Dolce & Gabanna Fall 2008 RTW

Making your coat your calling card, especially when and if one may have to reign in spending is the one investment you are not likely to regret.

With your coat, first impressions count and the right coat will make the right impression whether you throw it over a dress, jeans and a tee or anything you happen to be wearing underneath.

This season, coats come in a variety of styles. Fur, Military, Leather coats, Peacoats, Trenchcoats, Puffer coats, Sweater coats. If a full length coat is not your thing, then perhaps a vest, fur vest, puffer vest will do the trick. All you have to do is pick a style which appeals to you the most.

Remember if your coat is meant to be an investment that will last forever, keep unnecessary details to a minimum. Like fringes, as popular as they might be this season will simply look dated or trap you in a certain image after a while.

Necklines range from  bateau, to shawl collared, collarless, The details to watch for on Military coats include frogging, Epaulettes, buttons etc. Keep the tones neutral so that these details can stand out and not look cluttered.

Nanette Lepore

Plaids work big time this season as well and so do Winter whites, if drycleaning your coats is so not an issue.

Here’s what to look for when buying a coat.

 As an investment, you no longer have to sacrifice style for practicality. Pick a coat that gives you a balance of both and will last for ages. If printed coats are too much for you, keep the print on the inside (the lining) and still maintain the wow effect of the coat.

For those of us lucky enough to live on the West Coast, a sweater coat or a lightweight wool almost always suffices for winter.

This may be the season for the shoe or the shoe boot etc but one fail safe fashion item has always been the coat. Never have the options seemd so endless and just fantastic. If there is one item I will invest in this season, in a  neutral color this year as I am that woman you see on the road in a red, orange, purple or green coat, it will be a very fitted coat and I am actually going to try belting it for once and hope I dont resemble a potato sack.  

Ralph Lauren Fall 2008 RTW

Tyler Perry became the first African-American ever to launch his own major TV and film studio, according to People Magazine. Mr. Perry launched his multimillion-dollar TV and film studio Saturday on 30 acres in southwest Atlanta on Saturday night. The event was attended by a guest list that included Oprah Winfrey, Will and Jada Sith, Sidney Poitier, Whitney Houston and Mary J. Blige just to name a few. Makes you want to break into song.

Cause we’re moving on up to the top….took a whole lotta trying, just to get up the hill….now we are in the big leagues and there ain’t no turning back……we finally got a piece of the pie!

His new Tyler Perry Studios contains more than 200,000 square feet of studio and office space in an area that once housed Delta Air Lines’ finance, reservation and computer center.

“I spent 56 years making movies and this is the reward that I have that means the most to me,” said Poitier, 81, the first African-American to win a Best Actor Oscar, for 1963′s Lilies of the Field.

A New Orleans native with a troubled childhood, Perry, 39, credited all of his guests with inspiring his life. Of Winfrey, who attended the celebration with longtime beau Stedman Graham and best friend Gayle King, Perry said, “She owns her life. I am learning that. I never would have shown this to people a few years ago. I was embarrassed by the success.”

At one point, Perry unveiled a special surprise for veteran trailblazers Poitier, Dee and Tyson: each now has a soundstage named after him and her.

“Is this my wall?” joked Poitier – as Winfrey dissolved into tears.  Oprah seems to be a whole lotta crying these days.

“You can never be upset with the people who forced you into your dream or up higher,” said Mr. Perry. “They forced me out into a higher situation. It’s worked out much better for me.”
Fantastic! and we wish him continued success.

Alexander McQueen - Paris Fashion Week. Photo: Reuters

First Karl Lagerfeld poses with his Teddy Bear – Chanel, no less. (Though we don’t quite think Mr.Lagerfeld was going for a “Save the Earth” concept.) Then Alexander McQueen displayed a parade of stuffed wild animals, hired from a Parisian taxidermist, were there to bring to life McQueen’s latest obsession: Charles Darwin, the survival of the fittest and how the evolution of the species has become warped and twisted through man’s power and greed. “Every species is fragile but animals are the underdogs while we are actually bringing about our own extinction – and theirs.”

Okay, just so we are not confused, this designer uses leather, crocodile skin and fur, Right?  Yeah, sure, McQueen, an environmentalist? Who woulda thunk it?  No matter what new passion or hobby he decides to adopt, his clothes as usual were breathtaking.

Alexander McQueen - Paris Fashion Week /Spring 09

Remember, last spring when we the designers were all doing their Eco stuff, when “Eco” was the new black and everyone jumped on the bandwagon? You just knew it would not last. We have not heard too much of a peep from them about saving the environment since then. The planet must have fixed itself.

Alexander McQueen - Paris Fashion Week /Spring 09

Alexander McQueen - Paris Fashion Week /Spring 09

Alexander McQueen - Paris Fashion Week /Spring 09

Alexander McQueen - Paris Fashion Week. Photo: Reuters

First Karl Lagerfeld poses with his Teddy Bear – Chanel, no less. (Though we don’t quite think Mr.Lagerfeld was going for a “Save the Earth” concept.) Then Alexander McQueen displayed a parade of stuffed wild animals, hired from a Parisian taxidermist, were there to bring to life McQueen’s latest obsession: Charles Darwin, the survival of the fittest and how the evolution of the species has become warped and twisted through man’s power and greed. “Every species is fragile but animals are the underdogs while we are actually bringing about our own extinction – and theirs.”

Okay, just so we are not confused, this designer uses leather, crocodile skin and fur, Right?  Yeah, sure, McQueen, an environmentalist? Who woulda thunk it?  No matter what new passion or hobby he decides to adopt, his clothes as usual were breathtaking.

Alexander McQueen - Paris Fashion Week /Spring 09

Remember, last spring when we the designers were all doing their Eco stuff, when “Eco” was the new black and everyone jumped on the bandwagon? You just knew it would not last. We have not heard too much of a peep from them about saving the environment since then. The planet must have fixed itself.

Alexander McQueen - Paris Fashion Week /Spring 09

Alexander McQueen - Paris Fashion Week /Spring 09

Alexander McQueen - Paris Fashion Week /Spring 09

Oprah does not seem to be getting too much love out of Africa. Her former headmistress is asking for $250,000 plus damages. Only $250,000? does she not know half of that money goes to her lawyer and the other half to “other” expenses.

According to People Magazine, Nomvuyo Mzamane, the former headmistress of Oprah Winfrey‘s South African Leadership Academy for Girls, filed a defamation lawsuit against the TV star in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Friday in an attempt to salvage her professional reputation.  In Philadelphia!!! Hmm!

The civil suit, filed by attorney Tim McGowan, says Winfrey “launched what amounted to a defamatory campaign” against Mzamane late last year by implying that Mzamane is “untrustworthy, failed the students of the academy, did not care about the students at the academy, knew of alleged physical and sexual abuse at the academy and participated in a cover-up of the alleged abuse,” according to legal papers.

Mzamane, 39, also filed a defamation suit against the blog the Huffington Post and publicity expert Joan Stewart for a Nov. 19, 2007, posting by Stewart saying Mzamane was charged in connection with the scandal.

Mzamane has said there was no cover-up at the school and she knew nothing about the allegations, which she learned about while on a business trip to the U.S

Since her termination, Mzamane has not been able to find comparable work and suffers from “depression, anxiety and insomnia,” the suit states. She is asking for $50,000 for each of five different claims, including defamation by innuendo and intentional infliction of emotional distress, plus unspecified punitive damages.

Eva Mendes and Giuseppe Zanotti, at the Giuseppe Zanotti Design Paris party.

Okay, not everybodys heel, mostly celebrities – and most of us that will hand over a monthly payment for a pair of shoes and still not regret it, that is.

However, you still dont have to be a ceebrity, all you have to be is just a lover of Guiseppe Zanotti’s shoes.

Giuseppe Zanotti, is the uncrowned king of Italian footwear and the man who can count Beyoncé, Kylie Minogue, Gwyneth Paltrow, Daphne Guiness and Charlize Theron among his red carpet fans.

The Sky high shoes  Paltrow wore for the “Iron Man” movie premiere were made by the man himself.

Halle Berry has become a customer for jeweled gladiator styles that stay close to the ground.

Zanotti showed this week in Milan just some of the 800 styles that he and his 400-strong team create each season, from elegant, slender-heeled cocktail shoes to hefty DayGlo platforms that are still ultra-light, thanks to the fusion of cork with leather.

Heavens, 800 pairs of shoes!!!

Who can forget the Fishbone shoes at below, featured in Sex and the City.

Evidently, Mr. Zanotti’s designs range from fantasy to Practical but no less stunning as shown by these oh so modern shoe boots that are in demand this fall.

If you fancy a little more kick in your boot, try these… as Va-Va meets Voom.

This is one designer that promises that you will stay upright  dancing, jumping and still looking gorgeous. I am a huge fan and shouldn’t you be? Besides, one can still hope he will do something with Target.

Target, Are you listening?

Eva Mendes and Giuseppe Zanotti, at the Giuseppe Zanotti Design Paris party.

Okay, not everybodys heel, mostly celebrities – and most of us that will hand over a monthly payment for a pair of shoes and still not regret it, that is.

However, you still dont have to be a ceebrity, all you have to be is just a lover of Guiseppe Zanotti’s shoes.

Giuseppe Zanotti, is the uncrowned king of Italian footwear and the man who can count Beyoncé, Kylie Minogue, Gwyneth Paltrow, Daphne Guiness and Charlize Theron among his red carpet fans.

The Sky high shoes  Paltrow wore for the “Iron Man” movie premiere were made by the man himself.

Halle Berry has become a customer for jeweled gladiator styles that stay close to the ground.

Zanotti showed this week in Milan just some of the 800 styles that he and his 400-strong team create each season, from elegant, slender-heeled cocktail shoes to hefty DayGlo platforms that are still ultra-light, thanks to the fusion of cork with leather.

Heavens, 800 pairs of shoes!!!

Who can forget the Fishbone shoes at below, featured in Sex and the City.

Evidently, Mr. Zanotti’s designs range from fantasy to Practical but no less stunning as shown by these oh so modern shoe boots that are in demand this fall.

If you fancy a little more kick in your boot, try these… as Va-Va meets Voom.

This is one designer that promises that you will stay upright  dancing, jumping and still looking gorgeous. I am a huge fan and shouldn’t you be? Besides, one can still hope he will do something with Target.

Target, Are you listening?

Fachinetti for Valentino

Sure, you do.

Even WWD, loved her collection and seem sad to see her leave. Rumors had been swirling around Valentino all week, and it turns out they weren’t just grist for the mill. After two seasons Alessandra Facchinetti is out and the house’s longtime accessories designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli are in. Which is too bad, because as Val’s first successor, Facchinetti has been a pleasant surprise.

Fachinetti for Valentino

Sure, you do.

Even WWD, loved her collection and seem sad to see her leave. Rumors had been swirling around Valentino all week, and it turns out they weren’t just grist for the mill. After two seasons Alessandra Facchinetti is out and the house’s longtime accessories designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli are in. Which is too bad, because as Val’s first successor, Facchinetti has been a pleasant surprise.

Michelle Obama in H&M - Photo: Barrack Obama/Creative Commons

As the debate heats up, a little bit of releif is needed so we turn our eyes to what the women are wearing. Sarah Palin is extraordinary in her ordinariness. Seriously, no comments. We wave the white flag of surrender for someone with lipliner tattoos,panty lines, a husband named Todd and a son named Trig. Short for what? Trigonometry?

 Cindy McCain – what the heck happened?. $5,000 outfits, $250,000 accessories and it still looks like she threw an airball. It just misses the mark. Mrs. Biden – who? Its clear, Michelle is winning the fashion game.

Michelle Obamas fashion choices  reflect the economy… chiconomics. Keep it chic and affordable. While we all know she can afford to buy anything she really wants, can we all forget Cindy McCains face as she ventured into Walmart or was it Kmart on one of their many photo ops. Her face was practically shouting – Get me out of this cheap hell.

According to Mrs. O, a blog that tracks Mrs. O’s sartorial choices, their initial assumption was Narciso Rodriguez when Gasp! to every ones surprise it was H&M-$34.99. Go on, girl.

It apparently bore a very strong resemblance to a Narciso dress she had worn in April. Now, that is fashion – mixing high and low.

Though Mrs. O has earned our respect for obvious reasons – she is now earning our fashion respect. Continuing to wear simple clean items that suit her and complement her figure. Obviously, you don’t have to spend $50,000 to look good, though it helps.

Memo to Cindy McCain, lose the bleached ringlets. You look like a 60 year old Shirley Temple. It kinda does not work.