Starting a business is a risky endeavor for anyone.
But when Rachel Lim set out to reinvent the retail industry, the stakes
were especially high — her mom’s life savings were riding on it.
The
then-21-year-old was facing a five-figure fee for quitting college
early to pursue her dream. And with no money of her own, she turned to
the only person she could.
“I was bonded to the government, so I had to pay off the bond to stop school to start the business,” the Singaporean entrepreneur told CNBC Make It. “I obviously didn’t have the money, so I had no choice but to go to my mom and ask for a loan.”
It
could hardly have come at a worse time for the family: Lim’s mom was
already working two jobs to support the family after the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis upended her dad’s shipbroking business. However, Lim said it was the pressure she needed to ensure her business was a success.
“That’s one of the reasons why I knew I could not fail. I could not let her down,” she said.
Love, Bonito CEO Rachel Lim with her mom in Singapore.
Love, Bonito
Highschool hustle
Lim is the co-founder and CEO of Love, Bonito, a female fashion brand tailored specifically for Asian shoppers.
The 32-year-old’s multimillion-dollar customized clothing line today adorns women and wardrobes from Hong Kong and Australia to the United States.
But when she started out with sisters Viola and Velda Tan, and their
secondhand clothes blog in Singapore some 15 years ago, that vision
looked a long way off.
“My friends and I, we were still in school and we were just thinking of ways to earn extra pocket money,” recalled Lim.
“We
thought: ‘Okay, why don’t we sell online our pre-loved clothes?’
Clothes that we would wear once, or twice, or wouldn’t wear it anymore,”
she said.
Love, Bonito’s co-founders, from left to right, Rachel Lim, Viola Tan and Velda Tan.
Love, Bonito
The friends didn’t know it then, but they were onto something.
In 2005, online retail was just starting out in Southeast Asia, but the appetite was growing fast as consumers gained rapid access to technology.
“People from, for example, Malaysia, Indonesia,
Hong Kong would hear about us because they chanced upon the blog or the
website. So that was when we realized that, hey, you can reach a lot of
different people from all over the world ... with just a click,” said
Lim.
So, when the teens ran out of their own clothes to sell, they
decided to up their game, pooling their $300 savings and traveling
overseas to import more.
Reinventing the runway
That move got the ball rolling, taking the business, then called BonitoChico, from a pre-loved clothes blog to a fully-fledged fashion site.
But for Lim, something didn’t quite sit right.
“When we would import clothes to sell, there was always something that I wanted to change,” she said.
A lot of international brands, they cater to European, American women that have very different body proportions.
Rachel Lim
co-founder and CEO, Love, Bonito
“A
lot of international brands, they cater to European, American women
that have very different body proportions, skin tone, preferences and
even climate.”
That realization sparked a new purpose for the
young founders: To create a new fashion line specifically tailored to
Asian women, with smaller sizes and kinder cuts.
So they gave the
business a fresh look, changing the name to Love, Bonito — evoking a
love letter to their customers — and creating in-house designs to better
suit proportions.
Rachel Lim and Viola Tan, co-founders of Love, Bonito.
Love, Bonito
To make real progress, however, the young entrepreneurs knew they had to commit.
So, in 2009, with just eight months of her teaching degree remaining, Lim quit university to focus on the business full time. She was joined at the time by Viola, while Velda came on after completing her studies.
“I
was juggling school and work, and I wasn’t excelling in both, and I
realized that I had to focus on one,” said Lim, even if that meant
leaning on her mom for support.
“She was really worried because
online selling had barely just begun,” Lim said of her mom. “She was
really worried that this wasn’t legal, or that the government would come
after us.”
“But, at the end, she decided to take a leap of faith,” she said.
Fashion forward
It was that gamble that marked the start of Love, Bonito as it stands today.
In
the years that followed, Lim and her co-founders doubled down on their
dream to create an affordable and accessible fashion line for the Asian
market.
That included recruiting a team of designers to execute
the full creative process, from research and fabric selection to
development and final production.
Love, Bonito’s design studio
Love, Bonito
In 2013, Velda stepped back from Love, Bonito, but Viola remains in place today as a member of the board.
Meanwhile,
Lim has established herself as the face of the brand and one of
Southeast Asia’s rising women entrepreneurs. In 2016, aged 28, she was
named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30s in Asia. And in January 2020, she met with Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to discuss start-ups in the city-state.
Gail
Wong, an investor and coach for female founders, told CNBC Make It that
has been powerful in inspiring other women entrepreneurs.
″(Rachel)
started it really young, she didn’t have an Ivy League education that
certain types of people look for, and she had this obligation to make it
work,” said Wong.
“It’s a really interesting trait I’ve seen in
some female founders. There’s something bigger than their own ambition,”
she added.
Incrementally, I paid her back whenever I had any money at all.
Rachel Lim
co-founder and CEO, Love, Bonito
Despite
being cash flow positive from early on due to the regular turnover of
the retail business, that growing profile has also helped Love, Bonito
win external funding.
To date, the business has raised over $10 million from investors, including Japanese online retailer Kakaku.com, to help fund its expansion into a host of physical stores.
But Lim said the real win has been proving to her mom that her gamble paid off.
“Incrementally,
I paid her back whenever I had any money at all,” said Lim. “Priority
for me was that she wouldn’t need to work three jobs or work so hard and
such long hours and days.”
SANTA MONICA, Calif. --
Discount shoe retailer Payless wanted to prove a point, so it opened a
luxury shoe store called Palessi and filled it with the brand's
inexpensive footwear.
So-called fashion influencers were invited to shop at the Santa Monica
store, and some paid $200, $400 and $600 for shoes that typically cost
$20 to $40.
The influencers commented on the quality of the Payless shoes, and many
couldn't believe it when they found out the shoes were not designer.
Palessi made $3,000 in sales in just three hours. The buyers got their money back and free shoes for their trouble.
The stunt certainly paid off as the campaign has gone viral.
The year's best documentaries about business explore subjects including
#MeToo, women in STEM careers, and the future of the American dream.
It's been a great year for documentaries about business and innovation.
In 2018, documentary filmmakers tackled complex, important subjects
ranging from blockchain technology to the #MeToo movement to the
corruption of the American dream. Whether you plan to spend the holidays
reflecting on the past year--or trying to escape it--there's a strong
group of business docs you won't want to miss.
Here are the eight best business documentaries of 2018.
1. Paris to Pittsburgh
In the wake of President Donald Trump's decision to exit the Paris
climate agreement, this documentary follows the individuals fighting the
impacts of climate change in their own backyards. The film also focuses
on small-business owners in Iowa who have embraced renewable energy to
keep their businesses competitive and a nonprofit in California that
helps businesses hire former inmates trained in solar panel
installation. Paris to Pittsburgh premieres on Nat Geo worldwide on
December 12
2. Generation Wealth
Acclaimed filmmaker Lauren Greenfield's latest documentary makes the
case that America's obsession with wealth has corrupted the American
dream. The film looks at both super-rich hedge fund managers and those
struggling to make ends meet, serving as a cautionary tale for
entrepreneurs--and everyone else--that making money your top priority is
unhealthy and unsustainable. Generation Wealth is available to stream
on YouTube, GooglePlay, and Amazon Prime
3. Trust Machine:
The Story of Blockchain
Stories about blockchain technology were everywhere in 2018, but
filmmaker Alex Winter's documentary is a comprehensive account of the
digital ledger that records cryptocurrency transactions--and holds the
potential for so much more. The film also follows hacktivist and
blockchain expert Lauri Love as he fights extradition and tries to show
the world that blockchain technology can be used for noble causes like
fighting hunger. Trust Machine is playing in select theaters and will be
available to stream soon
4. Science Fair
Winner of the audience award at the Sundance Film Festival, Science Fair
follows nine high school students as they compete in The International
Science and Engineering Fair. The competition takes 1,700 of the
smartest teens on the planet--all of whom are trying to change the world
through science--and crowns one bright young mind as Best in Fair.
Science Fair is playing in select theaters and will be available to
stream soon
5. Won't You Be My Neighbor?
As the cardigan-clad host of the renowned children's show Mister Rogers'
Neighborhood, Fred Rogers revolutionized educational TV, forging
millions of meaningful relationships with viewers through his unique
understanding of the link between emotion and learning. An expert on
communication with both children and adults, Rogers's lessons about
personal growth continue to inspire educators around the world. Won't
You Be My Neighbor? is available to stream on YouTube, GooglePlay, and
Amazon Prime
6. Seeing Allred
Women's rights attorney Gloria Allred has been fighting injustice
against women for decades, but the rise of the #MeToo movement has
helped create a sense of urgency around fighting sexual harassment and
abuse--in and out the workplace. This documentary looks at what drives
Allred to continue fighting for women and her recent work on the sexual
assault cases brought against famous, powerful men. Seeing Allred is
available to stream on Netflix
7.
Mercury 13
In 1961, as part of a privately funded program, 13 women took the same
physiological tests that NASA used for spaceflight, only to have their
hopes dashed when a team of men became astronauts. This documentary
profiles the eager renegades who could have been the first women in
space, and who led the charge for other women interested in STEM
careers. Mercury 13 is available to stream on Netflix
8.
McQueen
This documentary explores the career and inspirations of Alexander
McQueen, one of the most beloved and respected fashion designers of
modern times. Before his suicide in 2010, McQueen challenged the status
quo with his macabre vision and controversial clothes, forever altering
the fashion industry. McQueen is available to stream on YouTube and
GooglePlay. https://www.geezgo.com/sps/47625 Join
Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your
Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
"I was weaned on musicals ... totally transfixed by the plumes and the
paste jewels. I told myself that one day I would stage a revue," Jean
Paul Gaultier said of a childhood dream that has now taken shape at the
Folies Bergeres, a landmark Parisian theatre.
"The Fashion Freak Show", which opens to the public next week, traces
the journey of the enfant terrible of French couture from his humble
origins in a Paris suburb to international stardom.
The 66-year-old began his career as an assistant with Pierre Cardin and a
pathbreaking trail followed that introduced man skirts, older men,
fuller women and heavily tattooed models to the runway and the iconic
cone bra immortalised by pop diva Madonna.
"I have always loved freaks, strange people, troublemakers, aesthetics
which blend and unexpected encounters like when the boy from the streets
consorts with the duchess," Gaultier said.
The spectacle showcases 200 of his creations and begins with "Nana",
Gaultier's childhood teddy bear for whom he made a conical bra when he
was just five.
It shows a young Jean Paul being regularly punished in school for
drawing gowns in the classroom and goes on to his stint at Cardin, his
first collection and his inspirations and muses, including Kylie
Minogue, Madonna and Pedro Almodovar.
Boasting colours screaming Florida and enlivened by energetic disco
beats, the revue also showcases the quirky collections of the bad boy of
fashion over the years such as his corset dresses and the Perfecto
gown.
Gaultier's life is laid bare with scenes from a gay cruising club and a
moving moment when his lover and business partner Francis Menuge dies of
AIDS.
The show brings together about 15 actors and dancers playing
personalities who are "almost naked, tottering on high heels, generously
proportioned and either wearing underpants or not", Gaultier said.
The designer, whose signature attire is a striped Breton jersey, has an important message for the audience at the end.
Italian fashion giant Versace, known for its Medusa head logo and being
one of the few remaining family-controlled businesses in the industry,
is reportedly being sold to US fashion group Michael Kors.
The deal, worth around $2 billion, provides for the Versace family to continue to play a role, according to media reports.
Here are five things to know about the Milan-based luxury brand:
Gianni Versace, stylist of stars
Born in Calabria to a dressmaker mother, Gianni Versace began designing
clothes at a young age and moved to fashion capital Milan when he was
25. In 1978, he presented his first signature collection, with his
brother Santo taking care of the label's business arm.
"He was a 360-degree creator, a real artist, he had a pure creative
vision on colours and materials," Stefania Saviolo, director of the
luxury and fashion centre at Bocconi University, told AFP.
He wowed the showbiz world, dressing 'A'-listers from Madonna to Elton
John, and getting supermodels like Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell
to strut their stuff down the catwalk for him.
THAT Dress
Gianni Versace's collections were colourful, sexy and luxurious. His
designs mixed baroque prints, animal skin motifs, bondage-style leather,
slits and, especially, ultra-tight fits.
At the 1994 premiere of "Four Weddings and a Funeral", he dressed actress Liz Hurley in a famously suggestive black dress.
Made from silk and lycra, with a sharply plunging neckline and a long
slit up the side, the dress was held together by several oversized
golden safety pins.
The dress catapulted Hurley, then romantically involved with Hugh Grant, to fame and became simply known as "THAT dress".
Death and fall
On July 15, 1997, Gianni Versace was shot dead by luxury-obsessed male
prostitute Andrew Cunanan as he returned to his luxury villa in Miami
after buying the morning papers.
The killing shocked the worlds of fashion and show business, at a time
when Versace the brand was "at its apex", said consultant David
Pambianco.
Gianni's sister Donatella, then in charge of the Versus line, took over
as artistic director, while Santo kept control of the money side of the
business.
But the Versace brand's power shrank as management teams succeeded one
after the other, employees were laid off and boutiques closed.
Donatella
Gianni's emblematic sister Donatella, 63, eternally tanned with dyed
blonde hair and a face distinguished by multiple plastic surgery
operations, has been in charge since 1997.
She was her brother's muse and confidante, worked at his side for 14
years and went into depression after his death. In 2005 she was treated
for cocaine addiction.
After a shaky start, Donatella has risen to the challenge of running a highly successful fashion titan.
Versace 2.0
In recent years, "Versace has found 'the red carpet DNA' again after
losing it as well as its very audacious, strong style," said Bocconi
University's Saviolo.
London Fashion Week kicked off Friday with all eyes on Victoria Beckham,
who debuted at the event on the 10th anniversary of her label's launch,
and on Burberry's new star designer Riccardo Tisci.
The ex-Spice Girl, celebrating a decade since her brand's 2008 unveiling
in New York, has since defied the naysayers and won her peers' respect.
The Briton now heads a fashion empire valued at £100 million ($131
million) by the industry press, although her appearance in London is
Beckham's first at the country's premiere fashion show.
"Ten years ago, when Victoria Beckham started, many saw her as just
another example of a celebrity wanting to have a fashion range with no
formal fashion training," University of Westminster Professor Andrew
Groves told AFP.
"Through hard work and determination she has proved those early critics wrong."
- 'VB' on Piccadilly -
Ahead of her homecoming of sorts, the 44-year-old mother-of-four
featured on London's legendary Piccadilly Circus advertising screens,
fulfilling a childhood dream.
The designer's show, scheduled for Sunday, is expected to attract a host
of VIPs, starting with the Beckham tribe -- her husband David and their
four children.
British Vogue magazine, which features them on its October cover, is hoping some former bandmates may also attend.
"Fingers crossed for some Spice Girls on the front row," it wrote.
The other big highlight of London's week, dedicated to the spring-summer
2019 collections and which ends on Tuesday, will see Tisci present his
much anticipated first collection for Burberry.
The Italian designer, formerly of Givenchy, replaced Christopher Bailey
as chief creative officer of the luxury British fashion house in March
and will showcase on Monday.
He was credited with reviving Givenchy during his 12-year tenure there, by cultivating links with celebrities.
His arrival at Burberry is intended to reinvigorate the brand following disappointing profits in recent years.
Burberry is relying on Tisci, praised for his ability to blend
street-wear with high fashion, to re-energise its high-end presence.
"Riccardo's creative vision will reinforce the ambitions we have for
Burberry and position the brand firmly in luxury," chief executive Marco
Gobbetti said in a statement.
- Avoiding Brexit damage -
Naomi Braithwaite, senior lecturer in fashion marketing and branding,
Nottingham Trent University, told AFP that Tisci "seems a perfect choice
for Burberry."
"His tendency to not be afraid to take creative risks and innovate (are)
characteristics that have underpinned Burberry's philosophy in the last
few years," she said.
Originally from Taranto, a port city in southern Italy, Tisci trained at
Central Saint Martins, a top arts and design college in London.
He has already started to make his own mark on the venerable British
brand since arriving, recently unveiling on Instagram a new company
monogram.
A white "B" is interwoven with red ribbons to form the initials of Thomas Burberry, who founded the fashion house in 1856.
But Friday, it was all about colour: lemon, pink, and mint green for
Ireland's rising star Richard Malone, who is just 26, and lavender and
anise of Turkey's Bora Aksu.
Former Lady Gaga designer Nicolas Formichetti, who came up with the
singer's famous meat dress, mixed sportswear and sequins to create a
festive wardrobe for Nicopanda.
Inspired by pop culture of the 1990s, it featured a translucent cowboy hat and star-studded beach shorts.
Not to be outdone, Pam Hogg made her mark with a vibrant show inspired
by ancient Egyptian queens, replete with golden robes and towering
headwear, some of which looked to be a take on the Bearskin hats worn by
the Queen's Guards.
"It was fantastic," Hogg said of the show and the reception.
British Fashion Council chairwoman Stephanie Phair could not avoid
mentioning the elephant in the room: Britain's impending departure from
the European Union in March next year.
Phair said the industry needed to open a dialogue with the British
government about preparations to ensure global-facing fashion brands can
continue to operate smoothly amid Brexit.
"To argue the case where damage could be done is something the British Fashion Council already does every day," she said.
US-Palestinian sisters Bella and Gigi Hadid proved they are in high demand at New York Fashion Week
DUBAI: The US-Palestinian Hadid sisters proved they are in high demand
at New York Fashion Week by walking the runway for luxury label Oscar de
la Renta on Tuesday.
Bella kicked things off in a fringed, sarong-like skirt with a tulip
print and a white, one-armed top. And Gigi finished the show in a long,
sheer black lace gown — also with one arm free — with delicate ruffles
running up the leg, the Associated Press reported.
Two years into their tenure at the helm of Oscar de la Renta, designers
Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia continue to seek new ways to inject a more
relaxed vibe into the label — while maintaining its famous
craftsmanship.
This week, the pair put on a rooftop runway show that felt like a sunny
Mediterranean vacation — well, once it actually stopped drizzling. There
were bold prints, lots of fringe, crocheted dresses and loose, comfy
caftans taking their place among the elegant, structured gowns the label
is best known for.
The two moods of the collection could perhaps best be sampled by looking
at the show’s opening and closing garments, each modeled by a famous
Hadid sister.
Backstage after the high-profile show, which drew celebrities like Nicki
Minaj (and her mother), Kate Beckinsale and Dianna Agron.
The designers agreed that each season, they’ve experimented just a bit
more with the aesthetic of the label’s legendary founder. This time,
they thought about all the countries they’d traveled to for inspiration,
and then actually made a print from a map of them, which appears on
several garments.
“You can see, it goes from Turkey, to Morocco, to China,” Kim said, pointing to a photo on her look board backstage.
A number of the garments had a relaxed, looser fit, and Kim said that
had something to do with the weather this year. “It was so hot this
summer that I think I personally felt the need for looser clothes,” she
said.
Chief among them: Kaftans, perhaps the ideal vacation garment. “We
always had kaftans but we never really showed them,” said Kim. “But I’m
starting to realize that that’s all I want to wear in summer.”
Colors included a lot of neutrals, but also bold colors like bright
canary yellow, and a new terra cotta red. Speaking of canaries, one
highly whimsical touch was a white birdcage purse — with a wallet
inside, resembling a bird. Not exactly your traditional de la Renta
accessory.
Earlier in the week, the Hadid sisters walked in Prabal Gurung’s show.
The designer, who sent models from 35 countries around the globe down
his runway on Sunday, chose to represent a world where “all humanity
reigns,” according to the Associated Press.
The fashionable crowd was also treated to the designer’s first-ever
menswear collection. Among his men was Anwar Hadid, joined in the show
by his supermodel sisters. https://www.geezgo.com/sps/38974
Kate Spade put the sparkle into New York Fashion Week on Friday, paying
tribute in a riot of color to the handbag brand's founder, three
months... Continue Reading on Geezgo
Lady
Mary Charteris, at an arty farty party in London on Saturday, is the
woman who apparently broke up Kate Moss’s marriage. Jamie Hince is
nowhere to be seen, not that the aristo DJ needs any additional
accessories to this hot mess of an outfit. She wears a doily for a top, a
conspicuous black bra and a coat only a Yeti would covet. / Photo Getty
- See more at:
http://www.scout.co.nz/The-best-and-worst-dressed-celebrities-of-the-weekend/tabid/1537/articleID/11598/Default.aspx#img-3
Lady Mary Charteris, at an arty farty party in London on Saturday, is the woman who apparently broke up Kate Moss’s marriage. Jamie Hince is nowhere to be seen, not that the aristo DJ needs any additional accessories to this hot mess of an outfit. She wears a doily for a top, a conspicuous black bra and a coat only a Yeti would covet. / Photo Getty
Lady Kitty Spencer and Viscountess of Weymouth, Emma McQuiston, are veeery va-va-voom at the Naked Heart Foundation fundraiser. We reckon this picture should be labelled Nobility and their Knockers. Kitty, the first cuz of Wills and Harry, looks coquettish in white, while the chatelaine of Longleat looks vampish in Viv Westwood. / Photo Getty
Lady Victoria Hervey, at the same event, opted for an Ice Capades number. Maybe she’s putting her hand up for the next series of 'Strictly Come Dancing'. / Photo Getty
Kiwi supermodel Lili Sumner, snapped here on the weekend with Canadian It-model Tyg Davison at a private party given by Marc Jacobs, looks typically rock’n’roll chic in silver hot pants, matching heels and an embellished sheer over-dress that looks more like a disinherited society queen’s negligee. Mind you, with the partay going down at the secretive Park Chinois, a decadent club in Mayfair, which conjures an atmosphere of debauched 1930’s jazz nights in Shanghai, Our Lil fitted right in. The model, a fave of Marc Jacobs and Hedi Slimane, was seen swigging champers and cavorting with Beth Ditto, Gwendoline Christie, Erin O’Connor, Naomi Campbell, Georgia May Jagger and Rosamund Pike. / Photo Getty
Cheryl Fernandez-Versini has ditched the hubby but is evidently still sitting at home in her trackies with a cup of tea and a TimTam, if this bland outfit is anything to go by. At a L’Oreal party (of which the former pop star is an ambassador) to kick off London Fashion Week, you’d be forgiven for thinking Chez might be on the pull. But you’d be wrong. Granted, the houndstooth cocktail dress is gorgeous in its tailored structuring, but it says ‘I’m ready for business’, not 'I’m ready for bed’. Just saying. / Photo Getty
Charli XCX looks as if she’s channelling Charlotte’s Web. Her mesh dress is covered in bugs and beetles, as if she spun an arachnid trap but became the prey. / Photo Getty
Millie Mackintosh is clinging on to her friend, British model Portia Freeman, for support. Life support. The Former star of 'Made in Chelsea' officially called it quits on her marriage yesterday – the same day this pic was snapped. She’s done with Professor Green. But she’s schooled in chartreuse. Does this mean we’ll finally see the willowy strawberry blonde back on hoity toity telly where she belongs? / Photo Getty
You know that old adage, she’s a model and can make anything look good? Well, it’s wrong. I give you Exhibit 1. Sascha Luss, a 23-year-old lovely from Mother Russia, wears Victoriana booties and a strapless period petticoat in sunshine yellow, as if she was a minxy maiden in a Tolstoy adaptation, Phoar and Peace. / Photo Getty
Tali Lennox, daughter of Annie and girlfriend of Ian Jones who tragically died in a kayak accident last year, looks very mature for her 23 years. We can’t decide if this one-shouldered gown looks like a pricey chic toga, as if Greece wasn’t in a financial crisis and Ouzo wasn’t cheaper than Perrier. Or more like an Out of Africa disaster where a zebra has been slaughtered and its hunter is wearing the hide. / Photo Getty
Amber Le Bon brought pink stripes and pink bangs to an outfit that was more joyously youthful than a carton of candy floss at a carnival - and we loved it. The 26-year-old schlebrity sprog is a model (aren’t all offspring of musos disaffected models or DJs?) and fun-loving with it, which she evidently gets from her old man. A night on the turps with the Duran Duran frontman at a little Hobson St dive circa. 2008 on a cold Auckland night takes me back, but I digress. / Photo Getty
Fellow schlebrity sprogs, Pixie Geldof and Daisy Lowe, daughters of rock royalty Sir Bob and Gavin Rossdale respectively, rocked some serious 70’s psychedelic flair at London Fashion Week's House of Holland show yesterday. Maybe they could cameo on the new Ab Fab movie. / Photo Getty
Kate Hudson, short of a straw bale and a bottle of moonshine, presses on ahead with her new book signing appearance, in which she autographed copies of her new tome, 'Pretty Happy: Healthy Ways to Love Your Body' in Illinois. If she means line dancing and rodeos, we’re out. / Photo Getty
WHAT: Emilia Wickstead’s ready-to-wear Fall 2016 collection.
WHERE: London Fashion Week.
WHEN: February 20, 2016.
WHO:
New Zealand-born designer Emilia Wickstead grew up in Auckland, before
moving to Milan aged 14. She went on to study fashion in London, where
she is now based. The Kiwi’s latest collection on the runway featured
shades of dusty lavender, mustard yellow, and seafoam green. The designs
stayed true to the feminine silhouettes of past collections, which have
won acclaim from London socialites, and have been worn by a certain
Duchess of Cambridge.
- See more at:
http://www.scout.co.nz/Emilia-Wicksteads-London-Fashion-Week-runway-show/tabid/1537/articleID/11602/Default.aspx#sthash.P8BX8ijU.dpuf
WHAT: Emilia Wickstead’s ready-to-wear Fall 2016 collection.
WHERE: London Fashion Week.
WHEN: February 20, 2016.
WHO:
New Zealand-born designer Emilia Wickstead grew up in Auckland, before
moving to Milan aged 14. She went on to study fashion in London, where
she is now based. The Kiwi’s latest collection on the runway featured
shades of dusty lavender, mustard yellow, and seafoam green. The designs
stayed true to the feminine silhouettes of past collections, which have
won acclaim from London socialites, and have been worn by a certain
Duchess of Cambridge.
- See more at:
http://www.scout.co.nz/Emilia-Wicksteads-London-Fashion-Week-runway-show/tabid/1537/articleID/11602/Default.aspx#sthash.P8BX8ijU.dpuf
WHAT: Emilia Wickstead’s ready-to-wear Fall 2016 collection.
WHERE: London Fashion Week.
WHEN: February 20, 2016.
WHO:
New Zealand-born designer Emilia Wickstead grew up in Auckland, before
moving to Milan aged 14. She went on to study fashion in London, where
she is now based. The Kiwi’s latest collection on the runway featured
shades of dusty lavender, mustard yellow, and seafoam green. The designs
stayed true to the feminine silhouettes of past collections, which have
won acclaim from London socialites, and have been worn by a certain
Duchess of Cambridge.
- See more at:
http://www.scout.co.nz/Emilia-Wicksteads-London-Fashion-Week-runway-show/tabid/1537/articleID/11602/Default.aspx#sthash.P8BX8ijU.dpuf
WHAT: Emilia Wickstead’s ready-to-wear Fall 2016 collection.
WHERE: London Fashion Week.
WHEN: February 20, 2016.
WHO: New Zealand-born designer Emilia Wickstead grew up in Auckland, before moving to Milan aged 14. She went on to study fashion in London, where she is now based. The Kiwi’s latest collection on the runway featured shades of dusty lavender, mustard yellow, and seafoam green. The designs stayed true to the feminine silhouettes of past collections, which have won acclaim from London socialites, and have been worn by a certain Duchess of Cambridge.
Anderson enjoys making us, metaphorically, puff out and frown at his flying-saucer hems and zip-ribbed tunic
Alexander Fury
Anderson’s snapshots train your eye to focus on particular facets of the clothes AFP
‘Modern cocktail” was how J W Anderson chose to
describe his autumn/winter 2016 collection. Really? Does Anderson
imagine women would wear his pile-ups of green neoprene frills and
furbelows, puffed out like the vocal sacs of a fat, enraged toad, for a
quiet soiree? Or was he being provocative, combative and challenging?
I suspect the latter. Anderson enjoys getting people’s
hackles up – making us, metaphorically, puff out and frown at his
flying-saucer hems and zip-ribbed tunics. We also tut when Anderson
pontificates about abstract themes rather than tell us why he decided to
show ruffles and where the leaf studding his satin tops originated. I
suspect some of that is for effect, to emphasise, perhaps, how
ridiculous it is for us all to rush backstage and beg explanation of the
whys and wherefores of puff sleeves and puffball skirts. But I also
think Anderson is trying to grapple with ambitious ideas to keep his
audience interested.
‘Modern cocktail” was how J W Anderson chose to describe his autumn/winter 2016 collection (AFP)
That’s a vital thing for designers to accomplish in the physically
and technologically packed hypermarket that is contemporary fashion. A
multitude of names are jostling for both attention and consumption.
Anderson is in his early thirties, acutely aware of the demands of the
new age. So he gives us shows animated with endless novelty and
frivolity, easily consumed both visually and at sales tills. He talked
about his outfits being “snapshots”, after an iPhone-welded audience
spent his show doing little other than snapping, and said he wanted each
observer to wind up “immersed in a look”.
Pulled close in to the models on a narrow catwalk, you did wind up
buried, near physically, in the details of embroidered leather bodices,
ruched leggings, fish-scale paillette shoes and munched-up ruffled
skirts. It was tough to see them as an entity, but rather as abstracts
perpetual motion. “It’s to get a sense of clothing,” mused Anderson
grandly. “It’s fine if it’s not commercial.”
But it isn’t fine, and this was commercial, despite Anderson’s
protestations. A designer has to sell their clothes to survive, and the
current rejigging of catwalk calendars in favour of a model dubbed “see
now, buy now” underlines the demands of commerce. Anderson’s snapshots
trained your eye to focus on particular facets of the clothes: a studded
handbag, sequinned shoes, shirt-dresses kicking into stiff saturn rings
of coloured leather about the knee. Coupling those saturn rings with
the wide-cut puritan collars and those ribbity frog flounces, and it
felt like Anderson was trying – physically – to distance his wearer from
her surroundings. Perhaps protectively, perhaps simply
misanthropically. Perhaps also to allow a woman to exist in her own
space, without intrusion, behind heavy-duty metal grommeting as armour.
Anderson mentioned that he likes to be confrontational backstage: maybe
he didn’t just mean in terms of cocktail attire.
Anderson is trying to grapple with ambitious ideas to keep his audience interested (AFP)
I can’t help but think Anderson’s often steadfast refusal to engage
in the inspirational nuts and bolts of his design (What’s that fabric?
Why that fur?) and willingness to wax lyrical on the state of modern
society is because, simply, there isn’t an explanation behind what he
chose. He saw a ruffle, liked it, stuck it on a skirt, thought other
people would like it to. Simple as. And simply, you could imagine women
wearing the stiff cotton dresses and lightly draped sweaters. For
cocktails, and beyond. So why do we care about a hidden depth,
especially if there really isn’t one?
There’s no danger of hidden depth with Emilia Wickstead, whose posh
clothes for posh girls going to posh dos tick pretty basic boxes. Her
style can be neatly summarised as Lee Radziwill in radzimir: clean
sixties-tinged couture gowns, straightforward coats, skinny gowns.
Occasionally they’re muddled, such as by Wickstead’s predilection for
jumpsuits so pronounced it amounts to a fetish that, like “splooshing”,
say, or “yiffing”, is entirely inexplicable unless likewise inclined.
This time, she let godet-hemmed trousers get the better of her in a
valiant attempt to challenge the ubiquity of the cigarette trouser. To
paraphrase the words of Abba’s Agnetha Faltskog, whom many of the models
wound up resembling, Wickstead was defeated, the slender leg won the
war.
However, this was otherwise a sharp, decisive, well-executed show
full of engaging ideas. Confrontation, perhaps, for Wickstead – quietly
so – as it challenged the niche she’s been placed in as party-frock
purveyor. Many of the ideas felt new – if not entirely, then certainly
for Wickstead. Few felt prim or precious, which has marred previous
outings. The tailoring was great in giant boxy shapes with strapped
sleeves; her knitted dresses deserved special mention and merit. Long
and lean and body-hugging, even when shown as a potentially lumpen combo
of knit pinafore dress over sweater. A cable-knit version, fluted at
the hem, was lovely. Very modern cocktail.
23-year-old acid attack victim, Rupa, has turned an ugly incident in her
life and made a beautiful story out of it. In 2008, Rupa was attacked
with acid by her stepmother. She dropped her surname after being
disowned by her father, who supported his wife over her.
According to Rupa, she had always dreamt of becoming a designer but
after the attack, she had to pause her dreams as she walked in shame
with a scarf covering her face.
"I always wanted to be a designer but after the attack there was a pause
in my life. I was so insecure and embarrassed by my scars I used to
cover my face with a scarf. I always hung onto my dream but I never knew
that one day it would be possible and I would be launching my own
label" she told Dailymail.
Years after, she has been able to conquer her fears as she has launched
her own clothing line and is modeling them alongside other acid attack
survivors. What an amazing story! See more photos of Rupa and her models
Despite
being cash flow positive from early on due to the regular turnover of
the retail business, that growing profile has also helped Love, Bonito
win external funding.
Italian fashion giant Versace, known for its Medusa head logo and being
one of the few remaining family-controlled businesses in the industry,
is reportedly being sold to US fashion group Michael Kors.
by multiple plastic surgery
operations, has been in charge since 1997.
Kate Spade put the sparkle into New York Fashion Week on Friday, paying
tribute in a riot of color to the handbag brand's founder, three
months... 
Lady Kitty Spencer and Viscountess of Weymouth, Emma McQuiston, are veeery va-va-voom at the Naked Heart Foundation fundraiser. We reckon this picture should be labelled Nobility and their Knockers. Kitty, the first cuz of Wills and Harry, looks coquettish in white, while the chatelaine of Longleat looks vampish in Viv Westwood. / Photo Getty
Lady Victoria Hervey, at the same event, opted for an Ice Capades number. Maybe she’s putting her hand up for the next series of 'Strictly Come Dancing'. / Photo Getty
Charli XCX looks as if she’s channelling Charlotte’s Web. Her mesh dress is covered in bugs and beetles, as if she spun an arachnid trap but became the prey. / Photo Getty
Millie Mackintosh is clinging on to her friend, British model Portia Freeman, for support. Life support. The Former star of 'Made in Chelsea' officially called it quits on her marriage yesterday – the same day this pic was snapped. She’s done with Professor Green. But she’s schooled in chartreuse. Does this mean we’ll finally see the willowy strawberry blonde back on hoity toity telly where she belongs? / Photo Getty
You know that old adage, she’s a model and can make anything look good? Well, it’s wrong. I give you Exhibit 1. Sascha Luss, a 23-year-old lovely from Mother Russia, wears Victoriana booties and a strapless period petticoat in sunshine yellow, as if she was a minxy maiden in a Tolstoy adaptation, Phoar and Peace. / Photo Getty
Tali Lennox, daughter of Annie and girlfriend of Ian Jones who tragically died in a kayak accident last year, looks very mature for her 23 years. We can’t decide if this one-shouldered gown looks like a pricey chic toga, as if Greece wasn’t in a financial crisis and Ouzo wasn’t cheaper than Perrier. Or more like an Out of Africa disaster where a zebra has been slaughtered and its hunter is wearing the hide. / Photo Getty
Amber Le Bon brought pink stripes and pink bangs to an outfit that was more joyously youthful than a carton of candy floss at a carnival - and we loved it. The 26-year-old schlebrity sprog is a model (aren’t all offspring of musos disaffected models or DJs?) and fun-loving with it, which she evidently gets from her old man. A night on the turps with the Duran Duran frontman at a little Hobson St dive circa. 2008 on a cold Auckland night takes me back, but I digress. / Photo Getty
