Kohl's Corporation and Vera Wang Group announced the launch of Princess Vera Wang, a junior's contemporary, premium lifestyle collection available exclusively in Kohl's stores nationwide and Kohls's website beginning August 2012.
Licensed by a subsidiary of Vera Wang Group to Kohl's under a long-term agreement, Kohl's will be the exclusive provider and marketer in the United States of all Princess Vera Wang merchandise. For Kohl's, growing its partnership with Vera Wang demonstrates the strength of its exclusive and private brand strategy, which accounted for 52 percent of sales in the third quarter of 2011, up significantly from 2010.
"We are pleased to announce the launch of Princess Vera Wang, which builds on our existing partnership with Vera Wang, one of the world's most credible and respected designers," said Kevin Mansell, Kohl's chairman, president and CEO.
"When we first partnered with Vera Wang in 2007 to launch Simply Vera Vera Wang, there was immediate acceptance and strong response from our contemporary customer. We are confident bringing this level of fashion and quality to our junior's business allows us to increase the value proposition to our younger shoppers and delivers on our commitment to offer world-class brands in each category."
Kohl's first partnered with Vera Wang in 2007 for the launch of Simply Vera Vera Wang, a premium lifestyle collection. Since launch, Simply Vera Vera Wang has been the leading exclusive brand in the women's contemporary category and due to strong customer response, has experienced continued growth. Most recently, Kohl's announced Simply Vera Vera Wang will expand into cosmetics and bridal jewelry beginning in Spring 2012.
Kay Celine has made a generous contribution of merchandise that sold at last weekend’s Divine Design B2B marketplace. It is L.A.’s premier event for Fashion and Home. All proceeds went to help Project Angel Food, Los Angeles’ only free meal delivery service for people with HIV/AIDs, cancer, and other life-threatening diseases.
Along with Divine Design, Kay Celine also participated in November's Fashion with Compassion, a charity event hosted by Los Angeles' Stephen S. Wise Temple and Milken Community High School. Proceeds benefited the Save a Child's Heart, and internationally acclaimed humanitarian project whose mission promotes the improvement of quality of cardiac care for young patients.
On the fashion side of things, Kay Celine designer, Kay Kamran has finished her 2012 Spring/Summer line. Kay has long been an aficionado of “desk to dinner”, and this collection certainly follows that ideal. It has Kay's signature beaded chiffon tunics, and fabulous crochet lace pieces in amazing colors, such as aqua, coral, and clover. For that Boho chic look, Cotton Voile in assorted colors that are perfect for Summer.
Award-winning fashion designers Tina Knowles made history on Monday, October 3, as her life story became the fifteenth addition to the University of Houston's "Living Archives." The Living Archives are the oral history arm of the Shuart Women's Archive and Research Collection. Lauded for her work as a fashion designer and stylist, businesswoman and philanthropist, the Texas native told her story in an interview with journalist Joy Sewing of the Houston Chronicle. The enthusiastic crowd, including her lifelong friends and family members; three brothers, one sister, her niece and nephew and daughter, Beyonce, listened as Miss Tina (as she is affectionately known) told her story about growing up in Galveston, Texas, the youngest of seven children and recounted early lessons she learnt from her parents, particularly her seamstress mother, the late Agnez Dereon Beyonce, that would set her on her path. She also talked about her deep bond with her two daughters, Beyonce and Solange, and what it was like designing for and travelling with Destiny's Child. Tina Knowles started making clothes in the early days for Destiny's Child because of small budgets and denial from major fashion houses to loan clothes to the still-budding group that would go on to become one of the most successful recording groups of all time. Today she is the founder and creative director of three successful fashion collections, House of Dereon, the contemporary line which launched internationally at Selfridges & Co. in London last month, Dereon, the casual lifestyle brand and Miss Tina by Tina Knowles, which is sold exclusively at Walmart. Seven Tina Knowles' designs, all worn famously by Beyonce including the dress she wore to the 2009 Oscars and one she wore to the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, were on display at the entrance of the University of Houston's MD Anderson Library.
The Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest has added a new ingredient to its recipe for cooking competition success! To add to the excitement of the contest, Pillsbury has asked three former contestants from a top fashion design reality show to compete in a “Runway Challenge” and help design the official apron to be worn by finalists as they compete for $1 million at the 45th Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest.
Althea Harper, Kara Janx and Carol Hannah Whitfield have each designed an apron to potentially be worn by the 100 finalists on the contest floor at the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest finals which take place March 25-27, 2012, in Orlando, Fla.
The three designs will be posted on the Pillsbury Facebook page on Monday, Oct. 10 at 2 p.m. EDT for individuals to vote which design should become the official 45th Bake-Off® Contest apron. Voting closes on Monday, Oct. 17.
“Since the first Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest in 1949, the official contest apron has been a hallmark in every contest,” said Onju Sturlaugson, Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest Manager. “We’re so excited to have top designers on board to help create this year’s apron and know our 100 finalists will wear it with great pride.”
The Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest announced the final 100 home cooks who will compete for $1 million at the finals March 25-27 at the Peabody Orlando Hotel. The group’s creative original recipes beat out tens of thousands of recipe entries to earn the chance to compete for the grand prize. The list of 100 finalists is available at website.
The final 100 recipes for the 45th contest will be available in January 2012 on website. On March 26, the 100 home cooks will compete in four categories—Breakfast & Brunches, Entertaining Appetizers, Dinner Made Easy and Sweet Treats—side-by-side at 100 GE mini-kitchens at the Bake-Off Contest finals. Working in secrecy behind closed doors, a panel of food experts will taste the recipes prepared by the finalists and select the contest winners.
On Thursday, September 15th Laura Smalls unveiled her S/S 2012 "Legacy" runway, anchored by her signature collection of dress featuring both slim-shaped and flare silhouettes. Her looks incorporated lots of draping details, patchwork, color blocks, and appliqué details while also playing with striped patterns. She was right on trend with color, infusing a palette of sun bursting yellows, blood orange hues and green brights complimented by a chic collection of Manolo Blahnik heels.
Since beginning her independent designs in 2009 with her "30 Dresses” collection, it is expected that Smalls will put on a runway that exudes elegance and sophistication and her fifth series delivered that and more. The audience was filled with the "who's who" of New York and fashion in front row attendance at the luxurious Centurion Condominiums penthouse setting, including Vogue's Andre Leon Talley, Italian Vogue's Bethann Hardison, supermodel Chanel Iman, music icon Valerie Simpson, opera sensation Kathleen Battle and actress Grace Hightower De Niro.
"Laura Smalls has the ability to register modern contemporary fashion that is a throwback to ladylike elegance when dressing up for any moment in a day meant something", said Vogue's Contributing Editor Andre Leon Talley post show. "Think Sophisticated Lady”, he continues, “Vibrant color for spring is the new trend. Smalls puts the vitality of saturated celadon green in satin evening dress with embroidered petals at the hem for a dramatic red carpet entrance maker.
From flamboyant palm fronds to eye-popping polka dots, patterned trousers in a kaleidoscope of colors are all the rage. Are you man enough to wear them?
Last month, something crazy happened during the men's spring 2012 collections, first in Milan, then in Paris. On the runway, menswear designers went all-out bonkers over one bright idea: wildly patterned pants.
Even from the cheap seats, you couldn't miss the visual slacks attack. Like Glenn Close, they would not be ignored. Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace and Alexander McQueen, to name a few, all had over-the-top pattern parties on their pants—a psychedelic safari of flora, stripes and dots.
There was tie-dye at Bottega Veneta, vibrant birds-of-paradise prints at Givenchy, Big-Top stripes at Dries Van Noten and polkas, plaids and paisleys at Etro. Moschino was wild for palm fronds and hibiscus prints. Gaultier's moody-luau prints also packed Hawaiian punch. Agnès B. had full suits covered in zigzags and wave-like swirls of turquoise and brown. And then there were Miuccia Prada's Lilly Pulitzer-on-crack slacks, which models wore while wheeling golf bags down the runway.
These retro-leaning pants have many names—some unprintable, all as colorful as the designs themselves. "Go-to-Hell Pants," "Don't-Give-a-Damn Pants" and "Party-Crashing Pants" are just a few.
Inspired by a sense of confidence, caprice, escapism and even entitlement—born from both country club and rock 'n' roll traditions—crazy pants say: Go ahead, make a spectacle of yourself.
"I think it was just very chic, happy!" said Agnès B. designer Agnes Troublé of her Paris-by-way-of-Africa prints. "I think of my friend Johnny Pigozzi," a colorful art collector and owner of the menswear line LimoLand. "He is always daring to wear the craziest pants he can find!"
But not all are amused by the cocksure look. Following his own spring collection of muted summer suits, Giorgio Armani, now 77, criticized both Dolce & Gabbana and Prada's collections, saying they made men look ridiculous and were unwearable, according to the fashion trade rag Women's Wear Daily.
Prada's show notes defined the scrutinized look as being "relaxed, fun and young," with "the world of golf" serving as "the thread of inspiration that unites classical English elements and exaggerated over-the-top details typical of the American imagination." Other inspirations came from '60s Palm Beach flower prints and English necktie motifs from the '70s.
After Mr. Armani's comments, the gossip mill went into overdrive, with industry insiders calling him a party pooper. Style blogs and the fashion trades chronicled the resulting snipe-fest for weeks.
Truth is, Mr. Armani has a point. Party pants aren't for everyone. And not everyone can pull them off. But that's the idea. They are designed to make their fearless arbiters stand out in any crowd, and if you can't take that kind of heat, perhaps the look is not for you.
While the peacock-y style was adopted by jet-setting British rock stars of the louche '60s and '70s, the origins of crazy pants are conservative and upper class by nature.
Born out of the cultivated-depraved cocktail culture of East Coast summer communities like Newport, R.I., and Locust Valley, N.Y., along with resort spots like Palm Springs and Palm Beach in the '50s, proudly-loud pants became a part of the well-to-do's (and not-much-to-do's) social fabric. The originators were mostly unknowns, big fish in small ponds, "pieces of work," kings of their lawn parties, golf courses and country-club socials. And although there were also notable advocates—Peter Lawford, George Hamilton, Keith Richards, Ken Kesey—party-pant wearers shared one thing in common: They owned any room they entered. (A fact that had almost nothing to do with what they were wearing.)
Today, the personality profile of crazy-trouser advocates is just the same. "Girls love crazy pants, but they really piss off guys…which is why I love them so much," said Paul Sevigny, a celebrity deejay and Manhattan bistro owner who grew up in preppy Darien, Conn. "I call them 'f—-you pants,' " he said. "But in Dallas, a pair got this group of middle-age men all riled up," he said. "You don't expect a 55-year-old man to be angry about some other dude's trousers." And, he added, "Jersey Shore guys really get worked up" when he wears, say, his Paul Stuart Italian-madras slacks. "In these situations, a full-frontal confrontation works best," said Mr. Sevigny. "Why are you looking at my crotch, anyway?"
Mr. Sevigny, who is 40, said there are distinctions as to what defines truly crazy pants. "I want to make it clear that Nantucket Reds are not f—-you pants. Nor are corduroys with whales on them." True crazy pants come in "colors that can't be ignored from across a room. They're not for the meek. You have to wear them with confidence. And you have to take them off the golf course and onto the street."
Patterned-pant enthusiasts advise that when sporting them, all other accessories must be understated. Will Cotton, a 46-year-old New York artist—whose favorite crazy pants are horizontally striped red, blue, yellow and white ones by Patrik Ervell—said he typically pairs his loud trousers with a simple white shirt and woven-straw sandals. "I've had limited success with patterns on patterns," he said. It's also wise to not be too precious or over-groomed. Skip a day's shave, and accessorize them with summer soles like loafers, boat shoes, white sneaks or flip-flops. Or rock them with a vintage concert T-shirt (a faded black Rolling Stones lips logo will do).
Alan Flusser, author of "Style and the Man," chronicled the advent of the crazy pant long before it hit the runways, asserting that the look developed out of idle-rich "boredom." "If 'Bill' wore a crazy jacket to the club the week before, his friends would try to find something equally irritating to wear the next go-round. It was a blue-blooded, mano-a-mano parlor game, a sartorial one-upmanship that the stylish button-downers would engage in," Mr. Flusser said. "Outsiders might wince, while insiders smiled."
