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• 2009 fashion news - Wedding bells, family fetes buoy Paris fashion

  
  09 July 2009
  

  PARIS (Reuters) – Parisian haute couture shows usually include one wedding dress; Elie Saab's featured more than a dozen, to the delight of his family-oriented core clients.

  Purity and femininity inspired his all-white collection of soft dresses that fanned out in swishing mousseline skirts so full they made several models trip, the Lebanese designer said at his show in Paris Tuesday.

  But the demands of his most resilient fan base -- wealthy families shopping for wedding dresses -- may also have been on his mind when he designed lacy empire gowns and bustier dresses embroidered all over with sequins, matched with a bolero.

  "We've been visiting his shows for years, we bought a wedding dress for my daughter three years ago and now we're looking for one for my other daughter," said Zeynep Carmikli from Istanbul, sitting in the front row with her two daughters.

  The Middle Eastern and Turkish wedding market has buoyed many haute couture houses, especially those who don't have profitable ready-to-wear or accessories lines and rely on clients who actually buy their 30,000-euro ($42,000) dresses.

  Carmikli's married daughter, Selin Kozak, said she expected that demand to weather the crisis.

  "People are probably buying less now, but if you want something good you go to the best place," she told Reuters.

  In the haute couture tradition, every show closes with a bridal gown.

  Tuesday night at Chanel, a giant white perfume flacon slid open to reveal a kissing bride and groom to a soundtrack of wedding bells, while Christian Lacroix sent out a bride covered in flowers, necklaces, gold embroidery and a white headdress.

  In times of uncertainty, as economic crisis combines with changing dress codes and a trend toward less formal wear, that end of the collection may hold up better than, say, tea dresses or embroidered trouser suits.

  Saab himself had another explanation for his all-white theme.

  "I chose the white because it is a plain color, it helps the woman showing her own character more than any other thing. I left all the space for the character of the woman wearing the dress," he told Reuters.

   

  (Yahoo fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news-Chanel Couture: Heads or Tails, You Loose

  
  09 July 2009
  

  

  2009 new fashion news – Model walks the runway at the Chanel Fall 2009 haute couture show by designer Karl Lagerfeld

  Paris – Karl Lagerfeld gambled with a whole new silhouette and proportion in Chanel's latest haute couture runway show Tuesday, July 7, and though he came up with some remarkable looks, this heads or tails collection was ultimately not a winner.

  The key idea in this fall 2009 collection, adding fabric extensions to dresses, coatdresses and gowns frequently looked ill proportioned, even contrived.

  It's all very well adding a fish tail to a classic Coco suit or gentlemanly tails or Belle Époque dress, and gussying them up with silver lining, but if the net effect is that models waddle rather than walk, then the result is not so chic.

  That said, the collection offered lots of beautiful clothes, in particular a flared dress of horizontal ribbons worn with a sleeveless jacket, which screamed cover try, delightful ruffled blouses and some remarkable shaggy chiffon cocktails that had all the delicacy that one expects from Chanel. Plus, Mark Rothko style abstract sequined dresses had tremendous pizzazz, and Lagerfeld remains fashion's acknowledged master when it comes to creating flesh colored looks, like the exquisite trio of embroidered cocktail, column and Grecian goddess outfits.

  The couturier also dreamed up a great new accessory, the finger glove, micro tubes for each of your digits in silk or leather.

  On the applause meter, Lagerfeld received a respectable amount of clapping, though the event did end with a faintly absurd moment as a score of black-clad heavies dashed onto the set and scrambled together a security line.

   

  (Yahoo fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news-Paris Haute Couture: Armani Privé 2009/2010 collection

  
  07 July 2009
  
  

  Megan Fox and Cate Blanchett on the from row at the Armani Privé show
  

  A model wears a creation from the Armani Privé autumn/winter 2009/10 Haute Couture collection

  “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that Bling” was the message at Giorgio Armani’s Privé collection at the Paris haute couture season for autumn/winter 09/10 today.

  A delighted Megan Fox – attending her first couture fashion show and wearing a glove-tight, one-shoulder body-con dress from the Italian couturier – sat front row, next to the actress, Cate Blanchett, in a pagoda-shouldered, Japanese-print sheath, both applauding as each silver-drenched creation appeared.

  From their silver “ball” earrings and chokers, to the crystal-encrusted spikes of their crystal and flesh-mesh stilettos, Armani’s models shone.

  

  A model wears a creation from the Armani Privé autumn/winter 2009/2010 Haute Couture collection

   

  Sequins winked from nipped-in waist jackets, paillettes sparkled on cocktail trouser suits and red carpet gowns were finished with crystal-encrusted, ‘spinal’ zips which snaked down the models’ vertebrae.

  The zip motif enhanced a new and young-look ‘sportif’ mode for Armani, emphasised in the emphasis on jumpsuits and in “hoodies” and blousons, in black velvet or else embroidered, sequinned or beaded, but worn with shimmering lace miniskirts; in anorak or parka-style, evening jackets, with big cat-print linings; and in satin “track pants”, finished, at the ankle, with crystal-studded zips.

  Zips were used as decoration, entwining waists, necks, torsos and hips, or were otherwise encrusted with beads and sequins and worked into an entire dress.

  The wild, jungle theme was echoed in cheetah-print cocktail-suits, lavished with beading; in tiger-print lamé body-con dresses; or in jackets which were fashioned from black, “scale-like” discs of leather.

  Flesh was a recurrent theme, whether bared in low-plunge halters or glimpsed beneath nude-look, silk mesh in spinal-cleavage gowns.

  “My favourite,” enthused Megan Fox, of a flesh-tone, slithery, red carpet column, which was beaded with silver and shimmering fringes and virtually backless.

  The fact all the models sported identikit, black, short, wigs – not unlike an early “Posh” gamine crop – meant all focus remained on the clothes.

  Following the show, at the Palais de Chaillot, Mr. Armani hosted a champagne reception in the Musée de l’Homme, next door, to launch his newest fragrance, l’Idole.

   

  (telegraph fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news-Paris Haute Couture: Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci 2009/2010 collection

  
  07 July 2009
  
  

  Models wear creations from Givenchy autumn/winter 2009/2010 Haute Couture collection Photo: AFP

  A light breeze whipped away the billowing black and white chiffon robes and Arabic headgear, revealing gilded, jewelled armour and crowns, at the Givenchy haute couture collection for autumn/winter 2009/10 in Paris this afternoon.

  As two youths played the ‘karkabou’ – nomadic castanets which replicate galloping steeds on cobblestones – the models paraded on a wooden stage built, appropriately enough in a former stables, out in the 15th arrondissement.

  Givenchy’s couturier and creative director, the young Italian, Riccardo Tisci – who is currently dressing Madonna for her “Sticky & Sweet” tour – took his inspiration from medieval queens and the robes of North Africa, updated with python, spike-heeled shoe-boots which would not last a second in the sands of the Sahara, and plastic embellishments.

  The models were barefaced, their slicked-back hair semi-veiled in chiffon hoods and snoods which rested atop spiky, golden coronets. Their arms were encircled with gilded cuffs, their hands bristling with metal, knuckle-duster-rings.

  The silhouette spoke of a sharply-tailored warrior-women or a more sensual harem-style seductress, who quite possibly had a dagger concealed in the folds of her sarouel-trousers or jet-jewelled belt.

  The largely monochromatic palette was punctuated with dramatic gowns and trousersuits in a flesh-tone silk crepe, emblazoned with red and green spikes, cones and studs.

  Folded peplums and pannier-effects on trousers and gowns echoed the olde-worlde nature of the silhouettes, in stark contrast to the modernist embellishments in cellophane.

  The couturier, Christian Lacroix, fresh from his own emotion-charged showing, and the new designer at Emilio Pucci, Peter Dundas, were among the front-row guests.

   

  (telegraph fashion news)

• Armani Prive Fall 2009 at Paris - Forties Glamour At Armani Prive

  
  07 July 2009
  

  

  2009 new fashion news – Model walks the runway at the Armani Prive Fall 2009 haute couture show in Paris on Tuesday

  Paris – In a couture show that tag teamed as a perfume launch, Giorgio Armani reminded us all that the whole point of couture is to dress the seriously rich with serious class.

  That was clear even before this fall 2009 show began in Paris on Tuesday, July 7, because Armani had scores of actual paying clients in the audience. Armani competes as vociferously as any designer to dress the red carpet but he also has real couture customers who are prepared to pay over $20,000 for a suit or $50,000 for an evening dress.

  Staged in his typical black box show space before an audience of 600 that included actresses Cate Blanchett, Megan Fox and Kasia Smutniak, Armani sent out a collection of haute glamour, almost certainly his most successful haute couture collection of daywear to date.

  "Forties film noir, but not Joan Crawford, more Katherine Hepburn," said an unusually thin Armani. The 74-year-old designer recently suffered a bout of hepatitis.

  What worked best, brilliantly so, were the impeccable trouser suits finished with crystal cluster buttons, blousons in white kidasssia - hairy goat - and some great cardigans with crystal mesh embroidery.

  Armani, famous for using relatively obscure models in his signature shows in Milan, also upped the ante with a casting of the industry's top models, who all wore spiky wigs.

  A series of Atlantic blue column dresses did not quite work, nor did a foursome of semi-sheer, champagne-hued bodies that were way too giddy. But the key memory in an otherwise exemplary show was a trio of blindingly brilliant silver jackets in rhinestone, sequins and crystals that produced the biggest burst of applause. The couturier also played around astutely with shoulders, wrapping them in knots of gold silk or caressing them with spider web strands, underlying that he can play the couture tailor as well as anyone.

  After the show, guests strolled past Paris' finest view, the Eiffel Tower seen from the Trocadero, to the Musee de L'Homme, for the launch of Idole d'Armani, the latest scent from the designer.

  Guests witnessed a projection of Idole's ad campaign featuring Smutniak.

  Arman said Smutniak "combines true feminine sensuality and rare beauty with inner strength of character," as he posed with the actress and model on the same set used in the ad.

  But if his show whispered the Forties, his new scent, made in a crystalline glass sphere, alluded to the Thirties. Both of them, in Armani's hands, gilded glamour.

   

  (Yahoo fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news-Paris fashion fights for Lacroix

  
  07 July 2009
  

  2009 new fashion news - PARIS (Reuters) – Christian Lacroix staged what could be his last haute couture show in Paris on Tuesday, displaying a stripped-down, mostly black collection put together with the help of friends and artisans who worked for free.

  Since the loss-making fashion house was placed under creditor protection more than a month ago, the small community of couturiers, clients and artisans has been abuzz with talk of what this means for the world's most exclusive fashion scene.

  While Giorgio Armani and Chanel defied the tense mood with glittery opulence, Lacroix was forced to economize on fabrics and materials, putting all his couture skills into creating the reduced collection.

  "It was like a firework even if it was black," model and muse Ines de la Fressange said after the show just next to the Louvre, surrounded by fashionistas wearing badges saying "Christian Lacroix forever."

  Like many industry insiders, she worried about the effect of Lacroix' woes on the "petites mains" -- the dying breed of artisans whose skills make Parisian high fashion special.

  "It's fine for Lacroix, it's his talent and he's going to keep it ... it's a pity for all the people who've been working for him, especially people doing embroidery, feathers. In Paris, they still exist," she told reporters.

  "NATIONAL TREASURE"

  Lacroix, who invented the puffball skirt and is known for his colorful frivolity, placed an untimely bet on high-end ready-to-wear and was hit hard by a sharp drop in U.S. sales.

  Bought in 2005 by a Falic group, the fashion firm is now struggling to find a buyer who could turn it around.

  The collection of demure black dresses with lace inserts or fur collars showed the subtle side of couture, while a bridal gown embellished with flowers and gold embroidery, topped with a Spanish-style mantilla, made for a dramatic finish.

  "He's a national treasure of France and as such, for haute couture, should be saved," said Patricia Rossignol, a client in a black Lacroix dress who had flown in from Florida. "He's a key person in the fashion industry and hopefully he will continue."

  Larger fashion houses such as Armani and Chanel have been able to shore up their expensive haute couture units with more profitable ready-to-wear, accessories and perfume businesses.

  Chanel used giant white perfume flacons as a backdrop to a show that featured rhinestone-encrusted gowns layered like shimmering jellyfish, bell-shaped veils that covered the models' heads and skirt suits with long trains.

  Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld told reporters the trains were a concession to the changing times.

  "They don't have the hassle of ballgowns for balls that aren't taking place anymore," he said after the show.

  At Armani, black and grey 1980s power suits with peaked shoulders gave recession-stressed career women an extra edge.

  But the overall theme was glitzy, with rhinestones and sequins covering dresses, giant bauble buttons and accessories.

  With actress Cate Blanchett in the audience and a champagne reception at the Musee de L'Homme next door to launch his new perfume, Armani seemed confident he could weather the crisis.

  "When people open the newspaper they want to look at the pictures and dream," Armani, who had swapped his trademark black T-shirt for a white shirt and tie, told reporters after the show at the imposing Palais de Chaillot across from the Eiffel Tower. "I wanted to do something to make people dream."

   

  (Yahoo fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news-Models, "petites mains" in tears after last Lacroix show

  
  07 July 2009
  
  

  2009 new fashion news – French designer Christian Lacroix talks with models backstage during 2009/2010 Autumn-Winter Haute Couture

  PARIS (AFP) – Christian Lacroix sank to his knees, surrounded by his models in funeral black and his bride in gold lace, overcome with emotion at the end of his haute couture show on Tuesday, which could very well be his last.

  "It's heartbreaking to see all these pretty girls in tears," he confessed, after embracing many of the 280 guests, who gave him a standing ovation, and all the "petites mains" who slaved behind the scenes on the collection.

  Since his house went into administration last month, and no white knight has yet come forward, it could close its doors by the end of July with nearly all its employees losing their jobs.

  Half an hour before the collection went out on the catwalk, rich customers were arriving to take their seats in the salons of the Musee des Art Decoratifs in a state of incredulity.

  "It's horrible, it's so unfair. I am depressed, I can't believe it is over," American customer Gillian Fuller said.

  Fellow American, the best-selling author Danielle Steel, sitting between her two daughters, said Lacroix was "such a historic talent that he absolutely must not be lost. His dresses are works of art. Even if you don't buy them, just to see them is extraordinary."

  Backstage, the atelier staff were milling round the models, all with long faces, even if none of them really wanted to believe that the adventure could end there.

  Many of them have been with the house since its creation in 1987, like Barbara, who celebrated her 40th birthday on Monday and still hopes she will celebrate others with Lacroix.

  Or Nadia, "who worked until the very last moment in such a state of stress it wore us out." Or 23-year-old Pauline, who has loved couture since she was a little girl. At Lacroix for only 18 months, she would "have loved to have had a bit more time to learn more".

  The embroidery, shoes and flowers in the collection were all donated and the models gave their services for free.

  Former top model Ines de la Fressange, who today works for the luxury shoemaker Roger Vivier, which provided the models' footwear, said "Everybody in the fashion world feels very concerned. Lacroix was the first to make haute couture popular again. Thirty years ago it was a big stuffy."

  Master embroiderer Francois Lesage, 80, was reduced to tears. "In my career, he has been very close to my heart. I hope to be able to carry on serving him for a long time."

  Marie Seznec, who was Lacroix' fetish model in the early years, with her distinctive white hair, tried to put a brave face on it, but her optimism felt a bit forced.

  "We are all fine, very positive. Obviously, we need to be brave. I was there in 1987 and I am sure I'll still be here next season."

  For Lacroix' wife Francoise, there is also no question of giving in to despair.

  "In the current situation we can only be optimistic. We have had 20 years of happiness, there are people who only have a single day of happiness in their lives. Just as it got very heavy six months ago, now is the time when things will get decided, which will be a sort of relief, hope for the future."

   

  (Yahoo fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news-Paris Haute Couture: Christian Dior 2009/2010

  
  06 July 2009
  
  

  Models wear creations from the Christian Dior autumn/winter 2009/2010 haute couture show. Photo: AFP/ AP

  Is the recession biting so deeply that the models at Christian Dior cannot afford to get fully-dressed and have to take to the catwalk in their underwear?

  Skirts worn with bras, jackets with girdles, or ooh-la-la, lacy French knickers, and ball gowns with longline corsets, were just some of the looks on show as the famous French fashion house literally unveiled its autumn/winter 09/10 haute couture collection, chez Dior, on the Avenue Montaigne, today.

  However, this was hardly a question of cutting back (sales in London alone, according to Dior’s president and chief executive, Sidney Toledano, are showing a double-digit increase); it was more a question of stripping away in order to provide a unique glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes – and goes on underneath the exquisite designs – as some of the world’s most highly-paid models rush to get dressed for the show and make their entrance on the catwalk in some of the most expensive clothes on the planet.

  The scenario, entitled “Fever in the Cabine”, was inspired by archive photographs from the 1950s of Mr. Christian Dior himself, presiding over the backstage mayhem.

  Dior’s couturier in residence, John Galliano, however, took the concept to a more sensual extreme, providing a peekaboo parade of the gorgeous lingerie and underpinnings which create the famous Dior “hourglass” silhouette. The underwear and corsetry, in “midnight” lace and flesh-tone stretch, were in striking contrast to the powerful, electric and fluorescent colours of the designs.

  The show opened with the legendary Dior “bar” jackets, in fuschia wool crepe, with jewel-encrusted sleeves, tightly-belted over flesh-tone lace knickers, or in violet wool bouclé, with a matching skirt, but accessorised with a visible, black mesh, suspender belt.

  A lilac, wide-collared jacket was worn with seashell-pink lace “tap” pants and an orange satin “tulip” skirt with a vintage-style, 50s black bra. Lace knickers, suspenders and stockings were paired with a dramatic, black-and-white, zebra-print jacket; a leopard-print sheath dress was open at the bust to show an elaborate black lace bra; an embroidered, acid-yellow, wool-crepe coat, was folded-up, pannier-fashion, at each hip, to disclose saucy stocking-tops. Scalloped, lace petticoats flashed under the hem of an embroidered, nude-tone jersey dress and a fluorescent lime jacket came with a black, lace half-slip.

  The underwear theme was carried through into the shoes, where straps were inspired by suspenders and bra-fastenings.

  Not since Jean Paul Gaultier put Madonna into a rocket-cone bra, has a couturier been so enamoured of corsetry, nor designed such underwear that positively demands to be on show.

  The head of Dior’s haute couture, Madame Catherine Riviere, however, revealed that clients would be able to order the jackets with matching skirts, skirts with matching jackets or to request sheer petticoats be lined.

   

  (Telegraph fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news-Fearne Cotton and Holly Willoughby launch a new shopping website, ‘Very’.

  
  06 July 2009
  
  

  Louise Roe, Percy Parker and Amy Molyneux of PPQ, Simon Webb, Peaches Geldof, Fearne Cotton, Holly Willougby, Caprice and Jasmine Guiness form the Very line-up

  Yesterday saw Fearne Cotton and Holly Willoughby launch a brand new online shopping concept, www.very.co.uk

  “Very” – an initiative created by the Shop Direct Group, who own Littlewoods and Great Universal – has joined forces with the likes of Jasmine Guinness, Caprice, Peaches Geldof and designers Ann Louise Roswald, Amanda Wakeley and Preen, who have all created exclusive collections for the site.

  In addition to the celebrity clothing ranges, customers can shop for items from high street favourites Miss Selfridge, Oasis, French Connection and Littlewoods’ trend-led line, Love Label. Very has also signed up fashion presenter Louise Roe, who will be on hand to offer advice and guidance.

  The new site marks the launch of TV personality Fearne Cotton’s first clothing range, which starts at £8 for three pairs of metallic-coloured ankle socks, to £85 for a faux fur leopard-print coat.

  “I like to be adventurous in my style choice and I really think a lot of my personality is reflected in the range. I hope that Very customers enjoy it as much as I did designing it!” said Cotton of her design debut.

  Very customers can also gain a taste of designer fashion at an affordable price, as British label Preen’s “Fuse” diffusion line features alongside Peaches Geldof’s designs for PPQ, and Amanda Wakeley’s line “Elements”.

  The site is also stocks and extensive range of sports and children's wear, furniture for the home and garden, as well as electrical appliances. Very is aiming to create a live shopping community through offering its customers guidance from a huge network of product "Insiders", who have specialist knowledge across the shopping areas of the website. Customers can then join the insiders and celebrity designers online to give their opinions and reviews.

   

  (telegraph fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news-Designer Christian Lacroix-hanging on by a thread

  
  06 July 2009
  

  

  2009 new fashion news – Designer Christian Lacroix (pictured) has had his back against the wall since the fashion house...

  PARIS (AFP) – Designer Christian Lacroix has had his back against the wall since the fashion house which bears his name went into administration early last month.

  "What really churns my stomach is wondering what is going to become of the workrooms and, for the moment, none of the solutions I am looking at would save the couture side of the business," he told AFP on the eve of what could well be his last ever haute couture collection on Tuesday.

  If no saviour turns up, the house will close its doors at the end of July and 112 of its current 124 employees will lose their jobs.

  Welcomed as a breath of fresh air when he launched his label in 1987 with the support of global luxury leader LVMH, Lacroix was idolised by the fashion crowd, who pelted him with carnations, conveniently left on their seats, at the end of every show.

  Whatever went wrong? Administration appears to have been a problem: the company went through a dozen chief executive officers before it was bought in 2005 by the American duty-free giant Falic.

  "In 22 years we have well and truly put ourselves on the map, but the business side has never been up to the mark. I think we have never achieved the right relationship with our shareholders," Lacroix admitted.

  The house perfume "C'est La Vie" flopped and a diffusion line "Bazar", cheaper than the main ready-to-wear collection, was also quietly scrapped.

  "I think of us more as a house specialising in hand-crafted couture than an international label which must concrete over the planet with its products of every kind and wall-to-wall logos," he said, adding "We did bling before anybody else. It's real name is kitsch."

  Lacroix is precisely that kind of genius who can turn his hand to anything, from redesigning the coachwork of France's flagship TVG express trains to the cover of its most popular dictionary, the Petit Larousse, or designing extravagant stage costumes.

  At the same time he is a very private person, who shuns the celebrity lifestyle. His idea of a summer holiday is a hideaway in his native south of France, with his wife and a few close friends, as far as possible from billionaires and top models with their attendant paparazzi.

  "I have always swum against the current. And yet I have always found myself with people who wanted to make a fast buck," he said wryly.

  Remembering when he started out in the mid 1980s, the designer who was born in Arles, in Provence, said that in the rarefied world of Parisian fashion "it was considered a bit strange in those days to acknowledge your roots. But since then the south of France, the Mediterranean, has become all the rage, like being mixed race and the nomadic life."

  The vibrant colours of his native south have never been far away in his exuberant designs.

  For next autumn-winter, it will be "close-fitting silhouettes, sexy but gentle, with something going on at the back, bare shoulders under scarves which highlight them, black tone-on-tone embroidery... the classic repertory of the house, what is left, the hard disk."

  Lacroix sold the rights to his own name when he set up his house in 1987. Like other designers before him -- notably lingerie queen Chantal Thomass -- he will have to buy it if he wants it back. "I've no idea what it's worth. But I don't think Falic will let it go that cheaply. But in the worst case scenario, it won't be worth that much and maybe I'll be able to get it back."

  Only a privileged few of just over 200 press and customers have been invited to Tuesday's scaled-back show, at which the models are providing their services for free.

  The invitation is in austere black and grey, instead of the usual brilliant technicolour. For Lacroix, it reflects the mood of the collection, "a collection which is finished, but which was not completed under the usual conditions. It is like a sketch, a drawing for a painting..."

   

  (Yahoo fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news-Everything For The Wedding From Odeta

  
  05 July 2009
  

  Summer is the season of weddings. If this wonderful event is coming for you and you still haven't picked your dress we recommend you look through the models of fashion house Odeta. The dresses made by designers Donka and Valeria Lazarchevi are original and sophisticated, made by hand with perfect production and quality materials.
  
  For 18 years fashion house Odeta has been making your dream wedding, ball and formal dresses reality. An important detail is that you can combine the corset of one model with the skirt of another. You can choose different models of corset and skirt and have them made into a whole dress.
  
  During the producing of your dress you can change everything you don't like in the model as long as it's possible from a constructive and technological point of view. Of course the changing of the color, the decoration etc. is not a problem.
  
  The designers also take orders for making a dress on-line with your measures in the site for fashion house Odeta.
  
  The fashion house's collections are also sold in Russia, France, Switzerland and Cyprus.
  
  The company also offers formal wear for rent.

   

  

  

  

  The sponsor of your wedding, the mothers-in-law and the other guests can also find a suitable dress for themselves from Odeta so that they can look fabulous.

  

  

  

  

   

  (bgfashion fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news-Supermodel Daria Werbowy is the face you don't know you know

  
  05 July 2009
  
  

  Daria Werbowy for Lancôme. Photo: Helmut Newton Estate/Maconochie Photography. Rex. Craig Arend/AltamiraNYC. catwalking.com
  

  Daria Werbowy with Mario Testino. Photo: Helmut Newton Estate/Maconochie Photography. Rex. Craig Arend/AltamiraNYC. catwalking.com

  Unless you work in fashion, it's unlikely you'll ever have heard of Daria Werbowy. You probably won't even be able to pronounce her surname (it's Ver-bo-ee, which is Ukrainian for willow tree). But while the Canadian 25-year-old may not be a household name, she's certainly a household face.

  En route to Paris to meet her, I see that her translucent green eyes and ski-slope cheekbones grace the cover of British Vogue and feature in adverts from Roberto Cavalli to H&M. She's also been a spokesperson for Lancôme for four years – a title she shares with film stars such as Kate Winslet, Anne Hathaway and Juliette Binoche. She's translated this into a significant fortune – last year Forbes magazine declared her the ninth most highly paid model in the world, with annual earnings of $3.8 million (£2.3 million) – and serious clout.

  

  Daria Werbowy with Mario Testino. Photo: Helmut Newton Estate/Maconochie Photography. Rex. Craig Arend/AltamiraNYC.

  'I can't analyse my appeal. If I did I'd be in a straitjacket,' says Werbowy. Sitting in a hotel basement, wearing a black silk shirt and harem pants, she is surrounded by tasteful photos of herself, all bare honeyed limbs (at 5ft 11in she has an extraordinary body that is both skinny and voluptuous) and luxuriantly layered brown hair. Like many models, in the flesh Werbowy has a slightly alien air about her as she towers above me, her almost too-perfect features unmade-up. 'I sometimes find myself staring at it because I don't really know who that girl is,' she says, gesturing at a picture of herself. 'I guess a lot of people don't realise, but I'm always playing a character when I'm working. When you're always having people's images projected on you, who "Daria" is as a person sort of disappears.'

  She's no bimbo, that's for sure. Werbowy seems to enjoy the fashion game but knows that the only way to preserve her sanity is to keep a distance from it. 'I am very lucid in relation to the reality of this industry, the ephemeral nature of beauty and fame,' she says, 'and that gives me a certain distance and quite a bit of humour.'

  Maybe that attitude is down to her very non-fashion upbringing. Werbowy was born in 1983 and grew up in Mississauga, Toronto. A sporty child, she still has a tomboyish air to her. You can imagine her, had she not been so genetically blessed, leading a grungy existence devoted to her passions of snowboarding and basketball. But her looks made her destiny unavoidable. 'Modelling was kind of like a shadow that followed me everywhere since I was eight,' she says matter-of-factly. 'I'd have people stop me in the street or the supermarket and say, "You should try it."'

  At 14 she did – joining her local agency Susan J Model & Talent Management before moving to the über-agency Elite. In high school she modelled part-time, but by the time she graduated was 'really anxious to get out in the world. I thought modelling was just the best thing on the planet. The freedom and the travelling all just sounded so glamorous.'

  Many parents would have worried for their teenage daughter, but not the Werbowys. 'I've never had to rebel against my parents; I never had that sort of teen-angst thing where you didn't get along with them. My dad's always been my buddy. We hang out. He encouraged me to get out there, but then he has always believed in exploring. He used to shove us kids in the car on Sundays and say, "We've never driven down this street so today we're going to," when we were, like, "Dad! We want to sleep!"'

  Family support was vital – especially in not-so-promising beginnings. Werbowy's first bookings as an adult were for eight catwalk shows for New York fashion week in September 2001. 'Obviously they were all cancelled and nothing else happened.' She then lived in Paris, London and Greece, where 'there were loads of castings, but no work. Looking back, it was one of the greatest times of my life. There was no responsibility, I was doing road trips with my boyfriend of the time, I met a lot of great people, but at the time it was depressing.'

  A fter eight months of rejection, Werbowy returned to Canada. 'I was crying, saying, "Dad, I don't want to do this anymore, it's not for me." He said, "You wanted it. Get back out there!" I said, "Noooo!"' She wanted to go to art school and decided to raise the cash by giving modelling a final shot. 'I returned to New York, met my agent and the next day I had an exclusive deal with Prada. From then on it was all a bit of a blur.'

  What followed were years of 'non-stop travelling, waking up in places and not knowing where I was'. Some memories, however, stand out, such as the 2004 American Vogue shoot with Helmut Newton, his last before he died in a car crash. 'I was actually really sick so he kept me at a 10ft distance. He made me wear rubber nipples and had me lying on a bed of nails and eating grass with a fork. It was all really… grrr!' As with most successful modelling careers, the photographer Steven Meisel – who booked her for that first Prada campaign and her first two Italian Vogue covers – was key, too. He taught her 'all the old-school tricks; how to move, how to jump, how to pull back my ears to prepare my face for the camera [this gives an instant face-lift]. Working with him is a little like modelling school.'

  Werbowy is modelling gold dust: she has staying power. In 2004 she signed the Lancôme contract. Estimated to be worth about $1 million a year, it's a handy pension that has meant – perhaps inevitably – a slow-down in Werbowy's modelling output. Once known for opening the most number of catwalk shows ever in a season (an honour reserved for the most high-profile models), she is now scaling back her schedule. 'I really enjoyed them in the beginning. It was really empowering to stride out there, but eventually you start walking and on the way you're, like, "What am I going to eat tonight?" But I'm lucky now; I can come in and do a couple instead of the whole three-countries-and-six-shows-a-day thing, when you just get exhausted.'

  While she is the consummate professional, it's clear throughout our interview that Werbowy is talking to me only as a contractual obligation. When Kate Moss's name comes up, she says, 'I always tell Kate she's lucky because she doesn't have to do interviews.'

  Such remarks aside, Werbowy answers questions with polite consideration – something for which supermodels are not renowned. Respected in the industry for her lack of attitude, she also has a steely sense of self that makes her stand out from the crowd. Werbowy gives much credit to her Ukrainian-Polish parents, Daniel and Anna, an engineer and a teacher, who left their home-town of Krakow for Canada when Werbowy, the youngest of three children, was three. 'I think what they did was really inspiring to move to a new country in their thirties with no English at all,' she says sincerely. 'But my father's always been an adventurer. He had an invitation from relatives so he just took a leap of faith. It's given me an immense respect for them.'

  The irony is that the bohemian individualism that makes Werbowy so unique is precisely the reason she won't model for ever. Unlike many high-fliers, who are too insecure to turn off their BlackBerries, she took three months off this summer to sail across the Atlantic and Mediterranean with her father, siblings and three friends.

  'It was the best thing I've ever done,' she says, catlike eyes glowing. 'For the first time since all this started I really felt I was on vacation, completely separate from the Western way of life and at one with nature. We left from New York and it was 24 days until we hit land. We saw whales, dolphins, had crazy storms with 15ft waves, things breaking and snapping off. I'm not really good at time-management. My agency gets really angry with me – "Why do you leave everything to the last minute?" – and I get stressed, but this time we didn't really plan anything. It was so great.'

  Werbowy returned from her break 'definitely changed'. Now she is having 'an existential… not crisis, but wake-up. I'm asking more questions about life in general. It's like, "Oh my God, there's a whole world of things to learn about." So I'm just taking it easy.' She's considering studying philosophy or psychology and has also been spending a lot of time in her New York flat, painting and sculpting. 'Whether that'll ever evolve into anything I don't know. I'm still trying to search for what will be next.' Although she won't say what's in the pipeline, the work offers keep flooding in. Does she ever ask her agency to back off? 'I… they just sort of… Yeah, I tell them that a lot, actually,' she says, laughing. 'I shouldn't lie.'

  She leads a resolutely unstarry life, rarely appearing in gossip columns, dropping no names and saying that most of her friends are snowboarding buddies from Toronto. In the past she has been romantically linked to the actor Josh Hartnett. Now, she says, she has been with the same man for 'a long time', although refuses to name him. 'That's my secret,' she says with a giggle, although it takes only a few seconds on Google to discover he's Kenny Jossick, a former assistant of the photographer Mario Sorrenti, who now makes intricate silver knives and jewellery, some of which I suspect Werbowy's wearing, though I don't dare ask.

  Her priority still seems to be her family. She frequently drives from New York to Toronto to visit her parents in the house she recently bought them. 'It's great, but it meant selling our childhood house, and ever since I've really felt homeless. I didn't think it would be emotional, but it really has been.'

  With such a strong family background, Werbowy unsurprisingly wants children and has firm ideas about their upbringing. 'For the first three years, I'm taking them sailing. I think it's super-important for kids to have an imagination, to create their own world as opposed to just being surrounded by televisions and toys. That was one of the great things about my first years in Poland; we were forced to go outside and make up our own games.' Before babies, though, her ambition is to sail solo round the world in the Volvo Ocean Race.

  Werbowy has the intelligence to want to be considered more than a clothes-horse, but at the same time has the humility to know she is not entitled to anything. 'The great thing about my Lancôme deal is I get to be not just a model, I get a voice,' she says. 'Sometimes I wish I didn't have one because I get really insecure about what I say. But at the end of the day, it is what it is, and I always try to speak the truth.'

   

  (telegraph fashion news)

• Kai Kuhne-Spring 2009-2010 Fashion Week in Berlin-Kai Kuhne: Prodigal Returns in Triumph

  
  05 July 2009
  

  

  2009 new fashion news – Model walks the runway at the Kai Kuhne show during Spring 2010 Fashion Week in Berlin on Saturday...

  Berlin – If one had to think of at least one good reason to attend this latest Berlin Fashion Week, it surely was to catch the Saturday, July 4, runway show by Kai Kuhne, a German wild child resident for over a decade in New York, who returned in triumph this weekend.

  Even if nearly half the looks had already been seen in Kuhne's most recent Manhattan runway outing in February, this was a brilliantly fresh take on arty glamour, hard core style leavened with just the right dose of wit and wonder.

  No wonder Kuhne got the biggest cheer of any show staged in Bebelsplatz, the tented show space that was the nerve center of the four-day Berlin season.

  Opening with sleek, curvy mini jackets and delightfully well hung waxy raffia trench-dresses, Kuhne underlined what a snappy tailor he can be. From the concise incisions on the shoulders of cocktail dresses, to the pared down lapel-free boleros, this is a designer who understands when less can be so much more.

  In a city whose architecture is all about hard edges and austerity, Kuhne's snappy metal finished dresses and wonderful silverized swing coat looked like they had found their true home.

  The show featured some great accessories, like excellent suede court shoes given great pizzazz by their heels - culled from the chair legs of a classic Charles and Ray Eames chair.

  Added to that was some beautiful jewelry courtesy of Patricia Von Musulin, and the season's best-styled show, with stylist Avena Gallagher injecting the right dose of contemporary dash and humor, featured some models wearing zombie-like contact lenses.

   

  (Yahoo fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news - Megan Fox & Angelina Jolie

  
  03 July 2009
  
  

  Jolie and Fox on the red carpets at recent premieres. Photo: GETTY IMAGES

  With her tousled, raven-coloured hair, come-to-bed eyes and slender, model physique, Megan Fox is every man on the planet's ideal woman. Or at least that is what the millions of men across the world thought when they recently voted her FHM's "Sexiest woman in the world 2009", a title she holds for the second year running.

  Having recently toured the world to promote her latest film: 'Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen', 23-year-old Fox has become a red carpet premiere fixture, with her likeness to Angelina Jolie – who is eleven years her senior – ever-growing.

  Physical similarities are aplenty: Flowing, dark hair, big blue eyes and an assortment of tattoos. But, now their sartorial choices seem to be merging, too: A shared love of 'the-thigh's-the-limit' split dresses to flash their long, lean legs; a fondness for fail-safe LBD's, and a fancy for strapless cocktail gowns. They have recently both sported creations by Armani Privé, the eye-wateringly expensive and exclusive couture range by Italian designer Giorgio Armani.

  But how do Jolie and Fox really measure up?

  At 5ft 8, Jolie is thought to have two inches in height and in the region of five pounds on Fox, who weighs approximately 8 stone. Fox was a successful model before she turned her hand to acting, and relies upon a personal trainer to put her through her paces from home, although she admits: "I am very lazy".

  Jolie has attracted worldwide concerns for her willowy frame, which has fluctuated from when she was toned and voluptuous in her role as Lara Croft in the "Tomb Raider" films, to worryingly thin. It is claimed she follows a punishing exercise and nutrition regime.

  Where romance is concerned, Fox has an on/off relationship with actor Brian Austin Green, who is best known for his part in the TV series, "Beverly Hills, 90210". She has his name tattooed on her hip, and while it has been claimed that the couple are engaged, recent interviews suggest that they have since split.

  Jolie, who has been in a relationship with Brad Pitt for over four years, has three children fathered by the actor, and three she adopted. With a penchant for film stars, she has failed marriages to the Brit, Jonny Lee Miller, and American Billy Bob Thornton behind her.

  With Pitt firmly on her arm, pouty Angelina surely has the edge over Fox – who would benefit from some serious arm candy to strike a perfect match with Jolie.

  But both girls had better watch out. Young, sultry brunettes on the L.A red carpet scene, Kim Kardashian, and "The Hills" star, Audrina Partridge, are also squaring up for their position as the next Hollywood goddess.

   

  (Telegraph fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news-Christy Turlington revealed as the new face of Yves Saint Laurent

  
  03 July 2009
  
  

  Turlington in the autumn/winter 2009/10 campaign for French luxury brand Yves Saint Laurent

  Christy Turlington, the yoga-loving mother of two and former catwalk star, has demonstrated the continuing staying power of the former ‘supermodels’ in her newest venture in front of the camera.

  Ms Turlington, who turned 40 earlier this year, is the star of the new autumn/winter 09/10 advertising campaign for Yves Saint Laurent, designed by Stefano Pilati.

  She appears, sleek, toned and undeniably grown-up in the campaign, photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.

  Turlington most recently fronted the YSL campaign five years ago. The new photographs have been released in a week which also saw the original ‘waif”, Twiggy, announced as the returning “face” of Olay, more than two decades after she was first photographed for the brand.

  Once a household name, Turlington was one of the original “supers” all known simply by their first names – Linda, Christy, Claudia (Schiffer) and Naomi (Campbell) et al; all of whom have begun building up their pension schemes with a return to the forefront of lucrative advertising contracts and magazine front covers.

  Linda Evangelista, for example, is currently a “face” for both Prada and L’Oreal.

  Claudia Schiffer, meanwhile, has been confirmed as a speaker at the next International Herald Tribune Luxury Conference, ‘Techno Luxury’, in Berlin, in November; is the ‘face’ of Alberta Ferretti’s new perfume, to be launched in September; and is the current star of the Salvatore Ferragamo campaign.

   

  (Telegraph fashion news)

• the Boss Orange-Spring 2009-2010 Fashion Week in Berlin-Hugo Boss Orange: Sky Blue in the Deep East

  
  03 July 2009
  
  

  2009 new fashion news –  Model walks the runway at the Boss Orange show during Spring 2010 Fashion Week in Berlin on Thursday

  Berlin – Turns out sky blue is the new black, at least it was at Hugo Boss Orange show on Thursday night, July 2, staged in a funky old factory in Berlin, where every third look had a celestial hue.

  That's true even though the spring 2010 collection debuted a new twisted graphic logo in orange, for Orange, the free time clothing line for Boss' well-heeled clientele.

  Adrien Brody and Sienna Miller, stars of Boss ad campaigns, both sat front row.

  What worked best for guys were white nylon micro jackets and tapered pants, silver trimmed high-tops and faded denim looks, in particular a natty dress shirt in chambray, the same on worn by Orange designer Eyan Allen as he took his bow.

  For the ladies, standouts included a whole abstract expressionist moment, like the splash painting djellaba style dresses and clever scrawled to-the-knee skirts, ideal clubbing gear with fluid, drop-gorge satin tops.

  "I am always getting inspired by art, and the recent work of Mark Rothko really set me thinking," said Allen backstage.

  Allen is fine tailor and knows how to drape, though his obsession with floor-length silver skirts and a garish pink color worthy of a boiled sweet, not the beautiful chic, was a tad off.

  "Orange is the New Cool," read the two-inch-thick bold script on the T-Shirt worn by famed Russian model Vlada Roslyakova.

  Since its launch three years ago, Hugo Boss Orange has been creating hipster style for people who don't have time to shop for it in vintage stores or obscure edgy boutiques, and this collection was an assured step in fulfilling that very large market.

   

  (Yahoo fashion news)

• the Mongrels In Common-Spring 2009-2010 Fashion Week in Berlin-Not So Scruffy Mongrels in Common

  
  03 July 2009
  
  

  2009 new fashion news – Model walks the runway at the Mongrels In Common show during Spring 2010 Fashion Week in Berlin

  Berlin – Mongrels, a favored pet, though not atypically a scruffy one, might seem an odd choice of name for a fashion label, but if the latest collection from Mongrels in Common seen Thursday, July 2, in Berlin is any test, then the progeny looks like being a very fine breed.

  Call it clean clear German sportswear with a saucy trace of sex and you get something of an idea about this spring 2010 collection, whose signature material was salmon skin.

  The label, composed of the creative duo of Christine Pluess and Livia Ximenez-Carrillo, both Berlin-based, has been winning kudos for its sleekly plausible collections, which have a clever balance of sass and class, ever since its debut three years ago.

  "Our key idea this season was working with salmon," explained Pluess, gesturing to Ximenez-Carrillo, who looked resplendent in a snugly cut pair of fish-skin jeans. Moments before, models in beige salmon skin pants, topped with mannish, lilac satin shirts, or mini dresses, cut with a smidgen of curve but plenty of sass, marched down the catwalk.

  "We're mongrels cause we like to mix smart style with sexy, chic but with the avant garde," added Pluess.

  Featuring models with peek-a-boo tresses to one side and staged with plenty of pep and smartly edited by experienced stylist Julia Freitag, this show was all about what Berlin does best - jaunty sportswear for long-legged women. Nothing revolutionary, maybe, but lots of flattering ideas for next spring.

  And, though the economy is not exactly booming, this packed-out show is one of nearly 30 in the five-day season, centered at Bebelsplatz on the German capital's main boulevard - Unter den

   

  (Yahoo fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news-Kylie Minogue hates being too thin

  
  03 July 2009
  

  The petite singer - who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 - has put on weight since undergoing chemotherapy treatment and believes her looks have improved because of it.

  She explained: "It was hard to deal with. I still deal with it. I've got fat ankles hidden under these boots.

  "But I think my body in many ways is better for having weight on it. When I look back at some pictures, especially before I was diagnosed, I just think, 'That's too thin, that doesn't look good. That doesn't look right.' "

  Overall, the 41-year-singer insists she is happy with the way she looks, especially as her body is returning to how it was before she was diagnosed.

  She added: "My face has changed. Everything has changed. It's coming back to normal, whatever normal is."

  Earlier this year, Kylie admitted she has had Botox injections to ensure she remains wrinkle free, and hinted she might undergo further anti-ageing procedures.

  She said: "For all time women have wanted to, for the most part, look their best. It's just that what we have available to us today is - what it is today. And if you want to take advantage of it, yeah. I'm preferring to be a lot more... natural these days. I've tried Botox, I've tried all..."

   

  (bgfashion fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news-Beyonce Knowles' latest fashion range will be aimed at schoolgirls

  
  03 July 2009
  

  

  The 'Crazy in Love' singer has teamed up with her mother Tina Knowles to launch Sasha Fierce for Dereon, which will include shoes, glasses, lingerie, sportswear and jewellery.
  
  Tina will create the clothing and accessories but she insists Beyonce will be very involved with the designs.
  
  She explained to WWD: "She definitely tells me what she likes and what she doesn't. It was her suggestion to line the rips of the jeans with the mesh and lace. It makes the jeans look really different from what's out there."
  
  The collection will be launched at the end of August just before children go back to school in the US after the summer break.
  
  However, the range is in tandem with Beyonce's 'Sascha Fierce' world tour and is set to be discontinued when the shows finish.
  
  But Tina insists if it gets a good response, it could become a permanent part of the House of Deron.

   

  (bgfashion fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news-Diane Von Furstenberg's new perfume is reportedly making New York pedestrians feel unwell

  
  03 July 2009
  

  

  The coveted designer - who recently launched her new scent D Eau de Parfum - has upset US residents by pumping the strong-scented fragrance from the air vents at her store in the city's fashion-forward Meatpacking District.
  
  One woman told the New York Post newspaper: "I literally got dizzy from this. It is putrid, awful, something you'd find on a 60-year-old matron.
  
  "She has got some nerve wafting this out of her store. There is a point at which these peoples' egos and chutzpah absolutely begin to take over any sense of reality or consideration for other people."
  
  Another woman claims the scent is so overpowering outside the exclusive West 14th Street boutique she expects someone to fall ill.
  
  She explained: "It's just a matter of time before someone's going to get sick and keel over from it or has an allergic reaction to it."
  
  The designer's website describes the scent as an "exotic mix of Mandarin flower, violet leaves and lychee. Jasmine absolute, ylang ylang and Lily of the Valley, with an edge of pepper and nutmeg. Ultimately, D wanders off to the wild, mysterious forests of cedar, patchouli and sandalwood."
  
  However, a spokesperson for the designer label says they were unaware the perfume was causing such upset.
  
  Label representative Emese Szenasy said: "This is the first we've heart of it. We'll absolutely look into it."

  (bgfashion fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news-L'Oreal Sued For Racial Discrimination

  
  03 July 2009
  

   

  

  French cosmetic company L'Oreal whose promotional slogan is “Because you're worth it” was sued for racial discrimination because the company decided that women who are black or of Arabian or Asian heritage are not worthy enough to sell the company's shampoo reports Times.
  
  The French supreme court decided that the company was looking for a team of only white women to promote their new shampoo line.
  
  The subdivision of L'Oreal Garnier was looking for girls who are “blue, white and red” which are the colors of the French flag and is a slang for looking for French girls born to white French parents which in turn violated the rights of about four million members of various ethnic minorities in France.

   

  (bgfashion fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news-Supermodel Karen Mulder has been arrested for making "threatening" phone calls to a plastic surgeon

  
  03 July 2009
  

  The 39-year-old star was questioned at a Paris police station after calling the medic and reportedly demanding for a previous operation to be reversed.

  A detective said: "She was screaming and shouting about the operation and became extremely threatening. There were repeated calls to the female surgeon who was extremely scared. The suspect is being interviewed."

  Karen was arrested at about 10am yesterday (30.06.09) and taken to a station in the fashion district of the French capital city.

  Another police source has claimed the model had been "stalking and making repeated violent telephone threats" to the surgeon.

  The source added: "Miss Mulder was accompanied to a police station in Paris after a complaint was made against her.

  "She is being interviewed by detectives and is expected to be released on bail.

  "Her phone records are being checked. It is not yet known if any charges will be brought."

  Karen made her name in the 80s and 90s, and was paid £10,000 for a day's work at one point.

  She gave up modeling in 1998 after saying she could no longer bear to be photographed.

  In 2001, she claimed politicians and policemen had used her and others in her profession as sex slaves. She also falsely alleged she had been raped by Monaco's Prince Albert.

  She had depression and received treatment at a psychiatric hospital, then explained her problems were a result of an addiction to drugs when she was a model.

  In 2002, she took an overdose of sleeping pills and was left in a coma.

  She appeared on the catwalk in 2007 at a Christian Dior show alongside Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Stella Tennant and Helena Christensen.

   

  (bgfashion fashion news)