Designer Lauren Elaine plans big for Spring

Los Angeles based, celebrity fashion designer Lauren Elaine plans big for the spring/summer 2011 season with an inspired Black Label couture dress collection, and a unique Los Angeles Fashion Week unveiling. The new collection, inspired by several recent trips abroad and her signature "modern-princess" design aesthetic, will see a campaign and short film shoot in the desert of El Mirage, CA on Friday September 17th, 2010, and a formal runway debut on October 19th. For the collection, designer Lauren Elaine combines easy glamour with an assertive edge, and themes of escapism and adventure to create a woman reminiscent of James Bond's leading ladies. The SS2011 campaign will be shot by photographer Jeff Gottlieb, and will predominantly feature a collection campaign film captured by cinematographer Andrew Waruszewski - and introducing model Hailey Harper as the "face" of the new collection. The runway debut will combine with a red carpet celebrity charity benefit for the "Art of Elysium"- an organization dedicated to art's education for children with serious medical conditions.

"I've always been inspired to design for the woman who sees herself as a modern 'princess' of sorts, or at least the woman wants to dress like one for a special occasion," says Elaine. "Inspired by my recent travels to Europe and destinations like Monte Carlo and Sorrento, I wanted to create a collection with a sense of adventure and escape- while maintaining a very feminine and elegant design aesthetic. For this collection, I'd say I'm designing for a "Bond girl"- a leading lady who appreciates the spotlight, elegance and glamour- but can definitely take care of herself. " The SS2011 Black Label collection will showcase exquisite couture gowns and cocktail frocks in a heavy palate of blacks, metallics, and muted jewel tones.

Shooting in the Mojave desert and famous dry lake bed of El Mirage, CA, the SS2011 Black Label campaign will feature appearances and stunts by actors Wendell Moore and Brandon Drozd, and showcase the talents of makeup artist Sonia Suttles, hairstylist Sona Beglaryan, and stylist Christina Ramirez. In addition to cinematography by Andrew Waruszewski and still photography by Jeff Gottlieb, the campaign video will be produced by Adam Powell, and co-directed by Adam Powell and James Berry. Hailey Harper, who has walked in many fashion week runway shows for Lauren Elaine, will make her campaign and acting debut for the line.

The Lauren Elaine label recently showcased at LA Fashion Week for LA 'Rocks' Fashion Week in March 2010, with a private showing at the Key Club, and recently launched the Black Label SWIM Collection with a private runway debut on June 28th at 'La Vida' in Hollywood. For the SS2011 runway debut in October, Lauren Elaine will team up with the "Art of Elysium" to present a spectacular, celebrity gala and runway presentation. The event will be held at a private venue, location confirmed upon RSVP, with more details and invitations to be released at the end of September.

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Debenhams Reveals New Fashion Language Excludes Some Shoppers

Debenhams has announced it will be releasing a fashion terms dictionary to help shoppers keep up with the latest fashion terms.

Debenhams has issued a new dictionary to help shoppers understand the latest clothing terms.

The high street store has taken the unusual step because no one understands the plethora of new descriptions and phrases emerging from the fashion industry.
While newly made up words such as shacket and treggings are instantly understood by clothing industry insiders, they're leaving the public baffled, says the store.

Debenhams spokeswoman Lizzie Singleton said: "It's now easier to understand Sanskrit than some of the words commonly used by commentators within the fashion industry to describe garments.

The dictionary will translate fashion phrases such as:

Shacket (Shirt/Jacket) Jacket of shirt like appearance.
Tregging (Trouser/Legging) Leggings of trouser like appearance.
Jeggings (Jean/Leggings) Leggings with jean like qualities.
Coatigan (Coat /Cardigan) Cardigan with a coat appearance.
Cardigown (Cardigan/Dressing Gown) Cardigan, usually long and belted like a cardigan.

Lizzie Singleton continued: "We believe that these words are only properly understood by approximately five per cent of the population - yet they are commonly used throughout the fashion industry.

"It's virtually a secret language, designed solely for fashion experts and people who spend every day reading fashion magazines."

"We've decided to produce the dictionary so that every shopper - both fashion expert and non expert alike - can shop easily and clearly in all of our stores. However, we are also urging the fashion industry to use existing English words to describe their garments rather than made up amalgamations."

Marie Clair, spokesperson for Plain English Campaign said: "Anything that helps to make sense of fashion is a good thing. Just like the Debenhams' buying guides, the dictionary aims to give shoppers clear and concise information and could be a contender for one of our plain English awards in December."

Other new words commonly used by the fashion industry include:

Skorts (skirt/short) shorts with the look of a skirt i.e. culottes.
Mandles (man - sandals) sandals for men.
Mackets (mac/jacket) a cross between a mac and a jacket.
Shoots (Shoe/Boots) not quite a shoe nor a boot but something in between.
Meggings (male leggings) very tight jersey trousers for men.
Mace (male lace)
Mankinis (male/bikini) skimpy swimwear for men championed by Borat.
Jombats (jegging/combats) tight combats of jegging quality.
Tankini (tank/bikini) cross between a bikini and a tank top for a more modest swim option.
Skousers (skirt/trousers) trousers with an attached skirt.
Blurt (blouse/skirt) all in one blouse and skirt combo.
Jardigan (jacket/cardigan) a thick jacket like cardigan that requires no coat on top.
Whorts (winter shorts) thick, often wool based shorts, normally worn with tights in winter.
Mubes (maxi tube dress)
Watch let (watch/bracelet) a bracelet which includes a time telling decorative element.

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Miuccia Prada is HOT in Paris

Miuccia Prada kicked Milan off with a bang when she showed a riot-colored collection heavy on the stripes (and the bananas, but we digress). Stripes have been huge for months already—just try counting the number of Saint James tops in New York—and they’re clearly here to stay. But in Paris, the pattern got a softer twist. Stripes layered with sheers at Junya Watanabe, Cerruti, and Pedro Lourenço for a more ethereal look.

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Careers in the Fashion Industry

Interest in the fashion industry is on the rise, and so are the opportunities - and the competition. It is relatively easy to earn a degree in fashion design, merchandising, or fashion marketing. Each of these segments focuses on a different aspect of the fashion industry. As the fashion industry continues to grow, there is an increased need for educated and specialized staff in the fashion world. Those who have the appropriate fashion degree education will find that they are more marketable in this competitive industry. You will find that a fashion degree education offers programs that are tailored to what specific field you are interested in. The three main opportunities with a fashion degree are fashion design, fashion marketing and fashion merchandising.

Becoming a fashion designer is a dream for many people. But only those with artistic ability and serious determination will succeed in this competitive industry. A fasion designer has an eye for lines, textures and color and brings their vision to life through drafting. Once a final sketch is complete, the designer must choose materials to be used in the final product. After the fabric is chosen, a pattern is cut from the fabric and sewn together.

Fashion Marketing involves the advertising, design and business side of the fashion business. A fashion marketer has to have a comprehensive knowledge of the fashion industry to be able to identify what will be stylish and appealing to their target markets. They are responsible for recognizing and tracking upcoming trends as well as being familiar with the various consumer groups. fashion marketing connects the designers to the public by tracking consumer-buying habits. The fashion marketer then come up with advertising campaigns to target specific groups that might be interested in the products.

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Akris Delivers Another Fine Show

Reliable as a fine Swiss watch, St. Gallen, Switzerland-based fashion house Akris can always be counted on to deliver the kind of workaday staples professional women crave, and Sunday's clean-lined spring-summer 2011 ready-to-wear collection was no exception.

Between the no-frills shirtdresses in starched white poplin and the sharp pantsuits that were just fashion forward enough, there was plenty for the corporate woman to choose from. The A-line dresses and billowing skirts with jagged, asymmetrical hemlines in a greenhouse of saturated flower prints added a touch of drama to the otherwise serene collection.

The only flaw was the shoes, towering wedges with a footbed that curved downward, like a black diamond ski slope. Both bizarre and torturous-looking, they stand little chance of making it into the corporate boardrooms that are the natural habitat of the rest of the collection.

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Luxury Handbags Grab Spotlight at Paris Fashion Week

Parisian chic has many emissaries but none quite so playful as luxury handbag designer Olympia Le Tan, whose third collection based on maps and globes brings new bag shapes and more of her signature handiwork.

Her bags are produced to order in sets of 16 and hand-stitched in a Parisian studio at a time when haute couture, and the world of fashion more broadly, is shedding its taboo about outsourcing and growing ever more globalised.

The trendy designer who came of age as the assistant of former Balmain creative director Gilles Dufour told Reuters ahead of her show that she had no intention of turning her boutique business into an international franchise.

"I like the fact that it's a boutique," she said in an interview in a hotel room, surrounded by her bags. "We work as a family and I have a hand in everything the brand puts out.

For her third show, held late on Sunday in a planetarium in Paris, the half-British Le Tan branches off from the book cover designs which established her name with trendsetters to take an unlikely turn into the world of cartography.

Maps, globes and books with titles such as "Man in the Sky" are the main inspiration for her show and give each new object a distinctive form, with many handbags losing their angles and taking on circular shapes as well as globes.

The spark for the show came in April when the eruption of a volcano in Iceland interrupted her vacation plans and got her thinking about the state of the planet in playful, irreverent terms, Le Tan said.

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Stella McCartney's Tuxedo Lines Pay Homage to YSL

Stella McCartney may have dedicated her new collection to family and friends but sartorially, she paid homage to Yves Saint Laurent with tuxedo-inspired tops and all-white suits.

Models sashayed past her impressed father, former Beatle Paul McCartney, in sleeveless, low-cut white satin jackets on slit, open skirts.

"It is so stylish, so brilliant... I am so proud," McCartney told Reuters after the show under the gilded dome of the Opera Garnier house in central Paris.

Stella McCartney is the latest designer to have been hit by the Saint Laurent fever, fashion critics say.
Looking at the trends for the next spring/summer collection, the iconic designer also influences Marc Jacobs' bright colors and Givenchy's black and white suits.

Saint Laurent's stylistic presence on the runway coincides with a series of retrospective exhibitions on the French designer and a recently released feature film about his love story with his long-standing business partner Pierre Berge.

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