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In the aftermath of the late singer’s death, many decisions are left to be made about what to do with Amy Winehouse’s work. “Amy was passionate and dedicated to the collaboration, and her signature style is clearly stamped across each piece,” Fred Perry said. Fred Perry has decided, along with consult from Winehouse’s family, to proceed and release the lines she was working on, destined to be seen next Spring and Fall.
With only 2 albums released and numerous award nods for her brilliant voice, Amy Winehouse will not soon be forgotten. Her music will live on forever, and now her fashions will do the same. Winehouse had been working with Fred Perry to create some uniquely “rockabilly” inspired looks, which in essence, were Winehouse’s signature look. Viewing the collection, even upon a quick glance, one could envision Winehouse adorned in these fashions. Her vision was clear, ranging from hound south prints to 1950’s inspired cuts. And can be seen on www.fredperry.com
Previous to the tragedy, Winehouse had collaborated with the Fred Perry house yet again. As her family, and the Fred Perry family consulted on what to do with the line, the obvious answer was there, release the lines! As quoted by her father Mitch Winehouse, speaking on what to do with the collections, “Amy loved working on both collections, and would want them to be made available… it was natural to continue…”.
Mitch continued to speak about the line, Fred Perry, and the newly established, Amy Winehouse Foundation, “All the money we make and the donation that Fred Perry will give will go straight into the Amy Winehouse Foundation, which we are setting up to help children and young people in her name.”
As the cause of death is still unknown, it is well recognized that Winehouse suffered from substance abuse and other issues. This foundation will hopefully raise awareness and shed light on the issue many people across the globe face. The foundation’s focus is on helping children, a cause Winehouse was passionate about throughout her life.
Yesterday saw the closing of the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibit at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The exhibit featured over 100 pieces and 70 accessories spanning the entire career of British born Scottish designer Alexander McQueen and was organized by the Met’s Costume Institute who presented the exhibit as an exploration of “an artist whose medium of expression was fashion.” Now that the ensembles are being packed up and shipped back to their respective archives and private collections the final numbers have come in and they are far greater then even the Met had anticipated.
According to the New York Times fashion page the final attendance count reached 661,509 visitors which makes the exhibit the most successful ever to be hosted by the Met’s Costume Institute and the eight biggest show on record for the entire Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Times is also reporting that the museum sold over 100,000 copies of the catalog associated with the exhibit. Both figures are much higher then even the most positive estimates had predicted.
Whether the increase in popularity has to do with the fact that the design house bearing McQueen’s name recently created a dress that help create a Duchess who will one day be a Queen is hard to say. Many are attributing the wonderful turn out to an under appreciation of fashion as art by the museum community coupled with a growing appreciation for fashion by the general public.
McQueen, who was the creative director for Givenchy before launching his own Alexander McQueen label was, and apparently still is, considered one of the most romantic and unique designers of the modern era. When news spread last February of McQueen’s untimely death by his own hand many predicted that would spell the end of the fashion world’s love affair with his dark and naturalistic romanticism. However after the success of Savage Beauty if would seem that McQueen, like many of the other artists who’s work resides within the walls of the Met, was not fully appreciated during his lifetime.
Yesterday Fox rolled out the blue carpet at the Gibson Amphitheatre for the 2011 Teen Choice awards and while the results were pretty predictable the fashion was worth watching both for inspiration and the occasional cautionary tale. With the dog days of summer having officially arrived out in LA, as well as everywhere else, the little white dress made more then a few appearances. The most noteworthy were the elegantly understated Rafael Cennamo halter wore by Taylor Swift and the fun and frilly Chloe Resort number sported by Rachel Bilson. While Emma Stone did not take a walk down the blue carpet she did look stunning excepting her surf board award in white Christian Dior Resort dress accented by black and brozne bands. Pretty Little Lias star Lucy Hale also sported a little white dress but her’s looked more like someone forgot to finish the back, not to mention the shoes where designer Guiseppe Zanotti intentionally forgot the heels.
As for more summery colors Zoe Saldana look brilliant in a ruffled metallic number by Lanvin, and Zooey Deschanel stuck with her tried and true summer colors with a black over nude tea length by Miu Miu which for a change did not give way to a pair of black tights but rather nicely tanned calves that are a rare sight on Ms. Deschanel. Blake Lively picked herself a very lively color with an orange leather Gucci number but it should be noted that if you are going to tan yourself orange, you may want to pick another color for your outfit.
Cameron Diaz’s outfit, a short strapless beige piece by A.L.C. served as both a warning and a lesson for aspiring fashionistas. The warning being that even when you have a body like Cameron’s it doesn’t hurt to mix up your choice of cut once in a while because it has gotten to the point where it is hard to remember a dress she wore that wasn’t strapless, form-fitting and short. However she also reminded us that the right accessories can save any outfit, which her choice of wedge heels and chunky jewelry did nicely.
Material Girl’s most beloved cover girl may find herself on the cover of some fashionistas hit lists after committing a major act of fashion blasphemy last night on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Kelly Osbourne is no stranger to fashion herself, beyond modeling she has recently released a make-up line and is rumored to be joining the ranks of E!’s fashion police, but last night she made the mistake of criticizing one of the fashion world’s newly minted queens (who one day is going to become a Queen herself) Kate Middleton.
When asked about the Duchess’s habit of recycling her outfits for affairs of state Osbourne told Leno “In England they’re like, ‘Look how thrifty she’s being, showing the British public that the royals are in a recession as well… Well, I’m sorry but if I had that job I would only wear it once.” When the TV host asked for her reasoning behind that statement Kelly explained “If I am going to be the future bloody Queen of England I’m gonna wear that dress once because I’m giving up the rest of my life, all of my privacy, at least I can get a new dress every day,”
While her criticism of Kate’s style was certainly not intended to be mean, in fact it seemed much more sympathetic to the difficult side of the royal life than many American commentators are giving her credit for; Osbourne should have known better then to take issue with anything that the newest member of Vogue‘s best dressed list would do when it comes to style. While her new fashion police squad mates may like Osbourne’s spunky style, it would seem that they are in the minority after scanning the fashion blogs and style news for the day. And you would think being British herself Kelly would have known: you never criticize a queen!
Jean Paul Gaultier has often gotten creative inspiration from powerful and iconic women such as Beth Ditto or Madonna, so it should come as no surprise that his latest celebrity muse is non-other than mama monster herself. Over the summer worldwide pop culture icon Lady Gaga visited Mr. Gaultier in his legendary Paris design house for a meeting of the minds on fashion and art. Another guest on that day was French film director Alex Fighter who was rolling the entire time that the master designer picked the pop-star’s brain, the resulting footage was edited into documentary format and aired on France’s TF6 television station June 9th under the title “Gaga By Gaultier”.
Needless to say a number of fashonistas on this side of the pond wished they could have bought a round trip ticket just to catch that broadcast, but fortunately for them and the rest of the fashion inclined here in the United States that has proved to be unnecessary. “Gaga By Gaultier” will air in the United States on Monday September 12th at 8:00pm EST on the CW network. The 75 minute film is primarily an interview given by Gaga to Gaultier in which the signer discusses everything from her rapid rise to fame to her unique love for her fans, and of course the two talk plenty of shop when it comes to fashion.
The camera was also rolling as the French design legend showed Lady Gaga around his atelier while the duo discuss their ideas for a photo shoot that was released the same day the film aired in France. So if you’ve ever wanted to be a fly on the wall while two of the biggest personalities in fashion shared their collective inspiration, next month you will get your chance. And if September can’t come soon enough you can always check out the Gaga/Gaultier photo-shoot online.
World’s Most Beautiful (WMB), the newest fashion and trend spotting mag and brainchild of master photographer Nick Saglimbeni goes on sale Monday. Unlike anything that has come before in a number of ways the first issue of the magazine will no doubt be watched very closely by both the publishing and fashion industries. While the magazine will be available in print according to AP reports, it is primarily intended to be viewed online with simultaneous releases scheduled for the most popular digital reading platforms like Apple’s iPhone and iPad as well as Google’s Android devices. Beyond that the premier issue is shot and printed entirely in 3-D (wmb3.com offers free 3-D shades to anyone interested).
With such a unique format designed to help the viewer experience the true depth of an object it is no surprise that their first cover girl is the queen of curvaceousness herself Kim Kardashian. “Being stick-skinny is not something I strive for,” Kim said in an interview with the WMB. “I’m all about being healthy and being in shape… It’s not about having the perfect shape, its about finding the best you and being your best no matter what. You should never try to fit someone else’s mold. Anyone can be beautiful.”
Kim went on to explain that “I do work out hard and try to look my best, but when girls come up to me and tell me that I help them feel comfortable with their bodies, that’s when I say to myself, ‘OK, this makes it all worth it.'”
Last night Macy’s hosted a press preview to give the fashion world its first look at Karl Lagerfeld’s collaboration with the Macy’s Impulse label which will be available at all 230 Macy’s stores that carry Impulse as well as online at macys.com come August 31st. The photos, which show both individual shots of each item as well as a full collection shot, went online this morning and can now be found on numerous style websites such as styleite.com. As expected there is no shortage of high collars and there are plenty of dresses to be found in the collection. The collection also features scarfs with a custom Lagerfeld designed print and tees featuring a self portrait sketch by Karl himself.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Lagerfeld’s Macy’s collection is the price. With items ranging from between $50 and $170 it seems as if the Chanel creative director has not forgotten what affordable actually means, unlike some of his couture obsessed counterparts. It will be interesting to see how long Macy’s can keep the collection in stock considering that this is only Lagerfeld’s second low priced collection and the first to be made widely available in the United States.
Whether the collection manages to stay in stores through early fall or sells out in a matter of days (this writer is putting his money on the later of those two options) it is fairly clear that we will be seeing these styles on the street for the entire season to come. So mark your calendars and locate your nearest Macy’s store that features the Impulse boutique because Kaiser Karl is coming to America!
It was announced back in May that Czech supermodel Petra Nemcova was engaged to her boyfriend of eight months, British actor Jamie Bellman but at the time the details of the happy day were far from clear. However this week Petra sat down with The Telegraph to talk about her charity work and while she was at it dished on some of the more juicy wedding details as well. Petra told the paper that “In terms of the wedding and the preparation, there are some things set in stone, like the date, which will be in June 2012, and the wedding will be in England, since we both love England. It will be in the countryside”
Considering the beautiful shots from the Kate Moss wedding earlier this summer it would seem that the English countryside is a safe bet, and no doubt Petra and Jamie are not the only ones who will be staking money on it next summer. Petra was also good enough to divulge her dress designer. “The dress will be designed by Marchesa,” she told the Telegraph “the relationship with Marchesa, for me, has been for many, many years. It’s just nice to be able to wear them even on that special day. And I can’t wait to see what they will create.” Neither can we Petra.
Ms. Nemcova was previously engaged to photographer Simon Atlee who tragically was killed in the 2004 India Ocean tsunami that very nearly took Petra’s life as well. It was her experience during those harrowing days that lead Petra to found the Happy Hearts Fund, a charitable organization that helps disaster ravaged countries rebuild long after first responders have stood down. In her interview with the Telegraphy Petra proudly announced that over the last five years Happy Hearts has helped to reconstruct 51 schools destroyed by natural disasters and that the charity now maintains a presence in nine countries world wide.
Here’s wishing Ms. Nemcova a happy heart of her own for her up coming special day.
Last week The Orange County Register first broke the story of a massive product recall by the Chanel label, now the specifics of the recall have come to light and it seems as if they raise more questions then they answer. According to Styleite.com the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) prompted Chanel to issue the recall after they discovered that several of the label’s 2010 summer styles failed to meet the federal standard for garment flammability. The offending items, which include 120 different scarf cuts and prints as well as 34 blouses and dresses were sold through Chanel boutiques, Nieman Marcus and Maxfield during the months of March and April last year.
According to the CPSC most of the garments were returned to Chanel by May of 2010, a full year prior to the official recall. The CPSC’s alert goes on to note that anyone still in possession of one of these styles should “immediately stop using the garments and contact the firm to receive a full refund.” For the garments to have failed the federal flammability standard they would have to pose a serious risk to the wearer due to how easily they ignite and how rapidly they burn, which is often a problem experienced by certain types of polyester and other synthetics. The catch here is that all the Chanel products in question were 100 percent silk, which is notoriously hard to ignite.
The obvious questions here are why it took the CPSC over a year to test these products and why so many were returned to Chanel in such a short period of time after purchase? The most likely answer is that there was a defect in the production run that was sold between April and May, and it was a defect that the majority of consumers noticed. However Chanel has not offered any specifics as to what that defect may be, in point of fact they have yet to issue a public statement concerning the recall. For pure silk to fail a flammability test the fault would have to lie with the dyes used in print making or some other chemical that the silk was treated with, unless of course the items in question were not 100 percent silk.
At the moment it seems like Chanel knew there was a problem but was keeping quiet in the hopes of avoiding the black eye this recall will doubtlessly give their image. While it is hard to believe that Chanel would intentionally mislead their customers or use sub-standard material, with the rising costs of production it would not be surprising to find out one of the label’s suppliers did exactly that.
The folks over at Australian clothing label Evil Twin may know a thing or two about fashion, but they certainly didn’t pay attention in history class. Last week the brand came under intense criticism for naming one of the Parkas from their new fall line after the 1978 Sex Pistol’s song “Belsen was a Gas”. The problem here is that song in particular stirred plenty of its own controversy when first released in ’78 because the darkly humorous lyrics are a reference to the Bergan-Belsen concentration camp where 37,000 Jewish and Gypsy prisoners died of malnutrition and typhus during the second world war.
Evil Twin issued a public apology earlier in the week, which read in part:
“The management and staff of Evil Twin wishes to offer their most heartfelt apologies for any offense taken with the naming of our ‘Belsen Was a Gas Military Parka’. This is a most serious oversight on our part. We did not intend to refer to the tragic events which occurred during the Holocaust. We apologize for this oversight and any distress the garment name has caused. When the association was brought to our attention, we immediately withdrew the jacket from sale.”
A serious oversight indeed! Thus far Evil Twin has been true to their word as calls to their international retailers and visits to their websites reveal no such jacket available for sale, in fact they won’t even mention that it used to be there or why it was taken down for fear of having to repeat the name, (perhaps it should be referred to as the parka that should not be named). Regardless it appears that the label chose the name because the controversial and counterculture appeal of the Sex Pistols seems t0 fit with its own brand image. However it is very disappointing that they did not bother to research further as to why this particular Sex Pistols song stirred so much ire.
One thing is for sure, you can bet that Evil Twin’s marketing department will be doing plenty of fact checking from now on.
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