Kazia Jaszkiewicz
Flávia Linden
Lisa Dengler
Ala Konturek
Kellen Hofer
VA Fashion Week 2011 will be held at 333 Waterside Drive Norfolk, Virginia 23510 on the date of November 9-13, 2011.
VA Fashion Week was founded with a tri-fold purpose; to promote Virginia’s talented designers, models, and artists; to promote the economic development of the region by focusing on nurturing the creative class especially those involved in fashion and beauty oriented businesses as well as in the arts; and to partner with regional charities to create awareness and encourage community involvement.
Now in our 5th year, VAFW is featuring a number of FIRSTS: our first Bridal Show, our first Urban Show, our first Kid’s Fashion Show, and the first inductions into the VA Fashion HALL OF FAME! It’s our 2nd year of showing the Bra-ha-ha, our 2nd Catwalk Competition, and our 3rd Hair/Makeup Competition. Our list of guest designers this year is spectacular.
VA Fashion Week Fall 2011 Events
Shows from November 9-13 at Norfolk Waterside 333 Waterside Dr. Norfolk
YOUTH ARTS NIGHT: VAFW begins with an evening of fashion featuring young talent, with an emerging designer competition especially for students ages 13-20 and our catwalk competition aimed at discovering a future superstar model. Our guest host will be Kelly Gaita (formerly of The Hampton Roads Show) musical guest Blessing Leji.
URBAN THURSDAY features top regional Urban Wear, Surf & Skate, Beach Casual, and more. A fun, high fashion event spotlighting some of the lines that VA is known for. The evening will also feature our annual competition for hair stylists, makeup artists, and overall wardrobe stylists. High energy shows!
EMERGING DESIGNER COMPETITION. The best emerging designers on the East Coast will each show 5-8 outfits competing for prizes, recognition & promotion. Featured designer finale will feature past winners and runners up in our competitions. We will also present the first inductees into the "VA Fashion Hall of Fame." Also we will show some of the best designs from the "Bra-ha-ha!"
KIDS FASHION! Top children’s wear designer plus children’s boutiques feature kids clothes from casual to formal. Final show will feature models of all ages. We’ll also showcase art by and for young people.
COUTURE DESIGNERS from VA and Around the World. Opening Reception will start at 6 followed by our premiere guest designer collections. Featured Couture Designers include Thomas LaVone Woodard, official designer for TV series "Jerseylicious" We estimate a total of 12 designer shows.
BRIDAL & FORMAL Fashions. For the first time, VAFW will present a Bridal show featuring bridal & formal fashions including wedding gowns, bridesmaid gowns, men’s formals, children’s formalwear as well as honeymoon attire, cocktail attire and lingerie. The final scene will be an “Artists Vision: Fantasy Wedding Attire” featuring a bridal look from many of our top couture designers. We will offer a special deal for Bridal venders as well!
"LUCULENCE" RICHMOND ENCORE SHOW & AWARDS. Five of the designers featured in Norfolk will encore their lines in Richmond at the Dogtown Dance Theatre. We will also present the VA Fashion Week "SPLASH" awards to the VA designer and photographer. The event will also feature regional musicians and artists.
Models present creations during the Top Shoes & Fashion Accessories - Taiwan Bags and Gloves Fashion Show at the Beijing National Convention Center Oct 24, 2011.
Models present creations during the Top Shoes & Fashion Accessories - Taiwan Bags and Gloves Fashion Show at the Beijing National Convention Center Oct 24, 2011.
Safetex Group has begun construction of 500 tons per month polyester staple fibre (PSF) plant in Ras Al Khaimah – UAE.
It is the first PSF plant to be set up in the emirate and will produce the fibre in a eco-friendly manner from bottle grade prime resin, prime and off specs resins and recycled plastic bottle flaks and chips.
The plant will be set up at a cost of US $10 million and will commence production in March 2012. The production capacity will be hiked to 1,200 tons per month by 2013-end.
The company, Emirates Fibre Industries has imported the machinery from various manufacturers in Europe and Far East countries. The building is expected to be state-of-the-art and has been designed with future expansions in mind.
Speaking to fibre2fashion, Mr Md Saleem Ahmad, MD & CEO - Safetex Group said, "The Safetex plant are pioneers of PSF production in UAE and we expect our sales to double, once the plant is operational".
He is hopeful that the demand for the fibre produced by Emirates Fibre Industries will be very good.
NEW YORK – The fundraising box that UNICEF distributes to children to collect pennies in on Halloween has gone as high fashion as it can: Lauren Bush Lauren, the model, philanthropist and entrepreneur designed a version of her Feed bag with a jack-o'-lantern face for the cause.
The burlap tote — big enough for candy and coins — has glow-in-the-dark orange trim. The proceeds from each $18 purchase will pay for nutrient powder packets for a child for a year, according to Feed.
Bush Lauren remembers carrying the paper box when she was a kid in Houston. "I feel nostalgic for it. I trick-or-treated for candy and UNICEF," she says.
Nowadays, Bush Lauren — the 27-year-old granddaughter of President George H.W. Bush, niece of President George W. Bush and new daughter-in-law to Ralph Lauren — is rarely seen without one of the no-frills bags produced by her charitable for-profit company Feed Projects, which she co-founded in 2007. It was her way to respond to the question, "What can I do?"
"I modeled throughout high school and college but I knew it wasn't what I wanted to do with my life," she says during a telephone interview. So she became a student ambassador during her Princeton University days for the United Nations World Food Program.
She visited Africa and then traveled to U.S. college campuses to tell her peers about the poverty and hunger she saw. It seemed as if everyone she met wanted to help, she recalls, but they weren't sure what they could do from their dorm rooms. "It was through that experience that I came up with the idea of the Feed bag, about attaching a tangible donation to a consumer product. It's a bite-size way to give back."
Most of the Feed products — now boasting more than 60 eco-friendly products, including a teddy bear, clutch handbag and Clarins cosmetics case — benefit the U.N.'s school-meals program, which gives free lunches in 62 countries. The UNICEF bags, however, specifically raise money to distribute micronutrient supplements to more than 46,000 kids. The company is also experimenting with local designers in the countries helped by the U.N. programs to give artisans much-needed work and to keep their crafts alive, Bush Lauren explains.
She also has a line of silk pareos (a sarong-like coverup) sold through Calypso St. Barth boutiques that are hand-dyed by women in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
She says she considers herself more an entrepreneur than a model or a designer, even though she's appeared on the cover of W and Glamour magazines, among others, and does oversee Feed's creative side.
So far, Feed has donated more than $6 million and the ticker at the top of the FeedProjects.com website says more than 65 million meals have been provided from the 560,000-plus bags sold.
There's a companion non-profit, full-fundraising organization called The Feed Foundation also started by Bush Lauren and her business partner Ellen Gustafson. The focus here is about raising awareness about the global food system.
In a tough economic climate, however, Bush Lauren says it sometimes seems easier to collect charitable donations as people are shopping for themselves. "As a donor, you're also a consumer so you don't `feel' the donation. And, hopefully, the bag is something you are proud to carry around."
Bush Lauren carries one almost every day, even on the red carpets and big galas she frequents with husband David Lauren. "I carry it everywhere, whether it's a fancy event or a trip to Africa. It's part of my everyday wardrobe."
So what's inside?
"Always a few pens, paper for to-do lists, lip balm and iPhone — and it's usually a mess."
NEW YORK – Fashion designer Ralph Lauren talked about success, comebacks and humble beginnings with Oprah Winfrey at Lincoln Center in front of a sold-out crowd packed with celebrities like Michael J. Fox, Tracy Pollan, Naomi Watts, Jessica Alba, Uma Thurman and Martha Stewart.
The Monday night event was a joint benefit between the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention and the Manhattan performing-arts complex, raising a total of more than $7 million.
Winfrey, wearing a red custom-made Lauren gown, introduced her friend of many years as an "extraordinary man," adding, "In so many ways he designed the fabric of America the way we know it."
A photo montage then hit on all of Lauren's classics: the wide ties he wouldn't change when he was launching his business in the 1960s — even when Bloomingdale's asked him to — along with the polo shirts, Western-inspired fringe jackets, banker suits, slinky satin gowns, "Great Gatsby"-styled sportswear, and all the cozy cashmere.
He doesn't chase trends, said Lauren, founder of the Polo brand, but he's not into old things, either. He prefers styles that "age well."
Actress Watts said she remembers as a teenager, she couldn't wait to get her hands on one of those famous collared polo shirts with the pony emblem. She's since graduated to the cable-knit crewneck sweaters — and the black beaded gown she was wearing at the event.
"He's been famous for so long. I grew up following him," the British-born Watts said. "Ralph Lauren is a great American icon, and he's here along with another great American icon. It's my pleasure to be here."
Many of the opening-segment photographs showed Lauren, his wife Ricky, and their three children living the genteel life that his styles have come to represent. They were pictured against idyllic backdrops of beautiful beaches, charming farms and the Rocky Mountains, alternately surrounded by horses, sports cars and famous faces.
"He has the life we all wish we had," said Winfrey. "He's living it."
Lauren, 72, who was born Ralph Lifshitz, said he doesn't apologize for enjoying and embracing his success, reminding the crowd that he came from humble beginnings in the Bronx with an aspiring artist father who sometimes took house-painting jobs to pay the bills. "You are what you are. I'm living proof if you work hard enough, you can accomplish something in this country."
Prabal Gurung, an up-and-coming designer with a lot of buzz, said he was inspired by Lauren. "What really resonated with me was that he did plan this was all going to happen. He did it all because he wanted to."
And Lauren's not done yet. It's drive — with mixed feelings of fear and excitement (resulting in sweaty palms before each collection debuts on the runway) — that keep him and his juggernaut of the company that bears his name going. The brand, Lauren said, has more growth to do in emerging markets such as China and Russia.
Things haven't always been good, with Lauren saying twice in its four decades the company came back from the brink of failure. But a comeback can be even sweeter than initial accomplishment, he added. Frank Sinatra was one of his childhood heroes because he did just that. "He had a big drop in his career, lost his audience ... but he made a comeback. He came back."
Winfrey asked Lauren if there was a defining moment when he knew he'd crossed into the big leagues.
"I don't think I've ever said it," Lauren responded, "and I don't think I ever will."
Lauren allowed that he feels pangs of guilt when he sees someone who is sick or injured. That's why he's so involved in cancer treatment causes, especially reaching out to patients who can't afford care, he explained; it's an effort to give to someone else the opportunity that he had.
In an interview with The Associated Press before he went on stage, he said, "I've been doing what I'm doing a long time and I'm here to give back what I can."
He also said he can't remember the first time meeting Winfrey but he did grant an interview when she first launched her magazine. They formed a bond. "I once found myself talking to Oprah in my car for an hour. Whenever I see her it's like I just saw her. That's a real connection," he said.
MIAMI – In the first major runway show for her own label in more than a decade, Cuban-American designer Isabel Toledo introduced her "watercolor" spring-summer 2012 collection in Miami.
At a gallery space in Miami's design district Wednesday night, Toledo showed feminine, flowing dresses in colors taken from the tropical scenery of her inspiration, the Caribbean, including the blue hues of ocean and sky.
The strapless top of an ethereal dress was emerald green, while the chiffon bottom was black. Bright orange draped another long dress that was open back, with strings attached to the sides of the pleated dress. Different shades of purple were blended in one knee-length dress. Metallic lace gold topped silver skirts, while she morphed black into white on some looks using a soft ombre technique. Delicate lace, silk, organzas, and chiffon were among her favorite fabrics, keeping in line with other trends emerging for next season on the catwalks of New York, Paris and other fashion capitals.
Toledo, who began designing in 1984, put the brakes on full-scale fashion shows after one in New York in 1998. "And then silence," she said.
"Being a small company, you're just not big enough to show the way that the big brands show," she said. "And I actually felt that my work deserved a lot more attention as far as the intimacy of fashion."
Her work certainly grabbed attention after first lady Michelle Obama wore some of her creations, including the yellow-green — aka "lemongrass" — dress and jacket that she wore the day her husband was inaugurated as president.
Toledo has since created a successful shoe and handbag collection for Payless ShoeSource, and, in fact, the models in the Miami show wore her upcoming spring collection for Payless.
"Interesting for me has been to come to another place in the country where people are open to fashion," she said. "They want the experience to go to a fashion show. In a way it's not business, it's joy."
Toledo plans to continue designing shoes (she also had collaborated with Manolo Blahnik when she was creative director at Anne Klein in 2007-08) and possibly put on more fashion shows. Her latest project, though, is a book about "life, love and fashion."
"Roots of Style" is expected to be released in early 2012.
"People are ready to truly absorb creation, not just brands," said Toledo's husband and collaborator Ruben Toledo, a well-known fashion illustrator. The two have been married for nearly 30 years and continue to inspire one another.
"Everything is inspired by Ruben, everything," Isabel Toledo. "I'm such a sedate kind of gal. And he really is the energy behind me."
Ruben Toledo's artwork was prevalent in the new collection. He hand-painted many watercolor designs displayed on the accessories, from a floral motif to geometric shapes on oversized bags and floppy hats. Some of the dresses appeared to have paint smudge. And the long, straight ponytails on the models were dipped in different bright colors to resemble paint brushes.
The couple was also honored Wednesday with the Lifetime Achievement Award by Fashion Group International.
Ruben Toledo called it a "big time honor."
"The thought that we first started doing this when we got married," he said before turning to his wife to ask: "Did you ever think we would be doing this that long?"
"Honestly, I've never not thought I'd be doing this. I just never thought of it as a business," she answered.
"Same here," he agreed.
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Headbands emblazoned with Russian symbols, cheap accessories and military-style clothes sashayed through the Russian Silhouette fashion designer contest in Moscow this week.
The contest, first launched in 1997 by the Russian Silhouette charity fund, is aimed at supporting young Russian designers and took in 67 collections at the Gostinyi dvor exhibition center, where Moscow Fashion Week will kick off next week.
"We went through more regions this time, about 60, nine time zones of Russia and neighboring countries, held 32 semi-finals, viewed 4,000 designers, twice as many as last year," Tatiana Mikhalkova, the president of the fund, told Reuters.
The collections represented nearly a dozen countries in their diversity, which usually sets the contest apart from similar foreign competitions, she said.
Some judges said that a slower economy this year had prevented students from displaying the kind of experimentation and whimsical flair seen in past shows.
"Unable to spend a lot, this year designers played safe and acquired similar style, that's why the show was a bit weak, I wanted to see more individuality and more guts," Gevorg Rene, an Armenian fashion designer, told Reuters during an intermission.
A representative of Denmark's Saga Furs auction house, Natalia Turovnikova, said she was disappointed with the drab uniformity of the collections.
"They are too modest, too tidy, not bold. You are young, you need to show sass, to surprise us," she said addressing the participants from the runway.
Russian women are well-known for their exuberant interest in high-end fashion and unconventional outfits are a current fad.
Saga Furs was among other fashion labels such as Germany's Laurel, Italy's Moschino, France's Claude Bonucci boutique and several Russian houses to offer 30 finalists internships and education programs.
The grand-prix -- a 22,000 euro ($30,365) year-long masters program at the Italian design and fashion school Domus Academy -- went to Muscovite Alexandra Ulyanova for her collection "From darkness to light."
Ulyanova's five outfits ranged from a long dark brown dress and heavy makeup to an angelic white transparent gown with an ivory belt accentuating the pale-skinned feminine figure floating on the runway.
"I had a philosophical concept in mind, I wanted to show the transition from dark to light," Ulyanova told Reuters backstage. "I wanted to find this purity in today's darkness and pull it out."
Winners of the previous Russian Silhouette contest will show at Russian Fashion week starting on Friday at the World Trade center.
Kerry Logistics, a leading global logistics services provider, has secured a contract with Hugo Boss to manage Greater China distribution of a range of premium fashion and luxury goods.
The new contract will provide for logistics services through two distribution centres; one in Hong Kong for Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong markets and one in Shanghai for the mainland China market.
"We are delighted to be working with Hugo Boss as a strategic partner, one of the world’s leading fashion and luxury goods brands. As consumer demand grows for imported brands in China, Kerry Logistics is well positioned to deliver a comprehensive range of warehousing and logistics services throughout Greater China," said Samuel Lau, Director of Kerry Logistics (Hong Kong).
"We have an unmatched flexibility and scalability in the China market which will enable us to deliver optimised services to support Hugo Boss’s aggressive growth in the years ahead," he added.
Hugo Boss has been a market leader in China since the early 1990s and is poised for double digit growth as demand soars for luxury brands.
The Federal Government and the State governments in Nigeria have been urged by the textile technologists to make efforts to revitalize the textile mills in the country, so to aid the nation’s economic growth.
During the 4th National Conference of the Association of Textile Technologists of Nigeria held in Lagos, Director General of Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association (NTMA), Mr. Jacob Olanrewaju, said revitalization of the textile industry would lead to creation of more job opportunities, which would help the country to bridge the rural-urban gap.
He added that ultimately, the revival of the domestic textile industry would result in a significant fall in the number of unemployed in the country.
Association of Textile Technologists of Nigeria (ATTN) Chairman, Mr. Philip Kayode said the Government should not overlook the textile sector as it can aid in boosting the country’s economy, if proper finance and administration are provided.
In order to reposition the industry as a leader in textile production as earlier, the Government should introduce innovations and policy support, Mr. Kayode said.
Banks could also aid the industry, but unfortunately it seems as if there is a law to not to extend any loans to textile industries, which is very disappointing and even detrimental for the country’s economy, he added.
Mr. Kayode stated that ATTN wants the Government to aid revival of the textile industry, and hence the Association is suggesting new initiatives to improve the domestic content and to increase the appeal of finished goods and make them more acceptable in the highly competitive international market.
He also urged the Government to attend to the issue of power, infrastructure and bad roads, so as to aid the revitalization process.
New York – "The most beautiful creations are born into this world from hearts that carry sorrow" was the sentiment on which bridal gown designer Pnina Tornai created her 2012 collection, as she dedicated the show, which took place on Monday, Oct. 17, in New York, to her deceased mother.
With memories of both her mother and grandmother always being well dressed and adorned by precious pearls - "the more the better," as she put it - Israeli native Tornai created a collection that was decadent and luxurious. Upcoming brides can save themselves the hassle of searching for that perfect necklace, or back necklace for that matter, as these dresses had upper body glitz and sparkle all of their own. And with fully open and dropped back styles, the layered pearls and crystals were just the right touch and a pleasant addition to a bareback look.
Resembling the abyss from which they ascend, these pearled and jeweled creations mimicked an ocean surface shimmer, of waves and small tides reflecting off the sun, making some ensembles hard to look at directly as the runway spotlights reflected their rainbow prisms.
Tornai, who is in-house designer for wedding dress retailer Kleinfeld, also appealed to a more organic bride with her plain mermaid gowns matched with pearlized shell boleros. Sheath dresses with jewel encrusted edges carried a sophistication and elegance befitting a queen or princess. Very appropriate for any bride on her big day.
