The Coca-Cola light bottles are much truer to the Cavalli brand than the vodka bottles he designed, as we mentioned in a previously feature, although those were classy in their own right. Only 300,000 Roberto Cavalli coke bottles were made as a special tribute to mark the start of Milan Fashion Week.

Source

 
Johnson and Bacon met in 1975 after Bacon moved to New York from London - Bacon was selling Johnson’s children’s wear line at the time - and they instantly clicked, both sharing a mutual glam rock style sensibility and unbridled energy to make clothes.

“We had even dated some of the same men!” said Bacon.

Johnson and Bacon officially launched Betsey Johnson the brand in 1978, on Johnson’s birthday, Aug. 10.

“We were very much in the moment every day,” said Bacon. “There was never a big grand plan, we just wanted to have a nice time, make good clothes and have a successful business.”

“When we started, we were doing everything. It was crazy!” chimed Johnson.

“The first show, I sat everyone, and then I modeled, and the next day I went to the showroom and sold it, and then I paid the bills, and Betsey did the patterns,” continued Bacon.

Johnson’s fashion shows have had a signature Betsey stamp on them from day one. From her famous cartwheel at the end of each show, to performances by the likes of Bjork, to models who actually look like they’re enjoying themselves, she knows how to convey wit and sass.

“Every show that Betsey does is my favorite show,” said Fern Mallis, senior vice president of IMG Fashion, the company that produces Olympus Fashion Week in Bryant Park twice a year. “She’s the best, and I look forward to it every season.”

Johnson’s collection, known for equal parts edginess and girlishness, hit all the right notes when she was just getting started in the Madonna-crazed ‘80s, with tulle tufted tutu dresses, wildly printed bodysuits and ruffled miniskirts.

“We were on the planet equal to Fiorucci,” said Johnson.

The popularity of Johnson’s archive is one reason why she’s launching the Betsey Johnson Vintage Collection this fall, to revive some of her best loved styles. A lot of the pieces, she says, they didn’t hold on to so she’s been spending a lot of time in flea markets and calling up friends to find some of her long-lost designs. Though, sometimes, Betsey Johnson fanatics beat her to the chase, she said.

“I was at a vintage show and I saw something of mine that I really wanted, but a girl picked it up right before me! I was like, ‘But that’s mine!’” laughed Johnson. “I should have gotten her phone number.

Buy these hot designs from the Betsey Johnson’s official site, or one of these fine online stores

Jaslene and 3 other Elite models are rocking out some of Cesar’s latest masterpieces and looking very much like a top model. I am so proud of her, I think she is holding her own quite well up against those 3 stunning Elite models. Cesar continues to amaze me , his collection is more beautiful than ever , the colors, form and textures are glamorous, bright, and perfectly combined for what many are saying is his greatest collection to date.  Seth Cohen, isabellagucci.com’s very own in house style expert is a co-collaborator for Cesar’s designs and as you can see, they make a dynamic fashion design team…See for yourself.

Remember, you can only find these new photos of Jaslene here on www.isabellagucci.com

see more of Cesar’s collection at www.cesargalindo.com

In case you don’t know about Cesar Galindo….(excerpts from his personal bio)
I began designing dresses in my teens and sold them to a consignment store while I attended high school in my native city of Houston, Texas. Both my mother’s love of sewing, and my father’s sense of style and affinity for color, influence much of what I do to this very day. I come from a family of thirteen, in which five of my siblings are women of different shapes. I like to think that I keep this in mind whenever I create a collection of cocktail and evening wear for my ladies or when I am asked to interpret another designer’s vision.

I learned to sew by watching my mother work on her machine and by experimenting on my own. My formal training did not really begin until I started working for The Miami City Ballet as the Assistant to Jose Varona III. It was there, under his tutelage, that I learned the intricacies of costume design – from delicate as well as heavily constructed underpinnings, to elaborate, highly decorative garments.

I then took a position with The Houston Grand Opera, as an assistant costumer to the company. My creative skills were further honed by the needs of the troupe’s performers. A flare for the dramatic remains with me to this very day. All of my dresses and gowns are lined in my signature fuchsia charmeuse. I like to think that life should always be bright and colorful!

Career Highlights

1986: First commissioned fashion collection for Visible Changes, Houston Texas 

1986-1989: Store partner and designer for Apostle III stores in Santa Barbara, CA and Austin, Texas

1989:Miami City Ballet: Assistant to Jose Varona III, Costume Designer for the Nutcracker, Miami, Florida

1990: Houston Grand Opera: Assistant Costumer to the company

1991: TSE Cashmere: Showroom Manager

1992:Carmelo Pomodoro: Assistant to the designer until his untimely death

1993- 1998: Cesar Galindo Collection: Designer signature seasonal dress collection

1997: SAGA Furs sponsorship: Traveled to Scandinavia as a guest of SAGA Furs to learn fur design

1999: Chaka Khan World Tour with Prince: Designed tour wardrobe for Ms. Khan

1999-2004:Dolce & Gabbana: Special Projects: Designed costumes for celebrity clients including Madonna, Mary J. Blige and Missy Elliot

2004-Present: Re-launch of Cesar Galindo Collection: Design seasonal collection of couture cocktail and eveningwear

2005-2007: Calvin Klein Women’s Collection: Seasonal contract to interpret dresses. sportswear and eveningwear under the guidance of Creative Director, Francisco Costa

2008: Houston Grand Opera: Costume Designer for the world premiere of “Last Acts”, an original English language opera starring Frederika Von Staad

Enough of my drooling, here is a newly released  snapshot of David Beckham’s hot new Armani ad.

The items at the July 2 auction include a 1958 cocktail dress for Dior and a 1970s Rive Gauche camel cable-knit sweater trimmed in fox fur similar to one Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis wore.

“What’s exciting about the collection is that you see the progression of his career. He was a real style-setter,” said Christie’s couture specialist Laura Leyfer.

Saint Laurent died on June 1 at age 71. Considered one of the most influential designers of the 20th century, his creations _ from pop-art print mini-dresses to peasant skirts and elegant pantsuits _ endure to this day.

The cable-knit sweater _ with a pre-sale estimate of $250 to $400 _ is a version of one Onassis was often photographed wearing, a style she owned in several colors, according to Christie’s auction catalog.

All of the items are in excellent condition and are relatively inexpensive because they aren’t new designs and have been worn, Leyfer said Friday. “That’s part of the appeal and it’s what makes it a collectible,” she said.

Another item for sale is a dusty pink layered tulle evening dress with metallic pink and silver embroidery, which Saint Laurent designed for Dior in 1958. It’s could fetch $1,000 to $1,500.

The costume jewelry includes a floral gold-tone metal and crystal stone necklace from 1990, estimated to sell for $1,000 to $1,500, and a hammered gilt-metal “ethnic” necklace from the 1970s that could bring $600 to $800.

The sale also includes pieces from other designers including Christian Lacroix, Thierry Mugler, Balenciaga and Gianni Versace. Source

I really need a vacation. I also really need this stunning red number featured in the gallery below. How do these make this look so beautiful?? I adore every single last piece in this collection. Hands down it’s one of the best Cruise collections I’ve seen in years.

Sometimes Cruise, or Resort, collections have little to do with warm weather vacations in exotic locals during the cold winter months following the purchase of one’s fall wardrobe – it’s simply a retail signifier that new merchandise will be hitting the floor pre-spring.

But Badgley Mischka’s Cruise 2009 collection, which designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka presented on Tuesday afternoon, June 10, during an intimate runway show in their New York office, epitomized glamour on the high seas, particularly the kind that might be found sunbathing on a yacht in a Riviera harbor circa 1955.

Grace Kelly and her mid-fifties films “Mogambo” and “To Catch a Thief” inspired the collection, said Badgley, but a disco-era Grace - Jones, that is, would be another apt comparison, with all the criss-cross chiffon halter neck and lamé gowns making up the bulk of the duo’s signature pieces. The collection’s daywear section opened with a series of tropical prints in lush colors like jade, grape and mango adorning a cowl neck chiffon dress, a bikini and a raincoat. Smart, tailored safari jackets followed, along with a couple of leopard print pieces.

Eveningwear, Badgley Mischka’s mainstay, was less focused, with looks ranging from bohemian caftan-like dresses to empire-waisted chiffon gowns in citrusy colors on the warm end of the color wheel to the aforementioned disco dolly numbers, but when you’re dressing stars for the red carpet, variety isn’t a bad thing.

Story by: Renata Espinosa

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Green and glamour don’t usually go in the same sentence, but that changed on Thursday night, when Earth Pledge staged its FutureFashion show. A who’s who of New York, Milan, and Paris’ top designers participated, presenting looks made from such sustainable materials as everyday organic wool and cotton to the exotic-sounding sasawashi (a bamboo-based fabric) and piña fiber (a pineapple plant extract). Highlights included YSL’s tuxedo jacket, gilet, and pants; Narciso Rodriguez’s black-and-ivory cocktail dress; and Versace’s red-carpet gown—all three looked less like eco-conscious clothes and more like pieces straight off the designers’ own runways.

JLM Couture showcased four designer bridal collections in New York during Bridal Fashion Week on Tuesday, April 15, with a wide range of the latest styles in both wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses from Alvina Valenta, Tara Keely, Jim Hjelm and Lazaro.

Key looks for all four collections included trumpet and A-line silhouettes, strapless gowns, sweetheart and V-necklines. For bridesmaids, figure flattering empire/baby doll dresses were also a popular choice for the designers, and Jim Hjelm, Alvina Valenta and Lazaro all offered the choice of black for a bridesmaid gown that can be re-purposed, an increasingly hot trend for wedding parties.

Alvina Valenta, designed by Victoria McMillan, focused mostly on strapless trumpet gowns with sweep trains and unusual bodices, like a petal effect or with pleating. Chantilly or white alencon lace finished many hemlines and necklines.

Singapore-born Edric Woo, who designs the Tara Keely collection, cites Paris couture houses of the 1940s and 1950s as inspiration, and his dresses were the most formal of the bunch, with silk and Duchess satin trumpet gowns at the core of the collection. One dress, however, an ivory silk charmeuse sheath had an easy, graceful flow that could work at any destination wedding, or look lovely in a garden setting.

Jim Hjelm, a collection designed by Francesca Pitera, featured dresses that would be especially figure-flattering for bride and bridesmaid, such as baby dolls or A-line dresses for bridesmaids or ruching on the bodice and middle section for the bride. Lace bolero jackets completed some of the dresses, offering a simple way to cover up the shoulders of a strapless gown during a wedding ceremony.

For Cuban-born Lazaro, who had one of the strongest and most elegant collections, it was all about the delicate beading and embroidery. For his Spring 2009 collection, some gowns were embellished with Art Deco patterned embroidery, while embroidered net gowns recalled vintage glamour.