Big changes at Paris Fashion Week.

Paris Fashion Week kicked off with the in-crowd abuzz at the prospect of some big changes behind the scenes.

The prospect of style icon Hedi Slimane designing for Yves Saint Laurent, and rumours of a newly-free Raf Simons in the wings at Dior kept fashionistas guessing.

Opening with a day devoted to young designers, the Paris autumn-winter collections round off a month of womenswear shows that have sent fashionistas, models and media trooping on a style trail from New York to London and Milan.

Adding spice to the proceedings, a fashion world merry-go-round kicked off in Milan last week as Germany’s Jil Sander announced its Belgian designer Simons was leaving to make way for a return of the house’s founder.

The discreet, avant-gardist Simons had been widely tipped a few months back as a successor to John Galliano, sacked from Dior a year ago over a drunken, racist outburst in a Paris bar.

Showing his swansong collection for Jil Sander on Saturday, Simons earned a standing ovation for the pure, sensual lines of a look built around coats and dresses, all in soft pale blues, pink blushes, and creams.

His sudden availability has set Twitter abuzz with speculation, although a spokeswoman for Dior insisted no announcement was planned for Paris Fashion Week.

Change is afoot at the Parisian luxury house Yves Saint-Laurent, however, after it confirmed that its Italian designer Stefano Pilati would show his last collection next Monday, without naming a successor.

Industry sources said at the weekend that he would be replaced by Slimane, a designer admired by rock stars and fashion trade peers alike and who is returning after several years away from fashion.

Slimane, whose father is Tunisian and mother Italian, worked at YSL in the late 1990s but made his mark at Dior from 2000 to 2007, revolutionising menswear with his androgynous skinny suits and tight low-cut trousers.

On the Paris catwalks, meanwhile, Portugal’s Fatima Lopes opens the nine days of ready-to-wear shows, followed by the elaborate knitwear of France’s Alice Lemoine and young Belgian Cedric Charlier, showing his first own-name line after leaving Cacharel.

Today brings the first big names with Belgium’s Dries Van Noten, Rochas and Mugler, followed tomorrow by Carven, Balmain and India’s Manish Arora.

Dior and Lanvin grab the spotlight on Friday, Haider Ackermann and Jean Paul Gaultier follow on Saturday, and Hermes, Kenzo and Givenchy wrap up the weekend on Sunday.

Paris Fashion Week continues Monday with Pilati’s last show for Saint Laurent, Britain’s Stella McCartney, and the young Maxime Simoens’ first line for Leonard.

On Tuesday Chanel takes over the ornate, domed Grand Palais hall – as has become its Fashion Week custom — before shows by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Valentino and Alexander McQueen.

Marc Jacobs’ latest look for Louis Vuitton headlines the final day of the shows, which wrap up with Lebanese designers Elie Saab and Rabih Kayrouz.

VERSUS

Versace often bad-girl label, Versus, punctuated fashion week’s opulence with punk.

Designed by Christopher Kane, the collection exuded vibrancy in both colour — fuchsia, acid green and peacock blue — and repeating geometric prints.

In an overall street-wise collection, Kane included romantic looks: empire-waisted mini-dresses or off-the-shoulder Versace-necks in tie-dye fabrics.

But the Versus girl wants to show her tough side. Mini-dresses were paired with thigh-high boots, either in all black or matching geometric prints.

Sheer black accents gave asymmetrical off-shoulder dresses a rocker feel. And tough burgundy leather biker pants contrasted with a shaggy Mongolian sheepskin jacket.

The setting was high school, the music was 1960s rock and the clothes were perfect for a date with Fonzie. The designing twins Dean and Dan Caten were all about “Happy Days” and carefree nights.

Teeny bopper models in sequinned sneakers and pert caps sported tight cropped jeans or a hip-hugging skirt, paired with colourful leather jackets for a hot date at the movies. The high school dance calls for a switch to high-heeled sequinned pumps and beehive hair styles.

More sophisticated than her grandmother, our teenage queen prefers black to yesteryear pastels for her slit-up the side prom gown. This girl also has expensive tastes. She likes her denimwear trimmed in fur, her blouse covered in pearls and when she talks leather she means crocodile.

CAVALLI

Naomi Campbell sashayed down the Cavalli runway in a barebacked sequinned maxi-dress that summed up the designer’s new look.

Roberto Cavalli’s womenswear collection for next winter struck a balance between the soft silhouette of full maxi skirts and dresses in flowing fabrics and the more structured look of a brocade mini-dress.

As usual, animal motifs played a central role, be it in the form of a leopard print or an alligator necklace.

Cavalli matched full dresses with tiered skirts with loose pyjama pants. Mixing materials, a mini-dress featured leather bodice reminiscent of armour that transitioned into a fur skirt.

ARMANI

All it takes to be Armani stylish next winter is a pair of Bermudas. Chic iron-creased shorts were the centrepiece of the latest collection of the man who put “moda Milanese” on the fashion map more than 30 years ago.

Worn on their own under a super-feminine blouse in a brightly coloured print, paired with a tailored jacket, or peeking out of the hem of a silk taffeta cocktail dress in coral and pink, they claimed the runway.

The new Armani jacket, often styled in woven fabric, has no lapel and caresses the neckline.

Flat shoes with sparkling tops and a fedora hat with wide slanted brim spiff up the androgynous and yet feminine look.

The Bermuda shorts also claimed the evening, coupled with shimmering sequinned evening jackets, or worn with a silk sheath with a bare back and an intricate obi sash waistline.

The fur in the winter collection is strictly ecological and comes in multicoloured and shaggy, or mink look-a-like. The preferred styles are maxi pullover or ample cape.

What crisis at Milan Fashion Week ?

Even as the fashion world showed signs of upheaval, designers in Milan presented some of the most composed winter collections in many a season.

The looks in six days of Milan Fashion Week were opulent — lavish velvet and brocade fabrics made even richer by beading, sequins, brooches and golden embroidery.

Several top fashion jobs were in flux. Raf Simons presented his final collection for the Jil Sander label, making way for the namesake designer to return to the fashion house she founded in the 1960s. Simons’ triumphant farewell collection contrasted with the opulence of many of the runways: it was soft, feminine and minimalist.

Yves Saint Laurent announced that designer Stefano Pilati would be leaving after his final show next week in Paris, while Dior is still looking for a new designer after last year’s disgraceful exit of John Galliano.

So the fashion world moves on to Paris amid speculation of where all the talent will land.

JULIEN DAVID

Designer Julien David presented a zany and boyish Paris fall-winter collection inspired by the Yeti monster, which should help consolidate his up-and-coming star status.

There was a trendy insouciance to many of the looks (you can see he’s lived in Tokyo): a double face knitted skirt suit in light gray wool was complemented with a sporty sweatband and snowboots. This was one of many looks that might have come with a warning: “It’s just fashion. Don’t dress like this if it snows!”

Flashes of chainmail and metallic silk quilting on pouffy dresses added a cooler, aggressive edge to the first wave of overly warm-looking clothes.

The men’s wear looks, like a tailored houndstooth suit, also gave the collection variety.

But soon enough David was back to the show theme in the mountains, this time facing a childhood fear: the Abominable Snowman. Suffocating Yeti wool blouses, skirts, short pants and snowboots filed out as if the designer was preparing for a bleak winter.

The piece de resistance drew gasps: a disturbing Yeti wool mid-length dress and huge marshmallow mask with two nightmarish eye-holes and nowhere to breathe.

When the revellers noisily applauded for the designer to take his bow, there was no reply and he was nowhere to be seen.

FATIMA LOPES

Fatima Lopes fall-winter show Tuesday put blood reds, provocative leathers and fox fur on the catwalk at the Hotel des Invalides war museum.

The Portuguese designer channeled human morphology with bloody dress inserts, shredded leather sleeves and prints of the venous system in the iconic monument that was built for generals wounded in French imperial wars.

Bucking the current trend for padding, the Lopes woman in geometric sheaths had narrow shouldersa look that would have accentuated the frailty of the tiny-boned models had it not been for the provocative leathers in patent black and nude.

Sexy was the overriding mood, with bias-cut sheaths split revealingly up the leg and exposing the shoulders. In another sensual but slightly busy look, a plunging decollete and voluminous brown fox fur sleeves contrasted with tight patent leather lapels and a second-skin micro skirt.

When the show ended, the crowd departed sheepishly through the courtyard, with 40 huge canons pointing straight at them.

CORRADO DE BIASE

“The tomboy is back,” read the program notes at Corrado de Biase’s Paris fall-winter show that served up floaty silhouettes with a twist of men’s wear.

It was an accomplished affair considering it’s only the third ready-to-wear offering from the designer, with Barbour raincoats successfully fused on top of sheer 1920’s underskirts.

Petrol green added futuristic shimmer to quilted capes and jackets, crossing eras in style and time, while 3-D floral brocades on several short coats and pencil skirts were given an aggressive edge in metallic silver.

A lot this fall has been about men’s wear on women, and here this was on full display. Classical tailoring appeared in boyish collars and lapels on nylon shirtdresses in sheer black, but the exposed breasts punched spectators with the clear androgyny.

For the designer’s inspiration, look no further than the biggest tomboy of her day: Mademoiselle Chanel.

“I love the garcon look of the twenties,” said Biase backstage, “how Coco gave bourgeois women a men’s look while staying light in spirit.”

For the fashion crowd it was a good thing the spirits were light: the cramped venue and lighting glitches might have dampened the mood had the collection not been so strong.

Paris fashion week is rarely known for understatement, as confirmed by Portuguese designer Fatima Lopes who opened the fall-winter 2012 season with a proverbial bang at the iconic war museum Invalides that houses canons and artillery.

When the fashionistas finally managed to unstick themselves from wandering tourists, the message of the Lopes show rang out loud and clear: female flesh is the real source of fire-power, with the offering of sensual, if slightly busy, sheath ensembles.

The short first day of the nine-day Paris fashion race is reserved for up-and-coming talent. Because of its hit-or-miss reputation, Tuesday is avoided by many fashion editors.

However rising star Julien David, who delved playfully into men’s clothing, proves that the day does deserve the limelight. His boyish knitwear looks and dark rusings about the Yeti monster provided one of the day’s best shows, and with a touch of irony: all too rare in Paris.

Italian designer Corrado de Biase also produced a fine show mixing up feminine silhouettes with men’s wear — quickly becoming a strong trend this fall. Metallic touches, too, ticked the in-vogue box, having featured prominently on catwalks in Milan and New York. A man of contradictions, Biase said his show mixed references to Coco Chanel with touches of the 1970’s.

Wednesday — the first full day on the calendar — will see the week move into top gear with shows including Dries Van Noten, Mugler and London’s enfant terrible Gareth Pugh.

Fatima Lopes kicks off Paris fashion shows.

Fatima Lopes kicked off Paris 2012 fall-winter ready-to-wear season Tuesday with blood reds, provocative leathers and fox fur at the Hotel des Invalides war museum.

The Portuguese designer channeled human morphology with blood-red dress inserts, shredded leather sleeves and prints of the venous system in the iconic monument that was built for generals wounded in French imperial wars.

Bucking the current trend for padding, the Lopes woman in geometric sheaths had narrow shoulders—a look that would have accentuated the frailty of the tiny-boned models had it not been for the provocative leathers in patent black and nude.

“Yes, I make tiny shoulders and waists. But this is not weak. It’s feminine and sexy,

therefore strong,” said the designer backstage, wearing one of her figure-hugging creations.

And sexy was the overriding mood, with bias-cut sheaths split revealingly up the leg and exposing the shoulders. In another sensual look with a plunging decollete, voluminous brown fox fur sleeves contrasted with tight patent leather lapels and a second-skin micro skirt.

When the show ended, the crowd departed sheepishly through the courtyard, with 40 huge canons pointing straight at them.

Duchess’ Fashion Hunt.

The Duchess of Cambridge will choose footwear’s new shoe designer of the future next week, when she picks her favourite style from designs created by six De Montfort University footwear design students. The chosen student will then be asked to create a pair for the royal to wear.

“We are thrilled,” said head of DMU’s footwear degree Kevin Guildford. “It’s the most fabulous opportunity for the students who couldn’t hope for a bigger fashion icon to endorse their designs. Whoever wins is bound to be starting a brilliant career.”

The Duchess will announce her favourite design on March 8, when she accompanies The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh to the Leicester-based University to mark the beginning of the Diamond Jubilee UK tour. The final six students were whittled down from 100 applicants to the competition, with the shortlist now comprising Sam Sawkill, Kay Yeng Cheng, Summer Spencer,  Tabitha Duffield, Becka Hunt and Mei Chun Lai. The DMU Footwear Design degree has already received high praise from the fashion industry, with Jimmy Choo accepting an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the university in July 2004.

“What a huge honour and magnificent opportunity this will be for the winning student,” said De Montfort University vice-chancellor Professor Dominic Shellard. “When asked who their first commission was for at their first job interview, they will be able to reply – The Duchess of Cambridge, the world’s leading fashion icon. Opportunities like this are exactly what our students can expect when they come to DMU, a university which is becoming known worldwide for its quality and distinctiveness.”

Diary of a Fashion Insider: The Oscars.

February is arguably the most prolific fashion month of the year and one that the much of the fashion industry pretend to hate… For me, I surfed through London Fashion on a wave of delirious jet lag. Skidding into land at Heathrow, I quickly unpacked / repacked, moved into a new apartment and headed straight off to attend the keenly awaited Acne show (and after party) – London had me in a spin to say the least. Whilst I was blatantly in need of some sleep, it was still tough to leave the Acne after party. Even with jet lag, I’ve never been one to swap a glass of wine and some beats for a cup of cocoa and an early night, so I stayed and partied with some old friends and celebrity ‘FROW’ girls; Florence Welch one of the Olsen twins (I still can’t tell them apart) and Lana del Ray who danced the night away backstage amongst the rails of the brand new collection. The next day’s highlight was without doubt Christopher Kane. Always on the money trend-wise and one of the nicest designers I’ve ever met, Christopher managed to yet again pack out the venue wall to wall with the international fashion set. Celeb fans Alexa Chung, Caroline Sieber, Leigh Lezark and Jess Mills had the paps snapping away as the fashion press hastily sketched and scribbled down the gorgeous AW’12 outfits gliding passed them. Having been to many shows over the years, it’s shows like this that really remind me how lucky I am to do what I do. In short, Kane was the show of the week by far. London over, it was time for the fashionistas to move to Milan for a week but as usual, those poor old Italian fashion designers are rudely interrupted mid-flow by those pesky A-listers shimmying down the Oscars red carpet. There were plenty of bold colours bobbing around in the sea of an insipid champagne pallor, which saved the proceedings from putting us in jaded trance. Michelle Williams popped our corks with a Louis Vuitton ‘tangerine dream’ peplum dress, she’s just so cute. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley wrapped her statuesque body in Antonio Berardi – I think she was my best dressed of the whole night but I’m not sure whether I was envious of the dress or that body. Gwyneth in Tom Ford and Milla Jovovich in Elie Saab looked good, if a little bride-y. As always though, there were a lot of stylists who frankly should currently be joining the dole queue. Atelier Versace tried to spice up a boring floor length dress with a massive split up the side, exposing Angelina Jolie’s entire emaciated leg (incidentally, said leg now has it’s own Twitter page!), some call it daring, I think it’s more gaunt mutton borrowing lamb’s Versace. Congrats to Best Actress Meryl Streep of course but she didn’t actually need to come as an Oscar to secure her win. Another metallic thumbs down was Bridesmaid’s Ellie Kemper, she just looked like a Quality Street, the ones that are always left, as you’re never quite sure what flavour it is. As the celebs take a break from playing dress up and practicing their ‘I’m-so-happy-they-won-even-if-it-means-I-didn’t’ face, the fashion crew still have Paris fashion week sprawled ahead of them. Paris is easily the most fun and creative of the show season so I won’t succumb to fashion industry peer pressure and just say it…boy we’re lucky…

Fashion Festival Day 1.

The Collections Show #1 on Monday at NZ Fashion Festival featured Moochi, We’Ar, Blak Luxe, Neverblack, Starfish, Esprit, Storm, Salasai, Coop, and a debut from streetwear label, Skull and Bones.

Observations: The short straw in the model kingdom seems to be the girl who has to wear the vinyl bike shorts. Until tonight, we never knew Esprit made men’s suits.

The best styling of the evening was the Maori Victoriana from yoga fashion label, we’ar, reminiscent of Jane Campion film, The Piano. Also well-styled was Storm, with studs and leather gloves accessorising outfits.

The girls walking for Blak Luxe had gorgeous hair and M.A.C. make-up, with Heidi braids entangled at the back of the head, and flushed cheeks.

In audience demographic news, I have never seen so many blokes at a fashion show in my life. They can’t ALL be from alcohol sponsors, can they?

Below: Some of the team from Fresh PR in the Cloudy Bay olive bar.

Rooney Mara, Stone and Chastain catch fashion’s eye.

Academy Awards 2012 Fashion:

The best and worst dressed of the Red Carpet.

Now that we all know who won Oscar awards, we can turn our attention to last night’s big fashion winners and losers of the Academy Awards 2012? Everyone is buzzing about the “best and worst” dressed on the world’s biggest fashion night.

Before we get to the dresses — and fashion designers — that everyone is talking about, make sure to check out MLive.com’s movie critic John Serba, who has a complete list of winners and shares his thoughts on Meryl Streep’s acceptance speech in his Oscars 2012 Postmortem.

Also, congrats to the Pamella Roland Collection, whose designs were worn by Annie Mumolo, co-writer of “The Bridesmaid.” Pamella Roland is designed by Pamella DeVos of Grand Rapids.

Others who wore Pamella Rolland: Mary Steenburgen at the Elton John Oscar party, Jane Seymour, ABC’s On The Red Carpet correspondent Rachel Smith, and Penelope Ann Miller at the Weinstein Company’s Pre-Oscar Celebration.

Now, on to our picks:

Best Dressed

• Michelle Williams: Wow, wow, wow. She looked stunning in her coral, strapless Louis Vuitton dress.

• Jennifer Lopez: How does she do it year after year. She looked unbelievable — again — in this Zuhair Murad dress with a plunging neckline. And was that a shadow on her plunging neckline while presenting with Cameron Diaz?

• Jessica Chastain: Her black strapless McQueen gown was highlighted with heavy gold beading and simply perfect.

• Gwyneth Paltrow: She looked classy and elegant in this Tom Ford white cape dress.

• Penelope Cruz: Her, beautiful periwinkle Armani Prive gown was an homage to old, glamorous Hollywood. Beautiful.

• Octavia Spencer: Her Tadashi Shoji gown fit her perfectly, and she looked radiant. It was her night from beginning to end.

Worst Dressed

• Berenice Bejo: This mint colored Elie Saab just came off with a plastic look and not at all elegant.

• Melissa McCarthy: She’s a beautiful, funny woman, but her over-sized necklace and belt did not properly accent her Grecian-inspired gown.

• Sandra Bullock: Her backless black and white Marchesa gown clashed in design, and looked better in the back. Not a smart choice.

• Shailene Woodley: The beautiful, you star from “The Descendants” looked twice her age in a white, long-sleeved Valentino couture gown.

• Rooney Mara: I know she broke away from her usual black, but “The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo” looked out of place in this white art deco Givenchy gown. Maybe it was the clash with her dark black hair.

The Undecided

• Angelina Jolie: I think she was striking, and I’m not typically an Angelina Jolie fan. What did you think.

• Stacy Kiebler: On the hand of George Clooney, she always looks stunning. But some critics say her gold gown was too Oscar-ish. I don’t care.

• Emma Stone: Not only was she funny while presenting an award with Ben Stiller, she turned heads on the red carpet with her very red Giambattista Valli, accented by a big bow.

• Judy Greer: Some say her black and silver Monique Lhuillier look came off like a poorly designed highway. I like it. Is there something wrong with me?

Foreign buyers offer lifeline at Milan Fashion Week.

International buyers have packed out the shows at Milan Fashion Week, offering a lifeline for an industry that is headed for another slump this year as Italy grinds through a painful recession.

“It’s a more commercial market than New York or London,” Ekaterina Moiseeva, commercial director for Russian fashion chain Bosco di Ciliegi, told AFP in an interview as she took a break from the shows which wrapped up this week.

“Russian women pay a lot of attention to how they dress but most of them are not going to wear anything too eccentric or outlandish, which is why Milan is great,” said the immaculately-dressed Moiseeva, a Milan regular.

“I can’t get carried away buying pieces I love but which would not translate back to the woman on the street. Our clients aren’t fashion victims, they are normal people who may not have the physique to pull off some looks,” she added.

Italy’s fashion industry is increasingly looking abroad as the sector is predicting a 5.2-percent drop in revenues this year, wiping out a recovery of 5.5 percent in 2011 after the slump seen in the global financial crisis.

Companies like Bosco di Ciliegi, which owns department stores and over 100 mono-brand stores across Russia, from Emporio Armani to D&G, are vital.

Moiseeva travels to Milan and Paris every year to watch catwalk shows and catch new trends, order outfits, woo clients and network at parties.

“I’ve been coming to Milan for 20 years, but I still find it so easy to get carried away when you find yourself surrounded by so many exciting pieces.

“There’s quite a military trend this season, which is unlikely to work well in Russia, but I loved Ermanno Scervino, and Etro and Marras were very beautiful, with dresses that cling to the body and will sell well,” she said.

Bosco Di Ciliegi’s customers are Russian women in their mid-30s, who have active social lives and need new dresses for parties most evenings as well as something for work — and spend over 50 percent of their salaries on clothes.

A growing number of customers now watch the catwalks on the Internet as they are streamed live, and then immediately tell Moiseeva exactly which pieces from each collection they want: “They’ll say, get me the burgundy in a size 40!”

The rising demand for fashionistas to own items from catwalk collections is reflected in companies like Moda Operandi, whose members can order pieces which may never be sold in stores or risk being altered to make them an easier sell.

In September, the Manhattan-based company launched a partnership with Vogue and opened its doors to all who cannot wait to get that Armani or Fendi dress.

“The beauty of it is that it brings the designer and customer together into a direct relationship,” said fashion director Roopal Patel, who is scouring Milan showrooms for the luxury she says Italian brands are renowned for.

“It’s a really strong season. The velvet trend we saw emerging in London has taken centre stage at shows like Gucci and Prada, there’s a lot of black but it’s treated in a modern way with a sexy, sultry feel,” she said.

Unlike Bosco Di Ciliegi, Moda Operandi’s customers are women who are after the most daring designs and can pay thousands of dollars to get them.

“There’s a lot of power dressing this season, and plays on texture, with inset panels in leathers and plaids. It’s exactly the unique sort of thing our clients look for, things they won’t already own in their closet,” Patel said.

Moda Operandi rushes a team to the showrooms a day after each catwalk to shoot the collection for the website. Moiseeva too makes appointments to see outfits and make her purchases, before squeezing in a shopping trip or a party.

“It’s six days of partying. If you love the fashion world you have a great time, otherwise it can be extremely draining and alienating,” she said.

Looking radiant despite the punishing schedule, Moiseeva was impeccably dressed in a black dress, diamonds and killer heels even at breakfast, as she sipped green tea and prepared for another round of catwalk shows.

“I went to see Aida last night at La Scala Opera house, it was wonderful. Thank God Milan has the Scala. I love to go to exhibitions or musicals as a break from fashion, but by now I’ve seen pretty much all Milan has to offer!”

Designer merry-go-round rings in Paris Fashion Week.

Paris Fashion Week kicked off Tuesday with the in-crowd abuzz at the prospect of style icon Hedi Slimane designing for Yves Saint Laurent, and rumours putting a newly-free Raf Simons in the wings at Dior.

Opening with a day devoted to young designers, the Paris autumn-winter collections round off a month of womenswear shows that have sent fashionistas, models and media trooping on a style trail from New York to London and Milan.

Adding spice to the proceedings, a fashion world merry-go-round kicked off in Milan last week as Germany’s Jil Sander announced its Belgian designer Simons was leaving to make way for a return of the house’s founder.

The discreet, avant-gardist Simons had been widely tipped a few months back as a successor to John Galliano, sacked from Dior a year ago over a drunken, racist outburst in a Paris bar.

Showing his swansong collection for Jil Sander Saturday, Simons earned a standing ovation for the pure, sensual lines of a look built around coats and dresses, all in soft pale blues, pink blushes, and creams.

His sudden availability has set Twitter abuzz with speculation, although a spokeswoman for Dior insisted no announcement was planned for Fashion Week.

Change is afoot at the Parisian luxury house Yves Saint-Laurent, however, after it confirmed that its Italian designer Stefano Pilati would show his last collection next Monday, without naming a successor.

Industry sources told AFP at the weekend that he would be replaced by Slimane, a designer admired by rock stars and fashion trade peers alike and who is returning after several years away from fashion.

Slimane, whose father is Tunisian and mother Italian, worked at YSL in the late 1990s but made his mark at Dior from 2000 to 2007, revolutionising menswear with his androgynous skinny suits and tight low-cut trousers.

On the Paris catwalks, meanwhile, Portugal’s Fatima Lopes opens the nine days of ready-to-wear shows, followed by the elaborate knitwear of France’s Alice Lemoine and young Belgian Cedric Charlier, showing his first own-name line after leaving Cacharel.

Wednesday brings the first big names with Belgium’s Dries Van Noten, Rochas and Mugler, followed Thursday by Carven, Balmain and India’s Manish Arora.

Dior and Lanvin grab the spotlight on Friday, Haider Ackermann and Jean Paul Gaultier follow on Saturday, and Hermes, Kenzo and Givenchy wrap up the weekend on Sunday.

Fashion Week continues Monday with Pilati’s last show for Saint Laurent, Britain’s Stella McCartney, and the young Maxime Simoens’ first line for Leonard.

On Tuesday Chanel takes over the ornate, domed Grand Palais hall — as has become its Fashion Week custom — before shows by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Valentino and Alexander McQueen.

Marc Jacobs’ latest look for Louis Vuitton headlines the final day of the shows, which wrap up with Lebanese designers Elie Saab and Rabih Kayrouz.

My first London Fashion Week – Amy’s CQ adventure…

When Catwalk Queen invited me to cover London Fashion Week with them, I think anyone within a 10 mile radius heard me squeal with excitement. A chance to work alongside professional writers and photographers, to interview designers backstage, and watch next season’s collections come to life in front of me? How could I say no! I wasn’t about to let a broken big toe break my spirit, even though it meant I couldn’t wear any particularly fashionable footwear…

In favour of extra time in bed, I picked out suitable outfits a few days before, which above anything else, stopped me from having an emotional “oh-my-god-everything-remotely-fashionable-I-own-is-in-the-wash” breakdown. Knowing that days were going to be long and chaotic, I always made time for breakfast; although I was running on so much adrenaline on the first day that it wasn’t until I got home in the evening that I realised I hadn’t eaten anything at all!

Each day was completely different – sometimes I was up at 6am, others I worked until 1am, furiously typing and attempting to string together coherent sentences before falling asleep at my computer. The week began at Somerset House where I met Editor in Chief, Gemma Cartwright and our videographer, Liam Southall. After quickly obtaining our press passes and exploring the press lounge, I was ready to eat, sleep and breathe fashion.

I quickly discovered your phone becomes your lifeline and your enemy rolled into one! It’s your alarm, your touch stone, your backup camera and your Dictaphone, with emails flying backwards and forwards, it would be in my hand before I’d stepped out of bed in the morning.

The shows buzz with electricity and creativity, both on the catwalk and backstage. No matter how aware you are of how much time and effort goes into a show, it’s still a shock to see one model sat in a chair with four people backcombing and styling her hair at once, two people applying all new make-up, and someone on their knees taking off and re-applying nail varnish. At the shows I had to learn fast how to juggle my phone, camera and notebook at the same time. Reviewing from the office was equally feverish, hunting for livestreams for any shows we couldn’t attend, using Twitter like an informal press release to assess the tone and inspiration behind a collection from blurred photos and 140 characters, and writing up reputable reports before anyone else.

Highlights of the week include swooning over the Burberry show with Gemma, celebrity spotting at PPQ, people watching in general, going backstage at Jean Pierre Braganza with Beauty Editor Steph Powell, and enjoying DAKS with Shopping Editor Kate Williams.

It’s been physically and mentally exhausting in the best possible way, and I feel so privileged to have worked alongside some extremely inspirational people over the last few days. After all of the sweat, blood and tears that is London Fashion Week, in the end the reward comes from getting to work with a fantastic team who support and encourage you.

H&M, one of the world’s largest fashion chains, is set to release a collection about rape.

You may think I’m being dramatic. But am I? H&M’s fashion women with the Dragon Tattoo collection comes out Wednesday as part of the marketing campaign for the American version of the film of the same name. The collection is inspired by the main character in the story, Lisbeth Salander.

The original Swedish film, based on the novel by Stieg Larsson, depicts Lisbeth as a deeply scarred fashion women. She has watched her father physically and psychologically abuse her mother, leaving her with permanent brain damage. After Lisbeth exacts revenge on him by setting him on fire, leaving him disfigured for life, she is declared legally insane. At the start of the film, we learn that she has to live under the supervision of a legal guardian. This guardian violently rapes her.

It was a long time before I could watch the film. When I did, I connected to it, because it’s one of the only stories I’ve ever come across in which the hero is a fashion women, and that woman comes out smarter and stronger than the male hero, whose life she ultimately saves.

But my reluctance to watch it, and my inability to get through several scenes without fast-forwarding, were because – although my story is nothing like hers – I, like Lisbeth Salander, am a rape survivor.

Salander dresses androgynously. She wears dark colours, hides beneath hoods, and dons leather jackets and motorcycle boots. She is antisocial, angry and bent on revenge, which she achieves by hunting down a serial rapist and killer of women. Her clothing is her armour.

And now H&M is releasing a line of affordable fashion based on that armour.

The collection consists of hooded sweatshirts, leather jackets, a raggedy cardigan, ripped jeans, T-shirts with faded variations of the U.S. flag, motorcycle boots and so on. Taken out of context, they’re innocent enough. Anna Norling, the division designer at H&M, says that she is proud of this collection because Lisbeth is the “very essence of an independent woman.”

Larsson was inspired to write the Dragon Tattoo trilogy because he witnessed a girl being gang-raped when he was 15 years old. Salander’s fashion choices are a reflection of what many survivors of sexual violence consider when we get dressed in the morning.

I must stress that I am an ardent supporter of the Slut-Walk movement’s message. I believe that what a woman wears should not have any bearing on whether she is sexually assaulted or harassed, and that anyone who says otherwise is feeding the mentality of blaming the victim.

But many of us who have been there still decide against the short skirt or the high heels. We place our bets, hoping that our own armour will protect us from rude catcalls in the subway station, or sexist remarks in the park, and the flashbacks, and shaking, and terror that they provoke. When I dress along the lines of Lisbeth Salander, it’s because I want to send a message to men: to stay the away.

What message is H&M sending to the world? “Look at the trendy rape survivor? Look how strong she is, that she can get through all that hell and still wear cool leather jackets?”

Sexual violence is an epidemic. Putting a chic, consumerist finish on it glosses over the lives it destroys and the spirits it breaks.

If H&M really believed in promoting the essence of independent fashion women, it would donate to organizations that promote prevention and help the survivors of gender-based violence, not create a fashion line to glamorize it.

H&M: ‘WE DO NOT VIEW THIS AS PROVOCATIVE’

Writer Natalie Karneef recently made a post on her blog about H&M’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo collection. In response to the post, H&M issued this statement: “We apologize if (Karneef) or anyone has been offended by the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo collection by Trish Summerville – this has not in any way been our intent. The collection is based on and inspired by the film and character Lisbeth Salander, and though we think Lisbeth is a strong woman who stands up for her ideal, we are not trying to represent her specifically. Our goal is to rather offer a collection that we see in today’s trend picture that will appeal to many customers. We do not view this collection as provocative – it contains pieces that are staples in many people’s wardrobes: jeans, biker jackets and T-shirts. It’s all about how you wear them. We encourage our customers to find their own personal way to wear our products.”

Woman and the monotheisms

Why are fundamentalists so sex-obsessed and afraid of woman?

One should not mock the sexual obsessions of Islamic fundamentalists; it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. When a senior academic in Saudi Arabia, Professor Kamal Subhi, declares in a report for the Shura Council, the kingdom’s legislative assembly, that allowing woman to drive would spell the end of virginity in the kingdom, it doesn’t really require further comment. But let’s offer a few comments anyway.

In the report, Subhi describes sitting in a coffee shop in an unnamed Arab state where “all the woman were looking at me. One made a gesture that made it clear that she was available. This is what happens when women are allowed to drive.”

I regret to report that this doesn’t happen to me in coffee shops. In fact, it doesn’t even happen to me in bars, although I am generally reckoned to be the most handsome man of my generation. (The late Jurassic generation.) It doesn’t seem to happen to any of my male friends either, although most of us live in the decadent, post-Christian West, where woman drive all the time.

Maybe it’s just that none of us are as amazingly good-looking and sexy as Subhi, or maybe Arab women are incredibly lascivious and immoral. But it seems more likely that he was just imagining it all, in which case another possible explanation presents itself.

Perhaps he has a mentality so sex-obsessed and so fearful of women that these feverish imaginings seem perfectly normal to him. And they ARE quite normal among Islamic fundamentalists, like the Nour Party in Egypt that demands strict prohibitions against mixed bathing, “fornication” and the appointment of women to leadership roles — and got a quarter of the votes in last week’s election in Egypt.

But the point is not that Muslims are weird; they are all too normal. All the “Abrahamic” religions, as Muslims call them, have traditionally been sex-obsessed and terrified of women, and the fundamentalists among them still are. Take the increasingly influential and importunate Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jews of Israel.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week told an audience that included Israel’s deputy prime minister, Dan Meridor, and opposition leader Tzipi Livni that she was shocked by the growing discrimination against Israeli women. She even compared the separate seating for women on some Jerusalem buses to the humiliation of Rosa Parks, the black American woman who made history in 1955 by refusing to give up her bus seat for white passengers.

Clinton also compared the behaviour of some Israeli soldiers who recently walked out on a performance by female singers to the attitude toward women in Iran. But God — at least, the God worshipped by the Haredim — is enraged whenever men listen to women singing, so of course they had to leave.

As for Christian fundamentalist attitudes toward women, here’s Rev. Pat Robertson, one of the most influential U.S. television evangelists:

“The Feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, antifamily political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practise witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians.” Not to mention drive cars and hang around in coffee shops making come-hither eyes at aging academics.

Where does all this weirdness come from? Other societies and other religions have been just as patriarchal and disrespectful of women: it wasn’t much fun being a woman in traditional Hindu, Buddhist or Confucian societies either. But nowhere else was there the same male sexual panic, the profound, ingrained fear of free women that infests all the Middle Eastern monotheisms. Where does that come from?

It doesn’t matter, really. You can’t unpick the history; you have to start from where you are, even if you’d much rather start from somewhere else. And the fact is that people can overcome their history: most Jews, Christians and Muslims today do not have extreme antifemale attitudes. The reason we have a special name for those who still do is evidence enough that they are a minority in the present populations, if you actually needed it.

Fundamentalists are a big minority in countries such as the United States, Israel, Egypt and Iran, but a much smaller minority in countries like France, Turkey and Russia. In some places their numbers are actually growing at the moment, but the long-term trend is sharply down. By today’s standards, ALL Jews, Christians and Muslims were fundamentalists 500 years ago.

With finals week approaching, 10 page papers, and endless reading students can’t be bothered to be taken away from school to start their holiday fashion shopping. In the midst of the holiday season, malls put up big flashy signs with half-off prices, buy-one-get-one free deals, and other enticing items that make budget savvy students like us want to go in.

Although we are so busy in finals craziness, we do know that holidays are approaching and we need to find the perfect gifts for our friends, significant others, and family. Each season, new trends and new fashion finds come out, especially around the holiday season. Frequenting malls and department stores by Saint Rose, I found the best holiday deals and fashion finds.

Looking for the right gift around this time for the right price is hard to find, especially if you are watching your budget. This season, boots have been so big, especially for fashion women. Ugg’s always come up as a must-have on the list. With Ugg prices starting at $100 and up, we can’t be bothered to spend the money. If you are planning on saving money, you can save so much by going to Target. Target has suede boots, and the famous moccasins starting at $20!

Although the word “UGG” isn’t written across the back, they still are good quality and you are saving a ton of money! The moccasins and boots are soft inside, and have a good tread on the bottom; they are comfy and have gotten reviews on their website. Another store that has great boots and shoes is Burlington Coat Factory, located in Crossgates Mall. They have great boots starting from suede, to high heel leather boots. I bought three pairs of boots from there for the price of one from any type of brand name store.

Another big item for girls around this season is scarves. When looking around for good scarf deals, I came several at department store JC Penney. They have all different patterns and colors starting at $20. The good thing about JC Penney is they have great deals and coupons all throughout the week.
Lastly for us girls, big earrings and fun jewelry were found at the new store in Colonie Center called Charming Charlie’s. They had walls sorted by color of great accessories for really cheap. It was a great place for all kinds of jewelry at the right price for students on a budget! All these stores above have great holiday gifts not only for girls, but for men as well. They all have a variety of items and great holiday finds.

Now for the men. Although Forever 21 targeted towards girls, I went into the store with a different outlook. I wasn’t looking for myself, but rather for men’s clothes. They had great hats, jackets, and nice shirts for really reasonable prices. They also had several great t-shirts and sweaters for the holidays.
When looking for sports attire, I went into Dicks Sporting Goods, and found sections of MLB and NFL shirts and accessories all on sale. There were clearance racks, and often there are coupons. They had great sneakers, hats, gloves, and everything that would be fitting for winter time at a great price. Department stores like Walmart, Target, JC Penney, also have great finds for a budget. They have a lot of variety and selection. When finding gifts, they all have watches, hats, gloves, cologne, shoes, or anything else a man would want.

With the holidays in full swing, we are constantly bombarded by deals. When you see a good fashion find at a good price, grab it. Although with finals we can’t get a second to ourselves, take the time and go look! You will find great trends for a great price if you take the time to hunt for it.

Condé Nast’s reliable cash cow Glamour has had a rough year. Ad pages dropped 7 percent in 2011, and the magazine’s newsstand sales are down 17 percent through the end of October.

These are familiar concerns—other than Vogue, all women fashion magazines are down in the low double digits off the newsstand this year — but considering the high volume at which Glamour sells off the newsstand, and its importance in guaranteeing a strong profit for its parent company, the hit has been meaningful.

Now WWD has learned that editor in chief Cindi Leive apparently isn’t interested in waiting around to see if things magically self correct in 2012.

Leive is planning a major overhaul of the magazine, which will include a redesign. The new-look Glamour will launch in March and will include new columns and contributors. There are indications the magazine is aiming for a hipper attitude: Its content is expected to have an increased emphasis on pop culture, and it has hired the former art director of Nylon to help with the redesign.

“The format of many women’s magazines — Glamour included! — hasn’t changed much for a decade, but young women are consuming media in totally different ways now,” Leive said via e-mail. “Our team is creating a new Glamour and glamour.com for this new generation of readers — we’ll share it with them this spring.”

The magazine has tapped two New York design firms to work with design director Geraldine Hessler on the new look for the magazine and the site. One is Actual Idea, a design firm run by Michael Angelo, the former art director of Nylon who art directed the most recent Esquire Big Black Book and designed Fast Company’s Most Creative People iPad app. The other is Triboro Design, a firm that is run by a husband-and-wife duo of David Heasty and Stefanie Weigler. They’re located off of McGolrick Park in Greenpoint, and clients have included BLK DNM.

A reimagining of Glamour has had to be in the back of Leive’s mind for some time. Back in June, she hinted that changes could come if sales didn’t pick up.

“We’re looking at the sales for the first couple months of this year and we’re thinking, ‘Geez, we’ve got to fight even harder to keep these women,’” she said then. “It’s the classic thing. A girl has 1.7 seconds at the newsstand to make her decision about your magazine. Are we using that 1.7 seconds as well as we should? If we need to do that more ferociously and with different people and different topics, then we will.”

Glamour isn’t the only women magazine undergoing some change, though. Harper’s Bazaar is working on a redesign, which will also launch in that ad-happy month of March (and, unlike the Condé Nast title, Bazaar is also reducing its frequency for a second consecutive year). Incidentally, both Leive and Bazaar editor in chief Glenda Bailey have been editing their magazines for 10 years.

The online store will offer a range of fashion accessories and gifts for women and men, including handbags, accessories and lifestyle products such as outerwear, scarves, watches, and jewelry, many of which are 70th anniversary limited edition products, best sellers, and exclusive items available only through Coach’s flagship storefront on Taobao Mall. The store will operate from December 12, 2011 to January 15, 2012, and will be managed by a dedicated customer service team from Coach. In celebration of its first online flagship store on Taobao Mall, Coach will give out 20 copies of the exclusive cookbook “My Father’s Daughter,” written and signed by Coach’s 70th Anniversary Ambassador Gwyneth Paltrow, through a lucky draw for customers who have purchased Coach products on Taobao Mall.

Jonathan Seliger, President and Chief Executive Officer, Coach China, said, “This year marks Coach’s 70th anniversary. Over more than a decade, we have successfully built upon our unique heritage of quality, authenticity and value, establishing a solid presence in the local market and ensuring that our brand proposition is embraced strongly by Chinese consumers. In celebration of Coach’s 70th anniversary, we are thrilled to announce our first official online flagship store in China on Taobao Mall. The new store will help us increase our understanding of the needs and preferences of China’s online shoppers, helping us accumulate valuable experience in China’s e-commerce landscape and gaining insights to potentially pave the way for the development and launch of a permanent online Coach store in China.”

“Coach is one of the most well-recognized and popular fashion accessory brands in the world, and we are pleased to be able to help Coach offer their products to the largest possible group of consumers across China,” said Daniel Zhang, President of Taobao Mall. “Coach and Taobao Mall share a mission to offer consumers the most comprehensive selection of authentic, quality products. We believe this cooperation will bring about clear benefits for fashion-savvy online shoppers, and provide enhanced access to Coach’s line of best-selling and even limited-edition and exclusive products, some of which will only be available through Coach’s Taobao Mall flagship store.”

Following the fashion company’s proven 12-year track record and experience in e-commence in the US, all products purchased on Coach’s Taobao Mall flagship store will have the same quality guarantee and value-added services as products purchased at physical Coach stores in China, including a one-year warranty. By extending Coach’s superior shopping experience from offline to online, Coach will be able to further demonstrate its unswerving commitment to customer service across all of its distribution channels. Currently, all 71 Coach stores across China, Hong Kong and Macau are directly managed by the company. Coach’s Taobao Mall flagship store will also be the only authorized online channel operating in the China market for the company’s 70th anniversary. Earlier this month, Coach signed a memorandum of understanding with Taobao Marketplace, Taobao Mall’s sister company, in an effort to prevent counterfeit products from being sold on Taobao.com.

Launched in April 2008, Taobao Mall is the leading online business-to-consumer platform for business retailers in China. Coach joins the ranks of many major international renowned brands who have all launched official online retail storefronts on Taobao Mall. In order to guarantee the quality of products and services for consumers, Taobao Mall requires cooperating merchants to meet rigorous customer-satisfaction and consumer-protection measures such as the seven-day, no-questions-asked refund policy. Consumers are also eligible to receive up to three-times the product price in compensation if they receive a counterfeit product.

In addition to the launch of its online store, Coach has kicked off a marketing campaign featuring fashion internationally-renowned brand ambassador Gwyneth Paltrow, and exhibitions in Beijing and Tokyo last month that showcased photographs of iconic handbags by seven renowned fashion photographers inspired by New York City and Coach.

SPH Magazines launches herworldPLUS, a bold, new comprehensive Singapore women interest portal that caters to every stage of a woman’s life.

The revamped website of Her World, Singapore’s most-read women’s magazine, now not only covers the broad spectrum of popular topics like Shopping, Beauty and Fashion, Dating, Relationships, Sex and Men, Work, Money, Health and Travel, Food, Gadgets, and Celebs, it has expanded to include sections on Weddings, Decor, Parenting, Solutions, and women’s interest news.

The herworldPLUS portal also offers a fashion interest group-sharing and community-building platform in its new capacity.

Indeed, herworldPLUS is the complete go-to source for Singapore women at different life stages.

The content and features of each PLUS section is provided by Her World’s sister publications and websites.

Expanding its already successful website in this way, herworldPLUS now also offers Singapore women access to the other award-winning publications in the SPH Magazines stable.

Helmed by Her World BRIDES, the Weddings section offers bridal gown inspirations and useful planning tips.

The home design trends and ideas in the Decor section are provided by the Home&Decor team, while the experts at Young Parents magazine develop the how-tos in the Parenting section.

The quick and easy recipes for family meals, as well as solutions for home and family, are provided by Simply Her.

AsiaOne’s Diva section offers the latest women’s interest news while SheShops.com, a community-building fashion platform, lets women share and comment on one another’s latest buys and trends.

With the continual development of online technology and programs, the new website is now not only richer in content, it is more intuitive, easier to navigate, and offers upgraded tools like a new Photo and Video gallery, where users can watch videos, view photos, leave comments and share their favourite stories and images on Facebook and Twitter.

Says Niki Bruce, editor of herworldPLUS: “The idea behind herworldPLUS is to offer our readers online content that will resonate with every part of their lives, from fashion, shopping and beauty news to those specific areas of interest such as planning a wedding, decorating the home, finding the best recipes and parenting.

“To help women stay on top of things, key sections are updated daily and regularly.

“Our readers can also share their latest fashion buys and ideas via our online community.”

Says Maureen Wee, SPH Magazines’ Managing Director for Lifestyle Division: “herworldPLUS is an exciting online development for SPH Magazines as it allows us to interact with, and reach out to, all the women in Singapore who are ‘on the go’ in a larger way.

“It is also an opportunity for us to be on the pulse of fashion, shopping, beauty and more.

“In fact, for clients interested in moving online, it now offers a broader platform to reach targeted marketing groups, for example brides, as well as innovative ways of showcasing new products  Lookbook options.”