Romek Gelard Gello
Rita Galkina
Billy Hazel
Weronika Kumanek
Mikko Puttonen
Every actress wants to look her best when she steps out on the red carpet, and the SAG Awards are no exception. Actress Christina Hendricks is teaming up with Degree Women Ultra Clear's NEW Red Satin to sport a daring red dress on the red carpet while supporting Clothes Off Our Back.
America Makes a Statement
Now through Jan. 22, fans can log on to DegreeRedDress.com to view and vote on the red dress style Hendricks will don on the red carpet at the SAG Awards on Jan. 23. Every vote counts and supports Degree Women Ultra Clear's donation of $50,000 to Clothes Off Our Back, an organization that hosts charity auctions showcasing celebrity attire and raises money to help improve the lives of women and children across the globe.
Each person who votes will have the opportunity to receive a product coupon so they can make their own statement in red and will also have the chance to win some stylish swag. Hendricks' red dress will be auctioned off by Clothes Off Our Back after the award ceremony on ClothesOffOurBack.org.
"I'm not one to shy away from making a fashion statement on the red carpet. This year, fans can help me dare to make a statement in red with Degree Women Ultra Clear, while also supporting a charitable cause, Clothes Off Our Back," says Hendricks.
Red-carpet Essentials
Once the red dress is chosen by America, Hendricks will complete her look with the perfect accessories.
"The ultimate accessory for any red-hot look is a reliable anti-perspirant/deodorant; Degree Women Ultra Clear in its new irresistible fragrance Red Satin is great on white marks and keeps you dry and smelling clean and fresh for a full 24 hours," says celebrity fashion stylist Phillip Bloch. "You'll have the confidence to be red-carpet ready and won't have to worry about a fashion faux pas with unsightly white marks."
New Degree Women Ultra Clear in Red Satin
New Degree Women Ultra Clear in Red Satin provides the ultimate protection from odor and wetness, and most importantly, from unsightly white marks, so your red-hot look will be the only thing to turn heads.
The new Red Satin offering is made with a unique blend of floral, citrus and fruity notes for a sparkling clean, fresh scent. Top and middle notes include pineapple, watermelon, apple, pear, aqueous, bergamot, tangerine and zest, and middle and base notes include muguet, rose, peony and marigold.
Degree Women Ultra Clear anti-perspirants/deodorants are available nationally at mass market retail stores beginning January 2010 with a suggested retail price.
With 23 products spanning polo shirts, sweaters, fleeces, wind shirts and waterproofs, Glenmuir’s new Spring/Summer 2010 Men’s Performance & Trend Collection offers something for every golfer, in every weather situation.
‘Smart fabrics’ are at the heart of the new collection, where the thermo-buffering principle of the super-advanced ThermoCool system sits alongside CoolFlex HiCooland CoolMax technologies to give golfers the ultimate in performance golfwear.
A highlight for 2010 is the introduction of three fantastic new shirts – Performance Curve, Hi-Cool Draw and Hi-Cool Fade –and two new sweaters, Littlestone and Tandridge.
Glenmuir has unveiled eight Performance Shirts in an ever-expanding category for the Scotland based company, spearheaded by the new Performance Curve polo using ThermoCool which consists of a unique blend of hollow and solid fibres that interact with the golfer.
When the user is hot and perspiring, the fabric allows evaporation, keeping the user cool and comfortable. When the user’s body temperature drops, the fabric traps body heat and creates a barrier to external cooler temperatures, keeping the user warm and temperature-regulated – known as thermo-buffering.
Performance Curve is available in three contemporary colours with contrast body panels and placket trim. For golfers looking for comfort and performance in a soft cotton/polyester mix, the new Hi-Cool Draw and Hi-Cool Fade shirts deliver outstanding moisture management in a stylish, modern package.
The Hi-Cool Draw is available in three colours, with seam detail and contrast colours at the cuff, zip and shoulders, while the Hi-Cool Fade features distinctive contrasting under-arm panels in a three-colour range.
All Glenmuir Men’s Performance Shirts come in sizes S-XXL and in a neater athletic fit to enhance the performance of the shirts’ fabrics.
For the first time, Glenmuir has introduced two complementary Supersoft Cotton Sweaters into the Men’s Performance & Trend Collection for Spring/Summer 2010, which make an ideal companion to the shirts.
The long-sleeved Littlestone is manufactured from lightweight 2/32s cotton with a lockdown zip neck, contrast colour panels on the body and sleeves and Glenmuir 1891 embroidery on the sleeve.
This new sweater is available in six great colour combinations: Stone/Blue, Blue/Stone, White/Black, Lilac/White,Paradise/White and White/Paradise. A v-neck slipover model, Tandridge, comes in three colourways – Blue/Stone, Lilac/White and Paradise/White.
Glenmuir Managing Director, Colin Mee, says: “The Men’s Performance & Trend Collection is an all-encompassing range of products to suit any weather situation a golfer is likely to encounter – from a shirt to keep you cool on warm days to waterproofs designed to withstand the very worst of the British weather.”
Glenmuir has introduced three carefully-selected new contemporary colour palettes for the season – ‘Blue Stone’ (three classic shades of blue combining with stone and white); ‘LilacHaze’ (vibrant raspberry and lilac infused with black, white and stone); and ‘Paradise Mist’ (three cool greys mixing with paradise blue and white) – which feature across its entire range.
Glenmuir Men’s Performance & Trend Collection updates
Finding co-ordinating outerwear in the Glenmuir Men’s Performance & Trend range is now easier than ever as many products have been updated for Spring/Summer 2010 to incorporate the new colour palettes.
In the Rain Bloc Waterproofs range, the zip-neck Rain Bloc Stretch now comes in graphite/black, azure/navy and black/silver, while the Rain Bloc Light jacket is available in black/garnet alongside silver/black, navy/azure and black/graphite.
The extra-flexible Rain Bloc Pro and its half-sleeve Rain Bloc Club cousin are available in garnet red, black, silver, azure and navy. All are complemented by the Rain Bloc Drive waterproof trousers in black and navy and are backed by a three-year waterproof guarantee.
The popularity of Glenmuir’s Storm Bloc Windshirts sees the long-sleeve Storm Bloc Pro adding a new Blue/Stone colourway to a total choice of seven designs, while the half-sleeve Storm Bloc Club comes in Silver/graphite, Navy/ink, Black/graphite, Stone/black and new Blue/stone.
Katy Perry has fuelled rumours that she is pregnant with fiancé Russell Brand after the pair were reportedly spotted browsing in a London baby boutique over the weekend.
The couple became engaged during a Christmas break in Thailand and speculation shortly followed that they are now expecting their first child.
According to The Sun, Brand and Perry were snapped looking at a range of baby shoes in a North London store on Sunday.
A source said: "Russ and Katy had a wander around Hampstead. They visited children's shoe shop Cubs and had a lot of fun checking out all the little bootees."
Italy's fashion sector will emerge from the financial crisis before others but the government needs to help companies be more competitive, the head of an industry body said on Tuesday.
Italy's fashion industry called for government help last year as the global financial crisis sapped demand for its clothes, shoes and handbags.
Despite the crisis not yet being over, current sales are going well, said Michele Tronconi, head of Sistema Moda Italia (SMI), which represents the textile and clothing industry.
"In the last few months, there has been a change in pace, now there is a favorable context for various reasons," he told reporters at the Pitti Uomo menswear trade fair.
"The crisis is not yet over but (fashion) is a sector that was hit by the crisis first and it will come out of the crisis before others."
SMI said in November it expected turnover for the clothing and textile sector to fall 16 percent in 2009 to 45 billion euros ($65.32 billion).
Luxury groups are focusing on winning back consumers as they emerge from the economic crisis. Italians have braved cold weather to snap up discounted goods at their favorite designer or high-street fashion stores during the current winter sales period.
"Shop sales at this moment are going very well," Tronconi said.
He cited tax credits, the lowering of energy costs and a traceability system as helpful measures for the industry.
"From the last few meetings, I am confident something will be done soon," he said.
bebe stores, inc. reported retail sales of $135.5 million for the fiscal quarter ended January 2, 2010, a decrease of 23.1% compared to sales of $176.3 million for the fiscal quarter ended January 3, 2009. Comparable store sales for the fiscal quarter ended January 2, 2010 decreased 22.5% compared to a decrease of 20.1% in the prior year. Beginning in November fiscal 2010 comparable store sales exclude the 62 PH8 stores due to the conversion of BEBE SPORT stores to PH8 stores.
Retail sales for the year-to-date period ended January 2, 2010 were $255.7 million compared to $333.6 million for the year-to-date period ended January 3, 2009 a decrease of 23.4%. Comparable store sales for the year-to-date period ending January 2, 2010 decreased 24.1% compared to a decrease of 16.0% for the year-to-date period ending January 3, 2009.
As of January 2, 2010, average finished goods inventory per square foot was approximately 15.7% lower as compared to the prior year.
bebe stores, inc. designs, develops and produces a distinctive line of contemporary women’s apparel and accessories, which it markets under the bebe, PH8 and 2b bebe brand names. bebe currently operates 309 stores, of which 213 are bebe stores, 62 are PH8 stores, 33 are 2b bebe stores and 1 is a bebe accessories store. These stores are located in the United States, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Canada.
Co-founders Dan Single and George Gorrow said they had been "struggling to achieve the margin necessary to fund the growth and development of the brand".
Voluntary administration was the "only way to ensure the future of ksubi", they said in a statement.
"We are and will remain fully committed to the ksubi brand and in assisting the administrator to achieve the best possible outcome," they said.
The pair said there had been "significant attempts" in recent times to address ksubi's financial difficulties. These had included "licensing the manufacturing and distribution of the brand to a culturally aligned, Australian-based company with overseas production experience and networks".
"However, despite best efforts it has not been possible to formalise a new restructure leading to the appointment of an administrator," the pair said.
"Ksubi is grateful for the loyalty shown by its suppliers through this difficult period."
The ksubi label, created in 2000, is well known for its jeans and denim range. There are three ksubi stores in Australia and one in New York. The company employs about 20 people.
Administrator Paul Billingham said in a statement it was "business as usual" for ksubi.
"Our job is to try and preserve the inherent value of the business and we will be working closely with the directors and key stakeholders to do this,"he said.
It was understood that Westpac had pushed for administrators to be appointed.
Lady Gaga sports an avant-guarde grace style in fresh smoke-eye makeup and a delicate veil gown on the cover of 944 magazine's 2010 January issue.
Taylor Momsen pictured on the set of "Gossip Girl" in Uptown, Manhattan, January 7, 2009.
The Social Partners of the European Leather Industry (Cotance) addressed, in their Social Sectoral Dialogue Committee Meeting in December 15 in Brussels), the allegations made to the leather industry in general and to certain European tanneries and their customers in particular in the Greenpeace report released over internet on the deforestation of the Amazon.
They appreciate the gravity of the problem uncovered by Greenpeace and express upfront their solidarity with the objective of preserving the environment and notably the avoidance of irresponsible harm to the Amazon rainforest. The European Social Partners dissociate themselves from any form of unsustainable generation of hides and skins notably the one highlighted in the Greenpeace report.
However, Cotance and ETUF-TCL regret the distorted vision mentioned in the report between the deforestation issue and the leather industry that has been further conveyed in the general press, amplifying the damage caused to the image of the leather industry and to the reputation of the people who work in the leather value chain including European tanners and their customers.
Last fall outspoken economist Noriko Hama caused a fuss with an essay about deflation in the magazine Bungei Shunju. She said that the trend of yasuuri kyoso (low price competition) was "destroying society," and not just in Japan. However, in Japan she singled out the clothing retailer Uniqlo as the main representative of this "self-strangling" movement.
Tadashi Yanai, the chairman of Uniqlo's parent, Fast Retailing, didn't mention Hama's essay when he gave an interview to Asahi Shimbun last month, but he's obviously sensitive to such charges. He said the real cause of deflation isn't competition but rather sluggish consumer spending.
That sounds logical, but it's not as if the two phenomena aren't related. During the bubble era of the 1980s, Japan was notorious for its high consumer prices and in the two decades that have elapsed since then these prices have come down. At the same time, the consumer base has shrunk as the population aged and niche markets became more dynamic.
Consequently, the most intractable problem for the retail sector is that the majority of Japanese have everything they need. There are fewer new Japanese taking the place of older consumers, and those who are coming of consumption age are facing poorer employment opportunities, thus giving them less guaranteed disposable income than their parents had when they entered the work force. This new layer of consumers grew up during a time when low price competition became the norm. They have been conditioned to seek out bargains and gain personal satisfaction from saving money.
It's not a novel idea, but thanks to years of gleeful media coverage of anything labeled gekiyasu (extremely cheap) — from rock-bottom supermarket sales to celebrities devising ways to live on ¥100 a day — retailers are being forced to offer lower and lower prices just to stay in business. Gekiyasu is practically a philosophy, and many TV series are built around the concept. Despite the attention paid to the Michelin restaurant guide, the majority of food shows focus on "B-class gourmet" tours and home cooking on the cheap. Gorgeous meals are only covered if they have an economical angle, and while this is a welcome change from the old model of TV personalities gobbling expensive melons and partaking of 50-year-old wines that viewers could never hope to sample, it indirectly puts pressure on businesses that may not be able to offer bargains every day of the week.
Even retail sectors that were traditionally excluded from price considerations have been affected. Two months ago, the retailer Seiyu was running TV ads for its yearend gift selection with actor Koji Ishizaka saying, "I didn't spend less money for your present, but I did get more for my money." Gekiyasu has become a kind of devil's bargain for the media. Programs about cheap consumption get high ratings and magazine articles about saving money sell well, but in the long run deflation undermines companies' ability to buy advertising. Several weeks ago, Tomoaki Ogura, the host of Fuji TV's wide show, "Toku Da Ne," remarked during a report about deflation that his occupation may be complicit in its own demise.
Yanai can be called the godfather of this philosophy, since he found a way of convincing consumers to buy stuff they didn't really need. If the jeans are only ¥990, you can buy a pair for every day of the week. That is what Hama is referring to when she talks about "Uniqlo-style deflation." She isn't blaming Yanai for the problem. She is simply holding the store up as it's prime example. Once Uniqlo was the upstart. Now it's the norm.
But as Hama said in a recent conversation in Aera, if things proceed as they are future new consumers won't even be able to afford Uniqlo. "People who work in automobile factories can't buy automobiles," she points out, "and people who build houses can't buy homes." So even though things are becoming cheaper, wages and salaries are dropping just as steadily if not faster.
The problem is structural. Japan's legendary expansion in the 1960s and then the repeat growth spurt in the 1980s were the consequences of life changes for the generation called dankai sedai, usually translated as "postwar baby boomers" but representing a narrower range of ages than that represented by the same term in the West. This group entered the work force in the 1960s and were encouraged to buy everything, since they had nothing and their parents had less. Then in the 1980s they were encouraged to buy homes, thus priming the real-estate bubble.
The "dankai juniors," meaning the children of the boomers, came of age in the early 1990s, and though they had fewer job opportunities than their parents, their ranks were large enough to keep consumption levels high. But in the last decade the subsequent generation of workers hasn't been able to keep consumption at the same level, which is ironic because 2002-2007 marked the longest period of expansion in postwar Japan. If the average person didn't feel the benefits, it's because it was all tied to exports. Japanese companies remained competitive overseas by downsizing domestic work forces and keeping a lid on wages. Older people have everything they need, but younger people simply don't have the money to buy what they need or want. The Japanese economy may be suffering due to excess competitiveness, but it's not retail competitiveness, it's the competitiveness of companies that say they have to keep salaries low to survive.
The solution is to give young people more money. If they have cash to spend, population contraction won't be as much of a problem, but Japanese businesses say they can't do it. If these companies really wanted to help the country, they would pay workers wages they could live on. They'd also encourage their older workers to retire, thus forcing them to spend their savings, the sooner the better.