*Out of tragedy* After her brother's murder, Donatella Versace inherited his family fashion house. It was in trouble - and so was she. Jess Cartner-Morley hears how she turned both around *Jess Cartner-Morley * *Saturday February 9, 2008* *Guardian* The late Gianni Versace once said, "If I were to marry, I would look for a girl like Donatella." Four decades ago, when Gianni was a young man and his sister, eight years his junior, still in her early teens, he would drive Donatella, her hair already bleached blond and coiffed under his instruction, her outfit approved, to the only disco in Calabria, southern Italy, with their friends.  read more »

We all have safety nets in our wardrobe. These are items we collect because they are comfy, they are cheap and they often remind us of younger, happier and more fun days (come now, who doesn't get excited when the weather warms up enough for flip flops?). Problem is, many of these wardrobe safety nets are devoid of any style and often end up destroying the personal style we otherwise may possesses on a given day. How do you keep it easy, breezy, yet maintain your personal style? The Flip Flop Alternative Don't get me wrong, I love flip flops as much as the next gal. This weekend when grabbing a pair so I could play in the yard with my dog, I rifled through eight different pairs to find my beloved Reefs. I have stacked ones for longer pants, crocheted ones that are a tad dressier, aqua ones to match my bathing suit, ones that work well in wet conditions, ones that work with certain sun dresses or beach coverups in my closet. The thing is, flip flops are not real shoes. They don't look like real shoes, they don't wear like real shoes (any orthopedist will tell you they are terrible for your feet), they are often dirty, run-down and ruin the line of your silhouette. Flip flops are great for the beach, the pool, the casual cookout in your friend's backyard or putting around your own; but what does a gal grab when heading to the market, to work and other places where flip flops are just not a chic choice?  read more »

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute's annual gala: Oh, it happened all right. And though you now know who made it into the the Good , the Bad , and the Ugly category of "fashion's Oscars," we know you're just dying to know what the media themselves had to say about the yearly orgy of fashion and fame. (At the very last you're dying to know what hoity-toity critic-types had to say about Anna Wintour's Princess Amadala outfit, right?  read more »

I've been wanting them since I was ten! I want mine in dark suede with a super high heel and worn with Vivienne Westwood-y cocoon plaid wool coat in colors of the fall. Now if only it was October already. uGHMM  read more »

&set=72157604238421843">?o=0'>?o=0' style='font-size: 9px; text-align: center;'>Click the image above to view the full photogallery. Already in full force on the other side of the world in Hong Kong, it appears the UFO-like Chanel Mobile Art Container will crash land somewhere in New York in September 2008, just in time for Fashion Week. The conceptual lovechild of Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld and architect Zaha Hadid was called a "very elaborate Chanel commercial" by the IHT, but Racked's own first-hand sources didn't mind the commercialism as much as the drone-like rigidity of the tour and the confusing, contradictory messages found in the art—one being the tragedy of making bags out of animal skin, followed by glorification of the leather 2.55 Chanel purse.  read more »

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from: Josh Patner *Is This the Seedy Underbelly of New York Fashion?* Posted Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008, at 2:43 PM ET Image: http://img.slate.com/media/1/123125/122986/2180596/2183712/2183715/08020... (http://www.slate.com/id/2183955/)Telfar's spring collection Sunday night, while fashion's powerbrokers were on their way to Diane von Furstenberg's post-show dinner at her Meatpacking District headquarters, a 22-year-old designer named Telfar, who has been in business for three years, showed his collection at St. Mark's Church in the East Village. It was a full house. Not a powerbroker in sight. No free Evian (the "official water" of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, a term that refers to the show held in the Bryant Park tents) was distributed.  read more »

i have no idea who this person is but i know what Victim is and i know the owner and creator Mei Hui Liu....and indeed this is their livliehood. who the hell doesn't realise they've walked out with 500 dress without paying?!  read more »