A VFG***Recommended***Auction, New York

Doyle, New York will offer an outstanding collection of estate and antique jewelry at auction on Wednesday, September 24. Included will be approximately 80 lots comprising the Kelekian family collection of museum quality antique pieces collected over four generations. See the complete auction catalog at www.DoyleNewYork.com.

Ralph Lauren - 40 Year Anniversary

Ralph Lauren marks 40 years in fashion

Sun Sep 9, 2007 1:27AM EDT

By Ellen Wulfhorst

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Designer Ralph Lauren, who has helped create a classic American style, celebrated 40 years in fashion on Saturday with a collection of his trademark looks that have made him one of the industry's most successful and influential figures.

His elegant show in Manhattan's Central Park, complete with champagne and caviar for guests, evoked images of "My Fair Lady" and an afternoon at Britain's Ascot Racecourse, with models wearing designs from racing silks and jodhpurs to floral party dresses and silk tuxedos.

The 67-year-old Lauren, who was born Ralph Lifshitz in New York and began selling neckties in 1967, has long fused traditional equestrian style with influences from the American West, society tea parties, old school plaids, the yachting set and the comfort of tweeds and cable-knit sweaters.

His mesh shirt with the polo player logo is a staple in many wardrobes, and Lauren has marketed lines of clothing, home decor and furnishings to appeal to the affluent and those who want to look that way. Lauren is chairman and chief executive officer of Polo Ralph Lauren.

"He's the leader. His imprimatur is on everything that he wants it to be," said Stan Herman, former head of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

"You just know it's Ralph, and how few designers can do that. His 40 years in fashion have definitely changed the way people think about a fashion designer," Herman said.

In Saturday's show, models sported riding coats and fitted, high-necked jackets in cream and black or in bright pink and emerald racing silks.

Glittery jodhpurs were paired with beaded vests. Models in jaunty houndstooth jackets and pants wore silk jockey caps, top hats, bowlers or wide-brimmed straw hats with fanciful feathers by milliner Philip Treacy.

Evening gowns were slender, trimmed with flounces at the hem, puffed sleeves and large double-ruff collars. In the final of the 72 looks -- twice as many as are typically found at a New York fashion show -- Lauren's model wore slinky, silver chain beaded floor-length gown with an open back.

Ralph Lauren celebrates 40 years with early century elegance

Ralph Lauren: 40 Years In The Biz

Paul Poiret

(1879-1944) Paul Poiret was one of the great designers of the 20th century. As a young man in Paris, he was apprenticed to an umbrella maker. By 1898 he was selling fashion designs, first to Cheruit, and then to Jacques Doucet. Before long, Poiret was working for Doucet as an assistant. He then briefly worked at the House of Worth

Poiret opened his own house in 1904. He very quickly began to change the direction of fashion. He straightened the hourglass silhouette of the Edwardian lady and experimented with bold colors and sensuous fabrics. His designs were exotic; the Russian ballet, Orientalism and African art as intrepereted by the cubists were typical influences.

Poiret's career was interrupted by WWI, and though he resumed designing after his military service, his postwar designs were not in touch with the 1920s woman. He lost control of his business in 1924, and it was closed in 1929. He died in poverty in 1944. - Courtesy of the VFG Label Resource

Poiret: King of Fashion opens this week at The Met running through most of the Summer. However if you can't make it to New York, you can always satisfy your penchant for Poiret by picking up the accompanying catalogue book online here.

She's Like a Rainbow: Colors in Fashion

She's Like a Rainbow: Colors in Fashion

November 11, 2006 - May 5, 2007

She's Like a Rainbow: Colors in Fashion, the third exhibition in the Fashion and Textile History Gallery, explores the history, symbolism, science and psychology of color in fashion. Why is red the color of passion and revolution? Why is blue such a popular color, whereas yellow has so many negative associations? Why is black today's most fashionable color?

She's Like a Rainbow covers 250 years of fashion history, and features more than 150 fashions, accessories, and textiles from the museum's permanent collection of 80,000 objects. Highlights include a genuine little red riding hood from the 18th century, an early pair of blue jeans, a newly fashionable yellow dress from 1750, a white summer dress from 1867 resembling one worn by the central figure in Claude Monet's Women in a Garden, a hot pink dress by Elsa Schiaparelli, and a sexy black cocktail dress by Thierry Mugler. "Color is one of the most fundamental components of fashion," says Steele, "yet it is often misunderstood. This is because color is not simply a natural phenomenon (the sky is blue, or at least it looks blue); it is also a complex cultural construct. Color has a history. Thus, color symbolism varies greatly across cultures, and changes over time."

This exhibition has been organized by Dr. Valerie Steele, museum director, together with Patricia Mears, research curator, Fred Dennis, associate curator of costume; Harumi Hotta, textile educational associate, and Clare Sauro, assistant curator of accessories. An earlier version of She's Like a Rainbow was presented at The Rodin Gallery in Seoul, Korea in 2005, in conjunction with the Samsung Art and Design Institute (SADI).

She's Like a Rainbow: Colors in Fashion is sponsored by ELLE Magazine and Redken 5th Avenue NYC.

Survival of the Fittest

The fitted silhouette is a most flattering one for both men and women. Body skimming dresses, curve enhancing suits, a well-tailored pair of trousers.

Tailoring is the subject for F.I.T.'s latest exhibit, The Tailor's Art showing from May 23rd to November 4th, 2006.

An exhibition on tailoring and its influences on fashion will open in May at the Fashion and Textile History Gallery at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). The Tailor's Art will feature tailoring techniques and demonstrate how they have shaped fashion over the past 250 years. The exhibition will be divided into four rooms: an introductory gallery, and three galleries that survey fashions and fabrics from the 18th century to the present.

Check out this week's VFG Picks for beautifully fitted items like this vintage 50's cream lace strapless dress with matching fur trim jacket from Couture Allure Vintage Fashion. It's virtually seasonless! Wear it in the Summer without the jacket, in the Spring or Fall minus the fur trim or take the winter white elegance to New Year's Eve. Gorgeous!

To Dye For

In the NYC area? Check out the Fashion in Colors exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum on view December 9, 2005 through March 26, 2006.

Fashion in Colors explores color as a design element through 300 years of Western clothing, examining the changing perceptions and meanings of color through various eras. More than 60 costumes are on display, ranging from eighteenth-century court gowns to couture creations by twentieth-century masters such as Balenciaga, Vionnet, Chanel, and Watanabe.