Design

Jewels for All

Fashion Icon Iris Apfel Will Launch a Costume Jewelry Line With HSN Racked

One of the America’s most-loved fashion icons in New York, Iris Apfel, will launch a 13-piece jewelry line on HSN today called Rara Avis by Iris Apfel. The $20 to $180 collection is inspired by modern and vintage pieces and will be made from Lucite, metals, and beads.

Summing up the details, Iris Apfel believes in creative fantasy and self-expression. Similar to Diana Vreeland, her radical and inexhaustible creative spirit plays out in making herself the showgirl, using clothes and ornamentation to express herself with confidence and center-stage aplomb.

More reading: Iris Apfel, fashion darling. Aged 88 The Observer

Green Beings

Crustacean Chic Is All Washed Up

Fashion meets fish at Selfridge’s exhibition The Guardian

Lady Gaga’s Philip Treacy lobster hat is part of a new exhibition of ocean-inspired designs at Selfridges in London. The Washed Up exhibition uses marine-inspired vintage fashion to highlight the ominous state of overfishing in the world’s oceans.

One highlight is a dress featuring watery prints by the late Alexander McQueen from his last 2010 collection, entitled Plato’s Atlantis. A dress by the avant garde designer Hussein Chalayan, which is formed of clear bubbles and resembles giant fish eggs or underwater oxygen air bubbles, is surrounded by dead coral seized from illegal smugglers by customs officers. It is usually in storage at London Zoo rather than in Selfridges’ Wonder Room.

Selfridges calls the program “retail activism”, as it is intended not only to entertain and raise awareness but also to raise money.

Tags: Oceans; Sea Life: Whales, Dolphins, Global Fishing

Living

Royal Honeymoon

William and Kate’s honeymoon venue The Guardian

Buckingham Palace refuses to confirm that the newlyweds are at the North Island resort in the Seychelles, but the tourism minister blew their cover.

Prince Charles would certainly appreciate North Island’s eco credentials. Like any exclusive tropical resort it trumpets its green policies including the eradication of rats, cats, owls and pigs – the legacy of its coconut farming days – and the re-introduction of indigenous trees and birds including the Magpie Robin. Villa 11 even uses recycled glassware made by projects in Swaziland townships.

Green Beings tag Prince Charles on environment

Humanity

Party On

With Cartier Sponsorship and Sold-Out Kanye West Performance, MOMA Refines Party in the Garden BizBash

New York’s MOMA Museum raised $4 million Thursday night to support the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden. MOMA events and programming execs Paola Zanzo and Olivia Striffler sought to broaden the base of its supporters by collaborating with Cartier and headlining the after party with Kanye West.

“Cartier was a really great sponsor to work with, and it was a true collaboration. They have such a great aesthetic and it meshed so well with our aesthetic,” Zanzo said. “Their support really helped bring a different level of detail to the event, allowing us to do things that we wouldn’t normally do because of the expense and time needed.”

More Kanye West