Finally, Let's talk about the fashion attitude of French women

French women have this seemingly innate style that makes them the object of envy of other counterparts who buy the same labels -- sometimes even the same outfit -- but are surprised when they aren’t instantly transformed into Catherine Deneuve.

The French look is effortless. They are not slaves to their hair, not their makeup, not their clothes. They play with fashion and have more fun. Also, they assess their assets and make the most of them.

The style seems very off the cuff. French people don’t have yet the celebrity culture, so they believe that fashion and style isn’t dictated by celebrities who sometimes don’t have the right taste levels. They take a few cues from fashion professionals but are even more likely to trust their own instincts. They don’t try to look like anyone else other than themselves. They know who they are and make the most of what they have. Allure, to them, is more about a statement than physical beauty.

You’d be hard-pressed to find women wearing skinny pants just because they’ve been labelled a must-have item, and no one does a head-to-toe look of a particular season or a particular designer. French women mix and match, they go vintage.

True, they have their beloved pricey labels, but since they buy things that match their personal style, they get a lot of mileage out of their most expensive pieces. For everything else, they have more choices when it comes to fast-fashion stores.

French women know their own brand DNA and work it. Ever wonder about all those carrot-haired women on the streets of Paris? It’s part of their brand identity, and it did not cost much to build.

A Frenchwoman’s wardrobe is built around classic silhouettes with chic investment-piece accessories, such as an alligator bag or an Hermes scarf. Ah, the scarf. Almost everyone used the scarf as a metaphor for French/European style. It transforms everyday clothes into a chic outfit, while at the same time seems a casual afterthought added just as a woman was dashing out the door.

A French woman starts wearing scarves young and, therefore, isn’t afraid of them. Scarves are part of their wardrobe, as much a part of their wardrobe as an American woman putting on a T-shirt. . . . Don’t treat it like such a serious thing.

Fashion or Art? Bordered or Blurred?

To begin, let’s look at the definition of each word separately. The new American Webster Dictionary defines the word art as follows,

ART: (n) 1. any system of rules and traditional methods for the practice of craft, trade or profession; the application of knowledge and skill. 2. works designed to give intellectual pleasure, as music, sculpture, and esp. pictorial representation. 3. skillful workmanship. 4. cunning; guile.

In turn it also defines fashion as follows,

FASHION: (n) 1. prevailing mode, esp. of dress, present custom. 2. people of polite society collectively. 3. external shape; form. 4. manner or way (of doing something). (vt) make; fabricate; give a particular shape or form to.

Fashion Week

A fashion week is a fashion industry event, lasting approximately one week, which allows fashion designers, brands or "houses" to display their latest collections in runway shows and buyers and the media to take a look at the latest trends. Most importantly, these events let the industry know what's "in" and what's "out" for the season. The most prominent fashion weeks are held in the four fashion capitals of the world: New York City, London, Milan, and Paris.

New York City, London, Milan, and Paris each host a fashion week twice a year with New York beginning each season and the other cities following in the aforementioned order.

Grand Palais, Avenue du Général Eisenhower, Paris, France

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Bryant Park, Manhattan, New York, NY
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Piazza del Duomo, Milan, Province of Milan, Italy
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There are two major seasons per year - Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer. For womenswear, the Autumn/Winter shows always start in New York in February and end in Paris in March. Spring/Summer shows start in New York in September and end in Paris in October. Menswear Autumn/Winter shows start in January in Milan for typically less than a week followed by another short week in Paris. Menswear Spring/Summer shows are done in June. Womenswear haute couture shows typically happen in Paris a week after the Menswear Paris shows. For the first time, womenswear haute couture was also shown in Singapore, during its haute couture Women's Fashion Week in October 2011. This was the first time womenswear haute couture shows were held outside of Paris.

Over the past few years, more and more designers have shown inter-seasonal collections between the traditional Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer seasons. These collections are usually more commercial than the main season collections and help shorten the customer's wait for new season clothes. The inter-seasonal collections are Resort/Cruise (before Spring/Summer) and Pre-Fall (before Autumn/Winter). There is no fixed schedule for these shows in any of the major fashion capitals but they typically happen three months after the main season shows. Some designers show their inter-seasonal collections outside their home city. For example, Karl Lagerfeld has shown his Resort and Pre-Fall collections for Chanel in cities such as Moscow, Los Angeles and Monte Carlo instead of Paris. Many designers also put on presentations as opposed to traditional shows during Resort and Pre-Fall either to cut down costs or because they feel the clothes can be better understood in this medium.

Some fashion weeks can be genre-specific, such as a Miami Fashion Week (swimwear), Rio Summer (swimwear), Prêt-a-Porter (ready-to-wear) Fashion Week, Couture (one-of-a-kind designer original) Fashion Week and Bridal Fashion Week, while Portland (Oregon, USA) Fashion Week shows some eco-friendly designers.

Vintage=Old fashion?

You can say that vintage is the priceless storage only existing in the museum. Or, you will say, hey my trash, your treasure. That's true. But when we call it vintage fashion, it must have some historical value and represent a special character of a certain period.

What is Vintage?

Vintage, or ヴィンテージ, 特に, 古い 型, is coming from a Japanese word. There are some many definitions. Retro and old-school style dressing are the most popular ones. Strictly to say, only Antique is called the real vintage. However the trend of vintage need to be understood as well preserved, exquisite, and old valuable stuff or clothes, existing between 1940-1980.

Actually, vintage is the old thing, for sure! They can call back their roots in those cheap second-hand stores. However, the spirit they express is more than cheap and old. It's the real style, which can last so long that even the floating time could't beat. They are classic, which means you could ware them in the past, in the present, and absolutely, in the future! Vintage cloths are not designed by seasonal, like the skinny legging wore by Audrey Hepburn in 50s, the plant-flora graphic print blouse by Emilio Pucci in 60s, and the skirt-suit by Chanel, they are all the classic vintage.

So vintage doesn't just mean old. They show a lot, your style and your life attitude!



If you are truly enjoy this, you can check some Vintage shop in Topeka area!
(Need to click  "-" to show the locations ; P)


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Miranda Kerr

harper's bazaar australia november 2011 cover client: harper's bazaar australia source: forums.thefashionspot.com published: november 2011

Miranda Kerr, who is from Australia, rose to fame first as a Victoria's Secret favorite and then through high profile fashion work in 2010. Guys you must know Orlando Bloom, who has stared in the Ring and has a charming and handsome looking, married her, Miranda Kerr in July 2010. They had a baby boy Flynn in January 2011. Also, she was immortalized in wax for Madame Tussaud's in Australia in July 2012.

http://www.justjared.com/photo-gallery/2752994/miranda-kerr-victorias-secret-fashion-show-2012-06/

Ranked #8 by the Money Girls and ranked #6 by the Top Sexiest Models, she works through all over the world, Sydney, London, Tokyo, Barcelona, Paris, and New York. Her sweetness look kills audiences. From fashion runways, magazine cover, and editorial, Miranda creates bunches of images covering outstanding personality and, absolutely, she can handle different types, including sexy, sweet, independent, and more and more.

Kate Moss poses nude for new Spanish Vogue photoshoot

photo credit_1_models.info

In her new book, Kate: The Kate Moss Book, the supermodel with the waif-like looks had this to say about nudity. “I hated it! Because I was topless again. I hated it…more than anything as a teenager. I’d do anything not to take my top off.” But years down the road, she had this to say, “I see nudity as empowering now. Before, I didn’t. I cried for years!”

Keeping in line with that thought, Kate Moss took her top off, stretched out on a chaise lounge, covered her bare essentials with a Matador’s red cape and left her breast exposed as famous Spanish bull-fighter Jose Mari Manzanares held guard over her. This latest shoot was for the December issue of Spanish Vogue and was shot by fab photographer, Mario Testino. If anyone can make a photoshoot stand out from the norm, he can. And it was no different here. The cover shot shows a morose looking Kate with a “lost look” in her eyes wearing a black net over her face. Very powerful stuff indeed.

photo credit_2_models.info

Spring 2013

Some hints of the spring runway shows are already given out. Today we gonna check out some of them. Miu Miu, Louis Vuitton, Alexander McQueen, and Channel.

Miu Miu gives us lots of fur, nude color especially the strong earthy pink, and the cat-like sun glasses.

Louis Vuitton shocks our eyeballs by extremely bright yellow to provoke the eagerness of the new start of the year. The designer emphases the geometric shapes like square and rectangular. Like Miu Miu, Louis Vuitton also gives the earthy colors lots of attention.

You can absolutely tell this is the show of Alexander McQueen even though you just have one glance of the show. Look at that shady hat, those holes on it create the stunning British drama of calling back to 17c or 18c. If you carefully observe those dresses, you can easily tell the details are familiar from the history and also, are changed by the designer through new inspirations and cloth-techniques.

This is the show I enjoy mostly and surprise me thousands of time. Pearls, glossy fur, feather, huge plastic hat, wheel-like handbag, Lego-shaped handbag, and tons of mix of the materials.

2012 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is coming!

While the show doesn't air until December 4th on CBS, the live event took place at New York's Lexington Armory on Wednesday, November 7. Even though there was a furious snowstorm outside, forty of the world's top models made their way down the runway wearing lots of feathers, sequins and not much else during the hour-long spectacle.

Rihanna sang her single "Diamonds" in a floor-length, high-slit black dress, topped off goggle-looking sunglasses, long gloves and a garter belt. She returned later in the show wearing a decidedly more low key look: Sheer pink short dress, pink ankle boots and a pink long sleeve sweater tied around her waist.

Beginning in 1995, Victoria's Secret began holding their annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, which is broadcast on primetime American television. Starting with the 1995 fashion show they are "a combination of self-assured strutting for women and voyeuristic pleasures for men—and lingerie becomes mainstream entertainment." This involves a lavish event with elaborate costumed lingerie, varying music, and set design according to the different themes running within the show. The show attracts hundreds of celebrities and entertainers, with special performers and/or acts every year.

By 2011 the budget for the fashion show was $12 million up from the first show's budget of $120,000.

See this video selecting models for the 2012 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

Photo slideshow credit:
http://www.vspressroom.com/storage/images/fashion-show/fashion-show-fittings-2012/
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_secret#Product_history
http://www.youtube.com/user/VICTORIASSECRET
       

Giorgio Armani, and his innovations.

He still doesn't speak English, though. And he believes the original power of human hands and also the creativity brought from them.

Giorgio Armani, born 11 July 1934, is an Italian fashion designer, particularly noted for his menswear. He is known today for his clean, tailored lines. He formed his company, Armani, in 1975, and by 2001 was acclaimed as the most successful designer to come out of Italy, with an annual turnover of $1.6 billion and a personal fortune of $7 billion as of 2012.

Armani was the first designer to ban models with a body mass index (BMI) under 18, after model Ana Carolina Reston starved herself to death due toanorexia nervosa.

Armani broadcast his collection live on the Internet, a first in the world of haute couture, on 24 January 2007. The Armani Privé Spring/Summer 2007 fashion show was broadcast via MSN and Cingular cellular phones.

After LG teamed with Prada to introduce the LG Prada phone, Samsung joined Armani to design the Giorgio Armani phone.

Armani has designed many stage outfits for pop superstar Lady Gaga, including those worn on her record breaking Monster Ball Tour and Born This Way Ball Tour. And to many high-profile award shows, such as the 52nd Grammy Awards and the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Armani

        http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2132198/Lady-Gagas-elaborate-Giorgio-Armani-costumes-new-tour-revealed.html

        http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/jan/14/fashion.features4

Carine Roitfeld, a new french icon

Carine Roitfeld

photo credit: http://www.style.com/peopleparties/celebritysearch/person640/slideshow?iphoto=6  

Hard to believe this lady is a grandma! The former EIC of French Vogue — and longtime muse to Tom Ford — ushered in an extreme, sexy style that Roitfeld herself dubbed, “porno chic.” These totally audacious, NSFW images not only increased the magazine’s circ numbers during a recession but landed Carine in the style hall of fame as someone always willing to push the envelope.

Carine Roitfeld, born September 19, 1954, in Paris, France. Editor in Chief of CR Fashion-Book (as of 2012), was the editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris from 2001 to January 31, 2011. A former fashion model and writer, she announced her resignation on December 17, 2010; she was succeeded by Emmanuelle Alt. 

Carine Roitfeld documentary - Part 1

Carine Roitfeld documentary - Part 2

  source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carine_Roitfeld