Over 16,555,052 people are on fubar.
What are you waiting for?
Vanessa Williams Rocks Stunning Metallic Gown At 2016 Miss America
She’s back! Vanessa Williams, 52, was one of the judges at the 2016 Miss America pageant, on Sept. 13 — and she was stunning. What do you guys think of Vanessa’s amazing look?
Vanessa is back on the Miss America stage, but for a different role — lead judge! She hit the stage in an eye-catching metallic gown and we fell in love!
The head judge grabbed the mic and sang the traditional opening song, but our eyes were fixated on her dress. The colors were amazing — 110% ombre. It started with a delicate light pink, then into a light purple, into a stunning light blue and finished into a copper color.
The dress clung to her in all the right places and her wing sleeve was the perfect touch on this gorgeous look. We have to point out the stripes that wrapped around her entire gown — what a perfect touch!
Dress: wedding dresses
Vanessa’s Miss America Scandal
Vanessa was the first African American to be crowned Miss America, and is the contest’s lead judge 31 years after she was forced to resign her title over nude photos of her published in Penthouse magazine.
“It was two drastically different images — that was the issue. It was Miss America, who is really kind of untouched and not reality, and then there was this woman in the picture that was the polar opposite of purity, and I was a normal kid in the middle,” she said in a recent interview with Good Morning America. ”That’s one of the problems I’ve had to deal with in my career, not only being a Miss America, but being a scandalous Miss America.”
It’s amazing to see her hit the stage ever since she snagged that crown in 1984 also in Atlantic City, N.J., Sept. 17, 1983.
Also Read: vintage wedding dress
Street style has changed significantly since its early days in 2007, and not just because so many stars have revamped their looks. The first wave of photographers like Scott Schuman have become so bored by it all they've resorted to photographing teacups or starting their own media empires. Original show ponies like Taylor Tomasi Hill have dropped out of the game to pursue other ventures, showing up occasionally for a quick appearance, leaving a new generation to fight it out every season. But nothing has changed more than what it takes to get noticed.
It used to be that you could follow a rough formula: Wear artfully clashed prints, carry a recognizable clutch, and splurge on a pair of fancy, straight-from-the-runway heels and you might get your picture taken. Sure, the editors might have supplemented their own wardrobes by borrowing a piece or two, but most of their clothes came from sample sales or credit cards.
But this is 2015, and what used to work no longer grabs anyone's attention. We are in a full-on arms race! Head-to-toe runway looks are the new norm. Look at Yoyo Cao in Chanel at the Chanel show, or Anya Ziourova wearing a Jason Wu look a mere two weeks after it was shown at New York Fashion Week.
The distance from the runway to street style has never been shorter, which makes predicting what we'll be seeing outside the shows during the upcoming Fashion Month a different game than it's been in the past. Sure, there are individual pieces that will probably be favorites, but they won't be styled out quite as flamboyantly. Most looks will probably represent the designer's personal vision, not the wearer's personal style.
Given the hot weather, and the fact that many of the seasonally appropriate fall looks have already been worn (i.e. Miroslava Duma in fall 2015 Louis Vuitton), don't be surprised to see resort 2016 outfits from the likes of Dior or Louis Vuitton making an appearance. Perennially popular designers like Chloé and Rosie Assoulin will feature prominently, and considering that this is the year of Gucci, expect to see plenty of Alessandro Michele's wacky, magpie pieces — both borrowed and bought.
All of this makes street style even more of an insider's activity than it already was. But those who lack the designer connections to facilitate a loan can always buy their street-style bait. Moschino still reigns supreme, as does anything from Céline, especially the flashy rhinestone shoes from the fall show. For those who would rather go subtle, Australian designer Ellery and up-and-coming New York designer Sandy Liang are both photographer favorites.
Q. My girlfriend and I are invited to a good friend's wedding next month. The invitation says "Black Tie Optional." My girlfriend wants to get dressed up and wants me to wear a tux, but I don't own one and am not happy with the idea of renting one. I like to look good in my clothes, but I'm not quite up for the major investment involved in buying one. Is my good, well-tailored dark blue suit acceptable?
Are there any special touches that would upgrade its look?
A. You are right to forget renting. I have never understood what would prompt a man who cares about what he wears and who has arrived at a level of achievement where his friends dress in formal wear to rent his black-tie attire for some special occasion. His date is resplendent in her most elegant cocktail dress. She wears the finest jewelry she owns (or can borrow), and he comes in a third-rate rental getup.
To answer your question about whether a great-looking dark blue suit is acceptable: the wording of the invitation -- "optional" -- makes it appropriate. An invitation that states "Black Tie" means just that. You are supposed to dress in correct formal attire with all of the required bells and whistles. Here, bless them, the hosts have given you the opportunity to circumvent those rules.
That does not give a man license to be too informal. Obviously, you understand that. I am glad to help you come up with a few special elements that would move your entire look up a few notches.
With your sharp dark suit, I suggest you wear a white spread-collar dress shirt with French cuffs and your best cuff links. Either choose a stylish bow tie (it does not need to be black) or an especially handsome, perfectly knotted long tie. It could be a dark woven-silk solid (dressier than a repp), a pindot, or a small Hermes-like overall print pattern.
Another possibility is a "wedding tie." This is a tie that used to be more popular than it is today -- a standard, long four-in-hand silk tie distinguished by its color, most often a solid silver/gray or ice-blue. Today's popular tie clasp would work well, ideally in a metal that matches the cuff links.
Or, another way to go -- this might be the time for the unique and sophisticated look of a fine wool vest, perhaps in ivory. You will definitely not see your look on every other guy in the room. Add a pocket square that coordinates (but does not exactly match) your tie or perhaps a small boutonniere (but not both!). As always for a dressy occasion, fine quality shined black lace-up shoes and black over-the-calf socks are the best choices.
Still, if you really want to make your girlfriend happy, you have yet another option. One way around the expense of buying a formal evening suit (aka tuxedo) is to visit one of the many "previously owned" shops. Often this is a good place to pick up a wonderful bargain. For any of who-knows-what reasons, dashing dressers take fine formal clothes to these stores and sell them for a pittance. You can buy them for not too much more.
Occasionally, you may find a 100 percent tropical-weight wool tuxedo for less than $100. Then, after a trip to the best tailor you can find, you have a perfectly fitting high quality suit of your own for far less than the cost of a new one.
Why do I like this alternative? The older suit may have a variety of small touches, such as better-grade buttons, a true buttonhole on the lapel, lining in the trousers' knees, that recent cost-cutting has prompted manufacturers to eliminate.
And you will have had the adventure of discovery.
Add your own purchase of a fresh new pleated formal shirt (with either a wing collar or a turned-down collar), black bow tie, and accessories, and you will have a dash of originality.
Suits you! Anna Heinrich looks glamorous in a pin stripped dress as she and beau Tim Robards at children's fundraising event
She never fails to turn heads when she attends red carpet events.
And on Wednesday Anna Heinrich did exactly that as she stepped out in a pin stripped dress with her handspome beau Tim Robards.
The reality TV couple put their celebrity status relationship to good use as they attended an Annual Park dinner that raises funds for children in Sydney.
The 27-year-old beauty lawyer displayed her toned body in the black and white piece that dropped to the knee cap and featured a low cut front.
She also flaunted her long legs through the dress' thigh high split and in a pair of matching black suede high heels.
Keeping her look elegant and chic, Anna wore her glossy blonde locks out and styled them with a curl while parting it to the left forming a side fringe across her forehead.
She kept her make-up to a minimal as she went for a natural look to match her simple hair-do.
Looking stylish just like his stunning side kick Tim, 31, opted for a white shirt which he left the top unbuttoned along with an on trend navy suit.
The health fanatic gelled his dark brown hair back as he rocked an unshaven facial look.
The former Bachelor couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he wrapped his arms around Anna's slender frame for numerous photos.
The Annual Park Dinner's - which raised $70,000 this year - will support the running of Sydney's Centennial Park's Ian Potter Children's Wild Play Garden which is due to be opened to the public next year.
According to the park's official website the new Sydney addition 'will be an interactive environment that will allow children to experience the learning power of nature, through free nature-based play and unstructured learning.'
Despite being together for two years, they have both spilled that they don't plan on tying the knot anytime soon.
Earlier this month Anna told the Daily Edition that she would certainly say yes if her beau was to pop the question because 'I know we're going to be together forever.'
'I know that he's genuine when he asks me, and when the day comes, it's going to be so real that I won't be able to say no,' she said of her future proposal.
Over-the-Top Dress Codes Are Making a Triumphant Return
In a world of 24/7 athleisure, insisting on an exacting dress code is a cannily counterintuitive move. The party couldn't have gotten better PR, with much of the reaction of the gleeful, isn't-this-fabulous sort. Between the Gloss party and the Harper's Bazaar Fashion Week extravaganza, whose invitation calls for "fantasy evening attire," it won't be a dull Fashion Week. Back in the spring, Steven Klein and NARS helped pave the way for the trend when they hosted a night of NSFW revelry in a mansion in Yonkers, with partygoers wearing crocodile hats or dripping in jewels. And this fall, nightlife fashion is even getting the museum treatment with "Fashion Underground: The World of Susanne Bartsch" at the Museum at FIT, which will surely give aspiring hosts plenty of inspiration.
The current mood is a callback to an era of over-the-top, no-holds-barred ostentation — think Truman Capote's Black and White Ball, or every night at Studio 54, where Bianca Jagger accessorized with the ultimate investment piece: a white horse. Perhaps it's part of the pendulum swing we've seen away from all things "natural" — from stark minimalism to Alessandro Michele's embrace of magpie maximalism in fashion, from multistep "no-makeup makeup" to elaborate contouring in beauty. Grab your false eyelashes and your fuchsia blush — artifice is in.
Roger Padilha, co-author of Gloss and co-owner of Mao PR, is hosting the party and came up with the dress code, with plenty of input from Jacobs. The guidelines are a nod to a bygone era of playing dress-up for nights out. "Marc and I are close friends and we are always talking about clubs like Jackie 60 that we’d go to in the '90s," which would host over-the-top weekly themed events like a Bettie Page fetish party or a Cyber Robot event, he recalls. "That party encouraged guests to dress up in the different weekly themes with a hilarious dress code on their invites — and people used to follow them! The best part about going out those days was figuring out what you were going to wear and inviting your friends over beforehand while you dressed. It was like Halloween every week!" (Padilha now has his office next door to Jackie 60's former downtown stomping grounds, and says with bemusement that where he once found himself leaving the club at 8 a.m., he's now heading to work at the same time.)
Wild dress codes have found their way into private life as well. Danielle Prescod, accessories editor at InStyle, has been flying the flag for some time now, hosting elaborate themed parties with specific dress codes for her birthday; this year's was Mo' Money, Mo' Problems. "Most of my fashion friends got SUPER into it. I mean like 'calling in looks' into it," she says, "and were fully styled down to hair and makeup ... My motto is always to go for it." For fashion publicist Chris Constable, the event planner Bronson van Wyck's Bal des Sauvages–themed 40th birthday, complete with Candice Bergen in bunny ears and Roopal Patel in an elaborate butterfly mask, set the tone. "It changes up the more mundane cocktail/fashion event," he says, "and helps to show off everyone’s creativity [rather] than wearing black, or a street-style shot outside a show."
Out columnist and nightlife chronicler Michael Musto, who threw himself a zebra-themed birthday party at El Morocco in the '90s, recently got to relive those glory days last week at dance legend Sir Ivan's Village People–themed party, held at his castle in Water Mill, New York. "I went to Screaming Mimi's and got a leather cap, so I could fit in with the swarms of people dressing up like the Village People's macho stereotypes," says Musto. "I wasn't very convincing as a leather man, but with that one simple gesture ... I managed to fit in a little more, while also adding to the festive, retro air that permeated all the way down to the music and some of the VIPs."
Meanwhile, Padilha says that he and Jacobs have been enjoying the attention from their viral hit, which quickly blossomed into memes featuring SNL's Stefon and The Sound of Music song "My Favorite Things." Padilha and Jacobs have "been texting this whole week with funny screen-grabs of all the attention the dress code has gotten," Padilha admits. "When I was a fashion student, I always imagined that NYFW events would be so glamorous and over-the-top and everyone would be dressed up in the most amazing clothes — I mean, it makes sense that the fashion industry would be excited to get dressed up for an occasion, right?" he adds. "Well, nine times out of ten, it's a bunch of models in tank tops and jeans mixed with industry people in pretty conservative chic but plain black. It’s time for us to celebrate why we got into this business in the first place — taking risks and having fun in clothes and looking amazing doing it. If we don’t, then who will?"
At Manhattan’s Marriage Bureau, Fake Flowers, Real Tears and 101 Weddings in a Day
The brides wore white, temporarily, retrieving ticket No. C685 from a kiosk inside the Manhattan marriage bureau — that great municipal deli of matrimony — and waiting to be served.
They joined the others on a long couch, giggling. They held hands until they were called. They sobbed through a ceremony of some 90 seconds, then kissed passionately until the officiant reminded them that there were people behind them.
When it was over, they bounded across Worth Street into a small park, collected several cartons of paint from a tote bag and accosted each other with color, wrestling atop a neatly arranged bed of leaves. A worker with New York City’s parks department, who had spent an hour assembling the pile, grimaced.
“Congrats on marriage and this and that,” the man yelled, “but we’re trying to keep the leaves together.”
Such is life, and love, in Lower Manhattan’s cradle of codified romance — the marriage bureau’s constellation of swoony couples, beaming relatives, mostly well-meaning hucksters and city employees eager to complete the day without major incident.
Weddings at the Manhattan bureau have increased by nearly 50 percent since 2008, according to the city clerk’s office. The increase has been coaxed by two changes in recent years: the legalization of same-sex marriage and an effort by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in 2009 to reimagine — and relocate — the bureau to rival Las Vegas as a wedding destination with pizazz.
The couples come from Denver and Delhi, Buenos Aires and Brooklyn Heights. They come in gowns, flip-flops, pre-tied bow ties, straw hats and short shorts.
They come to end long engagements or to skip them altogether, to exchange precious family jewels and, in at least one case, 70-calorie Ring Pops.
All are in it together.
“It kind of brings down the tensions,” Vivek Raj Senthivel, 32, one in a cluster of grooms, said semiconvincingly, wiping his forehead with a cloth. “It’s not like we’re doing something unique.”
Last year, the city performed more than 49,000 ceremonies, nearly half of them in Manhattan. Fridays tend to be the most popular. Mondays, at least, signal new beginnings, or perhaps the end of a whirlwind long weekend for visiting lovebirds.
There are few paeans in literature to the late-summer Wednesday.
And yet, on this occasion, 101 pairings were making the midweek leap, paying $25 each for New York’s best approximation of a City Hall service. (The mayoral workplace is a few blocks south, though the wedding bureau does feature a large City Hall rendering as a backdrop for pictures.)
The cost can swell with a couple’s ambitions. As the doors opened at 8:30 a.m., a photographer, Braulio Cuenca, sought customers, offering himself as the something borrowed, for a fistful of 20s.
A merchant known as Taxi arranged fake bouquets, $30 apiece, on a table. “Flowers here!” he shouted, like a stadium vendor hawking peanuts. “Get your flowers here!”
Inside, commerce continued apace. Amid bronze counters and shimmering marble, a booth known as CityStore displayed mugs, magnets and dutifully gender neutral T-shirts (“Spouse A,” “Spouse B”).
“It’s really romantic,” Natalie Azzoli, 27, said, lingering beside a his-and-hers rubber duck set priced at $4.75, as a cashier forked a slab of syrup-soaked pancakes from a paper plate.
“We’re not buying any of this,” Ms. Azzoli’s companion, Sam Sparks, 29, said.
The two had just procured a domestic partnership certificate — for insurance reasons, they said.
Ms. Azzoli wore white anyway. “Just casually,” Mr. Sparks said with a smile, pulling her closer.
A wedding would come soon enough, they suggested. In the interim, the bureau retained a certain charm. Ms. Azzoli teared up while watching another couple sort through paperwork. Mr. Sparks marveled at the partnership fee of $35.
“And it only costs $27 to divorce a domestic partner,” Mr. Sparks said.
Other reviews of the space were less charitable.
Of the couch outside the chapel: “Put a cover over it or something,” a groom, Jamal Sandel, 44, said, inspecting his white pants.
Of the paint job overhead: “It doesn’t match,” said Charles Phillips, 34, waiting for a license with Kevin Ragazzo, 26.
Of the administrative clacking, in a room suffused with staplers and tape dispensers: “It could be a place for any kind of life event,” Varvara Voetskova, 30, said. “Or death. It’s very cold.”
Ms. Voetskova had arrived with a plan, an antidote to the antiseptic. The paint was hers, to be shared with her new wife, Krystal Morales-Voetskova, 20, in the park outside. So were two bouquets, stowed away for a suspenseless toss to a bridal party of two.
“We make this place romantic,” Ms. Voetskova said.
Around 11:15 a.m., the pair entered the chapel of Angel L. Lopez, an officiant who had performed 86 weddings by the close of business. (A colleague handled another 15 during Mr. Lopez’s lunch break.)
Mr. Lopez stood behind a lectern on what appeared to be a doormat.
Ms. Voetskova, who was raised in Russia, said that had she been told as a child that at age 30 she would marry a woman, she would have cried.
Mr. Lopez began the ceremony.
“Varvara, do you ——”
“Yes,” she said, through tears.
He continued anyway.
The women kissed, then began jumping.
“Is it O.K. to behave this way?” Ms. Voetskova asked.
“It’s O.K.,” Mr. Lopez said, waving the next group in.
The Morales-Voetskova party set off along Worth Street, plucking the caps off the paint cartons and tumbling into the grass.
Most celebrations were more subdued, if only slightly. Outside the chapel, 2-year-old Shelly Manjarrez wobbled in her white dress before a relative’s ceremony, spinning until she was dizzy. Giovanna Garcia, 5, joined her, her tiara glistening.
Perhaps the day’s most cherished witness was Olivia Taylor, who had been married for more than 55 years until her husband’s recent death. A family friend asked her to bless their bond with her marital creed.
“First, you’ve got to love each other,” Ms. Taylor said. “Then you’ve got to respect each other. And if you both go wild, you can’t go wild on the same day at the same time.”
Others relied on collective wisdom. LaToya Perez, 35, and Natalie Jackson, 32, arrived with about a dozen guests, each intent on supplying a final word of advice.
“It’s not going to change.”
“A whole lot changes.”
“You can’t make any new friends.”
“You’ll want your own space.”
“You’re taking advice from a divorced person.”
“It’s not my fault! He was crazy!”
As the relatives persisted, Ms. Jackson’s stepfather, Andre Cook, delivered a grim reminder: “This place ain’t got a back door, Nat.”
Ms. Perez’s 7-year-old son, Tajari Rock, strummed an invisible guitar while looking at his reflection in a glass case, behind which rested a marriage book opened to a page from 1929.
“That’s Babe Ruth,” Mr. Lopez said between ceremonies, pointing to entry No. 8666. “George Herman Ruth. That’s his second marriage.”
By 4 p.m., the chapel had closed. A couple posed in front of the City Hall backdrop. Outside, the flower salesman, Taxi, cleared wayward petals from the sidewalk.
Mr. Lopez returned to his desk, plopping down a heap of marriage papers thick enough to raise dust on impact. He arranged the leaflets into a neat stack.
“Today’s work,” he said, holstering his identification card. “Hopefully it’s all love.”
Denise Van Outen looks chic in a tailored blazer as she and debonair boyfriend Eddie Boxshall dress up for dinner
She may have been singing and dancing her days away on stage last week, but Denise Van Outen has set aside some time for beau Eddie Boxshall this week.
Denise, who started her run in the musical Sweet Charity last Wednesday, was spotted enjoying a fancy dinner in London's elegant Mayfair district on Thursday, which they both dressed up for.
The 41-year-old blonde was lead out of the stylish Bouillabaisse eatery after a one-to-one cooking lesson by Executive Chef Jordan Sclare.
The handsome pair made a perfect match in tailored jackets; both of them heading beneath oversized glasses.
Stage star Denise cut a chic figure in a cigarette cut jumpsuit and heels, while her man was particularly debonair in pin stripes.
He lead her with a protective hand out of the London establishment, while she shyed away behind square tinted shades.
t had been a fun day all round, that saw Denise posing with a lobster as she was taught some culinary tips by the expert.
She captioned a second image for Instagram: 'Cooking lesson @bouillabaissew1 with @jordansclare great afternoon with friends ❤️'
Denise will no doubt be relishing some down time with her faithful partner, having spent all of last week on stage.
The actress and television personality appeared alongside Kimberley Walsh and Kerry Ellis at Cadogan Hall.
The trio wrapped their stage show on Saturday but Denise was straight onto the next project and launched her new TV show on Wednesday night.
Denise hosts new XLS-Medical documentary Losing Weight: My Journey, which follows four real women as they go through the highs and lows of losing weight using the food supplement.
Speaking about the show, Denise previously told MailOnline: 'I got involved because I believe in successful weight loss.
'It will be great to see how these women have changed their lives and go on a journey with them, hearing their stories.'
Rafael Nadal Strips for Tommy Hilfiger; Hello Kitty Designer Reinvents Lady Gaga
Who better to star in underwear ads than hunky, fit athletes? Okay, maybe some DJs are cut out for the job (cough, Calvin Harris, cough), but sports stars like David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo are pretty good, too, as far as we're concerned. Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal is the latest athlete to join the legion of fitness buffs-turned-modeling men with a new campaign for the revamped Tommy Hilfiger underwear collection. The images were released on Instagram today, and so far, so good.
Lady Gaga has been immortalized in cartoon form by none other than Hello Kitty designer, Yuko Yamaguchi. The popstar was transformed into a wide-eyed digital "sticker" (which can be used on Japanese social media platform, Line) for a new collaboration with Shiseido, which Gaga is currently the face of in Japan. The eight stickers feature Gaga rocking the wild looks she sports in the campaign along with fun slogans like "paws up" and "you do you."
Hearst is building out its digital presence with a new team of employees dedicated to a yet to be revealed Snapchat project. The publisher is currently hiring a slew of editors and reviewers for what is rumored to be a special partnership with the social media platform. Though Hearst has not confirmed any specifics, job listings hint that there could also be a potential ecommerce component. And like, all the kids are doing it, so why not?
Marc Jacobs is not messing around when it comes to the dress code for his upcoming party for Gloss, a new book about '70s photographer Chris Von Wagenheim. Invites tell of a "strict dress to kill code" that includes "no flat shoes" — but that's not all. Guests are also encouraged to wear "fur coats over lingerie," "gold lame turbans," "sheer harem pants" or anything that qualifies as "rollerina chic." Okay, maybe he's messing around a little bit.
It happened, as good ideas often do, over a round of cocktails.
Roberta Pereira and Brisa Trinchero, two rising Broadway producers, had just met and hit it off, bonding over their mutual love of the stage and books.
Over Cosmos one night, Trinchero bemoaned the lack of fun, behind-the-scenes novels about their own industry.
“I was about to head out on a vacation, and I was saying, ‘Why isn’t there “The Devil Wears Prada” for theater?’” she said.
A lightbulb went on over Pereira’s head. “I was like, ‘Why don’t we do that?’” she recalled. “As a producer, I was like, ‘Oh, it doesn’t exist? We can make it happen.’”
And that’s how Dress Circle Publishing was born. One of only a few book lines specifically dedicated to theater, it publishes fiction and nonfiction, often intriguing stories about what happens backstage and offstage.
“Our whole goal is to provide access behind the curtain,” said Trinchero. “We’re putting things out into the world that we would have wanted to have read from afar so you can feel like an insider, even if you’re not.”
Dress Circle has put out a trilogy of novels about a young female Broadway producer, as well as collections of stories by Broadway insiders Seth Rudetsky and Jennifer Ashley Tepper.
Trinchero edits the books, and Pereira handles the business side. While they won’t reveal sale figures, the company is profitable, and they say they decline more submissions than they approve. “We can afford to be picky,” said Pereira.
Pereira, a Brazilian-born graduate of Yale School of Drama, recently became producing director at the off-Broadway theater company The Playwrights Realm.
She previously produced such work as the Tony-nominated play “Mothers and Sons” by Terrence McNally and the Olivier award-winning revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along” on the West End.
Trinchero, who grew up in Oregon and has a master’s of business administration degree from the University of Portland, has a string of Broadway hits, including “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” “Pippin,” “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess” and “Peter and the Starcatcher.”
They credit their Broadway connections — as well as strong business backgrounds — for allowing them to create their publishing company.
“We come from the inside. Broadway can be very insular and closed,” Pereira said. “That’s why we could crack it in this different way.”
For their first book, the pair commissioned Ruby Preston to write “Showbiz,” the fictional story of Scarlett Savoy, a Broadway producer. Pereira and Trinchero fed the writer plenty of their own behind-the-scenes stories.
“We found that the more specific and real and authentic we got with these books — really targeting theater fans everywhere — that we could really speak to them in ways that traditional publishers can’t,” said Trinchero.
Preston went on to write “Staged” and “Starstruck” — completing the trilogy — and a TV production company in Sweden is developing a series around it, featuring a young Swedish woman who comes to Broadway to produce.
While Dress Circle Publishing might still be a side business to Pereira and Trinchero — it has no main office or other full-time staff — it is a labor of love.
“On Broadway, we don’t have a lot of control. It’s this big Goliath that’s moving,” said Trinchero. “So this is a way for us to fuel our passion for theater and something we can do ourselves.”
A deflowered David Jones still looking good as new style and fashion labels welcomed
David Jones has been deflowered of its pure high fashion status only to blossom into a store pregnant with style thanks to the retailer welcoming Studio.W to the fold on Thursday.
Studio.W is the first of three "international labels" David Jones will be carrying – a symptom of the department store's sale to South African owned Woolworths last year.
The new brand is considered a Woolworths "home brand" which was launched back in 2003 but, rather than budget looks, the label will target the fashion conscious buyer who mixes expensive designer pieces with affordable fashion.
"I had a customer tell me in Melbourne that she'll invest in one thing per season then work it with pieces with a lower price point – like a pair of J.Brand jeans with a Studio. W soft blouse," Woolworths' fashion liaison with David Jones Darren Todd said.
The debut Australian range boasts wardrobe staples in neutral tones, think Chloe during the Phoebe Philo era. Colour also makes an appearance with splashes of wattle yellow and Great Barrier Reef coral. The versatile collection featuring lightweight blazers, white linen shirts and utility dresses will look at home in Bali, Byron or even at a modern day picnic at Hanging Rock.
Victoria's Secret model and #8 on Forbes Magazine's "World's Highest-Paid Models" list Joan Smalls is the face of the brand and starred in the show alongside DJ's darling Jessica Gomes. Smalls led by example working the red carpet in Studio.W short shorts and Lanvin asymmetrical top.
"They have a very clean, modern aesthetic and nice drapey fabrics that make great wardrobe pieces like shorts and cigarette length pants. One of the greatest things is that it is incredibly well priced, they start at $29.95 and we know that our customers like to do that whole 'high-low' mixing so there are some fantastic pieces you can do that with," David Jones General Executive of Merchandise Donna Player said.
While Australian customers will get to experience Studio.W and two other Woolworths labels that will be rolled out in the coming weeks, South African shoppers are already snapping up David Jones' stable ranges Country Road, Trenery and Mimco.
