Has Jenny from the Block gone too demure?

Jenny from the Block looks rather demure, doesn't she? I think Jennifer Lopez makes excellent fashion choices, but these dresses - and her love affair with Marchesa - just seem to strip her of her edge. Do you think she looks lovely, and glam? Or do you think she's lost her street cred and looks too "wifey"?

Runway to Red Carpet: Eva Longoria in Monique Lhuillier at 'El Cantante' premiere, LA

Those bib-style dresses are certainly making a splash right now and here is one star who is definitely wearing the trend well. Eva Longoria attended the El Cantante premiere in LA overnight wearing this gorgeous grey bib-style frock by Monique Lhuillier, which featured in her autumn/winter 2007 collection. Longoria keeps the embellished waist belt (another hot trend) and adds a matching clutch and detailed heels for effect. But it was her hunk of diamond wedding ring, which stuck out like a sore thumb, that had everyone talking - bling-o-rama!

[Images: Getty/Style.com]

He bespoke, she got shirty, now she's hooked

Women are challenging men in the made-to-measure style stakes. Rachel Wells reports.
THERE was a time when weeks, often months, would pass before a woman would set foot inside Pino Carbone's Brunswick workroom.

Back in those days — the 1950s and '60s — the tailor, now 67, would spend his days cutting, pinning and stitching made-to-measure shirts and suits for the city's powerbrokers — bankers, barristers, stockbrokers and CEOs — all of whom were men.

"Every now and then we would get one woman, but very few … not like now," says Mr Carbone, who opened his tailoring business in 1957.

These days, well-heeled female clients make up a quarter of his business.

"It has changed a lot. Right now we're doing a lot of work for corporate women like lawyers and managers and successful executives," he says.

"There are a lot of women wanting made-to-measure (garments) now."

Mr Carbone is not the only Melbourne tailor to have noticed a boom in business for bespoke corporate wear for women, which can cost anywhere between $1600 and $6000 for a two-piece suit and from $250 to $400 for a shirt.

Carlo Nave, of Sarti Tailors in the city, says their women's wear business has doubled in the past year.

"I guess there are more and more corporate women out there who are earning a little bit more money," Mr Nave says. "They're up there with the big boys now and they want to dress just as well. They want the same quality that the men are getting."

Property manager Melissa Dunk, 29, is a recent convert to bespoke corporate wear. She owns close to 20 made-to-measure shirts from Zentini, a Melbourne-based business set up just over three years ago that specialises in tailor-made shirts for women.

"You can't beat made-to-measure, because it means you can get exactly what you want, in terms of colours and prints and cuffs and collars. It fits perfectly and it means, at last, we can get the same kind of quality as the guys," she says.

"Some of the clothes that the guys are wearing are phenomenal and, in the past, us girls just had nowhere to go to match that and achieve that same level of professionalism."

Ms Dunk says a growing number of her colleagues are now opting for bespoke over ready-to-wear in order to give the men a run for their money in the style stakes.

"Oh yeah. Everyone's getting into it now," she says.

Herringbone's Josh McNicol says the company's made-to-measure shirting business for women has increased five-fold in the past three years and the company plans to introduce bespoke suiting for women within the next 12 months.

"There are so many variations in women's shapes, particularly in terms of bust size, and so I think women are beginning to see the benefits in paying a bit extra for something that fits properly," he says.

Danielle Marmot, of Bespoke by Ganton, a Sydney-based company specialising in made-to-measure shirts, has also noted a significant increase in female clients and now visits Melbourne up to eight times a year to keep up with demand.

Hemden, in Armadale, says it hopes to offer customers bespoke women's shirting by the end of the year due to the increasing demand.

Armani menswear goes south

Sand under the runway and swathes of canvas for the ceiling at Belstaff's menswear show set the scene for designs that took inspiration from Lawrence of Arabia and gave them a modern, savvy twist.

British-born Belstaff, whose trademark biker jackets were a favourite of soldier and writer T.E. Lawrence, is now owned by Italy's Malenotti family.

Its spring/summer 2008 show featured scarves in creams or black and white squares that were thrown around the neck above open shirts in linens and cottons. Many of the models carried motorbike helmets with leather trim.

Egg white chinos were topped with a black leather zipped biker jacket; white bermuda shorts were worn with a lightweight blouson the colour of sea-soaked sand.

A more urban spin came from a Prince of Wales check in blousons and trousers, or stamped into a black leather jacket, while for the beach, Belstaff turned up cuffs on bermuda shorts and threw a blue and red checked sarong under a short cotton jacket.

Beachwear at Giorgio Armani stuck to bermuda shorts in dark grey linen or in cream with a subtle chalk stripe.

Armani, taking a "South" theme for his show, put lazy looks together from soft, wide leg trousers and loose jackets in pale greys and cool creams, worn with gold Turkish style slippers or moccasins and canvas gym shoes.

The designer, one of Milan fashion's long-established names, was true to form in turning out flowing designs with impeccable tailoring that were easy on the eye and easy to wear.

His take on the waistcoat - becoming a regular feature of this week's shows - was shawl-collared and fastened at a wide waistband with four buttons.

Models wore the waistcoat in traditional style under suits, or open over shirts or even on its own as a skimped shirt.

Against a backdrop of Grecian columns and sunsoaked white walls, Armani splashed a summer sky blue into his show in open-neck shirts.

For evening wear, the blue shifted to midnight for silken shirts with leaf designs in a satin shine.
D&G flashed back to the 1980s in its menswear show earlier on Tuesday with shiny metal zips and studs on trousers, bleached battered jeans and plastic jackets.

Silver baseball boots, sandals with broad studded straps and trousers put together jigsaw-like by zips were worn with hooded black shiny jackets or drill cotton with big metal buttons.

The spring/summer 2008 designs from the label had some echoes of their stablemate Dolce & Gabbana, whose show on Sunday kitted men out in military-style.

But D&G's look had heavy punk undertones, from metal plated belts to chains swinging from waists. Union Jack motifs were picked out in sparkling stones over black leather in a huge shoulder bag or on the front of a white vest.

Milan's spring/summer 2008 menswear shows run until June 27.

Reuters

Valentino, still winning hearts at 75

THEY are two of the world's most beautiful women but Elle Macpherson and Uma Thurman were almost eclipsed by the gowns at the unveiling of legendary designer Valentino's latest collection in Rome.

The Italian designer snubbed the autumn/winter haute couture season in Paris last week to hold his own event at Rome's Temple of Venus.

International followers of fashion were happy to join him in celebrating his 45th year as a designer in the city where he got his start in the industry.

Macpherson and Thurman attended the event along with former model Claudia Schiffer, actress Elizabeth Hurley and her husband Arun Nayar, Vogue's Anna Wintour, The Devil Wears Prada star Anne Hathaway, actor Eva Mendes and soap siren Joan Collins.

While the fashion industry expected the 75-year-old designer to announce his retirement at the event, he managed to keep them all guessing about his plans for the future.

It's now anticipated that Valentino will continue creating gowns until the 50th anniversary of his entry into the fashion world comes around in 2012.Source: The Sun-Herald

Posh lineup on annual best-dressed list

Nicolas Sarkozy, the newly elected president of France, is now rubbing well-tailored shoulders with Hollywood heartthrob George Clooney, at least among this year's Vanity Fair best-dressed list.


The magazine's 68th annual list also saw retired star Japanese midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata, American rocker Lenny Kravitz and filmmaker Sofia Coppola honoured for their sartorial elegance.

Among the couples on the 2007 International Best-Dressed List were Hollywood leading couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who featured along with former England captain David Beckham and his pop star wife Victoria, aka Posh Spice.

While Beckham has appeared on the list before, it was the first time the pair had appeared as a couple.

"Beckham, like his wife, has a body made for clothes and, of course, looks wonderful even dressed in nothing but his tattoos. Posh and Becks are each other's best accessories," the magazine's Amy Fine-Collins said.

Other notables include actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, Michelle Obama, the wife of Democratic Party presidential hopeful Barack Obama, and Bee Shaffer, daughter of Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

Another second generation celebrity - Ivanka Trump, daughter of real estate mogul Donald Trump - made the list along with US actress Renee Zellweger and British actor-director Richard E Grant.

The list appears in the magazine's September issue.

AFP

Beckhams named in magazine's best-dressed list

British soccer idol David Beckham and his wife Victoria have joined French President Nicolas Sarkozy on a list of world's best-dressed people compiled by Vanity Fair magazine.

The fashionable British duo, who have just moved to Los Angeles, were listed by the magazine as one of the world's 10 best-dressed couples alongside Hollywood star couples Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt and Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore.

The newly-elected French president made the 68th annual list for the first time, along with Michelle Obama, the wife of U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama, and former soccer star Hidetoshi Nakata.

"It's not just about how much someone spends, it is about having real elegance, style, and individuality," Vanity Fair special correspondent Amy Fine Collins said in an interview.

The September issue of the magazine, which hits national newsstands on August 7, gave nods to musical, literary and philanthropic icons alike, whether known for their brains or their beauty.

The magazine said it searched beyond the silver screen and fashion runways to select 61 stars of style for the list.

Rocker Lenny Kravitz and former Giants running back and television commentator Tiki Barber both made the list for the second time after being selected in 2001 and 1998 respectively.

It was the second consecutive appearance for the perpetually black suit clad author Fran Lebowitz and actress Renee Zellweger.
Some well-known offspring were also been named to the list - Ivanka Trump, real-estate developer and daughter of Donald Trump, and Bee Shaffer, Columbia University student and daughter of Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

The annual issue, started in 1940, tallies the votes of more than 1,000 tastemakers, from retailers to editors, fashion designers, restaurant owners and hairdressers.

"It's a democratic system like electing a president," Collins said.

"There is a committee like the electoral college that reviews the results, and chooses the top contenders."

Adding to its egalitarian style, the list doesn't rank its winners from greatest to least.

The fashion industry was represented by Ethiopian-born model Liya Kebede and American fashion designer Tory Burch.

Vanity Fair also elected a few names to its Best Dressed Hall of Fame for people showing consistently classic taste.

Among this rarefied group were silver-haired newscaster Anderson Cooper and US movie star George Clooney, famous for his clean white shirts and salt-and-pepper tresses, and filmmaker Sofia Coppola.

- REUTERS