FASHION Magazine

What has seemed like the longest celebrity pregnancy in the history of the world is finally over. No more false alarms, Jessica Simpson has finally given birth to a…baby (and not a llama, as one Toronto boldface may have suggested). The fashion mogul and her fiancé, NFL star Eric Johnson, welcomed a baby girl and they’ve given her a somewhat normal name: Maxwell Drew Johnson (a tribute to the couple’s families: Maxwell is the maiden name of Johnson’s mother, and Drew is Simpson’s mother’s maiden name.)

Despite the long-running jokes about it being a never-ending pregnancy, Simpson proves that she is in fact human, giving birth in just under nine months to the 9 lbs., 13 ounces bundle.

Simpson, who remained in the public eye throughout (since her pregnancy announcement via Twitter last Halloween), released a statement on her website saying “This has been the greatest experience of our lives!! […] We are so grateful for all of the love, support and prayers we have received.”

The mogul reportedly has said that she wanted to start clothing lines for kids and babies, and perhaps now she has her feature model! Hmm, could little Maxwell be giving Blue Ivy a run for her money?

Gone are the days of teenage style icons (okay, maybe not the eternally best-dressed Fanning sisters), when Britney Spears’ plaid miniskirts were the norm. A British study by retailer CC has found that a woman reaches her sartorial prime at age 35. Three out of four women felt their style improved after their 20s with one in three women saying they looked the best they ever had in their 30s.

What gives? Apparently it all comes down to self-confidence, wisdom and maturity. Empowered mid-30-year-olds know how to reference the latest trends with enough confidence to carry them off.

So naturally, we made a list of our personal style icons (think: Chloë Sevigny, Kate Lanphear, Vanessa Paradis, the list goes on) and found that—shocker—they’re all around 35.

And it doesn’t stop at 35. Arguably the best part of this whole study was that iconoplast Helen Mirren beat out Kate Middleton (another 30-year-old) as the celebrity woman most considered to be in her prime. She’s 66! We can’t say we’re surprised though—have you seen her in a bikini? She’s a total knockout.

It’s high time we recognize the style contributions of the mature set. The success of blogs like Advanced Style has shown that style doesn’t fade with age. We aspire to dress like those women. Just look at two of M.A.C’s most recent collections: Carine Roitfeld and Iris Apfel. Both mature ladies and both with closets we’d gladly dive into.

Betsey Johnson’s company sent the fashion world into a tizzy on Thursday, having filed for bankruptcy. But not to fret—the party is far from over for the legendarily perky designer. Despite having to close 63 freestanding stores, Johnson will stay on as creative director for the brand focusing on sportswear and her moderately priced line, among other projects.

Well, we wish we could say we didn’t see this coming, but the company was in deep water after a $48 million loan evasion that resulted in a bail out by Steve Madden (Steve Madden Ltd. owns intellectual property rights to the company). The Wall Street Journal explains that the brand’s luxe prices are simply not affordable to its younger demographic and could not compete with lower-priced retailers (H&M, Topshop) targeting the same customer base.

We’re betting Calvin Klein has got his legendary knickers in a knot. On-again/off-again boyfriend Nick Gruber’s facing serious legal woes: the 22-year-old was arrested Tuesday for resisting arrest, misdemeanor assault against pal Calvin Swift and possession of cocaine.

Gruber (for unknown reasons) decided to brawl with his friend Swift at his West Village penthouse around 4:20 a.m. When cops arrived at the scene, he thrashed his arms to avoid being cuffed, shoving his hands down his pants in an attempt to conceal cocaine in his (CK?) underwear.

Gruber, a former erotic model, planned to move West to pursue… well… a somewhat more clothed career in reality TV (according to the New York Daily News he was auditioning for Big Brother earlier this month, but didn’t receive a callback). But looks like the only reality show he may be scoring is Celebrity Rehab.

Swift declined to press charges against his buddy and said Gruber is “lost” in the melodrama that is his relationship to the much-older and much-wealthier Klein.  Nursing a bruised eye and a bruised ego Swift mockingly added, “Nick’s got plans, you know, I have dreams, too. I want to be the mayor of New Jersey when I grow up.”

Hmm, we wonder what Gruber’s famous (former?) beau thinks of all this. Perhaps as punishment, Gruber will have to wave au revoir to his swanky apartment that Klein bought for him.

“C’mon guys, you know it’s better to be skinny than to be fat.” Or so says Natalia Vodianova, who accidentally stuck her foot in her mouth with said comment over the weekend during a Vogue Festival panel discussion with fellow models Jourdan Dunn, Eva Herzigova and Lily Cole.

The sound bite has since been touted as the new “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” (Kate Moss famously said that years ago) despite the fact that Vodianova quickly clarified her comments by saying it was unhealthy to be obese.

To further clear things up, the Russian supermodel took to her Facebook page last night in a post titled “VOGUE FESTIVAL and WORLD ECONOMY S.” (IN HER HASTE SHE FORGOT TO TURN OFF CAPS LOCK.) Vodianova apologized, saying the light atmosphere of the panel prompted her comments and that they had been taken out of context. She then went on to suggest that perhaps our perception of body image didn’t fall solely on the shoulders of the modelling industry but also on those of food industry/beauty industry/diet pill industry/book industry—essentially, everyone:

“…there are other industries that might be even more to blame like food industry that constantly reinventing ways of pushing food on us. Makes people stuff fridges with food, buying pills, millions of books on diets, shopping for the right clothes to hide those extra few pounds, beauty products. I guess some would say that’s what makes our economy go around. Yes, I choose to do more and eat less. Sorry world economy, I am a bad client!”

Body image is a complex issue that needs to be addressed on multiple levels.  But while we do believe her comments were sensationalized, whose comments aren’t in this day and age? It’s a good segue into the ongoing discussion about models’ rights, to be sure, but next time, Vodianova may want to tread just a touch more carefully.

Paris’s longtime queen of knitwear Sonia Rykiel revealed today that she has been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for the past 15 years. The reveal comes direct from Rykiel’s just-released-in-France book N’Oubliez Pas Que Je Joue (translation: Don’t Forget It’s a Game) co-authored by French journalist Judith Perrignon. Rykiel had decided to speak out because she could no longer mask the symptoms of the degenerative disorder.

In the book, Rykiel assigns the code ”P de P” (“Putain de Parkinson” or “bitch of Parkinson’s” in English) to the disease, amidst frank writing about living with it. She reveals that for years, her colleagues at her fashion house (which her daughter Nathalie took helm of in 1995) helped keep the secret by attempting to prevent photographs from being taken of her using her walking cane. “I don’t want to show my pain. I resisted, I hesitated, I tried to be invisible, to pretend that nothing was wrong. It’s impossible; it’s not like me,” she writes.

Whether it was done to hide her pain or an attempt to protect her resilient image, the sad secret couldn’t have been easy to keep. We applaud Rykiel’s bravery and hope her story will help raise awareness to the importance of finding a cure to make Parkinson’s a thing of the past.

Longtime America’s Next Top Model cast members J. Alexander, Jay Manuel and Nigel Barker were handed some Tyra mail yesterday, but not the kind that’ll whisk them off to a thrilling international locale. Rather, the runway coach, mentor and photographer (sorry, noted fashion photographer!) were given the axe: their contracts will not be renewed for season 19.

Amidst the mass hysteria (how else could one describe it?) that was the Dior succession saga of 2011/2012, you may have heard the name of a little-known French couturier, Maxime Simoëns, thrown around. And while those rumours may have been totally unfounded, today’s announcement that LVMH would be investing in his eponymous line has made it crystal clear that his is one name to remember.

In a surprising turn of events, LVMH head honcho Bernard Arnault has invested a significant but undisclosed amount in the 27-year-old’s two-years-young label. And while Arnault is famous for treating the global luxury market as one gigantic game of Hungry Hungry Hippos (hint: LVMH=the hippo, everyone else=the balls), the mogul almost never invests in new labels.

Despite his young age, Simoëns is no stranger to the fashion world. He studied fashion at the famed École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture and then apprenticed at Elie Saab, Jean Paul Gaultier, Balenciaga and—get this—Dior under Galliano. Not to mention his Maxime Simoëns line that shows during Paris Couture Week and his bevy of celebrity clients (mostly French) including Canadian Rachel McAdams.

Arnault must think the wunderkind has got some serious talent—and with his track record, can you blame him? This has people wondering if Simoëns is being readied to take the reins at one of LVMH’s more established labels. Could we see Simoëns at Givenchy post-Tisci? Or at Fendi post-Karl? Given this year’s intense, never-ending game of fashion musical chairs (Jil! Raf! Stefano! Hedi!), we can’t help but applaud Arnault’s foresight.

By now, you must know that Pippa Middleton was in Paris this weekend. And her friend was pointing a gun at some paparazzi.

“Gungate,” as it is now known, blew up over the past few days with people wondering: Was the gun real? Will Pippa go to jail? Is Queen Kate mad? Will the royal sister be plucked from the front row at Temperley and thrust into Balenciaga’s Fall 2012 spy-themed collection ads? And what about Isabel Marant’s cowboy collection?

Before you get your knickers in a knot, apparently Jr. Middleton was not impressed with the violent act—at least, according to a rather gentlemanly public apology from Pippa’s carmate Viscount Arthur de Soultrait who said, “Obviously Philippa had no idea that he was going to do that and told him to stop immediately…She did not find it funny.”

Luckily for The Royal Family and Pippa, the scandal has slowly fizzled into nothing but a small pile of inert gunpowder. For starters, it’s since been discovered the gun was, in fact, a toy (though why any grown man would be carrying one of those around anyway is completely beyond us). It also appears no one has actually complained to the French police about the incident, so Pippa is not likely to face any criminal charges. Phew.

While she may not have committed a real crime this weekend, she most definitely committed a fashion one. The royal sister-in-law was in Paris for the 1700s-themed birthday party of the aforementioned Viscount and wore an unforgiveable fucshia, bow-covered, corset thing (there is no better word) atop cropped lace leggings that had some questioning her status as a fashion icon. This apparently paled in comparison to the other partygoers who, according to E! Online, wore “dog collars, chastity belts and surround[ed] themselves with dwarves.”

Just in time for Earth Day this Sunday, The CFDA and Vogue have co-headed a new green initiative campaign, Clean by Design, in partnership with the National Resources Defense Council.

The campaign, which has already caught the attention and support of many renowned fashion faces including Tory Burch, Zac Posen and Diane von Furstenberg screened a video yesterday which made clear “how toxic fashion’s impact on nature can be,” unearthing the elephant in the room environmental damage that lies just beneath the industry’s surface.

The facts, we have to admit, are surprising. According to WWD, a key focus of the NRDC is the troubling conditions of factories (we’re looking at you, Alexander Wang!) and the dye-polluted rivers in China, revealing that over 200 tons of water is needed to produce just one ton of fabric. This is a pretty outrageous figure taking the current global crisis for clean drinking water into account.

So, what’s the solution? Most clothing is made in China, which makes it difficult for brands to govern what occurs in their own factories. But Linda Greer, the director of NRDC’s health and environment program thinks this problem is inexcusable: “[…] the standard of operation of many, if not most, factories was far below global standards and desperately needed to improve […] it’s really time to get moving and not just figure that ‘It’s halfway around the world and nobody will ever know.’”

This global issue has been put into higher gear in the last few years. Brands such as Stella McCartney, H&M (have you seen their drool-worthy Conscious collection?) and events like Vancouver’s Eco Fashion Week have certainly increased interest for sustainable fashion to both designers and consumers. It has become necessary, and dare I say expected, that organizations like the CFDA and the like join the green movement.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are officially engaged, so move over Will and Kate, because it’s been dubbed the “true wedding of the century.” (Believe us, we wish we were lying.) Hyperbole aside, the news has spurred a million questions: What will she wear? Will Brad shave his god-awful beard? Will she Angeleg at the altar? Has Brad been practicing his lines to avoid pulling a Ross-says-Rachel at the wedding?

Say it isn’t so! As we reported yesterday, the fashion world was hit with a major disappointment with the announcement that after 27 fabulous years on air, Fashion Television has stopped production. This end of an era certainly had us thinking “what happened?!” While FT had always been known for bringing insider access to the masses, it seems that the industry invasion of bloggers and runway live streaming has resulted in poor ratings as of late.

While Fashion Television certainly blazed the trail for leading fashion news and introduced many of us to the industry while giving us rare insights into the surreal worlds of Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Karl Lagerfeld and the like, the show has suffered a viewership plunge in its last years. Scarce one-on-one interviews are a things of the past with greater access to designers (most fashion houses produce their own branded media content).

What does this all mean? The Globe and Mail writes “spending tens of thousands of dollars on travel is no longer considered a smart investment when access to designers and tastemakers […]”

The world may have changed since FT first aired in 1985, and the show’s end may seem inevitable, but we’re certainly going to miss seeing Beker’s trademark quirky charm and can’t wait to see what she what future endeavor she has up her stylish sleeve. And according to Bell Media, we do not have too long to wait: “Bell Media remains committed to the fashion genre & will continue to grow FTC to deliver a broader appeal for viewers & advertisers. Jeanne Beker remains with Bell Media & we look forward to new projects with her.