FASHION Magazine

If there’s one thing that can be said about One Million Moms, an anti-gay (or “pro-family”) group, it’s that they’re anything but appeasable. In fact, they’re going for third time lucky by taking another swing at JC Penney, a retailer that has very openly supported the LGBT community by prominently featuring them in ad campaigns.

The most recent reason for OMM’s wrath is a Father’s Day campaign the retailer ran, which featured two adorable children playing with not one, but two of their dads. OMM’s complaints about the dads are in the same strain as their attack on the retailer’s Mother’s Day campaign, which featured a lesbian couple.

Copper Smith and Todd Koch, the Texas-based dads featured in the recently released ad, took the high road, with Koch telling WFAA-TV, “I think it just shows that people don’t really think everything quite through…they make rush judgments on certain things without really understanding the full picture.”

The anti-gay Facebook group first bashed JC Penney after the retailer announced they’d be featuring Ellen DeGeneres as its new spokesperson. We don’t know how anyone could have a problem with DeGeneres (the animal welfare support, the dancing, the generosity… she’s beyond lovable!), but OMM did.

“Funny that JC Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families,” the group wrote on its Facebook website, which has since been taken down. “DeGeneres is not a true representation of the type of families that shop at their store. The majority of JC Penney shoppers will be offended and choose to no longer shop there.”

Aside from OMM’s fixation on JC Penney, they also threatened to boycott Toys ‘R’ Us after the toy giant sold an Archie comic that featured a gay wedding. (Kudos to Archie CEO Jon Goldwater for this amazing response: “Everything we do is built around love. Love, inclusion, friendship and family. This issue is an extension of that.”)

There’s actually an interesting twist to the whole story: it seems that despite their best efforts, One Million Moms (which is actually more like 220,000 strong) has actually been playing right into JC Penney’s hands. The retailer’s numbers have significantly gone up following the initial controversy over DeGeneres, and have steadily risen despite the OMM backlash.

What do you think: is OMM simply exercising their right to expression or are they crossing into hateful territory?

It’s official: Hannah Montana is all grown up. The 19-year-old singer/actress said “yes” to Liam Hemsworth last week, when he proposed to her with a 3.5 carat Neil Lane sparkler after three years of on-and-off dating.

“Thank you for all the love today :) I’m happy to share this news with you all. I feel like all my dreams are coming true. have a great day,” Cyrus tweeted earlier today. Twenty-two-year-old “Hunger Games” star Hemsworth may be young, but he’s apparently all class: the vintage, cushion-cut diamond he got for his new fiancée came in at a hefty $100,000. While the reaction to the couple’s engagement has been mostly supportive, there’s definitely a pink elephant in the room: the couple’s exceptionally young age.

With articles like this recent one from Jezebel, which details 10 good reasons why some people choose not to get married, and an ever-increasing focus on careers over families for women, it’s a bit strange to think of someone as young as Cyrus already planning her forever. And of course, if we learned anything from Sex and the City, it’s that women who “settle” like Lainey (remember the pregnant one who stole Charlotte’s baby name?) or get hitched early like Natasha (“the stick figure with no soul”) were probably setting their relationships up for failure, or, at the very least, setting themselves up for an unfulfilling life.

We’ve got to admit that even if 19 is a bit on the young side for us, this People slideshow of the couple’s PDA is pretty endearing in a slightly nauseating way, and their overt love for one another does give us hope that they might make it. On the other hand, we are a bit jaded on Hollywood love, especially of the young variety (K-Fed and Britney…enough said). Even celebrity couples who marry in their late 20s or 30s usually wind up breaking things off—how can someone who hasn’t even hit their 20-year mark be expected to sustain a lasting relationship in Hollywood?

What do you think: are Cyrus and Hemsworth setting themselves up for an early Kardashian-Humphries-style breakup?

Never a stranger to controversy, Dov Charney is in the hot seat again after having finally admitted that American Apparel’s long-held “Made in America” practices may not be as steadfast a policy as everyone had thought.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, the label’s head honcho was adamant that American Apparel would keep creating its products in California… for now, at least.

In what must be a first, an invitation to dine with Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour is being viewed as inappropriate. The sponsored-by-Obama video invitation, which was released last Friday, shows Wintour in a Thakoon-designed Runway to Win scarf as she encourages Barack Obama supporters to enter for a chance to win seats at a Sarah Jessica Parker–hosted dinner, which Michelle Obama and Wintour will also be hosting.

So, what’s inappropriate about that? A report released on the same day as Wintour’s video detailed the dismal numbers of unemployed Americans. Unsurprisingly, the Republican Party was the first to point out the unfortunate timing, lampooning the Wintour video in a video called “Meanwhile.” As Wintour’s video plays in one corner of the screen, unemployment numbers before and after Obama’s presidency flash under the title “Meanwhile…” in the opposite corner.

“There couldn’t be a better demonstration of this president’s misplaced priorities than a glitzy fundraising video release on the same day that marked more unemployed Americans,” said Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus. “It’s more than obvious that this president just doesn’t get it.”

While it’s true that the Obama campaign’s timing wasn’t spot-on in this case, will this really affect voters’ confidence in their current president? It’s important to note that both the Democratic and Republican parties have their own sets of supporters, and both organize celebrity-run dinners to bring out voters. Mitt Romney’s campaign has been promoting the “Dine With the Donald” dinner, which gives supporters a chance to rub shoulders with the business tycoon. Before the Wintour-Parker-Obama trifecta, Democratic Party supporters had come together under George Clooney’s roof as the long-time Obama supporter hosted a campaign dinner.

Does the release date of Wintour’s video show that the president is out of touch with the average American, or is the Republican Party simply using this as a convenient opportunity to take a jab at their political opponent?

Whether you’re pro-Starbucks or not, it’s hard to deny the appeal of the coffee corporation’s branding: no matter where you are in the world, you can expect the same quality, taste, design and products.

That consistency and standard of service is exactly what one Boston-based CEO is expecting to do with MiniLuxe, her six-location nail salon chain. In fact, in Sue Thirlwall’s words, she wants to “Starbucks the nail salon” and expand nationally.

One thing is for certain: if there was ever a time to strike when the iron’s hot, it would be now. The nail salon industry has developed into a booming $7.3 billion industry, and now widely offers everything from shellac manicures to nail art in salons across North America.

Also, as Thirlwall pointed out, nail polish and nail grooming still managed to do well during the recession, perhaps because of their lower price points. While the makeup industry is still recovering from the economic slump and only beginning to thrive again as of late, people like Thirlwall were able to begin their companies during the recession and still do relatively well.

“We’ve kept the price down. Our luxe 30-minute manicure is $19, and we guarantee it for three days. I believe the time is right because it is definitely affordable but also hygienic . . . we know we could charge more, but we choose not to,” Thirlwall said.

One catch with the industry is that despite what seems to be a constant crop-up of new nail salons, the demand for affordable and reliable manis is still high, and it can be hard to find a place that offers them.

If Thirlwall and other nail industry entrepreneurs like her can get the business formula right, then there will undoubtedly be thousands of girls (and guys) flocking to these salon chains.

After John Galliano’s infamous anti-Semitic rant in Paris last April, many wondered how his sudden departure from Dior would affect the French fashion house.

According to the Financial Times, not only did Galliano’s departure leave the company relatively unscathed, but they actually ended up with their highest earnings per annum ever, hitting $1 billion in 2011. “I never considered that,” Sidney Toledano, the president of Dior said. “I always thought we absolutely needed an artistic director.”

It makes you wonder: how important is a charismatic designer to a fashion house? Is it worth the potential risk that sometimes accompanies a more flamboyant style of creative genius?

Toledano seems to think so. Though he admitted that Dior still fared well financially without Galliano, he did stress how important he felt designers were for shaping a label’s identity, likening designers to “a shorthand to help consumers understand the brand, and to embody it.”

Does that mean someone like the more demure Raf Simons, who is taking over Galliano’s post for Dior, might not have the same capacity to “embody” the brand? According to Toledano, it all comes down to the individual.

“If [charisma] works for the designer, then fine . . . but if not, it can be counterproductive, and it is better to avoid it. In the end, luxury is judged not by whether a designer’s face is on X number of posters, but by their work.”

Our bet is that if Simons’ tenure at Jil Sander was anything to go by, his work will more than speak for itself.

In today’s “things that may be ethically questionable” news, the aptly named Rayfish Footwear will not only make you sneakers out of stingray skin, they will also genetically modify an alive-but-doomed stingray so that its skin’s patterns and etchings are one-of-a-kind. You know…so that your shoes, which will begin at $1,800, are one of a kind.

As the people at Rayfish Footwear describe it, your shoe will “grow” to your specified design choices thanks to a team of scientists who farm stingrays in the company’s Thai aquaculture facility.

Being the daughter of Clint Eastwood affords you certain luxuries—like burning a bag that costs more than what most people earn in a year and calling it art.  Since sex tapes are obviously passé—we haven’t seen the private regions of some celebutot or another in what seems like forever—Francesca Eastwood has gone ahead and changed the fame-whoring game.

In a torturous series of events, the 19-year-old Eastwood burned, bit and chainsaw-ed a red crocodile Hermès Birkin bag while her shock-photographer boyfriend, Tyler Shields, snapped away.  In one image, the red-lipped teen blows on the burning Birkin bag to further fan the flames. In another, she uses a chainsaw to shred the bag to pieces.

It turns out that the public has not been so receptive to Francesca’s interpretation of “art.”  Perhaps it’s the fact that she burned a bag that costs roughly the equivalent to feeding 900 African children for a year, and considering a lot of people die everyday from hunger-related issues, we get why a lot of people are pissed.  What casts doubt on Francesca’s claim that the demise of the Birkin bag happened in the name of art is the fact that the celebrity-spawn used the photo shoot to promote her E! reality T.V. series, Mrs. Eastwood and Company.  Last night Francesca tweeted, “make sure to watch mrs Eastwood and company tonight at 10 pm on E! to find out why we lost Birkin…so sad.”

Marcella Marino is one little monster who was not feeling the love after being sent home from school for wearing a Gaga-esque hair bow.

As anyone who’s been through elementary school knows, class photos are a big deal. So when Marcella’s school picture day was on the horizon, she told her hairstylist dad, Marcello Marino, that she wanted to “look like a princess” for the big day.

After hearing all about the counterfeit lawsuit drama that has been going on lately, it’s almost a shock to the system to have someone say anything positive about the illegal industry. Most shocking of all is that the controversial comments are coming from Patrizio Bertelli, Prada’s CEO and Miuccia Prada’s husband.

Bertelli recently concluded a Bloomberg Television interview by saying the counterfeit industry really isn’t all that bad — in fact, it actually has some positive attributes.

“I always say counterfeits, we’re happier to have them than not have them. Don’t you think it’s sad for a brand that no one wants to copy them?” he said on air.

“Something else about counterfeits is that they provide a source of labor and income for lots of other people. So, maybe they’re not totally bad. So, in other words, we have a dual function. We want to penetrate the markets, we want to become successful and sell a lot in new markets. And we end up creating a lot of jobs and counterfeit factories, so that’s very good.”

Gucci, another famed Italian fashion house, evidently does not prescribe to Bertelli’s views that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, especially after their less-than-anticipated settlement with Guess over a counterfeit lawsuit battle (which we reported on earlier this week).

Bertelli did point out that Prada engages in lawsuits to protect their products, but that the fashion industry “doesn’t lend itself very well to patent protection” like high-tech industries do.

A spokesman for the fashion house seemed to try to do some damage control by telling WWD that Bertelli’s quotes were “part of an extended conversation that underscored how the market of counterfeits is an objective reality for successful brands.”

True enough — counterfeit products seem to be an inevitable reality of having “made it” in the fashion industry. But do Bertelli’s views oversimplify an industry that has its fair share of evils, not to mention the fact that it’s downright illegal?

Though Ugg’s latest shoe line is called “I Do Wedding Shoes Collection,” the consensus on the Twitterverse and the rest of the net has been a resounding “I don’t.”

Aimed at the bride who wants “luxury bridal comfort,” the collection’s new line, which is now available in the US and soon in the UK, is the latest in a trend of casual apparel companies offering wedding footwear. Toms Shoes recently came out with a relatively expansive line of wedding shoes, ranging from toddler sizes to more “fancy” takes on their bandage-style shoes for brides.

Love her or hate her, Lana Del Rey’s meteoric rise to fame is showing no signs of flagging. After critics harshly panned the plush-lipped singer’s Saturday Night Live performance in January, it seemed like for a moment there, Del Rey’s star appeal was beginning to wane. However, one fashion accolade, a trip to Cannes’ red carpet and news of a big film industry opportunity later, and Del Rey is back on top.

First, there was the creation of her eponymous Mulberry bag, which was first announced in February. Its sales are fast approaching that of another famous Mulberry bag: the Alexa, named after Alexa Chung. “We wanted it to be functional with an uptown twist as Lana is such a wonderful uptown girl herself,” said Mulberry’s creative director Emma Hill.

The fashion world aside, movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was reportedly overheard at the Cannes Film Festival telling the “Video Games” singer that the “camera loves her.”

Weinstein, the co-founder of Miramax, is said to think Del Rey has all the makings of a movie star, from her stage presence to her stunning features to her gritty-meets-chic sense of style. The man obviously knows the movie biz inside and out (The Artist and The King’s Speech are two heavy-hitters that he’s responsible for), so if he is giving Del Rey the stamp of approval, other movie industry types will probably follow suit.

Whether or not she ends up on the big screen anytime soon, one thing’s for certain: this “self-styled gangsta Nancy Sinatra” has an It factor that is opening doors for her in every direction.