Congratulations are in order for Nicholas Kirkwood.
The accessory designer beat out fellow British talents like Mary Katrantzou, Peter Pilotto, Emilia Wickstead and Roksanda Ilincic to win the prestigious BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund, the UK’s equivalent to the CFDA Fashion Fund Award. Kirkwood will receive £200,000 as well as access to key senior level mentors across the UK fashion industry.
Not one but two ‘fashion hackathons’–one hosted by the CFDA and IMG and the other by Hearst–will take place during this coming New York fashion week. This news is pretty surprising when you consider that most fashion people probably don’t even know what a hackathon is.
To explain what a hackathon is, why it’s happening during New York fashion week, and what this means for the industry, we spoke with Liz Bacelar, founder of Decoded Fashion, an organization that creates events dedicated to bringing fashion and tech together. Bacelar, along with former Lincoln Center fashion director (and, before that, director of special events at Vogue) Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, made the CFDA/IMG fashion hackathon (an official part of NYFW) happen.
Alexa Chung Named Newest BFC Style Ambassador: She’s long been the stye ambassador to our hearts, but now Alexa Chung can add yet another title to her growing list of fashionable ventures. The British Fashion Council has named the influential Brit It-Girl their ‘Young Style Ambassador,’ as which she will “promote British fashion design talent to a global market.” While it seems to us that Chung already does that job quite well, it never hurts to make things official. {Elle UK}
Parsons Students Compete in International Fashion Showcase at London Fashion Week: The first ever International Fashion Showcase is happening now at London Fashion Week, with young designers from 19 different countries competing against each other for the Emerging Talent Award. Representing the US is a group of MFA students from Parsons, showing a collection titled “Lost Time is Never Found Again.” {Racked}
Carine Roitfeld Working with V on New Project? We’ve been anxious to hear about Carine’s latest project following her departure from French Vogue, and now WWD is speculating that her new magazine may be in collaboration with V Magazine. Though Carine herself has yet to comment, she’s already guest-edited an issue of the fashion mag and has reportedly been seen around the V office a lot lately… {WWD}
Karl Lagerfeld Mentored Lost Lamb Claudia Schiffer: Way back when O.S. (Original Super) Claudia Schiffer was just a homesick little fräulein in the big bad world of modeling, the Kaiser apparently took her under his friendly fingerless-gloved wing as her wise mentor. Sounds just like a modern-day modeling fairy tale. {Vogue UK}
Nicki Minaj Wears Prada on Wonderland: For the mag’s Feb/March issue, a cotton-candy coiffed Nicki Minaj proves that Prada is for more than just basic bitches. Check out Wonderland‘s latest cover, which features Ms. Minaj rocking totally natural lashes and what looks like a printed version of the Spring ’12 bodysuit that’s been taking over recent editorials. {Design Scene}
What Does Solange Knowles Wear Every Day? Ever wonder what Solange is wearing on a daily basis? Well wonder no longer!! B’s baby sis is Vogue UK‘s “Today I’m Wearing…” girl for February. And she’s a supporter of daytime clutches– Which charity is that exactly? {Vogue UK}
Rachel Roy to Release Footwear Line: As a few non-designers zealously stamp their names on shoe lines, actual designer Rachel Roy is expanding her brand, adding a footwear collection to the two clothing and accessory lines bearing her namesake. Due out in August, Rachel Roy collection consists of flats, boots, and naturally, pumps inspired by long-time mentor and collaborator, Manolo Blahnik. {WWD, subscription required}
i-D Rings in The Year of the Dragon: … with a set of 12 absolutely stunning covers featuring Asian models rocking some breathtaking hair and makeup. Photographed by Chen Man with the help of M.A.C’s Director of Makeup Artistry, Terry Barber, these seriously gorgeous covers are worth framing and mounting in your salon. {Models}
Alexa Chung Designs a Teddy Bear: For the BBC’s Children in Need charity, Alexa Chung joins the ranks of designers like Giles and Louis Vuitton, designing a version of their iconic Pudsey Bear. Alexa keeps Pudsey’s look relatively simple, in ink blue velvet and a red and white heart-embroidered bandana. {Vogue UK}
Parsons Alums to Design for Christian Louboutin: For the never-ending celebration of the brand’s 20th anniversary, Christian Louboutin is enlisting the talents of Parsons alums to design garments to fit the Loubi aesthetic. Five 2010-2011 graduates were chosen, and their designs will be on display at the Louboutin 20th anniversary event at Bergdorf Goodman in early February. Congratulations to the winners, we can’t wait to see what they’ve come up with! {WWD (Subscription required)}
Topshop and the British Fashion Council’s NEWGEN is Teaming Up Once Again: for a collection of t-shirts designed by some of its most noted alums including Mary Katrantzou, Christopher Kane, and Meadham Kirchhoff. The collaboration is in celebration of Topshop’s ten-year affiliation with the NEWGN designer sponsorship, and will be available during London Fashion Week in stores and online at Topshop, as well as in the retailer’s LFW pop-up shop in Selfridges. {Vogue UK}
Rihanna is Having The Best Vacation Ever: The bleater singer has been snapping twitpics of herself in various bikinis all week, but last night Ms. Fenty let loose on Twitter sharing several shots of her island frolicks. At one point she tweeted @KhloeKardashian a picture of her on an elliptical machine in a bikini, “Come tap this.” If she won’t, we will. {Rihanna Twitter}
The fashion week scheduling nightmare appears to finally be over, at least for now. September 2012 dates for New York and London have just been confirmed, officially, and both cities have agreed to move their dates earlier. New York Fashion Week will take place September 6-13 and London will follow from 14-18, according to a press release the CFDA and the BFC sent out this morning. WWD reports that Milan’s Fashion Shows will take place September 18 through 25 and Paris September 25 through October 2.
The news comes following more than three months of back and forth between the four fashion capitals after Milan set their September show dates to conflict directly with New York and London and then couldn’t be reasoned with, digging its heels further into the ground as the months wore on. The agreement they seem to have reached is the same one New York and London proposed back in November (which DVF referred to as “biting the bullet”). So then why has it taken this long to confirm?
Victoria’s Secret Models’ Dueling Halloween Parties: Current Victoria’s Secret Angel Miranda Kerr is hosting a NYC Halloween soiree the same night as her predecessor and Halloween queen Heidi Klum’s annual bash. It’s like a Zoolander-esque walk-off, except they’ll be wearing funny costumes and probably won’t even see each other. The horror!! Mwahaha. {NY Post}
PETA Wants Gaga in a Lettuce Dress: PETA will design a dress of leafy greens, and is even offering to supply someone to spray the ensemble with water so it doesn’t wilt. How generous! {Styleite}
You Can Vote for British Style Icon of the Year: Once again, the British Fashion Council is letting us vote for our favo[u]rite Brit it-girl. Alexa Chung won last year, but there are a lot of other strong contenders and a few fresh faces this time around. Who shall it be? As Captain Planet would say, the power is YOURS! {Telegraph}
The Spring 2013 show season clusterf*ck continues. The CFDA and the BFC reacted immediately after the news came down from Milan’s Camera Nazionale della Moda on Friday that it would show its members’ spring 2013 collections September 19-25, essentially eating into two of New York’s planned days and completely eclipsing London‘s whole five-day schedule.
Diane von Furstenberg, the president of the CFDA, sent out an open letter to the fashion community yesterday. She was rather conciliatory in it, stating that the show date hoopla was a “misunderstanding” and that she was “convinced it will be resolved.” But don’t think she’s going down without a fight. She also told WWD:
Jo Wood, ex-wife of Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, is launching a line with Harold Tillman, chairman of the British Fashion Council, and Los Angeles based fashion designer Christopher Wicks. Wood’s already launched an organic skincare line, and she’s taken a couple of turns down Vivienne Westwood’s Red Label runway, but we’re not sure about her Read more →
This morning, the British Fashion Council announced its first Vogue Designer Fashion Fund winner, Erdem Moralioglu. London Fashion Week’s enjoyed unprecedented attention this year and last, due in part to its 25th anniversary celebration, Burberry’s homecoming and the UK’s stash of fresh talent. They launched the awards this year to maintain that momentum and acknowledge Read more →
This morning the British Fashion Council released a shortlist of designers up for the first ever BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund – the CFDAs for Brits. Richard Nicoll and Nicholas Kirkwood are on the list, as well as Marios Schwab, Erdem, Clements Ribeiro, E. Tautz and Angel Jackson. No major surprises, except for the inclusion of Read more →
