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• 2009 fashion news - Life as Giorgio Armani's niece

  
  24 May 2009
  

  2009 fashion new -  Friend of the Beckhams, confidante to the Cruises, clubbing companion of Leonardo DiCaprio… Meet Roberta Armani, the woman who lives Uncle Giorgio’s dream like no one else.

  

   

  Three days before it is due to open, the new Armani store on Fifth Avenue, New York, is filled with industry and the scent of panic. Natty men in stylish glasses are conferring over clipboards, construction workers are all but running down hallways with ladders over their shoulders, racks of clothing are everywhere and the store lavatories still have a fine layer of plaster dust.

  In a corner of the modern, airy café, however, there’s an oasis of cool, calm chic in the shape of Roberta Armani, the niece of Giorgio Armani. In a Grecian, sleek black dress, she looks runwayready. It’s not her job to oversee the construction of the new store. As the director of public relations for Armani, it’s her job to represent the business to the A-list and get Armani clothes in their wardrobes. It’s also her responsibility to embody the brand – elegant, beautiful, quintessentially Italian – and she’s doing it very well.

  More and more Roberta Armani is expected to step in for her uncle in public, showing up at the fashion shows and events she says that her 75-year-old uncle, whom she describes as ‘shy’, doesn’t always relish. But her real strength for the company lies not in her appeal as a figurehead, but as an ambassador, someone who can reach out to anybody – even the world’s top celebrities – and make them feel comfortable. It’s Roberta Armani who shows up to hold Anne Hathaway’s hand through fitting after fitting or to personally take David Beckham shopping at Emporio Armani.

  ‘She’s a combination of very American and very Italian,’ says Wanda McDaniel, the executive vice president of entertainment industry relations at Armani. ‘She has that kind of demonstrativeness that’s so sincere. I took her to the Oscar parties this year and, after meeting her, people always come up to me and say she’s such a breath of fresh air – she’s so adorable, she’s so genuine, she has such perfect manners.’

  Roberta Armani was born in 1970 and grew up in Milan with her father, Sergio, the brother of Giorgio, who launched the Emporio Armani line. At 16, just as the brand was exploding in Italy, Roberta moved to New York to work at Emporio Armani on Madison Avenue. ‘The first time I realised how huge Armani had become was when I came to work here as a saleswoman,’ she says. ‘And when people heard I was Armani’s niece… It was like they wanted to touch me. I was shocked. In Italy it was already like that, but I never would have believed it would be true in America, too. It was the first time I realised, “My God, I have a very important heritage to live up to.”’

  When Roberta was in New York her uncle, who was sending out feelers in Hollywood long before most fashion houses, asked his niece if she could take a young actor out on the town, someone by the name of Leonardo DiCaprio. Not much of a party girl, Roberta none the less took him clubbing, and the two are still friendly. ‘I always thought he was a very stunning person,’ she says. ‘Very handsome.’

  For a while Roberta considered a career in acting, but eventually she returned to Milan to start working in the family business. ‘Ten years ago I was working in the office as an intern, just beginning, making cups of coffee, faxing…’ She started working in public relations, reaching out to celebrities, meeting with them personally. Her role grew, as did her uncle’s trust and appreciation for her gift with people.

  Roberta now plays a key role as a liaison to her uncle. ‘Yesterday I was on the plane for eight hours; I got off and had 250 emails,’ says Roberta. ‘There are offices around the world asking approval for this, approval for that… It’s constant and it’s so much work.’

  As she was building her career she fell in love, marrying Angelo Moratti in 1997. But the two divorced, gently, after 10 years of marriage. They even went to the same lawyer to work out a consensual divorce ‘hand in hand’.

  Since the split she hasn’t found that perfect romantic ideal. ‘I know there will be a day when I find the right person,’ she says. ‘Right now this kind of empty private life allows me to work more, which is great. I’m happy like this. I try not to complain and accept all that I have.’ Does she think she’d most likely find her soul mate in Italy? ‘I’m not sure it would be someone Italian,’ she says. ‘They [Italian men] still think the woman has to stay home and cook – they seem like they’re more open than this, but still, they like that… To see an independent strong woman who has her own worklife and is strong in her own independence, they’re kind of still afraid of it. They don’t like it.’ A British man could be more appropriate. ‘I love their way of carrying themselves with their feelings. Where the Italians are so blatantly passionate. My uncle could be British, in a way… he’s very elegant with his feelings and sort of shy. He keeps all his feelings to himself, inside, and I like that. I love the way British men dress and carry themselves, but I’ve never dated one. It could be an idea, if you know someone!’

  Inevitably, because she’s single, the press is constantly pairing her off with one of her clients. Captured on camera giving David Beckham a warm hug when she took him shopping earlier this year, she was instantly linked with him in the tabloids, which also assumed that Victoria Beckham’s arrival in Milan thereafter cut short a budding romance. ‘I went on the internet, I saw this article about her being jealous,’ says Roberta. ‘Ridiculous. We’re friends. She has an amazing relationship with David. What I can learn from her is that everything she does – such as designing her own clothing collection – she does with confidence. She can cope with stress and pressure in a very mature way.’

  Roberta first met Mrs Beckham at the wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, who are among her closest friends. Two weeks before the star couple married, Roberta decided the setting they had in mind in Italy just wasn’t special enough. She took over the planning, switching it to the Castello Odescalchi, a dramatic, towering medieval castle on a lake just outside Rome. She planned every last detail from the fireworks to the pizza-maker – the best in Rome – who arrived to give pizza to the guests at three in the morning.

  ‘They’re some of the best people I’ve ever met in my life,’ says Roberta of the couple. ‘When I’m with Tom, afterwards I always get inspired – I want to be more like him. He’s very at ease with himself.’ And has he ever tried to sell her on Scientology? No, she says, ‘But if that’s the effect, then everyone should be Scientologist.’ It’s not so much his religion that’s alienated so much of the public, she says, but something else. ‘It’s too much,’ she theorises. ‘People are jealous. Pure envy. I really get upset.’

  This heartfelt feeling towards her A-list clients is typical of Roberta Armani. ‘I really appreciate them each as a unique piece of art,’ she says. ‘And I really get to know their insecurities. Sometimes a dress is like a second skin for them. I can be sort of a psychologist to learn what they need. So many times, when I’m dressing celebrities for a wedding, I realise that they were having an issue, because we’re all insecure – all of us. There isn’t anybody who isn’t insecure deep inside, and when it’s too much they hide, they become paranoid about little details on their dress. But they’re really hiding a self-fear. So you have to make them feel confident. That’s what I like.’

  She’s like the ultimate friend to shop with, not just because she has a fashion legend’s stamp of approval, but because she also cuts to the heart of every conversation with an intimacy that’s almost startling. ‘What people normally say about me is that I’m very natural,’ she says. ‘In this new store, my uncle wants a store that everyone can enter, something that’s very democratic. I hope my approach is like that.’ And it is.

   

  (Telegraph fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news - Do our charity shops need tidying up?

  
  24 May 2009
  
  

  Sweet charity: Mary Portas wants to spruce up the shabbiest shops on the high street Photo: Optomen

  Mary Portas is very, very cool. She turned around Harvey Nicks, taught the nation's yummies to wear Statement White Shirts and edgy tailoring, and drew huge TV audiences when she swept around the country in Mary Queen of Shops like a fashionista version of Sir Alan Sugar, telling dowdy boutiques where they went wrong. She is the living embodiment of a daunting modern theory: that just because you are a mother-of-two with a job, you don't have to look as if you dressed by taking a kamikaze dive through the laundry basket, yanking a jacket out from under the cat. Oh, Mary shames us all with her brisk, natural cool.

  Charity shops, on the other hand, are Portas's newest target and are not naturally very cool. They have their moments, of course: boho queens of style like to add one fabulous "vintage" find to their otherwise expensively purchased outfits, and then tell us all how clever they were and go on about the virtues of 1938 stitching. And, of course, there are secret little über-charity shops in affluent enclaves, where those-in-the-know pick up barely worn designer gear (albeit often in depressingly small sizes) as hedge-fund wives send the au pair round with brimming bags.

  But let's face it: most charity shops are not like that at all. Their treasures are padded out, camouflaged and heavily disguised by ranks of bedraggled woolies and droop-shouldered, size 22, lilac acrylic jackets, whose depressing appearance possibly explains the original owner's demise. They have bins in the corner, in which you rummage for potential angora scarves and end up staring in bemusement at some bit of weird, slithery, spaghetti-strap slutwear cast aside by the local teenage vamp after failing to pull last Saturday at Headbangerz.

  Yet there are treasures to be found, even in the most unpromising high street, and serious hunters rather pride themselves on fighting their way to glory through a thicket of bobbled babygros, droop-arsed trouserings and the dispiriting wasteland of Other People's Taste. The hunter-gatherer tribe boast of great kills: Ungaro and Gucci, D&G jackets, dressmaker ballgowns, cashmere and silk. Finding a treasure for a few quid makes your true charity-shop hunter feel like Indiana Jones, and it wouldn't be the same without the thrill of the chase.

  There is also a quiet appreciation of the heroic labours of the volunteers, who bravely open binbags full of dark horrors, steaming and pressing the goodies and bagging up dead T-shirts and knackered Primark skirts for the rag-man.

  And, of course, there is satisfaction in the eternal British snobberies: we all know that hand-me-downs are actually rather classy. I have never quite recovered my self-respect since a fellow mother in the maternity ward looked at my new M&S nightie, smoothed down her own beautifully pleated vintage number, and murmured: "My mother got it from the Duchess of Devonshire, actually…"

  Thus charity-shop hunting has its own, very British, codes of practice. One savvy browser told me that the knack of identifying a really good mine of top clothes is to make sure that the assistants are all fatter than you. "Otherwise they'll have bought the best stuff themselves, see?" Another – a Notting Hill girl – actually tracks the movements of the local herd of rich people as a big cat tracks wildebeest, knowing exactly when they get back from Gstaad or New York with new purchases and have to make room in their walk-in closets. "Early September is good, or just after London Fashion Week and the Paris collections. And I always get a very good winter coat in April or May."

  So it's an art, and it's personal. Plenty of charity shops do a reasonable job of displaying what they have, but it is nothing like boutique shopping or the psychologically artful, studied way that things are presented to you in the mainstream high street. When you go into Topshop or Harvey Nichols, some market researcher has already sussed you out, read your mind, assessed your income and put stuff out in clever configurations to tempt you. It is all distressingly mechanistic and, well, American.

  When you go into a charity shop, however, no such calculation has been made. You are as much of a mystery to them as they are to you. Those who like a bit of magic in their shopping love that mystery, almost as much as they love a bargain. They also like the fact that when you're spending so little, you can move away from your comfort zone and risk wearing a colour or garment you have never tried. (Anyone for pencil skirts? Dirndls? Palazzo pants?) It is the adult equivalent of that childhood glory, the dressing-up box.

  These days, I am not that good at charity-shopping – I tend to lose focus – but years ago I bought the most ridiculous green laced-up Sixties shirt-cum-dress thing that still gives me sneaky joy whenever I wear it. Even though it did spend a few years in the actual dressing-up box and was once worn by Robin Hood in Aldeburgh carnival, it has now been restored to the summer cupboard. Nor can I really do without the giant striped "Popeye and Olive tango!" T-shirt with the appliqué rose in Olive's teeth, which I wore through two pregnancies and my sister-in-law through another two before I snatched it back. That started life as a discontinued M&S line in the Seventies; I found it in an Oxfam shop in 1982.

  And one of my happiest shopping afternoons ever was during a family sail round Britain: stranded in a gale, we took a cab into Haverfordwest with two small children and found a charity shop where the shopkeeper let them loose on an unsorted tea-chest full of hats.

  I recorded the ensuing scene in my log: "Small, fresh grinning faces appeared under fur hats, felt hats, top hats; posh hats, battered hats, crushed velvet creations worn to church for years by old ladies; moth-eaten hats, straw hats, and frothy net creations worn once only for society weddings in the steep streets of some Welsh town way out west… Rose marched out extinguished by a dome of grey fur, while Nicholas opted for a dashing brown felt derby with a two-tone ribbon." Oh, for a hat-bin when times are hard!

  But all this loopy serendipity and amateurishness is now in Mary Portas's sights. As charity shop donations slide in the recession (and indeed there is a new problem of sacks being actually stolen from their doorsteps), she turns her clear eyes on them. Her new BBC TV series is Mary Queen of Charity Shops, and plans to bring these Cinderellas into the arena of must-have chic. I can't wait.

  Our local Sue Ryder shop manageress was thrilled at the idea and will be glued to it – but she is already a bit of a whiz, using space elegantly and rarely putting out anything truly repulsive. But some more stuck-in-the-mud volunteers will be tricky. Moreover, they know their current customers, and will need persuading that there is a whole new public out there that gets depressed by a windowful of lime-green nylon and chipped novelty teapots. They may bridle when told that it is a duff idea to hide your glorious shelf of hardback novels at "£1 for 4" behind a wobbly rack of shiny grey suits smelling of mothballs.

  Mary will have her work cut out setting them straight. Still, I would offer them just one piece of advice: have pity on people with ultrasensitive fingertips. We get freaked out by riffling through rails of scratchy acrylic, just as some people do by squeaky blackboard chalk. A "natural fibres only" zone could be the one-stop solution to revolutionising Britain's charity shops.

  * Mary Queen of Charity Shops begins at 9pm on June 2 on BBC Two

  Where do fashionistas go for a rummage?

  Melanie Rickey Grazia magazine

  “My favourite charity shop is the Oxfam on Kingsland Road in Dalston, east London. When I first started my career, I didn’t have much money and loved going in there. It was really clean and well organised, and everything was categorised by price, rather than by what a canny fashion person in the back room thought it was worth. I got a really beautiful frock coat for £5. It’s a bit like something a circus ringmaster would wear, and I still love it. As a fashion editor, you tend to know what’s out there in the big shops, so the element I most enjoy about charity shops is that unexpected frisson of discovery.”

  Emma Hope shoe designer

  “I’m a huge fan of the Oxfam shop on the high street in Sevenoaks, Kent. When I was in sixth form, we used to rush in there from school and fight over the best stuff. I had an allowance of £30 a month and they were the best places to find original pieces. My best buy was a pair of pointy, stiletto-type shoes, in a really lovely cobalt blue, which cost £1. They were slinky, elegant and totally unlike all the chunky shoes that were in the shops at the time. I thought they were the best pair of shoes I had ever seen, and they turned me on to the idea of designing them myself. I still have them. Tunbridge Wells also has some really good charity shops.”

  Bella Freud fashion designer

  “Bristol has some amazing charity shops, and everything’s still dirt cheap, but my favourites are in Swiss Cottage, north London. My best find was a black dress with velvet stripes and a co-ordinating cardigan I got in the Eighties, when I went there an awful lot. I used to wear it with a white shirt underneath in what was, I hoped, Chanel-style. I got the whole lot for £6. “

  Kerry Taylor fashion auctioneer

  “My best buy ever is either a mink coat or a Thirties sequinned capelet, both of which I got for about £20. These days the big-name charity shops are much more switched on to the value of fashion, so to find rare items it’s better to look in the smaller hospice or pet charity shops, which haven’t necessarily checked all the labels. In Bridport, Dorset, nearly every other shop is a charity shop, and you can find some really good stuff. “

  Daisy de Villeneuve illustrator

  “I love the British Red Cross shop on Church Street in Chelsea. And the Oxfam nearby is a really good one. I can never believe what can be found in those places. I suppose it’s always the case in areas where people are really wealthy. My favourite find is a red, belted Christian Dior dress that cost £2 from Oxfam. It had all the labels inside it. I customised it a bit and removed the sleeves.”

   

  (Telegraph fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news - Marios Schwab picked to design for Halston

  
  22 May 2009
  
  

  Models display designs from the Halston spring/summer 2009 collection. Centre: newly appointed creative director Marios Schwab
  

  Halston with Bianca and Mick Jagger at Studio 54, for Bianca's birthday party in 1977. Photo: GETTY IMAGES
  

  Models display designs from the Marios Schwab spring/summer 09 collection at London Fashion Week. Centre: Schwab takes a bow. Photo: GEOFF PUGH/ JEFF GILBERT

  The London-based young designer, Marios Schwab, one of the initiators of the 'body-con' craze, has been named as the new creative director of the legendary American luxury brand, Halston.

  

  Halston with Bianca and Mick Jagger at Studio 54, for Bianca's birthday party in 1977. Photo: GETTY IMAGES

  Schwab, 32, who celebrates his 33rd birthday next month, will present his first collection for Halston, at New York Fashion Week in February, 2010.

  

  Models display designs from the Marios Schwab spring/summer 09 collection at London Fashion Week. Centre: Schwab takes a bow. Photo: GEOFF PUGH/ JEFF GILBERT

  The Austrian-born designer intends to continue his own label, which he launched in London in 2005, and will commute regularly to New York.

  Schwab, a graduate of Central Saint Martins fashion college in London, succeeds Marco Zanini who left Halston last year.

  Halston's president and chief executive officer, Bonnie Takhar, said Schwab's spring 2009 show at London Fashion Week had caught the attention of Halston executives.

  "He used a lot of jersey in a very modern way," Takhar said. "The silhouettes were also very fluid, and we thought they had a very modern Halston interpretation."

  Roy Halston Frowick, a former milliner who designed the pillbox-hat Jacqueline Kennedy wore for the Presidential Inauguration, in 1961, founded his label in the late 1960s. He became the 'wardrobe master' of the Studio 54 Generation, dressing a blue-chip portfolio of celebrities and stars including Liza Minelli, Lauren Bacall, Bianca Jagger, Angelica Huston and Elizabeth Taylor, among others. His signature was the ability to engineer apparently seamless, fluid dresses in silk jersey, which used no buttons or zips. Halston died in 1990 at the age of 57, from lung cancer resulting from complications with Aids.

  Speaking from his London studio this afternoon, where he is currently working on his own spring/summer 2010 collection to be shown at London Fashion Week in September, Schwab said Halston was one of the three designers, along with Helmut Lang and Yves Saint Laurent, who have most inspired him.

  "Halston, for me, is such a momentous label. It defines a moment in time, the 1970s. It epitomises the glamour and pleasure-seeking of that decade, a beautiful fantasy moment, something that is lacking in fashion right now."

  Schwab conceded that, on the surface, his own design signature might seem at odds with the Halston ethos, but added: "I would never intend to go to work for a label that was the same as my own, there would be no challenge.

  "But I am passionate about long-lasting research and technical innovation and this is what I can bring to Halston to bring the brand forward. I will approach it with respect. But in a manner which will refresh."

  "What we have in common, was Halston was strict and disciplined and his designs were deceptive in that what appeared to be simple was, in fact, intricate and involved a high degree of craftsmanship. I admire that.

  "The magic was in the way the cut enhanced different shapes of women, without overtaking their own style. This to me is very important, especially now when the time has come for women to shape their own opinion on how they want to dress."

  Halston was bought by Hilco Consumer Capital and The Weinstein Company two years ago. The British shoe queen, Tamara Mellon, is a member of the board and creative consultant.

  Plans are also in hand to launch a Halston Heritage collection based on original Halston designs from the archives.

   

  (Telegraph fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news - Kiefer Sutherland, designer resolve issues

  
  22 May 2009
  
  

  2009 fashion news  - In this May 12, 2009 file photo, actor Kiefer Sutherland arrives at the '24' Season 7 finale screening …

  NEW YORK – Kiefer Sutherland and the fashion designer he's accused of head-butting at a Manhattan night club said Friday they resolved their differences, clearing the way for the charges to be dropped. Sutherland and Jack McCollough issued a brief joint statement Friday to The Associated Press through Sutherland's attorney.

  "I am sorry about what happened that night and sincerely regret that Mr. McCollough was injured," Sutherland said in the statement.

  The star of Fox television's "24" was charged May 7 with third-degree assault in the alleged incident two weeks ago at a nightclub at the Mercer Hotel in the trendy SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan. The minor charge is comparable to a speeding ticket.

  A spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney's office declined to comment on whether the charges would be dismissed.

  But now that Sutherland and McCollough say they have resolved their differences, a prosecutor may go before a judge and ask that the case be dropped. That could happen at Sutherland's next scheduled court appearance on June 22.

  "I appreciate Mr. Sutherland's statement and wish him well," McCollough said in the statement.

  McCollough, of the high-end Proenza Schouler fashion house, said Sutherland head-butted him and broke his nose after an argument. The two were out following the gala at the Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a fancy affair studded with celebrities.

  The story spurred a media frenzy as a swarm of reporters gathered outside the 1st Precinct in Manhattan to watch as Sutherland arrived for questioning and was charged. Photographers also shadowed Sutherland and McCollough while rumors swirled about the nature of their altercation and what role, if any, actress Brooke Shields might have played.

  Sutherland, who has won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for his portrayal of dashing federal counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer on "24," pleaded no contest in October 2007 to driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

  He served 30 days in jail, in addition to 18 days for violating probation in a 2004 drunken-driving arrest.

   

  (Yahoo fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news - Brazil fashion show to push for racial inclusion

  
  22 May 2009
  

  SAO PAULO – Organizers of Sao Paulo Fashion Week have promised to take steps to try to make sure that at least 10 percent of the models walking the runways will be blacks or Indians.

  State prosecutors say they struck a deal with the event's organizers calling for proof that they will attempt to convince designers taking part to promote racial inclusion.

  Noncompliance by organizers could result in a fine of as much as 250,000 reals ($125,000) in a nation where nearly 50 percent of the population is black and there is a large Indian minority.

  Prosecutor Deborah Kelly Affonso said the deal announced Thursday with Luminosidade Marketing & Producoes followed a state investigation. It stemmed from complaints the event recently had fewer black models.

   

  (Yahoo fashion news)

• 2009 sandal fashion trends

  
  21 May 2009
  
  

  Leather with tubing, £45, by urban outfitters 
  

  Leather with studs, £28, by asos (asos.com)
  

  Leather with buckles, £115, by russell & bromley (020 7629 6903)

  Who’d have thought that gladiator sandals, along with a plethora of Greco-Roman inspired fashions, should prove to have such staying power? I probably shouldn’t sound surprised – these are styles that have been around for several millennia – but there’s been such a preponderance for the past three summers that you’d expect the backlash to have started by now.

  

  Leather with studs, £28, by asos

  However, fashion’s appetite for classical references appears to be undiminished this season: draped goddess gowns at Donna Karan, Marios Schwab and Versace; mosaic Roman prints at Miu Miu, accompanied by a declaration by Miuccia Prada that ‘it’s time to investigate our history and European past’. Marios Schwab was rather more cryptic when he cited the khiton, a traditional Greek tunic, as inspiration for his current collection:

  

  Leather with buckles, £115, by russell & bromley (020 7629 6903)

  ‘Cloth, rope and chain, if left in their natural state, would be mundane and almost irrelevant objects. Here, when applied and connected to each other, they form a bond, gaining both relevance and value… A refined desirable interpretation of the sinister side of desire.’

  Confused? Me too, though Schwab’s dresses are very beautiful, as are those by Prada. They’re not historically accurate – this is fashion, rather than museum exhibits – but they do draw on a host of historical references, including the Grecian gowns designed by Vionnet and Grès in the 1920s and 1930s, as well as Halston’s reinvention of Roman decadence in the Studio 54 era of 1970s excess.

  Perhaps a better explanation of why a classical inheritance still pervades 21st-century culture comes from Simon Goldhill, a professor of Greek at Cambridge, in the introduction to his book Love, Sex & Tragedy: ‘To be as beautiful as Venus, to enchant like a Siren, to strut like an Adonis, to be as strong as Hercules – these images ground our imagination and our language.’

  From Renaissance scholars to Victorian artists, classical history and contemporary fantasy have entwined to create new versions of ancient ideals. Thus Sigmund Freud and Gianni Versace were both inspired by Medusa; Freud described the severed head as ‘the supreme talisman’ of castration, and heaven only knows what the founding father of psychoanalysis might have made of Versace’s appropriation of Medusa as emblematic of his fashion house.

  So here we are again, in 2009, with a horde of gladiators striding across our television screens, down the catwalk and into the corridors of power. Witness Naomi Campbell in fierce gladiator sandals as the guest of Sarah Brown at a Downing Street dinner for the First Ladies at the G20 summit. To which one might quote Virgil:

  ‘By her gait was the goddess revealed…’

   

  (Telegraph fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news - Thierry Mugler is back after a decade in the fasion wilderness

  
  21 May 2009
  

  After a decade in the fashion wilderness, his outrageous power-clothes pushed aside by the bony elbow of waif-chic, Thierry Mugler is back and lending maximum impact to Beyoncé's killer curves on her new world tour.

  

  Mugler takes his fashion bow in 1999 Photo: AFP

  I have to admit it. I was shocked when Thierry Mugler walked into the Meurice hotel, an hour or so late for our meeting. The wait itself was no surprise: during his peak years as a fashion designer he was famed for starting his shows late, and he once made a journalist wait two days for an interview. But there are far worse places to be than a grand hotel on a beautiful spring day in Paris, and besides, when he arrived he was charming and full of apologies, explaining that he had been caught up in a demo that had stopped traffic.

  No, what shocked me about Mugler was his appearance. I remembered him as a tall man with the body of a former ballet dancer, close-cropped hair and a warm, lopsided smile when he took a bow at the end of his 1980s catwalk shows. The hair and the smile remain the same, but the rest of him is – well, not at all what I was expecting from a man entering his sixties. The figure that strides across the bar and perches somewhat precariously on a stool opposite my table is huge. Massive.

  A man mountain. I’m not talking Jabba the Hutt or the ageing Brando here, more the Incredible Hulk or Schwarzenegger at his most-pumped peak.

  Since making his exit from fashion at the end of the 1990s, it turns out that Mugler has got into bodybuilding in a serious way, working out and stretching for two or three hours a day. This impressive physique coupled with his tattoos – a thick band of dark ink round one wrist and, he later shows me, flames licking up the inside of one armpit – he would be quite intimidating without his gruff good humour and eyes that sparkle with mischief and life. Later, he will tell me that it was a way of correcting the physical imbalances he developed as a professional ballet dancer in his teens, and of going within, extending the yoga and meditation practices he learnt in the 1960s. 'It’s about discovering yourself. It’s very interesting, and it’s infinite. The potential of your body is endless.’

  But this is not why he has agreed to do his first interviews for more than a decade. Although Mugler took his last bow on the catwalk after his July 2000 couture show and the fashion line bearing his name became unviable and was closed down completely three years later, his influence has never been stronger. From cyber-chic metallic leggings and body-con dresses to his exaggerated, hour­glass tailoring, suddenly his looks are everywhere.

  After some of his classic pieces were shown in the Superheroes exhibition at New York’s Metropolitan Museum last year, Beyoncé Knowles picked up on the trend and wore a vintage Mugler bustier fashioned out of a Harley motorcycle in some of the photographs for her album I Am Sasha Fierce. More than that, the singer asked him to create 58 new stage costumes for her world tour, which comes to Britain next month.

  'The first time I saw her, I said, “This girl has grace,”’ Mugler enthuses. 'She’s a real star, like they used to be. And she’s thoroughly honest about it, and she’s enjoying every minute of it. She doesn’t piss on it by saying, “Actually, in real life I’m a housewife.” She is an extremely talented and polished performer. She dances incredibly well, she acts, she sings – she’s a complete artist.

  'I was very touched that she asked me, because she could have asked younger people. But she recognised that I was pretty much at the origin of this moment now about superheroes, the structured silhouette and the extreme silhouette, and she wanted that.’

  For those who remember his spectacular, theatrical catwalk shows, it will be no surprise that Mugler also ended up directing sections of Beyoncé’s live show, suggesting everything from the sets to the lighting to the video footage behind her. 'I never considered myself a fashion designer,’ he explains. 'Never. My stuff was very much related to music – that was very important for me. So my shows expressed a lot of visuals, music and stuff – and then the fashion. Which was one of the major criticisms of it at the time.’

  At his peak, he was treated like a pop star in Japan and staged a show there to a stadium crowd. In 1984, the 10th year of the house of Mugler, he threw his show in Paris open to the public, selling 6,000 tickets. In 1995 he celebrated his 20th year with a Busby Berkeley-style televised production featuring live music from James Brown, dancing boys wearing nothing but crystal-studded codpieces, and celebrities such as Cyd Charisse, Jerry Hall, David Bowie, Diana Ross and Ivana Trump as well as models so super they needed only one name: Linda, Naomi, Cindy, Claudia. Nothing like it had even been seen before. 'And I’m not sure we will ever see anything like it again!’ he laughs. 'But I’m a showman, right?’

  Mugler was born in Strasbourg in 1948, to a comfortably middle-class family: his father was a doctor, his mother very stylish, customising her own clothes and having one-off hats created to her own designs. None the less, he describes his childhood as deeply unhappy. 'I had a very strange sort of family,’ he says cryptically. 'Very extreme.’

  He never felt he fitted in, and he didn’t relate to Strasbourg at all, he says. There were some consolations: he loved the architecture, particularly the vast Gothic cathedral, and the beauty of the nearby Black Forest, with its legends and medieval castles. 'But besides that, I just had to create my own world, because I was too unhappy.’

  It was his primary school teacher who suggested the ballet as an outlet. His mother, who would constantly complain that her son was 'impossible’, finally took him to a dance school out of desperation when he was nine. It was a liberation, he says – 'Big time!’ – and it offered him a much-needed discipline, too. He threw himself into it completely. By the time he was 14, he had joined the corps de ballet at the Rhine National Opera, and left home to share a room with another dancer. 'I survived on sandwiches, and I was on stage every night for six years of my life. I was working 16 hours a day between class, rehearsal, being on stage.’

  In what little spare time he had, he would make clothes for himself or customise flea market finds. 'It was all my fantasies,’ he laughs. 'I had a medieval period, a Flash Gordon period, a superheroes period, a Renaissance period – but always very futuristic. I was David Bowie before David Bowie!’

  He dyed his hair, and he grew it long. And he got beaten up. A lot. This was in the early 1960s – before gay liberation, even before the Beatles shocked the world with their mop-tops. But he felt compelled. 'It was loneliness,’ he shrugs. 'But I always had something telling me to hold on. I was looking at my star, and I knew it was going to be fine.’

  When he was 20, he auditioned for the choreographer Maurice Béjart. 'At the time, that was the ultimate dream of every dancer. And he wanted to take me. He was looking for a different type, for young dancers, and I was very tall. He wanted me – and I said no.’ He was shocked even as the word came out of his mouth, he laughs.

  'I couldn’t believe it. Everyone thought I was crazy. I thought I was crazy! For months, I thought, “Why did I do that?”’

  In retrospect, he knows why. Béjart’s company, at the time, was based in Brussels. The young Mugler wanted to live somewhere more in tune with the new energies stirring at the time: Paris, New York, London. He moved to Paris to find a contemporary dance company, but suddenly his clothes began to attract a different kind of attention. 'I was used to weird remarks and reactions, but everybody was stopping me in the street and asking me about my clothes. “Wow! Where did you buy that?”’

  He made some drawings, which he sold to the hip boutiques. And overnight, he says, he became a fashion designer. 'I’d always had this idea of directing, of producing things on stage, and this was a way of having some control and some power. And at that time fashion was very important. People were expressing themselves through that. And it was fun!’

  For the next decade he travelled, made clothes, and embraced hippie culture. He came to London for a while, to hang out in King’s Road boutiques such as Granny Takes a Trip, Mr Freedom and Biba. As an antidote to his ballet training he studied traditional Kathakali dance in India and was even initiated into the Hindu faith, taking the name Ravi. 'It was an incredible time. We lived by trading things – there was no money involved. I’d trade clothes or ballet classes to get organic food. You were out all the time, and you’d meet people who had the same philosophy as you. I had a van, and I went to Afghanistan in it, all round Europe and Africa. You’d meet people on the road and share a week with them, then they’d go somewhere, you’d go another way. It was a completely new world.’

  By 1968 he was living on the corner of Haight and Ashbury streets in San Francisco, and attended the big Krishna festival there that summer. 'There were all these white girls with their hair dyed with henna,’ he recalls. 'And there were tattoos and piercings and saris. It was fabulous!’

  A year later, he adds, Charles Manson had come along, and LSD no longer seemed like harmless fun. He sat out his 1960s hangover in a houseboat in Amsterdam, then began freelancing for fashion companies all over Europe. Designing everything from children’s knitwear to leatherwear, he learnt every aspect of the job before launching his own label in 1974. From the start, he bucked the trend. When everyone else was doing flowery, floaty womenswear, he went for film noir-influenced tailored suits, trenchcoats and little black dresses – a more elegant, put-together Parisienne look. 'And I started inventing all these cuts – the body-conscious cut, where all the seams would follow the body.’

  His interest was always in modifying the human form: padding out the shoulders, cinching in the waist, cutting to exaggerate feminine curves. His clothes were never easy to wear, he admits. 'It was constraining. But it would make you look good.’

  He started small but grew fast, and by the 1980s he was one of French fashion’s biggest stars. His colourful, often outrageous clothes were influenced by insects and angels, by sci-fi and super­heroes. His shows were lavish productions. 'I always was involved in everything, from the heels to the lashes, the storyboard to the music and sound effects. It was done like a movie. We’d work on this, we’d work on that and at some point everything came together. We never did rehearsals. It was too complicated. So I discovered the show at the same time that you discovered it!’

  He would stand at the top of the stairs, sending instructions to the DJ, the sound technicians, the lighting people, the models on their way out to the runway, creating the show in the moment. The clothes, he stresses, were always beautifully made. But you get the feeling that for him, this was never a business: his collections were costumes in his latest production.

  Then, in the early 1990s, everything changed. His flashy clothes had been perfect for the power-dressing 1980s but began to look camp and dated next to the understated minimalism championed by designers such as Helmut Lang and Miuccia Prada. Meanwhile the grunge and waif looks were coming through as an antidote to the previous decade’s artifice and glamour. 'I totally understood the kids,’ he says of the grunge movement. 'It was a healthy reaction, and it was charming, very cute. But as soon as it became fashion, a product, the whole thing was wrecked. I think that’s when I quit, actually. When I quit trying to be in business.’

  With the labels shaping themselves into global brands, the industry became all about money and marketing, and for Mugler, the fun went out of it. 'I can’t work on one-size girls, and now they’re all so skinny, all the same! You’re working with models who are looking at their watch, and it didn’t work for me. I wanted to have relationships with amazing people. Otherwise who gives a f­­­***? I have other things to do.’

  In 1992 he launched his first perfume, Angel, and Clarins, his partner in the fragrance, also bought a share in his fashion empire. By 1997 it had bought him out completely, and Mugler had become increasingly disengaged. He agrees with me when I say it seems he left it all behind mentally long before he left physically. 'I realised I was living in my own universe, with lots of assistants. I didn’t have a cellphone, I didn’t know how to use a computer. Every­body was doing every­­thing for me. So I left, and moved to New York. It was the end of an era, and I must say I found myself a bit lost. I wasn’t in the protected Mugler universe any more.’

  Last year the designer Rosemary Rodriguez was brought in to revitalise the fashion line, and one of her first moves was a capsule collection updating some of his classic outfits. When I ask him about this he finds it hard to feign interest, although he is still involved in the perfume, which he talks about with real passion. In true Mugler style, when Angel came out in 1992 it broke all the rules. He wanted a fragrance people could relate to, he says, 'something about tenderness, about childhood. That was the idea of the chocolate thing – like you want to eat the person you love. I made them create special essences of coffee and chocolate that had never been used before. I took a lot of risks. The name, the bottle, the colour – everything was a fight.’

  Angel, a blue fragrance with distinctive chocolate and vanilla tones and a striking star-shaped bottle, is now one of the top-selling perfumes in the world, frequently ousting the classic Chanel No 5 as the number one fragrance in France. Alien, a fragrance launched in 2005, outsells Angel in some territories, and Mugler is currently working on a new fragrance for 2010. As with the others, the name, the concept, the ad campaigns and even the mini-movies designed for the internet are created by him. But though it has turned

  into a hugely successful business, he says money has never been his main motivation. 'I wanted to do something that would make people dream. A nice, beautiful object. Otherwise it’s too much work. I don’t want to work. I’m very lazy. I’m very lucky, because I’m still playing. I play like a kid, and I always did it like that.’

  He recently fitted out a luxury yacht and he is also working on an architectural project in Dubai, but his main focus is, inevitably, directing and staging theatrical shows. In 2003 he was closely involved in Zumanities, an erotic review by Cirque du Soleil that is still running in Las Vegas. More recently, he has worked on an award-winning off-Broadway show with the performance artist and drag queen Joey Arias that involves music, puppets and sets that come to life, and that takes in an acid trip, aliens and appearances by Shiva and Mae West. Arias with a Twist has moved from New York to Berlin and is currently showing in LA, but they are already working on a follow-up, and Mugler is also casting for a musical that will tour France.

  He is now based in Paris again, saying he moved back to France for love. I ask if there’s a special man in his life and suddenly, unexpectedly, he comes close to tears, saying that it all became rocky while he was away working on the Beyoncé project. 'Yes. A very special one, but… It’s quite a difficult moment for me now.’ The kind of creative life he has led sometimes makes relationships difficult, he adds, when he has pulled himself back together. 'Sometimes when you do all this, you’re alone.’

  You suspect that Thierry Mugler has always followed his heart first and foremost. Which is, I think, why I found him so likeable. We part with a hug, but first he answers a question I’ve asked, in different ways, throughout our afternoon together: why he turned his back so completely on fashion. 'I left when I did,’ he says, those lively eyes once more twinkling with humour, 'because I didn’t want to become a monster.’

   

  (Telegraph fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news - Giorgio Armani recovering after hepatitis

  
  21 May 2009
  

  

  Italian designer Giorgio Armani acknowledges the applause at the end of the Emporio Armani Fall/Winter

  MILAN (Reuters) – Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani said on Thursday he had had a case of hepatitis and is now recovering.

  The 74-year-old said in a statement he had decided to "calm worries" after a high level of interest concerning his personal well-being in the last few days.

  "I have in fact suffered from hepatitis by poisoning, which, certainly is not a rare illness. Nevertheless it is one which requires some time for a complete recovery," Armani said.

  The designer, who counts numerous celebrities as his fans, added that he was recovering and that the company had continued to operate "normally with business as usual."

  "My commitment both on the creative and management side has never relented," he said.

  "Consequently there has been no shift in delegation of my authorities to any one of the executives and everything in the company is proceeding with the usual energy."

  Armani is considered the doyen of Italian fashion. His clothes are known for their classically elegant lines and muted colors.

  He is due to showcase his menswear collections for the Giorgio Armani and Emporio Armani brands during Milan's fashion week in June.

   

  (Yahoo fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news - Celebrated Aborigine artist takes the bush to Hermes

  
  21 May 2009
  

  SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) – Aborigine Gloria Petyarr has become the first Australian artist to design for Hermes, creating a pattern for one of the silk scarves the French fashion house is renowned for.

  "Bush Medicine Leaf Dreaming," a painting by the celebrated artist who lives in the remote desert community of Utopia, some 250 km (155 miles) northeast of Alice Springs, features in Hermes' Spring/Summer 2009 scarf collection.

  Petyarr's scarf is called "Le Reve de Gloria" and retails for A$530 ($413) in Australia. Its burned orange, feathery design depicts special leaves with medicinal properties that Aborigines use to treat many ailments.

  Art gallery owner Lauraine Diggins told Reuters Hermes first became interested in Petyarr's work after Diggins exhibited her paintings at an art fair in Paris in 2006.

  "As Aboriginal women age and their hair goes grey, they like to wear scarves, so it's a very fitting thing that Hermes have commissioned Gloria to do a scarf," Diggins, of Melbourne's Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, said.

  Diggins said she traveled to central Australia to supply Petyarr with the paper needed to paint the "leaves" design for the scarf, using specific measurements required by Hermes.

  Petyarr, who could not be reached because she has no access to a telephone, has traveled and exhibited all over Australia as well as overseas. In 1999, she won one of Australia's most prestigious art awards, the Wynne Prize.

  Diggins said Hermes had paid Petyarr a "substantial fee" for the commission and will pay her royalties for 75 years.

  She would not disclose the exact figure, but said Petyarr had yet to see her scarf, which Hermes sent over this month, due to the difficulty of reaching her.

  "Gloria hasn't seen the scarf yet because I'm not prepared to post it because it might not get there. I will have to go and personally hand it over," Diggins said.

   

  (Yahoo fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news - Kate Moss Topshop high summer 2009

  
  20 May 2009
  

  The high summer range for 2009 from the supermodel's 10th collection for Topshop hits stores on May 21st.

  Blue leopard-print dress, £65; Kate Moss

  Orange playsuit, £35; Kate Moss

  Cream and black stripe dress, £65; Kate Moss. All jewellery from a selection from Freedom at Topshop.

  (Telegraph fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news - Alesha Dixon launches limited edition necklace for Teenage Cancer Trust

  
  20 May 2009
  

   

  

  Alesha Dixon in the limited edition necklace for the Teenage Cancer Trust

  Ever since singer and all round entertainer Alesha Dixon won our affections by winning Strictly Come Dancing back in 2007, we have grown fond of her patriotic ways.

  First, there was the climb for Comic Relief up Mount Kilimanjaro with a host of celebrity pals including Girls Aloud singers Cheryl Cole and Kimberley Walsh. Now, not quite as strenuous but just as worthy, is a limited edition necklace that is set to be sold throughout Dune stores this month on behalf of the Teenage Cancer Trust.

  John Eagen, Dune’s CEO, has stated that they “are delighted to have Alesha (Dixon) supporting this cause”.

  The necklace, which consists of three layers of gold, pewter and silver balls, has been launched by Dixon to help raise awareness for the charity and can be worn with anything from a simple tee to a cocktail dress – or anything in between.

  Priced at just £20, this necklace is set to be sold in all stores throughout the UK and online, with all profits being directly donated to the Teenage Cancer Trust.

   

  (Telegraph fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news - Eurovision outfits

  
  20 May 2009
  
  

  Moldova's Nelly in an updated version of the national dress. Right: Azerbaijan?s eye-catching ensembles Photo: AFP

  So Eurovision 2009 is over - and ‘The Song’ is back at the top of the agenda. But what on earth happened to the clothes?

  Boring black, insipid white, 1980s bridesmaids’ frocks, predictable corsetry; I might just have well have ‘watched’ it on the radio.

  Where were the fabulous frocks? Who voted off the toe-curling costumes? Who put the squeeze on the sequins?

  France’s entry, Patricia Kass - who has some of the world’s great designers on her doorstep - chose to sing in a black, badly-fitting, black satin, short-dress; hardly one ‘L’ of an LBD. Where was John Galliano at Dior, Christian Lacroix or Jean Paul Gaultier when she needed them?

  Our own entry, Jade Ewen, fared little better. Granted she had a marvellous Andrew Lloyd-Webber song to sing, but the brilliance of her performance was hardly matched by a very pedestrian white ‘baby-doll’ with just a hint of silver beading. Why wasn’t she dazzling, visually, in a multicoloured, beaded micro-dress by Matthew Williamson which would have shown off her gorgeous pins to better advantage.

  Why couldn’t someone have persuaded Alexander McQueen to whip up a fabulous, anachronistic, twist on tailoring - or even have lent her one of his gorgeous, embroidered, red velvet, ‘Rule Brittania’ gowns from the last autumn/winter collection? Why didn’t Christopher Kane, Marios Schwab or Louise Goldin offer to design a one-off body-con dress that really might have made it ‘her time’.

  Iceland’s Yohanna and Sweden's Malene Ernman both looked as if they’d borrowed their dresses from the extras’ in ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’. At least Yohanna had a decent excuse since her country’s virtually bankrupt and she had probably had to cross-country ski to get to Moscow. Croatia’s Andrea and Russia’s Anastasia both looked as if they were wearing night-dresses; ironic, in the case of Anastasia whose father is supposedly a billionaire.

  Israel’s Noa and Mira Awad were to be congratulated for their peace anthem, but scored ‘nul points’ for their ‘Cruella de Vil on a Harley’ ensembles.

  And the men! Denmark’s Brink copying Ronan Keating; Lithuania’s Sasha Son trying - and failing - to do a Justin Timberlake. And the less said about Germany the better, even if it did feature a Dita Von Teese vignette.

  Thank Apollo for Greece’s Sakis Rouvos, in tight, taut, tummy-revealing T-shirt and skintight trousers as white as his teeth, who deserved a maximum 12 for his hip-grinding alone.

  Despite Graham Norton’s rather disparaging remarks about national costumes, these, for me, were this Eurovision’s fashion high point.

  I loved the Armenian sisters, Inga and Anush’s tribal, Cecil B. de Mille biblical-epic gowns, accessorised with coin-decorated pillboxes and hip-belts; very Guinivere meets Bathsheba, even if Norton did say it looked as if they came ‘from a village where Liberace is the mayor’.

  Moldova’s pert songster, Nelly, was a sweet ‘zingara’ in embroidered peasant smock, corset and lime and purple beaded ra-ra skirt - an update on national dress, with Next Directory-style Woodstock overstones, and wild ‘Cossack’ dancing backup; while full marks for Turkey’s Hadise for making the most of her region’s belly-dancing heritage, in a microscopic red bra and hip-slung, sarong-skirt slashed to the thigh, with backing dancers in similarly slashed harem pants. But who on earth was the boy in the beige trousers and shirt. Norton thought he looked liked he’d driven them all there in a minivan.

  Other ‘national treasures’ included Albania’s 17 year old Kejsi Tola, as the sugar plum fairy; Estonia's Urban Symphony in modernist, wet-look midnight blue beading; Bosnia-Herzegovina’s ‘Regina’ who had raided the Les Miserables’ wardrobe; and Azerbaijan’s Aysel & Arash in a curious, but eye-catching mix of military jackets, with purple and gold stretch. But why did the leggings have only one leg?

  The star of the night, however, was undoubtedly Ukraine's Svetlana, who had mortgaged her house in Kiev, for her extraordinary red microdress and black thigh-high boots - a Madonna moment without the 'mutton factor' - and to pay for the 'circus maximus' stage set which included silver chariot wheels and three Roman gladiators in the shortest skirts of the evening.

  (Telegraph fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news - The long and short of a tricky trend

  
  19 May 2009
  
  

  Shorts story: (left to right) Dries Van Noten, Louis Vuitton, Chloe

  The season that has brought us the sartorial challenges of the harem pant, pink leopard print and the power shoulder presents a further conundrum – super-short shorts. Once the staple of sun-drenched beaches, Provençal bike rides and alfresco dining en vacances, shorts have been given an uptown polish this summer by a stellar cast of fashion designers. Smart and sexy, the new shorts skim mid-thigh, come rolled at the hem and belted high on the waist and are made for chic restaurants and glamorous soirées (they’ve been dubbed “cocktail” shorts).

  Hannah MacGibbon, the London-born creative director of Chloé, made shorts the focus of her debut collection which was inspired, in part, by the nonchalant elegance of Lauren Hutton. The Seventies Supermodel, who epitomised the American outdoor girl dream, had a penchant for silk blouses and flak jackets paired with safari shorts; MacGibbon reworked the look with pretty scallop-hem silk versions teamed with matching tailored jackets, rolled hem styles in khaki green and even a pair in tomato-red leather. “I wanted to concentrate on structure and cut, the waist and, yes, lots of leg,” she said after the show.

  MacGibbon wasn’t the only designer to feature shorts. At Louis Vuitton, navy tailored shorts in cotton drill took on a more exotic tone when paired with sandals dangling with tribal feathers and beads (one of the most influential looks of the season); Dolce & Gabbana showed luxe silk “pyjama” versions worn with ornate trophy jackets; Dries Van Noten offered beautifully embellished, chequered, gold shorts; and Marc Jacobs fashioned them in stripy cotton in a more casual take for his Marc by Marc Jacobs line. Voluminous bloomers, as seen at Alexander Wang in coral silk, abound but are an acquired taste: they are the marmite of the shorts world – you’ll either love them or hate them.

  Away from the catwalk, the shorts wave has been rolling for some time. Early adopters include bad-girl model Alice Dellal, who is rarely seen out of her punkish, rock-chic signature outfit of biker jacket, fishnet tights, high heels and super-short denim cut-offs; television presenter Alexa Chung, whose baguette-thin legs and tomboy style lend themselves well to vintage silk tap shorts; and socialite Caroline Sieber, who looks quite the chic mademoiselle in her Topshop wide-legged, leather version and Gallic blue shirt.

  Meanwhile, fashion-forward actress Chloë Sevigny has been airing her pins in many tiny shorts of late, including several by Chloé. I met her during London Fashion Week in February when she was debuting her collection for American label and store Opening Ceremony. She was wearing vintage Thierry Mugler black leather flared shorts, fierce black heels and a pale pink silk shirt from her own line – and boy did she look good.

  There’s a balancing act when it comes to wearing this season’s shorts. Those crafted from luxe, feminine fabrics such as silk and satin (they look more like lingerie culottes) work best with a boyfriend blazer and simple oversized T-shirt. Conversely, a more masculine cut needs a prettier top (try Warehouse for delicate Victoriana lace blouses). Either way, revealing acres of leg means your upper half benefits from more substantial pieces – a cropped vest would show just a touch too much flesh.

  “They are fab alternatives to skirts and much more chic,” says Sukeena Rao, style consultant at Liberty, who is a fan. “The best ones around are by Stella McCartney, Dries Van Noten, the more casual floral versions by APC or Cacharel, and the new faded and ripped denim shorts by Current Elliott.”

  Rao recommends mixing shorts with tailored separates such as a tuxedo jacket with a well-cut camisole underneath for evening, or fine knitwear and chunky block heels for day. “It’s important to think about the overall silhouette. If they are too long, roll them up to show a little more leg. Ensure that you try on different shoes with different styles of shorts. Once you find the right ones you will wear them to death.” Try Topshop’s grey, suede cuff heels teamed with faded denim, or Nicholas Kirkwood’s sculptural sandals with more tailored versions.

  Of course, the caveat here is having a good pair of pins. Although the new fashion shorts are great with opaque tights, there comes a time (when the sun comes out) when hosiery becomes a no-goer.

  To get legs shorts-ready, find a great exfoliator and buff your skin until it gleams, apply a great fake tan (such as Rodial Brazilian Tan or Lancome Flash Bronzer Leg) and strap yourself into chunky heels – a nude or camel pair works wonders for lengthening legs. And for the seriously devoted, a programme of pilates should tone up those muscles in no time.

   

  (Telegraph fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news - Valentino thinks modern fashion makes women look "ugly"

  
  18 May 2009
  

  The 77-year-old designer - full name Valentino Garavani - is disappointed by the way people dress nowadays, adding most have no idea how to put together an outfit.

  Referring to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala which was held earlier this month, Valentino said: "I think now all the girls look very ugly. I saw the pictures of the Metropolitan gala evening last week and I never saw something more ugly, all the girls have their legs out with the most terrible proportions. No, no, no."

  Valentino has been retired for over a year, but insists he is still as creative as ever.

  He told Britain's The Observer newspaper: "I have so many ideas I could design a collection in two days, but I don't miss the work at all."

  Although he is not designing clothes anymore, Valentino's life is still busy.

  He recently attended the star studded premiers of 'Valentino: The Last Emperor', a movie which was shot over the last two years of his career.

  The film follows the legendary designer and his business partner Giancarlo Giammettio as they attempt to adapt their vision to the changing fashion industry.

  A new coffee-table book featuring photographs chosen by Giammettio - which is a cheaper version of a previous tome - has also been produced.

   

  (Bgfashion fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news - Liv Tyler is addicted to sweatpants

  
  18 May 2009
  

  The 'Incredible Hulk' actress enjoys dressing in expensive dresses when she goes to showbiz events, but claims nothing beats changing into her comfortable clothes at the end of the night.

  She explained: "I really enjoy dressing up but the moment I get home I take everything off and put my sweats on or my pyjamas - I like to be comfortable.

  " I still have my original pair of Converse trainers from when I was a teenager somewhere in my closet."

  The 31-year-old actress - who has four-year-old son Milo with her estranged husband, musician Royston Langdon - hates feeling pressurized to look glamorous, adding she refuses to let fashion worries take over her life.

  She said: "The hardest thing is taking Milo to school, as sometimes I'll literally just throw my coat on over my nightgown, but the paparazzi wait almost every day outside his school. It's so hard because I don't want to think about what I'm wearing when I'm taking him to school. I just want to get him there safely, then do whatever I have to do."

   

  (Bgfashion fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news - Audrey Tautou believes Coco Chanel gave women freedom

  
  18 May 2009
  

  The French actress - who plays the legendary designer in new film 'Coco Avant Chanel' - says the designer was a huge inspiration because she broke down barriers that had held back women before her.

  Audrey said: "She was the woman of the moment. She was very intelligent, strong and courageous. She wanted to be free and independent. At the time, nobody knew that could exist. She refused to let herself be closed off by social conventions and she was almost a rebel - she was almost a feminist ahead of time. In terms of fashion, she freed women."

  Audrey is also a huge fan of Chanel clothes because they are so elegant.

  She said: "Chanel's style is the style of simplicity. It's very feminine and is the symbol of French elegance."

  Coco, who died in 1971 at the age of 87, was one of the most important figures in 20th century fashion. Her menswear-inspired designs, which were renowned for their expensive simplicity, are some of the most sought after clothes in the world.

  Audrey Tautou believes Coco Chanel gave women freedom

  The French actress - who plays the legendary designer in new film 'Coco Avant Chanel' - says the designer was a huge inspiration because she broke down barriers that had held back women before her.

  Audrey said: "She was the woman of the moment. She was very intelligent, strong and courageous. She wanted to be free and independent. At the time, nobody knew that could exist. She refused to let herself be closed off by social conventions and she was almost a rebel - she was almost a feminist ahead of time. In terms of fashion, she freed women."

  Audrey is also a huge fan of Chanel clothes because they are so elegant.

  She said: "Chanel's style is the style of simplicity. It's very feminine and is the symbol of French elegance."

  Coco, who died in 1971 at the age of 87, was one of the most important figures in 20th century fashion. Her menswear-inspired designs, which were renowned for their expensive simplicity, are some of the most sought after clothes in the world.

   

  (Bgfashion fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news - First-class designs on your doorstep

  
  17 May 2009
  
  

  Cotton, bandeau, maxi-dress with frilled skirt, 6-20, also petite, £40, (code; 443540); hair-band (set of 2), £6.50, (460397); necklace with butterfly charm, £10, (453222); beaded necklace, £10, (463436) all from Next Photo: SIMON SONGHURST

  In January 1988, Kenny Everett’s television show was riding high in the ratings, the yet-to-be-ennobled Andrew Lloyd Webber made the cover of Time magazine as “magician of the musicals”, George Michael’s Faith was Number 1, Kate Moss hadn’t been discovered – and up and down the country, thousands of courier deliveries were heralding a seismic change in shopping by telephone.

  The package that started the armchair-revolution, landing with a loud but stylish thump on doorsteps, contained a 350-page catalogue. It was called Nexr Directory – and it was destined to change the style, scale and nature of mail-order fashion for ever.

  Hardbacked, glossy and stylish, the directory was photographed in the manner of a Vogue editorial by the likes of Herb Ritts, Neil Kirk, Pamela Hansen and Gilles Bensimon, with expert styling in amazing locations. And it starred, among others, Uma Thurman, a young Yasmin Le Bon, Veronica Webb and Karen Mulder, the first of a bevy of international modelling stars who would grace its pages.

  Bringing middle-market clothes to the home shopper for the first time, it promised delivery within 48 hours. The directory was the brainchild of one of the giants in the British retail scene, George Davies, then CEO of Next, and it paved the way for the mail-order and online shopping boom as we know it today.

  But it was not all plain sailing. As Simon Wolfson, CEO of Next today, ss it celebrates it's 21'st birthday, reveals: “For the first three or four years, it didn’t make money. What went wrong was a divergence from the Next retail chain, which was a must-go destination on hundreds of high streets all over the country. Next Directory had the same spirit, the same quality, but was more fashionable, less accessible.”

  The turning point came in 1992 when Next Directory and Next retail merged, both offering the same aspirational clothes that were good quality and of great design. Next Directory, like its high street namesake, was for a long time renowned for its “working wardrobe” – a look epitomised in thousands of black and navy trouser suits beloved of the young career woman on a budget. But its latest high- summer collection, inspired by Woodstock, is a perfect illustration of how it embraces a more laid-back image, too.

  The directory has continually expanded, with a greater emphasis on casualwear, menswear, babies’ and childrenswear, swimwear, party wear, together with homewares, furniture and all the items that reflect the changing lifestyle of the core customers, generally aged between 25 and 55.

  Launched in 1999, online shopping meant that the entire book could be viewed on the internet. Today, a copy of Next Directory is in one in every 12 households in Britain. More than three million “books” are printed four times a year, making it the biggest-selling book in Britain – possibly outselling the Bible – and the biggest fashion e-tailor in Europe.

  What Next? Simon Wolfson believes online business will continue to grow, but he does not envisage people wanting to relinquish the directory itself.

  “Customers like to flick through the pages. It is like being able to shop straight from a great fashion magazine – at prices you can afford.”

   

  (Telegraph fashion news)

• 2009 fashion news - Maternity clothes: how to do pregnancy chic

  
  17 May 2009
  

  Michelle Smith is the founder of the fashion label Milly. She is seven months pregnant with her second child.

  

  Michelle Smith

  WEAR SNUG FITS Pregnant women look better in clothes that fit snugly. Stretch jersey is great because you don’t want to feel constricted. Avoid trapeze shapes that flow off the shoulders and layers that drown you and make people say, 'Wow, you look big’

  PICK SIX KEY PIECES Your entire body doesn’t change when you’re pregnant, so you don’t need to buy a whole new wardrobe. Invest in six key pieces. Do buy maternity T-shirts, which are cut to fit your expanding belly. Bigger sizes of your usual brand won’t work because the shoulders will go sloppy. Simple black maternity leggings are essential because they aren’t tight across the tummy. The Italian label Nicol Caramel does wonderful maternity trousers and stretchy woven shirts

  INVEST IN MATERNITY JEANS Maternity jeans are essential. I have a white pair and a blue pair from J Brand that I wear far too much. They’re cut below the tummy, so they’re not itchy like the ones with a stretchy waistband that goes over the bump. Buy a classic cut that you can save for your next pregnancy, too. Topshop maternity jeans come in a great selection of cuts and colours and are an ideal price for everyday wear

  EMPIRE LINES This season it’s tough to be fashionable because of the focus on the nipped in 'true’ waist – when you’re pregnant a line across the waist looks terrible. You need to accentuate parts of your silhouette that haven’t changed, like the curve of the back and the area under the bust. Salma Hayek and some of the young Hollywood kids looked beautiful, when they were pregnant, in flowing empire-line bohemian dresses cut tight below the bust

  DON’T HIDE Black is slimming but don’t shy away from prints. I wear patterns as much as my staple black jersey dress. You don’t have to hide the fact that you’re pregnant. Similarly, I think maternity swimsuits look weird on the beach and I imagine they’d be hot and itchy. It’s fine to wear a bikini that goes under your tummy. I wear a string one from my own collection

  SWELLEGANT FEET You might have to buy new shoes – I go up half a size because my feet swell. But, as a safety measure, I don’t wear platforms. I’m even clumsier than usual when I’m pregnant, so I always wear flats in case I fall over

  LAYER UP Pregnant women often get hot, so I wear a cardigan that can be taken off easily, or a jacket with the button undone, over a T-shirt. Adding a pretty necklace gives the look more polish, especially if it’s chunky and draws the eye up. Some women like to accentuate their growing bust with a statement necklace

  DON’T OVERSHOP It’s important to be comfortable, and when I get home I change into track pants and a T-shirt. After the birth you’ll be so sick of wearing your maternity wardrobe that you’ll want to burn it

   

  (Telegraph fashion news)

• 2009 shoes fashion trends - Three best espadrilles

  
  17 May 2009
  
  

  Patent leather, £129, by L?K Bennett (0844 581 5881)
  

  Leather and rope, £260, by Christian Louboutin (020 7491 0033)

  It’s always struck me as an act of faith to wear espadrilles in a British summer – one heavy downpour of rain and the soles turn to mush – but clearly there is a spirit of optimism around, as a great many fashionable youth can be spotted out and about in them, following in the footsteps of Alexa Chung. The last time they were so prevalent was the 1980s – Don Johnson donned them in Miami Vice, and George Michael in Wham! – and I remember slip-slopping around London in a pink pair I’d bought on a Spanish holiday, until they fell apart on a drizzly bank-holiday weekend.

  

  Leather and rope, £260, by Christian Louboutin (020 7491 0033)

  But espadrilles have a far longer history than that; the Museo Arqueológico Nacional in Spain has in its collection a grass-soled sandal said to be 4,000 years old, which looks very like the classic espadrilles made in Catalonia for at least five centuries, if not more. The Catalan name for them is espardenya, and if you’re ever in Barcelona, you can buy them at La Manual Alpargatera, a workshop established in the early 1940s, which supplied Salvador Dalí with his favourite pairs in black or white canvas. Dalí’s friends and contemporaries – Picasso, Chanel, Colette – were equally comfortable in espadrilles, wearing them with white cotton trousers, striped sailor tops and an air of nonchalance, a combination now synonymous with Riviera chic.

  

  Canvas, £18, by New Look (0500 454094)

  So you can understand why the espadrille provided Manolo Blahnik with his initial inspiration, as a little boy growing up on a banana plantation in the Canary Islands. The espadrilles belonged to Blahnik’s nanny, Maria Socorro (a name that means 'help’); and he saw them with the curious intensity of a child’s earliest memory: 'They were linen, with soles of jute, and black ribbons that laced up the leg – not very good quality, but to me they were beautiful. Sometimes Maria would undo the ribbons, and you could see the red marks left on her leg…’ Thereafter he would watch his Spanish mother make her own espadrilles, trimmed with ribbons and lace: 'I’m sure I acquired my interest in shoes genetically, or at least through my fingers, when I was allowed to touch them as they were made.’

  Thus without espadrilles there might be no Manolos (imagine a parallel universe in which he ran the banana plantation, instead?). Still, here we are in a season of designer espadrilles – Christian Louboutin zebra-print wedges for £295, scarlet batik ones from Oscar de la Renta for £240. They’re perfect for Park Avenue princesses, though possibly not for a wet Whitsunday in Crouch End…

   

  (Telegraph fashion news)

• Yves Saint Laurent - 2009/2010 New Fashion Trends Collections for Mens

  
  16 May 2009
  

  Yves Saint Laurent - 2009/2010 New Fashion Trends Collections for Mens

  Yves Saint Laurent: Fashion Designer

   

  These images in 2009/2010 New Fashion Collections Trends for Mens of Yves Saint Laurent

   

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

• Yohji Yamamoto - 2009/2010 New Fashion Trends Collections for Mens

  
  16 May 2009
  

  Yohji Yamamoto - 2009/2010 New Fashion Trends Collections for Mens

  Yohji Yamamoto: Fashion Designer

   

  These images in 2009/2010 New Fashion Collections Trends for Mens of Yohji Yamamoto

   

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

• Vivienne Westwood - 2009/2010 New Fashion Trends Collections for Mens

  
  16 May 2009
  

  Vivienne Westwood - 2009/2010 New Fashion Trends Collections for Mens

  Vivienne Westwood: Fashion Designer

   

  These images in 2009/2010 New Fashion Collections Trends for Mens of Vivienne Westwood