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March 6, 2008

Fierce "Project Runway" giftbags for Stylephile readers

Last night, Project Runway's winning designer Christian Siriano picked up his check for $100,000 at the Project Runway Finale Party, hosted by TRESemmé and Tim Gunn at the Tribeca Grand Hotel in New York City. After seeing Christian's jawdropping show at New York Fashion Week in February, it was no surprise to me that he won.
I wasn't at the party, but I did convince the lovely folks at Project Runway to set aside ten of the party swagbags for the readers of the Stylephile. I know how much y'all love that show.
The first ten readers to comment to this post (don't forget to tell us your email address) will be sent a bag in the mail!
Here's to Season Five!

March 6, 2008 in FAME | Permalink | Comments (45)

Giveaway: rose gold and diamonds by Blessedcharm

Today we have a very special Stylephile giveaway, courtesy of a woman who took the plunge and made a completely fresh start in her career, going from high-powered Hollywood agent to jewelry designer.
Making a career change is something many of us think about, but are too frightened to actually do. But for Emily Rabinowitz, founder of Blessedcharm jewelry, the call of creativity was too much to ignore.
Formerly an agent at Innovative Artists Agency in Santa Monica, Rabinowitz took her experiences in the entertainment industry and the corporate world and used them to help build the business side of her Blessedcharm and Kiss of Karma collections, high-end lines whose pieces convey symbols of hope, optimism and personal clarity. Blessedcharm can be found at Fred Segal and Jennifer Kaufman in Los Angeles, K. Frank in Santa Barbara, and Rich Hippie in Dallas. Rabinowitz has offered to gift one Stylephile reader her lovely rose gold and diamond-encrusted "Hugs for Harmony" necklace. Feminine and sweetly discreet, it's an adorable piece that I picked out especially for the Stylephile. It is worth $600, and looks very similar to the one pictured.
To win, simply post a comment (don't forget to include your email address) telling us about the biggest change you've ever made in your life. Deadline is Wednesday March 12 at 5PM.

March 6, 2008 in FAME | Permalink | Comments (29)

Jared Gold's L.A. fashion show is open to all

Jared Gold has a distinctly fresh approach to his fashion shows, much more democratic than that of his snootier contemporaries. As far as he's concerned, anyone with an interest in fashion should be able to enjoy the runway spectacles he's known for putting on, not just so-called VIPs. So, it makes sense that his 'Czarina' show on Friday March 14 (one of the last events of Fashion Week), will be open to the public.
He is building a 190-foot catwalk inside Downtown's Union Station (800 N. Alameda St., Los Angeles, CA) for a catwalk extravaganza expected to draw 1500 of his fans. Expect a young and very enthusiastic crowd, and some dayglo hair colors. The event is free.
"We’re turning the whole idea of a fashion show on its head," said Gold. "Normally, there are press and celebrities at these events—but they’re not who buy my clothes. Why not let those people in and let them see the entire line and give them a great place to shop?” He will show more than 50 looks, many of which will be available to buy immediately at a pop-up shop, on-site at Union Station.
Downtown art band Miss Derringer, led by my good friend the artist and singer Liz McGrath, will play a set. Gold's favorite internet starlets Stevie Ryan, Raquel Reed and Audrey Kitching as well as “Dexter” star Jennifer Carpenter will walk the catwalk.
Free tickets are available to the public at www.blackchandelier.com 

March 6, 2008 in FASHION WEEK: LOS ANGELES | Permalink | Comments (0)

Gen Art kicks off L.A. Fashion week tomorrow...wanna go?

When it comes to giving fresh new talent a helping hand, the folks behind Gen Art are the masters, handpicking young designers and giving them exposure they deserve. Gen Art has been launching careers for more than ten years now, (Louis Verdad, Zac Posen and Michelle Mason are all Gen Art alumni), and tomorrow, they kick off L.A. Fashion Week with an installation show by three exciting new fashion designers as part of their “New Guarde” event, Friday March 7 at 7PM.
And here’s the best part—you can be there!
JMARY, Jesse Kamm, and Le Sang des Betes by Trang Chau are the talented threesome being showcased. They may be “emerging” but each has already built a following. JMary has been creating custom pieces for Maxfield for some time, and counts Winona Ryder, Dita Von Teese and Karl Lagerfeld among her fans.
Le Sang des Betes by Trang Chau (pictured) has a grisly name (“the blood of beasts”) but the designer uses only natural fabrics, mainly cotton and wool, in designs inspired by the vaulted ceilings of Gothic cathedrals. Jesse Kamm, whose signature hand-printed textiles have been showcased in Elle, Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, and Paper magazines, is a favorite of Liz Goldwyn, Ellen Pompeo, and Kazu of New York art band Blonde Redhead.
Their designs will be shown on models in large-scale vignettes from 8-10pm, conceptualized by each designer and produced by set designer Keith Greco. Then, there’s an after-party celebrating all things fresh and new!
So if you're in L.A., go to this show, and meet the fashion faces of tomorrow.
The presentation is at the Park Plaza Hotel (607 S Park View St., between Rampart and Alvarado St). VIP Tickets are $90/ person and $75 for Gen Art Members and include early entry to the show pre-reception and access to all VIP areas. General Admission Tickets are $50 / person and $40 for Gen Art Members. Gen Art LA Associate Producer Members receive two free VIP tickets and Gen Art Platinum Members received two free General tickets.  Tickets can be purchased by calling (323)782-9389 or by visiting www.genart.org.

March 6, 2008 in FASHION WEEK: LOS ANGELES | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 4, 2008

Paper magazine toasts La Lohan

Beams of blazing March sun added extra warmth to Lindsay Lohan's newly auburn hairdo today, at a lunch held in her honor by Paper magazine. The gathering, held at the Sunset Marquis hotel, was to celebrate Paper's much-talked-about "Girl, Interrupted" cover interview with the newly-sober Lohan. The story was penned by my good friend Steffie Nelson, to whom Lindsay admitted she had recently experienced a dry spell, work-wise. ""Now I know what it's like to be an out of work actor - and how much it scares me," she said in the story.
In the spread (in which she's blonde), Lohan wears several pieces from Jeremy Scott's Spring/Summer '08 collection, which we saw on the runway at L.A. Fashion Week last October. Jeremy Scott (pictured, with Lohan) shot the images of Lohan for Paper, and was there at the lunch, taking snaps of the 80-or-so guests with his own, heavily-Bedazzled Polaroid camera. Also there was super-talented costume designer Arianne Phillips, who made my day by saying she is a regular Stylephile reader. Right on!
It was a fashiony crowd, and many were, quite appropriately, dressed in Jeremy Scott. Like style writer Rose Apodaca (pictured) for instance, who rocked a JS sweater with some seriously hot pink sling-backs, and an enormous rose ring that she swiped from her design store, A+R. The store is being transformed into a Gen Art pop up shop for three days, featuring clothing made by Gen Art alumni and three fresh Gen Art designers. More on that soon!
I chatted with teen queen fashionista Cory Kennedy, who was wearing a Jeremy Scott tire-track dress, and had just come back from Paris Fashion Week. (So young and so fabulous. Sigh.)
I was introduced to Paper founder David Hershkovits, whom I recently name checked in the Stylephile, as he is writing for Kenneth Cole's new socially-conscious blog, the AWEARNESS blog. Read it!
I also said hi to Paper's founding mother and editor Kim Hastreiter (here's a cute photo of her with photographer Mark Hunter). Hastreiter has this strong, earth mama energy about her, very much in keeping with her nurturing tendencies toward young, emerging artists and tastemakers.
 The whole event (where no alcohol was served - perhaps to respect Lohan's sobriety?) was put together by the formidable Kelly Cutrone, founder of New York publicity firm People's Revolution. Kelly has dyed black hair, which we chatted about briefly (I've been having issues with my own dyed black mop). Someone recently suggested she lighten hers to a "pretty" shade of honey brown. Her response? "Hell no! I don’t do 'pretty'!".
(FYI: She's pretty.)
Read the Paper magazine interview with Lindsay Lohan here.
Buy Jeremy Scott here.
Click here to listen to the New Yorker interview with Kim Hastreiter of Paper magazine.

(Story by Caroline Ryder, Editor, The Stylephile)

March 4, 2008 in FAME | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 3, 2008

Miu Miu's runway shoes

Miu Miu's Fall '08 runway shoes were as eclectic as you'd expect, and fully representative of the avant-garde shoe design renaissance that we've seen in recent times.
Angular heels looked like elaborate door handles, Art Deco moldings or other items you might find at Home Depot. Peep toe color palettes harked back to the Decorative Arts movement.
And yet, despite all the hindsight, these shoes manage to remain utterly forward.
Never have I seen such strange and pretty things grace a woman's foot.

March 3, 2008 in FASHION | Permalink | Comments (3)

Vote with your feet

If you're a cigar-smoking political strategist with Masonic ties and a penchant for vacationing in Nantucket, you or your grandfather may enjoy these rather fancy political slippers by Stubbs and Wootton.
That's right, even footwear carries political heft in this election year.
If you're a Democrat, you'll love the donkey design embroidered into the luxe indoor shoe. For those with Republican tendencies, there's the elephantine version. And if you're neutral, you could buy both pairs and wear a different one on each foot. Stubbs and Wootton has yet to create the Gore shoe, which features a dying penguin on the front.
These puppies will set you back a sexy $400. Now there's a political contribution.

March 3, 2008 in FASHION | Permalink | Comments (0)

Natalie Portman's vegan shoes

Natalie Portman may not actually be a vegan, but she refuses to wear any clothes or shoes from animals. So it made sense when she decided to launch her own line of vegan footwear with Te Casan, one of New York's largest shoe boutiques. (We also hear that Natalie, 26, will star in the next Mira Nair film entitled "Kosher Vegetarian". How apt.)
The line comprises pretty ballet flats, high satin sandals, and faux patent pumps, all limited edition (only 100 pairs per size). The designs, like Portman herself, are understated yet polished—nothing like the attention-grabbing stripper heels we've featured in this blog this last few months.  Apparently she created the line because "Stella McCartney does great shoes, but they’re expensive and very fashiony. And I’ve been getting stuff from Target...but I did need some shoes that weren’t made of canvas or plastic.”
The shoes cost around $250 a pair and are available online at TeCasan.com, and at the New York Te Casan boutique (382 West Broadway).

March 3, 2008 in FAME | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rodarte punk out their heels

When Rodarte's Mulleavy sisters mated with Christian Louboutin, I kinda expected their offspring to be soft, classy and feminine, in keeping with Rodarte's romantic style and Louboutin's timeless chic. Instead, they birthed an obnoxious litter of studded tranny shoes that bring new meaning to the term "spike heel".
First debuted at NY Fashion week, I like and I hate them all at once. Aesthetically, they are way too O.T.T. for my tastes, cold and aggressive in the same way bitchy dominatrix club divas are. And yet, they do convey an important message—just because a woman chooses to be ultra-feminine in a pair of killer heels, doesn't mean she might not disembowel you with one deadly scissor kick.
Tough!

March 3, 2008 in FASHION | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sex and the City lingerie line

If, like Samantha on "Sex and the City", you enjoy NSA sex and men in their twenties, then this is what you should wear beneath your power suit. The Cosa Bella "Sex and the City" “Samantha” collection comprises items like a low rise thong and garter belt, in hot coral pink, made with French Chantilly-style lace. No toyboy will be able to resist.
Each character from the show has their own Cosabella collection—Carrie's has animal-print trim, Miranda's is practical with boy shorts, and Charlotte's is soft and feminine in eco-friendly bamboo fiber. Cosabella and "Sex and the City" have been working together since Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristen Davis’ characters, Carrie and Charlotte, wore Cosa Bella lingerie on-screen.
The company just released these images of the collection, which launches online and in stores April 15. 

March 3, 2008 in FAME | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 29, 2008

Kenneth Cole launches his own Huffington Post

If you thought fashion people were all shallow, insecure decadents obsessed with aesthetics and themselves, then you were right. Mostly.
Shoe-meister man Kenneth Cole, however, can claim to possess a smidgen of social conscience. Not only does he feature two very well-heeled lesbians and their cute kid on the homepage of his website, he has started the AWEARNESS Blog, which looks like his socially-conscious answer to the Huffington Post.
"I have been a reasonably successful, designer, businessman, parent, and philanthropist but I've always been a frustrated activist," he writes in his mission statement. "This venting arena is the perfect venue for personal expression and for encouraging genuine change (not to mention taking some of the pressure off of my pharmacologist)."
His contributors' list is certainly worthy—one writer is an acquaintance of mine named Sam Slovic, a noted L.A. writer who exposed the reality of the many homeless people living in L.A.'s Skid Row. Also on board is David Hershkovits, co-founder of Paper magazine. He has posted three blogs so far, one about the upcoming Earth Hour (at 8PM on March 29, millions of people around the world will turn off their electricity and work it cave-man style for an hour.) Oh, and "Good" magazine founder Ben Goldhirsh and singer KT Tunstall are contributors too. I especially enjoyed a recent blog post on Islamofacism by the turban-wearing Sonny Caberwal (pictured), who starred in a Kenneth Cole advertising campaign.
Kenneth himself contributed a thoughtful piece on whether we should control how skinny American models should be, as is the case on the Spanish runway. "I'm not big on imposing my perspective on others," he says, "But I think  we, the industry, all view these models (on and off the runway) as role models that we've created, and should carefully consider the message they are sending to our children."
Aside from a story about a dress made from condoms and the anorexic model debate, there is surprisingly little fashion coverage on the blog thus far. So, Kenneth, I look forward to more posts about the green fashion movement—fashion is, after all, one of the least environmentally-friendly industries on the planet (it takes hundreds of gallons of water to create just one pair of jeans).

February 29, 2008 in FASHION | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 27, 2008

Han Solo, in carbonite, in your house

The image of Han Solo encased in carbonite is so iconic, "Star Wars" geeks around the world have come up with myriad ways to recreate the moment. Go online and read about Han Solo in Chocolate Carbonite, Han Solo in Carbonite USB keys, and even recipes for Han Solo En-Queso'd in Carbonite (a cheese dish).
But nothing is quite as cool as this mammoth office desk created by Tom Spina Designs, a New York custom sculpture and theme prop company. It took two months to create the desk, constructed largely of steel. It was built for one of the members of Christian rock band, Casting Crowns. As Solo himself once said: "Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."

February 27, 2008 in FAME | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mickey The Unstoppable

Forget Celine Dion and P Diddy—when it comes to celebrity endorsements, Mickey Mouse is king. You'll find him on watches, pens, alarm clocks, bed sheets and mace cans. (Well, not mace cans, but woudn't that be awesome?) In fact, Mickey's face is worth more than $4.5 billion a year in sales, second only to Winnie the Pooh for the Disney company.
Which brings us to this: the Mickey Mouse flash drive. Why use a boring rectangular plug-in when you can have the most famous ears in the world in which to save your Excel spreadsheets? Plus, it can be used as a mini photo frame. (The plug-in, in case you're wondering, resides inside Mickey’s ear.)  Buy the A-DATA Theme Series T703 Mickey Flash Drive here.

February 27, 2008 in FASHION | Permalink | Comments (1)

Showerhead that looks like a solar system

Like the Hydra, the mythical Greek serpent of the sea, this space-age bathroom accessory possesses many heads. Five to be precise. Each of these five spinning ports (which rotate 120 times per minute) delivers pressurized streams of water, generating the kind of wake-up hydrotherapy that your puny one-headed shower can only dream of. This chrome-plated bathtime gadget looks a little like a solar system, with its outer ring that holds 32 spouts, creating a wide and soothing downpour designed to soothe the sorest muscles and joints. Even though it looks like a torture device from Mars. Buy here for under $100.

February 27, 2008 in BEAUTY | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cuffs sparkle at the Oscars

2008 was a blingin' year for jewelry on the Oscars red carpet. Conservative gowns and understated hair meant that the fashion drama of the evening was concentrated in the jewels, with many actresses opting for large, diamond-encrusted cuffs, the kind even Mr. T would have approved of.
Tilda Swinton's huge Damiani Diamond Sahara Cuff, featuring 1865 Diamonds, was a show-stealer, with Renée Zellweger's Cartier 1930's Art Deco diamond bracelet ($563,000) and 1926 priceless diamond strap bracelet also adding some major sparkle to the red carpet.
Heidi Klum sported a ruby and pink diamond wrist cuff from her "Heidi Klum Collection for Mouawad" collection. Set in 18k rose gold, the cuff alone was worth a quarter of a million dollars.
Other cuffers included Amy Ryan, Olivia Thirlby, Tia Carrere, Lisa Rinna, Hilary Swank, and Jennifer Garner.
Sassy, wearable, and glamorous, this is one red carpet trend that might actually stick.

Oscar accessories rundown:
Nicole Kidman: diamond Sautoir necklace by L'Wren Scott
Marion Cotillard: Chopard's 64-carat champagne-diamond necklace
Julie Christie: custom pink scarab necklace by Neil Lane
Jennifer Garner: Van Cleef and Arpels 1928 Art Deco diamond necklace
Penelope Cruz: Chopard's ruby and diamond drop earrings
Jessica Alba: "Creole" hoop earrings by Cartier

February 27, 2008 in FAME | Permalink | Comments (0)

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