Fashion: Best British Cities for Shopping

Whether you're on the hunt for great vintage bargains or want to round out your wardrobe with designer clothing, don't miss the chance to shop in one of the major shopping districts around the UK. From London to Edinburgh, you can shop until you drop at popular boutique shops, department stores, fashion houses and even a few spots that have become popular destinations for celebrity shopaholics.

Here are some of the best UK cities for shopping:

London

Host of London Fashion Week and a hotbed for avant-garde fashion, design and art, London is the ultimate shopping destination for any fashion maven. Head to Harrods in Knightsbridge for the ultimate department-store shopping experience, or pick up high-end accessories, shoes and designer collections at the fashion boutiques on Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street. Venture out to one of the famous markets such as Old Spitalfields Market or Camden for knickknacks, souvenirs and bargain finds.

Glasgow

If you have more of a bohemian fashion sense, head to Glasgow to shop its indie stores and local designer boutiques for handmade goods, vintage clothing, and jewelry. Scotland's largest city is considered a haven for design junkies and shoppers looking for something that's anything but mainstream. The Merchant City area, in the city's West End, is full of unique shops as well as bars and restaurants. One of Britain's oldest covered shopping arcades, Argyll Arcade, built in 1827, contains 32 jewelry stores.

Bristol

The main shopping district in Bristol, in South West England, is the Bristol Shopping Quarter in the center of the city, which is divided into Broadmead, The Galleries, Quakers Friars and Cabot Circus. Full of stately Georgian architecture, Clifton Village is one of the city's most posh shopping areas. You can shop at vintage stores, high-end boutiques, and even a lingerie shop for some unique finds. This is also a great place to enjoy some classic pub fare or a hot cup of tea when you need a break.

Birmingham

Shopping in Birmingham is as diverse as the city itself. The high-end Birmingham Bullring is home to more than 160 retail stores and the famous Selfridges department store. Plan on spending an entire day at this shopping center for your fair share of designer clothing, fashion accessories, European housewares, and shoes. For shopping on the other end of the style spectrum, try The Pallasades, which specializes in discount goods.

Manchester

A popular destination for sports fans and music enthusiasts, the city of Manchester is also a haven for shopping with its array of shopping centers and smaller locally owned shops. The Manchester Arndale Centre is one of the country's largest urban shopping centers and the place to scope out the latest trends and find brand-name merchandise and designer collections. The city also hosts vintage fashion markets each month and is home to locally owned bookstores, boutiques, and music stores.

Edinburgh

Princes Street is the main retail thoroughfare in the heart of Scotland's capital. Well-heeled shoppers can spend a few hours at Jenner's department store, one of the most upscale shopping destinations in the country. The beautiful Victorian architecture will have you enthralled for a while. When you're done browsing at this shopper's palace, you can head to the historic Royal Mile and nearby Grassmarket to shop at fine boutiques and other high-end stores.

European fashion buyers look to Nigeria

A model struts the runway wearing a flowing newspaper print gown in this African megacity where international high-end fashion buyers are looking beyond the country's bleak headlines to uncover the next new thing.

There have been steady efforts to turn Lagos, a city with a fearsome reputation, into a fashion destination. They reached new heights at the MTN Lagos Fashion & Design Week that ran from Oct. 24 to 27 and drew European high-fashion brands such as the United Kingdom's Selfridges & Co. and Munich-based MyTheresa.com to Nigeria for the first time.

Ituen Basi's newspaper inspired Spring/Summer 2013 collection was among 39 collections spotlighted at the city's latest major fashion week. The Nigerian label's collection evoked fun and glamour through its use of print and color — characteristics which have come to define the vibrant local fashion scene.
With local brands seeking wider platforms and international retailers hungry for novelty, designers and buyers see opportunities for collaboration.

"There's something about the fresh, the unknown, the possibility of seeing a new brand springing forth into the limelight. ... These are becoming interesting to people outside Nigeria," said Omoyemi Akerele, the fashion week's founder and creative director.

An encouraging response to African-inspired designs by top Western labels gives buyers confidence that designs straight from the continent will also sell.

"Over the past few seasons, there's been a strong trend for print," said Bruno Barba, the brand public relations manager at Selfridges. "If you look at the collection of Burberry inspired by Africa last year; there was also Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith. ... They've made that inspiration quite mainstream now. So, for us, it was interesting to take that trend and take it from its roots in Africa."

Online retailer MyTheresa.com, which ships top designers' clothes including Miu Miu, Givenchy, Lanvin and Isabel Meron to clients in 120 different countries, is also looking for products in Nigeria that will sell well. The company hopes that will set it apart from the competition in a fast-paced industry.

"For me, Nigeria represents a fun individualism," the company's buying director Justin O'Shea said. He also said that MyTheresa.com was looking to work closely with designers and adapt products for their clientele if needed.

Previously, several Nigerian designers have helped put the West African nation on the global fashion map.
Deola Sagoe has gained recognition from U.S. Vogue editor Andre Leon Talley and Oprah Winfrey. London-based Duro Olowu is considered one of Michelle Obama's favorite designers. Maki Oh has dressed American singer Solange Knowles and Hollywood actress Leelee Sobieski from her Lagos workshop. Jewel By Lisa, who has also dressed celebrities, designed limited edition BlackBerry mobile phone skins and jeweled cases for Canadian manufacturer Research In Motion Ltd.

While looking to Nigeria could bring much-needed novelty to clothes targeted to global audiences, it could also endear a Nigerian clientele. Though the majority of the nation lives on less than $2 a day, the nation's wealthy elite have a growing appetite for top-shelf brands. Luxury goods stores are increasingly opening in a country where seemingly gratuitous displays of wealth are the norm.

"Nigerians are part of our Top 10 highest-spending foreign customers," Barba said. "It felt right for us to try and find a response that would appeal to them, excite them and be over and above what they already buy, almost as a recognition that they're an important part of our consumer base."

JEWEL BY LISA
Fashion week after fashion week, Lisa Folawiyo, the creative director of Jewel By Lisa, is a consistent Nigerian designer. She recently started retailing at the New York-based online luxury store Moda Operandi and continues to draw attention from international buyers and labels looking for a modern interpretation of African style.

Her Spring/Summer 2013 collection is named "Fula" after the Fulani women it draws inspiration from. The Fulani are a nomadic people spread across several African countries, including Nigeria.

Their women typically have fine traits and slender frames, not unlike the models that took to the catwalk with soundtrack that crossed the high-pitched melody of the African guitar and the heavy bass of house music.

The Jewel by Lisa collection turned traditional loop earrings into a motif that repeated itself throughout her satin fabrics across stunning color combinations.

ANITA QUANSAH LONDON
Anita Quansah London is a prolific one-woman operation based in a London workshop. The Ghanaian-Nigerian designer describes her work as a "labor of love." She sells to a global market including Asians and Europeans. She says she is now in talks to build a diffusion line to meet up with the growing demand of her work that has caught the eye of such designers as Christian Delacroix.

Her Spring/Summer 2013 collection is dramatic for "ladies who want to make a statement when they walk in to a room."

Her show-stopping bib necklaces are embellished with intricate bead work. The beads include imitation coral beads used for traditional outfits in southern Nigeria. Some bibs are lined with chicken feathers which also evoke traditional heirlooms.

Her dresses were understated and mostly in solid black, ceding the limelight to the jewelry that included suggestive chain designs inspired by bondage. Quansah said she wanted to show "women that weren't afraid to be sexy."

LANRE DASILVA AJAYI
Designer Lanre DaSilva Ajayi is well-known in Nigeria's fashion scene for her love of 40s elegance. International buyers such as Selfridges & Co. expressed interest in her designs for retail at their UK stores.

Her ultra-feminine collection used a color palette ranging from cool nude and turquoise to warm orange and gold.

She showed flowing silhouettes and easy-to-wear maxi dresses, using chiffon, raw silk lace and the lace used in traditional Nigerian outfits to carve European shapes.
Her clothes are for the woman on the move, bold and sophisticated.

JOSH SAMUELS
The MTN Lagos Fashion and Design Week 2013 was also the culmination of a months-long competition for new talent. The competition winner was menswear designer Josh Samuels, an architect turned designer that offered a geometric collection.

"I like things organized and appropriate," said Samuels who won the equivalent of $25,000 and the opportunity to be stocked in some Nigerian boutiques.

His collection called "Casanova" included finely tailored suits with classic checkered and houndstooth patterns and matching string ties.

Edwing D'Angelo Announced as Designer for 'The Reality of FASHION The Reality of AIDS' New York Fashion Week Celebrity Runway Show

The Reality of fashion The Reality of AIDS, announced today Edwing D'Angelo as the event's participating fashion week designer debuting his Fall/Winter 2013 evening wear collection. The charity benefit will take place on the evening of February 9th, 2013. Celebrity Reality Stars will join forces to walk the runway for this philanthropic event all with a unified goal of raising $300,000+ in funding with proceeds raised being donated to AIDS United, a national organization dedicated to helping those affected by AIDS/HIV, and whose goal is to end the epidemic. Tickets are on sale for the formal charity benefit with prices ranging from $450 for standing room tickets, $800 standard seating, to $1200 VIP meet and greet tickets.

"We are bursting with excitement to have such a talent as Edwing D'Angelo working with us for this upcoming NYC Fashion week. Edwing's evening wear work, his strong work ethic, and Fashion industry reputation made it an exceptionally easy choice for us," states Beautiful Planning Marketing & PR CEO, Monique Tatum.

Edwing D'Angelo is a Colombian-born, NYC based fashion designer quickly emerging through mainstream America. With his boutique currently based in the famous NYC Limelight Marketplace, the self-taught designer has previously shown at both New York Fashion Week and Couture Fashion Week. D'Angelo's pieces have been seen on such celebrities as Angela Simmons, Tyra Banks, Lil Kim, Patti Labelle, Vivica A. Fox, Sean Paul, Mo'Nique, B. Smith, Melissa Ford and many more. His work has also been highlighted in major US & Hispanic press as well as hit movies like The Devil Wears Prada.

"This is such an amazing opportunity and amazing cause to be a part of for February 2013," states fashion designer Edwing D'Angelo. "Evening wear is my favorite category to design. I'm elated to have the opportunity to work with such a range of celebrity names for this show and to attach my designs to a cause that affects so many is extremely inspiring for me."

Fashion View: Courtney Jeter

What is your fashion view?
Fashion to me is what makes you feel comfortable. It’s a way to express yourself. Fashion is fun, flexible and whatever you make of it.

How do you describe your style?
Hmm, my style is all over the board. I don’t limit myself to one style. My style changes day-to-day based on what kind of mood I’m in. Some days I go out in my favorite cocktail dresses and others I am relaxed in a vintage T-shirt and jeans. The only thing that really stays consistent with all my styles are high heels.

What are your favorite pieces?
I like things that are extremely unique and one-of-a-kind. I have a few family pieces that I love, like a really funky red necklace with a ton of random charms that were my grandma’s. I also have an awesome vintage rain jacket I found in a thrift store in Florida years ago, and I still love it.

Where is your favorite place to shop?
I shop everywhere. I am currently obsessed with the app Wanelo. It has all kinds of different clothing and accessories you can buy from all different places on the Internet, and of course I love local and thrift store shopping.

Who is your fashion icon and why?
I don’t think I really have a fashion icon. However, my favorite fashion model was Twiggy. My dog is actually named after her.

Is there a particular fashion era that has influenced your style choices most?
I think my favorite era of clothing, fashion and trends comes from the ’60s to ’70s. The Mod and hippie styles from the ’60s,  the crop-tops and high-waisted, wide-legged trousers and the custom T-shirts and baseball jersey tees from the ’70s. I just absolutely love the fashion from then.

Miranda Rogers McDonald is the author of www.thechicsheet.blogspot.com. When Miranda isn’t blogging about fashion or flexing her social media muscle, she is spending time with her husband and feisty Chihuahua, Niles. She believes in celebrating the smaller things in life, such as good wine and food, an interesting book and sitting on patios while enjoying conversations with her closest friends. She strives to one day join the ranks of the fashion editors that she idolizes, and to show the world that a girl from Kentucky knows a little something about style.

One post-middle-age, heterosexual man’s view

As this is fashion week, and as the city is full of people who have forgotten more about haute couture than I will ever know, my ignorance on the subject will be even more apparent than usual.

Usually this is not such a big deal. But Fashion Week demands an expertise that I have not developed as much as I should have. The paint-stained khaki pants and the old running shoes are clues.

Such ignorance can be embarrassing. For example: I attended two concerts last week: my friend Cindy Church’s CD launch at Hugh’s Room and Eleni Mandell at the Drake the following night. And I was so bowled over by both of them, I couldn’t tell you for the life of me what either of them were wearing. What they were wearing was the furthest thing from my mind.

Not that I don’t like fashion. I’m a Giorgio Armani guy, myself, a relationship that — so a quick glance through my closet will reveal — has no basis in reality whatsoever. But then, I’m used to having no basis in reality.

I’m a man. I’m a Julie Christie, Emmylou Harris and Penelope Cruz kind of guy, too. Not much cooking on those fronts, either, I’m afraid. But one lives in hope.

I’m sure fashion needs at least a week to explain itself. But were I called upon to summarize everything a man needs to know about men’s clothes, I’d say five words: “Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest.”

Take your fashion cues from the one blue, two-piece suit that is featured throughout and you can’t go far wrong. Stick to the classics. A useful rule of thumb for any man thinking about getting out of the shower: if Cary Grant wouldn’t have worn it, don’t. Men’s clothes are easy.

Things get tricky for me when I’m asked to make an observation about women’s fashion — a request, I have to admit, that has yet to be made by anyone. I appreciate the fact that the view of a post-middle-age, pre-elderly heterosexual male is an extremely narrow demographic during Fashion Week. But I’m not sure it is a view that should be dismissed entirely.

After all, nobody loves women like we love women. We’ve been around the block once or twice. And now we stand at the golden moment when experience has not yet been eclipsed by incontinence. Even so, here is the difficulty that I have with fashion. And I very much doubt I’m alone in this confusion.

If you put a beautiful woman in a beautiful dress, there are those of us who can’t see the latter for the former. No matter how hard we try. Eyes. Hair. Smile. Etc. If you’re paying attention to how beautiful women are, the parts often add up to: “Dress? What dress?”

This is especially true when the beautiful women in question are beautiful songwriters and beautiful performers. If you feel like falling in love twice in one week, I recommend seeing Cindy Church one night and Eleni Mandell the next. But they could have been wearing rain barrels for all I know.

Church’s new album is called Sad Songs Make Me Happy and if it were walking down a runway, swishing the silky train of its jazz standards and wearing its broken heart on its sleeve, it would have the place on its feet. Either that, or in tears.

Mandell’s new album is I Can See the Future, and by the time she was finished singing charming, sexy songs such as “Iowa City” or “Girls” she had her audience at the Drake entirely under her unique spell.

If you have an opportunity to see either one, don’t miss it.

Be a Little Different With the Latest AW12 Designer Collections at Next

British fashion retailer Next is thrilled to announce the launch of their beautiful women's brands for the AW12 season. From LK Bennett to Phase Eight and House of Dereon to Hobbs, the boutique collections offer impeccably designed pieces from a selection of high fashion brands. What's more, from evening dresses to pencil skirts, your style picks can all be delivered the next day if ordered before 9pm,* just like the rest of Next's online products.

The first key trend is the mix of lace and florals. Phase Eight have embraced this with gorgeous red rose print dresses with lace panelling, as well as a stunning floral mirrored print shift dress. The theme runs through to LK Bennett, with a must have black lace skirt which looks great with a pussy bow blouse in cream or this season's key colour of berry. With prints always at the forefront, House of Dereon include key pieces of tulip dresses, printed trousers and blazers for women, all in statement animal and Aztec prints. Whilst block colours are key for Hobbs women's winter coats collection - with a stunning turquoise mac and navy quilted jacket.

Packed full of stylish women's fashion, this season Next has the best in the latest Autumn Winter trends. As well as selections from the latest designer clothing ranges, there are also other great ladies fashion ranges to discover online at next.co.uk. Love what you see? To enjoy the AW12 collections, click onto next.co.uk/brands/women for stylish seasonal arrivals.

Fashion museums around the world

The women's spring 2013 runway shows have wrapped up in New York, London and Milan and Paris, previewing what's newest and next in ready-to-wear. But a handful of fashion museums — from the Big Apple to Amsterdam to Kobe, Japan — offer year-round peeks into the history of high style.
Thanks to their rotating exhibitions and permanent collections, they help visitors connect the cultural dots between the history of fashion and what's happening now. You don't have to be a designer-obsessed fashionista to check them out.

"Everybody from a 2-year-old child to a grandmother has a sense of the role of fashion in their lives," says Dr. Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, whose New York exhibitions include "Gothic: Dark Glamour;" "Love & War: The Weaponized Woman" and "The Corset: Fashioning the Body." "People get information about fashion from so many sources. The museum is just one more medium, but it's outside the commercial realm. We're not trying to sell them anything—just to inspire them."

Fashion museums, whether in the United States, South America, Europe or Asia, tend to specialize in certain aspects of style. In The Netherlands, Amsterdam's Tassen Museum Hendrikje is all about bags and purses; thanks to its namesake's footwear roots, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo in Florence, Italy, offers a well-heeled walk through Hollywood. Others, like The Museum at FIT (which considers itself a "think tank," Steele says) not only stage chronological and historical exhibits and yearly symposiums, but also introduce visitors to student-created fashion collections.

"All of the time, we try to reach out to make it accessible to the general public, as well as for students, industry professionals and fashion connoisseurs," says Steele, a professor and author who The New York Times has called a "High-Heeled Historian." "We go the extra mile about not just showing pretty dresses, but to think about what they mean in the cultural sense. I'm a great believer that fashion is not something superficial, but a part of our culture and history."

Here's a glimpse of the sartorial style you'll find at 10 of the world's top fashion museums. Click through examples of the museums' offerings in the gallery above.

Museo Salvatore Ferragamo
Florence, Italy
Housed just downstairs from the company's flagship boutique on Florence's ultra-chic Via dei Tornabuoni, the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo pays tribute to this legendary Italian fashion company's products -- and the global celebrities who helped make them famous. Naples-born Salvatore Ferragamo became "shoemaker to the stars" in the 1920s after opening a shop in Hollywood. With rotating exhibitions like "Marilyn" and an impressively displayed permanent collection of Ferragamo's iconic footwear, this museum is a must-see for the casual and footwear-obsessed fashion follower.

Museo de la Moda
Santiago, Chile
Founded in 1999 by Jorge Yarur Bascuñán, a descendant of wealthy Chilean-Palestinian textile merchants, the privately funded Museo de la Moda boasts an impressive 10,000-piece collection. With pieces acquired through auctions and donations, the Museo, the only fashion museum in South America, is in the Yarur Bascuñán historic family home. Its collection, which dates back to 5 B.C., includes the military jacket John Lennon wore during a LIFE Magazine photo shoot in 1966 and the strapless black evening gown then-Lady Diana wore in 1981 during her first public appearance after her engagement to Britain's Prince Charles.

The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York
The Costume Institute at the world-famous Met houses more than 35,000 costumes and accessories, a collection spanning five continents and dating back 500 years. Actress Sarah Jessica Parker narrates the Institute's audio guide, "Costume: The Art of Dress," which highlights the cultural significance of fashion throughout the ages. The museum stages at least one special exhibition each year, with recent ones including 2004's "Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century;" 2006's "AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion" and 2010's "American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity."

The Museum at FIT
New York
Housed at Manhattan's famed Fashion Institute of Technology, The Museum at FIT is known for its innovative and award-winning special exhibitions. In July, it earned accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums, the highest national recognition possible for a museum. Founded in the late 1960s, it is visited by 100,000 people each year. With a permanent collection of 50,000 garments and accessories from the 18th century to the present, the Museum at FIT places an emphasis on "aesthetically and historically significant 'directional' clothing, with an eye toward contemporary avant-garde fashion.

Kent State University Museum
Kent, Ohio
Housed on a university campus in northeast Ohio, the Kent State Museum contains important collections of fashion and decorative arts, with eight galleries featuring rotating exhibitions of work by artists and designers. Affiliated with Kent State's Shannon Rodgers and Jerry Silverman School of Fashion Design and Merchandising, the museum gives students an up-close-and-personal look at historic and contemporary fashion and costumes from global cultures. Accredited by the American Association of Museums, Kent State's collections span from the 17th to the 21st centuries.

Kobe Fashion Museum
Kobe, Japan
"The first museum in Japan to specialize in fashion," the Kobe Fashion Museum houses materials open to students, industry professionals and those working in the business of fashion. The museum's fifth floor offers a space for young people to gather for events and entertainment, designed to promote "a new culture of fashion in Kobe." The collection here not only includes garments from Asia, but also from around the world.

Les Arts Décoratifs
Paris
Located in the west wing of the world-famous Louvre museum, Les Arts Décoratifs houses three museums in one: Arts Décoratifs, Publicité and Mode et Textile — and it's this one that's home to temporary but dramatic fashion exhibitions. The currently staged "Louis Vuitton Marc Jacobs" traces the careers of the French-born creator of 19th-century trunks and accessories and the American designer who spent 15 years as artistic director at the house Vuitton built. With more than 81,000 works, the two-floor Mode et Textile space owns collections of design legends including Paul Poiret, Christian Dior and Elsa Schiaparelli.

Fashion Museum
Bath, United Kingdom
The English town of Bath seems an unlikely place for a museum dedicated to high style, but it has been home to the Fashion Museum (formerly the Museum of Costume) since 1963. About 100,000 visitors come each year to check out its annually rotating exhibitions, guided tours and interactive displays. A bonus: family-friendly "dressing up activities," in which kids can try on replica archery costumes and Victorian garb over their own clothes.

Tassen Museum Hendrikje
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
With 4,000 bags, purses, trunks, pouches, cases and accessories, this Dutch museum claims to have the "world's largest bag collection." It certainly has got some of the world's most interesting ones. Located in a traditional central Amsterdam canal house, the Tassen Museum boasts Western-style handbags dating back 500 years. Beyond hosting exhibitions of contemporary bag designers from the Netherlands and abroad, the Tassen offers bag-designing workshops, kids' bag-decorating birthday parties, and afternoon tea in one of its elegantly decorated 17th and 18th century period rooms.

ModeMuseum Province of Antwerp (MoMu)
Antwerp, Belgium
The second-largest Belgian city is known for its sense of style and hipster cool, so it makes sense that a museum celebrating fashion is housed here. A totally renovated 19th century space is the backdrop for ModeMuseum's thematic exhibitions, which showcase specific designers or fashion-related topics. Rather than parking items in glass cases, curators tailor the museum's interior spaces to the feel of each exhibition, adding a larger cultural context to the fashion that's on display.

Fashion Focused Next Hits Ipswich City Centre

A brand new, fashion focused Next close to Ipswich city centre will open at 10am on Thursday 18th October. The store located on the Suffolk Retail Park will provide a wide range of women's, men's and children's clothing, plus a small selection of homeware.

This new city centre based store will provide a increased range of Next clothing to the centre of Ipswich, standing at 10,185 square foot, and creating 65 new jobs. Next recently opened a new Home and Garden store on the outskirts of Ipswich, in Martlesham Heath. The out of town store brings a new concept that offers a wide range of garden and DIY products, something that is very new for the retail giant.

To celebrate the opening of the new store, Next are giving away a free gift for the first 100 customers! However, the celebrations do not end there, in addition, Next are giving their first 100 customers, on Saturday 20th and on Sunday 21st October, the chance to win a Next gift card worth up to £50 in their Golden Ticket competition.

For women this autumn the Luxe collection reworks seventies influences in its vintage inspired party dresses, wide-legged trousers, wonderful pussy-bow blouses and gorgeous lurex-threaded tweeds all in rich retro shades of purple, salmon and maroon. By contrast, the Etoile range adds a fashion edge with leather detailing and striking prints adorning classic shapes. 

Menswear looks back to old school British style this Autumn. The New Heritage collection suggests the re-emergence of the English country gentleman, employing a subtle rustic palette of harvest brown and ochre tones. The sophisticated Gentlemen's Club range involves men's tailoring and shirts enhanced by distinctive textures, while knitwear is rendered in speckled yarns, cables and fairisle patterns.

For Girls the new Arthouse collections utilizes monochrome prints to achieve a dynamic, statement look. Boys will love the bold strips and Aztec motifs of the new Explorer range, which takes its inspiration from the challenges of the great outdoors.

The homeware collection is an exciting blend of style and trends, and certainly has something to offer for every home. The Home Comforts range conjures images of the quintessential English cottage, charming, artsy and comfortable with the inclusion of strawberry pink and leaf green vintage-look floral prints, plaids, stripes and patchwork effect throws to complement our sofas and chairs.

The new store will open seven days a week, 9am-8pm Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on Saturday's and 10am-4pm every Sunday. Can't find what you're looking for in-store? Visit next.co.uk and order by 9pm for delivery the next day.*

Reds' battle ends in frustrating fashion

One way or another, the outcome of the at-bat was ready to be written into the lore of Cincinnati sports history.

Jay Bruce fouled off a first pitch. Then another. Then another. Again and again, he fought off each fastball from Sergio Romo. Again and again, he made contact. Again and again, he offered hope to the huddled masses that he was about to deliver the Reds to their rightful place in the National League Championship Series.

If we go back now, we can count eight foul balls in the 12-pitch at-bat. It felt like 80. It was the at-bat that wouldn't end. But the feeling among the faithful in the facility was that it would end well for the home club.

"There wasn't a doubt in my mind," veteran Scott Rolen said later, "that something special was going to happen right there."

You can't have heartbreak without belief. Belief is a prerequisite. And Bruce, like this Reds team, had given a city so often heartbroken on the sporting scene something to believe in as each foul ball flew off his bat.

But when the ball was finally put in play, Bruce flew out. A lazy fly ball to left, easily caught by Xavier Nady.

You won't find a better at-bat with a worse ending.

"Everybody was saying, 'Good at-bat,'" Bruce said. "Well, good at-bats end better than that."

So, too, do good seasons.

For the Reds, the season ended here, with a 6-4 loss to the Giants on Thursday afternoon, in Game 5 of an NL Division Series they had led, two games to none, when they arrived home earlier this week.

The Reds went down to the Ohio River, and into the river they dove. Sunk, really. What happened here these last few days was a stunning sequence of missed opportunities. What happened here was heartbreak, in a town that knows it all too well.

To meet the prerequisite upon which heartbreak pounces, the Reds won 97 games in the regular season, none by accident. To prove their value beyond Joey Votto, they notched 32 of those wins in the 45-game stretch Votto missed due to two knee surgeries. To make life a little easier on the World Series prognosticators, the Reds offered a deep lineup, a healthy and effective rotation and a bullish bullpen anchored by a Cuban import with 100-mph heat.

This wasn't a juggernaut. But look around. You won't find any clubs wearing the juggernaut label in 2012.

What the 2012 Reds were was a very solid team with all the makings of championship potential. A team, it seemed, that could finally get Dusty Baker over that final hurdle.

Belief. It was available to those willing to jump on board.

They've had bouts with belief in these parts before. The top-ranked Bearcats prior to the 2000 NCAA tournament, the 2005 Bengals. Both of those teams had their belief betrayed in ugly ways. Kenyon Martin broke his leg, Carson Palmer blew out his knee.

To that hurtful history, the Reds introduce Johnny Cueto, their staff ace who tweaked his oblique just eight pitches into Game 1 of this series.

"Any time the team you're playing only faces eight pitches from your ace," Bruce said, "that's not a bad thing for them, that's for sure."

It took a couple days, but that injury caught up to the Reds. It was the difference between starting Homer Bailey in Game 4 and starting Mike Leake in Game 4. And make no mistake: Game 4 is the real rub here. The Reds were in every other game. Game 4 was the game in which they placed a losing bet on Leake, a game in which they could not match the Giants' aggression, be it at the plate or in the managerial maneuverings. Game 4 was the game where the Reds' outlook shifted from should-win to must-win, and that's a dangerous road to go down.

The Reds found that out the hard way. Mat Latos got rattled in the fifth. The inning unraveled around him, with rookie Zack Cozart making a costly fielding error and Latos leaving one over the middle for Buster Posey, who did what likely MVPs do with pitches over the middle.

Give the Reds a ton of credit for fighting back in the wake of that blast. Two runs in the fifth, another in the sixth. But when they brought the tying run to the plate or put it on base in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, they couldn't deliver that magic moment.

Ryan Ludwick came to the plate with two on and two out in the seventh. He had just homered an inning earlier. But Jeremy Affeldt got him to ground back to the mound to end the inning. Belief betrayed.

Pinch-hitter Dioner Navarro sent a fly to center with two on and two out in the eighth. If it lands and skips to the wall, both runs come home. But Angel Pagan was not in the standard no-doubles defense, and so he was able to reach it with a diving grab. Belief betrayed.

Finally, in the ninth. Bruce at the plate. The crowd louder than the multicolored button-up Baker had worn to his pregame news conference. Bruce put up an impressive plate appearance, the kind of duel you'll only find in October. The crowd was ready to give the loudest "Bruuuuce!" chant you'll see outside of a Springsteen concert.

But Bruce flew out. And then Rolen struck out. And just like that, the season was over.

"The postseason," Bruce said, "is all about capitalizing on the opportunities you're presented with. We just didn't."

Photography Students follow fashion trends

Facebook users recently might have stumbled upon or seen themselves in photographs on the new Facebook group, NKU Style. This latest Facebook installment centering on Northern Kentucky University culture focuses on the fashion trends that appear each day on campus.

Hundreds of photographs of students have already surfaced on the site, showcasing the diverse and unique styles that students wear.

The Facebook group comes from a class project out of the photojournalism department. Designed to get the class out of their comfort zones, each member of the class must go out on campus to photograph and interact with dozens of students. The class then reconvenes and decides which photographs should go online.

The Facebook group went viral Sept. 28 and already has close to 300 photographs online, highlighting everything from entire outfits to unique accessories.

Ronny Salerno, one of the nine photographers who are part of NKU Style, has learned to adapt to the “on-the-fly” portrait taking that this project requires. Salerno, a senior photography major, who prefers more photo documentary techniques, mentioned that this project has forced him to develop a new photography style. “I think it has improved [my classmates’] technique and social skills,” Salerno said. “We’re not in the studio…you have to work with what you got.”

Any student can be photographed if they are willing to look for student photographers around the Student Union, library or any other highly populated area on campus.

Once photographed, find the group on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NKUStyle. Students can then tag themselves if they like what they see and also “Like” the page to stay up to date on the latest trends.

The project, which only went online two weeks ago, will continue for the next few weeks and may become its own social media trend for students as 355 people currently like the page.

Wearing jeans and a T-shirt himself, Salerno admitted he was no fashion expert and is open to all styles and often times photographs just students’ accessories, like sunglasses, backpacks or shoes. “Everyone takes pride in what they wear,” Salerno said. “I just try to get a good sampling of people.”

Malesha Thomas, a senior integrative studies major, and BreAnna Henry, a junior pre-radiologic technology major, both were photographed by Salerno and said they felt no pressure to look a certain way on campus.The two were dressed in some workout apparel and said everyone has their own style and personality when it comes to fashion.

“[NKU Style] shows people’s individuality, their carelessness, their style or just how they’re feeling for the day,” Thomas said, wearing a “Votruba is My Dude” T-shirt. “I don’t feel a need to impress anyone here on campus; it’s more about my mood and how I’m feeling or what’s clean.”

“Different people may feel like dressing up; it might just be their personality or that’s what they did in high school but I don’t judge,” Henry said. The two were happy to have been photographed and are tagged in their respective photos on the Facebook page.

Phoenix Fashion Week amps up the local fashion scene with a dramatic finish!

Fashion in Phoenix is having a moment. Actually, more than a moment if you count 28 runway shows in the last week, a flurry of media headlines and more tweets and Facebook posts than a celebrity wardrobe malfunction!

Phoenix Fashion Week wrapped up its eighth season this week with a dramatic finish to its three-day event at Talking Stick Resort. The final show, featuring a collection from Dubai designer Furne One had the crowd on its feet, as he sent 31 fantasy looks down the runway including billowing capes with 15 foot trains, towering metallic headdresses and models styled in waist-length braids and glimmering foiled lips.

Furne One, pronounced fern o-nay, has recently garnered international attention for dressing high-profile celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce and Katy Perry. As the grande finale to the shows, his dramatic couture presentation raised the Phoenix fashion bar to new heights with its level of sophistication and showmanship.

Raina Hein, of America's Next Top Model, was the final model to walk the runway, dressed in an elaborately beaded bodysuit and a voluminous, embroidered cape that literally filled the runway as she walked. It was definitely a "WOW" moment for the appreciative crowd.

This year, Phoenix Fashion Week hosted nine runway shows each evening, featuring a combination of emerging and established designers. During the year, Executive Director Brian Hill and his team recruit not only Arizona designers, they travel to other cities to recruit new designers for the shows. A competition is held for "Best Emerging Designer" with the winner receiving a $10,000 prize package.

This year's winner was Bri Seeley: a designer from Lacey, Washington whose ready-to-wear collection, "Escape" featured feminine, contemporary pieces in a teal, tan and ivory color palette. Ms. Seeley emerged as the winner after a three-way tie with design labels JHaus and OfraStyle.

The model competition, which kicks off in the summertime, has benefited from a rapidly increasing number of entrants from year to year. This year's casting call for models attracted over 200 contestants competing for 40 spots -- 10 spots for men and 30 for women. There are a variety of training sessions and photo opportunities for the models leading up to Phoenix Fashion Week. The coveted " Model of the Year" title includes gift packages from sponsors Smartwater, Dolce Salon and Remix watches, along with a contract with Phoenix modeling agency, The Agency Arizona.

This year's winner is 16-year-old Madison Brown, a student at Gilbert High School. Ms. Brown also won the "Headshot Challenge" competition for women. Model Nick Koester, a Phoenix Fashion Week veteran, won the "Headshot Challenge" for men.

Both models walked in the shows last year.

Although its most high profile event is the show in early October each year, Phoenix Fashion Week produces events and fashion shows all year long. They have developed many key community partnerships and the sponsors necessary to facilitate their growth and further their self-described mission of "pushing Arizona fashion forward."

Bringing in distinguished couture designers capable of exciting the fashion crowd like this year's Furne One, certainly doesn't hurt.

Women’s Fashion Ad Indicator: New bull 2013

Why are women upbeat, optimistic, positive thinkers, betting on a solid economic recovery, bull rally even with fiscal cliffs? Or are they? What is going on?

The stock market has a new bull-bear indication, the “Women’s Fashion Mag Ads Indicator.” Yes, the fashion industry is betting megabucks on the future of America’s economy and stock market. But when I saw all these ads, my first reaction was: “Warning, crash dead ahead!”

Why? Remember the dot-com insanity? Back at the peak of the 1990s mania I wrote about a similar trend in tech magazines, also bloated with hundreds of pages of ads. Then the market crashed, stocks lost $8 trillion, a painful 30-month recession, ad revenue dried up, tech mags folded.

We know ad pages signal economic health, that’s not new. But what is new are gender differences.

Flash forward: Recently Barnes & Noble’s racks were filled with women’s fashion magazines, all bloated with holiday shopping ads: Vogue, Glamour, W, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, plus the holiday fashion specials of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. A whopping total of 3,550 pages, mostly ads. Just like the 1999 tech magazines at the peak of the dot-com mania.

Women see a bull charging? Men see a bear falling off fiscal cliffs?

Listen closely, this is crucial to your investment strategy in 2013. Flash back: Research on gender issues in behavioral economics confirm that women do see the world differently, in their investment strategies, in what they value most in the economy. They think longer term.

My psychotherapist wife sure does, three decades of sessions with male clients give her a keen sense of how men think. Gender differences have been summarized in many popular books, such as “Men Are From Mars, Women From Venus” ... although the differences still baffle most men.

So maybe this indicator needs reversing: If women are so different, could this new Women’s Fashion Mag Ads Indicator actually be flashing a new bull? One our male-dominated patriarchy can’t see? Signaling a bull market, not a dot-com crash repeat? A bull not a bear?

If that’s true, if the thinking of women and men are so different, maybe women really do see something that men are missing or misinterpret? Maybe this is not just a stock market blip but a longer-term trend?

All this got me thinking: Maybe this Women’s Fashion Mag Ads Indicator is actually a brief snapshot into a far bigger cultural and historical trend, one with huge global macroeconomic and behavioral-economic implications. Not merely another short-term stock market indicator signalling a new bull or bear like the old “Hemline Indicator.”

So I decided to explore what is now the single biggest global trend, one that will define the 21st Century: Women leading America and the world. Here’s a summary of seven key elements in this rapidly emerging trend:

1. New Economy’s job skills empower women, level the playing field

Men raised in macho cultures with traditional values feel even more threatened as women gain equality and more power. Why? New York Times reviewer Jennifer Homans writes of Hanna Rosin’s “The End of Men, and Rise of Women:” “The end of men is really the end of a manufacturing-based economy.” Six million lost jobs since 2000, mostly men, many “now unemployed, depressed, increasingly dependent on the state and women.”

As a result, “a new matriarchy is emerging: For the first time in history, the global economy is becoming a place where women are finding more success than men ... run by young, ambitious, capable women ... taking matters into their own hands.” Forget politics, this is the “new service economy, which doesn’t care about physical strength,” demands skills that “come easily to women.”

Plus our educational system is preparing a new generation of women leaders: “Today 50% more women get college degrees, so even if fewer women are at the top, they are beginning to dominate professions like accounting, financial management, optometry, dermatology, forensic pathology and veterinary practices.”

2. More women gaining power positions across Corporate America

Don’t miss Fortune magazine’s 15th annual list of “The 50 Most Powerful Women.” Back when the List was launched in 1998 there were only two women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. Today, 19 women CEOs, at giants like IBM, Pepsico, Xerox, Kraft and DuPont.

Fortune also tells us “more women wield more power than at any point in history,” including many “guiding the future of the global economy,” like IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff.

3. More women elected to legislatures all across America

Males hang onto power by running government. That hold is weakening. According to the National Foundation for Women Legislators: “The greatest rising force in American politics today is not a political party, nor is it a lobbying community, it is women.”

In the early 1980s “women held a mere 10% of all state legislative seats in the country, today they hold 24% of 7,382 seats nationwide. Currently 17 women serve in the U.S. Senate and 73 serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.” Plus six women are state governors. By 2050, women could be the majority.

4. More and more women legislators everywhere in the world

This trend is spreading across the planet. In “The Case for Optimism,” President Bill Clinton’s recent Time magazine article, he says the “world is getting better all the time:” In five ways including technology, health care, green energy. His fourth key is: “Women Rule.” Worldwide, women now make up 20% of elected legislators, almost double 15 years ago: “This is good news, not only for the individuals themselves but also for entire societies.”

Why? “It’s been proved that women tend to reinvest economic gains back into their families and communities more than men do.” Yes, women not only think different from men, they’re better thinkers.

5. Women are the new leaders in the Fight for The Future

While many men still resist, many are teaming up with women, as equals working together. Listen to Clinton’s fifth reason for optimism: “Justice, The Fight for the Future.” He knows “the future has never had a big enough constituency.” But things are changing rapidly, because the survival of the planet requires new thinking, new strategies. And women know it, because they are taking charge.

Clinton says we must “create a whole different mind-set. We are in a pitched battle between the present array of resources and attitudes and the future struggling to be born.” Today’s women are stepping up to the plate, creating a new world.

6. Women’s brains are naturally wired with long-term strategic vision

Money manager Jeremy Grantham says our male-dominated patriarchal culture has created “an army of left-brained immediate doers.” Wall Street and Corporate America focus on millisecond trades, daily quotes, quarterly earnings and annual bonuses, discounting to zero the longer-term social costs.

Grantham predicted a global crash two years before 2008. Few listened. He has also warned that the planet cannot feed the 10 billion global population predicted by the United Nations by 2050. Again, few listen.

Earlier this year he warned that our male-dominated capitalism has an “absolute inability to process the finiteness of resources and the mathematical impossibility of maintaining rapid growth in physical output.” Get it? The short-term thinking male brain is not wired to solve the world’s biggest problems.

But as more women leaders rise in the ranks of business and government, strategic thinking at the top will be more essential and we’ll see a rapid shift to the long-term mind-set natural in women, and away from the short-term thinking male brains. As the shift continues, America will need more women leaders, their different-thinking brains, their long-range strategic vision.

7. Men are handicapping their future by defending the old patriarchy

This cultural war tells us men are their own worst enemy, sabotaging their future. Look beyond the so-called “war on women” rhetoric in the political arena where we see men fighting to control women’s issues. Statistically they’re out of touch with the majority of Americans.

But look deeper into the souls of these male politicians. They also feel threatened. So they react, double down, fight hard to go back to an old familiar power structure. But we can’t go backward. Why? Because a huge cultural tidal wave is sweeping both men and women in its path.

“Men are losing their grip,” writes Homans about “The End of Men” ... “Patriarchy is crumbling and we are reaching the end of 200,000 years of human history and the beginning of a new era in which women, and womanly skills and traits, are on the rise.”

Yes, we are seeing the last gasp of the world’s ancient male-dominated patriarchy. Resistance is futile, no one can stop this historic shift, the New Economy just keeps empowering more women, preparing them for the future ... while men stay trapped longer than necessary in the past... endlessly puzzling over what the Women’s Fashion Magazine Ads Indicator really means ... a bull, a bear, or something else.