Samantha Cameron Sends Message as Champion of British Fashion Talent - Daily Beast

Content Section Mar 16, 2012 4:45 AM EDT

When Michelle Obama and Samantha Cameron appeared side-by-side for their photo op at the State Dinner on Wednesday night, it was hard not to wonder “Who Wore It Better?”—a kind of political fashion Olympics. There was Michelle Obama making a safe play in an off-the-shoulder teal dress designed by Georgina Chapman, the British-born and U.S.-based designer of Marchesa who was a guest at the dinner along with her husband, Harvey Weinstein. It was a gentle tip of the hat to British talent. Cameron, on the other hand, appeared in a blue lace design by a local underdog: the lesser-known Alessandra Rich, a London-based designer who began her business only two and a half years ago. In two very different dresses, each woman sent a message about fashion.

On her trip to the United States this week, Samantha Cameron flew the flag high for British designers. She landed in a Burberry trench coat, wore a color-blocked aqua dress by British favorite Roksanda Ilincic to their arrival ceremony in D.C., and an Erdem blouse upon her departure on Thursday. “I was so happy, I was speechless,” Rich told The Daily Beast from her home in London on Thursday evening of Cameron’s decision to wear her dress at the State Dinner. She says she received multiple inquiries from interested shoppers on Thursday about where they can find SamCam’s dress. (It’ll be on Net-A-Porter in a few weeks and at select retailers.)

Side-by-side, the first ladies resembled two pillars of fashion -- but it was hard not to wonder whether Cameron, next to the Obama powerhouse, could hold her own. While it is clear that Michelle Obama drives consumers to buy clothes from the brands she wears—whether it’s Target or Ralph Lauren—Samantha Cameron has less of a distinctive influence over British shoppers. Simply put, does anyone think SamCam is cool?

“Samantha Cameron is a more low-key and high-fashion by comparison,” says Melanie Rickey, fashion editor-at-large of the U.K.-based Grazia Magazine. “She’s influential, but not in the same way as Michelle Obama. She’s not going to cause women to stampede and buy dresses.”

“She wears young, new designers in a palatable way and makes them look like wearable clothes,” says Catherine Ostler, contributing editor at The Daily Mail. “But if you’re 24 you probably don’t care, because you think she’s a mother and married to some bloke who wears a suit. I think people who are over 30 are interested in how she dresses.”

As an official ambassador of the British Fashion Council, Cameron champions young homegrown brands—many of which are higher-end. Obama, on the other hand, is known for her crowd-pleasing mix of high and low fashion—a penchant to top off a J. Crew sweater with an Alaia belt. Kate Middleton, for her part, beats the drum for affordable “High Street” fashion, which usually sells out immediately in stores.

Michelle Obama and Samantha Cameron, the wife of British Prime Minister David Cameron, talked with members of the U.S. women's soccer team on Tuesday., Haraz N. Ghanbari / AP Photo

“There’s nobody who has near to the influence of Mrs. Obama on the marketplace,” says David Yermack, professor of finance at the Stern School of Business who analyzes changes in apparel company stock prices after Michelle Obama wears those designers to public events. Yermack found that the first lady’s fashion choices in 2009 led to immediate gains exceeding $5 billion in shareholder value for publicly-traded brands. (It’s impossible to know the real effect of her influence, he says, since most of the brands she wears are privately owned.) Other political wives, including Cameron, he says, “don’t make as many appearances and are operating in a smaller marketplace.” It may be tough to compare anyone with Obama, as she has “a sense of style that has attracted a following that few other women in public life have.” And as she continues to make steady appearances in 2012, Yermack says, the “Michelle Obama Effect” on the fashion industry is as strong now as it has ever been. “I’m surprised by its staying power,” he says. “You’d think people would lose interest.”

But popular British designers Peter Pilotto, Roksanda Ilincic, and Jonathan Saunders all tell The Daily Beast that Samantha Cameron wearing their designs has markedly helped their sales. (In fact, Cameron gifted the American first lady with a patterned scarf from Saunders’ last collection—a token we’ll surely see her wear across the White House lawn this spring.) “In Britain, she definitely has impact,” Pilotto says. “People really look to her.”

One young British designer, Louise Gray, says, however, that she wouldn’t be caught dead letting SamCam sport one of her designs. Sure, her Fall 2012 collection was inspired by punk legends like Shirley Manson (of the band Garbage) and Blondie—and included one incredible bra made of bubble-wrap—and doesn’t necessarily scream SamCam. Gray says she’s joked with Cameron about not wearing her clothes. “It’s too embarrassing,” she says. “Girls would never wear it if they saw it on the prime minister’s wife!”

Cameron may not be able to pull off a bubble-wrap bra—but even next to Obama, she’s seen as a valuable asset for Brits. “In Britain, there’s a big difference between being cool and being chic,” says Rickey, “Cool used to be the thing you wanted to be, but now it’s all about being chic. And [Samantha Cameron] is very, very chic.”

Even next to Kate Middleton and her Midas touch, Rickey says, “together I hope they could reach the power Mrs. Obama has over there. We have a lot going on this little island.”

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Toronto Fashion Week: Pink Tartan goes feminine cool - Globe and Mail

Published Friday, Mar. 16, 2012 11:10AM EDTThe throngs of street-style photographers and their neon-clad subjects may have subsided on the fourth day of Toronto’s World MasterCard Fashion Week, but designers still came out to play. Strong showings from some of the city’s finest rounded out the day, most notably from Ezra Constantine’s Kirk Pickersgill and Stephen Wong and Pink Tartan’s Kimberley Newport-Mimran. Who needs a stylish passerby when the tents hold the real sartorial talent?

Previously shown alongside its sister label Greta Constantine, Kirk Pickersgill and Stephen Wong presented a men’s wear collection that held its ground. Focusing on the idea of armour and protection, the line incorporated boiled wool, heavy knit sweaters and light touches of bondage alongside their signature draped cottons.

(Jenna Marie Wakani)

The label paid tribute to its Eve’s rib philosophy: The line started out after the success of the women’s wear. Naturally, it’s okay to borrow from the ladies. Sequins, which appeared on casual tops, managed to look masculine and completely wearable.

(Jenna Marie Wakani)

Another piece borrowed from the girls was a rounded shoulder top that was paired with slouchy silver pants. The looks were assertive, pitting tough fabrics with soft lines.

(Jenna Marie Wakani)

Playing with textures beyond soft cotton and jersey and new shapes proved a smart move for the duo. Knits were joined by boiled and square-woven wools, most notably in form of trousers draped like sweat pants.

(Jenna Marie Wakani)

Meanwhile, Pink Tartan designer Kimberley Newport-Mimran continued the love affair she began last season with the 1960s, showcasing sharp, swishy looks with a nod to Parisian cool. Slim tailored trousers made an appearance alongside coats trimmed with luxe fur – which permeated the collection in various forms and colours.

(Jenna Marie Wakani)

Ponyskin and astrakhan were among the textures here. When the two were combined, especially monochromatically, it worked to a beautiful effect. The styling, it should be noted, was done by Flare’s fashion director Liz Cabral, giving the often preppy collection a much more forward edge.

(Jenna Marie Wakani)

No one can cut a coat like Newport-Mimran, and the show’s highlights included more play with outerwear. Those furs flowed alongside the label’s signature girlish blouses and trousers, but the knife-sharp wools proved to be incredibly covetable.

(Jenna Marie Wakani)

Feminine vintage details such as peplums popped up throughout, most notably in a green silk suit. The monochromatic effect – and there was a lot of it – was often repetitive, but the jewel-toned separates could easily be mixed in with the label’s other pieces (and into customer’s closets).

(Jenna Marie Wakani)

Calgary native Caitlin Power, perennially labelled as one to watch, proved that she can deliver consistently season after season. This time around, her namesake line drew inspiration from science, technology and atmospheric purity, according to the liner notes.

(Jenna Marie Wakani)

The theme manifested itself into graphic lines on coats, blouses and rounded shoulders – but gave off more of a surf feel, especially in the round shapes and neoprene fabrics throughout the collection.

(Jenna Marie Wakani)

There was something for guys, too. A leafy printed dress shirt and drop-crotch trousers were particularly notable and worked. More directional sheer tops with vests for men, though, were a bit forward. But take the pieces apart from the styling, however, and the men’s separates stood out on their own.

(Jenna Marie Wakani)

Graphic elements were present even in the jewellery, which was cool and understated, designed by Toronto’s Ana Bogdanovic. (Yes, she made the silver toe caps on the stilettos, too.) Necklaces were often styled with button-up blouses in silk, most effectively this cream number with green piping.

(Jenna Marie Wakani)

Toronto Fashion Week: Caitlin Power is happy, calm and in control of her fall ... - Toronto Star

The designer makes last-minute adjustments with a model before the runway show.

RANDY RISLING/TORONTO STAR

Twenty minutes before the second big fashion show of her young career begins, someone walks up to Caitlin Power cradling a pair of pants in her arms like an infant.

“Excuse me, this has a hole,” the woman says.

“Oh my God,” says Power.

PHOTOS: Caitlin Power designs marked by alienesque, androgynous looks

The pair stand staring at each other for a long moment.

“Can someone sew them for me?” Power asks.

“Er … well … I … don’t …,” the woman says, looking over her shoulder for imaginary help.

Power reaches out and takes the pants. She walks them over to a folding table and begins digging through her bag. She’ll sew them.

Power, a 23-year-old from Calgary, has been planning this show at Toronto Fashion Week for six months.

For those six months, she’s had control of every aspect of her vision. For the hour and a half leading up to the walk down the runway, she has to give some away.

First, the hair and make-up.

Power wants her models to look “spacey, alienesque.”

This is apparently hard to convey to a make-up person.

Behind the stage, 40 estheticians are working. The room is steaming like a bathhouse. A passel of bored-looking late arrivals are sitting on folding chairs, waiting their turn. It’s the world’s prettiest dentist’s office.

Power is circling the chairs, chatting, remarkably laid back. Her support team of five crowds around her protectively.

She stops in front of one of her models and hesitates. She’s not sold. One of the eyebrows is “blocked out” with white plaster, a hairless stripe. The other eyebrow is heavily caked in make-up, revealing some hair. Power holds a hand up in front the model, Aleisha, looking at one eyebrow in isolation and then the other. This won’t work.

The make-up chief is called over, already flustered and growing unhappy.

“I think it’s so scary,” Power says of the hairless eyebrow.

“I think you should make a final decision, please,” the make-up boss says.

Power chooses. The make-up boss stomps off.

Once Aleisha is done right, Power walks her up and down the line of chairs — a 5-foot-10 instruction manual.

“I want them to look cohesive,” Power says.

Make-up boss swings back into the picture, still itching for a scrap.

“They look different,” Power says.

“But they are different. His skin tone (and here she points to one of Power’s male models) is like . . . ”

And she storms off again without finishing.

Advantage Power.

Throughout, Power remains serene. She might even be having fun. She’s pretty enough to star in her own show, and made prettier still by her ease.

“We’re still getting RSVPs,” one of her publicity people coos with less than an hour to go.

“Oh, oh, good!” Power shouts, jumping up and down. “Anybody like . . . ”

She lets “like” hang in the air, the word “important” unsaid.

The PR lady smiles. Plenty of likes.

With 45 minutes to go, the models are escorted into a curtained-off cubby backstage. Power and her stylist, Amanda Lao, are handing them clothes. They wait until the model is dressed. Then they stand back and stare. Really stare.

And then the pair descend. They begin adjusting, tucking, folding, pulling and pushing.

In the midst of one of these manoeuvres, one model, Oliver, looks up from where the two women are fussing over his trouser cuffs. He raises his eyebrows. Tough job.

A half hour before the 5 p.m. curtain, Power & Co. schlep all their gear into the room directly behind the catwalk.

“Models are coming in!” a stage director shrieks.

Volunteer dressers stream in first, one for each model. Power is still sewing. There’s a lot of un-self-conscious nudity happening.

Power’s phone rings. She can talk and sew at the same time.

“Right, yeah, it’s the white tent,” she says and hangs up.

She’s the calmest person in the room.

With five minutes left, Power is looking over each model. The models are being moved around like human furniture. To a man and woman, they are oblivious.

How do you become a model? Two steps. Be beautiful. Have no sense of personal space.

Five o’clock arrives and Power and a couple of her posse are dancing in the doorway. There’s no point in talking. The music is far too loud.

The models begin to line up. A pair of women are down on their knees bronzing the calves of all the models wearing skirts. Power calls her charges to attention.

“Powerful faces. You are the future,” Power instructs at high volume. “And no hands on hips.”

The show kicks off at 5:04. Eighteen outfits. It’s over at 5:11.

Power lets out a war whoop when the last model files back in. Her smile hasn’t changed.

An instant after it’s over, the models have fled and the room is once again nearly bare.

Six months for seven minutes. Time to start planning again.

More on Toronto Fashion Week from the Toronto Star

Cathal Kelly is a sports columnist.

Steals & Deals: A Fashion Week Designer Clothing Swap - National Post

Nathalie Atkinson? Mar 16, 2012 – 8:04 AM ET | Last Updated: Mar 16, 2012 9:01 AM ET

It’s St. Patrick’s Day eve. How green is your closet? The organizers at Fashion Takes Action, Canada’s only stylish non-profit to focus on sustainability, hope it’s an emerald hue and are helping make that happen by organizing Covet Their Closet, a vintage and designer labels-only fashion swap on the final day of Toronto Fashion Week. Simply bring gently worn, recently cleaned quality goods – from garments and shoes to accessories such as belts, scarves and handbags – with you to the swap (a minimum of one item to swap is required), and get trading.

On top of that, Fashion Takes Action member designers and companies have donated brand-new eco fashions to supplement the offerings at the swap, and FTA has also enlisted boldface to contribute some closet gems: FDCC president Robin Kay, Moe Kelso and The F-List’s Leesa Butler are but a few (trust that we know Leesa and she has an impressive shoe collection, and surely has a few to spare).

FTA also encourages everyone to take a pledge to Resize Their Fashion Footprint, where they will be entered in to a draw to win an energy efficient “Eco” iron by Rowenta Canada. The Pledge was developed in partnership with the City of Toronto Live Green program, in an effort to help consumers gauge the environmental impact of their wardrobe.

From 10am-2pm at The Tents, David Pecaut Square, 60 Simcoe Street,, $20 at the door, $10 for World MasterCard Fashion Week pass holders

Posted in: Posted Toronto, Arts & Culture? Tags: Fashion Takes Action, post toronto, posted toronto, Retail Therapy, Steals & Deals, Steals and Deals, Toronto, Toronto Fashion Week, World MasterCard Fashion Week

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Kim in lingerie (again!) and more fashion news! - Rediff

Rihanna has posted a topless photo on Twitter to show off her impressive physique and her natural hair colour, after her father Ronald Fenty, spoke about her having put on weight.

Fenty, with whom the singer has had a long and rocky relationship, praised her ex Chris Brown while putting his own daughter down.

In the upcoming issue of Heat Magazine, Fenty spoke about the Umbrella hitmaker having put on weight.

"I actually thought she was a little fat the last time I saw her," he told the magazine of the singer's enviable curves, adding that "she's dieting, she's working out," the New York Daily News reported.

"When I saw her this time, I thought she was back to her normal size," he said of Rihanna's slender appearance at this year's Grammys.

"I used to joke with her, 'Robyn, you're getting too fat!' but I think she's fine. I think she looked excellent, as everyone saw, at the Grammys."

Soon after the interview went public, the 24-year-old took to Twitter and posted a topless photo to show off her impressive physique and her natural hair colour.

In the interview, Fenty also spoke out about Rihanna's famous ex, Brown.

"Chris is a nice guy, and everybody's entitled to make mistakes in their life," Fenty said. "God knows how many I've made."

Fenty and Rihanna were not on speaking terms as recently as 2010, and have only recently begun to communicate again.

Despite their turbulent past, however, Fenty didn't appear to have any qualms about the couple potentially getting back together.

"She's her own woman now," he added.

View the original article here

Toronto Fashion Week: Is fashion art? - Toronto Star

2012/03/15 22:58:00 Robin Kay, executive director of Toronto Fashion Week.

aaron Harris/for the Toronto Star

Designers are artists but fashion is not art, says show boss

Is fashion art?

“No,” according to Robin Kay, president of the Fashion Design Council of Canada, and executive director of Toronto Fashion Week.

But, she adds, fashion designers are artists. “It is impossible to create a collection without the gift, the genetic makeup, the talent that I put in the category of artist.”

Despite the creativity involved in designing clothes, fashion is still a money-making industry, Kay says. “The artist designer must perform the business components to have success,” she said in an email.

The question of whether fashion can exist within the same sphere as paintings and sculptures has long been up for debate. It was the focus of discussion at Fashion as Art: Exposed, a fundraiser at Toronto Fashion Week for the McMichael Canadian Art Collection’s new exhibit, Fashionality: Dress and Identity in Contemporary Canadian Art.

The fundraiser, which celebrates the fusion of art and fashion, honoured seven designers, including D’Arcy Moses.

For his part, Moses is a firm believer that the two are inseparable.

“It’s no different than doing a marble sculpture . . . just the whole creative process,” he said. “(Fashion) is an industry that’s an art form.”

Moses adds he is frustrated by the lack of government funding given to fashion projects. The Canada Council for the Arts, a crown corporation that supports dance, music and other art, has repeatedly rejected Moses’s grant applications to fund his gallery shows, he says. “I’ve gotten responses back saying, ‘Sorry, we don’t consider fashion as an art. It’s an industry.’”

Julia Pine, curator of Fashionality, says the question of whether fashion is art is complex.

“Fashion is a very wide concept and art is a very wide concept,” she said. “Art does have a lot of parallels with fashion.”

Although she declined to give an equivocal answer, Pine conceded that, “The worlds are definitely colliding more these days.”

Robin Kay, executive director of Toronto Fashion Week.

aaron Harris/for the Toronto Star

Steal the show at a fashion week - Hindustan Times

Bollywood celebrities looked their best as they walked the ramp for different designers at the Lakme Fashion Week. The LFW featured creations by over 83 designers and culminated with a grand finale on March 6 in Mumbai.more photos ? If the recently-concluded fashion weeks in the country made you think it’s tough to make an impact with your appearance, then here are some secrets gathered from some definite scene-stealers in the audience at fashion weeks. Please wear dark glasses all the time. It keeps people guessing, and the photographers will click plenty of shots of you from all angles, just in case. Of course, you do run the danger of tripping over in the main show area where it’s not so bright and sunny, but you’ll learn to manage.
Legs are attention grabbers. Do flash yours. Shorts work wonderfully; a mini skirt works nicely too.
Wear boots, Uggs, or? knee-highs, even if it’s 34°C? outside. They make an impression and show you have a good collection.
Vertiginous heels make good eye-catchers. Especially if you are a front row regular. But the drama is outside. Stomp up and down many times as if you were born with your feet at a 45° angle.
Wear a hat! So what if you block the view of people behind you? The cameras will catch you; they are so desperate for offbeat visuals.
A fur stole, or feathers work wonders. No, please don’t go out with a gun looking for furry things to embellish your wardrobe; the faux version is just as good.
Stand prominently and get a friend to take your photographs; it is a great idea to kick-start the attention.

Toronto Fashion Week: David Dixon inspired by Hitchcock's The Birds - Toronto Star

Videos for 2012 Toronto Fashion Week.

2012/03/16 10:42:00 Dixon was bold in his pairing of complimentary yet contrasting textures, such as dark lace trims on coats.

CARLOS OSORIO/TORONTO STAR

Alfred Hitchcock, the master of macabre movies, has always been an unlikely inspiration for fashion designers. Most likely it’s due to those beautiful icy blond heroines the director was famous for employing.

And it was Tippi Hedren and Hitchcock’s film The Birds that served as an inspiration for David Dixon’s Fall 2012 collection at Toronto Fashion Week. That, and also a weekend at the cottage last summer where the designer said he marvelled at the variety of birds in the neighborhood.

PHOTOS: David Dixon Fall/Winter 2012 collection

But the collection that Dixon sent out played on the clean lines and textures of Hedren’s costumes in the 1963 film The Birds. Severe pencil skirts, hourglass dresses and demure lady-like cream coats edged in black lace. And of course, there were dark feathers — lots of dark feathers — on long evening gowns, cocktail dresses and one fabulous evening coat covered in plumes that drew a gasp from the audience.

But it wasn’t all dark killer birds that Dixon seemed to have in mind. The designer sent out some beautiful embroidered sapphire blue dresses, lightly embellished with sequins. It brought to mind a more beautiful fine feathered creature — the peacock.

More Fashion Week coverage

Dixon was bold in his pairing of complimentary yet contrasting textures, such as dark lace trims on coats.

CARLOS OSORIO/TORONTO STAR

Train whistles, fashion show mark Girl Scouts' 100th anniversary - The Durango Herald

In honor of the Girl Scouts? 100th anniversary, 87 girls from Southwest Colorado rode the D&SNGR train from Durango to Cascade Canyon and back, accompanied by their troop leaders.

They were greeted by a crowd of parents, alumni and dressed-up members of the La Plata County Historical Society, singing songs and snapping photos as the Scouts waved from the train windows.

While the group celebrated with train rides over the weekend, the true anniversary is Monday.

One hundred years ago that day, Juliette Gordon Low called girls in her neighborhood in Savannah, Ga., assembling the first group of 18 Girl Scouts, said Scout trainer Shelly Hartney, who was decked out in a Girl Scout jumpsuit from 1968 along with bright green hair and even glittery green eyebrows for the occasion.

Where there are Girl Scouts, there usually are cookies, and while the organization may be 100 years old, Thin Mints, Samoas and even the first simple sugar cookies are a bit younger.

The Girl Scouts first started baking cookies in 1917 to support the organization, and by the 1930s, the organization circulated official menus and cookie recipes, Hartney said.

Today, Girl Scout cookie sales represent the largest girl-run business in the world, said Cindi Graves, a Girl Scouts Colorado community relations manager.

The Girl Scouts have been going global since 1925, when the first overseas troop popped up in China, said Carol Rhan, assistant CEO and director of membership services with USA Girl Scouts Overseas.

Now, more than 145 countries are represented in the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.

?It?s much bigger than your little thing here,? Rhan said. ?It?s a world thing.?

At the train depot, a small group of Colorado?s modern Girl Scouts paid tribute to their roots with a fashion show of antique uniforms.

Two of the tiniest girls stuck out in the green sea, modeling early Brownies uniforms, complete with authentic brown caps and dresses.

When the older Girl Scouts? younger sisters wanted to help, the Brownies were formed and became helpers to the older girls, Graves said.

Other girls modeled vintage Junior Girl Scout and Girl Scout uniforms, and even two of the troop leaders got in on the fun with retro adult uniforms.

Fort Lewis College, which recently celebrated a centennial anniversary of its own, sponsored the day of train rides, fashion shows and sing-alongs. The D&SNGR helped out by offering a special rate for the train ride, and Carver Brewing Co. is selling Girl Scout cookie pancakes this morning to benefit the organization.

While the Girl Scouts have come a long way over the decades, some things haven?t changed much.

?We like to make friends, and we sell cookies,? said 10-year-old Savannah Unger, who?s been a part of the Girl Scouts for five years.

Savannah and her friend, 10-year-old Alexia Schmiesing, laughed as they recalled the train ride. Everybody thought it was going to tip over at the river, they said giggling.

As for what?s kept girls and alumni involved in the Girl Scouts for 100 long years, it?s pretty simple.

?It?s pretty much just fun!? Alexia said.

Enlargephoto LUCAS HESS/Durango Herald

Eighty-six Girl Scouts participated in a centennial event for the organization Saturday at Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad & Museum with a train ride, sing-alongs and uniform fashion show.

Enlargephoto LUCAS HESS/ Durango Herald

Members of Girl Scouts Troop 4165 display every uniform used during the 100-year existence of the organization during a centennial event Saturday at Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad & Museum.

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Tech Couture: Fashion keeps a date with augmented reality - Business Standard

Tech Couture: Fashion keeps a date with augmented reality M Saraswathy / Mumbai Mar 12, 2012, 11:58 IST

Futuristic technologies that provide interactive consumer experiences like in the sci-fi movie The Minority Report may be here sooner than you think. After a virtual Cheetah alongside Mahindra & Mahindra's XUV500 wowed onlookers at the recently concluded Auto Expo, it was Godrej Interio's turn to woo fashionistas by showcasing its new furniture line at the Lakme Fashion Week using augmented reality (AR).

Augmented reality is an overlay of graphics onto a video stream or other real-time display. Marketers expect AR campaigns to show up everywhere, from the grocery store and the shopping mall to in magazines and on billboards.

Bedraj Tripathi, head (marketing), Godrej Interio explains that the products were first shot using a film which was followed by making cut outs of the products. This cut out was projected on top of the live film at fashion week. “So, the two feeds were merged to make it look like one. Shifting from live to virtual and vice-versa on real-time basis, is what the technology needs," added Tripathi.

Not stopping at just one campaign, Anil Mathur, COO, Godrej Interio informs that the brand will use augmented reality technology to use this technology in some of its retail outlets too. "There may be some premium products that would not be available in our stores. So, we would use augmented reality to give a sense of how a product looks to the customer," Mathur said.

In India, a handful of brands have experimented with AR. Fast food chain McDonald's had last year launched its new dessert McFlurry Oreo using AR where a user could point their smartphone camera at the picture of the dessert and the image of McFlurry would swirl and bounce on the handheld’s screen.

Digital marketing teams of companies across the globe are in the process of producing some kind of viral, social marketing or augmented reality promotional material. "A lot of brands have opened up to augmented reality and are approaching us for it. The M&M campaign, saw people experiencing the technology and enjoying it. The brand made an impact in the public's mind. The XUV campaign's motive was to be a crowd puller and it succeeded," said Carlton D'Silva, chief creative officer, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment that created AR campaigns for M&M and Godrej. While he did not disclose the cost incurred in such a project, D’Silva emphasized that the cost of customer acquisition is lower than in online marketing.

Hungama is now in the process of launching three to four augmented reality brand campaigns in the next two months and each, promises D’Silva, will be different. “Hungama is also experimenting to include AR more engaging with the help of features like gesture-based controls, making the technology accessible on range of devices on a real time basis etc,” he informed.

Tripathi of Godrej too is betting on AR being the next big thing for the retail marketers. "Retailers can use this technology to help customers try several clothes in a store without having to wear them. Emotion sensing technology would be a necessary addition to augmented reality in the future," he said.

But, Chris George, founder and CEO of EBS Worldwide, an international marketing & technology services firm, is of the view that the real impact of AR on marketing is yet to be gauged. "One needs to ascertain whether the campaigns using augmented technology have an actual impact. We need to understand if it is merely of gimmick value or causes consumer engagement. I believe that though brand building has occurred by the use of the medium, sales is an area where things are yet to move," he said.

Fashion Follies to benefit needy in Talbot County - The Star Democrat

Posted: Sunday, March 11, 2012 12:00 am | Updated: 10:34 am, Sun Mar 11, 2012.

EASTON Tickets are still available for the annual Fashion Follies cocktail preview party, part of a St. Vincent de Paul Society fundraiser scheduled the weekend of April 20 at Knights of Columbus Hall.

All of the proceeds from the fundraiser will go to the needy of Talbot County. A two-hour cocktail preview party and silent auction is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, April 20, and should include a boutique and jewelry bazaar, along with a cash bar.

"The Friday event will give you first chance to shop at the Boutique and Jewelry Bazaar," said Carlyn Diamond, chairman of Friday's event. "Plus, there is a great selection of items for the Silent Auction. For just $15, you can enjoy a fun filled evening, and your biggest prize is you will have helped SVDP continue its good works for the needy of Talbot County."

Also that weekend, a sold-out fashion show and luncheon is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Sunday, April 22. That event should feature spring clothing and accessories from the society's new thrift center and boutique on Canvasback Drive.

Doors open at 11:30 a.m.

"The Fashion Follies has become one of the most important fundraisers for the Society," said Alex Handy, president of SVDP. "Last year, the society provided almost $114,000 in food and financial assistance to families in Talbot County, and another $25,000 in clothes and furniture. SVDP also gave out 5,076 bags of groceries last year."

Contact Audrey McNulty 410-822-4758 or Marge Boyer 410-745-2299 for tickets. If you are unable to attend, consider making a contribution at 29533 Canvasback Drive, Easton, MD 21601.

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'Fashion Star' is designed with retail in mind - Baltimore Sun

Clothing designer Nicholas Bowes at his factory near downtown Los Angeles. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Fashion ought to be a no-brainer for television: It's fun to look at, appeals to a spending-happy demographic and involves outsized personalities who tend to believe it's their professional duty to create drama. Yet the history of reality TV is littered with fashion-based shows that never caught on or flamed out after one season. When NBC's "Fashion Star" launches Tuesday, it will be going where many shows have gone — and stumbled — before.

The most notable exception is "Project Runway," the design show at the forefront of the niche since 2004. "Fashion Star" is being produced by Magical Elves, the same team that developed "Runway." But while "Runway" focuses on the artistic side of the fashion industry, "Fashion Star" plans to shine a spotlight on retail.

The series could have been called "Shopping Star": Its new twist is that the show's contestants will be designing clothing that the audience can actually buy in a store the next day.

The judges on "Fashion Star" aren't fellow designers but representatives of three major retail chains: H&M, Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue. In each episode, they'll bid on their favorite pieces of men's and women's wear, and the winning store will begin selling the clothing after the final credits roll. See a dress you like on the NBC runway? With a well-timed shopping trip, you could wear it out to dinner less than 24 hours later. The hope is that by reframing the discussion around buying clothes rather than creating them, the show will feel accessible to people who've never fantasized about graduating from FIDM but do indulge in regular visits to the mall.

"Fashion Star" — which will air at 10 p.m. in the plum spot after NBC's biggest hit, "The Voice" — is the first big fashion competition to run on network television as well as NBC's first foray into the rag trade. Executive producer Ben Silverman, former president of NBC Entertainment, sees the real-world business element as crucial to keeping reality television fresh.

"This is just a game show with Saks, Macy's and H&M as contestants," he says. If the clothing doesn't sell, the store that invested in it takes a hit — and potentially, so does the show's credibility. This could be the first network program for which next-day sales are as important as next-day ratings.

It's an unusual approach, but the world of fashion-based reality shows could use a shake-up. "Project Runway" continues to hold its ground despite a contentious and highly publicized move from Bravo to Lifetime. (Last year's Season 9 of "Project Runway" on Lifetime had an average viewership of 2.8 million people, according to Nielsen.) It has birthed two offshoots, "Project Accessory" and the current "Project Runway All-Stars," in which designers from earlier seasons, such as Michael Costello and Kenley Collins, return to compete.

But other design contests haven't been so lucky. Though Bravo has had success with traditional narrative reality shows like "The Rachel Zoe Project" and its spinoff "It's a Brad Brad World," competitive programs like "The Fashion Show" and "Launch My Line" never found a foothold, and the network hasn't announced whether "Mad Fashion," starring "Runway" vet Chris March, will return. Lifetime recently launched a fashion contest, "24 Hour Catwalk," to weak ratings.

"High fashion, real fashion, is quirky and eccentric. It does not lend itself to the broad strokes of TV," notes Simon Doonan, author of "Eccentric Glamour" and creative ambassador of Barneys. Perhaps that's why "Fashion Star," according to executive producer Jane Lipsitz of Magical Elves, is "about creating clothes for America. It's a really mainstream fashion show, and that's what fashion is these days."

Silverman also stresses the difference between "Fashion Star" and "Project Runway": "We're not doing rarefied, only-for-rich-people clothes. And it's not people making clothes out of meat. We're doing sundresses and bathing suits."

For "Fashion Star," recruiting contestants with the potential to create a marketable collection was key, like Luciana Scarabello of Miami, whose dress line is sold across the country, or L.A.'s Nicholas Bowes. An Australia-born former model, he's already established two lines for himself: KRMA, which specializes in leather jackets and knitwear, and a self-titled collection focusing on higher-end menswear. In the show's premiere, he exudes arrogance, boasting that his greatest strength is "my knowledge of what needs to be done to create a brand."

Says executive producer E.J. Johnston, "What's the dream-come-true moment? It's not the runway show. It's when [the stores] give you $10,000 for a piece. That's what makes you real. That's the moment that I think a lot of the other efforts in the fashion space have missed."

The producers hope their buyers — Caprice Willard of Macy's, Terron E. Schaefer of Saks and Nicole Christie of H&M — will become famous in their own right. But the show doesn't forgo more established stars. Supermodel Elle Macpherson is the host, and Jessica Simpson, Nicole Richie and John Varvatos act as "celebrity mentors." Their presence further reinforces the idea that "Fashion Star" is about real-world shopping rather than high-concept design. Varvatos makes wearable menswear, and Simpson and Richie are among a recent wave of young female stars who've converted their fame into cash via clothing lines.

It's a combination that could appeal both to fashion insiders and the public. "'Project Runway' isn't successful because the designers are so great, it's because of Michael Kors, Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia and Tim Gunn," says Lauren Sherman, executive digital editor of the fashion magazine Lucky. "'America's Next Top Model' is successful because of Tyra Banks. Who cares about the models? Jessica Simpson can carry a show, Nicole Richie can carry a show. And they'll be there with Elle Macpherson, who is also a strong voice, a strong point of view, and known inside the fashion world and out."

It's still a big gamble: Fashion fans, after all, are notoriously fickle. So why would any network take a chance on the genre?

"People are fascinated by good-looking people wearing spectacular clothing," says Shari Levine, Bravo senior vice president of production, of fashion reality shows. She adds that these programs generally are not controversial and thus "very friendly to the ad sales community.... So it's good from a monetization standpoint." The potential for new forms of product placement — a field pioneered by "Project Runway" and "America's Next Top Model" — also doesn't hurt.

Add to that "Fashion Star's" retail angle. Although "Project Runway" has experimented with merchandising (Season 5 winner Leanne Marshall sold a collection through Bluefly.com in 2009, and last fall Anya Ayoung-Chee's "Runway"-winning look sold out on Piperlime.com), NBC's new competition takes this concept much further.

Saks will carry clothing designed on the show in all 46 locations, and H&M plans to stock it in 100 American stores. Macy's will carry winning items only in its Manhattan flagship store and online, though it plans to stock merchandise from Season 1's final winner in other U.S. locations.

None of the stores has spent money on traditional commercials during the show, because they'll be prominently featured in each episode. They do, however, shoulder the burden if the clothing fails to sell. Their financial stake is actually a big part of the hook, says Silverman: "They're invested on a serious level, because they're putting in the production order, taking that risk."

The stores will produce the clothes themselves. Once they've recouped their initial investment, they'll pay out the designers, the producers, the network, and their partners.

According to Silverman, NBC isn't looking at the "Fashion Star" clothing line as a major source of revenue; he claims the appeal is creative, not financial. But if the show hits, NBC will have achieved TV alchemy, turning behind-the-scenes merchandising into ratings gold. And it will join the ranks of entertainment industry figures — like its own "Fashion Star" judges Simpson and Richie and host Macpherson — in making a profit off of apparel.

calendar@latimes.com

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Fashion reality shows have made them all the rage - Los Angeles Times

Fashion reality shows have had a big payoff for some participants, catapulting them to full-fledged stardom in the world of style.

Christian Siriano was a design student who had apprenticed with industry bigs Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood before he won "Project Runway's" Season 4. Since then, his independent label has become a powerhouse, showing in New York each season, appearing in fashion magazines around the world and dressing stars including Christina Hendricks, Nicki Minaj, Sarah Jessica Parker, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Vanessa Williams, Fergie, Rihanna and "Project Runway" host Heidi Klum. He has had design partnerships with Puma, Starbucks, LG Electronics, Payless ShoeSource and Spiegel. In 2010, at age 24, he was listed by Crain's New York Business as one of its "40 under Forty" up-and-comers.

Rachel Zoe, a freelance fashion stylist whose clients have included the Backstreet Boys, Lindsay Lohan, Mischa Barton, Keira Knightley and Nicole Richie, is the center of Bravo's "The Rachel Zoe Project," which takes viewers into the world of celebrity dressing. Since its premiere in 2008, the show has made the 40-year-old Zoe a household name and a regular in the pages of People. Last year she stepped up from stylist to fashion designer with the launch of her own women's wear collection. She's been a consultant for Piperlime.com, collaborated with designer Judith Lieber on a collection of handbags and been the celebrity face of Samsung's BlackJack cellphone ad campaign. She shares fashion advice on the Zoe Report website and wrote a book, "Style A to Zoe," with fashion journalist Rose Apodaca.

Tim Gunn spent many years laboring in relative obscurity on the faculty of the Parsons School of Design before becoming the on-air mentor to the competitors on "Project Runway," starting with its initial season in 2004. Gunn, 58, subsequently landed a gig as creative director at Liz Claiborne; starred in a Bravo spinoff, "Tim Gunn's Guide to Style," for two seasons; and wrote two books, with a third, "Tim Gunn's Fashion Bible," scheduled for publication this September. He has made guest appearances on sitcoms including "How I Met Your Mother" and "Gossip Girl" and is a host of ABC's daytime talk show "The Revolution."

Brad Goreski was only a few months past graduation at USC and had worked for three months as an assistant to Vogue's West Coast editor when he was cast on the initial season of "The Rachel Zoe Project" as one of the star's assistants. Three years later, he and Zoe are no longer speaking for reasons that remain mysterious. But Goreski, 34, just finished the first season of his own show, "It's a Brad Brad World." His client list has grown from one — Jessica Alba —- to include Demi Moore, Christina Ricci, Rashida Jones, Shay Mitchell and Noomi Rapace. He published his first book, "Born to Be Brad: My Life and Style So Far" with Elle columnist Mickey Rapkin, last week. And he has a contract to be the exclusive stylist for the Kate Spade fashion line.

Kelly Cutrone played herself in MTV's reality show "The Hills" and its spinoff "The City," employing wannabe fashionistas Lauren Conrad and Whitney Port at her fashion publicity and branding company, People's Revolution. Cutrone parlayed that into her own Bravo reality show, "Kell on Earth," and two nonfiction books, the 2010 memoir "If You Have to Cry, Go Outside: And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You," and 2011's "Normal Gets You Nowhere." She joined "Dr. Phil" as a contributor in 2010, and this year signed on as a judge on "America's Next Top Model."

Nick Verreos was a freelance patternmaker, co-designer for a small, Los Angeles-based women's line called NIKOLAKI and an instructor at Los Angeles' Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising when he appeared on Season 2 of "Project Runway." Since then Verreos, 45, has found fame as a frequent red carpet commentator for outlets including TV Guide Network and E! Entertainment. He appeared on MTV's "The Hills" and the WB's "Crowned," has been part of the Glam Squad on MSN.com's "Style Studio" and written about fashion for Us Weekly.

susan.denley@latimes.com

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'Fashion Star' mentor Jessica Simpson talks about new show - Tulsa World

The singer, designer and business woman has seen her Jessica Simpson Collection, which includes 22 product categories, surpass $1 billion - that's B for billion - in retail sales.

Simpson is known for her music but more so for asking her former husband Nick Lachey the infamous "Chicken of the Sea" question on their reality TV show "Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica." "Is this chicken what I have, or is this fish? I know it's tuna, but it says 'chicken by the sea.' " she asked back in 2003.

Flash forward to 2012 where, in the past five years, she and her team have grown her collection's product line to include footwear, handbags, denim, eyewear, lingerie, jewelry, outerwear, belts, luggage, ready-to-wear and two fragrances.

Last week, the pregnant mogul revealed her nude "Elle" magazine cover. She and fiance Eric Johnson are expecting a baby girl this spring. On Tuesday, she takes a "The Biggest Loser" contestant on a shopping spree and, later that evening, serves as a mentor for up-and-coming designers on the debut of the new NBC series "Fashion Star."

"Fashion Star" is a search for the next big brand with a twist - the winning fashions will be available in stores the day after the episode in which they are selected by buyers. And, in the end, the winning designer will get a contract worth $6 million in orders for his or her collection.

The series features host, executive producer and former supermodel Elle MacPherson; celebrity mentors Simpson, Nicole Richie and John Varvatos; and judges/buyers Caprice Willard (Macy's), Terron E. Schaefer (Saks Fifth Avenue) and Nicole Christie (H&M).

The challenges for the designers will include all aspects of the real world of building a fashion empire and a brand.

Keeping it about the customers is an all-important lesson Simpson learned when she started out in fashion, she said in a recent teleconference.

"At the beginning, I thought everything that I wanted to create was right and that that's what everybody should be wearing," said the Texas native. "But look, I don't wear flats and I'm very, very pregnant and it's my biggest selling shoe in the Jessica Simpson Collection, so I had to give in and be like 'OK, well 90 percent of America wears flats.' I really had to teach myself that it wasn't about everything that just I would wear.

"It's about looking at a person and giving them an overall look. And everybody is different and everybody has a different sense of style, so I need to really understand everyone's sense of style and make it cohesive in my brand."

Those competing on the show are already good designers, explained Simpson, and the challenges are simple.

"I think that simplicity is one of the hardest things to do as a designer, but it's also that the simple pieces are always the pieces that sell the most and they're your everyday wear in your closet."

She also stressed that the designers had to be able to design a great pair of pants but also be able to mastermind an ad campaign - "everything that goes into building an empire."

The show's producers brought in consultants to advise contestants about presenting fashions, creating billboards, how items will look in fashion magazines and even answering questions. It's the way a modern and real business operates, executive producer Ben Silverman said.

For Simpson, whose collection is known for being affordable and fashionable, the devil is in the detail of designing things like shoes. She knows what makes the "perfect" shoe.

"It's like if I see a shoe and the stitching isn't tonal, I like have a panic attack. And everybody in the company knows don't show Jessica a black shoe with white stitching on it.

"I mean, there are tons of little tricks that go into making the perfect shoe, but I think color is really important and different sizes of heels. There are all sorts of different kinds of tricks for making your legs look longer. ... A nude heel on light skin really elongates the leg. And when you throw in a pop of color, it makes it a different look."

"Fashion Star" is not airing live because of the lead time required to make sure the fashions were manufactured and would be available online the night of each show and in stores the next day. It was filmed early last summer - before Simpson became pregnant. She's looking forward to seeing the TV series and her collection in its very first runway show.

"It will be amazing to see myself with a waistline," she said, laughing. "I'll be like a big blob sitting on the couch watching myself thin."
When: 8:30 p.m. Tuesday

Where: NBC, channel 2, cable 9
Each episode begins with a fashion show featuring models wearing the designs plus musical performances and dancers all in front of a studio audience.

Although the designers are usually unknown, they may already have collections of their own.

Each fashion show is a built around a challenge designed to develop and expand the designers' brands. Those designers whose men's and women's fashions are not bought by buyers at the end of each episode will be up for elimination. The mentors will be allowed to save one contestant each.

The winning designs will be available for purchase online after each broadcast and in the stores the next day.

A twist in the show is that the buyers are competing against each other to buy the fashions in real time.

The series moves to 9 p.m. Tuesdays starting March 20.

Original Print Headline: Step into style

Rita Sherrow 918-581-8360
rita.sherrow@tulsaworld.com

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Top 10 moments from fall fashion shows - New Zealand Herald

Some stunning collections were presented, but the Fall 2012 show season in New York, London, Milan and Paris was dominated largely by the news off the runway, with two influential designers leaving their labels. From farewells to pants, celebration and celebrity, Viva's fashion features editor Zoe Walker looks back on the moments that shaped the season.

1. Farewell Raf Simons

Widely regarded as one of fashion's most talented, and interesting, designers, Raf Simons presented his final collection for Jil Sander at an emotional show in Paris. It was a beautiful collection, examining the simple idea of celebrating a day in the life of a couple. The big question now: where will Simons end up next?

2. And adieu Stefano!

Just days after the announcement that Raf Simons would be leaving Jil Sander came another big shock: Yves Saint Laurent's Stefano Pilati too would be presenting a swan-song collection.

3. The quiet elegance of Celine

Amid the circus that the shows have become - over the top sets, swarms of street style photographers, bloggers everywhere and mammoth seemingly unedited guest lists - Celine's small presentations to just 70 invited guests was a quiet revolution in the way collections are showcased now. US Vogue editor Anna Wintour, one of the most influential people in the industry, reportedly asked designer Phoebe Philo, "Can you please ensure all fashion shows are like this?" Celine's influence has already proven to be unbelievably strong: will other designers now follow suit?

4. Fashion as theatre

Huge theatrical productions from Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs were the opposite of the simple Celine presentation, with memorable sets that threatened to outdo the collections that were presented on them. In New York, Marc Jacobs' had artist Rachel Feinstein create a twisted paper castle set, while in Paris, Chanel had oversized purple and black crystals growing out of the ground. Louis Vuitton went one better - or at least bigger - than last season's merry-go-round set by building a train from scratch, with models disembarking with their own bag carrying porter.

5. The meaning of fashion

There are designers who present wearable collections that translate easily to the masses, and there are others who use their shows to make a comment or challenge their audience. Comme des Garcons designer Rei Kawakubo is one of the few who use their shows as a platform for such things. Her Fall 2012 collection of flat 2D shapes, that many will dismiss as being simply bonkers, was interpreted by some as a comment on the state of fashion (i.e. online coverage turns garments into 2D objects rather than fully thought out pieces of design). No, it isn't wearable, but it's definitely interesting.

6. Focus on the pant

The influence of Miuccia Prada was all over the Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton runways, with embellished skirts, dresses and oversized coat dresses worn over cropped trousers appearing at all. For Prada's own shows, Prada in Milan and Miu Miu in Paris, she moved away from the pastels and girlishness of last season and instead presented collections made up almost entirely of pants. Cue the rest of fashion's focus on the pant for the next few seasons.

7. Party with Alber

Numerous fashion writers have confessed to having a small crush on the designer Alber Elbaz. The charming Lanvin designer celebrated ten years at the label with a party-like atmosphere at his show in Paris, with giant cakes, champagne for guests, models vamping it up on the runway and Elbaz himself getting up to sing post-show.

8. Kiwis at Givenchy

Two New Zealand based models walked the runway at Givenchy: Anmari Botha and young model Ashleigh Good.

9. Celebrity

What clothes? What was on the runway barely mattered at some shows, where coverage focused heavily on who rather than what. Kim Kardashian was at Kanye (while the clothes didn't win many fans), while at Mulberry the front row heaved with celebrities like the Downton Abbey girls, Michelle Williams and singer-of-the-moment Lana del Rey - who garnered plenty of headlines the morning before the show with the announcement that she had had a handbag named after her.

By Zoe Walker | Email Zoe

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Fashion in Detroit event puts spotlight on local style-setters - Detroit Free Press

With models striding down the runway, Fashion in Detroit, a celebration of metro Detroit's fashion designers, got underway about noon today before what organizers called a sell-out crowd.

The event -- taking place at the Motor City Casino in Detroit -- is to consist of ten individual shows, including a show by Farmington Hills native Peter Soronen. His dresses have been worn by Michelle Obama.

The final show of the day is scheduled to introduce Motor City Blues, a new collaboration between Denise Ilitch and Fashion in Detroit founder (and "Project Runway" alum) Joe Faris.

Faris and Ilitch are the organizers of the event.

For years, Faris -- who has designed for Ralph Lauren and Bugle Boy in addition to creating his own labels -- has worked to create a fashion industry in Detroit..

Fashion in Detroit began in 1999.

The first shows of the day included designs -- dresses made from magazines and yogurt packages -- made by students.

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'Fashion Star' contestants insist there is fashion in Seattle - The Seattle Times

Plenty of television's fashion reality shows depict the work that goes into designing clothes and the results — for better and worse. But until now viewers could not run to the store the next day and buy the winning wardrobe. That's the new wrinkle in NBC's "Fashion Star," debuting at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Two Seattle-area women are among the show's 14 competitors seeking the top prize: a $6 million order for a collection of clothing to be sold in Macy's, H&M and Saks Fifth Avenue stores.

But even if they don't get named top Fashion Star, Mercer Island's Lisa Vian Hunter and Sammamish's Lizzie Parker still have a shot at getting their designs into one of the three chains. Each week, buyers from Macy's, H&M and Saks will bid on contestants' designs; the winning store will have those clothes on their racks available for sale the next day. (Although there's no Saks store in Seattle, the clothes will be available at saksfifthavenue.com.) Designers who make no sales to the chains' buyers will be up for elimination.

Hunter, 47, operates Vian Hunter House of Fashion in Madison Valley (vianhunter.com). Parker, 42, has her store, Lizzie Parker, at Gilman Village in Issaquah (lizzieparkerstore.com). Both women previously had conversations with producers from Lifetime's "Project Runway" and Bravo's short-lived "The Fashion Show." Both women were contacted about "Fashion Star" by the show's casting department.

"['Fashion Star'] was the right fit for me," Parker said. "It's all about selling clothes. I'm about women wearing my clothes, not making a dress out of beer cans. ... I've stood at trade shows and had the Macy's buyer walk by my booth, and now I get the chance to work with them and that's why for me it's a great fit."

A self-described "nerd," Parker moved to Seattle from Michigan in 1994, working for Microsoft until the birth of her children. Seven years ago, after "almost losing my mind" as a stay-at-home parent, she bought two sewing machines she found on Craigslist and started a business out of her garage using clothes-making knowledge imparted by her grandmother. She also apprenticed under Belltown's Carole McClellan for a summer.

Hunter arrived in Seattle three years ago, moving her store up from a previous location in Palo Alto, Calif. She said she was always interested in fashion but when her mother took her for a tour of a San Francisco fashion design school as a teenager, she didn't think she was ready ("I was too much of a flake then," she said). After a career working for Nordstrom and a boutique, she decided to attend the same fashion school in her late 30s.

"We're hoping this boost is what we need to get our business off the ground," Hunter said. "We'd love to open multiple stores at some point, but you have to be very, very careful these days to grow your business."

"Fashion Star" executive producer E.J. Johnston described Parker's style as more contemporary and Hunter's as more classic, but, he added, "They showed they could run the full spectrum. That's a whole part of the show: Getting to see people stretch themselves."

Hunter said her fashions are "vintage inspired."

"I love the late '50s and early '60s," she said. "For fashion, it was such a feminine time."

Parker prefers to design clothing she calls "timeless with an edge."

"I like asymmetrical angles," she said. "I like to have things that are easy to incorporate into your everyday wardrobe. My customer is the everyday American woman who wants to be anything but average."

Jessica Simpson, one of the show's celebrity mentors, praised both contestants.

"A lot of women will be able to relate to them and their designs," she said. "And they both got really lucky on the show, too, so I think they were given opportunities that they never dreamt could happen."

Hunter and Parker said they have no personal rivalry from their "Fashion Star" experience. They did a trunk show together last fall and have been able to commiserate about the shared secret of how they fared on the series.

"Eight months is a long time to hold a secret in, especially one like this," Parker said. "It was really nice to have someone here who knew, too."

They're both happy to represent Seattle and are eager to change some fashion perceptions.

"I think it's a huge testament to Seattle fashion," Hunter said. "To those people who think we're all about Eddie Bauer and fleece, I'm sorry, they picked two designers from Seattle to be among 14 nationwide. That tells a lot about fashion and Seattle — that there is fashion here in Seattle."

Rob Owen: RobOwenTV@gmail.com or on Facebook and Twitter as RobOwenTV.

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Breast Cancer Care fashion show supermodels return to the catwalk - Scottish Daily Record

Mar 11 2012

breast cancer care Image 2

IT is the fashion show which celebrates the strength and courage of those who have suffered from breast cancer.

Over the past nine years, 162 models have inspired the nation by taking part in Breast Cancer Care’s Scottish Fashion Show – supported by the Sunday Mail – to prove how fabulous you can look despite a breast cancer diagnosis.

Now the search has been launched for 20 new models willing to proudly walk on to the catwalk for this year’s spectacular 10th show.

Breast Cancer Care and the Sunday Mail are looking for willing women and men who have had, or are living with, breast cancer to become models at this year’s glam event.

Those selected will be pampered by our professional styling and make-up team before being sent down the catwalk at lunchtime and gala dinner fundraising shows being held at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Glasgow on September 27.

To mark the 10th anniversary, our stars will be joined on the catwalk by one model from each of the past nine years.

Here, each of the nine selected past models recall why they took part in a previous show – and why they can’t wait to return to this year’s special event.

Gordon Morrison, 59

Retired taxi driver Gordon, who underwent a mastectomy after being diagnosed in 2008, only went to his GP after spotting blood on the bedsheets.

Gordon, from Carntyne, Glasgow, said: “Very few people seem to know that men can get breast cancer.

“I never imagined I could be suffering from breast cancer but I was.

“Now I am happy to do whatever it takes to raise awareness – including getting dressed up and going down a catwalk.

“It’s a great show and I hope other men who have had breast cancer will put themselves forward to take part.”

Claire Cordiner, 43

When mum-of-two Claire took to the catwalk, she had her best friend Leona Levey beside her.

The two friends, who met at college, were going through breast cancer together.

But while Claire, from Edinburgh, recovered fully after treatment, mum-of-two Leona passed away in January 2009.

Claire, who has also lost her mum and younger sister to cancer, said: “It was Leona who had heard about the fashion show and she thought it would be good fun to do it together.

“When I first heard about the 10th show, I’ll admit I did wonder whether I should do it or not, as I know getting on that stage without Leona will be very hard.

“But I know Leona would have jumped at the chance – and she would have wanted me to do it. So I’m getting back on the catwalk for both of us.”

Ann Hudson, 63

When Ann, from Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, volunteered to model in the first Breast Cancer Care show, she hoped she might inspire other women with the disease.

Twenty years on from beating the disease herself, Ann is a volunteer for the charity and gives hope to other women by telling her story.

She is honoured to be returning as a model in the charity’s 10th annual show.

Ann said: “This show gives inspiration to other women who have been affected by breast cancer.”

Dawn Laird, 43

Dawn, from Aberdeen, was just 36 when doctors gave her the bad news but she rushed home to host a fancy dress party for her daughter Melissa’s seventh birthday.

Dawn said: “It was very surreal for me. But for Melissa, the party was totally normal and fun and just how it should have been.

“I thought breast cancer was something that older women got and I was afraid. I was the youngest person I had ever heard of with breast cancer.

“This show helps to turn a negative experience into a positive one. I can’t wait to get back on stage and do it all again.”

Mandy McMillan, 37

Hairdresser Mandy, from Muirhead, near Glasgow, was just 27 when she was diagnosed.

Before the show, she had already undergone a mastectomy, two bouts of chemotherapy and developed secondary cancer.

Incredibly, Mandy was also pregnant when she appeared on the catwalk – despite being told the treatment would leave her infertile.

Mandy made medical history when she became the first UK woman to give birth while on long-term treatment with the breast cancer “wonder drug” Herceptin. Her daughter Holly is now a happy six-year-old.

Mandy, who wrote the book Why Not Me?: The Battle For My Life And My Baby, said: “It’s been nearly 11 years since I was diagnosed and I am so lucky. I’ve got a lovely husband and daughter and I really enjoy my life.”

Kim Ferguson, 41

Accounts manager Kim, from East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, was diagnosed at 29.

She said: “At the time, I was a single mum with two children and they were my inspiration.

“I never thought I was going to die and never allowed myself to be anything but positive.”

Kim, who underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy to beat the disease, said: “Taking part in the 2010 show was my way of marking 10 years since I was diagnosed and turning that negative into a positive.

“I was nervous backstage but when I stepped out and saw everyone clapping and cheering, it was one of the best moments of my life.

“So I am delighted to get the chance to do it all again in this special show.”

Deborah McVey, 40

As Deborah stood backstage at last year’s catwalk show, she remembers looking along the line of women standing beside her and feeling a huge weight lift off her shoulders.

Deborah, a paralegal from Ayr, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2010, said: “At the time, I had finished my treatment almost a year before but I was finding it hard to get ‘normal’ back.

“I remember looking at all those other amazing women about to take part in the show and feeling really inspired by them.

“Some of those ladies had been diagnosed a long time ago and had gone on to do amazing things. Others had secondary cancer but were living with it – and by that I mean really living their lives.

“I realised then that I have a lot of life still to live.”

Linda Watson, 48

Linda, who lives near Beith, Ayrshire, loved appearing in the show so much that she has attended the event every year since.

Diagnosed in 2003, she said: “My daughter Kirsty was just four when I was diagnosed with cancer and I remember wondering if I would be there to see her start school.

“She was eight when I took part in the fashion show and I remember looking down from that stage at all my family and friends and just feeling on top of the world.

“Now Kirsty is 13 and I have been to all the lunchtime shows since my own one.

“It is always a really emotional day – but still a fantastic celebration.”

Gail Williams, 46

When dental nurse practice manager Gail, from Mull of Kintyre, steps on to the catwalk again, it will mark 10 years since her diagnosis.

The mum-of two found out she had cancer just months after losing her sister Leonora to the disease.

She said: “My GP thought I should go for a mammogram because of my sister.

“If it hadn’t been for Leonora, I would never have gone for the test – so really she saved my life.”

Gail stepped on to the catwalk after undergoing successful treatment to beat the disease.

She said: “I remember what a boost to my confidence the show gave me and I made so many great friends.

“I’d encourage anyone who has had breast cancer to be a model.”

Sign up to join our models

Want to join the 10th anniversary show go to www.breastcancercare.org.uk/applytomodel. Closing date is March 30.

For more info contact breast cancer care on 0141 353 8330 or log onto www.breastcancercare.org.uk

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Indian fashion outside India - Postnoon

Surabhi Chauhan?

When Lady Gaga wore a Tarun Tahiliani sari for her first performance in India, the world took note. When Oprah Winfrey visited India for the first time, she and her god daughter took back many Sabyasachi outfits and she even wore his sari for an important soirée. But there also have been many designers of Indian origin who have in the recent past been picked up by reputed international fashion publications and celebrities as the names to look out for. These names do not specifically sell traditional India in their work, but the Indian creativity does make a surface appearance in their collection.

Naeem Khan

Veteran designer Naeem Khan is known to have dressed some famous stars on the red carpet and for other important events as well. Celebrities like Beyonce, Eva Longoria, Penelope Cruz, Brooke Shields, Taylor Swift and even Lady Gaga have worn his creations. He launched his eponymous line in 2003 and it was stocked in shops like Bergdorf Goodman, Harrods, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue. Born in India, Naeem’s first brush with fashion was at the workshops of his family-owned textile companies. Naeem moved to USA as a teenager and combined his learning of Indian hand embroidery and workmanship with the clean, elegant timeless silhouettes of American evening wear which then gave birth to the Naeem Khan brand.

Bibhu Mohapatra

Bibhu is an Orissa born young designer who moved to America to pursue his higher education. Armed with a degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York he soon joined the reputed American label J. Mendel as a design director. However, on glancing through Bibhu’s work you may not realise it is has been created by an Indian. He is recognised for his elegant gowns, jackets, trousers and skirts that epitomise a clean American aesthetic. Bibhu’s namesake brand was picked up by the Council of Fashion Designers of America to be its member in 2010. Bibhu’s family is based out of Rourkela in Orissa. However, he proudly states that his design inspirations remain Indian fabrics, its vibrant colours, and the crafts of his native land. At the recently held Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai, the designer bought his collection from New York to showcase for the first time in India. At the event he even spoke about his interest to connect with Indian artisans for his work. On being asked how his brand reflects Indianness, the designer said, “It is Indian because it carried the DNA of my heritage and roots in many special ways.” That’s enough reason for us to have him on this list.

Manish Arora

This list would be incomplete without mentioning Indian designer Manish Arora. You may argue that Manish is a Delhi-based designer and shouldn’t be included in this list. But in my opinion the designer gained recognition when he started showcasing his work as part of London Fashion Week and soon after that at Paris Fashion Week. It was stellar reviews by noted fashion publications such as International Herald Tribune, Women’s Wear Daily, New York Times, Style.com, Vogue, etc which gained the designer popularity in the West.

His global appeal increased even more when pop stars like Katy Perry, M.I.A, Britney Spears chose to wear his creations to important events. Apart from this he has also collaborated with international giants like MAC, Disney, Swarovski, Nespresso and Swatch watches. Needless to say, these associations propelled the brand to the top crust of the fashion list. He was recently hired as the Artistic Director of French label Paco Rabanne, which now puts his work on the fashion map. Never before was an Indian designer hired at such a position for a French fashion house. Manish now juggles his time between Paris and New Delhi. His Indian influence is very obvious be it in the form of the colours he uses or the craftsmanship. Yet his appeal continues to grow internationally as he has successfully been able to combine the best of Indian and international.

Mawi

Indian-born designer Mawi Keivom (pronounced moe-ee) started her jewellery line ‘Mawi’ from London in 2003. Winner of the new generation award for three seasons by the British Fashion Council helped build her brand very early on. Bold, modern, traditional, tribal and contemporary are some of the words used to describe her design aesthetics. The designer has been able to strike the right note when it comes to making a unique accessories line.

With names likes ‘Punk Rajah’ and ‘Gypsy Rani’ one can make out that her inspiration has Indian roots. Born in Manipur, the designer visits India almost every year to spend her holidays with family in Delhi. Though her visits go unnoticed in the local media, the designer is fast becoming a celebrated contemporary jewellery designer with a fan following that includes names like R&B singer Rihanna, Britain’s ‘first lady’ Samantha Cameron, songstress Florence Welch, and many more.

The writer Is a fashion blogger (www.lovestruckcow.blogspot.com) who attempts to bridge the gap between creator and consumer. As a fashion writer, she hopes to promote Indian fashion among Indians and on a global level too.

Tags: Bibhu Mohapatra, Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Manish Arora, Mawi, Naeem Khan, Paris Fashion Week., Rihanna, Tarun Tahiliani

Category: Fashion, Life & Style

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Toronto Fashion Week: First look at Adrian Wu's fall collection - Toronto Star

2012/03/09 11:00:00 Designer Adrian Wu has some post-show plans: "I’m going to be doing some hardcore marketing," Wu says.

A fashion wunderkind at 21, Adrian Wu is making his mark on the Canadian fashion scene. Known for using heavy fabrics in his designs, the Burlington, Ont. native launched his career after Vancouver fashion week representatives discovered photos of his work online in 2010.

Q: What was the first piece you ever made?

A: It was a dark purple, light purple striped upholstery (fabric). It was a dress. I took these mannequins that my mom had lying around, and I started pinning the fabric. I literally remember thinking to myself, “Wow! I think I can make dresses!”

Q: What was your first big fashion disaster?

A: Last season, I put my models in eight-inch heels, and I won’t do that again this year. One girl actually almost broke an ankle. She fell at rehearsals literally on her face.

Q: What is something new you’re using or doing this season?

A: It’s the first time I’m using flannelette.

Q: What was your first idea for this collection?

A: It really is a commentary on some really important and affecting world issues right now…It may not have to do with the actual design of the clothing, but it’s how I’m presenting the fashion show.

Q: What was the first piece you made for this collection?

A: (A dress with) my signature bodice and tucking and draping look. I wanted to go back to my simplicity in dressmaking.

Q: What’s the first piece you’ll be sending down the runway?

A: Without giving it away, it’s kind of a signature piece of mine; it’s what most people know me for. It’s that kind of voluminous pouf.

Q: What is the first thing you’ll do after showing your collection?

A: I’m going to be doing some hardcore marketing.

Adrian Wu shows his fall 2012 collection at 2 p.m. on March 13

More on Toronto fashion week

Designer Adrian Wu has some post-show plans: "I’m going to be doing some hardcore marketing," Wu says.

Designer Adrian Wu has some post-show plans: "I’m going to be doing some hardcore marketing," Wu says.

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When bad taste is a fashion statement - Daily News & Analysis

Picture a ravishing midnight-blue steam engine with gilt lettering, wood panelling and a strange fuzzy microphone on a boom that thrusts through the window until it eventually comes to rest level with Marc Jacobs's nose. We were on the Vuitton Express — Jacobs and me, plus the keeper of the flame (a member of staff whose job it is to light his cigarettes and hold them until he's finished the previous one). Oh and did I mention that Catherine Deneuve, Sarah Jessica Parker, Harvey Weinstein and the model Natalia Vodianova (who announced that Jacobs's collection had just given her a fashion orgasm) were also on board, patiently waiting for Jacobs to finish his disquisition with The Daily Telegraph so that they could pay homage? And did I say that Jacobs was wearing a black stretch, calf-length dress, accessorised with diamante buckled shoes? Ho hum. Just another day at work.

The train — hand-built by the Vuitton team for their fashion show on Wednesday at a cost of who-knows-how-much — had puffed in to platform Fashion: a replica of a turn-of-the-century Parisian railway station that had also been constructed for the show. Fifteen minutes earlier, a carriage full of models in fin de siecle tailoring had alighted to take a turn on the catwalk, trailed by Vuitton-liveried porters festooned with jewelled and mink-trimmed luggage. Now the train was being deployed as Jacobs's post-show sanctum. "The heart of the collection," he said, "was really an exploration of bad taste. But in a good way. Those ochres, mustards, pinks and grid patterns — some people would consider them loud, odd, maybe even a bit ugly." Pushing the taste boundaries - it's a favourite Jacobs activity.

Meanwhile, outside, pressing against the windows of the Vuitton Express while he talked, hundreds of journalists and bloggers took pictures on their iPhones and brandished microphones. It was like being on a state progress with JFK, or maybe Puff Daddy. Except we were going nowhere.

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What a perfect metaphor for fashion.

I don't mean that disparagingly. Fashion has always inched forward, or backwards sometimes, incrementally - except when there are global cataclysms to trip it up and send it sprawling into a new era. There's only so much a designer can do, given that clothes have to accommodate the same old human body: the rest is fabric innovation, which is interesting but nerdy and, as Jacobs said, taste, which is fascinating and open to infinite interpretations.

Toying with "bad" taste has become the default game for all the most influential designers of the 21st century, from Miuccia Prada and Jacobs to Christopher Kane, who used purple moire, that watermark-patterned satin beloved of the makers of coffin linings, in his latest collection, because it "was gross, yet brilliant". In some ways, exploring "bad" taste is the safe option; a passport that allows the bearer to commit all sorts of transgressions, but still be allowed to pass without hindrance across planet fashion. They can royally balls-up their collections and then claim it was a deliberate act of provocation. By contrast, if any designer had the temerity to say they were into good taste - or, worse still, committed to tasteful clothes - they'd be labelled an out-of-touch loser.

That's fine too. Because if fashion has any function - other than to make the likes of Jacobs rich and bring the rest of us fleeting happiness and continuous entertainment - it's to challenge our status quo.

Too much of anything becomes stultifying, even good taste. So argued John Betjeman in Ghastly Good Taste, which is both a passionate defence of Victorian and Edwardian architecture, which, when Betjeman was writing in 1933, was considered hideously beyond the pale, and a satire of the sterile commandments of modernism from which we derive our contempt for antimacassars, plastic seat covers and saving things "for best". But doesn't some of that whiff of class prejudice? The upper middle class looking down on the lower middle, just as today the squeezed middle consoles itself by sneering at the vulgar trappings of the super-rich. Perish the thought, but it's not inconceivable that some may find the Vuitton show, with its untold budget, a tad gaudy.

But what the heck is good taste anyway? Immanuel Kant acknowledged in 1790 that, while there's a formula for universal beauty, taste is subjective. Most of us know that empirically, though our hearts tell us our own taste is excellent and the standard by which all others ought to be measured. Clearly, taste is tribal. It's also subject to fashion — see Victorian and Edwardian architecture, or come to that, minimalism, which, in its diluted, Changing Rooms version, looks just as naff as plastic Louissomething.

Kant believed that fashion's appeal lay in creating social distinction. But it can also change taste and help make social distinctions more fluid. If only Kant could have been at the Vuitton show.

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Fashion's dark secret - Vancouver Sun

Designer Nicole Farhi has shed light on one of fashion's darkest secrets: the celebrities adorning the front row of fashion shows are not always there just for the love of haute couture. Sometimes they are paid to turn up.

Knowing that they can generate publicity by having a star photographed on the front row of a show, some fashion houses or their public relations agents will pay tens of thousands of dollars for an appearance.

While rumours about the practice have circulated among fashion insiders in recent years, those involved have declined to comment publicly.

But now Farhi, the French-born, London-based couturier, has become the first major designer to talk openly about it.

In an outspoken condemnation of the tactic, she told The Sunday Telegraph's Stella magazine: "It is so unprofessional. I have never paid a celebrity and I will never do it. It's stupid.

"What do they show you in the papers after a fashion show? Not the clothes, but the celebrities who are being paid to sit at the show."

Farhi, 65, added that she was determined to expose the practice, despite knowing she would face the fury of many in the industry. She says in the interview, to be published next weekend: "They will all hate me for it. I don't give a ----because I think it is abominable."

Other fashion insiders admitted that front-row appearance fees were becoming increasingly common, but were reluctant to discuss them openly.

One said: "It would be professional suicide for me to say anything. I wouldn't be able to tell you how much (is paid) to whom. It's all a bit cloak and dagger."

Another said the fashion world did not want to destroy the magic for the public. "It's a bit like Santa Claus."

Some British fashion figures, however, backed Farhi.

Emma Whitehair, a London-based fashion public relations consultant, said: "There need to be more designers like Nicole Farhi who are not paying so-called talent to come to sit on the front row."

Whitehair, who runs White Smoke Communications, said her agency never paid, but admitted: "In other places it was completely the norm, part of what was called 'talent wrangling.' I know for an absolute fact they would pay celebrities to sit on the front row. It's unfair; some people secure talent because they have genuine friendships and the celebrity likes the brand. Others have paid."

Front-row appearance fees are thought to have originated in the U.S. and have spread rapidly.

Abe Gurko, the head of Abe, a fashion talent services and public relations company in New York, said: "There is no doubt that it has evolved quickly, as recently as in the past three years.

"Once word got out that people were being paid, everyone jumped on the bandwagon. They (the demands) kept coming.

"I had a manager say, 'She will do it for $125,000.' I said, 'Have a nice day.' "

Gurko said he would arrange only travel costs and expenses.

"The most I paid was about 18 months ago: $25,000 for flights for two people for a European star - the hotel, clothes, makeup, the car and driver - for three days. She was worth every nickel."

He stressed, however, that when it came to actual appearance fees, "I wouldn't give a dime."

He added: "All this back-room dealing cheapens the whole business. And I don't think it's going to stop."

? Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

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NBC sweatshop's threadbare show, 'Fashion Star,' just another lame 'Project ... - Plain Dealer

JOHN RUSSO, NBCWould you buy a used car from these people? From left, "Fashion Star" stars Nicole Richie, John Varvatos, Elle Macpherson and Jessica Simpson.

Fashion Star

What: The premiere of a reality series where 14 designers compete to get their looks onto the racks of America's biggest retailers.

When: 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Where: NBC

Of course, the Diva is inundated with mail from across the globe: entreaties from PR departments, gift cards from adoring fans, requests for boudoir photographs and notes composed of letters cut from newsprint. (The latter correspondence is hastily turned over to federal authorities.)

Earlier this week, your tireless scribe ripped open her umpteenth padded FedEx envelope, pocketed the swag -- COLOSSAL VOLUM EXPRESS Glam Black mascara from Maybelline and an 0.8-ounce container of dry shampoo spray from Suave -- but paused before popping in the DVD screener for NBC's "Fashion Star."

Rubbing her newly waxed chin, a thought bubble appeared above the Diva's head: Does the planet really need another competitive reality series about fashion? Especially one starring "fashion icons" Nicole Richie and Jessica Simpson, the sartorial equivalent of "Dumb & Dumber"?

(Before we move on, let's get something straight: Dubbing Simpson a "fashion icon" is akin to calling McDonald's a five-star restaurant. Don't bother complaining. You know the analogy holds up; like Mickey D's, Simpson has made a fortune selling cheap, mass-produced crap that in the end will make you look fat.)

At first blush, the answer to the burning pop-culture question seems simple, like avoiding cow prints and remembering to never bungee-jump over the crocodile-infested Zambezi River. Still, just because there is a slew of fashion-themed shows doesn't mean there isn't room for another quality iteration.

"Project Runway" premiered on Bravo in 2004 and offered a frantic, fascinating glimpse into the world of high-fashion design. Hungry for fame, starving artists cut and sewed and draped their looks with their own hands, all the while sniping at each other with bitchy abandon.

Not only has it survived an acrimonious move to rival channel Lifetime and chronicled at least three beach-ball-in-the-belly pregnancies of its host and co-creator, Heidi Klum, it also appears to have outlasted her TMI/PDA marriage to Seal.

On Lifetime alone, the show has spawned triplets. There's "Project Accessory," where artisans embellish shoes with Swarovski crystals and make jewelry out of dung beetles. And "Project Runway All-Stars," featuring talented and not-so-talented runners-up from seasons past -- come on, why ask Sweet P. and her signature terry cloth caftans back? And, a personal guilty pleasure, "24-Hour Catwalk" presents a Shake N Bake version of "Runway" where designers have one sweaty, sleepless day to create mini collections that often look like the lunatic wardrobe of a roving band of Gaga groupies.

Though tarted up with ridiculously tight deadlines and edited for high, catty drama, "Project Runway" and its loving facsimiles -- Bravo's "Work of Art" and Syfy's "Face Off" -- document the creative process and celebrate artistry.

Competitors who send boring work down the catwalk before the flinty-eyed Nina Garcia and the endlessly quipping Michael Kors -- "she looks like a pole dancer in Dubai"; "she looks like an Amish cocktail waitress"; "she looks like a transvestite flamenco dancer at a funeral" -- almost always merit an auf wiedersehen from Teutonic goddess Klum.

JOHN RUSSO, NBCThe 14 up-and-coming designers on NBC's "Fashion Star." From left: Ross Bennett, Kara Laricks, Nikki Poulos, Lizzie Parker, Barbara Bates, Ronnie Escalante, Nicholas Bowes, Oscar Fierro, Lisa Hunter, Orly Shani, Sarah Parrott, Luciana Scarabello, Nzimiro Oputa and Edmond Newton.

How well a piece will sell or whether anyone other than a malnourished Russian teen can actually wear it are secondary to its aesthetic appeal. The show's snotty, elite effect is part of its enduring charm.

"Fashion Star" is yet another "Project Runway" knockoff, but with all the artistic ambition bled out, like mixing your favorite red Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress with the white laundry and bleaching it pink.

With its tantalizing tagline ("watch it today, wear it tomorrow"), the show is one loud, high-concept infomercial -- and just as soulless. Each week, buyers from H&M, Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue assess contestants' designs, which are put together by unseen "pattern makers and cutters." There are a few blink-and-you'll-miss-'em behind-the-scenes moments, but the emphasis here is on product, not process.

If a buyer chooses to make an offer on a designer's work, that dress or jacket or bathing suit is made available for purchase immediately after the show online and in select stores the next day. (For those in need of translation, "select stores" means "not on the racks in Cleveland.")

In the first episode, host Elle Macpherson hawks her new "intimates collection" to the pounding strains of "American Woman," as models in their skivvies, inexplicably wearing masks, writhe on motorcycles.

(Note to producers: Stanley Kubrick should claw his way out of the grave and demand royalties, seeing as you ripped off his orgy scene from "Eyes Wide Shut." Then again, even your Vegas dinner-theater sequence was kinkier than Kubrick's version, thanks to asexual paramecium Tom Cruise.)

Like Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine on NBC's more human "The Voice," Richie, Simpson and John Varvatos act as "celebrity mentors," ostensibly there to guide up-and-coming designers to the grand prize, a $6 million contract.

In the first two episodes, style guru Richie offers sage advice to contestants after their looks have come down the runway, which sort of defeats the "mentor" function, but never mind. At one point, she informs Ross from Austin that the fabric of his palazzo pants is "grabbing" at the crotches of his models. (It really takes a trained eye to see that sort of thing.)

The bow-tied Ross -- whose muse appears to be Alexis Carrington -- breaks out in instant flop sweat as the buyers bridle at his "Dallas" chic. (Ross, here's a little friendly mentoring from the Diva: No celebrity coach on Earth can help you grow when your target client is Barbara Bush.)

Still, the only spark of soul comes from Simpson, who is shaping up to be the Paula Abdul of "Fashion Star."

Simpson tells Nicholas, a former Aussie model who says that girls don't know how to judge men's fashion -- despite the fact that two of the three buyers are women -- that she wants to smack him across the face.

Then there is her interaction with Oscar, a diminutive designer with a penchant for candy-colored bowler hats and making dresses that Varvatos calls "hootchie" and "4 a.m." (Oscar: If the fashion thing doesn't work out, and let's be honest, it doesn't look good, you're a dead ringer for Herv Villechaize when he played the tiny French henchman Nick Nack in the "The Man With the Golden Gun." Pray to the gods of Spandex for a remake.)

At any rate, as Oscar stands in the spotlight, sniffling because he risks elimination, Simpson offers these comforting words: "I had a dream that I gave birth to Oscar and I had to change his diapers!"

No, we don't need this competitive reality series about fashion. But slap a video of that very scene online immediately after the show, and I'm sold.

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