FabSugar

Love From Australia Suede Over-the-Knee Boot: Love It or Hate It?

FabSugar — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 04:00:22 -0800

UGG boots are bulky enough with all that thick shearling, but when you add ribbons and more height, it's just too much. I can't see myself, or anyone else for that matter, pulling off Love From Australia's Vixen Suede Over-the-Knee Boot ($400). In Antarctica they might come in handy, but I'd choose cold over tacky any day. Are you with me?

To post your selections go to the Love It or Hate It? group. And if you want to learn how to do a blog post click here.

Sass and Bide Shine On

FabSugar — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:00:22 -0700

"The human spirit will always aspire to shine . . . to taste the elixir of life, and to bathe in the glory of love." Nice. I am happy to report Sass and Bide designers, Heidi Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke, are celebrating 10 years in fashion by creating the Shine Initiative. They enlisted artsy, famous friends to create art pieces that interpret what "Shine" means. The result is a true mix of inspiration from the likes of Kate Moss, Twiggy, Mischa Barton, artist Sam Taylor-Wood, and Daisy Lowe. All the works can be viewed and bid on at sassandbide.com. Proceeds will fund creative counseling workshops for abused children, led by the designers, in both Britain and Australia. July 23 bidding continues at an event in London at The Dairy - I'm sure Moss will show up! Here are some of my favorite pieces from the initiative.

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Model of the Week: Jessica Gomes

FabSugar — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 04:00:22 -0700

Bar Refaeli got most of the praise for being the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover girl, but there were a handful of other women who equally burned up the pages. I got the chance to chat with them all, including Jessica Gomes, a part-Singaporean, part-Portuguese exotic model who was born in Australia. You may recognize the 24-year-old from DKNY, Urban Outfitters, Adidas, and Old Navy ads. She also made appearances on Project Runway and has her own Korean TV show titled My Name Is Jessica Gomes. Here's what she had to say about bikinis, her personal style, and the world of modeling.

What are three words that describe your personal style?

Chic, sexy, and comfortable.

What is your favorite bikini style and how many swimsuits do you own?

I can't count, I have a box-full at home. I love James Bond-inspired swimsuits that are fashionable and give a statement.

Who are your favorite designers?

YSL, Balmain, Goyard, Chanel, Zimmermann, Camilla, Anna & Boy, and Josh Goot from Australia.

To hear more from Jessica and to see stunning photos, read more.

What is one destination you still need a stamp for on your passport?

India

What is the best and worst thing about modeling?

Working with amazing talented and creative geniuses. The worst thing is having to travel long hours and jet lag.

What was the coolest thing about being in Sports Illustrated?

Being able to fly to the most amazing landscapes and working with such a fun and inspiring team. Also being the sexiest woman I can be, and making men dream about you and women want to be you.

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Australia: A Romantic Wardrobe, Part II

FabSugar — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:00:22 -0800

Did you happen to go see Australia this weekend? If my first words with costume designer Catherine Martin didn't pique your interest maybe these will. Some specific items of clothing stood out to me in the film - notably the colors of Lady Ashley's clothes, her belts, and her red Chinosierie dress. Here's what Martin had to say about those standouts.

I noticed she wears a lot of blues and browns. The film is so visually arresting how did you factor in the color of the clothes with the beauty of the movie?

"I had another collaborator, Mandy Walker, who is the Director or Photography. Baz, Mandy and I looked at a lot of color photography from that period and we started talking about exploring a palette out of the photography. We had a broad palette that encompassed all the colors from the film. What’s interesting about the color photography from the period, it meant a lot of mixed tones that got really close together, you have a monochromatic base. From that we developed our own color theory.

For the arrival suit, it wasn’t the ideal color choice, we made her blue and white because it was the most unlikely, it clashed with the environment. She was a totally different alien person to this place. And as the movie progresses her colors are references to Australia and become much stronger, she becomes part of her environment."

To read the rest, read more

I noticed throughout her transition in the movie, she has a fondness for belts. Everyone wore belts. Was that more fashion or function?

"It’s a combination. The style was wearing two belts, a belt to hold your pants up, and a hobble belt, which helped you capture horses, tying their legs together so they can’t run away during the night, which some of the stockmen wore. Looking over the beautiful leather accessories and sportswear of the 1930s, there were some beautiful belts, notably made by Hermes and various other designers of the period. I think they’re a fantastic accessory; I love how it defines the waistline, pulls the outfit together. I really was a fan of the belt in this film."

I love how it also defined Nicole’s tiny, perfect waist. Even at the end of the film, she still looked put together.

"Yeah, it’s sort of a no nonsense thing. You feel definite in some way."

Tell me about the red Chinosierie dress. And the pink one. What a unique choice.

"Those two dresses. Basically, Lady Ashley loses all her clothes at one point. Baz said the challenge was: What is she going to wear when she gets to town, all her clothes have been trashed. We were looking in the contemporary newspapers of the day. And in the Northern a lot of Chinese tailors would advertise their manufacturing skills and that fact that they could make clothes in a very short space of time.

Darwin is closer to Indonesia than any other city. You had a very big Asian influence at the time, and a very important Chinatown. We made a back-story in our minds that Sing Song, who was the Chinese cook, would have had a coven who comes from Shanghai to Darwin and he would have a tailoring business. And Sarah would go to that business and get her clothes made. There was a big fashion amongst Asian people, which was a problem with the Nationalists of the time. In reality, she would have gone to a Chinese tailor."

The red dress was the standout dress of the movie, of the party. I love how it gets rained on, but she doesn’t care.

"Yes. The one good thing about silk organza is it responds to the wet."

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Australia: A Romantic Wardrobe, Part I

FabSugar — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:00:22 -0800

Today, the highly anticipated romantic adventure Australia, directed by Baz Luhrmann, releases. I had the opportunity to preview the film, in all its romantic glory, as well as to speak with the costume designer, Catherine Martin. We also had a fun fete at the San Francisco Ferragamo store, in honor of Lady Ashley's shoes in the movie - all designed by the Italian fashion house. Two styles of limited-edition shoes were reproduced from the movie and are being sold at Ferragamo stores; 950 were made, and the San Francisco store is selling 120 of them.

There's so much to share, but I was really excited to see this film and speak with Martin. I am a huge Baz fan - I own both Moulin Rouge! and Romeo + Juliet - and as you may or may not know, Martin and Baz are married. Call it a cinematic match made in fashion heaven. No wonder the stories Luhrmann tells resonate so well: They are visually and emotionally epic. To hear what Martin had to say about Lady Ashley's wardrobe transformation, her kooky spyglasses (loved these), and the Ferragamo shoes, and to see lots of Australia eye candy, read more.

Can you talk about the transition of Lady Ashley’s wardrobe throughout the movie?

"Baz really focused on Lady Sarah Ashley’s wardrobe and the revealing to the audience of her change. Eighteen months before we starting rolling film we went to Nashville and met with Nicole. Under Baz’s instructions, I had designed and brought a whole bunch of costumes that polarized her before and after. We could explore what worked and what didn’t work. I brought a version of the riding suit, and the arrival costume, to try and find the dynamic of before and after."

So you had to really plan ahead?

"Yes, Baz is very detailed and demands a lot of research and back stories you need to discover and work on. And it takes months; we had a preproduction of about eight months and we were working with 2,000 costumes. That’s how long it takes."

Those kooky glasses Lady Ashley wore cracked me up. Where did you find those? And the mosquito net?

"In the script it said she wears spyglasses. And I said, “What are spy glasses?” There were travel logs written in the period about a woman wearing spyglasses. They were these glasses people wore to protect themselves from flies, which is also why she’s wearing the net. This is a classic design from the period. We made one slight alteration. Originally we thought they would be dark glasses but it was such a shame to not be able to see Nicole’s eyes. We swapped the glass for clear so you could see her reactions, which are so colorful and charming. The first pair were original period glasses we bought off the Internet, they were actually vintage and we had thickened them in our model workshop."

We had an event at the San Francisco Ferragamo store and I know Ferragamo designed the shoes for Nicole's character. How did all that come about?

"Footwear is always very difficult. To me a shoe really makes an outfit. But you have to think about practicality, too. They need to be comfortable. It’s preferable for them to be made to measure. Ferragamo seemed like an obvious partner; they have made shoes for aristocracy, royalty, and movie stars. And they had an enormous archive of shoes. They were groundbreakers and I thought what a great collaboration. It was fantastic - I was able to work with the designers, look back at the archives. And we could make changes and were eventually able to come up with a fantastic wardrobe of shoes for Lady Sarah Ashley."

What about Hugh's rugged shoes?

"Hugh’s were made by R.M. Williams, a traditional Australian bush outfitter. They made all the footwear for the stockmen and Hugh."

We couldn’t actually see the shoes she was wearing with the Chinoiserie red dress. I must know: What shoes was she wearing underneath there?

"Panne velvet sandals, they were a beautiful green gray. We used chagrine, which is stingray leather, which was very fashionable in the 1930s. Ferragamo has done a version of the shoe, in both black and red, as a limited edition. They are absolutely beautiful. From their inception, Ferragamo has always used exotic and textured shoes. There’s also a beautiful pair of Mary Jane’s, we used a wonderful raffia macramé, which was another one of Ferragamo’s signature looks.

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Absolutely Fabulous

FabSugar — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:44:22 -0800

The American Music Awards brought us some red carpet eye candy. Vote on all the looks and don't forget to vote on the best dressed.
You may not have even worn your Commes de Garcons H&M goodies yet, and the news hit that Matthew Williamson is next up to design for the fast fashion chain.
We're obsessing about Twilight a bit. Get the moody wardrobes of The Cullens and Bella Swan.
Take our always-fun The Hills fashion quiz.
Juliette Lewis is back on our radar - she was this week's Fabcon.
Need a shoe fix? Play our guess the lady by her lavish shoe quiz.
We won't let this shrinking economy talk get you down; read our fashion recession tips.
We love Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's book so much we're giving away eight autographed copies - Enter to win here!
It's that time. Holiday shop early to stay stress-free. Check out our Fab Gift Guides.
Think you can tell high from low fashion? Take our what's more pricey quiz and find out.
Read all about what Australia costume designer, Catherine Martin, had to say about Nicole Kidman's wardrobe in the epic film.

Model of the Week: Cheyenne Tozzi

FabSugar — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 09:00:22 -0800

You may recognize Australian model Cheyenne Tozzi from Fashion Targets Breast Cancer Australia. The Tozzi family (mother and former model Yvonne, and daughters Tahyna and Cheyenne), used their good genes to become the faces for the campaign.

Cheyenne is the youngest Tozzi at 19 years old. Known as "The Next Elle McPherson," she graced the cover of Harper's Bazaar Australia at age 13. The 5'10" model's portfolio also consists of a televised Just Jeans campaign, print ads for Bonds Australia, Jets Swimwear, Newport News, Spiegel, and many magazine editorials. She is now represented by IMG Models, Storm Models, and Priscillas Models Management.

To hear Cheyenne gush about her beauty tricks, visit BellaSugar.

To read my exclusive interview with Cheyenne and to see more photos, read more

What is the most memorable show you walked in?
I did the Miami [Fashion Week] shows this year with my best friend, and we had a laugh. I guess if you don't take it seriously you end up having a great time.

If your house was burning down and you could only save one clothing item, what would it be and why?
Just one? That's not fair. If I had to choose, my Stella McCartney jeans.

What is one destination you still need a stamp for on your passport?
I would love to go to Japan. All I do is eat Japanese food and it just seems like a crazy but beautiful place.

Who are your favorite designers?
I love Stella McCartney, Roberto Cavalli, BCBG, D&G, and Chloe.

What are three words that describe your personal style?
Fresh, easy, clean.

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Fab Finding Follow-Up: Pajama-Rama

FabSugar — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:00:22 -0700

Last weekend's pajama party was overflowing with popcorn and fun. The girls and I had a blast sipping champagne as we watched teen flicks from the '80s and reminisced about the good old days. I know it sounds corny, but we even played truth or dare. Girls just wanna have fun.

I started you off with these UGG Australia Sheepskin Flip-Flops ($70) because I couldn't resist the decadently soft texture.

Let's see what you all came up with!

Look # 1, created by gabitaitalia, is pink all over. Love those polka-dot jammies!

Skinny ribbon headband	Disney Couture Jewelry - Bamboo Hoops w/ "Believe" Script Earrings
The VS satin pajama	UGG Australia Sheepskin Flip-Flops ($70)

To see the rest, read more.

Look # 2, created by northbound711, looks super comfy ; no need for sexy lingerie at this party.

Sass & Bide Que Sera Sera T-shirt \| NET-A-PORTER.COM	Waffle-lined hoodie J Crew
Make + Model Indian Print Woven Pants - Separates - Nordstrom	ginette_ny Mini Girl Necklace with Tiny Diamond - shopbop.com
Forever21.com - Braided Metallic Headband	Forever21.com - Rosebud Stud	UGG Australia Sheepskin Flip-Flops ($70)

Look # 3, created by Lovecat, is Parisian cool. The lace and ruffle detailing is so romantic!

Juicy Couture Scottie Print Headband	Majorica 12mm Round White Pearl Stud Earrings
Marc By Marc Jacobs Women's Jazzy Jane Tote	Juicy Couture Intimates Tiered Terry Hooded Robe
PJ Salvage 'Parisian Lace' Camisole & Shorts	UGG Australia Sheepskin Flip-Flops ($70)

Come Fab Finding With Me: Pajama-Rama

FabSugar — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:00:22 -0700

I've always loved pajama parties. There's something about cozy company, popcorn, and a scary movie that will always bring a wave of nostalgia. Now that I'm (cough) older, the soda might be replaced with champagne, but don't expect us to behave. Help me find a outfit that will take me back in time. Pillow fight, anyone?

I'll start you off with these UGG Australia Sheepskin Flip-Flops ($70) because they're decadently soft. Just looking at them makes me want to curl up.

Let's go Fab Finding. Be sure to come back and tell me your Fab Finds are up, or just tag your Fab Finds with pajama party.

Now, you can build outfits by creating a list of clothing items. We have everything you need to build outfits, and you can use your Fab-Find bookmarks, too. This is an even better way to put together an entire outfit when you are completing your Fab-Finding missions.

To learn what a Fab Find is and how to make one, click here. For a more detailed explanation of bookmarks from geeksugar click here.

To see some of my favorite online stores, read more.

Active Endeavors
Banana Republic
Bluefly
eLuxury
J.Crew
Jildor Shoes
Live Natty
Neiman Marcus
Net-a-Porter
Pink Mascara

Fab Finding Follow-Up: Love Me Down Under

FabSugar — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:00:22 -0700

It's honeymoon week in Sugarland so I told you to make believe you're going down under to Australia with your new hubby. You'll be doing a little bit of everything - hiking, clubbing, shopping, sightseeing - so you'll need a well-rounded collection of clothes. But don't forget it's Winter there now so try to stay away from hot-weather items.

I started you off with this Abas Metallic Passport Cover ($35) because you can't let your passport go on vacation looking drab. Let's see what you all came up with!

Look # 1, created by annebreal, is romantic and sweet. It's a honeymoon, after all!

Abas 'Metallic Wave' Passport Cover ($35) \| nordstrom.com, down under \| teamsugar - Women's Social Network & Community.	Nanette Lepore 'Main Squeeze' Coat - - Nordstrom
Bluefly - Women's Designer Clothing, Apparel, and Fashion at Bluefly.com - #300736501 - Paper Denim & Cloth vintage 3 year 'Brid	Bluefly - Get Great Discounts On Designer Tank Tops And Camisoles At Bluefly - #2143164 - Clu pink pleated jersey babydoll top
Kate Spade Shoes Jory Metallic Snake Ballet Flat - shopbop.com	Nordstrom Crystal Collection Wrapped Hoop Earrings - Earrings - Nordstrom
Bluefly - Women's Designer Handbags and Accessories at Bluefly.com - #300342901 - Fendi natural nappa 'B.Mix' large tote	Stella McCartney Sunglasses Aviators - shopbop.com

To see the rest, read more.

Look # 2, created by WhiplashGirlchild, is the ideal way to keep warm. Plus, I love the boomerang earrings!

Emilio Pucci Chunky knit cape \| NET-A-PORTER.COM	: Essential cotton long-sleeved T: Tops \| Gap
J Brand 912 Skinny Jean in Bayou Wash @ Singer22	UrbanOutfitters.com > C2 Leather Bootie
Linea Pelle Discount Apparel: Cluster Stud Jean Belt in Black - LabelSpree	Hogan Woody Media - Neiman Marcus
Tom Ford - Claudia Sunglasses - Saks.com	SHOPINTUITION - Be.True Boomerang Earrings in Gold	Abas 'Metallic Wave' Passport Cover ($35)

Look # 3, created by kendallina, is Fab because it incorporates heavy layering. If it gets warm, just peel away the layers.