Archive for May 2011

Fashion News Roundup

Fashion News Roundup: Marchesa Reveals Their Chic Playboy Bunny Costume, Alaia to Show at Couture Week and a Look Back at Shopping Malls in 1989

Marchesa’s Playboy Bunny Costume Revealed: To commemorate the opening of the Playboy club in London, the ladies at Marchesa re-imagined the iconic bunny costume. They glammed up the classic black leotard with embellishments and embroidery in true Marchesa fashion. {Telegraph}

Neiman Marcus is Raking It In: Thanks to e-commerce, the department store’s profits have doubled in the third-quarter. {WWD, Subscription Required}

The Shopping Mall’s Glory Days: Photographer Michael Galinsky traveled across America in 1989 to document malls. The hair! The acid wash denim! {Vice}

Read more »
Beauty

My Favorite Beauty Products: US Weekly‘s Gwen Flamberg

Admit it. You love US Weekly. So do I. So much so that I stopped saying, “Oh, I only read it at the nail salon,” and actually got a subscription delivered to my home.

For this edition of “My Favorite Beauty Products” Gwen Flamberg, the beauty director at US Weekly, was kind enough to share her picks with us. Before US, Gwen wrote about beauty at the Ladies’ Home Journal and Fitness, and has worked with The Today Show, Good Morning America, Extra, and E!News. (We’re sure she has some interesting celeb tales to tell.)

Here are her picks:

Read more »
Broke and the City

Broke and the City: Rumbling Tummies

Arguably the biggest dilemma with having little to no money (depending on your priorities) is food. In the list of things that are fun to spend money on, groceries rarely beats that Topshop dress you’ve been dying for. Food here is ridiculously overpriced, and one can find that trying to stay on budget while working several days a week is pretty difficult, even painful, such as when your office staff orders from Olives and you have to decline and cry softly into your Cup-A-Soup. The key is knowing when to save, when to splurge, and where to shop (or scavenge).

Read more »

Check Out Inez and Vinoodh’s Portraits of Marc Jacobs, Alexander Wang, Lady Gaga and More for the CFDA Journal

If you’ve been following photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin’s Tumblr you know that the duo have been working on photographing CFDA nominees and models for this year’s CFDA journal. Our favorite shot is still the back of Anja Rubik’s big hair, held up by sheets of cardboard and clips.

Today, the famed photog duo have released several official finished portraits of designer nominees. According to WWD, Inez tried to get everyone to strip down for their portraits. Shockingly, Marc Jacobs is the only nom to have been photographed shirtless.

Take a look at Inez and Vinoodh’s CFDA portraits–they just released one of Kristen Mcmenamy looking a little pissed off with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth.

Read more »
The Business

Acne Expands US Business, Plans to Show Resort 2012 on June 9 in NYC

Stockholm-based fashion house Acne knows it has more than just a cult following Stateside. With its nifty spin on classics, Acne’s design team–led by creative director Jonny Johansson–has helped to define the modernist’s dress code.

So it’s no surprise that the label is teaming up with Want Agency–a New York-based fashion distributor and showroom–to expand its US business.

Read more »
Magazines

It’s All About Aline Weber in Russh #40

By Steff Yotka Thursday, May 26, 2011 / 7:30 PM


Few magazines have the ability to create editorials that are as effervescent as those in Russh. Their latest issue stars Aline Weber in bevy of cozy coats and skimpy dresses in an idyllic landscape.

Click through to take a look.
Read more »

Fashion Careers

Veteran Stylist Sasha Charnin Morrison Talks Her New Book, Why Being Abused as an Assistant is OK, and the Real Reason Behind Gwyneth’s Ill-fitting Oscar Dress

Sasha Charnin Morrison has spent the last 25 years working in fashion, most of them as a stylist (she’s styled everyone from Jennifer Lopez to the Real Housewives of New Jersey and is currently the fashion director at US Weekly). It’s a profession that today needs no explaining, but back when Charnin Morrison got her start styling, there wasn’t even a name for what she did. Thanks to Phillip Bloch and especially to Rachel Zoe and Bravo, everyone knows what a stylist does and it seems like everyone wants to be one. But how?

Enter Charnin Morrison’s new book, Secrets of Stylist: An Insider’s Guide to Styling the Stars ($24.95, Chronicle Books), which is essentially the first how-to book on being a stylist. “I realized there was nothing out there,” Charnin Morrison says explaining the impetus to write the book.

Charnin Morrison culls from her 25 years of experience–which means tons of interviews with her friends who are top stylists to A-list stars–to give aspiring stylists the low down on what actually goes into the job that appears deceptively glamorous. Just how un-glamorous does it get? We talked to Charnin Morrison to find out.

Read more »
Beauty

Must-Have Beauty Products for Your Memorial Day Beach Bag

It’s almost Memorial Day weekend, the official kick-off to summer and beach season. Are you and your adorable new beach bag fully stocked and prepared for any eventuality? If not, we’re here to help.

Here are our picks for the must-have items (most new, some tried-and-true) that should find a place in your tote before you hit the sun and sand. (Need a tote? We love this stupidly expensive yet ridiculously cute Jil Sander silk twill style with a detachable pink strap.)

Read more »
Entertainment

Last Night’s Party: Mike Mills Talks Neanderthals at Opening Ceremony

With possibilities of a stateside spotting of Parisian chic, we hopped down to last night’s signing at Opening Ceremony for illustrator/director Mike Mills’ new title, Drawings from the Film Beginners. Luckily we weren’t disappointed as the inimitable Melanie Laurent loyally held court beside her Beginners director, clad in mom jean overalls and a straw fedora–somehow she made this work…beyond work.

Mills, a longtime visual artist and Cooper Hewitt alum, wrote the script for Beginners à la Sylvia Plath (ie: loosely based on his life). Although luckily his roman à clef is much less depressing. Inspired by his father’s late-in-life decision to expose his homosexuality, Mills is cinematically portrayed by Ewan McGregor, an artist who juggles a new love (played by Laurent) and his dad’s brave decision. The resulting book—Drawings from the Film Beginners–is not so much a story as it is a collection of drawings from the movie, depicting “The History of Sadness” and “The History of Love.”

We briefly interrupted Mills’ autographing duties to speak about his new book and love for Neanderthals:

Read more »
  • Misty White Sidell
  • Thursday, May 26, 2011 / 5:58 PM
  • Comments ()
Adventures in Copyright

Gwen Stefani, Not Michael Angel, Designed Her amfAR Dress…Kind Of

The black lace gown Gwen Stefani wore to the Cannes amfAR gala sparked quite a controversy earlier this week, when a “rep” for designer Michael Angel started a rumor that he, rather than the L.A.M.B. designer, deserved credit. A statement given to The Cut by Angel’s alleged rep said that Stefani was discrediting Angel, who both helped her with the design and worked as a stylist.

The information turned out misconstrued. Angel told FashionEtc. that the now-former employee spoke “without having full knowledge of the collaboration” and that Stefani designed the dress herself for the gala’s auction. (The dress sold for $125,000.) He was fairly upset about the rumor, saying, “I’m disappointed that the focus has shifted away from what Gwen and I originally intended, which was to create a custom outfit for a great cause. We both were thrilled with the outcome and enjoyed the process.”

Read more »

‘Made in the USA’ is (Really) Back: Over Two-Thirds of Rich Americans Prefer Clothes Manufactured Here Than Abroad

Maybe there’s hope for the Garment Center after all. According to a recent survey conducted by American Express, 65% of affluent Americans said that they try to buy Made in the USA products whenever possible.

Read more »
Adventures in Copyright

Adventures in Copyright: Lost Art Ripped by Roberto Cavalli

By Mickie Meinhardt Thursday, May 26, 2011 / 4:25 PM

Roberto Cavalli may be known for making women look like sex kittens, but how about being a copy cat? Lost Art, the leather clothing and accessories brand, seems to have heavily “influenced” the Italian house’s last few collections.

Perhaps it could have been labeled a coincidence if it was one accidental necklace or placement of fringe, but this array of items includes pants, tops, and bags. Seems a little fishy.
Read more »