‘I am an all-or-nothing person if I decide I want to do something. There is no compromise,” says Derry-born vegan Aine Carlin, who brings flair and imagination to food and fashion. In doing that, this talented woman, with her cute hairbands and Breton stripes, is transforming the image of veganism.

The founder of food blog PeaSoupEats and author of the best-seller Keep it Vegan has just been named Most Stylish Vegan 2015 by Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), another string to her bow (speaking of which, she is also a trained violinist).

So how did she become a vegan? It all happened when she moved with her Cornish-born husband, Jason Robbins, an animator, to live in Chicago six years ago. She had completed her music studies in London and a postgraduate degree in acting when the couple met in Camden.

“In Chicago we just saw our health declining; we never felt our best. I had always had an interest in cooking and decided to take a closer look at what we were eating and investigate what dairy and factory farming does to the body. I got in to wholefoods and that started our vegan journey.

“So all animal products went out of the fridge and we started afresh.”

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The effect on their health was immediate and positive, she says.

It has been estimated that there are seven million vegans in the US, and the trend is steadily moving from the margins to the mainstream. Vegans eat plant-based foods, avoiding all animal products. Many, including Carlin, extend ethical principles to clothing as well. Carlin’s ability to make vegan food appealing, full of flavour, simple to make and with only easy-to-find ingredients has been central to her success.

“The book was aimed at non-vegans as well as vegans; like mothers of teenage vegans who don’t know what to cook for them. The idea was to give them more ideas and variety.”

One of her most popular recipes is an alternative to macaroni and cheese made with butternut squash and coconut milk.

Vegan beauty products

How did she extend her principles to cosmetics and clothes? For a start, she sourced vegan beauty products and provided DIY tips for her followers.

“People are more aware of products tested on animals,” she says. “L’Oréal, for example, has committed to stopping animal testing by 2016. Mac used to be bought by vegans, but now, because Mac sells in China where it is mandatory to have cosmetics tested on animals, it is no longer vegan.”

Her girlish, colourful appearance and fluent, easy chatter have made her quite a star among followers of her YouTube channel. In London she had a brief career in the fashion world, working for a while in Matches boutique, followed by an internship on the fashion pages of the Financial Times. She also wrote for Rankin’s Hunger magazine “on art, fashion, food, music, anything they threw at me”.

Being a vegan means that she pays close attention to clothing labels. “You have to be aware of what you are buying, although it can get complicated. My budget doesn’t stretch to Stella McCartney, ” she says, adding that sales of angora, for instance, have dropped since people realised it came from rabbit hair.

She wears a lot of second-hand clothes and vintage, mixing such items with high-street fashion, “but I am super-aware of not contributing to fast fashion either, and I try not to buy too much. I hate waste in general and tend to go down the timeless route with things that don’t date.”

She wears linen, cotton and synthetics but not wool. She says it took time for her to transform her wardrobe.

“I didn’t throw everything out overnight . . . and kept my leather shoes until I could afford a new pair of alternatives.”

She now lives in the pretty Cornish fishing port of Mousehole. Her daily uniform comprises jeans, a Breton top and headscarves (most of which are from charity shops or by SeaSalt, a Cornish brand). For a recent wedding she wore a midi-skirt with a simple jumper and vintage jacket. “I am quite casual and need to feel comfortable. Style is about the ease with which you wear clothes and not about how expensive they are.”

She obviously doesn’t wear fur, although she has one fake-fur jacket and mentions the supercool fake-fur brand Shrimps as being the most popular among the fashion set at the moment.

“In general I would rather stay away from fake, because I don’t feel comfortable about wearing it.”

Her second book, due out next year, will cover food and fashion. In the meantime her first, a best-seller in Eason at Christmas, has been reprinted three times and is being published in Germany, Italy and Brazil this year, with further interest being expressed from other countries.

Although dedicated and passionate, she avoids arguments about her beliefs. “I am not a confrontational person at all. I live my life the way I think is right for me and I don’t make judgments on others. If I come across as down-to-earth, that speaks more volumes than having an argument with people about what they are wearing.”

“You are only as good as the people you dress.”

It’s how Halston intended to start his autobiography, according to his niece and confidante Lesley Frowick. And it’s how she starts her (admittedly biased) book about his prevailing influence over Planet Fashion.

When the legendary designer passed away on March 26, 1990, he left Frowick with his personal archive—boxes upon boxes of journals, ledgers, photos, and sketches from his prodigious career.

Two years earlier, Halston had fallen ill with Kaposi’s sarcoma, an AIDS-related illness, and never had the opportunity to put his own life down in words. Halston’s legacy could only be seen through his designs, which once changed the landscape of American fashion.

“He didn’t like to write things down,” Frowick told The Daily Beast. “He always believed that if you wrote things that it would haunt you, but he loved to sketch and he constantly had ideas that he was working on, whether it was clothing or accessories or jewelry or even interior design elements.”

Harry Benson

“He told me, ‘You’ll have everything you need to write this story,’” Frowick said of writing Halston: Inventing American Fashion. “And I pretty much did. He was a tremendous record keeper and there were tons of surprises” in the ledgers and photographs that he left behind. Then, she had her own memories to rely on.

Halston’s bond with Frowick began on April 23, 1958, the day that she was born. Roy Halston Frowick had been birthed on the same day 26 years earlier in Des Moines, Iowa. It was the middle of the Great Depression and the family by no means was wealthy or privileged.

Still, Halston’s eye for design caught hold at a young age. At 6 years old he was crafting objects and garments from household items, including hats his mother would wear to church. He knitted for soldiers in World War II, and counseled his high school crew on the upcoming school year’s wardrobe.

“A sweater tied around the shoulders, a look he’d later render in cashmere for his upscale clients, became his signature finishing touch,” Frowick writes.

But Halston would make a brief pit stop in between.

His college education stopped after he enrolled at the Chicago Art Institute. His illustration professors confessed that he knew as much as they did, so he continued to focus on his job designing windows at one of Chicago’s most elite department stores, Carson Pirie Scott and Company.

Then, came the hats, which were an integral part of day-to-day dressing. He crafted them at home and sold them very persuasively at a friend’s salon in the star-studded Ambassador Hotel.

It was there that he met elite artists like Salvador Dalí, Charles James, and Fran Allison, who became his first celebrity client. Peg Zwecker, the legendary Chicago Sun-Times fashion editor, introduced Halston’s designs to Lilly Daché, a famous and influential milliner, who summoned him to New York for work in 1957.

A year later, he had joined Bergdorf Goodman’s millinery department with his own label, Halston for Bergdorf. His social circle expanded—Andy Warhol became a very close friend, Jackie Kennedy sported his “pillbox” hat to her husband’s inauguration—and soon enough he was fitting everyone from Barbra Streisand to Carol Channing in his hats.

“My first memory of Halston was when I asked him to make my mask for my mid-life debutante party, the Black and White Ball,” Liza Minnelli told Frowick of the legendary party hosted by Truman Capote in which Halston designed many of the elites masks. “I relied on him entirely for what I wore, before I was one of fashion’s one hundred neediest cases. He taught me so much and vastly expanded my vision and style.”

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By 1966, Halston had launched his first line of ready-to-wear with Bergdorf’s. He wanted “function and ease … simple Action Clothes that women can breathe in, work in, play in,” he said, according to Frowick. “Dresses are not going to have feathers and fuss in the future…we’ll go on simplifying…everything uncluttered…this is a tailor’s world, not a dressmaker’s world.”

And that’s exactly what happened.

Two years later, he launched his own eponymous label with the financial help of New York socialite Estelle Marsh Watlington and the guidance of Joel Schumacher (a boutique owner long before he was a filmmaker), Glamour editor Frances Stein, and Macy’s executive Joanne Creveling.

Halston’s designs held the simplest aesthetics, focusing on well-tailored construction for women on the go. As trends shifted in his favor, Halston’s followers grew and even today his designs continue to influence fashion. It’s a following that Frowick believes Halston “would be tickled about.”

Think Calvin Klein in the mid-’90s: monochromatic collections of skirt suits and jersey dresses. Or German designer Jil Sander, whose innovative coats (both men’s and women’s) carry an air that often scream 1970s couture while still maintaining a contemporary appeal.

Even Diane von Furstenberg has credited Halston as being the reason she entered the fashion game. And former employees like Naeem Khan and Ralph Rucci have made big names for themselves.

By 1973, Halston made it his mission to turn his name into a fully-fledged brand. A partnership with Norton Simon Industries slapped the Halston name on a gamut of products, from blouses and perfume to pillows and linens. “He was a visionary,” Frowick said. “People are doing things now that he was once crucified for.”

“I relied on him entirely for what I wore, before I was one of fashion’s one hundred neediest cases.”

Halston had the jet-setter’s life, dressing the world’s elite: Princess Grace, Lauren Bacall, Bianca Jagger, and Elizabeth Taylor. He designed uniforms for flight attendants, the Girl Scouts and even the U.S. Olympic team.

He threw Bianca Jagger’s legendary 1977 birthday bash at Studio 54 in which he famously rode out on a white stallion escorted by a staff member in head-to-toe glitter.

Jean Barthet/Rizzoli USA

Halston became known just as much for his partying days at one of New York’s most legendary (and exclusive) venues as he was for his fabulous designs. He was traveling all over the globe: hosting grand fashion shows at Versailles, meeting with Chinese and Japanese officials to embark on introducing his brand to the world, and appearing on the exclusive pages of fashion bibles.

Unfortunately, a partnership with budget-brand JCPenney (reportedly worth $1 billion) caused exclusive boutiques and department stores to rapidly drop his lines out of fear the brand had been tarnished by association. The deal, which was no different than many affordable capsule collections by high-end designers today, wound up toppling the tower of power he had built for himself.

In a series of buyouts in the mid-1980s, the brand eventually wound up in the hands of Revlon, who paid the designer to not interfere with the day-to-day business or designs. Without Halston’s magical touch, the brand lost its charm. It was officially discontinued in 1990.

Two years prior, Halston had been diagnosed HIV-positive. As his health declined, he moved from New York to San Francisco, where he eventually passed away 25 years ago today.

If things turned out different for the designer, Frowick believes that “Halston would have been very involved in the technical world,” she says. “He would have incorporated technology into his designs and into producing his lines and definitely to organize his business better.”

Many have attempted to keep his legacy afloat. In 2008, Harvey Weinstein, Tamara Mellon, and Rachel Zoe revived the line. They enlisted former Versace designer Marco Zanini as creative chief, but he soon departed, and the following season was crafted by an unnamed designer.

Marios Schwab and Sarah Jessica Parker were both affiliated with the line, but it was discontinued in 2011. Halston Heritage, Halston’s secondary line of archival looks, is all that remains.

“It’s a completely different ball game now and there will only be one Halston,” Frowick said. “He lived in this time that was so spectacular and dazzling and new and fresh.” She adds that because he ended his career the way that he did, and died fairly quickly thereafter, it’s hard to imagine what Halston could have become long after his halcyon days of disco had faded.

White space. In art, advertising, page layout and the like, it's often referred to as negative space, the nooks and crannies between the important stuff that's gone unmarked, either for effect or lack of additional content.

For Ben Fischman, it's the driving principle of his new startup, M. Gemi, which officially launched this morning.

Fischman, who previously founded both Lids and Rue La La, speaks of white space in entirely different terms. For him, it's not better left alone – it's the gap in the market ripe for filling. It's precisely the area within an industry on which he plans to leave a mark.

“Women know that the finest, most beautiful shoes in the world are made in Italy," Fischman told me during a recent phone call. "For most products, the country of origin doesn’t matter.” But, he went on, “Italian shoes are known to be the best."

M. Gemi is a direct-to-consumer luxury footwear brand, offering women high-end, designer shoes at prices typically not synonymous with Italian craftsmanship. A new style will be offered online and via the company's app every week, all in limited quantities.

Shoes of similar quality and origin typically run anywhere from around $500 to several thousand dollars. M. Gemi will offer theirs in the $128-$300 range.

Ben Fischman

 

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"We think we’ve found a pretty big white space," said Fischman.

The "we" there is the M. Gemi team, comprised of Fischman; president and general manager Cheryl Kaplan, a former EVP at Rue La La; and chief merchant Maria Gangemi, an Italian with more than 30 years experience, including as the former SVP of European Luxury—whose zeal for conveying the brand was the genesis of the company's name.

Founded about a year ago, M. Gemi has already made an impact with investors, securing approximately $14 million in seed and Series A funding, led by General Catalyst with participation from Forerunner Ventures and Breakaway Ventures.

The company is based in Boston, with a current staff of around 30 that Fischman expects to swell to around 50 by year's end. There's also about 10 people working out of a Florence, Italy, office.

In addition to the shoe designs and unique supply chain model – giving Italian craftsman a rare channel to the U.S. market – Fischman and co. have been consumed by what he calls a "maniacal consistency of fit.” A small design team in New York conducted U.S. testing over 90 days, allowing more than 500 women to try the shoes on and provide feedback.

The results were surprising. “We want our shoes to be as comfortable as they should be," said Fischman. But customers were surprised at how "shockingly comfortable" the shoe felt on their feet.

The team also created an advisory board of students studying abroad in Florence, called their Fit Team, who once every week would try on the shoes and give their thoughts.

When asked what's next for the company, Fischman told me expanding to menswear and other products could be a possibility down the road.

But his current focus was clear: “These shoes will stand up to any shoe made anywhere in the world.”

stin Bartels was a sociology major in college, but his most famous foray into social science came long after he’d graduated from California State University, San Marcos. 

He credits his Impression photo series, which was created in 2011 but has since gone viral and continues to rack up hits on Tumblr, to intimate dating experiences that ocurred far outside the classroom.

The 10 black-and-white images depict parts of a woman’s naked body, focusing on the textured imprints left on her skin from restrictive undergarments such as bras, panties, corsets, stockings, and high heels. The images take their titles from headlines in women’s fashion magazines: “Need a lift?”, “Hot Jeans for a Hot Body,” “Underwire Cups Give Lauren’s Boobs a Boost.”

“I had noticed through my encounters with the opposite sex how much [women] complained about the discomfort from their high heels, tight jeans, underwire brasiers, etc. I wanted the images to capture the ‘after’ showing what happens when they take off those articles, and the visual proof of their discomfort.”

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While the photos depict the deep imprints of straps, stitches, and laces on the body, Bartels said it didn’t take much for the tight clothing to leave a mark. The model was his girlfriend at the time, and all the clothes she wore for the photo shoot—and then promptly removed just 30 minutes to an hour later—were her own. 

The model in the photographs isn’t alone in wearing clothes that are restrictive or too tight. Nearly half of 1,000 women polled in a U.K. survey last year by the lingerie brand Bluebella said they’d bought an item of clothing or lingerie that was a size too small, and one in 10 had bought an item up to three sizes too small as incentive to lose weight, the Daily Mail reported. It probably doesn’t help that fashion is often modeled by women who weigh 23 percent less than the average woman, according to findings by Plus Model magazine. 

Bartels now works as a commercial photographer specializing in fashion, but maybe it’s ironic that his most popular series is actually a critique of the garment industry. He says he’s currently developing several new photography projects that put his sociology degree to good use. 

At New York Fashion Week we said goodbye to Lincoln Center’s signature tents and hello to trends for fall/winter 2015.

Many designers gave a nod to the cliche “everything old is new again” by refreshing and remixing past trends for today’s style savvy. Others embodied the spirit of the chilly season by working in colors and luscious layers that capture its hibernative hush.

So when the temperatures drop next fall, there will be lots of versatile trends to heat up ready-to-wear fashion. Here’s a runway recap of some of them:

■ That ’70s show: The decade was probably designers’ single-most cited inspiration for fall, 2015. Some capitalized on the glamour of the era, while others channeled its laid-back, hippie-chic vibe. But rather than literally translating the fashions of the times for today, designers used references sparingly — a little tweed here, lots of fringe there. Plus there was the occasional fitted, high-waisted pant with flared bottom paired with a blousy top. Groovy!

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■ Fur foray: It was hard to miss it — Fur was everywhere. It covered coats and hats. It trimmed sleeves and necklines and hemlines of skirts and dresses. Even handbags came in all-over fur varieties. Designers did it in real and faux in colors such as chocolate, black, charcoal, and tan. Furrier-to-the-stars Dennis Basso even tried it in camo by subtly swirling shades together. For the ultimate casual-luxe look, designers such as Ralph Lauren and Zac Posen paired a fur hat or top, respectively, with evening wear.

■ Strong meets sensual: Several designers created collections with an image in mind of a woman who can hold her own but also has a softer, seductive side. This came through in pin-striped wrap dresses and suits, moody hues, luxe laces, and androgynous-meets-feminine silhouettes.

■ Statement outerwear: Beat the cold weather blues next fall by bundling up in coats of many colors and styles. Peacoats, cape coats, quilted jackets, and ones accented in everything from sparkle to shearling flooded runways. For an extra dose of coziness, designers added an oversized scarf or stole to the mix.

image: http://www.toledoblade.com/image/2015/03/19/300x_b1_cCM_z_cT/LIFE-FASH-TRENDS-2015-5-PG.jpg

Fringe, boots, and oversized earrings from the Ralph Lauren fall 2015 collection.
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■ Hair hardware and bold accessories: Break out your hair clips — They’re back! Designers dressed up models’ hair for the runway with simple accessories such as hair combs slipped into long locks or skinny barrettes used to hold back a low ponytail. Accessories also caught the eye, usually because of their size. Dangling chandelier earrings and long necklaces with oversized pendants were the most common kinds.

■ Embellished to the max: Designers drenched everything from day-to-day separates to red carpet-worthy dresses in beading, jewels, and sequins. Other options: feathers (as trim or all-over accents on skirts or dresses) and embroidery.

■ Toned-down hues: Timed with New York Fashion Week, forecasters at Pantone released their color report for the season, predicting that the “it” palette for fall will include dried herb, desert sage, stormy weather blue, oak buff, Biscay Bay teal, reflecting pond (a cool blue), cadmium orange, cashmere rose, amethyst orchid, and marsala, the Pantone color of the year for 2015. Designers seemed to agree with the color forecast, taking a break from the sugary winter pastels and bright color pops that were popular on fall and winter runways in recent years. This time, it was all about neutrals and muted shades, complemented by rich jewel tones.

■ Boots, boots, and more boots: Looks got leggy with boots of all heights: short, below the knee, at the knee, and thigh-high. They cropped up in all sorts of neutrals and were paired with both pants and formal looks, often playing peek-a-boo as they came into sight through a slit in a gown or a long flowing skirt.

Read more at http://www.toledoblade.com/Culture/2015/03/22/Fashion-trends-that-lit-up-the-New-York-runways.html#xmfDQ8HsI6gdVlJ1.99