Haute Rocks

The famous House of Bulgari will be 125 years old next year and is still

sizzling with its jewelry. One of their necklaces is selling for a mere

$500,000. The 49 emeralds, three tourmalines, twelve mandarin garnets, all the

diamonds, and 18-karat gold are the dazzlng gemstones, but the price reflects

time. It takes on average, three to four months to source a grouping of stones

and drafting a design can be three months, with about 60 revisions. There are

160 elements with the assembly of this piece and that is almost another two

months. The customer service requests arecan also be time consuming with a

Tokyo client wanting to see a few stones while on vacation inthe riviera. This

Italian brand is known for mixing precious and semiprecious stones in vibrant

colors. One only hopes Bulgari will wear as well in the next one hundred years.

Bedroom Eyes

The look this fall is back in black for eye makeup. The jet set will be impresed

to note the dark shadow tones down the romantic aura. The beauty creative design

director for Proctor and Gamble", says; "it is not a romantic smoky eye"...it's a

bold, architectural one, accented with luxurious chrome touches", referring to her

liner and shadow by Lanvin. Dior eyeshadow in Silver Dust is meant to show a

metallic sheen that's modern and futuristic. A new twist on an old movie star look

is back. Pat McGrath, the creative designer, also wears Bourjois Khol and Contour

in Noir Expert 01. She uses this black pencil and blends black cream shadow around

the eyes in an extended oval. The lok is intense, but can be toned down by smudging

black pencil around the eyes instead of the heavier shadow.

Belle of the Ball

Catherine Deneuve's movie "Belle de Jour" Recaptures Sexy and Prim. In the movie "Belle de Jour", French movie star Catherine Deneuve, plays a

hooker by day and a bored housewife by night. Director, Luis Bunuel's cult

1967 film, has fashion designers imitating the look by pairing sexy lingerie

with more pristine clothing. The "New York Times Style" setion has a picture of

a "haute hooker" and a caption above named The Remix. This is a look shoppers

can be expecting to see in the magazines and stores for this season.

When Fashion and Architecture Collide

Designers are using strong geometric shapes in both fashion and furniture.

If one follows design history,changes in shape tend to be triggered by

timing and technology. Society is feeling the need to assert itself due

to factors such as the recession, oil shock, and the Iraqi war. In extreme

eras like World War II, Vietnam, and Watergate, the trend heads to more

angular and curved shapes. Designers also need a change from straight lines.

The jagged edge is popular with a designer named Grcic, who creates his

shapes and then makes them digital. The blob or oval in the age of the new

internet and then the digital ripple were a reflection of past technology,

but now we are in the age of the angle. If this helps us express our angst

and release or assert our anger; this is a creatively passive and cathartic

fashion to do it.

The Seductive Embrace of Lace

Lace is the latest craze in fashion and the quiet town of St. Gallen,

Switzerland, about an hour east of Zurich, is where Prada has revived this

style. The Prada design team went to a lace company, Forster Rohner, and

were shown a selection of embroideries. Prada has featured in all of its 42

looks what has become the most photographed collection of the season. "The

New York Times Style Magazine" says lace is the latest craze and is brining

back a look that was popular in the late 1960's.


In the fall fashion shows Proenza Schouler in New York and Givenchy and Alexander

McQueen in Paris have also been revamping the style. The Prada lace would not

be mistaken for anything belonging to your grandmother. They had patterns in

gold, black, orange, and metallic blue. Sometimes the lace was 3-D, with flowers

sewn onto flowers, so the models were both provacative and innocenct at the

same time. Even Victoria's Secret orders 200,000 meters of a particular pattern.

St. Gallen lace is not just the trend of the day, according to creative director

of Akris. Lace may be this seasons revived fabric, but next season the designers

will take another fad and make something old something new again.

Playbill Theater Shows "Reasons to be Pretty"

Neil Labute's "Reasons to be Pretty and Tracy Letts: Osage County have brought Broadway

and beauty together. Labute's play, in the final trilogy acts out the theme of physical

appearance. The Shape of Things and Fat Pig , uses the beauty conceptions which "illuminates

the insecurities of people who do not feel like they have much to offer the world." Labute and

theater critics say we desire it, we despise if it is unattainable, and if we cannot have it is

upseting. Lett's dark comedy/tragedy , Osage County, has Violet the matriarch, say; "Wouln't

we be better off , if we stopped lying about these things and told the truth. Women aren't

sexy when they are old." When her daughter asks "should I wear makeup?" Violets says; "All

women need makeup. The only woman who was pretty enough to go without makeup was

Elizabeth Taylor and she wore tons of it."