Friday, January 16, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Eight easy ways to update your look in 2009
1. Change your hair*
This can be an understated difference or a full-blown transformation, but do something new. Things to try:
Cutting bangs
Attempting a bob
Coloring your hair two shades darker or lighter
Getting chunky, fun highlights
Going to a trusted stylist and saying "Do whatever you think."
*Understand that this "change" requires a little fearlessness. If you don't love it, your hair will grow back. This is what's awesome about hair.
2. Buy a new bra
Even if you have brassieres that actually fit you—though I'm guessing 75 percent of you, like me, do not—you probably need a new one. If you haven't yet, go to a store that will measure you and find your correct size. Buy a bra accordingly. Also? Try something new. Go for a sexy black bra if you have none like it, try push-up bras, padded, etc, etc. Having boobs is one of our great privileges as women. We should dress them up.
3. Wash and moisturize your face every night, seriously
It's small, but important. You'll notice a change in your skin in like a week.
4. Make time each week for one inexpensive beauty ritual
Years ago, when I was barely earning enough money to pay my rent, a male friend attempted to help me create a budget. "Eyebrow waxing DOES NOT go in 'necessary expenses'," he balked. "Yes it does," I replied. "It costs $10 and it makes me feel good about myself."
These tiny indulgences—like cheap manicures, pedicures, and waxing—are important. They have the power to make us feel pampered and more confident, which, to me, is completely worth the price of three coffees from Starbucks.
5. Stop wearing clothes that don't fit you or that you hate
I harp on this one a lot, I know, but really, just get rid of everything that causes you to feel fat, or lumpy, or out of style or in anyway does not flatter who you are. We can all get so caught up in a fear of scarcity that we forget that the filler pieces in our closets have been tried and tested and will never become satisfying garments we actually want to wear.
6. Go out and purchase one pretty top, one pair of earrings, and an entirely new lip shade
This doesn't have to be an expensive outing—you can get a good version of all three for around $30 total. But this triple buy is my trick for curing fashion depression. Usually, I buy a top, a pair of earrings, and a new lipstick, take a shower, do my hair, and go out with my friends.
7. Attempt a new accessories style this year
There are so many fun things to try: Skinny or wide belts! Patterned tights! Boots! Wedge heels! Tiny vs. big purses! Big cuff bracelets! Long chains! Bangles! Just pick one (or two or three) that you've never worn before and give it a whirl...
8. Invest in one piece that you've wanted for a long time
I know, it's horrible for me to say this, given our economic climate, but I'm going to anyway. You deserve one fancy thing—be it a great bag, a beautiful pair of shoes, a well-made coat—that you've always wanted. Think about what it is (within reason) and save for it. Look for it on sale. Purchase it. Feel happy every time you have it on.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Fashion Design for London`s Neu Rave Scene
For London natives who crave neon colors, cartoon imagery, and outrageous graphics, there is a fashion design label serving up the psychedelic clothing they covet. Fashion design school graduate Carri Munden is an active participant in London's burgeoning Neu Rave scene and has chosen the dance-music-inspired crowd as her target market for her label Cassette Playa. So far the response has been overwhelmingly positive with large fashion design followings in both the UK and Japan.
Found Art: Making Fashion out of Plastic Packaging
Munden finds her inspiration in objects, shapes, and colors that induce a sensory overload in the viewer. For example, bold, neon plastic candy wrappers or playful cartoon characters like Sonic the Hedgehog all play a part in the construction of designs for Cassette Playa. Rather than catering to the mainstream fashion market where soft colors and fluid shapes hold consumer interest, Mundin reaches out to the folks who live in a world of video games, computer graphics, and dance-crazed clubs, tapping into their need for a more interactive experience with their attire.
Fashion Design School: A Place for Every Visionary
While Munden's bold designs are not for everyone, she is still widely appreciated on the catwalk and within the local London fashion scene for her skilled craftsmanship and her unorthodox concepts. In addition to having carved out a fashion niche for London's Neu Rave crowd, Munden's success can also be attributed to the visual arts training she received in fashion design school. Her designs clearly focus on the interplay between color, sound, movement, and pop culture--and her design school training helped her turn that original idea into a marketable product.
Fashion School: Make It what You Want
Raves and video games may not seem like the foundation for a fashion design label, but anything's possible with a unique vision and a skilled hand at work. Fashion design school is an experience that even the abstruse clothing artisan should consider as there is often a market for the well-made piece that caters to a specific taste.
Las Vegas Fashion Schools: Green Design in the Desert
Fashion designers need two things for success: a degree in fashion and the opportunity to showcase their designs. As one designer recently proved, Las Vegas is an excellent city for the fashion industry.
Vegas' Fashion Scene
Las Vegas, home to some of the world's largest and most luxurious hotels, also boasts several professional organizations and support networks for designers. Earlier this year, fashion designer Julia O'Connor worked with the ECO Trade Show organizer Howard Gabe to produce a fashion show at the strip's Venetian Hotel. The show featured the work of many fashion design school students charged with the goal of creating "cruelty-free" designs (garments involving no cruelty to animals). For four days, a hall at the Venetian was filled with student designs, all of them cruelty-free.
Designing in Las Vegas
O'Connor has found Las Vegas a great place to advance her career in fashion design. After tackling Los Angeles, she moved to Vegas to pursue freelancing opportunities there, and says there can often be a shortage of fashion freelancers in the desert city.
She has also been a large supporter of "green design" throughout her career, which explains her presentation at the ECO Trade Show. Learning green design, among other things, is a great reason to attend fashion design school in a city like Las Vegas, as more clients warm to the idea, and even request it from designers.
A good knowledge of the fashion industry is important to stay current and maintain a steady client base. Fashion design school can provide an excellent opportunity to establish this background, while networks of fashion design colleagues, instructors, and other professionals can help keep design school graduates sharp while working in the professional world.
Fashion in the media
Obsessed with Thin Has the Media Gone Too Far? | Underwear Makes Prime Time The Victoria's Secret Runway Show |
Smoking Hot
Designer Shoes A Girl's Best Friend | Men Who Dress Behind the Lines |
The 10 Essentials You Need These | Dangerous Style Dying to Be Beautiful |
Celebrity What Do We Want? | Online Shopping Your New Wardrobe |
Fake or Fendi? How to Tell | Faux Fur Not So Faux Anymore |
Career Fashion Professionally Sexy | Rapp and Posavek Model Bags |
Hayden Harnett One to Watch | Chip and Pepper Hotter Than Ever! |
Christie Martin Exotic Jewelry | Shan Swimwear For Beach and Resort |
Lambertson Truex The New Classic | Belen Echandia London's Bag |
Trina Turk The Queen of Class | m0851 Classics by Design |
Geek Chic Think Geek Garb | Zen Fashion Be a Yoga Hottie |
Denim Revolution How It Happenned | Harry Winston Jeweler to the Stars |
KATE EXPECTATIONS
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On being boy crazy: “When I was a teenager, like, when I turned 16, I loved boys. That was just my thing. My mom was like, ‘Oh boy, she loves boys!’ I always loved boys. I still love boys. First of all, I always had a boyfriend. This is the first time I’ve been single since I was 16!”
On dating: “I’ve been on so many bad dates. I went on one where I just left because he was so boring. I felt really bad, and I didn’t want him to pay for dinner. It’s like, ‘It’s really nice to meet you’ – moving on! Then you call your friend and you’re like, ‘Really? Really? Is that who you think I would have a great night with?!’”
On the paparazzi: “They’ve become an entity to themselves. But eventually they’ll implode. They’re creating a house of cards that will inevitably fall. These are not nice people. When you’re taking your child to school, and they’re trying to get on school property to take a picture, it literally makes you just want to smack them.”
On her wedding: “The dress was all I cared about. I really wanted the princess gown. The young bride, full Scarlett O’Hara gown. The only other thing I wanted was a raw bar and my mom was like, ‘No,’ and I was like, ‘All right.’”
On the importance of keeping her man happy: “People think that you can put your sexual life on hold, but you have to find time for it. Without that relationship, our family is broken. My mom really implanted that in me when I was pregnant.”
Photographer in focus (Jatin Kampani)
Jatin Kampani is one of that rare breed who has been able to transform a passion into a career. From being a shutterbug in childhood, Kampani graduated to becoming a professional photographer in 1996..
The country only stood to gain as Kampani’s prowess in capturing the incredible with his camera, took him on a road that few Indians had ever imagined travelling.
A decade on from his professional debut, he became the first Indian photographer whose work was selected to be on the cover of Lurzer’s Archive, a magazine that publishes works of excellence in advertising from around the world.