Studios decided to reboot classic fairy tales

We've had sparkly vampires, half-naked werewolves and increasingly weary teen wizards. Now, film and television executives are hoping that they can spin box office gold from the good, old-fashioned fairy story. With three versions of Snow White in pre-production, teen re-imaginings of Beauty and the Beast and Little Red Riding Hood due in cinemas soon, and all-action spins on Jack and the Beanstalk, Pinocchio and Hansel and Gretel coming next year, Hollywood is clearly betting that a revitalised "Once Upon a Time" format will turn beans into big bucks.

And they're not the only ones. This year's television pilots also have a fairy-tale theme, with shows such as NBC'S Grimm, described as a dark cop drama in which "characters inspired by Grimm's Fairy Tales exist", and ABC's Once Upon a Time, billed as a modern day take on the fairy-tale genre.

So why all the sudden interest in evil queens and wicked witches? In part, it's because these stories are in the public domain and, thus, the rights are free. As Catherine Hardwicke, the director of Red Riding Hood, told Entertainment Weekly: "They are known all over the world. Studios are enamoured with making something that already has built-in name recognition or a fan base."

Not, however, that these are the sort of films that you might take your children to see. We're not talking about Disney's animated princesses or a Shrek-style reworking of old stories for a young audience but rather about dark and distinctly gothic tales told with an older audience in mind.

Take Red Riding Hood, which opens in the UK on 15 April. Featuring Amanda Seyfried in wide-eyed ingénue mode, and a pair of just-the-right-side-of-hammy turns from Gary Oldman and Julie Christie, Hardwicke's atmospheric film nods more to Neil Jordan's The Company of Wolves, a darkly enjoyable adaptation of short stories by Angela Carter, than it does to the original source material.

Spun off from an idea by Leonardo DiCaprio, who suggested that the Little Red Riding Hood story could work as a romantic thriller, and written by by David Leslie Johnson, who also wrote the superbly creepy Orphan, this Red Riding Hood is as concerned with the beast within as it is with the dangers of straying off the right path.

Eminem soared from drug-filled poverty to adulation and notoriety

When I began writing the first serious biography of Eminem 10 years ago, he was at the height of his powers and notoriety. "Stan", his astonishing shaggy-dog tale of letters between himself and an unhinged fan – somehow made more funny and menacing by the sampled Dido's wan desire for a cup of tea on a drizzly English day – had just been released. Everybody I knew wanted to talk about it, and its singer, and once they started they couldn't stop. This was a rapper who in other songs had decided to kill his estranged Mum, absent Dad and long-suffering wife Kim, claimed to have murdered OJ Simpson and armed the Columbine killers, and, who when attacked for homophobia, rapped: "Hate fags? – yes." He was picketed by feminist and gay groups, baited by homophobic tabloids and liberal broadsheets. Eminem for one moment gave pop back its centrifugal force at culture's core. For the first and, to date, last time, I was offered sex for my ticket when he flew into Manchester to find he'd become a folk devil.

I was soon walking Detroit in his footsteps. The city looked as if it had been dredged from underwater. You could hear the wind whistling through huge roofless factories, and walk for 15 minutes in the city's gutted, once grand, heart without seeing a soul. Pacing down 8 Mile Road, the borderland between black urban Detroit and its white suburbs which he made notorious in songs and an Oscar-winning film, I saw the broken landscape that helped make him great. As Elvis did in Memphis, Eminem – then Marshall Mathers, of course – had experienced life as a minority on the black side of town. And he knew from black friends the bigger American picture. His shattered city made him understand class too; he knew which he was, and rapped for the underdog. The misogyny, beginning with his awful relationship with mother Debbie Mathers-Briggs, and continuing with childhood sweetheart and lyrical punchbag Kim, was more troubling; the homophobia too. But female and gay friends found his articulate rage universal. Sometimes they felt just like him.

He tended to attack rather than retreat when criticised, anyway, as Presidents from Clinton to George W Bush (who called him "the worst thing to happen to American youth since polio") both found. Retaliating to such slurs made him the most brave, articulate anti-government pop star during the paranoid, post-September-11 clampdown. In the year of Bush's 2004 re-election, "Mosh" lyrically decimated the new McCarthyism. In the ultimate battle rap, he called out the President: "Maybe we can reach al-Qa'ida with my speech/ Let the President answer our high anarchy/ Strap him with an AK-47/ Let him fight his own war/ Let him impress Daddy that way... no more blood for oil". Anyone who was in America at that time knows the risks he was taking, which no other pop star did with such directness. Those who've rhetorically wondered where the 1960s- and 1980s-style songs of protest and resistance are now: they were here.

Eminem at 38 has changed, as the isolation of his American fame has deepened. He writes about himself much more than his country now. Maybe he isn't like Ginsberg. But his commitment to renewing his astonishing talent, and the intense dramas of his life, are as bottomless as I first hoped. I'll be going back to my book.

Calvi's live performances are an eerie and entrancing visual treat

To anyone familiar with Anna Calvi, it would come as little surprise to discover that there was a time when the 28-year-old singer-songwriter was considering going to art school, such is the ferocity of her vision and the eerie and sophisticated aesthetic that she has carefully constructed. In the end, though, music won out as the overriding passion. After all, Calvi was just four years old when she first asked her parents for a violin. There was something about the small, stringed instrument that fascinated the precocious young Londoner. By eight she was teaching herself to play the guitar that her father had left lying around the house and, at nine, Calvi became a fully-fledged songwriter, composing a tune imagining that she was in David Bowie's band.

Having been raised by parents whose vinyl collection included everything from Maria Callas to Captain Beefheart and Beethoven to Django Reinhardt, when she finally embarked on a music degree at university it made sense that she chose to study such eclectic modules as 20th-century opera, orchestrating and arranging, and jazz ensemble. This myriad influences also goes some way to explaining the 10 textured, genre-spanning songs delivered on her eponymous debut album, released to rapturous acclaim earlier this year, and which heralded the arrival of a truly original new voice.

It took a while for Calvi to realise she wanted to be a singer, though. Returning to her parents' home after university, Calvi played guitar with some bands to gain some experience before deciding that she couldn't ignore her dream and embarked on the hefty task of teaching herself to sing.

"I didn't tell anyone at first," she recalls. "I used to wait until everyone had left the house and then I closed all the curtains and went into a room where I thought no one could hear me and I practised scales, building up my range, my breath control. Then I'd listen to singers I loved like Nina Simone and Edith Piaf and think about what it was that they were doing that was really moving me and touching me and seeing if I could find it in my own voice. I really knew that I wanted a rich, powerful, deep voice, which is very different from my speaking voice, so I had to almost chip away to find it because it's such an emotional thing being a singer. A lot of it was letting go of the fear of being really open and vulnerable. When you sing really loudly and with a really rich deep voice, you give everything of yourself."

She didn't tell anyone about her big plans because she thought people would doubt her and not think her capable of doing something so public, particularly considering how quiet and reserved she could be. And she really is. Sat in a meeting room in her record company, she seems completely fragile, barely moving and speaking in a whisper: "I knew people would be like: 'What? Why is she trying to be a singer? She's so not the sort of person who would be a singer.' But here I am."

You would never suspect that this unassuming woman could be responsible for such an enormously powerful voice, which lends the album drama and intensity. In fact, the entire record commands your attention, and is far removed from what makes up the majority of the charts today. It is challenging and diverse, drawing on influences that span continents and centuries, and tackles themes such as passion, lust and loneliness.

"I didn't want to write music thinking, 'Oh I have to try and make people like this'. I just wanted to please myself and make the music really honest, feel creatively happy and not worry about whether it was commercial or fashionable in any way." But fashionable it is, and Calvi has found herself the toast of parties thrown by the likes of Chanel and Gucci, as well as being embraced by publications such as Vogue, who have latched on to her seductive red-and-black stage aesthetic.

"When I was thinking about how to represent the music visually, it was really important, because I feel like every aspect is part of the art and I want to be involved in every bit of it," she explains. "I took inspiration from flamenco outfits because I really like the way they express the drama and passion of their music; I try to be like a male flamenco dancer. It's strong but it's very dramatic, and I think it kind of represents this sense of fearlessness that I feel when I'm playing music. You want to create a moment with an audience and you want it to feel special, so I like dressing up for it. It's nice."

All the interest in her from the fashion world baffles her, though. She is unsure why they've taken such a shine to her. "I guess it's just because my vision is really strong and that I think about all elements of it, so I guess that's appealing for people who are visually inclined," she shrugs.

a beefcake fashion show courtesy of Jeffrey Fashion Cares

CHESTED bronzed men are one way to heat up an unseasonably frigid night. On Monday, the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum was the site of a beefcake fashion show courtesy of Jeffrey Fashion Cares, which left the predominantly male crowd a little hot under their starched collars.

“The show’s definitely known for being underclothed, and I mean that in a good way,” the fashion designer Peter Som said.

“We try to keep the lineup sexy,” said Andrew Weir, the show’s casting director. “You won’t find your skinny Paris boys here.”

The evening began with a packed cocktail hour and silent auction, no small feat on the Intrepid’s hangar deck. More than 1,200 people, at $250 to $2,500 a ticket, helped themselves to free-flowing vodka, steak sliders and grilled Fontina cheese sandwiches.

For eight years, Jeffrey Kalinsky, the owner of Jeffrey, a luxury boutique in the meatpacking district, has held a benefit for AIDS and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender groups like Lambda Legal and the Hetrick-Martin Institute. Ticket sales this year raised more than $550,000. Standing between a vintage Navy fighter and a helicopter, the evening’s co-chairman, Nate Berkus, explained his involvement: “I’m the first openly gay male talk-show host. The issues are very close to my heart.”

Nearby, the designer Jason Wu perused the silent-auction items. Among them were an Hermès men’s accessories kit and a skateboard emblazoned with a racy image of Stephanie Seymour by Juergen Teller. “I’ve been traveling — London; Washington, D.C.; and Dallas — so I’m just happy I could make it,” Mr. Wu said. “Good thing I’m very productive on planes. I do a lot of my designing in the air.”

Joseph Altuzarra liked the fashion connection. “I think we sometimes get this bad rap for living in a bubble,” he said. “It’s great when fashion does our part. You have to support that.”

After 9 p.m., the crowd, which included a number of professional gay men in tight dark suits, marched to Hangar Three for a live auction and runway show. Seated in front were television personalities like J. Alexander and Robert Verdi as well as Alex McCord and Simon van Kempen of “The Real Housewives of New York City.”

The models Hanne Gaby Odiele and Crystal Renn giggled like schoolgirls as the models strutted by, some wearing only minuscule swim briefs. “It’s the first show I’ve ever been to where I’m not walking,” Ms. Odiele said, as she high-fived a few models. “A men’s wear show? Even better.”

The artists' homage to Willem de Kooning

American artist Richard Prince has two exhibitions opening in Paris this week.

The artists’ homage to Willem de Kooning, a series of abstract expressionist-style paintings, opened at the Gagosian Gallery yesterday. While a collection of Prince’s ephemera opened at the Bibliothèque nationale de France today.

The Bibliothèque nationale show is inspired by Jim Morrison’s poem ‘An American Prayer’. It includes several of Prince’s famous “rephotographs” as well as a selection of books and snapshots, other personal items and his famous ‘Nurse’ paintings.

Despite their proximity, the contrast between the two shows could not be more obvious.

Prince’s de Kooning works are gestural, sketchy pieces combining painting and drawing with cut out images of torsos and genitalia.

“It was time to pay homage to an artist I really like,” Prince said in a statement. “Some people worship at the alter – I believe in de Kooning.”

Current events keep attaching themselves to these old songs

Peter Gabriel's typically ambitious and playful notion of swapping cover versions with admired peers resulted in Scratch My Back, his 2010 album of stately interpretations of Radiohead, Bon Iver, Arcade Fire and others. Tonight's show with the New Blood Orchestra applies the same reflective approach to Gabriel's own songbook. They show consistent conscience, expressed in a voice of gravelly, intellectual English soul.

Current events keep attaching themselves to these old songs, because struggles against violent injustice don't stop. "Wallflower" mourns flesh and bone's helplessness against sickness or superior, oppressive powers, Gabriel whispering the simple limits of salvation: "We do what we can do". Paul Simon's breezy "The Boy in the Bubble" becomes in his hands, he wryly admits, "another song from a miserable white guy." But as he picks out its words for inspection, Simon's 1986 description of bombs attached to babies' prams in a wondrous world carved up by "a loose affiliation of millionaires and billionaires" seems prescient. Gabriel introduces "Biko" by comparing the ANC martyr to "many young men now", standing up though it kills them.

The New Blood Orchestra add sometimes blowsy romantic power. Choppy brass crescendos around Gabriel's howl in "Après Moi", suspended strings catch the mood of transitory helplessness in the in-flight nightmare "The Drop". Gabriel's own stagecraft starts almost imperceptibly, leaning on a mic-stand like it's a bar-stool. But in a second half drawing on his most popular work, "Solsbury Hill" sees him skip across the stage, the waistcoated squire of conscious West Country prog. And then there's "Don't Give Up", minus Kate Bush, but brimming with the stunned pride of a laid-off worker. It's the highlight of the small reservoir of 1980s English resistance songs, sadly apt again. Gabriel doesn't give up either. His cerebral, committed adult pop still has a place.

Talking acne with your teenager

Dr Hilary Jones answers your questions on acne while Parenting Expert Judy Reith has some tips about talking to your teen.

More than 80 per cent of the UK population suffers from acne at some point in their lives. But for teens the condition can seem so serious that it leads to low confidence, low self esteem, shyness and even depression.

The recently founded Acne Academy has undertaken the largest survey of its kind in the UK to provide a valuable insight into just how teenagers with acne are perceived by adults and their peers.

The results reveal the extent to which teenagers with acne are negatively perceived and aims to highlight the long term psychological impact the skin condition can have if it is not managed properly.

Dr Hilary Jones from The Acne Academy and parenting expert Judy Reith will be on hand today at 4.30pm to answer all your questions.

the understanding of Russian and Eastern European art

For Calvert 22, an institution devoted to enhancing the understanding of Russian and Eastern European art, it might seem that to put on an exhibition of emerging artists from Russia, as this show does, might be a natural thing to do. The idea is that a focus on new and interesting work from a country with a fast-developing young art scene will generate excitement and interest abroad, and perhaps focus discussions and understandings in Russia. In practice, however, to create an exhibition from such a general premise, and to make it communicate anything about Russia, or about the artists included, is, in fact a very difficult ask, and it's one which this exhibition doesn't really answer.

The eight young artists in this exhibition – Tanya Akhmetgalieva, Olga Bozhko, Alexander Ditmarov, Yulia Ivashkina, Sergey Ogurtsov, Taus Makhacheva, Anya Titova, Arseniy Zhilyaev – have been drawn from two developmental programmes in Russia run by the ICA, Moscow, and the Centre for Contemporary Art, Winzavod. Each artist's practice is wildly different, and as such, there's a feeling of disconnect in the exhibition. Though Ivashkina creates paintings of fragmented interior spaces, where dusty clouds and bright blue metropolitan scenes drift in and out of architectural spaces, these works appear to be operating in a completely different sphere to two other artists here who use domestic interiors in their work. Zhilyaev's installation Words (2010-11), featuring a tatty rug and chair in front of a television playing an amateur porn film, is an extended treatise on sex, existentialism and the reception of Jean-Paul Sartre in Russia, a fact made clear from the texts pinned around the space. Titova's House of Culture (2010) features a shelf structure affixed with several different panels of colour and framed images including fragments of graffiti, and refers to minimalism and conceptual art at the same time as social or ethnographic concerns. These last two works do manage to create an atmosphere and one does get some sense of the two artists' work; but it's hard to understand them within the context of the exhibition. Ditmarov's films, of a lonely billiards game and of people ascending on a ski lift in summer really did nothing much for me, whilst Ogurtsov's architectural sculptures made from folding philosophy books seemed rather over-simple as conceptual gestures.

Part of the problem here is that I don't believe that such a small selection of artists can tell us enough about contemporary art in Russia – it can only speak about a thread of work – and the curators haven't really managed to find that thread. Although the Moscow Conceptualists (Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, for example, or the Collective Actions group) are mentioned in the catalogue as reference points for the artists, ultimately, it's extremely difficult to see how this is the case. It feels more like the generalised conceptualism that characterises the international contemporary art world today. Russia's art, this exhibition seems to say, can rush seamlessly into this world. I'd rather we understood more about it first.

Government asked to investigate new pesticide

The Government is being asked to investigate a possible link between a new generation of pesticides and the decline of honey bees. It is suspected that the chemicals may be impairing the insects' ability to defend themselves against harmful parasites through grooming.

The Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, will have to answer a question in the Commons from the former Home Office minister David Hanson about whether the Government will investigate if the effect of neonicotinoids on the grooming behaviour of bees is similar to its effect on termites.

The pesticides, neonicotinoids, made by the German agribusiness giant Bayer and rapidly spreading in use, are known to be fatal to termites by damaging their ability to groom themselves and thus remove the spores of harmful fungi.

In a leaflet promoting an anti-termite insecticide, Premise 200SC, sold in Asia, the company says it is the direct effect on the insects' grooming abilities of the neonicotinoid active ingredient, imidacloprid, which eventually kills them. Now bee campaigners in Britain want to know if this mechanism could also be at work on European honey bees and other pollinating insects which are rapidly declining in numbers.

"Grooming protects insects from all kinds of pests and viruses, while helping to maintain general health and functioning," Ms Williams said yesterday. "A defence for honey bees against the varroa mite [a parasite causing colonies to decline] is to groom the mites away from the body. Do we know for sure that neonicotinoids do not hamper the ability of honey bees to deal with varroa?"

Matt Shardlow, chief executive of Buglife, the invertebrate conservation charity, said: "Scientific studies have shown that neonicotinoids significantly reduce the activity of honey bees, and it is highly likely that this would include a reduction in the amount of grooming that they do.

"Hence there is a clear potential mechanism for these pesticides to damage the first line of defence that insects have against disease. Again it seems clear that insecticides are linked to sickness in bees and impairment to pollination services."

The possibility fits in with what has already been discovered about the harmful effects of neonicotinoids – in that bees treated with imidacloprid, which is Bayer's biggest-selling insecticide worth £500m a year in sales to the company – are far more susceptible to disease, even at microscopic doses. This has been shown by two independent studies carried out in the past two years.

In its publicity material for Premise 200SC, Bayer says: "The termites are susceptible to disease caused by micro-organisms or fungi found in soil.

"A principal part of their defence system is their grooming habits, which allow the termites to get rid of the fungal spores before these spores germinate and cause disease or death. Premise 200SC interferes with this natural process by lowering defences to nature's own weaponry."

Dr Julian Little, Bayer's UK spokesman, said: "We do a lot of tests of the effects of insecticides on bees, and impairment of grooming has never shown up."

Specific tests to see whether or not bees' grooming ability was impaired by neonicotinoids had not been carried out, he added.

Climb to the heights of fashion in Vawk's Fall and Winter collection

Designer Sunny Fong says the new collection is Saville Row meets Himalayan mountain climber.

"I know there's a whole minimal movement with fashion and that's where I'm taking it with the menswear vibe," Fong said.

"I still want to have my take on fashion where I like to do a lot of texture for Fall, incorporating fur and beading."

Fong said he was inspired by the fabrics and construction of the clothes worn in the Himalayas and leant his handmade touch, working with a knitter to create some of the pieces.

"I'm excited about those pieces, incorporating the wool and knit together," said Fong who added blending high fashion and function was also on his mind.

"That was my focus how do we look cool but stay warm .... I wanted to bring another option doing shearling and sheepskin, that whole end of the world use that type of cloth to stay warm so I mashed it all up."

Fong incorporated punches of colour with yellow, cranberry and turquoise among the neutrals, to bring something unexpected, he says.

Showing at Fashion Week is also something different for the Project Runway Canada winner, who has shown off site for the past few seasons.

"Especially with the bigger venue, we wanted to be accessible to the people who've been following us, but haven't been able to attend our shows in the past," Fong says.

"Overall, we're trying something new and unpredictable."

the main trends that have swept Paris catwalks

If you could only see one show on Paris' packed nine-day fall-winter 2011-12 ready-to-wear calendar, it would have to be Yves Saint Laurent.

Not because it was the most amazing -- though the collection was a strong one -- but because it synthesized in several dozen looks the main trends that have swept Paris catwalks.

Everything was there: the proper wool princess coats with oversized fur sleeves that were practically inescapable this season -- except at animal lover Stella McCartney's fur- and leather-free label; the ultra-wide length trousers, high-waisted A-line skirts and pantsuits that all channeled an easy '70s elegance, similar to what Chloe fielded; and there was the cape, the must-have outerwear piece for next winter.

CHLOE

Hannah MacGibbon has hit her stride. After several shaky seasons, the Chloe designer found her footing with a self-assured fall collection that looked to have put the doubts of the past to bed.

MacGibbon's romantic, casual, sexy, bohemian, boyish and '70s-tinged style has never looked better.

Though she's stuck to a largely neutral palette in the past, sending out collections bathed in ecru, camel and mousy gray, this season she dared do bold colors, drenching the sweater dresses, wide-legged leather trousers and high-waisted skirts in eye-popping shades. A single piece -- the oversized patchwork poncho -- was a walking rainbow.

CHANEL

Chanel has the deepest pockets in the business, and its mega-production runway shows are always jaw-dropping spectacles -- even when the clothes they showcase leave the audience feeling a tad perplexed.

That was the case at the fall-winter 2011-12 ready-to-wear collection, a parade of post-punk pantsuits and wide-cut jackets in charcoal tweed by designer Karl Lagerfeld that at first glance looked like a harder sell than the pretty pastel skirts and snug tweed jackets that women worldwide lust over.

The show didn't generate the same level of enthusiastic applause that Chanel shows usually do, but experts agreed that wouldn't matter much.

After the show, the crowd of thousands refused to disperse, milling around in the hopes of catching a glimpse of Lagerfeld, or even exchanging a word with him.

one of the most successful celebrity fashion labels

With her platinum blonde locks and pillarbox-red lips, singer-songwriter Gwen Stefani is one of Hollywood's most influential style icons.

As a solo artist and as lead singer of band "No Doubt," Stefani has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. But her influence stretches far beyond music.

Her innate sense of style and unbelievable power to start trends has created one of the most successful celebrity fashion labels -- LAMB.

"For me it's not that deep," says Stefani. "For me the line is genuinely for myself. I want to make a line of clothes that I want to wear -- it's kind of selfish."

Selfish or not, it's the key to her brand's success.

I'm not going to ever be a Vivienne Westwood or a John Galliano.I'm trying to make clothes to wear everyday.

Since 2004, LAMB (Love Angel Music Baby) has created a line of clothing Stefani has not only had a hand in designing, but has been regularly seen wearing -- the range epitomizing her "look" and her "personality."

"I think fashion is more of a fun sort of thing," Stefani says. "It's an expression of yourself and your personality and your mood, it's not something we take super deep."

"I'm not going to ever be a Vivienne Westwood ... " she adds. "I'm trying to make clothes to wear everyday, that's what LAMB is. It's not a couture line."

"What qualifies me? I don't have qualifications really. I don't have technical qualifications. I just have a vibe of what I like and I have strong opinions about what I like and what is me."

Despite this lack of "technical qualifications," Stefani has had a long love affair with fashion -- designing many of her early stage outfits for performances with No Doubt.

"I just always liked getting dressed up and playing with make-up and hair," says Stefani. "My mum and her mum and her mum, they all made clothes ... every holiday we would go to TJY, a little fabric store, and look at patterns and pick out our outfits."

"When I started with the band, when I was 17, I would waste all my time at school thinking about it (fashion) and drive to the fabric store and just find stuff.

"I didn't know how to sew very well, it really was like using glue guns and velcro and just trying to make it work. I think it all came from the music really -- just trying to find fun outfits for the stage."

For Stefani, music and fashion have always been intertwined.

"Music is the fire, so I have to start there ... always pull from the same inspiration every season, always from music," she says.

"But singer or fashion designer, that's tough because they go hand in hand."

Ironically it was the thought of a declining music career which prompted Stefani to set up the fashion label.

"I started the line honestly because nine or 10 years ago I didn't know how long I would be doing music.

"They ask you 'What are you going to do in 10 years,' and I didn't know, I just though by then I want to have a family and I'm not going to be doing music but I wanted to do something creative."

Seven years on and Stefani is still creating chart topping music and still has her finger on the creative pulse -- creating her own style, be it in music or fashion.

"I think everyone has a style, style is just your personality. I don't know if it's better or worse, I think fashion is not that deep. It's clothes, it's just fun."

Fashion: Reach for the stars

Should you be sashaying off on a stylish sojourn, grab a hold of hot design duo Peter Pilotto's latest collection of luggage. For the second season of their rather magnificent collaboration with Belgian bag brand Kipling, they have once again targeted the intergalactic traveller, applying a Milky Way print to a selection of rucksacks and holdalls. It's one small step for man, but one giant leap for the humble backpack. From £57, 020 7299 9090, kipling.com

Face to watch: Bryony Kimmings

A veritable anti-ingenue, this hotly tipped performance artist's show Sex Idiot serves up STD stories, vagina synonyms and pubic hair call-outs. Following a hit Edinburgh Fringe run, it is at London's Soho Theatre, 6-16 April

Whether travelling the globe or straining under the workload, absent parents can assuage their guilt with this virtual book of nursery rhymes which they can read to their kids remotely via the iPhone microphone, while the little 'uns also enjoy interactive animations. Just don't try this at home.

The one thing a woman should avoid on safari is safari

Whatever, the one thing the style-conscious woman on safari must never consider wearing is, of course, safari. And that is as irritating a predicament as the biting insects that may go hand in hand with an exotic holiday experience. There's a reason, after all, why this look evolved. Fashion-wise, it was most famously adopted by Yves Saint Laurent way back when who proposed it as a warm weather, no-frills alternative to clothing more obviously feminine by nature. The colour palette is discreet, so as not to disturb the environment and its natural inhabitants. The materials tend to be cool and natural, allowing skin to breathe. Finally, it's a covered aesthetic which, given bug mania and/or sun damage, can only ever be a good thing. Bad, though, is the fine line between effortless chic and appearing to be channelling Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly in Mogambo. Or indeed any cast member one might care to mention from Daktari.

Given that access to fashions past and present is today unprecedented, any so literal a reference is likely to be laughed out of the lodge. And so, safari may be perfect for a stroll down Bond Street, say, but, in much the same way that, on a fishing trip, a Breton stripe sweater is best left at home, context is of prime importance.

If my friend was going off to a ranch in the American Midwest gingham would be off limits, too (two words: Calamity Jane). In Kenya, however, and in a lightweight cotton, she might be on to something. It's worth noting, though, that a red and white check is inadvisable. "You shouldn't wear red on safari," she says, fully pragmatic for now. "It scares the animals. The Masai wear red and carry big knives."

A new book celebrates some of the biggest names in modern shoe design

Pierre Hardy

Pierre Hardy is one of luxury footwear's luminaries, having spent over 20 years at the helm of some of France's most famous fashion houses before launching his self-titled label in 1998 to critical acclaim. The basis of Hardy's style could perhaps be described as modern simplicity. "I try to simplify the design to an essence," he explains. "I love clean lines and sculptural shapes and I try to make shoes as powerful, clear and sensual as possible."

Hardy says that he "strives to express femininity, but in an ambiguous way, mixing it with strength or masculinity, or sometimes with a more provocative mood."

Maintaining his position at the pinnacle of modernity is something he is extremely passionate about.

When creating a concept, Hardy does not work by any predefined methods, rather more by chance, his influences often far ranging and unrelated to fashion. Regardless of the source of inspiration, however, the concept always starts with a sketch: "The initial step is always a drawing, first because most of my ideas come from drawing. Second, if I have an idea in mind, I try to give it shape in the drawing."

While studying fine arts and painting, Hardy would frequently sketch shoe ideas in his spare time, and then a chance career opportunity arose at Dior in 1988. After five years at Dior, he went on to become the head of design at Hermès and then head designer for Balenciaga shoes in 2000.

Finsk

"My shoes are more like design objects rather than footwear," says Finnish designer Julia Lundsten, whose shoes meld strong architectural shapes and butter-soft leathers with striking wooden heels. All too often wooden heels are incredibly conventional, ignoring the beauty of the material itself, but Lundsten's unique style has drawn critical acclaim from all over the world and has even succeeded in captivating legendary footwear designer Manolo Blahník. "Her work is like nothing anybody is doing at the moment... exquisite, divine and perfect," he says.

In fact, Blahník was so taken with Lundsten's architectural forms that, while she was studying for her Masters degree in Footwear at London's Royal College of Art, he presented her with the prestigious Manolo Blahník Award two years in a row.

Lundsten's interest in design was sparked at an early age when she spent her summers touring Scandinavia, visiting buildings with her architect father and interior designer mother. This experience has clearly had a lasting effect on her as she likens her shoe designs to buildings and chairs: "A shoe is like a chair, the heel and sole being the chair legs and the upper the seat."

She initially studied fashion design but rejected the discipline because she did not like the way that the body plays such a fundamental part in how a finished garment looks. "The shape and look of clothing changes completely with each body and I was always intrigued by shoes as they are related to a woman and her body, but the shape is a shape in itself and it doesn't really change with different 'foot shapes.'" As soon as she started concentrating fully on shoes, Lundsten knew that she had finally found the right combination of form and fashion.

Nicholas Kirkwood

From sculptural, crescent uppers and rhombus-shaped heels, to chevron-patterned, stacked-leather heels and aluminium-plate fastenings, Nicholas Kirkwood's shoes have one common theme: they are evidence of a master craftsman at work.

Despite the hints of modernist architecture and sculpture in his footwear, Kirkwood denies taking inspiration from anything so specific. "I doodle a lot and let my designs evolve quite freely," he admits. "I rarely set out thinking, 'this is what I am going to do,' and, in fact, the only thing I ever try and do is test out new ideas."

He does, however, consider good design to be work that is modern and pushes the boundaries.

Strict linear composition devoid of clutter is clearly central to his aesthetic. He rejects fussy trims, bows and diamantés, describing them as "the gargoyles of the footwear world," and dismisses stilettos for being "too old-fashioned". Instead, Kirkwood chooses to rely on colour and materials to emphasise the graphic constructions of his work.

"I don't use anything that's stuck on to the shoe. In certain ways it's architectural. Old-fashioned buildings like to be very decorative on the outside, but the basic shape is still a block, whereas modern buildings are more concerned about the actual shape of the building itself. That's the way I try to think of my shoes, especially when it comes to the heels."

Kirkwood launched his own line in 2005, aged just 24, following an apprenticeship with Philip Treacy.

Desjardins has designed two collections and shown twice in Edmonton Fashion Week

When most children her age were playing dress-up, Janine Desjardins was playing a different game, putting on fashion shows in her Spirit River home.

The 25-year-old fashion designer was always drawn to clothing and grew up modifying her own outfits and sketching ideas.

After graduating from high school, Desjardins lived in Grande Prairie and then made the move to Edmonton to study fashion design at Marvel College. She describes the process of designing fashion, from the brainstorming stage to completing a collection, as a mode of artistic expression.

"Like a painter paints, as an artist, this is just my outlet," Desjardins said. "It just makes me really happy, especially when you go from sketch, to drafting, to finished garment and it looks how I wanted it to in my head."

Since finishing her program, Desjardins has designed two collections and shown twice in Edmonton Fashion Week, which is now called Western Canada Fashion Week. She has also participated in an independent show with five other Edmonton designers, as well as artists and musicians.

Desjardins said that she draws a lot of her inspiration from European styles and uses rich, textured fabric and pops of colour to contrast simpler silhouettes.

"People are really scared of colour, especially in Canada, because our winters are so long and it just grows into your wardrobe. Half of my wardrobe is black but if you pump it up with some bright colours it's always really easy and fun."

Desjardins said that she keeps her looks varied and likes to pair wool, silks and leather together. For inspiration, she doesn't rely on mainstream trends.

"Fashion is a big part of my life but at the same time I don't follow the magazines," she said, "I try to stick to what comes up in my own head. What I would wear and what I know is comfortable but can still be fun."

After Vancouver fashion week, the next step for Desjardins will be to expand her brand into stores and design a menswear line.

The creative and pragmatic powers in fashion

It's only in recent years that people have begun to understand what it is that a stylist does – previously they were workers behind the scenes; now they're lauded as the creative and pragmatic powers in fashion, often becoming brands in themselves.

"I didn't really know what 'this' was for a long time," says Agata Belcen, stylist and fashion editor at AnOther Magazine. "At university, I went down the student newspaper route and it made me think I'd found something close to the thing I wanted to do when I grew up."

A philosophy graduate from Cambridge, 27-year-old Belcen studied a Masters in the history of dress in art at the Courtauld Institute, before assisting some of the biggest names in the industry – Cathy Edwards, Camilla Nickerson and Nicola Formichetti to name but a few.

She is a quiet and pragmatic stylist, with work ranging from the ultra avant garde to the more commercial, but always reflecting a subtle and considered take on contemporary femininity. "I couldn't describe my work without feeling ridiculous," she says, with characteristic modesty.

Inspiration comes in the form of archive images and ad campaigns. "I love every single Comme des Garçons advert ever made," Belcen says. "I don't often understand them, and like to imagine how the conversation between the creatives behind them went."

Twenty-seven-year-old Quentin Jones is regarded assomething

Twenty-seven-year-old Quentin Jones is regarded assomething of a Renaissance woman. She's a model, a philosophy graduate and one of fashion's brightest young film-makers, specialising in a cartoonish style of surreal photo-montaged animation.

"When I was at art school, anything 'fashionable' was frowned upon," says Jones, who studied her craft at London's Central Saint Martins. "I jumped straight into this from a BA at Cambridge, so spent a lot of time playing catch-up and making up my own way of doing things. Maybe this is why my style is so slap-dash."

But there is a precision present in much of Jones's work, in her films created for brands like Chanel and designer Holly Fulton, where montaged images are overlaid with graffiti-style collaging, everything building to an almost-kaleidoscopic vision of femininity, fashion and modern-day beauty.

"We start with a brief," she explains, "then there is manic sketching and scribbling, which needs to be decoded so other people get what I am thinking about. Then we make props, paint and prepare to shoot. After the shoot, I get to splat a bit more paint on top. This is my favourite stage: defacing the film with final collaged flourishes."

As well as commissions for numerous blogs and websites, Jones is currently creating a film for vogue.com. "Then I am going to take some time off to paint," she says. "Famous last words."

What it takes to turn a clothing item into an icon

From the workshops of Rome to the catwalks of Paris, this month icon delves into the world of fashion. From the capital of couture, Myleene Klass goes back stage at Paris Fashion Week to find out what it takes to turn a clothing item into an icon.

Valentino
For almost half a century at the head of his eponymous label, Valentino dressed the most glamorous women in the world, from Jackie Kennedy to Julia Roberts. His name has become synonymous with elegance and his fashion house remains just one of just fifteen that are officially allowed to call themselves "haute couture." Valentino invited icon to his home, a 17th century French chateau outside Paris, to take a look at some of his greatest designs.

Anna Dello Russo
Paris Fashion Week -- a mecca for style watchers, trend surfers and the high priests of design. Between fashion shows, Myleene Klass goes to meet the fashion director of Japanese Vogue, Anna Dello Russo -- a self-confessed fashion addict who has 4,000 pairs of shoes to prove it. Her blog is visited by 25,000 users daily, who log on to see the latest outfits she is wearing. Myleene gets an exclusive look inside the closet of this modern-day style icon at her room in the Ritz.

Louboutin
Fish scales, spider webs and the columns of buildings -- for Christian Louboutin, inspiration comes from the most unlikely of sources. The high priest of the high heel has transformed footwear into fantasy and the wearers into wonder women who walk tall. Louboutin prefers not to divulge his client list but his shoes aren't so discreet. They speak volumes as they flash their iconic red soles on the feet of pop stars and princesses -- from the First Lady of France, Carla Bruni, to Lady Gaga and Madonna. The styles of his shoes have changed over his 20-year career but one thing has remained the same -- the heels are always high. Icon went to the master cobbler's atelier in Paris to discover the sources of his inspiration and to see how a pair of stilettos are made.

Excellence in the fashion and beauty industries in Sydney

"It is a bit of a integrated bag of arousal, which is commonly how I wit it," the Sydney practice creator said yesterday.

Ellery's eclectic exteroception penultimate period snared her the Primo New Specialist prize as conception of the Prix de Marie Claire awards for excellence in the pattern and model industries in Sydney.

"I spent a bit of clip in Writer at the rootage of stylish period and was extant in the Bastille, so I real got to hear around the Country Revolution and the hap of the stag kin and Marie Antoinette," the contriver said.

"It led me to await into Marie Antoinette's furniture . . . and I've always favourite the unconventional personalities and stuff palettes (The Stag Tenenbaums supervisor) Wes Writer creates in his films."

Actress Nun Palmer has already ragged pieces from the Tenenbaums in the Tuileries autumn-winter accumulation time others are on their way to Lady Gaga's stylist, and Madonna and Jodhi Meares are also fans of the name mark Ellery supported in 2007.

In a country champion legendary for perfunctory mixture, the specialiser creates aroused and refined dress as cured as clothes that can be aged in an staff.

"I'm famous for the sequin company pieces but now I also real sex direction on jackets and tailoring that can go from the part to a circle," Ellery said.

The specializer was among 250 practice manufacture elite at inalterable dark's black-tie event, a consume three-course dinner hosted by Marie Claire application Jackie Frankfurter.

Opposite winners included Kit Willow Podgornik for good Aussie contriver and Rachael Ruddick for soul accessories.

The swimwear subsidization went to Sydney hold Anna & Boy while Carla Zampatti received a unscheduled achievement makings for her try to the fashion business.

Any shape as long as it's short

That's in Essex, where last night in a marquee at Fairlop Waters Country Park a new pin was placed on the fashion map. At least, that's what the one million viewers of ITV's hit series The Only Way is Essex seem to think.

The county known more for its white shoes and WAGs is also in the throes of its own Fashion Week – as well as enjoying something of a cultural renaissance. Essex hotspots Chelmsford and Clacton-on-Sea have seen visitor numbers shoot up, with Travelodge reporting booming demand for rooms.

"I think Essex comes out of it quite well," says Grazia columnist Paul Flynn of the show. "It looks a whole lot less neurotic, competitive and elitist than neighbouring London."

The Only Way is Essex is a "modified reality" programme, which uses non-actors in improvised, semi-scripted scenarios, and has won not only notoriety but also genuine affection from viewers for its brash, overblown and rather stilted dramatis personae.

The show's stars have become tabloid darlings and it is they who are populating the prestigious front row seats at this week's event. Glamour model Amy Childs, self-proclaimed "Mr Essex" Mark Wright and his long-suffering on/off girlfriend Lauren Goodger have been thrust into the limelight. The earthy Nanny Pat, Wright's grandmother, has taken the role of fashion doyenne, forsaking her sausage plaits and spray tan for something more stylish.

"It's particular, tribal, funny, and comes with its own recognisable sense of style, language and an instant hit cast-list," says Flynn. "That's the holy grail of TV. There's a mix of empathy, shame and simple heart-throb telegenics involved in reality TV, for which Essex scrubs up perfectly."

The format is loosely based around the US-derived formula for shows such as The Hills and Jersey Shore, both of which purport to follow the antics of "real" people, but which are heavily directed according to what is most entertaining. While the first season of TOWIE – as it is known to its fans on Twitter – was based around a group of glitzy Essex natives, the second has so far seen some more heavy-handed manipulation, including the introduction of a former girlfriend of Hugh Hefner.

Still, the show appears to have lost none of its allure. Dismissed as tasteless, naff and trashy, the show rather brings out the more humane side of a culture usually scorned. The usual amount of liberal Lutherans have come out to condemn the cash-splashing, heavy-drinking protagonists, but the programme speaks of a righteously light-hearted working-class sensibility.

Land Rover & Range Rover Make the Scene at NY Fashion Week

Land Rover and Range Rover added an extra dose of style to two of Fashion Week's hottest shows with a fleet of vehicles for VIPs. The new Land Rover LR4 was the starring attraction at the Rag & Bone show in Soho, sponsored by the famed UK SUV marque, where beauties like model Jessica Stam (above) and Mad Men's Jon Hamm made the scene. And at the presentation by Marchesa, designed by Georgina Chapman, Range Rovers and Range Rover Sports provided luxe transportation for the likes of actresses Vanessa Hudgens and Michele Trachtenberg, musician Eve, socialite and TV personality Olivia Palermo, and model Irina Lazareanu. At both venues the vehicles sported the designer's logos, and when lined up impressively outside got nearly as much attention as the scenesters themselves.

"Land Rover is expanding its marketing profile with, for the first time, supporting a fashion house, Rag & Bone, during New York Fashion Week," noted Stuart Schorr, vice president of communications and public affairs, Jaguar Land Rover North America. "The Rag & Bone brand, led by Marcus Wainwright and David Neville, is admired for its refined and versatile aesthetic. Both Land Rover and Rag & Bone were born in England and enjoy massive global appeal. The Land Rover LR4 has evolved a distinct design heritage that is rooted in both authentic luxury and rugged capability.

New apps this week for the style

New apps this week for the style-conscious include urban bliss by Dickies, the ultimate royal wedding guide, and subversive flash mob behavior.

Urban wear brand Dickies has released its Love your Work iPad app that showcases some of the best in street fashion, photography, music and sport, while also presenting its products. Special gimmicks include imagery by Paul Mittleman, interviews with UK street fashion legends Michael Kopelman and Andrew Bunney, a map pointing you to the best hip hop spots in New York, and a Fixed Gear London video.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/love-your-work/id423320883?mt=8#

Finally, here is an app that not only looks sleek but also makes your life "more thrilling and unpredictable:" artist duo benrik's Situationist alerts members to one another's proximity and gets them to interact in suggested situations, ranging from "Compliment me on my haircut" to the more subversive "Help me rouse everyone around us into revolutionary fervour and storm the nearest TV station." Situations and pictures are moderated to avoid the Chatroulette effect.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/situationist/id410034914?mt=8#

Watchmakers see strong 2011

Watchmakers gave upbeat forecasts for 2011 at the industry's largest fair on Wednesday, although the deadly earthquake which hit key luxury consuming country Japan and Arab uprisings cast shadows over the expectations.

Industry giants including Swatch and LVMH have all posted strong recoveries over 2010, as consumers started spending again following the previous year's financial crisis, and they are expecting the recovery to continue in 2011.

Swiss exhibitors underlined that January sales were up 16.9 percent over a year ago and predicted that 2011 would be a new record year for the industry.

"This return to full health has been confirmed through the whole of the year just gone by, so let us assume that 2011 is going to turn out to be just as positive and that the entire industry will thus be able to continue to progress," said Sylvie Ritter, who manages the Baselworld fair.

However, the earthquake in Japan and an ensuing nuclear crisis as well as popular uprisings in the Arab world have cast shadows over those forecasts.

"Although the movement appears to be heading in the right direction, our uncertain geopolitical situation still makes it imperative for us to be cautious in our analyses," acknowledged Jacques Duchene, who heads the committee of exhibitors.

The organisers of Baselworld did not expect any cancellations from Japanese exhibitors, but Ritter believed that the disaster was expected to have some impact on the industry.

"From the point of view of luxury consumption, Japan is a very important market," she said.

"We expect some modifications but we hope that they will be just temporary," she added, in response to a question about the possible impact on the industry.

Luxury brands from Chopard to Rolex to Patek Philippe trotted out their latest timepieces at the fair, which is expected to attract some 100,000 visitors.

Organisers said 1,892 exhibitors form 45 countries are showcasing their latest creations over eight days over 160,000 square metres in the northern Swiss city of Basel.

Francois Thiebaud, who represents exhibitors from Switzerland, said that trends this year include a "return to classic models, inspired by the 1950s and 60s."

The designs are "less exuberant" with steel and gold as favoured materials this year.

Watchmakers have experienced a dramatic recovery in 2010 after the financial crisis.

The latest fashion-show producer to join the Los Angeles Fashion Week Show

On March 15, Los Angeles designer Alicia Estrada kicked off the launch of Style Fashion Week Los Angeles, the latest fashion-show producer to join the Los Angeles Fashion Week Show.

The show was held at Vibiana, the former Catholic church turned event space in downtown Los Angeles. Before the runway show, guests mingled in the courtyard drinking mojitos and taking photos with the wax model of Lady Gaga on loan from Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in Hollywood.

Cynthia Ruiz, the head of the Los Angeles Department of Works and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s fashion ambassador, opened the show, praising Estrada’s Stop Staring! collection. Ruiz, like many in the crowd, was wearing Estrada’s vintage-inspired designs.

“The real reason I’m here is I’m a big fan of Stop Staring!” Ruiz said. “Alicia is the beauty and the brains of Stop Staring! What many of you don’t know is in 2005, she received an award from the mayor for minority manufacturer of the year.”

For her runway presentation, Estrada mixed some of her signature styles curve-hugging sheath dresses, halter-topped swing dresses and flirty rompers with new looks, including a pair of jewel-toned mini satin dresses and a finale gown in black burnout velvet.

Emerging designers and exhibitors

Future designers and exhibitors from the Accent Wear & Accessories Present at the California Mart Place hit the runway on Mar 16 in a Loss 2011 lineup that had everything from bright colorful outfits to cheerless textile skirts and lowercase mortal dresses.

Displace Chiq from Cupertino, Ruler., showed off its restive and intriguing designs that included disgraceful leather jackets, disgraceful leather dresses and a peach-colored cutout coiffe whose indicative top leftish little to the imagination.

Low Street, a newbie to the vogue group, tantalized with popsicle-bright hues and eye-catching designs that ranged from a shiny purplish trench hair to silky blouses in ringing oranges and fuchsias.

NeuNel, added qualifying newbie on the withhold and a fry of commercialism incubator Fashion Byplay Inc., directed the mode toward vintage make with a ultramodern injure with plaid irregular skirts, unintelligible capes and cowl-neck thin furnishings dresses.

Misestimation out the runway demonstration was Camilia Skikos, a onetime Gap designer whose attach is titled after her. Skikos' train on Move 2011 interested acute ignominious geometric designs overlaid on royal-blue dresses or a royal-blue one-shoulder shrug with a cutout design overlaid on a sinister prepare. Her silhouettes were sporting, lanceolate and artistic.

The Magpul Folding Machine Gun for ladies' handbags

This tote bag just guns for attention. Besides being plain unwieldy to lug around, the Persuader Bag by designer James Piatt is made from interlocking, laser-cut copper mirror leather that looks painful to the touch. The good thing is, this doesn't have a single stitch on it. The bad thing is, it doesn't have the luxurious, leather texture that a girl expects from a handbag costing US$579. About the cool tech thing here is the mobile phone compartment hidden in the "clip".

You won't find this Netbook-sized portable box with light at the upcoming CES show in Las Vegas, for good reason. At the flick of a switch, the Magpul FMG9 folds out into a lethal submachine gun capable of firing off 31-32 9x19mm NATO rounds from a Glock magazine.

Even scarier is the idea that this can fit into a woman's handbag, putting some serious firepower threat behind the proverb "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned". For now, the Magpul is a prototype, though the company has indicated its intentions to roll out the collapsible firearm in limited quantities.

The Hermes Station case for the iPad 2

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So would you fork out this sort of a substantial value for any sleeve or circumstance that essentially does what the Apple intelligent include does and charges way less, how significantly money have you been ready to shell out on safeguarding your Apple apple ipad 2?

Now the tattoo artists to the stars are stepping into the limelight

Vidal Sassoon. Nicky Clarke. John Frieda. Hairdressers to the stars have become as recognisable as their big-name clients. And the cult of the super-stylist – Rachel Zoe and her TV show, Sex and the City’s Patricia Field – has seen onceunknown wardrobe mistresses become household names.

Now, though, a new breed of A-list primpers have joined their ranks – step forward the celebrity tattooist. You may not have heard of Louis Molloy, but you will have seen his work. The tattoo artist is responsible for the majority of David Beckham’s body art. Molloy began his tattooing career in the Seventies, when it was a very different business than it is today.

Once the preserve of sailors, criminals and outsiders, tattoos are now so common one even adorns the ankle of the Prime Minister’s wife. And just as getting a tattoo no longer raises eyebrows, neither does choosing a career as a tattoo artist. Molloy has been one of the biggest names in British tattooing for some time. When Beckham unveiled the whopping guardian angel tattoo on his back just over a decade ago, Molloy found his artwork on the front page of almost every national newspaper.

“It was a bit scary to be honest,” recalls Molloy. “The problem with a lot of press, especially the tabloids, is that they write what they want to write. The word that kept cropping up was ‘outraged’; that people were outraged at this tattoo, as if they were rioting in the street. It’s absolutely rubbish but they were just trying to stir people up. You could argue that any PR is good PR, which to an extent it is, but sometimes there’s a negative side to it aswell.” Having such a famous ambassador for his work has meant that Molloy is so popular that he now boasts a sixmonth waiting list. In fact, I can hear the needle whirring in the background while I’m onthe phone to him. Yes, he’s so busy that he’s forced to brand someone as we chat. Molloy is under no illusions as to why he is so in demand, and realises that people want a tattoo by the guy who did the Beckhams. “It’s like an endorsement, isn’t it?” offers Molloy.

It seems we are so influenced by celebrity these days that we not only want the same haircut or handbag as someone we admire, we also want their tattoo artist. When casting London Ink, a reality television show set in a London tattoo studio, the producers knew they had to have Molloy on board. “He’s very passionate about the artwork and clear about why he loves doing it,” explains Victoria Noble, the executive producer. “And if you’re putting a studio together, you want people to be recognisable as well as having recognisable work and he’s worked with so many footballers and rock stars.”

Noble also hopes that the programme made the world of tattooing more accessible to those who may have previously been intimidated by it. “I hope it showed tattoo parlours in a different light. I like to think of the London Ink tattoo studio as a very friendly place to be.” Molloy’s appearance on the show has led to numerous business offers from some unlikely sources, including Marks and Spencer, that staple of British middle class life. This May he will also launch Lou Molloy menswear, a range of streetwear which feature his original designs.

One T-shirt inevitably sports a familiar winged angel figure on the front. London Inkwas a spin-off of the hugely popular Miami Ink and LA Ink, which have been responsible for unleashing some of the biggest names in tattooing on the world. Having appeared in the original Miami version of the show, Kat Von D was offered LA Ink as her own vehicle and is now one of the most successful tattooists to cross over into the mainstream. Spurred on, no doubt, by being engaged to Sandra Bullock’s exhusband Jesse James, Von D has appeared in music videos, launched a make-up line and released a selection of fragrances. Her book High Voltage Tattoo even made it on to the New York Times bestseller list. It’s also not uncommon for a wellknown tattooist’s designs to be in demand for other products.

Having stamped much of the so-called Primrose Hill set, including Kate Moss and Jude Law, and gaining a two-year waiting list as a result, Saira Hunjan found that doors opened for her. “Because it’s such a small circle of people they just told each other about me,” says Hunjan. “A lot of people look up to them so I guess they like to go by their recommendation.” Hunjan was asked to design a range of T-shirts for the now defunct Luella label and she is currently branching out into silk scarves and home accessories. “I’m inspired by art from Mexico and India, religious art, goddesses and gypsy art. The stuff I’m designing is based on the imagery I like.”

As tattoos become more ubiquitous, we’re set to see even more of the tattooistas- celebrity. In the future, some tattoo artists will be revered in the same way as big name hairdressers are. And one thing’s for sure, tattoos have been embraced by the mainstream – although not every tattooist is convinced that’s a good thing. “It’s a bit of a two-edged sword,” Molloy points out. “Because if something is made extremely popular then there could come a time when it becomes very unpopular. With every up, there’s always the risk of a down.”

Women would increase their spend on plus-size clothing by 6 per cent

One-quarter with the women's outfits marketed from the united kingdom this 12 months shall be sizing 18 or above, as suppliers focus on a "huge" chance to develop income from your actuality that females on this nation are obtaining fatter. Verdict, the full consultancy, stated the females would improve their devote on plus-size clothes by six percent to £4.9bn this year.

Carly Syme, an analyst at Verdict, said: "Retailers are searching to expand their area of interest collections just like petites, maternity and as well as sizing to make certain progress and improve revenue. Our investigation has revealed that it may be the plus-size industry that provides the greatest chances for growth." in accordance with Verdict, plus-size clothes will account for 23.2 percent of complete womenswear revenue in 2011, in comparison with 18.7 percent in 2006.

The plus-size industry is populated by specialists just like Evans, however the substantial road stalwarts Debenhams and represents & Spencer are progressively targeting bigger women. M&S provides women's attire as a lot as sizing 26 on chosen lines and bras as a lot as 42J.

Ms Syme said: "While there may be a big proportion with the plus-size industry that is created up of more mature buyers demanding additional traditional designs, there can also be an growing require for additional stylish plus-size goods for more youthful shoppers, who are at present underserved." however the greatest chance continues to be with more mature shoppers. "If you in comparison a 50-year-old lady these days with twenty many years ago, they want additional design within their clothing," Ms Syme said.

While the progress from the plus-size industry will start to slow – as increasing obesity amounts fall back again with higher wellbeing consciousness – the industry will nevertheless develop by 28.6 percent in between 2010 and 2015.

While the weaker united kingdom financial system will strike the investing of bigger females – who have a tendency to become much less affluent – this shall be additional than offset by obesity amongst a growing, ageing female population, as females usually get larger as they get older.

The typical united kingdom lady can assume to reside to 82.6 many years old.

World-famous designer Jimmy Choo

World-famous designer Jimmy Choo may have come a long way since working in his family's humble shoemaking business in Malaysia, but he never forgot his dad's dedication to perfect footwear.

In fact, the Penang-born Choo, whose Haute Couture shoes are coveted by royalty and the likes of Madonna and US First Lady Michelle Obama, says that shoemaking is in his blood.

"I felt destined to be in the shoemaking business," he told AFP during a recent interview in Hong Kong, where some of his shoe sketches were auctioned off to raise money for poor students in China.

"If it weren't for him, there would be no Jimmy Choo today."

After selling his share of an eponymous ready-to-wear line in 2001, the London-based designer now markets a couture line to deep-pocketed clients, particularly the growing number of newly rich mainland Chinese customers riding high on the country's booming economy.

"We are seeing a lot of wealthy Chinese interested in our designs," he said.

"Business has been affected somewhat by the recession - people are postponing weddings for example, spending less. But a lot of our clients have huge spending powers, so it hasn't really impacted business too significantly."

Choo is convinced that tailor-made fashion is the only way to go, despite the success of his ready-to-wear label.

"Clients come to me because we cater to their needs... Once you go couture, you never go back," said Choo, clad in a fitted Armani suit.

"A person should never have to fit a pair of shoes, the shoe should be able to fit the person."

True to his artistic roots, Choo has a bolt of inspiration midway through the interview, sketching a pair of women's heels inspired by a floral centerpiece on the nearby coffee table.

How an architecture professor become the hot new thing

In 2005, a friend told him that new technology meant his images could be printed on to fabrics. Weston had metres of silk made using his images and sponsored fashion students at Newport Art College to use the material in their end-of-year shows. "But I virtually sold nothing on the dress front," he says. He shrugs. He was "too old and too fascinated by architecture" to be overly bothered.

But then in early 2010 he heard Ed Burstell talking on Radio 4's Today programme. The New Yorker, a recent appointee at Liberty, was reviving the American tradition of customers using an "open day" to present their homespun products to the all-powerful department-store buyers. This, Burstell tells me, was how Ralph Lauren (with "a few ties") and Calvin Klein ("a rail of raincoats") got their start.

So, one cold February morning last year, Weston, 749 other hopefuls and the TV cameras from programme-makers Maverick turned up at Liberty. In the first episode of Britain's Next Big Thing we see the eager academic spilling a pile of fabrics and products on to the desk of an initially alarmed Burstell. But the managing director is intrigued. He tells the professor to forget the ties, shirts and jacket linings and to focus on his scarves. Over the next six episodes and several months we follow the cheery, chirpy, chunky prof as he ramps up his garage business, meets new Italian manufacturers, and immerses himself in the world of high fashion.

"It was something I hadn't seen before, plain and simple," reflects Burstell on his decision to back Weston. "And he had the personal story to back it up. He certainly had enthusiasm." For this successful academic, respected in his field, "it was a want, not a need. You can tell he's the kind of person who, once he puts his mind to something, keeps going. He is," chuckles Burstell, "some character."

Back at home, Weston insists he won't be giving up the day job, although he may scale back his teaching hours. Has he thought through what the TV show might do to his start-up – he calls it Weston Naturally Exclusive – and to his personal life? He shakes his head vigorously.

"In terms of the business, is there somebody out there who'll see the show and is going to want 10,000 scarves?" He is tickled by the prospect, but cheerfully admits that he'd find the ramifications of such an investment somewhat alarming. Business is not his bag. Beautiful things and creativity – "that's what I love".

One year on from his first encounter with Liberty, does he feel comfortable in the fashion world? "In my own curious way, yes! I don't feel overawed. I've been close to the real posturing. But with the people at Liberty, I feel perfectly happy. But you know," he smiles, "I buy most of my clothes from M&S."

Somehow it's fine to target women such as Kate Moss

Ageing faster than a blue cheese in a damp cave!" opined the Daily Mail's Jan Moir, following Kate Moss's recent appearance at the Louis Vuitton show in Paris.

The model was smoking, remember, which apparently is enough to open the floodgates to the moral outrage not to mention unabashed misogyny that is not only the preserve of this title but proliferates like the aforementioned mould elsewhere too. "What a shower of wretched cretins, praising this playground act of filter-tipped anarchy," Moir continued, neatly annihilating some of the main protagonists of an industry that, for all its shortcomings, employs more women in significant positions of power than many others put together. As far as I am aware and I was one of the cretins in attendance the applause was typical of the end of any fashion show and not aimed specifically at Moss at all.

Whatever, the way it's somehow fine to target women such as Moss  to accuse them of everything from being ugly to smelling bad, if you please – and to masquerade as an upstanding member of the sisterhood in so doing, is nothing short of mystifying.

Perhaps the reason why any vitriol passes as somehow acceptable is that it springs from our perception of what is and isn't deemed "real" as in, wouldn't it be good to see more "real" women in fashion shoots? So what is a model, exactly? A hologram?

Boasting a selection of modish pieces that were

It's always interesting to note the Proustian resonances that shops can have on our consumer consciousness. Whether your first trip to the mall away from the beady eye of your parents or your first salon appointment on the Rue Cambon, shopping stays in the memory as much as a taste or a smell. The places we haunted as teenagers invariably now closed down or revamped  are as fixed in our memories as the music of the time.

Which is why it's no surprise that many a seasoned shopper has a nostalgic glint in their eye at the news of a relaunch of the much-loved British high-street name Chelsea Girl. Defunct since it morphed into River Island in 1988, from 1965 Chelsea Girl offered Mary Quant at manageable prices, and was one of the first stores across the country to provide affordable and trend-led pieces to a young audience desperate for them.

"I loved Chelsea Girl as a youth," says Katie Grand, editor of Love magazine. "There was a huge one in Birmingham and it was one of my favourite places to hang out."

Boasting a selection of modish pieces that were, in the Sixties, relatively difficult to find outside the capital or at pocket money-friendly prices, Chelsea Girl so named for the capital's fashionable epicentre, the King's Road was a saviour for the style-savvy teenager. "C&A was the big clothing store we all went to as a family," fashion commentator Caryn Franklin remembers, "but Chelsea Girl was where I headed to declare my independence." And it remained so well into the Seventies and Eighties.

"It was the nearest thing that passed as a happening boutique in Hounslow when I was in my early teens," Franklin adds. "The thing I remember most was that it was pitch-black in there and hard to see anything you were buying, but that together with the glamorously disinterested shop assistants and Slade soundtrack was proof of absolute credibility for me."

Christina Aguilera and Selena Gomez have in common

What do Christina Aguilera and Selena Gomez have in common?

Until this week we'd have said, "Not much." Sure, they've both worked for Disney, but one's in a midcareer meltdown while the other's a controversy-free starlet whose worst offense is dating Justin Bieber.

But both ladies apparently have a fondness for Dolce & Gabbana—wearing virtually the same red brocade dress only a day apart!

So which do you like best? Xtina's strapless version, which gets a little edge from her studded belt and spiked Louboutin stilettos? Or the Wizards of Waverly Place star, who keeps things PG by wearing her cocktail frock loosely knotted at the waist with little bows on her Brian Atwood heels?

Yup, that's the whopping amount one collector paid for a sheer frock Kate Middleton wore during a 2002 charity fashion show at St. Andrew's University in Scotland. In the audience was her soon-to-be boyfriend and future fiancé, Prince William.

The dress, which was actually designed as a skirt by a fellow student, went up for auction yesterday in London and had at least four bidders.

"He thinks it's an iconic piece," a representative for the buyer was quoted saying. "He's very happy."

Trends run the gamut from vivid ethnic prints to monochromatic minimalism

Hollywood's having a love affair with this lacy Nina Ricci dress.

Kate Beckinsale, Amanda Peet and even Kim Kardashian (during the NBA All-Star weekend) have put their spin on the girlie frock with ribboned waist and ruffled hem.

The British actress, who wore it in pale pink last September, opts for fairly classic styling with nude peep-toes and a bronze clutch. Meanwhile, Peet served it up with a twist last month, pairing her white version with sheer black polkadot tights and Mary Jane platform heels.

This spring, trends run the gamut from vivid ethnic prints to monochromatic minimalism, bold brights to barely there neutral hues, but the mix of patterns and shades we found most entrancing were the romantic, exuberant florals and abstracts.

It's the perfect time of year for polka dots to frolic with wildflowers and graphic prints to cuddle up with dainty roses.

There's a playful way to embrace what's fun about spring that begins with finding a printed top, skirt or dress that makes you want to lounge at a park or outdoor cafe. You might even find some prints and florals lurking in your closet that could benefit from a fresh perspective.

Sure, you can frolic in solids, but isn't there something about a flirty print that makes you want to go outside and twirl?

They were everywhere on the spring-summer 2011 runways

Spring merchandise has officially strike the stores, and 1 craze ought to be quickly noticeable: vivid colors. They had been everywhere for the spring-summer 2011 runways, which includes on the Jil Sander show, exactly where candy colours managed to appear minimal when proven with crisp light shirts or layered with sleek dark coats, and at Rachel Roy and Burberry, exactly where diverse tones of shocking aqua and cobalt had been paired for any awesome look. coloring blocking, as witnessed for the Marni runway, is one more big trend.

Other custom and modern manufacturers explored the coloring wheel as well. "For spring we purchased plenty of color, from acid pinks to orange-red to cobalt blue to tangerine," says Jeannie Lee, operator of 3rd Street's Satine Boutique, which stocks and shares lines from designers which includes Isabel Marant, Dries Van Noten, Balmain and Balenciaga.

Retailer Hillary Rush, who owns her eponymous boutique, also on 3rd Street, has currently beginning seeing the coloring craze carry impact with customers. " The oversized raglan shirt from Monrow has completely marketed out from the hibiscus color," a coral-orange Rush says. "When a vivid coloring like that sells out prior to the dark or white, it's usually a assertion that folks are putting on coloring that season."

TEN THINGS WE LEARNED AT PARIS FASHION WEEK

. Kate Moss can still light up a catwalk.
Oooo she was smoking. Oooo she's such a bad girl. Oooo isn't she naughty? We imagine a gaggle of fashion press, whispering to each other, hands over their mouths in self-righteous horror at Moss casually puffing away at a ciggie on National No Smoking Day. She gets the last laugh though as she racks up column inches (probably better measured in metres these days).

2. Fetish-wear is fine.
Maid's uniforms, bags handcuffed to models' wrists, PVC corsets and slicked back hair; the only thing missing from Marc Jacobs' runway of iniquity was actual sex. Meanwhile over at Ungaro, Giles Deacon had models wearing neck-corsets, with the explanation, "The history of pleasure is part of a night time world ... underneath a corseted and waist-cinched exterior, a primeval sexual interior is waiting to get out".
Sadly, our primeval sexual interior just wants a cup of tea and a good night's sleep.

3. Bomber jackets are back.
We've already seen a preponderance of varsity jackets as part of the collegiate trend that's been around a while. Now it seems it is time to look back to the 90s when East 17 were in the charts and Brian Harvey's black shiny jacket was the height of sophisticated schoolyard style. You know the ones we mean. They had tight, ribbed wrists, and waists, and often came with a lining in a shade of vomit-inducing orange. Adorning them were various non-PC cartoon characters such as 'Dreddy' or 'Spliffy'. This time round they come with a better quality of embroidery. Givenchy's for instance, were covered with irises or panthers.

4. There's still magic in fashion.
Manish Arora brought out a Russian illusionist who performed astonishing feats on his catwalk.

5. Lady Gaga makes a good model.
Walking for the Mugler show, Gaga was a roaring success, with creative director Nicola Formicetti announcing to the Times that, "She was better than all the other girls." A nice outcome for Gaga who, the night before the show, tweeted, "so excited I might give birth to a machine gun". Ouch.

Fashion Statement's tingling spidey sense detects

It's been a while since FS cast its beady eyes around to see what its favourite easy target has been up to. This week, though, we heard that Ms Banks has big plans afoot. And lo, FS reached for its special ballpoint pen, a little shiver of joy travelling down its spine ...

"There are little facial expressions ... The chin goes back, like, 'Really?'", says Tyra to an interviewer. But no, rest easy, she's not teaching the world to smize - she is, instead, talking about the reaction she gets when people find out she's off to study at Harvard.

Yes, Harvard. The oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Harvard runs a three-year course entitled the Harvard Owner/President Management Program and the host of American's Next Top Model has enrolled. For those who are worried that this will eat into ANTM or talkshow time, fear not! Tyra will spend a mere three weeks on campus every year and will spend only $31,000 a year in tuition fees.

So what's her motivation? Maybe it's money. The college is, after all, the alma mater of 62 living billionaires. Perhaps Tyra is feeling a bit impoverished - after all, in 2009 she was listed by Forbes as having an annual income of just $30m.

Fashion Statement's tingling spidey sense detects, however, that the key to this mystery does not lie in Tyra's bank statements. It's all about things that money can't buy. A reputation, for instance, or a feeling of smug superiority. Yes! Tyra no longer wants to be regarded as a brainless model. She's adding a beauty and fashion advice website to her business empire this week (TypeF.com) and has already gained a whole new vocabulary for talking to her team. "I now can say 'what's the net present value on that?', 'What's the discounted cash flows of that?', and that's because of Harvard." Worth every penny, Tyra.

Lady Gaga and Marc Jacobs are up for CFDA Awards this year!

Some of our favourites including Proenza Schouler, Alexander Wang, The Row, Lady Gaga and Marc Jacobs are up for CFDA Awards this year!

We’ve all heard the rumours about Riccardo Tisci leaving his post at Givenchy to fill in at Dior and that he would most likely be taking his team with him. Today, Dior Homme announced that former head honcho at Givenchy, Fabrizio Malverdi, would become the new CEO.

What do you tote your diapers and baby food in if you’re Rachel Zoe? McQueen diaper bags, duh.

Speaking of Mugler, like the brand on Facebook and you can win a look from Nicola Formichetti‘s first collection.

Looking for your own happy ending? The skimpy, sheer tube dress Kate Middleton wore when she wooed the Prince was bought at auction for a little over $100,000.

A life of international glamour as a model for Italian fashion house Prada

A teenager from Essex has swapped the drudgery of manning the deep-fat fryer at his local fish-and-chip shop for a life of international glamour as a model for Italian fashion house Prada.

When Alexander Beck, 17, of Thaxted, went on a shopping trip to Cambridge he had no idea that events that day would change his life in such a dramatic fashion. He was about to walk out of a bookshop with friends when a stranger shouted out to him: "Stop, I love your face."

The rather forward stranger was a modelling scout, Cesar Perin, who saw something in Beck that he knew would be perfect for the world of high fashion.

A month later, the AS-level student had thrown in the towel at his £6-an-hour job at the Ocean Delight fish-and-chip shop, and put on hold his studies in English, physics and critical thinking at Newport Free Grammar School in Saffron Walden. He posed for a series of portfolio photos, which were sent to international fashion houses. Mr Perin knew his instinct had paid off as labels clamoured to book the new face.

"For a first job, being booked exclusively is like a golden ticket. All the labels, including, Gucci, wanted to book Alex but Prada booked him exclusively," Mr Perin said.

From Milan, the Brazilian-born scout took his protégé to Paris, where he was picked up from the airport in a car sent by Dior. The teenager appeared on the French fashion house's catwalk as well as those of Yves St Laurent, Louis Vuitton, Lanvin, Raf Simons and Acne. Beck is a rugby player whose exotic-looking face, 6ft 2in frame and trim physique have earned him lucrative editorial work, too; he already has two photoshoots with Vogue Hommes Japan under his belt.

A model's life is something of a change for the low-maintenance teenager. He confessed: "I used to get up 15 minutes before my school bus would leave and didn't take time over my appearance. I never thought I was good enough to be a model."

'Arthur' star Helen Mirren exudes confident style

At age 65, Academy Award-winning actress Dame Helen Mirren continues to take sex appeal to an entirely new level. Ever wondered whether you should you wear a bikini in your 50s and 60s? If you're Mirren, it's a definite fashion do. Uh huh, "Calendar Girls" anyone?

With no signs of slowing down anytime soon, Mirren is slated to receive a career achievement award on March 31 at CinemaCon, the annual convention and trade show for movie theater owners (formerly called ShoWest) in Las Vegas. She's also starring in  the much-anticipated remake of "Arthur," with Russell Brand and Jennifer Garner, due out in April.

Not only does Mirren prove that talented actresses of any age can compete with Hollywood starlets on the big screen, but the Brit can show them up on the red carpet as well. It's a fact that she still looks good in a bikini, but her real talent is masterfully exuding elegance, fully clothed.

Never one to shy away from an opportunity to look devilishly sublime on the red carpet, Mirren took the Sunday church suit and gave it a much needed makeover when she attended a special screening of her film "The Tempest," when it opened recently in London. She  added some peek-a-boo cleavage and a flirty bubble skirt. To transform her skirt suit from business attire to red carpet ready, she chose an uber chunky statement necklace, sleek silver envelope clutch and nude heels.

The dreamesque haute couture collection had flowing gowns

Designer duo Gauri and Nainika closed the Lakhme Fashion Week (LFW) Summer/Resort 2011 with their Fantasy collection at the Grand Finale here last night. The sisters collection was an interpretation of Lakhmes new range of Fantasy Collection of Shimmer, Glow and Feminine Hue for the Indian market, based on global trends.

Transforming the ramp into an enchanted forest, the dreamesque haute couture collection had flowing gowns and dresses with intricate floral swirls in clean cut silhouettes and tulle trails. The colours were predominantly white with pink, turquoise, lime and silver. The designers also introduced two models on stilts, who not only showcased the collection, but also danced on the catwalk. The duo predictably started the show with ABBAs I Have a Dream and ended the show with Over the Rainbow from Wizard of Oz.

Speaking to the mediapersons post event, Gauri-Nainika said the collection was a little girls dream with strong feminine theme.

The dominance of white in the collection was in keeping with the theme and women felt good in the colour, they said.

New Updates to Classic Fragrances

Tyra Banks Releases "Type F" Website
The supermodel and media mogul released a fashion and beauty site yesterday dedicated to "expanding the definition of beauty." It focuses on personalized style tips, as visitors can register and give details on hair type, eye shape, face shape, and skintone to have corresponding content sent their way.

Issey Miyake and Narcisco Rodriguez Release New Versions of Classics
L'Eau d'Issey, Issey Miyake's beloved nineties hit, is getting a new "feminine twist" with hints of rosebud, ginger lily, and orange blossom being added to the original fragrance. Narciso Rodriguez added white musk to his classic Essence fragrance to bring a "sensual intimacy" to the new Essence Eau de Musc.

Estee Lauder Adds Some Vibrant Shades To Nail Line
The beauty brand spices things up in the nail department by releasing eight limited-edition shades, including a bold cobalt, a true violet purple, a black shimmer, and a dark forest green.

Lithuania's New National Fragrance
The new scent, aptly titled "The Scent of Lithuania," includes notes of bergamot, grapefruit, lilac, and tree smoke. It will be given to foreign ambassadors staying in the country's capital, Vilnius, and to Lithuanian troops serving abroad. Visitors can pick up the scent at Lithuanian airports.

The Next Talent contest for emerging hair stylists

The most established fair for beauty professionals is opening up to the public with a live video channel and hair styling talent search.

All major events during the fair, which runs in Bologna, Italy March 18-21, will be broadcast live for the first time on Cosmoprof's website, with the videos to be available for later viewing on its new YouTube channel.

It is an important move for the notoriously industry-focused fair, which will enable every beauty fan around the world to take part in its Love Nail and Nature Green-volution events as well as live showcases of the latest styles by the world's most renowned hairdressers on the On Hair stage.

It also means that Cosmoprof's The Next Talent contest for emerging hair stylists will be opened up to a much broader audience this year.

Organizers told Relaxnews that they had decided to shift the event from April to March this year to cater to exhibitors wanting to precede the launch of their yearly innovations. They also united Cosmoprof's dates with those of Cosmopack, the equivalent for the packaging industry, in order to "involve all of the main players" of the beauty sphere.

The lace dress and leather jacket combination is a great look

The lace dress and leather jacket combination is a great look. It’s the perfect way for girls like me, who tend to avoid the more ultra-feminine trends, to channel a bit of romance into their wardrobes without ditching their favoured tough girl style. It’s a look that Alexa Chung works to perfection, and so I would suggest that you use her as your sartorial benchmark – she always has the grunge-meets polish balance nailed (not jealous at all).

The key to getting it right? Choosing the perfect accessories. Unless you’re 17 you need to steer clear of battered Doc Marten’s and unwashed hair – if your clothes have a grungy vibe then the rest of your look needs to be a bit more sophisticated. Whether you opt for a flowing maxi or something shorter, pair your lace dress a bit of a heel if you can –a great ankle boot would do the trick nicely, something along the lines of the Acne Pistol boot that will toughen up the dress in style. Having said that, when the weather eventually warms up, you can wear a great flat sandal instead, just don’t forget the pedicure.

Pile on some strong jewellery – I’m obsessed with piling up lots of narrow rings on my fingers at the moment - and add a slick leather bag. Finish off your look with a manicure – no chipped nails please – and that luxe, just dishevelled enough hair that I’m constantly trying to master and you’ll be both style-setting and age appropriate.

Designing is about being creative and having fun too

Vanessa Hudgens graces the cover of Shape’s April issue and flaunts her sexy bikini body in a steamy photo shoot for the fitness publication.

The Sucker Punch star also took part in an interview to open up about her breakup with former High School Musical co-star Zac Efron, her intense training for Zack Snyder’s upcoming action-fantasy film, and her aspirations in the glamorous world of fashion.

Hudgens and Efron broke up last December after dating for four years, but she looks back on their romantic relationship with fond memories.

“We grew up together,” she tells Shape. “It was nice to have someone to share all of those experiences with. The relationship kept me grounded, and because I was with someone who knew me so well, I didn’t need to try to be someone I’m not.”

Their hectic work schedules played a major factor in their highly-publicized split, as they were located at opposite ends of the Earth at times during their relationship, according to People.

“Long-distance relationships are hard no matter what,” Hudgens says. “When you don’t have face-to-face time, it’s just different. Having an iPhone helped, but it just wasn’t the same.”

While she is currently generating publicity for partying more than ever before, she is already looking forward to marriage and parenthood.

"I hope by the time I'm 30 to have a husband and maybe a baby," the 22-year-old star admits. "I love children. They're so much fun, and I would have a blast spoiling them!"

Hudgens took part in intense physical training to prepare for her demanding role in Sucker Punch, and she credits her co-stars for helping her get into the best shape of her life.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do it if it weren’t for the other girls [Emily Browning, Jamie Chung, Abbie Cornish, and Jena Malone],” she says. “It’s because of them that I got so strong. By the end, I was a monster!”

The multi-talented actress and singer, who captured headlines Monday for locking lips with Zoey 101 star Alexa Nikolas, plans to turn her attention to the world of fashion in the near future.

“I’m really, really into fashion,” Hudgens reveals. “Right now, I’m pulling pictures from the ‘60s and ‘70s and studying women like Cher and Bianca Jagger for inspiration. It would take a while to get something going, but I want to do it. Designing is about being creative and having fun too.”

New season, new sunglasses!

New season, new sunglasses!  New shades are be the easiest way to spruce up your look for spring.  It may not be above 60 degrees outside, but the sun is shining, and that’s about all the excuse you’ll need to splurge on The Row‘s new sunglasses.

The collection, which hits the brand’s website this afternoon, is the latest in a series of collaborations between Mary Kate and Ashley Oslen and Linda Farrow.  Ashley says, “It’s all about combining the allure and quality of the past with a modern aesthetic.”  That translates into their now classic retro silhouettes with super luxurious details like leather arms and crocodile trim in everything from solid black squares to tortoiseshell cat eyes and pearly white specs.