New York Fashion Week: Celeb stylist talks about the latest trends

New York Fashion Week is in full swing, with the best of the best designers showcasing their Spring/Summer 2016 collections.
From bold design patterns to chic classic cuts, the world’s top fashionistas are lighting up the runways.
“For me, the fashion [this season] is right on my target. It’s a lot of the hippie-chic style, the 70s all the way,” celebrity stylist Irma Martinez told Fox News Latino recently. “High-waisted pants, bell bottoms, a lot of fringes, clear transparent clothes, a lot of flowing material. Very hippie.”
“(It’s) something that you can go from day to night and look amazing,” she added. “A lot of layers. I love dressing with layers.”
The Colombian-born stylist said she is noticing that a lot of the collections on display are offering a very feminine and romantic feel to the clothes.
“This year, more than anything I’ve seen (designs) going back to that era where we were free, the hippie-free era from the 60s and 70s when women would say ‘I want to wear whatever I want’,” Martinez said. “I like that.”
Martinez, who resides in Miami, has been working as a celebrity stylist for nearly 21 years. She has dressed the likes of Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, and Thalia, making them red carpet-fabulous every time.
“Since I was little I knew I wanted to be in fashion,” she told FNL. “My mom used to sew and I just sat next to her taking the things she would throw and start making things of my own. So it was something that came natural (to me.)”
As a teenager she moved to Miami – first to learn English and then to attend fashion design school – not knowing that her path would lead her to working with some of the biggest names in the business.
“I always say it’s a two-way street, a team effort. I cannot take all the credit for myself. At the end of the day, the celebrity has the final word,” said Martinez about styling different celebrities.
She said it all starts with the DNA of the celebrity – their personal style – and from there Martinez builds an outfit.

“I don’t want to change it, I just want to make it better,” Martinez said. “I think that’s part of my success. I don’t impose any trends or anything on any of my clients. I like them to feel comfortable in their skin, not like they are wearing a costume.”Read more at:short formal dresses | formal dresses perth

Local Art Institute student makes New York Fashion Week debut

Deron Shields knew the only way for him to make it in the fashion industry was to move from Baltimore to New York City.
Since he graduated from Baltimore Community College in 2006 with a degree in apparel technology, he's exceeded his expectations, landing internships and sewing jobs with household names such as Vera Wang, Zac Posen, Rachel Roy and Cynthia Rowley. On Tuesday, the 30-year-old will premiere his collection for the first time in New York Fashion Week as a designer.
Shields, who is pursuing a degree in fashion design at the Art Institute in New York City, is one of 12 designers chosen to showcase their designs during the annual Art Institute runway show.
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The show highlights the work of the school's top students. With professional models and hair and makeup artists among the backdrop of New York Fashion Week, this is a full-on production.
"To work with models that are industry standard is amazing," he said. "I would love to do this every day. It's a dream come true."
Shields immediately caught the attention of the faculty at the Art Institute.
"Deron was an easy choice for our Spring 2016 show," said Mai Vu, interim director of the department of fashion design. "His work ethic, enthusiasm and attention to detail, in addition to his talent, made him not only a perfect candidate for inclusion in the show, but one to watch in seasons to come."
This isn't Shields' first brush with the spotlight.
In 2012, he was cast as a sewing expert on Lifetime Television's "24 Hour Catwalk." During the reality show, he showed off his skills before industry leaders such as Alexa Chung, James LaForce, Derek Blasberg and Rowley. That experience led him to stints with top designers.
"It was a great experience," he said. "These are all people I aspire to be like."
Shields said his sewing technique has evolved leaps and bounds with his New York City work experience. That craftsmanship is reflected in his collection.
"I have one piece with over 200 hand-sewn ruffles," he said. "Another dress has over 400 hand-sewn ruffles. Those pieces are pretty amazing. I've really impressed myself."
Shields has come a long way from his Baltimore roots, raised by his grandmother in the city's Highlandtown neighborhood.
"I was bullied as a child," he said. "As an adult, to see people gravitate to my style and energy is a great feeling."
He remembers having to steal expensive fashion magazines from the supermarket as a youngster because his grandmother wouldn't purchase them.
"I was 11, and I picked up my first copy of Harper's Bazaar. I saw my first Valentino ball gown," Shields said. "He has been one of my favorite designers ever since."
Now Shields hopes that everyone will appreciate the strides he's made in the fashion industry.
"I want to shed some positive light on Baltimore," he said. "Not everything and everyone from Baltimore is negative."
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Project Runway design speaks at Delta

Emily Payne, one of the top fashion designers of Project Runway Season 13 is coming to Stockton to share her experiences with the Haute Couture Society and students in the Fashion Program at Delta College  on Saturday, Sept. 12.

 Emily was born in Michigan and raised in Temple, Texas. She earned a fashion degree from the Dallas Art Institute. Directly out of design school, Emily started her first street-wear label called “BRICK” which won her acclaim as “the San Francisco street wear brand” as stated in Sportswear International 2002. The brand received write-ups and editorial that year in Nylon, Paper, SOMA, 7x7, I-Look (Hong Kong) Olive (Tokyo) San Francisco Magazine, as well as the full front page of the San Francisco GUARDIAN. She was also invited to participate in GEN ARTS’ fresh faces show in 2002 and appeared in Women’s Wear Daily for her work. At that time, her label was available for purchase in well known-boutiques such as Patrica Fields and American Rag.
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 Payne’s been designing since 1997, and lived in SF from 1999 to 2004, then moved to LA to work for a private-label design firm. She moved back to SF in 2011 and has made it her home. As a private-label designer, she worked for companies that sold goods at Hot Topic, Urban Outfitters, and Forever 21.

  In 2007, Payne and her now-husband Isaac had a daughter and she moved into kid’s clothes, launching Devon Rose, which was named after her daughter and which soon became a cult-fave. Devon Rose quickly gained fans for its edgy silhouettes, keen attention to detail and use of uniquely beautiful textiles. The line has been featured in Papier-mache mag, Small magazine, and Babiekins magazine and was previously sold at upscale children’s boutiques Sweet William and Little Bean, as well as Payne’s own Etsy boutique. DevonRose was hailed as an “Etsy cult favorite” in the well-known StrollerTraffic Blog in 2010. Her line is available sells via the brand’s websites: www.devonrosekids.com. In 2011, she started her women’s line, Leather Tongue, which she sells through Etsy.Payne will be on the San Joaquin Delta College campus Saturday to share her design insights with the members of the Haute Couture Society of Stockton. She’s start off with a presentation at 10:30 a.m., sharing her experiences on the show, followed by a trunk show of her latest collections for her brands. After lunch, she’s conduct a draping workshop with those interested in learning her design secrets.

 The Haute Couture Society is a nonprofit organization of individuals who have joined together to learn and share their interests in creative arts, design, and fashion. Although based in Stockton, California, the members reside up and down the Central Valley. They meet once a month with a different agenda and activity for each meeting. They conduct field trips to fashion centers and various fashion exhibitions and present their own original work at their annual fashion show. They also support fashion education with scholarships to local students who study fashion at area high schools, Delta College or four-year institutions.

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Latest Accolades of a Korean Inventor and Three Fashion Designers

Korean fashion has influenced not just Asians, but also people in the West. This is why many 'fashionistas' are keeping an eye on Korean designers who will present emerging styles that will surely become a trend globally.

Take for example two Korean designers will represent the entire Asia in International Woolmark Prize. Munsoo Kwon (menswear) and J Koo (womenswear) - who both appear in Seoul Fashion Week regularly - will compete with other designers worldwide, according to CNN Style in an Aug 19 article.

Aside from the two, Suecomma Bonnie is also making a name in the fashion industry, particularly in accessories and footwear.

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The international acclaim of these designers show Koreans have a lot more to offer, as new trends emerge every now and then. And not just in fashion, but also in other fields - ingenious design concepts, in particular.

A good example of this is the creation of Korean designer Jang WooSeok who has come up with something to brighten up mornings.

A lot of people agree that a cup of coffee is always a good idea upon waking up in the morning. But how about getting a kiss from the coffee cup? Sounds lovely... and creepy!

Jang has invented a new coffee lid design, which he calls 'Coffee Lid: Take Kiss' Out.' He says the creation is different from the typical coffee lids that people are used to.

"Different from the other coffee lids, which have a usual hole to put a straw or to drink directly, Take Kiss Out looks like a human face," Jang says in his email to Mashable, as reported last week. "Therefore, a coffee drinker experiences a visually funny and emotionally different coffee when drinking."

Jang describes his creation: "I love both coffee and kisses. I always have coffee a day, but kiss can't. So I began to sketch the idea at the cafe. Funny, I imagined people have a pure joy when walking around kiss lid in hand."

"There is only mouth on the lid to start with prototype. However I felt like there was something missing in our early design concept. I realized that touch the noses is essential point in order to feel realistically while I kissed."

He went on, "So I add the nose and face muscle to the lid. Finally, it has the lineaments of that of a Greek statue as well as a friendly face. I am sure that it is an important point to get public attention."

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Missouri Style Week, a showcase for area fashion designers, expands to offer Columbia runway show

Missouri doesn’t typically top many lists for major fashion hubs. Paris, Milan, London, New York … somehow, this region gets overlooked.

And yet, fashion has been an important part of the state’s history. The lucrative fur trade played a major role in the founding of St. Louis in the 1800s, and both St. Louis and Kansas City once had thriving garment districts — think textile mills and shoe factories — up until the 1960s.

“Over the decades, we’ve grown away from that,” said Cillah Hall, publisher of Gazelle STL, a glossy lifestyle magazine in St. Louis.

Still, she said, there is a strong creative current.

“A lot of designers are graduating from Missouri universities,” Hall said.

To recognize the design talent in the state, she and Kristy Lee, an adjunct fashion marketing professor at the Art Institute of St. Louis and fashion editor at Gazelle STL, started Missouri Style Week.
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“We wanted an avenue that gives designers the opportunity to show their work and make connections that help them with their careers,” Hall said.

Missouri Style Week initially was called Missouri Fashion Week. Its first runway shows, held in 2013 in St. Louis, featured collections from 20 designers — most of them from Missouri. About 500 people attended the shows, which were spread out between Friday and Saturday dates.

Building on that success, Hall and Lee produced a second event in 2014, this time renaming it Missouri Style Week so as not to create fear of confusion with St. Louis Fashion Week, a retail-focused show that creates a stage for designers from other parts of the country who are reaching out to customers in the Midwest.

And now Missouri Style Week is expanding to include more designers and reach more viewers.

Last spring, Hall and Lee were invited to participate on the Stephens College School of Design and Fashion’s Jury of Selections, during which a panel of fashion industry experts, including designers, merchandisers and editors, reviews each garment constructed by fashion design students and selects the best to appear in the department’s annual fashion show.

Hall and Lee were impressed. The experience opened their eyes not only to Stephens’ fashion program, but to Columbia as a whole.

“We literally just said, ‘You know what? This is the reason we do Missouri Style Week,’ ” Hall said.

And so just three months away from their third series of runway shows, they decided to add a third evening in Columbia.

The show in Columbia will be held Wednesday at the Plaza Event Center at Parkade Center.

A preshow featuring ensembles from two local boutiques, Swank and Muse, will kick things off.

Anna Coleman, manager at Muse, said the event offers an opportunity to show off the shop’s fall looks.

“Muse has done a few fashion shows in the past, and they are always a really fun way to reach out to the community so we were really excited to be a part of Missouri Style Week’s show,” Coleman said.

The idea of community is integral to the event. Hall described a give-and-take between the designers and attendees. On the one hand, seeing new work can be exciting for fashion fans.

“It’s kind of like going to the movies. You’re not necessarily a movie producer, but you enjoy the art of it. It’s the same thing with fashion. You can shop or you can celebrate it,” Hall said.

And providing this excitement is rewarding for the designers.

“They have a lot of down times where they are doubting themselves. When you have an event like Missouri Style Week, it helps get them going,” Hall said.

The designer lineup that evening is Nasheli Juliana, a professor at Lindenwood University’s fashion design program who also has worked for such well-known names as Donna Karan and Oscar de la Renta; Kara Henry, a 2015 Stephens College graduate; Kechena Richardson, a Kansas City-based designer; Jaer Caban, a Puerto Rican designer who will be showing an entirely different collection in St. Louis later in the week; and Richard Cotto, a student at Lindenwood University and who also will be showing a different collection in St. Louis.

Hall said some of the designers will present ready-to-wear collections, but that many will be more conceptual in nature.

“Generally, the designers that are attracted to us are more excited about the more couture, avant-garde looks. Those are the designs that inspire,” Hall said.

While some might question the value in presenting garments for which a person would be hard-pressed to find occasion to wear it, Hall said these are the designs that inspire new fashions.

“Out of every avant-garde garment, something fresh gets created. It’s inspirational. Nobody wants to go to a fashion show and see something that they’ll see on the rack at a store,” Hall said.

After Wednesday’s runway show, the event moves back to St. Louis where it will resume with a couture show Friday and a conceptual show on Saturday.

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Meet four of Hong Kong's hottest young fashion designers

One of the local designers creating the most buzz at the moment is Kay Kwok, who despite launching his label just two years ago, has already shown at London Fashion Week, where he impressed New York Times fashion editor Suzy Menkes. Kwok is a firm believer in fashion education, which he says has improved drastically in Hong Kong in recent years. His fashion design studies at Hong Kong Polytechnic University gave him the confidence and the skill set to go to the prestigious London College of Fashion (alumni include Jimmy Choo and Patrick Cox) and then to work at Alexander McQueen. "Hong Kong gave me key skills, like pattern cutting and computer-aided design," says Kwok, adding that London further honed his creativity.

Kwok's aesthetic is avant-garde with his last autumn-winter collection featuring UFOs and extraterrestrials. His latest collection is influenced by the themes of futurism and technology, and combines computer-generated prints with asymmetrical cuts and a jaunty colour palette. Kwok says he values creativity over monetary gain, not an obvious choice for many up-and-coming designers. "I was first approached by Joyce after my degree show, but I turned them down as I wasn't ready," says Kwok.

It's an offer that most young Hong Kong designers would give an arm for, but Kwok turned down Joyce two more times before finally letting them buy and sell his collection in their stores. It is this willingness to be patient and learn the trade, he says, that has set him up for long-term success.

Great technical skill and buckets of creativity helped Whosthat garner international attention, highlighted by a nomination for the International Woolmark Prize. Created by designer Meiyi Cheung, the brand was singled out by a panel that included American designer Thom Browne and Cyril Rahon, head buyer at Milanese retailer 10 Corso Como.

Cheung describes her aesthetic as "genteel and exquisite", and says it has a young attitude and subtle sexiness. She's no fan of the fast fashion that dominates Hong Kong and believes that the mindset of Hong Kong consumers is still one of "MTR culture", meaning convenience and price still rule. But, she says, the situation is improving for local designers and will only get better, even if the city's future is becoming more uncertain. "To me, Hong Kong is a great place for business, yet it has been too safe and too comfortable for a long time to generate creativity," she says. "Great creativity always come from challenges and limitations."
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Cheung has, however, taken advantage of Hong Kong's location to help her brand grow. "The city is a fertile place for fashion start-ups, because it is a hub of major global brands' branch offices and sourcing centres, along with the fact that it's located next door to the world's factory," she says.

Hei Lau also made the short list for the International Woolmark Prize with a style that's both clean-cut and feminine. Its founder, from whom the brand takes it name, has shown at Australian Fashion Week, put on a catwalk show in Macau and was also selected to show at the Asahi Kasei Chinese Creativity Award Collection at China Fashion Week in Beijing for spring-summer 2015.

Despite its Hong Kong roots, Lau sees her brand as international. She relocated to Shanghai this year to explore the Chinese fashion scene, and she says her platform is in Europe.

"I meet all my international buyers in Paris three or four times per year and I travel with my collections to do catwalk shows/promotions around the world," says Lau, who this year relocated permanently to Shanghai to explore the Chinese fashion scene.

Grana became the poster boy for Hong Kong fashion start-ups after securing US$1 million in funding from investors that included fashion group Bluebell. The brand's co-founder, Luke Grana, says he decided to set up his company in Hong Kong rather than his native Australia, partly as it's a free tax port. "It's also the world's sourcing city for the garment industry," he says. "And Hong Kong is a huge distribution hub. There are five DHL planes that fly to Australia every day, 12 to the US and 16 to Europe."
Grana was able to secure a deal with DHL, and being based in Hong Kong has allowed the company to keep costs down. Being an e-tailer also means they don't have to deal with crippling rents. Like other Hong Kong fashion e-tailers such as A Boy Named Sue, Grana is thriving in international and local sales as Hongkongers take to online shopping in a big way.

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NISOLO IS HIRING A GRAPHIC DESIGNER & MEDIA ASSOCIATE IN NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

Nisolo is a disruptive, socially conscious lifestyle brand creating value for consumers and producers in the fashion space through the design, manufacturing, and direct-distribution of handmade leather shoes, accessories, and select apparel goods. We are recruiting a Graphic Designer & Media Associate to elevate the Nisolo brand story through strong visual communication online and offline.
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About Nisolo

We make the highest quality, most beautifully designed, ethically sourced shoes and accessories on the market. We are a young company composed of smart, driven teammates committed to constantly improving our work. We are passionate and compassionate, ambitious and pragmatic. In less than four years, we have grown from a handful of people with a good idea to 40 individuals passionately pursuing a common dream. With our eyes set on our long-term goals, we seek to build a strong company infrastructure and culture, performance, and social impact. As a Graphic Designer + Media Associate at Nisolo, you will work closely with our Creative Manager to create beautiful assets to communicate our story to our customers, manage those assets, and share them on our various channels.

About You

• Eye for design, clean + sophisticated aesthetic, and strong interest in fashion
• Strong voice, commitment to social impact, and always striving for excellence
• Highly motivated, self-managed, and able to think independently
• Crazy attention to detail, a perfectionist that can also make a tight deadline
• Responds positively to feedback and adapts quickly to change
• Thinks with both sides of the brain: creative vision and strong organizational skills
• Takes initiative and doesn’t need to be asked anything twice
• Listens well and no task is too small
• Innovative thinker always seeking to grow and push brand direction forward
• Strong interpersonal skills and enjoys working with a team

Responsibilities

• Design lookbooks & printed materials for events
• Create weekly fashion forward marketing emails
• Photography Photoshop retouching
• Assist in photography selection
• Design website layouts, packaging, store assets, online ads, & social media assets
• Develop fresh content for our social channels and handle day-to-day management of Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Tumblr and several others
• Manage organization of assets and flow of assets between creative and social

Skills & Qualifications

• Previous experience at a top end lifestyle or fashion brand, or creative agency is preferred
• Adobe Suite wizard
• Clean + sophisticated design sensibility
• Solid creative portfolio with design, typography, and branding projects
• Passion for learning, always seeking to sharpen skills
• Strong organizational and interpersonal skills

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