Zimmermann, In Between Power Outages, Gets Steamy

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If any show made sense in this magnificently located city, where there seem more beaches and coves than traffic lights, it was Zimmermann on Tuesday, April 28, the hottest show so far in Rosemont Australian Fashion Week and a label whose true forte is great beachwear and bikinis.

Inadvertently, yet aptly, the show was staged after a bizarre power outage, when a switching station shut down power in most of central Sydney, leading to a muggy moment inside the runway show-space of the Overseas Passenger Terminal where most of the week's shows are staged.

The collection, entitled "Bittersweet Nightshade," kicked off before a capacity audience of 500, with an acid hued tank dress worn over a mean little body suit. Ballet dancing bodies, twisted fabric tops and cocktails, rope layered dresses and tapered lattice looks all had plenty of zing in a show that was all about cruising cool and having a great time at, or around, the beach.

However, whether it was the understated styling or somewhat prosaic choice of Impressionist blotch prints, the best images at this event were not on the runway but in a stylishly made catalogue placed on each seat that featured a brilliant range of bikinis. In a word, the house's carefully honed image did not project as much as it should on the catwalk.

Designer Nicole Zimmermann is a savvy creator, whose design studio clearly is a slick, hard working machine. If she could just inject the same level of creativity into her prints that she gets into her cuts, then this label could achieve great international success.

Source: http://www.fashionwiredaily.com

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Camilla and Marc Kick Off Sydney Fashion Week

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They love a double act in Australia, where the sister and brother combo of Camilla & Marc kicked off Sydney Fashion Week Monday, April 27, with a stylish romp that was a clever mix of commercial and cool.

These talented siblings were followed by two more twosomes - Bec & Bridge and Ginger & Smart - but of the three, Camilla & Marc were the most accomplished, and most in synch with contemporary global trends.

Staged before a great looking trompe l'oeil couture house backdrop on a hipster casting of young and veteran models, this collection had plenty of easy to understand clothes, whether artfully ripped white jeans, semi-abstract animal prints singlet tops and gold chain belts.

Camilla Freeman-Topper and Marc Freeman went for a layered look in this spring 2010 show, but since their fabrics were so floaty and craftily aged the effect was light and comprehensible. At least one member of the family is no slouch at tailoring; some deftly made glove leather mini bomber jackets were the very epitome of beautifully hung fashion.

They also showed natty knobby toed and spike-heeled platforms, and some great mesh tops, although their micro striped dresses and trousers suits were in a formulaic beach wind-breaker stripe, they were still flattering.

The collection was ultimately a bit too derivative, and looked familiar to anyone familiar with recent collections by the Paris house of Balmain, the single most influential label in high fashion this past season. Designs included 80's broad and peaked shoulders, glitzy use of sequins, angle zips and one shoulder dresses.

Moreover, while the clothes did seem ultimately finely adapted to an insouciant moment on a balmy summer's day, they did not seem terribly Australian. However, the bedraggled, bedroom hair, scant use of make-up and high dress length is something of a compliment, and will find an international audience for Camilla & Marc.


Source: http://www.fashionwiredaily.com

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Gap Launches 1969 Premium Denim

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The latest Gap product to get an upgrade from Patrick Robinson, executive vice president of design, is denim, with a new premium collection, “1969,” which will debut for Fall 2009.

Gap gave a sneak peek of the new additions to their denim roster at a press preview in New York on Monday, April 20, with a line-up of diverse styles and washes for both men and women, from skinny to straight and the new “boyfriend” jean for women, to re-designed boot cuts for both, from light to dark rinses and all shades in between.

“Gap’s about a lot of options,” said Robinson. “Every fit has a person behind it, from curvy to long and lean. You find out who you are and get the jean to fit it.”

Robinson spent a year and a half with the Gap denim design team to redo everything from the fit and the wash to come up with a collection of denim under $60 that rivals premium brands that retail for $150 to $500.

“I’m using our size as my advantage to get the price down,” said Robinson, who said that Gap developed proprietary fabrics and sewing techniques with their extensive worldwide network of mills and factories so that their product would be unique, and also cost less to produce.

Robinson said they brought in all the people who run the floors of the factories around the world - where the production happens - to meet with Gap’s technical team over the course of a week so that they could show them the exact construction specifications.

“There’s an internal meticulousness,” said Robinson. “Everything from how they sit, how they hug the back and lift up the behind to how to make a knee on a boot leg cut fall straight down and not twist.”

The key task for Robinson for the women’s collection was to make the fit “sexy” where it counts the most - namely, in the rear and the thigh - and for men, to make sure the jean “fits like a dream, with an aesthetic that’s cool.”

“It’s about dressing America,” said Robinson. “You may only like one style and your friend may only like another. There’s something for everyone.”

Source: http://www.fashionwiredaily.com

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Crispin and Basilio Fall 2009 at Revolve Clothing

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Fashion is an emotional purchase, and in this economy, designer Donny Barrios wants women to fall in love with his designs.

Barrios debuted his Fall 2009 collection for his Crispin & Basilio line April 8 at the Revolve Clothing boutique in Los Angeles—and love was certainly in the air. A dress layered in faux ostrich feathers, a silk mini-dress in an acid-wash print and a lightweight trench coat with biker jacket styling were crowd favorites. Zippers toughened up jackets and silky dresses.

“I wanted to create a sense of sexiness and confidence,” Barrios said. “My focus was to step a little out of my own comfort zone—with the acid-wash, for example, that isn’t necessarily my style, but it works for the collection in this context—and create pieces that make women feel sexy and powerful. I think that’s important right now.”

True to his background in menswear and tailoring, Barrios offered crisp staples, including shrunken jackets, floor-length maxi-dresses, fitted party dresses and his own take on the drop-crotch pant.

Source:http://www.apparelnews.net/fashion/

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Gorgeous Stars at the "Grey Gardens" Premiere

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If all you knew about Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore was what you see in their new HBO film "Grey Gardens," you would never believe the glamorous pair that hit the red carpet at Grauman's Chinese Theater on Thursday night, April 16. For the duo star as what HBO executive Len Amato called "the most amazing mother-daughter pairing you will ever see," as real-life weirdoes Edith and "Little" Edie Bouvier Beale, the aunt and cousin of Jackie Kennedy who gained fame in the 1970's in a documentary of the same name.

That poverty-stricken pair lived on a ramshackle beachfront estate in East Hampton, N.Y., surrounded by countless cats and piles of garbage, ate cat food to survive, and eventually became cult heroes because of that documentary. With the help of plenty of prosthetic makeup and some very shabby clothes, Barrymore and Lange are definitely transformed for the worse in the film.

"Our goal was to disappear into the characters, and not be seen as ourselves," Barrymore explained, and the thunderous applause that filled the theater as the credits rolled proved that they had succeeded.

The dynamic duo looked fabulous on the red carpet. Drew, with hair teased high in a Sixties-inspired style, wearing a full-length white gown with a jeweled breastplate and gigantic turquoise jewelry to match, and Jessica a bit more demure, and also in a white top and embellished skirt. They were joined by co-stars Daniel Baldwin and Ken Howard, writer-director Michael Sucsy, and friends Ali Larter, Lisa Kudrow, Jennie Garth, and Cameron Diaz, who avoided the red carpet but snuck into the after party to congratulate Drew.

"Grey Gardens" begins airing on HBO on Saturday, April 18.


Source: http://www.fashionwiredaily.com

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Daniel Swarovski Collection Celebrates 20 Years of Couture

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The Daniel Swarovski collection – the high-end couture collection of Swarovski accessories generally found adorning celebrities on the red carpet – celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and with that come 20 new bag designs and 20 new pieces of jewelry to commemorate the brand’s history.

Rather than reviving accessories from the archives, Swarovski artistic director Nathalie Colin chose to highlight how far their crystal technology has come with innovative applications of the famed crystals, from crystals applied to precious stones and pearls to exotic skins. The processes add up to spectacular-looking pieces with blinding luminosity. Bling is definitely not out – it’s just made out of crystals now, instead of diamonds.

This season, 1920’s art deco design inspired the look and feel of the pieces, from the vintage-looking styles of the delicate evening bags to the deco patterns used for the crystal settings. And in a nod to the changing demands of red carpet walking clients, the bags are now slightly larger to accommodate their number one purse accessory: the Blackberry.

Also new for Swarovski this year is an expanded watch collection, with high quality Swiss-made timepieces at the core of the new designs. For women, styles range from a crystal cuff, the “D:Light,” with a time display made up of crystals that light up only when a button is pressed ($1,500-$1,7000), to edgier styles like a wrap-around leather band ($575) or classic timepieces with a metal watchband and subtle crystal bezel ($650-$750).

Swarovski’s signature jewelry collection for autumn/winter 2009/10, “Nature Reloaded,” follows the nature-oriented theme started for spring with “Super Nature.” For this collection, Swarovski took a trip to an enchanted forest with wooden pendants embedded with crystals, to mushroom-shaped charms to smoky hues of plum, forest green and black crystal. Other key looks include serpent bangles and necklaces and Swarovski’s unofficial mascot characters, Erika and Elvis, re-imagined as a butterfly and a bumblebee, respectively.

Source: http://www.fashionwiredaily.com

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Easter's biggest treat by Marc Jacobs

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Easter's biggest treat this year didn't come in the shape of a chocolate egg courtesy of the Easter bunny. Oh no, thanks to Marc by Marc Jacobs it came in the altogether more thrilling guise of a brand new London store which, eagerly anticipated, opened on 56 South Audley Street in Mayfair on Saturday.

A stone's throw from the Marc Jacobs store on the ever popular Mount Street (where Lanvin, too, now resides alongside the likes of Jenny Packham and Christian Louboutin), shoppers can expect to be greeted by a Union Jack of blooms in the window and, besides signature cute dresses and blouses hanging on the rails inside, a host of affordable bags (we're talking from£19), belts, key chains, purses, T-shirts, umbrellas and other cult accessories.

Downstairs in the vault (the building was originally used as a bank), shoes and bags lie waiting while a corner upstairs is dedicated to sunglasses and the coolest of coffee table books can be found stacked high around the shop. And with menswear too, it's not just one for the girls.

Source : http://www.vogue.co.uk


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Recession-Proof Wedding at Vera Wang

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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."



Source: http://www.fashionwiredaily.com

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Nicole Miller's Bridal Collection for Fall 2009

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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.

Source: http://www.fashionwiredaily.com

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Badgley Mischka Bride, Timeless and Timely

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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.

Source: http://www.fashionwiredaily.com

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Naomi Campbell hits out at racism in fashion world

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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.



Source : www.afp.com

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Enrique and Anna's Love Match

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Enrique Iglesias and Anna Kournikova attend the Williams sisters' semi-final tennis match at the Sony Ericsson Open in Florida.


The couple shares a smooch in the stands.


Despite their rumored on/off romance, Enrique told reporters last week that Anna "is the ideal girl. If you ask me right now, I'd say she's the woman in my life, but I don't know if eternal love exists."



Anna is swarmed by fans after the match (which Serena Williams won).

Source: omg.yahoo.com

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Heidi Klum Stops Traffic

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Heidi Klum stopped traffic while posing in some rather bizarre outfits for a German Vogue photo shoot on Beverly Hills' famed Rodeo Drive yesterday. How can you not gawk at the supermodel when she's wearing a sky-high pair of Alexander McQueen thigh-high boots?


Heidi Klum strikes a pose on Rodeo Drive in a red scaly frock by Giles Deacon.

Unless you're a supermodel, I wouldn't attempt trying to pull off this look!

Heidi kicks back in a pair of thigh-high Alexander McQueen platform boots.

The Klum stops traffic in a black suit. But what's up with her red lips clutch?

Source: omg.yahoo.com

Pour vos besoins tels que des vêtements de marque Ralph Lauren, Vetementsdemarques.fr est le site juste pour vous.

Topshop hits US market at difficult time

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For months, young fashionistas have been feverish over the opening of an outpost of successful British fast-fashion retailer Topshop in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood Thursday.

The newest participant in the invasion of affordable chains such as Zara, Mango and H&M, Topshop has won raves for its cheap-chic clothes. Like other fast-fashion retailers, most of which are based abroad, it thrives on bringing fashion to stores quicker and cheaper than mainstream retailers traditionally have.

The strategy seems to be muting the worst effects of the recession. The largest of the newcomers — Zara's Madrid-based owner, Inditex — is even threatening Gap Inc.'s status as the world's largest apparel retailer.

"Gap has been underwater for six or seven years," said New York retail industry consultant Howard Davidowitz. "Along comes fast fashion — H&M started it — and it's a revolution."

Fast-fashion shops fill a niche where Gap simply can't compete, he said — and that compounds the challenges it faces from other retailers and the economy.

Inditex reported last month that its annual sales rose 10 percent to $13.4 billion, while Gap's 2008 sales of $14.53 billion were nearly 8 percent below 2007.

Still, fast fashion is not a magic formula for avoiding the recession. H&M — founded in Sweden in 1947, it arrived in the U.S. in 2000 — reported its fourth-quarter earnings fell 12 percent, further than expected. And Inditex is scaling down plans to open more stores.

Originally scheduled to open last fall, Topshop's New York flagship store spans four floors. Its 25,000 square feet of selling space will include a collection headlined by model Kate Moss in its own boutique and be graced by a DJ booth hanging from the ceiling.

Topshop executives have said this store is the first of up to 15 they plan to open in the U.S. — there are about 300 stores in the U.K. — offering trend-savvy teens and twentysomethings everything from animal print leggings for $40 to a floral-print tea dress for $90.

"New York is one of those first three or four cities that every fashion brand wants to operate in," said Sir Philip Green, owner of Topshop's parent company, Arcadia Group.

Fast-fashion chains offer shoppers two key propositions: They make the trendiest styles affordable, and they bring fashion to market fast.

They design, manufacture and deliver their youth-oriented, up-to-the-minute stock to stores worldwide within weeks — in contrast with the months of lead time department stores and most traditional retailers require. For example, Topshop's interpretation of the high-heel lattice-caged sandals in style this spring cost $145. That's pricey, but it's nothing compared to similar Yves St. Laurent booties selling for more than $1,000.

Zara and Topshop offer some pricier items, such as a $250 fringed suede dress at Topshop, but most prices are low — particularly at H&M and Forever 21, where T-shirts can sell for a few dollars.

Fast-fashion chains also benefit from a wide and shallow selection that helps clothes move quickly. Retailers like Gap Inc., J. Crew Group Inc. and most specialty apparel chains stateside tend to have a narrower and deeper assortment, which can necessitate heavy markdowns if sales are slow.

Forever 21 Inc., founded in 1984 in California, is the biggest U.S.-based fast-fashion retailer, with annual revenue of $1.05 billion, according to Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's.


But other U.S. retailers are trying to deliver new products faster.

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. said it is shipping new items to its stores every two weeks ahead of the Easter holiday as a "key element" to driving sales. Abercrombie & Fitch said during a conference call about its latest earnings that it is operating on shorter lead times than in the past.

Teenage research firm TRU vice president Michael Wood says teens now take fast-fashion nearly for granted.

"The pressure is going to be on all retailers to change up product more often," he said. "The expectation is going to be there."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com

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Kate Spade Connects the Dots

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Kate Spade New York, a brand once solely dedicated to designing women’s handbags, showed their range and versatility in the world of fashion with a full line of women’s apparel and accessories at a presentation at their New York showroom on Wednesday, March 25.

"Why save your best?" said Deborah Lloyd, the creative director for Kate Spade New York. “Wear it everyday.”

The classic all-American brand aimed to make fall fun again, adding bright spurts of color to simple black and white looks, with red and fuchsia tights, bags and accessories. Day dresses in lavender and sunshine colors were intricately decorated with beads and pearls around sleeves and neck giving elegance to the monotonous sheaths.

Lloyd said the fall apparel collection is all about "things that make you smile - your favorite things." Polka dots were one of the happy design elements prominently used throughout the layout - on ruffle sleeved dresses, on the floor where mannequins and models posed, and subtly detailed a coated tweed raincoat.

Kate Spade New York outerwear for the fall season combined both utility and grace with wool overcoats in black as well as a vibrant burnt orange, in addition to fur shrugs and stoles that looked poised and chic. Charming jewelry with beads and baubles that hung down, some with acrylic circles and squares evocative of the symmetrical shapes that are a Kate Spade New York handbag signature, contributed to that simultaneously lighthearted and fashionable element of fun.

The debut of Kate Spade New York apparel completes the look. "Handbags, shoes, jewelry, apparel, tights - everything except for the nail polish is ours," said Lloyd.


Source :www.fashionwiredaily.com

Pour vos besoins tels que des vêtements de marque Ralph Lauren, Vetementsdemarques.fr est le site juste pour vous.