“It’s a very daring thing to do, where you don’t immediately see her face.” Bailey told WWD, adding for good measure, “As you know, I was the first to develop this two-cover approach.” Let ‘em know Glen.

While still fourth among fashion pubs in ad pages, the March issue saw a 15.5% increase with new advertisers including Tom Ford, Hervé Léger and Alberta Ferretti. Between those ads you’ll notice new features such as “The List” — “the ultimate list of things to be aware of this month,” according to Bailey — a monthly travel column called “The Escape,” an expanded beauty section, more news and Derek Blasberg‘s previously online only “Best-Dressed List” makes its way to a monthly column.

The new and improved Harper’s Bazaar hits newsstands on February 14. [WWD]

A look from E. Tautz's spring 2012 collection

Designers including Aquascutum, Christopher Raeburn, E. Tautz, J.W. Anderson and TOPMAN will show from Friday, June 15 through Sunday, June 17, immediately preceding the men’s fashion weeks in Milan and Paris — meaning those limey labels can finally capitalize on all the sartorial testosterone running through Europe. Tom Ford and Christopher Kane are among the members of the committee overseeing London Collections: Men, headed by British GQ editor Dylan Jones.

The news of this new men’s fashion weekend delivers on BFC CEO Caroline Rush’s promise that “Menswear in London will be put in the spotlight this year,” made shortly after James Long became the first menswear designer to win one of the Council’s Fashion Forward  prizes. [Telegraph]

Tom Ford got back behind the lens for his Spring Summer 2012 ad campaign starring models Mirte Maas and Mathias Bergh.  They took over a Palm Springs, California home to capture playfully naughty shots. Check this look out in blue after the jump.

2011 British Fashion Awards

Emerging Talent Award — Ready-to-Wear – Mary Katrantzou

Emerging Talent Award — Accessories: Tabitha Simmons

Emerging Talent Award — Menswear: Christopher Raeburn

Model: Stella Tennant

Designer Brand: Victoria Beckham

Menswear Designer: Kim Jones

British Style Award: Alexa Chung

Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator: Sam Gainsbury

Red Carpet Award: Stella McCartney

BFC Outstanding Achievement in Fashion: Sir Paul Smith

Accessory Designer: Charlotte Olympia

New Establishment: Christopher Kane

Designer of the Year: Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen

[Link Love: BFA / Vogue UK]

“My focus is really old-fashioned,” Ford told Vogue.com. “I want to do classic clothes. I don’t want to do trendy collections that swing around from season to season. I want to do things that will stay in a woman’s wardrobe a long time—quite ‘forever’ pieces. So I’m looking for consistency.”

[Vogue.com]

November is a serious month: life gets colder, fall turns to winter, and yet the holidays, family and friends warm us up. Here are our top 10 November men’s essentials, all currently available for purchase, so you can get out and about through the holidays and look damn good along the way.

1. Barbour Dockman Cable Sweater There’s a reason dock workers used to live in sweaters like this one that has stood the test of time: they’re rugged, handsome and hold up against rain, wind and sleet. 100% lambswool.

2. Moore & Giles Weekend Duffel, $735. Packing smartly begins with you’re your choice of bag. This version from Moore & Giles is the ideal size, sling it over your shoulder and make your last minute escape. Available in black or brown leather.

3. J.Press Wool Knit Hat, $48. All American style, bold, graphic and colorful. Let your accessories bring your look together during the winter.

4. Gant Toggle Jacket, $698. City prep, sharp and functional. Worn by the boys in Dead Poets Society – the rebellious ones who escape and smoke out in the old cave at night.

5. Fingerless Gloves from Urban Outfitters, $12. Inexpensive but loaded with style. Red is the accent color of the season. Bring your otherwise subtle and dark look to life.

6. Urbanears Plattan Headphones, $60.00. A pair of headphones are mandatory for long trips. You can pick from over a dozen colors, but nothing beats black. Swedish style, booming sound.

7. Yuketen Dress Hunt Boots. Made in America by designer Yuki Matsuda. Inspired by the great outdoors, yet refined and modern in black leather. The 5” height will keep your feet warm well into the New Year. Made by hand – for the field or street.

8. Tom Ford 5718 Eyeglasses. Channel you inner movie start with these beautiful thick frame glasses from Tom Ford, the same style worn by Colin Firth in “A Single Man.” Thick glasses add angles and help define your face – always useful after eating and drinking your way through the holidays.

9. Dark Denim 7 For All Mankind, $189 Dark denim works on any occasion. This version is the right cut: slim straight, “Standard” – Tailored Denim denotes the wash in this case. Trust me, you’ll love these jeans. You can buy them online with confidence.

10. Breuninger Leather Travel Backgammon. £185 Chill by the fire and entertain family and friends with an old school favorite. Also makes a great gift. Leather roll up case with brown and beige wood chips.

For any questions on the items above, or for advice on men’s style, tweet them @Brett Fahlgren 

After a series of complaints from a bunch of teetotaling busybodies, the ASA responded with this bit of lameness: “We noted that the model was holding up the perfume bottle which rested in her lap between her legs and we considered that its position was sexually provocative. We understood the model was 17 years old but we considered she looked under the age of 16. We considered that the length of her dress, her leg and position of the perfume bottle drew attention to her sexuality. Because of that, along with her appearance, we considered the ad could be seen to sexualise a child.”

Coty, the makers of “Oh Lola!,” disagree with the ASA, saying that Dakota is not “inappropriately sexualized” as there are no “private body parts or sexual activity” on display and that the ASA is just a bunch of sicko pervs in need of a good lay. Okay, that last part was my own little addition.

Describing the scent as “sensual” and being “more Lolita than Lola,” Jacobs, for his part, knew exactly what he was doing when he cast the elder Fanning after seeing her get all lesbionic with co-star  Kristen “Dead Eyes” Stewart in The Runaways: being banned is the highest form of flattery.

Just ask Tom Ford. [Telegraph]

Photos: Fucking Young!

Tapping his considerable resources, ALT has secured a gown worn by Oscar-winner Penélope Cruz to a Met Costume Institute Gala from Oscar de la Renta; a black  sequined wrap dress from Diane von Furstenberg; a coat trimmed with feathers and plastic fringe from Prada‘s fall 2007 collection; an evening column — what other kind of column is there? — from Tom Ford‘s first eponymous women’s collection; and a pair of blue satin Manolo Blahnik shoes from Sex and the City: The Movie.

In addition, the exhibit will include a video display showing Blahnik making milkshakes on The Martha Stewart Show, music from 2001: A Space Odyssey in the background and either Oscar de la Renta’s Live in Love or DVF’s Diane “wafting through the ventilation system.” But if you can’t make it down to Georgia for this multi-sensory experience, fret not. In December, Talley’s and de la Renta’s Joaquín Sorolla and the Glory of Spanish Dress will open at Manhattan’s Queen Sofia Spanish Institute.

And of course there’s always next year when you can apply for admission to ALTCADOYPF. [NYT]

Inside the Tom Ford design studio:

Ford on his return to fashion:

Ford on leaving Gucci and making movies:

The full documentary airs Sunday at 8 p.m. and to check out the trailer visit the OWN website.

Oh, right, it’s GQ, after all, and, much like Anderson Cooper, they’re only gay in theory. Although, whatever perfume Ford is developing in this photo I wouldn’t want a part of even if those strips were coming from Jon Kortajarena himself.* [Jezebel]

*Who am I kidding, I’d at least consider it.

- The always pragmatic Rachel Zoe came to Paris Fashion Week with 11 suitcases. Because those caftans and block wedges aren’t going to fly transatlantic by themselves. [Fashionista]

- Tom Ford, in a position to which he has grown suspiciously accustomed, for Russian GQ. [Image Amplified]

- An Irish farmer kicked a scantily-clad Rihanna off his land, hoping RiRi and her friends “acquaint themselves with a greater God,” i.e. Beyoncé. [BBC]

- Crystal Renn was accused of being too skinny by a plus-sized designer; there have been worse insults. [Fashionista]

- Natasha Poly, 52 years after entering the game (in model time) , is the hardest working model of Milan Fashion Week. [The Cut]

From Le Figaro via The Cut:

From the first model on the runway, we are struck by what resembles an out-of-style Gucci collection from ten years ago. The fussy complications of the cuts (drawstrings, shirring, high-waisted skirts, leg-of-lamb sleeves), the disheveled hairstyle of a girl barely back from happy hour, and the overdone makeup… Overload is the key word of the show… The laced shoe? An ersatz model of an Alaïa. The jogging shorts in black leather? Already seen last year in Céline‘s cruise collection, as were the sandals with bracelet straps (here, encrusted with rhinestones). The coat bristling with raffia? A pale version of those in Yves Saint Laurent‘s spring 1967 collection.

And then shit gets personal:

At the end of this inventory suited to Kim Kardashian, Tom Ford appears. He advances. And he remains there, in the central area, asking people to stand up. Perhaps [people would do so] out of distress, or sympathy, or because all of this is supposed to be festive after all. But everybody just looks at their feet. The music does not stop. Ford tries to speak above the noise, louder. We can’t hear a thing. We just see this baby-faced man trying desperately to clear the air. He throw[s] himself upon his companion, Richard Buckley, and hugs him (Ralph Lauren often hugs his companion Ricky at the end of his shows, but then he returns backstage). But here everyone stays put. So Tom Ford retreats toward Anna Wintour and now it’s she whom he decides to embrace. Troubling.

A.) That comparison to Kim Kardashian is verging on out-of-line. B.) I’m pretty sure Mouzat called Ford fat with that “baby-faced” comment. And  C.) I think the most “troubling” part is that he reportedly had the cajones to publicly embrace Anna Wintour. People have died for less.

This isn’t the first time Ford has weathered bad press as noted sassbag Cathy Horyn referred to Ford’s spring 2001 Gucci show as “not just truly ugly, but also…completely at odds with his reputation as a designer who loves women.” And then there was that reporter at the Guardian, Jess Cartner-Morley, who also had some choice words for Ford’s latest collection.

So, is it a case of sour grapes, or has Tom Ford simply made an unfashionable misstep? Well, you’ll have to wait to form your own opinions when the photos come out, but everyone’s allowed a mistake every now and then. Hell, we keep Jean Paul Gaultier around and when’s the last time he did anything passably good? Oh, right. [The Cut]

Photo: Models.com

Karlie Kloss – The supermodel of the moment, Karlie’s stardom was cemented with her special cover of Life magazine and her transition to grown-ass woman cemented by her nude spread shot by Mario Testino.

1. You don’t need any sleep to look radiant—if you have Tom Ford Traceless Foundation Stick and finishing powder on hand.
The morning I go to meet Ford at his glitzy London HQ, he has had two hours’ sleep the night before. He has terrible insomnia. However, in his immaculate black suit, white shirt, and black tie, he looks crisp and fresh. I would like to know his secret, I tell him.

“Powder under the eyes,” he declares authoritatively. “The only thing making you have bags is the light hitting the high points of the skin. If there is translucent powder under your eyes,” he says—grabbing a gorgeous glossy brown-and-gold compact and, looking in the mirror, dusting finishing powder under each eye—“and you use a little stick foundation, and then the powder in moderation, the shadows are gone.”

Ford is endearingly vain. For a man so famously handsome and successful, he is as insecure as a teenager about his looks. Even though he spends serious amounts of time peering into his magnifying mirror (a compulsory piece of equipment, according to Ford), it’s not to say, “ ‘Wow, I look great’; it’s to think, I’m getting older and my eyebrows are getting longer and they need a cut, and oh, God, maybe I need a little more Botox here. So all I see are flaws when I look in the mirror—initially, until I correct them.”

The point is, whatever the beautiful 50-year-old Ford is doing, he wears makeup. And the starting point for him—and so for his cosmetics line—is flawless skin. As well as stick foundation, the range includes primer and an extraordinarily light “traceless” liquid foundation. When I try it, it seems to magically disguise any unevenness in my skin without being visible. I usually hate foundation because it’s so obvious, but this feels and looks completely different—like nothing is there at all. “Everything about the Tom Ford world is perfect,” says makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury, who helped Ford create the line, “and that includes perfect glowing skin.” I tried Ford’s moisturizers and serums—his collection includes skin care as well—over the space of six weeks, and my complexion seemed to spring into bloom.

2. Get a dressing table now.
One of Ford’s favorite childhood memories is of watching his mother do her face every morning at a dressing table equipped with magnifying mirrors and spotlights at their home in the Houston suburbs. “She looked like Tippi Hedren,” he remembers. “She didn’t wear a lot of eye shadow, but there was definitely foundation, a brow, and lipstick with a very orange, 1960s cast to it. She would tease her hair up between sips of coffee, spraying on the Aqua Net, as it’s called in Texas.”

Tom Ford isn’t about on-the-go makeup. When my box of his new products arrives—mahogany-handled brushes (manufactured by the world’s finest brush factory, in Japan), blushers, powders, kohl pencils, nail colors, lip glosses, and lipsticks—the need for a dressing table is suddenly pressing. I have to spread it out all over my bed just to take it in. “You can’t put this makeup on in the subway or in the car ever,” Ford had told me. “Because if you paint your mouth on slightly crookedly, you no longer have a straight mouth, you have a crooked mouth. Why would you do that?”

3. Manners maketh makeup.
Ford is famously old-fashioned about putting on your face in public. If a girl needs a touch-up, he says, she should go to the powder room. There are, though, exceptions. “If you have a gorgeous hand and gorgeous mannerisms and a gorgeous compact . . . there’s a very well known beauty, I can’t say her name, but I used to see her a bit for dinner,” he confides. “She’d lay out a compact, a lip brush, a lipstick, and it was like part of the knife and fork. After each course, out came the compact and the lipstick, and somehow she pulled it off, because it was so much her thing.”

4. Makeup is the new It bag: Change it and you don’t need a new frock.
“You can take a little black dress,” explains Ford, “and put on twenties makeup, thirties makeup, or seventies makeup, and that dress becomes totally different.”

5. Thou shalt wear “full on” color for evening.
Ford has always believed in color in his clothing. His makeup range contains every shade the Tom Ford woman needs for her face: sexy nudes, glamour reds, moody plums, midnight blues, and titanium blacks for night.

After timidly playing with the colors at home, I’m ready to give them a trial outing. The occasion: insanely fabulous tickets to see Alicia Keys at a one-night-only performance in London.

The look starts with nails. I take a bottle of African Violet—a luscious dark-fuchsia—to Coco Nail Bar on Portobello Road, just about the only place you can get a simultaneous mani-pedi in London. The manicurist whispers that she feels “honored” to be using the first Tom Ford polish. Once my nails are done, I feel the beginnings of a Bianca Jagger moment coming on: The exotic dark pink reminds me of the lacquered, lipsticked icon in her heyday.

It seems right to make up my eyes more daringly than usual. I pick the palette of lilacs and purples, Violet Dusk, and gradually layer on each shade, topping it off with the shimmery “sequin” finish. (Each eye-shadow compact contains four shades of varying intensity and texture in a given color harmony, and represents a complete look curated by Ford.) I add a shot of peacock green along my upper lash line, using the Metallic Moss kohl pencil, and gently shade my lips with the muted Pink Dusk lipstick. I’ve somehow managed to pull off an updated disco-chic look, rather than descending into the Priscilla Queen of the Desert territory I had feared.

I throw on a bias-cut, original 1970s black jersey dress, Moroccan gold earrings, gold Manolos, and grab a dark-brown patent clutch with gold trim. I feel dressy and fun with my lacquered nails and glittering eyes. When I run into a makeup-free Phoebe Philo at the after-party, I momentarily doubt my violet eyelids. But only momentarily. It is so much fun wearing brights that I vow to try the tantalizing greens of the Sahara Haze palette on my next night out.

6. If you don’t have a long neck, draw it.
Ford believes you can create any shape of face you want using his Shade and Illuminate palette—a compact containing a brightening “lifting” cream and a darker “sculpting” one. “If I know that one cheekbone is higher than the other, I can put highlighter on the lower one,” he says, showing me how to do it, “and suddenly my cheeks look symmetrical, because the light bounces off the lower one better.” Ford says you can even create a jawline like Linda Evangelista’s. “If you don’t have that fabulously strong jaw, you could basically highlight where your neck is and shade where your chin is, and you would have a really strong look.” In case this sounds a little intimidating, Ford reassures me that Charlotte Tilbury will be personally training the beauty advisers at every one of his counters worldwide so they can show women exactly how to do this.

7. Change your eyebrows—avoid plastic surgery!
Ford is eyebrow-obsessed. He believes eyebrows are the one thing you can dramatically change on your face without going under the knife. To that end, he has included an angular Brow Sculptor, which allows the user to get a much sharper line than with an ordinary eyebrow pencil. The formula is soft, so it’s great for gentle filling.

8. Old Hollywood glamour is the best Hollywood glamour.
Despite his other job as a movie director, Ford admits he often feels the current Hollywood standard of beauty is “tragic.” He says Hollywoodized women—whether they are in London, L.A., or New York—who all look exactly the same are like “Barbies. Real women shouldn’t look at any of it or think about any of it.” Instead, he tells me, “women should do the same as I did when starting my brand: What colors do I always like? What was my favorite period of makeup? What am I comfortable in? What time in my life did I think I looked my most amazing? What was I wearing? And from just thinking about those things, you can start to put together who you are. Then stick with it. It doesn’t mean your shoulder or heel shouldn’t change a little, but it gives you a base.”
9. Bitter Bitch is the new Vamp.
Enough said about the sexiest chocolate-brown nail polish I’ve ever seen.

10. It’s chic to wear jeans and a T-shirt and be made-up.
Ford tells me that the coolest 20-something girls in his London office come to work in high-street clothes and immaculate makeup. “They grew up in the hip-hop moment of nothing, so they’ve reacted against that and want to be glamorous. They want a lacquered lip.” Ford shows me a crimson lip gloss that recalls the Dallas and Dynasty starlets. It’s fun, fabulous, the perfect orangey red. Ford has always loathed lip gloss, so it took him a while to get to the point where he could add one to the line. His strikes me as different, more grown-up: saturated and opaque, yet not sticky.

Putting a face on suddenly feels chic again.

Credit: Fall 2011 Vogue September Issue

Models on Todd Lynn's Spring 2012 runway / Style.com

According to Carole White, founder of Premier Model Management and not the biggest Naomi Campbell fan, ”We’re not just talking about one or two big girls. Jacobs had numerous models holding on options right up until the day of his show meaning they all stayed in New York just in case they got cast.”

White goes on to say, ”Gucci demanded that girls fly to Milan on Saturday to meet Frida to see if she would consider them for her show, which meant Saturday got trashed. Then the girls were expected to fly straight back to London, and if Gucci were interested, fly back to Milan again on Sunday for another round of casting, then for fittings on Monday. Only a tiny fraction of them realistically have a shot at being in that show — we all know it will be full of mega girls. I find it insulting that a designer like Frida thinks London is so insignificant that she would do that.”

For agents and models alike, Gucci and Jacobs are major gets, but that leaves the already packed London schedule of designers feeling like fashion’s bastard step-children. A source at Todd Lynn claims to have “lost 10 out of 19 girls,” with agents calling them in the middle of the night to pull their girls and some models not even showing up for fittings because they’ve flown off to Milan.

Also not helping matters is LOVE magazine editor Katie Grand — damn you Katie Grand — who styled for Jacobs and also styled for the London-based designer Giles Deacon. Grand demanded a five-hour call time — which one “fashion insider” calls ”unnecessary, absurd, selfish and wrong,” citing Paris’ strict two-hour limit — thus monopolizing any girls left in town after Burberry.

Amidst fears that London Fashion Week may be squeezed out all together, the British Fashion Council is beginning to feel the heat. The BFC is being accused of mismanaging the show calendar and for not standing up to the organizers behind the  New York and Milan fashion weeks.

Meanwhile, CEO of the BFC, Caroline Rush, insists that something is being done. She’s not particularly clear what that something is, but the Council has “invested time in developing direct relationships with model agencies to better understand their challenges and encourage them to send more internationally-recognised catwalk models to London. This season, the models at designers such as Jonathan Saunders, Erdem, Christopher Kane and Tom Ford have been of a global standard.”

Well, for those handful of shows, good for you. But for everyone else suffering at the model-grabbing claws of New York and Milan: damn you, Caroline Rush. [Telegraph]

- The Mulleavy sisters realize their own style is boring and thus don’t design Rodarte for themselves. [Fashionista]

- Zach Galifianakis put down the bong long enough to design a handbag. Or maybe he just put the bong in the handbag. [Fashionista]

- Tom Ford‘s secretive spring 2012 show took place Sunday and while we have to wait for the photos to pop up — in a welcome change — at least one reporter’s not seeing the emperor’s new clothes. [The Cut]

- Among Franca Sozzani‘s many (?) fans: Anna Wintour, who claims Sozzani “completely and utterly understands that Vogue is about much more than editing a magazine every month.” [Time]

- Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis want you to know there were no dicks in a box — or boxes — between the two of them. [Just Jared]

- Away from the “chiffon trenches of fashion,” André Leon Talley finds solace upstate in Hastings-on-Hudson where his favorite store is The Container Store, in which he shops for paper “to wrap Whoopi Goldberg’s presents.” A normal life if there ever was one. [NYT]

The CFDA celebrates its half centennial next year and is launching its “Stars of American Fashion” endowment drive. In an effort to raise $2.5 million, the CFDA is selling 50 stars at $50,000 a pop to designers, who will then personalize their star before it ends up on a special American flag.

28 designers have bought stars so far, including Tom Ford, Diane von Furstenberg, Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, Carolina Herrera, Tommy Hilfiger, Oscar de la Renta and Vera Wang. [WWD]

Other topics Ford explores in his interview include his return to fashion and the why of it: ”Because I’m not Doing The Fashion System. I don’t do shows. I don’t have reviews. I’m not putting the clothes on every celebrity so that by the time they reach the store the customers are sick of seeing them.” *Cough, Prada, Gucci, Dolce and Gabbana, cough.*

Speaking of Gucci, Ford compares his time at the Italian luxury house to the work he does now: “At Gucci, it was all about creating The Look each season The Shoe, The Bag, The Hair. But now I have no desire to create The Look. I just want to make beautiful, glamorous clothes.” Pity he won’t wear them, though.”

But before sending a look down the intimate, exclusive runway, Ford always has his PR lady Whitney or Carine Roitfeld when she’s not pussyfooting with Karl Lagerfeld, try it on: ”If they don’t wear it, it doesn’t go into production.”

As for that infamous French Vogue he guest edited for Roitfeld, Ford explains his reasoning behind all the geriatric grinding: ”My mother doesn’t like me saying this but she’s in her late seventies and her boyfriend’s in his late sixties. The point is she’s active and looks amazing, and yet we’ve taught ourselves to think that ageing’s embarrassing. That’s why I left all the wrinkles in the story shot for French Vogue of an old couple having sex”.

[Quick joke, what does one call a 78-year-old cougar? Madonna,10 years ago. *Rimshot.*]

And then there’s Ford’s burgeoning film career after 2009′s wonderful A Single Man. While his next film, allegedly a comedy, is “ready to go,” the life of a filmmaker has its difficulties: ”I would lose my mind if I just did films…I enjoy the speed of fashion. I love doing different things and I think I still have something valid to say in fashion.” I fully support that — I always find whatever Tom Ford says to be valid, no matter how batshit it is. [Telegraph]

- And speaking of weddings between imaginary people, Kim Kardashian‘s new husband Kris Humphries, found himself on an airplane sitting next to Ray J –  also known as the reason we have for Keeping Up with the Kardashians. No notes on their respective performances in the boudoir were exchanged, though Kris kind of has an unfair advantage. [Gawker]

- Valentino Garavani is planning on turning his life into a musical. Picture it, red gowns on 40 dancing pugs descending a spiral staircase. Hello, Tonys. [Telegraph]

- Chick Beer, beer for girly girls, comes in a  purse-like box that you can use to throw up into since you clearly can’t handle real booze. [Refinery29]

- Carine Roitfeld, in her new tome Irreverent, reveals that she thinks fashion “isn’t as much fun as it once was.” Other things that aren’t as fun as they once were: everything. [The Cut]

- And in other things that Carine Roitfeld thinks — Tom Ford, not that gay: “Ask each woman that ever met Tom, and they will tell you that they were under the charm of Tom. O.K., Tom, unfortunately for the woman, is gay. But he is very not so gay. Even the way he touches a woman, the way he puts his hand on your back or the way he opens the car for you, he’s a gentleman. You’re dying that he likes everything you’re wearing, everything you’re doing, because his taste is very important to you. You want to seduce him all the time.” [NYT]

11. University of Delaware Newark, DE

Campus Tour: The smallest state also has a small design program that is focused on quality garment making from every angle. The program follows a garment through its entire lifecycle, from the creative design and tailoring, to a focus on sustainably producing goods on both small and large scale in a socially and environmentally minded manner. An entirely student run fashion magazine, UDress, and fashion shows exist outside of class, working to show and pull fashion out of this college driven town.

Programs: Apparel Design, Merchandising, Sustainability

Student Body: 16,500

Tuition:  $27,000

Star Alumni: Well, me. And a fierce force that is the backbone of the garment industry.

What does Tom Ford think of his first beauty line? WWD asked: “I don’t like B.S. and a lot of promises, and there are a lot of products out there you don’t even need,” Ford said. “My brain works in the same way whatever I do. The approach is practical, architectural and I use the same vocabulary whether I’m designing clothing or color cosmetics.”

One-hundred percent sold. The full Tom Ford Beauty collection will be available in November and will include shiny glosses, richly pigmented lipsticks, nail lacquer, gorgeous eyeshadow palettes and a skincare line. We can hardly wait.

LINK LOVE: Beauty Blogging Junkie

Hands down my favorite spread so far in this, the September issue season, Klein, Valletta and Edward Enninful envision an eternal heroine and her struggles over the course of a century, featuring looks by Chanel, John Galliano, Miu Miu, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tom Ford, Givenchy and Alexander McQueen.

“September 29, 1929: A month before the stock market’s Black Tuesday, our heroine’s opium-tinged 29th-birthday party in the Blue Room rolls on.”

- Don’t call it a comeback because it’s apparently never going anywhere. Latest Sex and the City news: a revamped TV show with Sarah Jessica Parker allegedly signed on to produce. [Fashionista]

- Lara Stone drowns in a sea of petals to the delight of Mert and Marcus for Tom Ford‘s Violet Blonde fragrance. [Design Scene]

- Remember that time that London burned down? Yeah, me neither, but despite the rioting and the chaos, rest assured Anglophiles, London’s Fashion’s Night Out will continue as planned. [Fashionista]

- Robert Pattinson is on the rags. The Twilight heartthrob is coming out with his own Rags by Robert clothing line. [Refinery29]

- Andrej Pejic, professional androgyne and noted wit, once threw on a fake baby bump in an ode to his Victoria’s Secret brethren (sistren?) only to be stopped by airport customs who thought he was trying to smuggle drugs. Story of my life, except that my fake pregnancy was actually eight pounds of cocaine. You live you learn. [NY Mag]

Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge Catherine Middleton wearing Zara in Berkshire

Justin Timberlake

Fashion producer Chico Lowndes curated the exhibition that will feature 30 large-scale works and 30 original Polaroid shots from Klein’s collection. Among the pieces include images of Madonna, Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie, Tom Ford, and Justin Timberlake.

The Iguatemi Photo Series is a cultural initiative sponsored by Iguatemi Sao Paulo and  part of the largest chain of luxury shopping centers across Brazil, that aims to present the public with photography that goes beyond their typical mindset. on. Iguatemi Photo Series at MuBE has previously sponsored works by artists such as Guy Bourdin,  David LaChapelle, & John Rankin.

The exhibition will run from Aug 11^th-28^th.

Keep reading for more featured pictures of Mr. Klein’s work.

Hailee Steinfeld

- Three of young Hollywood’s best, brightest and fiercest get LOVE‘d by Mert and Marcus: Hailee Steinfeld, Elle Fanning and Chloe Moretz grace the mag’s Issue No. 6. [Models.com]

Tilda givin’ a little twist in Another by Craig McDean.

1. Tilda Swinton

One of the most striking women in film, on the red carpet and in fashion spreads, look no further for Swinton’s editorial excellence than this month’s W.

Masculin/feminin by Tim Walker.

- Halston is apparently falling apart at the seams. First SJP, then Harvey Weisntein, now Marios Schwab is the latest to jump the label’s quickly sinking ship and there’s no Spring 2012 collection planned. [WWD]

- Beyoncé dropped a measly $15K on a 90-minute shopping spree with mom Tina Knowles at Topshop and Selfridges. Meanwhile, let me loose in a Wal-Mart for 90 minutes and I could rack up the same bill.  [NY Mag]

Sadove joins a long and prestigious list of Superstar honorees including Karl Lagerfeld, Tom Ford, Giorgio Armani, Donna Karan and Valentino Garavani.

FGI will also honor some Stars who aren’t quite as Super such as Raf Simons, recent haute couture hero Giambattista Valli and Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte in the fashion category and Jules Moore will get her dues in the entertainment category. Guinness, meanwhile, will receive the Fashion Provocateur award.

Loveable mo Simon Doonan will host the event at Cipriani on Wall Street and Ruben Toledo will handle the award artwork. [WWD]

Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott shot Swanepoel in London on the Thames along with Ford favorite and front-runner for most beautiful boy in all the world – Jon Kortajarena.

Mert and Marcus, no strangers to working with Ford, recently shot his fall beauty campaign with one Ms. Lara Stone. The designer, however, has opted to keep his hands — and his lingering stare — to himself for these series of images. [WWD]

Photo: Fashion Gone Rogue

His Tiger Beat-esque Vanity Fair cover is the worst(-selling) issue of VF in 12 years and his  covers for People and Teen Vogue performed well below their averages. Has a cure finally been found for the dreaded Bieber Fever? [WWD]

- Coco Rocha blogged about her move to Wilhelmina. [Modelina]

- Chloë Sevigny is so cool she’s uncool. And being so uncool, she’s the coolest person ever. [Refinery29]

- Seems like I’m not the only one who was less than enthused about Dior’s Fall 2011 Haute Couture show. [Styleite]

- Despite knowing and liking John Galliano “a lot,” Tom Ford is adamant about not being a racist. [Fashionista]

- And despite styling last January’s V Magazine‘s “Size Issue,” Mugler‘s creative director and Lady Gaga‘s stylist, Nicola Formichetti does not care to work with the fats. Speaking to W:  “I was only used to dressing models and skinny kids. And I turned up and it was, like, three fat guys. I just left. That was the last time I tried to work with fat people.” I once had the same reaction at a Dairy Queen. [Jezebel]

- Hussein Chalayan was “devastated” when Tom Ford passed him over in 2001 for being “too avant-garde.” I guess birthing eggs weren’t what Gucci was looking for back then. [Vogue UK]

- Vogue‘s coveted September cover will go to Kate Moss and her wedding, shot by go-to Wintour lensman, Mario Testino. And Vanity Fair is going decidedly classy by shooting Lindsay Lohan while under house arrest for their September issue. [Page Six]

- Apparently, Princess Beatrice has been listening to the haters and has hired full-blown fashionista Emma Watson‘s stylist for $2400/day. Meanwhile, throw that glorified basketball hoop of a Philip Treacy hat back on and stop boring me. [Styleite]

- Ice queen Johnny Weir will be the face of MAC Cosmetics‘ holiday collection, “Glitter and Ice.” [Page Six]

- And if that isn’t gay enough for you, check out the windows of Michael Kors Bleecker Street  location in celebration of the recently passed same-sex marriage bill. Those brides are actually drag queens, FYI. [Racked]

Spotted Friday at the Givenchy mens show, Carine will once again be sitting front row at the July haute couture shows in Paris where she’ll be impersonating a client for W. Paolo Roversi is rumored to be shooting the story.

Meanwhile, this sounds even better than that Carine Roitfeld-inspired editorial a few months back, though one can only hope that they dig up “Cardboard Tom Ford” again.  [WWD]

Photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, the ads could easily have been ripped out of a 70s fashion mag, which is precisely the aesthetic Ford was going for with his collection. Informed and heavily inspired by the 70s and Studio 54, Stone looks like a latter day Jerry Hall so temptingly close to Ford’s bearded bravado.

Ford explained his propensity for placing himself in his ads to WWD:

“I’m not in the ads because I’m vain. A lot of people still don’t know who I am, and the product sells better with me in the ads. The old designers — Yves [Saint Laurent], Giorgio [Armani] and Ralph [Lauren] — occasionally used to do it.”

Yves, however, probably wouldn’t approve.

Photos: Image Amplified

1. For the office

Now I understand that shorts may not be appropriate for all office environments. However, if your office is progressive in the fashion arena then here is how to dress up a pair of shorts for a day at work.

The key to wearing shorts as office wear is dressing up the whole upper part of your body as if you’re wearing dress pants. Start off with a tailored dress shirt. (Preferably thinly striped or solid) Add a skinny tie to look both both professional and fashion. The piece de resistance is a light weight and fitted blazer. Throw on a lace up shoe and done. You’ll be giving business on top and party on the bottom.

2. For night out

Doorman (especially in NYC) have the right to deny you admission into a venue if they don’t find your outfit appropriate.  They will surely turn someone away if they are wearing shorts appropriate only for the Jersey Shore.  You can rectify this by giving your shirts an edge.

I’m a sucker for a tee and biker jacket combo. It just gives a don’t mess with me kind of feel and is one of my favorite looks to wear at night. Pair it with a smart pair of hi top sneakers and you’ll look like the coolest kid in the club.

3. For the casual day

Many people take advantage of being causal as an excuse to look completely unfashionable. I completely you can run around town looking comfy, casual, and chic.

To achieve this look with shorts ass a patterned top. I tend to lean to a polo or sweater depending on the weather.  Don’t dare slip into flip flops, but wear a pair of espadrilles sans socks. You never know who you’ll run into on a casual day running errands or enjoying the day so don’t wear an outfit that could lead to your own embarrassment.

Tell me how you dress up your shorts in the comment section or tweet me directly: @mcarthurjoseph & @fashionindie

Ford relates this particularly hilarious anecdote while discussing his new beauty collection that includes a line of color cosmetics and skin care. “I’ve cared about cosmetics and makeup since I was a kid,” says Ford, referring to an adolescence obsessed with the glamorous guests on The Merv Griffin Show, such as Hollywood modeling agent Nina Blanchard, and Vidal and Beverly Sassoon. So powerful was this fixation that Ford still identifies strongly with the 70s. His ultra-colorful cosmetic collection recalls the heyday of Studio 54 and its coterie of glamour goddesses, like Jerry Hall, Lauren Hutton and Bianca Jagger.

And while his cucumber experiment might have gone awry, Ford has not forsaken his beauty regimen. He uses his own skin care products such as the Traceless Foundation Stick for the corners of his eyes and nose, and he sometimes sleeps in the oil-based serum, Intensive Infusion Concentrate Extreme.

I’m assuming the effect is similar to this:

[WWD]

Ironically, Ford talks about his fear of starting his own label — the fear of losing the rights to his name, the fear of his name being associated with a product he’s not proud of — before going into Yves Saint Laurent’s dissatisfaction with Ford and Gucci, who had purchased the YSL line:

“You know, he was supportive at the beginning….But when I started to get great press and the business started to become successful, Yves became really quite hostile and we had a little bit different taste. I have letters that he wrote to me about it, you know: ‘In 13 minutes on the runway you have destroyed 40 years of my career.’”

This isn’t the first time Ford’s spoken out over his strained relationship with Saint Laurent, though this time he stopped short of calling him “evil.” And it’s nice to know that at least he’s acknowledging his existence again — fashion grudges tend to last a lifetime. [Styleite]

Along with its commercial peak, fashion shows have also reached their creative peaks – moving, visceral, dramatic productions that have elevated them into an art form. Alexander McQueen emerged as the true master of the genre, blending the disparate elements of entertainment and ideology while creating beautiful works of clothing that could stand on their own without the hype and hoopla with which he was so famously associated.

Below is a list of the 10 fashion shows that stand as the greatest achievements of the last decade, based on their technicality and theatricality, their influence on fashion and of course, the clothes themselves.