Lady Gaga's Stage Costumes: From Armani to Versace

By Angela Cole

Aside from her famous creativity in pop music, we all know Lady Gaga for her remarkable theatrics and wild fashion sense; her Born This Way Ball Tour being an obvious example of these characteristics.

In April of this year, Giorgio Armani was announced as the artist’s costume designer for her tour. He stated that:

"Collaborating with Lady Gaga is always an exciting experience for me. I admire the way she uses fashion as a scenic element and as a means to build a character."

Sketch for Lady Gaga costume by Armani

The designer created diverse stage outfits for the performer, including a long-sleeved, floor-length shift dress, as well as a black and white hat shaped like a keyboard. The Armani team used PVC, metal studs, and jet-black Swarovski crystals to create the outfits.

Sketch for Lady Gaga costume by Armani

 

But, watch out Armani! Lady Gaga is spreading her own rumors, and if proved to be true, Versace will be designing the tour’s costumes for America.

On November 13, 2012 at 3:17am, the singer tweeted:

"THE BORN THIS WAY BALL is getting a face-lift for America. I heard rumors @VERSACE IS CUSTOM DESIGNING ALL THE CLOTHES AND NEW LOOKS."

Lady Gaga’s passion for Versace clothes is no secret to anyone. She recently made headlines wearing THE safety-pin dress which was originally made famous by Elizabeth Hurley in 1994.

Lady Gaga (2012) vs. Elizabeth Hurley (1994)
Versace's safety-pin dress

The singer has also become pals with Donatella Versace, the brand’s chief designer. This past September, during Paris Fashion Week, the two posed for photographer Terry Richardson – Gaga topless.

Donatella Versace and Lady Gaga - Paris Fashion Week 2012
Photo by Terry Richardson

Versace’s costume designs for Lady Gaga will surely be translated into stylish, bold and risqué pieces that the brand has always been recognized for.

Pavlyn Boutique

By: Y-Yen (Bambi) Nguyen

Twitter: @bambi_nguyen

http://www.pavlyn.com

Online shopping today seems to be very popular and now a days everything we see on celebrities is available online, but most of them are based in the USA and we as Canadians have to deal with the shipping fee, paying additional costs when we receive our package etc.

I recently found this website via Twitter called Pavlyn Boutique. I was not sure what it was but hey I like shopping and I like online shopping so why not check it out. To my surprise it was a Canadian online shopping site that was started in 2011 by two best friends, Anna and Maria.

Founders of Pavlyn Boutique

Their website is easy to use and very easy to shop, you can shop by category, designer, celebrity, or the editors pick. They also have a style service that they provide which I find not a lot of online website have. What you is email them  what you are looking for providing as much detail as possible so they can help narrow down an outfit and picks for you.

I am absolutely in love with this website and love the brand that they carry.  For all you fashion and online shopping addicts should definitely check it out.

Website: http://www.pavlyn.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/pavlynboutique

Blog: http://pavlyn.wordpress.com/

Care for some Caviar?

By: Y-Yen (Bambi) Nguyen

Twitter: @bambi_nguyen

Photo courtesy of: http://www.michellephan.com

I first heard about Caviar Manicures through makeup guru Michelle Phan when she had instagrammed a photo of her wearing it on her nails. This look first came when models in Cushie et Och’s Fall 2011 fashion show were seen sporting this look on their nails. Caviar Manicure’s is an Avant-garde look that adds a 3-D affect to your nails. Ciate a UK nail polish brand just created a kit that has been released online and in Sephora stores in 3 different bead colors; rainbow, mother of pearl, and black pearls. However with this upcoming trend the downfall is that the kit costs $25 and only stays on your nails for 48 hours. The question is will this nail trend last as long as the caviar on your nails or will people look past the down fall and caviar their nails.

Rainbow

Mother of Pearl

Black Pearl

Photos courtesy of: http://www.sephora.com 

Ciate Website

http://www.ciate.co.uk/caviar-manicure.html

To Purchase Online at Sephora

http://www.sephora.com/ciate-caviar-manicure-tm-P311207

Crashin' Fashion Week

As the fashion industry, as a whole, is constantly criticized for their subpar use of social media within marketing and advertising campaigns, American line Steve Madden is breaking away from the pack.

Along with Paper Magazine’s Mickey Boardman, Madden is launching the “Crashin’ Fashion Week” initiative, bringing New York Fashion Week to the masses. Through the use of social media outlets including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Taxi TV, these vehicles will provide platforms to share runway shows, reviews, behind-the-scenes footage, as well as party gossip.

This follows in the footsteps of designer undertakings that involve the live streaming of runway shows in years past. Madden is taking his cues from Diane von Furstenberg, Narciso Rodriguez, and many others. “Social media is about democracy, and I’m all about bring fashion to the masses” Madden told AFP Relax News yesterday.

Expanding the number of media outlets from the two used since established last year, Madden hopes to continue the grown of “Crashin’ Fashion Week” in years to come.

Launching February 1^st, coverage will continue for the duration of Fashion Week which concludes February 16^th. Thanks Steve!

- Laura Patriquin

The Next Social Media Obsession

by Kristie Scott

"Pin it!" my roommate Facebook comments on my shared photo of candy sushi I was so craving.
"You would say that" I think to myself as I am reminded of her typically cuddled on the couch, MacBook in hand, almost shouting to me "I can't stop pinning!"

Personal profiling knows many tunnels of expression in today's modern world of social media. And the latest infatuation to this phenomenon is "Pinterest", a website where users share their interests via "pinning" pictures of the things they like or are inspired by.

How it works? You open the story book of your many-pinning-adventures-to-come by first dragging the "pin it" button into your bookmarks or favourites bar. After this, find a picture from any site and directly pin it to one of your "boards" by simply clicking on the pin it button.

Boards are what categorize your pins, i.e. "Wedding Inspiration", "Style", "Food", etc. You can also "follow" other users and "repin" their pins. Sounds like twitter, except with pictures, right? Except Pinterest is a little more exclusive. You have to request an invite to join, or receive an invite from an existing user.

But don't fret my future pinners-to-be! After all, Facebook was once restricted to Ivy League universities, and look where it is now.

Tweets from Tahrir

By Salma Moustafa

We all witnessed the huge impact Social Media played in the Egyptian Revolution. Twitter gave the world front-row seats by telling everyone the story as it slowly unfolded. While Twitter provided daily reports, social networking sites like Facebook, were used to organize and communicate the necessary actions needed to further proceed with this revolution.

Now, OR Books, plans to use tweets posted during the protests to create a 160-page history of this dramatic and historic event that took place. Edited by young activists Alex Nunns and Nadia Idle, an Egyptian who was in Tahrir Square when Mubarak fell from his reign, Tweets from Tahrir will document all of the tweets, in 140-characters-or-less,and photos that were taken during the protests to walk readers through the every day happenings of this revolution.

"Without the new media, the Egyptian Revolution could not have happened in the way that it did.The causes of this revolution were many; deep-rooted and long seated. The turning moment had come-but it was the instant and wide-spread nature of the new media that made it possible to recognize the moment and to push it into such effective manifestation."-Ahdaf Soueif, from the foreword.

Tweets from Tahrir is set to hit bookshelves April 21, 2011.Can't wait to get my hands on this interesting, eye-catching read.Yes, being an Egyptian does have something to do with me being overly excited and overly enthusiastic about this new book.

Riccardo Tisci for Dior?

by Derek Dotto

The rumour mill is in overdrive and the twittersphere is aflutter with word that Givenchy creative director Riccardo Tisci is heading to the House of Dior.

Harper’s Bazaar and Style.com editor-at-large Derek Blasberg tweeted this late Tuesday night: “I was just told backstage at the @KatyPerry concert (of all places!) that Riccardo Tisci is CONFIRMED at Dior. I leave #PFW for a second...”

Tisci and Dior have yet to come out with an official comment. The French fashion house has been looking for a new creative director since it gave John Galliano the boot last week after scandal erupted involving anti-semitic slurs and an internet video.

The latest news come midway through Paris Fashion Week. It has editors, bloggers, and fashion lovers weighing, with mixed reviews, all over the internet. I’ve been a huge fan of Tisci’s since the Italian designer took over at Givenchy in 2005, except for this season. His stunning Japanese robot-inspired couture collection couldn’t make up for the eyesores seen at Givency’s men’s and women’s ready-to-wear collections. Rottweiler and panther prints? Seriously!?

If the rumour is true, I’m excited to see what comes out of the House of Dior... as long as Tisci keeps the animals out of it.

Here are some shots of Tisci's offerings at Givenchy this season (courtesy Style.com):

Givenchy Couture Spring 2011

Givenchy Ready-to-wear Fall 2011

Givenchy Menswear Fall 2011

Want to work for Marc Jacobs? Tweet it!

by Tara Chang

If this doesn’t convince anyone that having a twitter account is an essential part of life, you probably don’t deserve a computer. An announcement has been made via twitter that Marc Jacobs is looking to hire someone to take on the company’s twitter account and social media. Don’t have your resume and cover letter updated? No problem! The company is choosing to hire over twitter by asking twitterers to post a clever tweet.

“Be clever. Smart. Understand our DNA. Say it in one tweet! That is your interview!” says the tweet.

This is no joke people! Twitter is sure proving to be a must-have in this industry, now you just have to prove it in 140 characters.