Alexandra Grecco

With an unyielding desire to encourage women to play dress-up in their everyday lives, Alexandra Grecco created her eponymous womenswear line. The Brooklyn-based designer pays tribute to luxurious ladies of bygone days, drawing inspiration from silent film actresses of the 1920's and the burlesque dancers of the vaudeville stage. Grecco's pieces combine clean, ethereal and feminine elements while paying attention to practicality for today. Her line incorporates sumptuous silks, delicate tulle and birdcage veiling in a color palette of blush pinks, ivory and dusty cyan to conjure the old Hollywood glamour of an earlier age. Hand-sewn headbands and gowns embroidered with vintage millinery flowers and rhinestones showcase an attention to detail that creates a one-of-a-kind, custom feeling. The 26-year old FIT graduate is a former ballet dancer and painter and would not be surprised to discover she was a traveling circus performer in another lifetime.  For Alexandrea Grecco's Spring/Summer 2012 collection director and choreographer Celia Rowlson-Hall directs an eccentric, chic, and cinematic fashion film featuring Erika Spring of the band Au Revoir Simone. 

[BOOKS] LORIS AZZARO

A new book, coming soon by luxury publisher Assouline, takes a look at the life and legacy of French fashion icon Loris Azzaro. Creatively fearless, Azzaro designed fashions that embody the nocturnal sensuality of the sixties and seventies, making him the go-to couturier for royalty and celebrity alike.

[TOKYO FASHION WEEK] Fur, Fur

Japanese label Fur, Fur showcased their 2012 Spring/Summer collection on the runway at Laforet Museum Harajuku. Named after creator Aya Furuhashi, Fur, Fur began in 2005 under the name Fur. The label was first centered around “action painting and handmade creation”. It broadened focus in 2006, when it was launched as an independent fashion brand. The name was changed to Fur, Fur in 2008. The Fur, Fur 2012 S/S Collection show at Japan Fashion Week was not a traditional runway show, but rather an exhibition where live models sat around tables wearing conceptual outfits.

Fistfight on the Runway

Label Stand & Deliver was without a doubt the most exciting showcase of the 11 designers featured by Gen Art's Fresh Faces in Fashion, held last night at Vibiana in Downtown L.A. – breaking tradition entirely with a real fistfight that explodes violently on the runway. Photograph by Oliver Maxwell Kupper

Elisha Smith-Leverock's film "I Want Muscle"

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Winner of the 4th ASVOFF (A Shade View On Fashion Film) MK2 Grand Prix, 'I Want Muscle,' directed by Elisha Smith-Leverock, is a film that plays with taboo and gender stereotypes. It aims to explore a different kind of female beauty, providing a glimpse into the world of Kizzy Vaines, a female bodybuilder. She is the only British competitor for the Olympia Fitness title in Las Vegas.

River of Dust....

Aoi Kotsuhiroi has released another exciting chapter, entitled River of Dust, to the ongoing saga of the Erotic Regrets collection.  This time her signature human hair, wood, beads and other fascinating ingredients make up full blown knuckle dusters – in what she calls hand objects – and the same goes for her feet objects, with beautiful knotted, twisted leather and hair that wrap up the ankle, look like they could have been dug up from the paleolithic era.

New Zealand Fashion: Salasai

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Established in 2006 by designer Kirsha Whitcher, the Salasai label has fast gained a reputation as being a major player in New Zealand fashion, known for its conceptually designed codes on dressing, Whitcher uses her understanding of design and innovative approach to develop a sculptural aesthetically pleasing androgynous fashion brand committed to producing clothing of quality, function and nonchalant grandeur.