The Lustrous Runway enchants fashion lovers once again

With glitz and glamour, the fifth edition of the much anticipated fashion show Pond’s Presents The Lustrous Runway, finally arrived, and enchanted audiences at Radisson Water Garden Hotel on Friday.

This time the event featured seven prominent designers and fashion houses, both local and international, whose products were unique and diverse.
Shishir Al Hasan, the wife of the world’s number one all-rounder cricketer Shakib Al Hasan, dazzled the audience along with Bollywood diva Malaika Arora Khan by walking on the ramp.

The fashion line-up showcased at the country’s most illustrious fashion extravaganza, and included Sarah Karim, Purvi Doshi and Nawshion Khair.
Eminent Indian designer Purvi Doshi’s new designs were basically a fusion of the richness and softness of Indian and western, while Sarah Karim highlighted the essence of the Mughal era by blending it with contemporary looks and designs, presented by the brand Esque. Winter attire by Nawshion Khair blended jute and cotton, presented by the brand Paera, which was a treat for the eyes. 

A number of glamorous models, including Bangladeshi supermodel Emi, captivated the audience with exotic make-up and vibrant attire.
Kaaruj Bangladesh, Studio Omana, Sasha Exclusives, Nova Genuine Swarovski, Nuzat Nawar and Kimaya Design Studio presented collections of bags, jewellery and clothing. 

Ponds was the title sponsor  Co-sponsors were MasterCard, Gitanjali Lifestyle, Jet Airways, Oriental Real Estate Limited and BMW.

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Fashion district fire prompts arson investigation

An arson investigation is underway after an early-morning fire burned through a tailor shop in the downtown fashion district Saturday, authorities said.


Firefighters responded to K1 Fashion at 1409 Santee Street at 2:35 a.m. to find the single-story building engulfed in flames, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. The fire had begun to burn through the roof, officials said, and firefighters forced their way into the building using rotary saws.

 Fire investigation
A firefighter inspects a building in downtown Los Angeles' fashion district that was destroyed in an early-morning fire on Nov. 29. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
As firefighters worked to stop the blaze, a civilian vehicle ran over a supply hose line, causing it to rupture, the fire department said.

It took 80 firefighters 50 minutes to extinguish the fire, officials said. Though most of the fire was contained to one unit in the row of commercial buildings, some adjacent buildings sustained “limited smoke and water damage,” said Katherine Main, a spokeswoman for the department.

There were no injuries, she said.

Arson investigators who used specially trained dogs and took samples in the damaged building determined the cause of the fire to be “suspicious,” Main said. The case remains under investigation, she said.


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Can Abercrombie, Teen Peers Survive Vs. Fast Fashion?

Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters and other retailers for teens are slated to report earnings this week as fast fashion from Europe bites into their market share.
Last week, Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) said that it had signed its first franchise agreement to bring its Abercrombie and Hollister brands to Mexico. The move to expand into Mexico comes as U.S. and European sales for the T-shirt and jeans retailer fade.
The company is removing its moose and other logos from its clothing as many teens prefer unmarked clothes.

Abercrombie was known for its dimly lit stores, which tried to give teens a VIP club-like feel. But the company is rethinking that model and plans to include stores with large windows in mall settings to compete with Forever 21 and H&M, with their large window displays and light interiors.
Abercrombie is slated to report quarterly results Wednesday. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect a 21% drop in earnings to 41 cents per share and an 11% slide in sales to $916 million.
American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) also has expansion plans outside the U.S. in a effort to boost sales. In November, the retailer opened locations in London as it plans to expand into Western Europe. It already has stores in Japan, Israel and Poland.
American Eagle is slated to report third-quarter results on Thursday. It raised its Q3 earnings outlook Nov. 12 to 22 cents a share, up from an earlier forecast for 17-19 cents.
"We are encouraged by our ability to reduce promotional activity, particularly given the challenging and highly promotional retail climate," interim Chief Executive Jay Schottenstein said in a release.
Analysts are expecting a 15.8% jump in EPS to 22 cents but a 1.3% dip in sales to $845.95 million.
Aeropostale (NYSE:ARO) is expected to announce quarterly results Wednesday. Analysts see the budget teen retailer widening its per-share loss to 45 cents from 29 cents in the year-ago quarter. Sales are seen falling 13.7% to $444.72 million.
Zumiez (NASDAQ:ZUMZ), a teen sportswear retailer, is doing the best of the four teen-focused retailers. Quarterly results are due out Thursday.
The company has been expanding overseas too, and analysts forecast a 15.2% jump in earnings to 53 cents per share with a 10.8% rise in sales to $211.78 million.
The Retail-Apparel/Shoes/Accessories group is ranked No. 35 out of the 197 industry groups that IBD tracks.

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Chris Moore to be Honored at British Fashion Awards

The British Fashion Council said Friday that runway photographer Chris Moore will receive a Special Recognition Award at this year’s British Fashion Awards, to be held Dec. 1 at London’s Coliseum.

Moore is a veteran of the fashion industry, having begun his career in the early 1950s. One of his first roles was as in-house studio assistant at Vogue Studios in London, working with famed photographers such as Cecil Beaton, Henry Clarke and Clifford Coffin.

He went on to join the Camera Press agency as a fashion and lifestyle photographer, before freelancing for titles such as The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Face and Arena. He set up his online source for runway images, Catwalking.com, in 1999.

Natalie Massenet, chairman of the BFC, commented: “Chris is undoubtedly one of the backbones of the fashion industry. He has been photographing for over 60 years [and] has captured the most iconic moments in the fashion industry, meticulously recording the immeasurable change that has occurred over the last half century.”

Suzy Menkes, international Vogue editor, added: “[Moore’s] archive is a history of fashion from Yves Saint Laurent to Cara Delevingne — with anyone in between who mattered in the fashion universe.”


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Woolmark launches ecommerce site for fashion

Merino wool promotional body partners with ShopStyle to link its content marketing site with retail sales

The Woolmark Company has unveiled a new ecommerce market place aimed at extending the reach of Merino wool fashion products worldwide.

The Merino Shop was developed in partnership with online fashion site, ShopStyle, and global digital marketing agency, Lowe Profero, and sits on the wool promotional body’s consumer-facing website, Merino.com.

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Consumers can search for clothing and accessories made from wool in the shop from a host of retailers and brands. Once they’ve decided on an item to buy, then are linked through to the retailer’s site via ShopStyle to complete their purchase.

The content-driven Merino.com website provides information on the heritage and story behind Merino wool, and has recently been relaunched. The website is aimed at increasing consumer engagement and provides a central marketing channel for the fibre, its products and its brand image, Woolmark said.

Woolmark Company chief strategy and marketing officer, Rob Langtry, said introducing ecommerce into the site connects the story of the products consumers are buying through to purchase. It will also allow tens of thousands of Australian woolgrowers to explore the diverse range of products created from the fibre they cultivate, he said.

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“Merino.com is our primary channel for educating consumers on the benefits of Merino wool through highly engaging content,” Langtry said.

“The past two years has seen our digital presence significantly grow and our key campaigns are increasingly moving to a digital basis. While we are currently about 60:40 digital: traditional, within the next three years we are likely to shift towards 90:10.”

Spotlight shines on seniors at fashion show

Partticapants are in their 80s and 90s© Dave Mathieson - Cumberland News Now Ninety-nine-year-old Minerva Boran danced to the music while showing off her new outfit during the Fall Senior Fashion Show Tuesday night at the White Birches Retirement Residence in Amherst.

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AMHERST – Glitz and glamour flourished during the Fall Senior Fashion Show Tuesday night at the White Birches Retirement Residence, which is located on the Fox Ranch Road in Amherst.

“You’re never too old for fashion and the ladies really enjoy getting dressed up and showing off,” said Cathy Wilson, one of the organizers of the event. “They like to strut their stuff.”

Ten women in their 80s and 90s participated in the fashion show, which has been hosted by White Birches in both the spring and the fall for the past five years.

“One lady today, Marion Baxter, was asked if she liked being in the fashion show, and she said ‘I didn’t think I’d be in it this year because I thought maybe some of the younger ladies could be in it,’” said Wilson. “She was asked what she means by younger, and she said ‘maybe somebody in their 70s.' She’s in her 90s.”

The oldest participant is Minerva Boran.

“Minerva is 99, almost 100,” said Wilson. “She loves to dance and keeps quite active.”

Clothes for the fashion show are supplied by Jay Set in Amherst.

“Liz Damery is the manager and her and her girls are very helpful,” said Wilson. “Liz really takes her time helping the girls get ready.”

The fall fashion show is also attended by family.

“We do fall fashion show closer to Christmas because it gives people ideas what to buy for their family,” said Wilson. “They put the outfit on and their family often buys it for them."

The next fashion show will be in the spring.

“It’s an opportunity to put spotlight on them. They love it,” said Wilson.



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If Apple Will Poach From Fashion, Then Fashion Will Follow Suit

Much has been made of Apple’s snatching up fashion executives, whether the Burberry chief executive Angela Ahrendts or the former Saint Laurent chief executive Paul Deneve. Given the current love affair between the technology and fashion industries, it’s hard not to wonder why fashion never figured out that it might want to give the Silicon Valley behemoth a dose of its own medicine.

Now someone has: Pascal Cagni, Apple’s former vice president for Europe, Middle East, India and Africa, who worked at the company for 12 years and resigned in 2012, has been consulting for the Internet fashion retailer Net-a-Porter.

WWD has even reported that Mr. Cagni may become chief executive of Net-a-Porter, which has been without someone in the top job since Mark Sebba resigned in July. No one at the online retailer, owned by Richemont, was available to comment.

Whether or not Mr. Cagni takes the top job, the sheer fact that the current of hiring between the technology and the luxury industries is flowing in both directions, albeit more slowly in one direction than the other, is noteworthy.

Granted, it may be hard for luxury or fashion companies to compete with Apple’s stock price, which could create a meaningful remuneration gap for executives working at a level that usually includes equity.  But my guess is that this is the beginning of increased mobility between the two sectors.

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Is clothing subscription service Le Tote really the Netflix of fashion?

When it comes to subscription boxes, I don't discriminate. I've signed up for beauty boxes, jewelry boxes, even snack boxes. I love the idea of discovering something that I might not find otherwise. That was the initial appeal with Le Tote, a monthly subscription service that promises a box full of curated clothing and accessories for $49.
How's it different from other stylist-in-a-box services? It has a hint of Rent the Runway's logic. Once you receive your tote, you can wear the items for as long as you'd like (no tags included). Then, you send back what you don't want and keep what you'd like to purchase—at a discounted rate, I should add. You can return your tote as many times as you'd like throughout the month—they send a new one as soon as the returned items are processed.
Le Tote, nicknamed the "Netflix of Fashion," is ideal for a 20-something who doesn't have hours to shop but craves a rotating closet. It's practical for the girl who's willing to buy and the girl who's never ready to commit. In theory, it's a dream come true. In reality, the underwhelming selection leaves something to be desired.

TIME UP FRONT
Newbies should set aside a good chunk of time to register with Le Tote. Upon signing up, the site guided me through a laundry list of questions about my size and style preferences. Next, I scanned through dozens of items—tops, skirts, dresses, jewelry and scarves—and indicated what I liked. If you're not careful here, you could end up with something you don't want, as this is the pool the stylists draw from.
Admittedly, I registered on my lunch break and didn't give this part my undivided attention. But before I knew it, my first tote was on its way. You can peek at what's coming online, but I opted to keep it a surprise.
UNBOXED
Despite my lack of patience, my first tote didn't disappoint. I received a Splendid blouse, BB Dakota sweater, J the Way cardigan, Gazel necklace and Adia Kibur stud earrings. I was pleasantly surprised by the brands I recognized and intrigued by the ones I didn't know. I logged onto my account to check the value of each item, just so I'd know the consequences of falling deeply in love with anything (sometimes I'm practical like that).
As I mentioned earlier, Le Tote members get a discount on every item. It was reassuring to know that the most expensive item in my tote, a red Splendid blouse, was $84, marked down from $108. An investment? Sure. Out of my price range? Nope.
I tried on everything and determined what I'd test drive further. That's the other thing about Le Tote: It's smart to have a game plan. I knew I wanted to return the tote fairly quickly in order to get at least two shipments out of my monthly fee.
The sizes were all accurate and fit well, but that's not tough with tops and jewelry. I wore what I wanted, decided against keeping any of it, packaged it up in the prepaid envelope (no cleaning necessary) and shipped it back.

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 SECOND TIME AROUND
That night, I logged onto my account and decided to clean up "My Closet," where Le Tote stores all those items you favorited at the beginning of the process. I scanned the new arrivals section, added a few more items to my list and removed the stuff I hastily liked on day one. Within three days I received an email that my next shipment was en route.
This time, I took a look at what was coming before it arrived (screen shot pictured above): a French Connection tee, RD Style blouse, Saint Grace dress, Trading Trunk statement necklace and Adia Kibur stud earrings.
Peeping on the tote worked to my advantage—I pieced together outfits in my mind before the box even arrived at my desk. I'd pair the black designer tee with the blue-hued statement necklace for an effortless date-night look on Tuesday. The teardrop, vintage-inspired stud earrings would complement the two-toned blouse for a workday outfit on Wednesday. I'd rock the long-sleeved blue dress on Thursday or Friday.
With that kind of planning, it wouldn't be hard to get three boxes in one month. Because each box is valued at more than $200, it's a fairly practical move.
THE VERDICT
The one fault I found with Le Tote is their selection. If you're looking for wardrobe staples (striped tees, black pencil skirts and stud earrings), this is the holy grail. But if you're hoping to try new trends or step out of your comfort zone, you might want to look elsewhere.
Although everything I received was practical, I was hoping for more of a fashion challenge—a box brimming with stuff I typically wouldn't pick up at the department store. Even after browsing and re-browsing the site's inventory, I couldn't find more than a handful of items that really excited me.
That said, I was impressed with both boxes and will definitely give Le Tote another shot. Is this a long-term wardrobe solution? No. Will your inner circle be impressed with constantly refreshed wardrobe? Abso-freaking-lutely.

More style subscription services
Stitch Fix (stitchfix.com): Personal stylists handpick five pieces of clothing and accessories based on your budget, style preferences and size. A $20 fee is applied toward buying anything you'd like to keep; the rest goes back in the mail. (For women)
Tog & Porter (togandporter.com): After a one-on-one Skype consultation with a stylist, you'll receive a box of clothing and accessories. You can chat with your stylist about how to wear each piece before deciding what to keep. (For women)
Golden Tote (goldentote.com): Each month, the site launches two sales—a $49 box with 2-3 items and a $149 box with 5-7 items. You select an item or two and the rest are a surprise. (For women)
Rx Vintage (rxvintage.com): After choosing a budget, you take a style quiz and their stylists select one-of-a-kind, vintage pieces for you. They enforce a take-it-all or leave-it-all policy. (For women)
Trunk Club (trunkclub.com): Stylists put together a box of high-end clothing and accessories based on your responses to a survey. Pick your stylist's brain (by phone, text, email or through the club's iPhone app) about how to wear each item before deciding what to send back. (For men)
Curator and Mule (curatorandmule.com): Score a box of new accessories (think hats, socks, sunglasses) for each season of the year for $60 each. (For men)
Bombfell (bombfell.com): Answer questions about your style, budget and size to help guide a stylist, who will email you with a preview of selections before mailing them out. Try it all on at home and keep what you like. (For men) Morgan Olsen and Lisa Arnett

Fashion-forward Adrien Brody sports Dolce&Gabbana and period beard for Pirelli calendar launch

Adrien Brody has long had a flair for fashion, but don't mistake the beard the actor is currently sporting as a bow to trend. It's for his latest movie role as Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in "Emperor."

The Oscar-winning actor told a black tie gala to celebrate the 2015 Pirelli calendar that he's "Charles V by day, Adrien Brody by night."

"Please excuse the beard," he added, perhaps unaware that beards have caught on in Europe's fashion capitals.

Brody, who wore Zegna to pick up his 2003 Oscar for "The Pianist" and has walked the runway for Prada, looked stylish in a dark Dolce&Gabbana three-piece suit with tuxedo trousers.

"I like to put on a suit once in a while and have fun," the actor said as he arrived to be master of ceremonies Tuesday evening at the globe-trotting annual gala, held for a second year in Milan.

The Pirelli calendar over the last half-century has become a highly prized cult object that counts among its recipients the Vatican, Buckingham Palace and the King of Morocco. The 2015 edition by reclusive fashion photographer Steven Meisel recreates stereotypical pinup images with top models scantily clad in latex

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How vogueing came back into vogue

The dance, invented on the streets of Harlem in the 1980s and given cult status by the documentary Paris is Burning, is back in the mainstream. Who are the new stars?

The Mugler Ball, which took place in Queens, New York last weekend, was probably the most fabulous party you weren’t invited to. A sea of gay and straight scenesters gathered at a ballroom to watch a mix of new and legendary vogue dancers compete on stage. It featured all that one would expect from the drag event of the year: theatre, excitement, drama, scandal and sequinned catsuits galore. But beyond these hallmarks, it revealed that vogue ballroom culture has reached a new level of cultural influence. FKA Twigs, who has been training with the vogue dancing legend Jamel Prodigy, took the stage for a 30-second routine of classic hand illusions before gracefully sliding to the floor into a dramatic dip, which is to vogueing what the triple Salchow is to figure skating (ie, very difficult). Later that night, Rihanna got on to the stage to do a little preening of her own. Afterwards, pictures from the ball went viral thanks to the stream of famous guests such as Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing, who gushed, in all caps no less, on Instagram about his “FIRST VOGUEING BALL”.

Vogueing, a form of dance that was created on the streets of Harlem by a subculture of young gay men in the 1980s, is most easily recognised for its flamboyant hand movements, twirls and poses based on the runway walks of models, and usually performed to house music and a chorus of men screaming “Werk!” and “Yaaaasss!” But it’s more complex than that. Vogueing is an art that’s inextricably linked with ideas of fashion, luxury, and social and economic mobility; its dramatic hand and leg movements are based on elements of classical ballet, jazz and modern dance techniques such as those founded by Martha Graham and Lester Horton (many voguers are professional dancers).

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Balls are the traditional vogueing platform. They are judged competitions with some musical theatre, some fashion week and a bit of X-Factor style battles mixed in, and the Mugler Ball is reflective of a wider flirtation between ballroom culture and the worlds of fashion, art and music, the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the early nineties when Madonna co-opted the movement for her Vogue video. and reduced it to a series of MTV hits.

The critically adored fashion label Hood by Air, founded by the former vogue dancer Shayne Oliver, frequently incorporates references to vogueing in their runway shows, and have had such an impact on the fashion industry that the New York Times recently speculated Oliver may have had an influence on the catwalks of Riccardo Tisci and Alexander Wang. And then there’s the gender fluid rapper Mykki Blanco, a fashion crowd favourite and Hood by Air collaborator, whose decidedly countercultural work is praised by very mainstream outlets such as Entertainment Weekly and Interview magazine; in his video, Wavvy, he dances in glam-rock drag at a black tie ball. Meanwhile, at the end of London fashion week in September, Christopher Kane, Roksanda Illincic, Jonathan Saunders, Hamish Bowles and a long list of other fashion notables joined the performance artist Jonny Woo for his staging of the Miss Hoi Polloi pageant at the Ace hotel. The event was based on the documentary The Queen, which chronicled a series of drag pageants hosted by Flawless Sabrina, a character played by the transgender celebrity Crystal LaBeija, who was also the main character in the seminal documentary about ballroom culture, Paris Is Burning. And last week, MAC Cosmetics held a party to celebrate the iconic drag performance artist Joey Arias. “There’s a new generation exploring. There are more transsexuals, people are experimenting more,” Arias says.

It has been 24 years since the documentary Paris is Burning first put a spotlight on Harlem’s ballroom culture and the gender fluid black and latino young men who frequented it. Their styles were eclectic – elegant transwomen, melodramatic butch queens, rough banjee boys, and a myriad of permutations in between – but they were always well dressed, even going as far as to name their loosely organised crews after iconic fashion brands such as the House of Balenciaga or the House of St Laurent. In ballroom culture, the house you belong to is everything. More than a members’ only club, the house is a chosen “family” and social network; a safe place in a city where life can be difficult for a gay black boy. It was a particularly strong act of devotion to name one’s house after a fashion brand, considering the world of pret-a-porter was rarely accessible to them. But today, it’s the opposite. Fashion, art and music seem to be increasingly influenced by ballroom culture rather than the other way around, and it’s the young men who came up in that scene, long a countercultural fringe movement, who are the new arbiters of taste.

Jonny Woo on stage

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 Jonny Woo on stage Photograph: Tony Larkin/REX/Tony Larkin/REX

But before that happened, ballroom culture went the way of most fashion trends: in and then out. After co-opting it, Madonna turned it into a global phenomenon that climaxed with the release of her documentary, Truth or Dare in 1991. After that, mainstream interest in vogueing died down, though musicians and model agencies hired some dancers for behind the scenes roles such as video choreography and catwalk coaching.

Rashaad Newsome, the contemporary artist based in New York, is arguably the godfather of the next generation ballroom movement. “I think it has to do with the work called Untitled I put in the 2010 Whitney Biennial,” he says. “Before that I had never seen work in a gallery or institution about ballroom culture.” Untitled featured a dancer demonstrating various styles of vogueing on camera. It also cemented Newsome’s position as the connector – the Kevin Bacon, if you will – of all of the scene’s buzziest players. For example, the Untitled dancer was a then-unknown Shayne Oliver.

Last summer, Newsome put on his own vogue extravaganza called the King of Arms Ball. He brought together luminaries from the contemporary art and underground ballroom scene to watch dancing competitors, including the popular dancer Alex Mugler, a member of the iconic vogueing collective, House of Mugler, the same group that had its own now legendary ball this past weekend. Newsome also works with Jamel Prodigy, the dancer who has been training FKA Twigs since he met her through a choreographer at a club. “He introduced me to this girl from London who really wanted to learn how to vogue. And then when I met her I realised hers was the face I had been seeing on posters all over New York. She wanted to get the authentic New York experience from a ballroom legend.”

It all seems to add up to an overall celebration of gender fluidity in fashion and beauty culture, a moment in which people who may have been relegated to the status of camp entertainment in years past are finally being taken seriously. Perhaps the most potent example of this is Redken, the mass-market beauty Behemoth, hiring Lea T, transgender model and countercultural heroine, as its latest face. “Gay is the new black,” as Prodigy puts it. And while the fashion and beauty worlds have always embraced, and to an extent been largely dominated by gay men, they haven’t been particularly open to transgenders. “It’s one of those things where everything that wasn’t, now is. And everything that was a ‘no’ is now a ‘yes’.”

It could be argued that fashion’s current celebration of gender nonconformity is a natural step in its slow but gradual shift towards diversity. Or possibly it’s the latest frontier in fashion’s perennial search for the new. Roger Joseph, a luxury brand consultant who is familiar with ballroom culture, thinks it’s a bit of both. “I think that when compared to the increasingly corporate art and fashion worlds, ballroom culture feels more real, inclusive and expansive.” He adds: “I think we’re seeing ballroom culture referenced more now because the fashion industry is beginning to reflect what it sees. If the lovely Laverne Cox, the transwoman star of the Netflix hit Orange is the New Black, can grace the cover of a storied American publication like Time magazine and bring compassion, eloquence and wit to conversations around gender and the trans community, then why wouldn’t designers want to seize its currency?”

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Fashion legend Pierre Cardin inaugurates Paris museum

French fashion designer Pierre Cardin inaugurated his Paris museum on Thursday, which showcases his avant garde and space age designs spanning the decades. He developed the first line of clothes for men by a courtier and continually changed and expanded the world of fashion with his creations for generations. He is considered a living legend in the fashion industry.

At 92 years old, Pierre Cardin is still at work. Cardin was a pioneer of French fashion in 50s and is still pushing the boundaries today as the oldest designer in the business.


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Now, a museum in Paris has been opened in his honor, to showcase the avant garde and space age designs that made his name.

"There are more than 7,000 designs, but I didn't sell them all because I always found them too unique and I couldn't sell them, so I had to keep them, and that formed the basis for this museum," Cardin said.

Playful, colourful and at times eccentric, these haute-couture designs showcase Cardin's fascination with the future and his tireless experimentation.




"He can go into a shop, take a piece of plastic and make a band of fabrics," museum curator Renee Taponier said. "There are jackets here made from cake tins. Simply put, everything interests him, not just the materials made for fashion, but all materials."

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But despite his contributions to French fashion, the nonagenarian readily admits that he no longer dominates the catwalk today.

His hope is that his vision of fashion survives when he is gone, leaving a foundation for a younger designers to build on.

"There has to be an end," Cardin said, "and I leave my work to those who want to be inspired. It's a legacy to the world, and to the fashion designer."

Pierre Cardin's legacy and name is up for grabs, although the price is is pretty steep. The designer is selling his fashion empire for the futuristic sum of one billion euros.

Fashion For Nature Lovers- Etienne Aigner

Etienne Aigner may not be a familiar name in the fashion world but I recall the hard to pronounce moniker from my days as a sales clerk at a department store in the 80’s. In high school I worked in “Designer Shoes” and was very proud to be among the latest in chic footwear that I could only dream about owning. I learned the difference between the “cobbie cuddlers” comfort shoes to the beautiful French ones from Charles Jordan with stiletto heels which by today’s standards were probably mild. Shoe obsessions are not recent development- women have always wanted their feet to be encased in lovely coverings. Aigner shoes and leather bags had a distinctive cranberry color that women loved. My teenage self felt they were too conservative, but the Aigner lady was fiercely loyal to the burgundy reds with the “A” logo.

When I was asked to preview the spring ‘15 collection it brought back memories. The first thing I noticed is the lack of “antic red” (as it was called) and the addition of a ready to wear collection. The signature red was replaced with soft tones of creams, and beiges, along with burnt orange and electric blue. There were hobos in butter suede, totes in mixed-materials of leather and faux python, and a surprise of chartreuse green fur vest. Shoes shapes ranged from chunky wedges, to sandals with ribbon detailing and a particularly distinctive pointy flat with the backs scrunched down like they were well-worn slippers.

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The Creative Director, Daniela Anastasia Bardazzi’s resume includes stints at Isaac Mizrahi and Michael Kors and so she may have picked up some tips to success. What she so deftly achieved with the relaunch of Aigner is clothing that you want to own for a reasonable price. There are no bold prints or overtly trendy pieces, just easy breezy collection with a twist, like a dropped waist dress with an interesting ruffle at the waist.

The name brand has a heritage that extends well over 50 years. Mr. Etienne Aigner was a Hungarian man who started as a bookbinder in Germany in 1904, states Wikipedia. His German name is pronounced, (et-tee-an /on-yay). Aigner’s history runs from bespoke high-end leather good in Paris to its 1959 foray into the American market when that year a New York showroom was opened and remained until the year 2000.

For Spring 2015, Ms. Anastasia’s takes her inspiration from the 20^thcentury American painter, Andrew Wyeth, most famous for his haunting painting titled, “Christina’s World. Looking at his serene paintings with naturalistic palette I can see the connection. The designer’s spring look book sets the models against a window looking out onto a grassy landscape and the models in the look book images are reminiscent of Helga, a longtime subject in the paintings.

The relaunch of Etienne Aigner in 2012 started quietly as smart business do, and is not in danger of becoming fashion burn out.  In Oct of this year they opened a shop opened at 65 Greene Street in Soho, New York City. It seems the brand is set to become affordable option for stylish clothing with a twist and regain part of its former glory.

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BEIJING DESIGNER LIU WEI MISSING AFTER HER FASHION SHOW PROTEST FOR OCCUPY CENTRAL

Y’all remember the Chanel fashion show turned feminist protest in Paris, right? Of course you do. All that fashion and politics righteous co-mingling on the runway last month, successfully commanded the world’s attention. However, because of the badass bravery shown and danger at hand, a similarly protest-fueled runway show in Beijing two weeks ago needs just as much - if not even more - attention. During the Mercedes-Benz China Fashion Week, Beijing designer Liu Wei staged a Occupy Central demonstration at her Hong Kong fashion show and has been missing ever since.

Fashion & Style The message behind models toting bloody umbrellas and donning surgical masks as they strutted down a blood-splattered catwalk wasn’t lost on anyone. Wei was addressing the Occupy Central movement and “Umbrella Revolution” currently occurring in China - specifically, the civil disobedience demonstration where the Hong Kong police tear-gassed pro-democracy student demonstrators, who used their umbrellas to protect themselves.

Security guards put a stop to the show, arresting Wei and 10 of her models in their babydoll nurse dresses and Wei hasn’t been since.

While I’m still crazy about what Karl Lagerfeld did at the Chanel fashion show, Wei’s attempt to raise awareness about the oppression in China puts the man to shame. The designer’s display put her at an overwhelming risk and her determination to make the world pay attention to the current movement is so admirable. Let’s not let her epic fashion show go to waste and hope for the designer’s safety. And let’s make these fashion/movement combos a regular thing, shall we?
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Nicki Minaj Did a Mini Fashion Show at the MTV EMAs

Our guess is that Nicki Minaj brought a whole bunch of luggage with her to Glasgow, Scotland for her hosting gig at this year's MTV EMAs.

The rapper wore one of the most stunning performance ensembles we've seen in a long time as she dropped in from the ceiling wearing this sequined bralet and ruffle skirt with a 14-foot train. We can't even imagine how heavy that thing was, but it did make for a REALLY cool entrance.

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Of course, while this ensemble was enough to make headlines in and of itself, Nicki was just getting started. In fact, she had seven more wardrobe changes in store for us.

There was this form-fitting white dress:

Getty Images for MTV

Which was not to be confused with THIS form-fitting white dress:

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Then, she rocked this sexy LBD, which, despite the high neckline, still managed to show plenty of cleavage:

Getty Images for MTV

She later added a pop of color and rocked this cute little red number that was absolutely perfect in every way:

Getty Images for MTV

And just to mix things up a little bit, she also briefly sported this geometric coat/dress thing that we're not exactly sure how to classify, but still thought was kind of cool:

FilmMagic

When it came time to close out the show, Nicki said goodbye in this short, glittery dress.

Getty Images for MTV

But wait, there's more! Even though the show itself was over, Nicki still had one (or two) more tricks up her highly-fashionable sleeve.

She showed off another LBD in the "Winner's Room" backstage after taking home the award for "Best Hip-Hop." She accessorized the outfit with an emerald green overcoat...

Getty Images for MTV

...which she later removed. So if you want to get technical, that COULD count as yet another outfit. We won't count it, but we like the dress and think it's worth seeing without the coat, so here you go!

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Cornell catwalk presents one wild fashion show

When Gabriela Wagner, a veterinary medicine student at Cornell University and founder of the Gabby Wild Foundation, is not in the lab doing molecular research on animals, she’s drumming up awareness around the world for the plight of endangered wildlife.

And she’s doing it through fashion.

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On Sunday, Wagner, who is better known as Gabby Wild, will host a fashion show along with the GoWild! Club on campus, featuring ecologically- and sustainably-crafted clothing from top designers, worn by university students of all shapes and sizes.

The show takes place from 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday at Barton Hall. Tickets are $8.50 in advance and $10 at the door. Proceeds from the show go toward African elephant conservation.

“The clothes were all hand-made and all garments were made with earth-friendly materials, such as organic cotton or organically, raw ‘peace’ silks,” Wagner said. That means no harm was done to the pupae of the silk worms, she said. And many of the materials are hand-dyed with fruit and vegetable dyes.

Many of the garments will be for sale at the show.

Wagner founded the nonprofit Gabby Wild Foundation in 2011 and works to protect and expand natural areas and wildlife habitat around the world.

Sunday’s show features local, national and international designers, including some from Lifetime’s show “Project Runway.” Over 70 students signed up to model and no one was turned away, Wagner said. A team of volunteers will do hair, makeup and photography.

“This is not merely a fundraiser for African elephants, but also a method to inspire young women to believe in how beautiful they are,” she wrote in an email. “The designers are ecstatic to provide sizes for ‘real’ women with very few size 0’s and 2’s being distributed so that we can develop a healthy appreciation for being comfortable in a realistic body size.”

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Fashion Week for the uninitiated

Once a year Africa’s brightest and most glamorous coalesce around a suitably fancy venue to watch human clothing racks march up and down a runway for Mercedes Benz Africa Fashion Week (MBFW).


The event is arguably one of the biggest and shiniest platforms for designers, bloggers, buyers and anyone else trying to make a name for themselves in the industry to be seen, heard and side eyed. Consequently attending MBFW for the first time can be an intimidating experience, especially when one is dressed like an underpaid bike courier and knows only slightly more about fashion than the man who invented Crocs. This year the continent’s fashion lovers chose to gather at Melrose Arch in Johannesburg for MBFW and in so allowed me to get my first experience of a major fashion event. This is what I learnt.

Make an Effort:
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Arriving at a major fashion event dressed in the nearest pair of clothes on your bedroom floor is like waltzing into the annual general meeting of a flamboyant pack of wolves in a sheep costume and hoping they have eaten already. What you wear is almost irrelevant so long as it seems like you tried. MBFW’s attendees were dressed in a wide variety of things from clashing prints to cocktail dresses to knee length socks that may or may not have belonged to Eugene Terre'blanche.

Lie:

MBFW is essentially a giant networking seminar with some runway themed entertainment and as such schmoozing is inevitable. Walking up to people and telling them how much you love their work is a good way to develop a champagne lubricated friendship that lasts as long as your drink.

Charge your phone beforehand:

Between googling the names of the many designers you don’t know, taking photos, posting said photos on Instagram and tweeting, your phone will most likely be working harder than a one legged coal miner. Should your battery die during proceedings your hard won fashion credibility will come into question when all your friends tell you “A picture or it didn’t happen”.

Fashion is art:

Fashion shows are not just excuses for tall skinny women to play dress up. They are art exhibitions in which the art work walks up and down trying desperately not to trip. The only difference between a run way and a museum is that randomly touching some of the artwork on a runway is likely to viewed as a sexual offence.

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M&S back in fashion as shares rebound: Sales of crucial womenswear ranges finally turn a corner

Shares in Marks & Spencer jumped nearly 10 per cent after the embattled retailer finally showed signs its turnaround might be working.
Investors breathed a sigh of relief that Britain’s biggest clothing chain was at last able to say that its troubled womenswear ranges had improved.
Underlying sales for womenswear grew at 1.3 per cent for the first five months of the year.

Best foot forward: Investors breathed a sigh of relief that M&S was at last able to say that its womenswear ranges had improved
Once the mild month of September was added, the underlying sales figure dropped by 1.5 per cent.
High Street rival Next, and youth retail chain SuperGroup have both issued profit warnings, saying shoppers were not buying winter coats and hats.
However, on Tuesday Primark, owned by Associated British Foods, shrugged off the warm temperatures claiming its £25 Boucle Coat had proved popular with shoppers and flown out of its doors.
Despite the improvement at M&S, which drove the share price up 39.4p to 440.1p, the jury is still out over whether the firm has reached its bottom and is now on the rebound.
While total sales rose to £4.9bn for the six months to September 27 from £4.8bn, underlying sales for the business were still negative, falling 0.7 per cent.

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Most importantly, general merchandise which includes clothing and home furnishings like bedding, was down 2.9 per cent.
The firm breaks out clothing and footwear, saying this was down 2.2 per cent. It claimed the weather hit sales to the tune of 2.5 per cent suggesting they may have been higher under normal conditions.
Regardless of the reason, 13 quarters of declining clothing sales is not a good record and chief executive Marc Bolland is still under intense pressure to reverse this.
Neil Saunders, managing director of consultant Conlumino, said: ‘On the face of it, the latest M&S numbers look rather lacklustre.
‘Given that womenswear is one of M&S’s most problematic categories this swing into positive territory is a sign that the years of decline may well have bottomed out and that M&S’s strategy of becoming more fashion-focused is starting to pay dividends.’
Investors were also buoyed by the first rise in the firm’s half-year profits in four years.
Bolland has managed to cut costs by using the scale of the business to negotiate better rates from suppliers, while making delivery routes more efficient.
First-half pre-tax profit before one-off items was £268m, up from £262m. But the pure pre-tax profit figures were flat at £279.4m.
In a clear sign of confidence M&S raised its interim dividend by 0.2p to 6.4p a share.
However, the online business was still in the sick bay – down 6.3 per cent for the half due to a shift in running the website itself instead of using an external provider. Bolland felt it was premature to signal a turnaround, saying: ‘Things are coming together we have seen good indications that the priorities we are focused on are delivering.’ When asked if he still felt under pressure over keeping his job he said: ‘I look forward to the next few years delivering.’
The food business was a star performer showing underlying sales up 1 per cent and announcing plans to open 200 Simply Food stores over the next few years. This is an increase from a previous target of 150.
Sales at the international business were also up 1.2 per cent.
‘The years of decline may well have bottomed out’

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The best of the fashion pack's Halloween costumes 2014

This Halloween, some of fashion's biggest names went all out with their costumes, from Kate Moss channelling Cara Delevingne, to Rihanna turning heads as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

Kim Kardashian paid homage to iconic editor Anna Wintour, while Heidi Klum upheld her reputation for dazzling Halloween costumes with a stunning butterfly ensemble.

HELLO! Fashion takes a look at some of this year's best Halloween costumes from the fashion pack...

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