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Solange Wilvert Gucci 2
15 years ago
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Los Angeles Photographer
The difference between the amateur and the professional is that the professional looks it up. - Anonymous
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Los Angeles Fashion Photographer
There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.
Los Angeles Photographer
Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.
Los Angeles Photographer
When I'm ready to make a photograph, I think I quite obviously see in my minds eye something that is not literally there in the true meaning of the word. I'm interested in something which is built up from within, rather than just extracted from without.
Los Angeles Photographer
In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration.
Los Angeles Photographer
It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.
Los Angeles Photographer
A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.
Los Angeles Photographer
In some photographs the essence of light and space dominate; in others, the substance of rock and wood, and the luminous insistence of growing things...It is my intention to present-through the medium of photography-intuitive observations of the natural world which may have meaning to spectators...
Los Angeles Photographer
A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense, and is, a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety.
Los Angeles Photographer
In my mind's eye, I visualize how a particular . . . sight and feeling will appear on a print. If it excites me, there is a good chance it will make a good photograph. It is an intuitive sense, an ability that comes from a lot of practice.
Los Angeles Photographer
I am probably afraid that some spectator will not understand my photography - therefore I proceed to make it really less understandable by writing defensibly about it.
Los Angeles Photographer
Myths and creeds are heroic struggles to comprehend the truth in the world.
Los Angeles Photographer
Simply look with perceptive eyes at the world about you, and trust to your own reactions and convictions. Ask yourself: "Does this subject move me to feel, think and dream? Can I visualize a print - my own personal statement of what I feel and want to convey - from the subject before me?
Los Angeles Photographer
We must remember that a photograph can hold just as much as we put into it, and no one has ever approached the full possibilities of the medium.
Los Angeles Photographer
Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer - and often the supreme disappointment.
Los Angeles Photographer
I know some photographs that are extraodrinary in their power and conviction, but it is difficult in photography to overcome the superficial power or subject; the concept and statement must be quite convincing in themselves to win over a dramatic and compelling subject situation.
Ansel Adams Photography Quotes
All I can do in my writing is to stimulate a certain amount of thought, clarify some technical facts and date my work. But when I preach sharpness, brilliancy, scale, etc., I am just mouthing words, because no words can really describe those terms and qualities it takes the actual print to say, "here it is." - Ansel Adams
Fashion Photographer
Your mind is like a live camera that is constantly taking pictures of every single moment that comes onto you... So be a good photographer! David Acuna.
fashion photography
My first priority when taking pictures is to achieve clarity. A good documentary photograph transmits the information of the situation with the utmost fidelity; achieving it means understanding the nuances of lighting and composition, and also remembering to keep the lenses clean and the cameras steady
fashion photography
You know you are seeing such a photograph if you say to yourself, "I could have taken that picture. I've seen such a scene before, but never like that." It is the kind of photography that relies for its strengths not on special equipment or effects but on the intensity of the photographer's seeing. It is the kind of photography in which the raw materials--light, space, and shape--are arranged in a meaningful and even universal way that gives grace to ordinary objects.
fashion photography
Photographs that transcend but do not deny their literal situation appeal to me.
fashion photography
The neatest part of this book I'm working on--to me--are the pictures that show the process... Because photographers... think things through and... it isn't luck, and it isn't random and it isn't accidental. It isn't.
fashion photography
As I have practiced it, photography produces pleasure by simplicity, I see something special and show it to the camera. A picture is produced. The moment is held until someone sees it. Then it is theirs. Photography, alone of the arts, seems perfected to serve the desire humans have for a moment -- this very moment -- to stay.
fashion photography
A mad, keen photographer needs to get out into the world and work and make mistakes.
fashion photography
In my work, the most elaborate--and essential--accessory is a standard tripod. For spiritual companions I have had the many artists who have relied on nature to help shape their imagination. And their most elaborate equipment was a deep reverence for the world through which they passed. Photographers share something with these artists. We seek only to see and to describe with our own voices, and, though we are seldom heard as soloists, we cannot photograph the world in any other way.
fashion photography
It matters little how much equipment we use; it matters much that we be masters of all we do use.
fashion photography
But there is more to a fine photograph than information. We are also seeking to present an image that arouses the curiosity of the viewer or that, best of all, provokes the viewer to think--to ask a question or simply to gaze in thoughtful wonder. We know that photographs inform people. We also know that photographs move people. The photograph that does both is the one we want to see and make. It is the kind of picture that makes you want to pick up your own camera again and go to work.
fashion photography
Above all, it's hard learning to live with vivid mental images of scenes I cared for and failed to photograph. It is the edgy existence within me of these unmade images that is the only assurance that the best photographs are yet to be made.
Fashion photography
My best work is often almost unconscious and occurs ahead of my ability to understand it.
Photography Quotes Sam Abell
And that desire--the strong desire to take pictures--is important. It borders on a need, based on a habit: the habit of seeing. Whether working or not, photographers are looking, seeing, and thinking about what they see, a habit that is both a pleasure and a problem, for we seldom capture in a single photograph the full expression of what we see and feel. It is the hope that we might express ourselves fully--and the evidence that other photographers have done so--that keep us taking pictures.
Fashion Photography
Today we are confronted with reality on the vastest scale mankind has known [and this puts] a greater responsibility on the photographer.
Fashion Photography
The photographer is the contemporary being par excellence; through his eyes the now becomes the past.
Fashion Photography
If a medium is representational by nature of the realistic image formed by a lens, I see no reason why we should stand on our heads to distort that function. On the contrary, we should take hold of that very quality, make use of it, and explore it to the fullest.
Fashion Photography
If a medium is representational by nature of the realistic image formed by a lens, I see no reason why we should stand on our heads to distort that function. On the contrary, we should take hold of that very quality, make use of it, and explore it to the fullest.
Fashion Photography
wanted to combine science and photography in a sensible, unemotional way. Some people’s ideas of scientific photography is just arty design, something pretty. That was not the idea. The idea was to interpret science sensibly, with good proportion, good balance and good lighting, so we could understand it.
Fashion Photography
Just living in a place is not enough. You can live in a community and not understand it. Just looking at it wont do. I almost believe we don’t see anything until we understand it. Look into the history of the area – why it started, how it developed. The more research you can do the place, the more you may realize that you don’t know it as well as you thought you did. Let the subject speak for itself. Be true to the subject. Pretty pictures are only an escape from the subject. Don’t photograph a good-looking branch just because it looks nice; the branch should mean something about the community. Photography is statement; it has to tell us things about a place.
Fashion Photography
Some people are still unaware that reality contains unparalleled beauties. The fantastic and unexpected, the ever-changing and renewing is nowhere so exemplified as in real life itself.
Fashion Photography
am so fascinated with this century it will help keep me alive. I'll be there until the last minute, fighting.
Fashion Photography
Does not the very word 'creative' mean to build, to initiate, to give out, to act - rather than to be acted upon, to be subjective? Living photography is positive in its approach, it sings a song of life - not death.
Fashion Photography
There are many teachers who could ruin you. Before you know it you could be a pale copy of this teacher or that teacher. You have to evolve on your own.
Fashion Photography
Photography can only represent the present. Once photographed, the subject becomes part of the past.
Fashion Photography
What the human eye observes causally and incuriously, the eye of the camera notes with relentless fidelity.
Fashion Photography
I took to photography like a duck to water. I never wanted to do anything else. Excitement about the subject is the voltage which pushes me over the mountain of drudgery necessary to produce the final photograph.
Fashion Photography
A photograph is not a painting, a poem, a symphony, a dance. It is not just a pretty picture, not an exercise in contortionist techniques and sheer print quality. It is or should be a significant document, a penetrating statement, which can be described in a very simple term - selectivity. To define selection, one may say that it should be focussed on the kind of subject matter which hits you hard with its impact and excites your imagination to the extent that you are forced to take it. Pictures are wasted unless the motive power which impelled you to action is strong and stirring.
Fashion Photography
..people say they need to express their emotions I'm sick of that. Photography doesn`t teach you to express your emotions it teachs you to see.
Fashion Photography
..people say they need to express their emotions I'm sick of that. Photography doesn`t teach you to express your emotions it teachs you to see.
Fashion Photography
None. They should just go out and photograph and stop talking about it. That’s the only way they are going to find themselves. They can’t do it in their heads – they have to go out and do it in the camera and get it on film.
Fashion Photography
To chart a course, one must have a direction. In reality, the eye is no better than the philosophy behind it. The photographer creates, evolves a better, a more selective, more acute seeing eye by looking ever more sharply at what is going on in the world.
Fashion Photography
Like every other means of expression, photography, if it is to be utterly honest and direct, should be related to the life of the times – the pulse of today.
Fashion Photography
The photograph may be presented as finely and artistically as you will; but to merit serious consideration, must be directly connected with the world we live in.
Fashion Photography
Actually, documentary pictures include every subject in the world – good, bad, indifferent. I have yet to see a fine photograph which is not a good document.
Fashion Photography
You scientists are the worst photographers in the world and you need the best photographers in the world and I'm the one to do it. -
Fashion Photography
I believe there is no more creative medium than photography to recreate the living world of our time...Photography gladly accepts the challenge because it is at home in its element: namely, realism—real life—the now.
Fashion Photography
I agree that all good photographs are documents, but I also know that all documents are certainly not good photographs. Furthermore, a good photographer does not merely document, he probes the subject, he "uncovers" it... - Berenice Abbott
Fashion Photography
The challenge for me has first been to see things as they are, whether a portrait, a city street, or a bouncing ball. In a word, I have tried to be objective. What I mean by objectivity is not the objectivity of a machine, but of a sensible human being with the mystery of personal selection at the heart of it. The second challenge has been to impose order onto the things seen and to supply the visual context and the intellectual framework - that to me is the art of photography.
Fashion Photography
Suppose we took a thousand negatives and made a gigantic montage: a myriad-faceted picture containing the elegances, the squalor, the curiosities, the monuments, the sad faces, the triumphant faces, the power, the irony, the strength, the decay, the past, the present, the future of a city – that would be my favorite picture.
Fashion Photography
The camera is no more an instrument of presservation, the immage is... - Berenice Abbott
Fashion Photography
The camera is no more an instrument of presservation, the immage is... - Berenice Abbott
Fashion Photography
I didn't decide to be a photographer; I just happened to fall into it. - Berenice Abbott
Fashion Photography
Abstraction in photography is ridiculous, and is only an imitation of painting. We stopped imitating painters a hundred years ago, so to imitate them in this day and age is laughable.
Fashion Photography
Abstraction in photography is ridiculous, and is only an imitation of painting. We stopped imitating painters a hundred years ago, so to imitate them in this day and age is laughable.
Fashion Photography
I haven’t seen too many images that have impressed me! - Berenice Abbott, Professional photographer's survival guide by Charles E. Rotkin
Fashion Photography
Self-conscious artiness is fatal, but it certainly would not hurt to study composition in general. Having a basic understanding of composition would help construct a better organized image. - Berenice Abbott, Professional photographer's survival guide by Charles E. Rotkin
Fashion Photography
Let us first say what photography is not. A photograph is not a painting, a poem, a symphony, a dance. It is not just a pretty picture, not an exercise in contortionist techniques and sheer print quality. It is or should be a significant document, a penetrating statement, which can be described in a very simple term - selectivity. - Berenice Abbott - in "Infinity" magazine,
Fashion photography
A photograph is or should be significant document, a penetrating statement, which can be described in a very simple term – selectivity. To define selection, one may say that it should be focused on the kind of subject matter which hits you hard with its impact and excites your imagination to the extent that you are forced to take it. Pictures are wasted unless the motive power which impelled you to action is strong and stirring. The motives or points of view are bound to differ with each photographer, and herein lies the important difference which separates one approach from another. Selection of proper picture content comes from a fine union of trained eye and imaginative mind.
Fashion Photography
To chart a course, one must have a direction. In reality, the eye is no better than the philosophy behind it. The photographer creates, evolves a better, more selective, more acute eye by looking ever more sharply at what is going on in the world. Like every other means of expression, photography, if it is to be utterly honest and direct, should be related to the life of the times--the pulse of today. The photograph may be presented as finely and artistically as you will, but to merit serious consideration, must be directly connected with the world we live in. - Berenice Abbott
Fashion Photography
Photography can never grow up if it imitates some other medium. It has to walk alone; it has to be itself.
Fashion Photography
Living photography builds up, does not tear down. It proclaims the dignity of man. Living photography is positive in its approach; it sings a song of life -not death. - Berenice Abbott, Photographers on Photography : A Critical Anthology by Nathan Lyons (Editor
utter honesty
Like every other means of expression, photography, if it is to be utterly honest and direct, should be related to the life of the times - the pulse of today....The photograph...to merit serious consideration, must be directly connected with the world we live in. - Berenice Abbott, Photographers on Photography : A Critical Anthology by Nathan Lyons
the woman's expression
“The expression a woman wears on her face is more important than the clothes she wears on her back.” Dale Carnegie
Katharine Hepburn
“I wear my sort of clothes to save me the trouble of deciding which clothes to wear.” Katharine Hepburn
the dress is a vase
The dress is a vase which the body follows. My clothes are like modules in which bodies move.” Pierre Cardin
the rules
“While clothes may not make the woman, they certainly have a strong effect on her self-confidence — which, I believe, does make the woman." Mary Kay Ashe
clothes make the woman
“While clothes may not make the woman, they certainly have a strong effect on her self-confidence — which, I believe, does make the woman." Mary Kay Ashe
Hideous clothing
“Although golf was originally restricted to wealthy, overweight Protestants, today it's open to anybody who owns hideous clothing." Dave Barry
Dave Barry
“Although golf was originally restricted to wealthy, overweight Protestants, today it's open to anybody who owns hideous clothing." Dave Barry
Anatole France
Only men who are not interested in women are interested in women's clothes. Men who like women never notice what they wear.” Anatole France
Harold Vreeland
“Clothes don’t make a man, but clothes have got many a man a good job.” Herbert Harold Vreeland
change your clothes
“When his wife asked him to change clothes to meet the German Ambassador: If they want to see me, here I am. If they want to see my clothes, open my closet and show them my suits.” Albert Einstein
Sensuality
“Today, fashion is really about sensuality—how a woman feels on the inside. In the '80s women used suits with exaggerated shoulders and waists to make a strong impression. Women are now more comfortable with themselves and their bodies—they no longer feel the need to hide behind their clothes.” Donna Karan
fashion and the barbarians.
“Fashion is something barbarous, for it produces innovation without reason and imitation without benefit.” George Santayana
the dress must follow
“The dress must follow the body of a woman, not the body following the shape of the dress.” Hubert de Givenchy
art produces ugly things.
“Art produces ugly things which frequently become beautiful with time. Fashion, on the other hand, produces beautiful things which always become ugly with time.” Jean Cocteau
Karl Lagerfeld
“Chanel is composed of only a few elements, white camellias, quilted bags and Austrian doorman's jackets, pearls, chains, shoes with black toes. I use these elements like notes to play with.”
Edwin Hubbel
“Fashion is the science of appearances, and it inspires one with the desire to seem rather than to be.”
George Bernard Shaw
“The novelties of one generation are only the resuscitated fashions of the generation before last.”
Oleg Cassini
Fashion anticipates, and elegance is a state of mind ... a mirror of the time in which we live, a translation of the future, and should never be static."
Coco Chanel
I like fashion to go down to the street, but I can't accept that it should originate there.”
Giorgio Armani
“The goal I seek is to have people refine their style through my clothing without having them become victims of fashion.”
Sophia Loren
“A woman's dress should be like a barbed- wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
They think him the best dressed man, whose dress is so fit for his use that you cannot notice or remember to describe it.”
Manolo Blanik - On Fashion
“About half my designs are controlled fantasy, 15 percent are total madness and the rest are bread-and-butter designs.”
Helena Rubenstein
“All the American women had purple noses and gray lips and their faces were chalk white from terrible powder. I recognized that the United States could be my life's work.”
Oscar Wilde
“A fashion is merely a form of ugliness so unbearable that we are compelled to alter it every six months.” Oscar Wilde
Fashion Quotes
“I did not have three thousand pairs of shoes. I had one thousand and sixty.” Imelda Marcos
Japanese fashion robot to hit Tokyo catwalks
Tue Mar 17, 2:20 am ET
TOKYO, March 17 (Reuters Life) – From IT labs to photo grabs, a Japanese humanoid robot will soon be strutting her hard- and soft-ware stuff on the fashion catwalk.
The sleek HRP-4C runs on battery-powered motors located in her body and face, allowing the expressions, gait and poses of a supermodel, but on a stormtrooper-like silver and black frame.
The current 43 kg (95 lb), 158 cm (5 ft 2 inch) Cybernetic model has slimmed-down from an earlier 58 kg (128 lb) robot ahead of a Tokyo fashion show debut on March 23.
Its new shape is designed to match the average Japanese woman and has eyes, face and hair based on Japanese "anime" comics, said Masayoshi Kataoka of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, which developed the robotic model.
There are no immediate plans to bring the $2 million HRP-4C to market.
Japan, home to almost half of the world's 800,000 industrial robots, expects a $10 billion industry in the future, particularly as helpers for its growing elderly population.
But designers of the posing humanoid says she is wired just for entertaining, not housework.
(Editing by Rodney Joyce)
TOKYO, March 17 (Reuters Life) – From IT labs to photo grabs, a Japanese humanoid robot will soon be strutting her hard- and soft-ware stuff on the fashion catwalk.
The sleek HRP-4C runs on battery-powered motors located in her body and face, allowing the expressions, gait and poses of a supermodel, but on a stormtrooper-like silver and black frame.
The current 43 kg (95 lb), 158 cm (5 ft 2 inch) Cybernetic model has slimmed-down from an earlier 58 kg (128 lb) robot ahead of a Tokyo fashion show debut on March 23.
Its new shape is designed to match the average Japanese woman and has eyes, face and hair based on Japanese "anime" comics, said Masayoshi Kataoka of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, which developed the robotic model.
There are no immediate plans to bring the $2 million HRP-4C to market.
Japan, home to almost half of the world's 800,000 industrial robots, expects a $10 billion industry in the future, particularly as helpers for its growing elderly population.
But designers of the posing humanoid says she is wired just for entertaining, not housework.
(Editing by Rodney Joyce)
Amy Winehouse pleads innocent to assault
By DEAN CARSON, Associated Press Writer Dean Carson, Associated Press Writer – Tue Mar 17, 10:13 am ET
LONDON – Singer Amy Winehouse turned a court appearance into a spring fashion show Tuesday as she pleaded innocent to assaulting a fan at a party last year.
The 25-year-old star known for battles with addiction and frequent run-ins with the law stepped out of a car wearing a low-cut floral mini-dress and her trademark beehive hairdo. Paparazzi flashed away at their first sighting of the diva since she returned from an extended break on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia.
Winehouse, who has been in and out of rehab, looked healthier than in recent appearances and appeared to be in good spirits. She covered her bosom in faux modesty as she entered the courtroom.
Once inside the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court, she confirmed her name and date of birth and pleaded not guilty to a charge of common assault.
Winehouse gave her name as Amy Jade Civil. Her husband of two years, Blake Fielder-Civil, has filed for divorce.
Her lawyer, Mark Haslam, apologized for what he called the singer's slightly late arrival in court, saying she had left her north London home more than two hours earlier but had been delayed.
Judge Timothy Workman ordered Winehouse to attend a new hearing at the same court on July 23. She was released on unconditional bail.
Winehouse's drug problems have been front page news in Britain, where she was pictured puffing on what appeared to be a crack pipe last year. She was fined for illegally possessing marijuana in Norway in 2007, and also got a police warning in April of last year after scuffling with two men during a night out on the town in Camden, a north London neighborhood known for its music scene and drug culture.
She recently left Camden for the more sleepy Hadley Wood area of Enfield, a borough in London's far north. The alleged assault took place before Winehouse's vacation and move to quieter quarters
LONDON – Singer Amy Winehouse turned a court appearance into a spring fashion show Tuesday as she pleaded innocent to assaulting a fan at a party last year.
The 25-year-old star known for battles with addiction and frequent run-ins with the law stepped out of a car wearing a low-cut floral mini-dress and her trademark beehive hairdo. Paparazzi flashed away at their first sighting of the diva since she returned from an extended break on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia.
Winehouse, who has been in and out of rehab, looked healthier than in recent appearances and appeared to be in good spirits. She covered her bosom in faux modesty as she entered the courtroom.
Once inside the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court, she confirmed her name and date of birth and pleaded not guilty to a charge of common assault.
Winehouse gave her name as Amy Jade Civil. Her husband of two years, Blake Fielder-Civil, has filed for divorce.
Her lawyer, Mark Haslam, apologized for what he called the singer's slightly late arrival in court, saying she had left her north London home more than two hours earlier but had been delayed.
Judge Timothy Workman ordered Winehouse to attend a new hearing at the same court on July 23. She was released on unconditional bail.
Winehouse's drug problems have been front page news in Britain, where she was pictured puffing on what appeared to be a crack pipe last year. She was fined for illegally possessing marijuana in Norway in 2007, and also got a police warning in April of last year after scuffling with two men during a night out on the town in Camden, a north London neighborhood known for its music scene and drug culture.
She recently left Camden for the more sleepy Hadley Wood area of Enfield, a borough in London's far north. The alleged assault took place before Winehouse's vacation and move to quieter quarters
Designers to honor Obama — and those who dress her
By SAMANTHA CRITCHELL, AP Fashion Writer Samantha Critchell, Ap Fashion Writer – Tue Mar 17, 10:14 am ET
NEW YORK – Michelle Obama keeps feeling the love from the fashion world.
The Council of Fashion Designers of America announced Monday that Mrs. Obama will be honored with a special tribute from the group's board of directors at its annual awards gala in June.
"We wanted to acknowledge her in a serious way for her commitment to American fashion," said CFDA president Steven Kolb. A grant also will be established in her name to assist a young fashion company.
Meanwhile, three designers that Mrs. Obama has been known to wear — Narciso Rodriguez, Jason Wu and Thakoon Panichgul — also received CFDA nominations.
Rodriguez joins Marc Jacobs and sisters Laura and Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte as the nominees for womenswear designer of the year, and Wu, Panichgul and Alexander Wang are in the running for the Swarovski Award for emerging talent in women's fashion.
Jacobs, already one of the industry's favorite sons, continued to rack up his own accolades as a nominee once again in accessory design and as the winner of the international designer award for his work at Louis Vuitton. (Jacobs splits his time between the Vuitton label, headquartered in Paris, and his own signature collection, which is shown in New York.)
"He's a pioneer as an American in Europe," Kolb said.
Anna Sui is to receive the lifetime achievement award named for the late Geoffrey Beene.
The ceremony is moving this year from the New York Public Library to Lincoln Center, which will also become the Fashion Week hub next year. Mrs. Obama will receive an invitation, but Kolb was unsure if she'd attend.
"We'll do whatever we can to get her here, but the award isn't about getting her to come," he said.
NEW YORK – Michelle Obama keeps feeling the love from the fashion world.
The Council of Fashion Designers of America announced Monday that Mrs. Obama will be honored with a special tribute from the group's board of directors at its annual awards gala in June.
"We wanted to acknowledge her in a serious way for her commitment to American fashion," said CFDA president Steven Kolb. A grant also will be established in her name to assist a young fashion company.
Meanwhile, three designers that Mrs. Obama has been known to wear — Narciso Rodriguez, Jason Wu and Thakoon Panichgul — also received CFDA nominations.
Rodriguez joins Marc Jacobs and sisters Laura and Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte as the nominees for womenswear designer of the year, and Wu, Panichgul and Alexander Wang are in the running for the Swarovski Award for emerging talent in women's fashion.
Jacobs, already one of the industry's favorite sons, continued to rack up his own accolades as a nominee once again in accessory design and as the winner of the international designer award for his work at Louis Vuitton. (Jacobs splits his time between the Vuitton label, headquartered in Paris, and his own signature collection, which is shown in New York.)
"He's a pioneer as an American in Europe," Kolb said.
Anna Sui is to receive the lifetime achievement award named for the late Geoffrey Beene.
The ceremony is moving this year from the New York Public Library to Lincoln Center, which will also become the Fashion Week hub next year. Mrs. Obama will receive an invitation, but Kolb was unsure if she'd attend.
"We'll do whatever we can to get her here, but the award isn't about getting her to come," he said.
Andy Warhol's Wide World comes to Paris
By James Mackenzie James Mackenzie – Tue Mar 17, 3:22 pm ET
PARIS (Reuters) – Andy Warhol comes to Paris in a major exhibition of his trademark society portraits but a famous image of Yves Saint Laurent will be missing after a dispute over whether the late couturier was an artist or a mere designer.
"Warhol's Wide World," which opens this week, presents some 140 of the 1,000 or so portraits of actors, stars and assorted jet set personalities turned out by the "Pope of Pop" from the 1960s until his death in 1987.
Based on existing photographs or created with a specially designed Polaroid camera, Warhol's garishly tinted pictures of Marilyn Monroe, Jacqueline Kennedy or Saint Laurent became icons in the modern cult of celebrity.
Along with his Campbell's Soup can, they are some of the best-known images in modern art and the exhibition is expected to be one of the biggest of the year.
Warhol once remarked that he wanted all his portraits to fit together and make one big painting called "Portraits of Society" and exhibition curator Alain Cueff regretted that it had not been practical to do so.
"It would be wonderful to recreate the dream of Warhol, to have 1,000 portraits of people just like that but it was quite impossible, I'm afraid," he said.
Even so, the Grand Palais, a vast hall created for the Great Exhibition of 1900, has been lined with some of the most famous faces of the era, from stars like Monroe or Mick Jagger to artists like Man Ray or fashion designers like Giorgio Armani.
But it also includes many portraits commissioned for $25,000 each by rich individuals hoping, as the show's catalog puts it, "to glow with the aura of Warhol's genius."
The 1974 portrait series of Saint Laurent, planned to hang in a "Glamour" section near Armani and other designers like Sonia Rykiel, had been intended as one of the centerpieces of the exhibition.
But in a move that provided a strangely appropriate backdrop to a show as much about fame as art -- it was withdrawn at the last minute by his former partner Pierre Berge.
"To show the portraits of Yves Saint Laurent with personalities from the fashion world -- even if some of them have talent -- was unthinkable," he explained in a letter to the Le Monde daily last week.
"To put Saint Laurent in the 'glamour' section would be to show disrespect for his oeuvre and to mix him up with the 'beautiful people,'" he wrote.
The controversy has added an element of spice to the exhibition, which is expected to draw vast crowds to the same hall in which Saint Laurent's monumental art collection was auctioned last month.
But organizers are confident that the importance of the collection will outweigh any controversy.
The exhibition opens in the Grand Palais on March 18 and runs until July 13.
(Editing by Paul Casciato)
(Additional reporting by Noemie Olive and Tsvetina Chankova)
PARIS (Reuters) – Andy Warhol comes to Paris in a major exhibition of his trademark society portraits but a famous image of Yves Saint Laurent will be missing after a dispute over whether the late couturier was an artist or a mere designer.
"Warhol's Wide World," which opens this week, presents some 140 of the 1,000 or so portraits of actors, stars and assorted jet set personalities turned out by the "Pope of Pop" from the 1960s until his death in 1987.
Based on existing photographs or created with a specially designed Polaroid camera, Warhol's garishly tinted pictures of Marilyn Monroe, Jacqueline Kennedy or Saint Laurent became icons in the modern cult of celebrity.
Along with his Campbell's Soup can, they are some of the best-known images in modern art and the exhibition is expected to be one of the biggest of the year.
Warhol once remarked that he wanted all his portraits to fit together and make one big painting called "Portraits of Society" and exhibition curator Alain Cueff regretted that it had not been practical to do so.
"It would be wonderful to recreate the dream of Warhol, to have 1,000 portraits of people just like that but it was quite impossible, I'm afraid," he said.
Even so, the Grand Palais, a vast hall created for the Great Exhibition of 1900, has been lined with some of the most famous faces of the era, from stars like Monroe or Mick Jagger to artists like Man Ray or fashion designers like Giorgio Armani.
But it also includes many portraits commissioned for $25,000 each by rich individuals hoping, as the show's catalog puts it, "to glow with the aura of Warhol's genius."
The 1974 portrait series of Saint Laurent, planned to hang in a "Glamour" section near Armani and other designers like Sonia Rykiel, had been intended as one of the centerpieces of the exhibition.
But in a move that provided a strangely appropriate backdrop to a show as much about fame as art -- it was withdrawn at the last minute by his former partner Pierre Berge.
"To show the portraits of Yves Saint Laurent with personalities from the fashion world -- even if some of them have talent -- was unthinkable," he explained in a letter to the Le Monde daily last week.
"To put Saint Laurent in the 'glamour' section would be to show disrespect for his oeuvre and to mix him up with the 'beautiful people,'" he wrote.
The controversy has added an element of spice to the exhibition, which is expected to draw vast crowds to the same hall in which Saint Laurent's monumental art collection was auctioned last month.
But organizers are confident that the importance of the collection will outweigh any controversy.
The exhibition opens in the Grand Palais on March 18 and runs until July 13.
(Editing by Paul Casciato)
(Additional reporting by Noemie Olive and Tsvetina Chankova)
Sotheby's withdraws star lot from Versace auction
LONDON (Reuters) – Sotheby's has withdrawn a painting from Wednesday's auction of the contents of late Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace's Lake Como villa amid suspicion it may have been stolen.
A direct descendent of the person depicted in the portrait contacted the Art Loss Register, which tracks lost and stolen art and antiquities, after seeing a photograph of the "vanished" work in London's Evening Standard newspaper.
The painting, a recently discovered portrait by 18th century German artist Johann Zoffany called "Portrait of Major George Maule," was one of the highlights of the auction, which is expected to fetch 2-3 million pounds ($2.8-4.2 million).
It is the only known portrait from a group of four paintings executed by the artist during a brief stay in Madras in 1783 and had been expected to sell for 40-60,000 pounds.
"The Art Loss Register confirms that Lot 72 ... has been withdrawn with the full agreement of the Sotheby's consignor," the Art Loss Register said in a statement.
"The family contacted the Art Loss Register and sent a photograph of the portrait hanging above the mantelpiece before it vanished.
"The Art Loss Register is assisting the family to unravel the picture's provenance to establish its rightful ownership."
Sotheby's said in a statement: "As a result of a question over title, lot 72 has been withdrawn from the sale with the full agreement of Sotheby's consignor."
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
A direct descendent of the person depicted in the portrait contacted the Art Loss Register, which tracks lost and stolen art and antiquities, after seeing a photograph of the "vanished" work in London's Evening Standard newspaper.
The painting, a recently discovered portrait by 18th century German artist Johann Zoffany called "Portrait of Major George Maule," was one of the highlights of the auction, which is expected to fetch 2-3 million pounds ($2.8-4.2 million).
It is the only known portrait from a group of four paintings executed by the artist during a brief stay in Madras in 1783 and had been expected to sell for 40-60,000 pounds.
"The Art Loss Register confirms that Lot 72 ... has been withdrawn with the full agreement of the Sotheby's consignor," the Art Loss Register said in a statement.
"The family contacted the Art Loss Register and sent a photograph of the portrait hanging above the mantelpiece before it vanished.
"The Art Loss Register is assisting the family to unravel the picture's provenance to establish its rightful ownership."
Sotheby's said in a statement: "As a result of a question over title, lot 72 has been withdrawn from the sale with the full agreement of Sotheby's consignor."
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
Kevan Hall fills LA Fashion Week Void.
BEVERY HILLS, Calif. – The bad economy and no official Mercedes-Benz L.A. Fashion Week couldn't get Kevan Hall down on Thursday, as 700 women gathered to gawk at his sleek, spy heroine-inspired fall collection.
It wasn't your average L.A. fashion crowd: no quirky outfits, denim or drunken hipsters. The audience at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel consisted of actresses and powerful ladies-who-lunch, including a stunning 75-year-old Joan Collins.
Former first lady Nancy Reagan, the luncheon's honorary chairwoman, was not in attendance, but the collection showcased sheaths worthy of first lady Michelle Obama, along with structured dresses in tweed and wool and Hall's classic red carpet creations in earthy shades of ruby, bronze and brown.
"I was inspired by the spy, heroines Emma Peel and Honey West, all those fabulous girls that influenced American fashion," Hall said. "There's a restrained elegance, with the economy."
Well constructed trench coats, belted pencil skirts and a gorgeous black wool A-line dress with zippers snaking up the sides came first, blended in with cheetah jersey dresses accented with leather or fur.
In the audience, actress Virginia Madsen wore a Hall creation in snug-fitting leopard print, and model-actress Molly Sims donned a bright cranberry colored one-shouldered dress custom-designed by Hall for the event and decorated with real, freeze-dried cranberries to promote a new cranberry body wash by Dial.
Waists on the runway came cinched into feminine silhouettes, with silk chiffon spilling out into brown or purple trains in a series of award show-ready gowns. An understated yet lovely red multi-patterned wrap dress in wool had a retro '50s fit and full skirt.
Other standouts included a cowl-necked metallic bronze sheath made out of matelasse quilted fabric, and two back-to-back blood red gowns: one in silk chiffon with a one-shouldered sash, and one strapless with an asymmetrical, geometric neckline.
Hall is also debuting a more day-centric, non couture line for Paul Stanley this year, with pieces "at a contemporary price point, for the working wealthy," Hall said.
The former Halston lead designer had been a mainstay at Mercedes-Benz L.A. Fashion Week, which ended in October after event organizer IMG and Smashbox Studios split from their five-year partnership.
This season, alternate shows and collaborations have popped up all over Los Angeles.
The events range from funky Petro Zillia's noir trunk show to Gen Art and arts collective BOXeight's joint kickoff event for emerging talent to Downtown Los Angeles Fashion Week's "An Evening of 20th Century Glamour" benefiting the Museum of Contemporary Art, featuring stylized photos of Louis Verdad's newest collection.
"I think L.A. Fashion Week will continue," said Hall, smiling at the luncheon. "But this is a different kind of vibe. It's a great setting, beautiful people, shoppers."
The swanky event benefited anti-violence nonprofit the Children's Institute.
It wasn't your average L.A. fashion crowd: no quirky outfits, denim or drunken hipsters. The audience at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel consisted of actresses and powerful ladies-who-lunch, including a stunning 75-year-old Joan Collins.
Former first lady Nancy Reagan, the luncheon's honorary chairwoman, was not in attendance, but the collection showcased sheaths worthy of first lady Michelle Obama, along with structured dresses in tweed and wool and Hall's classic red carpet creations in earthy shades of ruby, bronze and brown.
"I was inspired by the spy, heroines Emma Peel and Honey West, all those fabulous girls that influenced American fashion," Hall said. "There's a restrained elegance, with the economy."
Well constructed trench coats, belted pencil skirts and a gorgeous black wool A-line dress with zippers snaking up the sides came first, blended in with cheetah jersey dresses accented with leather or fur.
In the audience, actress Virginia Madsen wore a Hall creation in snug-fitting leopard print, and model-actress Molly Sims donned a bright cranberry colored one-shouldered dress custom-designed by Hall for the event and decorated with real, freeze-dried cranberries to promote a new cranberry body wash by Dial.
Waists on the runway came cinched into feminine silhouettes, with silk chiffon spilling out into brown or purple trains in a series of award show-ready gowns. An understated yet lovely red multi-patterned wrap dress in wool had a retro '50s fit and full skirt.
Other standouts included a cowl-necked metallic bronze sheath made out of matelasse quilted fabric, and two back-to-back blood red gowns: one in silk chiffon with a one-shouldered sash, and one strapless with an asymmetrical, geometric neckline.
Hall is also debuting a more day-centric, non couture line for Paul Stanley this year, with pieces "at a contemporary price point, for the working wealthy," Hall said.
The former Halston lead designer had been a mainstay at Mercedes-Benz L.A. Fashion Week, which ended in October after event organizer IMG and Smashbox Studios split from their five-year partnership.
This season, alternate shows and collaborations have popped up all over Los Angeles.
The events range from funky Petro Zillia's noir trunk show to Gen Art and arts collective BOXeight's joint kickoff event for emerging talent to Downtown Los Angeles Fashion Week's "An Evening of 20th Century Glamour" benefiting the Museum of Contemporary Art, featuring stylized photos of Louis Verdad's newest collection.
"I think L.A. Fashion Week will continue," said Hall, smiling at the luncheon. "But this is a different kind of vibe. It's a great setting, beautiful people, shoppers."
The swanky event benefited anti-violence nonprofit the Children's Institute.
Indian Designer Sees Global As The Way To Go.
By Shilpa Jamkhandikar Shilpa Jamkhandikar – Fri Mar 20, 12:29 am ET
MUMBAI (Reuters Life!) – For globally renowned Indian designer Ranna Gill, one collection fits the world.
Gill, who sells her "Ranna Gill" label to stores such as Neiman Marcus and Harvey Nichols, incorporates Indian motifs and colors in her fashions, but says they must suit the tastes, lifestyles - and pockets - of women around the world.
Gill showcases her collection in New Delhi on Saturday at India's biggest fashion event, where over 100 designers are vying for the attention of 175 domestic and foreign buyers amid the global economic crisis and decreased spending on luxury goods.
She spoke to Reuters about the recession and what it takes to make it in the international market.
Q: What percentage of your business is international?
A: "Sixty-five per cent of my business is export, stores that buy from me for their stores. I sell to Neiman Marcus, Harvey Nichols, to lots of stores internationally. It's not NRIs (Non Resident Indians). I have my own stores, but I also export."
Q: What do you think it takes for an Indian designer to make it abroad?
A: "You have to have a keen understanding of the global market, basically what a global customer needs. What does she buy, what is her lifestyle, what price point is she buying."
Q: Because Indian clothes are known for particular fabrics and designs, when you sell abroad, do you adjust anything?
A: "I don't wear my Indianness on my head, as a crown. I am a global designer. I could have been Greek, Egyptian, Lebanese, or French. I use my Indianness in terms of color. My collections have a lot of color, and they have a Western sensibility. When an American woman buys my clothes, I offer her color in a very international way, rather than, say, a New York designer. It's not "Indian Indian," you can't sell that in the West.
What you see at my shows is what I sell everywhere. I don't tweak it at all."
Q: Do you make a conscious choice between paying more attention to Indian clients or international clients?
A: "You have to decide whether you're doing your sarees, lehengas, your Indian clothing, or are you doing your Western dresses. You have to make that choice and then go for it."
Q: Has the economic crisis affected your business?
A: "Well, there are a few American customers who have canceled orders, or want to pay later or want to talk about payment terms, or cut down on orders because they are not sure, but having said that, it's okay. Has it affected us to a point of breakdown? No. Has it not affected us at all? No. But that's expected. There's a meltdown, and you have to deal with it."
Q: What are your aspirations for your business?
A: "I really want the brand to go global. I want to see more international stores buying into my line. To do that, you have to understand who is your customer and where is she going with that dress. In an international world, people are not willing to pay a million bucks for their dresses.
I make dresses for me. I am a working woman, I have a family, I need to go out. I need to travel. I can wear my dress in London, Hong Kong, or Bombay. And I don't want to look fat."
(Editing by Miral Fahmy)
MUMBAI (Reuters Life!) – For globally renowned Indian designer Ranna Gill, one collection fits the world.
Gill, who sells her "Ranna Gill" label to stores such as Neiman Marcus and Harvey Nichols, incorporates Indian motifs and colors in her fashions, but says they must suit the tastes, lifestyles - and pockets - of women around the world.
Gill showcases her collection in New Delhi on Saturday at India's biggest fashion event, where over 100 designers are vying for the attention of 175 domestic and foreign buyers amid the global economic crisis and decreased spending on luxury goods.
She spoke to Reuters about the recession and what it takes to make it in the international market.
Q: What percentage of your business is international?
A: "Sixty-five per cent of my business is export, stores that buy from me for their stores. I sell to Neiman Marcus, Harvey Nichols, to lots of stores internationally. It's not NRIs (Non Resident Indians). I have my own stores, but I also export."
Q: What do you think it takes for an Indian designer to make it abroad?
A: "You have to have a keen understanding of the global market, basically what a global customer needs. What does she buy, what is her lifestyle, what price point is she buying."
Q: Because Indian clothes are known for particular fabrics and designs, when you sell abroad, do you adjust anything?
A: "I don't wear my Indianness on my head, as a crown. I am a global designer. I could have been Greek, Egyptian, Lebanese, or French. I use my Indianness in terms of color. My collections have a lot of color, and they have a Western sensibility. When an American woman buys my clothes, I offer her color in a very international way, rather than, say, a New York designer. It's not "Indian Indian," you can't sell that in the West.
What you see at my shows is what I sell everywhere. I don't tweak it at all."
Q: Do you make a conscious choice between paying more attention to Indian clients or international clients?
A: "You have to decide whether you're doing your sarees, lehengas, your Indian clothing, or are you doing your Western dresses. You have to make that choice and then go for it."
Q: Has the economic crisis affected your business?
A: "Well, there are a few American customers who have canceled orders, or want to pay later or want to talk about payment terms, or cut down on orders because they are not sure, but having said that, it's okay. Has it affected us to a point of breakdown? No. Has it not affected us at all? No. But that's expected. There's a meltdown, and you have to deal with it."
Q: What are your aspirations for your business?
A: "I really want the brand to go global. I want to see more international stores buying into my line. To do that, you have to understand who is your customer and where is she going with that dress. In an international world, people are not willing to pay a million bucks for their dresses.
I make dresses for me. I am a working woman, I have a family, I need to go out. I need to travel. I can wear my dress in London, Hong Kong, or Bombay. And I don't want to look fat."
(Editing by Miral Fahmy)
National passion seeps into crisis fashion
By Sophie Hardach Sophie Hardach – Sun Mar 22, 9:14 pm ET
PARIS (Reuters) – You could call it fashionalism. At a Vivienne Westwood show, buyer Amanda Ware lists new trends she has spotted in London: quirky hats, trendy scarves -- and British-made designer accessories featuring the Union Jack.
Several fashion buyers visiting this month's Paris shows reported a jump in nationalist purchases, especially in London, which before the economic crisis prided itself on being the capital of multicultural style.
"I think it's this whole Britishness thing," said Ware, who buys accessories for luxury store Fortnum & Mason in London. In the boom years, the French and Italian brands she stocks were more popular than British ones, she said. That has changed.
Ware has adjusted her purchases accordingly, buying visibly British accessories such as a Paul Smith scarf with a London city print, which she expects to do well despite the general retail slump.
"There's been a lot of support for both Vivienne Westwood and Paul Smith, it's been the strongest this season," she said.
"Vivienne Westwood is more tartan, Paul Smith is strong with the Union Jack. It's really flown over the past 8-12 weeks."
From workers protesting against foreigners taking jobs to governments bailing out failing local industries, fashion executives point to a global wave of nationalist protests and policies since the world economy turned sharply down.
The World Bank said in a report this month that since last November, 17 of the G20 nations had implemented measures whose effect is to restrict trade at the expense of other countries.
"The trend in protection is up and the full effects (of) recession have not yet been felt," said the report by Elisa Gamberoni and Richard Newfarmer.
The patriotic shopping spree suggests such nationalism is seeping into the middle classes, steering those who can afford designer accessories costing several hundred pounds.
BUYING YOUR OWN
"I think there is a general trend of people buying from their own country. Globally, protectionism is growing, and you see that in fashion," Geoffrey de La Bourdonnaye, chief executive of Liberty of London, told Reuters at the Christian Lacroix show in Paris.
In a curious backlash, the trend appears to be strongest in Britain, whose former Prime Minister Tony Blair was one of the most vocal defenders of globalization.
The French have supported protectionist policies such as aid for the car sector but designers and retailers say they are not particularly looking to buy French fashion brands.
In the United States, which came under fire last month for a "Buy American" campaign, clothes and accessories featuring President Barack Obama are popular. But fashionable New Yorkers see wearing national symbols such as the flag as an expression of right-wing politics.
Nostalgia could be a factor for older Britons remembering campaigns since the 1960s that encouraged citizens to support the British economy with T-shirts, Union Jack badges, songs and ubiquitous slogans like "Backing Britain."
"There has always been in Britain a tendency to buy local, for a couple of reasons. There's the green reason, and also national pride -- the British are very proud of their craft -- and now it's also cheaper to buy British," said de La Bourdonnaye, referring to the weak pound.
A few weeks ago, the left-wing Guardian newspaper ran a fashion spread in its weekend magazine under the tongue-in-cheek headline: "Women of Britain - your designers need you!"
Featuring pictures of World War Two propaganda posters and a model in typically British labels such as Burberry and Stella McCartney, it urged shoppers to "buy British this season."
CUSTOMISED NATIONALISM
Historically, the use of fashion for nationalist purposes stretches across the political spectrum. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini created a government institution to promote fascist fashion, while Mahatma Gandhi called upon fellow Indians to wear homespun cotton in the struggle against British colonial rule.
Proponents of free markets argue that in economic terms, campaigns to buy local are ultimately detrimental.
While such campaigns may shore up companies and jobs in the short run, they argue, they have the opposite effect in the long term by stifling international trade and stunting growth.
If protectionist sentiment in fashion spread, it could close off lucrative foreign markets for Italian, French and British designers, whose businesses have been buoyed by demand from the new middle classes in fast-growing emerging economies.
Retail and wholesale revenues at Burberry, for example, were up 53 percent in Asia in the last three months of 2008 compared with the previous year -- making the region the luxury brand's strongest performer, along with the Middle East.
But in times of turmoil such arguments risk losing out. Jason Broderick, head of menswear purchases at Harrod's, has also seen a greater focus on British-made products.
"I think people are concerned with keeping the fellow countryman in work and supporting British-made will ensure this to a level," he wrote in an e-mail to Reuters.
Of course, just how British such products are is questionable: top fashion houses use Chinese-made soles for their shoes, Indian-embroidered silk for evening gowns and designers from, well, anywhere for their creative direction.
For a sector that thrives on meshing different cultures, a trend toward buying one's own seems a mismatch.
And the Stella McCartney brand featured in the Guardian's "Buy British" spread is, of course, owned by the Italian-rooted Gucci group, which in turn is part of French retail giant PPR.
PARIS (Reuters) – You could call it fashionalism. At a Vivienne Westwood show, buyer Amanda Ware lists new trends she has spotted in London: quirky hats, trendy scarves -- and British-made designer accessories featuring the Union Jack.
Several fashion buyers visiting this month's Paris shows reported a jump in nationalist purchases, especially in London, which before the economic crisis prided itself on being the capital of multicultural style.
"I think it's this whole Britishness thing," said Ware, who buys accessories for luxury store Fortnum & Mason in London. In the boom years, the French and Italian brands she stocks were more popular than British ones, she said. That has changed.
Ware has adjusted her purchases accordingly, buying visibly British accessories such as a Paul Smith scarf with a London city print, which she expects to do well despite the general retail slump.
"There's been a lot of support for both Vivienne Westwood and Paul Smith, it's been the strongest this season," she said.
"Vivienne Westwood is more tartan, Paul Smith is strong with the Union Jack. It's really flown over the past 8-12 weeks."
From workers protesting against foreigners taking jobs to governments bailing out failing local industries, fashion executives point to a global wave of nationalist protests and policies since the world economy turned sharply down.
The World Bank said in a report this month that since last November, 17 of the G20 nations had implemented measures whose effect is to restrict trade at the expense of other countries.
"The trend in protection is up and the full effects (of) recession have not yet been felt," said the report by Elisa Gamberoni and Richard Newfarmer.
The patriotic shopping spree suggests such nationalism is seeping into the middle classes, steering those who can afford designer accessories costing several hundred pounds.
BUYING YOUR OWN
"I think there is a general trend of people buying from their own country. Globally, protectionism is growing, and you see that in fashion," Geoffrey de La Bourdonnaye, chief executive of Liberty of London, told Reuters at the Christian Lacroix show in Paris.
In a curious backlash, the trend appears to be strongest in Britain, whose former Prime Minister Tony Blair was one of the most vocal defenders of globalization.
The French have supported protectionist policies such as aid for the car sector but designers and retailers say they are not particularly looking to buy French fashion brands.
In the United States, which came under fire last month for a "Buy American" campaign, clothes and accessories featuring President Barack Obama are popular. But fashionable New Yorkers see wearing national symbols such as the flag as an expression of right-wing politics.
Nostalgia could be a factor for older Britons remembering campaigns since the 1960s that encouraged citizens to support the British economy with T-shirts, Union Jack badges, songs and ubiquitous slogans like "Backing Britain."
"There has always been in Britain a tendency to buy local, for a couple of reasons. There's the green reason, and also national pride -- the British are very proud of their craft -- and now it's also cheaper to buy British," said de La Bourdonnaye, referring to the weak pound.
A few weeks ago, the left-wing Guardian newspaper ran a fashion spread in its weekend magazine under the tongue-in-cheek headline: "Women of Britain - your designers need you!"
Featuring pictures of World War Two propaganda posters and a model in typically British labels such as Burberry and Stella McCartney, it urged shoppers to "buy British this season."
CUSTOMISED NATIONALISM
Historically, the use of fashion for nationalist purposes stretches across the political spectrum. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini created a government institution to promote fascist fashion, while Mahatma Gandhi called upon fellow Indians to wear homespun cotton in the struggle against British colonial rule.
Proponents of free markets argue that in economic terms, campaigns to buy local are ultimately detrimental.
While such campaigns may shore up companies and jobs in the short run, they argue, they have the opposite effect in the long term by stifling international trade and stunting growth.
If protectionist sentiment in fashion spread, it could close off lucrative foreign markets for Italian, French and British designers, whose businesses have been buoyed by demand from the new middle classes in fast-growing emerging economies.
Retail and wholesale revenues at Burberry, for example, were up 53 percent in Asia in the last three months of 2008 compared with the previous year -- making the region the luxury brand's strongest performer, along with the Middle East.
But in times of turmoil such arguments risk losing out. Jason Broderick, head of menswear purchases at Harrod's, has also seen a greater focus on British-made products.
"I think people are concerned with keeping the fellow countryman in work and supporting British-made will ensure this to a level," he wrote in an e-mail to Reuters.
Of course, just how British such products are is questionable: top fashion houses use Chinese-made soles for their shoes, Indian-embroidered silk for evening gowns and designers from, well, anywhere for their creative direction.
For a sector that thrives on meshing different cultures, a trend toward buying one's own seems a mismatch.
And the Stella McCartney brand featured in the Guardian's "Buy British" spread is, of course, owned by the Italian-rooted Gucci group, which in turn is part of French retail giant PPR.
Jil Sander teams up with Japan Budget Fashion Label
TOKYO (Reuters Life!) – Designer Jil Sander's fashions are making a comeback, not on the runways of Milan or Paris but on the shelves of Japanese budget clothing retailer Uniqlo, which is thriving in the recession.
Uniqlo's owner, Fast Retailing, said it had hired Sander as design consultant and to oversee its collection for the next fall and winter seasons, plus possibly create her own line.
Sander, whose minimalist designs in monochromes and luxurious fabrics won her a cult following in the 1990s, has kept a low profile since leaving her namesake label in 2004.
"The challenge for me is to establish premium quality and democratically priced brand Uniqlo," she told reporters in Tokyo after the deal was announced last week.
Uniqlo, which sells $30 jeans and $15 parkas, has been among the very few companies doing well in Japan's deepening recession, as consumers forgo the luxury goods and branded products they once indulged in and turn to less expensive fashions.
"Fast Retailing has been successfully improving its products but there is still room to improve," said Miho Asaba, a retail analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Center.
"I am looking forward to the fall/winter items that they say will reflect Sander's consulting."
The Jil Sander brand is now owned by another Japanese apparel firm, Onward Holdings, known for labels such as iCB women's wear.
(Editing by Miral Fahmy)
Uniqlo's owner, Fast Retailing, said it had hired Sander as design consultant and to oversee its collection for the next fall and winter seasons, plus possibly create her own line.
Sander, whose minimalist designs in monochromes and luxurious fabrics won her a cult following in the 1990s, has kept a low profile since leaving her namesake label in 2004.
"The challenge for me is to establish premium quality and democratically priced brand Uniqlo," she told reporters in Tokyo after the deal was announced last week.
Uniqlo, which sells $30 jeans and $15 parkas, has been among the very few companies doing well in Japan's deepening recession, as consumers forgo the luxury goods and branded products they once indulged in and turn to less expensive fashions.
"Fast Retailing has been successfully improving its products but there is still room to improve," said Miho Asaba, a retail analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Center.
"I am looking forward to the fall/winter items that they say will reflect Sander's consulting."
The Jil Sander brand is now owned by another Japanese apparel firm, Onward Holdings, known for labels such as iCB women's wear.
(Editing by Miral Fahmy)
Robot Model No Challenge To Human Rivals.
TOKYO (Reuters) – It may have been a fashion first, but supermodel Naomi Campbell has nothing to fear.
The HRP-4C humanoid robot showed off her stormtrooper-like silver and black frame and bowed to a fashion-savvy audience at the start of the annual Japan Fashion Week in Tokyo -- but even her creators admit the mechanical model needs more work.
The HRP-4C has battery-powered motors in her body and face, allowing her to imitate the expressions, gait and poses of a supermodel --- up to a point.
"Our robot can't move elegantly like the real models that are here today," Shuji Kajita, director of humanoid robot engineering at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), told Reuters. "It'll take another 20 to 30 years of research to make that happen."
The 158 cm (5 ft 2 inch) high-tech model weighed in at 43 kg (95 lb), slimmed down from earlier versions just in time for her catwalk debut at one of Japan's biggest fashion events.
AIST designers say the eyes, face and hair of the robot, which cost about $2 million to develop, are based on Japanese "anime" cartoon characters.
Japan, home to almost half of the world's 800,000 industrial robots, expects the industry to expand to $10 billion in the future including models that can care for its fast-growing elderly population.
(Writing by Michael Caronna and Linda Sieg; Editing by Rodney Joyce)
The HRP-4C humanoid robot showed off her stormtrooper-like silver and black frame and bowed to a fashion-savvy audience at the start of the annual Japan Fashion Week in Tokyo -- but even her creators admit the mechanical model needs more work.
The HRP-4C has battery-powered motors in her body and face, allowing her to imitate the expressions, gait and poses of a supermodel --- up to a point.
"Our robot can't move elegantly like the real models that are here today," Shuji Kajita, director of humanoid robot engineering at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), told Reuters. "It'll take another 20 to 30 years of research to make that happen."
The 158 cm (5 ft 2 inch) high-tech model weighed in at 43 kg (95 lb), slimmed down from earlier versions just in time for her catwalk debut at one of Japan's biggest fashion events.
AIST designers say the eyes, face and hair of the robot, which cost about $2 million to develop, are based on Japanese "anime" cartoon characters.
Japan, home to almost half of the world's 800,000 industrial robots, expects the industry to expand to $10 billion in the future including models that can care for its fast-growing elderly population.
(Writing by Michael Caronna and Linda Sieg; Editing by Rodney Joyce)
Japanese Designer Kenzo Trades Art For New Life.
PARIS (Reuters) – Vowing to change his life, Japanese fashion designer Kenzo is auctioning off a treasure trove of Asian art, furniture and antique kimonos that adorn his luxury Paris home.
Kenzo, whose full name is Kenzo Takada, has already sold the Japanese-style villa in eastern Paris, complete with paper screens, a swimming pool, and a traditional garden featuring an ornamental pond with carp.
Last month, the sale of late designer Yves Saint Laurent's collection broke several records and Sotheby's has also auctioned the late Gianni Versace's collection, but Kenzo said he was focusing on life before death.
"Today I want to turn a page and live differently, more free, lighter," the 70-year-old told reporters at the villa, surrounded by trees and stones imported from Japan.
The collection is expected to fetch between 1.5 million euros to 2 million euros ($2.04 million to $2.73 million) at auction, scheduled for June 16 and 17.
Together with the Yves Saint Laurent and Gianni Versace events, Kenzo's decision to sell up marks the end of an era for the star couturiers -- as illustrated by a photo on his desk that shows the Japanese designer, tanned and smiling, next to Saint Laurent at the height of their careers.
Highlights of the auction are a Chinese wooden horse dating from the Han era, around 100 AD, estimated at 100,000 euros, and two Chinese wooden funeral figurines dating from 500-300 BC, which are valued at 30,000 to 60,000 euros ($40,000-$80,000) each.
A diplomatic tussle broke out between China and France over two historic Chinese bronze sculptures looted in the 19th century and sold as part of the Yves Saint Laurent collection.
A Chinese buyer snapped up the pieces, but then refused to pay for them.
Kenzo's sale is less likely to attract controversy. He had the 1,100 square-meter villa built 20 years ago, as his empire of colorful, printed clothes and perfumes expanded along with his taste for lavish parties.
Luxury conglomerate LVMH bought the Kenzo brand in 1993.
Having sold the villa to French buyers, Kenzo is planning to move into his new apartment overlooking the Seine -- still generous at 250 square meters.
"At the end of the 1980s. I wanted a Japanese house with a garden in the middle of Paris. My dream came true," he said as he showed reporters his old home.
An Asian art expert looking at a small Korean table and a bronze sculpture of a rat munching a chestnut, described the collection as an "accumulation of beautiful little things."
(Writing by Sophie Hardach, editing by Paul Casciato)
Kenzo, whose full name is Kenzo Takada, has already sold the Japanese-style villa in eastern Paris, complete with paper screens, a swimming pool, and a traditional garden featuring an ornamental pond with carp.
Last month, the sale of late designer Yves Saint Laurent's collection broke several records and Sotheby's has also auctioned the late Gianni Versace's collection, but Kenzo said he was focusing on life before death.
"Today I want to turn a page and live differently, more free, lighter," the 70-year-old told reporters at the villa, surrounded by trees and stones imported from Japan.
The collection is expected to fetch between 1.5 million euros to 2 million euros ($2.04 million to $2.73 million) at auction, scheduled for June 16 and 17.
Together with the Yves Saint Laurent and Gianni Versace events, Kenzo's decision to sell up marks the end of an era for the star couturiers -- as illustrated by a photo on his desk that shows the Japanese designer, tanned and smiling, next to Saint Laurent at the height of their careers.
Highlights of the auction are a Chinese wooden horse dating from the Han era, around 100 AD, estimated at 100,000 euros, and two Chinese wooden funeral figurines dating from 500-300 BC, which are valued at 30,000 to 60,000 euros ($40,000-$80,000) each.
A diplomatic tussle broke out between China and France over two historic Chinese bronze sculptures looted in the 19th century and sold as part of the Yves Saint Laurent collection.
A Chinese buyer snapped up the pieces, but then refused to pay for them.
Kenzo's sale is less likely to attract controversy. He had the 1,100 square-meter villa built 20 years ago, as his empire of colorful, printed clothes and perfumes expanded along with his taste for lavish parties.
Luxury conglomerate LVMH bought the Kenzo brand in 1993.
Having sold the villa to French buyers, Kenzo is planning to move into his new apartment overlooking the Seine -- still generous at 250 square meters.
"At the end of the 1980s. I wanted a Japanese house with a garden in the middle of Paris. My dream came true," he said as he showed reporters his old home.
An Asian art expert looking at a small Korean table and a bronze sculpture of a rat munching a chestnut, described the collection as an "accumulation of beautiful little things."
(Writing by Sophie Hardach, editing by Paul Casciato)
Kenzo Auctions Art Collections As He Downsizes.
By JENNY BARCHFIELD, Associated Press Writer Jenny Barchfield, Associated Press Writer – Tue Mar 24, 2:39 pm ET
PARIS – Japanese fashion designer Kenzo Takada will auction off some of the art that inspired his East-meets-West style, as he trades his plush Paris mansion for smaller digs on the Seine River.
From Hopi Kachina dolls to bronze Buddhas, more than 1,000 pieces acquired over the past two decades will be on the block at the June 16-17 sale organized by Aguttes auction house, the designer and his auctioneer said Tuesday.
The catalog isn't finished yet because Kenzo is hesitating about which objects to keep.
But most of the collection will have to go. Kenzo has sold the 12,000-square-foot (1,100-square-meter) Japanese-style wooden house that he built in 1987 in the courtyard of an apartment building near Paris' Place de la Bastille, and will move into a Left Bank apartment about one-quarter that size this summer.
"After 20 years in this house, I wanted to turn the page and live lighter," Kenzo told The Associated Press in an interview after a guided visit through the sprawling house. "For parties, it was great, but sometimes when I'm here alone, it's far too big."
But not too big for his collection: Every conceivable surface is covered with objects that, displayed just so, give the house a museum quality. Paintings, photographs and engravings cover nearly every wall. Vases, sculptures and antique trinkets sprout from tables and chests of drawers.
Most of the pieces are from Asia, but the collection also includes 19th century Kachina dolls from the American Southwest, masks made by the Punu people of Gabon, and a hatchet from a remote Pacific island.
Star lots include a set of 16th-century red lacquerwear from a Japanese monastery and an 8th-century goddess statuette from Thailand made of 21 ounces (600 grams) of near-pure gold — estimated at €60,000-€100,000 ($81,000-$135,000). A Chinese wooden sculpture of a horse dating from the 2nd century B.C. is estimated at €80,000-€100,000.
Many other items will be offered for less, starting around €200.
In total the auction is expected to fetch €1.5 million-€2 million, sale organizer Claude Aguttes said.
"This is not your typical collection built with European taste around big, prestigious pieces," Aguttes said, alluding to the collection of late, great designer Yves Saint Laurent, which netted a $484 million at a Paris auction last month.
"Kenzo's guiding principle in buying art was beauty, not prestige. He bought what caught his eye," the organizer said.
Kenzo said he started collecting in the early 1990s as a way of filling up the house, which was built upon the foundation of an empty warehouse.
"For years, I spent my weekends hunting all the galleries in Paris," he said, adding that he will likely be making the rounds again after he sells the collection.
"I'll have a new place to decorate," he said with a laugh.
The new apartment in the tiny Saint-Germain-des-Pres neighborhood will have a distinctly European flavor, he said: No more wooden paneling, no more bamboo garden or koi pond, made from rocks imported from Japan.
A family has bought the mansion — which has two kitchens, a super-sized walk-in closet, a skylight-lit artist's atelier and an indoor pool — and is to move in June, Aguttes said. He declined to name the buyers or the price, but media reports have put it at around €10 million.
Kenzo, who was born in Himeji, Japan, in 1939, leapt to fame in the 1980s with his perfumes and a high-end ready-to-wear line known for giving Western garments an elegant eastern touch. He sold the line to French luxury goods giant LVMH in 1993 and retired from the company six years later. Since then, he has taken up painting and interior design.
"I discovered Japan only after I had moved to Paris," Kenzo said, sitting pool-side in a dapper houndstooth suit. "Now I'm going to rediscover Paris."
PARIS – Japanese fashion designer Kenzo Takada will auction off some of the art that inspired his East-meets-West style, as he trades his plush Paris mansion for smaller digs on the Seine River.
From Hopi Kachina dolls to bronze Buddhas, more than 1,000 pieces acquired over the past two decades will be on the block at the June 16-17 sale organized by Aguttes auction house, the designer and his auctioneer said Tuesday.
The catalog isn't finished yet because Kenzo is hesitating about which objects to keep.
But most of the collection will have to go. Kenzo has sold the 12,000-square-foot (1,100-square-meter) Japanese-style wooden house that he built in 1987 in the courtyard of an apartment building near Paris' Place de la Bastille, and will move into a Left Bank apartment about one-quarter that size this summer.
"After 20 years in this house, I wanted to turn the page and live lighter," Kenzo told The Associated Press in an interview after a guided visit through the sprawling house. "For parties, it was great, but sometimes when I'm here alone, it's far too big."
But not too big for his collection: Every conceivable surface is covered with objects that, displayed just so, give the house a museum quality. Paintings, photographs and engravings cover nearly every wall. Vases, sculptures and antique trinkets sprout from tables and chests of drawers.
Most of the pieces are from Asia, but the collection also includes 19th century Kachina dolls from the American Southwest, masks made by the Punu people of Gabon, and a hatchet from a remote Pacific island.
Star lots include a set of 16th-century red lacquerwear from a Japanese monastery and an 8th-century goddess statuette from Thailand made of 21 ounces (600 grams) of near-pure gold — estimated at €60,000-€100,000 ($81,000-$135,000). A Chinese wooden sculpture of a horse dating from the 2nd century B.C. is estimated at €80,000-€100,000.
Many other items will be offered for less, starting around €200.
In total the auction is expected to fetch €1.5 million-€2 million, sale organizer Claude Aguttes said.
"This is not your typical collection built with European taste around big, prestigious pieces," Aguttes said, alluding to the collection of late, great designer Yves Saint Laurent, which netted a $484 million at a Paris auction last month.
"Kenzo's guiding principle in buying art was beauty, not prestige. He bought what caught his eye," the organizer said.
Kenzo said he started collecting in the early 1990s as a way of filling up the house, which was built upon the foundation of an empty warehouse.
"For years, I spent my weekends hunting all the galleries in Paris," he said, adding that he will likely be making the rounds again after he sells the collection.
"I'll have a new place to decorate," he said with a laugh.
The new apartment in the tiny Saint-Germain-des-Pres neighborhood will have a distinctly European flavor, he said: No more wooden paneling, no more bamboo garden or koi pond, made from rocks imported from Japan.
A family has bought the mansion — which has two kitchens, a super-sized walk-in closet, a skylight-lit artist's atelier and an indoor pool — and is to move in June, Aguttes said. He declined to name the buyers or the price, but media reports have put it at around €10 million.
Kenzo, who was born in Himeji, Japan, in 1939, leapt to fame in the 1980s with his perfumes and a high-end ready-to-wear line known for giving Western garments an elegant eastern touch. He sold the line to French luxury goods giant LVMH in 1993 and retired from the company six years later. Since then, he has taken up painting and interior design.
"I discovered Japan only after I had moved to Paris," Kenzo said, sitting pool-side in a dapper houndstooth suit. "Now I'm going to rediscover Paris."
For Global India Designer Home Is Where The Money IS.
By Shilpa Jamkhandikar Shilpa Jamkhandikar – Fri Mar 27, 12:56 am ET
MUMBAI (Reuters Life!) – Sabyasachi Mukherjee, one of India's best-known fashion designers at home and abroad, has a few words of advice for others seeking to make their name internationally: forget global, stay local.
Mukherjee, who has shown collections at several fashion events in Europe and the United States, dresses top Bollywood actors and the elite of Indian society.
He is due to display his latest fall/winter collection on Friday, the opening day of one of Mumbai's biggest fashion event, the Lakme Fashion Week, which features 73 designers and over a hundred buyers.
Fashion experts and buyers peg Mukherjee as one of the few Indian designers who can make it big abroad, but he told Reuters he's happier sticking to expanding his business at home.
Q: How important is the international market for you?
A: "With the way the world economy is going right now, this is not the time for Indian designers to step out. It is more the time to step it up within their country. International brands are going to swoop down on slightly secure economies and because they are suffering to a large extent in the West.
Somewhere down the line there will be a lot of internal thinking and people will realize they are better off at home. India is internalizing, and I think people are going to start upholding the Indian tradition very strongly. That's why my plan for the next few years is to concentrate and extend my business within this country."
Q: If that is the case what kind of importance would you give any international business that came your way?
A: "For me, international business is not about getting a good store. If you are serious about it, you need to have serious commitment as well. Right now, rather than doing a little bit of India and a little bit of international, I'd rather do a whole lot in India. Start very strong in this country and build a brand that becomes so irresistible to Westerners that they come and take a bite out of it."
Q: You spoke about commitment. What else do you think it will take for an Indian designer to make it internationally?
A: "It takes a lot of creative planning, also a very strong understanding of their market, which I don't think any of us have. If you want to design for people out there, you need to live out there. Design can't happen in isolation."
Q: Is it easier to cater to Indians as compared to international clients or buyers?
A: "Absolutely. Abroad, if you get half a page in The New York Times once a year, it's considered great press. Compare that with India, where fashion is featured almost everyday in mainstream papers. And the younger designers in India are growing really fast. So if you get up and leave for greener pastures, they might not be as green as you think they are.
Q: What about spending power in India?
A: "To tell you the truth, you make much more money in India. If these are the guys who are buying your clothes, why should you go to Europe and the U.S.? Why not start servicing the Asian market? By that I mean the Far East, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent where people's purse strings are much more looser. They are easier customers, they have much more sensitivity."
Q: What's your experience been selling to Western clients?
A: "I find that idea about Indian fabrics and designs are warped. You show them a fully embroidered fabric, and they will say "oh, that's a beautiful print." They don't really understand. In terms of return policy, exchange, alterations, it's much easier for buyers to strike a deal with designers closer home.
Today, budgets have been slashed in half. I was in New York, and so many retailers came up to me and said, "It's a brilliant collection, would love to have it in the store, but sorry, can't afford it." That's the problem Indian designers need to understand. Its only logical that you don't step out now."
(Editing by Miral Fahmy)
MUMBAI (Reuters Life!) – Sabyasachi Mukherjee, one of India's best-known fashion designers at home and abroad, has a few words of advice for others seeking to make their name internationally: forget global, stay local.
Mukherjee, who has shown collections at several fashion events in Europe and the United States, dresses top Bollywood actors and the elite of Indian society.
He is due to display his latest fall/winter collection on Friday, the opening day of one of Mumbai's biggest fashion event, the Lakme Fashion Week, which features 73 designers and over a hundred buyers.
Fashion experts and buyers peg Mukherjee as one of the few Indian designers who can make it big abroad, but he told Reuters he's happier sticking to expanding his business at home.
Q: How important is the international market for you?
A: "With the way the world economy is going right now, this is not the time for Indian designers to step out. It is more the time to step it up within their country. International brands are going to swoop down on slightly secure economies and because they are suffering to a large extent in the West.
Somewhere down the line there will be a lot of internal thinking and people will realize they are better off at home. India is internalizing, and I think people are going to start upholding the Indian tradition very strongly. That's why my plan for the next few years is to concentrate and extend my business within this country."
Q: If that is the case what kind of importance would you give any international business that came your way?
A: "For me, international business is not about getting a good store. If you are serious about it, you need to have serious commitment as well. Right now, rather than doing a little bit of India and a little bit of international, I'd rather do a whole lot in India. Start very strong in this country and build a brand that becomes so irresistible to Westerners that they come and take a bite out of it."
Q: You spoke about commitment. What else do you think it will take for an Indian designer to make it internationally?
A: "It takes a lot of creative planning, also a very strong understanding of their market, which I don't think any of us have. If you want to design for people out there, you need to live out there. Design can't happen in isolation."
Q: Is it easier to cater to Indians as compared to international clients or buyers?
A: "Absolutely. Abroad, if you get half a page in The New York Times once a year, it's considered great press. Compare that with India, where fashion is featured almost everyday in mainstream papers. And the younger designers in India are growing really fast. So if you get up and leave for greener pastures, they might not be as green as you think they are.
Q: What about spending power in India?
A: "To tell you the truth, you make much more money in India. If these are the guys who are buying your clothes, why should you go to Europe and the U.S.? Why not start servicing the Asian market? By that I mean the Far East, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent where people's purse strings are much more looser. They are easier customers, they have much more sensitivity."
Q: What's your experience been selling to Western clients?
A: "I find that idea about Indian fabrics and designs are warped. You show them a fully embroidered fabric, and they will say "oh, that's a beautiful print." They don't really understand. In terms of return policy, exchange, alterations, it's much easier for buyers to strike a deal with designers closer home.
Today, budgets have been slashed in half. I was in New York, and so many retailers came up to me and said, "It's a brilliant collection, would love to have it in the store, but sorry, can't afford it." That's the problem Indian designers need to understand. Its only logical that you don't step out now."
(Editing by Miral Fahmy)
Indian Designers Stay Relevant in Recession
By David Lalmalsawma David Lalmalsawma – Fri Mar 27, 4:23 am ET
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – From shrinking their collections to slashing prices, Indian fashion designers are trying to cope with the global financial crisis, which has dimmed the appetite for haute couture internationally and at home.
The economic meltdown was a recurring theme at this month's Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week, one of two premier fashion events that ran concurrently in New Delhi. A third major event, the Lakme Fashion Week, kicks off in Mumbai on Friday.
"The whole world is going on sale right now," said designer Nitin Bal Chauhan, who has lowered his prices and cut up to 40 percent of his profit margin.
"As a designer, I think I should be more considerate and cut down on my profit margin and still make sure people can enjoy fashion," Chauhan said.
Other designers have cut back on production volumes, hit by growing evidence of restrained spending for clothes and accessories among well-heeled clients.
Business is certainly not booming and though numbers are yet to be collated, the president of the Fashion Design Council of India said sales at its five-day fashion event in New Delhi had been affected by the tough economic climate.
"It will be less...definitely not more than last year due to the recessionary trend in the market," Sunil Sethi told Reuters.
CRIPPLING RECESSION, CAUTIOUS BUYERS
The Indian fashion design industry's overall production was expected to grow to 7.5 billion rupees ($148 million) by 2012 from 2.7 billion rupees in 2007, according to The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, helped by an affluent class which is increasingly focusing on fashion wear. The estimate has not yet been revised.
But international buyers, drawn by the handicraft and detailed embroidery in Indian fashion, have lowered their budgets due to a crippling recession and adjusted their purchases.
"Our decision (on budget) has been affected," said David Schneider from Portuguese retailer Texnorte-Porto.
"The way we pick and choose and take risk and select is going to be much more demanding in terms of quality and price," said Schneider, who attended the India Fashion Week for the fourth year in a row.
The message was loud and clear for couturiers at the fashion week, where 103 designers vied for the attention of 175 domestic and international buyers.
Some designers experimented with designs and fabric in response to customers' waning disposable income.
"I've combined high-street cheap leggings with very luxe jackets. I've combined very basic things like T-shirts with luxury shawls," said Kiran Uttam Ghosh, whose "Frugality is the new Black" collection is inspired by the global downturn.
Designer Leena Singh said she used embroidered prints instead of real embroidery on her designs to save on costs while Ranna Gill is catering to wider client tastes by also designing pant suits and jumpers.
But Indian designers are trying not to compromise too much on quality.
"We are cost-cutting back-end, which is the business side. But not on the runway," said designer Raghavendra Rathore.
(Writing by Tony Tharakan, Editing by Bappa Majumdar and Miral Fahmy)
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – From shrinking their collections to slashing prices, Indian fashion designers are trying to cope with the global financial crisis, which has dimmed the appetite for haute couture internationally and at home.
The economic meltdown was a recurring theme at this month's Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week, one of two premier fashion events that ran concurrently in New Delhi. A third major event, the Lakme Fashion Week, kicks off in Mumbai on Friday.
"The whole world is going on sale right now," said designer Nitin Bal Chauhan, who has lowered his prices and cut up to 40 percent of his profit margin.
"As a designer, I think I should be more considerate and cut down on my profit margin and still make sure people can enjoy fashion," Chauhan said.
Other designers have cut back on production volumes, hit by growing evidence of restrained spending for clothes and accessories among well-heeled clients.
Business is certainly not booming and though numbers are yet to be collated, the president of the Fashion Design Council of India said sales at its five-day fashion event in New Delhi had been affected by the tough economic climate.
"It will be less...definitely not more than last year due to the recessionary trend in the market," Sunil Sethi told Reuters.
CRIPPLING RECESSION, CAUTIOUS BUYERS
The Indian fashion design industry's overall production was expected to grow to 7.5 billion rupees ($148 million) by 2012 from 2.7 billion rupees in 2007, according to The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, helped by an affluent class which is increasingly focusing on fashion wear. The estimate has not yet been revised.
But international buyers, drawn by the handicraft and detailed embroidery in Indian fashion, have lowered their budgets due to a crippling recession and adjusted their purchases.
"Our decision (on budget) has been affected," said David Schneider from Portuguese retailer Texnorte-Porto.
"The way we pick and choose and take risk and select is going to be much more demanding in terms of quality and price," said Schneider, who attended the India Fashion Week for the fourth year in a row.
The message was loud and clear for couturiers at the fashion week, where 103 designers vied for the attention of 175 domestic and international buyers.
Some designers experimented with designs and fabric in response to customers' waning disposable income.
"I've combined high-street cheap leggings with very luxe jackets. I've combined very basic things like T-shirts with luxury shawls," said Kiran Uttam Ghosh, whose "Frugality is the new Black" collection is inspired by the global downturn.
Designer Leena Singh said she used embroidered prints instead of real embroidery on her designs to save on costs while Ranna Gill is catering to wider client tastes by also designing pant suits and jumpers.
But Indian designers are trying not to compromise too much on quality.
"We are cost-cutting back-end, which is the business side. But not on the runway," said designer Raghavendra Rathore.
(Writing by Tony Tharakan, Editing by Bappa Majumdar and Miral Fahmy)
Vintage is in says Australia.
SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) – A not-so-new fashion trend is sweeping many parts of Australia, where thousands of people are flocking to vintage fairs to pick up unique, and inexpensive, apparel during the economic slowdown.
Museums and collectors have usually shown the most interest in vintage fashion in the past, along with brides-to-be and stylists, said Fiona Baverstock, who along with her husband Keith organizes some of Australia's biggest vintage fashion fairs.
But now, a lot more people are buying quality, used clothes, shoes and accessories as the economic recession curtails spending, she added.
"I think people look for value when times are tough," said Baverstock, organizer of The Way We Wear fashion fairs.
"And they know if they buy a nice 1930s piece it's going to be well made with nice fabric and no one else is going to have one," she told Reuters.
Australia moved a step closer to recession earlier this year when the economy posted its first contraction in eight years. The number of unemployed people has also increased, while full-time jobs dropped sharply.
The Baverstocks began organizing vintage fashion fairs in 2006, and many of their clients are collectors who follow them around the country.
Last week, some 12,000 people, a number Baverstock said was "huge," showed up at their vintage fair in Sydney, while similar events in Brisbane and Adelaide were also very popular.
The Baverstocks' collection ranges from inexpensive 1960s miniskirts, shoes and tops as well as 1920s flapper dresses to a 1901 ball gown owned by Queen Alexandra, wife of Britain's King Edward VII and priced at A$10,000 (US$7,000).
There is also apparel from the 1850s Australian Gold Rush era worth thousands of dollars.
"Ours is a collection gone mad. We had to make a decision to stop collecting and start selling so we can buy more," Baverstock said.
"There are people who wouldn't go to an antique fair, but vintage fashion fairs are something different. Everybody loves clothes and once they look, they're hooked."
(Editing by Miral Fahmy)
Museums and collectors have usually shown the most interest in vintage fashion in the past, along with brides-to-be and stylists, said Fiona Baverstock, who along with her husband Keith organizes some of Australia's biggest vintage fashion fairs.
But now, a lot more people are buying quality, used clothes, shoes and accessories as the economic recession curtails spending, she added.
"I think people look for value when times are tough," said Baverstock, organizer of The Way We Wear fashion fairs.
"And they know if they buy a nice 1930s piece it's going to be well made with nice fabric and no one else is going to have one," she told Reuters.
Australia moved a step closer to recession earlier this year when the economy posted its first contraction in eight years. The number of unemployed people has also increased, while full-time jobs dropped sharply.
The Baverstocks began organizing vintage fashion fairs in 2006, and many of their clients are collectors who follow them around the country.
Last week, some 12,000 people, a number Baverstock said was "huge," showed up at their vintage fair in Sydney, while similar events in Brisbane and Adelaide were also very popular.
The Baverstocks' collection ranges from inexpensive 1960s miniskirts, shoes and tops as well as 1920s flapper dresses to a 1901 ball gown owned by Queen Alexandra, wife of Britain's King Edward VII and priced at A$10,000 (US$7,000).
There is also apparel from the 1850s Australian Gold Rush era worth thousands of dollars.
"Ours is a collection gone mad. We had to make a decision to stop collecting and start selling so we can buy more," Baverstock said.
"There are people who wouldn't go to an antique fair, but vintage fashion fairs are something different. Everybody loves clothes and once they look, they're hooked."
(Editing by Miral Fahmy)
Naomi Campbell - Fashion News
By Shilpa Jamkhandikar Shilpa Jamkhandikar – Sun Mar 29, 3:28 am ET
MUMBAI (Reuters Life!) – British supermodel Naomi Campbell walked down the ramp in Mumbai on Saturday to pay tribute to the victims of last November's Mumbai attacks.
Along with a host of Indian celebrities, the 39-year-old Campbell helped raise funds for the city's emergency medical services in a charity show called "Mai Mumbai."
Campbell heads a charity called "Fashion for Relief."
Islamist gunmen went on a three-day rampage on some of the most famous landmarks in Mumbai, the financial and entertainment capital of India, killing 166 people.
After the show, Campbell, dressed in a red saree and traditional Indian jewelry, told Reuters why she loves coming to India but won't act in Bollywood again, and how the global economic slowdown has affected her charity work.
Q. Could you begin by talking about how the concept of Mai Mumbai came about? A. "I am a model with IMG (International Management Group) in America and Europe and they were telling me they wanted to do something for the bombings that happened at the Taj (hotel) and the Oberoi (hotel) and they asked me, what would you like to do, and I said I would like to contribute Fashion for Relief, and it just started from there.
Q. You are known for your charity work, in places like South Africa.
A. "That's where I am headed next. I have to do an orphanage in Cape Town and see Mr (Nelson) Mandela."
Q. What made you come to India?
A. "I have been many times to India, and it's been a place of, I don't know, it really has been a place of thinking and relaxing and rejuvenating. So, I have been asking Fern (Mallis, Senior Vice President, IMG) so many times, I want to be in India, go to India fashion week, why will no one ever bring me! I love India and I am so happy to be here. This was what was meant to be. I think God has a plan for everything and there was no better way to come here and do this show."
Q. Do you think enough people do fashion for charity?
A. "I don't do it for public adulation, even though I want the public to see it. What matters to me is that we make our contribution, as a fashion society, because many people feel that fashion designers or people in fashion are superficial and we don't give and we don't care. It's not true. We do care. Like you have actors do something. You have them do a presentation, you have the singers do a concert, this is our contribution, and this is what we do.
Q. How do fashion shows like the one you just did contribute besides the kind of money they bring in?
A. "We do have silent auctions and we try to be discreet. I also hound people for private donations. We are in the middle of a (financial) crisis and that is why, even more so I have to count on private donations. I worry that charities in the world will suffer, but I can only focus on the ones that I work with. It is going to be tough for them in this crisis. They rely so much on private donations and this is the time we need to think about these charities and this for me, is the most important thing.
Q. You did an Indian film called "Karma, Confessions and Holi."
A. "I did that film four years ago.
Q. Are you open to doing more such films?
A. "I don't think so, no. I am someone who lives one day at a time. I am unpredictable. When I do something, I give it a 100 per cent, and I enjoy modeling. I love what I do and I have no complaints. It has been good to me.
(Editing by Matthias Williams)
MUMBAI (Reuters Life!) – British supermodel Naomi Campbell walked down the ramp in Mumbai on Saturday to pay tribute to the victims of last November's Mumbai attacks.
Along with a host of Indian celebrities, the 39-year-old Campbell helped raise funds for the city's emergency medical services in a charity show called "Mai Mumbai."
Campbell heads a charity called "Fashion for Relief."
Islamist gunmen went on a three-day rampage on some of the most famous landmarks in Mumbai, the financial and entertainment capital of India, killing 166 people.
After the show, Campbell, dressed in a red saree and traditional Indian jewelry, told Reuters why she loves coming to India but won't act in Bollywood again, and how the global economic slowdown has affected her charity work.
Q. Could you begin by talking about how the concept of Mai Mumbai came about? A. "I am a model with IMG (International Management Group) in America and Europe and they were telling me they wanted to do something for the bombings that happened at the Taj (hotel) and the Oberoi (hotel) and they asked me, what would you like to do, and I said I would like to contribute Fashion for Relief, and it just started from there.
Q. You are known for your charity work, in places like South Africa.
A. "That's where I am headed next. I have to do an orphanage in Cape Town and see Mr (Nelson) Mandela."
Q. What made you come to India?
A. "I have been many times to India, and it's been a place of, I don't know, it really has been a place of thinking and relaxing and rejuvenating. So, I have been asking Fern (Mallis, Senior Vice President, IMG) so many times, I want to be in India, go to India fashion week, why will no one ever bring me! I love India and I am so happy to be here. This was what was meant to be. I think God has a plan for everything and there was no better way to come here and do this show."
Q. Do you think enough people do fashion for charity?
A. "I don't do it for public adulation, even though I want the public to see it. What matters to me is that we make our contribution, as a fashion society, because many people feel that fashion designers or people in fashion are superficial and we don't give and we don't care. It's not true. We do care. Like you have actors do something. You have them do a presentation, you have the singers do a concert, this is our contribution, and this is what we do.
Q. How do fashion shows like the one you just did contribute besides the kind of money they bring in?
A. "We do have silent auctions and we try to be discreet. I also hound people for private donations. We are in the middle of a (financial) crisis and that is why, even more so I have to count on private donations. I worry that charities in the world will suffer, but I can only focus on the ones that I work with. It is going to be tough for them in this crisis. They rely so much on private donations and this is the time we need to think about these charities and this for me, is the most important thing.
Q. You did an Indian film called "Karma, Confessions and Holi."
A. "I did that film four years ago.
Q. Are you open to doing more such films?
A. "I don't think so, no. I am someone who lives one day at a time. I am unpredictable. When I do something, I give it a 100 per cent, and I enjoy modeling. I love what I do and I have no complaints. It has been good to me.
(Editing by Matthias Williams)
Fashion news - Hannah Montana
Jenny Peters Jenny Peters – Fri Apr 3, 2:33 pm ET
Los Angeles – Miley Cyrus wore Alberta Ferretti to the premiere of "Hannah Montana: The Movie," her first big live-action starring vehicle, a navy minidress with a high-waisted belt; quite the coup for that designer, as well as BCBG, which furnished her cropped black leather jacket. Miley's other main accessory was her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, who co-stars in the movie that jumps their wildly successful television show to the big screen.
Joining them on the red carpet at the El Capitan Theater in the heart of Hollywood was country singer Taylor Swift, who has a cameo in the film and was a knockout in a Naeem Khan strapless, black-beaded cocktail dress paired with Christian Louboutin cutaway heels. Vanessa Williams plays a publicist in the teen-oriented film, and she brightened the red carpet in a bright yellow sheath paired with a massive turquoise necklace.
Plenty of other familiar faces were on hand for the special screening, including cast members Emily Osment, Lucas Till, Jason Earles, Melora Hardin, and Barry Bostwick, as well as "Hanna Montana" fans Teri Hatcher and her tweener daughter Emerson Rose Tenney, Antonio Sabato, Jr., and his little girl Mina, and famous offspring Jaden and Willow Smith, who left mom and dad Jada and Will at home.
Everyone gathered at the end of the long red carpet to eat burgers and tri tip at the BBQ offered up before the movie unspooled, but 16-year-old Miley was too busy discussing her burgeoning career to stop for a bite.
"We're going to continue with season three of "Hannah," she revealed, "and I have a tour in mind for this year. This summer I am working on a movie that Nicolas Sparks wrote for me, where I can actually see if I'm a good actor or not, or just good at playing myself."
Playing herself in "Hannah Montana: The Movie" definitely worked for the partisan premiere crowd, who cheered long and hard as the movie began, and again as it ended, so one thing is certain if those fans and the screaming girls that struggled behind the barricades outside for a glimpse of their heroine get their way. Miley Cyrus will still have a career playing Hannah Montana for a long time to come.
Los Angeles – Miley Cyrus wore Alberta Ferretti to the premiere of "Hannah Montana: The Movie," her first big live-action starring vehicle, a navy minidress with a high-waisted belt; quite the coup for that designer, as well as BCBG, which furnished her cropped black leather jacket. Miley's other main accessory was her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, who co-stars in the movie that jumps their wildly successful television show to the big screen.
Joining them on the red carpet at the El Capitan Theater in the heart of Hollywood was country singer Taylor Swift, who has a cameo in the film and was a knockout in a Naeem Khan strapless, black-beaded cocktail dress paired with Christian Louboutin cutaway heels. Vanessa Williams plays a publicist in the teen-oriented film, and she brightened the red carpet in a bright yellow sheath paired with a massive turquoise necklace.
Plenty of other familiar faces were on hand for the special screening, including cast members Emily Osment, Lucas Till, Jason Earles, Melora Hardin, and Barry Bostwick, as well as "Hanna Montana" fans Teri Hatcher and her tweener daughter Emerson Rose Tenney, Antonio Sabato, Jr., and his little girl Mina, and famous offspring Jaden and Willow Smith, who left mom and dad Jada and Will at home.
Everyone gathered at the end of the long red carpet to eat burgers and tri tip at the BBQ offered up before the movie unspooled, but 16-year-old Miley was too busy discussing her burgeoning career to stop for a bite.
"We're going to continue with season three of "Hannah," she revealed, "and I have a tour in mind for this year. This summer I am working on a movie that Nicolas Sparks wrote for me, where I can actually see if I'm a good actor or not, or just good at playing myself."
Playing herself in "Hannah Montana: The Movie" definitely worked for the partisan premiere crowd, who cheered long and hard as the movie began, and again as it ended, so one thing is certain if those fans and the screaming girls that struggled behind the barricades outside for a glimpse of their heroine get their way. Miley Cyrus will still have a career playing Hannah Montana for a long time to come.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Fairy Tale Fantasy at Reem Acra Bridal
Renata Espinosa Renata Espinosa – Mon Apr 6, 9:14 am ET
New York – "Light, airy and happy" and "approachable fantasy" was how Reem Acra described the mood of her fairy tale-inspired Spring 2010 bridal collection, which she presented in New York on Sunday, April 5.
No matter what dream wedding gown that a young girl might have dreamt of wearing one day, Acra covered all the bases with her take on the gowns of princesses in fairy tales.
A romantic tulle gown that opened the show featured vertically placed strips of beading that formed gathers, reining in the fluffy volume of the tulle the way an ornate necklace might if worn with a simple white shirt. Another gown featured more sparsely placed beading that resembled a spray of stars.
Beyond embellishment, Acra also innovated the way she constructed other gowns. A tier gown made a leap from the traditional ruffles with asymmetrically draped layers that fell over carefully placed beading, while a silk satin ball gown swirled and twisted around the body with sophisticated origami pleating.
But the two gowns that closed the show got the biggest audience response, and were the most unusual designs in the mix. One, a pale blue satin faced organza ball gown that seemed to float in mid-air featured a gold screenprinted design, a mode of embellishment not usually associated with bridal gowns. Acra's final gown took screenprinting to the next level with gold laser cut patterns all over the otherwise traditional ivory ball gown.
"I had been dreaming about doing it for a few years," said Acra. "So I wanted to do everything that I had dreamed about."
Anticipating tighter budgets for couture-level gowns in the coming year, she added: "There's something for all my brides, for all the different price levels. There's something that everyone can afford."
New York – "Light, airy and happy" and "approachable fantasy" was how Reem Acra described the mood of her fairy tale-inspired Spring 2010 bridal collection, which she presented in New York on Sunday, April 5.
No matter what dream wedding gown that a young girl might have dreamt of wearing one day, Acra covered all the bases with her take on the gowns of princesses in fairy tales.
A romantic tulle gown that opened the show featured vertically placed strips of beading that formed gathers, reining in the fluffy volume of the tulle the way an ornate necklace might if worn with a simple white shirt. Another gown featured more sparsely placed beading that resembled a spray of stars.
Beyond embellishment, Acra also innovated the way she constructed other gowns. A tier gown made a leap from the traditional ruffles with asymmetrically draped layers that fell over carefully placed beading, while a silk satin ball gown swirled and twisted around the body with sophisticated origami pleating.
But the two gowns that closed the show got the biggest audience response, and were the most unusual designs in the mix. One, a pale blue satin faced organza ball gown that seemed to float in mid-air featured a gold screenprinted design, a mode of embellishment not usually associated with bridal gowns. Acra's final gown took screenprinting to the next level with gold laser cut patterns all over the otherwise traditional ivory ball gown.
"I had been dreaming about doing it for a few years," said Acra. "So I wanted to do everything that I had dreamed about."
Anticipating tighter budgets for couture-level gowns in the coming year, she added: "There's something for all my brides, for all the different price levels. There's something that everyone can afford."
Badgley Mischka Bride, Timeless and Timely
New York – The bridal gowns of Badgley Mischka, a celebrity and socialite wedding favorite - Kristen Davis in "Sex and the City" even wore a Badgley Mischka gown for her character Charlotte's second wedding - may be an investment, but they are the type of gowns that granddaughters may find themselves wearing one day.
The Badgley Mischka Bride collection for Fall 2009, presented in New York on Sunday, April 5, featured eight timeless, understated styles, from a vintage-feel Champagne-colored trumpet gown overlaid with lace to a minimally embellished strapless gown of frothy pearl-colored organza dress with diagonally placed ruffles along the trumpet skirt.
The ball gowns were also in keeping with the duo's downplay of elaborate embellishment this season that made Badgley Mischka's gowns famous in the past. Instead, a full silk taffeta gown limited beading to the neckline, waist and dropped waist. The effect was no less powerful, letting the romantic volume of the dress be the stand-out feature.
For a bride looking for something less traditional, a dress that featured a skirt of torn silk chiffon layers should be a gown in the running for the punk rock princess. Badgley Mischka also focused on sexy necklines, whether a V or scoop neck dress with spaghetti straps. In other words, timeless need not mean conservative or dull.
The Badgley Mischka Bride collection for Fall 2009, presented in New York on Sunday, April 5, featured eight timeless, understated styles, from a vintage-feel Champagne-colored trumpet gown overlaid with lace to a minimally embellished strapless gown of frothy pearl-colored organza dress with diagonally placed ruffles along the trumpet skirt.
The ball gowns were also in keeping with the duo's downplay of elaborate embellishment this season that made Badgley Mischka's gowns famous in the past. Instead, a full silk taffeta gown limited beading to the neckline, waist and dropped waist. The effect was no less powerful, letting the romantic volume of the dress be the stand-out feature.
For a bride looking for something less traditional, a dress that featured a skirt of torn silk chiffon layers should be a gown in the running for the punk rock princess. Badgley Mischka also focused on sexy necklines, whether a V or scoop neck dress with spaghetti straps. In other words, timeless need not mean conservative or dull.
Stars kick up their heels in quick-time costumes
By SAMANTHA CRITCHELL, AP Fashion Writer Samantha Critchell, Ap Fashion Writer – Mon Apr 6, 12:34 pm ET
NEW YORK – There's a secondary contest running each week on TV's "Dancing With the Stars": Who will have the best costume?
Certainly it's not a stretch to think that tech whiz and philanthropist Steve Wozniak wouldn't have lasted as long as he did this season if dance partner Karina Smirnoff hadn't worn those barely there outfits like her sheer, black cha-cha number.
But costume designer Randall Christensen says he doesn't play favorites. Instead, he keeps his fingers crossed that there'll be no wardrobe malfunction. So far, he — and his dancers — have been lucky.
There could have been some dicey moments during season five when Melanie Brown wore her pleather dominatrix getup, but it was only "slightly naughty," Christensen says. "That all came together wonderfully. All that was missing was the whip — but it looked fantastic!"
The biggest challenge in season eight so far was retrofitting a costume that was supposed to be worn by injured 5-foot-9 Nancy O'Dell for her replacement, 5-foot-5 Melissa Rycroft of "The Bachelor."
Christensen runs against the same clock as the celebrities trying to learn their new dances. He gets his assignment after each results show when the style — and remaining celebrities — are announced.
The men don't take too long and they always look just fine, he says, but the women have much more at stake. It helps if the stars already have an eye for fashion; he'll take any help in speeding up the process.
"We make the costumes in four days. I get the music assignment as soon as they get it, and I just play it and play it again. We need to get a feel for it," Christensen explains. "I'm playing it all the time, my assistants are playing it. The energy is so intense and exciting."
As soon as the stars for the season are announced, Christensen meets with each one to build a database of their measurements and preferences. Then, each week he gets another 15 minutes with each couple.
"The competitive juices about costumes kick in after the first week. They want to show it off and be over the top," Christensen says.
So far, Christensen hasn't found the right person to wear the costume he's eager to make of a handpainted dragon on a dress with rhinestone scales. There's a tipping point, he says, where the stars worry they look like drag queens.
NEW YORK – There's a secondary contest running each week on TV's "Dancing With the Stars": Who will have the best costume?
Certainly it's not a stretch to think that tech whiz and philanthropist Steve Wozniak wouldn't have lasted as long as he did this season if dance partner Karina Smirnoff hadn't worn those barely there outfits like her sheer, black cha-cha number.
But costume designer Randall Christensen says he doesn't play favorites. Instead, he keeps his fingers crossed that there'll be no wardrobe malfunction. So far, he — and his dancers — have been lucky.
There could have been some dicey moments during season five when Melanie Brown wore her pleather dominatrix getup, but it was only "slightly naughty," Christensen says. "That all came together wonderfully. All that was missing was the whip — but it looked fantastic!"
The biggest challenge in season eight so far was retrofitting a costume that was supposed to be worn by injured 5-foot-9 Nancy O'Dell for her replacement, 5-foot-5 Melissa Rycroft of "The Bachelor."
Christensen runs against the same clock as the celebrities trying to learn their new dances. He gets his assignment after each results show when the style — and remaining celebrities — are announced.
The men don't take too long and they always look just fine, he says, but the women have much more at stake. It helps if the stars already have an eye for fashion; he'll take any help in speeding up the process.
"We make the costumes in four days. I get the music assignment as soon as they get it, and I just play it and play it again. We need to get a feel for it," Christensen explains. "I'm playing it all the time, my assistants are playing it. The energy is so intense and exciting."
As soon as the stars for the season are announced, Christensen meets with each one to build a database of their measurements and preferences. Then, each week he gets another 15 minutes with each couple.
"The competitive juices about costumes kick in after the first week. They want to show it off and be over the top," Christensen says.
So far, Christensen hasn't found the right person to wear the costume he's eager to make of a handpainted dragon on a dress with rhinestone scales. There's a tipping point, he says, where the stars worry they look like drag queens.
Bold fashion defies slowdown in South Africa
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters Life!) – Designers defied the global economic crisis at this season's South African fashion week by showing off vibrant outfits with hints of tradition inspired by a golden era of African civilisation.
Stoned Cherrie, South Africa's best-known black design label, closed fashion week in Johannesburg with bold colors and fabrics reminiscent of royalty, influenced by the ancient Mapungubwe civilisation from southern Africa.
"Stoned Cherrie is about abundance," Nkhensani Nkosi told Reuters after the show, which featured models bedecked in brightly colored dresses covered with frills, mixing fabrics such as mesh, lycra and a delicate silky cotton.
"Inspired by the curiosity around Mapungubwe, we basically tried to imagine what it would have been like in the present day," she added.
Mapungubwe is believed to have developed into the largest kingdom in sub-Saharan Africa before it was abandoned in the 14th century and may have boasted sophisticated trade links with India and China as far back as a thousand years ago.
Fashion in post-apartheid South Africa reflects the country's journey from pariah state to a multiracial democracy, as young designers like Nkosi mirror the country's diversity and growing cultural confidence.
Not so long ago, designers -- both black and white -- would often simply mimic European trends. But in recent years, new labels like Stoned Cherrie have combined indigenous African fabrics with sleek modern lines or funky streetwear.
Stoned Cherrie, known for its T-shirts adorned with iconic prints of political leaders like Steve Biko, also has global ambitions, and recently held its first show in New York to what Nkosi said was a "fantastic reception."
The show in Johannesburg at the weekend was packed.
Nkosi said she was determined not to let the global financial crisis, which has dulled demand for haute couture from Paris to Tokyo, temper the optimism at the heart of her collection.
Fellow designer Uyanda Mbuli, who exhibited her Diamond Face Couture label at fashion week, echoed Nkosi's sentiments.
"Just because there's an economic meltdown doesn't mean that consumers aren't buying clothes," Mbuli said, adding her one-year-old business had not been affected. "It's just that their buying decisions are now backed by intellect. They seek value."
Stoned Cherrie, South Africa's best-known black design label, closed fashion week in Johannesburg with bold colors and fabrics reminiscent of royalty, influenced by the ancient Mapungubwe civilisation from southern Africa.
"Stoned Cherrie is about abundance," Nkhensani Nkosi told Reuters after the show, which featured models bedecked in brightly colored dresses covered with frills, mixing fabrics such as mesh, lycra and a delicate silky cotton.
"Inspired by the curiosity around Mapungubwe, we basically tried to imagine what it would have been like in the present day," she added.
Mapungubwe is believed to have developed into the largest kingdom in sub-Saharan Africa before it was abandoned in the 14th century and may have boasted sophisticated trade links with India and China as far back as a thousand years ago.
Fashion in post-apartheid South Africa reflects the country's journey from pariah state to a multiracial democracy, as young designers like Nkosi mirror the country's diversity and growing cultural confidence.
Not so long ago, designers -- both black and white -- would often simply mimic European trends. But in recent years, new labels like Stoned Cherrie have combined indigenous African fabrics with sleek modern lines or funky streetwear.
Stoned Cherrie, known for its T-shirts adorned with iconic prints of political leaders like Steve Biko, also has global ambitions, and recently held its first show in New York to what Nkosi said was a "fantastic reception."
The show in Johannesburg at the weekend was packed.
Nkosi said she was determined not to let the global financial crisis, which has dulled demand for haute couture from Paris to Tokyo, temper the optimism at the heart of her collection.
Fellow designer Uyanda Mbuli, who exhibited her Diamond Face Couture label at fashion week, echoed Nkosi's sentiments.
"Just because there's an economic meltdown doesn't mean that consumers aren't buying clothes," Mbuli said, adding her one-year-old business had not been affected. "It's just that their buying decisions are now backed by intellect. They seek value."
Nicole Miller's Runway Brides
New York – Nicole Miller is known for graphic prints, curve-enhancing yet flaw-concealing tucks and experimentation with new fabrics, all of which she transfered over to her latest bridal collection for Fall 2009, which reflected themes from her recent runway collection for Fall.
Presented in New York on Monday, April 6, Miller's bridal offerings included origami-like pleats and an elaborately beaded rendering of an architectural blue print from the 1930s. At $2400, this dress is the most expensive in the collection, though in comparison to other similarly beaded wedding gowns on the market - a Badgley Mischka gown, for example, can cost anywhere from $4000 to $7000 - it's a reasonable price. Nicole Miller wedding dresses start at $595.
Miller also used stretch metal fabrics combined with her newest fabric manipulation, a rippled "tidal" pleat that gave one dress a look of undulating waves stacked on top of the other, mimicking the tide coming in.
Softer, more romantic looks included a silk georgette dress with a twisted sash that could be tucked in at the waist, or left flowing; a curve-hugging flamenco-inspired trumpet dress; a retro halter-style neckline and a preppy, classic strapless a-line dress in stiff Mecado silk with pleated grosgrain ribbon sash.
Presented in New York on Monday, April 6, Miller's bridal offerings included origami-like pleats and an elaborately beaded rendering of an architectural blue print from the 1930s. At $2400, this dress is the most expensive in the collection, though in comparison to other similarly beaded wedding gowns on the market - a Badgley Mischka gown, for example, can cost anywhere from $4000 to $7000 - it's a reasonable price. Nicole Miller wedding dresses start at $595.
Miller also used stretch metal fabrics combined with her newest fabric manipulation, a rippled "tidal" pleat that gave one dress a look of undulating waves stacked on top of the other, mimicking the tide coming in.
Softer, more romantic looks included a silk georgette dress with a twisted sash that could be tucked in at the waist, or left flowing; a curve-hugging flamenco-inspired trumpet dress; a retro halter-style neckline and a preppy, classic strapless a-line dress in stiff Mecado silk with pleated grosgrain ribbon sash.
Seth Rogen, Yet Another Mall Cop
Los Angeles – It's hard to recognize Seth Rogen these days, as was easy to observe on the red carpet outside of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood on Monday night, April 6. The chubby actor is no more, replaced by a trim, fit, and full-bearded movie star, who launched his latest comedy, "Observe and Report," to the delight of a covey of screaming fans, held back by barricades.
The film also stars Anna Faris, who wowed the crowd in a sexy purple cutout gown, and Ray Liotta as well as Michael Pena, Collette Wolf, Celia Weston, twins Matt and John Yuan, and Randy Gambill, who spends his entire screen time doing full-frontal nudity playing a pervert flasher who races through a shopping mall clad in only a raincoat.
Rogen plays the head of security at the mall, a bumbling idiot who eventually redeems himself. It's not his finest hour, which explains why he was much more amped about discussing his next project at the packed after party.
"I'm really excited about starting 'The Green Hornet,'" he said. Of course, he not only will star as that venerable comic-book hero, Rogen also wrote the script and is the executive producer, so no wonder he's lost all that weight in anticipation of creating his very own movie franchise.
The film also stars Anna Faris, who wowed the crowd in a sexy purple cutout gown, and Ray Liotta as well as Michael Pena, Collette Wolf, Celia Weston, twins Matt and John Yuan, and Randy Gambill, who spends his entire screen time doing full-frontal nudity playing a pervert flasher who races through a shopping mall clad in only a raincoat.
Rogen plays the head of security at the mall, a bumbling idiot who eventually redeems himself. It's not his finest hour, which explains why he was much more amped about discussing his next project at the packed after party.
"I'm really excited about starting 'The Green Hornet,'" he said. Of course, he not only will star as that venerable comic-book hero, Rogen also wrote the script and is the executive producer, so no wonder he's lost all that weight in anticipation of creating his very own movie franchise.
Cheryl Cole tops Glamour's best dressed 2009 list
LONDON (Reuters Life!) – British pop singer and television star Cheryl Cole was crowned the world's best dressed woman by Glamour magazine this week, beating last year's winner Kate moss into second place.
"In the past year, Cheryl Cole has become everyone's style crush," Glamour editor Jo Elvin wrote in the latest edition of the magazine which hits British stores on Thursday.
"She's ridiculously gorgeous, beautifully groomed and always glossy, glossy, glossy," she added of Cole, a member of Girls Aloud who has appeared as a judge on TV talent show "The X Factor" and is married to England soccer star Ashley Cole.
The 25-year-old knocked supermodel Moss from her perch, while Victoria Beckham moved up to third in 2009 from 10th in 2008. Rounding off the top five were TV presenter Alexa Chung and U.S. actress Blake Lively.
Following is a list of the top 10 in Glamour's best dressed list
"In the past year, Cheryl Cole has become everyone's style crush," Glamour editor Jo Elvin wrote in the latest edition of the magazine which hits British stores on Thursday.
"She's ridiculously gorgeous, beautifully groomed and always glossy, glossy, glossy," she added of Cole, a member of Girls Aloud who has appeared as a judge on TV talent show "The X Factor" and is married to England soccer star Ashley Cole.
The 25-year-old knocked supermodel Moss from her perch, while Victoria Beckham moved up to third in 2009 from 10th in 2008. Rounding off the top five were TV presenter Alexa Chung and U.S. actress Blake Lively.
Following is a list of the top 10 in Glamour's best dressed list
Designer Dell'Acqua quits fashion house Malo
MILAN (Reuters) – Alessandro Dell'Acqua has quit as designer at Italian fashion house Malo less than a year after taking the role at the firm, which is in special administration trying to avoid bankruptcy.
In a statement, Malo's owner IT Holding said the brand's in-house creative team would design the collections from the spring/summer 2010 season onwards.
Dell'Acqua's first collection for Malo was the spring/summer 2009, shown in Milan in September. He used cashmere and flowing lines to create an informal but smart look.
His predecessors at Malo, Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi, moved to Gianfranco Ferre which is also owned by IT Holding.
Dell'Acqua launched his own label in 1996 and has a range of perfumes, spectacles and shoes.
IT Holding is working on managing its debts under government-appointed administrators who have until mid-year to draw up a restructuring plan.
Last month, a source close to the matter said the company could sell Ferre and Malo to focus on its production licenses.
In a statement, Malo's owner IT Holding said the brand's in-house creative team would design the collections from the spring/summer 2010 season onwards.
Dell'Acqua's first collection for Malo was the spring/summer 2009, shown in Milan in September. He used cashmere and flowing lines to create an informal but smart look.
His predecessors at Malo, Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi, moved to Gianfranco Ferre which is also owned by IT Holding.
Dell'Acqua launched his own label in 1996 and has a range of perfumes, spectacles and shoes.
IT Holding is working on managing its debts under government-appointed administrators who have until mid-year to draw up a restructuring plan.
Last month, a source close to the matter said the company could sell Ferre and Malo to focus on its production licenses.
Recession Proof Wedding at Vera Wang
Renata Espinosa Renata Espinosa – Wed Apr 8, 7:53 pm ET
New York – A bride-to-be might worry for months about making her wedding day perfect, and that includes finding the ultimate dress. But flash forward to the end of the night on her wedding day, to the champagne soaked floors, disheveled hair and a crinkled dress - yet she's still looking radiant - and you see that there's a real case to be made for imperfection.
A not-so-perfect, artfully mismatched look was the theme of Vera Wang's Spring 2010 bridal collection, which she presented in her New York showroom on Wednesday, April 8.
Wang's wedding gowns mixed and matched fabrics like silk with asymmetrically draped tulle, added mismatched bows tied in all different directions and tacked together sweeping mille-feuille layers, turning the back of one ball gown into a walking cross-section of the Grand Canyon. "Mixed-media" as Wang put it.
"It's as though they were tossed in a washing machine," said Wang, and then, one imagines, were tumble dried. "They're youthful and more organic than most gowns," she said.
Asymmetrical draping of effervescent clouds of tulle layered with hand-painted silk made these gowns both fragile and substantial - there's an intense level of design and couture-like finishing, yet a lightness and sense of dynamism. These dresses have movement and feel completely fresh. Part of this is due to the way they were constructed, using lighter bodices on the inside, and then building the dresses onto those "tubes."
Wang understands that not all her customers want a dramatic look for a wedding-as-fashion-shoot type of event. "There are gowns that satisfy the more informal wedding," said Wang, pointing to a slender, delicate silk charmeuse bias-draped gown with a more sparing use of mille-feuille as a ruffled accent near the bottom of a flared skirt. "You really have to wardrobe them for specific locations."
A fashionable bride getting married in a garden, for instance, might appreciate the spring green and lavender ball gown, as though she were sprouting from the earth as one the season's first crocuses.
"Especially with the recession, I wanted the dresses to stand for more," said Wang.
Next year would seem to be the ideal year to get married, if a Vera Wang wedding gown is what you have your eye on. She's lowered her median price point 30 to 40 percent, from $5,500 to $3,800. "There are 10 gowns at the $3,800 level," she said.
Wang calls it "demi-couture." While Wang has worked with her team to get the prices down, none of the quality has been sacrificed. Each gown has a highly artistic feel. "They're not easy to duplicate," she said, "but we'll get it down."
New York – A bride-to-be might worry for months about making her wedding day perfect, and that includes finding the ultimate dress. But flash forward to the end of the night on her wedding day, to the champagne soaked floors, disheveled hair and a crinkled dress - yet she's still looking radiant - and you see that there's a real case to be made for imperfection.
A not-so-perfect, artfully mismatched look was the theme of Vera Wang's Spring 2010 bridal collection, which she presented in her New York showroom on Wednesday, April 8.
Wang's wedding gowns mixed and matched fabrics like silk with asymmetrically draped tulle, added mismatched bows tied in all different directions and tacked together sweeping mille-feuille layers, turning the back of one ball gown into a walking cross-section of the Grand Canyon. "Mixed-media" as Wang put it.
"It's as though they were tossed in a washing machine," said Wang, and then, one imagines, were tumble dried. "They're youthful and more organic than most gowns," she said.
Asymmetrical draping of effervescent clouds of tulle layered with hand-painted silk made these gowns both fragile and substantial - there's an intense level of design and couture-like finishing, yet a lightness and sense of dynamism. These dresses have movement and feel completely fresh. Part of this is due to the way they were constructed, using lighter bodices on the inside, and then building the dresses onto those "tubes."
Wang understands that not all her customers want a dramatic look for a wedding-as-fashion-shoot type of event. "There are gowns that satisfy the more informal wedding," said Wang, pointing to a slender, delicate silk charmeuse bias-draped gown with a more sparing use of mille-feuille as a ruffled accent near the bottom of a flared skirt. "You really have to wardrobe them for specific locations."
A fashionable bride getting married in a garden, for instance, might appreciate the spring green and lavender ball gown, as though she were sprouting from the earth as one the season's first crocuses.
"Especially with the recession, I wanted the dresses to stand for more," said Wang.
Next year would seem to be the ideal year to get married, if a Vera Wang wedding gown is what you have your eye on. She's lowered her median price point 30 to 40 percent, from $5,500 to $3,800. "There are 10 gowns at the $3,800 level," she said.
Wang calls it "demi-couture." While Wang has worked with her team to get the prices down, none of the quality has been sacrificed. Each gown has a highly artistic feel. "They're not easy to duplicate," she said, "but we'll get it down."
Naomi Campbell Hits Out At Racism In Fashion World
BERLIN (AFP) – Supermodel Naomi Campbell lashed out Friday at what she sees as latent racism in the fashion industry, which she said gives preference to "blond, blue-eyed models" over black women.
"You know, the American president may be black, but as a black woman, I am still an exception in this business. I always have to work harder to be treated equally," she said in a Glamour interview appearing on Monday in Germany.
"In the past, there were more opportunities for black models but the trend towards blond women has again become extreme. In magazines, on the catwalk, I see blond, blue-eyed models everywhere," she added.
In 2007, the London-born Campbell, along with fellow models Liya Kebede and Tyson Beckford, launched a campaign against what they said was discrimination in the fashion world.
"You know, the American president may be black, but as a black woman, I am still an exception in this business. I always have to work harder to be treated equally," she said in a Glamour interview appearing on Monday in Germany.
"In the past, there were more opportunities for black models but the trend towards blond women has again become extreme. In magazines, on the catwalk, I see blond, blue-eyed models everywhere," she added.
In 2007, the London-born Campbell, along with fellow models Liya Kebede and Tyson Beckford, launched a campaign against what they said was discrimination in the fashion world.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
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