Here’s how you can look sporty without trying too hard

WE all know that exercise is good for us. But given our hectic schedules, it’s more likely that most of us will stay ensconced in our armchair and clicking the remote control would be about the most exercise we’re ever going to get. That is, if we’re not typing away at the work desk.

Well, even if you’re not about to hit the gym anytime soon, there’s no harm looking the part! That’s half the battle won and judging by the looks of these gorgeous summer shoes, you’ll surely want to show them off in the sporting arena too.

Nike Sportswear has designed a whole new range of shoes to complement your on-pitch presence with an off-pitch look to pull off that alpha athlete style.

Drawing inspiration from its heritage, the Summer 2012 collection celebrates the sporting moments that have defined the brand, products and athletes through the years.

Here’s a glance at what’s cool for summer and in Malaysia, that means all year round.

Cortez: The icon of Nike’s earliest impact in the sports world, it’s still a classic after 40 years. Available in two iconic styles – Premium full grain leather or waterproof, three-layer lightweight upper. Made with pioneering cushion and flexible innovations for the running shoe, Nike developed the Cortez with the 100-mile a week, concrete-surface die-hard runner in mind. The original has been upgraded and female fans can also look for the Lady Cortez featuring a deconstructed upper for a sleek look that complements the slim profile of a female’s foot. Available in a wide range of colours, the premium version comes in leather and a lightweight nylon version just like the original.

GS Polo: Born on the court of grand traditions, grandstands and grand slams, the GS Polo has seen some of the grandest sports moments. Thanks to its versatility reflected in its timeless cut and the fold of the collar, this model has been given the white-glove treatment and embodies all the innovations of its athletic counterpart.

N98: A staple at the intersection of sport and street, the N98 track jacket is defined by the striking stripe down the sleeve and a tailored fit. The ultimate interpretation of the classic created for the 1998 Brazilian national team, the N98 is a mash-up of sport and style. The flat-ribbing, bonded seams and high collar mirror the blind speed and smooth style of the Brazilian team.

Designer Evelyn Fox Launches New Collection of The World's Most Exclusive Designer Shoes

The new collection of crystal shoes designed by Evelyn Fox are showing up all over red carpets and are a perfect blend of style, beauty, attitude, and class. Evelyn Fox, a fashion savvy 23 year old model turned fashion entrepreneur invented the idea of selling the “world's most exclusive shoes” after falling in love with “strassed” crystal shoes. Strassing is the process of crystallizing shoes with crystals by placing each stone by hand. These designer shoes with pizzazz feature an amazing array of artfully arranged glittering gems that will turn heads from a mile away.

Using her creative genius, Evelyn decided to share her passion with the world by launching CrystalHeels.com. All of the customized designer shoes offered for sale on the site are handmade, individually numbered, limited edition pieces which come with their own certificate of authenticity. Crystal Heels? are, in essence, glamorous and wearable works of art for those with an eye for high-end fashion and haute couture.

Some of the customized designer shoes featured on the site include Fendi, Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo, Sergio Rossi, Stuart Weitzman and Manolo Blahnik, amongst others. Each of these designers is famous for creating top of the line, one-of-a-kind fashions for Hollywood's most popular stars. Celebrities have also taken a liking to Crystal Heels? creations and include names such as Sharon Osbourne who donned a pair of Crystal Heels? custom YSL pink crystal shoes to the Golden Globe Awards just a few weeks ago.

Crystal Heels? has a shoe for every discerning woman, ranging from pumps to wedges and bridal shoes. "Every woman should be able to look like a star and now they can" says founder Evelyn Fox. These shoes are unlike anything you have ever seen and you have to see them to be able to understand just how special these shoes really are. Just one thing to remember ladies, this shoe dream may cost you a pretty penny!

The Saturdays star Mollie King: David Gandy fixed my broken heart

The singer vowed to stay single after splitting from ex-lover Andy Brown earlier this year – but fell head over high heels for D&G model Gandy, 31.

'We went out for dinner but kept it low-key. I actually wanted to be single for a while, having just come out of a two-year relationship and being heartbroken,' the 24-year-old told Company magazine.

She also said she wanted to get her bandmates' opinions. 'I wanted them to meet him as David my boyfriend before they checked him out on the internet.

'When I first met him, I had no idea who he was, which is probably a good thing otherwise I'd have got all starstruck!' she said.

But being in a 'celebrity couple' is taking a bit of getting used to, she added.

'It is weird dating in the public eye, especially when it's so new,' she said.

'I don't want to have to constantly wear make-up or for him to have to worry about looking after me around hordes of photographers.'

Clicking their heels

Consumers are quick to buy electronics, books, and games online. But when it comes to fashion or luxury items, they often think twice.
When you go shopping, you wear the shirt to see whether it fits you. You try on the shoes to see if you are comfortable walking in them. And you put on the shades to see whether or not they suit your face. This touch-and-feel aspect of shopping is absent in the online process, and discrepancies in sizing can become an issue. But fashion brands are being sold online, and there are people – in the region and abroad – buying them.
Narain Jashanmal, general manager of Jashanmal Bookstores says, “If you look at how luxury has been successful online elsewhere in the world, the ready-to-wear stuff has been difficult unless there is huge price event, like an online shopping club. In the States, you’ve got Gilt Groupe, and here you have got Sukar.com. They’ve done very well. But then again, it is a lot about facilitating private sales, rather than pure e-commerce.”
While accessories sell better than garments online, it takes a big price discount to push clothes shoppers over the hurdle presented by the variability of sizing and style.
Sukar.com is an “invitation-only” online shopping club that offers members a chance to buy fashion brands online. It was formed by the Jabbar Internet Group, which owns a number of e-commerce websites in the region including Souq.com, CashU, Tahadi, Ikoo and Cobone.
Sukar hosts two- to three-day online sales events where members can get discounts of up to 90 percent on top brands in fashion and lifestyle products, says Saygin Yalcin, Sukar’s CEO. New members are invited to join by existing ones or advertising partners*. Some of the brands on sale include D&G, Ferrari, Georgio Armani and Gucci.
The short duration of the sales allows Sukar to shift a high volume of discounted stock in a short timeframe.
And online sales don’t take customers out of stores, says Yalkin. “We have seen that people do not replace their shopping behavior by shopping at shopping clubs,” he says. “On the contrary, we have seen that brands featured on shopping clubs have enjoyed an increase of up to 15 percent offline.”
Yalcin says the Sukar model works because members can purchase top brands at large discounts, and brands feel comfortable offering the discounts because of the exclusivity of the club’s invitation-only policy. “We can sell their stock to an exclusive, controlled circle of friends. That is very important, especially if you are dealing with top brands. They value that you do not put their stock somewhere in an outlet so everyone sees it with big signs saying ‘70 to 90 percent off,’” he says. “They don’t want that.”
When it comes to moving sales online, “We can definitely say that luxury and the affluent world has been very much slower than the contemporary and mass-market brands,” adds Yalcin.
At the moment, Sukar is one of the few websites in the region selling fashion brands online. However, more are bound to follow. The company behind local retail website Nahel.com is preparing to launch VanityIs.com, where consumers can buy apparel, handbags, perfumes, shoes and accessories. (Nahel declined to elaborate on the project at this stage.)
Retailers are still trying on different styles of site, to see what will suit them and the region. Online shopping might mean risking the wrong size from time to time, but that squeeze could be worth the risk if it lets consumers stretch their budgets enough.

The Cult of Perfection

“Can you see those awful stretch marks on Malaika's stomach? What's the point of looking so good in a dress if your skin looks like that under it," a bottle blonde stranger in a leopard print jumpsuit whispered conspiratorially to me.

I was at a party in Mumbai, with a mad amalgam of artists,
designers, bankers, filmmakers, businessmen and fashionistas in attendance. With Judith Leibers clutched tightly against Hervé Léger bandage dresses and Louboutin-clad feet being crossed, what was making the evening a little surreal was the free flowing Bollinger, the heady mix of cocktails and the tiny white pills that promised happiness.

It was then that I was accosted by what seemed like a big cat on the prowl who had decided to air her views on an unsuspecting guest's body. This was typical at these parties where people you barely knew think it is acceptable to sidle up to you and comment on how you and others look. They even manage to slip in a tone of concern. If, God forbid, your brow gets furrowed, they will touch your forehead and click their tongues vexedly (which, thanks to Botox, is now the only means they have to show disapproval) and say, “why don't you get rid of these lines darling, I know a fabulous guy."

The extent of Commenting unfavourably on people's appearances has now become de rigueur. It has reached the point that the social expectation is that even lay people have to always be well turned out and perfectly coiffured. Their nails have to be buffed till they shine and not an extra inch of fat should be on display. Botox and fillers should banish age and no cowardice should be exhibited at the idea of underarm surgery so the sweat ring daren't appear on that couture dress.

The pressure to look good constantly has gotten so bad that many celebrities and socialites will just not step out of their homes without makeup, a blow dry and a designer outfit on, even if they are just running errands.

India is still a far cry from Hollywood where publications like The National Enquirer or The Star pay photographers $2 million to catch a celebrity wearing sweat pants, with a tyre of fat or a zit on display. In fact, international A-listers are so paranoid about being caught off-guard that Victoria Beckham apparently once said that she wakes up three hours before she takes her children to school to do her hair, makeup, clothes and accessories. Just so she can look the part for the paparazzi when she drops the kids off at the school gate.

But between Facebook, Twitter, blogging and even the mobile phone camera, the chance of catching an Indian celebrity unawares is high. It doesn't help that Indian websites and blogs like High Heel Confidential and Miss Malini can be relentless in their criticism and fashion policing.

Delhi-based Kalyani Saha, vice president, marketing and communications, Christian Dior, says she feels the heat too. “I have been on best dressed and most stylish lists for so many years now that you begin to feel like you have to live up to it 24-7," she says.

This new cult of perfection didn't exist until five years ago. Medi-spas offering all kinds of nips and tucks, non-surgical facelifts and spot fat reduction have proliferated all over the country. Celebrity image consultants, stylists and personal trainers now make far more money than bankers, accountants and lawyers. It is a sign of our times that dieticians now drive the 7-series BMWs and are better known than many of our politicians.

Says Geeta Rao, beauty director of Vogue magazine, “The Indian concept of beauty and body image has undergone a complete change. We are buying into a thinner, taller, less buxom silhouette. Western images of models and actresses have influenced our perception of what is beautiful. Earlier, people were far more accepting of their natural flaws. Now, if someone has an issue with a particular feature or a body part, they are willing to fix it via cosmetic or surgical intervention. Everyone wants to look good."

But fashion photographer Colston Julian thinks it's about time that celebrities understood how to dress well. “You cannot wear Zara and H&M to red carpet events. Those are high street brands. Even mid-level wannabe models and actresses have understood this and are dressing in Armani, Dior and D&G. I see a lot of fakes though and it's so embarrassing because you can tell. Celebs will carry a fake LV bag or Omega watch. Fake shoes are also a big trend. The peer pressure to wear brands is ridiculous," he says.

Consequently, many celebrities dress very carefully when they know photographers will be present. Saha is known for her immaculate dress sense, but even she has on occasion borne the brunt of blogger sarcasm. “I love High Heel Confidential. They know their job and their fashion but what is hilarious and very insightful are the comments from people who follow this site. I am criticised for some hat I am wearing or a clutch I am carrying. When I know I'm going to be photographed, I dress for these websites these days. And if I make a faux pas now I just make it into a trend," she laughs.

What Saha calls innocent banter is actually ruthless commentary. Blogs like Miss Malini and fashion magazines have also been criticised for putting pressure on celebrities to not repeat clothes, handbags and shoes. “If some Page 3 type wears the same sandals to two events, the poor girl is made out to be a fashion catastrophe," says fashion and advertising photographer Atul Kasbekar.

TV and media personality Pooja Bedi says, “A lot of people feel stressed about not wearing the same outfit to multiple events or lending clothes to siblings because the websites publish images saying, ‘look who wore her sister's clothes'. It's ridiculous to buy something for one-time utility. Letting these blogs get to you is a huge cost to your personal, financial and emotional well being."

What is really ironic is that even the usually self-assured give in to attacks of self-doubt because of the pressure. Anaita Shroff Adajania is the fashion director of Vogue India, as well as a stylist to stars like Hrithik Roshan, Bipasha Basu, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Yet, when she first accepted the job at Vogue, she found herself feeling the pressure to look a certain way. “Vogue is an institution and I struggled a bit to play and look the part, especially when I went to fashion shows abroad and everyone was carrying the right bag and was in labels from head to toe," she says.

It took advice from an unexpected quarter for Adajania to realise that the important thing was to be true to herself. “Tarun Tahiliani told me, ‘Don't try to be someone you're not. Be who you are.' And I find myself going back to that a lot."

Adajania refuses to let the pressure to look beautiful get to her, but she admits to not being averse to liposuction. “I love natural beauty, love natural flaws and am genuinely bored by people looking alike because they are all so Botoxed. Botox can become like a disease. So much so, that people eventually don't even look like the celebrity you fell in love with. No one admits it but many do some form of surgical or non-surgical intervention to fight age or improve their features. Personally, I wouldn't touch my face, it's too sacred, but if someone promised me washboard abs through lippo, I'd say, bring it on."

Many socialites feel the same way and most have promised themselves a little surgery to fight the onslaught of gravity. One was fairly candid about her many sojourns to surgeons who have promised her perkier breasts, slimmer arms and a flat stomach. “But my friends say, just buy the best underwear and Spanx money can buy and sub kuch apne aap khada rahega," she says optimistically.

With people willing to do whatever it takes to keep age firmly in check, even at the cost of losing the expression on their face, Botox has come in for severe criticism. Delhi-based celebrity cosmetic dermatologist Dr Chiranjiv Chhabra, however, defends the injectable protein, saying administering Botox and fillers is an art form. “Sometimes celebrities can be very stubborn about how much they want injected. I always ask them if they want their lines eradicated or softened. If we put about 25 units of Botox around the eyes, it looks very natural. The problem is, stars are so insecure about their lines showing that they want 40-50 units injected and so they end up looking expressionless." She runs the Skin Alive clinics in Delhi and says most of the top Bollywood actress and many of the actors are on her patient list.

Anna Dello Russo Wears Sweats and Heels at Home, Calls Tommy Ton "My Guru"

On the eve of the Toronto exhibit When Tommy Met Anna, which documents the photographer-and-muse relationship of Vogue Nippon editor-at-large Anna Dello Russo and JakAndJil photographer Tommy Ton, Style.com interviewed the duo about their unique relationship.

Having "discovered" Dello Russo in chain mesh D&G in March 2007, Tommy Ton apparently embarked on a quest to document the perpetual sartorial performance the icon puts on for the fashion world. Four years later, Dello Russo describes the relationship to Style.com as the catalyst for her globally envied, spectacular personal style: "For me, I have to please Tommy, he is my guru ... I need to surprise him! I need to seduce him! He represents the eyes of fashion."

Ton also clarifies that there's the ADR for the street cameras, and then there's the real "Anna," who actually wears Abercrombie at home:

    "The funny thing is, on the last day of Paris fashion week, when I went to see her to have a last chat, she answered the door in sweatpants and a sweater, but she was still wearing heels. I was like, Anna, were you sleeping in heels? She said, 'Only for you, Tommy.'"

Which is not to say, the goal is perfection—during the Q&A, Dello Russo points out that Ton's photos sometimes, to her, highlight mistakes: "I die if I don't get the right look. The right shoes ... I can research shoes for three days shopping if I don't find what I need. We share the fashion obsession."

Do you have accessories in preparation for the new season shopping list? I'm afraid this is the most difficult one since the opening quarter of choice. Does not have to arbitrarily choose only one, how to choose their own style and may, depending on the day of the dress with the set. We selected eight groups for your red accessories this season due to reference.

BackPackageVS Clutch Bag

Oriental-style Louis Vuitton this seasonT TaiwanOnModelThey allElegantClutch evening handbags out of the clutch packageTrendInto the peak. In fact, not only can small clutch evening bag, a lot of seasonBrandAlso demonstrates theStyleLarge clutch bag in a simple way to show the T station. The other side of the tote retro means also remains red, Fendi is the best demonstration. In short, the clutch bag for elegant women, women backpack is a perfect match with the art.
 

BalletShoesVS platform shoes

Prada platform shoes this season is definitely the most popular shoes, shoes and hit the color stripesMetalUpper color reaction produced an interesting and impressive. And with them on an equal footing, and Chloé ballet shoes, dressed in tulle skirt show floor pedal models are flat shoes, like ballet elegant actress. If you want to attract attention at the party, if we chose Prada, if you want to go and be stylish and comfortable to work, then to choose Chloé it.

VS minimalist braceletDecorationBracelet

Bracelet width is already a well-known toFashionableRule out. However, wide bracelets or simple to complex, and sometimes it is indeed a dilemma. Céline wind blowing so minimalist, it is also taking home a simple bracelet with natural texture line. In contrast look, Chanel has always been home exquisite bracelet love technology, people can not help but lament thatAccessoriesIs a work of art. Which to choose will depend on personal preference, but the important principle is that if the bracelet complex, clothes to be as concise as possible.

Small VS large mirror mirror sunglasses sunglasses

Asians do not love sunglasses, if you really want to wear, they usually choose to almost cover a large mirror out of his face, because we always lament his face were larger in Europe than doubled. But if you are confident enough of their face shape, then choose a, such as Diane von Furstenberg that might also be a round lens sunglasses. But to rememberPopThe key is that this year's sunglasses continue to be popular wide border.

Small Bag Big bag VS

Practical large bag, small bag and exquisite. Bottega Veneta season introduced a modified version of the knitting bag, Céline's popular "smiley package" have continued to emerge; and Loewe this season brings a lot of candy colored painfully cute little bag and also put it down. This attractive newDesignPeople are reluctant to let go really different, it would work with large, shopping, choose a small bar.

High-heeled sandals, flat sandals VS

This yearSpring and summerT-Taiwan faction holiday feeling natural, fresh, elegant dress has brought out a wave of flat sandals. This Giambattista Valli sandals with leopard and the details of the expression of fashionable metal taste, temperament women go natural wind up over here, this pair of shoes will definitely be the U.S. for your fashion degree a plus. But if you love high heels to choose this Dior sandals saturated color bar, pure use of color is enough to make it a pair of It Shoes.

D&G Will Die; Long Live Dolce & Gabbana

When Dolce & Gabbana said recently that it is folding its younger, less expensive D&G brand into its high-end line, many retailers were bewildered. D&G's success has at times overshadowed the more deluxe Dolce & Gabbana. And the prevailing wisdom is that a luxury brand loses cachet when it offers cheaper wares.

The danger, this theory goes, is that $300 Dolce & Gabbana dresses hanging beside $3,000 dresses with the same label will leave shoppers confused about what the brand stands for. "The Dolce super-label has sublime value," which could be diminished in consumers' minds, says luxury-consumption consultant Jim Taylor.

But there's another way to look at this wager: Consumers—savvier and more confident than ever about fashion—no longer pay as much attention to narrow tiers of brands. They've been mixing and matching expensive and cheap clothes for years. Meanwhile, luxury brands can seem cluttered with different lines when what consumers really care about is the designers who stand behind them.

Indeed, Mr. Taylor this week advised a roomful of luxury-company executives that they are annoying high-end customers by creating tiers of brands. "Nothing upsets affluent consumers more than finding there are multibrand models for multiple levels of quality," he said at the American Express Luxury Summit in Park City, Utah. In other words, maybe Dolce & Gabbana has already been devalued simply by the existence of D&G.

Mr. Taylor argues that companies must choose between two strategies. Either they must go the way of Michael Kors and Ralph Lauren and "paint the earth" with multiple brand levels or they must "simply be sublime" and cater to the roughly 20% of luxury consumers who shop without regard to price.

In fact, another luxury magnate recently narrowed his focus to one luxury brand. Brunello Cucinelli, chairman and chief executive of Brunello Cucinelli SpA, last year folded his two lower-level fashion lines—Gunex and Rivamonti—so quietly that almost no one noticed.
Brunello Cucinelli's Move

Then he put his assets to work producing more products for his top-drawer Brunello Cucinelli line, which sells products from mink jackets to chino shorts.

His showroom in Milan in February overflowed with his expanded fall 2011 collection of shoes, belts, bags and clothes. When I asked what his Gunex and Rivamonti customers should do, he grabbed a pair of chinos, pointed at the pleats, and said some basic pieces like pleated pants are being incorporated into the more luxurious Brunello Cucinelli line.

"My customers understand what I am doing," Mr. Cucinelli said. What's more, he noted that he can now focus entirely on developing the main brand.

This is essentially a wager that the business to be gained by a broader brand will exceed what is lost. Mr. Cucinelli is a highly successful fashion gambler, whose company's profits rose 83% to €15 million (about $22 million) last year, on revenue that grew 27% to €201 million. Mr. Cucinelli, a factory worker's son who received an award from the Italian government last year that is equivalent to being knighted, is predicting that his growth rates will continue in 2011.

Still, these sorts of decisions run against the grain of traditional luxury management. "We're just going to have to absorb [the end of D&G] before we figure out how we're going to handle it," said Neiman Marcus fashion director Ken Downing when asked how his luxury department-store chain would handle the change. Neiman carries both Dolce & Gabbana and D&G.
The 'Bridge' Line

Ever since Yves St. Laurent launched Rive Gauche in 1966, so-called secondary brands (once called "bridge" lines because they served as a bridge for consumers to cross to designer lines) have been part of designer fashion. Donna Karan's DKNY, Marc Jacobs's Marc by Marc, and Prada's Miu Miu offer consumers a less expensive and often younger-looking or more casual entrée to the designers' style.

Newer designers often establish their credentials with high-end lines while nursing plans to launch more profitable secondary lines. The latter can sell more of their products because they're lower-priced, and they generally have higher profit margins because they can cut corners on quality and complexity. The linings may be polyester and the seams less rigorously anchored. The manufacturing sometimes takes place in low-cost countries like China.

Jason Wu toyed with the idea of launching a secondary line a year ago, and Panichgul Thakoon launched Addition as a secondary line. For Akris, the Akris Punto secondary line has been a substantial profit producer. Versace last year brought back its secondary Versus line after having shut it down several years earlier, hiring hot British designer Christopher Kane to design it. The line often gets better reviews than Versace itself.

Dolce & Gabbana representatives have repeatedly declined to discuss the logic behind their move, though it has been discussed and approved by the company's board. The company notified retailers by letters sent in March, saying the plan would be implemented in 2012. People familiar with the strategy this week confirmed that is the case.
Wearing the Designer

Despite retailers' confusion, one might ask whether many consumers will even notice that D&G is gone, because they consider most everything designed by Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce to be Dolce & Gabbana, regardless of what the label says.

Ask my husband about his CK underwear and he'll tell you they're Calvin Klein. Most people think of DKNY as an abbreviation for Donna Karan, when it's actually a more casual contemporary line. Quick—is that Ralph Lauren sweater you're wearing green, purple, or black label—or is it RLX or Polo? Chances are that to you, it's just Ralph Lauren. And Mr. Lauren mixes up his various lines in his stores.

So perhaps it's really the brands and retailers who depend most on having separate secondary labels, which make it easy to situate product lines according to stores' traditional layouts: Donna Karan goes on the "designer" floor, and DKNY is merchandised with the "contemporary" collections.

But to most consumers, says Stephanie Solomon, fashion director for Bloomingdale's, a secondary line is "just a way to have access to the brand."