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• Fashion news 2011: The supermodels return for Harper's Bazaar

  
  03 November 2011
  

  Fashion news 2011: The supermodels return for Harper's Bazaar: They have a combined age of 214. Yet whether you ascribe it to remarkable genes, marvellous make-up or (for the really cynical) artful airbrushing, there can be no denying that this vintage line-up of supermodels still looks very super indeed on the Harper's Bazaar magazine's December-issue cover.

  

  Yasmin Le Bon, Helena Christensen, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Eva Herzigova on the cover of December's Harper's Bazaar. Photo: Jonas Akerlund for Harper's Bazaar

  They have a combined age of 214. Yet whether you ascribe it to remarkable genes, marvellous make-up or (for the really cynical) artful airbrushing, there can be no denying that this vintage line-up of supermodels still looks very super indeed on the Harper's Bazaar magazine's December-issue cover. The image is an impressive showcase not only for Dolce & Gabbana corsets (the designers mastermind the look of the cover) , but for the remarkable longevity of fashion's greatest generation of clotheshorses - the supermodels.

  Bazaar's editor Lucy Yeomans recruited her roster of supermodel cover girls as part of a project that saw them cast in a video for a Duran Duran single named Girl Panic. The shoot took place back in June, but according to Stefano Gabbana's Tumblr commentary at the time it felt much longer ago than that: "I feel like in the 90's", he said.

  It's a month short of 22 years since Vogue magazine started the whole supermodel shebang with its wonderful cover of January 1990. All of them wearing Giorgio di Sant'Angelo, the original super-roster of Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford stared - seemingly unmade-up and most definitely un-airbrushed - straight down Peter Lindbergh's lens.

   

  That single shot alerted the fashion world to the remarkable crop of once-in-a-generation beauties that was suddenly in its midst. Along with Claudia Schiffer, they were termed the "Big Six" and speedily became famous well beyond the confines of fashion.

  Two of Vogue's originals are on Bazaar's recast homage; Crawford (now 45) and Campbell (41). The three supermodel substitutes are Helena Christensen (43), Eva Herzigova (38) and Yasmin Le Bon, (47), wife of Duran Duran's Simon.

  (telegraph fashion news)

  The image is an impressive showcase not only for Dolce & Gabbana corsets (the designers mastermind the look of the cover) , but for the remarkable longevity of fashion's greatest generation of clotheshorses - the supermodels.

• Fashion news 2011: Audrey Hepburn's Oscar dress up for auction

  
  03 November 2011
  

  Fashion news 2011 - Audrey Hepburn's Oscar dress up for auction: The ivory lace gown that Audrey Hepburn wore to collect her Oscar for Best Actress for Roman Holiday is up for auction.

  

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  The dress was adapted from a costume that legendary studio designer Edith Head created for Hepburn's character in the film. Considered her breakout role, Hepburn's portrayal of a runaway princess won her her first - and only - Academy Award in 1954.

  

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  The frock has been valued at £40,000 - £60,000 and will go under the hammer on November 29 by Kerry Taylor Auctions . Its last sale of Hepburn's dresses in 2009 raised over £270,000. The auction house also oversaw the sale of the sheer dress, which the Duchess of Cambridge wore to her university fashion show, for £78,000 in April.

• Fashion news 2011: Rooney Mara Makes Perfect Vogue Covergirl

  
  03 November 2011
  

  Fashion news 2011: Rooney Mara Makes Perfect Vogue Covergirl: I won’t exaggerate if I say that Vogue November 2011 cover with Rooney Mara is the best Vogue cover of the year (For some reason I’m sure the December cover won’t be as good!). It’s fresh and bright enough and it features the girl who has eyes that go through you, that expose you and reveal all your secret thoughts. And it’s not the exaggeration again. This image has really impressed me.

  

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  Rooney Mara, who plays in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, looks as amazing on other photos in the issue. Wearing a daring black gown the actress poses in the grey background which instead of making her look boring focuses on features that make her look special – rich expressiveness of her face and attractiveness that is not about sex appeal.

  

  I particularly love those photos with greenness around. I know it’s not natural and was made via Photoshop but Rooney looks so ethereal on these pics that I can forgive the photographer for everything.

  

• Fashion news 2011: Anne Hathaway At Princess Grace Awards Gala

  
  03 November 2011
  

  Fashion news 2011: Anne Hathaway At Princess Grace Awards Gala: Anne Hathaway must have felt really honored at Princess Grace Awards Gala posing together with Princess Charlene of Monaco. Both ladies looked amazing on the red carpet. While Princess Charlene wore a luxurious lacy floor-length Christian Dior gown Anne kept her outfit simple. The 28-year-old actress sported a demure nude dress adorned with crystals, pumps in the matching color and dangling diamond earrings.

  

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  Other attendees of Princess Grace Awards Gala, which was held I New York, includes Olivia Palermo, Olivia Munn, Selita Ebanks, Rachel York and others.

  

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• Benetton's Underwear Colors Trends For Fall-Winter 2012

  
  03 November 2011
  

  Benetton's Underwear Colors Trends For Fall-Winter 2012: The new Undercolors of Benetton fall/winter 2011-2012 collection has finally been released by UCB alongside with their lively, colorful and joyful campaign in a youthful atmosphere of freedom and friendship, symbolizing the spirit of global unity in diversity, the brand has already gotten us accustomed to.

  

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  The Undercolors of Benetton fall/winter 2011-2012 ad campaign itself looks incredible, featuring lots of bright moments, fun and warmth. Models take off their clothes and demonstrate comfy and cozy lingerie sets in various bright hues and prints, from floral to gingham, which will look undeniably seducing, when paired with shirts, pants, shift dresses, and shawls, as well as catchy accessories. Simple and clean lines, but also subtle detailing, such as trimming, frills, tiny bows and lace make all those pieces absolutely amazing and alluring.
  Every shade can be spotted in the new underwear collection from United Colors of Benetton, from taupe, plum, maroon, purple, green, blue and teal, to the neutrals black, grey and white. As for the styles and designs, there are both classic no-wire bras, and dressy and sporty panties, but also shrugs, shirts and shawls, leg warmers in solid green and purple stripes, pajamas, camisoles and hot pants, paired beautifully with stylish knitted and furred accessories, such as leggings, high socks, and winter caps. The fabrics used are comfortable and great for everyday wear, but there are also dressier pieces featuring much fancier fabrics and lace detailing.

  Photos Benetton's Underwear Colors Trends For Fall-Winter 2012:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

• Paris Hilton and Katherine Heigl looked stylish in Rachel Zoe’s design

  
  30 October 2011
  

  Paris Hilton and Katherine Heigl looked stylish in Rachel Zoe’s design - Latest Rachel Zoe Coat Trends 2012: The fashion battle today will not be over a dress, it’s a coat that we are going to talk about. The two celebrities – Paris Hilton and Katherine Heigl – wore the same design by Rachel Zoe – an oversize belted camel coat with unusual sleeves.

  While Paris teamed the coat up with a pair of black leather pants and Christian Louboutin boots, Katherine opted for black shorts and leopardskin print boots to finish her look. Both Paris Hilton and Katherine Heigl looked stylish in Rachel Zoe’s design. But I like the way Paris wore the coat better.

• Latest wedding dresses 2012: Vera Wang’s black wedding dresses

  
  27 October 2011
  

  Latest wedding dresses 2012 - Vera Wang’s black wedding dresses: Vera Wang has designed a collection of black wedding dresses because she felt fashion for bridal gowns needed a change.

  

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  For a few centuries in a row girls have worn white wedding dresses on their big days. And while designs of dresses changed throughout the period the color stayed the same. It’s probably only ivory that is more or less close in popularity to white when it comes to bridal gowns. However, there is a designer, one of the best in the industry, who believes a wedding dress can be black… It’s Vera Wang.
  
  Vera Wang has experimented with colors before. She’s tried green, blue and even purple. But for Spring 2012 season she went to the extreme – she sent 9 of her models down the runway in black pieces.

  Of course Vera Wang’s black wedding dresses were as chic and fabulous as dresses of other colors but they still were black, which was odd and crazy in the sense that black color is a symbol of mourn in many cultures.

  All pictures in Vera Wang’s black wedding dresses collection 2012:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

• Fashion news 2011: Carine Roitfeld bags another Chanel campaign

  
  27 October 2011
  

  Fashion news 2011 - Carine Roitfeld bags another Chanel campaign: Turns out that Carine Roitfeld is giving Karl Lagerfeld a run for his money in the lots and lots and lots of jobs' stakes. Since leaving the mothership , French Vogue , last December, the former editrix has been adhering to the Lagerfeld school of thought and working like a demon.

  
  
  Fittingly, one of her first gigs out of Vogue was working for Lagerfeld, styling the Chanel autumn/winter 2011 campaign (Freja Beha Erichsen in a cat costume and with letters across her forehead. Look, it's cool, yeah?). And she's done the spring/summer 2012 campaign, too, according to WWD . Over the weekend, she took the difficult assignment of styling models Joan Smalls and Saskia de Brauw in the not-beautiful-at-all-except-if-you're-blind location of Antibes in France. It's "all about athletics and the sea…It's very modern sportif and in black and white", muses Lagerfeld.
  
  Aside from Chanel, Roitfeld took on styling gigs for Jean Paul Gaultier and Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy, for whom she also acts as muse. What exactly does a modern muse do, you cry? Swan around in Tisci's divine dresses on the red carpet, natch - Roitfeld did her duties in Givenchy at the amfAR Gala in New York in February and the Vampire Ball she hosted earlier this month during Paris Fashion Week.
  
  Keeping up? Good, because there's more, including styling 72 pages of fashion for V magazine's Elizabeth Taylor-led September issue ; modelling stints for Barneys , W and iD ; compiling her visual autobiography, Irreverent ; and announcing plans for her own quarterly magazine , out next September. Add to that numerous front-row appearances at the latest round of fashion shows and Roitfeld is officially the Hardest Working Lady in Fashion to Lagerfeld's Hardest Working Man. Makes us look pathetic with our one nine-to-five job, doesn't it?

  (telegraph fashion news)

• Fashion news 2011: Rooney Mara Makes Perfect Vogue Covergirl 2011

  
  21 October 2011
  

  Fashion news 2011: Rooney Mara Makes Perfect Vogue Covergirl 2011: I won’t exaggerate if I say that Vogue November 2011 cover with Rooney Mara is the best Vogue cover of the year (For some reason I’m sure the December cover won’t be as good!). It’s fresh and bright enough and it features the girl who has eyes that go through you, that expose you and reveal all your secret thoughts.

  

  Rooney-Mara-Perfect-Vogue-Covergirl-2011

  And it’s not the exaggeration again. This image has really impressed me.

  Rooney Mara, who plays in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, looks as amazing on other photos in the issue. Wearing a daring black gown the actress poses in the grey background which instead of making her look boring focuses on features that make her look special .

  

  I particularly love those photos with greenness around. I know it’s not natural and was made via Photoshop but Rooney looks so ethereal on these pics that I can forgive the photographer for everything.

   

   

   

• Fashion news 2011: Ashley Green - the new face of DKNY

  
  21 October 2011
  

  Fashion news 2011: Ashley Green - the new face of DKNY:Following in the footsteps of Hilary Duff and Alexa Chang the Twilight star is to appear on images for Spring 2012 campaign.

  

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  Ashley Greene has long been praised for her style, so it was just a matter of time that she landed a fashion campaign. Yesterday DKNY announced her to be their new face.

  Ashley Greene, the new DKNY Ambassador, is very excited about what happened:

  I’ve always loved Donna Karan’s creations. To be a part of the brands’ message is incredibly exciting because it feels like such an organic fit. It’s easy to talk about how these clothes work for my lifestyle, whether I’m in New York, L.A. or traveling for work.”

  DKNY executive VP Patti Cohen commented:

  Ashley embodies everything DKNY -her energy, her spirit, her eclectic personal style. She is on the forefront of what it means to connect with a global fan base through social media, a focus that is aligned with our digital and new media initiatives.”

  First images of DKNY Spring 2012 global ad campaign with Ashley Greene will appear in January.

• Fashion news 2011: Hottest types of Bags For Women 2011- 2012

  
  14 October 2011
  

  Fashion news 2011: Hottest  types of Bags For Women 2011- 2012: Fashion is so diverse that it’s really impossible to know everything about it. But what it is quite possible is to keep learning. So, today we will speak about types of bags, those which are most common. We hope you will find something new for yourself.

  

  Athletic bag – a roomy bag used for carrying sporting apparel and necessary equipment to the gym or sports ground.

  

  Backpack – a bag that lies across the back and is supported by wearer’s shoulders with double handles. A backpack can be worn on one or both shoulders.

  

  Baguette Bag – a rectangular bag that basically reminds a baguette in shape. Baguette bag is long from side to side and small from top to bottom. This bag can come with a short shoulder strap.

  

  Bowling Bag – a bag that was originally intended for holding a bowling ball, later became a fashion item.

  

  Bucket bag – a roomy bag in shape of a bucket, can come with an open top and a shoulder strap.

  

  Clutch Bag – small rectangular bag that is shorter than a baguette bag. Clutch bag is usually an evening bag and can be adorned with jewels, sequins, crystals, etc.

  

  Cosmetic case – a bag intended for holding cosmetics. Cosmetic case can come in different sizes and shapes, usually with a zipper.

  

  Duffel Bag – a large bag used for travel or sports. The name comes from Duffel which is a town in Belgium where the fabric for the bag was first produced.

  

  Envelope bag – a flat bag, square or rectangular in shape, with a triangle top flap that folds over like an envelope. Envelope can be as small as a clutch bag or larger.

  

  Fold over clutch – a clutch that can be tucked or folded, can be with or without a handle, large or small.

  

  Hobo Bag – a roomy crescent-shaped shoulder bag with a main compartment closure.

  

  Messenger Bag – a large or middle-sized bag with a long strap that lies across the body, winds around the chest and rests the bag on the lower back. Messenger bags are usually made of high quality, durable and water-resistant materials.

  

  Satchel – a handbag with a flat bottom and double handles. Satchel can be large or small

  

  Shoulder bag – a bag of any size and shape provided with a shoulder strap.

  

  Sling Bag – a small bag with a long strap. Sling bag is similar to a messenger bag but smaller.

  

  Tote Bag – a middle-sized or large bag with two handles, can be used for shopping.

  

  Wristlet – a small bag in shape of a clutch, comes with an attached leather or bracelet-looking strap allowing wearer to hold the bag and have hands free.

• Fashion news 2011: Sophie Hulme the handbag world's hottest name

  
  14 October 2011
  

  Fashion news 2011: Sophie Hulme the handbag world's hottest name: Sophie Hulme's ultra-desirable totes have been on the radar of fashion editors this season and sell-outs at Selfridges.

  

  Sophie-Hulme-handbag-2011

  What is the new term for It bag? Trophy bag? The fantastically pretentious "hero" bag? Well, whatever the expression, Sophie Hulme's is precisely that.

  The designer's ultra-desirable totes have been on the radar of fashion editors this season, including this one's - and you can see why. The slick design, the cool gold plating, the chic hues...that was the sound of flesh hitting floor as I collapse into a bag-induced swoon.

  But there's substance to the rhapsodising: Hulme's bags, which cost around £560, have sold out five times at Selfridges, since launching in August. Mulberry who?

  Clueing up to their popularity, she's reworked them in softer leathers and added more shapes, including a wider black zipped style, for next spring. She will also be launching a new footwear line, which, she tells The Telegraph , will focus on "fabric mixes and be quite Chloé-esque, chunky in feel."

  Given Hulme's winning accessories, it's surprising to learn that clothing is actually her thing; she took home the accolades Best Collection and Student of the Year for womenswear when she graduated from Kingston University in 2007. Her masculine-meets-feminine line eschews trends for simple, tailored shirts and coats spiced up with leather and brass detailing, an aesthetic carried through to her bags, which launched last year. "They just caught on straightaway," she says. "I've had people telling me how they've been chased down the street carrying their Sophie Hulme bag because people want to find out where it's from."

  If you fancy being harassed yourself, you can find them at bStore, Village Bicycle, style-passport.com and, soon, hip Start London boutique, as well as Selfridges.

  (telegraph fashion news)

• Women's Tips Dress 2011: Dress For Cocktail Party

  
  05 October 2011
  

  Women's Tips Dress 2011: Dress For Cocktail Party - Latest guide Dress for Cocktail Party: Dressing right for different occasions is very important if you want to be taken seriously. A cocktail reception is a party where guests are provided with refreshments rather than full sit-down dinner.

  Cocktail parties can be small informal weddings or corporal events, a book launch or a boutique opening. While cocktail party is not a black tie event with the strictest dressing rules it is not a casual dress event either.

  So, here are the rules you have to follow to look great at a cocktail party:

  

  Tips-dress-for-cocktail-party-2011

  Put on a cocktail dress which is chic and elegant. The length of a cocktail dress normally ranges from a few inches above the ankles to above the knees. Forget about dresses which give you too much exposure. Try to choose something appropriate.

  

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  Accessorize your attire. Opt for jewelry that flatters your dress but don’t overdo: one or two items will be enough. Don’t forget about a good purse, it is essential to carry it while holding a drink.

  

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  Wear dress shoes. Heels are the best option but flats are acceptable, too. Think of comfort, cocktail party is usually long and you will have to be on your feet all the time.

   

  Pay attention to styling. Spend extra time on your hair, nails and makeup. Messy look is not a good idea for a cocktail party.

  Having these simple rules in mind you will look perfect at a cocktail party.

   

• Paris Fashion Week 2011: Chanel Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection

  
  05 October 2011
  

  Paris Fashion Week 2011: Chanel Spring-Summer Fashion  2012 Collection: The Grand Palais, that vast glass-roofed emblem of France's Second Empire is the perfect setting for a Chanel show. It isn't just that, when fully opened up, it's the size of two football pitches, but that its bombastic imperialism is utterly in sync with Karl Lagerfeld's.

  

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  And really, when faced with the full might of Chanel's commercial might, who can argue - or wants to?

  While other houses retrench, regroup and re-hab, Chanel's extravagance either seems distasteful or strangely reassuring. Luxury for a troubled world. Bring on those 70 models in their whisper-light, silk gazaar jewelled dresses and airy loosely woven tweed, flared, cropped jackets and gathered skirts, as they marched around giant shells and fish to Wagner's Valkyrie.

  The theme was aquatic and Lagerfeld didn't spare the (sea) horses. Glorious iridescent weaves, rippling ruffles, metallic Chelsea boots and an almost entirely creamy, nacreous coloured collection. As ever, you get a bit of everything with a Chanel show - narrow skirts, fuller ones, dresses, a strong statement about white, but also some aqua, a bit of black and a dollop of pink. But overwhelmingly it was about lightness - and those feathery tweeds and chiffon ruches practically floated away. Pretty? You bet, but without being cloying.

  Pictures Paris Fashion Week 2011: Chanel Spring-Summer Fashion  2012 Collection:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  (telegraph fashion news)

• Paris Fashion Week 2011: Alexander McQueen Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection

  
  05 October 2011
  

  Paris Fashion Week 2011: Alexander McQueen Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection: Last season the Alexander McQueen show took place in Paris's bon-chic-bon-genre 16th arrondissement, home to royalty and bankers.

  

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  Tuesday night the venue switched to the grittier 'hood of the 19th, home to many of Paris's immigrants. Is the label reminding everyone that as well as dressing the Duchess of Cambridge, furnishing state occasions with opulent dresses and providing New York's Metropolitan Museum with one of its biggest blockbuster exhibitions of the decade, it has a fine tradition of playing agent provocateur?

  "This is a collection about excess," warned Sarah Burton, McQueen's creative director, before the show. "It's an exploration of ideals of beauty at their most extreme. We go to such lengths to adorn ourselves that we almost become our clothes or are taken over by them."

  She added that she was also thinking about women as objects of desire and, arguably, there was much objectification in this show - first a model with veiled eyes, then one with a veiled face but breasts visible beneath translucent chiffon.

  It is way too avant garde for the Duchess of Cambridge, the label's most famous customer, but in part this is an academic exercise. The message for customers is that the skirt suit lives - and it's sharper and more sumptuous here than anywhere. But at least half the outfits in the 34-strong collection were couture rather than ready-to-wear.

  What couture though - half made in the UK, half made in France, all hand sewn, some by Burton herself. Tiny pleats in fleshy pinks, gold or antique pearl colours rippled round the bodies.

  Pictures Alexander McQueen Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  (telegraph fashion news)

• Chloe Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 collection at Paris Fashion Week 2011

  
  04 October 2011
  

  Chloe Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 collection at Paris Fashion Week 2011: Chloe's new creative director Clare Waight Keller - formerly of Pringle - was parachuted into Paris only a few months ago. Backstage just before her debut collection today, she said: "It's all been very fast, but it's been exciting. It's great to be in a French house, because you have the opportunity to work with an atelier. I just moved here, but already am feeling the energy of the city, and that has really influenced me."

  

  Chloe is a unique house, synonymous with both luxury (as they all are) but with a casual, laid-back femininity too. The archetypal Chloe girl is a thick-coiffed, well-off twenty-something Parisienne bounding down the boulevards in chic, sleek, sexy ready-to-wear - probably in camel or beige.

  Unfortunately Waight Keller's first collection did not fully connect with this spirit. The short explanation is that it was over-replete with pleats. It started well enough, with a couple of wide, long white contrast-coloured pleat dresses - a low-backed green pleat on white dress with dental-floss thin shoulder straps was casually lovely - and baggy, pleated-shoulder tops teamed with slouchy trousers. Pleat fatigue started to kick in with a green, thick-pleated skirt that looked to be a contrast-textured leather. Its odd movement made the model's backside look enormous - not a look that the Chloe girl aspires to.

  Then came a series of drop-waisted pleat skirts, often with panels of rust, brown, or beige running horizontally across the pleats or vertically with them. They were unflattering too. Pleat pique was rapidly peaking, and thankfully Waight Keller started to introduce some other ideas, including widely punched-hole details on arms and old-lady floral prints (sweet) on trousers. Unfortunately they were rarely entirely pleat-free. And these pleats were not the delicate little zig-zags that crinkled so sensitively to movement like those used at Etro in Milan, or Erdem in London earlier this season: they were three-inch-ish wide numbers that gullumphed as they moved like the slatted leather skirt of a Roman legionnaire.

  One skirt, just before the end, was a longish brown leather with red and white piping - an adaptation of the little 1970's-style racing-hemmed shorts that have been everywhere for the last few weeks, and were clever. Yet if Waight Keller had presented a variation of this theme - as she did with her pleats - over and over again, it would have staled too.

  There was little applause at the end. Yet Chloe should give Waight Keller, who is smart, more time to interpret around Chloe girl. She might eventually come up trumps. Although, like a Brutalist architect, she is perhaps sometimes too enchanted with articulating the ideas behind her work at the expense of the desires of those who might inhabit it. And one of those desires will always be to not have a big behind.

  (telegraph fashion news)

• Yves Saint Laurent Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 collection at Paris Fashion Week

  
  04 October 2011
  

  Yves Saint Laurent Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 collection at Paris Fashion Week: So pointed and persistent have been the rumours surrounding Stefano Pilati's future at YSL (will he or won't he be ousted for Raf Simons?) it's a tribute to his willpower that he got anything out on the catwalk. That is was as focussed and to the point as it proved, must be all the more satisfying to him, and confounding to his critics.

  

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  Mind you, focus isn't always good when it leads you, blinkers on, down the wrong track. But Pilati is on a highway to customer satisfaction next spring. We've seen a lot of skirt suits and cropped jackets this past month, but Pilati gave his a distinctive YSL signature. Those high-drama ruffles on the hems of his split, just-above-the-knee skirts or round the armholes of sleeveless tops and the cocoon backs of his flared jackets delivered interesting, high class detailing to what are - for the YSL customer at least - fairly straightforward, uncomplicated clothes.

  On the catwalk the suits came with high necked silk blouses. Part of that uptight-chic that YSL has come to embody, they also gave Pilati an opportunity to show off his credentials as a Saint Laurent-worthy colourist. And he didn't disappoint. Aqua with midnight, petrol blue brocade capri bangs with purple silk halter neck, khaki and teal, navy and damson…. it may have lacked the joie de vie of the sugary pastels, corals and daffodils so many other designers are wading through, but the Saint Laurent woman has always liked life on the shady side of the street.

  But with Pilati, it's the shoes that are the real blockbuster and he now has a sequel to the Tribute: a gold tipped, block toed story that came in many guises, from the dowright weird, arch-clamping remedial PIlates footwork version to an adorable, low heeled lady-like jewelled model and the higher heel ratings winner - all with ankle ties.

  So what next for Pilati: more supposition about his career or a dignified reprieve? For his sake you'd have to hope for the latter. Then again, the more vicious the rumours, the less tortured his work seems to become.

  (telegraph fashion news)

   

• Vanessa Bruno Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 collection at Paris Fashion Week

  
  04 October 2011
  

  Vanessa Bruno Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 collection at Paris Fashion Week: Vanessa Bruno proves once again why she is one of the fashion editors' go-to designers. Ok so it's not Percy Bysshe Shelley. Or even Kanye West. And technically speaking, it's not actually an ode. But it sums up what many fashion editors feel about Vanessa Bruno. That's why increasing numbers of them turn out for her shows.

  

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  Put simply, Bruno has that left Bank slouch down to a T - although for winter she went a bit Sheffield University student on us with huge woolly knits and billowing skirts. For next spring however, she's back to her attenuated self with a slew of cute but not cute-sy low-waisted shift dresses - think A Bout de Souffle and dream of Jean-Paul Belmondo - and skinny trousers in ochre or olive. Some of those shift dresses and tunic tops featured a city-slick version of patchwork: sweet squares of spriggy flowers banded by metallic strips.

  

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  Well cut flared, cropped jackets, off beat colours and sparkly tops and a 60's state of mind...oddly Bruno seemed to be exploring the same mine as Giambatista Valli but at a fraction of the price. And that's the reason Valli is for ladies-who-pick-at-lunch and Bruno's for the rest of us.

  

  (telegraph fashion news)

• Valentino Spring-Summer Fashion 2012 Collection at Paris Fashion Week

  
  04 October 2011
  

  Valentino Spring-Summer Fashion  2012 Collection at Paris Fashion Week 2011: However long they remain at the helm of Valentino, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli must accept that every article about their work will inevitably mention the house's permatanned, pug-loving founder. Let's just hope they don't mind: for under their creative guidance the Roman house is striking almost the perfect balance between honouring its history whilst attending to the business of reinvention.

  

  A model wears a design from the Valentino spring/summer 2012 collection

  Their Valentino woman is a stranger, more complex cipher than Garavani's stunningly uncomplicated vision of beauty. Today they made the requisite nods to his great motifs - the ruffles and that always-scene-stealing red - but these were not the main event. There was youthful prettiness in floral lace dresses in baby blue, black, blush and pink (this strapless, with a ruffle hem), and elfin kookiness in the glitter heeled flat sandals with straps of entwined leather, and a little sheer pink capelet with pink lace shorts.

  Their longest riff, however, was played through the mediums of chiffon and lace and majored on an ankle-skimming hemline much longer than most collections next spring. By layering these ultra-light materials they create an ultra-feminine and very watchable interplay of movement, sometimes emphasised by placing the lightest possible polka dots on an nude chiffon underskirt, or a rose appliqué on a black sheer gown.

  So complicated is the frothing embroidery on some of the dresses, such as a final red-at-the hem detailed flower garlanded dress, that it can become a little overwhelming. The puffed shoulders and square neckline - below a sheer gauze panel - in a final dark dress with white flower details approached period costume territory, and many of the longer white decorated dresses where reminiscent of the frock worn by Waterhouse's Ophelia. Yet just as their chaste-necklined above the knee dresses were never coarse, these grander, longer, looks were never overwrought or corny.

  (telegraph fashion news)

• 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)