Friday, October 30

Lanvin Spring Tokyo Show Pushes Cultural Boundaries

Last night, the worlds of fashion and sport collided when Lanvin staged a fashion show at the Ryogoku Kokugikan sumo stadium in Tokyo. 

Creative director Alber Elbaz said the sumo stadium appealed to him because he couldn’t miss the chance to break a cultural taboo.

Traditionally, women are prohibited from entering the stadium’s center ring, which is considered a sacred space. But Lanvin managed to secure permission to build a runway right in the middle.

“This is what life is all about,” he surmised. “Tradition can be nice, but tradition can be dangerous if you go only with that because you don’t go forward.”

Wednesday night’s event, a reprise of Lanvin’s spring women’s and men’s collections, attracted more than 1,000 guests, including Kanye West, who camped out in the second row with his entourage and attempted to conceal his identity with a black hooded sweatshirt and a scarf covering his face. It’s no wonder after his recent Taylor Swift stint that he’d want to stay hidden. 


Elbaz took a dig at celebrity clothing designers while talking to WWD reporters: 

“They may think that all it takes to do fashion is to be famous,” he said. “[But] you have to devote your life. You have to work hard.” Might he be referring to Lindsay Lohan’s recent Ungaro line? Hmmm...


Vogue cover veteran and Japanese actress Ai Tominaga opened the women’s portion of the show in a black asymmetric dress with a ruffled collar and a glove on one arm. 



Thursday, October 29

Jimmy Choo's New H&M and Charity Lines

H&M has finally revealed the new Jimmy Choo collection on their website. Here are a few of our favorite items:







WWD also revealed this morning that Tamara Mellon, the founder and president of Jimmy Choo, has decided to raise money for African women and children exposed to HIV. Tonight she will unveil a limited edition capsule collection of shoes, bags and small accessories as part of the charity Project PEP. Choo plans to donate 25 percent of net sales of the PEP line to the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The money will support funding of the Simelela Rape Centre in Cape Town and allow it to remain open 24 hours a day.

Wednesday, October 28

Today's Inspiration: Caroline B.

While researching social networking sites today at work, I ran across fashion networking site lookbook.nu where Caroline B. is clearly a fashionista favorite. I decided a quick procrastination break would be okay, and took a deeper look.
Turns out Caroline Blomst is a the fashion editor of the swedish blog network Feber.se and a newspaper called City and has a popular fashion blog: Caroline Mode. She also runs the Swedish fashion look book site Stockholm Street Style. At the age of 27 Caroline pulls off some of today's biggest labels with the ease of a seasoned fashion veteran. Scroll down and hopefully you'll be as inspired as we were.
Jeans with biker detailing from MQ, Balenciaga jacket, Chanel bag, Acne cardigan and Rick Owens tee.
Zara coat, Balenciaga bag, YSL ring, Rodarte tee, Acne jeans, Diesel hoodie and Prada shoes.
Zara top, Acne jeans, Alexander Wang shoes and bag, vintage fur collar and Balenciaga jacket.
Jacket from Glitzy.se, tee from Wang, hoody from AA, MQ faux leather pants, shoes from Rizzo and Balenciaga bag
Balenciaga Perfecto jacket, faux fur gilet from H&M, faux leather pants from McQ, shoes from Minimarket and Givenchy Nightingale bag

Tuesday, October 27

Fashion Police...no really.

The culprits behind the recent celebrity home invasions have finally been caught. According to the LA Times, "Police allege that the friends, fascinated by Hollywood fashion, would case the stars' homes and then break in, taking clothing and jewelry."

"Like many teenage girls, these friends were fascinated by the high fashion and flashy bling of such young Hollywood celebrities as Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Audrina Patridge."

Apperantly the teens studied television shows, celebrity magazines and websites and picked out the clothing and jewelry they wanted. Then they figured out where the celebrities lived and, after casing the homes, broke in and took what they wanted. Talk about morally upstanding young citizens.


How do we feel about Olsenboye?

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, the business mavens behind The Row, Elizabeth and James, DualStar Entertainment Group and a ‘tween clothing line at Walmart, have announced their newest business endeavour. They are launching a new affordable and chic fashion line called Olsenboye, which will be sold exclusively at JCPenney starting in February.

I suppose with Gaultier designing for Target and Jimmy Choo for H&M, a budget friendly Olsen brand for the trend conscious was inevitable. Their partnership with JCPenney makes sense, especially after their recent efforts to be a household fashion giant. I’m sure you’ve seen Who What Wear’s "Schooled in Style" series, which shamelessly shows eager viewers how to incorporate JCPenney brands into each season’s trends.

Although the brand leans to the “overly-trendy” side, I must admit I was lusting after a BE & D Ruffled Platform Sandal that has the same look and feel as one of the line’s shoes.

Items in the collection will include denim, bottoms, tops, dresses, skirts, shorts, jackets, handbags and shoes and will retail from $20-$50.

Below: Ashley Olsen and Mary Kate Olsen looking chic as they promote Olsenboye at Good Morning America.


Watch this Olsenboye promotional movie below if you can stomach three cheery hipster-wanna-bes frolicking around NYC.

Monday, October 26

Michelle Obama's Fashion Fetishes

The First Lady of Fashion: gorgeous, statuesque and mix-and-match master to boot. She certainly has a soft spot for Thakoon and Jason Wu, but the item in her wardrobe that shows up most often is her Azzedine Alaia belt. Above you can see her dressing it up leaving Air Force One or casual while strolling the White House lawns. While many public figures won't be caught dead in the same outfit twice, Michelle Obama makes a point of reusing her favorite items. Recycling clothing is a part of the “Mobama” style. It's a well-known fact that Mrs. Obama is relatively economical about her First Lady wardrobe choices (as far as previous First Ladies go). Remember the buzz that arose when she wore that White House/Black Market dress?

Another fashion favorite of Michelle Obama's is florals. While each look is individually tasteful, elegant and stylish, seeing them all together in the below photo is kind of a flower-power overload.

Anyways, in terms of heightened fashion-biz buzz it's clear the First Lady is well on her way to leaving a stylish legacy on par with those other White House legacies, Jacqueline Kennedy and Nancy Reagan. Stay tuned for more "Mobama" fashion updates.


Friday, October 23

Rio de Janeiro for the Weekend


As if Brazilian models (Giselle BĂ¼ndchen, Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Ana Beatriz Barros, to name a few...) don't bring Brazil enough attention already, the fashion community and a few rockstarlettes are hightailing it to Rio for the weekend to bring attention to Rio as a fashion center. According to WWD, "Donatella Versace, Francisco Costa, Riccardo Tisci and Marc Jacobs, along with a slew of models and musical performers, are touching down in Rio de Janeiro for Oi Fashion Rocks to be held Saturday night at Rio’s Jockey Club."

Fashion Rocks will feature Versace, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs and Calvin Klein’s fall 2009 runway collections paired with performances by Diddy, Ciara, Grace Jones and Mariah Carey. The idea is to spotlight Brazil, so there will be plenty of local flavor courtesy of designers Alexandre Herchcovitch and Lenny, as well as musical acts Stop Play Moon and Daniela Mercury.

I don't know about you, but the weather is supposed to be pretty gloomy here in DC this weekend. Anyone have any extra frequent flyer miles?

Brazilian designer Alexandre Fall 2009 from life.com

Marc Jacobs Fall 2009 Collection from style.com

Thursday, October 22

Wholesale Gossip Girl-Inspired Fashion?


I don’t know about you but this sounds fishy to me....

In a recent press release LightInTheBox.com announced that they’ve recently launched fashion selections inspired by Season Three of Gossip Girl.

“LightInTheBox.com has been working with designers to make the clothes inspired by the TV series accessible and affordable to people around the world.”

Oh I get it, they’ve let Eric Daman and the world’s hardest working designers do the heavy lifting and now this morally-devoid company is riding on their coat tails. Copyright laws and designer credibility means nothing to you? Ok, just wanted to make sure.

Nordstrom Rack to Open Store in Pentagon City

Nordstrom announced it will open a Nordstrom Rack, a unit of the company's off-price retail division, in the Pentagon City area of Arlington, Va. Scheduled to open in fall 2010 at Pentagon Centre, the new store will be the closest Nordstrom Rack to downtown Washington D.C. Thrilled shopping saavy Washingtonians to ensue...

J.Crew Spring 2010: Military & Sparkles



J.Crew's creative director Jenna Lyons presented her spring 2010 collection yesterday in New York at the company's downtown headquarters.


A mix of utilitarian sportswear and cheerful sequined separates, the spring line combined camouflaged military jackets and khaki anoraks with pastel ruffled mini skirts and paillette-covered tunics. There were pops of bright coral, mint green, and pale blue set against a neutral palette, most notably in a striped floral shift—which Lyons told viewers was created by cutting strips of the printed fabric and inserting thin silk georgette panels in between. Accessories included gold and silver metallic desert boots and boat shoes, i.e. lace-up Oxfords, and oversized leather handbags. Models were dripping in jewelry—an increasingly important category for J.Crew—sparkling in oversized crystal drop earrings, layered charm necklaces, and stacked jeweled cuffs.


Three Fashion Gurus Talk About Today's Problems with the Fashion Industry: Ashley Olsen, Robin Givhan and Isaac Mizrahi

Last night at the 92nd Street Y in New York our city’s Washington Post fashionista Robin Givhan, Ashley Olsen and Isaac Mizrahi gathered to chat with Glamour's Cindi Leive about the "Future of Fashion."

To find out more about what fashion magazines are doing wrong, why fashion is so hated, and the plethora of overly-thin models check out fashionista and fashionologie.

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