This week I received the Clarisonic Skincare system. It's not my favorite, I have to say. The brush doesn't rotate really, it vibrates and I can get just as good a result with a good exfoliator and mitt.The Red card attached said:
Dear Leslie,
You’ve been selected by Vogue to discover Brahmin, a luxury handbag company known for its timeless, sophisticated styles.
It also goes on to tell me that the Anytime Tote will not be available in stores until May. It will however, be available on April 15 on Brahmin.com and in the Brahmin Boutiques.
What a nice surprise!
In fashion, our past influencers are clear: Chanel, Vionnet, Dior, Gres, YSL, McQueen-- all are responsible for a distinct shift in perspective on design. In furniture design, Chippendale in the 1700's, Eames in the 20th century and Piet Hein Eek in the 21st century come to mind. In architecture, the innovators of their day included Frank Gehry and Frank Lloyd Wright.
I think people like Madonna, Gwen Stephanie and Lady Gaga are influencers in music, but have a temporary influence as true trend setters. It is in their saturation that makes them less of an influence, as they seem to become mainstream the moment they are copied. In today's society, people still think Gaga is an influencer. I would say that is true a year ago, but today, she is predictible and is so immitated and followed. This makes me believe she has lost her influence to be a true innovator, but simply a leader with a following. She is not unlike any other leader in the world who has a herd of sheep following blindly as they are lost and looking for someone or something on which to hang an identy.... or adopt an identity.
In the media, Mark Zuckerburg would have been an influencer in the world of social media and the way in which social media would be used today. Anna Wintour, editor of American Vogue was an influencer in the fashion media, but her power is continually being challenged by new media outlets, such as online blogs and magazine. Tavy Gevinson, the fourteen-year-old blogger truly challenged the old guard of the fashion writers with her influential blog. Hugh Hefner was an influencer in the 50's with the introduction of the first Playboy magazine.
His magazines were not initially all about sex, but they also included politics and controversial sibjects in the magazine. Utilizing the controversial platform of the magazine, he included in those pages his own ideas about controversial issues, like black rights in America, politics involving President Carter, racial bias in stand-up comedy artists in the 60's, etc. In his day, he was an influencer, but today, his lifestyle seems almost obscene or mundane, depending on perspective, but it is no longer innovative, nor are his ideas.INFLUENCERS TRAILER from R+I creative on Vimeo.
That guess kinda made sense -- Carine handed over the glossy's holiday issue to Ford and she's constantly praising the designer, previously telling WWD, "I always say, 'Tom has an eye like a scanner.' [....] He is truly multitalented."
However, according to Ford, "Carine and I have no plans to work together at the moment, and it is nothing that we have even discussed, but of course I think she is brilliant and we are close friends so who knows about the future."
So, who is to replace Roitfeld? According to the former Creative Director of French Vogue Fabien Baron (who spoke with the Times), the mag's current Fashion Director, Emmanuelle Alt, will probably assume the position.
Last year (2009) an estimated 400,000 teens had some form of cosmetic procedure, and an estimated 210,000 elective plastic surgeries!
The most common procedure among teenagers is breast enhancement and often the surgery is given as a "gift" to the teen for Christmas, her birthday or even graduation. Many of these teens have mothers who have had a breast enhancement procedure prior and feel it is ok for their teenage daughters to have them. Many of these teens are 16 or 17, but some are younger.
Most teens who start with plastic surgery at a young age, continue on to nose jobs, eye lips, ear tucks, liposuction and many others. Parents defend these decisions by stating that they would rather have the teen discuss the issues with them and be involved in the decision-making process.
Interestingly, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) reports a difference in the reasons teens give for having plastic surgery and the reasons adults do: Teens view plastic surgery as a way to fit in and look acceptable to friends and peers. Adults, on the other hand, frequently see plastic surgery as a way to stand out from the crowd.
The number of teens who choose to get plastic surgery is on the rise. According to the ASPS, over 333,000 people 18 years and younger had plastic surgery in 2005, up from about 306,000 in 2000. In a recent study done by the ASAPS (American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery), it was found that 18-24 year-olds of both genders were the highest rated group for approving of cosmetic surgery. The president of the ASAPS, Dr. Scott Spear, believes it’s because of the lowering costs and increasing social acceptability of talking openly about cosmetic surgery. Procedures that were once thought to be only possible for the wealthy is now becoming available for the common person.
At what age is too young? For decades, plastic surgery for teenage girls meant one thing -- a nose job, frequently performed during the summer between high school and college. While rhinoplasty remains the most common cosmetic operation for teenagers, doctors are performing an increasing number of procedures such as breast implants, liposuction and tummy tucks on young women and even girls as young as 14.
With the increase in cosmetic surgery among celebrities and the growing pressure among teenagers in an image-driven world, teens are more conscientious about their looks than ever and feel pressure to conform to the ideals set by society.
While some might understand the pressures, around the world, this is going to extremes. Australian teens are rushing to other countries for cosmetic surgery in an attempt to "reclaim" their youth, Australia's Herald Sun reports.
One 18-year-old single mother, Ambah Young, plans to head to Malaysia to have a tummy tuck, breast augmentation and a "designer" vagina procedure, according to the Herald Sun.
Approximately 400 Australians travel to Malaysia each year through Gorgeous Getaways, a group that books "cosmetic surgery holidays," and 80 percent of these individuals undergo two or more procedures, according to the report.
In the US, the most common cosmetic procedures among teens are:
Japan Fashion Now
From September 16, 2010, to January 8, 2011
Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology
Seventh Avenue at 27 Street
New York City 10001-5992
Emerging from an economic and industrial boom in Japan in the 1960s, Japanese artists, designers, and architects found inspiration in the fusion between American pop culture and Japan's explosive consumer technologies. Placing great emphasis on an admiration for traditional Japanese art as well as the forms and ideologies of modernism via channels of fiber technology, visual imagery, and three-dimensional sculpture, Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo, and Yohji Yamamoto can be credited with the creation of the Japanese aesthetic in global fashion.
While these designers each have a unique perspective on cloth construction, they share a love for artistic collaboration in the development of their collections, marketing, and image. A distinct manufactured aesthetic is exaggerated, even hyperbolic, in the contemporary Japanese fashion house. This is particularly evident in the careers of Miyake and Kawakubo—the former has recruited a variety of textile and sculptural artists such as Yasumasa Morimura, Cai Guoqiang, painter Tadanori Yokoo, and architect Tadao Ando, and the latter partnered with Takao Kawasaki, an architect who conceived the majority of the designer's early Comme des Garçons boutique.
Kawakubo's empire combines an industrially inspired socialist work ethic with a nearly fanatical desire to purvey clothing as an ever-changing product of its sociocultural environment, citing both Neo-Realism and Futurism in runway collections and advertising. Miyake forms garments that celebrate the vitality and movement of the human body, particularly referencing Sudanese, Japanese, and American modes and overlaying them with the dictates of couture tailoring to communicate a liberated global aesthetic. Yamamoto exhibits the most loyalty to Japanese cloth traditions, famed for his 1990s kimono-inspired trenchcoats and shirts. Though clearly influenced by the pure geometric forms of such indigenous garments, Yamamoto finds methods of incorporating contemporary sportswear constructions and finishing details into his designs to evoke a postmodern street chic, imbued with functions of protection and durability.
Tools of Design
An interest in the evolution of fiber technology and a devotion to tonal and textural eclecticism prompts these designers to repeatedly emphasize the importance of their raw materials. Aspirations of continual movement in both fabric and structure governed the conception of the iconic pleat-setting of Miyake's "Pleats Please" series, the enigmatic twisting, piecing, and drapery of Yamamoto's designs, and the planar manipulation of Kawakubo's shrouding, texturing, and layering techniques. While Miyake has consistently employed various heat-embossing and synthetic coating textile processes to effect more modern sculptural forms, Kawakubo nods to the romantic subtleties of historic fashion, yet champions cold synthetic fibers in her executions. Most emblematic of this tendency toward ironic juxtaposition, the "lace" sweaters of the famed Comme des Garçons fall/winter 1982–83 collection featured black wool knits distressed with gaping holes to invoke the composition of lace. While Yamamoto often experiments with innovations in technical textiles and new synthetics, he also fondly executes his designs with unconventional natural materials. A vest and skirt ensemble made entirely of hinged wood slats from his fall/winter 1991 collection demonstrates a dedication to communicating the raw visual distinctions of planar form.
The New Traditions of Japanese Fashion
Miyake, Kawakubo, and Yamamoto have all contributed to the rise of Japanese fashion by communicating its aesthetic to the global market, thereby fostering an awareness of peer and successive generations of avant-garde Japanese creators such as Junya Watanabe, Junko Koshino, and Junichi Arai. Each is celebrated for fusing age-old couture tailoring with Japanese design ethos. Though the respective collections of these designers are often inextricably linked to their derivations of or deviations from Western fashion, each has used Japan's rich visual heritage as a foundation for aesthetic, social, and sometimes political collages of cultures worldwide. Much like the costumes of theJapanese Noh, the runway designs of Miyake, Kawakubo, and Yamamoto strive toward theatricality, visual splendor, and organic movement.
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMuseumatFIT?feature=mhum
Source:Miyake, Kawakubo, and Yamamoto: Japanese Fashion in the Twentieth Century | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art
For more info: http://fitnyc.edu/8726.asp
“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”Coco Chanel was so enchanted with pockets that this would prove to be the main focus of her designs in handbags for women!
For Chanel, design started as a hobby.
Chanel started her career by designing hats which later became popular among the aristocratic Parisians within her friends' social circles. At first, they were for her friends who were the high-class call girls of the time, and she soon made a name for herself among the bourgoisie.
From Hosiery to high fashion:
Coco Chanel used to work as a clerk in a small hosiery shop. Her sister was the real seamstress and got Coco a job with her in a shop sewing hosiery, among other things. It was hosiery that revolutionized her fashion world, taking her boyfriends' wool jersey long johns and turning them into warm wool dresses. Her boyfriend of the time was a coal broker and knew that WWI would change the world and told her to make warm clothes for women. Though she designed prior to WWI, she took his advice and produced knit dresses for women, under which they couldn't wear corsets. This was considered risque at the time, but she literally revolutionized women from the corset!
Coco made the sun tan fashionable!
It was Coco Chanel who made a tan seem fashionable when she got burnt by sun's rays in 1923 on a cruise towards Cannes! It soon became associated with those who had time to "leisure" on the beach!
Coco wanted to be an actress, and even auditioned on the stage.
Coco was her "stage name." Her real name was Gabrielle. She thought she could sing and dance, however, never really made it past the vaudeville stage and clubs. These clubs did turn out to be quite lucrative, introducing her to some powerful Parisians who helped launch her career.
Hotel Ritz was her home, with her first shop on the Rue de Cambon.
For more than 30 years Coco Chanel made the mighty hotel Ritz in Paris her home! It was rumored that German officer Dincklage (with whom she was having an affair) made arrangements for her to stay in the hotel.
She opened her first salon on the Rue de Cambon. The salon was modest, with living quarters above. It soon became the showroom and the exclusive location for her fashion showings for her private clientele. She would position herself on the top of the stairs, down which the models would walk wearing her latest creations.
“There are people who have money and people who are rich.” ~ Coco Chanel
5 was her favorite number
She believed there was something special in the number 5 - enough that Chanel No. 5 was introduced on 5th May 1921!
Coco Chanel might have dated and had affairs with plenty of men but she never married.
