Fashion

　　Whether she’s on or off the Gossip Girl set, actress Blake Lively rarely gets it wrong when it comes to her fashion choices. Which is why it’s particularly refreshing to hear that the California native has shunned the services of a stylist to take charge of her own look. “I’ve always loved fashion,’ she tells the UK edition of Marie Claire in its October issue, on which she graces the cover. “That’s why I don’t use a stylist. Number one, it’s such an expression of self,” she states with a confident air, before amusing the set with stories of her recent trip to Paris where she got to meet one of her own fashion idols, Karl Lagerfeld. After chatting with Anna Wintour about her love of all things Chanel, she soon found herself bagging a front row seat at the fashion house’s Paris haute couture show in July and some one-on-one time with the designer himself. “So I went to dinner with Karl Lagerfeld and we got to spend a lot of priceless time together,” she gushes, excitedly. And the highlight? “Oh my gosh, riding around in Karl Lagerfeld’s Rolls-Royce with the top down. Insane!”

　　When you say “red carpet” you think on elegance, glamour, diamonds, expenssive dresses, beautiful women, refinement, extravagance… a world that you can only dream of. From the glamorous gowns, to the most astonishing jewlry and the perfect coifs we will show you the best looks from the Hollywood red carpet at the Oscar Ceremony 2010.

　　Sandra Bullock

　　The gold and silver beaded and embroidered Marchesa dress looks sexy and very elegant at the same time. She wears platinum and diamond drop earrings, platinum and diamond line bracelet and a metallic silver Celestina clutch.

　　Cameron Diaz

　　The actress looked lovely in the metallic strapless Oscar de la Renta glamouros dress. She also wore 49.500 $ Cartier white, yellow, rose and gold Trinity earrings, 58.100 $Cartier white gold diamond ring and an also diamond ring from the Cartier’s Private Archive Collection.

　　Demi Moor

　　Demi Moor had a stunning look. She wore a straples Versace ruffled dress and accessories from the Van Cleef and Arples jewelry collection: a diamond hair clip, diamond, pearl and saphire earrings, Ferregamo gold leather envelope clutch with pink stones, platinum, diamond bracelet and a Tahitian pearl ring.

　　Penelope Cruz

　　The red Donna Karan dress looked beautiful on Penelope Cruz. She also wore a high carat jewlrey: Chopard 18-carat pear shape diamond drop earrings, 23-carat Ascher diamond and platinum bracelet, 28-carat emerald diamond and platinum bracelet, 16-carat diamond and white gold pavé band cocktail ring — all by Chopard.

　　Diane Kruger

　　Diane Kruger looked astonishing in the cream and black colored Chanel Haute Couture dress. She also wore Chanel Fine Jewelry black and white diamond Camelia Nature hair brooch, white gold and diamond Camelia earrings and Jaeger-LeCoultre and Swiss Watch diamond art deco watch bracelet and a black satin Chanel clutch.

　　If you were one of the lucky 1,500 to score tickets to Fashion’s Night Out: The Show, then consider it money well spent. Vogue promised that there would be 150 top models (that’s, like, a ten-to-one normal-person-to-model ratio!) at New York City’s largest-ever public fashion show, and the names are even bigger than we expected. Alessandra Ambrosio, Gisele Bündchen, Naomi Campbell, Lily Donaldson, Karolina Kurkova, Adriana Lima, Angela Lindvall, Sasha Pivovarova, and Coco Rocha will all be walking the runway at Lincoln Center. And if you can’t watch the spectacle unfold in person, André Leon Talley and Vogue.com contributor Hanneli Mustaparta will be hosting a live webcast on CBS.com.

　　Of course, the premise of this whole event is to showcase designer duds next to their bargain-store doppelgängers. With all those big names on one runway, let’s just hope there aren’t any fights over who gets to wear the Balenciaga and who’s stuck in the Charlotte Russe.

　　It was a race with a difference as stiletto-clad fashionistas sprinted along a street in Auckland to mark the start of 30 Days of Fashion and Beauty.

　　Events will be held in seven cities across the country to celebrate the fashion festival.

　　A pop-up shop in the Auckland suburb of Newmarket will open until September 10 and will feature a different fashion or beauty theme each day.

　　Other highlights include The Great Frock Swap, where attendees can swap their old outfits for new and a ‘Shop Off’ competition where participants get 30 minutes to style a complete look and the chance to win prizes.

　　Woman’s Day Editor Sarah Henry says spring is the perfect time for a makeover.

　　”30 Days of Fashion & Beauty enables women all over the country to get involved and learn all the expert tips and tricks so they can look their best.” Henry said.

　　The event is now in its third year and this year events will take place in Auckland, Mount Maunganui, Wellington, Dunedin, Christchurch, Palmerston North and Hamilton.

　　Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, which begins in New York on Sept. 9, will get a new home this season for the spring 2011 collections. Two years of planning went into the relocation of the event from Bryant Park to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, beside the Metropolitan Opera. The “tents” are being resur­rected from the park site, which was originally chosen because the majority of the designers have studios and offices in the neighborhood. But Lincoln Center offers room for a larger tent and, of course, larger crowds.

　　The runway shows that were historically organized for store buyers and fashion editors to view the new collections have grown in popularity over the years, with fashion bloggers and more celebrity attendees in sought-after front-row seats. The shows that began in 1943 were initially held in the designer’s showroom or hotels, but many moved to Bryant Park in 1994 for the convenience of being under one big top.

　　Some designers, including Marc Jacobs and Donna Karan, continued to hold runway shows in various locations outside the tents during Fashion Week. Designer Chado Ralph Rucci announced just this month that he would forgo the expense of a runway show at Lincoln Center, which can cost between $500,000 and $750,000, for the chance to greet his guests during a show in the more intimate confines of his SoHo showroom. Consequently, the change in venue to Lincoln Center on the Upper West Side garnered a moan of despair from journalists faced with the feat of getting from uptown to downtown between shows.

　　Despite labor disputes and complaints from neighbors about the noise and congestion around Bryant Park, Christina Neault, executive producer with IMG Fashion Worldwide, said that the success of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week was the reason for the change in location.

　　”I think the challenge [of moving] has been a positive thing because it’s new and exciting. We have been doing the same event for 16 years. Lincoln Center is an iconic institution in New York, and it fits with fashion as part of the arts and entertainment culture,” Ms. Neault said.

　　The current tented runway venue has 120,000 square feet. Ms. Neault said that there are few structures in New York that allow designers to re-create their environment with specialty lighting and sound facilities, and that are equipped to be altered every hour for each designer’s production. IMG does not expect to have any sound issues, which sometimes haunted them at Bryant Park.

　　”Lincoln Center is the center of music, so they are used to it. The sound is set up so you have to be in the venue to hear,” Ms. Neault said.

　　The lobby of the event is being erected around trees in Lincoln Center’s plaza and will be able to host more technology lounges for reality shows and Internet-based media doing live feeds.

　　”I think people can expect to see a lot of changes,” said public relations manager Alison Levy. “VIPs are coming, and fashion followers that have all these great reality shows that don’t normally get to come to Fashion Week. There will also be more on-site presentations and garden events.”

　　Along with a bigger venue, IMG is implementing a barcode system that will reportedly bring the shows into the forefront of international runway shows. Instead of lining up behind assistants holding clipboards and colored paper indicating seating, guests will have a printout much like an airplane ticket that they scan at a kiosk. The process is meant to eliminate gate-crashers and allow easy entry into shows. By using the Fashion GPS system, the barcodes will also allow organizers to track who came to the show and automatically fill seats when invitees do not show.

　　However, there are skeptics such as Women’s Wear Daily contributor Bridget Foley, who wrote last Friday that the new technology might be more of a marketing ploy for the companies that are sponsoring the system.

　　Going all out for Fashion’s Night Out

　　Last September, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Vogue and NYC & Co. organized a citywide kickoff for Fashion Week called Fashion’s Night Out as a way to boost a fashion industry hit by the economic downturn. They aimed to stimulate sales and support for the fashion industry by encouraging customers to buy at full price.

　　”The fashion industry based on discounts will not survive,” said Susan Portnoy, spokeswoman for Fashion’s Night Out. “Discounts are not in the spirit of the event.”

　　This year, Fashion’s Night Out is expected to be even bigger. Diane von Furstenberg is hosting a digital interactive fashion playground at her boutique and gallery. Christian Siriano and Lela Rose will be signing autographs at Payless Shoes where they have collections. Carolina Herrera will appear at her boutique on Madison Avenue along with a magician, music, photographs and cocktails. The night is like a giant gallery crawl and a meet-and-greet for designers and the public.

　　”The stores can take this opportunity to create wonderful events,” said Ms. Portnoy. “One of the major things this year is that stores across the United States are joining New York City in celebrations.”

　　The second annual event will be held at more than 1,000 stores in New York and in 100 cities across the globe from 6 to 11 p.m. Sept. 10. The organizers are going further by hosting a public runway show on Sept. 7 at the Lincoln Center tents. The sold-out show will feature 200 models in fall trends from inexpensive to high couture designs. The collections will be available for purchase at the show, along with the event’s signature shirt collection. Proceeds of the event and the merchandising benefit the New York AIDS Fund.

　　Kate Moss is estimated to have earned more than $5.2 million through her four-year partnership with Topshop / File

　　KATE Moss ended her four-year partnership with Topshop over the weekend, despite having earned more than $5.2 million from the venture.

　　Unsourced speculation at The Mail Online suggests she is being replaced by its billionaire owner Sir Philip Green’s 19-year-old daughter Chloe.

　　The supermodel’s upcoming autumn/winter collection will be the 14th and final range she exclusively designs for the UK high street fashion retailer.

　　The move comes weeks after Ms Green, who “is determined to launch her own clothing range”, starts a traineeship with Topshop, the UK tabloid reported.

　　But both Sir Green and Ms Moss said they split amicably.

　　Ms Moss wanted to use the time needed to put together her collection to pursue other opportunities, though she did not rule out being involved in future one-off fashion ranges, according to Telegraph.co.uk.

　　”It has been fantastic for us and fantastic for her, but they take more and more time and she cannot do this full-time any more because she has other commitments,” Sir Green told The Independent.

　　The partnership, reported to have earned Ms Moss more than £3 million ($5.2 million) and millions more for Topshop, was forged after Sir Green met her Ms Moss at a charity auction, where he paid £60,000 for a kiss from her, which he later donated to his runner up, Jemima Khan.

　　Sir Green took a risk in signing Ms Moss after rumours of her cocaine use surfaced to end her deal with high street competitors H&M and Zara in 2005.

　　Ms Moss’ popular collections, inspired by her own famous wardrobe, scored Topshop major publicity stunts, with the model posing as a mannequin at its flagship London store in 2007, and helping launch its New York store in April last year.

　　The retailer is infamous for featuring young fashion designer’s collections at the start of their careers and for its wide range of vintage clothing.

　　Topshop has 300 stores in the UK and more than 100 overseas, but is currently only available in Australia at local fashion boutique Incu.

　　At only 14 years of age, Elisany Silva stands at 6’9″ and growing. Check out photos and video of her below!

　　But rather than stress over the cause of her extreme growth spurt, she wants to use her height to break into fashion, and one designer in particular has taken note. Reports claim that the Brazilian teen will be making her runway debut in a bridal show taking place in Belem, Brazil.

　　Granted, the fashion world tends be about shock value at times. Just think of Tyra praising that ultra-skinny model and how everyone reacted in turn. However, we genuinely hope that Silva is able to succeed at modeling. Why not?

　　A little shake-up is needed every now and then. And who knows? She may even be able to break down height barriers across the board.

　　What are your thoughts on Elisany Silva? Do you think modeling is a healthy move for her? Are you concerned she might not only be too tall, but too young?

　　For technology to spread beyond geeks, it has to have the same kind of appeal as high fashion. The enthusiasts can appreciate it, but so can the mass market.

　　That’s the thinking behind Digital Summer, the second annual party thrown by the Ubergizmo tech blog in the name of technology, art and fashion. You could argue that Apple’s Steve Jobs — who likes to say that Apple is a marriage of technology and the liberal arts — started this trend and everyone is copying it. But there weren’t any Apple products on display at this event. That shows the vision of tech as fashion is actually infused throughout the technology industry now.

　　The event combined geek chic computers and mobile devices with a live fashion show from Bay Area fashion designers. There were hundreds of folks jammed into the trendy Temple bar in San Francisco. Eliane Fiolet, publisher of Ubergizmo, organized the event. She said there were more than 1,300 RSVPs, compared to about 900 attendees last year. The crowd was prettier than you normally see at an all-geek affair. There were people from tech, fashion, art, design and photography present.

　　Fiolet said she and co-founder Hubert Nguyen came up with the idea for Digital Summer after attending hundreds of tech events where the majority of the attendees were men.

　　Beyoncé and Jay-Z are enjoying a fabulous Mediterranean vacation, and were recently snapped in Saint-Tropez wearing the hodgepodge of prints you see here. Beyoncé, without her sequins and Swarovskis, still draws a hefty amount of attention to herself with the busy mismatched patterns, which seem to have vomited on Jay-Z’s shorts, leaving his butt likewise awash in a print.

　　What do you think of all the patterns on these two? Is it too much or can they get away with it because they’re Beyoncé and Jay-Z?

　　Rachel Zoe may have been sitting front-row at the world’s best fashion shows for a long time. She may have been friends with some of the world’s top designers for years, too. And she may have been dressing some of the most famous women in the world for some of their most important public appearances for a while as well. But there is always that disconnect between fashion and celebrity: A tribe in fashion wants the industry to thrive independent of celebrity-driven exposure, while another group would be thrilled to send out daily press releases showcasing celebrities going out for a jog in a certain label’s socks. All too often, pure fashion is high-brow, and celebrity fashion is low-brow. It seems the more exposure fashion personalities like Zoe get, the more they’re likely to gravitate toward the more commercial and celebrity veins of work. Fellow reality-television prodigy Christian Siriano will pack his front rows with as many celebrities as he can wrangle, and align with cleaning sponges, for example. But Zoe seems to be moving seamlessly between the world of high fashion, mass fashion, and celebrity.

　　Zoe styled a shoot for the new issue of Love, an impressive gig for a true fashion lover’s magazine. This season on The Rachel Zoe Project, we’ve seen some of the best behind-the-scenes industry footage reality-television cameras have ever captured. Demi Moore and Harper’s Bazaar allowed Bravo cameras into Moore’s awesome cover shoot, which was the best look the public has gotten at this kind of work in recent memory. The level of access was surprising, since all too often magazines and celebrities want this kind of thing kept secret. Meanwhile, Zoe continues her gigs with everywoman brands like Piperlime and QVC, while becoming an even more famous celebrity in her own right.

　　So Zoe is in a rare position, but one that is fascinating to watch, where elitist and mass fashion exist in harmony. Maybe she’s another sign of the times, and maybe she’s also not the only one will be able to maintain her fashion cred while hawking $30 faux-fur vests.