カテゴリー別アーカイブ: fashion

Don’t let the dress fool you.

The gorgeous white gown with silver sequins and velvet adorns a pure villain. Margy Ryan wears it in the Lincoln Community Playhouse production of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”

Returning to the Playhouse stage for the first time since starring in “Dixie Swim Club” in 2011, Ryan will play the White Witch in an adaptation of the C.S. Lewis classic.

“I’m an evil character who gets to look nice,” Ryan said of her dress designed by costumer Karen Statham.

When told her White Witch sounded a bit like Cruella de Vil from “101 Dalmatians,” Ryan agreed.

“That’s not a bad comparison,” she said. “But I want to kill children instead of puppies.”

Scary stuff.

Directed by Dustin Mosko, a graduate assistant at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” opens the Playhouse’s 70th season. Performances begin Friday on the mainstage.

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“Wardrobe” is the first of seven young adult novels making up Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia.” It (and the play) tell the story of four children (Carson Cash, Amanda Schumacher, Matt Stephens and Colleen O’Gara) who inadvertently wander from an old wardrobe into the exciting, never-to-be-forgotten Narnia, where the great lion Aslan (Walter J. McDowell III) struggles against the White Witch (Ryan).

For Ryan, the play is sort of coming full circle for her. A veteran of 39 shows in 17 years, she first appeared in a children’s classic: the stage adaptation of Madeline L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time” in February 1998 at the Playhouse. Ryan had a supporting role in “Wrinkle,” a play that featured her daughter Caitlin (McCleery) Casella as the lead, Meg.

“My daughter and I both loved the book,” Ryan remembered. “She was active in the Playhouse, doing tech and acting. She always kept saying, ‘you need to come and audition with me.’”

Ryan admitted to being a Lewis fan. She’s read “Wardrobe” multiple times and seen the movie and BBC series. She also played Aunt Letty in “The Magician’s Nephew,” the sixth book in the Narnia collection and a prequel to “Wardrobe.”

She showed up to auditions hoping to land the Aslan role. She even frizzed up her long hair into a bushy mane.

“I thought it would be fun,” she said, “but I got the witch.” Not that she’s complaining, because “evil is always fun to play.”

This isn’t even her first time as a witch on stage. She portrayed one of three in Flatwater Shakespeare’s production of “Macbeth,” but noted that director Bob Hall toned down the witchy aspects of the characters.

“He said there would be no cackling, no pointy hats and no green makeup,” she recalled. “I do some cackling (in ‘Wardrobe’), but there’s no pointy hat. It’s a crown.”

And a beautiful white dress.

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Plus Size Bride Tania Jennings Spent Over 1000 Hours Crocheting Her Dream Wedding Dress

We hear the stories and see them on all of the wedding TV shows: Women who are willing to do anything, travel any distance, and pay any amount for their dream wedding dress. A plus size crocheted wedding dress is going viral for taking that to the extreme. Tania Jennings from Chesham, England spent over 1000 hours creating the 150 pieces for her unique, offbeat wedding gown.

Using various shades of purples and white, the pieces making up the overlay and train took Jennings seven months to create — including the last few hours before the wedding. “The photographer asked me, ‘Tania, do you think you might actually finish the dress today?’” she told WHAS-11. “I just laughed and said, ‘Yes, I will finish at three o’clock.’ They asked how I knew and I just said, ‘Look, that’s when I have to get my hair and makeup done so I can go marry my best friend.’”

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The various pieces of the dress took between two and 80 hours to complete, depending on the size. Jennings said she has been crocheting since she was three years old, but she had never crocheted lace before — which posed some challenges and made her question her decision. “There were a lot of tears along the way as I tried to learn new techniques, ripped out pieces that just weren’t working right, and tried to envision what it was going to look like,” she said.

The final result not only allowed this bride to wear something uniquely suited to her tastes and needs, but it also celebrated her family and the people in attendance. Jennings said that she added different little pieces that were meaningful to people in her life like “an elephant for my younger daughter Bridgette, a tulip for my daughter Gabby, my husband wanted a martini glass on the dress, a friend of my daughter’s requested a giraffe, another a turtle, and so on… It became a bit of a game at the reception for everyone to find ‘their’ piece.”

While dress choices are overwhelming for most, plus size women can have a harder time finding a gown due to the diminished selection over a bridal size 14. Never mind that bridal sizes typically run two to three sizes smaller than standard sizing! The majority of gowns at your average shop, and even more size inclusive wedding retailers like David’s, are going to be for a size 14 or under. It’s hard out there for a plus size bride!

Whether Jennings struggled to find something that she felt suited her perfectly or whether she was just choosing to opt out of a mountain of ivory taffeta and “bling,” her customized dress is pretty perfect. Although it’s not for every bride, it seems so fitting that Jennings chose to create something that was meaningful to her, her family, and that she connected with so deeply over a course of seven months. On a day about celebrating love, commitment, and family, there couldn’t be another dress more perfect.

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Life in the Boomer Lane has just returned from Santa Fe. Having been there many years ago, she was eagerly anticipating the art, the food, the vistas, the laid back vibe, and the magical mix of Indian/Latino/Caucasian culture. She will bypass all of this to tell her readers about some of the extraordinary people she met under the most ordinary of circumstances, in the shops and galleries she visited. These people, whether born in Santa Fe or in New York City or in any other place in the country, have chosen to make Santa Fe their home. These people are the heart of Santa Fe.

Norma, the sales clerk, appeared as a vision, in the first store LBL and her friend, Sandy, entered. LBL is a huge fan of the blog Advanced Style, and Norma looked like she had stepped from the blog directly into LBL’s line of vision. From a long career as an artist and designer, Norma and her husband settled in Santa Fe, to soak in the arts and the culture, and to inspire whoever might cross her path. LBL told her she would write about her in her blog, and so she needed Norma’s last name. Norma asked, “Which last name? I have two.” LBL has now looked up both of her last names (Andraud and Sharon), and it turns out she is well-known with either. One is her art work, the other her fashion design. She doesn’t have an inspiration website, but she should. She is a master at that.

LBL and Sandy asked Norma where they should eat, and her first suggestion was a restaurant called The Shed, right near the main plaza. They went there for dinner, and the place was packed. The hostess suggested that they stand at the bar, and, if seats were available, could be served there. In awhile, they did get seats at the bar, next to three people who were already eating. LBL, being polite, smiled and introduced herself and asked them where they were from. The married couple was from Austin, TX, their friend from Oklahoma. The woman from Austin was a Methodist minister, here in Santa Fe to officiate at a wedding.

After awhile, LBL, again simply being polite, leaned over and commented to the husband how lucky is wife was to be officiating in Santa Fe. She asked him if the bride and groom were paying their way. His answer was, “It’s a groom and groom, and no. The church doesn’t allow my wife to marry same sex couples, so we have come here so that my wife can officiate until the last sentence that says, “I now pronounce you…” She will leave that sentence out. In that moment, all of LBL’s preconceived notions about these people flew out the window. She said to the husband, “Soon, there will be no such thing as same-sex marriage. There will simply be marriage.” He shook his head and answered, “Amen to that.”

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Kathleen Piccione was seated at a desk in Gallery One, one of the 300 art galleries and studios that wind their way up the legendary Canyon Road, Santa Fe’s most famous street. Kathleen is sweet, she is welcoming, she is beautiful. She is a vision of young, artsy-looking Santa Fe. LBL thought how lucky she must be to have a job that surrounds her with such beautiful art, until she asked Kathleen who the artist was. It was Kathleen, herself. The work was hers, as well as the gallery. Originally from Wisconsin, Kathleen is largely self-taught. She pointed to a stunning portrait of a young Indian girl. Kathleen found the girl at a powwow, painted her, and has now entered the painting in an international art competition. You can see her work on her website and the painting she has entered at Art Prize 2015.

The Railroad District is a part of Santa Fe that, until some years ago, was simply, well, the railroad staging area. Gradually, young artists and gallery owners began to buy up the cheap spaces that surrounded the tracks. Now, the area is filled with galleries, shops, and the Santa Fe Farmers Market. One of the galleries LBL and Sandy went into was owned by a sculptor, Joyce Stolaroff, who bought the cavernous space to start a gallery some years ago. Joyce sculpts dogs: big, black dogs. They were all over the place. They were beautiful, scary, intimidating, friendly, depending on one’s belief system about big, black dogs. This is what Joyce had to say:

“Did you know that black dogs are euthanized at a much higher rate in shelters than any other kind of dog? But the few black dogs that are adopted go on to live lives in which they are loved, cared for, valued. I think about this all the time. What makes one dog a throwaway and another an object of love? It’s like what makes one person a throwaway and another an object of love? So I create most of the dogs like the ones you see here, the ones that never make it. Then, I make a few that are gilded. These are the lucky ones, the ones who are deemed precious.” Her words stayed with LBL long after she left the gallery.

Joyce works tirelessly for the dignity of all dogs. She uses her art for fundraising events and is constantly trying to raise people’s awareness. You can see Joyce’s work and feel her passion at Wheelhouse Art Gallery.

The William Siegal Gallery is a huge, slick, contemporary art gallery on the outskirts of the Railroad District. By the time LBL and her friend entered it, they were becoming brain-dead from art overload. But there, amid the huge contemporary works of art, were the “Retablos” of Victor Huaman Guitierrez, a self-taught folk artist from Peru.

Guitierrez is 38-years-old and has always lived in the place he was born, a remote village in the Central Highlands of Peru. His journey as an artist began at the age of eleven when he saw a Retablo for the first time. Retablos are a key part of the Peruvian culture and originally served as religious shrines, but have evolved to include depictions of secular scenes of daily life and traditional events. Victor has since dedicated himself to this ancient art form that originated in the nearby town of Ayacucho.

Guitierrez is one of fifteen siblings, seven of whom died at an early age due to malnutrition and other hardships of living in extreme poverty. To this day, as a result of these harsh conditions, he is ill at ease with much of adult life. He has a singular manner of speaking, is unusually shy and sheltered for his age, often struggling to fit in. He lives in the village of Quinua with his now elderly parents, in a rustic adobe house with no indoor plumbing. He works in almost complete isolation, in a small corner of his home reserved as his “studio”, surrounded by the clutter of family belongings. His materials include a local brand of children’s water color paints, a variety of odds and ends he finds on his daily walks and brushes he makes from hair that is either his own or that of the cat, burro or goat.

What astonished LBL about Guiterrez’ Retablos was the cultural perspective they are drawn upon. Guiterrez, whose only perspective would seem to be defined by his tiny village, instead makes artistic statements that are more indicative of world-traveled and highly educated individuals. It would be like someone growing up without a piano, sitting down one day in a music store, and beginning to play Mozart.

Gallery Director Eric Garduno told LBL that Guiterrez was actually in Santa Fe that very week to participate in the huge, annual Santa Fe International Folk Art Market, that draws artists and collectors from all over the world. Because the William Siegal Gallery carried Guiterrez’ work (the only folk art they have ever carried), they were hosting him. This was his first time out of Peru.

“For the last couple days, we have been doing fork training,” Eric said. Thinking this was a new art form, LBL asked him to explain. “Victor has never used a fork to eat. We thought he should know how to do that, for all the events that will take place this weekend.”

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A viral image posted by popular Star Trek alumni, George Takei, pretty much sums it up. On June 26, the actor tweeted, “When I checked Twitter this morning…”, alongside a hysterical cartoon of a Zoozoo-like stand-in for himself left open-mouthed by a rainbow beaming out of his computer screen.

Takei was, of course, speaking of how the teeming denizens of Facebookistan have hitched on to the rainbow bandwagon, ever since the historic ruling on marriage equality by the Supreme Court of the United States (or SCOTUS, now an acronym familiar even to Indians).

So, while Twitter added a cutesy rainbow heart to every use of the hashtag #lovewins, Facebook doled out whimsical rainbow makeovers to millions of profile images. My feed now resembled, quite possibly, the conveyor belt at a massive Cadbury Gems factory.

If, in India, it was as if the festival of colours was upon us once again, one can only guess at what the cumulative effect of such multi-hued activism (armchair or otherwise) could be on those located at the centre of the action.

Symbols

It brought to mind the arguably more aesthetic (but equally choc-a-bloc) vision of rows and rows of red boxes with pink equal signs, or the Human Rights Campaign’s symbol of equality that caught on like wildfire in 2013, when arguments in the lawsuit (actually, four same-sex marriage cases that have been brought together in this landmark case, called Obergefell vs Hodges) were first being heard.

The three seconds it took to change one’s profile image allowed people to become instant signatories to a happening cause. There was (and is) the whiff of lazy clicktivism to this, as legal scholar Cass Sunstein observed in The New York Times, “The experience of the echo chamber is easier to create with a computer than with (the) forms of political interaction that preceded it,” but there is no denying the impact of such a profusion of ‘right noises’.

A costumed dog stands along Market Street during the annual Gay Pride Parade in San Francisco, California after the US Supreme Court’s landmark ruling legalising same-sex marriage nationwide.

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In India, this was experienced first-hand with the #GayForADay campaign, that took off in the weeks after the egregious turning back of the clock on gay rights by Justice (or ‘Injustices’) Singhvi and Justice Ganguly in December, 2013.

Thousands changed their display pictures to ones in which they could be visibly seen kissing (very chastely, in most cases) a person of the same gender. However reductive that may appear to be now, word on the ground can sometimes begin with such seemingly flighty measures, positioned out in the open, and involving all kinds of people, both gay and straight.

Certainly, for those in the gay community, starved of images of affirmation, these passing trends serve the purpose of making them feel cursorily a part of the very society. Ironically, it is a society that has traditionally excluded them, even if giant strides made elsewhere can seem irrelevant in an India where the specter of Section 377 still hangs like the sword of Damocles over most queer lives.

India

In a shrinking world, many gay Indians are no longer insulated from global changes that impact them, both positive and negative, drawn selectively, of course, from what the mainstream media tends to highlight. We are equally repulsed by anti-gay butchery in Uganda and Iraq, as we’re enthused by the victory marches in Ireland or the US, which have the marked the culmination of years of struggle, something we are quite familiar with.

Many Indians have benefited from marriage equality laws (or indeed, civil partnership statutes) that exist outside their own country, and not just in the notional sense of skipping over to Nepal for a quick ceremony. Many human-interest stories have emerged over the years, only sporadically documented, ever since the civil union between Wendell Rodricks and Jerome Marrel.

Their Goa reception was dubbed the country’s first gay wedding in 2003, although as much as a decade earlier, Aditya Advani and Michael Torr had exchanged garlands in a Hindu ceremony organised by Advani’s mother. It was the earliest instance of an Indian gay marriage on record, with all the pomp and panoply.

Last week, when news of the ruling first broke, account manager Rhea Fadnavis, 26, was in Paris with her partner, Annette Nicoll, preparing to celebrate their first Paris Pride as a legally wedded couple. “We were overjoyed when we read the news! It was such a warm feeling. I wish there comes a day when ‘gay marriage’ doesn’t make news anymore and is acceptable as heterosexual marriage,” she said.

Although she came from a volatile environment in a broken home, Fadnavis had never shied away from the idea of marriage. Over five years ago, she moved to the UK from Mumbai to complete her education. There she met Nicoll and after a whirlwind courtship they were married in a registry wedding last year, in a ceremony sans any kind of religious trappings. It was only a couple of months after Britain had passed legislation to allow same-sex marriage (although civil partnerships have been in vogue since 2004).

“At the end of the day, signing those papers is just a means to an end, to spend your life together as a ‘unit’ recognised by the state. It meant we were protected, come rain or shine, and we were each other’s next of kin, so we were very happy to do it,” she said.

Asked if she would have liked a wedding in India, Fadnavis is emphatic, “I never would have wanted a wedding in India, even though all my close friends are there. I would rather be in a supporting and accepting environment on one of the happiest days of my life.”

In May, the Irish referendum on gay marriage hit headlines around the world. Approved with more than 62 per cent of votes cast, it marked the first time a country had legalised same-sex marriage in a nationwide popular vote, as stated by The Guardian. Indian Karan Chugh, 28, who works in Dublin as a business consultant, was already planning to enter into a civil partnership with his long-standing partner, Conor O’Byrne, later this year.

“This was to ensure I could have the access to return to the country anytime without a visa, because my work takes me to different parts of the world,” he said. Chugh wanted to ensure that their future was secured, even if they were to enter into a long-distance relationship later on.

Unlike in the UK, with an Irish civil partnership, it would have been difficult for Chugh to have a legally recognised relationship with the biological children of his partner, and vice versa (even though the couple hasn’t yet thought of raising children). Now, with the constitutional amendment slated to be in place very soon, parity in all respects has been established, to much salutations the world over.

Chugh takes a contrary view of the mêlée. “Obviously those changes are important but I saw the referendum as a huge ego clash between the Church and gay men. Apart from cocking a snook at the Catholics who have branded us as all kinds of bad, I don’t think this overhyped campaign will make too much of a difference,” he signs off.

Laws

Back in India, even as the struggle for decriminalisation continues (or remains in limbo), some recent rumblings have registered on the radar. As states in the US began legalising gay marriage one at a time, we have come across professional photo-spreads of perfect weddings featuring Indian (or part-Indian) same-sex couples. Through an Instagram haze, these were heart-warming spectacles that also seemed like faraway fairy tales.

Closer home, activist Harrish Iyer’s matrimonial ad captured eyeballs in May and has even resulted in several prospective match-ups for him, a la Mr Yogi. Perhaps we will soon see a glitzy wedding (still without legal sanction) like the one envisioned in Celina Jaitley’s music video The Welcome that was released last year, where a young man surprises his family by bringing home, instead of a comely bride, a bridegroom in a fetching red bandhgala, for the saath pheras.

Within the community, marriage is sometimes seen as one of the sturdiest bastions of heteronormativity, and perhaps, an institution that need not (or must not) be inherited in its current form, when even straight couples find it difficult to marry out of their own free will. Straight nuptials, with their unending rituals that can stretch for weeks on end, can be oppressive to those who can never hope to bring their partners home to as much felicity.

However, the struggle is for equal rights and equal dignity. The ostensible sanctity of marriage, however contentious, with all its connotations, legal safeguards, and baggage, must be available to all. Which is why, the quest for gay marriage is here to stay, and surely, the sugar rush of rainbow-coloured avatars and this profuse solidarity with international (read, American) signposts, will pave the way for changes in our country too.

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Not content with being just one of the Big Four global fashion capitals alongside New York, London and Paris, Milan deftly manages to offer some of the most exciting and innovative cuisine to be found in Europe. Thoughts of Milan as an ‘industrial’ city, full of concrete buildings, which lack the more refined elegance of Rome or the wondrous scenery of Tuscany have been firmly left in the past, thanks in part to the arrival of World Expo 2015 and the Salone del Mobile design fair.

Milan Fashion Week is unquestionably one of the most important dates in the fashion calendar, with industry insiders from Anna Dello Russo to Daisy Lowe coming from around the world to grace the Front Row. Fashion week can be a rather daunting experience for the uninitiated, with the seemingly endless back-to-back shows, dinners and afterparties draining even the most energetic fashionista, especially in the almost 40°C heat Milan ever so kindly provides.

When it comes to traditional dining options the elite of media, fashion and society flock to the opulent Ristorante da Giacomo, designed by Renzo Mongiardino, who has been hailed as an exceptional twentieth century designer. We quickly decided on the Garganelli with little squids and mullet roe, spider crab salad in Veneziana style and Giacomo’s bomb. The quality of ingredients in all the dishes was clear to taste, with Giacomo’s bomb being an indulgent treat to finish off the lunch.

Although we reached our seats just after the restaurant opened its doors at 12:30pm, within a mere 15 minutes the well-heeled fellow diners had already packed most of the eatery. The sudden influx of customers was well received, as we were beginning to feel rather self-conscious with four waiters floating solely around our table. The atmosphere is the real reason why Giacomo appears to be so oversubscribed, particularly due to the eclectic decor.

Next on the itinerary was Mantra Raw Vegan, which describes itself as ‘the restaurant that does not cook anything’. I must admit to being somewhat apprehensive before visiting Mantra, as I had not been exposed to a great deal of vegan food previously, let alone raw vegan cuisine. The kelp noodles with pepper cream and chocolate brownie stuck out to us on the menu, with the next two dishes newly created by the chef showing an experimental streak.

Mantra’s skill is not to simply make good vegan dishes, but good food, full stop. While I personally enjoyed all four courses, my dining companion, who happens to be vegan, found some of the tastes to be a little too variety and busy for her palate. The unusual White Charcoal water filter, which is meant to naturally adsorb impurities from water and release vital minerals, is certainly an interesting talking point for the table.

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A mix of models, designers, bankers and socialites manage to muster enough energy to have late night rendezvouses at Just Cavalli Milano, which unlike many other designer branded night clubs always stays seasonal, with the decor being changed every season to ensure trends are followed exactingly. The location within the largest city park in Milan, Parco Sempione, gives Just Cavalli a distinctively exclusive and hidden away vibe.

For the morning after the night before Pavé, in the up and coming Porta Venezia area, provides much needed respite from the bustling city streets, with the homely and friendly feel it offers. This pastry and bakery shop has already been recognised as one of the 20 best bakeries in Italy by food and wine magazine Gambero Rosso and is currently looking for another location in Milan to expand into.

Fendi was a standout show with designer Silvia Fendi saying after the presentation that “these are just young, everyday basics, done in a more sophisticated way.” Models entered on a faux-wet granite runway, as Silvia placed synthetic and organic materials against one another, blurring the difference between the two. Although the pieces were minimalist in nature, the fabrics used betrayed the understated design. The Roman house turned potentially unglamorous looks into luxe items for the everyman inside consumers who pay far much more than everyday prices.

The commercially focused collection saw the addition of the “Bug” mascot to two bomber jackets, amidst the unstructured and boxy silhouettes on display. The craftsmanship took priority in the menswear pieces, with the oversized tees and sweatpants still appearing meticulously constructed.

Backstage saw Fendi family scion Delfina Delettrez and Leonetta Luciano mingle with Breaking Bad’s RJ Mitte, who also opened the Vivienne Westwood show, and Boyhood’s Ellar Coltrane, while discussing the latest collection.

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CHARLOTTE Hazell’s designs are the epitome of modern, country chic. Rustic tweeds sit with crisp cotton and cool linens in styles designed to turn heads.

And turning heads is just what the young designer has been doing since she leftYork College back in 2008,when her final-year collection featured in a competition at the Great Yorkshire Show, where she was a finalist in its Fashion Idol competition.

Since then, Charlotte has gone on to launch her own womenswear label, Charlotte Lucy, and been invited to preview her latest collection at this year’s Great Yorkshire Show in July.

Charlotte, of Norton on Derwent, is expecting her first child in October, and has been working flat out to get the capsule range ready in time for its unveiling at the Fashion Pavilion in the showground on July 14.

Turning against the tide of fast, disposable fashion, Charlotte believes clothes should last, and produces just one collection a year.

She says: “The collection is full of transitional pieces with dresses that you can wear in summer and winter. Although my coats are mainly for winter, with the British weather, you can often wear them all year round.”

Her designs are timeless, but often with a quirky twist. “My style is simple, clean-cut garments that are made to last and can stay in the wardrobe for years.”

Key pieces for 2015 are waxed, linen macs that look great with a dress or a chunky coat that is a statement in itself, she says.

Charlotte hand-makes all pieces to order. The collection will go live on the first day of the Great Yorkshire Show and customers can buy online. Charlotte aims to turn around all sales within two weeks.

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The point of fashion? This isn’t discussed nearly as frequently as it should be. It’s not as if those who invest most in fashion don’t have time to ponder, waiting, as they do endlessly for curtain-up at the shows, which are currently proliferating at a rate that ought to mean fashion is the most important concept on our planet.

Fashion is important, but why, and how? This was the nux of a conversation that began as Jonathan Anderson tentatively introduced some of the looks in his resort collection last night – and the small but engaged audience began to chip in.

“I feel a bit awkward sitting here delivering what sounds like a lecture,” observed Anderson, rubbing his nose sheepishly, as a model in gold ruffled boots swept past.

“Well, we’re in Cambridge, that’s what people pay for,” remarked one fashion writer.

More specifically, we were in Kettle’s Yard, home of the late Jim Ede, one time curator at The Tate, and a beady-eyed collector, champion and friend of young artists such as Ben Nicholson, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Joan Miró, who once handed Ede one of this paintings (a ravishingly small blue composition that hangs in a study in Kettle’s Yard) as they sat in a restaurant

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During his life, Ede encouraged students at Cambridge to ring his doorbell, look at his collection of early 20th century paintings, 19th century china, ethnic jewellery and pebbles – and stay for tea. Those he trusted were loaned pictures to hang in their rooms.

When he donated the house – comprised of four cottages he’d bought for £12, saving them from demolition – to the university in 1966, he was extremely specific about how it should be kept: exactly as he left it. Although he experimented with the space and its contents while he lived there, constantly shifting paintings, bowls, sculptures and vases around , ensuring that was always something lovely to look at from every vantage point and eye-level, by the time he left Kettle’s Yard, he felt he’d arrived, more or less, at the perfect arrangement

To this day, there is always a fresh (ish) lemon in the pewter dish in front of a grey sea-scape, a visual echo of the yellow dot in the Miró nearby and the vase of yellow aquilegia opposite.

Ede was a man who saw beauty in everything, but especially in composition and arrangement. He would probably have been a magnificent visual merchandiser – a job that Anderson once tried.

Ede’s approach to art and to creating “a beautiful life” has clearly left an impression on Anderson. Clothes can never be art, says Anderson firmly, “because we’ve created a culture where they’re extremely disposable. But they can contribute to a beautiful life”.

Some would argue that art too has become disposable – and did. It was that kind of evening. Meanwhile, pale, nude-faced models drifted among the furniture and artefacts in some spectacular clothes.

Polka dots in every size became a game of contrasting scale as cotton drill was cut into moulded sheath tops and mis-matching tiered skirts. Gently fitted dresses with slightly raised waists came in prints that seemed partly inspired by William Morris, and partly by Bridget Riley. Denim was structured, stiff, cut into peek-a-boo corsets or trouser suits with wide legs, deep pockets and voluminous sleeves. And the asymmetric earrings added a sculptural geometry.

A small new clutch bag style prompted queries of the Is it a Bird, Is it a Plane variety? As a matter of fact, it had been inspired by the Jazz Age’s fascination for flight. “I like the way it could almost be a toy and you want to play with it,” observed Anderson, doing just that. Bags as playthings? Surely not.

The results of this collection may not have been as quietly contemplative as Ede’s soothing home (these are definitely look at me pieces, intriguingly futuristic and retro at the same time) but If Anderson was looking to create clothes that are the antithesis of disposable, then mission accomplished.
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Grown-ups are playing dress-up in a fashion trend called “Disneybounding,” which allows fans to display devotion without donning a Cinderella gown or a Buzz Lightyear spacesuit.

The styles shoot for subtle, yet colorful, salutes to Disney characters. A Disneybounder might wear a yellow skirt, blue top, red bow and apple pin as a quiet shout-out to Snow White or go all-green with a feathered fedora to represent Peter Pan.

“We actually did that on our honeymoon. We’re Disney fanatics,” said Elyssa Kivus, who went with the red-polka-dot motif of Minnie Mouse while her husband, John, went the more low-key Mickey Mouse route of red shorts, black shirt and yellow shoes.

“I really like meeting the character when you’re Disneybounding as that character,” said Kivus, 27. “Most of them pick up on it, and you get a little more interaction, which is nice.”

For a visit to the Magic Kingdom last year, Michael Rubino, 26, of Kissimmee, Fla., improvised and modernized a look for Sleeping Beauty’s beau. “I did kind of a Prince Phillip-but-dapper one, with a vest and my cardigan tied around my neck for the cape,” he said.

Kivus and Rubino both said a Tumblr site was early inspiration and the birthplace of Disneybounding activity.

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Disneybound was created by Leslie Kay three years ago, but she didn’t start it as a fashion statement. The site originally was to “channel our excitement” for a trip to Disney World, Kay said.

“I started creating these outfits that were based off of Disney characters, but what a Disney character might wear if they were a living person, like your average teenager or 20-year-old,” said Kay, 26. “I didn’t know it was going to become a trend, but it very quickly became a thing in the Disney world,” she said.

Her site now has suggested clothing options for dozens of Disney characters, including princesses, dwarfs, Remy (pink tennis shoes for toes), R2-D2, Dumbo and “Frozen” royals Anna and Elsa.

Although Kay doesn’t consider herself the fashion police, she said a “sweet spot” for Disneybounding falls somewhere between a character T-shirt and an elaborate costume.

“My rule is ‘Would I wear this to the mall?’ or ‘Would I wear this out to drinks with a friend?’ If I wouldn’t do that, it becomes more of a costume or a cosplay thing,” Kay said.

The look has expanded beyond characters and into Disney rides and attractions. Rubino said he has seen groups with dresses designed to emulate the teacups of the Mad Tea Party ride, and he’s mulling a sartorial salute to Maelstrom, the recently shuttered Epcot attraction, for a future event.

Kay, who works as a social-media coordinator out of Toronto, continues to receive requests, including one for designs related to the infamous theme-park snack, the giant turkey leg. She hasn’t worked that up yet.

“I don’t really know how to do a turkey leg,” she said. “It’s kind of head-to-toe brown with a turkey necklace?”

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Andreja Pejic & Jamie Chung Partner With Make Up For Ever, And It’s The Diverse Beauty Campaign We’ve Been Waiting For

We’ve recently seen some fantastic coverage of trans visibility thanks to the courageous Caitlyn Jenner. Now, we’re getting more fantastic trans representation in the beauty world. Make Up For Ever and Andreja Pejic, along with Jamie Chung, have teamed up on a new beauty campaign that is both brilliant and super fun! Plus, now the models even have their very own palettes. The brand’s combination of a role model like Pejic and relatable girl like Chung is perfect for the campaign that’s slogan is “Be Bold. Be Unexpected. Be You.”

Pejic made her triumphant return to the catwalk back in March and wow’ed crowds during London Fashion Week. Then, last month, the gorgeous model landed a Vogue editorial that made her the first trans model to ever be featured in the glossy. Basically, Pejic is having one hell of a year, and it’s only getting better.

She was the perfect person to represent a Make Up For Ever campaign dedicated to asking people to be true to themselves. Tonight at the launch event, we were able to speak with Pejic who told us how excited she was about the partnership. “I think I’m still taking it [the campaign] all in! I can’t even really put it into words. When I was little, I would dream about what it would be like to grow up and be a woman. I didn’t care if I was scrubbing toilets — if I was doing it as a woman, I’d be happy. I’m thankful to Make Up For Ever for taking this bold step.” While bold it may be, the step is also necessary in giving trans men and women more visibility in mainstream campaigns.

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With the recent coming out of Caitlyn Jenner, trans rights and visibility are at the forefront of everyone’s minds, including Pejic. She explained to us, “I think it’s definitely something we’re going to see a lot more of. It’s about recognizing that the world is a diverse place. There is no reason that the beauty industry should not reflect that. The more awareness there is and the more variety of stories that there are is very important. It shows that this is a very human experience.”

Pejic also talked to us about what makeup meant to her during her transition. She told us, “My relationship with makeup, like my transition, was a slow process. When I first discovered eyeliner… It was amazing. It made me feel so feminine. I have very strong features, but it’s fun to soften them up sometimes.”

Alongside Pejic, Make Up For Ever enlisted Jamie Chung, everyone’s perennial best friend, to help spread the news about the line’s new products. Chung is known not only for her acting, but also for her killer beauty advice. Plus, the brand’s inclusion of an Asian American actress adds much needed diversity to an industry that is nearly completely white. The gorgeous lady, like Pejic, was excited to be involved in the campaign despite being nervous at first. She explains, ”I was really nervous going into the meeting, but landing something like this for a company that I really believe in was kind of a dream come true…I was totally over the moon. I love [what it stands for] because everyone is so unique and so different.”

This isn’t the first time that Chung has celebrated Make Up For Ever. She told us, “It’s a brand I’ve been using for a long time professionally, since Samurai Girl. What I particularly love about the brand is how it’s so inclusive.”

The campaign features both Pejic and Chung getting seriously creative, fabulous looks from Make Up Forever’s pro consulting artist Melanie Inglessis. Some of the looks created for the stars are definitely more dramatic that your everyday work look, but Inglessis explained, “Have fun! Try a bold lip color or a colored eyeliner to start. Keep it to one strong feature and you really can’t go wrong.” The brand’s focus on staying true to yourself and inclusivity is clearly seen in their choice of spokespersons, and the choice of such amazing women was an inspired decision. We can’t wait to try each ladies’ palettes!

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Sarah Haywood is one of the most sought-after wedding planners for the richest people in the world.

She has organised weddings for Fortune 500 businessmen, princesses, and popstars, who spend millions of pounds on just one day. One client even spent around £4 million ($6.1 million) on their very special day.

While confidentiality agreements prevent her from confirming exactly who she has worked for, you only need to take a quick look on the internet to put some of the pictures and descriptions together.

It’s perhaps unsurprising she has become so in demand. She lives and breathes weddings.

She is available to clients 24/7, uses only the most expensive and exclusive couturiers, florists, venues, Michelin star chefs, cake bakers, and award-winning stylists. She can arrange the billionaire bride’s dream wedding in just over two weeks. In fact, she did just that recently for an Asian popstar.

Over the past twelve months Sarah has planned weddings from Azerbaijan to St Tropez and for the world’s wealthiest people, including one for an American billionaire that is getting married on a Scottish Island.

She also wrote one of Britain’s top-selling bridal books in 2006 called “The Wedding Bible” and the second international edition of it was published on Valentine’s Day this year. In 2010, she also released the “Ultimate Wedding App” for BlackBerry, Android and iPhone.

Business Insider got a behind the scenes look at what it’s like planning the world’s most insanely expensive weddings.

BUSINESS INSIDER: What type of clients do you usually cater for?

SARAH HAYWOOD: We focus on high net-worth individuals and a number of families you’ll see in the Fortune 500. Our clients are seriously successful business people. Celebrities don’t have the kind of money for what we do, unless you’re at George Clooney’s level, and we aren’t the people to cater for them as they usually want a lot for nothing.

We’re based in London, which has the highest concentration of high net-worth individuals in the world. Our clients comes from everywhere: from the US, Europe, Middles East, Asia, China especially, and many have a home here.

When it comes to “new money,” those people are nervous about style but that’s where we come in. We understand and create incredible weddings for those who live fabulous lives, without going over the top.

BI: What makes you different to the other wedding planners for rich people out there?

SH: Our service is like no other. It’s completely bespoke and I purposely only take on a maximum of five clients a year.

Myself and a senior producer run all the weddings, meaning we are ALWAYS available for our clients. If they need me somewhere, I can be there immediately.

For the kind of money they’re spending, you have to get everything done immediately. You don’t let these people wait around.

I’m constantly being told to expand the business and bring on more staff, but I want to keep it between myself and another producer, otherwise the service wouldn’t be so specialist and we’d be spread too thin. It only takes one bad event or mistake to come back to you. Everyone knows everyone in these circles.

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These people lead fabulous lives day-to-day so you’ve got to deliver on something extraordinary on the day. They have wonderful homes all around the world, dine in the finest restaurants across the globe, and have private jets and travel weekly. You have got to give them something a lot more special than their last Sunday.

BI: So what are the budgets for these high net-worth weddings?

SH:Their budgets range from anything from hundreds of thousands of pounds to millions for their wedding day. It really depends on what they want and what the travel costs are like, which can take a bulk of the budget if they’re needing private jets or just lots of seats on a plane.

No wedding is the same obviously, so it’s really down to what they want, the level of detail, and where it is based.

BI: What do billionaires usually want and how quickly do these weddings take to plan?

SH: Interestingly, lots of people ask me this and expect me to say people are demanding 12 elephants or something but it’s not like that. What these people want is incredible detail on every part of the wedding that takes it to that next level.

For example, you wouldn’t just have a bar. You’d have a bar with the world’s best mixologists, the finest champagne and drinks available on the market. You wouldn’t just have a food station, you’d have a seafood station that has ice sculptures, with huge floral designs in the middle.

In three weeks’ time we will be hosting the wedding for an American billionaire on a Scottish island. This is a great example of the level of bespoke elements expected at a wedding of this level and budget. We found the last lace maker in Scotland to make handkerchiefs for all the women attending the wedding to place on their pillows. We got a bespoke tartan designed and made for the kilts alongside a new family crest to be made.

For the men, we are having bespoke sgian-dubh’s (pronounced “skee-an-do”: a small, single-edged knife that is worn as part of traditional Scottish Highland dress, along with the kilt and tucked into the top of the long socks) made. We have leather-bound journals with the newly made couple’s crest.

It’s rarely outrageous things that people want — they just take everything to the next level. We need 172 hotel rooms just for the staff. We have people working across five days.

BI: The incredible amount of detail must take a long time to plan. What’s the average turnaround time for a billionaire’s wedding?

SH: The usual timescale is around three to five months – these type of people don’t need to wait around a year to plan, that’s what we’re here for. However, there was one international royal wedding we did where we had 19 days from the day we got the phone call to the wedding day itself.

It’s all about having the best and right contacts, being able to know exactly what people need, and who are the best people you need to go to for it. We are a small but specialist team and we need to be able to do this all year round. Billionaire weddings also are not seasonal. We did a wedding for an Asian popstar in January, after being asked to do it in the October beforehand.

BI: Do you find there are regional trends in what billionaire couples want?

SH: There’s no general pattern in terms of what people want because there is such a fusion of cultures now. Plus, a lot are international couples that have a home in London as well as other parts of the world.

However, the way we liaise with people do vary depending on age and cultures. Our Middle Eastern clients usually come from oil and construction money and we’re seeing the younger couples liaising with us more, whereas before it was usually through the women in the family. In China, all those under 30 usually have perfect English and liaise directly with us. Same with the Russians.

No matter where people come from, they want the Hollywood glamour at their wedding. The world is changing and culture, tradition, and Western glamour are now being fused together.

BI: So when do you actually get time off if you’re doing this 24/7 and drop everything for a client? Do you actually get a holiday?

SH: Having time off is very difficult. My husband is actually on holiday at the moment without me. It’s the fifth time in a row! But I have a second home in Portugal, so if I am away, I can easily get to London for a meeting immediately.

But work comes first. If your client says jump, you jump.

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