From LA to NYC Graduating Fashionistas Speak Out!

No matter which continent or sea coast, fashionistas speak out. Designer fashion is a must for the new graduate. Blog comments show your little girl is grown up. She wants an authentic designer purse. Shopping online is your best choice for a new designer handbag. Whether she's into Yoga or an obvious Fashionista, decide the award your girly grad deserves and say "congrats" with an authentic designer handbag for the Class of 2008. You know she really wants a designer purse this year! And, she's all grown up and wants something special. Shopping Online SAVES YOU MONEY! No travel time or gas to buy! Shop from the comfort of home 24/7! All the girls are carrying a new purse to their new job. Your little graduate dreams about a new designer handbag. There are many styles and designs to select in price ranges from under $100 to more than $500. It's up to you. Whatever you pick will be a hit. Some of our favorites are Tano bags, Melie Bianco handbags, Elaine Turner handbags, Pietro Alessandro handbags, Gucci Bags, Prada bags, Fendi bags and many more. And, they are all on Sale! See the coupon codes below and start saving on your graduation gifts for that special gal in your life.

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Graduation is here! She wants a REAL Designer Handbag! Have fun shopping! Here's a series of Graduation Tid-Bits we found amusing and thought you might, too!

Bad Graduation Gift Ideas
by Andy

A Briefcase: Oh, thanks Uncle Frank. You getting me this briefcase ensures that I’m supposed to work the same 9-5 office job that you've worked for that last 25 years while complaining about it and cheating on my wife with my secretary. (Sorry Aunt Jane)

“Planet Earth” on DVD: Am I that hard to shop for? How long did it take you to pick this out at Wal-Mart? Do you think that all I do is get high and watch the Discovery Channel? Well guess what, I DO!

“Planet Earth” on VHS: What? There’s like 20 tapes. Get out of my sight Grandma.

Money: What am I supposed to do with this? It's only four dollars.

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All Sorts of Graduation Ideas
from My Expression

Graduation Party Ideas
The Traditions of Graduation Party -Traditions are the lifeblood of every college. Traditions connect the students to the past of the college while at the same time preparing them for the future. From the historic to the contemporary, traditions can express a spirit of unity and create a sense of community while providing for loads of fun.

Graduation Planning Checklist - Its Graduation time! You’re planning on hosting a graduation party and you want it to be unique and exciting. Planning any party can be overwhelming and many things can go wrong. So, to be on the safer side, you need to come up with a graduation planning checklist to keep things from bouncing out of control.

The Do’s and Don’ts in the Graduation Party - So, you’re graduating from high school or college and what better excuse to throw a party! Spring is that time of the year for graduation invitations, announcements and gifts. Etiquettes and manners form a very important part of our being social animals.

What To Wear on Your Graduation Day - For 12 (in some cases more) seemingly never-ending years, you obediently went through the schoolyard quarrels, your first boy-girl party, your first date, the Prom, and now finally what you’ve always been waiting for – your Graduation day! This time you’re going to be wearing an outfit that your parents will finally approve of – a gown and a cap ...

Decorating your Graduation Party - So, its graduation day and you’re all set to host a special theme party. Yes, theme parties are fun and a whole lot easier to decorate! Half the fun of hosting a graduation party is decorating the party. You can decorate your room, your lawn, you table, and even your guests! You can turn graduation caps upside down and fill them with balloons or flowers ...

Graduation Speeches Etiquette - The graduation ceremony confirms each student’s quest for knowledge. Traditionally, the ceremony will include a graduation speech that seeks to put each and every students hard work (in some cases, not so hard work) into the perspective of their future. Yes, most of us have heard one or more graduation speeches either as spectators or as graduates ourselves ...

Graduation Gift Ideas - The date is fixed, and the invitations and announcements have already been given out. So, the day has finally come for you students to cry and to cheer and to leave your school or college halls forever. Yes, graduation day is indeed one of the biggest days in everyone’s life. After years and years of hard work, your efforts have finally paid off. You’re happy but ...

Chance to Promote Your Business with Graduation Open House Invitations - Do you plan to host a graduation open house for yourself or one of your children? It may not seem like it could work, but you can actually promote your business when you have an open house. You can start the promotion with something as simple as mention that the open house is being hosted by your business. This will definitely ...

Graduation Announcement Tips, Wording, and Special Poems
Graduation Announcement Wording Tips - Graduation is an important time in life, and should be announced properly. Stationary with crayons and graduation caps on it is an appropriate means of announcing a child graduating from kindergarten. A photo announcement is a nice keepsake for loved ones who are being invited to the graduation ...

Graduation Announcements Wording Ideas - So, you’re graduating from high school or college and you’re busier than ever! Your last year of college is filled with thousands of events and activities that you have never even tried to attempt during your college years. From sending out resumes and applications to asking for letter of recommendation, you have loads ...

Do it yourself Graduation Announcements - A great substitute to printed graduation announcements are announcements that you print by yourself on your personal computer. Not only are these ‘Do-it-yourself’ graduation announcements a lot more economical, but they can also be equally colorful and creative. Start of by using plain white card stock or even plain white paper ...

Sending Graduation Announcements - So, its graduation day and its time to let everyone know that you are a proud graduate. Now that all those seemingly endless years of toil and hard work have finally paid off, it’s finally time to celebrate. First things first, start by sending out graduation invitations and announcements to all your near and dear ones. Most colleges and high schools ...

Graduation Invitations in General and the Etiquette
Graduation Party Invitations - Planning the Party - Everyone who has played a role in the life of the graduate should be sent an invitation to the graduation party. It is understood by most that tickets to commencement are limited, however an open house allows for everyone to congratulate the graduate. - Invitations - You can choose informal themes, such as a backyard ...

Graduation Invitations Etiquette - There is a very good reason why people call graduation ceremonies ‘commencement ceremonies’. This is because graduation does not mark the end; it marks the beginning. Graduation is the achievement of all goals, and rewarding the graduate for his or her hard work is a must. Graduation time is the time to invite friends and family together for an exclusive ...

Choosing Graduation Invitations Theme - Whether for you or a friend, Graduation day is one of the most joyous and welcomed occasions in any student’s life. It marks the end of your educational journey that can sometimes seem to be an endless and intolerable journey. Graduation is a once in a lifetime event, so give this event the honor and prestige that it truly deserves. The very first ...

The Traditions of Graduation Cap & Black Color in Your Invitations - When it comes to graduation invitations or stationary there are some traditions that are still observed by most people. In the majority of samples that you look at while shopping you will find that there are graduation caps in the majority of them. This is simply an obvious choice of décor since it is an invitation for a graduation ...

Graduation Invitations Theme
Casual Graduation Party Ideas - If you want to throw a wonderful party for that special high school or college graduate in your life, don’t assume you have to spend a fortune and put together some very elegant get together. After all, your graduate has already worked very hard to achieve this accomplishment and now just needs some time to relax and unwind. That’s why sometimes a more casual ...

Throwing a Cocktail Theme Graduation Party - Graduating from college is a major accomplishment and is definitely one of the best reasons to have a celebration. However, too many graduation parties are all the same. If you want to throw an amazing party, then you’ll want to take a creative approach with your graduation celebration. One idea is to celebrate with a cocktail theme ...

Throwing a Party for Valedictorians and Summa Cum Laude Graduates - Graduating from high school or college is a huge achievement, but if your student is graduating with honors then that achievement is even more deserving of a special celebration. No ordinary graduation is going to be sufficient. Background on Graduation Honors - If you’re not familiar with all of the “honors” terminology, then ...

Black, Red, and Green for Graduation Invitations - Graduations are one of those major milestones in life that deserve not only to be recognized but also to be celebrated. Whether the student in your life has just earned a high school diploma, a bachelor’s degree, or an even higher degree, you’ll want to find a way to show him or her just how proud you are of their hard work ...
Ideas for a Formal Graduation Party - When we think of graduation parties, sometimes we have the impression that all of them are just full of young people drinking too much and playing loud music. And sure some graduation parties would fit that description pretty well, but that isn’t your only option if you’re planning a celebration for a special student in your life ...

Feng Shui Graduation Party Ideas - Celebrating a graduation is a big deal. The family wants to show their pride at how well their student has succeeded. The student wants to know that he or she has done a good job by achieving this important life goal. When you’re planning something this special, then it only makes sense that you should take into consideration every possible way of ...

Creating Tassel as Embellishments For Your Invitations - If you want to create a graduation invitation that is sure to get the attention of those you invite you can do a lot of it yourself. It can be fun to add your own personal touch to it, even if you order the actual stationary and then create a tassel as an embellishment. Everyone associates a tassel with graduation, so this can be a fun addition! If you ...

Clip-Arts for Graduation Invitations - Do you want to add some fun and uniqueness to your graduation invitation but you aren’t sure what may or may not be appropriate? If so, you aren’t alone. The fact of the matter is that there are a lot of fun or original things that you can do; you simply need to infuse your own style into it and get creative. Anything that you can imagine can generally be created ...

Personalize Your Graduation Invitations with Special Inspirations - A graduation invitation can be just a graduation invite, but there are some great things that you can do to add your personal touch and make it interesting and even inspirational to those that you send them to. There is nothing better than sending out invites that have been infused with your own personal style, whatever that may be ...

Differentiating Masculine & Feminine Invitations Theme - Because both men and women graduate from high school as well as college there needs to be a way to differentiate between invitations that are more appropriate for men and those that are more appropriate for women. This is not to say that there aren’t invitations that are appropriate for both genders, but if you want something that ...

Seasonal Graduation Invitations
Show Your Patriotism with Patriotic Graduation Invitations Theme - Over the last couple years the patriotism in our country seems to have been renewed and this includes the young, the old, and everyone in between. If you are graduating from high school or college why not share your patriotism with others with a patriotic invitation theme? Why go drab when you can serve to inspire those that ...

Graduation Photo Christmas Cards - Are you graduating early? Many students that graduate early, graduate in the winter months, which is a great opportunity to do something different with your graduation invitation. You can not only send an invite to all those that you would like to attend your graduation ceremonies; you can send a Christmas greeting at the same time by enclosing a Christmas card with a photo ...

After The Graduation
Sending Graduation Thank You Cards - So, your graduation day has come and gone, the ceremonies were amazing, the graduation party was brilliant, and above all, the graduation gifts were super cool! The graduate is happy, the graduate’s guests are happy, everyone is happy. But, after the ceremony, party and gifts comes the most daunting part – sending out ...

Graduation Photo and your Scrapbooking Project - Honoring the graduate is one of the most important parts of the graduation ceremony. If you’ve organized your photo albums over the years, then everything should be up to date. But, if you are like most of us, then you’re family photos are probably piled up in boxes in the attic. Since you are going to be graduating pretty soon, now ...

Career Guide After Graduation - Transitioning out of college can be both, an exciting as well as a scary experience. There are newer and tougher challenges to face, unwritten laws to be followed, unexplored opportunities for progress – and humiliation – in every nook and cranny. While recent graduates and most other college students are preparing themselves to become experts ...

Reunion Graduate Party Planning - Once you graduate, you only get to see you friends every ten years at each reunion! So you want to have a fun reunion party this time and not a boring formal one? Planning for your reunion would mean coming up with a special plan or an idea for the party. From the decorations to the food and particularly the entertainment, your graduate reunion party ...

A Juicy Story - The Great History of Juicy Couture

Juicy Couture Velour Shoulder Bag

By Roy Leadwell

Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Taylor (wife of John Taylor of Duran-Duran) founded Juicy Couture in 1994. The company started as a designer T-Shirt company. The look of the company changed drastically in 1999 with tho companies entrance into the denim and sportswear market. Next came the item the company is most famous for, "The Track Suit." The item came in velour, terry cloth, and cashmere. The elements that made these suits so famous was there low riding draw string pants and form fitting zip up hoodies in a variety of mouthwatering colors. Skaist-Levy and Taylor, according to most fashion magazines, have made there track suit as popular as the little black dress.

In 2003 Juicy Couture was purchased by Liz Claiborne, Inc. for an undisclosed multi-million dollar sum. Quite an accomplishment for a company that sold track suits, "Juicy loves Martha" T Shirts, and ruffled velvet tube dresses. All of Juicy Couture items are manufactured with the companies signature logo, too highland terriers holding a shield bearing three hearts and love P&G (Pat and Gela) Juicies creators. A crown lies overhead while a Juicy Couture banner flutters below the underline slogan, "Made in the Glamorous USA"

Juicy Couture's label has reached the heights of such labels as Gucci, Guess and DKNY. This was accomplished by a brilliant marketing ploy. They cultivated relationships with the Hollywood community and invited top celebrities such as JLO, Cameron Diaz and Madonna to shop for Free. Then they had these famous women have there pictures taken with these items and this concept raised the label to the status of, "Chic Couture."

Fast forward to today and under the Liz Claiborne aegis, Juicy Couture markets many items under many categories. They have both men and womens collections, children's collections as well as a mix of fashion accessories including jewelry, handbags and swim wear.

In the last 14 years we have seen many changes but one thing that hasn't is Skaist-Levy and Taylor are still at the head of this most prosperous organization as co-presidents.

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LA Designers Celebrate Memorial Day with American Fashion

Use coupon code MDS08 for an extra 20% off. Click Here!

Celebrate Memorial Day in style and take an extra 20% off all the American Designers at eFashionHouse.com. We owe a lot to the European influence when it comes to fashion. Yet, the American Designers produce an image we call, "Home." People like Ralph Lauren, Liz Claiborne, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Tommy Hilfiger, Marc Jacobs, Melie Bianco and Elaine Turner pave the way for upcoming American fashion influence.

Designers like Tano Bags, BCBG, Coach, Dooney & Bourke and Brighton bring a sense of American style and unique image to their collections. We honor all the American Designers this season and celebrate with them for Memorial Day 2008.

Whether you are looking for a new handbag, wallet, tote or leather shoulder bag, you can find a perfect American Designer Handbag for an unbeatable price. But don't lose sight of the true meaning of Memorial Day. We celebrate in honor of many people who have died in military service protecting our country. It's really about honoring our heros.

Yes, we are addicted to fashion, and we admire the creative design process. We are always seeking a bargain, and we shop online for the best deals we can find. So, get ready for Memorial Day with a celebration of American Designers at an additional 20% off, and remember our heros who lived their lives to make America our home.

MORE ABOUT Memorial Day
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday that is observed on the last Monday of May (observed in 2008 on May 26). It was formerly known as Decoration Day. This holiday commemorates U.S. men and women who have died in military service to their country. It began first to honor Union soldiers who died during the American Civil War. After World War I, it was expanded to include those who died in any war or military action. One of the longest standing traditions is the running of the Indianapolis 500, which has been held in conjunction with Memorial Day since 1911. It is also traditionally viewed as the beginning of summer by many, for many schools are dismissed around Memorial Day.

Many people observe this holiday by visiting cemeteries and memorials. A national moment of remembrance takes place at 3 p.m. US Eastern time. Another tradition is to fly the U.S. flag at half-staff from dawn until noon local time. Volunteers place a U.S. flag upon each gravesite located in a National Cemetery.

Many politicians and community leaders give speeches at community gatherings on Memorial Day.In addition to remembrance, Memorial Day is also a time for picnics, family gatherings, and sporting events. Some Americans also view Memorial Day as the unofficial beginning of summer and Labor Day as the unofficial end of the season. The national Click it or ticket campaign ramps up beginning Memorial Day weekend, noting the beginning of the most dangerous season for auto accidents and other safety related incidents. The USAF "101 Critical days of summer" begin on this day as well. Some Americans use Memorial Day to also honor any family members who have died, not just servicemen.

Flags flying at Fort Logan National Cemetery during Memorial Day 2006.Memorial Day formerly occurred on May 30, and some, such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), advocate returning to this fixed date, although the significance of the date is tenuous. The VFW stated in a 2002 Memorial Day Address, "Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed a lot to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day."

Following the end of the Civil War, many communities set aside a day to mark the end of the war or as a memorial to those who had died. Some of the places creating an early memorial day include Charleston, South Carolina; Boalsburg, Pennsylvania; Richmond, Virginia; Carbondale, Illinois; Columbus, Mississippi; many communities in Vermont; and some two dozen other cities and towns. These observances eventually coalesced around Decoration Day, honoring the Union dead, and the several Confederate Memorial Days.

Decoration Day, c. 1900. "You bet I'm goin' to be a soldier, too, like my Uncle David, when I grow up."According to Professor David Blight of the Yale University History Department, the first memorial day was observed in 1865 by liberated slaves at the historic race track in Charleston. The site was a former Confederate prison camp as well as a mass grave for Union soldiers who had died while captive. A parade with thousands of freed blacks and Union soldiers was followed by patriotic singing and a picnic.

The official birthplace of Memorial Day is Waterloo, New York. The village was credited with being the birthplace because it observed the day on May 5, 1866, and each year thereafter, and because it is likely that the friendship of General John Murray, a distinguished citizen of Waterloo, and General John A. Logan, who led the call for the day to be observed each year and helped spread the event nationwide, was a key factor in its growth.

General Logan had been impressed by the way the South honored their dead with a special day and decided the Union needed a similar day. Reportedly, Logan said that it was most fitting; that the ancients, especially the Greeks, had honored their dead, particularly their heroes, by chaplets of laurel and flowers, and that he intended to issue an order designating a day for decorating the grave of every soldier in the land, and if he could he would have made it a holiday.

Logan had been the principal speaker in a citywide memorial observation on April 29, 1866, at a cemetery in Carbondale, Illinois, an event that likely gave him the idea to make it a national holiday. On May 5, 1868, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, a veterans' organization, Logan issued a proclamation that "Decoration Day" be observed nationwide. It was observed for the first time on May 30 of the same year; the date was chosen because it was not the anniversary of a battle. The tombs of fallen Union soldiers were decorated in remembrance of this day.

Many of the states of the U.S. South refused to celebrate Decoration Day, due to lingering hostility towards the Union Army and also because there were very few veterans of the Union Army who lived in the South. A notable exception was Columbus, Mississippi, which on April 25, 1866 at its Decoration Day commemorated both the Union and Confederate casualties buried in its cemetery.

The alternative name of "Memorial Day" was first used in 1882, but did not become more common until after World War II, and was not declared the official name by Federal law until 1967 . On June 28, 1968, the United States Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, which moved three holidays from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend and for the first time recognized Columbus Day as a federal holiday. The holidays included Washington's Birthday (which evolved into Presidents' Day), Veterans Day, and Memorial Day. The change moved Memorial Day from its traditional May 30 date to the last Monday in May. The law took effect at the federal level in 1971 . After some initial confusion and unwillingness to comply at the state level, all fifty states adopted the measure within a few years, although Veterans Day was eventually changed back to its traditional date. Ironically, most corporate businesses no longer close on Columbus Day or Veterans Day, and an increasing number are staying open on President's Day as well. The holiday has endured as one where most businesses stay closed because it marks the beginning of the "summer vacation season" (similar to neighboring Canada's Victoria Day, which occurs on the prior Monday).

Celebrity and Environmentalist Favorite - Anya Hindmarch

Celebrity and Environmentalist Favorite - Anya Hindmarch - Launches First Las Vegas Boutique at The Shoppes at The Palazzo - Boutique marks fifth store in North America

from Earth Times

Anya Hindmarch, London-born designer who was catapulted to fame last year with her environmentally conscious I'm Not a Plastic Bag tote campaign, is proud to announce the opening of her newest boutique at The Shoppes at The Palazzo -- the 450,000-square-foot luxury destination retail center within The Palazzo Las Vegas. The 1,000-square-foot boutique is the fifth Anya Hindmarch store in North America, joining Los Angeles, Short Hills, and two locations in New York.

The Las Vegas boutique remains true to the Anya Hindmarch aesthetic: a creative space that can be adapted to accommodate seasonal inspiration and change. Traditional haberdashery continues to be a strong inspiration while Art Deco influences add polish and shine. A combination of mirrors, black glass and marble create a timeless elegance for Hindmarch's collection which has grown beyond her signature handbags crafted from the finest Italian calf leather to include footwear, outerwear, luggage and travel accessories.

Hindmarch first launched an eponymous line of luxury handbags and small leather goods in 1993 and now boasts 47 stores worldwide, including China, Japan, Russia, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. Recognized globally for her 2007 I'm Not a Plastic Bag tote, Hindmarch used her influence to make a fashionable statement discouraging the use of plastic bags. The limited edition canvas tote sold for just $15. The bags have been seen on the arms of a variety of celebrities and were selected by Graydon Carter to be included in the 2007 Vanity Fair Oscar goodie bags. The I'm Not A Plastic Bag tote launched in four limited edition colors around the world. Thousands of customers queued to get their hands on this cult bag which sold out within hours around the globe. Over 100,000 customers registered online to purchase the I'm Not A Plastic Bag tote -- a product launch that still resonates today with the fashion-forward and celebrity elite.

In testament to her continued success, Anya Hindmarch was honoured with the accolade of Designer Brand of the Year at the 2007 British Fashion Awards and garnered Glamour Magazine's Accessory Designer of The Year Award for the second time running.

Why Hollywood's bad girls are rarely fashion victims

from The Independent

From Marlene Dietrich in the 1930s through Brigitte Bardot and Ursula Andress in the 1960s, the more 'fatale' a 'femme', the better she is dressed. Charlotte Cripps on a new festival of cult thrillers in which the devil always gets the best clothes

Links between film, fashion, crime and violence are explored in a festival that will examine how fashion and style in film glamorise criminal behaviour.

There is no shortage of examples. Frank Borzage's 1936 film Desire stars the foxy-but-treacherous Marlene Dietrich as a super-glamorous aristocratic crook trying to get hold of a rare string of pearls. The classic 1971 crime flick Get Carter rounds up the whole relationship between the beautiful surface and the darker underworld of the criminal look with a stylish Michael Caine, who plays a violent London gangster, in suits designed by Vangie Harrison.

Fashion gets even darker in Dario Argento's 1970 Italian horror film The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, in which an anonymous figure in a shiny black PVC raincoat and black leather gloves slashes beautiful young women. The 1981 film Ms .45, directed by Abel Ferrara, is about a vengeful female serial killer who looks dowdy until she embraces her killing sprees and obsessively puts on red lipstick and killer heels.

At the Fashion in Film festival around London, designer Bella Freud will present a rare Swedish film, Mannequin in Red (1958), about murder in a fashion house, directed by Arne Mattsson, who has been dubbed the Swedish Hitchcock.

"The thing about fashion and film is that still the most important aspect is the plot," says Freud. "Some films are so stylised and the costumes are amazing, but the film is boring. Apocalypse Now, which you would never call a fashion film, has got the most brilliant fashion in it. It's so stylish. There is a scene where they lower these dancers in from helicopters and they are wearing cowboy boots and shorts. I thought I'd died when I saw that scene. It was such an exhilarating moment.

"Some directors have such a feel for how things look that it becomes fashion. This film that I'm introducing, Mannequin in Red, is set in a fashion house, but there is so much intrigue in the woman that runs the fashion studio, who has a white cat on her lap like a James Bond villain. This old harridan also has a wheelchair draped in leopard print, and another one draped in black lace.

"But despite the beautiful 1950s full-skirted dresses and petticoats – definitely worth a few sketches while watching – it is a gripping film. "As a fashion designer I was really influenced by the 1965 film Viva Maria!, directed by Louis Malle, and starring Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau. It was made in the 1960s but it was set at the turn of the century, so it was a slightly bouffant version of revolutionaries in the early 20th century wearing these long white skirts with coloured cinched-in waists and circus people wearing these flowered shirts. My whole second catwalk show in 1994 was based on this film."

GQ's editor Dylan Jones introduces the 1965 Italian cult science fiction film The Tenth Victim, directed by Elio Petri, starring Ursula Andress as a huntress who uses clothes as both weapons to seduce and to kill victims in the "big hunt" – a competitor sport of 10 rounds in which players are both hunter and victim. In one scene she even fires at her victim from her bra, a move later copied in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Marcello Mastroianni stars as the blond-haired victim, her tenth potential conquest.

"I was surprised this iconic quintessentially Sixties film hadn't been more lauded, actually. It is so of the moment yet it is almost slapstick," says Jones. "The point of the film is that it is futuristic, but like a lot of science fiction it says more about the time that it was produced than the time it is meant to represent. A lot of films that were made in the Sixties have similar themes. The 1968 film Barbarella is probably the most famous one of them. It says more about the hopes and dreams and the short-term iconography of the Sixties than it does about anything else.

"The Tenth Victim is a very funny film. Mastroianni does look amazingly cool and, whenever someone is trying to represent anything that is remotely Modernist or Futurist, they always put somebody in a polo-neck jumper, which is exactly what he is wearing. Andress as his beautiful hunter could dress in anything and look good; at that point she had such a phenomenal body. She plays this mad sex-maniac and she is very vampish.

"Often you look back on these films and they are rather shallow affairs. Everybody holds up The Thomas Crown Affair, the 1968 heist film, as being a cool Sixties moment, with all the obvious iconic fashion flag-points. But actually this film inspired many more art-directors and advertising campaigns than it did cinematographers or directors. If you watch it now, the film is incredibly slow, brooding, and pretentious, despite being an extraordinarily elegant film to look at – but the remake is a far superior film. Does The Tenth Victim glorify crime? If you think that The Italian Job glamorises criminal behaviour, then so does The Tenth Victim. It is so far removed from reality that I don't think it glorifies it because it's a farce."

Other Fashion in Film screenings include the 1945 melodrama Leave Her to Heaven, directed by John M Stahl and starring Gene Tierney as the wickedly possessive wife whose impeccable dress-sense masks her flaws. There is also Michelangelo Antonioni's first feature film, from 1950, Chronicle of a Love, with the former Miss Italy star Lucia Bose groomed to perfection in high couture designed by the lawyer-turned-costume-designer Ferdinando Sarmi. He was also cast in the film as her husband Enrico.

The Korean-director Kim Yong-Gyun's 2005 thriller The Red Shoes is an adaptation of the 1948 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger classic of the same title, and its showing is a London premiere. Follow Me Quietly (1949) features a faceless dummy of a serial killer used by police to track down a criminal in a noir thriller by Richard Fleischer. And Marleen Gorris' 1982 feature-film debut, A Question of Silence, tells the story of a bunch of women who decide to kill a boutique owner with clothes rails and shopping bags in a metaphorical gesture of violence against being exploited by men.

Does fashion in film glorify violence and can we see this throughout cinema's history? The festival's curator Marketa Uhlirova, based at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, thinks it might. "We wanted to explore the link between cinema, crime, fashion and costume," says Uhlirova, "and soon realised that certain patterns were emerging for us across film history and a variety of genres. The thread that weaves throughout the whole season is a concern with how and why fashion and clothing have been so instrumental to cinema's crime-narratives.

"We were particularly fascinated with how film often pinpoints specific garments and accessories, such as hats, gloves, shoes, handbags, or jewellery – and how these begin to function as objects of desire, murderous weapons, clues, evidence... There is something very poetic about that. But some of our guest curators identified sartorial gestures, rituals and even mistakes as worthy of examination – take the turned-up collar, or the blood stain."

"Cinema definitely has a tendency to show criminality as stylish. Not that real criminals can't be stylish [in fact, a short film by Dino Dinco, one of the artists involved in the new commissions, looks at real LA gangsters' obsessive preoccupation with clothes, and specifically focuses on the ritual of ironing], but cinema often exaggerates the glamorous or dandyish element of criminals and their criminal acts.

"Fashion is all about fabricating the ultimate arresting image and, on top of that, it can be very obsessive and indulgent. It is all artificiality, which makes it inhuman – and this is why it can make crime absolutely captivating in its cruelty. It's generally the baddies and the troubled ones that are portrayed as glamorous and gorgeous, not the goodies.

"Having said that, I would argue that fashion doesn't just glamorise crime – it can also sensualise it. Just look at some of the silent films in our season, or the sumptuous horrors by Bava and Argento, or some of the artist-films we are screening at Tate. Fashion rests on the surface, it has an excessive preoccupation with dress and grooming – and this usually signals something dark."

Fashion in Film Festival: If Looks Could Kill takes place at various cinemas in London from 10 to 31 May

A Jewelry Travel Case is a Must

JUICY COUTURE designer purse travel case cosmetic train case navy green.

A jewelry travel case is a must for anyone who travels regularly. It also comes in handy for people who only get away once or twice each year. Your jewels are valuable to you. They are not only expensive but in most cases they hold great sentimental value as well as monetary worth. The last thing you want to do is leave them lying on a table in a hotel somewhere.

I say this because I did just that a few years ago. This hard lesson left me devastated by my loss and sickened by my lack of organization. I can’t say where I lost my mother’s ring that she passed down to me but I do know that it was during spring break.

I took the valuable ring along on a short trip. I didn’t have a jewelry travel case but I really didn’t think that I had much use for such a thing. The occasional necklace and bracelet was all that I really wore aside from my mother’s ring. I really didn’t think that a jewelry travel case was necessary for so few items.

However, if you even have only one single jewel along for the trip, you really should invest in a jewelry travel case for your adventure. The traveling case can help you stay organized even during the most rushed occurrences on your outing. Keeping your valuables in your purse may seem like the perfect solution but I can guarantee that it is not.

I know this because that is precisely where I put my mother’s ring. I placed it in the change compartment of my purse sometime during the trip. To be honest, I put it there for a really stupid reason. The ring was for an engagement and I wanted to communicate loud and clear that I was available so the ring disappeared into my purse.

A couple of days later I decided to search for the ring and was sickened that it was gone. I bought a jewelry travel case for my next outing. I kept a pair of earrings in it and nothing else. My friend asked me why on earth I would keep one little pair of earrings in a jewelry travel case, “Because I want to take them home with me,” was my response.

I never lost those earrings or any other piece of jewelry on any vacation after that. Buying a jewelry travel case may have saved me a lot of money over the years.

Customs Bust at Port of L.A. Nets $1.3 Million in Counterfeit Goods

Photo of China Port where most of the counterfeit garbage comes from!

From Apparel News

Customs officials inspecting two cargo containers at the Port of Los Angeles recently came across hundreds of counterfeit hats, shoes, blankets, wallets, wearing apparel and jewelry all bearing designer names.

The discoveries were made on two separate days, April 8 and 11, but all the merchandise was sent from the same company in China to the same buyer in Texas, said Christina Gamez, a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, on Tuesday. Gamez did not reveal the name of the supplier or the importer.

Nor did she say why these two particular containers were singled out for inspection. She noted there are a number of factors considered when deciding what cargo gets scrutinized by customs officials.

The value of the apprehended merchandise was placed at $1.3 million, but if they had been sold as authentic items, they would have fetched $38 million, customs officials said.

The counterfeit items were bearing labels such as Burberry, Giorgio Armani, Baby Phat and Dolce & Gabbana, as well as other prominent names.

This is the second major load of counterfeit goods that customs has intercepted recently. Last month, customs officials at the Port of Los Angeles discovered a container of fake handbags valued at $500,000 but with a full-market value of $22 million if sold as originals. Labels on the purses included Gucci, Chanel and Coach. —Deborah Belgum

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Everyone at eFashionHouse.com is really happy LA is cracking down on counterfeits!
Thank you Port of LA!
Yippee!

Online Shopping Brokers: Meet the newest designer to go green for Target

Online Shopping Brokers: Meet the newest designer to go green for Target