Biz Buzz: Weekly Round-Up

Biz Buzz keeps its fabulously accessorized ear to the ground to provide breaking fashion news coverage.

Milan Fashion Week has just come to an end, where lace, color blocking, and ‘60s motifs emerged as trends. Now, on to the last quarter of fashion month, Paris!

The lace trend at Emilio Pucci, courtesy of New York Magazine

The color-blocking trend at Fendi, courtesy of New York Magazine

The mod look at Blumarine, courtesy of New York Magazine

John Galliano was dismissed from Dior Tuesday after a video of the designer making anti-Semitic statements in a Paris bar went viral, according to the New York Times.

The designer released a statement Wednesday apologizing for his behavior: “Anti-Semitism and racism have no part in our society. I unreservedly apologise for my behaviour in causing any offence.”

Galliano could now face prison time, according to Fashionista.

Former Dior designer John Galliano, courtesy of Fashionista

The Academy Awards Sunday night was a fashion feast for those who live for red carpet style. Hailee Steinfeld in Marchesa, Scarlett Johansson in Dolce and Gabbana and Cate Blanchett in Givenchy made my best dressed list. Who made yours?

Hailee Steinfeld in Marchesa, courtesy of Marie Claire Magazine

Cate Blanchett in Givenchy, courtesy of Marie Claire Magazine

Scarlett Johansson in Dolce and Gabbana, courtesy of Marie Claire Magazine

-Julie Kosin

Cuse Closet: Dreaming and dressing for spring

Cuse Closet peeks inside the staff's wardrobes to find out where we're going and how good we look getting there.

Today's closet: Lydia Shahmoon

 

Lydia's dreaming of spring

In honor of the warmer weather, I decided to throw on a spring-y pastel purple dress. When I say “warmer”, I mean 35 degrees Fahrenheit, which is still pretty cold if you’re not from these northern parts, so I put some wool tights in the mix. 

To jazz it up (…yes, I did just say “jazz it up”…), I put on my most obnoxious of scarves: a monogrammed Fendi scarf. Monograms have a serious tendency to look tacky and showy, but I think that if you tone it down with a simple outfit, the tackiness can translate to being somewhat stylish and ironic. I finished it off by adding a simple silver necklace and loose white button-down that wouldn’t distract from or clash with my gaudy scarf. 

Dress: American Apparel
Shirt: Forever 21
Scarf: Fendi
Necklace: Tiffanys
Tights: Bleuforet
Boots: Browns Montreal

- by Lydia Shahmoon

Rag Report: Lagerfeld's lucite and lace

Rag Report dives under the covers of fashion publications to rant or rave about all the glossy goodness. 

In this month’s ELLE, cover model Jennifer Lopez was head to toe in leather and chains, while a few pages later, Karl Lagerfeld was dreaming of an otherworldly girl in delicate lace.

The model, Olga, was Lagerfeld’s muse for Fendi’s spring collection.  We thought this editorial had some pros and cons.  The main pro was, of course, that this collection was designed by fashion god, Karl Lagerfeld. The con is that the model’s face was a bit lifeless in a few of the shots.  But we’ll talk about that in a minute. Let’s start with this shot of Olga in navy.

An ELLE Feb. 2010 editorial by Karl Lagerfeld

We love the tulle wrap sandals and the embroidered lace. It all ties together nicely — pardon the pun.  What we don’t like about this shot is the model’s checked-out facial expression.  It almost looks like she was about to pose and then heard someone behind the photographer call her name.  

She could use a pint of blood as well. And we don’t mean that sexy, Twilight sort of pale. Anyway, the other thing that makes this photo pretty nice is all of the blue.  It brings out the blue in her eyes, whereas they appear to be Lucite in other photos.  

ELLE Feb. 2010

Surely, the photographer was aiming for this bright white to artistically contrast against the black background. We think this looks a little too much like the negative rather than the developed photo. This shot also brings out her lack of eyebrows and hair color.  The blouse and skirt aren’t our favorite pairing either. 

To end on a high note, however, we think the model looks alive in this photo:

 

ELLE Feb. 2010

Her eyes are still transparent, but the hot pink lipstick surprisingly brightens up her face.  The dress is great as well, especially since it doesn’t look like it was made only for a model to wear.

- by Rosalind Dean