A party was organized at Rome's Salone delle Fontane late last month to celebrate the launch of the new collection. A truly, gloriously glamorous gala party, the ambience was heated up with the noise of a helicopter and cars, paparazzi flashes and the appearance of the Italian fashion legend, his wife Eva, and movie stars including Sharon Stone and Halle Berry, followed by a trail of models in the latest luxurious party collection. Inside the house was the party place filled with beautiful people in fancy costumes, at a dramatically designed, magical Medieval feel environment: an electrifying party full of couture, cuisine and champagne. "Roberto Cavalli is one of my personal favorites," says Halle Berry spotted in an elegant long black evening gown. "His clothes are sexy, and he is always on the edge and changes before other designers." "I think the collaboration with H&M is a great idea," adds Sharon Stone. "The clothes look great and the ads are beautiful. Cavalli is a wonderful designer who knows how to make both clothes that are chic and sexy." It was as if Frida Giannini, the designer of Gucci, had pumped magic gas into the room. Many of fashion's most famous poker faces had gathered at the Shanghai Exhibition Center and they gave her a standing ovation at the end of her show. Bathed in warm red lights, the grand 45-meter long T-stage had a golden mirror as its background. The Gucci fall/winter show was celebrated with a party afterwards. First feast the eyes, then the taste of fashion slowly melted in the wines, desserts and music beats.
"My collection is a contrast between old and new," she explains. "All the pieces are created for modern peoples' wardrobes, with handmade details and A-line silhouettes revealing their links with traditional Miao costumes." Surprisingly, Shi has never been to Yunnan Province, or met the Miao people. The 24-year-old spent four months researching Miao culture and another two months designing and making the clothes, all by herself. She made an all-white pleated cocktail dress inspired by the pleating details on traditional Miao clothing. She found large, Miao-style silver headgear and necklaces from local markets to accessorize her designs. Shi created a one-of-a-kind print featuring tangled strings, evocative of Miao women's intricate hairstyles. The print is used on several tops. The show also featured dramatic pieces like weird skirts made from hard metals (think the "circus dress" Katy Perry wore to the MTV Awards). At the same time, there were also stylish, wearable outfits such as a gray suit with decorated shoulders and asymmetrically cut coats decorated with fake-fur tassels. At the show booths were set up next to the runway to showcase students' works from each department, as well as products from sponsors, including hair care to jewelry, catering services to education. The smell of money, or rather, the accent of commerce, was in the air. Nowadays, more and more fashion students have come to realize the importance of marketing and merchandising their designs.
Traveling: If American armchair fashion critics are interested in Mrs Obama's wardrobe, Europe's were downright obsessed during her recent visit. She gave them a lot of fodder, starting with the chartreuse Jason Wu dress she wore to touch down in London and continuing her fashion show through a meeting with Queen Elizabeth, and later stops in France, Germany and the Czech Republic. Mrs Obama truly represented the unfussy American aesthetic, especially when she met with Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy, Collins says. "My reading of it was they were dressing to mutually admire each other, and that's the way the women I know dress: so that other women will admire their clothes." Mrs Obama's casual clothes have probably had the biggest makeover since her campaigning days, when she did on occasion wear some dowdier pieces. She now maintains a stylish, pulled-together look. If the family is on the road together, Mrs Obama counts on slim dark pants and ballet-flat shoes to anchor her outfit, and she seems to have a few good pairs of gardening boots for her days on the White House lawn. -The girls: Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10, have learned a lesson in consistency from their mother, says Best & Co's Moellering, but their styles probably will evolve over the next four years simply because they are at ages when girls really start developing their own fashion sense.
"Even for my ready-to-wear lines, I produce no more than three pieces for each design," says the designer wearing a Vivienne Westwood sweater for this interview. "In that way my customers won't have to worry about their outfits competing with someone else's." Like many homegrown designers, Zhai blends Western silhouettes and traditional Chinese aesthetics and details in his clothes. "I have always had a deep interest in Peking Opera so many of my inspirations come from the opera costumes," says Zhai, who also started to learn traditional Chinese ink-wash painting at an early age. He loves the vivid hues so often used in those theater costumes. In the latest collection, he uses a lot of bright colors such as rose red, emerald and lemon yellow even for winter. He is also a worldwide traveler, visiting Europe and Japan regularly to learn about the latest trends and introduce his designs to overseas buyers. As a result, Zhai's designs can now be found in boutiques in Tokyo and Paris. His focus is still on the tailored outfits, including cocktail dresses, formal evening gowns and wedding dresses. His six-story studio on Xietu Road in Xuhui District is packed with glamorous outfits that would exhilarate any woman. Customers are asked to choose their favorite, then Zhai and his team follow up with adaptations according to the customers' ideas and needs. A tailored evening gown costs as much as 6,000 yuan (US$820), while a ready-to-wear cocktail dress is about 3,000 yuan. The attractive, stylish designer is also a much-sought-after city hair stylist, whose clients include a long list of celebrities and stars, such as actresses Maggie Cheung and Zhao Wei and Taiwanese girls' band S.H.E. "When I was 19, my dream was to set up my own label and company," Zhai says. "This dream has already come true. My next goal is to build a franchised salon around the country that boasts fashion design, hair dressing, beauty and spa services under one roof."
Poretzky also gave a nod to the short skirts and dresses that are proving popular for next season, but many of hers were in a bouncy circle shape. There were no men in black on the Perry Ellis runway. Instead, navies, greens, browns, burgundies, grays and even splashes of purple dominated the show. The collection had an outdoorsy feel with cargo-like pants, cardigans and cashmere turtlenecks. Creative director John Crocco experimented with wool blends, flannels and slick nylons and added paisley, medallion and plaid shirts and neckwear. The clothes ranged from a navy turtleneck sweater with a large snowflake on the front and burgundy storm pants to a charcoal blazer topping a yellow, V-neck sweater over a paisley shirt. It's possible to be a free spirit without wearing - or creating - frivolous clothes. Erin Fetherston, the young designer who recently had a limited-edition run at Target, took her bow on Friday night in a floral minidress that was representative of her whole fall collection: It was ethereal thanks to its loose, floaty shape and feminine print, but the colors, including purple and yellow, were not at all flimsy. She titled her show "Love Sprung," maybe a sign that she also has bought into the idea that fashion is seasonless - she alternated her fall collection between coats and sleeveless dresses. Zhai Yanxin started out tailoring unique clothes for well-heeled women. Now he's a star with four major brands of men's and women's wear and the beautiful people want him to "do" hair too, writes Michelle Zhang A good tailor may not be a good designer, and vice versa.
With Joan Jett sitting in Miller's front row last Friday night, the designer showed super-skinny black pants - some with patches of satin - paired with boxier jackets or cozy cocooning sweaters. She also hit on the miniskirt and the yin-and-yang dynamic that seems to be emerging as a trend, with either loose tops and tight bottoms or vice versa. Outside Miller's traditional comfort zone of cute cocktail dresses were a black, zip-front catsuit and draped silk dresses in chain-mail or fleur-de-lys prints. Lacoste's golfing and tennis fans will have new options for the ski slopes. The French brand made its case on a gigantic bear rug on Saturday, opening with cozy jumpsuits in sweatshirt material for women and chunky turtleneck sweaters for men. Next came some more fashion-forward looks - shorts with tights, and flat-weave sweaters with geometric patterns. There were plenty of menswear influences in the women's styles, including skinny ties and traditional blazers with country club-style emblems. There also were gray flannel pants in every possible silhouette - gaucho pants, wide-leg palazzo pants, slim trousers and capris. The finale was an apres-ski disco party with a dress code of striped sweaters and knit minidresses in blue and purple worn with legwarmers. Rag & Bone declared itself a serious player with a fall collection that was equally somber and stylish. The label, known mostly for its denim just a few seasons ago, showed serious clothes for men and women on Friday - clothes worthy of the buzz designers David Neville and Marcus Wainwright have been generating and of their up-and-comer award last year from the Council of Fashion Designers of America.