Clinton Foundation donors are funding Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign

Hillary Rodham Clinton is tapping some of the biggest donors to her family's philanthropy for her presidential campaign, even as the charity is under scrutiny over its own fundraising practices.
Starting what could be a $1 billion-plus fundraising effort, Clinton began raising money for her presidential bid Tuesday in New York, the state she represented in the Senate. The hosts' connections with the Clinton Foundation show how intertwined the charity is with Clinton's political career. Even her campaign finance director, Dennis Cheng, had a leading fundraiser role at the foundation before departing for the campaign.
The former secretary of state has faced persistent questions about the foundation's acceptance of donations from foreign countries and its corporate ties in recent weeks.
And as she starts holding fundraisers this week, plenty of overlap can be seen between long-term political donors and foundation funders.
In New York, Clinton's first event was at the home of fashion designer Lisa Perry, a longtime Democratic donor to Hillary Clinton's campaigns, and husband Richard C. Perry. A hedge fund executive, Richard Perry has donated between $250,000 and $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation, according to the foundation's voluntary disclosures, and supported Hillary Clinton's Senate and presidential bids.
A second event is co-hosted by Alan Patricof, the finance chairman for Clinton's Senate campaigns. He and his wife donated between $100,000 and $250,000 to the foundation.
One of Clinton's fundraisers in Washington on Thursday will be at the Georgetown home of Elizabeth Frawley Bagley, a longtime Clinton friend who served as ambassador to Portugal. Bagley and her husband, Smith, have donated between $1 million to $5 million to the foundation.
(Image:cheap bridesmaid dresses)
Next week, Clinton will raise money in San Francisco alongside Susie Tompkins Buell, co-founder of the Esprit clothing line and a top donor to Ready for Hillary, the super PAC that helped lay the groundwork for a Clinton campaign. Buell's family charity has donated between $5 million and $10 million to Clinton's foundation, records show.
In Los Angeles, a Clinton fundraising dinner will be held by Cheryl and Haim Saban, an entertainment mogul who created the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The billionaire couple, through their family foundation, donated between $10 million and $25 million to the Clinton Foundation, making the couple among the philanthropy's biggest benefactors. Haim Saban frequently invites the former first lady to his annual foreign policy meetings in Washington.
Casey Wasserman, a sports and entertainment executive, is a co-host of the Los Angeles dinner. Wasserman is the president and CEO of the Wasserman Foundation, which has donated between $5 million and $10 million to Clinton's foundation. He is the grandson of the late Hollywood studio chief Lew Wasserman, who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton in 1995.
For now, the Clinton campaign has set a modest goal of $100 million for the primary and is only accepting donations of $2,700, the maximum an individual donor can contribute during the primary season. The initial fundraisers are part of the campaign's "Hilstarters" program, which seeks donors who can raise 10 maximum-donation checks each. Those who meet the goal will be invited to a "finance leadership summit" with Clinton on May 14 in New York.
Other than during her four years at the State Department, Clinton has taken little break from fundraising over the past three decades, raising hundreds of millions of dollars for her husband's two presidential campaigns, her Senate races and her first White House bid. After leaving her post as secretary of state in 2013, Clinton quickly moved into raising money for the foundation's endowment, in many cases scheduling small events with donors to the charity in the same cities as her paid speaking engagements.
Read more:wedding dresses glasgow

'It's wrong to tell fat women they look fabulous'

Being morbidly obese is a choice. There, I've said it. I know it won't make me popular, that many will accuse me of "fat-shaming", while others will argue that being grossly overweight is a disability, and who chooses to be disabled? But to be honest I am still reeling in shock from having seen Plus Sized Wars on Channel 4 this week. I watched the documentary with a mounting sense of horror, as the so-called plus sized bloggers - young, obese women who flaunt their bodies on Instagram and Twitter and have thousands of online followers - and a host of fashionistas, retailers and shoppers lined up to insist that "fat is fabulous".
But here is just one less than fabulous consequence of the obesity epidemic in the UK that I encounter daily in my work as a doctor. I'm a radiologist, and some of the men and women who come to see me (in the new, extra large wheelchairs the NHS now has to purchase) are so large that they can't fit in a standard MRI scanner so we can try to diagnose what is going on underneath all those layers of fat. There are open-sided scanners we can use instead but the images they produce are of a much poorer quality.
Far from being fabulous, fat is a public health time bomb. Forget the problems that the NHS faces with an ageing population - a recurring theme in the current election campaign here. Statistics show that 60 per cent of teenage girls in this country are overweight, and 20 per cent of young mothers are obese (66 per cent of audlts are overweight in NZ). Britain is home to the fattest women in Western Europe, and our men are fifth in the league table, according to a 2011 study published in The Lancet. I can't believe things have improved since then.
Plus-sized supermodel Tess Munster shows off designs by Monif C. Many young women look up to the undeniably-beautiful Tess, but Dr Sarah Burnett would like to remind us that, "in terms of life expectancy, the morbidly obese face a similar scenario to the lifelong smoker."
The harsh truth is these people are not going to reach old age. Complications associated with their obesity will get them first - having cost the rest of us a fortune in treating them simply because they eat too much, and no one seems prepared to tell them. To tell them that they need to stop; that it will be hard but they can - with help - do something about it. It is utterly wrong to "normalise" these gargantuan appetites and bodies, as high street retailers are so cynically doing with aggressive marketing of high fashion plus sizes promoted by beautiful, but morbidly obese models.
Perhaps we need to define our terms here. I am not talking about those who are size 14 or 16. I am all for initiatives, such as the Dove campaign for Real Beauty, that celebrates real women rather than air-brushed stick insects. For the record, as a 52-year-old mother of two, I am a size 14, and I could probably do with losing a few pounds for health reasons rather than vanity.
Picture:romantica bridesmaid dresses
Interestingly, not one of the talking heads from the fashion industry, PR companies and, with a few exceptions, the model agencies who featured in the documentary was particularly overweight. Here was a bunch of folk who would never want to be fat themselves seeking to make money out of those who are, by telling them they looked great. It was akin to fat pornography for them.
(And by the way, that exploitation extended to the broadcaster interspersing the documentary with pizza ads. That was downright irresponsible.)
I don't have a heart of stone, so I can't to be too critical of the morbidly obese young women in their late teens and early twenties who featured.
Like many other viewers, I suspect, I could see the pain that lay just below their brittle exteriors as they assured the interviewer how happy and at ease they were with being a size 24, how inspired they were by the likes of American (plus-sized) supermodel, Tess Munster, 29, who at 5ft 4in is a size 18/20 (and possibly then some). They are deluding themselves and it is desperately sad. What I do know is that if any of these girls were my daughter, I would be telling her the truth about what lies ahead.
Some of them undeniably had pretty faces and they dressed with panache. At the moment, they have youth on their side, but I will not be surprised if, by the age of 40, several are using mobility scooters. Indeed, some already appeared to be having problems with their knees as they struggled to stand up without support.
In terms of life expectancy, the morbidly obese face a similar scenario to the lifelong smoker. Research shows that their size could cost them at least 10 years of life. With those youngsters already morbidly obese in their teens, I'd say 20 years would be more realistic.
And what will happen in the intervening years? Well, to start at the lower end of the scale, there will be the annoying niggles - back ache and joint issues, chaffing etc, from carrying all that extra bulk. They will be especially prone to being knock-kneed, as the joint space is eroded by the weight bearing down on it.
I see plenty of women who come for scans because they have lower limb problems that I know would be eased if they weren't so fat, but no one seems willing to confront them with that.
Instead, we treat the limb problems, and often end up listing the women as medically disabled. Another issue they may face is that their fertility will be impaired, as their size impacts their hormones and periods become less regular. And let's be frank - their partners may not be so willing to have sex with them. Being morbidly obese can cause personal hygiene problems. I don't call that fabulous.
If these women then need infertility treatment, they will find most consultants demand that the first thing they do is to lose weight. Even if they can get past this obstacle, morbidly obese mothers experience higher levels of foetal deaths and of complications when giving birth, not to mention the damage their eating does to their unborn child's metabolism.
As the years pass, they will face a much higher risk than the general population of diabetes, cardiovascular problems, strokes and heart attacks. There are also strong links between morbid obesity and breast and endometrial cancer.
I am sorry if this litany of pain and suffering sounds extreme, but someone has to say it. Someone needs to tell these young women, bedazzled by the bloggers, big models and advertisements, that they are killing themselves. If we allowed our pets to over-eat to this extent, the RSPCA would remove them from our homes.
I am well aware that by speaking out I will face a backlash. When Jamelia, the singer and panellist on ITV's Loose Women, suggested this week in the wake of the documentary that shops shouldn't stock clothes for obese women (or, for that matter, "size zeros") because they need to "feel uncomfortable" about their unhealthy size, she was hounded on Twitter and forced to apologise.
How wrong-headed is that? She was simply and correctly challenging those who are set - out of conviction or in order to make a profit - on enabling youngsters to make choices that ultimately, despite all the fat-is-fabulous rhetoric, will be disastrous for them.
The young women featured in the documentary may be in utter denial now, but what they are doing to themselves will overshadow their lives. And the rest of us, who fund the NHS.
See more at:best black bridesmaid dresses

Sonia Kashuk Talks Beauty Favorites and Her Collaboration with Legendary Makeup Artist Linda Mason for Spring

Sonia Kashuk’s Art of Makeup spring collection is colorful, fun and eye-catching from the get-go. The range is a collaboration with someone very special to her, makeup and visual artist Linda Mason, who mentored Kashuk early in her career. Kashuk wanted to pay homage to the legend with this limited-edition range, which includes products like bright makeup brushes, abstract-printed cosmetic bags and a luxe vanity tray.
“Linda is one of the people I had the opportunity to work with and to assist for four-and-a-half years at the start of my career and she was always the makeup artist who really owned the word ‘artist,'” says Kashuk. Despite their different approaches to artistry, Kashuk recalls Mason’s impeccable eye for color and passion saying, “She inspired me so much — her sense of color, whimsy and the love that she had for creating incredible faces, and how she approached makeup, with the face as a canvas. I admired her artistic sense and her love and passion for color. When you look back at Linda’s work in the 70s and 80s and [then look at] what the makeup artists are doing today, it’s all a cycle. She was truly the creator, I think, [she was] the initial creator of that free-form makeup that we saw at Celine or that John Galliano has done with Pat McGrath over the years, Linda was there in the 70s and 80s doing it.”
Picture:wedding dresses
When it was time to celebrate her mentor, Kashuk asked Mason to create illustrations for the collection that were filled with color and showcased her talent. “Linda literally drew it out and I took that and applied it to different forms and it became abstract on different products. It was a really fun collaboration and in the end, the most important part for me was that it gave me the ability to share somebody who had an impact on my life and who made me better and was a person that made me who I am today because I truly believe none of us get to where we are without the help of others,” added Kashuk.
Something else that is very much a part of her life is Kashuk’s hairstyle, one she’s worn for 25 years and won’t be changing anytime soon. “I’ve had it blown out a few times and I feel like I look crazy—it just doesn’t work with my face, so I started wearing it in a top knot. I use all of the Oribe haircare products — I’m a huge fan. I use the Oribe Masque for Beautiful Color because I have super curly hair and the Supershine Moisturizing Cream because I need lots of moisture in my hair,” she explains.
Kashuk also just introduced Sahara Sunset, the color collection for spring that is filled with beautiful bronzers, bright nail colors, and high-shine lip colors. When it comes to makeup, Kashuk keeps her “queen of clean” aesthetic and believes that confidence is key. “Makeup should be a small cheat so that you look good, but no one really knows that. I feel that it’s important to feel comfortable in no makeup and in our own skin as well as feeling confident with makeup,” she says. Her personal favorites include the Eye On Neutral Palette, the Bare Illuminating Bronzer and full lashes when she’s going out. “It’s like putting on a pair of high heels. It makes the eye shape a little prettier, gives eyes a little drama and glam,” she says of the falsies.
Her eponymous line may not have skincare products beyond body products, but that may soon change. She’s a huge fan of skincare and admits to swearing by monthly facials and using a variety of products to keep her skin looking its best. “My friend Cindy Crawford’s line Meaningful Beauty has a great Glowing Serum, which I love. I use a lot of skincare products from Biologique Recherche and the Shiseido Future Solution LX line is also great. I just love variety because skincare makes a huge difference and in the end, great skin helps with makeup application. We’re working on some skincare products, so I’ve also been using a new exfoliating product that I’m very happy about and loving — it’s very exciting.”
See more at:navy blue bridesmaid dresses

He's best friends with the Beckhams

He's best friends with the Beckhams, has an eye for the next big supermodel and is the nicest man in fashion: How Christopher Bailey made Burberry the coolest (and most lucrative) brand on the planet
On Thursday night, the great and good of fashion and showbiz gathered to help one man celebrate the launch of his new shop.
But this was no ordinary shop - this was Burberry Chief Creative and chief executive officer Christopher Bailey's new Beverley Hills flagship.
Over 700 guests, including superstars Cara Delevingne, Suki Waterhouse, Mila Kunis, Elton John, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Anna Wintour and the entire Beckham brood, turned out to support their pal Christopher at the London in Los Angeles event at Griffith Observatory.
So how does one man have so many A-list friends? And how did he turn Burberry into the world's coolest brand, notching sales for the six months to April up to £1.42bn? An ability to reinvent trends, an eye for the hottest talent and the most charming demeanour; that's how.
Christopher Bailey's meteoric rise through the ranks at Burberry hit new heights after the Yorkshire-born designer was named CEO at just 42-years-old back in October 2013.
The designer had been a key part of Burberry's creative team since he joined the label as creative director in 2001, and took the reins as chief creative officer in 2009.
In a statement released by the brand, Bailey described himself as 'humbled' after being offered the role, which he took up in mid-2014 when current CEO Angela Ahrendts departed for Apple.
During his tenure at the brand, Bailey has made Burberry one of the most influential labels in the world thanks to his uncanny knack for knowing what women want before they know themselves.
Since becoming creative director in 2001 after a stint at Gucci, the label has gone from strength to strength, but that hasn't stopped Bailey from taking time out to encourage up-and-coming talent from making the most of their skills.
Along with mentoring fashion students from the University of Huddersfield and the Royal College of Art, Bailey and Ahrendts together launched the Burberry Foundation - a project that encourages young people around the world to realise their potential through creativity.
At every show, he calls on fledgling musicians to perform - and his alumni, including Tom Odell, Paloma Faith and George Barnett, have all gone on to greatness.
And then there's the models. Bailey snapped up Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Jourdan Dunn, Lily Donaldson, Cara Delevingne, Douglas Booth and Eddie Redmayne before anyone else had clocked onto them.
He counts Sienna Miller, Suki Waterhouse, Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss among his most recent clothes horses - and counting.
One of his biggest - and most talked-about - coups was snapping up Romeo Beckham to front two of his campaigns.
Bailey is good friends with Romeo's mother, fellow designer Victoria, so there's little wonder the pair were introduced.
Indeed, Romeo is one sixth of the UK's most famous family, so it's no surprise that Romeo holds some pretty substantial pulling power.
In fact, thanks to his Burberry advert, sales of the brand's classic £1,500 trench coats shot up a substantial 10 per cent.
The fashion label credited the 12-year-old son of David and Victoria for its rise in sales in the US, Europe and the Middle East after he starred in their Christmas advert last year.
The advert, which was first released in November, was the first-ever Christmas campaign for Burberry and starred Romeo alongside 50 dancers all clad in the beige trench coats.
Such was his popularity in the film called From London With Love that it was watched nine million times after being released.
Of course, Bailey has put his golden touch on the clothes, too.
This week it was revealed that sales of the brand's poncho carrying a personal monogram and costing more than £1,000 have been central to a sales boom at the very British prestige brand.
Image:http://www.sheinbridaldress.co.uk/princess-wedding-dresses
The ponchos - together with heritage trench coats and scarves - have boosted Burberry sales by 10 per cent over the winter.
The wool-and-cashmere designs, which were first modelled on the catwalk by Cara Delevingne, were a huge success among celebrities before Christmas.
Famous names including Victoria Beckham, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Sienna Miller and Sarah Jessica Parker were all seen sporting the ponchos, each monogrammed with their initials.
The firm said its scarves and trench coats were a hit with customers and ‘investment and innovation in ponchos drove exceptional growth.
Chief financial officer, Carol Fairweather, described the impact of the ponchos as ‘phenomenal’ and suggested new variants are in the pipeline adding: ‘There’s lots more to come from the poncho story.’
The British brand has become a global success with sales up 10 per cent for the six months to the end of March compared to the year before, taking from up to £1.42 billion.
Sales were particularly strong in the UK and Europe, not least because hordes of tourists from China flocked here to buy designer clothes and bags.
Burberry saw ‘double digit’ sales growth in the United States and Europe and trading was particularly buoyant in Britain, France and Italy, from both locals and tourists.
Richard Hunter, of Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, said: ‘Burberry remains in fashion following a trading update which underscores its ability to capitalise on its chosen markets.
‘The overall picture is extremely healthy – the strength of the digital contribution, particular product growth in the likes of the iconic trench coats and scarves and pleasing performances from the Americas and most of Europe.
‘In addition, the company is well positioned for future, selective growth in terms of both stores and lines, such as beauty.
‘It seems that everything about Burberry is premium – its brand, its products and perhaps of late its share price – a 25 per cent increase over the last year compares to a 7.5 per cent rise for the wider FTSE100.’
Burberry was founded in 1856 but has moved with the times under Bailey, who understands how to use technology and social media to the brand's advantage.
The brand's flagship Regent Street store in London is case in point.
It's not just a place to shop but a hub of new technology with interactive mirrors, concert-quality sound systems and giant screens streaming their catwalk shows - as is the Burberry Beauty Box in Covent Garden.
Bailey also allows customers the chance to purchase items straight from the runway at his shows, livestreams the events and this week launched a Snapchat account, featuring surprise visits from members of the Burberry family including Cara Delevingne, Naomi Campbell and Jourdan Dunn.
The platform revealed real-time content from the event on Thursday night, including live arrivals on the red carpet and front row reactions.
Speaking to MailOnline, Bailey said: 'It's all about involving people around the world and making them feel part of the experience - even if they can't be there in person.
He said: 'It's about doing something that makes people smile, that makes people want to engage, whether it's online, whether it's physical, whether it's at the show like this.'
Christopher Bailey was born in West Yorkshire in 1971 to a carpenter father and a mother who worked as a window dresser in Marks & Spencer.
Despite his country roots, fashion always called to Bailey and in 1994, he graduated from the Royal College of Art in London.
His career began with a role at Donna Karan in New York but he moved on after just two years, having been offered a senior role at Gucci.
After five years in the job, Burberry came calling with Bailey tasked with turning the creative direction of the then ailing fashion house around.
Working closely with Angela Ahrendts, Bailey's vision struck a chord with buyers, press and fashion fans alike and the brand has gone from strength to strength during his tenure.
Awards for his work have ranged from an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, London's Royal College of Art, to a prestigious CFDA gong in 2011.
In his role as Chief Creative and chief executive officer, a new title created especially for him, Bailey is responsible for everything from the design of Burberry collections and products to advertising, corporate art direction and even architectural design.
If his success so far is anything to go by, it's going to be a very triumphant future for the A-list-loved brand.
See more at:bridesmaid dresses

Jefferson Hack’s fashion-dance mashup

Jefferson Hack’s fashion-dance mashup: Tanztheater Wuppertal perform in Prada
Ever since Coco Chanel was hired by Sergei Diaghilev to create the costumes for his 1924 production Le Train Bleu, stars of the fashion world have regularly worked as guest designers for dance. Halston, Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Lacroix, and Alexander McQueen are among those who have created costumes and, occasionally, sets for the dance stage, with both wonderful and sometimes disastrous results
More recently, the relationship has started to work the other way, with fashion designers co-opting dance for their catwalk shows. Alexander McQueen invited Michael Clark to choreograph his spring–summer 2004 show, and in 2013, Rick Owens startled Paris by using street dancers instead of models.
But the two art forms are now being combined in a very different way, in a new project launched by Jefferson Hack, the Dazed group co-founder. MOVEment is a series of seven short films, commissioned in association with AnOther Magazine, on which Hack has invited designers and choreographers to collaborate on original ideas. As he explains: “We’ve created a neutral space where neither fashion or dance were leading the dialogue, where they could both be allowed to play.” The two have combined to think about costume and movement in ways that expand our ideas about bodies, clothes, and dance. An A-list of contributing names includes Miuccia Prada, and Sarah Burton from McQueen as well as choreographers Wayne McGregor and Russell Maliphant.
When Hack began thinking about the project back in 2013, his idea was to commission some kind of in-depth investigation into the relationship between fashion and dance, using the medium of film rather than print. Having only an outsider’s knowledge of dance, he went for advice to Alistair Spalding, artistic director of Sadler’s Wells. “We had a lot of interesting conversations,” says Spalding, “going through a whole Rolodex of choreographers to work out which ones would suit which designers.”
Dancer from Jasmin Vardimon Company in a costume by Stephen Jones Millinery, for a film by Matthew Donaldson. Photograph: Lena C Emery
(Picture:sheinbridal backless wedding dresses)
Some of the participants had strong opinions about who they wished to work with: Prada wanted to be paired with dancers from Tanztheater Wuppertal. Francisco Costa, from Calvin Klein, was keen to work with the American ballerina Julie Kent. But Hack says that though they tried to make each collaboration a pairing of “like minds”, there was no sense of cosiness about the resulting films, which he describes as “an incredible polyphony of voices”.
He’s particularly proud of the Prada/Wuppertal collaboration – the first original work the company has created since the death of its founding choreographer Pina Bausch, six years ago. It’s a beautiful piece, set in a derelict theatre, in which the 10 dancers move through a sequence of delicate, exploratory duets. Both sexes are interchangeably dressed in male and female clothes, and the haunting strangeness of the film (directed by Kevin Frillet) is highlighted by the small white feathers that rain down on the dancers throughout.
Dancers of Tanztheater Wuppertal in costumes by Prada for a film by Kevin Frilet. Photograph: Albrecht Fuchs
All seven films are radically different. In the Maliphant/Iris van Herpen collaboration, the dancer isn’t clothed in actual fabric, but in a “virtual” costume – a cloud of luminous digital particles. In the McGregor/Gareth Pugh collaboration, one of the costumes is made out of thousands of slender drinking straws that somehow move like fur. As Spalding says: “The relationship between fashion and dance has been blown out of the water. In some cases it has nothing to do with how a normal garment fits a human being.”
Even where the dancer is more conventionally dressed, the film and choreography work their own transformations. Paris Opera ballerina Marie-Agnès Gillot wears a black lace dress from McQueen, yet as she dances it becomes the shroud of a dying swan, a goth ballgown, the robes of a flying angel.
Hack says each film has brilliantly transcended its original brief, to become “a snapshot of an attitude, a philosophy, a mood”. After a public screening, the films will be released one at a time on anothermag.com. Hack has high ambitions for the audience they will find: “Once they’re out on the web, they will travel really far.”
Marie-Agnès Gillot in a costume by Alexander McQueen for a film by Daniel Askill. Photograph: Sam Rock
But he’s equally keen for MOVEment to become the first step of a much bigger project: “I hope we can go on to explore different commissions, maybe even for the stage. I really think this is just the beginning of the dialogue.”
See more at:wedding dresses glasgow

Balenciaga, Master of Lace at the Museum of Lace and Fashion in Calais

In the post-war era where societal expectations dictated the garments of the upper classes, lace was a prominent feature on all sorts of occasion dresses.
In the morning, it was a discreet detail on a skirt suit; by the late afternoon, it peeked out from cocktail dresses, and in the evenings, gowns were made almost entirely of the exquisitely crafted material.
Cristobal Balenciaga (1895-1972) was a Spanish designer who possessed a great gift for using lace to decorate, elevate, and even transform his designs, from jackets to cocktail dresses to tunics to accessories. He variously played on the lightness and transparency of lace to reveal skin, and used heavier swaths to conceal it. He was also often inspired by the convertible outfits of the 1920s, and created lace ensembles such as a short evening dress with a skirt that could be converted into a cape, allowing the wearer to protect herself from the evening chill.
Uniquely, the couturier, who defined the fashion scene in the 1950s and 60s, often invoked the sumptuous sartorial details in portraits painted by Francisco Goya and Ignacio Zuloaga.
“He used special lace, such as lacquered lace, and researched unique ones like wool lace, which was later used by [Christian] Dior too. He transformed them with embroidery so that they became thick or resembled eighteenth bristles. He played on lace’s transparent quality to recall the outfits worn by the ladies painted by Goya,” says Catherine Join-Diéterle, curator of the exhibition Balenciaga, Master of Laceopening at the Museum of Lace and Fashion in Calais, this week, featuring almost 75 outfits and accessories by the Spanish-born, Paris-based couturier.
The exhibition not only presents a wide overview of Balenciaga’s oeuvre, but also highlights many forgotten lace producers such as Marescot, Dognin and Brivet. Fabric samples will be displayed as evidence that lace patterns were often painted by hand, or reembroidered by renowned specialists such as Lesage. Sometimes, tulle panels would be embroidered to resemble English needlepoint works, or otherwise adorned with gazar ribbons to reproduce the effect of lace patterns.
“My favorites are the brown and gold pieces, which are very reminiscent of Goya’s Spanish palette [and] a fuchsia ensemble of shantung silk and lace… creations of a couturier,” she adds.
See more at:wedding dresses 2014
cheap bridesmaid dresses

Mystery at Horseheads Museum: Who wore wedding dress?

If you ever stuffed a box away in a closet, forgot it was there and don't recall the details surrounding its contents, you are familiar with about 1,000th of the challenge of a small town museum.
The Horseheads Historical Society Museum has been unpacking its history, preparing to build a database of its collection, find out more details about its holdings, and redistributing items unrelated to Horseheads.
The problem is information is incomplete on some items and non-existent on others. An 1879 wedding dress falls into the first category, two murals of the Village of Horseheads the latter.
Stacey Gunderman White and Michelle Podolec, volunteer board members and Horseheads residents, have been snooping around closets and storage space to discover old treasures and sort the collection.
"The girls were so excited, you'd have thought they'd found gold," said Linda L. Burke, of Horseheads, president of the Horseheads Historical Society board, of the day when the 1879 wedding dress was discovered in one of their buildings, The Zim House, the 1888 home once owned by famous cartoonist Eugene "Zim" Zimmerman.
Gunderman White has been exploring the museum and Horseheads history since she was a child, influenced by her friend and former town historian Nadine Ferraioli, who died in 2007.
"She would talk to me about it as a child growing up," Gunderman White said. "She knew about everybody that came through this town, from first settlers on. She would let me come to the museum and explore. I was the kid who went into the museum and pretended, and she let me do that."
Gunderman White went off to ride race horses and was a thoroughbred racetrack official before returning to Horseheads, where she now operates Beefeater Tavern on Hanover Square with her husband and involves herself in community activities — such as the historical society.
She said she's gone through thousands of donations in the last two years, acknowledging while the finds were new to Podolec and her they probably weren't to elders on the board.
The 1879 wedding dress and two others now on display had been stored following museum protocol, placed in a museum-quality, acid-free box and labeled correctly, with an accession card that told it was donated by Esther Olsen in 1988 and that the dress belonged to a school teacher — either Virginia Manny or Hester Boundry.
Picture:black bridesmaid dresses
The museum volunteers are trying to determine which of the teachers wore the dress, at which of the two schools she taught, and if any descendants are still living.
The volunteers determined the wedding date from the bottom of wedding shoes packaged with the dress. The date Oct. 15, 1879 was written on them.
"Brides at the time wrote the date of the wedding on the bottom of their shoes," Gunderman White said. "Almost as we opened the box it was giving us clues, it wanted us to find out the story. It was evident all three dresses were stacked together and had been displayed at one time, all three of them were teachers.
"I went in there hoping to find wedding dresses," Gunderman White said. "I like to think Nadine is guiding me through this."
The dress was stored properly. The same can't be said for the murals that Podolec found.
"That was an example of something probably not archived properly," Gunderman White said. "They were rolled up and behind this that and the other. That was actually a neat find."
They had handyman Tim Evans stretch them on a frame, and the murals have been hung on museum walls.
"I like the color they add," Burke said. "I would say they were both done by the same person, or maybe as a class project. We thought about that."
They don't know the date they were painted, but they're modern — one shows Hanover Square with Kwik Fill and Pudgies pizza, the other of the canal. They're hoping someone can provide details so they can be properly credited.
The Zim House, donated by Eugene Zimmerman's daughter, Laura Zimmerman, after his death in 1935, had a full inventory at the time of the donation. Over the years, other items that didn't belong were placed there, Burke said.
The last two winters have been spent clearing out storage and cataloging holdings. Good-intended donors sometimes drop off items to get rid of them without realizing the work ahead for a small museum with limited resources.
"We have cleared out the back room," Burke said. "There are so many historical things. We have given some away to other historical societies, where they belong. The Chemung Valley Museum has helped us. Before we took everything. Now, donations have to be related to Horseheads."
With the sorting done, Burke said the museum could use help with data entry so holdings can be displayed on the museum's website.
And, of course, they could use help solving the mysteries of who wore that wedding dress and who painted those murals.
Read more at:wedding dress hire glasgow

Fashion Magazine Cites Krystal And Jessica Jung As An International Fashion Influence

The article featured k-drama and k-pop celebrities such as BigBang's G-Dragon, 2NE1's CL, model Soo Joo Park, f(x) singer and "My Lovely Girl" actress Krystal Jung and her sister, former Girls Generation member and now Blance & Eclare fashion brand founder Jessica Jung.
The article titled A Seoul Set talked about the fact that these stars are courted by designers such as Chanel to appear on the front rows of fashion shows. The article quoted Soo Young Cho, CEO of the fashion consultancy company "The Bread and Butter" on Krystal's fashion appeal.
"Krystal has an eye for wearable fashion," she said in the article. "She looks great in her clothes, even if she's just wearing jeans and a t-shirt.
(Picture:wedding dresses manchester)
The article also called Jessica Jung the k-pop version of Miranda Kerr and said that her girl-next-door style has made her a darling of the fashion paparazzi.
Increasingly international designers are recruiting K-drama stars and k-pop celebrities to attract attention to their fashion shows.
Jun Ji Hyun took part in the Autumn/Winter 2013 Christian Dior Haute Couture Fashion Show. She was the first Korean celebrity to be invited to the Christian Dior Haute Couture Fashion Show.
Girls Generation's Tiffany and Sooyoung attended New York's Fashion Week in February 2015. And Hyuna, CL and TTS attended the fashion week in the previous fall.
And the clothes worn at k-pop concerts and in dramas also inspire fashion and beauty trends. A shade of lipstick whether it is worn by Jun Ji Hyun in "You Who Came From The Stars" of actor Ji Sung playing a female personality in "Kill Me, Heal Me," can sell out before the drama ends.
According to Arirang TV, several of 2014's popular fashion trends in Korea and abroad were inspired by the styles actresses wore in k-dramas.
When Jun Ji Hyun appeared in "You Who Came From The Stars" she popularized oversized coats, particularly checked ones, and her signature sunglasses. When Yoona appared in "The Prime Minister and I," she popularized shirts and dresses with oversized neck bows.
And IU's quirky fun look in "Pretty Man" inspired a love of corsage necklaces and loose-fitting fuzzy sweaters.
As Korean dramas and k-pop expand their influence worldwide, it's only natural that the effect on a fashion will be felt.
Read more at:wedding dresses cardiff