We take our hats off to Marylou Luther, Fashion Group International’s creative director, who was able to come to a summation of the Spring 2010 collections in tweet format—140 characters or less. Here it goes: “Squeeze/ease. Goth/froth. Drape/shape. Reality/romance. Transparent/apparent. Undies outed/utility touted.” But as neat as Luther’s summation is, the panel discussion that followed it at FGI’s Trend Overview presentation was just as open-ended. Moderated by Donna Karan, the panel’s speakers touched on everything from the necessity of educating customers and salespeople about quality and inspiration to the phenomenon of information overload. Nothing was off-limits. Karan even introduced a seemingly untouchable topic when she went so far as to wonder if pre-season—which is shown intimately, is on the sales floor for a long time without markdowns, and generates the lion’s share of profits—should take the place of the Spring and Fall collections.

Timing, as they say, is everything. The experts worried that media-savvy consumers want the styles they see immediately and don’t account for what Bergdorf Goodman’s Linda Fargo calls “fashion’s gestation period”—that is, the time it takes to manufacture them. Ikram Goldman, Michelle Obama’s go-to woman, explained that she can be on a buy for the coming season and get a call from a customer already armed with look numbers from Style.com to request. (We think that’s pretty cool, but we’re not exactly unbiased.) There’s no solution in sight, but one thing is clear: Today’s fashion-hungry consumer has more outlets than ever to feed her yen for the latest news, and many think that’s a good thing. “We’re talking to the world now,” said Style.com’s Candy Pratts Price. As for too much information, there’s an easy solution for that: “unplug.”

The International Fashion and Photography Festival that takes place every year in Hyères (sorry, couldn’t resist) in the South of France has an impressive pedigree, a point rammed home by the rapid-fire video appetizer for the 26th edition, which runs April 29 till May 2. (You can watch it, in its slightly hysterical glory, below.) The ten fashion finalists (from France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, and Switzerland) will be judged by a jury headed up by Raf Simons, who also has an exhibition running in the Photography Festival. He’ll have to ride herd on jurors Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough, Christopher Kane, Carla Sozzani, Cathy Horyn, Michel Gaubert, and me, though our verdict will undoubtedly be rendered unanimous under the ameliorating influence of Provence’s finest rosés. And there can be few more appropriate locations in which to judge a new wave of design talent than the Villa Noailles, one of the French Riviera’s great if-walls-could-talk houses. In its pre-war heyday, it played host to Picasso, Dalí, Cocteau, and a whole host of avant-gardists. With Raf, rosé, and Michel Gaubert’s iPod, we should be able to raise a few ghosts.—Tim Blanks

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Following her appearance on ‘Late Night With David Letterman’, Elizabeth Banks took to the red carpet this evening in New York City for the screening of her new movie, ‘Man on a Ledge.’

The actress donned a sexy Versace Spring 2012 mini dress.

As Elizabeth is very much a Versace girl, having worn the brand on many occasions, I’m not surprised to see her wearing this one-shoulder black dress with intricate black leather and gold H.Sternstudded details with pleated chiffon draping on one side.

I’m obsessed with the sultry makeup and the hair.

She’s totally transformed herself from her earlier look, but I much prefer the heels worn by the model.

I can let the tights slide, but not those booties.

The look was edgy enough without them.

Do you agree?

H.Stern gold Copernicus stud earrings and an Ippolita gold Glamazon ring completed her look.

Credit: Style.com & Getty

Rihanna was spotted out and about London over the past week, showing off her signature, edgy street style.

The singer was in town to appear on ‘The Jonathon Ross Show’ following her appearance at the 2012 Brit Awards.

RiRi left the HQ of Prelude London, in typical rockstar fashion wearing her Ray Ban sunglasses at night.

A Givenchy screen-printed shirt over a long-sleeve top, baggy jeans and Timberland hiking boots made up her casual ensemble.

The following day, she was seen leaving her hotel paying homage to an iconic screen star – Elizabeth Taylor wearing a Topshop Unique pixelated Cleopatra sweater.

A long black skirt, stylish shades and Giuseppe Zanotti bi-colour pumps completed her look.

Whilst greeting her fans on another day out in London she donned a Religion ‘God Save the Queen’ long sleeve slashed sweater paired with rolled up boyfriend jeans.

A black Fleet Ilya visor and white Comme des Garcons x Converse high top sneakers completed her look.

Her week ended showcase the sexy street style Rihanna is known for yesterday, courtesy of Christian Louboutin Sea.nn Girl thigh-high leather boots which are part of the Christian Louboutin 20 year celebratory capsule collection.

Paired with studded denim shorts, a denim button-down shirt, plus a denim shirt tied around her waist and tucked into her shorts.

A flat-brim baseball cap and loads of gold jewelry completed this look that only Rihanna would dare wear.

Does she pull off these street-style looks?

If so, which is your favourite?

You can buy Rihanna’s Givenchy oversized tee-shirt from Luisa via Roma
and her Topshop Unique sweater from Topshop US and Topshop international.Credit: FameFlynet & PacificCoastNews

Between the Fall runway shows and Monday night’s Costume Institute Ball—think Ashley Olsen in vintage Dior or Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in Burberry—the upper-leg area hasn’t gotten so much attention since Suzanne Somers’ ThighMaster heyday. “We wanted to do something fun,” said Jason Wu of the hip-high slit on the skirt he made for Diane Kruger’s march up the Met’s steps. While most designers go straight for red-carpet appeal with sky-high slashes, Joseph Altuzarra and Jonathan Saunders whipped up slightly more casual takes on the look at their February shows. Trust us, though, they’re still guaranteed to keep the flashbulbs popping.CLICK FOR A SLIDESHOW and let us know just how much leg you’re willing to show.

Breitling introduced its first Unitimer model — a self-winding world-time watch now a sought-after collectors’ item — in the 1950s. At this year’s Baselworld watch fair the brand unveiled the updated version the Transocean Chronograph Unitime a timepiece that expresses the brand’s classical aviation-inspired theme with technical innovations and a striking zenith replica watches modern design.

The watch features the new Caliber B05 odm lover watches based on Breitling’s first in-house movement automatic chronograph Caliber B01 introduced in 2009. In addition to its chronograph functions this new movement is outfitted with a patented mechanism that allows the wearer when changing time zones to adjust all the indications simply by turning the crown. (Click on the photos below for larger images.)

The system uses two moving disks one indicating 24 hours and the other bearing the names of 24 world cities representing the 24 major time zones. The time shown by the central hands corresponds with the timezone displayed at 12 o’clock. The city disk (which is available in several different languages) also has indications for daylight savings times. To change the time zone the wearer simply pulls out the crown and turns it forward or backward in one-hour increments which simultaneously corrects the central hour hand the 24-hour disk and even the date which is indicated in a window at 4:30 in either direction. A traveler can then see at a glance what time it is in any other time zone in the world including his home zone. The central minutes hand and seconds hand will continue to run during this operation without interruption; if the chronograph is switched on it too replica watches continues running undisturbed.

The watch is offered in both a rose-gold and stainless-steel case on either a leather strap or a steel Milanese bracelet. The dial options are black or “polar” white each with an elegantly rendered globe design in the center surrounded by sundials for the chronograph counters (at 3 o’clock and 6 o’clock) and small seconds (at 9 o’clock). Like its brethren in the Breitling line the Transocean Chronograph Unitime is officially certified as a chronometer by the Swiss testing agency COSC. The U.S. retail price is $11 200.

Technical Characteristics:
Movement: Breitling manufacture Caliber 05 automatic COSC-certified chronometer; 28 000 vph;
56 jewels; over 70-hour power reserve.

Functions: 1/4th-second chronograph with 30-minute and 12-hour counters; world-time indication;
calendar

Case: Stainless steel or 18k rose gold; diameter = 46 mm; convex sapphire crystal glareproofed on both sides; water-resistant to 100 meters; on Barenia leather crocodile leather strap; steel version also on steel mesh “Milanese” bracelet

Michael Kors always has a front row full of major celebs.

Jessica Alba: The actress seemed to thoroughly enjoy the Michael Kors presentation as she took many pictures of key looks on her iPhone in between pointing out looks to stylist Brad Goreski who was seated next to her husband. She stole the show wearing a turquoise keyhole sheath dress with a leather yoke from the designer’s Pre-Fall 2012 collection. Teamed with tights and ankle boots, the actress completed her look with a Pre-Fall black-and-white haircalf clutch.

Paula Patton: I didn’t see Paula’s stylist, whoever he or she may be, but I hope they were taking plenty of notes, as Paula is in need of a red-carpet redemption look following last year’s Mission Impossible promo tour. On this occasion she looked gorgeous also wearing a look from the Michael Kors Pre-Fall 2012 collection. Her LBD with lace sleeves and a lace yoke was teamed with black leather criss-cross sandals from the same collection.

Amber Heard: The actress, who never looks anything less than wow, looked stunning wearing an ivory super-fitted dress with a black lace detail. A chic ponytail and an orangey red lip colour completed her look.

Debra Messing: Sporting a warm rich plum hair colour, the actress stood out the most in the front row wearing a Resort 2012 neon-pink sheath dress accented with a gold patent leather belt. The colour is outstanding, but I would’ve loved her to have added a black belt to complement her black Louboutin peep-toes.

Credit: Getty Images for Michael Kors

Anna Paquin attended the Comic-Con 2011 HBO’s “True Blood” Panel which was held at the San Diego Convention Center in California on Friday, with her husband/co-star Stephen Moyer.

The “True Blood” actress wore an Antonio Berardi pencil dress from the Pre-Fall 2011 collection.

Her tailored dress has structured folds on the shoulders, a sexy silhouette – which is very much Antonio Berardi’s trademark – plus an exposed zipper.

Anna once again opted to shorten her dress.

You may remember she did the same at the “True Blood Season 4 Premiere with her Versus dress.

She clearly knows how to maximize her best asset.

Black perforated Gucci open-toe heels and a low ponytail completed her look.

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Credit: Style.com & Getty

Australian artist Hamish Munro has found a new use for an age old party item, the rubber balloon. By easing them onto his signature rope, he’s created a celebration-worthy collection of fun unisex necklaces, Balloon Bubble Necklaces. If nothing else, they’ll add a “pop” of color to your outfit.

Katy Perry was in Glendale, California yesterday to launch, ‘Katy Perry Lashes by Eylure’.

She delighted her fans by arriving wearing a blue Roland Mouret ‘Anabelle’ colour-block dress from the Spring 2012 collection to match her 40s inspired blue ‘do.

Her dress features a square neckline, pleated cap sleeves, a black bow at the waist and a godet skirt.

Katy matched her vibrant dress with Giuseppe Zanotti ‘Denny’ bow strap sandals we first saw on Jennifer Hudson.

The singer is really enjoying playing with different shades of blue. I have to say I prefer the blue to her pink phase.

Solange Azagury-Partridge jewels and bubblegum pink lips completed her look.

Do you like this look or is it too cartoonish?

Credit: Style.com & FameFlynet