With all the modernized beehives and ladylike hair hitting the red carpet, it’s easy to forget how pleasant a quick, messy updo can look. Malin Akerman sported a loose bun at the InStyle party at the Toronto Film Festival and paired with her draped jersey frock, it gave her a relaxed yet sophisticated aire. Malin’s laid-back updo also allowed Malin to pick a more daring dress, with a plunging neckline and revealing back.
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY is fully embracing her starring role in the new Chanel campaign as shooting gets underway. Working the biker chic look, the actress was spotted yesterday in the Place de Concord in Paris.
Wearing a camel-coloured, form-fitting biker outfit with a matching helmet, the actress – sporting a new bobbed haircut – posed on a vintage-looking motorbike for the new adverts.
Knightley first starred as a Karl Lagerfeld muse for Chanel in 2006.
MICHEAL KORS believes avant-garde design should not come before practicality and comfort. Talking about the differences between European and American style, the designer says women should not be intimidated by chic French dressing.
“I never cottoned on to the idea of people having this intimidation about Europe. Women say, ‘I wish I was French! They know how to tie scarves!’. Do we have the history and sophistication of Europe? No. But as much as everyone can sit in Paris and die over the experimentation, everyone is dying to take off their uncomfortable shoes, and they’re all wearing casual separates,” said Kors. “Sportswear! American designers! I do feel a little responsible to be a flag-waver not just for what I do but for what American fashion stands for. Comfortable is not a dirty word.”
Kors, who won this year’s CFDA Lifetime Achievement Award, believes his work as designer is a service to women as he strives to fuse the familiar with the contemporary.
“My job is to figure it out for you,” he tells New York Magazine. “I have to guess what you want before you want it. What I do is answer problems. I have a date. I’m going to lunch with a bunch of women, I’m 42, and I don’t want to look like my daughter, but I don’t want to look like my mum.”
SUSTAINABLE fashion just got chicer with the opening of ethically-minded concept store 123. The East End emporium will showcase the label’s vintage collections as well as devoting an entire floor to Fashion East winner Dr Noki’s House of Sustainability collection – a new diffusion line created especially for 123.
“The 123 concept was born from the knowledge that for true sustainability longevity is a requirement – short term success can be achieved selling on eco credentials but to compete in the fashion arena aesthetic is key,” said Ross Barry, the label’s founder. “123 is a family business specialising in vintage and wholesale second-hand clothing which provides the raw material and inspiration for the collection, key vintage pieces are taken and produced in the London studio to create one-off garments which make up the 123 collection.”
The Grade II listed building on London’s Bethnal Green road has been revamped into a three-floor retail space with plans to turn the basement bar into a coffee shop offering locally sourced food and drinks. Each 123 piece is made using sustainable resources, juxtaposing contemporary silhouettes with retro fabrics and patterns.
“123 is an inclusive arena for other designers to collaborate utilising the sustainable canvas and vertical production techniques developed to recreate old garments into new,” said Barry. “Dr Noki’s NHS floor showcases high fashion styling in its first diffusion line, available exclusively in the UK at 123.”
In other retail news, plus-size designer Anna Scholz is opening her first standalone store in Berlin this weekend. The new store will debut the designer’s autumn/winter 2010 collection for women sized 12- 28.
The Luxury Fashion Blog 