BEYONCE became the most decorated female on the Grammy night as she collected six trophies, including song of the year for her anthem "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)," but it was another diva - Taylor Swift - who nabbed the top honor, album of the year, for her best-selling "Fearless." Swift, who won a total of four awards, jumped around like the 20-year-old kid that she is when she beat out Beyonce, the Dave Matthews Band, Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas for the honor. "Oh wow - thank you so much! I just hope that you know how much this means to me ... that we get to take this back to Nashville," said Swift, whose "Fearless" was last year's best-selling album of any genre. "Oh my God, our families are freaking out in their living rooms," she added. "My dad and my little brother are losing their minds in the living room right now." Although Beyonce also lost out on record of the year, which went to the Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody," the entertainer still owned the most awards of the evening. Beyonce, who in 2004 won five Grammys on the strength of her debut album "Dangerously in Love" (a mark tied by the likes of Alicia Keys, Norah Jones and Lauryn Hill, Amy Winehouse and Alison Krauss), reached that milestone again on Sunday en route to the new record. She is the first to reach that mark twice. She shared the song of the year trophy with three writers for "Single Ladies" and also won best R&B contemporary album for "I Am ... Sasha Fierce."
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. A packed house that included Gisele Bundchen and Julianne Moore saw a parade of gray, black and navy clothes that seemed loosely military-inspired. One of the best men's looks was a Navy officer's coat worn with a slim cashmere trouser, while a fitted "cigarette" minidress with chunky black beads forming a vertical stripe down the front and back was one of the few pieces with any adornment. For the first half of Kimora Lee Simmons' fashion show for Baby Phat, the men were dressed in classic suits and the women were in cropped jackets with tiny shorts and shiny leggings. The female version of the three-piece suit was low-rise knickers with a belly-baring top and jacket. Eventually Simmons started sending out her more expensive KLS Collection, which had references to the 1920s and '30s, and seemed a better match for a crowd that included Tyra Banks, Vivica Fox, the designer's ex-husband Russell Simmons and current companion Djimon Hounsou. Medieval met Madame Gres at the Abaete fall collection preview. Designer Laura Poretzky alternated the dresses on her runway between black wool pieces with armorlike silver studs and chiffon ones with beautifully intricate braided fronts that were graceful and delicate.
"It's a little prom queen but I love it," Cuthbert told Joan Rivers on E! "I wanted to do simple, I didn't want to do too crazy." Evan Rachel Wood, 16, of "thirteen" wore a simple metallic gray spaghetti strap gown, with minimal, radiant makeup and loosely pulled up hair, and "Joan of Arcadia" star Amber Tamblyn, 20, wore a pale apricot corset gown with handkerchief train by designer Reem Acra. Carson Kressley, the fashion guru on Bravo's "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," was wearing a pink jacket. Get set for super-short miniskirts in autumn this year, if trends at last weekend's shows for New York Fashion Week are any guide for the fall season. Along with chunky turtlenecks and peacoats, the leggy look was big at shows for Nicole Miller, Lacoste, BCBG Max Azria, Erin Fetherston, Abaete and Kimora Lee Simmons' Baby Phat line - among the early previews for editors, retailers and stylists at the tents at Bryant Park. Most minis were paired with opaque tights and ballet flats, a good sign for women who bought into those trends last fall. Treat those things with care and you'll get another season out of them. Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week still has plenty of time for new "it" items to emerge. Runway shows run until Friday with Oscar de la Renta, Diane von Furstenberg, Zac Posen and a new incarnation of Bill Blass yet to preview their collections.
Frost -- better known for appearing in movies and a failed marriage to actor Jude Law than fashion -- formed the label FrostFrench with her best friend, the designer Jemima French.
Held at an exclusive members club in Londons trendy West End, their eagerly awaited show was deemed to be so exclusive that scores of joualists were left outside in the cold as there was not enough space indors.
Models, with long hair back-combed into a fuzzy ball, strutted along a pink-mirrored catwalk that stretched between two rooms -- one filled with buyers, celebrities and the fortunate reporters with tickets, the other, which was much smaller, crammed full of photographers.
Dressed in a range of mini-dresses with long stockings, hotpants with tight-fitting shirts and flowing chiffon numbers, Frost and French largely opted for bland cream and yellow shades in contrast to their trademark brighter touch.
Pradeepika Wimalaratne wore a bare- shouldered white dress, worked intricately in gold beads and pearls while her daughter Chanel too wore a white evening gown, with the halter at the neckline worked in beads in shades of blue.
Simply smart was the two piece outfit Nandanie Atapattu wore. The sleeveless saffron - toned top in delicate chiffon was combined with a skirt in a shade of deep coral, which was nearly red, she wore with a striking necklace of many strands of coral beads. A matching flower adoed her hair. With her was her teenage daughter Pooja in a pink dress which had a flared handkerchief skirt, with the top held up by a narrow halter strap. A pair of long earrings and a bracelet made her oaments.
A recently wed young woman who caught our eye wore a saree in a lovely tone of magenta, entirely striped in diagonals of white, with motifs in turquoise, and a strip of a border in the same colour, given a touch of cocktail glamour with sequins. Her blouse in the same basic colour had a halter neckline. Only a long pair of stone studded earrings made her oaments.
Orancy Siriwardene and Priyanki Dharmasena opted for the salwar kameez. The former had her black kameez worked in diagonal stripes in gold. The dupatta was draped across the front to create a cowl. The latter had her red kameez in kurta style embroidered at the neck. line and edges of sleeves and the hemline worked in gold, with a hint of black in the embroidery.
When Green Lanka Shipping Limited entertain they do it in gala style. The chairperson and the board of directors invited a large number of people to cocktails to bid farewell to the outgoing Evergreen representative Capt. Lee Chi-Hsin and to welcome the incoming Evergreen representative Capt. Chan Der-Ming in the Colombo Hilton Ballroom. There were so many guests that they brimmed over into the lobby leading to the ballroom. There was entertainment plus with a series of dances from the Channa Wijewardene group who are a vision in their costumes and makeup, and from a performance on the drums led by young Warakagoda, and for those who hung around after the specified nine thirty, music for dancing played by a live band.Fashion sailed with full blown winds with galaxies of women in their dazzling best.
The chairperson Gamini Nannayakkara’s daughter Kushani Gankande, led the parade in a saree in black, entirely embroidered in black chain stitch and bordered in red set a sparkle with sequins, beads and stones. Her blouse was in the red, and she wore only shoulder length diamond eardrops with sparkling white stones, and pearls on a mesh of gold.
There were dresses and salwars and many trendy styles that made fashion statements. Her band of friends mostly favoured dresses in prints, or black.