Welcome to the first Friday Fashion Round-up, our weekly compilation of fashion news and style gossip from around the web.

Get excited, people—Andre Leon Talley has landed his own Bravo reality show. The series is tentatively titled Fashion Stories of NYC and will follow four design teams as they create collections under the watchful eye of ALT himself. We predict Talley’s show will include voluminous, dramatic capes, punchy catchphrases and guest appearances by famous besties Whoopi Goldberg and Tyra Banks. [Coco Perez]

Speaking of Tyra Banks, the latest episode of America’s Next Top Model had contestants vying to appear on the runway during Toronto Fashion Week. The girls were sent on castings to designers Martin Lim, Triarchy, Pink Tartan and, of course, Attitude Jay Manuel. At a later photo shoot, the models were challenged to pose wearing strategically placed autumnal leaves while someone dumped maple syrup all over their heads. Just like we do it in Canada! [America's Next Top Model]

Have you ever heard of Princess Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis of Germany? Apparently she’s a real person with a real job as the editor-at-large for Vogue. And she has a Twitter account. Sample tweet: @ElizabethTNT: “Sprinted in 25 min late and MK show had started! Impossible to get to my seat…So I climbed to the standing section & saw the show from there. Guess now I know what it feels like to see a show standing! It sucks!” [Fashionista]

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Prada spring/summer 2012. Image courtesy of ImaxTree.com

I’m not exactly sure what’s behind my rather sudden—and unexpected—sartorial adventure with prints and colours. We’re talking wildly patterned flowers and geometric slashes, not to mention bold corals, emerald greens, lush yellows and vibrant pinks. My nun-chic dark-hued preferences are legendary. I can wax on about the subtle shades of black with as many descriptors as the Inuit have for snow (from coal, charcoal, obsidian and onyx to soot and sable). So, what gives? Even before I accepted the “colour” challenge last week from my hue-adventurous colleagues (features editor Kathryn Hudson and associate editor Ally Dean), a subtle style shift had begun to take place.

Two weeks ago, I opened my closet and felt burdened and bored by a solid wall of black. “I think I need to bring some colour into my life,” I said to my husband. “Yes, that’s a great idea. Do you want to go shopping this weekend?” he asked (a little too quickly, I might add). Every spring, designers attempt to seduce us with their colour statements. I’ve been immune to their persuasions for years, but there’s something about this season that is irresistibly cheerful and optimistic, from Prada’s whimsical car prints and Christopher Kane’s floral appliqués to a parade of delicate pastels in violet, peach, sea green and icy blue. Even Isabel Marant—a designer who isn’t known for her sunny sensibility—showed a weakness for lemon and coral shades.

Isabel Marant (image courtesy of ImaxTree.com)

So what else—or who else—was behind my colour conversion? Read on. Read the rest of this entry

Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci) and Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) in The Hunger Games. Image courtesy of Lions Gate Films.

The Hunger Games is smashing box office records faster than Katniss Everdeen can draw her bow. But what of the fashion? Yesterday, Kathryn Hudson, ELLE Canada’s features editor, wrote about the off-screen and on-screen style highlights, and today, our Kristan Chan is playing stylist, selecting our favourite Spring/Summer 2012 runway looks for six of the most compelling characters.

Cinna, we got this.

1. KATNISS (Jennifer Lawrence)

Character: Tough, brave, amazing. Katniss is a fierce competitor and even fiercer protector of the people she loves.

Style: Bold.

Jenny Packham Spring/Summer 2012. Image courtesy of Imaxtree.com

Click through to see our fashion picks for Gale, Peeta and more!

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While everyone with a pulse, even a thready one, already knows that The Hunger Games is like THE cultural event of, well, March at least, the film’s early success was proven beyond a doubt by midnight last night, when The Hunger Games grossed the highest ever box office total for a non-sequel (meaning it beat everything but those pesky Potter and Twihard flicks).

First off, I couldn’t be happier that we’re finally lining up (and taking the day off, while wearing a specially made T-shirt in the case of my friend Steve) to see a blockbuster with an ass-kicking leading lady, instead of a sad sack wimp (you know who you are, Bella). Katniss Everdeen is not a oh-please-save-me-shirtless-guy character. She shoots a crossbow and is a lot less pouty about her own love triangle. Already a winning combination!

But what do I really want to talk about? The fashion, obviously. Both on and off screen—because the film’s tag line “the world will be watching” has never been truer for leading lady Jennifer Lawrence.

Courtesy of Calvin Klein Collection

The off-screen highlight
At the screening sponsored this week by Calvin Klein, Lawrence showed she’s more than able to handle the spotlight. Her emerald Calvin Klein Collection dress was flawless, but Lawrence herself stole the spotlight (with a supporting role given to her boobs).
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Sonia Rodriguez and Guillaume Côté in The Seagull (Photo by Bruce Zinger)

“Is this a ballet about a seagull who is looking for his mate but is heartbroken when she finds another? Is that what all the flap is about?” That was the quick capsule review I heard as I made my way out to the foyer during the intermission of The National Ballet of Canada’s latest production, The Seagull. It’s a little more complicated than that. The ballet, which is based on Anton Chekhov’s play The Seagull, revolves around a cast of dancers and choreographers who are creatively and personally entangled in one another’s lives.

The plot line reads like a reality-television script: Kostya (Guillaume Côté) is smitten with Nina (Sonia Rodriguez), but Nina and Arkadina (Greta Hodgkinson)—who is Kostya’s mother—love Trigorin (Aleksandar Antonijevic). The supporting cast is also embroiled in their own triangle of misplaced and unrequited entanglements. The story of their evolving and devolving romance is told through a series of duets.

The duality and duelling are mirrored in the dance styles, with nods to avant-garde Ballets Russes and the more traditional Imperial Theatre ballet. Choreographer John Neumeier even blends modern dance and follies cabaret into the mix. “Contrasting these four sometimes diametrically opposed types of movement, my Seagull also becomes a lesson in dance history,” he wrote in the program notes.

It’s perhaps a life lesson as well because we’re reminded that our struggles for love and success come with their own share of joys and disappointments. Or, as Neumeier put it: “In a ballet, we can only understand what we see. We can only be moved by what we recognize in our own hearts as true.”

The Seagull continues until March 25 at the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto national.ballet.ca.

The moment when you realize that your beauty crutch has become crippling.

I have a beauty confession: I am an over-blusher.  There, I said it. For some girls, their must-have beauty item is mascara, for others its lip gloss. But blush is to me what eyeliner is to the Duchess of Cambridge: a trusted go-to that I usually take too far.

It never occurred to me I was overusing my hero product. Then (in a fairly unflattering photograph), my resemblance to someone from Ringling Brothers was undeniable; I need to rethink my blushing techniques.

Why would someone with my access to expert tips OD on rouge? Simple, I’m not a morning person, and getting Miu Miu’s limited-edition spring 2012 handbags. Slim, to none.

Every morning (in my pre-caffeine haze), my trusted “wakeup product” is always my blush compact. Mascara is usually credited for giving you a bright-eyed pop, but a flush gives you that rested look more than full lashes. “Blush warms up and livens your overall complexion,” says celebrity makeup artist Amy Duclos. “Finding the right shade and texture can be tricky, it’s easy to overdo it.”

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Birkin: Sac bijou in rose and white gold with 2,712 diamonds (total carat weight: 89.22)

For the woman who has everything—including the coveted Birkin and Kelly bags—Pierre Hardy has just upped the fashion ante! Now—provided that you have around 1.5 (as in million) euros, you can add a jewelled mini-replica of one of these bags to your highly insured accessories collection.

When I was in Paris a few weeks ago for the fall/winter shows, I met up with the Hermès designer to chat about his latest Haute Bijouterie collection. The diamond-laced golden whips ( the Fouet) and glossy black horse hooves ( the Centaure) are spectacular, but the pieces that raise bling to an entirely new level are the four mini-handbags, including the Kelly, which has 1,160 diamonds, and the Birkin, which has 2,712.

“Both bags took more than 1,000 hours to create,” said Hardy. “The challenge was to make them magical and feminine yet still respect each bag’s original design. It’s like making a perfume—there’s the eau de toilette and there’s the essence. I had to capture the essence and make each even more iconic than it already is. The most challenging one was probably the Kelly because it is most well known.”

Kelly: Sac bijou in rose gold with 1,160 diamonds (total carat weight: 33.94)

Besides these two pieces, Hardy designed the Nausicaa, a flapperesque fringed mesh bag accented with 1,811 diamonds. His favourite mini, however, is the Chaine D’Ancre, which he created from the house’s iconic anchor chain. This modern, abstract piece made from white gold has—take a deep breath—11,303 diamonds with a total carat weight of 86.24.

Put your sunglasses on and then check out this sparkling sensation after the jump.
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Fashionable bookworms rejoice! Grace Coddington’s long-awaited memoir is finally slated to hit bookstores this November. The tome, which Coddington sold to Random House for 1.2 million dollars, is expected to detail the flame-haired editrix’s rise through the modeling world in the 1960s until a brutal car crash made her rethink her career path. But don’t expect a salacious tell-all detailing Anna Wintour’s tyranny. “I’m 70,” Coddington says. “I’ve been in fashion 55 years. With Vogue 20 years. I’m not telling secret stories. Not writing ugly bad things to get back at anyone. This book’s not gossipy. It’s more a record.” We can’t wait! In the meantime, curl up on a patio with a glass of vino and these other tony reads.

House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder and Survival by Deborah Ball. This story, which details Gianni Versace’s rise through the style world until his shocking murder in Miami beach in 1997, has more juice than a tabloid. Bitter family feuds? Check. Drug addictions? You got it. Megalomania? In spades! We guarantee you won’t be able to put this one down.

Isabella Blow: A Life in Fashion by Lauren Goldstein Crowe follows the fashion maven’s tragic life. Blow famously began her fashion career in New York City as an assistant to Anna Wintour at Vogue and has even been credited as “discovering” designers Philip Treacy and Alexander McQueen. Unfortunately Blow was plagued with personal demons, and took her own life in 2007.

Beauty Disrupted: A Memoir by Carré Otis is a must-read for anyone interested in the dark side of the modeling industry. Otis bravely recounts her struggles with an eating disorder and drug addiction as well as the sexual abuse she endured at the hands of Elite Models former boss Gerald Marie. Not to worry, this story has a happy ending: Otis is now happily married with two children and says that writing about her past was therapeutic.

Planning a trip to London? Before you start plotting your extensive “cute boys with accents” stalker map route (hint, go to Shoreditch if you like them artsy and with ironic facial hair), please book a day at Hari’s Hair & Beauty. It’s a must-do on any London event list.

I first discovered Hari’s back in 2004, when I popped in for a hair cut and soon became addicted to the entertaining atmosphere and the slightly snooty service. (I’m a sucker for Brits with BBC accents.) The salon has two locations (one in Chelsea’s tony Brompton Road, the other in the pose-hard Kings Road) and is chock full of socialites, ladies about town and beautiful people gossiping about other beautiful people. That alone is usually enough to keep me happy for the length of a blow out, but what really sets this salon apart is the range of creative, fun and ground-breaking services on offer.

I’m not kidding about the creative services – this is the place that brought the Bull Semen hair treatment and Bird Poo facial to the masses. Both of these were tremendously popular, but I never took the plunge.

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Image courtesy of Bumble and bumble.

I’m a sucker for all things Grace Kelly. Which is why I loved this hair style from Zac Posen’s Spring/Summer 2012 collection. It’s the ideal romantic updo for weddings, big events, or even as a primped and polished office look. I went to the source of this pretty creation, Jimmy Paul from Bumble and bumble, to help us interpret this hair style just in time for spring.

The inspiration
“I was looking at Zac’s inspiration board with lots of old photos and wanted to do something retro with a modern twist, so I came up with a slightly messy updo with finger waves at the front,” explains Paul. “It’s worn up, which is always good for the warmer months.”

Expertise level
If you want to recreate the look straight from the runway, you’ll need to be seasoned in DIY hair styles. But with a few alterations, you can have a slightly more casual and easier style. FYI, it’s easier to achieve if you have shoulder length or longer hair so it securely fits into a chignon at the back. If you do have shorter locks, adding in some extensions will solve the problem.

“A beginner could use the same center part, but just keep her natural texture before putting it up. If you want to be more advanced, you can blow dry the hair first for smoother texture and if you’re feeling bold, go for the Marcel waves at the front.”

Key products
“If you have fine to medium hair, start with a base of Prep and Thickening Hairspray. For coarser hair, I would recommend starting with Straight Blow Dry to help get a smooth texture.”

Paul’s step-by-step instructions on the next page …
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