Marion
COUTURE CRUNCH.
How to write about fashion in glum times? That was the puzzle of London Fashion Week, which – unlike Milan and Paris which fall slightly later in the seasonal schedule – kicked off –before– even those who have no real idea about the money markets were forced to get a vague grasp that something serious was happening outside of fashion’s parallel universe that would impact seriously within it. The London fashion shows played out as Lehman Brothers toppled and airlines started going bust and meanwhile the frocks kept coming.
Australia. Fine Tastes. Luxury Style
People tend to have a pretty good idea of what Sydney, Australia looks like, with its Opera House, harbor and of course, Bondi Beach. But Melbourne, the southern city on the banks of the Yarra River, which has an inner city population of only 86,000 because the vast majority of Melburnians live in the surrounding suburbs, is more enigmatic. “Sydney’s about glamour and bikinis. We’re about after dark,” explains born-and-bred Melburnian, Karen Webster, who helms the city’s annual fashion festival. “They live for the beach. We’re foodies. We live to eat.”
Dries Van Noten. The Master of Antwerp
He’s the most reserved leader of the pack in fashion history. Dries van Noten, who took the Belgian six onto the world’s catwalks, is a quiet achiever: a man whose steely independence found a dedicated following