Style Fix

It’s time to check in with the busy fashion designers who are struggling to stay afloat in this economy. Those that aren’t showing in the currently occurring Spring 2010 Menswear Fashion Week are busy elsewhere …

* Karl Lagerfeld shot the fall 2009 Chanel ad campaign at his Vermont home and land, giving the photos a barnyard meets Little House on the Prairie feel. See the leaked pictures at fashionologie.

* Marc Jacobs and his fiancé Lorenzo Martone have pushed their wedding date back to August to work around Jacobs’ busy working schedule.

* Nicole Richie, who is technically a designer because she has her own line of accessories, is expanding to include clothing. After the sell-out success of House of Harlow 1960, Richie will be adding shoes and clothing with “old English, equestrian and more sophisticated looks,” according to New York Magazine.

* Rachel Roy is finally getting her day in the spotlight thanks to Michelle Obama wearing a dress from Roy’s spring 2009 collection at a conference on volunteering and service in San Francisco, as shown here.

* Donatella Versace is flexing her good karma muscles by helping to inspire kids to use their creativity by donating art supplies to Art Unites, a special project of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Versace will also host the museum’s Gala and Studio Party. Find out all the details of Versace’s big heart at WWD.

* Vera Wang has signed on to be a contestant on the ninth season of Dancing With the Stars.

* And Betsey Johnson? Well, she is apparently contemplating retiring, according to an interview with New York Magazine.

Ginnifer Goodwin, star of HBO’s Big Love and the movie He’s Just Not That Into You, will grace the cover of the June issue of W magazine, which will include a rather racy photo fashion spread featuring the actress.

As Goodwin is an outspoken vegan, W editors put together their third vegan fashion installment online with an exclusive interview with Ginnifer during the photo shoot. In the beginning of April, W published their first ever article with an animal slant when their online version featured “The Best Vegan-friendly Accessories.” A couple weeks later, editor Dana Wood wrote “Trials of a Fashion-Loving Vegan!” And now you can read up on what convinced cover girl Ginnifer to become vegan in the editors’ blog post “She’s just not that into meat: Ginnifer Goodwin on going vegan.”

Remember the W Magazine vegan accessory feature that was posted on their site last week, and that instantly garnered plenty of criticism for their inclusion of cashmere and fur-loving designers? Well the next vegan installment of W is here and editor Dana Wood clears up a few things.

“Trials of a Fashion-Loving Vegan!” explains why Wood supports buying vegan items from non-vegan designers, with support from an interview with best-selling veg author Kathy Freston. The newest article also includes more animal-friendly shopping options and Wood’s personal connections to searching for vegan accessories - she’s a pescetarian that loves animals and thus doesn’t think she should wear them (a vegan-in-training if you ask me!).

The article is on the longer side, as far as online ones go, but I highly recommend reading it. Dana Wood is a good writer and I am happy to have her speaking up for fashionable vegans!

Joe, the middle Jonas Brother who plays keyboard, guitar, percussion, and sings, is recognizable by his flat-ironed hair. Even if you don’t know the difference between Joe, Kevin, and Nick, if you have ever seen a photo of the three then you probably noticed his stiff, over straightened locks.

Well, good news! Joe let his hair go au naturel at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards in L.A. last weekend, ditching his straightener in exchange for a diffuser. Joe rocked his natural curly hair, as his older and younger brother always do.

NY Mag’s blog bashed the new look, suggesting that “whoever lost his CHI iron should get fired.”

Maybe I’m biased as a curly haired girl, but I strongly disagree. Letting your hair go the way God made it is almost always a better choice. I’m not the only one that thinks this way either: Click on the picture to take People magazine’s poll, where right now curly is winning with 62 percent of the votes.

Groundbreaking movement in the fashion world this week! For the first time ever W Magazine wrote an article with an animal-friendly slant.

Senior Fashion Features Editor Dana Wood put together a cruelty-free collection of “The Best Vegan-friendly Accessories” for the online exclusive article. The list of 13 items features bags, shoes, makeup brushes, and more by top designers including Vivienne Westwood, Matt & Nat, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, and others.

“It’s not easy to be a fashion-conscious vegan when every bag, belt and shoe seems to involve calfskin, suede or python,” writes Wood, who is personally passionate about good veg fashion.

The only problem? The cashmere dress by Stella McCartney is not vegan. Cashmere is a light-weight wool from the kashmir goat. Many people don’t know this, and many also falsely believe that Stella is a vegan designer - even though she regularly uses wool and silk - so I’ll let this one slide. But if the vegan feature becomes a regular occurrence, which this vegan really hopes it does, a little more fact checking will be needed.

All things considered, this article is very exciting to me as a stylish vegan. Thanks, W!

Cross posted at Living Without Meat.

Yesterday’s Sexiest Stars of TV Guide math problem has been solved!

As I was going over the winners yesterday, I noticed that there are 10 men and 10 women being announced online. Then I also noticed that the magazine cover boasts 35 sexy stars. Today, I have a copy of the issue in my hands to solve the mismatching stats: In addition to the 20 TV stars that the editors selected, readers picked the winners of 15 additional categories. Some of the readers’ picks are couples or ensembles and some are characters not actors, so it’s still not 35 stars but at least it’s closer to making sense now.

Readers’ Picks for Sexiest TV …
Couple: Lyla and Tim, Friday Night Lights
Body: Taye Diggs, Private Practice
Badass: Derek Reese, Terminator
Sidekick: Dani Reese, Life
Hair: Andy Samberg, Saturday Night Live
Cast: 90210
Dancing Pro: Cheryl Burke, Dancing With the Stars
FBI Agent: Don Eppes, Numb3rs
Female Cop: Olivia Benson, Law & Order: SVU
Male Cop: Elliot Stabler, Law & Order: SVU
Reality Host: Heidi Klum, Project Network Battle, I mean, Runway
Style: Don Draper, Mad Men
Adventurer: Lisa Ling, Explorer
Accent: Robert Chase, House
Siblings: Ah, here are my Winchester boys - Sam and Dean - from Supernatural

Check out the March 30 to April 12, 2009 issue to see lingerie pictures of the 20 sexiest stars selected by the TV Guide staff. Except for Poppy Montgomery. The actress who’s done a dozen lingerie shoots in the past (if you haven’t done so yet, image Google her name. Seriously), went totally nude for TV Guide. Flaunt it if you got it, Poppy!

TV Guide magazine has announced this year’s sexiest television stars. Any guesses as to who made the male and female top ten lists? Heroes sweetheart Hayden Panettiere didn’t make the list. Neither did my Supernatural boys Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki.

So who then? Well, a few too many reality stars did. The top man and woman - Desperate Housewives‘ Eva Longoria and The Mentalist’s Simon Baker - are trained actors at least, but they are in the minority. The winners are shown here with TV Guide’s editor in chief, Debra Birnbaum.

But, I digress. Ladies and Gentlemen, if you’re still on the edge of your seat, dying to know the sexiest men and women of TV, here you go …

MEN
Simon Baker, The Mentalist
David Boreanaz, Bones
Bailey Chase, As the World Turns
Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Dancing With the Stars
Cristian de la Fuente, more Dancing With the Stars
George Eads, CSI
Brody Jenner, Bromance and other crappy MTV crap
Ryan Kwanten, the shirtless guy on True Blood
Matthew Settle, the old dude on Gossip Girl
Daniel Sunjata, umm … he doesn’t seem to be on TV right now

WOMEN
Eva Longoria Parker, Desperate Housewives
Kaley Cuoco, The Big Bang Theory
Eliza Dushku, Dollhouse
Christina Hendricks, Mad Men
Padma Lakshmi, Top Chef
Poppy Montgomery, Without a Trace and dozens of lingerie photos (seriously, Google her)
Audrina Patridge, when will this MTV puppet go away?
Becki Newton, Ugly Betty
Karina Smirnoff, oh yay a third Dancing With the Stars
Kate Walsh, Private Practice

Now by my count, 10 men + 10 women = 20 sexiest stars. But on the cover of this issue it boasts 35. Something doesn’t add up … but seriously, Google Poppy. She poses in lacy lingerie way more than you would ever imagine.

Amidst other magazines closing their doors, Glamour is proudly celebrating its 70th anniversary. Witness the ups and downs that fashion, women, and society have gone through over the past 70 years of Glamour’s existence by checking out the many celebratory articles available online.

“The Making of an American Icon,” the feature photo shoot, is a must-see slide show where today’s hottest young women pose in honor of top life-changing, female role models of the past seven decades. The pictures feature Alexis Bledel as Rosie the Riveter, Lindsay Lohan as Madonna, Hayden Panettiere as Amelia Earhart, Emma Roberts as Audrey Hepburn, Elisha Cuthbert as Brandi Chastain, America Ferrera as Dolores Huerta, and Alicia Keys as First Lady Michelle Obama, among others.

Other articles honoring 70 years of publication include the following. Click on a title to view the full feature at Glamour.com:

* 70 Years of the Best and Worst Dos & Don’ts

* The Best and Worst Sex Advice of the Last 70 Years

* The 7 Biggest Fashion Trends of the Past 70 Years

* The Hair Hall of Fame: Glamour Looks Back at Some of the Most Trendsetting Hairstyles of the Last 70 Years

* American Icons

* Fitness Fads: The Weirdest, Coolest and Craziest Workouts from 1940 to Today.

* The 10 Best Hair & Makeup Looks. Period.

* All the Old Don’ts are Now Dos!

* 7 Decades of Wacky Dieting Trends

The 70th anniversary issue, with a glamorous Kate Holmes on the cover, is on stands now. Find these articles and much more inside the pages of the April 2009 Glamour magazine.

Take a look at this photo from Emanuel Ungaro’s fall 2009 fashion week runway show in Paris, France. Notice something different? Perhaps something a little ’80s? Focus on her makeup, close in on her lips. Ta da! One lip is orangey red; one is pink.

Makeup artist Tom Pecheux, for M·A·C Cosmetics, created this two-toned look exclusively for the Emanuel Ungaro show and he admits, according to Glamour magazine, that while the look was very inspired by the ’80s, it is very modern when paired with a bare face. Glamour gossipers also swear that the colors were less intense in person.

If you look up close, you can see that the two colors are not completely equal but separate. It appears as if Pecheux first painted the entire mouth pink, and then went back over most - but not all - of the top lip with a drastically contrasting color.

What do you think? Would you rock it?

Teen Vogue has announced the 2008 Readers Choice Beauty Award Winners:

BEST BODY LOTION: Bath and Body Works Black Amethyst
BEST BODY SCRUB: Bath and Body Works Wild Honeysuckle Daily High Lather Scrub
BEST ECO-FRIENDLY LINE: Burt’s Bees Collection
BEST FACE LOTION: Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel
ULTIMATE SPLURGE: Chanel Chance eau fraiche
BEST FOUNDATION: CoverGirl TruBlend #3
BEST DRUG STORE BUY: CoverGirl TruCheeks #5
BEST CONCEALER: CoverGirl TruConceal #5
BEST TEETH WHITENING PRODUCT: Crest Whitestrips, Premium
MOST WANTED PRODUCT: Miss Dior Cherie L’eau
BEST BODY WASH: Dove Go Fresh Body Wash
BEST HAIR, STYLING: Garnier Fructis Style sleek & shine Anti-Humidity Hairspray, Ultra Strong
BEST RAZOR: Gillette Venus Embrace
BEST SELF-TANNER: Jergens Natural Glow moisturizer
BEST HAIR COLOR: L’Oreal Paris Feria multi-faceted shimmering haircolour
BEST LIPSTICK: Mac Creme Lipstick, Impassioned
BEST EYESHADOW: Mac Eyeshadow in Stars N’ Rockets, Swimming, and Moon’s Reflection
BEST EYELINER: Mac Eye Kohl in Smolder
BEST PERFUME: Marc Jacobs Daisy
BEST MASCARA: Maybelline New York Colossal Volum’ Express Mascara, Classic Black
BEST BLUSH: Nars The Multiple, Portofino
BEST SUNBLOCK: Neutrogena Ultimate Sport Sunblock, SPF55
BEST FACEWASH: Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Wash, Pink Grapefruit
BEST NAILPOLISH: OPI Nail Polish Elephantastic Pink
BEST CONDITIONER: Pantene Pro-V Beautiful Lengths Conditioner
BEST SHAMPOO: Pantene Pro-V Beautiful Lengths Shampoo
BEST ACNE PRODUCT: Proactiv System
BEST FACE SCRUB: St. Ives Apricot Scrub, Blemish & Blackhead Control
BEST LIP GLOSS: Victoria’s Secret Beauty Rush In My Cherry AMOUR

Fashion design duo Mark Badgley and James Mischka celebrate the 20th anniversary of their dual self titled clothing line with a star-studded campaign. The ad shown here, featuring the designers alongside Carrie Underwood, Lauren Hutton, Brooke Shields, Eva Longoria, and Anjelica Huston, was shot by the ubiquitous, must-have photographer Annie Leibovitz at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, California.

“Badgley Mischka is an iconic brand,” said Desperate Housewife Longoria. “To be able to celebrate their 20th anniversary with them is an honor for me.”

“I love Badgley Mischka for not only making the most beautiful gowns, but also for bringing together such strong, amazing women to celebrate 20 years of glamour and fashion,” said American Idol Underwood. “I am thrilled to be part of their special anniversary.”

This “Two Decades of Glamour” campaign will premiere in April issues of magazines such as Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, and InStyle.

A new photography exhibit in Milan, Italy, “Extreme Beauty in Vogue,” is paying homage to Vogue magazine’s history of unique beauty pictures. The exhibition, on display from March 4 through May 10 at Milan’s Palazzo della Ragione, was created and curated by American Vogue with design and art direction by Jean Nouvel. Featured photographers include Klein, George Hoyningen-Huene, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Annie Leibovitz, and Helmut Newton.

The show is made up of a selection of iconic images from the past 75 years of the magazine. They were shot by some of the world’s most renowned photographers, and as a collection they seek to take a deeper look at “the role of beauty in our culture.” The series focuses on non-traditional opinions of what is beautiful, with shots featuring creepy crawlies, nudity, flexibility, intense makeup and accessories, and more.

“The exhibit shows the contribution of these photographers to issues of health and beauty,” Anna Wintour, editor of American Vogue told the Associated Press.

A star-studded party, with guests such as Kate Hudson, Naomi Watts, Eva Mendes, March 2009 Vogue cover girl Freida Pinto, Lauren Hutton, Claudia Schiffer, and Scarlett Johansson, launched it all in the midst of Milan’s autumn and winter 2009 fashion week. Dolce & Gabbana, both of whom attended the party, celebrated the launch of their debut makeup collection alongside the exhibit.

If you don’t have to means to jet set overseas, view a slide show of the 22 photographs online by clicking on the image here. The photo shown is Annie Leibovitz’s Comme des Garçons from the September 1997 issue.

I thought there was no way possible that I could love designer Diane von Furstenberg anymore than I already do, but I stand corrected. The 62-year-old icon graces the cover of the new issue of French fashion magazine Purple Fashion, showing off gorgeous legs that many 20-somethings would kill for! The jacket that she’s wearing, while not the most stunning piece, is an iconic wig coat by Martin Margiela. She’s also recently snagged cameos on MTV’s The City and the cover of Town & Country.

So not only does she design phenomenal clothing, especially dresses, that flatter every woman, and she doesn’t just have an incredibly inspiring life story, but she has a kick butt body to go along with it. Plus, she was a princess for a short time when she married German Prince Egon of Furstenberg.

Founder of the famous, and slightly infamous, Page Six gossip column in the New York Post, James Brady, died January 26, 2009, at age 80 at his Manhattan home. Cause of death was not determined, but Brady had suffered a stroke a few years prior. He was survived by his wife, with whom he had just celebrated their 50th anniversary, as well as his brother, two daughters, and four grandchildren.

Aside from starting the biggest source for celebrity gossip, Brady had also served with the United States Marine Corps in the Korean War; worked as the publisher of Women’s Wear Daily; wrote the In Step With column in Parade magazine for 25 years, until his death; authored an autobiography, The Coldest War, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and wrote for many other sources.

WWD, which is normally a subscription-only publication, has published a lengthy, online article remembering the life of their former publisher, accessible to everyone: “Former WWD Publisher James Brady Dies.”

Need something interesting to keep you entertained while you idly sit at your desk today, surfing the Internet? Here are some must-see things that have popped up recently on magazines’ Web sites:

* InStyle has been busy creating lots of fun photo galleries and posting them online. Don’t miss the 10 Most Outrageous Accessories worn by celebrities this past year. Check out Sarah Jessica Parker in her custom Phillip Treacy green hat with flowers and butterflies, Victoria Beckham in heel-free high heels, and Pharell Williams toting a large, purple, $67,000 custom-made Hermes Birkin bag. InStyle also put together a pictorial quiz about Oscar dresses. Check out all the photos and decide What Is Your Favorite Oscar Dress from the Past 15 Years? Check out the regular features here, too, such as “Look of the Day” and “Look for Less.”

* Glamour, the home of fashion dos and don’ts, put together a year end look at some stand out fashion trends from 2008, dubbing each either “love it” or “leave it” for 2009. Don’t miss 2009’s Style Resolutions: Trends to Love (and to Leave Behind). The photo shown here of Lily Allen was actually directed at her choice of jean shorts with boots, not her homemade Chanel shirt.

* Elle takes you through The Short List of female celebrities who chopped off their locks. Elle also reveals the 2008 readers’ choice Beauty Awards for best products.

* My long-running favorite in blogs run by fashion magazines is NY Mag’s The Cut. It will keep you up-to-date on fashion weeks, bankruptcies, and other fashion business info.