April 27, 2008
There are only 8,000 each for him and for her of the Diesel Fuel for Life Special Edition bottles, launched December 2007âand if you search, you may still be able to find some at âexclusive sales outletsâ. We had to mention it since we think this is the coolest looking bottle for the first part of â08.


  Meanwhile, photographer Matthew Plummer went along to the Little Brother show in Wellington, New Zealand and took some catwalk shotsâwe really loved these since they arenât your ordinary âphotographersâ pitâ stuff. Some of Matthewâs work will be in the next print edition of Lucire.
  Speaking of the next print edition, Elyse Glickman has an interview with very hip, celeb-favourite LA label Hale Bobâand it was interesting to note that there has been African inspiration there. Itâs evident in one of the collection photographs: embellished, raw and stylish. This pic probably wonât run due to space reasons, so hereâs a chance to enjoy it now.

   Finally, in terms of happenings for our team, hop over to the beauty pages: our Mari Johnson has been to the Qua Bottle Lounge in downtown Austin, Texasâread about her experiences here.
March 25, 2008
And itâs a hoaxâas one reader, who sadly did not leave his or her name in the comments, suspected. George Clooneyâs management has said that an email doing the rounds among the fashion mediaâwe and Womenâs Wear Daily at least received itâsaying that the actor was launching a clothing line is a fake.
  âI have no connection whatsoever with any clothing line bearing my name, and more speciïŹcally GC Exclusive by George Clooney,â the statement by Mr Clooney read.
  It was an interesting email to have received, nonethelessâand it will be very interesting to see if anything takes place at the Westin on the promised date.
  As to the site looking like a fake: weâve seen far worse among legitimate licensees.
   Well, this blog is meant to show you the behind-the-scenes stuff, for better or for worseânow you know what we get!
March 24, 2008

It had to happen sooner or later. Of all the celebs out there, George Clooney is particularly marketable, not just because of his looks, but because of his social activism. Thanks in part to his politician Dad Nick, the younger Mr Clooney is probably interested in more than acting.
  At the Westin Palace in Milano next month, Clooney will be dĂ©buting his luxury fashion line for men and women (with clothing and accessories). The press release is not the best translated, but we gather heâll be there. The line is called Style by George Clooney, we believe, and the company is GC Exclusive by George Clooney.
  Thereâs a business card for the manager, Vincenzo Cannalire, at his site, featuring Mr Clooneyâs image and not-very-luxury-brand web design, and an ofïŹcial site at www.gc-exclusive.com in a similar style (above). If one assumes that if the actor has allowed his name to be used, this should be a reasonably good range.
February 7, 2008
Supermodel Naomi Campbell says the fashion industry is more racist than ever.
  Campbell hit out at the lack of black faces on magazine covers and catwalks.
  She told The London Paper: âWomen of colour are not a trend. Thatâs the bottom line. Itâs a pity that people donât always appreciate black beauty. In some instances, black models are being sidelined by major modelling agencies.â
  She continued: âFashion needs to go back to the way it used to be when wonderful designers like Yves Saint Laurent, Gianni Versace and Azzedine AlaĂŻa just had a great line-up of beautiful womenâwhite, black, Chinese, Hispanic.â
  Campbell, 37, admitted that her supermodel pals helped her career by taking a stand against racism.
  âLinda Evangelista and Christy Turlington would go to big designers and say, âIf you donât pick Naomi to be in your show, then I donât want to be in itâ,â she recalled.
  âThe only reason I got the cover of French Vogue was because Yves Saint Laurent called up and told them heâd pull his ads if they didnât.â
  The Streatham-born star spoke out after her former boss admitted racism was still rife in the industry.
  Carole White, head of the Premier model agency and who represented Campbell for 17 years, said: âA black girl has to be perfect to get work. The bookers are told, âDonât send any ethnic girls.â
  âI showed a picture of a new black girl to an agent in Milan, and he actually recoiled. He said, âWe donât have black girls in Milan. Itâs impossible.âââPress Association
December 4, 2007
Patrick Dempsey of Greyâs Anatomyâletâs also not forget Loverboy and Meatballs IIIâis the new face of Versaceâs menâs line, according to the fashion house. Donatella Versace said to the press, âHe has that conïŹdence, completely comfortable in his own skin, that is so attractive.â Mr Dempseyâs campaign has already been shot by Mario Testino and breaks early in the New Year.
November 24, 2007
Youâve seen the video (which has been on the Lucire home page since late October), now read the article: a little more news of Roberto Cavalli and H&Mâs collaboration and the parties they had in Roma and New York to kick it off.
   We hesitate linking the video in too many places, since it needs to be off our servers come December 31 as part of the licence with the folks who made it. But at least now we will have a nice web page souvenir of the events on two very full-on days on both sides of the Pond.
   The limited-edition range illustrates, once again, the idea of âaccessible luxuryâ, something that this magazine has pushed for some time alongside the need for corporate social responsibility.
   There was a bit more partying going on the other coast, as our friends at TDink magazine hosted the Fashion Walkoff (with proceeds to a good cause). Thatâs featured online at Lucire, too.
October 1, 2007
In the 1990s, the geo-targeting of advertisements on websites was not very common. If a campaign went outâsuch as when CondĂ© Nastâs style.com advertised here to get its word out to fashionistasâit went out globally. We were paid, of course, for delivering campaigns to everyone.
   Somewhere this century, advertising decided to take a backward step, since much of the ad world functions regionally or nationally. For the web, campaigns would be regionally or nationally targeted. If American Company X were advertising, then it sure didnât want its ad to be seen by German Consumer Y. The technology of tracking where a visitor came from became more widely available around this time, and ad networks obliged.
   This traditional advertising method has its appeal. If I ran X, then why would I want my brand exposed to Y, who would not buy my goods?
   Hereâs my problem with it. X has a chance to generate immense goodwill. X may expand into Germany at some point, and a whole bunch of consumers will know the name, just as they would if they were to buy an American magazine or watch a news item from the States.
   When you watch TV and see X, even in the United States, do you go and buy its goods straight away? No, the brand is built ever so slightly with that exposure. In fact, I would argue that advertising online is more effective than on telly, but then no one measures TV ads by clickthroughs or any standard nearly as strict as those adopted for the web.
   It is this global attitude that saw American brands get exposure in foreign markets in the ïŹrst place. Last time around it took ïŹghting Fascism and hundreds of thousands of American lives to bring Coca-Colaâs name into the minds of people in Europe and Asia. This time we have a medium that allows exposure without waging war.  Â
   So it was a relief, and a throwback to the 1990s, to see that Armani Exchange is advertising here at the Lucire site in a global campaign, which even we folks here in New Zealand can see. Then, it is a global brand, so the exposures here make sense because we can buy the stuff. But I wish that there was less geo-targeting: this is a globalized planet, after all.
   With one exception: the US Dancing with the Stars ads can stay there.
September 30, 2007
From the Murdoch Press today, reporting from Milano.
THE catwalk waif may be losing her sway. Miuccia Prada, the most-watched trendsetter in the fashion world, has signalled a move to curvier models by choosing a busty mannequin to parade a new sweater on the Milan runway where before she had stuck almost exclusively to stick-thin girls, writes Maurice Chittenden.
   Experts are predicting that Pradaâs lead will be followed in Paris this week by designers responding to health concerns sparked by the deaths of three South American âsize zeroâ models and their inïŹuence on young girls.
   Lara Stone, a size 8 Dutch model with a 34in bust, was cast last week by Prada, head of the label founded by her grandfather, to model a ïŹne-knit but virtually see-through top to show off her breasts.
The usual story: we told you so. Who needs to watch the designers when we have been consistently ahead on most trends since 1997?
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