The Guild of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles Presents Accessories for Success Spring Luncheon and Fashion Show

The Guild of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles presents its annual Accessories for Success Spring Luncheon and Fashion Show featuring fashions by Neiman Marcus, April 27, 2010 at The Beverly Hills Hotel. Financial management expert Laura Lizer and philanthropist Joni Berry will be honored. Amber Valletta emcees, Shirley MacLaine and Norm Crosby will present. Jackie Collins and Joanna Poitier are Honorary Chairs, Mary Willard is Event Chair and Rochelle Maize and Brock Moseley serve as Luncheon Co-Chairs.

Prior to the luncheon, a boutique will be conducted offering high-end accessories donated by retailers, spas, salons and jewelers including Beverly Hills’ Nelson J Salon, Sherman Oak’s Blue Medi Spa and the eco-aware accessory company Make Love Not Trash. An Accessories Boutique will feature fashionable vendors donating a portion of proceeds from their sales.
Oscar-winning actress Shirley MacLaine will present the Excellence in Mentoring Award to Laura Lizer, founder and president of Laura Lizer and Associates, a wholly owned financial management firm for entertainment industry professionals. Managing both legendary veterans and new industry leaders, Lizer currently handles assets worth more than one billion dollars.
Comedian Norm Crosby will present the Sterling Award to philanthropist Joni Eichenbaum Berry. Berry is president of the Eichenbaum Foundation and has touched the lives of countless people through her generous giving and volunteer work.
The Guild was founded in 1986 and is dedicated to promoting awareness and raising financial support for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles. The Guild has raised over $8 million to support the one-to-one mentoring programs of Big Brothers Big Sisters. The Guild hosts its primary fundraising event, Rising Stars Gala, which will be held on October 29, 2010.
For more than 50 years, the agency has assisted boys and girls in achieving their highest potential as they grow to become confident, competent and caring individuals through professionally supported one-to-one relationships with caring men and women. Their work is as elementary as putting an adult friend in a child’s life, and as essential as putting hope into a child’s future. Big Brothers Big Sisters have proven successful in creating and nurturing relationships between adults and children.

Paris Fashion Week round up

Ballerina or biker? Pagan-wench or punk? Futurist, flapper or femme fatale ? The Paris ready-to-wear collections for spring/ summer 2011 were a whirl of role-playing, with more costume switches than a Rossini opera.

The anti-minimalism rebellion was deliberate, the antithesis of austerity-chic, designed to shake off the shackles of the subdued grown-up wardrobe predominating this winter, and cut loose a little; even the 'queen of clean', Phoebe Philo at Céline , introduced Marrakesh mosaic prints, fringing and tribal, handwoven vests. Camel paled into style insignificance beside the new blues, such as teal, royal, cyan, sapphire, peacock, and sky, and a host of hot shades.
Hemlines will definitely be longer next season - despite Balmain 's rebel yell for the pelmet-skirt; hotpants are shaping-up to be the new 'mini'; and next season's silhouette will be loose and fluid.
The boy-meets-girl scenario was a constant undercurrent, but with a twist: the girl fell in love with the boy's wardrobe; like stylista Alexa Chung, who wears shirts and jackets belonging to her boyfriend, Arctic Monkeys frontman, Alex Turner. John Galliano at Christian Dior lifted Marlon Brando's white T-shirt and jackets from 'On The Waterfront'; Stella McCartney mixed her Savile Row-sleek trouser suits with the kind of polo-shirts favoured by Bing Crosby playing golf; Viktor & Rolf were inspired by the pinstriped shirts of (male) bankers.
"It's going to be a boyish season," Balenciaga 's creative director, Nicolas Ghesquière said of his collection, which, like many, borrowed from the music scene and riffed on futuristic interpretations of punk, goth and rocker stereotypes. The tough rock 'n' roll chick (Joan Jett, Nina Hagen), held sway at Jean Paul Gaultier , while Yohji Yamamoto 's more psychedelic muse was inspired by Grace Slick. Punk was the only way for Balmain's Christophe Decarnin, who has posters of the Sex Pistols at his studio walls, and used Sid Vicious's 'My Way' on the soundtrack.
Orientalism provided alluring femininity: layered, kimono-prints at Kenzo ; oriental flowers on silk shirts and dresses at Dries Van Noten ; striking samurai or kimono shapes at Haider Ackermann; kimonos and silk pyjamas at John Galliano ; china dolls in exotic cheongsams in Marc Jacobs' show for Louis Vuitton . Jacobs also worked tiger prints, which, in decadent glamour, was matched by Riccardo Tisci's sharp-as-nails, leopard print at Givenchy . There was less emphasis on the Yves Saint Laurent-inspired peasant looks of the 1970s than in Milan, and it was Stefano Pilati, YSL 's creative director who revisited the house's famous flounce and ruffle.
Body-con tops and swirling, full or pleated skirts underscored Alber Elbaz's sexy Lanvin collection, while Chloé 's Hannah MacGibbon took more sensual inspiration from the ballerina, and the interplay of sheer and opaque gave rise to sweet girlishness at Valentino .
The week featured three anniversaries, two comebacks and a bittersweet revival. French Vogue marked 90 years, Roberto Cavalli marked his 40th anniversary with a glitzy bash, and Antonio Marras, Kenzo's creative director, celebrated four decades, with a tribute of 40 looks, re-styled from the labels archives, at the end of his own spring/summer collection for the brand. Pierre Cardin , 88, returned to the Paris catwalk for the first time in ten years, reminding everyone who is fashion's true Space-Man; and Ines de la Fressange returned to the Chanel catwalk after a gap of 21 years.
Emotions ran high at Alexander McQueen , where Sarah Burton, the late designer's right-hand, made her debut as the brand's creative director, with a magical collection inspired by nature and pagan goddesses. Intricate hand-crafted work in feathers, leather, ribbons, raffia, metal thread, crochet and silk, infused elaborately-beautiful pices which maintained the spirit of McQueen's legacy, whilst injecting a new atmosphere of ethereal bohemian romance.

The Latest Nature-Inspired Lines

Lindsey Thornburg, a flame-haired free spirit whose e-mail sign-off reads “warmth,” designs velvet burnout dresses from fabric she finds at the Oregon Country Fair. Meanwhile, David Hershberger, who creates washedsilk shirts and faded black pauper jackets for his Endovanera line—and who looks startlingly like a young Johnny Depp—spends leisure hours hiking Elysian Park, playing music, and fishing. If the two seem to have their beautifully blissed-out heads in the clouds, they’re not alone. From New York (Thornburg) to Los Angeles (Hershberger), a growing group of influential, under-theradar designers are focusing on a new kind of earthy fashion, turning back to the land and finding inspiration in nature, sunsets, and skylarks. Similar to the ’60s hippies and not unlike today’s locavore neofarmers, they favor a look that is rooted in self-expression and nonconformist ideas. The self-taught Hershberger, who also designs a men’s line (both Endovanera—phonetically, End of an Era—collections are sold at his hip Echo Park boutique, Front St.), specializes in deliberately rumpled style: borrowed-from-the boys button-downs that have been soaked in a bathtub then air-dried, as well as relaxed wool jackets with hidden inside pockets, “like the ones priests have to carry their rosaries,” he says. Add the requisite long, unwashed hair; a floppy, wide-brimmed hat; and jewelry made by a metalsmithing friend—what, you don’t have one?—and the image is complete. “All the girls I hang out with are tomboys,” says the 28-year-old Californian, whose muses include Warpaint’s Theresa Wayman and Megan Gold from the band We Are the World. “There’s a sexiness in effortlessness and being comfortable acting like one of the dudes.” Thornburg, 31, debuted her namesake line four years ago with a range of Navajo-inspired cloaks, so ideal for camping or concert carousing that they remain a cult favorite among the Opening Ceremony set today. For fall, the designer, who grew up in Colorado and studied philosophy at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before attending L.A.’s Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, branched out to floor-length totem-print gowns, highwaist crochet flair pants, and silk-velvet tops, tie-dyed by first-wave Oregon hippies. “I’m interested in things that are naturally psychedelic,” says Thornburg, whose influences range from Frida Kahlo to Native American folklore. Right on.




From: http://www.elle.com/

Gossip Girl Taylor Momsen poses for Madonna and Lourdes' Material Girl line - behind the scenes pics

Gossip Girl Taylor Momsen is fast becoming a cover girl as the 17-year-old shoots for Madonna and Lourdes' Material Girl line.

A source said: "Taylor was in her element striking her sultry poses.

Rumour has it she almost didn't take the job as she wasn't sure it was cool enough." She needn't have worried...

Sisley: supermarket raids & laundromat escapades

Sisley are relying on the strength of Terry Richardson's photography and/or reputation to pull their Fall 2010 campaign through. Supermarket raids and laundromat escapades may have a sort of raw appeal for some, and Ashely Smith draped over a motorcycle looking hot can't exactly harm your campaign either. But we miss the polished goddess perfection of the brand's Summer ads of yesteryear; and the somewhat uninspiring clothes in their latest campaign aren't helping to change our minds.


From: http://www.fashionising.com/

Vienna's Annual Life Ball Celebrates Fashion

Kenneth Cole, Diane Von Furstenburg, Francisco Costa and a host of celebrities stepped out in support of HIV and AIDS at the 2010 Life Ball

Life Ball, since it’s inception in 1993, has been one of the largest and most fabulous AIDS charity events in the world, uniting the unique Viennese ball tradition with extravagance, provocation and glamour. Scores of revelers from drag queens to duchesses descend on Vienna's City Hall to celebrate life and raise piles of money in incomparable style. Since the beginning, Life Ball has invited a veritable who's who of fashion's biggest and most influential designers, such as Olivier Theyskens, Thierry Mugler, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Vivienne Westwood to present their creations to the estimated 40,000 in attendance.

For this year's gala, Diane Von Furstenberg, Kenneth Cole and Calvin Klein Collection designer Francisco Costa were all asked to show their collections in Vienna. The three invited a dizzying array of celebrities and supermodels on which to showcase their work. Diane Von Furstenberg invited an entire battalion of Radio City Hall's finest Rockettes to parade down the runway, wearing her signature wrap dresses as well as a red lip hat made exclusively for the Ball.

No stranger to the runway, Rebecca Romijn was no doubt excited to showcase her catwalk strut while wearing whimsical and still politically charged clothing from Kenneth Cole. Jerry O'Connell, while not necessarily a runway veteran, was as good a sport as one can be, considering he was made to wear eyeliner and try his hand at modeling in front of thousands. It's possible he gave a sigh of relief when the sky opened up and crashing rain forced the authorities to cancel the rest of the presentation.

Mr Cole took his message to the skin, branding several of the male models in temporary tattoos, with various statements and graphics, each in his signature style. Lydia Hearst, a Life Ball veteran having walked in the last few year's festivities, was a proud wearer of Mr Cole's designs as well.

Francisco Costa hired a string of top models to show off his sleek fall collection, but Life Ball isn't just about fashion. Performances, committed speeches and emotional moments are on tall order as well. This year's big performance was to be the great Patti LaBelle, who was slated to sing her legendary classics.

The weather also ruined a sure-to-be hysterical speech by Whoopi Goldberg, though the comedian had her chance to shine at the Ball’s press conference, where she was joined by Cole, Von Furstenberg, Costa, and John Dempsey, who’s president of the EstéeLauder group and the MAC AIDS Fund.

Dempsey tapped Dita Von Teese as the spokesperson for MAC Viva Glam, who donate 100% of the profits from all Viva Glam products to the MAC AIDS Fund. Had the weather not intervened, Von Teese would have presented President Bill Clinton with a check for €100,000. (Of course, the check will still go to the William J. Clinton Foundation, a major beneficiary of the Ball)

This year marks the tenth consecutive involvement on the part of MINI in Life Ball. Each year, the showcased designer or designers puts their spin on the iconic MINI. Here, Diane Von Furstenberg sits atop her creation, flanked by her Rockettes. In the end, this year's three exclusive MINIs were auctioned off with proceeds going to amfAR.

Models wearing Francisco Costa's Calvin Klein Collection

One of the many clever temporary tattoos designed by Kenneth Cole, plastered all over the models for his portion of the fashion presentations.

A model wearing Calvin Klein Collection

The environment backstage was hugely celebratory. Here, models wearing Calvin Klein Collection caught soaking it all in.

A huge disappointment was the massive storm that blew through Vienna, shutting down the festivities outside and preventing Patti LaBelle, the evening's slated entertainer, from performing.

Despite the cancellation due to inclement weather, the boys of Kenneth Cole were exuberant and ready for the massive party that was not to be stopped by the rains.

Kenneth Cole, seen backstage, making last minute checks on his models, as they readied to line up for his presentation.

From: http://www.elle.com/

If my bag is fake, what does that say about me?

It’s been said that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” Not quite, if you ask the people behind luxury brands. Imitation has become their worst enemy, their foe in a fierce battle to take back what they have lost: revenue, brand reputation, good will and brand equity.

Counterfeiting has reared its dark, ugly head, taunting luxury brands with an in-your-face brashness, claiming an unlawful stake in the multibillion-dollar fashion industry and undeserved dominance over the rightful purveyors of luxury goods.

Counterfeit goods have existed since 200 BC. If you walk into the Museum of Counterfeiting in Paris, you will find fake wine stoppers used to transport wine from Italy to Gaul millenniums ago.

Today, it is no longer about wine stoppers. The stakes are much higher — about US$600 billion worth — and it has gone global, spanning the world from the Silk Alley and Old City of Shanghai in China to the Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy, to the Stadium Market in Warsaw, Poland, to Canal Street in New York City, where the fabulously fashionable quartet of Sex and the City were once filmed gushing over a knockoff Hermès bag.

According to a most recent estimate, the luxury brand industry has lost about $250 billion to counterfeiting. These past few years they have taken a very aggressive stance against violators and began working with investigators worldwide to put a stop to this black-market industry. Several raids initiated by luxury firms have netted sizeable confiscated fakes. One raid in Virginia led to the seizure of almost $300 million in fake goods. Another one in Canal Street involved a million dollars’ worth of imitation Chanel, Gucci, Coach and Cartier products.

Just this February here in the Philippines, almost $5 million worth of fake Louis Vuitton bags (28,000 pieces in all) were confiscated in retail stores and warehouses in Metro Manila. Even eBay was ordered to pay a fine of 38 million euros to the Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) Group and 20,000 euros to Hermès for selling fake LV and Hermès bags and Christian Dior cosmetics.

Because of the staggering amount of money involved in this underground business, the people behind them have become more crafty and organized. It is rumored that mafias are heavily involved in the business, child labor and human trafficking are part of the system, and some proceeds from the sales are being used to fund certain terrorist activities. With all this disturbing information, who would want to buy these counterfeit products? Apparently many.

Faking It

Several years ago, I got invited to a “purse party.” “What is that?” you might ask. A purse party is a casual get-together much like a Tupperware party attended mostly by upper-middle-class women. But instead of comparing and buying plastic, women purchase fake, illegal designer bags over wine, appetizers and chitchat. While I didn’t go to the party because of my “buy only the real thing” stance, I found out that this social trend is apparently popular, especially in America where the idea took hold.

A researcher named Renee Richardson Gosline became curious about the phenomenon and conducted research over a period of two and a half years. She followed purse parties and traveled through social networks to document the attendees’ behavior. She found that most of the women didn’t seem to mind the illegality of their behavior because of the friendly atmosphere at the parties. But what she didn’t expect was, over a period of time, these women began checking out the brands’ websites and became converts to the real thing. They reconciled their dishonest public behavior with their positive, private self-image and the latter one won over time. In the end these women realized that nothing could substitute for the real deal.

If you’ve got purse partygoers on one hand, then you’ve got “counterfeit chic” on the other. These are women who can clearly afford the genuine products but opt to buy the convincing fakes because they find it cool and fashion-forward. They mix originals and knockoffs with ease when they go out and make no excuses for their choices. In a somewhat perverse way, they like the fact that they can get away with using fakes and be admired for it.

The “snobs” are those who have a double standard about wearing fakes. They have a very strong sense of entitlement and justify their choice to use fakes because they deserve to feel good about themselves and have the best in life.

While the motivation behind buying and using fakes may be varied, ultimately it is a personal choice.

Here are several factors that largely explain why people buy fakes:

• Price is a primary incentive for almost everyone who buys fakes. They feel that by buying the real thing, they are being ripped off. Not knowing the actual difference between the genuine and imitation, they believe that buying cheap means they are getting a great deal and not buying something of inferior quality.

• Attitude. Several studies have shown that people with a high level of moral judgment are less likely to buy fakes for personal consumption or as a gift for another person. But people who wear fake items are more likely to behave unethically and participate in fraudulent behavior.

• Status consumption is the desire to fit in a social class wealthier than their own or an expression of who they think they are to others through the products they use. People who often do not have the financial means but aspire to belong will purchase a fake regardless of their ethical standing. They don’t value the functionality of a product; instead they buy them to project the “image of status” or “having arrived.”

• Abject materialism is the view that wealth is the only way to achieve happiness at any cost, even buying fake. At times, it serves as a life goal for certain people because they view worldly possessions as a gauge of their wealth and social standing. They believe they are sending positive signals to the outside world when in fact they are sending negative signals to themselves.

Now, if you are none of the above and just want to be able to spot a counterfeit, especially when buying via the Internet, here are some practical tips that will hone your fake-alert button:

1. Buy only at the boutique, the brand’s website or an authorized website (in this case, www.eluxury.com) and an authorized dealer. Don’t buy at flea markets, purse parties, street vendors or unauthorized websites.

2. If the price is too good to be true, chances are it is. Unless you buy at a by-invitation-only brand-sponsored sale or an in-store limited sale, you will not find original products marked down considerably elsewhere.

3. Luxury brands are proud of their craftsmanship; they pay careful attention to design details. So if you see sloppy stitching in less visible areas like the lining, inside pocket or the underside of the bag, then those products are most likely fake.

4. Luxury brands put a premium not only on their products but also their packaging, so they come wrapped in tissue paper, cloth bags accompanied by authenticity cards, product care information, superior-quality boxes and paper bags. If you come across an item that is wrapped in plastic or bubble wrap, turn around and walk away from the poseur.

5. Conduct a spell check. Since most fake products are made in non-English-speaking countries, there is always a chance that fake product logos and names are misspelled. Check for letters that are swapped or a letter that is in capitals when it should not be.

6. Look for the logo hardware. If the logo is not embossed or engraved on leather or directly onto a metal piece such as zippers, latches, snaps or buckles, then they are imitations.

7. Inspect the labels. If they are not delicately stitched on and are just printed on a hangtag, it is a fake. Look at the country of origin as well; you might be surprised to find that upon careful inspection, it bears a “Made in China” label.

8. Be informed. If you want to purchase a particular type of product, research it, go to the official website, take photos of celebrities using the product, look at the ads and the catalogs or better yet, visit their store so you get up-close-and-personal enough with the product that you won’t get fooled by an impostor.

‘Ain’t nothin’ like the real thing, baby’

I confess to buying counterfeit once in my life, eons ago on a trip to Taipei for a fashion show at the Asia World Hotel. I wanted to impress a boyfriend so along with the other models, we bought up a vendor’s entire inventory of fake Cartier and Dunhill watches and proudly gifted our boyfriends and loved ones with the bogus timepieces.

I was young and naïve, I didn’t even think for a minute that what I was buying wasn’t the real stuff. I was just happy to pay so little for such famous brands. Of course, no sooner were we sporting them on our wrists than the face started to tarnish and the hour hand stopped. So much for the deal of a lifetime!

Truth be told, I have only been to a tiangge once to look for uniforms; I have never set foot inside the 168 Mall. Both places hold no fascination for me and I would not be caught dead bringing foreign visitors to either place, even if others rave about the so-called “great deals” there. I don’t always associate “bargain” with a great buy or “cheap” as a great find. I do not pretend to be the moral compass for fashion. I am just a smart, practical and responsible consumer.

Today there are many wonderful and affordable fashion labels to choose from, so there is no excuse to resort to fakes or depend on luxury labels alone to create a unique fashion style.

Fake is fake and there are no two ways about it. If you can’t afford the real thing, don’t buy the lowly imitation. You may be able to fool some, but you definitely cannot fool yourself, so as the Bard said, “To thine own self be true.”

From：http://www.philstar.com/