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Fab Blab: Nicole Richie on House of Harlow

FabSugarUK — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:00:15 -0700

Nicole Richie's jewellery line has widely been a success with fans on both sides of the Atlantic. Like the Olsens before her, Nicole proved that celebrity fashion collections don't have to be trashy or demode. House of Harlow is adorably named after her daughter (will a Sparrow diffusion line follow?) and offers vintage style pieces for an affordable price.

She modeled the pieces herself for the look book showing how the items remain true to her own style. Nicole spoke to MyWardrobe about her inspiration, fashion memories and her second love.

Where does the 1960 come from in House of Harlow 1960?
I’m inspired by the styles and vibe of the 1960s and 1970s and wanted the name of my line to reflect that influence.

To find out more about Nicole's inspiration, just keep reading.

Look Behind the Scenes With Castle's Makeup Artist

BellaSugar — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:00:52 -0700

For more than 25 years, Debbie Zoller has been creating makeup looks from practically every vantage point, whether it's her initial work as Lancôme rep at Macy's in LA, her 1960s-style creations on Mad Men, or most recently, her role as lead makeup artist on Castle. "People on the show are so incredibly nice," she said during a recent interview, where we talked about the gory details of her current position, along with what it's like to be a part of the behind-the-scenes action on the crime dramedy, now in its second year of production.

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Check out some of Zoller's work in the gallery above. Then, to find out what she had to say about working with the cast, along with some of her favorite beauty products, just keep reading.

Do You Enjoy Nightcaps?

YumSugar — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:15:18 -0700

On Sunday night I sat down to watch the season premiere of Mad Men with complete elation. The show is a wonderful glimpse into the 1960s, not only society and fashion, but also food! On this episode, Don (aka Bill), Salvatore (aka Sam), and a couple of cute stewardesses finished their fine dining experience with nightcaps. Nightcaps are essentially an after dinner drink, like a brandy or Irish cream. While I am not a huge brandy drinker, I love to finish a rich dinner with a dessert wine like port. Do you occasionally indulge with a nightcap? If so, what is your drink of choice?

Photo courtesy of AMC

The Women Behind the (Mad) Men

TresSugar — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:00:06 -0700

Considering that Mad Men is everywhere these days (Vanity Fair has an extensive piece on the show this month, and I've noticed on my walks to work that Banana Republic is holding casting calls?!), I decided to break down and catch up on the series before the third season premiere Aug. 16. All I can say is that I'm quickly becoming obsessed with all things '60s fashion and doing my best to remember that cigarettes are not cool.

Now that I'm hooked on the show, I was excited to read all about the women behind the series in today's Wall Street Journal. Ironically, Mad Men's writing team is dominated by women even though, just like 1960s Madison Avenue, a female-dominant writing team is a rarity in modern Hollywood. But on Mad Men, the women writers have brought authenticity to the characters in the show's chauvinistic world, especially the female characters. In the WSJ article, the writers recount a debate they had about whether housewife Betty Draper should have a one-night stand. Although the male writers were against it, they were outnumbered by the women who thought she had to if she was going to take her cheating husband back. Sometimes two wrongs do make a right.

Have the Mad Men writers gotten you hooked yet?

FABTV: Swinging Sixties

FabSugarUK — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:00:50 -0700

Step back in time with me to the beginnings of affordable fashion, the time of the miniskirt, Mary Quant and Twiggy. It was the era when the Kings Road and Carnaby Street were swinging, well, almost! This short video below brings together some of the key styles of the 1960s as models dance around in thigh skimming mini skirts and swing coats. Also, look out for the lady walking her pet leopard, which was on sale in Harrods at the time. It's enough to make me want to dance around to The Beatles!

Banana Republic Dives Into Mad Men Land

FabSugar — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:00:22 -0700

Mad Men fans - present! - who visit Banana Republic between July 21 through Aug. 11 have a shot at appearing on the AMC series. Interested? Me too. During your shopping session, pick up a ticket to enter to win a walk-on role in an upcoming episode, as well as a $1,000 gift card from the store. Use the ticket code found on a Style Guide you'll be given profiling the characters to enter the casting call at madmencastingcall.amctv.com.
During this period, Banana's mannequins will be dressed in modern takes on the classic '60s style, and store windows will feature photos from the show. "Style and fashion are at the core of Mad Men with its 1960s aesthetic highlighting the classic silhouettes that are still popular today. Banana Republic is known for its modern takes on these classics . . . so the partnership is a natural fit for both brands," said Jack Calhoun, president of Banana Republic. Agreed, can't wait.

Source: AMC

Retro Tennis Fashion at Wimbledon

FabSugarUK — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:00:23 -0700

As Wimbledon continues today, I have looked back at classic womens fashion on the court from the early 1960s. Whilst the colour palette has largely stayed the same, many players have had variants of shape, style and length to create a stylish on court ensemble. Click through to see some of the highlights.

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Style Glossary: Trench Coat

FabSugarUK — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:00:34 -0800

The trench coat has become a wardrobe staple but much like the parka, it was first introduced for the military by Thomas Burberry back at the turn of the 20th century.

They became a fashion item in the 1960s and were made popular by fictional characters such as Dick Tracy and Rick Blaine from Casablanca.

It is defined as, "A raincoat made of waterproof heavy-duty cotton drill or poplin, wool gabardine, or in some cases leather: it generally has a removable insulated lining; and it is usually knee-length or longer."

This padded version is by Burberry Prorsum (£976).

Interview With Liz Lange: Pregnancy Mogul Relaunches Line!

LilSugar — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 06:00:45 -0800

The woman who introduced the world to chic, form-fitting designs that celebrate the pregnant woman's bod is shaking things up again! Six years after introducing her maternity line to the masses through her collaboration with Target, Liz Lange is debuting more beautiful duds to flatter burgeoning bellies.

The Brown University grad and former Vogue editor, is relaunching her high-end line of maternity fashions after taking a year-long hiatus to reassess her business. The new Liz Lange Collection, which hits maternity shops and Nordstrom.com this week, includes dresses, silk blouses, skirts, pants, sweaters, jackets, and for the first time - denim!

The designer took some time to chat with us about her latest line, how to get the most bang for your buck with a maternity wardrobe and the ways she juggles work and motherhood.

lilsugar: Tell us about the new line. What are you most excited about?

Liz Lange: Even though I adore the collection that we do for Target, my roots and my beginnings are always in the high-end collection. That’s where I started it all and that’s where I got to work one-on-one with customers and with all of the celebrities I dressed over the years. We took two seasons off and so I'm just so excited to be relaunching in general. It’s really a continuation of everything we always did. We’ve always been about really, really wearable clothing even when we do trends, its always in a pretty and wearable way and not too out there. Really good quality stretch fabrics, clean silhouettes and classic American style, very uptown NYC, where I got my start.

To see the rest of Liz Lange's answer and her thoughts on the pregnant figure, read more.

One thing that is somewhat new about it is that I was never able to do denim in the collection before. It was always something that we would offer in our shops, we would just take in other brands, but I was never able to source it properly. So we found this phenomenal denim resource and now we are doing all Liz Lange branded denim and it comes in like every different wash – from the lightest to the darkest – all different silhouettes – the pencil, the boot, all of them – and it has our signature chunky gold hardware and all the rivets all the detail is Liz Lange branded and of course it is all super-stretchy. So I’m really excited about that.

I have a personal love of dresses and I think we’ve done a lot of really great dresses this Spring in all different ways. A lot of stretch silk dresses. We’ve done short dresses, little shifts, wear to work dresses, long, maxi-style dresses, short dresses with matching jackets that feel very 1960’s clean and classic - great to wear to work. I always think of our collection as dressing a pregnant woman in all of her needs. I find that so many pregnant woman today [are] working women, executives, and I think we have always been a great resource for that. We have a lot of great suiting, so its not just about great denim and t-shirts and little dresses, although we have all of that.

lilsugar: Women tend to complain about their figures during pregnancy, but you celebrate the expectant body with your designs?

Liz Lange: That’s just what I’ve always believed. I feel that pregnancy is a really, really beautiful time and I do think that the world has kind of come around to that - with the celebrities showing off their bodies on the red carpet all the time now. I started the line over ten years ago because I saw a friend wearing maternity clothing. I hadn’t been pregnant yet, and when she took off the maternity clothing and just put on one of her old sweater that was stretchy and still kind of working, I thought, my God, she looks so much tinier in that little sweater where I’m just seeing her belly than in that big schemata she walked in wearing. So I am a firm believer and that is why I have always used so many stretch fabrics because I don’t want to have to make things oversized, but I understand that a woman’s body is constantly growing, so stretch fabric allows it to be a little fitted and still grow with you.

lilsugar: Were you comfortable with your own body during your pregnancies?

Liz Lange: I certainly wore all of my own clothing. My children are 8 and 10. My first pregnancy was during the first year of my business. It was a very small business back then and I only had about eight designs on the line and then with my daughter two years later it had grown quite a bit. I would say it was with both pregnancies that really helped me define and grow my business. In the beginning I was very inspired by Donna Karan. [She] had her eight easy pieces, and I felt that my collection, when I first got started, would just be these eight easy pieces and it came in like navy, chocolate brown or charcoal gray and they were very, very fine Italian stretch wool and I did a cashmere twin set that was one of the eight pieces and it was literally that you just picked the color and if you had the eight pieces you could just mix and match and that would be your wardrobe. And that still, in a weird way, is the essence of my collection. But when I was pregnant I discovered, low and behold, eight pieces is not enough. 'Maybe today I don’t feel like wearing a pencil skirt, I want to wear a short A-line skirt.' Or 'Hey I feel like wearing a t-shirt and I didn’t have one on the line.' So I started to grow the line based on my personal needs. At that time I didn’t want there ever to be any prints or patterns and then I realized, 'Gee, I’m pregnant for nine months and sometimes I feel like wearing a print or a pattern.' So all of that stuff evolved during my pregnancy.

Check out what Liz Lange had to say about shopping for a maternity wardrobe in tough economic times and what to expect from her Target collection in tomorrow's post. View the fabulous selections from her new line below.

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Bella Donna: Jean Shrimpton

BellaSugar — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 09:00:46 -0800

One of the most iconic models of the 1960s measured 5'9", but she was known as The Shrimp. Even though Jean Shrimpton hated that nickname, it stayed with her throughout her long career in fashion. The gamine Brit began modeling as a teenager, but it wasn't until she wore a minidress - then considered scandalous - to a horse race that she became an international icon. Shrimpton became front-page news, horrifying the "proper" older generations while inspiring teenagers to shorten their hemlines.

A fixture of London's Carnaby Street scene, she appeared in top magazines, was a model for Revlon and Yardley, and (along with Twiggy) helped define Swinging London style. Fast-forward to the present day, where she and husband Michael Cox run a bed and breakfast in Cornwall. For lots of pictures of the Shrimp in her heyday, read more.

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