Posts for August 15th 2012

Link Time

Anna Wintour's Pinterest Page, Burberry's New Face, and Bond No. 9's Lawsuit

Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.



Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

  • Unexpected images on Anna Wintour's Pinterest page: a dead rhino mouse, a set of frog legs, and a photograph of Sir Winston Churchill in full regalia from the Order of the Garter. [The Cut]

  • Who's the next face of Burberry? Gold-medal-winning Olympic cyclist Victoria Pendleton is up for the job, but she has yet to see one of the brand's runway shows. "I haven't been able to go because of my training schedule, and I literally cried when I found out that it wasn't possible," she said. [Vogue UK]

  • Two former employees of Bond No. 9 owner Laurice Rahme are suing her for creating a "pattern of racism against customers and employees." [New York Daily News]

  • Beirut has overtaken Los Angeles as the world capital of plastic surgery — primarily because "you cannot find a job in Lebanon if you are not good-looking," according to one resident. "People will reject you socially." [Marie Claire UK]

  • Helena Christensen has signed on as the new face of British label Boden. "We wanted to choose a model that would showcase our casual clothing in a more modern, urban style," said Justine Tabak, the brand's creative director. [The Daily Telegraph]
Lingerie

Watch: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Reveals Glimpses of Her Lingerie Line

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's much-anticipated lingerie collaboration with Marks & Spencer is getting closer and closer to its release date, but the model says in a new video that it's worth the wait.

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's much-anticipated lingerie collaboration with Marks & Spencer is getting closer and closer to its release date, but the model says in a new video that it's worth the wait.

"I think that we've struck a really great balance between it being young and modern while still being classic and sexy," she says. "And it's feminine, and I hope people enjoy it in that way."

Get a look at the enjoyable collection in the video below.

Jourdan Dunn

Jourdan Dunn on Her Son, Style-Obsessed "Mama's Boy" Riley

Jourdan Dunn's son, Riley, hasn't turned 3 yet, but his model mom says he already has a burgeoning — and noticeable — interest in fashion.



Jourdan Dunn's son, Riley, hasn't turned 3 yet, but his model mom says he already has a burgeoning — and noticeable — interest in fashion.

"It's hard being away from my son because we are really superduper close. I mean, he is a little mama's boy," Dunn says in the inaugural episode of The Cut's Inside the Model's Studio. "He's 2 years old, but he's just got personality for days. He's such a boy. Like, he loves his music, he loves to play rough, but then he loves fashion. Like, he puts on a coat and then he goes in front of the mirror and checks himself out."

This isn't the first time Dunn has spoken about Riley recently. Last month she opened up to The Sunday Times about Riley's sickle cell disease, saying she would use her platform to raise awareness of the illness. She added then that the industry stood by her through her pregnancy and after she gave birth. She walked in Jean Paul Gautlier's Spring 2010 show seven months pregnant, and Victoria's Secret once called Dunn in for a shoot while she was still breastfeeding an infant Riley.

"They set up a little curtained area for me to use the breast pump," she said. "Not very glamorous, but, ultimately, I'm a mother first, then a model, and generally the industry is really supportive. This is a good career for a working mother."

Source: Twitter user missjourdandunn

Poll

Poll: Which Witty Line Should Win Our First Caption Contest?

Every week, we'll ask our Facebook followers to caption a soon-to-be iconic fashion photo — and it'll be up to readers to decide which submission is the most hilarious.

Every week, we'll ask our Facebook followers to caption a soon-to-be iconic fashion photo — and it'll be up to readers to decide which submission is the most hilarious.

First up: Anna Wintour and a slightly perturbed-looking André Leon Talley at the Donna Karan Fall 2012 show. What are they saying? Vote for your favorite caption below, and come back tomorrow to see who won the glory.

Shopping

Loeffler Randall's Fall 2012 Shoes & Bags Are Here

Jessie Randall sure has a way with shoes.
Loeffler Randall Fall 2012 Shoes and Bags

Jessie Randall sure has a way with shoes. Over the past seven years, the sliver-wedge boots, wood-heeled pumps, and pointy-toe flats she's created for her line Loeffler Randall have become wardrobe mainstays — and each season's new batch of styles is somehow even more covetable than the last. It should come as no surprise, then, that the designer's first foray into bags is equally lust-worthy.

Inspired by men's briefcases, the bags come in an array of easy-carrying shapes that are feminine yet totally functional. The Rider bag, for example, is a work-perfect attaché that also happens to be equipped with adjustable straps — perfect for affixing to the front of one's bike. "It's got compartments for your iPad, your iPhone, all your credit cards," Randall explains. "We talked a little bit about the 'girl on the go' who just wants a minimal bag to carry things."

That sort of versatility and practicality has always been at the heart of Randall's line, and it doesn't hurt that the designer test-drives everything on herself. "I love the Gerta platform pump in red — it's a wow shoe that truly makes the look," she says
of her favorites for the season. "I've also been wearing the Gaia platform bootie a lot. Love that height with such a low pitch; it feels like I'm wearing flats so it's the best of both worlds."

See the entire Fall 2012 selection of shoes and bags — all available online now — here, in the slideshow.

Opening Ceremony

Inside the First Issue of Opening Ceremony's OC Annual

As the industry comes down from its Olympic fashion high, the sports-themed first issue of Opening Ceremony's OC Annual should help ease any withdrawal.
Opening Ceremony's OC Annual Magazine First Issue Pictures

As the industry comes down from its Olympic fashion high, the sports-themed first issue of Opening Ceremony's OC Annual should help ease any withdrawal. The limited-edition glossy, which went on sale this week, features contributions from photographers Bruce Weber and Victoria Hely Hutchinson, as well as artist Terence Koh and writer Andrew Kuo. Legendary model Pat Cleveland stars in one of the issue's editorials, and Gaia Repossi stars in a photo story about doing yoga.

"This is a new kind of opening ceremony: a place where fashion doesn’t have to be 'major,' or sexy, or instantly buyable and clickable, but where discovery and curiosity are tantamount," says a description on the magazine's website. That sentiment is certainly felt in the issue's 288 pages. A look inside them, here in the gallery.

Photos courtesy of OC Annual.

Alexander Wang

Alexander Wang Sweatshop Lawsuit Dismissed

After five months of legal volleys, the courts have ended the $450 million lawsuit accusing Alexander Wang of operating a sweatshop in New York City.

After five months of legal volleys, the courts have ended the $450 million lawsuit accusing Alexander Wang of operating a sweatshop in New York City.

Judge Harold Baer of the New York federal court dismissed the suit on Monday, but lawyers for the plaintiffs and the defendants came to a settlement at the beginning of August. Terms of this agreement were not disclosed, but one of its stipulations was that both sides request the case be thrown out.

"We are gratified that this matter has been dismissed, as the allegations were unfounded and completely false," said a spokesman for Wang. Lawyers for the plaintiffs have not commented on the matter.

The suit has been the focus of much media scrutiny since it was filed in March, when a group of 30 former Wang employees led by Wenyu Lu claimed they had been forced to work 16 days with no breaks in a cramped, windowless room. Another former employee, Flor Duarte, filed a separate suit later in which she claimed that she was fired after applying for workers' compensation. From the beginning of the case, spokespeople for Wang have said they would "vehemently defend any allegations" of wrongdoing, but that didn't stop the brand's SoHo store from being egged in late March.

A week after the egging, lawyers for Wang said in court papers that Lu was disgruntled because he was fired for bullying other employees. In June, the lawyers said Lu and Duarte had "mischaracterized their former workplace as a hovel, while attempting to portray defendants as 'sweatshop owners,'" in an attempt to exact a big settlement.