Fashion Styles And Trends

Boston's Museum of Fine Arts hosted a gala on Saturday, November 4th in honor of its new exhibition, "Fashion Show: Paris Collections 2006," which will open to the public on November 12th.

The exhibition, which showcases a mix of prêt-a-porter and couture designs from the current season, is the first of its kind for the MFA, and for any of the world's museums for that matter. Normally a costume or fashion exhibition is presented in either a historical manner or as a retrospective.

"I wanted to assess what's going on in fashion today," said Pam Parmel, the curator of "Fashion Show." "What is a fashion show? It's not the salon show it originally was…designers are creating clothes for the runway that will never be [commercially] produced." In essence, what some of these designers are putting on the runway is just for show, their oeuvres, if you like. What Parmel is doing is displaying where art and fashion intersect, and what better place to do that than in a museum?

Didier Grumbach, president of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture, who liaised to bring a well-edited selection of Yohji Yamamoto, Viktor & Rolf, Hussein Chalayan, Maison Martin Margiela, Rochas, Azzedine Alaia, Christian Dior, Valentino, Christian Lacroix, and Chanel to Boston for the exhibition, was also in town for the event.

"To show contemporary fashion [in a museum] is quite controversial," he explained as he walked through the galleries a few hours before the gala. "But we wanted to show that the shows are not just about the clothes, they are about the music, the lights, the setting. Fashion is partly art, party industry. In Paris, if you forget the arts, you have nothing…France has become more and more international and spectacular. We have a Turkish designer [Chalayan] showing with a Japanese designer [Yamamoto] showing with a Belgian designer [Margiela]."

Mr. Grumbach's job is more or less to preserve the art of haute couture, so exhibitions such as this are important to him as well as to the perpetuation and understanding of the French and international houses themselves. As it stands, there are only ten official members of the haute couture – Adaline André, Chanel, Dior, Gautier, Givenchy, Lacroix, Scherrer, Dominique Sirop, Franck Sorbier and Ungaro. The other designers who show on the haute couture calendar, like Giorgio Armani, Viktor and Rolf, Valentino and Martin Margiela, are considered "guests" and these change from year to year.

As Ms. Parmel and Mr. Grumbach have demonstrated with this fresh, fashion forward exhibition that there is a lot more to fashion than meets the eye.

"Fashion Show" will be on display from November 12th, 2006 until March 18th, 2007.

Wills Lifestyle has grabbed the elite designer, this time not for a fashion event but to create an unique collection for its exclusive outlets in India.

The likes of Rohit Gandhi - Rahul Khanna, Monisha Jaising and the Bollywood favorite Manish Malhotra are all joining to design men’s and women’s wear, which would probably be restricted to the urban class, priced between the range of Rs2000-15000.

While Rohit and Rahul offer trademark ethnic bandhini and batik styles in varied fabrics of soft satins, silks and lovely velvets, Jaising’s range is marked by feminine graceful sinuous dresses and traditional kurtas in auburns, russets and fawns, embellished with intricate embroidery and delicate beads.

Manish Malhotra collection is a contrast with expertly defined cuts and elegant prints on fabrics with effortless falls in sensual strawberry shades and alluring peachy pink free-fall skirts and tunics that do not fail to surface the deadly desires.

Through these pages you can explore the vintage fashion collection of Lori Knowles. When she was just a little girl, Lori bought her first Victorian bodice at a garage sale. It wasn't a museum piece by any stretch of the imagination, but to a little girl who wanted to be Laura Ingals Wilder, it was a wonderful link to the past. It was many years later when she began collecting Victorian and Edwardian fashions of a higher quality. Her real vintage collection started with a black silk Edwardian dress found by her husband, Matt, in an antique shop. Over the next 20 years the collection has been added to with purchases from more antique stores, many trips to the Vintage Fashion Expo in San Francisco, donations and purchases from friends, and recently, by scouring Ebay. Lori's collection now includes over 150 garments and spans 100 years, from the 1840s to the 1940s. The primary focus of the collection is women's Victorian and Edwardian clothing.

To most people, collecting extremely old vintage clothing is a weird hobby. Most people collect things so that they can use or display them. However, due to the fragile nature of Victorian and Edwardian clothes, they must spend most of their time being stored in acid free boxes. Occasionally the boxes must be opened and the clothes refolded, but the collection is mostly enjoyed by looking at photographs of the pieces. However, Lori also enjoys being able to see the construction and details of the garments and uses them as inspiration for her fashion and costume designs.

Since most Victorian women were very petite, and their corsets made them even smaller, it is hard to find models to wear most of these clothes. Heather, the model in the photos on this page, gave us the chance to see how some of these clothes really looked (and sounded) when being worn. Since then we have been helped by other models and we are always looking for other models to photograph some of the new items in the collection. If you are 5'-0" to 5'-3" and have a 25" waist or smaller, live in either Humboldt or Mendocino counties and would like to model some Victorian clothes, please contact us.

A note on the dates used throughout this site: Unless specifically stated otherwise, the dates used are approximations based on researching the particular style. Some garments such as bodices can be dated pretty close, while other garments such as lingerie are harder to pinpoint exactly. Please keep this in mind as you view the collection.

The West Side Kiwanis Club is gearing up for its annual project to clothe 120 children from six elementary schools.

"Our main goal is to clothe the children of the West Side," said Bob Harding, club president. "We work all year to do this. We have concessions at West Virginia Power games, Vandalia and other activities like car shows. We sell hot dogs."

Also, area businesses have boxes where donations may be dropped off for the clothing drive.

"Every penny we raise goes right back to the children," Harding said. "We try to clothe 120 children every December. We have been blessed to have $120 for each child. That will buy three pairs of pants, three shirts, underwear and socks. Charleston Department Store is our partner."

On Dec. 9, Key Club members from Capital, George Washington and Nitro high schools will help the younger kids shop for clothes. Children to receive clothes are selected by principals and counselors at the respective West Side elementary schools.

Through a Key Club, an arm of Kiwanis, youth are encouraged to reach out and work with the community. A new club is in the works at South Charleston High School.

Each year, the Kiwanis Club presents a scholarship to two Key Club members. Last year's scholarships were $500 for each student.

The younger children are more comfortable shopping with teenagers than adults, Harding said. Kiwanis Club members provide candy and fruit on the day of the Kiwanis Shopping Spree.

Harding first joined the club in 1990 because he was drawn to its international objective of serving the children of the world. Founded in 1915, the organization has 600,000 members in 96 countries.

The West Side Kiwanis Club was chartered Sept. 25, 1959 with 36 members. The club now has 23 members. They come from all walks of life from business owners, retailers and doctors to bankers and retirees.

"We do have women in our club," Harding said. "That started in the late '80s or early '90s. They are very vital to our club. We have nine ladies. Out of that nine, six have been president."

Harding began his one-year term as president in October.

"My objective is to boost membership," he said.

There is an application process with membership to be approved by the board. Members are to be good citizens and have a desire to help children. Membership fee is $50.

Harding hopes to bring new members on board who will keep clothing West Side kids.

Meetings are held noon Thursdays at the Charleston Civic Center. For more information call Harding at 340-4740.

Footwear stays true to the brand's heritage with rich tonal platform pumps and details such as metal studs; while graphic prints play a prominent role in bags. RT

Priyanka Chopra has been voted as one of the leading fashion icons of India, and lately, she has stepped into the shoes of none other than actress Zeenat Aman. In an exclusive tete-a-tete with Preeti Chowdhary of TIMES NOW , Priyanka chats about her latest movies, fashion and much more.

What is your take on Fashion?

According to me, Fashion is comfort, that is if you are comfortable in your outfit, you are fashionable. At the same time, you should style according to your personality. Following fashion blindly doesn't really work, at least for me.So you be comfortable and figure out your own style.

We saw you come and support Vikram Phadnis. But will we ever see you walk the ramp?

I get very nervous walking on the ramp. You have got to be so careful about everything that you have and you have to look straight up. It is too much work.

What is your personal sense of style?

I am very fond of western wear. I just like wearing jeans and T-shirt, blue jeans and white shirt is my favourite outfit. In Indian wear, my favourite is Sari.

'Don' has just been released. What kind of reaction you have got?

There is a mixed reaction to the film. Some people have loved it, while others have hated it. But 'Don' is going very very strong. Kids are going crazy about it. My family has really liked it and we have got great reviews on my character in the film, Sharukh's character and everybody else’s, who was there in the film. I am very excited about the fact that the movie is doing very well and I hope people continue to watch it.

In 'Don', you have a tie tied around as a belt. Who came up with that idea?

It was Akki's idea and I liked it very much. and we have used it at couple of places in the movie. I am glad that you noticed it. I have started doing it now as well, that is using a tie as a belt.

Give us some tips on fashion.

I think it is a very good idea to use things uniquely and differently. Ribbons as watches, scalves as watches i.e. different ways of using things that have been used conventionally, I think that definetely defines style.

Maybe that's why prize ribbons -- the same ones you got for winning the science fair in grade school -- are becoming the latest fashion trend. Except this time around instead of just blue, red and white, designers are fancying them up in an array of colors and styles and offering them to carry as a purse, for pinning on your winter coat or for wearing as a wristlet. "It takes someone with a lot of confidence to wear them around," says Robin Goetz, who designs a line of ribbon purses and wristlets for her company, Femme Sud.

"You can't make much more of a statement than carrying around an award that you've given yourself." Jill Bertuccio stocks the prize ribbon purses at her boutique, Willow, in Houston. She says her rodeo-loving Texas customers snatch up the purses as conversation pieces. "It's a throwback into your childhood, but it's still very modern," she said. "There's a confidence about it, but there's also a sense of humor about it." New York City designer Jessica Grindstaff fashions her prize ribbons into pins to be worn on shirts, coats or purses. She says seeing military patches on display during trips to Japan and Poland inspired her to think of ways to award people in her life. Now she wears them herself as jewelry. "When I walk down the street with them on, delivery men will say congratulations," she said. "It definitely takes confidence to wear them."

Even the small victories deserve a reward, Goetz said. "We all want to be recognized for the things we do, whether it's cooking someone a meal or having a good day at work and getting a lot done," she said. "It's like the gold star that we got when we were little." RIBBON AS PIN: Grindstaff uses vintage ribbon in bold colors and has medals in the center of her ribbons shaped like animals. The medals are cast in gold and silver. Boutiques sell them for $154-$220. RIBBON AS PURSE: Femme Sud has turned the prize ribbon into a leather purse. They've taken the old-school design and added a thin ribbon at the top as a handle. The purses sell for $495.

FashionKnockoffs.com is a retail/wholesale reseller of fashion products. We are not an importer or a manufacturer. FashionKnockoffs.com does NOT sell what has recently come to be recognized as "knockoff" products. In our original intention this was an informal slang term for items that had a somewhat similar look to other more famous, more expensive items. We do not sell, nor have we ever sold, imitations of fashion originals, exact copies, actual replicas, and certainly not counterfeits of original trademarked or copyrighted fashion products. None of the items on our web site have designer labels or fashion designer logos.

Over the years we have been careful not to be in violation of any copyright or trademark. If any company or fashion designer or their representative were to take issue with any item on our web site they would be welcome to contact us directly and we would gladly consider any appropriate action.

Doug, a former aircraft mechanic for the State Department of Defense, says the couple had to learn just about everything from how to manage inventory and figuring lead time to consumer buying patterns and accounting.

They’re still on that learning curve, according to Doug, and their on-the-job education continues at “Fun ‘N’ Fashion,” a new costume and fashion jewelry store in the Kings Lake Square plaza on Davis Boulevard.

“The best way for me to make a living is to offer fair pricing on good quality jewelry,” he says. “We always dreamed of owning our own store. Now we can do that.”

Fun ‘N’ Fashion, which has been open barely a month, has been a hit among plaza regulars; Doug looks for swelling restaurant traffic as snowbirds return for season to bump up business, and is already considering expanded hours.

“The feedback has been fantastic. Customers really like our store. Many of them have told us East Naples needed a store like this one for a long time.” said Doug. “We just want to make sure they’re happy enough to come back.

The hardest thing about managing the fascinating store has been figuring out how much to buy, said Doug pointing to rubber care bracelets made popular by Lance Armstrong, as an example. “I bought three dozen on a tip from a supplier. Two weeks later, I was ordering 60 dozen,” he recalled.

Fun ‘n’ Fashion features a wide variety of designer-inspired handbags, sunglasses and watches in addition to its jewelry collections. Among its big sellers are a myriad of different Hematite magnetic bracelets and the best selection of magnetic stainless steel link bracelets in southwest Florida.

According to Doug, pain is the result of certain electric impulses and magnetics can counter those impulses and deaden pain.

“They’re very popular among golfers,” he said. “My customers swear by them.”

From Swarovski crystal to sterling silver, Fun ‘N’ Fashion is a kick for even the most jaded shopper. Big, bold, beaded necklaces are in again this year with emphasis on tans, browns and golds. Mixed in among piles of holiday and seasonal jewelry are all kinds of flirty gold and silver evening bags.

Doug said at first he questioned why the store needed to stock up on handbags, but went along with his wife’s instincts. Now, he says, he sees the wisdom of carrying a multitude of styles and colors noting handbags are a lot like shoes -- women just have to have them.

And, of course, there are other fashion accessories such as this year’s newest idea, popcorn shirts. The crinkly, puffy, crushable lightweight clothing is all the rage among trendy travelers.

Of special interest to jewelry aficionados is the Murano-style Venetian glass. Slivers of gold, copper or bronze are melted into glass to create an exotic looking medium for making bracelets, necklaces and earrings. And if that’s not enticement enough, the Gunzenhausers lay claim to one of the area’s only Venetian glass artists so customers can literally create their own jewelry designs.

“You bring in a picture or a drawing and our designer will turn it into a one-of-kind piece of jewelry,” he said.