Rural Sri Lanka Festival

The third annual Sri Lanka Design Festival (SLDF) scheduled for November, features a fascinating line-up of events including a series of fashion shows. Among these, one of the most inspirational and interesting fashion shows of the festival is the Island Craft fashion show: featuring handloom, batik and beeralu lace and other crafts from across the island, and highlights the creativity and skill of each artisan community through couture collections with contemporary design input from the Academy of Design (AOD). Currently, the handloom weaving artisans in Marthamunai – Ampara and Eruvil in Batticaloa are preparing newly designed textile collections for the Island Craft fashion show at the upcoming Sri Lanka Design Festival. In the North, another group of artisans are preparing for the show in Mulaittivu with the help of the Norwegian Embassy Cultural division where AOD has conducted a design and skill development programme for 20 women and introduced them to knitwear and this too is due to be showcased as part of the island craft fashion show at the festival. Batik artisans from the central province and beeralu lace makers from Dikwella, are also preparing special collections for the fashion show. The unique textile weaving industry in Divulapitiya-Gampaha, where the use of machine thread in the handlooms to create exquisite textiles is seen, is another fascinating segment of the show. – - Read more about this show

Our favorite celebs, models & fashion designers dress for Halloween!

Here’s Heidi Klum. The supermodel is officially THE Queen of Halloween, dressing up as a purple Avatar lady and multi-armed Hindu god, to name just two of her bonkers outfits. What WILL she come up with this year we wonder? - - view more Photos

Valentino: Florence Not Milan

VALENTINO will unveil its autumn – winter 2012-13 menswear collection for the first time at the Pitti Uomo show in Florence on January 11 – where the brand’s designers will be the event’s special guests. “We are very happy that Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, the Valentino creative directors, accepted our invitation,” Raffelle Napoleone, ceo of Pitti Immagine, said. “Their work combines a dynamic, contemporary spirit with the sartorial savoir-faire of a house that wrote a huge chapter in the history of fashion. Their visionary yet pragmatic approach combines tradition and innovation without interruptions: this is a feature that Pitti Immagine has always admired and looked for in fashion designers. The brand used to unveil its collection during Menswear Fashion Week in Milan, and more recently via a presentation in Paris, but this will be the label’s first catwalk show since spring/summer 2008 when it was still designed by Valentino himself. “We have been following their work since the first shows in Paris. In a very short time they have developed a secure, poetic and precise style. And now the time has come to offer them the Pitti stage to present the new vision of the Valentino Man with a dedicated fashion show”. “By so prominently featuring one of the icons of Made in Italy, Pitti Uomo continues its support for contemporary Italian fashions,” a statement for the event added. – - more

Andrej Pejic for 7th Man Magazine

The 4th issue of Seventh Man Magazine features a clean new re-design reflecting the issue’s theme of modern masculinity. Casting for this issue includes rising stars such as Andrej Pejic, RJ King and the Stenmark Twins, established faces like Ed Barber and Christopher Wetmore, and new faces including Bryant who flew in to London from college in the US just for the 7thMan shoot, and our cover model Jake who within 2 weeks of starting modeling had already shot the AW11 Oki-Ni campaign, walked for Christopher Shannon, Matthew Miller and others at London Fashion Week‘s Men’s Day, and shot several editorials including 7thMan’s Calvin Klein Collection feature. Photographers who have contributed to the issue include Kevin Amato, John-Paul Pietrus, Nicky Emmerson, Alastair Strong, Pelle Crepin, Damien Fry, Mikkel Russel Jensen, Paul Scala, Ben McDade, Matteo Zini Grant Thomas and Martien Mulder. Stylists Eilidh Greig and Rossana Passalaqcua have created main fashion stories, alongside the in-house 7thMan team. – - Read more

Some NEW Fashion Books as Gifts

“Vogue: The Covers” By Dodie Kazanjian, Abrams, 272 pp., $50
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The glitz and glamour of New York, Milan and Paris fashion weeks have faded away, but we found a few treats to help you get through until the models hit the runway in February. Cozy up with one of these books, and the next season of fabulous fashion will be here before you know it. Organized by decade, this book has more than 300 of the magazine’s most beautiful, sexy and stylish covers — and it lets you in on what happened behind the scenes. Since its first cover on Dec. 17, 1892, Vogue has held the fashion world’s attention with stunning illustrations and photographs from the likes of Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, Richard Avedon and Annie Leibovitz. This collection lets you flip through the most striking covers and includes five ready-to-frame prints. – - View some more NEW fashion books available

Giorgio Armani turns to costuming

Thandie Newton [that Bond Girl] as Paulina Photo: Alastair Muir The thought-provoking Ariel Dorfman play Death And The Maidenis a masterful exploration of moral ambiguity, sexual politics and the personal consequences of totalitarianism. Not only that but all the clothes in the production that stars Thandie Newton and which opens tonight at London’s Comedy Theatre will look absolutely magnificent – thanks to Giorgio Armani. Thandie Newton: She Wears It Well. The Italian fashion emperor has temporarily turned theatrical costume designer to ensure that whatever the critics say about Newton’s West End debut, they absolutely won’t be able to knock her frock. – - Story BY Luke Leitch | more

Designer Edith Head on stage

 ’A Conversation With Edith Head,’ a one-woman show starring Susan Claassen, about the famous Hollywood costume designer. Opens in LA at The Odyssey Theatre starting Oct. 28.

Edith Head had grand designs on Hollywood for six decades, earning 35 Oscar nominations for her influential costume designs and winning eight Academy Awards for such films as 1949′s “The Heiress,” 1951′s “A Place in the Sun,” 1954′s “Sabrina” and 1960′s “The Facts of Life.” She was a favorite of Billy Wilder, designing the costumes for his classic 1944 film noir “Double Indemnity” and his 1950 masterpiece “Sunset Boulevard,” as well as of Alfred Hitchcock, creating iconic looks in such romantic thrillers as 1946′s “Notorious,” 1954′s “Rear Window,” 1958′s “Vertigo” and 1963′s “The Birds.” Besides designing costumes for films, Head also created personal wardrobes for the likes of Olivia de Havilland and Joan Crawford. She designed the uniforms for Pan Am airline stewardesses and she was not afraid to offer frank makeover tips to housewives as a regular on Art Linkletter‘s “House Party” CBS daytime series. – - more about this LAtimes.com

Top 10 Fashion Films of the Season

NYFW Spring 2012 from David Sherwin on Vimeo.

NEW YORK, United States — At BoF, we’ve been ranking the top fashion films of the season since 2009, when the genre was still just coming into existence. But even back then, set against the staggering rise of online video consumption and the growing importance of engaging young digital consumers, the medium’s tremendous potential was clear. Fast-forward to the Autumn of 2011 and YouTube-friendly short videos are practically de rigueur for fashion brands, large and small. But interestingly, it’s not digital “Geniuses” like Burberry who have been creating the most compelling fashion films. Despite being labeled “Challenged” by a Digital IQ report recently released by LuxuryLab, we think the Prada Group is making some of the best digital films in the industry, working with top fashion image-maker Steven Meisel. - - more fashion films Here

Healthy Hair Tips from Celebrity Stylists

Helpful Tips and Tricks for Healthy Hair From the Experts

Top celebrity hairstylist Nick Arrojo provides these suggestions to keep your hair healthy and looking fabulous. Keep your hair as healthy as it can be with a nutritious diet, careful grooming habits and suitable hair care products. It’s important to take steps to get your locks back into healthy condition again. We talked to some top celebrity stylists and other hair care experts who offered these tips and tricks for keeping your hair as healthy as possible. – - more