Nikita Brown/Nikita Brown Photography

Boring Gets You Nowhere is the title of the autumn–winter 2013 collection from World; and no sentiment rings truer for the brand than this. It is by not being boring that this label continues to grow, but by experimentation with outlandish yet still highly commercial and wearable fashion. Others perilously traverse this fine tightrope but World somehow manages to succeed.
   For its first full catwalk show in Wellington, World’s team brought out its A-game. The performance demonstrated true showmanship at its highest level: glitter, sequins, fur and possibly the kitchen sink were thrown into the mix. The result was a collection worthy of envy: clothing that runs the gamut of fine tailoring, couture dresses and to-die-for craftsmanship.
   For women, the oversized tweedy suiting is perfect for either the office or as an alternative take on cocktail dressing: a long black velvet gown will allow you play femme fatale or damsel in distress, however you choose to dress it up. Ball gown-styled lace dresses and two-tone fur-collared coats stood out in the womenswear range. Bright winter florals and warm golden and dusky jacquards, appearing in peplum styled jackets and ’80s pagoda shoulder dresses, gave the collection a point of difference. The brand has a strong Wellington customer base: once you strip away the crazy styling, hair and make-up, most of the garments are workable in everyday life. The brand’s following and versatility were evident by the number of attendees wearing current and archival pieces from the World brand.
   For men, designers Benny Castle, Francis Hooper and Denise L’Estrange-Corbet pulled out all the stops to make it a truly bright winter. Scarlet red, deep navy, rich chocolates, vivid violets and turquoise are fashioned into impeccably tailored suits, complemented by whimsical printed shirts and colourful accessories. Winter tweeds and checks are crafted into exquisite hunting coats with contrasting shawl collar lapels and blocked panel coats. A stand-out for me would be the scarlet red cord pants and navy and check suit jacket, or the couture line floral print suit (only a number of these were made).
   The brand’s creative hair director, GHD ambassador Michael Beel, and make-up director Olivia Wild saw to it that there was plenty of glitter, gold dust, Swarovski crystals and everything in between, creating fantastical looks that helped to translate the clothing to another level. Clara Bow- and Mary Pickford-styled bobs and finger waves were the call of the day, done the traditional way of course, the bobs clipped and pinned together with a multitude of gold bobby pins. Volume was key with many of the models wearing cloud-like creations adorning their heads, sprinkled in gold-dust and glitter and studded with spikes. Speaking to the duo beforehand, the brief was ‘The Great Gatsby meets Downton Abbey on an acid trip’. Eyes were smoky and sultry, while lips were scarlet red and sprinkled with glitter and crystals. Talon-like nails were prominent thanks to the creative nail technician at Buoy, continuing the nail art trend that has appeared on many international runway shows.
   The collection is available for purchase from World stores now.—Sopheak Seng, Fashion and Beauty Editor

Nikita Brown/Nikita Brown Photography

A Lucire special promotion

Kellogg’s has been a supporter of Lucire for years, especially in the early to mid-2000s when we ran a few things together. With the acquisition of Pringles, they’ve embarked on a fun, if slightly bizarre, advertising campaign that some of our UK readers can see.
   Its Fan vs. Sour Cream & Onion advertisement has some interest to us not just in terms of entertainment (the music is by Takeshi-Terauchi and Blue Jeans), but men’s fashion and hairstyles.
   The colours remind us of a highly saturated version of the 1970s, though to anyone who lived through the decade, things were never quite this bright. But the striped shirt and permed hair in the first sour cream and onion video are straight out of the decade that has been rearing its head from time to time in men’s fashion over the last 20 years.
   The retro look is intentional, with a vintage alarm clock, while the music has shades of the 1960s. The typography, meanwhile, is more 21st-century in look, even if a 20th-century typeface is used.
   The UK national favourite is sour cream and onion, hence the company has kicked off with this video. It also launches a new roast chicken flavour.
   It’s actually one of four ads where the fan battles various Pringles flavours in head-to-head challenges, and viewers are invited to guess who will win.
   Pringles notes that no real food produce was wasted in the making of the four videos.
   The company has a Facebook app where the campaign continues, and a YouTube channel for those who want to view the videos again. You can also visit Pringles’ Facebook page.

This post has been sponsored by Pringles.

GHD has released another great collection of straighteners in time to brighten up your winter hair days.
   The Candy Collection has been inspired by retro pastels of the ’50s and ’60s and the current neon brights lighting up runways around the globe. GHD’s original cult item, the GHD IV styler, has been transformed with a colour palette as sweet as candy.
   With fresh colours straight from the spring–summer 2013 runways, GHD is encouraging girls to indulge in sweet style this summer with three delicious hues: brilliant bright turquoise, dazzling electric violet and sunny lemon yellow.
   The GHD Candy Collection is available from approved GHD salons from mid-March.—Sopheak Seng, Fashion and Beauty Editor

A Lucire special promotion

Schwarzkopf’s Live Color Ultra Brights XXL range is the latest in hair colour, with plenty of on-trend shades to give your hair a vibrant look for 2013.
   The Ultra Bright pigments gives bright, colourful shades and the product has a conditioner that moisturizes your hair. Not only do you get shine, your hair stays soft.
   Colours include ultra-neon shades with names like Pillar Box Red, Raspberry Rebel and Fiery Copper. There are other shades including Max Blonde, Absolute Platinum or Ice Blonde.
   Live Color XXL Ultra Brights is a range of semi-permanent dyes that work best on pre-lightened hair, or as a colour booster for normal hair. Bleached hair means the dye will take even more quickly, with a faster development time than what Schwarzkopf estimates, and keeping the hair damp will help, too.
   Live Color XXL Ultra Brights wash out in six to eight washes, depending on the colour you’ve applied. Schwarzkopf suggests keeping a small amount of colour crème for a colour refresh between permanent colouring: when the colour begins to fade, add the remaining crème with the conditioner, spreading the mixture evenly and leave for 20 minutes. After rinsing, the colour is “recharged”.
   Schwarzkopf also recommends back-brushing your hair before dip-dyeing, to give a more even fade between colouring.
   There are a number of techniques that you can use to apply the colour, with Schwarzkopf encouraging customers to do different colours for different parts of your hair, using foil to section it. A website with more tips is linked from the Live Color XXL Ultra Brights Facebook page. Or, check out some of the videos below.
   Live Color Ultra Brights XXL is available at Superdrug, Boots, Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Savers, Bodycare and independent chemists across the UK.

This post has been sponsored by Schwarzkopf.

Since it’s awards’ season in Hollywood, celebrity hairstylist David Babaii has been hard at work again, this time working on Nicole Kidman.
   At the Producers’ Guild Awards (top), Kidman had a fringe and a half-up, half-down do. Babaii used IT&LY Hairfashion’s eco-friendly, cruelty-free Purity Design Line. He began with blow-drying, with a mixture of IT&LY Pure Water Drops and Pure Fluid Experience. Then, using a medium round brush, he created the soft curls and fringe. He swept the hair to one side for the side part for the fringe, then back-combing the crown and drawing the sides into a pouf at the back. He used the Pure Water Drops for the soft curls at the back and the nape, before finishing with IT&LY Pure Definition Hair Spray for misting.
   At the Screen Actors’ Guild Awards (above), Babaii gave Kidman a straight look. A small amount of IT&LY Pure Water Drops were warmed in his hands before it was applied to her hair. After drying her hair, he used a large, round brush to straighten. He sectioned her hair first, into top, sides and back, first drying the nape area. He created a centre part and finished with the IT&LY Racing Red Professional one-inch digital iron.
   Meanwhile, to those of you following us on RSS, Tiffany Fernando was at BMW’s Ladies’ Press Day and improved her confidence behind the wheel thanks to the experts. You can read about her experiences here. Publisher Jack Yan, meanwhile, interviewed Miss TEEN 2012 Aleisha Robertson (right), one of the first New Zealanders to win an international beauty pageant title in years. Is the tide turning positively for pageants in New Zealand?

Kate Hudson’s look at the 70th annual Golden Globes today was courtesy of celebrity hairstylist David Babaii, whose work we have covered here in the past.
   Says Babaii, ‘I wanted to show off Kate’s healthy, shiny hair in a style that emphasizes her true Hollywood beauty. As the perfect “muse” and my inspiration, Kate is my generation’s Brigitte Bardot showing off soft voluptuous hair that is touchable, glamorous and now Kate’s very own signature look.’
   To get the look, Babaii began with IT&LY Pure Water Drops serum before blow drying. He then added IT&LY Pure Style Mousse Strong and used a medium round brush at the root area to add volume, before switching to a large round brush to smooth and create soft rounded edges.
   After drying, Babaii created a natural side part, spritzing IT&LY Pure Volumizing Eco at the base for lift and down the shaft.
   For Hudson’s fringe, he wrapped the bang area around a medium round brush spraying IT&LY’s Pure Volumizing Eco again. Then he set the blow-dryer on high, directing heat on the brush followed by cool air to set. He removed the brush to release the fringe.
   With his fingers he combed through and allowed the hair to fall naturally into place. To finish, he misted the hair with IT&LY Pure Definition hair-spray for hold.

The Body Shop’s Christmas event had always been a matter of curiosity for me. I first noticed the festive decorations and customer-filled stores a few years ago whilst I was still in university and struggling to keep my expenditures in check, as all students are wont to do. Needless to stay, I steered clear of the event simply due to my fear of spending a fortune on things I felt I’d never need.
   This November, I was happy to be proved wrong. When I first received my invitation, I RSVPed immediately and set about contacting Ansonia in order to be allowed to cover the event. If there is one thing to be said, it is that the staff at the Body Shop epitomizes the meaning of the words customer service. From the get-go I was given any information required and allowed to interrogate the poor staff members regarding their products.
   Since I arrived at 3 p.m., it was still a manageable, quiet affair, though it soon filled up with a plethora of customers hurrying to make use of the fantastic deals available for those few hours. The staff were all incredibly lovely, and the store was both impeccably tidy and beautifully decorated. Everything from the decorations to the stations centred around the store that invite you to try the product all made the event an all-inclusive, lovely experience. I was immediately distracted by the basket of 12 adorable limited-edition reindeer sponges, but had plenty of time to venture through the whole event once I’d purchased a good quarter of the sponges.
   Simply put, the Christmas event at the Body Shop is mainly a chance to grab their Christmas goodies and rack up points. Having asked my friend to sign up earned me a solid 50 points and all Christmas products garnered the buyer double points as well. This is rather excellent, as every $100 spent earns you a $10 gift voucher. Every purchase of $100 or more on that night also earned the buyer a giant Christmas cracker full of the Body Shop’s signature strawberry-scented goodies. The pre-packaged, festive-looking cracker also has the added bonus of looking quite spectacular when placed under the tree. The Body Shop also does a gorgeous array of scent-themed gifts that make for fantastic gifts all year round, especially since they are beautifully pre-wrapped as well.
   The great membership deals and pre-packaged gifts aren’t the only things that are great about the Body Shop during Christmas. Each festive season, the company releases a range of Christmas-themed products that usually range in vanilla, ginger and cranberry. These have been a particular staple of mine and, if my shopping bag at the end of the night was any indication, they will continue to be a staple for years to come.
   This year’s Ginger Sparkle is easily my favourite. By the end of the night I had amassed the entire range, having gone so far as to purchase half a dozen bottles of the hand cream almost solely based on the packaging. The cranberry range is also absolutely lovely, especially the shower gel and the heart-shaped cranberry soap that seem more aimed towards Valentine’s Day.
   My friend Lewis, who accompanied me to the event, claims that the vanilla is hands-down her favourite. Having purchased an armful of the Vanilla Spice lip balm a few years ago, I can definitely understand why. This year, the lip balms come in easy-to-apply and hygienic little spheres that are perfect to pop in your handbag for the summer. However, the Ginger Sparkle hand cream is easily my favourite item of this season. You mustn’t be fooled by the deceptively small package. They seem pricey at first but the consistency is closer to body butter than a cream, making the product exceptionally concentrated and long-wearing. Not only does it also smell fantastic, but it never leaves your hands greasy and the concentrated product means a more portable tube of hand cream.
   The shower gels are also absolutely fantastic. They are released in a taller and slimmer bottle than the regular Body Shop shower gels, which make them easier to store in the shower. The sweet cranberry scent is perfect for summer and would make a marvellous stocking-filler. Although the ginger scent is marketed towards Christmas, I can’t help but get the feeling that it is better suited towards winter as its warmth and spice makes it difficult to wear during the warmer days of summer. It is for this reason that I am glad that the company has aimed for a basic vanilla fragrance instead of bolstering it with spice as well, as it becomes more wearable year-round. I will, however, be stocking up on the ginger-scented products regardless in preparation for winter since they will be out of stock by then.
   The Christmas range and all its variations have always been a holiday staple of mine. Now that I know what the Christmas event allows me to gain as a member, I will be certain to attend the next one in order to get better deals on my favourite products. With wonderfully helpful staff and a lovely, relaxed atmosphere, The Body Shop’s Christmas event is a high recommendation from me to all skin care fans.—Tiffany Fernando, Associate Editor

We always thought Deadfall was a movie by Bryan Forbes in the 1960s, but it’s actually a new film starring Eric Bana and one of our reader favourites, Olivia Wilde.
   Getting her hair looking right at the Thursday première came down to celebrity hairstylist David Babaii again, using the IT&LY range of hair products.
   After blow-drying with a large round brush until her hair was dry and straight, Babaii took the IT&LY Italian Racing Red two-inch Digital Iron for maximum smoothness. He suggests ‘taking small thin sections and spraying with IT&LY Pure Texture and combing prior to running the iron through the hair,’ according to notes supplied by Babaii’s publicist. ‘To finish, he created a side part for just enough intrigue, setting the look into place with IT&LY’s Pure Definition Hair Spray.’
   Designer Tamsin Cooper, meanwhile, will launch a bespoke collection of accessories for the Toitū Otago Settlers’ Museum on December 8, referencing detail from a beautiful mid-1930s red silk cocktail dress housed in the Museum’s permanent collection.
   It complements an ongoing collaboration with the Royal New Zealand Ballet, which has proven a hit with audiences.
   The range will feature silk velvet fashion accessories using hand-embroidery, hand-beading and other handcraft techniques. Metallic gold thread, sparkling glass beads and sequins feature, and the range includes a coin purse, handbag, overnight bag, keyring, brooch, jewellery pouch, compact mirror, scarf and wrap. The colour palette is ruby red, ebony and teal.
   Cooper’s TV show, Hearts in Crafts, continues Sunday nights in New Zealand at 7 p.m. on the TVNZ Heartland channel.
   Finally, Orsini is retailing the Hulchi Belluni line of jewellery, designed by Martine Hul and made in Italy, exclusively in New Zealand. Hul says the jewellery pieces are created following feng shui principles.