless steel and aluminum. It is Vertu’s first folding phone. The Ayxta is truly a high quality product as it perfectly satisfies its consumer’s needs. It includes Vertu Concierge and Vertu Select Service, both of which offer great assistance to its customer.

Fashionation has teamed up with TerraCycle and is launching eco-friendly candy wrapper speakers along with boom boxes. TerraCycle is a company that takes trash materials and transforms them into products such as clipboards. The products are composed of recycled materials and do not require batteries. They also fold flat in case you want to store them or travel. The best part is, they are inexpensive and work with all MP3 players and iPods, so you can pick them up for friends. The Fashionation speakers are $14.95 and the boom boxes are $19.95.