Milan Fashion Week 2010

Milan was the place to be over the weekend as Fall Fashion Week roared through the city. Clive Owen kicked things off solo on Friday at Emporio Armani before he joined up with Julianne Moore at the Bulgari Chandra party. Ashley Greene popped up in a variety of dresses, attending Giorgio Armani on Saturday with Clive and Gucci with Rachel Zoe. Lindsay Lohan, meanwhile, spent her evening celebrating the launch of Vogue Italia's new website with editor Franca Sozzani, Claire Danes, and more. Yesterday brought Ashley Greene out for Dolce & Gabbana, while Lindsay Lohan cozied up to Roberto Cavalli at his show and afterparty. Elisabetta Canalis, the face of Roberto's underwear line, left George Clooney's side long enough to meet with the designer, then went back to her man.

Lindsay, who was back in the USA just last week stalking Samantha Ronson and partying her brains out, didn't waste any time once in Milan. She gallivanted around the city, palling around with Courtney Love and swapping spit with Roberto Cavalli himself. The girl is a hot mess! Rumor has it that she actually cancelled a scheduled appearance at the Pure nightclub in Vegas once she heard she was invited to party in Milan with the fashion folk
Salvatore Ferragamo autumn/winter 2010/11

Milan Fashion Week
Their 50th Dolce & Gabbana collection was a romantic and poetic salute to their heritage of clothes for the sensual woman, both dressed and undressed.

The show was staged in the old Metropole Theatre, where Maria Callas once sang, which is now a Dolce & Gabbana headquarters.
ALBUM ://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/fashionpicturegalleries/7339281/Salvatore-Ferragamo-autumnwinter-201011-Milan-Fashion-Week.htmlShared via AddThis.com


Why Scarlett Johansson came over to the dark sideA total of 75 models, wearing variations on tailored black jackets over black satin and lace corsetry, formed a dramatic visual encapsulation of the brand’s tradition, walking against a backdrop of black-and-white footage of the work done in the studio to bring the collection to fruition.

The collection was as much a romantic homage to the duo’s strong feminine ideal, as it was about a shared, enduring passion for designing beautiful clothes.

Called ‘Sartorialita, Sicilianita, Sensualita’, the collection, for next autumn/winter, revisited the brand’s signatures of tailoring, corsetry, leopard and rose-print, and the age-old black garb of the Sicilian woman, updated in knits, lightweight silks and stretch fabrics.

The romantic nature of the production was emphasized by the soundtrack music - Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman singing "Come What May" from the film, Moulin Rouge!

Missoni, the Italian family knitwear brand, provided a colourful caravanserai of knits that raced around-the-world in 39 different looks.

Inspired by references as diverse as “Highlander’, Masai warriors, Indonesia, and the cowboy ethic as portrayed by Clint Eastwood, the collection included multi-coloured, plaid and patchwork ponchos and serapes; zig-zag knitted skirts and sarongs, fastened with oversized kilt-pins; silver “spurs” on high-heeled,knitted sock-boots; and “warrior” neck-pieces and cuffs in tinkling metal.

Earlier, the Florentine designer, Roberto Cavalli, marked his 40th anniversary in fashion, with a rich hippie parade of furs, animal-print and voluminous boho-dresses in sheer chiffon.

The singer Courtney Love, and the actress, Lindsay Lohan, were among the front row audience.

CAR MARKET :Will Toyota's PR Crisis Give Hyundai an Edge in the Auto Market?

I recall when Hyundai first entered the auto market here in the U.S. back in 1986. Both of my parents went out and purchased one due to its affordability (where are the days when you could buy a brand new car for $5K?) For years, Hyundai wasn't necessarily known for quality, not in the way Toyota has been branded at least, but the auto maker quickly became profitable making many in the automotive industry take notice and giving it staying power.
Previously, I would've only considered Kia to be their closest competitor (until they bought them out), yet with Toyota's recent PR Crisis over their massive recall and Hyundai ramping up production and an advertising blitz, Hyundai is beginning to emerge as real competition to the auto giant. Has Toyota's recall finally given Hyundai the opportunity to get an edge up on the brand? From a PR standpoint, my opinion is yes.
For years we've been watching the transformation and re-branding of Hyundai. From their investment in design and safety for their vehicles to the introduction of their 10-year/100,000-mile warranty (which caused other auto makers to follow suit), Hyundai has been ambitious in garnering positive PR.
What's really gotten my attention has been Hyundai's ability to remain affordable yet bring a piece of luxury to an audience where a Lexus or BMW may be out of their price range. The new look of the Sonata and the debut of the Hyundai Equus has those in the market for a new car (or deciding to trade in their Toyota's) giving Hyundai a second look. This should cause concern for Toyota (and Honda), even despite Hyundai's recent recall of their new Sonata.
What do you think? Will 2010 be the year we'll see Hyundai on Edmund's Top 10 Best-Selling list? Better yet, will they outsell Toyota?

Bringing lifestyle into the workplace

YOU could describe 75 High Street as serviced offices disguised as a boutique hotel. Or as an event space with catering services. Or as a bar where you can play chess and rake trails in a Zen garden. Or, if it gets all too complicated, simply a 'meeting space' - which is what the project's founder, Tony Chen, calls it.


Because that's what it is, in essence. Operated by apbcOffices, a premium boutique serviced-office provider of which Mr Chen is the chief executive officer, the chief aim of the rejuvenated building opposite The Treasury is to promote interaction between the environment and its tenants, as well as among them.

'Our aim is to bring lifestyle into a working environment,' says Mr Chen. 'Times have changed, it's not like 50 years ago. Now, you have lifestyle where you stay, where you play and where you go to restaurants. It's unavoidable; you can see it everywhere whether it's in the form of a handphone or a laptop. And since we spend much time at work, surely, we would also like lifestyle at work?

'Besides, when you are relaxed, you tend to be more creative. And when you are creative, the company will benefit.'

Hotel-inspired concept

To that end, the building features a collection of creative-juicing workspaces, which range from floors of funky serviced offices with different colour themes, to a 'magnet space' on the ground floor that features a wall with a quirky animal print and a shared full-service bar in-built with the aforesaid chess set and Zen garden.

Meanwhile, in the basement, there are plushly carpeted, cocoon-like meeting areas in soothing white (where, we observed, meetings were being held with shoes off).

The ground floor and basement areas fall under apbcOffices' Face To Face component, which is intended to encourage people to meet in person as opposed to remotely, says Colin Seah of Ministry of Design, the design firm responsible for the project.

He elaborates: 'In our increasingly electronic age, the number of face-to-face interactions is decreasing and are being replaced by remote ones - e-mail, MSN, video and phone conferencing, etc.

'The Face To Face concept counterpoints this by providing rich opportunities and conducive environments for more person-to-person interaction. And we believe that by doing so, creativity and productivity will increase as face-to-face meetings allow for more creative, engaging and productive exchanges.'

The concept was inspired by a small hotel that Mr Chen visited about a year ago in France. 'What struck me was the amount of interaction between the design, the contents and the people there,' he says. 'In a lot of hotels, when you go in, you feel that it's just a room with facilities. But in this one, you can see the hotel is trying to interact with you - there are constantly changing messages in the lift lobbies, for example. And yet it wasn't a design that depended purely on building materials.'

apbcOffices at High Street (the company has three other locations in Singapore plus more in Malaysia and China, but 75 High Street is the only one with the Face To Face concept so far) opened about three months ago, with office space priced from $1,500 per workstation per month.

But that's not the only bit of the building that's for rent. Non-tenants may also book the Face To Face area as a corporate event space and apbc can organise catering too - all at a very minimal cost.

'We want to encourage creative companies to come and make use of the space here for their own needs, be it for press conferences, events or networking,' says Mr Chen. 'When you have creativity close by, it's always beneficial, for us and for our clients, and it will provide an advantage in any business.'

In future, the company plans to implement the Face To Face concept, either in part or in whole, at its other serviced offices. 'Our aim is to repeat this signature when and where possible from here onwards,' says Mr Chen. 'So this is only the beginning.'