The theme of last night’s event was punk–though you wouldn’t necessarily know it from the red carpet. Though some of the guests did step up the ‘tude a notch–some with spikes, others with hair dye–the majority kept it pretty, well, pretty. Let’s take a look at who was brave enough to go punk, and who Read more →
There’s been a lot of talk over the past few weeks about Vivienne Westwood’s role in the punk style movement, thanks to the Met’s upcoming Punk: Chaos to Couture exhibit. Today, though, we have news of a decidedly more commercial Westwood project: She just designed the new uniforms for Virgin Atlantic.
You are cordially invited to the royal runway show! The Queen will host a public catwalk show next year at Buckingham Palace as part of the celebration for the 60th anniversary of her coronation. {Vogue UK}
Kanye West wasn’t around when Kim Kardashian cut her new bangs–but he usually plays a “huge part” in important styling decisions of that nature. {US Weekly}
Nicki Minaj gets a major make-under for the April cover of Elle. {Elle}
It’s spring cleaning for Gwyneth Paltrow–the GOOPstress is selling some of her own (gently worn!) clothes and accessories for charity. Hopefully little Apple is still too young to understand what her mom’s doing. {GOOP}
Vivienne Westwood isn’t known for keeping her opinions to herself–the veteran designer has been outspoken about current events ranging from climate change to Julian Assange to Kate Middleton. And in a new interview with the New York Times‘ Eric Wilson, she sounds off on the Metropolitan Museum of Art, American journalists, and Michelle Obama–to name just a few. Read on for all the things that are annoying Dame Westwood lately.
Sports Illustrated model, high fashion model, and Dougie/Cat Daddy aficionado: Is Kate Upton going to add TV host to her repertoire? {NY Post}
This totally adorable and inspiring daughter of a breast cancer survivor has written a petition to Victoria’s Secret, asking them to make a ‘Survivor’ line of mastectomy bras. We’re in! {Refinery 29}
This is what the red carpet of a porn star awards show looks like. We won’t tell anyone you clicked. {HuffPo}
Check out these adorable pictures of kids recreating A-listers’ looks from the Golden Globes, including a mini Halle Berry and Taylor Swift. {TODAY}
There was a bottleneck situation getting into the Vivienne Westwood show this morning, but we didn’t mind standing outside for a bit because her shows really draw the street style, in the form of weird hats, lots of piercing, and a throwback punk or two. Westwood is beloved in London, and not just by the fashion crowd. No less than three cab drivers asked me excitedly if I had seen “Dame Vivienne’s” show yet.
Well, today I did, and her collection was a bit quieter than usual.
The British Fashion Council has just announced the nominees for the 2011 British Fashion Awards, which are essentially the U.K.’s answer to our prestigious CFDA’s. The ceremony, which is scheduled for November 28, is meant to recognize the most influential people in fashion today and also promote the growth of British fashion.
With all the attention the U.K. has been getting lately for that stylish princess of theirs and being dubbed the “new fashion capital,” British fashion is definitely more relevant than ever this year. That may be why the BFC has decided to re-introduce the Red Carpet award, which “gives recognition to a British designer who is creating global awareness of their designs in the media.”
From Kim Jones to Stella McCartney to Erdem, here are all the nominees:
Dear Chris,
I’m a first year international marketing student at a university in London. I really want to pursue a career in fashion marketing, but unfortunately my uni does not offer internships for the first years students–not even advice.
How can I get into the whole London fashion vibe other than shopping? Do you know what an inexperienced but determined, fashion-loving girl can do?
Cheers and Thank you.
I was introduced to What Goes Around Comes Around by my best friend who moved to the city a year before I did. She said, “We need to go in there, it’s like vintage heaven.” And that it was. A place where everything vintage comes to die, or rather, live on.
Enchanted by all the amazing vintage pieces, WGACA soon came to be a regular stop in my weekend “want-to-buy-everything” trips to Soho. But I always wondered, “where does all of this vintage even come from? And how does this even work?” After hearing about Jane Aldridge’s trip to the WGACA warehouse, I knew where to find my answers.
So, yesterday, I made a trip out to their giant 10,000 square-foot warehouse located about ten minutes outside of Manhattan in Jersey City. (Which is technically in New Jersey, but not really.) Becka Diamond came too, since she’s hosting at event at the store this Thursday. “I’ve been surrounded by vintage all my life. I, like, remember eating lollipops at auctions with my mom when I was young,” said Becka as we headed over. “Is this your first time here?” she asked me. “You’re going to die. The first time I came here I was like in shock. There’s just so much amazing stuff.”
Tim Gunn Hates Everyone, and Doesn’t Hide It: Granted, everything he says is usually spot on. Gunn just shot an episode of Gossip Girl and had some not-so-nice things to say about Taylor Momsen, including: “She was pathetic, she couldn’t remember her lines, and she didn’t even have that many. I thought to myself ‘why are we all being held hostage by this brat?’” {E! Online}
Brad Goreski, on the other hand, had nicer things to say about a former co-worker named Taylor. He spoke of Ms. Jacobson’s split from the company (which happened a really long time ago, but people are still about it): “I hear she’s doing really really well and I think that’s great. I wish her all the luck in the world.” {Hollywood Life}
Obama Gets Bush’s Approval: That would be Michelle Obama, who has the style approval of former first niece Lauren Bush. Bush attended Carolina Herrera’s show and said of Mrs. O, “I think [her sense of style] is great, I think it’s wonderful that she’s supporting young designers I think that’s very cool.” {Daily News}
LONDON–It was 1955 and Dior had just brought us the stiletto. A 14 year old Vivienne Westwood, who had already been wearing high heels for a year, bought her first pair and brought them to school, sitting them on her wooden desk for all to admire when her history teacher came in and said, “Vivienne Swire if God wanted you to walk on pins he would have supplied them.”
Vivienne Westwood Shoes: An Exhibtion 1973-2010 opened yesterday at The Ultralounge, a permanent exhibition space in the vast belly of Selfridges. Voted “Best Department Store in the World,” the class favorite figured that wasn’t a big enough feather in their hat, so the people at Selfridges will be launching “The Biggest Shoe Department in the World” next month and have chosen Dame Westwood’s fetish for shoes to whet our appetites. Supported by rubber shoe designers Melissa, some 200 of the designer’s shoes dating from 1973-2010 are displayed like fine jewelry in a chronology of footwear.
Britain’s Queen Mother of Punk has found inspiration in everything from British colonialism to the Victorian dandy to down-and-dirty S&M. The show is a knuckle-rapping reminder of the true origins of the oft-repeated pirate boot, court shoe, ‘rocking horse’ ballerina, three tongued trainer and the mighty Naomi-Campbell-tumbling-platform of ’93. “She looked like a gazelle in slow motion,” Westwood later remarked of the infamous fall. “She’s a very proud woman of course, and so when she got back stage she was so angry with me.”
The fedora and its smaller-brimmed siblings, the pork pie and trilby, really must die. This trend has reached its saturation point.
Much like the Ray-Ban Wayfarer, one can argue that the fedora is a classic item that will never really disappear. This may be true…to an extent.
The fedora first came into fashion in the 1880s as an accessory for women. Then it fell out of favor with the girls, and men co-opted it in the 1920s. The fedora had a long run of popularity, eventually fizzling out as a common menswear item in the early 1960s.
However, it has reared its jaunty head frequently in popular culture since then. The Blues Brothers. Indiana Jones. Annie Hall. Freddie Krueger? Yes, icons all. But no one really wore the hats in real life. They felt costumey.
