Author: CNN

London CNN  —  Once home to visionaries such as Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen, London Fashion Week has been synonymous with theatricality and boundary-pushing designs. But increased operational costs and other disruptions in the wake of Brexit, along with diminishing global interest in the city’s designers, whose shows garner a fraction of the attention of those in other fashion capitals like Milan, Paris and even New York, has hampered the mood in recent years. At the event’s kickoff, the British Fashion Council’s outgoing CEO Caroline Rush addressed some of those difficulties in a speech that concluded her 16-year tenure. “London…

London CNN  —  The story of Talia Byre starts with a family tree. “Can you pass me a pen?” asks Talia Lipkin-Connor, the fashion label’s founder and sole designer. Hers is a lineage peppered with successful clothes-makers, designers and boutique owners. But in the last 80 years the British fashion landscape, wrought with new challenges and opportunities, has changed. Unable to rest on her family’s laurels, she’s starting from scratch. So far, Lipkin-Connor has done well for herself. Her 5-year-old label, stocked by stores including Browns Fashion, Farfetch and SSENSE, has this week been shortlisted for the prestigious BFC/Vogue Designer…

Berlin, Germany AP  —  Birkenstocks: They are ubiquitous in summer, comfy and very German. Sometimes they look chic and sometimes shabby. But can these sandals be considered art? That’s the question Germany’s Federal Court of Justice wrestled with Thursday, and it ruled they’re just comfy footwear. Birkenstock, which is headquartered in Linz am Rhein, Germany, and says its tradition of shoemaking goes back to 1774, filed a lawsuit against three competitors who sold sandals that were very similar to its own. The shoe manufacturer claimed its sandals “are copyright-protected works of applied art” that may not be imitated. Under German…

CNN  —  On Wednesday, Paris Hilton, “The Simple Life” reality TV star and longtime lover of Juicy Couture tracksuits (having first made them ubiquitous in the early 2000s, a period also known as Y2K), opened the doors to her coveted closet to raise money for the Los Angeles wildfire relief fund. Teaming up with fashion resale platform Vestiaire Collective, Hilton listed almost 100 items she called “personal treasures” that “hold so many memories.” There were a range of luxury labels up for grabs, including items by Mugler, Balenciaga, Versace and Miu Miu. While some of the pieces felt quintessentially “Paris”…

CNN  —  Canadian model Winnie Harlow has announced her engagement to NBA star Kyle Kuzma in a post on Instagram. “To eternity,” wrote Harlow in the post, published Tuesday, alongside the hashtag “#shesaidyes.” Harlow published a series of photos showing the happy couple on a beach, as well as a video in which she held her engagement ring aloft while fireworks exploded overhead. Harlow is one of the most recognizable faces in fashion and the founder of the Cay Skin skincare brand, which also posted about her engagement on social media. “Are you kiddddddingggg me… Congratulations to our queen and…

Editor’s Note: Featuring the good, the bad and the ugly, ‘Look of the Week’ is a regular series dedicated to unpacking the most talked about outfit of the last seven days. CNN  —  In a time of rising living costs, when celebrities are often lambasted for being out of touch with reality, it seems one A-lister has finally succeeded in relating to the everyman. On Sunday night, Emma Stone helped thousands of sneaky cinema snackers feel seen in a red halterneck dress that housed two pockets filled to the brim with medium-sized portions of popcorn. The moment of unity came…

London CNN  —  Considered the biggest night in the UK film industry, the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) on Sunday afternoon was a welcome distraction from a dreary climate that extended beyond the country’s weather. (Alongside one of the gloomiest winters on record, the UK has faced a challenging social and political landscape under a new Labour government.) The 78th edition of the awards, which took place at London’s Southbank Centre, was hosted by Scottish actor and “Doctor Who” lead David Tennant and featured musical performances from 1990s boy band Take That and “Wicked” star Jeff Goldblum. Noticeably absent was…

CNN  —  Twenty-four years since actor Renée Zellweger first appeared in the film adaptation of Helen Fielding’s literary bestseller “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” she’s back for her fourth turn as an endearing, klutzy character looking for love. Although this time, in “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,” she’s no longer a carefree young woman, but a widow in her 50s, with two kids. Jones’s personal style — a quirky, at times ill-fitting wardrobe of short skirts, cleavage-revealing tops, mumsy cardigans, granny pants and long scarves — helped cement her character into an unforgettable part of noughties pop culture history. Though, this…

Editor’s Note: Featuring the good, the bad and the ugly, ‘Look of the Week’ is a regular series dedicated to unpacking the most talked about outfit of the last seven days. CNN  —  This year’s Super Bowl halftime show was hardly a fashion extravaganza, with headliner Kendrick Lamar keeping things simple in a backwards cap and motorbike-style varsity jacket, which he kept on throughout. And without the costume-change roulette we’ve come to expect of halftime shows, the internet fixated on one item in particular: his jeans. While not quite the bell-bottoms of decades past (the 1970s and the 2000s, specifically),…

New York CNN  —  What is the state of American fashion right now? It’s a question at least partly answered by New York Fashion Week, which concludes Tuesday, where brands including Calvin Klein and Thom Browne are showing their latest collections in a season marked by major debuts, returns and decisive shake-ups for American designers. Amid a wider industry reshuffling, several major labels and cult mainstays — including Proenza Schouler, Area and Helmut Lang — are absent from the schedule following the departure of their creative directors. Some heritage brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren skipped the season entirely,…