NEWS

Calvin Klein, spring/summer 2007
© Marcio Madeira/VOGUE.COM

NEW YORK CLOSES, LONDON OPENS

NEW YORK FASHION WEEK will come to a close tonight with the likes of Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan and Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B. label taking over the catwalk before the international fashion pack flies to London over the weekend for our own round of spring/summer 2007 collections. Expect to see plenty of sack dresses, black and white ensembles, minis, and every sort of trouser – long, short, skinny, wide – as the trends continue and multiply through each city. But London is going to be a force unto itself this week. All eyes will be particularly on the Biba rebirth – designed by Bella Freud, the second collection of this label is proving to be one of the week's hottest tickets – the Zandra Rhodes return – her first catwalk show for 20 years – plus newcomer Todd Lynn who, as former right-hand man to Roland Mouret, is expected to be one of the city's most exciting new talents. Over fifty shows in six days – beginning with the presentation of TopShop's Unique label in Holland Park on Sunday afternoon – will keep everybody busy, but there'll be plenty of partying to do, too: For a start, Julian Macdonald and Rachel Zoe are hosting cocktails in the Sanderson and Manolo Blahnik is hosting a dinner for Mrs B of Browns - those who didn't make the list for those can take their pick between the PPQ shop launch on Conduit Street, the Aquascutum cocktail party at the Berkeley, Alice Temperley's "Night of Secrets and Skullduggery" or the Vivia catwalk and cocktails - and that's just Monday night. With a Biba celebration late into the night on Tuesday and Vogue's party to celebrate Giles Deacon's collaboration with Mulberry on Wednesday, we're all going to have to keep going until Thursday, when Giorgio Armani himself is in town. It shouldn't be difficult though – his show takes place in Earl's Court and is rumoured to include performances by Bono and Beyoncé as well as catwalk presentations of his new Emporio collection, autumn/winter 2006-7 collections for his mainline and Privé, as well as the new RED initiative clothing line. As fashion moments go it's going to be one of the biggest. (September 15 2006, AM)
Dolly Jones

Tiffany & Co - Frank Gehry - Torque Collection

Since the world's most famous jeweller, Tiffany & Co., announced their design collaboration with the world's most celebrated architect, Frank Gehry, fashionistas and design hounds alike have been waiting in anticipation. The result of this unique partnership is a selection of six collections that are as timeless as they are modern, as desirable as they are ground breaking - and every bit as beautiful as we have come to expect from the man whose gigantic ideas were played out with swooping elegance to create the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA, among others. "I'm always looking for something that's away from what I normally do because it is energising," Gehry, who boasts an endless line-up of awards including the 1989 Pritzker Prize for architecture, told Vogue in June 2006. "When it's done right, jewellery can make one helluva statement about people: who you are, where you're from and what you believe in."