Hedvig
Kristin G
Martine Falk Andersen
Mirka Germanova
Austin Levine
New York – Fashion and floral's finest joined forces on Thursday night, May 20, for the ninth year in a row at Tulip and Pansies: The Headdress Affair, an annual benefit for VillageCare, a non-profit in New York that provides healthcare for people living with HIV/AIDS.
"There are so many people having a really hard time and so few organizations that can directly affect their lives on a daily basis. VillageCare is a direct-to-client model," said Kelly Cutrone, who co-chaired the event with Ariana Rockefeller. Cutrone owns PR firm People's Revolution and is the star of her own reality show on Bravo, "Kell on Earth."
"It's big, and it's campy and it's fun," said James Aguiar, the evening's charismatic master of ceremonies. "It's the best of what fashion is. It doesn't take itself seriously, and people are here to have a great time. Of course it's for a good cause, but all the jaded front row stuff is gone."
Designers such as Tracy Reese, Betsey Johnson and The Blonds joined newcomers to the event like DKNY and House of Holland in pairing their vibrantly colored dresses with some truly outrageous headdresses painstakingly made out of hundreds of dollars worth of flowers, from orchids to peonies to roses.
The floral couture was shown on a runway with models that ranged from the drag queens of The Imperial Court of New York to legendary model Pat Cleveland, who stole the show with her theatrical sashay down the runway.
Tara McInerney of Morningside Greenhouse in Haledon, New Jersey, designed a show-stopping, over-the-top look that took home the "Most Original" award that evening, doled out by judges Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Fern Mallis, John Bartlett, Freddie Leiba and Ashleigh Verrier.
Inspired by Johnny Depp's portrayal of the Cheshire Cat in the latest version of "Alice in Wonderland," McInerney's model, Jack, wore an enormous hat covered in orchids, peonies, roses and leaves outlined in glitter that took a day and a half to create - including a labor-intensive application of 5,000 individual pussy willow buds and 33 yards of rhinestones in a pinstripe pattern on his jacket.
"I have no more fingerprints!" laughed McInerney. She estimated that the hat weighed more than 10 pounds.
"You gotta have a really strong neck, and take a couple of aspirin before you put it on for a while," she said.
You also have to be willing to part with hundreds of dollars worth of flowers, like the $1800 worth of white orchids that Michael Gaffney of The New York School of Flower Design used for his Gatsby-inspired headdress for b. Michael, a glamorous "Phyllis Diller meets Diana Ross meets Cher," look. What did he plan on doing with the flowers once the show was over? He would give them away.
"It's flower power," he said. "I try to brighten up someone's day. We always try to find a home. It's like puppies."
Bingo Wyer from Cote Fleurie Studio, on the other hand, felt some regret about stringing up chains of hyacinths into dangling garlands on her Jackie Kennedy and Lady Gaga-inspired look to pair with a preppy Lilly Pullitzer bubble dress.
"Philosophically, it kills me," she said. "They've been good! They don't deserve this!"
Luckily, the demise of the flowers had a higher purpose - to help the HIV/AIDs patients of VillageCare.
The Levi’s brand rocks with a new creative campaign for its latest Levi’s Square Cut Colour collection in Asia this summer. ‘Your Colour. Your Sound’, with its digital elements, evokes youth to express themselves through an engaging platform that fuses fashion and music. This approach reflects the fun and creativity of the innovative application of colour details to the ever popular Levi’s Square Cut collection encourages youth to visually express their individuality with the colour that reflects their music lifestyle.
“The inspiration behind the campaign is our innovative colour details in this season’s Levi’s Square Cut collection. We are tying it to the free thinking creative expressions of youth and their multidimensional music preferences. Highlighting their strong sense of identity and personality with colours – and levering on an integral driver of youth lifestyle,” said Agnes Tann, Director, Marketing Communications, Engagement Marketing and CRM, the Levi’s brand.
The key visuals for print capture Levi’s youths in their favourite Square Cut denim, pushing the limits of self expression enjoying their music lifestyles. These include scenes of sweaty rock fans in the thick of a mosh pit, under the disco ball grooving to fun pop tunes, shuffling to the contemporary bits of electronica, and battling it out with break dance.
These are photographed in colour saturated settings to complement the detailings of the Levi’s Square Cut jeans.
Musicians lending their grooves to the campaign have also been plucked from locations where youths hang out to enjoy music. This delivers the authentic vibes of being photographed in the moment.
The campaign is conceptualized by advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) in Singapore. It runs as out-of-home advertising in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Taiwan and below-the-line for the rest of Asia.
The Levi’s Square Cut Colour denim collection this season has a fresh look and attitude, as coloured optic elements – stitches, sundries, Two Horse patch and inside hem prints – stand out and play up each wearer’s unique personality.
TFL has released its new "TFL Colour Trends" catalogue for the season Autumn/Winter 2011/12. In this edition, we present the colour trends for leather garments, footwear, accessories and ubholstery. Advantages for TFL customers: knowledge of the future colour preferences and trends helps designers, manufacturers and tanners stay one step ahead of the market.
In "Living", furniture designs using interactive technologies and sustainable modular solutions introduce the coming the future. Backprinted fabric partitions light up when walked past and the LCD crystal glass panel, separating areas, transforms into an interactive scenario through the use of electronic effects. The main themes in "Wearing" are simplicity, used materials and colour mix. Simplicitiy is achieved through simple shapes and by focusing on using material in an authentic fashion.
Living: The leather world should offer a multisensory experience with reliefs achieved by milling and dry cleaning effects on light weights, by drumming full grain or emossing on wet-blue, all featuring small, indistinct patterning or vaguely defined colours inspired by reactive semi-vegetable retanning or by the "Flou" effect of silky nubuck for an almost timeless decoration. More
Wearing: The use an function of a particular design also play an important role by triggering innovative attitudes. Playing around with colours by choosing, combining and changing hues can create countless options, thus evoking emotions. The main themes includi the following with different qualities and types of leather: Nappa leather for shoes and leather goods, the elegance of Yves Saint Laurent with a tuxedo dress and re-tanned brushed leahter shoes, calves and buffalo calves, vegetable-tanned nubuck leathers drum-dreid for an elegant worn look and both double face and pony furs.
In the following pages we are happy to spotlight our SELLA FAST A colour range. SELLA FAST A dyes are anionic powder dyes specially selected for the drum dyeing of shoe upper leather. The products provide many advantages such as brilliant and intense shades, good general fastness properties and excellent cost/performance ratio.
In addition, we would like to intodruce the new SELLA DERM M2 range of liquid salt-free metal complex dyes.
These dyes are miscible in water and organic solvents. They are recommended for shade intensifying, correcting and levelling of dyed leather. Customers can benefit from very brilliant and intense shades, excellent water spotting resistance and good lifht fastness properties.
Unlike other facets of the Green movement- organic food, beauty products, home supplies - eco fashion hasn't made a big a splash in the public consciousness. It's not as talked about or obsessed over. There isn't much diligence or attention to what eco fashion even means.
Meanwhile, out in the fashion trenches, many eco-conscious designers are starting to find their voices. Mociun and Bahar Shahpar make gorgeous sophisticated clothes for women who can afford to wear them.
"I feel like there is a movement toward green practices, but for my clients it's still about cost," says Lisa Wisely a manufacturer and producer in Brooklyn who handles merchandising for large productions and businesses.
Wisely is always trying to introduce "green" practices to her clients, but it is still an uphill battle. "Basically it costs $7.75 for an organic t-shirt. A basic cotton average shirt, dyed with chemicals is available for $5. In terms of bulk production, the difference of $2.25 for each t-shirt is a big difference", she informs.
Nine-year-old New York girl Fatima Ptacek considers herself a "normal kid", but that's not what other people think about her.
She is a fourth grader who has made around 280,000 U.S. dollars a year in modelling and acting since she was five years old.
Posing for Ralph Lauren, Benetton and Gap, smiling for the cover of magazines and picking up the occasional acting job, Fatima's life is far different from her peers.
However, Fatima thinks of it in a different way. "It's actually just another activity," says Fatima, "It's not a big, big thing. I don't think it's going to go to my head."
Her family hold the same opinion. Fatima's father Jack Ptacek, a retired detective, said, "She doesn't do it for the money at all. Up until recently, she thought we were paying to let her to be in commercials and have her picture taken."
What Fatima does like most nine-year-old girls are doing gymnastics, riding horses and studying Chinese.
The smart girl has big dreams. She said, "I definitely want to be a lawyer. I have to finish my professional acting career first. Once I get to college, I'll probably be too old for that stuff. I want to focus more on education because education is very important. I want to be the first female president. If I'm president I can stop a lot of injustice. I want to change the world just like (President) Obama."
A Miss Bikini International contestant looks at a pearl jewelry exhibit.
A woman poses with pearl jewelry at the Hainan Jingrun Pearl Museum on May 24. Sixty-four contestants from the 35th Miss Bikini International World Final visited the museum on Monday.
A contestant wears pearl jewelry for an advertising photo shoot.
A Miss Bikini International contestant poses with hanging pearls at the Hainan Jingrun Pearl Museum on May 24.
Charles Vögele Fashion Days Zurich takes place from 3rd to 6th November 2010, with international and Swiss designers showcasing their collections during the course of the many shows that feature over the four days. Among them are well-known greats such as Guido Maria Kretschmer from Germany and New York-based Alexander Wang, while Hollywood actor, Penelope Cruz, will open the event with her sister, Monica. Tickets for the individual show programmes are already on sale.
The four-day Charles Vögele Fashion Days Zurich event is set to host a great many Swiss and international designers who will be staging their 2011 spring collections. Hollywood actor, Penélope Cruz, and her sister Monica will be showing their exclusive collection designed for the headline sponsor for the first time at the “Opening Night“ in the Industrial Hall at Puls 5, which seats up to a thousand people.
German designer, Guido Maria Kretschmer, who is currently tipped to be one of the most successful newcomers emerging from the European fashion scene, will also be exhibiting at Fashion Days. He has already presented his first collection at fashion shows in Tokyo and Shanghai.
In 2004 Kretschmer founded his own fashion label, Guido Maria Couture, where the accent is on exclusive day wear and evening wear, jewellery and accessories. He believes elegance to be the last luxury left to us, as it allows us to gaze in wonder.
Prominent followers include Alexandra Maria Lara, Jasmin Tabatabai, Martina Gedeck, Jane Seymour and Charlize Theron. Several well-known Swiss designers have also confirmed their attendance at Fashion Days Zurich: Lella Scherrer, Tran Hin Phu, KAZU, Saro, Brambilla, Portenier Roth, Aleksandra Wisniewska and Aluar Balagan (more information on the individual designers including photos is available at www.charlesvoegele-fashiondays.com/designer).
Marionnaud will be in attendance, partnering Fashion Days as exclusive make-up artists to the show and bringing their own team of cosmetics experts.
The team will have star support from international make-up artist, Daniel Chavez of Sma shbox.
Alexander Wang guest at Swiss Textiles Award ceremony
Featuring alongside the individual designers’ show programmes are the presentations of two acclaimed fashion prizes - the “Swiss Textiles Award“ and “annabelle Award“ – to be held in separate ceremonies on the Thursday and Friday evening respectively. Following on from the Swiss Textiles Award presentation, New York-based Alexander Wang will be presenting his latest collection as a designer whose star is very much in the ascendant and winner of the 2009 Swiss Textiles Award.
A native Californian, Alex moved to New York at the age of 18 where he attended Parsons Design School and undertook a variety of internships. In 2005 and in only his second year as a student, Alex designed his first collection under his own label, Alexander Wang, which predominantly featured knits. He launched his first full women’s collection in 2007; in 2008 he was the recipient of the Vogue/CFDA Fund and in 2009 was recognised .
Modelcontest
Rounding off the four-day event is the exclusive “Fashion Days’ 2010 Top Model” competition which will be broadcast by the Pro Sieben TV channel. For all interested participants who want to open the Fashion Days in November on the catwalk can apply now: ProSieben is looking for 8 female and 8 male candidates for the new casting show. The closing date for application is from now; the minimum age for participation is 16 years old.
The winners will receive a modelling contract with the organisation IMG, an international model campaign contract with Emmi Caffè Latte and they will open the catwalk of the Charles Vögele Fashion Days Zurich. The moderator Jonathan “Jontsch” Schächter will be part of the casting show. He moderates at Radio Energy Züri and now will be involved as a moderator on a TV Show. The magazine broadcast for the TV show will be moderated by Claudia Lässer.
A Jan. 30, 2010 file photo shows host Mario Lopez watches Miss Virginia Caressa Cameron, center, react as she is crowned Miss America by Miss America 2009 Katie Stam, in Las Vegas.
Miss America is getting back to network television in time for her 90th birthday.
The beauty pageant has signed a three-year deal with ABC, with plans to air next year's competition live on Jan. 15, pageant officials said.
"It's a wonderful deal," Sam Haskell, chairman of the Miss America Organization, told The Associated Press. "It's much better than any deal that we've had in the last five years."
Haskell declined to discuss specifics of the agreement.
Miss America has not aired on network television since 2004, when ABC dropped the pageant after record-low ratings. Since then, it has aired on cable, twice on CMT and three times on TLC.
This year's pageant — won by Miss Virginia Caressa Cameron — topped cable television excluding movies with 4.5 million viewers the night it aired. That was about 1 million more viewers for the pageant than in 2009.
But Miss America found itself without a TV deal in March after cable network TLC declined to pick up a three-year option, opting instead to seek a two-year deal for less money.
Haskell said the latest ABC deal brings the pageant full circle from 2004.
"We were given a chance to re-brand, to keep what was traditional but make ourselves more today, and I think we've done that," he said. "We're now back with a lot of strength and back to show everyone that Miss America is the American tradition. It's a pop icon."
No final deal has been made yet on the location of the pageant, said Haskell and Art McMaster, chief executive of the Miss America Organization. The national competition was held this year at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
McMaster said plans for next year's pageant include an attempt to bring together as many former Miss America winners together as possible in celebration of the pageant's history. About 60 are still alive.
The pageant was founded in Atlantic City, N.J., in 1921 as a bathing beauty revue.
Haskell said Miss America 2011 would also reflect renewed efforts to distance the competition from Miss USA, the rival, headline-grabbing pageant owned in a joint venture by Donald Trump and NBC.
"No little girl walks around saying, 'I want to be Miss USA when I grow up.' She says, 'I want to be Miss America,'" Haskell said.
Vanteria Di Eleganza will celebrate the opening of its US showroom in the California Market Center with a debut runway show featuring their Spring/Summer 2011 Collection on June 5th, 2010 from 4-6pm. LA landmark Grand Hope Park will be transformed into a fashion wonderland complete with a 64-foot runway to showcase the incredible designs from Reggie Aguiluz, designer of Vanteria Di Eleganza's premier collection.
Dramatic silhouettes laced with intricate embellishments take center stage in the 60-piece collection complete with an assortment of rugged denim, sexy leggings, loud graphic tees and bold, structured jackets.
This invitation-only event will include red carpet arrivals, VIP seating, a short film created by the designer himself, and complimentary refreshments with an exclusive after-party soiree held directly following the event at Hollywood's hottest club, h.wood. Proud sponsors of the Vanteria Di Eleganza Debut Runway Show include: Inked Magazine, Verve Energy Drink, Vemma, Ocean Vodka and h.wood. For more information on Vanteria Di Eleganza or the debut runway show, please contact Sterling Public Relations.
Meet The Designer: From birth, Reggie Aguiluz, designer and creator of Vanteria Di Eleganza, admired the arts and possessed a passion for the world of fashion. Blessed with incredible sports talent, Reggie graduated high school with several football scholarship opportunities in his hometown of San Diego, CA. However, just a few weeks after graduation, Reggie's mother was diagnosed with colon cancer.
Committed to supporting his mother, Reggie made the decision to turn down all scholarships in order to be by his mother's side during her treatments. Thankfully, Reggie's mother recovered, and Reggie chose to pursue his love of fashion by attending FIDM in Los Angeles, CA. Graduating in 2010 in the top of his class with a degree in Apparel Manufacturing Management, Reggie was compelled to launch his line.
Inspired by urban art, lifestyle photography, theatrical movies, Marc Jacobs and the late Alexander McQueen, Reggie designed his premier apparel collection, forming the fashion label Vanteria Di Eleganza. The Vanteria Di Eleganza showroom is scheduled to open in the California Market Center on May 25th, 2010, next to William Rast and True Religion.
Through VDE's designs, Reggie hopes to boost female swagger, encouraging women to be focused, determined, and leaders of their own world. "95% of my designs are inspired by how I would want my girlfriend to dress, the other 5% is attitude driven!" -Reggie Aguiluz, Designer, Vanteria Di Eleganza.
Vanteria Di Eleganza is a young women's contemporary fashion label, specializing in denim and jackets featuring unique treatments, washes, and embellishments. Born from the creative genius of Reggie Aguiluz, Vanteria Di Eleganza combines passion for fashion with dominance, leadership and a desire for supremacy.
The International Oeko-Tex Association and Textile Insight will present “A Focus on Denim”, the next installment in their popular “Insight on What’s Next” textile and apparel industry roundtable discussion series, in New York City on Friday, June, 11, 2010, 12:00 noon-1:30 p.m. at the DuPont Corian Design Studio, 49 W. 23rd St. between 5th and 6th Ave.
Leading denim industry executives will share their opinions on current trends with special focus on sustainability issues. The panel will be moderated by Emily Walzer, Editor of Textile Insight, and will include the following industry insiders:
Andrew Olah of Olah Inc and founder of the Kingpins Denim Show. With 20 years of experience in the denim industry, Olah will provide an industry overview with emphasis on the environmental impact of cotton farming.
Brady Hill, VP Sales, Greensource. Greensource manufactures organic jeans and cotton tops that are certified to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and sold at major retailers such as Macy’s (“Greensource”), Kohl’s (“ReGen”), Walmart (“Faded Glory”), and Kmart (“Route 66").
“The International Oeko-Tex Association has been awarding the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 to denim producers for years,” says Sam Moore who represents the International Oeko-Tex Association in the US. “Denim is a dynamic market, one in which the consumer is constantly demanding new fashion finishes and washes. The Oeko-Tex Standard 100 helps consumers feel confident that their favorite jeans have been tested to be free from harmful levels of more than 100 potentially dangerous substances.”
