Last February, in the marble lobby of a midtown Manhattan hotel, there was a moment that seemed to sum up the whole concept of celebrity fashion designers. As photographers shoved each other with their oversized lenses, and gossip journalists shouted out questions, the designer Todd Smith, better known as LL Cool J, stood in the center of the throng, diamond stud in ear. Bored-looking models lounged around the room, the boys in crocodile jackets, the girls in tiny dresses, ignored by everyone.
What made LL Cool J think he could be a fashion designer? "I have the sensibility -- I am sensitive to pop culture," came the answer. So he designed his collection all by himself? A momentary beat. "I didn't have total input, but I was the one inspiring it." And off he was swept by his fearsome battalion of PRs and security men.
All in all, an experience pretty much on a par with the shows held in New York by P Diddy (brown suede hotpants) and Jennifer Lopez (fur-trimmed ponchos) in previous seasons. Such is the world of celebrity fashion shows: pushy PRs, perfunctory involvement by the celebrities and very poor clothes.
But across town, a smaller, quieter show suggested this trend was being bucked. In the house of actress/model Milla Jovovich, models strolled around cheerfully wearing clothes that were -- goodness! -- really, really good.
For the second full collection of her label Jovovich-Hawk, which she designs with fellow former model Carmen Hawk, the inspiration was "strong women," meaning that it was almost certainly the only show of the season that featured the words "Gertie Stein" on its press release and cited Katharine (as opposed to the more usual, and far less interesting, Audrey) Hepburn as inspiration. There were elegant patterned blouses, vintage-style tunics and impressively well-cut trousers -- all very cool but grown-up, pretty but modest, and with nary a crocodile jacket to be seen.
Sitting in a London hotel, laughing at one another's jokes and chattering away in their endearing Bill and Ted accents ("Totally dude"), Jovovich and Hawk are still shocked that what started as an afternoon hobby in each other's bedrooms four years ago is now about to be stocked in Harvey Nichols, "which is, like, insane," Jovovich practically yelps.
But despite the girlish breathiness, both women clearly take the job very seriously, and are in charge of everything from manufacturing to distribution, and only realized that they could hire others to help them last year. For one of their first collections, they sewed the clothes themselves in their bedrooms.
Jovovich and Hawk met more than 13 years ago and are now best friends, finishing each other's sentences and stealing Marlboro Lights off each other. With two models as designers and the frequent references to "vintage inspiration," one might assume that these are clothes for a small (in both number and physical shape) coterie. But both women, who are in their early 30s, are adamant that they are for all ages and sizes, even using Jovovich's mother as a size model.
"For us, it's about strong women or making women feel strong," says Jovovich, who is very pretty with a warm face. "When I first met Carmen, what I liked about her was that she was a strong but still feminine woman, and that she didn't have to show she was strong by wearing baggy jeans or whatever, like I was doing. But also, I look around America and there are so many girls who feel they have to walk around half-naked to attract men and we're just trying to say: Do you really have to do that? And would you really want to attract those kinds of men anyway?"
To say that Jovovich-Hawk is by far the best celebrity fashion range has more than a touch of the faint praise about it. But things are changing, now that celebrities are finally realizing that putting their name to a bunch of velour tracksuits (J-Lo by Jennifer Lopez) does no one's career any good.
There's Gwen Stefani's label, L.A.M.B, which the pop star not only seems to wear every day -- a sign of faith I've never seen Paris Hilton demonstrate with the Barbie-lite clothes she puts her name to -- but named her recent album after.
But Jovovich-Hawk has been the real surprise success. It was described in the New York Times this year as a fashion label, with no deflating celebrity prefix, and the press and buyers have been almost universally supportive. "We were so on the defensive," says Hawk, "waiting for people just to go, `Yeah, right, whatever.'" Jovovich would have been accustomed to this scepticism: ever since she began her career as a child, alternating between modelling, acting and singing, she has been accused of being a celebrity dilettante. But here, the proof was in the very good product.
April 14 to April 20 In March 1947, Sising Katadrepan urged the government to drop the “high mountain people” (高山族) designation for Indigenous Taiwanese and refer to them as “Taiwan people” (台灣族). He considered the term derogatory, arguing that it made them sound like animals. The Taiwan Provincial Government agreed to stop using the term, stating that Indigenous Taiwanese suffered all sorts of discrimination and oppression under the Japanese and were forced to live in the mountains as outsiders to society. Now, under the new regime, they would be seen as equals, thus they should be henceforth
With over 100 works on display, this is Louise Bourgeois’ first solo show in Taiwan. Visitors are invited to traverse her world of love and hate, vengeance and acceptance, trauma and reconciliation. Dominating the entrance, the nine-foot-tall Crouching Spider (2003) greets visitors. The creature looms behind the glass facade, symbolic protector and gatekeeper to the intimate journey ahead. Bourgeois, best known for her giant spider sculptures, is one of the most influential artist of the twentieth century. Blending vulnerability and defiance through themes of sexuality, trauma and identity, her work reshaped the landscape of contemporary art with fearless honesty. “People are influenced by
Last week, the the National Immigration Agency (NIA) told the legislature that more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) risked having their citizenship revoked if they failed to provide proof that they had renounced their Chinese household registration within the next three months. Renunciation is required under the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), as amended in 2004, though it was only a legal requirement after 2000. Prior to that, it had been only an administrative requirement since the Nationality Act (國籍法) was established in
The remains of this Japanese-era trail designed to protect the camphor industry make for a scenic day-hike, a fascinating overnight hike or a challenging multi-day adventure Maolin District (茂林) in Kaohsiung is well known for beautiful roadside scenery, waterfalls, the annual butterfly migration and indigenous culture. A lesser known but worthwhile destination here lies along the very top of the valley: the Liugui Security Path (六龜警備道). This relic of the Japanese era once isolated the Maolin valley from the outside world but now serves to draw tourists in. The path originally ran for about 50km, but not all of this trail is still easily walkable. The nicest section for a simple day hike is the heavily trafficked southern section above Maolin and Wanshan (萬山) villages. Remains of
RSS