Flights of Fancy: Best Feather Accessories

Bird of paradise gladiator, Donna Karan New York, $1,390, Donna Karan New York stores

Flights of Fancy: Best Feather Accessories

Leather sandal with bird plumes and crystals, Sergio Rossi, $1,395, sergiorossi.com

Leather and duck feather bag, Fendi, $2,950, at Fendi, NYC

Faux feather clutch with metal sequins and rhinestone buckle, Roger Vivier, $2,525, at Roger Vivier, NYC

Valentino - Haute Couture Fall Winter 2010/2011 - Preview

Suggestions for Cleansing and Detoxing Our Bodies

Fall is a particularly good time to pay attention to cleansing the body. People have cleansed throughout the ages to remove buildup of toxins and impurities in the system which constantly drain our immune systems.
There are countless ways to cleanse, but here is just a sampling of ideas to consider:

1) Digestive Cleansing
One of the most comprehensive ways to rid the body of the accumulated junk (mucous and build-up) in our digestive track. Digestive cleanses may involve fasting, wheatgrass juice, or juicing, cayenne pepper, enemas and colonics. Each of these is intended to assist the body in the process of elimination (particularly the elimination off all the “bad” things we’ve ingested over the years). Often the results of digestive cleansing – after the initial “reaction” stages of headaches or irritability- include feeling more “clear-headed”, lighter, more aware, less fatigued, energized.

Cleanse and Purify Thyself is a great book to read before doing a cleanse and Health and Yoga is a great resource on this topic.

2) Skin Brushing / Dry Brush
Brushing your skin with a dry body brush is one of the best ways to clean your skin. It may feel kind of odd but it is more effective than brushing your skin with a wet soapy br
3) Pranayama
Incorporating a breathing practice, with breath retention, and focus on expelling all the air out of the lungs helps invigorate and cleanse the lungs. Many yoga studios offer a pranayama class or incorporate pranayama in their scheduled classes.

4) Tongue Scraping / Tongue Cleaning
Ever notice that slimy white (or sometimes yellow, if you’re sick) film on your tongue? Sounds, gross, I know, but that’s the mouth’s eliminatation system and one of the causes of bad breath (the rest of it is coming from your digestive system). A tongue scraper can be used to scrape off coated tongues first thing in the morning.

5) Detox Bath
Use a combination of epsom salt, sea salt and baking soda to help pull out toxins from the skin (another great way to eliminate toxins). This one can be especially beneficial to ease emotional imbalances.

6) Water Flush
Most of us know that it’s important to stay hydrated and drink lots of water. A Balinese healer gave me another tip…drink 2 liters of warm water first thing in the morning to flush your system.

VALENTINO HAUTE COUTURE 2010

PARIS 7 JULY 2010

Couture embraces worlds. The day that began with Elie Saab's stolid womanliness ended with Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli's reconceptualization of Val's gal as a dolly bird—all short skirt, dropped waist, baby doll, and kitten heels. The mood was compounded by the name the designers gave their collection: The Dark Side of First Love. If that notion has a Lolita tinge, Chiuri and Piccioli made the clothes to match. They even dropped a cage over one girl to let you know she was trapped.

Teen psychodrama may fit with the kind of "dark side" idea they've sometimes toyed with in the past, but it was downright peculiar in a couture context. Still, as a pitch to a much younger customer (and those girls were out in force in the front row today), the collection was a major success on its own terms: haute couture for the Twilight generation. From the little black dresses in gazar that opened the show to a trapeze coat in ivory crepe that tied with bows down its front to the tiers of ecru lace trimmed with feathers, the clothes had the spirited dressiness that you see now in Valli's gals, for instance. They weren't saccharine, either—that dark side lurked in the black gazar sheath that underpinned a sheer dress trimmed in huge organza flowers or a baby doll in ruffled tiers of powder pink.

And look closely and it was plain to see that Chiuri and Piccioli had done their research on classic couture shapes, however abbreviated they might be here. But that will be scant consolation to mournful clients of the ancien régime.

SOURCE:STYLE

Alex Christensen Us man model

Alex Christensen, born in 1986, in Oregon, USA, is an American model.

Six-foot-two Christensen graduated from Oregon State University with a major in Communications and Theatre.

While at school, Christensen travelled back and forth from Las Vegas, Dallas, L. A, to pursue professional modeling. He has appeared in a number of editorials and catalogues, modeling for "Guess Jeans", and "Calvin Klein" underwear, as well as being photographed by accomplished lensman Gregory Vaughan.

In 2009, Christensen signed with renowned agency "Major Models Management" and his modeling career has steadily grown ever since.

Christensen describes himself as a very chill guy that will try almost anything once. He enjoys meeting new people, and believes the key to success isn't "what you know, it's who you know!"

Aside from modeling, Christensen is an aspiring soccer player.

Fashion Week Survival: The Models Speak

Backstage at Lincoln Center, the biggest names in the business were caught in the act: Jacquelyn Jablonski dashing past security for the Narciso Rodriguez show, Freja Beha cat-napping at Michael Kors while getting her hair blow-dried, and Liu Wen kicking back a quick cup of coffee before Richard Chai. Amid the flurry of hairspray, mascara wands, and makeup brushes, they shared their secrets—beyond the prerequisite “I drink lots of water!”—on what gets them through New York’s weeklong frenzy of shows, fittings, and the general fête-ing of fashion.

“Frozen spoons!” cried out model Sessilee Lopez backstage at Zac Posen’s Z Spoke show. “It’s for those early call times,” she said of the age-old trick for depuffing tired eyes. She also copped to a hefty application each night of Embryolisse cream—the must-have model favorite takes second place to a solid eight hours—following an all-over cleanse with Shiseido’s The Skincare Instant Eye and Lip Makeup Remover.

Hilary Rhoda—mid-application of yellow, blue and green makeup at Z Spoke (the inspiration, said Maybelline’s Charlotte Willer, was “street performers”)—also extolled the benefits of taking all that excess makeup off before bedtime. Her tonic of choice: Estée Lauder’s Gentle Eye Makeup Remover.

Hidden inside Jersey girl Jacquelyn Jablonski’s saddle-brown leather PS1 bag at Narciso: snacks. She usually carries a handful of granola bars (a.k.a. model fuel) from Nature’s Valley—the Trail Mix and Cranberry & Pomegranate flavors are her favorites—and “anything with nuts or fruits.”

Chanel Iman’s Fashion Week fixation: the stacks of new sheets she somehow found time to buy from Duxiana, the Swedish brand most famous for their coveted, high-tech beds. “During the week it’s important to find time for myself, so I’ve gotten a new comforter and lots of sheets,” Iman said of her desire to nest, or renest. “I’ve lived in my Battery Park apartment for three years now, and I just felt like [it was] time for a little change.” And no hotel whites for her: “I need lots of color in my room because it makes me feel good when I go to sleep.”

Karlie Kloss—flipping through the pages of Vogue’s October issue mid–blow dry backstage at Michael Kors—confessed her love for Moroccanoil’s hair mask. “My three sisters all have curly, textured hair, and I got stuck with this stick-straight hair, so they’re the ones who turned me onto it. And you know what? It works wonders!” she said of the treatment that seems to have everyone hooked. “It really replenishes my hair after a week of styling, and makes it silky and healthy.” (Our own Meredith Melling-Burke made sure to stop by the Beauty Department to scoop up a bottle as a part of her Fashion Week beauty arsenal, too).