Fashionista Notebook

Fashion Designers

Each country has its own dedicated team of fashion designers that not only lead the way in that country’s trends, but also influence the rest of the world in their style and way of wearing items. The primary areas of fashion influence are America and Europe, and these translate to the rest of the world. Italian, French, British and American designers are amongst the best in the world, and their designs are copied slavishly by many others.

Leading Italian designers include Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, Versace, Fendi, Gucci, Prada, Moschino, and Missoni. The Italian designers dominate the field of global fashion, but they are joined by French designers, who are almost as important in their influence. French designers include, Chanel, Dior, Jean Paul Gautier, Givenchy, Hermès, Christian Lacroix, Yves Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton , whose names, along with all the other major designers are known throughout the planet, and whose creations adorn the bodies or arms of every celebrity worldwide.

No other creators besides fashion designers attain that level of acknowledgement or fame. Even if you do not know what they have made they are famous merely for influencing the styles of generations and for being the creators of one of the most potent aspects of our time, fashion. American and British designers, although not as famous as their Italian or French counterparts, still achieve a high level of recognition and celebrity.
British designers of note include Burberry, Ted Baker, John Galliano, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Julien MacDonald, Zandra Rhodes and Mulberry. Their American equivalents are more renowned, but this may be due to the more widespread influence worldwide of American culture.

American designers of importance include, Tommy Hilfiger, Liz Claiborne, Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan (DKNY), Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Vera Wang and Abercrombie and Fitch. These designers bring out new designs and combinations every season, but they are actually working at the time on clothes for seasons a year or two in advance at any one time. These are closely guarded secrets by the fashion industry, which conveys the power that these individuals and their fashion houses have over society.

But it’s not just clothes that designers have control over, but accessories, luggage, makeup, perfume, underwear and most importantly, shoes. These can sometimes be even more prominent than clothes, and footwear designers are among the most highly-paid and most sought-after individuals in the world.

A pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes is enough to make even the most put-together woman go a bit crazy! He, along with Jimmy Choo and Gina amongst others, are the designers whose creations can be found pounding, or should that be gracing the pavements of countries worldwide, on the feet of all those with the pocket to afford them.

Everyone else just admires them from afar, and has to make do with the high street shoe fashions that are influenced, as high street clothes are, by designers’ styles and designs.

The power of the designer is all-encompassing; if they make something fashionable, everyone around the world will be wearing it within a few weeks. Designers know they have this power, and will continue to use it to influence global fashions throughout the eras. Tania Machowska is a former model with experience of catwalk and catalogue modelling. For the past four years she’s been contributing to websites such as www.chemodels.com, Brussels Model Agency.

History of Handbag

Fashion Early handbags ware more functional rather than being a fashion statement. They were typically small circular cut pieces of material that normally had a leather strap. The leather strap was sewn around the circumference of the handbag to maintain its’ strength and security. Ancient pouches were used by men to hold coins and other valuables. Frequently men chanel handbags tied this pouch near a sword on their safekeeping and added protection. These can be seen in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Pouches were more likely to be considered a man’ item. Women had less need to carry pouches because they were not normally wealthy enough to require one. Today handbags are a standard fashion accessory. Most women will normally have their favourite handbag and carry them with pride and are always wanting to show their handbag to others and have a chat about handbags generally. Even men will carry a form of handbag which they likewise take pride in. Handbags began to become popular in the later part of the medieval and renaissance period of the sixteenth century.

Handbags, which were larger in size, were worn by diagonally carrying them across the body by both sexes. These handbags were particularly considered important by travellers. The wealth or status of the carrier was normally shown by the adornment of jewelry. The seventeenth century saw more variety in handbags; they became smaller in size and took on a variety of complex shapes, embroidery made them more decorative. The eighteenth century saw the use of reticules. Reticules was the name given to handbags. Reticules became a fashion statement. The functional element of handbags although remaining important started to give way to the design of the handbag in reasons why people chose a particular handbag for their wardrobe.

Fashion magazines were primarily responsible for making handbags a fashion statement as they began to comment on the best handbags to use for specific events, occasions and locations. This led to the need to have different handbags for different conditions. Handbags remained functional but not just as travellers carry bag but to carry other personal items including a fan, perfume, smelling salts and make-up. The term handbag rather than reticule began to be used in the early part of the twentieth century.

Initially the term referred to a man’s travelling bag but in time the term handbag referred to a larger bag used by women. Each decade of the twentieth century saw developments in the fashion of handbags. In the 1920s women carried a variety of handbags that did not necessarily match clothing. The war years of the 1940s saw the necessity to use a variety of materials due to lack of traditional resources and plastic and wood became popular. The 1950s saw the increase of designer fashion. Some special designers gained reputation for creating handbags that were outstanding being both beautiful and elegant in their appearance. Popular designers include Chanel, Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Prada.

The last half of the twentieth century has seen progress in technology and the introduction of new materials and textiles for handbags including waterproof canvas, space age synethics and faux reptile skin. Improvement of manufacturing processes also meant that handbags could be produced at a lower cost, allowing people to buy beautiful handbags at affordable prices. Some designer handbags nevertheless can still cost in the thousands of dollars. A price some women will pay for the prestige of having a unique handbag that their friends and other potential admirers do not have.

The history of handbags comes full circle. At first handbags were used by men, and then women took handbags as a fashion statement. Now there has been a return to men’s fashion and increasingly men are wanting to have a handbag that matches their male ego and at the same time their new age image. Amanda King operates a fashion resources website. Obtain a free copy of Dotcomology the science of making money online. You can buy a variety of fashion products at Jewelkingusa.

A Brief History of Women’s Shoes & the Men Behind Them

Steve Madden. Stuart Weitzman. Charles Jourdan. Sigerson Morrison. Gianmarco Lorenzo. Marco Moreo. Benoit Meleard. Bob Baker. Carlos Molina. Manolo Blahnik. Louis Vuitton. Marciano. Christian Lacroix. Diego Di Lucca. Enzo Angiolini. Vincent Camuto – no they’re not the hottest male fashion models or Cosmopolitan’s most eligible bachelors. They are not even GQ’s most exquisite men. But, such are the names of men who clothe and graciously wrap the adoring pedestals of Aphrodites around the world. Strap it up. Lace it on. And slip them on. They are the men behind women’s shoes.

Ahh! Shoes! A girl can’t have one too many. Either they be of the same style, but of different colors or of the same color in varied styles. History serves as a great witness to the power of this foot covering. From its humble beginnings over 15,000 years ago, humans first utilized animal skins to wrap around their feet. Shoes in many forms have been around for a very long time. Over the years, soft slippers, chopines and the poulaine ruled over Europe. Such intricate heels have crossed and pushed the very borders of England when Queen Elizabeth stood tall and made sure she always had the perfect pair to move about her many complicated and challenging ordeals.

A lowly pair of walking loafers and dainty sandals fearlessly managed to rummage and walk through the beaten path of India and Africa, having the main goal to embrace our less fortunate brothers and sisters and to very much serve humanity. The late Princess Diana and Mother Teresa defied all odds when they lived, walked and alleviated the state of the barefoot and perished. As one would recall footwear history both west and other parts of the world, the similarities are would be quite obvious. Shoemakers of past history never would have imagined that a pair of sandals with platform soles can one day be part of the modernized world, being adaptations of such past styles. Today, though, a woman is synonymous to the shoes she chooses to wear.

A woman may exude an array of personalities with her shoes. She can be bold, sexy and dynamic with her pair of feisty stilettos which is mighty combination of a playful vixen – foxy, powerful and overly seductive. She can be soft, versatile and very much engaging with those sandals, flip flops or loafers. She can be relaxed but still be on the go with those running shoes. Name it and with a wide variety of shoes, a woman can be everything she wants to be. There really is not one pair too many. So take all those pairs of Steve Madden, Stuart Weitzman, Charles Jourdan, Sigerson Morrison, Gianmarco Lorenzo, Marco Moreo, Benoit Meleard, Bob Baker, Carlos Molina, Manolo Blahnik, Louis Vuitton, AMrciano, Christian Lacroix, Diego Di Lucca, Enzo Angiolini, Vincent Camuto and walk the world together with Miu Miu, Fornarina, Etienne Aigner, RYKA, Jessica Simpson, JLo, Paris Hilton, Nina, Taryn Rose, Georgina Goodman, Nicole, Gianna Meliani, Camilla Skovgaard, and Lisa. Strap them up. Lace them on. And definitely slip them on. Then make the world your runway!

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