月別アーカイブ: 2015年11月

Imagine the jacket you’re wearing wasn’t always a jacket. Imagine if it was once a completely different piece of clothing. That’s the idea behind refashioning clothing, which used to be a tailor’s bread-and-butter. Today, it seems like the way forward for a growing number of designers concerned about the waste involved in the fashion industry. Designer Pashmina Ahmed, who runs the brand Plush, recently launched the initiative of redesigning clothes by breathing new life into old ones.

“The idea came about when I realised I had too many weddings to attend within the same circle of friends and didn’t want to make a brand new outfit for each occasion,” she said. “It is expensive and a complete waste of fabric, material and money for an outfit I won’t make use of more than once,” she added. That’s when Pashmina took older pieces and added a modern twist to them to create new outfits, something many people do close to wedding season. This sparked the idea to run this business on a commercial level.

Pashmina asks customers to send a clear image or description of the outfit they wish to transform, along with an approximate budget they would prefer the work to be done in, in addition to their fixed service charge. Once evaluated, the brand shares with customers what they would do with the outfit and how much it would cost. “Upon agreement, we ask them to send us their outfit in its original condition and grant us permission to cut it up and use it to its full capacity without sending back any leftover pieces,” she shares.

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Next, they send two sketch options for the clients to choose from after which they redesign the outfit, staying true to their signature designs. She describes the brand’s aesthetics as “unconventional and effortlessly cool, embodied by a woman with self-confidence. Someone who particularly cares for the environment.”

Pashmina added, “Sustainability is key at Plush and that’s why this service is important to us. We want to encourage as many people as we can to recycle and revamp their wardrobes and not let their clothes go to waste.”

Plush aims to focus on embellished clothing with detailed work and outfits that they can make the most out of. “People have also come to me with coats and jackets that they love and don’t want to get rid of and I’ve helped transform them,” adds Pashmina.

The brand is based in Pakistan but also sells abroad in the Middle East, mainly in Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. “We want people to be able to avail this service online without having to visit our studio space, both for convenience and for the excitement of getting something brand new in the mail.”

Today, wardrobe refashioning has made a comeback, in equal parts, from economic necessity and a renewed consciousness among people buying and discarding clothes too quickly. With more benefits than one, refashioned clothing seems to be one of the few ways to make fashion sustainable.

In a world where trendy throwaway fashion is big, the idea of refashioned apparel can be an anomaly but it’s slowly seeping into the mainstream. It reduces waste through the repurposing of unwanted clothes. It cuts down on costs and paves the way for an environment-friendly fashion industry.

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Lewis Hamilton sparks romance rumours as he leaves the British Fashion Awards with Noomi Rapace

Lewis Hamilton put on a very dapper display as he attended last night’s British Fashion Awards – and it seems we might not be the only ones appreciating his fine form.

The F1 ace was spotting leaving with actress Noomi Rapace – sparking rumours of a possible romance.

It’s not the first time the star has been spotted out and about with gorgeous ladies since his split from Pussycat Dolls beauty Nicole Scherzinger back February. He’s also been linked to the likes of Kendall Jenner.

The 30-year-old certainly will have set a few hearts racing as he stepped out in a dapper white tux jacket, which featured black lapels, for the stylish awards ceremony in London.

The sportsman paired his James Bond-style tuxedo with an all-black look, which included a black button-down shirt and fitted black trousers.

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Ever the fashion fan, Lewis completed the look with a polka-dot handkerchief and his signature diamond studs.

Meanwhile 35-year-old actress Noomi, who shot to fame as Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish film adaptations of the Millennium series: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, opted for a similar monochrome outfit.

But hopes Lewis might have found a new lady friend appear to have been dashed after reps for the star confirmed to Mail Online that the pair are just friends.

The Swedish actress looked stunning in the floor-length gown, which featured racy sheer panels to show off just the right amount of flesh.

She wore her short dark hair slicked back behind her eyes to really pull attention to her cut-glass cheekbones and winged eyeliner.

The pair were joined by a host of celebrities at the annual fashion event, including Topshop boss Sir Philip Green and his daughter Chloe.

The fashion heiress was sporting serious cleavage in a plunging black gown (Topshop, of course) for the event, posting a snap of her and her dad on their “Daddy Daughter Night”.

After his appearance on the red carpet, Lewis shared a snap of his dapper suit to Instagram, saying the night was spent “amongst some amazing people!”

While we wish it was evidence of a new romance, a

Meanwhile, his ex Nicole has been busy sharing snaps of her holiday in the Maldives.

She captioned one photo: “I [heart] you #beachlife #Maldives Whaaa workin the #selfiestick”

In a series of snaps to Instagram, the beauty showed off her enviable curves in a pretty red-and-white floral bikini as she mastered the art of posing with her selfie stick.

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Cheryl Fernandez-Versini sports sexy plunging mini-dress on X Factor while Rita Ora takes her on in cleavage stakes in revealing white lace jumpsuit

Their outfits are often as dramatic as The X Factor shows themselves.

And Cheryl Fernandez-Versini and Rita Ora once again pulled it out of the sartorial bag as they stepped on stage in sensational ensembles on Sunday night’s episode of the ITV show.

The 32-year-old former Girls Aloud star sported an extremely plunging black mini dress while the Hot Right Now hitmaker, 24, matched her in the cleavage stakes in a deep V-neck white jumpsuit.

Cheryl rocked a plunging black mini dress with a glimmering waistband and necklace detail which showed off her trim frame while channeling a futuristic vibe.

She wore her hair scraped into a high bun while wearing matching hoop earrings which coordinated with the sparkling elements of her outfit.

Her make-up matched the dramatic look as she sported a stand out smokey eye and a slick of lipgloss.

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Rita sported a white lace jumpsuit which showed off mounds of cleavage due to the extremely plunging V-neckline which matched her pretty pearl necklace.

She looked ethereal as she wore her blonde locks in soft cascading curls which tumbled from a centre parting.

Her make-up was glimmering yet natural which fitted in perfectly with her elegant and dreamy ensemble.

The show’s hosts matched fantastically as they co-ordinated in all black ensembles.

Caroline Flack looked sensational in an off-the-shoulder black mini dress which flaunted her sensational figure to perfection.

Her co-presenter Olly Murs, who has come under fire for a slip-up during last week’s episode, seems to have recovered as he looked smart in a black shirt and suit ahead of his performance on the show.

Male judges Simon Cowell and Nick Grimshaw looked typically handsome in their ubiquitous suits.

Simon rocked his usual suited and booted look while Nick looked equally smart in a suave two-piece.

Cheryl playfully placed bunny ear fingers behind Simon’s head which he playfully tried to dodge.

The show follows Saturday night’s episode which saw the shock elimination of this year’s resident bad boy Mason Noise.

The handsome wannabe from Birmingham was banished from the competition after he found himself in the bottom three alongside Anton Stephens and 4th Impact.

‘Thank you to everyone who voted, thank you to everyone who didn’t vote as well,’ he said, fairly diplomatically.

‘He’s exactly the kind of popstar we need,’ added mentor Nick ‘I’m not worried about the future of Mason at all.’

The shock announcement comes after Cheryl revealed on Twitter that one act would lose their spot in the competition.

Making the shock announcement on Saturday night, just one hour before the live show, the petite brunette said that 10 minutes before the end of the show, one act would be voted off.

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Blue Ivy Carter Photos 2015: Blue Wears $2,100 Designer Dress

Beyonce and her daughter Blue Ivy Carter have proved yet again that the apple does not fall far from the tree.

On Saturday, Queen Bey shared an Instagram photo of herself with her adorable 3-year-old wearing matching colors. In the pic, the mother-daughter duo is holding hands as little Blue appears to be twirling to music at a party. She was dressed in a stunning white sundress, silver shoes and a giant white bow in her hair. Apparently, Blue’s designer dress came with a hefty price tag.

According to Entertainment Tonight, Blue was donning the Mischka Aoki “Sparkling Crystal” dress, which cost $2,100 at Bergdorf Goodman.

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Meanwhile, Blue’s stylish dress matched her mom’s elegant white wrap gown that she accessorized with stunning gold belt and gold trim accents. The “Partition” singer also added a dark red lipstick for a dramatic effect..

This isn’t the first time Beyonce and Blue have dressed alike. Earlier this month, Bey uploaded pictures of her family dressed up as characters from the 1988 hit movie “Coming to America.” Her husband, Jay-Z, was dressed up as Eddie Murphy’s Prince Akeem of Zamunda in the classic cult comedy film. The 45-year-old rap mogul wore a fake mustache, long braid, a black hat and a fake big cat skin over his shoulder along with a regal black suit and gold jewels.

The “Halo” singer portrayed one of the three female rose bearers who waited on Akeem and his royal family in the movie by rocking an African-style purple printed head wrap and a lime yellow and white printed flared mini dress. The actress also wore a skunk fur thrown across her body paired with chunky earrings and necklace. Mrs. Carter topped it off with black and white fringed sandals and a large golden goblet filled with rose petals.

However, little Blue’s costume stole the show ahe preschooler nailed her look as Imani Izzi, Akeem’s submissive bride and “queen-to-be” played by actress Vanessa Bell Calloway. She wore a semi-sheer gold patterned dress and a high ponytail with a gold clip.

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How designers are redefining luxury with ethical substitutes

As fashion victims go, Cruella de Vil is a particularly gruesome example – her rabid pursuit of the perfect pelt led her into some particularly hot water. She’s an extreme example, but by no means unique: old habits die hard and fur is still seen as the last word in luxury in many markets, used liberally, and literally, head to toe (check this season’s favourite fur-lined and trimmed shoes). However, as a buying public at all levels of income becomes increasingly aware of the true cost behind clothing –moral and environmental, as opposed to just fiscal – a market is booming for synthetic fur and leather chosen for ethics rather than economics.

Stella McCartney is the most obvious example – especially since her autumn/winter collection, which introduced gargantuan, shaggy “Fur Free Fur” coats, each prominently labelled with just that slogan. The vegetarian designer has long used synthetic suede and leather in collections she dubs “vegan”, but for a long time she has shied away from faux fur. “I’d done fake fur many, many years ago,” she says – her final autumn/winter 2001 collection for Chloé, for instance, was awash in the stuff – “and I’d really questioned whether it was appropriate to do it and if it was necessary. Because fake fur now looks so real, I was afraid that I was promoting real fur, but I created these fur-free labels that will be on the outside of products so you can actually tell people it’s not [real]. We are a house that thinks that fur is not relevant. It looks old-fashioned.”

Hannah Weiland’s work could never be described thus; her colourful faux-fur clothing under the label Shrimps has won plenty of plaudits since it launched in 2013. “I specifically decided to use faux fur for a number of reasons: my personal taste and views, price, colour and creative flexibility,” Weiland explains. “I was fortunate to come across a mill producing the highest-quality faux fur available. I think it is a misconception that faux fur is not a luxurious product – given how incredible modern technology is, you can now essentially produce faux fur with the same level of softness, quality and warmth as real fur, which makes the argument for real fur much harder.”

Judd Crane, the director of womenswear and accessories at Selfridges, believes there is no argument – the department store has been proudly fur-free for a decade. Crane is cheered by the increased visibility of faux fur as a luxury proposition in its own right: “We’re interested in alternatives that meet every luxury consumer’s needs, and we have this for autumn/winter more than ever. Stella McCartney’s faux fur has fashionable, luxury and ethical credentials and there are great options at Dries Van Noten too. Faux fur is establishing itself as a versatile fashion fabric that works year-round – Shrimps has been one of our biggest success stories in every store.”

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The production of fur, and indeed exotic skins such as crocodile, ostrich and python, is a complicated matter, and there is an argument that faux fur is not exactly a “green” material, due to the vast amounts of chemicals used to manufacture it, alongside its inability to biodegrade. McCartney, though, has worked to avoid this, even using biodegradable soles in her shoe collections.

Rachel Comey is a New York-based designer who has somewhat circumvented the two binary ideas of faux and real by using fur from animals that have died from natural causes, namely baby alpacas reared for their wool. “I work with a tannery in Peru that sources the skins,” she explains. “The leathers come exclusively from the death of baby alpacas – the hard weather in the alpaca-producing zones 12,000 feet above sea level causes the death of 15 per cent of baby alpacas in the first three months of life.” The nature of her sourcing means that Comey works on a small scale, ensuring exclusivity – a key word in the luxury market. But she believes that every manufacturer should abide by the same principles of ethics “both environmentally and humanely”.

In the UK the use of real fur still provokes much emotion and heated debate. A number of British publications – including Vogue, Elle and Harper’s Bazaar – will not photograph it editorially, while a poll by the RSPCA in 2011 revealed that 95 per cent of people in the UK would refuse to wear real fur, despite its prevalence on international catwalks. But ethical manufacturing is about more than just whether designers use real or faux fur – the supply chain introduces huge difficulties when it comes to social responsibility, from the treatment of staff to the use of toxic chemicals, water and minerals in the production of the raw materials.

Last year, the luxury group Kering – the parent company of Stella McCartney – made a bold statement of its ethical credentials. At a talk for the London College of Fashion, Kering’s chairman and chief executive, François-Henri Pinault, explained that the Kering group had worked to create a way of tanning leather that did not use harmful pollutants such as heavy metals. This sort of environmental awareness might be expected from McCartney, or the ever-earth-aware Vivienne Westwood, perhaps, but as the majority shareholder in labels famed for their leather handbags and accessories such as Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga, this was a bold step. Bolder still was the fact that Pinault announced he would share this information with rival companies, signifying a desire to enact real change rather than maintain a competitive edge in order to sell more bags.

“Needless consumption is not our friend,” says Iain Renwick, the chairman of Eco-Age, a brand consultancy that works with retailers and manufacturers of all sizes to improve their sustainability. “There is an opinion that more expensive often means more ethical –this can simply be the case that luxury items are produced in smaller quantities, or use a lot of handcrafting, artisanal techniques. Fundamentally these are not disposable items.” The very nature of the luxury industry means that it can be slow to enact change, no matter how much will there is to do so. But incremental change is better than none at all, believes Renwick, who recognises that brands still have products to push: “We call it the merging of ethics and aesthetics.”

One label that has got the blend of ethics and aesthetics right is Edun – though it wasn’t always the case. Now part of the Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy stable of luxury brands, Edun was founded by Ali Hewson and her husband, the U2 musician Bono, in 2005 to promote trade in Africa. That’s an admirable aim, yet the brand struggled to be taken seriously without a strong, relevant aesthetic. Danielle Sherman was appointed as creative director in 2013, bringing expertise from The Row and Alexander Wang, and the label is becoming an increasingly serious high-fashion proposition.

Ultimately, the fashion industry doesn’t just sell clothes and shoes and bags, it peddles aspiration – and as Comey says, modern luxury lies in “slowing down, producing less and buying what is special and can last a lifetime”.

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If there’s one alarming phrase in skincare, it’s free radicals. And not just because it sounds like an 80s rock tribute act. What are they? Do we need to be scared of them, and ultimately how can we repair any damage caused by them? (By actual free radicals, not the band.) See, it’s alarming.

Free radicals are molecules that are everywhere: in the air, in our bodies, and in the materials around us. External factors such as pollution, sunlight and smoking also trigger the production of new free radicals. They cause the deterioration of plastics, the fading of paint, the degradation of works of art and – for the skin – visible aging.

Abigail James, the facialist and general skin brain-box, gives us the low-down. “Free radicals are molecules with an unpaired electron, which makes them unstable. I like to view these as crazy over-active cells desperate to find an electron from another cell to calm themselves down and rebalance. How they do this is by attaching themselves to the nearest healthy cell to steal an electron to balance themselves.

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“However, this doesn’t have the desired effect, as it turns the unsuspecting healthy cell into another free radical, so you now have two crazy cells wanting to balance themselves from other healthy cells, and the process goes on. Transferring cells from calm and balanced into unstable free radicals a little bit like a domino effect, causing damage to other cells around them and resulting in damaged tissues.”

Protecting your skin from the sun and pollution is a great preventative method in the production of free radicals, but for the extra help we all need, there’s antioxidants. Antioxidants are like calm meditator cells: they are stable cells with the ability to donate a calming electron to the unstable crazy free radicals. They’re a bit like a chill pill to rebalance and calm down the unstable free radicals while also maintaining their own composure and balance. Boy, do we love antioxidants.

Although your body naturally produces antioxidants, nutrition and skincare ingredients high in antioxidants are vital in supporting cells and preventing cell damage, premature aging and restoring health and balance.

So will using a antioxidant serum make us look younger? Well, says the American skin expert Paula Begoun, it will – but with time. “Although we know that topical application of antioxidants helps to reduce free-radical damage on the skin, the results aren’t going to make you look 20 years younger.

“There is research showing antioxidants can improve cell function, increase collagen production, improve elasticity, create healthier, younger skin cells and reduce sun damage, but the improvement takes time, it isn’t going to be overnight. And just like a healthy diet, the more potent antioxidants you use, the healthier and younger you will be.”

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The opening scenes of London Spy, BBC2’s spenny new autumn drama which started last night, begins with Ben Whishaw entering Hidden, a club in the arches of London’s Vauxhall, and exiting hours later, pooped and sweaty, before he wanders on to Vauxhall bridge and starts making some calls. The scene is familiar and well executed, and ends with one of those perfect human interactions that never happens. But that aside, my first thought was: who has battery the morning after? Then I realised it was a flip phone.

When Adele used a flip phone in the video for her new single, Hello, social media exploded. Why was Adele – clearly loaded and clearly in need of better signal – using a flip-phone? While the video, directed by wunderkind Xavier Dolan, grafts plenty of outdated references (including a phone box and a location house without Wi-Fi) on to the retro scenography, it did seem weird. A bit like Audrey Hepburn™ being resurrected for the Galaxy chocolate adverts. Dolan responded, telling the LA Times: “I’m like, ‘Guys, get over it. It doesn’t matter,’” before explaining that he “never like[s] filming modern phones or cars. They’re so implanted in our lives that when you see them in movies you’re reminded you’re in reality”, and that modern techology is “anti-narrative”.

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We haven’t really seen flip phones since the burners in The Wire, or Frasier – Niles Crane regularly slammed shut his clamshell phone on ex-wife Maris. Smartphones weren’t really around then, of course. Plus, flip phones as plot devices make sense. Chances are, Whishaw’s character was on pay-as-you-go anyway. Or had had his previous iPhone nicked. Or knew it was going to be a late one and knew the battery life on a flip phone is incomparably better than an iPhone. And Adele was probably on a digital detox following her breakup. Still, the intermittent appearances of flip phones in real life, too – on fashionable people who can afford iPhones – suggest they could be coming back.

“The chicest thing,” Phoebe Philo once said, “is when you don’t exist on Google. God, I would love to be that person!” which goes a long way to flag up how cool, how on point it now is, to keep a low-tech profile. With Instagram falling out of favour in the past week following following her admission that she was being paid to present a perfect life, we could be moving towards an Insta-less world with flip phones a starting point.

In the wake of last year’s celebrity hacking scandal, which saw nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence and others leaked and posted on 4chan, Reddit, Twitter and Tumblr, there is an argument for the preemptive strike that is using phones without cameras. Last November, Rihanna was spotted in New York with one. Kate Beckinsale uses hers while getting a pedi. Scarlett Johansson, too. Anna Wintour – Queen of the fashion industry and a woman who sets trends in her sleep – was photographed last year at the US open reading a message on her flip phone.

Samsung is due to launch the much-hyped Samsung SM-W2016, ostensibly a smartphone that looks like a flip phone. A spokesperson for Carphone Warehouse explains that a resurgence is entirely possible, citing the retro Doro PhoneEasy 612 flip phone as one that’s gradually creeping back in fashion as a “statement phone”.

“Low-tech living” is pretty trendy in the US, too. Sat somewhere between living off grid and Fomo resistance, this is a vague new trend that includes and encourages people to own and use tablets and non-smartphones simultaneously, meaning you could separate work from family conversations. If that’s the case, perhaps pared-back tech does have merit, since there have been numerous problems with almost every iPhone model released. Still, as Iggy Pop told the New York Magazine, he calls his flip-phone a “Rugby”, “because you can drop it a lot and it won’t break”. Reason enough, really.

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Caitlin Freeman and Alex Tortoso were married at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 7 at Forrest Place. The bride is the daughter of Al and Adriana Freeman of Ramer, Alabama. The groom is the son of David & Melissa Prater of Rome.

Al Freeman of Ramer, Alabama performed the double-ring ceremony. Urns of curly willow, white hydrangea with accents of mini green hydrangea and belles of Ireland adorned the altar area.

A program of wedding music was provided by The TC Show. Selections included “Canon in D,” “It is Well” and “How Sweet It Is.”

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Brittney Watts of Birmingham, Alabama was the maid of honor. Chelsea Arnold of Dallas, Ellie Nasworthy of Rome, and Tifanie Noblin of Springville were the bridesmaids. They wore black floor-length dresses. They carried bouquets of Anna roses and Black Magic roses, tied in black satin ribbon.

The bride, given in marriage by her parents and escorted by her father, wore a formal strapless gown of ivory lace-appliqued tulle. The sweetheart neckline was embellished with lace details near the neckline. The cathedral train flowed from the inverted French bustle at the back of the gown. A cathedral length sheer veil completed the look. She carried a bouquet of ivory Virginia roses, ivory garden roses, and accents of blush Anna roses.

Tony Tortoso of Rome was the best man. Dustin Arnold of Dallas, Blake Maynor of Kingston, and Allan Cole of Rome were the groomsmen.

The mother of the bride wore a mulberry A-line floor-length dress, with black lace detail around the waist. The mother of the groom wore a silver floor-length dress, with a detailed bodice and jacket. The mothers were presented with clutch bouquets of ivory roses.

Following the ceremony, a reception was held at Forrest Place. Refreshments included the bride’s four-tier round caramel cake filled with caramel buttercream. The top and third tier were decorated with swirls of icing, and the second tier featured a “T” monogram. The groom was presented with a cake shaped like a grill with a University of Georgia emblem, with ‘burgers’ created to look like mascots of rival teams.

The evening before the wedding, the groom hosted a rehearsal dinner at The Red Room. Other pre-nuptial parties included a couples wedding shower and bridal shower.

After their Charleston, South Carolina honeymoon, the couple will reside in Fort Oglethorpe.

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Franca Sozzani hates air conditioning. So, even if it is 31 degrees Celsius in the shade, the editor of Vogue Italia is holding court on the terrace of the Armani Hotel where the great and the good of global fashion have gathered to deliberate over the winner of the Dubai edition of the Who Is On Next young designer competition, first started by Sozzani 12 years ago.

Next to Sozzani is footwear designer Christian Louboutin, chatting with Vogue India editor Priya Tanna and Nez Gebreel, chief executive of the Dubai Design & Fashion Council. At the other end of the table, Russian media maven Miroslava Duma — in town to cement a new partnership for her online news site Buro 24/7 — scans her phone while recounting stories from the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit to Raffaello Napoleone, chief executive of Pitti Immagine.

Meanwhile, president of AltaRoma Silvia Venturini Fendi, president of the Camera Della Moda Italiana Carlo Capasa, and chief executive of Yoox Net-a-Porter Group Federico Marchetti — as well as Sozzani’s longtime publicist Emanuela Schneidler — plan a surprise birthday cake for Napoleone, and Burberry chief executive and chief creative officer Christopher Bailey, unable to attend in person, pings over his thoughts via email.

The prize forms part of the third annual Vogue Fashion Dubai Experience, a mixture of consumer-facing fashion events in the Dubai Mall, a gala dinner under the desert skies in support of the World Food Programme and the debut of the Dubai edition of the young designer prize, in partnership with Mohamed Alabbar, chairman of Emaar Properties.

But it’s not lost on anybody that the competition takes place in the wake of the shock departures of Alber Elbaz from Lanvin and Raf Simons from Dior, which, for different reasons, seemed to signal a tectonic shift in a fashion landscape that seems increasingly unsure about what the future holds and where the industry is going.

With futuristic Dubai as a backdrop, and the departures a major talking point of the week, I took the opportunity to speak to Sozzani afterwards on what it takes for young designers to succeed in an increasingly crowded — and chaotic — fashion landscape.

BoF: Why did you decide to bring Who Is On Next to Dubai?

FS: There’s a lot of energy. In three years, you see the evolution in an incredible way…the landscape is changing every year. The first time [I came], I remember I was on the terrace of the Burj Khalifa and it was like a small piece of New York in the middle of the desert. Now it is less desert and more buildings. The other thing that attracts me is that 60 percent of the population here is below 25. It’s amazing that there are so many young people really trying to do something. If I was 20, I [would] come here. I think there a lot of opportunities.

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BoF: What is the goal of this platform specifically? How do you feel the talent here is distinctive from what you see elsewhere?

FS: It is the first time [we’ve done] a really serious [talent] scouting from countries [outside] Europe and America. So all of these people, they come from Africa, Asia, Middle East, Lebanon, etcetera. We have chosen 20 [finalists out of 200 applicants] and this has been the opportunity to give them a chance to be known. We don’t need another fashion week here. It’s the most stupid and ridiculous thing to think that we can make a fashion week here. There is not a fashion story here, but you can collect young people and give them the opportunity to be given awareness, a shop, or e-commerce, because at the end of the story, they need to sell.

We have chosen 20 [finalists out of 200 applicants] and this has been the opportunity to give them a chance to be known. We don’t need another fashion week here, but you can collect young people and give them the opportunity to be given awareness, or even a shop or e-commerce — because at the end of the story, they need to sell.

BoF: Still, there are many fashion prizes. Do you think the industry really needs to have all of them to shower designers with this attention and money?

FS: No, I think that you need only the contest by itself, the contest in which you give a prize. You have 100,000 or 200,000 euros? It doesn’t mean anything — nothing — because the money flies away. What you need really — and I repeat it — is distribution and production. And this is what we’re doing. We’re connecting people. We don’t give prizes in terms of money. They earn the possibility of distribution, production and the media.

BoF: With the big changes at Dior and Lanvin, it makes you think perhaps what young designers need is more than just distribution, and attention. What do you think the ruptures at these top fashion houses say about the state of fashion and what the future involves for young designers?

FS: Firstly, I think the changes at the top of the houses are for different reasons. Raf is making a choice of life, of his life. He was doing good work. People at Dior were happy, he was happy, everything was happy. But there was a certain moment — and that’s what I respect sometimes in younger people, they really want to put their life in front of their work. When you are at the top of the success, to say, ‘I go back! I want to keep my life!’ That for me is very interesting because it never happened in the past. This means that probably when you are younger, you are less scared of your choices. You feel, of course, stronger, and at the same time, not necessarily you want to be part of the system. And it indicates a lot of character to me.

I do not understand what happened at Lanvin, because for 14 years everything was going so well — and from nothing, from the ashes to build up a skyscraper. I don’t want to go inside the political situation of the maison, but it’s quite strange, you know?

I think that some of the [brands] are very good at taking risks. Look at Alessandro Michele for Gucci or Sarah Barton after Alexander McQueen, which were [both] very risky in a way. But they gave the chance to a young designer and probably that helped change the mentality in choosing now the [designer] of Vetements for Balenciaga.

This gives even more energy to the entire system. But it’s really surprising to me how many younger and good designers, they want to have their life.

BoF: Karl Lagerfeld had this quote that at the big companies like Chanel, Vuitton and Dior fashion is a full-time sport now, and you have to run. It’s not an occasional occupation.

FS: That is another point of view that I agree with, because there are a lot of young people that do not want to sacrifice anything for what they want, but they [still] want to be successful, and they want to be famous and they want to be rich. This is what I dislike.

Karl is a person who works 24 hours a day, but in a light way. He enjoys it, because he does what he likes. I work sometimes 24 hours a day, but I enjoy it because I like it. It’s an attitude that you have to have. If you don’t want to sacrifice anything, but to be rich, famous and beautiful, this is different. If it’s an egoistic choice, to say, ‘Ah no, but I wanted to have everything,’ it’s impossible.

At the same time, you have to respect the fact that not everybody wants to be in the system. Because it’s not [for] all of us. If you have to live with a kind of nightmare, it is better to give up and do something else. And you’ll find your balance, even in your mind. But now everybody wants to be famous outside; having beautiful dresses, taking pictures of yourself, blogging, how I dress – this is another nightmare for me. And I don’t think that this is going anywhere, but you are the icon for 10 minutes. And so we go back to [Andy Warhol’s] 15 minutes of fame.

BoF: As their businesses grow, do you think the pace that these young designers you are championing may find themselves in is sustainable?

FS: Yes, because most of these young guys that now are having the success, they really made something – they really organised themselves, they are really fighting for something. So for me what makes them sustainable is that they have a project, a vision. It is not a business plan, necessarily — it’s the vision that you have for your future. Some of them, you see the collection, you say: ‘Oh, this is so pretty and so smart.’ And after you talk, there is nothing behind them. This is not sustainable.

BoF: If the pace is sustainable and people have to make choices between their personal goals and their professional goals, what does it take take to have a quality of life?

FS: For me, it’s all inside. How you are. If you are superficial; if you want to be part of this glamorous world — that is only apparently glamorous — you completely lose yourself, because there will always be [people] younger than you, more beautiful than you, more talented than you. So you’re just running in the wrong direction and you get lost.

For me, my priority and my life is my son. So you have to make a choice, but to make these choices doesn’t mean that you have to give up your life.

People who say: ‘I’m not in the first row, yes, but which side of the first row!,’ this is a nightmare. This is not anymore a life. When we go to see what is the work of a designer, we have to respect his work. We are not the protagonists. They are the protagonists and we have to respect that, and when you become a really big part of this, you see it in the best way. Not just seeing it as yourself — who sits close to me, who is behind me — this is ridiculous.

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“As a feminist, there are certain things about weddings and marriage that don’t sit right with me.”

So said Freya, a magazine editor and music teacher from Melbourne. “The giving away of the bride, the woman changing her last name, the tossing of the garter… so we planned to have a fun-filled, colorful and modern wedding!”

She’s not the only one. Yes, the many white dresses dotting your newsfeed are still the norm, and colored dresses only accounted for 4% to 5% of sales from retail giant David’s Bridal, as of 2014, the New York Times reported. But more and more women like Freya are looking to wear something different.

“The majority of gowns I have sold this year are non-traditional,” Portia Brady of the Etsy wedding shopTheodoraJames told Mic. “My brides lately have been going for deep burgundy red silks and satins, rich gold sequins, blacks, grays and sometimes just white or ivory sequins for a modern take on the traditional white wedding dress.”

Celebrities may be the most visible wearers of colorful gowns (thanks, Jessica Biel and Gwen Stefani), and high-end designers like Vera Wang are leading the way. But David’s Bridal also told the New York Times that sales of colored gowns have doubled each year since they were introduced in 2010. These are real women buying them — and their gown choices finally reflect the complexity of what modern women really want from clothes.

A dress that’s local and personal: “Originally I was looking for a white dress, just figured I’d try some on and see what I thought,” Amber, a plus-sized model from Winnipeg, told Mic. “I really didn’t like the style. I woke up one day and said, ‘You know, nobody told me that I have to be in white.’”

Once upon a time, red was the color of choice for brides. Queen Victoria is credited with changing the standard 175 years ago, when she made the then-ballsy move to wear white at her wedding to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. “The choice was almost as iconoclastic as it would have been for Catherine Middleton to walk down the aisle in scarlet,” Time wrote.

Queen Victoria’s dress also supported local businesses, as we would say today, by using only British-made materials. That’s the same thinking, in fact, that led Kelsea, a Seattle-based jeweler, to look outside major bridal retailers for something different.

IMAGE champagne bridesmaid dresses

“I knew I would prefer to have it made by a dressmaker than going to one of the big stores and getting something that a lot of people have,” Kelsea told Mic. Kelsea’s blue silk gown was made by Wai-Ching, a Seattle-based company that focuses on eco-friendly bridal wear.

Indeed, the times are changing. Time reports that 46% of Americans disagree that women should wear white at the weddings. It’s that changing tide that led Wai-Ching into the wedding business.

“I definitely didn’t start out thinking I wanted to do wedding dresses, because if I were to think of wedding dresses in the beginning I would have thought, ‘Ugh those huge cupcake-looking with beading and flowers,’ which I would not be into,” Chrissy Wai-Ching Leung, who founded Wai-Ching in 2004, told Mic.

“It was my customers that made [wedding dresses] happen, because people kept asking, ‘Would you do something in your aesthetic for a wedding dress?’ Now I think [wedding dresses] are like 99% of my business.”

Leung’s clients also want their wedding dresses to be ethically and socially conscious, just as they would their other clothes.

“We make everything in house here in Seattle, and using natural fibers to be really eco-conscious,” she said. “That’s another part of my clientele — just brides that want to make a statement for being conscious with their wedding.”

A dress that reflects the person wearing it: For Kelsea, who was married last month, her cultural background inspired her non-traditional wedding dress.

“I am Chinese by heritage. So I thought it would be cool to incorporate some Chinese element into the wedding,” Kelsea said. “Since we went with mostly a packaged wedding deal to be stress-free, I didn’t have a lot of choices on the other things. The dress was one thing that I could kind of control. Chrissy’s work is just so beautifully inspired; she uses silk and Chinese-inspired styles.”

That desire for a dress evoking the bride’s heritage, whether it be through color or fabric or cut, seems like a no-brainer, but can be overlooked with pure white. For example, as the Cut noted in 2013, “In Eastern cultures, colors like red, gold and fuchsia symbolized good luck, while white was worn for funerals, so brides chose those vivid hues to ensure a prosperous union.”

Freya, also married in October, on a winery, chose a gold gown because she felt it jived more with her creative personality (and less-than-virginal status, like most brides’) than traditional white would.

“I pored over so many bridal magazines and just couldn’t see myself in white,” she said. “Obviously there are so many beautiful white gowns, but it just really wasn’t me. For one, I’m not a virgin bride — ha, we’ve been living together for four years now. Secondly, I just love the idea of doing something a bit different!”

A dress that truly fits — in every sense: For Amber, the decision to wear a purple and black corset dress was in part due to the difficulty of shopping for bridal gowns for different body types. The challenge pushed her to think outside the box.

“I have Scheuermann’s disease in my back. It gives me a curved spine,” Amber said. “So on top of being a plus-sized, alternative person, and wanting something that no one else really had, I had to deal with this weird body shape that made me really unique.”

As the number of plus-size shoppers finally gets recognized, Amber is in good company. Though plus-size brides often face more expensive gowns and a lack of selection, more designers are creating stunning plus-sized dresses for them, including an outpouring of custom-made options available on sites like Etsy.

The emergence of custom bridal shops on Etsy as well as dressmakers like Leung have ushered in a mindset that, ironically, echoes Queen Victoria all these years later: It’s your day, and you can wear whatever the hell you want.

“I’ve actually never worn gold before, and it just made me feel really happy,” Freya said. “Being happy on your wedding day is the most important thing. Whether you wear white or not, as long as the decisions you’re making are for you and your partner, then that’s all that matters.”

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