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• Fashion news 2011: Marks & Spencer unveils its new bridal lingerie

  
  29 September 2011
  

  Fashion news 2011 - Marks & Spencer unveils its new bridal lingerie:  Where better than The Goring, the luxurious hotel situated a stones throw from Buckingham Palace, for high street giant Marks & Spencer to present its new range of bridal lingerie.

  

  Models wearing Marks & Spencer’s new bridal range pose outside The Goring hotel in central London

  Where better than The Goring, the luxurious hotel situated a stones throw from Buckingham Palace, for high street giant Marks & Spencer to present its new range of bridal lingerie.

  

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  It is, after all, where Kate Middleton prepared to marry Prince William, and - it is rumoured - on the morning of her big day, took to the hotel's lifts in just her smalls, so voluminous was her gown that she had to get dressed on the ground floor.

  The irony was not lost on M&S, who chose the family-owned hotel purely for the Duchess connection.

  Guests were led to a cosy room in the basement, where an intimate salon show was staged to present the brand's forthcoming collections. As the heatwave gained momentum outside, models worked the room in cashmere dressing gowns, knitted slipper socks and trend-conscious thermal tops - all part of the retailer's Christmas offering.

  In tune with the current Great Gatsby influence permeating the spring/summer 2012 catwalks, the Twenties aesthetic was replicated with intricate, art deco lace upon pleated bras and silky French knicker-style shorts. Elegant, floral-print kimonos in silk were elegantly executed.

  

  The star of the show however, was the "Wedding Day Wonders" collection.

  "The perfect dress has to start with the perfect underpinnings," declared Soozie Jenkinson, head of lingerie design, as models clutching bouquets of flowers paraded the new Autograph range, which will hit stores in February next year.

  Inspired by prints and techniques from the M&S archive (the retailer made its first bra in 1926) the comprehensive range features delicate but fuss-free silk bras, suspenders, adjustable basques and Brazilian knickers in ivory. Body-conscious brides will no doubt buy into the discreet shapewear pieces - so far removed from Spanx, that Bridget Jones would have killed for a set.

  (telegraph fashion news)

• Mugler Spring Summer Fashion 2012 Collection at Paris Fashion Week

  
  29 September 2011
  

  Mugler Spring Summer Fashion 2012 Collection at Paris Fashion Week: Mugler is looking for customers as well as online rubberneckers. Whether creative director Nicola Formichetti can keep both groups interested is the challenge, says Luke Leitch..

  

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  What to expect of a show that opens with a video of Lady Gaga wearing some terrible 1950s-British dentistry buck teeth and pigtails, and being jolly rude? As that film begins, a forest of camera phone-holding hands shoots up to film the film.

  "I'm Mugler woman," intones the show's famous meat-dress-wearing musical director, then adds "Don't f*** with me."

  OK, thinks you're starting-to-sweat correspondent (it's hot in the Gymnasium Japy), I shan't. "She will hate you, Mugler woman." That seems a bit strong. "Welcome to Paris Fashion Week." Thanks! "I am Mugler woman. Don't f*** with Mugler." Sheesh - give it a rest!

  The appointment of Nicola Formichetti as creative director of Thierry Mugler was extremely canny, brand-identity-wise. For the utterly charming Italian-Japanese stylist - and co-mastermind of Lady Gaga's wardrobe - has an online footprint Burberry would sell its last trench coat for. Millions of awkward, bedroom-dwelling teenagers with 24-hour broadband see Gaga as their totem, and hence this on-its-uppers house suddenly finds itself a key player on fashion's digital frontier.

  However without wishing to f*** with Mugler, Formichetti now faces a problem: should his shows be performance art 2.0, simply a way of generating eye-catching content for those screen-lit millions watching across the world? Or should he try and reconcile the demands of the Gaga constituency with those who might actually buy the clothes and make Mugler some money?

  "This was for a softer woman," said Formichetti after the show last night. And certainly there were signs that he is starting to consider what's wearable as well as what's watchable. He even used beige, a colour so conventional that here it felt radical. Of course there was lots of more outré fare: flesh-baring panels hacked out of oddly-extended neoprene coats, trousers that looked half undone at the bag, escalator-unsuitable trailing strips of materials hanging from hems. This is what they call "deconstructed". But that beige - especially in relatively simple (albeit wetsuit-tight) pairs of trousers was the most telling detail. It suggested that Mugler is looking for customers as well as online rubberneckers. Whether he can keep both groups interested, however, is the challenge.

  After the lights came up and the music turned down, the atmosphere in Gymnasium Japy was really rather muted. Formichetti rushed off to edit a film of the show for those waiting on Twitter, Tumblr and all his various other outlets - for this is a man with more platforms than St Pancras Station. It must be exhausting.

  Photos of  Mugler Spring Summer Fashion 2012 Collection:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  (telegraph fashion news)

• London Fashion Week 2011: Peter Pilotto Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection

  
  21 September 2011
  

  London Fashion Week 2011 - Peter Pilotto Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection: Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos might be pattern wizards, but their latest collection was too nice and elegant to be dissected into dry theory.

  How clever are Peter Pilotto (yes it is plural, they're two designers called Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos). And they are clever. They're pattern wizards who are also geniuses at cutting and draping. But don't think of this as a technical dissertation, because the spring/summer collection was too sexy and elegant to be dissected into dry theory, tempting although that is when one's feeling in the mood for a nerdy fashion discussion. But this is about clothes to wear. And those differently scaled patterns - a theme tackled elsewhere but nowhere more eye-catching or inventively than here - would certainly get you noticed. But unlike some of the kaleidoscope clashes we've seen, you wouldn't look freaky.

  

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  There's a point beyond the decorative to those oh so meticulously mismatched patterns and it's this: spinning something new out of separates. In this instance, it's separates that when worn together, look like a dress. It's a three for the price of one deal that is really taking off in the current climate.

  And like others in London, they're playing with shapes. Sure there were plenty of slinky, below the knee pencil 1940s style skirts - although there was nothing retro about the end results, once they'd been dunked in glowing shades of coral-red and cobalt and occasionally smothered with twinkling plastic flowers, to ravishing effect.

  While their peers are busy getting swept along to a tribal African beat , they played with wavy lines, clouds and a rope print that twisted round hems and waists to striking effect. More arresting still were the swooping peplums, sometimes to the ground and those big swooshing skirts that hit just above the knee - a silhouette that just a season ago looked untenable but now seems increasingly like a contender for cool, experimentalists. It certainly makes a change from pleated chiffon maxis. And for the brave there were latex look, pastel bustiers and boleros - an alley most recently explored by Proenza Schouler. Not that you could accuse these two of plagiarism. They're true originals - but they might want to ditch the rubber.

  (telegraph fashion news)

   

• London Fashion Week 2011: Louise Gray Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection

  
  21 September 2011
  

  London Fashion Week 2011 - Louise Gray Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection: Trust Me was the title of Louise Gray's debut on the Topshop New Gen catwalk. And trust her we did, to provide some of the week's most playful, creative, colourful and exuberant clothes. Gray's signature is her joyful mishmash of colour, pattern and texture and this collection showed off all her talents magnificently. "Its how my mother taught me to dress," she said, "everything matches if you like it."

  

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  She was inspired by a long list of super strong, independently-minded women, including the artist Vali Myers, Gypsy Rose Lee, Gala Dali and Poly Styrene. There were also mixes of patterns taken from pottery and Navajo fabrics, naive embroideries using torn chiffon instead of embroidery thread, fine woven tweeds, made specially for her by traditional English mills (she makes all her collections in the UK ; her brilliant knitwear is made in Wales), sequin belts and layers of fabric cut in panels and left unfinished at the edges.

  

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  Gray studied embroidery at Glasgow school of art before attending the MA Fashion degree at Central Saint Martins. Her graduate collection caught the eagle eye of Lulu Kennedy who invited her to show at part of Fashion East for spring/summer 2008. Kennedy still wears pieces from the MA collection and there were elements from that collection, as well as some of her more experimental textile and embroidery explorations evident in her collection for spring/summer 2012. Her tutor from Central Saint Martins, Louise Wilson, watched proudly and enthused about the collection after the show.

  

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  "This was my first big show through Topshop," said Gray after the show. "There was silk, screen printing, velvet devoré, foil. But I was trying to simplify it more. It's for a girl and a woman. It's more about a mentality." And trust her, Louise Gray knows just what she is doing.

  

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  (telegraph fashion news)

• London Fashion Week 2011: Meadham Kirchoff Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection

  
  21 September 2011
  

  London Fashion Week 2011 - Meadham Kirchoff Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection: We should have known from the invitation - sugary pink little girls' stationery covered in red hearts and kitsch bunnies and a pop up lamb inside. 'A wolf in sheep's clothing' was the title of Meadham Kirchhoff's collection for spring/summer 2012.

  

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  The space was festooned with balloons and streamers and out came 14 Courtney Love look-alikes dressed in satin baby dolls the colours of sugared almonds and candy floss hair. After applying their lipstick, and puffing powder on their faces from huge marabou puffs, they proceeded to dance a crazed version of the can-can as the models paraded around them, a procession of sweet knits with not so sweet cut-outs to reveal a peekaboo of crystal-encrusted bra, an 18th century brocade jacket with a cape back in pistachio green with fluffy pompoms at the breast, a panier skirt, a marabou feather can-can dress, crystal encrusted knitted leotards, a jumper with a rainbow and smiley faces on clouds, a pinafore with a teddy bear appliquéd on the front. Shoes came in the form of wedges edged in lacey frills in gold or silver or metallic pink. It was innocence in total excess - so much sugar that someone would surely be sick before the party was over.

  

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  This was an upbeat, fast and furious, fun affair by the designers Ed Meadham, who's English, and Ben Kirchhoff, who's French, ending with pretty little girl ballerinas tippy toeing around a sugar plum cake. By the end of it, fellow designers, Nasir Mazhar, who made the hats, and Lousie Gray, were laughing and clapping. Even Anna Wintour was smiling.

  In the programme notes, the designers thanked Tavi Gevinson, the 15-year-old blogger who recently launched her online teen zine, Rookie, saying they wished she was there.

  "We've become friends," said Ben Kirchhoff after the show. They have never actually met, but have spoken a lot over the past few months while they have been making the collection, he said.

  "We have the same aesthetic and the same brain patterns. She is the person most like me I've ever known."

  

  The collection itself was a story of anti-beauty contests and anti-popularity contests. References ranged from religious icons to pageant winners, strippers, showgirls and their collection of Mother's Day and Valentine's cards from the '30s, '40s and '50s. "I am interested to push everything as far as possible," he said.

  (telegraph fashion news)

• Fashion news 2011: The best fashion of London Fashion Week 2011

  
  21 September 2011
  

  Fashion news 2011: The best fashion of London Fashion Week 2011: Some 104 shows and presentations, 5,000 buyers and journalists, 1,250 bottles of champagne (those were just those at official parties) two major sets of roadworks (did you forget it was fashion week, Boris?), 400,000 tweets, 399,000 of them about Kate Moss's double-denim outfit - this was the season London Fashion Week staked its claim as a player.

   

  British designers may still lack the financial clout of Milan: where Prada for one, has just announced glowing results. But if they're cash poor, they're ideas rich. Where once London could be relied on to field three or four temperature-raising moments, now there are probably 15 or 20 shows worthy of attention. We've edited these down to 10:

  Erdem 4/5

  

  Erdem's focus is on his beloved florals, which he retools season after season. The botanicals this time round were exquisitely pretty: buds of cornflower-blue, lemon and poppy-red dotted, off-the-shoulder dresses, chiffon skirts and shifts. Instantly desirable, they explain why he has fans like the Duchess of Cambridge, who wore a lacy frock of his in Canada. One white lace dress practically screamed: "Buy me now, Kate!" Having a signature look can breed predictability, the death of any designer. Taking strides to "move his work forward", he gave us floral hot pants. Well, he had to hit a bum note some time, didn't he? (PL)

  Clements Ribeiro 4/5

  

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  Clements Ribeiro hit the ground running with a tightly edited collection of wantable, wearable clothes. If that sounds tame, somehow it wasn't. The new craze in town is clashing patterns, and these two are masters at that game. Calling on antique Indian toile de joys and a smattering of monochrome harlequin diamonds, they played a chic hand: slim-cut, loose-fitting silk printed trousers with matching sleeveless tops, or simply worn with fabulous cashmere twinsets, in shades of salmon, bilberry and raspberry. (LA)

  Antonio Berardi 4/5

  

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  Berardi's oeuvre is high-wattage frocks, the kind that make his leading ladies - Gwyneth Paltrow, Beyoncé et al - sizzle on the red carpet. There was plenty here to keep them happy: a strapless, flowing gown in scarlet; a sequins-heavy one in black; and another with plastic, wipe-clean panels. Maybe not. The real stars were his tailored pieces. A burgundy jacket paired with fluid, colour-blocked trousers had that cool loucheness. Ditto the white version, but it could be costly to maintain. Perhaps the wipe-clean panels should be relocated. (PL)

  Christopher Kane 4/5

  

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  To create his "ghost fabric", an iridescent metallic floral that crackled with light and movement, Christopher Kane layered four materials including an organza made almost entirely of aluminium. Mixed up with semi-transparent dresses patched with flower stickers, washed-out pastel satins that seemed even more washed-out against one electrifyingly blue version, low-armed sleeveless cricket jumpers and flat sandals encrusted with jewel-like beads, this was a show that dripped with verve. (LL)

  Jonathan Saunders 4/5

  

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  How do we love this collection? Let us count the ways: First, those zinging colour combos - canteloupe and lime, forget-me-not blue and yellow, mint and lilac. Second, the below - the-knee skirt, be it narrow or bouffant. He makes it look romantic, modern and youthful. Third, the subtle paisley prints. Fourth, his brocade jackets - they look cool; we can already see them with a pair of jeans. Finally, his waffle-textured jumpers. Wear with a toning silk skirt and you've got a modern suit. (LA)

  Richard Nicoll 2.5/5

  

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  Basing a collection on old Simplicity sewing patterns for girls' nighties from the Sixties risky - the potential for ickiness is off the Richter scale. Pink or powder-blue chiffon hooped skirts with baby-dolls' smock tops? Since when was kitting yourself out for a sleepover a realistic path to being taken seriously? Once Nicoll began subverting his theme, things looked up. A pastel tunic in patent looks more decadent. And what about putting it with a neoprene micro-mini and transparent ankle boots? Black-and-white floral capris made the craze for patterned trousers look chic. (LA)

  Pringle of Scotland 3/5

  

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  After reviews of his first menswear collection in June, expectations were low for Alistair Carr's debut at Pringle's womenswear. Amazingly, he confounded the doubters. Knits were the star, from Carr's 8-bit trompe l'oeil vision of a V-neck, to his hand intarsia technique that made light work of chunky herringbone. Twinsets were present too, fastened at the back for summer. There were also silk dresses patchworked together with twinset buttons and slick tailoring revealing contrasting flashes of colour. (BW)

  Paul Smith 3/5

  

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  Apparently, finding flattering trouser makes string theory seem laughably simple. Well, if all of those fashionistas took a good look at this Paul Smith Women collection then - snap! - problem solved. For Sir Paul and his team know more about tailoring than any other womenswear designers. While some find his menswear references too predictably, well, masculine - there were wide-brimmed trilbies plus punchily coloured man-jackets and crisp, white shirts. For Paul Smith, women trousers are the holy grail. (LL)

  Marios Schwab 4/5

  

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  This show saw the British Fashion Council's main stage packed to Health and Safety standards' breaking point. Yet even editors forced to sit on the floor agreed Schwab's was a collection to remember. He used meshed material - as chunkily perforated as a tennis net or as finely punctured as gauze - as a vehicle to display the contours of the body. Deceptively simply cut dresses with cinched-in waists and at-the-knee hems, in white, black, flesh tones and pink, made the woman inside them the star. Shadows cast by the outer gauze on the under-dresses were mesmerising. (LL)

  Osman 3.5/5

  

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  It takes courage to stick with minimalism when all around are embracing maximalism. But there was nothing stark about Osman's pared back aesthetic. Powder-pink crêpe dresses with big, sculptural bows and cobalt-blue silk and leather strapless tops, worn with perfect, slim, black trousers (a chic alternative to the LBD), proved drama doesn't have to be loud. Some in the audience wanted more smoke and mirrors, but if you like clothes that flatter he's your man. (LA)

  (telegraph fashion news)

• London Fashion Week 2011: Pringle Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection

  
  21 September 2011
  

  London Fashion Week 2011: Pringle Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection: Taking on a quintessentially British heritage brand is a big ask for any designer. Between all the reverence and cap doffing for the past, fashion demands a fresh and modern outlook. It's a balance which few, besides Christopher Bailey at Burberry, have truly nailed, and yesterday at London Fashion Week it was Alistair Carr's turn to take up the challenge with his debut womenswear collection for knitwear brand, Pringle of Scotland.

  

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  Expectations were mixed - in line with the reviews of his first menswear collection shown in back in June - but hopes were high due to a thoroughly British fondness for both the brand, and the charming man cherry-picked from under Nicolas Ghesquiere's nose at Balenciaga to head up the label following Clare Waight Keller's departure to Chloé.

  With the label's muse and campaign girl Tilda Swinton sat in the front row (if ever there was a woman who could make a 196-year-old brand famous for twinsets and golfing jumpers modern, it is she), Carr gave us a futuristic vision of heritage in technicolour glory.

  No expense was spared on the model budget - this is one London Fashion Week label that truly competes on the international stage - the show opening with Abbey Lee Kershaw striding out to a soundtrack of Nothing's Going to Change My World in a multi-colour graphic block motif sweater.

  As you would expect, the knits were the star, from Carr's 8-bit trompe l'oeil vision of a v-neck, to his ingenious hand intarsia technique which made light work of chunky herringbone. The twinset was present too, fastened loosely at the back for summer.

  But this collection wasn't all about wool.

  There were artfully draped silk dresses patchworked together with tiny twinset buttons, cropped silk cargo pants and slick, articulated tailoring which revealed contrasting flashes of colour as the models moved.

  Rousing applause from the crowd confirmed Carr had hit the right notes for his "sophisticated modern woman".

  "I'm going to celebrate tonight", a relaxed and beaming Carr said afterwards. With the future of Pringle looking safe in his hands, the drinks should be on them.

  Photos London Fashion Week 2011: Pringle Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection:

  

  

  

  

  (telegraph fashion news)

• London Fashion Week 2011: Burberry Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection

  
  20 September 2011
  

  London Fashion Week 2011: Burberry Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection: By the time Arizona Muse stepped on to the catwalk in an olive woven trench coat with stripy raffia cadet cap, the show, and its preceding "Tweetwalk", were the second most talked about topic on Twitter. They even beat International Talk Like a Pirate day.

  

  Burberry has ruthlessly deployed social media and is making money from it. Viewers watching the live streaming could click to buy - items will be delivered in six to eight weeks.

  They will need deep pockets though. As much as Burberry is in thrall to the rush of modern technology, its creative director, Christopher Bailey, loves the sedate amble of traditional craftsmanship as well.

  Those hand-blocked Henry Moore-esque prints don't come cheap. Nor do the raffia finishes, the plaited leather sleeves the hand-sewn buttons and the horsehair canvasses that Burberry still uses even in its standard trenches.

  The ones in this show were anything but basic: stripy or tribal, slinky or full-skirted and cinched in with woven cummerbunds. It was all far less blingy than recent showings, and all the more gorgeous for it. Perhaps Burberry has moved on from Moscow molls, or maybe Moscow molls now want something more subtle. They will also find a novel alternative to fur in the form of those Peta-pleasing raffia collars.

  "It's so wearable and sexy," said Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, the face of Burberry's perfume and new Marks & Spencer model, who was sitting by the actresses Gemma Arterton and Sienna Miller, Kanye West, the US rapper, and Andy Murray, the tennis star. What about those peaked pom-pom raffia cadet caps? Her lips pursed for a moment, then, gamely, she said: "I'm going right out to buy one tomorrow."

  Faced with competition from a Burberry front row, a smaller designer must resort to extreme measures to get attention. Christopher Kane's went as extreme as London Fashion Week gets yesterday, when he sent a comfortable shoe out on to his catwalk.

  It has been so long since the fashion fraternity has seen a flat, cushioned, sensible sole that initial reactions assumed this was a rogue pitch invader. But every shoe came that way; beaded, sparkly - and with adjustable straps.

  Kane denied they were a come-and-get-me call to the makers of Fit-Flops, the special soles of which are designed to tone muscles, insisting that the decision was purely aesthetic. "An ultra-high heel, especially with a mini skirt just looks so old now," he said.

  Samantha Cameron, who was also at Burberry in her role as ambassador for London Fashion Week, looked on intently at the passing flat soles. As well she might - at the royal wedding she appeared to kick off her Aldo platforms once safely ensconced in a pew.

  Scottish-born Kane, 29, is one of a handful of designers who can influence the way women dress. He was largely responsible for the revival in body-con dressing and soon his followers will be striding comfortably in his wake.

  The shoes may have been flat but the clothes were effervescent. Tunics and mid-thigh skirts fizzed with metallic and brocade finishes and opulent beading.

  Photos of London Fashion Week 2011: Burberry Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  (telegraph fashion news)

• Underwear Trends 2012: John Galliano's Underwear Collection For Fall-Winter 2012

  
  16 September 2011
  

  Underwear Trends 2012: John Galliano's Underwear Collection For Fall-Winter 2012: John Gallliano label has just released a lookbook featuring their underwear collection for Fall/ Winter 2011/ 2012. The pieces look amazing. Some are obviously created to make men’s hearts racing.

  

  Despite the fact John Galliano had to leave the post at his eponymous label the company keeps on working and producing new collections. For Fall/ Winter 2011/ 2012 they’ve already presented a clothing range which is perfect. But they also have an underwear line which you can see here. The lookbook is based on the ballet theme which has become incredibly popular after Black Swan film was released.

  John Gallaino’s Fall/ Winter 2011 2012 lookbook features two models – a female and male – wearing nice underwear pieces teamed up with pointe shoes and knee socks. The girl looks very womanly in those. At certain photographs she strikes poses resembling real ballet pas and steps.

  

  John Galliano Underwear designed for Fall/ Winter 2011/ 2012 fashion season is based on different styles. There are flower-printed sets, beautiful lace ensembles and simple but comfy combinations.

  

  Some of John Galliano’s underwear pieces are for bedroom wear only. These are totally sheer and look amazing. Many items come with cute frills and bows but there are a few molded sets as well.

  Photos John Galliano's Underwear Collection For Fall-Winter 2012:

  

  

  

  

  

   

• New York Fashion Week 2011: Ralph Lauren Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection

  
  16 September 2011
  

  New York Fashion Week 2011: Ralph Lauren Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection: Ralph Lauren references vampish flappers and The Great Gatsby with his spring/summer 2012 collection of pastel beaded gowns.

  

  The cowboy-themed wedding of David Lauren (son of Ralph) to Lauren Bush (niece of George W) at the groom's family's 1400-acre ranch this month presented two intriguing questions.

  The first was quickly answered: the bride has understandably baulked at Lauren Lauren, so will be known as Lauren Bush-Lauren.

  The second - which of the newly-united families is the most influential - seems at first to be a no-brainer. For two Presidents in one family represents a great deal of influence. Yet, as he showed at his latest collection, in many ways Ralph Lauren is probably more significant to more people around the world than a ranch rustling with Bushes. His polo-player emblazoned basics are beloved of a millions-strong global constituency that includes English rugby fans and (to the company's understandable discomfort) Mexican drug-runners. And at the top of his business - his high fashion collections for men and women - he has for decades had the knack of presenting collections that signal sophisticated aspiration, and set his cash-tills alight.

  Lauren often trades on instantly-recognisable Americana - cowboys (as at that wedding), Wall Street, or pioneers - and yesterday's collection returned to another favourite idealised theme. The Jazz Age was America before its first great financial fall, when the female stereotypes were vampish flappers in beaded gowns or, more demurely, a ladylike cloche hats worn with girlish, boxy pleated dresses. All were here, in off-white ivory and powdery blue, pink, and green pastels, accessorised with loops of pearl. One model used the hand not gripping her crochet clutch bag to twirl rose-printed gauze of her dress as she span for the cameras.

  There was a nod to his formative Great Gatsby connection - Lauren designed the clothes for the Robert Redford film - in a wide-shouldered double-breasted white striped suit. Frocks shivered with ostrich feather and glistened with lamé. Some of the evening gowns, in those pastel shades and shimmering with a super-glossed satin effect, veered perilously close to a Miss Universe aesthetic, but for many wealthy young ladies across the world this collection will represent utter desirability.

  In the four months up to this July $1.6 billion dollars worth of Ralph Lauren clothing were sold. In the country where cash is king - and currently extremely scarce - that represents a great deal of influence indeed.

  Photos Ralph Lauren Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  (telegraph fashion news)

• New York Fashion Week 2011: 3.1 Phillip Lim Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection

  
  15 September 2011
  

  New York Fashion Week 2011: 3.1 Phillip Lim Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection: Phillip Lim's collection showed off what New York designers do best: clean lines, sophisticated tailoring and neutral (yes, I can hear you saying "safe") colours. New York might, quite rightly, be derided for being the capital of commercial fashion, but there are legions of ladies out there who don't want to look "directional" in Rick Owens. They want to look groomed. This is what New York style is all about.

  

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  Lim's collection was his most sophisticated, covetable - and, I am not ashamed to say it - wearable, yet

  It lacked the "wow" factor of Prabal (it rhymes with "trouble") Gurung's spectacular display of technical prowess on Sunday, but it was no less beautiful.

  There was of course, as we've seen all week, a lingering obsession with colour-blocking. But in Lim's case "blocking" seems too hard a word. A chalk pink jacket, with lapels lined in the softest gray, which looked like wings, was draped over a loose black blouse: a collarless cream silk jacket with peach slouchy trousers. It was a look at colour blocking with your sunglasses on.

  All photos of  New York Fashion Week 2011: 3.1 Phillip Lim Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  (telegraph fashion news)

• New York Fashion Week 2011: Michael Kors Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection

  
  15 September 2011
  

  New York Fashion Week 2011: Michael Kors Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection: Michael Kors has done a collection like ‘Afriluxe’ before but it was a different timing and different inspiration. His new designs are forward-looking and will be liked by women who love comfort but still want to remain stylish.

  

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  Michael Kors isn’t among my favorite designers because his creations are often too simple and lack femininity (but he does designs fantastic coats!). However, his Spring/ Summer 2012 collection, named Afriluxe, is quite interesting. First of all, the colors – mustard green, brown, moccasin, orange, saturated yellow – looked great both separately and in combinations.

  Secondly, I love the idea – mix of wild African prints, luxurious fabrics and restrained but chic designs. Prints featured in Michal Kors’ Afriluxe collection for Spring/ Summer 2012 ranged from old but fave leopard and zebra to flame and grass.

  Silhouettes are very Kors’ – straight and severe in suits and flowing and airy in dresses. Designer’s sarongs looked beautiful as did the sport-style swimsuits.

  Accessory line is amazing. Gladiator sandals are high to the extremes, they climb almost to the knee. Some comes laced, others are made with the use of straps and buckles.

  Bags in Michael Kors’ Spring/ Summer 2012 collection looked even more impressive. The crocodile-strap cross-body bag is the piece an elegant lady would be terrified of. But in the collection it looked very harmonious. Belt purses still remain hot for the Spring/ Summer 2012 season. Kors had those in plenty.

  Michael Kors limited jewelry in his Spring/ Summer 2012 collection to minimum – just a few huge chunky bangles and massive ethnic necklaces.

  To conclude I can say I like Michael Kors’ Spring/ Summer 2012 collection. It is not very innovative but comprises lots of interesting elements. And while I find quite a few items that I would add to my own wardrobe the impression of the range is huge.

  All photos New York Fashion Week 2011: Michael Kors Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

• Fashion news 2011: Michelle as Marilyn on the cover of American Vogue

  
  14 September 2011
  

  Fashion news 2011: Michelle as Marilyn on the cover of American Vogue: Actress Michelle Williams features on the cover of the October issue of American Vogue dressed as Marilyn Monroe to promote her new film 'My Week with Marilyn'.

  

  Michelle-WIlliams-on-Vogue-US-2011

  Back in August of last year it was revealed that former Dawson's Creek and Brokeback Mountain actress Michelle Williams had been cast to play Marilyn Monroe in the forthcoming film My Week with Marilyn . The star has now been unveiled as the cover girl of October's American Vogue , in the guise of Monroe.

  The new film focuses in on 1957, when the troubled star was starring alongside Sir Laurence Olivier in The Princess and the Showgirl. Of the role, Williams said: "It felt like being reborn. It felt like breaking my body and remaking it in her [Marilyn Monroe's] image, learning how she walked and talked and held her head. None of that existed in my physical memory, and I knew I needed as much time as possible to make it part of me".

  Having finished filming the movie, which also stars Kenneth Branagh, Emma Watson, Dominic Cooper and Dame Judi Dench, earlier in the year Williams had to don her costume once again for a spread in Vogue magazine. The photoshoot sees the actress adopting some of Marilyn Monroe's most iconic outfits and poses, while being styled by Tonne Goodman and shot by Annie Leibovitz.

  

  Michelle-WIlliams-2011

  (telegraph fashion news)

• New York Fashion Week 2011: Marc Jacobs Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection

  
  14 September 2011
  

  New York Fashion Week 2011: Marc Jacobs Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection: They seek him here, they seek him there: now at last - if only for a heartbeat - Marc Jacobs has broken cover. Jacobs is at the centre of increasingly confident (albeit anonymously sourced) speculation that he is the top target to replace John Galliano at Dior.

  

  Marc-Jacobs-Spring-Summer-Fashion-2012

  Yesterday, the excellent US trade paper WWD reported that the only thing preventing this deal being done are a few trifling wrangles about just how mind-boggling his salary will be. But as the speculators speculate, Jacobs himself has remained resolutely silent.

  Tonight we glimpsed him for a second when he took a bow after the spring/summer 2012 show for Marc by Marc Jacobs, the second - i.e, a little more affordable - line in his own fashion house.

  The collection was a remix of other influences (a spot Prada menswear here, plus a smidgen of Céline and Jil Sander womenswear there) all shot through with his own handy knack for making clothes that are funky, desirable and young.

  He took his bow in a black kilt, a white shirt, and chunky leather 'don't mess with me' boots. Afterwards we raced backstage for a chat - Jacobs is normally delightfully talkative - but just like that, he'd disappeared.

  "He's working very hard on the main collection," said a representative, "so he must have had to go straight off".

  Outside on Lexington Avenue, we're pretty certain we glimpsed him roaring off in the back of an SUV, laughing and typing into his phone. Could the deal be done? Or is it all a baseless hoo-ha? Perhaps we'll find out on Thursday night after the main Marc Jacobs show.

  Photos  Marc Jacobs Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  (telegraph fashion news)

   

• New York Fashion Week 2011: J Crew Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection

  
  13 September 2011
  

  New York Fashion Week 2011: J Crew Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection: I like to think of Jenna Lyons as the Phoebe Philo of the high street. There she was today, the president of J. Crew, at the label's New York Fashion Week debut surveying the crowd of well-wishers and brand fans: every stylish New Yorker loves a bit of J. Crew.

  

  J-Crew-Spring-Summer-Fashion-2012

  Beyoncé does too, it seems, because she made a surprise appearance at the presentation.

  It's unusual for a high street label to hold a place in the Fashion Week schedule, but J. Crew is a special exception. In London only Topshop has a coveted spot on the timetable, with its luxury line "Unique". It's styled by Katie Grand and lots of big-name models sign on, but little of the collection goes into production.

  

   

  "I don't think we had any idea how big a deal it was," said Lyons. [With this show] "We were trying to make ourselves more accessible because we are launching internationally. That was really the impetus there.

  "But the buzz is so much fun. This morning I felt like I was going to the prom with the cutest guy in school."

  Last month J. Crew launched an e-commerce site in the UK, and not a moment too soon.

  And about that Phoebe Philo comparison. "Did you say she wants to collaborate with us?" joked Lyons, who aside from her own label wears a lot of Celine. "Can you broker that?"

  Look all photos J Crew Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection at New York Fashion Week 2011:

  

  

  

  (telegraph fashion news)

• Jenny Packham Spring-Summer 2012 at New York Fashion Week

  
  13 September 2011
  

  Fashion news 2011 - Jenny Packham Spring-Summer 2012 at New York Fashion Week: Jenny Packham is a British designer who's often overlooked by Britain's fashion-pack. Why? Because with neither pretention nor gimmick she produces elegant, ladylike outfits that are as beautiful as their appeal is broad. She is - to use a word guaranteed to make fashion snobs shudder - "commercial".

  

  Jenny-Packham-Spring-Summer-2012-at-New-York-Fashion-Week

  Now, though, her time might just have come. And it's partly thanks to the Duchess of Cambridge. Kate has worn Packham twice this year - a gold evening gown at her first post-wedding public engagement, and a pretty crepe day dress as she arrived at Calgary airport - and the designer happily confessed that as a result he profile has rocketed.

  "In terms of brand awareness it definitely had an effect, very much so. It helped showcase what we do, which is make feminine, glamorous clothes."

  She's not wrong: Packham's next-summer offering flowed with tulle, shimmered with flashing crystal and rippled with delicately applied layers of lace and chiffon. There were paparazzi-ready red carpet gowns in a rainbow of strong colours and her trademark metallic effect, cutesy day dresses with scalloped mid-leg hems and racier, thigh-flashing playsuits.

  As well as the Duchess, Packham's clientele includes Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz, Rihanna and Keira Knightley. She is, she said, trying to provide party clothes for every party eventuality that women - whether famous or not - might face. "In the summer you've got cocktail parties, weddings, dinners, and for some people even the red carpet.

  "After a season where we've had royalty and Rihanna, we're seeing we have a really eclectic group of customers so I've worked to get lots of different looks in one collection."

  Packham left London for New York several years ago and says her sales are on the up, particularly this year. "What our customers like is that it's sexy and glamorous, but not too in-your-face. It isn't Barbie."

  Suddenly it looks like those fashion snobs might just have missed a trick.

  All photos Jenny Packham Spring-Summer 2012 at New York Fashion Week:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  (telegraph fashion news)

• Fashion news 2011: Rihanna's campaign for Emporio Armani Underwear

  
  13 September 2011
  

  Fashion news 2011: Rihanna's campaign for Emporio Armani Underwear: When the campaign images with Rihanna for Emporio Armani Jeans dropped on Facebook last Friday on Facebook , the luxury label promised "more to come." True to all senses of the word, it delivered on its pledge by following up with the singer's shots for its Underwear line today.

  

  Rihanna-campaign-for-Emporio-Armani-Underwear-2011

  Reclining in the plush leather interiors of a car, the star pulls the standard push-the-boobs-out-and-pout pose in her smalls while staring provocatively into the lens. The campaign was shot again by Steven Klein, who continued the film-noir riff of the Jeans ad, where Rihanna, shock of all shocks, adopted an against-her-inclination, covered-up look of jumper and jeans. These Underwear shots, though, definitely redress the balance.

  

  Rihanna-campaign-for-Emporio-Armani-Underwear-2011-1

  (telegraph fashion news)

• Edun Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 at New York Fashion Week

  
  12 September 2011
  

  Edun Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 at New York Fashion Week: Being one-half of the globe's most prodigious rock couple is but a day's work for Ali Hewson who, as a side-line, also runs a fashion label.

  

  Edun-Spring-Summer-Fashion-2012

  She and Bono founded Edun in 2005 as an "ethical" fashion line; with the idea that the clothes would be made in Africa, support artisans in Uganda, Kenya and Mali and encourage trade between the West and the Third World.

  Edun's spring/summer 2012 collection was designed by Sharon Wauchob (her third season with the label), an Irish designer who has "a French aesthetic", I am told. But Hewson and Bono set the tone, with the U2 lead singer making sure the men's clothes have enough of a rock edge to them.

  "There is always a rock attitude in the collection," Hewson said. "That absolutely comes from him. For the women's too, it's feminine but it's got attitude. The woman that we admire and understand is someone whose style reflects that spirit. That would be Blondie or Charlotte Gainsbourg; they are edgy, strong women."

  Speaking of edgy, The Edge was sitting in a front row heaving with celebrities and rock stars. Sting, Trudie Styler and Courtney Love mingled seamlessly with Christy Turlington and Helena Christensen.

  As Naomi Campbell was being escorted to her seat through the chaos of the hangar-like backstage dressing area, Hewson was giving interviews to a television camera crew. In between takes, a makeup artist stepped forward to powder her nose (it's hot under the camera lights) and apply more lip gloss.

  "It's not so glamorous. Today is about as glamorous as it gets," she told me. "This is it."

  Hewson and Bono have two grown daughters, 22 and 20, and two young sons ages 12 and ten. The boys, she said, couldn't care less about their mother's fashion status.

  "They don't pay any attention to it at all, they haven't got a sense for it. But the girls love it. They are very proud."

  Edun supports six factories across Africa, where 37 per cent of the women's line is made. In 2009, luxury powerhouse LVMH bought a 49 per cent stake in the business. It was a perfect match: Bono and Hewson posed in Edun clothes for Louis Vuitton's 2009 advertising campaign shot in Africa by Annie Leibowitz.

  "This season is very joyful, very bright," said Hewson. "Sharon has taken iconic floral patterns and superimposed traditional African prints over them. It's like the coming of two worlds together. It's very beautiful: very fresh, very modern and very different."

  For spring/summer 2012, there were mixed print diamond floral dresses crafted in Kenya and jackets made of "hemp recycled poly gabardine". Several pieces used the work of Malian artist Aboubakar Foufana who specialises in natural indigo dye patterns. The black crochet dresses and details were made by "the crochet sisters" in Kenya, a group of artisan nuns.

  "The crochet sisters can only do so much a season," she says.

  Of course no working mother - not even the wife of a rock star - gets away from answering the old chestnut about how she "juggles" it all.

  "Well, my older two live in New York now and for me that's perfect because I come here so often for work I get to spend time with them. Then I have the boys at home. But it's really about having great help: my parents live next door and I couldn't move without them.

  "I wouldn't do this if I felt the children were suffering in any way. I don't think they are. I skyped with one of my boys today and he seemed perfectly happy without me."

  Producing part of the collection in Africa, and having showrooms in New York, not to mention U2's touring arrangements means Hewson's travel schedule is "a little too busy."

  "I need to try and calm that down a little bit," she says. "But it's important. When you have a fashion business you have to put the travel in, I have to be in Africa to make sure things are going well there. We made a conscious decision to live in Ireland and raise our kids in Ireland because we like the quality of life for them there.

  "What is great about Ireland is that people let you be. We can live a very normal life and people are very respectful. They give us space and that's why it's a good place to live, we don't get hassle and the kids go to a regular school."

  But that's about as regular as it gets today. The makeup artist insisted on applying a touch more lip gloss before Hewson faced the waiting photographers. Meanwhile, Michael Stipe was ushered to his front row seat.

  (telegraph fashion news)

• Victoria Beckham Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 at New York Fashion Week

  
  12 September 2011
  

  Victoria Beckham Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 at New York Fashion Week: Victoria Beckham talks to Lisa Armstrong about her 'glossy and accomplished' collection, while baby Harper sleeps soundly downstairs. There was an uncomfortable dissonance between an audience who'd come to see expensive clothes - at the very moment America honoured the traumatic memory of those lost in 9/11. But that was the hand doled out to Victoria Beckham today by the organisers of New York Fashion Week.

  

  Victoria-Beckham-Spring-Summer-Fashion-2012

  The audience, brightly dressed as an herbaceous border, filed in, exchanged the usual chit chat about holidays and whether or not they'll be working the midi. Then the lights went down and they bowed their heads.

  After the two silences, Victoria Beckham was poised to launch into a speech of welcome, but was cut off in her prime by a thumping soundtrack. With helicopters circling the city and security on high alert, for once the shows were observing strict deadlines.

  Not that she seemed fazed. Victoria Beckham's faced some tight personal deadlines herself this summer. From what she told me, her diary read something like this: have baby, design much more comprehensive collection than previously (as stores clamouring for bigger deliveries), breast feed (for first time), dine with Gwyneth and discover secret to losing baby weight in double quick time (go to Tracy Anderson's LA studio, work out there six days a week, with a trainer named Autumn, dispense with services of nanny), launch secondary collection, take over world.

  She's achieved most of that list - her only concession to maternity leave being fewer trips to London, where her design team is based. This summer the team was flown to Mohammed. "I've had to develop a very strategic way of working. But Harper has also done her bit. She's so well behaved. " Initially the doctors told her she was having a boy, " and then after weeks of scans - yay no penis! And she only wakes once a night. Listen, i've earned an easy one. Those boys - obviously I love them to bits - but they were hard work ".

  Skype-ing your team in your pyjamas while nursing your newborn is one thing. Hoisting yourself onto your five inch Louboutins and back into full make up for the scrutiny of the front row is another." It's actually quite nice to get out of an elasticated waist and into fashionable clothes again, " said Beckham, groomed as ever in a simple, short midnight shift, that echoed the athletic vibe of her new collection.

  With the men in her life back in LA, Harper Beckham, was sleeping peacefully downstairs. "It's the first time we've been separated. I just want her with me all the time. But it would have been too noisy for her at the show".

  What Harper Beckham slept through was an accomplished, glossy take on the urban sportiness that is emerging as one of New York's key trends for next summer. Body conscious dresses - calf length or mid thigh - and strapless shifts made from techno stretch fabrics or dense jersey, were balanced with over-sized silk gazaar or silk satin parkas and bombers in minky lilac or pale pink.

  The only embellishment were functional looking webbed straps (although since this is a luxury line, it turned out they were made from grosgrain) and Victoria's growing range of bags, this time block coloured in orange and navy.

  Next stop: her second line, which she shows later this week. She seems serious about evolving her label into more than a vanity project. But gravity doesn't mean you can't combine business with pleasure. An hour after her show, she was spotted shopping with Harper in Prada.

  All photos Victoria Beckham Spring-Summer Fashion 2012:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  (telegraph fashion news)

   

• Alexander Wang Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 at New York Fashion Week

  
  12 September 2011
  

  Alexander Wang Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 at New York Fashion Week: Clad in bespoke, cut out black leather, rubber wedge Mary Janes and sucking on a dummy, Alexander Wang's 21 month old niece, Isla, seated in his front row...This is a look probably not coming to Mini Boden any time soon.

  

  Alexander-Wang-Spring-Summer-Fashion-2012

  Perhaps the intended message was that Wang's edgy version of sportswear works at any age.

  As it happens, Wang's legions of apostles (he is a religion in some circles ) are already signed up to that doctrine. At his best, the slouchy cut and urbanised taste of his line bring a sunday-morning-reading-the-papers ease to any woman's wardrobe, but in slick, techno-fabrics that mean his clothes can be worn anywhere, any time. It's a question of attitude, not age or geography.

  So far so modern. But along with many brands predicated on cool, Wang sometimes over thinks his concept. The layering on of concepts (in this instance, fencing jackets, motocross shorts,helmets, golf-club sized back packs etc etc) combined with the studied indifference of his models mean that in his shows at least, a philosophy based on function and comfort can start to look overwrought and tricksy. The intarsia knitted tracksuits with the pyschaeledic clashes will divide taste too.

  That's not a bad thing. And with Wang, in store, things usually sort themselves, so let's start with what was great. Those nifty slim, drawstring pocketed dresses with their plastic zips and mesh inserts would be a chic-ballsy addition to next spring's staples. And Wang's solution to fashion's continuing prediciliction for brights was a neat one: he took near-to-neon polo shirts and calmed them down by layering them under black perforated laser cut sweatshirts and running shorts.

  But occasionally the streamlined sporty motif tripped up - almost literally - over the number of details. One rip cord is good, three starts to make a mockery of the central form-follows-function belief of this label.

  look all photos Alexander Wang Spring-Summer Fashion 2012:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  (telegraph fashion news)

• Prabal Gurung Spring Summer 2012 in New York Fashion Week

  
  11 September 2011
  

  Prabal Gurung Spring Summer 2012 in New York Fashion Week - Latest Prabal Gurung Spring Summer Fashion Trends 2012: From Andre Leon Talley sat hugely brooding to Nicky Minaj attired like something odd won at a fairground, a crowd packed with both power and pizazz turned out to support Prabal Gurung on Saturday.

  

  And there was none of the usual fashion- angoisse here, but instead a genuine sense of anticipation. This was a room coursing in goodwill. At the finale the applause for Gurung was even peppered with uncharacteristic whoops. This suggests he's been pegged as New York's hottest young designer of the moment.

  His collection was certainly wonderfully made, spectacularly ambitious and dizzyingly complicated. And Gurung managed to make purple lamé attractive in a series of psychedelic printed gowns and airbrush fade-effect skirts. He also cracked one of fashion's trickiest problems - how to wear a long hem and simultaneously show some leg - by presenting a gown transparent from mid-thigh to ankle.

  There was "exploding tulle", "techno wool", and "recycled rubber paillettes" - sometimes seemingly all in the same outfit: Gurung is no minimalist. Even the models' lipstick was mind-boggling; a two-tone red on the outside, fading to blue at the lipline that made it look like they'd all been sucking the same leaky pen. So Gurung's technical virtuosity certainly merited that applause, but the whooping was a bit much.

  All photos of  Prabal Gurung Spring Summer 2012 in New York Fashion Week:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  (telegraph fashion news)

• Lacoste Spring Summer 2012 in New York Fashion Week

  
  10 September 2011
  

  Lacoste Spring Summer 2012 in New York Fashion Week - Latest Lacoste Spring Summer Fashion Trends 2012: It is the quandary faced by every designer handed control of a big-deal fashion brand. Do you concentrate on stamping your own mark - giving it the big "I Am" - or do you show that you're a well-behaved company man and play it safe with the house classics?

  

  Felipe Oliveira Baptista's first collection for Lacoste on Saturday was an adroitly-conceived combination of both.

  There were plenty of references to piqué, polos, and the famous crocodile insignia of Lacoste. A croc-stamped crop-top and polo-shirt collared silk-knit dresses with swooping-low armholes sent the message that Baptista has been thinking about his brand.

  But that brand, he has wisely concluded, must offer more than sporty loungewear for tennis widows. Chic navy trousers teamed with zingily printed blouses were grown-up, city-ready and elegant. And loose silk dresses with up-down hemlines in zingy blue, green and red were cocktail-party louche.

  ALl photos of  Lacoste Spring Summer 2012 in New York Fashion Week: