As Wellington gears up to Africa Day this Saturday, with a 12-hour celebration at the Wellington Town Hall beginning at 11.30 a.m., there’s a distinctively non-African name behind the scenes doing the make-up for the fashion show on the day, as well as the smaller Taste of Africa event at Te Papa from 6 p.m. tonight (May 23).
   Kareen D. Holland, whose business KD One recently opened at Morrison Kent House on The Terrace, is applying her extensive experience in film make-up to the community event.
   KD One’s natural skin care and cosmetics stemmed from Holland’s years in film, working with such luminaries as Weta’s Sir Richard Taylor.
   Working at Taste of Africa and Africa Day is Holland’s way of giving back to the community, something she was keen to do ever since KD One opened last month.
   Africa Day showcases African culture through dance, music, arts, crafts and cuisine. It is the first major cultural event for African communities in Wellington.
   KD One was mentored by Lucire publisher Jack Yan as part of his work with Business Mentors New Zealand.

Finnish designer Piia Hänninen, whose collections are based around sustainability and ethics, has relaunched her website with a new look, in time for her spring–summer 2013 season.
   Hänninen’s new collection, Zebra in the Savannah, can be purchased via her website, while buyers and media can check out her autumn–winter 2013–14 collection, Wolf and Cherrywood.
   The spring collection combines the elegance of well cut garments with a wild Scandinavian print, with an inspiration from the African wild as well as 1960s Paris. The collection uses natural fibres, cotton and silk, while the prints are the subject of a collaboration between the designer and Teemu Keisteri, an artist.
   She manufactures mostly in Finland, with fabrics printed in Finland and Germany. Her influences are from Italy, where she had worked for brands such as Fendi, while she trained at the London College of Fashion.
   More of Piia Hänninen’s work can be found at www.piiahanninen.com.

Panos Emporio has announced that one of the contestants in next week’s Top Model Sverige will become its new model for 2013.
   In next week’s episode on Sweden’s TV3, the 10 models will be photographed by Nigel Barker, with one winner being adopted by the swimwear label for a future campaign.
   Filmed at the end of last year, Panos Emporio boss Panos Papadopoulos flew to Los Angeles for the show. It is the sixth season of the Swedish licensed version of the programme.
   Staying with Swedish companies: in another nod to corporate social responsibility, Hennes & Mauritz has announced it has developed a water strategy in association with WWF.
   As part of a three-year global partnership, H&M says it will build water into its corporate planning, including ‘being a good neighbour and good steward of shared resources,’ says WWF International’s director-general, Jim Leape.
   WWF had evaluated H&M’s water usage and challenges through 2012 to form the basis of the strategy. In 2013, the company plans to implement it globally, working with public policy-makers, NGOs, water institutions and other companies, to support better management of river basins in China and Bangladesh, it says. It will also support WWF conservation projects in the Yangtze River basin.
   Internally, staff will receive training on the water impact on raw material production and its value chain. It will also improve its water efficiency and minimize its suppliers’ impact on water. The company is targeting all 48 national markets and reaching all 750 direct suppliers, with all its 94,000 employees receiving education on water issues.
   Finally, the Peninsula Hotels has announced a new campaign for all its properties, called Peninsula Moments. The campaign shows what is distinctive about each one of its properties, from stunning architecture, authenticity, design, to insight. Unsurprisingly, the clip from Hong Kong—arguably the most famous Peninsula property—features its fleet of green Rolls-Royces, while Bangkok shows off its nearby temple and Shanghai its aviation lounge.

Above The Peninsula Hong Kong Rolls-Royce fleet and its pool.

Above The Peninsula Shanghai Aviation Lounge. The Peninsula Manila’s lobby. A temple in Bangkok, near the property.

French actress Vanessa Paradis is the face of Conscious at H&M, the environmentally conscious label sold by the Swedish retail giant, for spring 2013.
   The new campaign coincides with Conscious’s garment collection programme announced last December, where customers can bring in unwanted items for recycling. For each bag, they can receive an H&M voucher, with a limit of two bags per customer per day.
   Paradis wears a ruffled-edged yellow sundress, and a zip-up utility jacket and botanical print trousers, highlighting Conscious’s stylish, on-trend looks.
   H&M describes its spring collection as ‘optimistic’ and ‘romantic’. There are also accessories such as ankle-strap heels, and the collection is entirely made of sustainable materials, including organic cotton, recycled polyester, and Tencel.
   There are also Conscious men’s and children’s collections.
   Paradis says in the H&M release: ‘I like being part of something like the Conscious collection at H&M. I try my best to shop consciously, and vintage is very much part of my wardrobe. I love the style and it works in an eco-friendly way because I like to use and reuse old clothes.’
   Before her split from actor Johnny Depp last June, Paradis was announced as the face of Chanel lipsticks.

Above An earlier photograph of Stella McCartney, receiving the British Designer of the Year Award, presented by Salma Hayek.

At the Elle Sverige gala at Stockholm’s Grand Hotel last night, designer Stella McCartney took home the H&M and Elle Conscious Award, given out to those actively working on sustainability and fashion.
   Hennes & Mauritz, which is the principal sponsor of the gala, sponsors both the Conscious Award and the newcomer award.
   The newcomer award was won by Common Affairs, a Swedish menswear design duo.
   ‘Stella McCartney is a modern woman and designer who shows that exclusive fashion, sustainability and responsibility obviously belong together, and are an important part of a sustainable future for our industry,’ says Catarina Midby, fashion and sustainability coordinator at H&M and a member of the jury for the H&M and Elle Conscious Award. ‘There is a consistent collection and lifestyle, and a clearly communicated vision that inspires her most conscious fashionistas with clothes and accessories that are gentle on animals and the environment, with the highest level of fashion.’
   The newcomer award has been given out since the first gala in January 1998. This year’s prize is Kr 25,000.
   Common Affairs draws on its duo’s experiences at design school in London and working in Paris. ‘Together they create a modern metropolitan collection for men but which girls also like to wear. It is well tailored, simple and minimalist with clear sporting influences, cool and functional at the same time, and Swedish-produced with responsibility for people and the environment,’ says Ann-Sofie Johansson, head of design at H&M and chair of the jury giving out the H&M and Elle newcomer award.

These smell fantastic and fruity—and their formula contains vitamins E and B5, and Community Fair Trade organic virgin coconut oil. The Body Shop’s latest lip glosses are released in nine new shades in flavours (this is not an understatement—you should see how this office smells) of plum, peach, strawberry, mango, lychee, coconut and watermelon, among others. The formula is non-sticky and lightweight. Each retails for NZ$23.
   Meanwhile, the Body Shop has also released its Rainforest Coconut Hair Oil, which contains coconut oil and pracaxi oil, giving a softer shine and nourishment. The coconut oil is sourced from Samoa’s Women in Business Development Initiative, a Community Fair Trade provider. The Body Shop reminds us that Samoa has had two centuries’ experience in coconut oil extraction, and purchasing the oil (retail NZ$28·50) helps the people there, something that’s particularly poignant after the severe storm their country has had.
   The hair oil works as an overnight leave-in, a pre-wash treatment or as a scalp massage.

In a typically Swedish socially responsible fashion, Hennes & Mauritz has announced a clothing collecting initiative as of February 2013.
   In all its stores in all 48 countries, customers will be able to bring in used garments, with H&M committing to sustainability. Customers will get a voucher in return.
   The company says it will accept items from all brands in any condition, reducing textile waste and overall environmental impact, and saving natural resources.
   ‘Our sustainability efforts are rooted in a dedication to social and environmental responsibility. We want to do good for the environment, which is why we are now offering our customers a convenient solution: to be able to leave their worn out or defective garments with H&M,’ says CEO Karl-Johan Persson.
   The collected clothes are handled by I:Collect, which will reprocess the clothes and make the resources ready for reuse.
   H&M says as much as 95 per cent of disposed clothes could be used again.
   The company says, long-term, it wishes to ‘reduce the environmental impact of garments throughout the life cycle and create a closed loop for textile fibres.’ H&M Conscious Foundation has been set up to support innovation to find ways of closing the loop on textiles.
   Last week, H&M announced an 11-piece men’s capsule range in collaboration of Brick Lane Bikes of East London, to be launched on March 7 in 180 stores worldwide. The range uses more sustainable materials, a development of the Conscious programme.

Summer Rayne Oakes’s environmental short art film, Extinction (or eXtinction to give the official title), has just gone live at Vimeo and YouTube.
   Summer Rayne, who appears in the 2013 Pirelli calendar shot by Steve McCurry, made Extinction in 2011, when it did the circuit at various film festivals across the world.
   The film, directed by Clayton Haskell, is particularly beautiful and powerful, telling a story about our greatest environmental challenges. It briefly featured at Lucire last year as a teaser.
   ‘It reveals that the most pressing environmental issues are not happening thousands of years from now, but are in fact happening within our lifetime—and specifically, on the timeline of one young woman’s life, from birth to death,’ according to its description.
   The main link, at Vimeo, is https://vimeo.com/26854560; the YouTube version can be viewed at http://youtu.be/4IxFQGrzL4w.
   Extinction has also been released with Spanish and Portuguese subtitles, with German, Italian and French in the coming month.—Jack Yan, Publisher

eXtinction film featuring Summer Rayne Oakes from SUMMER RAYNE OAKES on Vimeo