What can brighten your foggy, cold winter week? Perhaps one Jon Rose, a surfer for Hurley and a clean water advocate! Rose has that boy-of-summer vibe going on — healthy tan, happy smile, beachy waves worthy of an Olympian. In March, Rose will participate in Hurley's Waves for Water project — a massive single-day effort to bring clean water to 100,000 people. Rose will go to Haiti along with Rosario Dawson and a handful of other do-gooders to install water filtration units. Does that warm your cold winter heart? So glad to help.
More shows are in from Milan Fashion Week day two. Prada was all bold coats and transparent layered dresses with hairy accents finished off with delicate neckties. At Fendi, mesh and fur brought together sporty separates, patchwork patterns, and graffiti spot prints, while Moschino featured classic logos borrowed from fast-food chains. See these collections and more in our runway galleries.
Max Mara Blugirl Andrea Incontri Fendi Just Cavalli Krizia Costume National Cristiano Burani Prada Ports 1961 Moschino
We're talking slim-fit crop top plus super-sexy skimpy pencil skirt with a slither of tanned tummy visible - you know the look we mean because it's become Kimmy's go-to chic look.
Kim Kardashian sexes up her sombre all-black look with a bit of belly [Rex Features]
When she's not out and about pushing little Nori's Bugaboo in her other go-to ensemble: bespoke butt-tailored, perfectly ripped skinny jeans with a super casual baseball top plus Manolo Blahnik courts - new mother Kim's flaunting her out-of-this-world curves with some excellent proportion control:
A Kim K tummy triptych [Getty]
Kim has developed clean and clear rules for this crop-top game. Her fabrics are luscious wool, cashmere and crepe all worn in simple block colour combos (no print allowed). She either veers light: creams, caramels and fondant fancies, or bold: aubergine, forest green, black and gold - she doesn't mix genres here. Whilst the top and skirt silhouette is sexy and sculpted (the skirt always nips in below the knee - there's no A-lining here - highlighting the width of her hips) she favours a luxurious and faintly gangster-esque oversized coat, adding a cool vibe to an otherwise nipped-in ladylike look. An elegant, single-soled shoe keeps everything high class too.
The particular slice of stomach on show is carefully chosen - it's above the belly button, (think lower rib cage) and thus the slimmest section of the waist for most. Note the general absence of the belly button too (bar its occasional appearance, see top photo for details).
We've pulled together a bit of shopping inspiration for the look. Don't forget that all these pieces can be worn as separates with the rest of your wardrobe. For those who can't face baring that skin, these crop-tops can be teamed with high-waisted skirts and trousers to achieve the same modern shape that Kim has mastered. They're pretty chic and versatile updates - we're going to be investing, are you?
Clockwise from left: Drape-front camel coat, Oasis, £98; Cropped white tee, Rosie Assoulin at FarFetch, £542.33; Cropped cashmere sweater, Miu Miu at Net-a-Porter, £340; Leopard Midi Skirt, Whistles, £225; Blue vinyl skirt, Daisy Street, £17.99.
In this week's issue of Grazia we break down what it really took to make Victoria Beckham's dream a reality, as last week she gave her most candid insight to date on how she went from Spice Girl to world-renowned designer.
Victoria Beckham guides us through her high fashion rise via her whizzy interactive timeline 'Five Years- The Victoria Beckham Fashion Story' on Skype, which is packed with videos, sound clips and galleries. The Victoria Beckham fashion journey kicks off with an adorable snap of a fringed VB in her school uniform, with Victoria telling us how she used to take a Gucci carrier bag to school and kicked off the 'two sock' trend at school.
We find out the story behind her Marc Jacobs campaign, her first ever FROWment and the little Gucci dress. Here are some of our highlights from 'Five Years - The Victoria Beckham Fashion Story' and remember to pick up this week's issue of Grazia to find out more...
The unlikely trends she started at school...
Victoria: 'I created a kind of fashion at school where you'd wear two pairs of socks, one pair on top of the other, because it kind of bagged around the ankle and proportionally, in my eyes, it changed how you looked in this horrific school uniform and it was a trend that kind of spread like wildfire. The first schoolbag that I had was actually a Gucci carrier bag… not a proper Gucci bag, a carrier bag that I would lug all of my schoolbooks to school in and… and I used that day in and day out until the bottom of the thing fell out.'
Should I wear a little Gucci dress... or a little Gucci dress?
Victoria: 'The first dress that I wore in the Spice Girls that everybody thought was a little black Gucci dress was actually from Miss Selfridge, it wasn't really a little, black Gucci dress, I couldn't have afforded a little, black Gucci dress and Virgin Records certainly weren't gonna buy me a little Gucci dress.'
Her first FROWment...
[Getty]
Victoria: 'When I was in the Spice Girls, I got invited to go to a Versace fashion show, and I'd never been to a fashion show. And Donatella Versace flew me on a private plane with my friend to Milan. It was all very glamorous and it was taking me into a completely different world. I've still got the dress that I wore, the black leather dress, and funnily enough I saw Donatella not too long ago – we judged the Woolmark awards in London. And I hadn't seen her for years and years and we had a chat whilst we were judging and she said, “Do you remember when you came to Milan?” I said “God, do I remember? Are you kidding? That was the most exciting thing I'd ever done”.
The red carpet inspired her first collection...
[Rex]
Victoria: 'I'd spent a long time standing on a red carpet and I knew how women wanted to feel, how they wanted to look, and that clothes had to look good from a 360-degree angle, it wasn't good enough to look good from the front or from the back because you know you'll get photographed from every angle.'
Marc Jacobs' fashion advice...
[Getty]
Victoria: 'I remember having dinner with Marc Jacobs after I first started working on the collections, and I hadn't told him that I was working on a dress collection, because I felt embarrassed. I mean this was Marc Jacobs, somebody that I have an enormous amount of respect for, and have done for many, many years, and to him, I was a Spice Girl, and I was married to David Beckham. I didn't wanna tell Marc Jacobs I was working on a collection of ten dresses. And then when he found out, he said, ‘Why haven't you told me?' I said I feel embarrassed, you're Marc Jacobs, you know, I don't wanna turn round to you and say that I'm, designing dresses. And he just said, ‘All you have to remember is it has to be the best quality, then people can say they don't like it, but no one can say it's not good'
Juergen tells the story behind THAT Marc Jacobs campaign...
[Marc Jacobs]
Juergen Teller: 'My strength of being a photographer is to letting the other person live. I respond or need to input off the subject, and I let them be. “With the Spice Girls, she was a product. And I thought, products sell. So she sells. For me, like perfumes, and handbags, and shoes, these are [the] kinds of products that shift these fashion companies, not so much the clothes itself. And that’s why we had this idea to build this oversized carrier bag where you buy the clothes and put her in it. I think it shocked a lot of people when the pictures came out. First of all how powerful the pictures were in itself and the idea of what a fashion advertising photograph can be in the first place. So it worked on many, many levels. It helped marc, it helped me, it helped me, it helped her. I had so many people telling me it changed their idea of what victoria beckham is – I think I had a massive influence in that.'
Victoria's pre-collection nerves...
'I felt really anxious, sick, nerves like I’ve never had nerves before like I’d worked really hard on this collection. I remember the night before I was downstairs with a florist in a pair of hotel slippers at about 4 o’clock in the morning – redoing the flowers because I didn’t like the way that the flowers looked.'
