Friday, August 3, 2012
Whitney Port asks fans to fund her fashion show
Here's a concept not even the most cash-strapped, fledgling design talents of East London have thought of: general public fundraising.
However, Whitney Port - one of the stars of the MTV reality TV series The Hills - is one step ahead of them and has appealed to her fans to donate money to fund her forthcoming Whitney Eve catwalk show.
In a video appeal, entitled 'Road to the Runway' Port says: "I'm doing something that's never been done before: the first-ever fan-supported fashion show at fashion week in New York. That means I'm asking you, the friends and fans who've made everything I do possible, to join the crowd-funding campaign."
The "crowd-funding campaign" hopes to raise $50,000 (£32,000) to pay for the venue, make-up artists, models, production and publicity costs in order to stage her show at Manhattan's Lincoln Center.
Port, who is thought to be worth $3.5 million in her own right, hails from a wealthy Californian family and launched her mid-price label in 2008. Her designs have been sported by the likes of Nicky and Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian and Heidi Klum.
But a donation from a generous fan doesn't even necessarily equal a presence at Port's show: donors will be picked at random and rewarded with makeovers, bracelets or, if they're very lucky indeed - a front row seat.
Usually, small labels in need of a cash injection will look to corporate sponsorship deals or mass-market collaborations to raise funds, and as Whitney Eve is reportedly financially backed by Port's father, the appeal is all the more unusual. As fashion shows are industry-only events, attendees are never expected to pay for tickets.
With 39 days of her appeal left, Port has raised $2,661 . We'd like to say we wish her all the best, but…
Via: Whitney Port asks fans to fund her fashion show
Justin Bieber disses Prince William's hair
Off with his head! Big-haired teen pop sensation Justin Bieber has dared to dispense hair advice to our, ahem, breezy crowned future king, Prince William.
With all the subtlety of a teenager with a luscious head of hair, and no thought that he may one day boast an 'island of tranquility' up top himself, Bieber told Rollercoater magazine:
"I mean, there are things to prevent that nowadays, like Propecia. I don't know why he doesn't just get those things, those products. You just take Propecia and your hair grows back. Have you not got it over here?"
Easy as that! You just pop a pill, and hey presto, you'll look just like the Bieber yourself by breakfast. Why didn't anyone tell Wane Rooney (AKA Weetabix Wayne) that? Poor lad could have saved himself a fortune, not to mention a life of being ribbed in the dressing room and tabloids.
Prince William's 'island of tranquility' has famously been evolving into a 'sea of tranquility' since his early twenties, a fact which hasn't stopped him becoming a top international heartthrob and snaring a total McFittie for a wife. Plus he even knows there's a country called Germany where they speak German - a fact Bieber was totally unaware of…
Bieber, stick to the preening teen routine and leave William to grow old gracefully. Oh, and maybe stock up on the Propecia yourself. If that hair even does start to thin, what will you be famous for?
Via: Justin Bieber disses Prince William's hair
Still Styled to Rock? Henry Holland and Nicola Roberts take our style challenge
After August 12 there will be no more Olympic nail art to enjoy, no abundance of toned abs to marvel at, and no supermodels to spot in the stands … so thank god for Rihanna, and her new fashion talent TV show, Styled to Rock , to keep us sartorially entertained well into the new season.
READ: Olympics fashion latest
The Bajan popstar, who is also the show's executive producer, is on the hunt for undiscovered fashion talent in London and has invited 12 unknown designers to take part in creating outfits for various pop personalities. Each week a designer is knocked out and the finale will see two designers battle it out to create a stage outfit for Miss RiRi herself.
WATCH: Rihanna's new TV show teaser
Rihanna has called upon her stylist Lysa Cooper, designer Henry Holland and Girls Aloud singer Nicola Roberts to front the show and judge the talent. Henry, a self-confessed Big Brother fan, who started his own label, House of Holland, six years ago says the show is the sort he would "watch religiously", while Nicola, who was hand-picked by Rihanna to feature in the series says the singer is "really fun, really lovely" and is "passionate about the whole process."
The Telegraph was invited to meet Henry and Nicola, so we used the opportunity to dig out old photos of the duo and critique each other's looks...
TAKING ONE FOR THE BAND
PHOTO: Rex
Henry on Nicola's look circa 2003 (after much giggling): There's a good story behind this: the reason I have chosen this is because when I worked at Smash Hits magazine I did a 'Get the Look' on this particular outfit and I did an itemised way of how to get this look from Nicola. So I went and found a top - this was my job! - I found little blue wristbands; I found a white belt like this - god knows from where - and I did all the different pieces.
Nicola on her outfit: It's so funny because when we first got into the band I was seventeen so you're aware of clothes and how you feel in clothes but not aware of fashion. That to me is totally being dressed by a stylist, trusting a stylist, and taking one for the band.
THE GLASTONBURY
PHOTO: Rex
Nicola on Henry's festival style: This outfit, oh my god, you are so doing it for me. I think that your legs look amazing and that the colour pop of pink is just so pretty and fresh and summery, and I love the collaboration between the monochrome and the blast of colour pop. The quiff's looking particularly fresh. I also love the tribal bangles.
Henry: I'd blown up two people's winnebagoes' electricity doing my hair that day.
NICOLA'S MISH-MASH
PHOTO: Rex
Henry: For me, this is Nicola now, and I love it. It's really her and it's a real mish-mash of things which shouldn't work but really does and I also chose this because I saw this on a best-dressed list and I thought that was really wrong ("Did you?!" Interjects a wide-eyed Nicola). I really like that's it you with your hair, and less fake tan and it's more like you as a grown-up.
Nicola: I really am not afraid to try things at all. I actually get more enjoyment out if it when things don't necessarily work together, that feeds my creative level and my eye for fashion. I li ke when it has a direction. I can't quite say why, but I thought that it looked quite good together.
THE 'HAGGY'
PHOTO: Rex
Nicola: This is at the height of Haggy, where they were doing a Posh'n'Becks (lots of giggling). I think they complement each other brilliantly. I love the fact they have the same print on. She [Agyness Deyn] looks incredible; her body in that looks amazing, she looks so striking and I love the fact that Aggy's hair is down and Henry's is slapped up. I love the mis-match of colour and that Henry's got a rucksack and his little slippers.
Henry: This was all my collection; we only had one suit and we shared it - that's a joke - it looks like that though! We look like Jedward!
Styled to Rock starts August 14 on Sky Living HD at 9pm.
Via: Still Styled to Rock? Henry Holland and Nicola Roberts take our style challenge
Watch: Agyness Deyn for Dr. Martens
We've not seen or heard much of Agyness Deyn since she secretly and surprisingly married actor Giovanni Ribisi in June this year, but hopefully that's about to change with the launch of her debut range for Dr. Martens on August 15.
The Oldham-born model-turned-actress has collaborated with the famous boot makers on a collection of clothing, accessories and footwear, all of which is said to take inspiration from grungy Nineties power couples like Brad Pitt and Juliette Lewis, and Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder.
IN PICTURES: Agyness Deyn through the years
To celebrate the launch, Deyn and Dr. Martens have made an arty film in which she dons her new designs. Deyn, who swaps her trademark peroxide mop for a flame red bob, rebelliously cruises around California with a punky friend, graffitis walls and steps fully clothed into swimming pool whilst narrating "I'm very hard to pin down, I'm not a bird that would adapt well to having their wings clipped" and the like.
Deyn first started working with the brand in 2011 when she became the campaign star for their autumn/winter 2011 adverts, but her relationship with their footwear was founded a many years ago when she bought her first pair of Dr. Martens boots aged 13.
IN PICTURES: Models turned actresses
Since then she has continued to wear the brand's best-known lace-up ankle boots and brogue styles whilst championing the Nineties grunge style revival, and has been credited with helping them to achieve record sales over the last year. The label is currently for sale for a reported £200 million .
"The brand is a great fit for me, as it stands for strong character and being able to shape your own personal identity," Deyn told WWD back in March when the collaboration was announced.
Deyn, 28, will next appear on screens later this month when her film Pusher - which sees her play Flo, a cocaine-addicted stripper - is released. Following that, she'll star alongside Peter Mullan in the Terence Davies-directed Sunset Song, which is scheduled for release next year. Based on the 1932 novel by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, the model will play Chris Guthrie, a young woman facing a life of hardship following her mother's suicide, her ill father's subsequent incestuous advances and the loss of her husband during the First World War.
Via: Watch: Agyness Deyn for Dr. Martens
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Giorgio Armani: I've sacrificed life for fashion
Victoria Beckham says she has sacrificed her smile for the sake of her fashion career, but Giorgio Armani claims to have forfeited a great deal more for his.
As one of the greatest living designers of the contemporary age, he's estimated to have a personal fortune of $7.2 billion dollars and every season tickets to his catwalk shows - both ready-to-wear and couture - remain amongst to most sought after by editors all over the world. But it appears even phenomenal success, and money, do not equate to happiness for the 78-year-old Italian designer.
"Life, I have sacrificed life. The life of a young man when I first started out and the life of a grown man at the age I am now," he tells the latest issue of Elle magazine, before admitting that friendship and personal happiness have been hard to find. "It is even more so now. Even harder, which is very sad because life is all about friendships, discovering people's personalities, falling in love, not just once or twice, but often. In a word, life. To live in the world. For example, I don't know Milan. People tell me of Milan [He has lived in Milan since 1957]."
IN PICTURES: Emporio Armani autumn/winter 2012
He's a reluctant icon, putting his status and success down to simply luck, and the start of his career down to financial need as opposed to creative destiny. His views on fellow Italian designers such as the trend-led Roberto Cavalli, Versace and Dolce & Gabbana are equally as gloomy. "These designers have no reserve. They've chosen a path and thrown themselves onto it head first, regardless of everything. Whether or not their designs are sellable or vulgar. As long as it's new and people talk about it. That is the truth."
His approach, he says, is "completely different", and in particular it is his non use of famous supermodels on his catwalks that sets him apart from other designers of his calibre. "During a fashion show, I want the clothes to speak. The effort I put into my work must be respected. Far from the catwalks, however, it is personality that must come to the fore, as well as the capacity to interpret a dress - a brain is more important than a body."
We're so used to larger-than-life, extroverted designers that it's rather a shock to hear Armani's less-than-happy demeanour so evident in this interview, but, equally, it's also refreshing to see one that isn't perpetuating the stereotype too.
Read Giorgio Armani's full interview in the September issue of Elle, on sale now.
Via: Giorgio Armani: I've sacrificed life for fashion
Alexa Chung to star in Gossip Girl
We're used to seeing snaps of Leighton Meester and Blake Lively tramping around New York in designer ballgowns and Ugg boots filming their hit TV series, Gossip Girl, but Brit style icon, Alexa Chung, upped the fashion ante on set yesterday.
The 28-year-old model and TV presenter, who relocated to the Big Apple in 2009, was pictured walking to her trailer in an Azure-blue, short sailor style dress and kitten heels.
IN PICTURES: Alexa Chung's award-winning year in style
While its unclear what Chung's role in the sixth and final series of the show - which follows the lives of a young, beautiful and privileged clique in Manhattan - will be, filming took place in her new neighbourhood: the Lower East Side.
Red-lipped Chung could be seen clutching a bag of Cheetos and a can of orange soda, and then tweeted a photo of the empty bag of crisps and a Galaxy caramel captioned 'So lunch was tasty'.
READ: Alexa Chung channels her Sixties side for Maje
Chung follows in the footsteps of Liz Hurley, who played a 'cougar' in the last series and seduced Chace Crawford's character.
We wonder if there's any lip-locking in store for Chung… fellow Brit Ed Westwick, perhaps?
Via: Alexa Chung to star in Gossip Girl
