Nautical but nice: how to wear nautical fashion this spring

Come spring, you can always count on the nautical trend to be spotted on and off the runways, either in a more literal translation, or in one of its many subtle interpretations. While it never seems to grow old, the nautical trend is bound to experience change and progress, and this seasons it went far and beyond the standard Breton stripes of blue and white, gaining a fresh and nontraditional perspective.

As a distinct spring 2013 fashion trend, nautical is accompanied by less obvious colour patterns and combinations. So in order to sport this year’s rendition of the marine direction you’ll have to retain its essence and approach the trend from a subtle angle, injecting the stripes and motifs with new nuances.

Fashion line for cancer survivors set to launch

Many thoughts flash through a woman's mind on the eve of a double mastectomy — most prominently fears about her mortality. But in the thicket of complicated emotions that crowded Laurel Kamen's brain as she sat in her Kalorama apartment contemplating her diagnosis of breast cancer, she also had to reckon with fretfulness about her future wardrobe.

A woman of accomplishment and intelligence, who is neither shallow nor narcissistic, Kamen had none of the tortured ambivalence about fashion and style that haunts so many women of her stature. Kamen, a Chicago native and a former executive at American Express who had spent a chunk of her formative years in New York, considered fashion an expression of confidence
A sample of the Alloro clothing line, created for women who have gone through breast-cancer surgery. The line will launch March 20 in Washington and April 17 in New York (Photo for Alloro by Elizabeth Lippman)
and control. Put simply, she liked looking good and she wanted to continue looking good after both of her breasts were removed and she adjusted to the contours of a torso not reconstructed with either silicone or saline.

In preparation for her surgery, Kamen had been prowling the Internet on a pre-shopping spree, searching for clothes that would flatter what would soon be her new shape but that would also be comfortable and practical enough to wear while she was recuperating. She didn't find any clothes that met her criteria — sophisticated, grown-up — and out of her frustration came a business plan. She decided to create a line of clothing for women who have had breast cancer. The collection would see them through their recuperation after a mastectomy. And it would flatter their post-operative figures — whether they chose reconstructive surgery, prosthetics or nothing.

Sadly, this is no small market. According to the American Cancer Society, there will be 232,340 new cases of invasive breast cancer diagnosed in women this year. But Kamen's research turned up few good, accessible fashion options for them — or her.

"I knew I'd look different. I knew I'd have a long recovery," says Kamen,
A sample of the Alloro clothing line, created for women who have gone through breast-cancer surgery. The line will launch March 20 in Washington and April 17 in New York. (Photo for Alloro by Elizabeth Lippman)
who is married to Washington Post writer Al Kamen. "There were fleeces and T-shirts and goopy-looking shirts. But I didn't want to leave the world of fashion."

Kamen's first call — filled with indignation and determination — was to Christine Irvin, who has been her friend for 30 years. Their meeting was a New York cliche. They bonded on the No. 1 subway train en route from Lower Manhattan to Penn Station and, ultimately, shared a summer house in the Hamptons. Irvin's phone rang around 5:30 in the evening as she was headed to the Museum of Modern Art.

"I have this great idea for a business," Kamen said.

"I'm in," Irvin said.

In hindsight, Irvin says with a laugh: "Am I really going to turn down my best
A sample of the Alloro clothing line, created for women who have gone through breast-cancer surgery. The line will launch March 20 in Washington and April 17 in New York. (Photo for Alloro by Elizabeth Lippman)
friend the night before she has a mastectomy? She could have been planning to start a car wash."

Approximately 15 months after Kamen's surgery — after many thousands of dollars invested, many cold calls in search of advice, many fit dilemmas solved — the Alloro fashion line will debut Wednesday on Capitol Hill. It will have a New York trunk show soon after. It's the product of three friends and their unlikely personalities: Kamen, a Washingtonian with a devotion to fashion; Irvin, a Wall Street fixer and organizer with a creative streak; and Roedean Landeaux, a New York designer without fealty to seasonal trends.

Alloro (Italian for laurel) is not stuffed with frocks in breast-cancer-awareness pink. But the privately funded company will give 25 percent of its sales to breast cancer research. The line is not matronly, but it doesn't fall prey to disposable fads. It is not medicinal, but it makes allowances for all of the ways in which modern science damages the body in its attempts to fix it.

"The pretty part was our first jumping-off point," says Landeaux, who is Kamen's cousin. "There are no hidden prosthetics things. It's fashion." Indeed, several of the pieces — an open-knit sweater and a pair of leopard-print trousers — are reminiscent of looks from Landeaux's signature collection, which she sells through her Greenwich Village boutique.

Silk charmeuse camisoles in shades of violet and sea foam, priced at $125, float away from the body on superfine straps. Necklines drape into a not-too-low-cut cowl that is engineered not to slip off the shoulders and reveal the close-set straps of a prosthetic bra. Blouses are stitched with curved seams so that a woman who did not opt for breast reconstruction can go without prosthetics and not feel that her silhouette is concave. And a $250 cherry-red bolero has small interior pockets to hold drainage paraphernalia during the early days of recovery.

Kamen came up with a list of 20 bullet points — post-surgical issues — that the collection would address, from a limited range of motion and prohibitions on carrying anything weighing more than 10 pounds to fingertips numbed by chemotherapy. So, for example, a mesh handbag weighs, as Landeaux says, less than a bottle of perfume, and a linen blouse employs black lacquered snaps instead of buttons.

"I think we've done some great things that address all the criteria for these women — physically and psychologically," Landeaux says.

When Kamen showed the collection to Neiman Marcus — more for feedback than to solicit sales, as the clothes are sold through trunk shows now — Martha Slagle, the general manager of the Mazza Gallerie store, was impressed enough to host a luncheon for Alloro's founders along with, as they say in the land of policy and wonkery, stakeholders.

"We're very conscious that a lot of our customers have gone through breast cancer," Slagle says. The luncheon celebrating Alloro "was to raise awareness that people out there are doing this."

"We see it as community service," Slagle says.

Everyone should be able to participate in the fashion circus — breast cancer survivors, too. "It's for them," Kamen says. "It's to make them feel a little joy."

Fashion Snobs Are Lining Up To Go To Foot Locker

Fashion-forward women are lining up at Foot Locker to buy this season's hottest footwear: sneakers.

Foot Locker's new status as a fashion go-to could have contributed to its 20 percent profit increase over the holiday season.

Top designers like Phoebe Philo and Isabel Marant helped spur the trend to more casual footwear, reports Hayley Phelan at Fashionista.

"Philo has been wearing athletic sneakers — New Balance 993s, Nike Air Max’s — at high-profile events and to take her bow at the end of Celine’s shows for a couple of years now," Phelan writes.
Philo was even photographed wearing Nike sneakers in Vogue.
There are a few reasons why sneakers are an appealing fashion trend for women, consultant Chris Black told Fashionista.

“The bright colors and crazy materials make [sneakers] fashion forward and comfort is something women rarely get with popular footwear,” Black said. “All of the cool styles are also very affordable so everyone can easily be part of the trend.”

Celebrities from Kristen Stewart to Beyonce have been snapped wearing the comfortable footwear at various events.

Foot Locker CEO Kenneth Hicks said in an earnings conference call last week that the brand was focused on offering the best products to its core customers.

This Spring, The Ritz-Carlton, Toronto Is What's in Fashion

From March 18-22, 2013, the eyes of the fashion world will be focused on the sparkling jewel of Ontario as Toronto celebrates World MasterCard Fashion Week Toronto 2013. As the official hotel of Fashion Week, The Ritz-Carlton, Toronto is pleased to offer exclusive events, specials, and savings for its guests.

Fashionistas from around the globe can stay in style with The Ritz-Carlton, Toronto's World MasterCard Fashion Week Experience. Created especially for Fashion Week, this exclusive hotel package includes accommodations in a luxurious Corner Suite overlooking the runway at David Pecaut Square, a one-of-a-kind VIP hair and makeup experience, tickets to two designer shows nightly, access to the Sponsor Lounge and the services of the Ritz-Carlton Club Level, all from just $925 CDN/night* through March 22, 2013.

After the show, guests are invited to see and be seen at the official World MasterCard Fashion Week Lounge at DEQ, conveniently located at The Ritz-Carlton, Toronto. There, hotel guests can relax fireside with a fashion-inspired cocktail like the Tanqueray-based Fashionista or the strawberry-infused Prêt-à-Porter. They can also refuel with a selection of the city's most stylish snacks or let loose and dance the night away with DEQ's in-house DJ until 1AM.

If the excitement of Fashion Week becomes too much to handle, guests are also invited to wind down and relax with the designer treatment at Spa MyBlend by Clarins at The Ritz-Carlton, Toronto. This first-class, 23,000 square-foot spa includes exclusive, fashion-forward experiences like the Runway Recharger package, Jet Lag Reviver and the Paparazzi Polish.

It promises to be an unforgettable week of fashion and fun. Guests are invited to book the exclusive World

Ideal for business or leisure stays, this luxury Toronto hotel's premium downtown location puts it just steps away from world-class theatre experiences, iconic landmarks like the CN Tower and the Hockey Hall of Fame, cultural attractions such as the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Royal Ontario Museum, and specialty events including Fashion Week.

* Rate is per room/per night, based on double occupancy, exclusive of taxes, gratuities, fees and other charges; does not apply to groups; cannot be combined with any other offer and is not applicable for Rewards redemption. Advanced reservations are required. Hotel suite upgrade available for an additional cost. Offer is subject to availability. No credit back if inclusions are unused.

Fashion Crowd Gathers at Modern Hotel in London for Newlife Charity Event

Raising an amazing £12,000 for charity in just two and a half hours, fashion guests of an Oxford Street hotel in London were wowed with elegant surroundings while enjoying an evening of fun and frivolity to benefit Newlife Charity.

Opening its remarkable event venues and The Luggage Room bar to 550 guests on Dec. 10, 2012 for a night of cocktails, fashion and retail therapy, the London Marriott Grosvenor Square was the site of the event which showcased a small selection of clothing later sold to benefit the charity founded to support the needs of disabled children.

As guests arrived they were transported back to a bygone era of glamour, elegance and sophistication in one of the London's hottest new cocktail bars, The Luggage Room, where they were greeted by Bar Manager Abdulai Kpekawa. Once through The Luggage Room, guests were welcomed into the Westminster Ballroom and treated to a selection of festive canapés and the hospitality of Executive Head Chef Jamie Welch and his team of culinary professionals.

Thirteen of the London Mayfair hotel's Grosvenor Square associates volunteered to grace the catwalk for the 7 p.m. fashion show and with credit to Helen Boyle, fashion editor of Hello Magazine, they all looked amazing as they strutted across the runway donning great poses and the stylish fashions.

"The spirit of everyone involved was just truly superb as it is a big deal putting on such a big show for such a big audience," noted Boyle.

Once the show was over, charity guests inside this distinctive hotel near Hyde Park were enthusiastic of the opportunity to purchase high street designer clothes and accessories at a fraction of the retail price.
"Partnerships like this one with the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square enable Newlife to do so much more to support families," said Newlife CEO Sheila Brown, OBE. "Because of our unique trading operation we guarantee that every penny donated to us is used to directly help children, nothing is taken out for administration."

Crocs Enters Second Year of Fashion-Forward Blogger Program

Crocs, Inc. (CROX) today announced the second year of the brand’s style blogger program, which highlights on-trend, yet comfortable, Crocs™ footwear throughout the year. Five well-respected style and fashion bloggers are taking part in the 2013 CrocStyle Insider program to help preview and showcase new Crocs styles.
Each CrocStyle Insider helps share new, fashionable Crocs products with today’s savvy shoppers looking for online style inspiration through monthly reviews on their blogs. They also host interactive online events and style parties throughout the year to further connect with their readers. The following five women have been named 2013 CrocStyle Insiders:

Pauline Karwowski is the author behind Classy Chaos, a blog that chronicles her everyday life with three children in Chicago. She started blogging six years ago and since then has built a national audience that follows her throughout her international travels, daily chaos of raising three kids, budget fashion tips for moms, cooking with children and about ordinary things that make life extraordinary. When not blogging, Pauline is a buyer for a Chicago-based retail business that allows her creative side to soar - literally. From India to Poland she travels the globe in search of the next fashion must-have. When at home, she tries to juggle the chaos while maintaining her trademark “classy” look.

Audrey McClelland, author of Mom Fashion Report , left the fashion world of Donna Karan International to raise her brood of four boys under the age of eight in her home state of Rhode Island. She’s learned that you can take the girl out of the Fashion District, but you can’t take the Fashion District out of the girl. Audrey brings her fashion expertise to Mom Fashion Report, her style and fashion blog within the Mom Generations network. Audrey also brings her mom fashion expertise to BabyCenter.com as a beauty and style writer, SheKnows.com as the MommyStyle contributor and was invited as the Mom Fashion Voice at the People's Choice Awards with Tim Gunn and Gretta Monahan. Audrey also shares her advice on CBS' "The Rhode Show". In addition, Audrey co-founded Getting Gorgeous Events, which connects brands with bloggers through a series of pampering activities.

Jenn Rager started her blog The Stylish Housewife after deciding to quit her job in the financial services industry to become a stay at home mom. Her personal style & beauty blog aims to motivate and inspire other moms to make the most of what their closet has to offer and stay stylish on a budget. Jenn has been featured in Lucky Magazine and is a member of the Lucky Style Collective. Her "blogger style" was also recently featured in an email campaign for Ann Taylor.

Maegan Tintari of …Love Maegan, a Los Angeles style blogger who recently bought a house with her husband and moved up to the snowy mountains of Lake Arrowhead, writes daily sharing her personal style secrets, DIYs and hair tutorials, home decor and fashion tips, as well as a look into her personal life with her husband and two adorable dogs. Maegan is currently a style editor with BlogHer and soon to be a published author.

Lilliana Vazquez is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Cheap Chica’s Guide to Style, an online fashion resource that is a go-to destination for fashionistas on a budget. The site was founded in 2007 and now reaches a national audience of more than 250,000 women each month. It is considered the authority on “looking chic for cheap.” Known for her ability to provide informative, accessible and relatable fashion commentary, Lilliana Vazquez is a style expert with more than 500 appearances on NBC, CBS, ABC, TLC, Bravo and The Style Network. Vazquez is regularly seen on The Today Show, the Emmy nominated Rachael Ray Show and The Steve Harvey Show where she shares her frugally fashionable point of view with audiences nationally. She is currently a Style Correspondent and a Host for New York LIVE on NBC New York, where she covers everything from food to fashion to interior design. This spring, Vazquez will be starring in a new lifestyle makeover show on MTV and her first book, The CheapChica’s Guide to Style: Secrets to Shopping Cheap, Looking Chic, will be released on October 1st through Gotham Books, a division of Penguin.

“This team of bloggers represents what style means to us at Crocs, which is simply looking great, being comfortable and keeping up with trends on a budget,” said Katy Lachky, VP of Global Communications at Crocs. “With more than 300 different Crocs styles available today, we are looking forward to working with this diverse group of style experts to continue to raise awareness of some of our more fashion-forward products and how they can easily be incorporated into any wardrobe.”

To keep up with the CrocStyle Insiders and check out their insights and personal styles featuring the newest Crocs™ shoes, readers can find the latest on www.facebook.com/crocs or by following the CrocStyle Insiders on their personal blogs.

Saint Laurent's Hedi Slimane - The Fashion World's Latest Bad Boy

During Paris’s fashion collections, Saint Laurent’s Hedi Slimane hit a bull’s eye for causing conflict, shock and being the most talked about designer of the season. True, apart from the International Herald Tribune’s critic Suzy Menkes who hailed and appreciated his vision, Slimane was mostly reviled and criticized for a fall winter collection which he described as being influenced by “Californian Grunge.” To be frank, it’s grunge on an international level – widely apparent in places like Notting Hill, the Bastille and the West Village – and consists of baby dolls, floral dresses, schoolgirl slips teamed with plaid shirts, sloppy cardigans, fishnets and biker boots.

Whatever the insults – certain popular bloggers went into overdrive.com – Slimane succeeded in grabbing major media attention with his second collection. His controversial clothes led to a fair amount of headshaking disbelief from Front Row powers but better that than being politely dismissed. The question remains whether Slimane – a master maniuplator who forged his reputation at Dior Homme – was purposely pulling imaginary pigtails, sticking his tongue out or even going further with the ‘V’ sign. Slimfast – Slimane’s nickname due to his prior obsession with skinny male models  – enjoys playing the perverse card. Nevertheless, his actions are backed up a serious game plan. As demonstrated by dropping the ‘Yves’ from the brand’s name and getting rid of the iconic ‘YSL’ typeface, Slimane wants to rejuvenate the revered French fashion house. And this upsets many. The late Saint Laurent – a rare fashion genius – still touches an emotional chord and makes people nostalgic for a bygone elegant era. Such folk suffer serious fashion amnesia, forgetting that from 1987, Saint Laurent’s ready-to-wear shows were stilted affairs and D.O.A. in comparison to what Karl Lagerfeld was achieving over at Chanel. Instead, they recall how Saint Laurent was the master of color and cut, the creator of Le Smoking and other steeped-in-chic pieces. All admirable and good but the fashion milieu has changed – mindless sensuality and youth rule, the term ‘chic’ could be construed as sexless  - and Slimane has tapped into the mood.

Saint Laurent's Fall Winter 2013 collection designed by Hedi Slimane

Saint Laurent's Fall Winter 2013 show designed by Hedi Slimane

His first Saint Laurent collection which was a tribute to the stylist Rachel Zoe and Californian Boho Chic – think long romantic dresses, caftans and large floppy hats – flew off the shelves in a Shanghai second. As for his recent collection attended by filmstar Kirsten Dunst and her boyfriend Garrett Hedlund; Emmanuelle Seigner, Polanski’s actress wife and Jamie Hince from The Kills, it has a crafty amount of YSL basics such as tux jackets, tailored coats and the ‘Chubby’ – the fox fur coat of the 1970s. In fact,  it’s hard not to agree with Tim Blanks, Style.com’s esteemed critic that the clothes will “send orgasmic tremors” in Tokyo’s Shibuya 109, New York’s Trash and Vaudeville and other “wonderful retro romps.”

Celebs Wear Black and White in Paris and London

Paris Fashion Week officially winds down this week, and we've admired both the breathtaking runway looks and the spectacular celebrity style statements seen on the front-row attendees.

Plenty of our favorite stars packed their bags and traveled overseas to both London and Paris to support their favorite designers and turn some heads along the way.

One glance at the fashion week wardrobes from these lovely leading ladies and we couldn't but notice that there was a strong recurring theme: black and white.

Trend alert: bold black and white
In the City of Light, we spotted Marion Cotillard at Dior, Nicole Richie at the Stella McCartney show and Jessica Chastain at Chanel all wearing the classic combination in a variety of ways.

Cotillard looked ladylike in a head-to-toe Dior ensemble, while Richie rocked a bold monochrome swingy dress with a distinctly edgier vibe.

Chastain exuded classic elegance in a creamy blouse tucked into a satin pencil skirt, and Olivia Palermo was cool and crisp in Tibi's drop-waist checker dress paired with Brian Atwood boots at Antonio Berardi's show in London.

Other celebs in the eye-catching trend include Ashley Olsen at the H&M runway show in Paris, Jessica Alba in a tuxedo-inspired suit at Stella McCartney and Kirsten Dunst at the Saint Laurent show.

The adorable fashion darlings all opted for sleek separates that proved to be timeless, chic and perfectly polished from day to night.

And while we love vibrant colors and bold patterns for spring, it seemed like black and white was the way to go to pay homage to fashion collections previewing fall.

One thing's for sure, each celeb looked simply stunning and flaunted her unique sense of style.

Fashion Outlets of Chicago Announces Retail Lineup

Premier U.S. outlet developer and manager AWE Talisman and Macerich, one of the nation's leading regional mall owners, operators and developers, today named the full slate of anchors and the list of specialty stores coming to Fashion Outlets of Chicago.  The new property is set to open just outside of Chicago – minutes away from O'Hare International Airport - in Rosemont, Ill., on August 1, 2013.

Anchors opening at the two-level, 530,000 square-foot outlet mall include Bloomingdale's The Outlet Store, Last Call by Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5th and Forever 21.

Fashion Outlets of Chicago marks the first fully enclosed, multi-level property with this level of amenities in the Chicago area in more than two decades.

"We don't believe there is another shopping environment that reaches this caliber of global brands with this level of customer care and market access," said AWE Talisman Chairman Arthur Weiner.  "Beyond the robust slate of retail and dining attractions, Fashion Outlets of Chicago also will offer an exciting set of customer amenities and social experiences, including a world-class art installation."

Fashion Outlets of Chicago is the latest development in an increasingly rich Rosemont area, which has seen a number of new restaurants and entertainment venues open in recent years. It is located on Fashion Outlets Way off of Balmoral Road in Rosemont and off of I-294 at the intersections of I-190 and I-90. Dining is another focus of the new property: Fashion Outlets of Chicago will offer two fine dining restaurants, Prasino and Villagio, in addition to a first-level food court and variety of other quick-service options.

"Fashion Outlets of Chicago marks our commitment to the changing face of outlet retail in America," said Art Coppola, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Macerich. "Today's announcement of the outstanding tenant mix and opening date for Fashion Outlets of Chicago is a significant milestone for our company, demonstrating Macerich's ongoing commitment to the market, as well as to our outlet strategy."

Fashion Outlets of Chicago will provide a variety of convenient amenities designed to appeal to the thousands of travelers passing through nearby O'Hare International Airport every day of the year. These include regular shuttles to and from the airport's terminals, as well as downtown hotels from our transportation partner Go Airport Express. Additionally, Fashion Outlets of Chicago is partnering with TSA-certified BAGS Inc. to operate a special concierge service that allows travelers to print boarding passes and check shopping bags and luggage directly to their flights.

Paris Fashion Week fall 2013: Sacai review

If you haven’t heard of the Japanese women’s brand Sacai, you should check it out (stores in the L.A. area include Barneys New York, H. Lorenzo and Noodle Stories). Since 1999, designer Chitose Abe has been building her business on the idea of hybrid pieces spliced and diced with feminine details — cardigans with a gentle waterfall of silk pleats in the back, for example, or utility jackets with soft bustles.

2013 Fashion Week coverage

She showed her fall 2013 collection on the runway during Paris Fashion Week.  And thankfully, there were no smoke machines or live bands to distract from the issue at hand, just a paneled mirror backdrop to better see the clothing and details from every angle.

The look:  Hybrid fashion with an emphasis on fusing feminine shapes with menswear-inspired tailoring and fabrications such as wool  checks and outdoorsy quilted nylon. A cape-back trench coat dress with a velvet front. Mixed plaid and silk pleated skirt. Nordic-style Fair Isle sweater-coats decorated with feathers. Ochre-colored lace biker jacket with green windowpane check peplum. A fur, nylon and windowpane-check bomber jacket worn over skinny pants with nylon inserts. Quilted nylon spats worn over boots.  

The verdict: Immensely creative and wearable takes on the masculine-feminine trend, and some truly novel outerwear.

Hokonui Fashion Design Awards celebrate 25 years

The Hokonui Fashion Design Awards is this year celebrating 25 years at the forefront of New Zealand fashion, as it opens for entries once again.
Creative amateur designers of all ages are now invited to enter New Zealand’s most iconic fashion design awards competition.

Based in the South Island town of Gore, and one of the major events on New Zealand’s fashion calendar, the awards offer emerging designers the chance to showcase their work in front of a panel of industry and guest judges.

Executive Producer Heather Paterson is excited about the significance of this year’s event and is particularly thrilled to introduce a new category and sponsor.

"The Hokonui Fashion Design Awards show has been running since 1988 and is the longest running fashion event in New Zealand for emerging designers," she said.
"Over the years, we have seen the most incredible creations coming down the catwalk, hosted top fashion experts and awarded some fantastic prizes to deserving talent. This year will continue in that tradition with, as always, a few new developments.

"We’ve also had excellent sponsors and this year we are very delighted to welcome new sponsor Mediaworks that will bring with them a number of innovative promotional ideas for the 2013 Awards."

Mrs Paterson said that to commemorate the 25-year achievement the show was introducing a new ‘Silver’ category.

"The theme for this is ‘anything goes’, giving entrants in the open section ‘carte blanche’ to be as creative as they like," she said.

This year, key members of the organisation team along with Wade Paterson will take a more active role in producing the awards as Mrs Paterson takes a back seat to receive on-going treatment for a serious illness.

"Heather is still on deck but in the background putting her passion into the event," said Mr Paterson.

"In the meantime, we’re looking forward to receiving the first entries as the 2013 show starts to take shape."

The 2013 Hokonui Fashion Design Awards will be showcased at the Town and Country Stadium in Gore on July 26 and 27. Entries close on May 31.

Fashion and Tech Mix and Match

The month of Fashion Weeks is coming to an end—New York and London are done, Milan just showed off its wares, and Paris wraps the season up starting today. Already, though, one strong trend has emerged: the interweaving of technology and fashion. The two are often complementary when mixed but there are some combinations that clash.

They blended beautifully at the haute couture shows in Paris that precede the quartet of Fashion Weeks. Two 3D-printed dresses took to the runway at Iris van Herpen's show. One, short-sleeved and delicately netted, was created by laser sintering, which fuses powdered thermoplastic polyurethane with a CO2 laser. "I find the process of 3D printing fascinating because I believe it will only be a matter of time before we see the clothing we wear today produced with this technology, and it's because it's such a different way of manufacturing, adding layer by layer, it will be a great source of inspiration for new ideas," van Herpen said in a release.

Fashion is always looking forward but its business practices can often be backward. That's always been an issue, but it's more so now that Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and Vine have bloggers, editors, designers, brands, and models constantly creating content that has consumers clamoring for product. "It's become a 24/7 social media circus," said Valentine Uhovski, Tumblr's fashion evangelist, at New York's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. This has created unprecedented demand for merchandise, which would seem to be good for the industry but instead strains an outdated system.
In the 2007 documentary The September Issue, then Neiman Marcus CEO Burton Tansky implores Vogue editor-in-chef Anna Wintour to exercise her considerable power in the industry for assistance. "I tell you what I'd like you to do," he says. "You are so influential with the designers. They have to recognize that the worldwide demand for their products is expanding at a rate that even they don't understand and they're not keeping up with the production so that the demand is outstripping supply. We're waiting longer and longer for deliveries; they're coming at the back end of the delivery schedule instead of at the front end. And you know fashion is fun and we all love it and that's what drives it but without the goods…"

That was six years ago chronologically but decades ago technologically for social media, and since then the fashion frenzy has only increased. As part of this season's Fashion Week, Condé Nast, the parent company of Vogue, partnered with Decoded Fashion, an organization formed to foster partnerships between fashion and technology, for a hackathon weekend and a day's worth of panel discussions. The hackathon was designed to develop apps that offer solutions to problems both old (reliable sourcing of artisans) and new (monitoring a brand's message across mediums).

Designer Zac Posen and Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley gave fashion and tech keynotes, respectively, online commerce tips were traded, influencers were interviewed, and startups took the stage.
One panel set out to do what fashion does so well: forecast the future. Cindi Leive, editor-in-chief of Glamour, moderated the discussion between Uhovski; Kevin Kollenda, founder of new media creative lab Two Hustlers; and model Coco Rocha.

Rocha spoke about 3D printing and laser etching as natural fits for blending fashion and technology. "Let's do things that will inspire people to come into this industry," she said. Rocha has been at the forefront of popularizing social media within the fashion set. While she's an enthusiastic proponent of it, she also spoke about some of the drawbacks.

As technology has added to the experience of a show—giving a designer more acclaim from the Vines, tweets, and Instagrams of those in the rows—it's taken away the laudatory feedback. Rocha said no one claps when a designer comes down the runway because they're all too busy with documenting the experience. "I'm as guilty of it as anyone," she said.

The applause may be only of the virtual variety in the future. All the shows at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week are streamed, though not for the benefit of fashion's den mothers and denizens that crowd into the tents to watch them live. But with the blizzard that blew into New York at the start of Fashion Week, many front-row regulars took advantage of technology and tuned in from home. Even Suzy Menkes, fashion fixée and editor of the International Herald Tribune was viewing and reviewing from her iPad.

It may be a one-off, but if the online-only runway becomes a trend, it could make many edgy. While it's a glamorous one, Fashion Week is a trade show. It's where the press comes to see what designers are doing and retailers shop to fill store floors. Becoming a purely online event, would be akin to CES going from Vegas flair to online affair. (If you think that can't happen in tech, the once-blockbuster Comdex has virtually faded away.) Traditional retailers are already bypassed by sites like Moda Operandi that let customers order looks directly off the runway. And it would be hard to imagine the backlash if the fashion faithful were reduced to the status of the bloggers in their pre-front-row days and took notes from afar.

At the panel on the future of fashion and tech, Two Hustlers' Kollenda laid out a vision in which fashion and tech served as a sort of augmented reality of each world. "Everything that happens online needs to happen in the physical world," he said. He offered Gaga's Window as an example. He created the digital window display and installation to bring a celestially bedecked Lady Gaga and the tweets of her Little Monsters to the windows of Barneys New York.

Decoded Fashion founder Liz Bacelar talked about plans for expanding relationships in London and editors left New York Fashion Week with the city on the brain (and in London cabs supplied by accessories companies and Skyfall-promoting Aston Martins),. Google had already gotten to the city and was working with British retailer Topshop to get London Fashion Week in store windows and screens—and consumer data in its own coffers.

Models in the Topshop Unique show wore HD micro-cameras in their outfits, giving viewers of Topshop's Oxford Street windows and its site, as well as those on YouTube and in a Google+ Hangout, a catwalk view. Those in the Hangout got to chat with designers and editors.

Rightster and IMG Fashion Reached the Largest Internet Audience to Date For Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2013 Collections

Today, Rightster and IMG Fashion unveiled that this season’s live stream of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2013 Collections at Lincoln Center reached the largest internet audience ever, demonstrating deep engagement with American designers’ runway shows around the world.

The online audience viewing live streamed runway shows increased by more than 170% over the September 2012 event, marking the largest audience reached in the five seasons runway shows from Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week have been available via live stream. Mobile view rates were twice the industry average of 12%, with 24% of views occurring on mobile devices. Collectively, viewers watched more than nine years of runway show video during the eight days of the event and the average viewing time was around 12 minutes during live shows, demonstrating that viewers stayed to watch runway shows in their entirety.
Charlie Muirhead, Founder and CEO, Rightster, comments: “Interest in what American designers are showing on the runway is growing exponentially both domestically and abroad, and this is clearly evident when we look at our viewing statistics season after season. With this digital platform, Rightster and IMG Fashion are able to offer brands a solution to make their fashion association even more powerful against a highly desirable demographic.”
Muirhead continues: “We tracked viewing times upwards of twelve minutes, bringing huge consumer engagement opportunities for fashion brands. It’s an incredibly powerful platform and the designers and brands involved in the event were excited by the findings.”

“IMG Fashion is dedicated to providing solutions for designers to help them ultimately reach a greater audience of their consumers,” says Peter Levy, SVP and Managing Director, IMG Fashion Worldwide Events and Properties.

“Rightster gives media an easily accessible tool that provides their followers convenient access to more live designer runway shows and on demand content than ever before. The number of fashion-conscious consumers that are seeing the Collections on the runway at the same time as the buyers and journalists in the front row is an incredible benefit to the designers showing at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.”

Rightster’s technology allows online fashion and style-relevant media, blogs and websites to easily embed a video player on their site with a simple code. For the first time, viewer data was collected from more than 200 websites that hosted the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week live stream, unlocking key learnings about the US audience.

The campaign uncovered that the primarily female online viewing audience of the designer runway shows is younger than the average US internet user, with the female 18-24 year old demographic over-indexed by over 123% and those in the 25-34 year old demographic by an astounding 150%. More than 50% of all female viewers were under the age of 34. The campaign also uncovered a broad ethnic diversity of the viewing audience, African-American, Asian and Hispanic viewers over-indexed by 49%, 53% and 50% respectively. The typical live stream viewer is college educated with no children at home.

This is the second season that Rightster has been the live stream partner of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week to increase the reach of designer’s runway shows through a network of relevant blogs, websites and platforms.

Fashion revival for All Saints

Fashion retailer All Saints, which almost slid into administration two years ago, is back in the black.

The company, which is famous for ranks of sewing machines in its shop windows, has seen annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation hit £7.5m, from a £9.1m loss 12 months earlier.

The return to profit comes despite sales in the 12 months to January 31 falling from £221m to £199m, with like-for-like sales consistently in negative territory over the past six months.

However, All Saints' new chief executive, William Kim, claimed the company has been deliberately trying to shrink sales to grow profit margins.

"It is true that like-for-likes have fallen but we drove those results. We had a huge business model that had way too much stock. We over-produced inventory. The result was that we were forced to mark down prices to shift stock, especially during key retail periods. It wasn't sustainable."

Mr Kim said that a year ago All Saints was marking down up to 85pc of stock to "on sale". But in the latest set of financial results, gross margins have jumped 12 percentage points, from 53pc to 65pc. There is also 40pc less inventory being produced by the company.

"Our aim is to convert more customers at full price, which will help increase growth. And we have seen that affect the bottom line immediately."

All Saints has been owned by Lion Capital since 2011. The private equity firm, which used to own fashion brands including Jimmy Choo, rescued the company when it was close to collapse and has now turned its attention to an international expansion programme.

It has 100 stores in nine countries across the UK, Netherlands and the US.
Next (Other OTC: NXGPF - news) week, it is opening its first shop in Toronto, Canada, and plans a series of further store openings across North America and Asia.

"We are just on the brink," said Mr Kim. "When we look ahead to 2013, the world is our oyster. The earnings potential is far in excess of double-digit growth."

All Saints is projecting around £17m of earnings for 2013, which will be used to fund further store roll-outs. The company is also investing heavily in non-apparel.

The Cross-Dressing of Art and Couture

In name, at least, “Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity,” the thrilling, erudite show opening to the public on Tuesday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, sounds like a double dose of pandering. Impressionism and fashion? The pairing portends blockbuster-bundling and seems so excessive as to be unhealthy — possibly illegal — like 32-ounce sodas. Brace for “Van Gogh and Motorcycles,” “Rembrandt and Fabergé” and “Norman Rockwell and Tim Burton.”

But fear not. In reality, “Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity” is neither your father’s Impressionist blockbuster nor a focus group’s. With its mixture of great paintings and lavish garments and accessories — everything 19th-century French or inspired thereby — it is certain to attract multiple demographics in great numbers. But its broad allure derives from its visual fireworks, historical clarity and pitch-perfect contextualizing. It builds webs of new information and viewpoints around some of the best-known, most beloved paintings of all time, quite a few of which don’t often travel to this country.

For starters, both of the surviving panels of Claude Monet’s colossal “Luncheon on the Grass” — cut into pieces when it wasn’t finished in time for the 1866 Salon — are being shown together in this hemisphere for the first time, lent by the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, where the show had its debut last fall and was thronged.

In fresh, groundbreaking ways this show details the entwined rise of modern painting, modern fashion and modern (upper middle-class) life over some two dozen years of rapid change in Paris, 1862 to 1887. The period included the rise of department stores, illustrated fashion magazines and ready-to-wear clothing, but also the couturier fashion house, most notably that of Charles Frederick Worth. Black emerged even more emphatically from the weeds of widowhood to become emblematic of urban sophistication. And men and women strolled the widened sidewalks and radiating boulevards, browsing shop windows, seeing and being seen in Baron Haussmann’s new Paris, “the capital of the 19th century,” in Walter Benjamin’s inspiring phrase.

Painters and writers intent on bringing a new reality to their work were among the first to see fashion as a vital expression of modern life. Briefly in 1874, no less than the poet Stéphane Mallarmé published a fashion magazine, La Dernière Mode, and largely wrote it, too, using bylines like Mademoiselle Satin and Marguerite de Ponty.

The show tells its tale through a dazzling surround of visual culture high and low, small and large, flat and round. I recommend not missing a thing: not a pleat, ruche or lace parasol; not a painted background, glove or slipper toe; not a photograph or magazine; not a corset, fan or black choker, whether depicted or actual. Such attention reveals frequent similarities of garments (and poses) in the magazines, photographs, paintings and costumed mannequins. A result is an intense, almost hallucinatory swirl in which art and artifact continually change places, and a basic wisdom is demonstrated: any well-selected thing can illuminate any other.

The ratio of 14 dresses to 79 paintings is just right. A little goes a long way with mid-19th-century day dresses, ball gowns or summer muslins; they are as intricate as Gothic cathedrals.

Organized by the Art Institute of Chicago (where it will be seen in June), in collaboration with the Met and the Orsay, “Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity” and its excellent catalog have been overseen by Gloria Groom, a curator of European art at the institute. The curator Susan Alyson Stein was in charge of the Met’s version, which has a completely different wardrobe from that of the Orsay show, but mostly the same paintings. These include, as a bonus, Courbet’s stunning forerunner, “Young Ladies on the Banks of the Seine,” from 1856-57, with its precise rendering of the dresses and petticoats of its women of the street, flopped, exhausted, on the grass.

Ms. Stein’s crisp installation is aided by labels that excerpt the observations, both astute and nearsighted, of contemporary critics, and by vivid quotations that are sprinkled across the walls. One of the first and among the most giddy: “The Parisienne is not in fashion, she is fashion,” from Arsène Houssaye, writing in the magazine L’Artiste in 1869.

With sections titled “Refashioning Figure Painting,” “En Plein Air,” “The White Dress” and “The Black Dress,” this show limns the milieu in which the Impressionists, led by Manet and Degas, came into their own as painters of modern life, determined to portray their contemporaries and their world in a way that also radicalized their medium. Velázquez and the Spaniards served as models, but so did new means of mechanical reproduction, especially the hand-colored steel engravings, called fashion plates, often set into fashion magazines. No less than Cézanne, hardly known for his attention to haberdashery, is shown to have painted a small, nearly exact copy of one in 1871, just before his thick-handed early style exploded into separate brush marks.

 Berthe Morisot uses a photograph of herself in a low-cut black evening dress, with slight changes, as the basis for her 1875 painting “Figure of a Woman (Before the Theater).” The labor required for such finery is barely hinted at, primarily in Degas’s soundless depictions of milliners and their shops.

The Impressionists shared their awareness of modern dress as an increasingly prominent expression of their times with far more conservative painters, non-Impressionists — quite abundant in this show — who wanted to paint modern life, but not in such modern ways. They sought the veracity and high finish of Ingres, but were rarely up to it. Fantin-Latour’s marvelous three-quarter portrait of Manet, the impeccably top-hatted, watch-fobbed gentleman of 1867, comes closest, in the one gallery devoted to male attire. (It leaves you wanting more.) A wide miss is Albert Bartholomé’s cloying 1881 “In the Conservatory (Madame Bartholomé),” the only painting to be shown with the actual garment it portrays.

The tension between the innovative and the staid — the Impressionists using clothes as occasions to explore paint; the loyal opposition focusing on them as things in themselves — is the show’s main engine. The artists from both sides of the aisle knew, borrowed from and competed with one another, formulating together a new combination of genre painting and portraiture, catching their subjects in the moment, yet often in a full-length, slightly larger-than-life scale.

The artists’ differences are announced by the face-off of paintings in the first gallery. The contrasts are especially apparent in Tissot’s zealously detailed 1866 “Portrait of the Marquise de Miramon,” a somewhat daring depiction of a lady of obvious high rank wearing a chic deep-pink dressing gown in the privacy of her well-appointed home, and Manet’s “Young Lady in 1866,” defined by the challenging gaze of an unnamed woman, clearly in the artist’s studio, whose even more chic dressing gown is also a pyramidal plane of robustly worked pale pink paint.

This gallery is presided over by a gray silk faille day dress from 1865-67, accessorized by the essential wool paisley shawl from India (which fell from fashion, once French manufacturers learned to make cheaper ones). The mannequin might have stepped out of Monet’s nearby 1868 portrait, “Madame Louis Joachim Gaudibert,” in which the train of the gown unravels in loose brushwork resembling jagged mountain ranges. It is illuminating to see what Monet was looking at and what he did with it.

Tissot, represented by 10 canvases, more than those of any other artist, appears in nearly every gallery, becoming a cautionary leitmotif about coarsening talent. His best work is his earliest: the ambiguous 1864 “Portrait of Mademoiselle L. L.,” a dark-eyed ingénue perched on a desk in a fashionable red bolero and dark soft skirt, evoking Corot as much as Ingres with a subtle eroticism that Balthus must have envied.

While sometimes a step ahead of his more adventuresome colleagues in subject matter, Tissot is soon in rapid descent, heading for the garishly tight, treacly paintings fit for chocolate-box covers found in the show’s final gallery, where a few too many other paintings tend in this direction.

As compensation there is the alluring Haussmannian vista of Gustave Caillebotte’s immense “Paris Street: Rainy Day” (1877) and two utterly astounding day dresses by Worth, their extreme architecture (bustles) echoed in paintings by Georges Seurat, Jacques-Émile Blanche and Henry Lerolle.

The best of the wall quotations comes from Degas: “Think of a treatise on ornament for women or by women, based on their manner of observing, of combining, of selecting their fashionable outfits and all things. On a daily basis they compare, more than men, a thousand visible things with one another.”

Of course “Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity” is about much more than ornament, as were the women in Degas’s quotation. The show chronicles the circular flow of life and art. But its deep content may be the prominent roles women always play in culture, and it is worth noting that 10 of the 15 contributors to the catalog are women. As Elizabeth Wilson wrote in her pioneering 1985 book, “Adorned in Dreams: Fashion and Modernity,” which is curiously absent from the catalog’s extensive bibliography: “Dress is the frontier between the self and the not-self,” and fashionable dress “one of the ways in which women achieve self-expression.”

Milan fashion week opens with hopes of economic comeback

Designers kicked off Milan fashion week on Wednesday with bold collections to persuade Italian shoppers that the worst of the economic crisis is over and it is time to hit the stores again.

Fashion houses including PPR's Gucci, Giorgio Armani and Prada are among the top names showing their womenswear 2013-14 autumn-winter collections, taking up the baton from catwalk shows in London.

"I have great hopes for this country after the political and economic debacle of the last months," cashmere goods maker Brunello Cucinelli told Reuters at his showroom.

The colorful crowd of fashion critics and bloggers descending on Milan will mix this year with Italian voters heading to the ballot box on February 24-25 to choose a new government and decide the country's future economic path.
Italy came close to a major debt crisis in November 2011 before Silvio Berlusconi stood down as prime minister and was replaced by technocrat Mario Monti.

"There is a need to clean up politics and give small businesses the incentives to hire people," Maurizio Modica, co-designer at Italy's brand Frankie Morello, told Reuters.

Sales of Italian fashion goods are forecast to drop 3.5 percent to around 58 billion euros ($77 billion) this year, after falling 5.4 percent in 2012, according to preliminary data by textile and fashion body Sistema Moda Italia (SMI).

Gucci, the first big name brand to show, proposed a fetish aesthetic for its sensual collection, with sculpted dresses in materials such as python skin.
Creative head Frida Giannini, who is expecting her first baby in a couple of weeks, was inspired by the idea of a "femme fatale" for her show, which also featured evening gowns with colorful feathers stitched on black lace.
For the morning, Giannini showed sporty jackets embroidered with three-dimensional leaves.

Fashion house Frankie Morello presented a "dark lady" for its youthful collection, which featured black blouses covered with mirror shards and stiff fabrics in geometric patterns.

"I am confident that this edition of the Milan womenswear week will confirm the positive signs of recovery that we saw in January during the menswear shows," Mario Boselli, chairman of Italy's fashion national chamber, said in a statement.

He said he expected orders for the autumn-winter collections would improve as the recession eases in 2013.

Foreign markets will make up the mainstay of the revenue, with exports expected to reach record levels in terms of value, surpassing the previous record in 2000. Non-EU countries such as China will outpace EU members for the first time, SMI said.

"These forecasts are based on a scenario that there will be no fiscal shocks in 2013 and the government to be named after the election will couple fiscal austerity with measures to boost spending in the second half of the year," SMI said.

The fashion week, which ends on Tuesday, will also include shows from Versace, Dolce & Gabbana and Roberto Cavalli.

Graduates from fashion's "cradle" of talent chase elusive dream

As London Fashion Week closes, Britain's budding designers must tackle the challenge of finding employment in an economy where most recent university graduates are struggling for work and in an industry that is notoriously competitive.

London has a reputation as a cradle of new fashion talent, with the Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design boasting an illustrious list of alumni including Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Christopher Kane and John Galliano.

The London-based school showcases its graduate talent every year in a show for fashion week, luring headhunters looking for up-and-coming talent to offer their labels.

A lucky few will be tapped on the shoulder for positions at top brands. But most will have to settle for employment that doesn't advance their dreams beyond internships that pay little or nothing at all and jobs on the bottom of the career ladder.

More than one in three of all recent UK graduates were employed in lower skilled jobs in the final three months of 2011, according to the UK statistics office.

Veteran fashion journalist and trustee of graduate fashion week Hilary Alexander told Reuters the numbers of graduates also seems to be increasing each time she attends the show at Central Saint Martins.

"Every year there seem to be more...Obviously they all can't become fashion designers," Alexander said.

Figures from the University of Kent show there are more than 4,000 textile and design graduates in the UK competing for around 500 jobs every year.

"We have the talent. That has unquestionably been our strength for decades," Natalie Massenet, founder of online fashion retailer Net-a-Porter and Chairman of the British Fashion Council said at the start of London Fashion Week.
Central Saint Martins student Eilish Macintosh, who won the L'Oreal Bursary Award for her collection of black jersey dresses decorated with rope in hangman knots, said she would love to find a job but has no offers at the moment.
"To be honest I'm just going to see what opportunities come up," Macintosh said.

Marie Rydland moved from Norway to London to take advantage of the city's fashion scene.

Rydland, who presented a menswear collection of floor length ivory kaftans with a patchwork of silver and blue embroidery said job hunting would have to wait until after her exams.

"Everybody makes their portfolio and then it's about going out there and getting contacts," she said.

WISH LIST
Designers at London Fashion Week said that a great attitude, creative vision and work experience were key traits for any new hires entering the country's 21 billion pound ($32.6 billion) fashion industry.

"Be prepared to do lots of work experience and work hard at it," designer Alice Temperley advised applicants, describing the job market for new graduates as "terrible".

While Temperley pays all her interns, the pressure to curb unpaid internships has made it harder to get work experience.

Journalist Alexander said the emphasis should be on new innovative skills when training fashion students.

"We need to channel the talents into the whole digital arena...(Mary) Katrantzou, Holly Fulton, Peter Pilotto are using digital printing," she said.
Others have expressed concern that fashion schools are not preparing their students well enough for the world of work.

"Many fashion schools do not provide enough training in pattern cutting, which is a fundamental skill for any young designer," Imran Amed, a fashion business advisor, adding that those who do have these specialist skills are sought after.
British designer Paul Smith echoed this after his show at Tate Britain.

"They really need to know how to put a garment together," Smith said. "A lot of people think fashion is just about networking, getting out there - but now it's reality time."

Europe's Fashion History, Just a Click Away

An ambitious fashion archive is being readied for its debut May 2, when Europeana Fashion will go online with about 100,000 digital elements from 22 European museums and institutions — a gallery ranging from a 1921 embroidered dress by Madeleine Vionnet to a Diana Vreeland letter to the designer Emilio Pucci.

The project’s goal is to have a total of 700,000 fashion-related elements in digital form and online by March 2015, helping to preserve European fashion history for future generations.

“This is the first attempt to assemble such an important collection of fashion content from both private and public archives and museums,” said Alessandra Arezzi Boza, a freelance fashion curator based in Florence who oversees the site’s content and communications. “And it is surely one of the great challenges of the project as, until now, fashion content was scattered online and not easily searchable.”

The project is an offshoot of Europeana, the five-year-old online digital library that showcases images of about 24 million cultural artifacts, including the Mona Lisa and the Gutenberg Bible.

For now, those who go to www.europeanafashion.eu will find details about the project, a blog about its development, a social corner with Twitter feed and Facebook posts, and a list of fashion-related events around Europe.

Once the site is fully ready, organizers say, users will be able to search the archives by date, designer, item or keyword. A click on a particular image will bring up a detailed view and more information, as well as more images, if available.

Items will include images from fashion shows, catwalks, museum exhibitions and installations in fashion fairs; videos; biographies; blogs; documentation like show invitations, which might be considered works of art in themselves; and articles from newspapers and magazines dating from the 18th century.

Beyond the Web, Europeana Fashion is planning a series of conferences, beginning with “Fashion Industry and the GLAM Community” on April 17 and 18 in Florence, and organizers are considering virtual exhibitions, showcases and a cooperative arrangement with Wikimedia events.

Mrs. Arezzi Boza and Marco Rendina, a researcher and new-media expert at Fondazione Rinascimento Digitale, a Italian nonprofit organization, came up with the idea for Europeana Fashion a couple of years ago when they realized the limits of the original site.

“If you search for ‘fashion’ on Europeana, you can find 5,935 digital items, which is nothing compared to the 24 million digital objects” that eventually will be on Europeana Fashion, Mrs. Arezzi Boza said.

It turned out that ModeMuseum in Antwerp, Belgium, was working on a similar idea, so the two groups joined forces.

Museums in Asia and the United States have begun similar efforts to preserve their fashion collections online, but not in such a comprehensive way, Mrs. Arezzi Boza said.

The Fondazione, located in Florence, is coordinating the project. Its secretary, Marco Rufino, is Europeana Fashion’s general coordinator while Mr. Rendina is serving as its technical director.

The European Commission provided 80 percent of the total €3.3 million, or $4.4 million, budget through 2015, with the partners’ providing the remainder. The partners have agreed to create a Europeana Fashion Foundation to administer the site and update content after 2015.

Participants come from 12 European countries and include institutions like Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris; ModeMuseum Antwerp, which will provide 100,000 elements; and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. The Victoria & Albert Museum intends to contribute about 8,000 catalog records and images, including pictures of a corset constructed of red sateen, yellow leather and whalebone from 1883 and a silk day dress made around 1873 that was donated by the Marchioness of Bristol. The intense purple color of the dress illustrates the kind of vivid dyes popular at the time.

“Europeana will create a portal which fashion designers, along with anyone else who is interested in fashion, can use as a ‘one-stop shop,”’ said Heather Caven, head of collections management and resource planning at the Victoria & Albert Museum, which also is helping to develop a multilingual Fashion Thesaurus for the site.

Other partners include small museums like the RossiModa Shoe Museum near Venice, which is providing 12,000 images of shoes; photo agencies like Catwalk Pictures of Brussels; fashion schools; and fashion houses including Missoni and Emilio Pucci.

“Fashion is today part of a general collective system and part of Europe’s cultural profile,” said Laudomia Pucci di Barsento, vice president and image director of Emilio Pucci and owner of the Fondazione Archivio Emilio Pucci, which began digitizing its archive 10 years ago.

“A serious reflection on fashion culture and history on a specialized portal has become a must.”

Fashion Becomes Activism for the Women of Kabul

Designers work for months on collections that leggy, Amazon women will showcase on catwalks during international Fashion Weeks. But while most models have but one mission when walking down a runway (not to fall), women presenting collections in places like Kabul have other concerns, like fearing for their lives.
However, despite the dangers of presenting the latest and greatest, and all without a burqa, one group of Afghan women have looked fear in the face and realized fashion can be part self-expression and part activism.

Young Women for Change, an independent non-profit organization based in Kabul, Afghanistan recently put on their own fashion show, not at Lincoln Center or under the lights of Milan, but in a small, candlelit house.

Anita Haidary, co-founder of the group, says even though some attendees could not accept women showcasing the fashions, open events like her runway show are creating new activist platforms and discussions within the community about how women are seen.

“The reason behind this fashion show was to promote women’s business, women’s clothing through women designers and tailors,” says Haidary. “Young Women for Change wanted to support women in business because we believe that grassroots efforts that support women in becoming financially independent can lead to the greater empowerment of Afghan women.”

The group, co-founded by Haidary and Noorjahan Akbar, consists of dozens of volunteer women and male advocates across Afghanistan who are committed to empowering Afghan women through social and economic participation, political empowerment, awareness and advocacy.

For the women involved in the YWC, having a unified voice is also a way for them to contribute to rebuilding a new Afghanistan. Haidary says part of rebuilding is connecting Afghan women to alternative ways they can get their traditional clothing, allowing them to bypass all the clothing imports from Pakistan, China and Iran—because even Afghans believe in shopping locally.

“This is also directly connected to our first campaign against harassment. Women are not only harassed on the street but also in shops, markets, and tailor shops run by men," says Haidary. "There are countless stories detailing the harassment in tailoring shops while noting measurement. Furthermore, they have to go through this harassment because they have no other options because there are very few women tailors due to lack of skills, education and funds.”

Shannon Galpin, National Geographic Adventurer of the Year and founder of Mountain2Mountain, a nonprofit for women in conflict regions, says Kabul is a unique city for women. Galpin says the women of the YWC are courageous to take up the fight for their rights as publicly as they do, marching in the streets to protest sexual harassment, and creating the first women's internet cafe in Kabul.

“You now have women attending Kabul University, working in all levels of government, and seeing women in the streets walking to school or work among men is normal," Galpin says. "It becomes a great incubator for activists and feminists to take on the fight in the country’s capital and set an example to the rest of their country.”

Galpin adds, “It starts with voice and the willingness to take a stand, to risk your safety, because the alternative is to sit by and watch as your rights are systematically taken away unchallenged.”

Post-fashion show, Haidary and the YWC meet safely behind closed doors at their internet café which serves as a haven for area women to interact and discuss challenges, projects and of course, where to get the latest designs. There they plan their next move as young women challenging the norm and a sexism that makes them work ever the harder.

“It is good to do something rather not doing anything,” Haidary says. “Women cannot achieve what they want if they don’t work for it.”

Rihanna, Issa light up London Fashion Week

London Fashion Week moved into high international gear Saturday with a debut collection from Barbadian pop diva Rihanna, a Native American-inspired show by Brazilian-born Issa and a host of other eclectic offerings.

No one went to Rihanna's Saturday night debut as a fashion designer expecting demure dresses set off with tasteful pearls.

So no one was surprised by the double-volume hip-hop music, smoke machines and champagne that greeted guests at the unveiling of her Rihanna for River Island collection.

And few were taken aback by the bad girl, rock chick styling of some of her clothes, with tight-fitting jersey outfits and dresses cut to show more than a bit of leg.

It was a fun, flattering collection aimed at young women, containing nothing shocking or outrageous from a singer who has been known to bring those elements to her live performances.

She provided some pop star glamour to an already glittering London Fashion Week, which will soon showcase the work of Vivienne Westwood, Burberry's Christopher Bailey, and Tom Ford.

Rihanna followed Brazilian-born Daniela Issa Helayel (better known as Issa), John Rocha, Julien Macdonald and others to center stage on the second day of fashion week.

Much of the buzz Saturday was about Rihanna's first-even fashion collection. Many of her outfits had a simple, monochrome look — in off-reds, yellow, navy, black and other colors — and they were cut to look good on those blessed with a fit physique.

Some were satin, some jersey, and some of the short skirts were made with denim and matched with crop tops or T-shirts.

Rihanna also tried her hand at a few elegant, semi-sheer dresses that were predominantly black with white floral patterns.

The singer appeared unusually shy but happy in her brief appearance on the catwalk to take in the audience's applause. She wore a short black dress as she waved to her fans.

If Rihanna brought a touch of show biz royalty to the catwalk, Issa brought her gold-plated royal connections. She is one of the favorite designers of the Duchess of Cambridge, the former Kate Middleton, who helped bring Issa to the world's attention before her marriage to Prince William.

Issa toned down her usual tropical exuberance to pay homage to the designs associated with Native Americans, particularly the Navajo, in a more muted but elegant presentation.

"It's quite different for us," Issa said. "I was very inspired by American Indians, the Navajos, the feathers. The woman goes to Morocco, she's nomadic, she's far cooler than before."

The shapes and cut were dramatic, and knitwear tops that turned into cowl necks and balaclava-style headgear brought warmth and wit to the show. So did the hats, some trailed by feathers that were three feet long.

Of course, she threw in a few sparkly evening dresses, with a plunging neckline or a backless look, to help make cocktail hour sizzle.

Despite leaving behind the fine weather and natural allure of Brazil, Issa said she finds joy in London, even if the weather is often drab.

"Even when it's misty and fog, it's beautiful," she said. "The shades of gray are fantastic. And it's not misty and foggy all the time."

And she gets a kick out of being part of an A-list fashion crowd, enjoying a reception Friday night at 10 Downing Street with designer Victoria Beckham, American Vogue editor Anna Wintour and other top figures.
Issa denies designing any maternity clothes for the Duchess of Cambridge, who is expecting a baby in July. But she said many of her stretchy dresses are popular with mothers-to-be.

The five-day spectacle continues Sunday with shows by Vivienne Westwood, Temperley London, L'Wren Scott and others.

Tom Ford, Rihanna lead London Fashion Week lineup

Once the most marginal of fashion capitals, London has finally grown up to be a style force to be reckoned with.

So say the organizers of London Fashion Week, which opened Friday with a buzz of anticipation for a blockbuster season of shows — one of the event's biggest lineups yet.

For the first time, celebrity designer Tom Ford is staging a womenswear catwalk show in London, while singer Rihanna has created a stir with her debut fashion collection to be shown on Sunday.

Those are major coups for the British capital, which has devoted increasing attention to its fashion industry — a 21 billion-pound (US$33 billion) business that is getting growing global recognition.
"We've already cracked the hard part. We have the talent," said Natalie Massenet, the British Fashion Council's new chairman and the American founder of online retailer Net-A-Porter. Her job, she said, was to capitalize on that to make London "the most exciting fashion capital in the world."

While major players like Burberry, Mulberry and Vivienne Westwood still lead the British fashion scene, the most closely-watched design heroes of the moment — the ones gushed about from New York to Paris — are all under 40 years old: Christopher Kane, Mary Katrantzou, Erdem. And they are just the most recognizable names among more than a dozen ambitious, emerging talents that have put London on the international style map.
"The buyers who come to London don't go to just one or two shows — they go to nearly every show, every day. You miss the show, you miss the hot new trend," said Caroline Rush, the British Fashion Council's chief executive.

Plenty of that talent was on show on Friday. Bora Aksu, the Turkish designer based in London, showed off a collection that contrasted tough leather with romance and ethereal silhouettes.

Central St. Martins, the storied art college from which superstars like John Galliano and Alexander McQueen graduated, put on a graduate show that may not be exactly wearable, but it was one that was bursting with youthful creativity.

"It was really a breath of fresh air. At this stage you should experiment as much as you can," said Roksanda Illincic, who graduated from the college several years ago. She has gone on to dress women from Michelle Obama to actress Emma Stone.

Other notable designers showing at this season's 5-day event include L'Wren Scott, the American partner of Mick Jagger; Julien Macdonald, a celebrity favorite, who is returning after a two-season break; and Jonathan Saunders, who has wowed with his classy prints and patterns.

In all, almost 60 runway previews for autumn 2013 will run from Friday to Tuesday.

BORA AKSU
Severe-looking leather corsets, exaggerated shoulders, shades of muddy greens and gunmetal: Aksu's latest womenswear collection may feature lots of tough design elements, but his signature romantic style still shone through on the catwalk Friday.

The London-based designer opened his show with a series of ivory crocheted dresses worn with high, buttoned-up shirt collars, and followed with all-leather ensembles of capes, bomber and cropped jackets and pencil skirts.

Later, models wore sweet baby-doll dresses in clouds of light pleated chiffon, but the best pieces layered the contrasting textures in one outfit: a suede corset worn over an ethereal navy blouse, or a gunmetal leather dress under a billowing, sheer purple cape.

All the models wore delicate, metallic headpieces that framed the face, an accessory that managed to look modern and nodded at flapper style at the same time.
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CENTRAL ST MARTINS GRADUATE SHOW
Jersey dresses with strange bulging shapes, head-to-toe blue outfits with stiff pleated wool, and baggy skirts and tulle capes for men are just some of the more outlandish creations showcased at Central St. Martins' fashion graduate show on Friday.

But viewers don't go to this showcase looking for wearable pieces — they go looking for tomorrow's star designer. The event was most famously the place where the late Alexander McQueen became recognized as a major talent, back in 1992 when he presented his graduate collection.

Standout pieces during Friday's show included black dresses adorned with rope knots and super shiny PVC ensembles by Eilish Macintosh, who won the L'Oreal Professionnel Creative Award of the year.

IMG Fashion partners with Rightster to deliver Live Streams of all Runway Shows from Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center for the first time ever

IMG Fashion and Rightster announce that for the first time, there will be a live stream of every runway show from Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center, as well as video on-demand content available for all shows and presentations, for fashion enthusiasts everywhere. In collaboration with worldwide media content and distribution authority Rightster, this exciting program will make live streams available on newyork.mbfashionweek.com and facebook.com/mbfashionweek, giving fans worldwide a front row seat to fashions most beloved designers' shows.

The live streams and on-demand videos will also be available to digital media and online publishers at video.mbfashionweek.com, providing a streamlined system to access more content in one portal than ever before. This collaboration adds to the IMG Fashion portfolio of solutions for designers to connect with their consumers around the globe.

"At IMG Fashion, we constantly look to provide innovative solutions for designers to connect with buyers, press and consumers around the globe," said Peter Levy SVP and Managing Director IMG Fashion Worldwide Events and Properties. "Our extended partnership with Rightster will allow us to bring the rich content live from the runways to fans and media who support the event, opening the doors for designers worldwide."

"We are extremely excited to continue our successful partnership with IMG Fashion for a second consecutive season. Together, we are able to increase access to the fashion world's most exciting live and on-demand video content. Rightster makes the task of efficiently distributing, promoting and securing advertising for online video content as easy as possible for fashion designers, media properties and brands, ultimately increasing digital media engagement and enabling them to reach the widest audience possible," said Charlie Muirhead, Founder and CEO at Rightster.

Media will have the ability to enhance their own coverage and engage their audience with rich video content by simply embedding the live stream. Last year, IMG Fashion and Rightster's distribution of live streamed shows resulted in a 165% increase in viewership, allowing fashion lovers around the world to view the runway via their favorite websites. Designers participating in Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week will benefit from additional distribution avenues enabled by the IMG Fashion and Rightster collaboration, and media outlets without their own crew will be able to deliver live exclusive coverage so that the designers' reach will extend to an unprecedented audience size worldwide.

The Super Bowl of fashion

Oh, the weather outside may be frightful and frigid. But the fashion world is ready to get warm and fuzzy.

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week officially begins Thursday (Feb. 7) and runs through Feb. 14. That means eight straight days of fashion, fashion and more fashion (nine if you count the multitude of events being held on Wednesday before the festivities officially begin).

Events in New York City can be found not just at the official New York Fashion Week tents at Lincoln Center, but in hotels, showrooms, event spaces like the Milk Studios and even the Piers along Manhattan’s west side.

In addition to the literally hundreds of events in New York City, New Jersey will be getting in the act thanks to Atlantic City Fashion Week, scheduled for Feb. 8, where events, including special sales and a fashion show, will take place at One Atlantic at the Pier Shops connected to Caesars Atlantic City.

In New York, the fashion world will descend in all of its high-gloss glory, from top designers and models to stylists, editors, and, most importantly, buyers for major chains and small boutiques.

Key labels and designers expected to show include Tracy Reese, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Monique Lhuillier, Nicole Miller, Diane von Furstenberg, Donna Karan, BCBG Max Azria, Douglas Hannant, Tadashi Shoji, Tahari, Nautica, Rag & Bone, Helmut Lang, Billy Reid, Jill Stuart, Zac Posen, Carolina Herrera, Theory, Vera Wang, Badgley Mischka, Narciso Rodriguez and Naeem Khan.

Special fashion-related events also will be part of the festivities, including the Heart Truth Red Dress Collection, an annual show featuring celebrities dressed in red to raise awareness about the importance of women’s heart health.

The finale taping of the new season of “Project Runway” will take place during New York Fashion Week, although as observers have learned, there are so many red herrings thrown into the mix that it’s impossible to glean who the top finalists are, let alone the identity of the winner.

While the public can purchase tickets to Atlantic City Fashion Week, most New York Fashion Week events are closed to the public, although many designers are offering live streaming or delayed online videos of their New York Fashion Week shows.

But American Express is once again offering fashion fans a chance to experience New York Fashion Week in person. American Express Cardmembers will be able to watch the show of looks form the Herrera Spring collection after a reception with Herrera and Harper’s Bazaar editor Glenda Bailey.

As an added bonus, editors from Harper’s Bazaar will work with a team from CH Carolina Herrera to style the editors’ favorite looks which will then be available for sale on ShopBazaar.com.

Cardmembers also will be able to purchase tickets to see collections from the American Skybox at the Lincoln Center tents as well as attend collections being shown as part of the MADE at Milk Studios schedule of fashion shows.

A Style Blog for Tots: Has Fashion Gone Too Far?

Fashion blogging has gone from the streets to the cribs, thanks to fashion designer Jenni Kayne and celeb-stylist Estee Stanley.

Best friends and mothers, Kayne and Stanley created the Ladys & Gents kids’ fashion blog in December as a way to display fun looks their children and other children wore.

“Estee and I love shopping for our little ones and dressing them in cute outfits.  We found ourselves sending one another pictures of the kids and what they were wearing,” Kayne said in a statement.
The purpose of the blog is to bring joy to moms everywhere.

“We decided it would be really fun to create a blog – something for us moms to appreciate now and hopefully inspire other moms when it comes to kids’ fashion,” said Kayne.

Ladys and Gents isn’t the first kid’s fashion blog, other blogs like The Tiny Times and Petit Vogue are increasing in popularity.

The clothing on Ladys & Gents isn’t particularly over-the-top expensive, unlike those seen on mini-celebs like Suri Cruise, who’s been spotted wearing $300 shoes and carrying an $800 Salvatore Ferragamo bag.
Anyone can submit photos of her child along with a list of brands they’re wearing.  The clothing showcased includes mass brands like Target all the way up to high-end looks from Stella McCartney.
Who Will Be the Next Suri Cruise?

Dr. Alan Kazdin, professor of psychology at Yale University, brings up the point that women are featured predominantly in fashion blogs over men, and the same is true for Ladys & Gents.

“Yes, there’s a deep concern here.  Any woman should be concerned about this because it’s not another job passed for woman, it’s not a way to get to the top, this is all about you and your body,” said Kazdin. “I would rather see the same thing, those same pictures with those girls standing by calculators.”

Not surprisingly, those in the fashion world are less critical, contending that fashion and fashion blogging are a form of creativity and self-expression. Designers look to street style, now captured by bloggers like the Sartorlialist’s Scott Schuman, for inspiration for a new line.
Kayne’s other blog, Rip + Tan, also includes kid fashion.  Rip + Tan chronicles the designer’s musings, including her love of Stella McCartney rain gear, Hunter boots and cute winter weather looks for a family ski trip.

This isn’t the first time stylish tots have taken the internet by storm.  Celeb stylist June Ambrose also brought her daughter, Summer Chamblin, to the fashion week tents.  Chamblin has an Instagram account and chronicles her favorite outfits and inspiration.
Designer Alexander Wang’s niece, Aila Wang, stole the show at New York Fashion Week in September, when she showed up at his show in a custom-made dress, Nike shoes and a Chanel bag.
Do you think kids fashion blogs are fun – or have they gone too far?  Weigh your thoughts in the comments section.

A Style Blog for Tots: Has Fashion Gone Too Far?

Fashion blogging has gone from the streets to the cribs, thanks to fashion designer Jenni Kayne and celeb-stylist Estee Stanley.

Best friends and mothers, Kayne and Stanley created the Ladys & Gents kids' fashion blog in December as a way to display fun looks their children and other children wore.

"Estee and I love shopping for our little ones and dressing them in cute outfits. We found ourselves sending one another pictures of the kids and what they were wearing," Kayne said in a statement.
The purpose of the blog is to bring joy to moms everywhere.

"We decided it would be really fun to create a blog - something for us moms to appreciate now and hopefully inspire other moms when it comes to kids' fashion," said Kayne.

Ladys and Gents isn't the first kid's fashion blog, other blogs like The Tiny Times and Petit Vogue are increasing in popularity.

The clothing on Ladys & Gents isn't particularly over-the-top expensive, unlike those seen on mini-celebs like Suri Cruise, who's been spotted wearing $300 shoes and carrying an $800 Salvatore Ferragamo bag.
Anyone can submit photos of her child along with a list of brands they're wearing. The clothing showcased includes mass brands like Target all the way up to high-end looks from Stella McCartney.

Who Will Be the Next Suri Cruise?
Dr. Alan Kazdin, professor of psychology at Yale University, brings up the point that women are featured predominantly in fashion blogs over men, and the same is true for Ladys & Gents.

"Yes, there's a deep concern here. Any woman should be concerned about this because it's not another job passed for woman, it's not a way to get to the top, this is all about you and your body," said Kazdin. "I would rather see the same thing, those same pictures with those girls standing by calculators."

Not surprisingly, those in the fashion world are less critical, contending that fashion and fashion blogging are a form of creativity and self-expression. Designers look to street style, now captured by bloggers like the Sartorlialist's Scott Schuman, for inspiration for a new line.

Kayne's other blog, Rip + Tan, also includes kid fashion. Rip + Tan chronicles the designer's musings, including her love of Stella McCartney rain gear, Hunter boots and cute winter weather looks for a family ski trip.

This isn't the first time stylish tots have taken the internet by storm. Celeb stylist June Ambrose also brought her daughter, Summer Chamblin, to the fashion week tents. Chamblin has an Instagram account and chronicles her favorite outfits and inspiration.

Designer Alexander Wang's niece, Aila Wang, stole the show at New York Fashion Week in September, when she showed up at his show in a custom-made dress, Nike shoes and a Chanel bag.

Nolcha Fashion Week: New York Announces Official Presenting Sponsor: RUSK

Nolcha Fashion Week: New York is excited to announce the return of RUSK as its presenting sponsor for February Fashion Week this season, which runs February 11th-14th, 2013.

After working together for the first time in September, the two companies—RUSK and Nolcha—have discovered just how well their joint emphasis on innovative design and a fresh approach to their respective industries has blended.

Last season, Forbes Magazine called Nolcha a "hot incubator of new fashion design talent," and this season, Nolcha and RUSK are eager to introduce more emerging fashion brands together.

"We're ecstatic to have RUSK on board as our presenting sponsor again this season," says Kerry Bannigan, CEO of Nolcha. "Their vision really helps us to bring our designers' presentations to life."

The RUSK team, led by Artistic Director Gerard Caruso, will use the brand's high-performance hairstyling products and tools backstage to create runway looks in collaboration with the designers to showcase their inspiration.  Caruso will also create a signature RUSK look that will dominate the evening runway show, allowing the team to push the boundaries of creative expression through hair design.

"RUSK is thrilled to take part in Nolcha Fashion Week again! We have a passionate team of haircare artists that share the same values of creativity and individuality that Nolcha does," says Heather Simmons, Vice President of RUSK Marketing and Education. "We are so excited to return to Pier 59 for this truly inspired collaboration of the RUSK creative stylists and Nolcha's independent designers."

Fashion passion gets student a Nordstrom blog

She knows how to put an outfit together and searches out the latest trends and celebrities with chic tastes.

The sophomore at the Ellis School in Shadyside was rewarded for her fashion sense.

Ellis, 16, who lives in Edgewood, is one of three girls chosen nationwide as a blogger for Nordstrom BP Fashion Board. (BP is the name of Nordstrom‘s junior department.) The other girls are from North Carolina and California. Ellis blogs about everything from clothing to accessories to footwear for Nordstrom.

She is a member of the Nordstrom BP Fashion Board at Ross Park Mall. It is a group of high schoolers who meet monthly to discuss fashion. The board often discusses trends appealing to a teenage audience and evaluates the clothing in the store‘s junior department. They meet fashion insiders from Nordstrom, learn about the history of fashion and design and become brand ambassadors for the store‘s styles.

Members of the board are eligible to apply to be a blogger. They submit a portfolio of original writing about fashion designers who inspire them and images in homage to their favorite designers. Ellis‘ favorite designer and biggest inspiration is Alexander McQueen. She also likes designers Elie Saab and Oscar de la Renta and fashion photographers Scott Schuman, Boo George and Sebastian Kim.

As part of her application, Ellis submitted a sample blog post about school-uniform style.

“I think my unique viewpoint and experience with making uniforms personal appealed to the lead blogger and BP department head at the Seattle headquarters,” she says. “I also used my own pictures of my classmates to really illustrate my point. I think they like how personal I made it.”

Some topics she‘s blogged about recently include fashion icon Diana Vreeland, award-show fashion and watches.

“My favorite thing about blogging is definitely the journalism aspect of it,” Ellis says. “I love writing, and I, especially, love writing about fashion or my style icons.”

“Brittany is a great asset to our blogger team, and her take on trends and personal style really resonate with our blog audience,” says Sydney Schuit from the Nordstrom BP marketing team.

Ellis‘ posts go live Tuesdays and Fridays at blogs.nordstrom.com/bp.

“The blogging experience is wonderful,” she says. “It has been a great opportunity through a local store here to compete with other bloggers from across the country for this position. I value every minute of it.”

Ellis learned about the fashion board through classmate Alexandra Foster, 15. The two girls say the fashion board helps them learn about new styles.

“Fashion is about expressing your personality,” Foster says. “There is no set definition of what is fashionable. It is up to the individual to create her own style that she feels good about.”

The monthly fashion board meeting teaches about jobs with fashion photography, modeling, starting a fashion line, running a business, trends and style. They plans events, such as an annual fashion show.

“The BP Fashion Board is a fun opportunity for high-school students to learn the ins and outs of the retail industry and to network with people their age who are passionate about fashion and style,” Schuit says.

“I love being around others who love fashion,” says Anna Argentine, a senior at Mt. Lebanon who designs clothes. “I think fashion is art, and I use the body as my canvas versus a fabric canvas.”

The board includes members from public and private schools as well as cyber students and home-schoolers, like Dominique Seneca.

“Some of my friends look at me like I am speaking a different language when I talk about fashion,” Seneca says. “But here, everyone understands me. I know everyone has her unique style, but I love to see how others put outfits together. We learn from each other.”

Nordstrom employees often address the group. Recently, Linda Graswick, personal stylist manager for Nordstrom, divided those at the meeting into four groups and gave them 15 minutes to put together outfits for four outings: semi-formal, job/college interview, lunch with Grandma and first date.

“My favorite part of being on the board is the opportunity it gives me to make both personal and professional relationships,” Ellis says. “I have made new friends, but I have also had the chance to talk to people working in various industries in the fashion world — stylists, fellow bloggers, advertisers, etc. I think those connections are invaluable.”

Is fashion frivolous or fabulous?

Some have a dim view of fashion, but it's a powerful industry that is more than just the sum of its sweaters, writes ROSEMARY MAC CABE

In a time of economic turmoil, political unrest and fallen idols, it would be all too easy to suggest that fashion has lost what relevance it once had.

In fact, online commentators often turn to me when they are angry at the world. Haven’t I something better to write about? Does this “stuff” really warrant air time or column inches? How can I take myself seriously when writing about this most vacuous of topics?

But fashion is more than just the sum of its sweaters. As Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestley, the terrifying editrix in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada, says to Anne Hathaway’s fashion sceptic: “You think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select . . . that lumpy blue sweater because you’re trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back . . . but that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs . . . You’re wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff.”

It’s a point well made – but one chick flick isn’t enough to silence the dissenters, and fashion still comes up for an inordinate amount of criticism.

“Nobody questions whether the motor industry matters,” says Brendan Courtney of RTÉ’s Off the Rails and now fashion designer. “But because it’s about aesthetic and looks, people think it’s shallow.”

Courtney says the derision is worse in Ireland because our culture is particularly harsh when it comes to vanity. “We have a lot of stigmas stacked against us in fashion, because it’s based on appearance – and being vain, for Irish people, is the worst thing in the world. This conversation would never happen in Italy or Paris, where looking after yourself and how you look is celebrated.”

Laura Cunningham is fashion editor of Prudence magazine and also falls on the “fashion matters” side of the fence. “It matters as much as the design of a car matters,” she says. “Or as much as architecture matters. As human beings, we like to express ourselves, and fashion is just one of the art forms that allows us to do that.”

A sceptical approach

The designer Peter O’Brien is somewhat more sceptical about fashion’s importance – as an art form or as an industry. “I love clothes, and I know it’s a huge business and employs loads of people.

“But since shopping became the main pastime of the western world, fashion has become something ‘other’,” he says. “Everybody has a broad, if not particularly deep, knowledge of it now. There are nine million bloggers, seven billion magazines, the internet . . . there’s far too much stuff, and nobody needs it. The masses have become used to buying very, very cheap clothes, and very often, what’s called fashion isn’t.

“Fashion is a thousand different things, depending on whether you’re an editor who never wears anything but black, or a girl on Take Me Out who thinks she’s fashionable but Grace Coddington [the creative director of US Vogue] would think is grotesque.”

There are, of course, very few people who are exempt from an industry that, at the very lowest level, provides the clothes we wear, day in, day out – and Priestley was right: any decisions we make relating to those clothes are, whether we like it or not, related to fashion.

“Even people who say they have no interest in fashion like one pair of shoes over another,” says Cunningham. “And that’s a fashion choice.”

For Laura Cunningham, there is a certain democracy about clothing even if this doesn’t extend to the higher end of the industry. “If you think about guys in factories in China, truck drivers . . . everyone, at every age, every class, wears clothes – it’s a big business. I get it from maybe my parents’ generation, people who say, ‘oh, you’re a fashion editor’, as if it’s a joke of sorts, and sometimes I do think I’m writing about dresses and skirts while there are a lot more important things in life. But everyone has to get dressed in the morning.”

Brendan Courtney points out that another person’s idea of style might not be his, but that doesn’t make any of it, whatever your definition, irrelevant. “It employs millions of people; it affects how women feel about themselves. It’s an industry,” he says.

Even the people whose livelihoods are based around this same industry don’t see it as the be-all and end-all; they acknowledge, by and large, that it is art, creativity, entertainment and enjoyment, and should be viewed as such.

“I enjoy the frivolity of it,” says Courtney. “Sonya [Lennon, Courtney’s partner in design and on TV] once said, ‘That’s so Róisín Murphy’ about an outfit, and then someone made a T-shirt of it and The Republic of Telly made a whole skit on it.

“And it sounds foolish, but really it’s quite genius. What the rest of the world doesn’t get is that we know it’s foolish and funny; we’re in on the joke.”

Ultimately, fashion is a question of economics. It may be frivolous and fun and fabulous, but it’s also a living, breathing industry. And in Ireland, it’s an industry that has never been more important.

“The fashion industry in Ireland creates jobs and the design industry is just incredible,” says O’Brien.

“I was at Showcase [an Irish design expo at the RDS in Dublin] and it’s amazing to see so many up-and-coming designers and craftspeople who help our identity internationally as well. And Pamela Scott went into examinership the other day, with so many jobs at stake. It’s so important at the moment.

“If any industry is based on economics, fashion is. If it won’t sell, it won’t exist. If it’s for sale, somebody’s buying it.”