Alexander McQueen's Work is going to be celebrated at the Costume Institute in May 2011

The great Alexander McQueen is going to have his work showcased at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in May 2011. The late designer's work has been described as romantic, avant-garde, dark, imaginative, darling, and sublime. These themes are going to be examined in his exhibit "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty."


Alexander McQueen had an remarkable 19-year career. To honor him, the museum is going to have approximately 100 pieces from McQueen's oeuvre, drawing pieces from iconic collections such as Number 13 (spring 1999), Irere (spring 2003), and Plato's Atlantis (spring 2010).


The Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton and curator in charge Harold Koda, who organize the opening of the exhibition, will be celebrated at the 2011 Costume Institute Gala benefit on May 2. The event is going to be hosted by honorary chairs Francois-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek and co-chairs Colin Firth, Stella McCartney, and Anna Wintour.

"This landmark exhibition continues the Museum's tradition of celebrating designers who changed the course of history and culture by creating new posibilities," said Thomas P. Campbell, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Fashion Designer Derek Lam to Design Collection for eBay

Derek Lam just launched his Spring 2011 collection at New York Fashion Week. Known for his minimalist, streamlined, all-american creations, he is already starting to work on a new collaboration with ebay for the spring.

Lam is going to use feedback from eBay customers to design a line specifically for them. Lam describes the new line as "a unique and innovative opportunity to reach new and existing customers directly and to create fashion they desire." With eBay having 93 million users, Lam wants to introduce his line to a wider audience. 

Lam is not the first person to design for eBay. Narciso Rodriguez created a Spring 2010 diffusion line for eBay users. What differentiates Lam's upcoming line from Rodriguez is that it is more "crowdsourced," as eBay calls it. Lam wants his line to appeal to what the consumer wants so that they get what they really want. 

According to eBay, "the designer will unveil a ready-to-wear collection of original designs at a presentation during New York Fashion Week in February 2011 and invite shoppers to vote for their favorites on eBay.com. The final collection will be available for purchase in Spring/Summer 2011 at accessible, fixed price points-delivering shoppers immediate, in season access to Lam's signature designs at excellent value, exclusively on eBay."

EBay is really trying to move away from simply vintage and used products to selling new, exclusive items. Although there is always going to be a wanting for flea market items, there is a larger market and a larger market growth for new items. The market for flea market items is probably not going to increase in the near future. 

Information provided by:  

Fashionista

Bazaar

TOMS shoes partners with World Vision

On Oct. 20, 2010, TOMS shoes and World Vision, a humanitarian agency, recently launched a new partnership to provide children in more than 12 developing countries with new shoes and to empower them to stay in school. For a lot of these children, this will be their 1st pair of shoes or in others, the new pair of donated shoes will be replacing ones that are worn-out or have been out-grown. 

TOMS shoes is a for-profit organization that will donate a pair of new shoes to a child in need for every pair purchased. 

World Vision is a Christina humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. (www.worldvision.org)

TOMS partnership with World Vision is key to fulfilling its philanthropic mission. To date, TOMS has distributed over 1 million shoes to children in need. Both companies are dedicated to helping children, families, and communities in need by helping to lift themselves out of poverty, through strategic partnerships and the power of public compassion. (www.worldvision.org) 

To date, World Vision has distributed TOMS in Nicaragua, Uganda, Zambia, Burundi, Swaziland, Rwanda, Niger, Mali, Mongolia, China, Armenia, and Honduras- always within communities it serves, so that the impact of new shoes is leveraged by other ongoing development projects. Additional distribution in these and other countries are planned for this fall and into 2011. 

In Nicaragua, where World Vision distributed the first shipment of TOMS Shoes in May, Joel Hernandez, 10, said his new pair of shoes would "protect my feet from the rough roads when I go to school, and also from animals and thorns. Now I can play ball, run, jump and do all my errands; I am protected." (www. worldvision.org)

I am really interested in the TOMS organization. I think that it is so neat how they developed a company thats whole purpose is based on the marketplace. Their mission to provide underprivileged children with  a pair of new shoes is such a great idea. That new pair of shoes seems like nothing to us but to them it is a new way to do everyday tasks comfortably and keep them healthy. 

Harpers Bazaar Fakes are Never in Fashion Campaign

The Harper's Bazaar Fakes are Never in Fashion campaign is dedicated to exposing the criminal activities connected to the sales of counterfeit luxury goods, which include child labor, drug trafficking and even terrorism. In partnership with the Italian Intellectual Property Rights Desk at the Italian Trade Commission, Harper's Bazaar welcomed more than 150 senior fashion and beauty executives, intellectual property rights lawyers and law enforcement officials for the Sixth Annual Anticounterfeiting Summit.  

This Summit meeting included talk about the ever-growing counterfeit sales on the Internet and the fact that the Internet is allowing counterfeiters to reach millions of people with the simple click of a mouse. 

With the economy in the shape that it is today, people are looking for bargains. They don't want to walk into a department store and pay $700 for a handbag when they can pay $60 for a fake one. But what the American people don't know about is what their money is actually contributing to, nationally and internationally. 

According to harpersbazaar.com , the estimated annual sales in counterfeit products worldwide is $600 billion. In the United States, there is an estimated loss of $20 billion to American companies from counterfeit  products and the loss of 750,000 jobs.

Harper's Bazaar has committed to bringing awareness to this growing epidemic.  Below are a few tips given by the magazine for readers to be able to avoid buying a fake handbag:

1. Location, Location, Location

First and foremost, purchasing luxury goods at a brand’s boutique, website or authorized dealer is your best bet to insure buying a genuine product. Items at flea markets, home parties, from street vendors, or unauthorized websites are likely to be fake.

2. The Price is Right
Quality and exclusivity account for the high price of luxury goods. Thus, if the price seems too good to be true, it probably is.

3. Construction Sites
Craftsmanship is a main point of distinction with luxury goods. Sloppy stitches in less visible areas—such as the underside of a product or inside pockets—is likely the result of counterfeit production.

4. Package Deal
Luxury retailers meticulously package their products, including tissue paper, authenticity cards, product care information, superior quality boxes, and shopping bags. If you see a plastic wrap covering or a flimsy dust bag, it's probably a fake. For example, counterfeit manufacturers will often wrap the handles of handbags in plastic.

5. Spell-check
Counterfeiters will often misspell designer names. Check for letters that are swapped or a letter that is capitalized that shouldn’t be, and vice versa.

6. Check the Hardware
With most luxury accessories, you will find the logo on all the metal pieces, such as zippers, latches, snaps, and buckles.

7. Read the Label
In a genuine article of luxury clothing, most often the label is stitched in, whereas counterfeit clothes are likely to have a less expensive hangtag. Also, check the country of origin on the label.

8. Timely Tips
Makers of fake watches may not replicate unusual features, such as a helium relief valve. If the feature is available, often times it does not function. 

Now that more and more Americans are aware of what these counterfeit items are actually doing to the world that we live in, maybe it will make them more aware of what they are actually purchasing. I know that when I bought a purse on a trip to New York, it never crossed my mind to think about the person that made it or where/to what my money was going to. 

I hope that by making this issue prevalent in our society, people will actually take a second to think about it and what they are contributing to, from organized crime to child labor. 

For more information on the Fakes are never in Fashion Campaign, please visit:

Fakes are Never in Fashion

For more information on fake handbags and what the experts have to say, please visit: 

Videos

CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund

I am a Vogue subscriber and once a week, I get emails from Caroline Palmer, editor of Vogue.com. This week, I got an email talking about the Council of Fashions Designers of America /Vogue Fashion Fund, which was established seven years ago to support emerging American fashion designers in building their businesses.

Many hopeful designers have competed for one of the highly regarded, career-making awards, which provide financial support, and mentorship from industry professionals. A couple of months ago, Vogue selected the 10 finalists for the 2010 Fashion Fund from hundreds of applicants.

For the first time, there will be a Fashion Fund series and readers can follow along as the contestants go to appointments, meetings, and work through the high-stress challenges put forth by the judging committee, which includes Vogue's Anna Wintour, famed fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg, and Jenna Lyons of J.Crew.

As of yesterday, Tuesday, Oct. 12, Vogue is going to air one new episode of the Fashion Fund series each week until the winner is revealed in New York in mid-November.

For someone that is really interested in fashion and what it entails, like myself, I think that this is a really neat opportunity to get to see what it actually takes to be a fashion designer and how dedicated and passionate you really have to be to succeed in this business.

Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine, has become an institution throughout the fashion world, widely praised for her eye for fashion trends and her support for young designers. (www.wikipedia.com) Diane Von Furstenber is a widely known fashion designer, known for her colorful wrap dresses. Jenna Lyons is the president of J.Crew. Before recently becoming president, she was head creative director of the brand and not only helped it become a multi-million dollar mass retailer but gave J.Crew fashion credibility with their timeless, contemporary pieces. (www.style.com)

I am excited to see what advice Anna Wintour, Diane Von Furstenberg, and Jenna Lyons have to offer these contestants. They have been around in the fashion world for some time and their opinions are truly admired by many fashion followers.

For more information on the contestants of the 2010 Fashion Fund, visit Fashion Fund contestants and to watch the first episode of the series visit Videos