Romek Gelard Gello
Kazia Jaszkiewicz
Lola Mansil
Martine Falk Andersen
Austin Levine
The noble lines of a Japanese architect's church were the inspiration behind the pure, restrained look sent out by Christophe Josse on day one of the Paris haute couture shows on Monday.
The French designer chose the library of a historic Paris high-school as the setting for his autumn-winter show, his models stepping out on to an antique terracotta floor with bookcases running around the walls.
Hair pulled up in tiny turbans or trapped under back headbands, they wore body-skimming dresses of black or ivory, cut demurely on the knee and dazzling for their understated use of rare materials, and glossy textures against mat.
An apron of black beaver fur adorned the front of a dress of black satin and neoprene, with a deep V neck and a touch of gold at the waist.
A bolero-like top was fashioned from fine black crocodile, above a skirt of satin leather and wool crepe, while for evening, a bare-backed black gown flowed into a wide skirt embroidered with tiny plates of lacquered black organza.
"I wanted something simple, pure, contrasted with the idea of opulence that is linked to to haute couture, to create contemporary silhouettes," the designer told AFP before the show.
The spirit of the collection, he said, was borrowed from the "limpid and strong serenity" of an architect-designed church in Ibaraki, near Osaka in Japan.
Catering to a core client base of no more than 200 women worldwide, haute couture is a protected appellation in France, awarded based on strict criteria like the amount of work carried out by hand and in-house.
Two dozen houses including Chanel, Dior, Gaultier and Givenchy are sending out their one-off creations over three days of exclusive haute couture shows until Wednesday.
For super-cute looks with a twist, you can't go wrong with Motel Rocks. You lot on our street style fashion site, Look What I'm Wearing, have been rocking some fab picks from their collection lately.
We love Tara O'Connor's cute dress and boater hat look. It's perfect for the summer, a great day-to-night outfit!
Show us how you work Motel Rocks on Look What I'm Wearing now!
In honor of Paris Menswear Fashion Week (June 27-July 1), Relaxnews catches up with designer Songzio, who will showcase his Spring/Summer 2013 collection July 1. Here, the Korean creative shares his style secrets and sources of inspiration - including moments of being alone in an urban setting.
Relaxnews: Which famous man best represents your Spring/Summer 2013 collection?
Songzio: No one person in particular. He could be a young imaginary master, who is the hero of each Songzio story.
RN: In your opinion what are the three Spring/Summer 2013 wardrobe essentials and why?
S: A comfortable shirt in jersey, basic straight-cut cotton pants and an elegant windbreaker.
RN: Which summer holiday style can't you stand?
S: One look that I see on some women these days that I don't find attractive is short tank tops with low-rise jeans. And the tattoo that is visible in between these two garments is even worse.
RN: Which film best represents your latest collection?
S.: Gregor Jordan's The Informers which highlights the vibrant music, fashion and culture of the 1980s.
RN: Where is the most unusual place you go to seek design inspiration and why?
S: I love the solitude of being in the midst of the crowd and the city. I find it very appealing.
RN: Which object couldn't you live without on holiday?
S: A dressing gown that I wear at home.
No sooner will the Paris Menswear Fashion Week presentations have come to a close when prestigious names including Versace, Valentino and Givenchy will be hitting the French capital with their Fall/Winter 2012 couture creations as part of Haute Couture Fashion Week.
Paris Menswear Fashion Week
June 27-July 1
Paris, France
Following on Milan Menswear Fashion Week, Dior Homme, Acne and Paul Smith are just a few of the labels presenting their Spring/Summer 2013 collections on the closing weekend of Paris Menswear Fashion Week.
The organizer of Mode Shanghai organized a Press Conference at Oriental Riverside Hotel in shanghai, China, inviting local and regional journalists in fashion, as well some leading fashion brands, and announced its key strategy and overall frames for the next edition which will be held on March 13-15, 2012, in Shanghai, PR China.
Mode Shanghai aims to become the leading international fashion tradeshow in Shanghai as the Fashion Hub of Asia, to connect the middle to upper-middle fashion and accessories brands to local and regional retailers such as importer & distributors, Department stores, Shopping Malls and multi-brands select shops.
The exhibitors will be arranged into 4 different sectors, namely, "In Style" as women's wear, "So Hot" as casual wear, "Essential" as fashion accessories, and "So Cool" as men's wear, along with attractive events and performances, supported by the official sponsors and partners.
The organizer presented a short documentary, interviewed with local professionals and experts of last edition's visitors from Chinese retail as well as from Shanghai municipal government, testifying the efficiency of Mode Shanghai as the core business platform of Shanghai city.
During this press conference, Ms. Muriel PIASER, former Show Director of Pret-A-Porter Paris, was appointed as Honored Fashion Director of Mode Shanghai, to bring her expertise and professional know-how to Mode Shanghai, and this is one of global strategy of Mode Shanghai for becoming the leading fashion tradeshow in Asian region.
At this occasion, she confirmed the key message to the media and government officials: Mode Shanghai and Shanghai Fashion Week are definitively the core platform of fashion for Shanghai municipal government for becoming the 3rd fashion city of the world after Paris and New York, specifically the fashion hub of Asia.
Mode Shanghai is a leading international fashion tradeshow taking place in Shanghai China, and is the highlighted event of the Shanghai International Fashion Culture Festival, which is organized by the Shanghai Municipal Government. Mode Shanghai is designed to cater to the needs of global fashion brands looking to enter the Chinese fashion retail business, and to be an optimized business platform for retailers and fashion brands.
Hayley Marsden Millinery will be bringing her races collection to the show along with Make Boutique who will be showcasing their new stylish clothes collection.
The Liverpool Fashion Festival will take place at Aintree Race Course on the date of 9th – 12th February 2012.
Hayley has been making heads turn with her eccentric hats. Staying away from the dull and boring, she uses exciting colours and plays on each theme to create a stunning piece of fashion to wear at any event.
With just a few months under their belt, Make Boutique has established a lot. Originally starting out as dress makers, the pair have opened a boutique and online store that offers a wide range of elegant day and night wear that would make any wag jealous.
Combining the two will definitely make you stand out and look divine at Ladies Day.
The British Fashion Council (BFC) announces a brand new category for the British Fashion Awards, named the New Establishment Award. As industry experts cast their votes for the winners of this year’s awards, due to be announced Monday 28th November 2011, they created a new category to seek and recognise a particular movement in British Fashion that is taking the industry by storm.
Over the past four seasons London has cemented its status as a capital for innovation, with a group of new designers commanding front row audiences only previously seen at the shows of long-established luxury fashion brands.
This peer group is London’s New Establishment, bringing innovation to a luxury market. Sophisticated and exciting, they have surpassed being emerging designers and are growing into dynamic businesses with a global reach and a sustained impact on the way modern women dress.
London’s New Establishment category is personified by its inaugural three nominees. These designers were selected for their stand-out shows this year, their business growth, dominance in red carpet dressing and the international headlines driven by their collections. Though there were many more designers in the running for this Award, the judging panel decided that this year’s nominees are Christopher Kane, Erdem and Jonathan Saunders.
The British Fashion Awards recognises the most influential people in fashion today who have contributed to the reputation and development of British fashion. The evening is attended by key industry opinion-formers, designers, retailers, models and celebrities to celebrate the very best in British fashion.
Tesco is proud to announce that it has been awarded the prestigious ‘Green Supply Chain Award’ by The Global Supply Chain Council in China.
The Judging Panel praised Tesco for demonstrating strong environmental leadership and a firm commitment to promote green in China, while the supermarket’s Jiashan Green Logistics Centre in the Zhejiang Province "set and exceeded" its own high standards for environmental friendliness.
The development of the low-carbon Centre forms an important part of Tesco’s commitment to become a zero carbon business by 2050 and the Judges were impressed to see that the innovative design uses 45% less water and electricity in comparison to a normal warehouse. Carbon emissions have also been reduced by at least 35%.
Helen Fleming, Group Climate Change Director at Tesco, comments, "We are extremely proud to have won this award in China. As one of the world’s leading retailers, we recognize our responsibility to protect the environment and we have made great strides in reducing our emissions in China."
The CHaINA 2011 Awards are the largest supply chain industry awards in Asia and are managed by the Global Supply Chain Council. The winners are selected by an independent board of senior professionals and advisors to the Council, as well as an extensive online community of 2000 voters.
The rate of growth of sales of China’s apparel items has declined during January to October period of the current year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
Giving details about China’s commercial operation during the first ten months of 2011, Shen Danyang, Spokesperson of the Ministry, said consumer spending was light due to rise in prices of apparel items.
He added that the prices of apparel items have been increasing since the beginning of this year due to rise in the cost of labour and raw materials.
Last month, apparel item sales of 3,000 key retailers in the country increased by 14.7 percent year-on-year, which is a decrease of 8.6 percent on a month-on-month basis.
As per National Bureau of Statistics data, the price of clothing items increased by 3.7 percent year-on-year in October, continuing with the upward trend seen during the last twelve months.
Arcadia Group announced its financial results 2010 – 2011.
Financial highlights
Robust headline cash generated of £297.4m (£383.1m last year).
Total Group operating profit before goodwill of £190.4m.
Total Group pre tax profit of £133.1m.
The margin was down -1.8% points v last year (equal to £52.4m).
Total sales of £2,682.5m. Total UK VAT inclusive like for like (LFL) sales were -1.8% on last year. E-Commerce sales grew by +27% while the underlying retail LFL was -4.3%.
Continued capital investment in the business with expenditure of £112.8m.
Year End Bank debt of £444.5m (1.5 times headline cash generated).
Commenting on the announcement Sir Philip Green said:
"Given the very challenging conditions both in the UK and around the world, I am pleased to report cash generation of £297m.
We remain a strongly cash generative business, enabling us to continue to invest in all of our Brands. We have invested £113m in the last financial year, bringing our total investment over the last 5 years to in excess of £550m.
We have seen a small reduction in like for like sales together with a 1.8% margin loss, having decided to maintain our prices and not to pass on any increases to our customers, absorbing such increases at a cost to the Group of £53m. Costs have continued to be controlled tightly.
The Group employs some 44,030 people across our different brands and we now operate 2,507 owned stores. We remain excited by our developing International business with 600 franchised outlets now operating in 36 countries, with 21 having been opened in the last year. Our second USA store opened in Chicago in September and our third in Las Vegas is due to launch in March 2012.
Trading conditions remain extremely challenging, with style, quality and value at the top of our agenda and more important than ever. Additionally, the warmest October and November on record have made Autumn trading much tougher. Current trade sees total VAT inclusive LFL sales down -4.4% for the first 12 weeks of the new financial year, with our internet sales being +21%. Our young fashion brands TOPSHOP, TOPMAN and Miss Selfridge are trading positively.
Finally, in these very tough times, I would like to thank all Arcadia and Bhs personnel for their commitment, energy and enthusiasm and our customers for their continued loyalty in shopping across our various high street brands."
