Weather
English
RocksNews

International news in seven languages

Advertisement
Advertisement

Topic

Fashion

Style

From 50p gold hot pants to Paul Smith suits: how Kylie Minogue became one of pop’s ultimate chameleons

The star’s rise from Ramsay Street to global superstar is the subject of a new book. It’s a journey that has cleverly harnessed the power of fashion to transform, subvert – and shock On 20 December 1989, Kylie Minogue first harnessed the power of fashion. Attending the Australian premiere of her film The Delinquents, she wore a custom sequined noughts-and-crosses minidress by Australian designers Morrissey Edmiston and a cropped blond wig. She also arrived with a new accessory: a rock star boyfriend in the shape of Michael Hutchence from INXS. Before then, there’d been her Neighbours character

Style

Skirts given star billing as Prada swerves trousers and dresses in Milan

Combination of Miuccia Prada with Belgian designer Raf Simons once again spins gold for fashion house Miuccia Prada’s style formula is simple: begin with a great skirt. Her personal uniform is a knee-length skirt, A-line or pleated, most often with a plain sweater and kitten heels. The Prada collection that opened Milan fashion week made a compelling case for her favourite outfit, with a skirt the star of every one of the 63 looks – no dresses, no trousers. It won the room over, so expect to see the personality skirt on a high street near you soon. Continue reading...

Style

‘What we have is unique’: the Indian craftsmanship behind global luxury fashion

Generations of artisans from Mumbai to Lucknow have shaped the world’s most coveted designs. Plus, the gen Z memes giving classic Bollywood a new life • Don’t get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up here The zardozi embroidery on a Dior dress, the T-strap leather sandals at a Prada show, the mirror-work technique used on a Fendi bag – for decades, the skill of Indian artisans has been an invisible force behind some of the world’s most coveted fashion. Now, that work is beginning to claim its own place in the spotlight, and the Mumbai-based textile and embroidery atelier Chanakya Int

Style

Celia Birtwell ‘humanises’ Burberry in London fashion week closing show

Textile designer brings florals, vines and smiley doodles to brand’s luxury checks for one-off paired collection Burberry and Celia Birtwell are both national treasures of sorts. One is Britain’s grandest luxury name, the other the textile designer who dressed bohemian 1960s London in her prints and has a place in art history as David Hockney’s favourite muse. Burberry’s designer, Daniel Lee, has always loved Birtwell’s prints. When the two met this spring, he fell for “her energy, and her zest for life”, and a one-off Burberry meets Birtwell collection that closed London fashion week was born

Style

Converse apologizes and pulls ad that critics said evoked racist imagery

Sneaker company removes social media ad after backlash from critics who said it resembled KKK imagery The sneaker company Converse has removed a social media ad that sparked outrage among critics who viewed it as evoking the Ku Klux Klan and lynching. The Instagram ad photo showed K-pop singer Karina wearing a skirt and holding a pair of Chuck 70 X sneakers. Critics lashed out online, saying that a white triangular image created by lighting on the skirt resembled a KKK hood – and that the way she held the sneakers made them look like the dangling feet of a lynching victim. Continue reading...

Style

McQueen comes home to happy, dark place at London fashion week

Brand returns to its physical and unconventional roots as it battles undergoes stark restructuring Back when a young Lee McQueen was showing at London fashion week, there was Dante, the show in a Hawksmoor church with a skeleton in the front row and a blaring soundtrack of organ music and gunfire. And there was Voss, where models were trapped inside a giant mirrored box set up as a psychiatric ward. Twenty-five years later, the Alexander McQueen brand returned from the Paris schedule to a creepily beautiful subterranean 17th century London chapel, with steel harnesses, bulky ankle strapped hee

Style

‘She changed the beauty industry’: how Charlotte Mensah brought black hair into the spotlight

A new exhibition in London celebrates the influential hairstylist whose clients include Janelle Monáe and Zadie Smith. She explains her story – and why she’s on a mission to ensure stylists are trained to work with all hair types When Charlotte Mensah was a young child growing up in Accra, Ghana in the 1970s, she would spend hours watching her aunties having their hair intricately threaded, an ancient African technique where hair is wrapped tightly using yarn or thread. She didn’t know then that she would go on to become one of the most influential hairdressers in the UK. Renowned for champion

Advertisement
Style

Christopher Kane and Mulberry make swaggering joint comeback at London fashion week

Appointment of Kane as creative director signals the return of serious style ambition for former It-bag brand With spicy leather mini-dresses and shoes with miniature axes for heels, two beloved British names made a swaggering joint comeback at London fashion week. Fifteen years ago, Christopher Kane and Mulberry were two of the biggest shows on the line-up. Kane was the brilliant young designer who could find fashion in the most unlikely places: rubberised lace minis were inspired by “Princess Margaret on acid”; while illustrations from the 1972 classic The Joy of Sex appeared on slinky slip

Style

‘I got married in it’: readers on their favourite secondhand fashion finds

To mark Oxfam’s Second Hand September, here are some of your best thrift discoveries and the stories behind them Oxfam’s Second Hand September campaign encourages people to avoid buying new clothes for 30 days and choose preloved pieces instead. From £28 Prada skirts to £5 wedding dresses, we asked people to share their favourite fashion finds and the stories behind them. Continue reading...

Style

US fashion CEO resigns after physically restraining animal rights activists

Steven Kolb of the Council of Fashion Designers of America was filmed during an altercation at New York fashion week The chief executive of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Steven Kolb, has resigned after he was filmed physically restraining two animal rights activists during an altercation at New York fashion week. “After 20 years leading the CFDA, I have made the difficult decision to step down as CEO and president,” Kolb said in a statement. “I am enormously proud of what we have built together and believe this is the right moment for both me and the organisation to begin a new

Style

Chanel brings beanstalk to catwalk in fairytale Paris couture show

Storytelling collection opens with mousseline skirt suit and ends with simple black dress in spirit of label’s founder The first model on the Chanel catwalk was wearing a sheer mousseline skirt suit and carrying a tiny century-old leatherbound book of fairytales that once belonged to Coco Chanel herself. With the Lord of the Rings soundtrack booming through a stage set of giant parasol-scale poppies and lupins as tall as giraffes, the clothes narrated the stories in the pages. A row of buttons on the spine of a dress began with an ugly duckling, and ended with a swan. A Goldilocks minaudière h

Style

Pierpaolo Piccioli’s couture debut reimagines Balenciaga in his own colourful image

Italian designer brings sculptural silhouettes and playful palettes to storied house, while it is hats off to Giorgio’s niece at her second Armani Privé show The house of Balenciaga takes haute couture very seriously indeed. Cristóbal Balenciaga was so horrified by the rise of mass-produced clothes that in 1968 he abruptly shuttered his brand and retired to his native Spain, announcing that “high fashion is mortally wounded”. So Pierpaolo Piccioli, who now helms the house, approached the brief of his first Balenciaga couture collection conscientiously, despite having 25 years of experience at

Style

‘Work hard – nobody cares how good you used to be’: Paul Smith at 80 on love, fun and his fabulous life in fashion

With the release of his new biography, the British designer talks about leaving school at 15, the real reason he won’t retire and why no one wears velvet trousers any more Go for a browse in the Paul Smith shop in Mayfair, London, on any given Saturday and you’ll likely find an older shop assistant, straight-backed in fine tailoring, approaching to help you with a new shirt, or a suit for a special occasion, perhaps a jaunty pair of socks. There aren’t many global fashion brands, Paul Smith points out, perhaps unnecessarily, “where the owner is a Saturday boy”. But working in his shop, one of

Style

Jess Cartner-Morley’s August style essentials: lace trims, snazzy knits and one truly beautiful bag

Whether you’re in full summer mode or quietly planning for autumn, our fashion expert’s monthly picks will carry you stylishly between the two • How to create the perfect women’s holiday capsule wardrobe August: do you buy for the holiday you’ll be melting through this month, or the one you’ll be pretending to enjoy in a jumper come October? Answers on a postcard, please! The key to staying (relatively) sane in silly season is to embrace the contradictions. Read on for the holiday-coded necklace I’ve fallen in love with and the elegant leather handbag I’m dreaming of when I hang up my straw ba

Style

Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: the secret to summer layering? Sheer bravery

Adding layers doesn’t have to leave you a hot mess – think sheer scarves and crochet with flashes of colour to elevate your look Perhaps I shouldn’t admit this, but I’m in two minds about summer dressing. Part of me believes summer is about joy, sunshine and good times, and clothes should embrace all of that. This woman loves Pucci and owns not one but two silver kaftans. The other part of me believes summer should be uncomplicated, laid-back and earthy. This woman never checks in luggage and has worn the same black beach cover-up for so many years it’s too threadbare to cover anything much. T

Advertisement
Style

From the perfect jeans to wedgie-free knickers: fashion experts’ guide to the best women’s basics

Want to know the essentials fashion insiders swear by? Whether it’s great T-shirts or forever trainers, Guardian writers and stylists reveal the pieces they rate • Jess Cartner-Morley’s September style essentials Whether it’s a great pair of pants or the perfect T-shirt, nailing the basics can make or break your wardrobe. “They have to work harder than anything else,” says British Vogue beauty and wellness director Funmi Fetto. I asked Fetto and other stylists and style writers, along with members of the Guardian fashion desk – who all spend more time than most thinking about this stuff – for

Style

Jess Cartner-Morley’s September style essentials: slipper-soft shoes, miracle hair mist and a worth-the-wait cardigan

Got that new term feeling? Embrace the September reset with tailored blazers, hints of cashmere and a surprisingly excellent tee • Don’t get the Filter delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Nobody has handed me a timetable in decades, but I still love that new-term energy, and this edit leans right into it. A blazer that is properly tailored, rather than assembled from buttons and hope. Closed-toe shoes to ensure a proper soft landing after months of sandals. A T-shirt from a brand I was fully prepared to be sniffy about, until it made me eat my words. And a packing solution, because the only

Style

‘I love the boldness of modernism’: New York fashion week goes highbrow

Georgia O’Keeffe inspires the latest Calvin Klein while Michael Kors feels indebted to Alexander Calder Calvin Klein has taken a highbrow turn in the two years since Veronica Leoni took charge. The Italian designer, a philosophy graduate who was schooled in the chic design studios of Jil Sander and Celine, has shifted away from jeans, boxer shorts and logos, stripping the brand to its minimalist bones: slip dresses and simple coats, slim skirts and crisp T-shirts. Leoni called this the “discipline of removal”. Her muse this season was Georgia O’Keeffe, an artist who the brand’s namesake founde

Style

Make NHS and military uniforms in UK, fashion firms urge Burnham

More than 1,200 people, including Ben Fogle, sign letter saying domestic contracts will help preserve UK manufacturing London fashion week is only days away, but one industry organisation has turned its attention to clothing that is a little less catwalk-worthy – the uniforms worn by British defence forces and NHS staff. On Wednesday afternoon, the thinktank Fashion Roundtable will hand deliver a letter to Downing Street urging Andy Burnham to commit to manufacturing these uniforms in the UK. Continue reading...

Topic: Fashion | RocksNews