Bethenny Frankel sat down with Piers Morgan last night to talk about her brand and her new book "A Place of Yes." In the book she describes 10 rules "for getting everything you want out of life." Piers went through a few of them with her. "Break the chain is living your own life," Frankel said. "You have to decide the life that you want not what people say your supposed to want."
Piers also sat down with Linda Hogan where the conversation turned to her young boyfriend...
Hogan thought her new boyfriend Charlie was 23 at first but then she found out he was lying: "I said OK as long as you're 19 and not 17, we're good, you're legal!"
According to a recent study, 94 percent of women say they feel good when their feet feel good. Stacy London, style expert and host of TLC's "What Not To Wear," has partnered up with the makers of Dr. Scholl's For Her. She agrees that when it comes to shoes, women can look good and feel good at the same time.
"As a stylist, I know that finding a balance between fashion and comfort can sometimes be tricky. And chances are that most women have experienced ‘fabulitis’ - the discomfort caused by the decision to wear uncomfortable, yet fabulous shoes," says London.
London shares her tips for achieving fashion, comfort and confidence when tackling a job interview:
- Comfort is key: Such a big part of achieving success is feeling comfortable in your own skin - and shoes for that matter. Go for heels and add an insole for comfort.
- Suit up: Suits (pant or skirt) are always appropriate. Pair suits with more feminine, colorful or textured tops to add flair.
- Must-haves: Every woman should have a comfortable closed-toe heel for suiting and separates, a pencil or simple A-line skirt and a suit.
- Walk the talk: Choose clothes and shoes that look and feel good for your body type, stand up tall and show your style with confidence.
- ARA
BBB Watch
After the initial shock of a car accident, people often find themselves facing stress and confusion over how to get damage fixed. The Better Business Bureau suggests drivers know the proper way to handle towing and repair claims after an accident.
"It's difficult to think clearly after an accident, but it's vital to get all the facts before saying 'yes,’" said Steve J. Bernas of the Better Business Bureau. "When you allow a tow operator to carry your vehicle, you become responsible for the costs. Be mindful that the costs could exceed your coverage."
The Better Business Bureau offers these towing and repair suggestions to help drivers make sound decisions following an accident:
Towing:
- Call your insurance company from the accident scene.
- Never give permission to a tow operator who arrives unsolicited to take your vehicle.
- Do not provide a tow truck operator with personal lien holder information.
- Ensure that the tow truck signage matches the name that you called and is identical to any documentation the tow truck operator provides.
- If the truck is not marked, ask for identification.
- If in doubt, call the company back to ensure the operator is with the company.
YORK, Pa. — Leaning into an oversized crate, Rob Bernhard's hand grazed several brown and black loafers before settling on a platinum-colored flat.
Staring intensely for a few seconds, he plucked the shoe from a sea of leather and cast his eyes on the maze of shelves to his right where he would search for the flat's shiny doppelganger.
The key to finding a match is picking a shoe with some identifiable element, Bernhard said — buckles, zippers, a bright-colored sole. Whatever catches the eye.
But somewhere between wedges and sling-backs, sandals and mules, even the most unique shoes began to look the same.
"I was hoping I would have a better chance with this one," he said glaring at the dainty shoe in his hand with mock anger. "But my track record hasn't been very good today."
Bernhard's life-sized brainteaser didn't look much like a traditional charitable cause, but every pair of shoes that he and his colleagues matched Tuesday as part of the United Way of York County's annual Day of Action was money in the bank for Shadowfax in York.
For the last two years, Clarks shoes has been sending shipments of the mismatched footwear to the local nonprofit, which provides a variety of life skills and job services for the mentally disabled, said Deb Bryant, director of day supports for Shadowfax. The shoes, which have been used as samples by Clarks' salespeople across the country, arrive in large boxes separated by right and left foot.
Clarks, which used to throw the shoes away, has been paying Shadowfax for each pair matched and boxed for resale. Last year, Shadowfax raised $20,000 from the shoe fundraiser, enough to buy two new vehicles to transport clients, Bryant said.
As volunteer opportunities go, the shoe matching has been a lot of fun, said Stacy Pearl, a community relations representative for Memorial Hospital. There's no worrying about the weather, and it's a challenge, she said.
Some people have been better than others at the matching, Bryant said. Teenage girls seem to be the most successful.
But according to Corey Hudak, human resources director for the hospital, the women participating Tuesday weren't having any more luck than the men. Hudak said she was surprised by how many shoe terms the guys were throwing around.
"They're good about it," she said. "They know open back, sling back, open toes."
The sorts are for a good cause, but they've also been great for a little good-natured competition, Bernhard said, especially among the members of the group who had racked up multiple matches.
As he spoke, a co-worker bounced happily toward him holding two identical shoes.
"Hey Rob, do you think these match?" he asked with a sly smile before whisking them away. "Yeah they do!"
Fashion according to mannequins
"One size fits all" no longer applies to mannequins. With retailers fighting for customers in the sluggish economic recovery, the generic white, hairless, skinny mannequin is being pushed aside by provocative alternatives that entice shoppers with muscles, unusual poses, famous faces and lifelike bodies.
"The customer shops from the mannequin," said Jenny Ming, chief executive of youth retailer Charlotte Russe, where poses for new mannequins are drawn from red-carpet celebrity pictures, and feature pierced ears, articulated fingers for rings and flexed feet for high heels. "The No. 1 reason our customers come in is because they see something they like."
The Disney Stores chain has added little-boy figurines that fly from the ceiling and little-girl ones that curtsey. Nike has made its mannequins taller and added about 35 athletic poses. Armani Exchange has ordered models that will lie down to help shoppers imagine wearing lingerie. A new accessories-only store by Guess features glossy black mannequins in model-like poses on an actual runway, while Ralph Lauren's new women's store in Manhattan commissioned mannequins with the face of model Yasmin Le Bon.
It is all part of a new appreciation for old-fashioned window dressing. During the 1990s and early 2000s, many stores cut costs by hiring inexperienced workers to outfit their mannequins, and generic was best as the dummies needed to be dummy-proof. But with shoppers getting increasingly persnickety, retailers are expecting their store displays to serve as "come on in" advertising, with the made-to-order mannequins sending a very specific message.
"They personify their brand with their mannequin statements, and they're looking for something a little more customized or unique," said Peter Huston, brand president at Fusion Specialties, a mannequin company in Colorado whose sales for custom mannequins rose 48 percent last year.
One of Fusion's customers is Athleta, the sportswear company owned by Gap Inc. It commissioned mannequins based on a catalogue model, Danielle Halverson, a track-and-field athlete training for the Olympics. Fusion Specialties digitally scanned Halverson in stationary and action sequences.
Then, over about two weeks, seven sculptors created clay renderings of the 3-D digital scans that "hand-etched her from a tiny pile of clay down to the tiny delineations of the sinew in the muscle," said Tess Roering, vice president for marketing at Athleta, which opened its first physical stores this year.
After making more prototypes, Fusion produced the Dani-quin, as Athleta executives started calling the mannequin, in several variations.
The running pose, especially, looks realistic: she is in midstride, with only her left toes on the ground. The Dani-quin, by the way, is headless.
"We wanted to make sure that our customers weren't worrying about the hair, or anything else," Roering said.
Michael Steward, executive vice president of Rootstein USA, which makes mannequins for stores like Ralph Lauren, Chanel and Neiman Marcus, said the newfound appreciation for speciality mannequins came as many retailers reassessed the market.
"A lot of people have decided they have to specialize," Steward said. "Nothing sells the clothing like a mannequin: It's a subliminal message from the retailer, the first thing people see in the window or in a department when they go into the store."
When mannequins first were used, they were basically molded dress forms to which clothing makers pinned garments. By the 1920s, they had developed into torsos with joints attached and slowly started to get wigs, makeup and glass eyes. By the 1960s, when some women stopped wearing bras, "you started to have nipples on mannequins," said Linda Scott, a professor studying consumer culture at the Said Business School at Oxford. "That was a big shift," she said.
But in the 1970s, as retail chains expanded nationally and cost pressures increased, mannequins shifted back toward the generic.
"That's when you saw mannequins that did not require makeup, did not require wigs, or so much attention to detail, to reduce the costs," said Huston, the Fusion executive.
During the recession, companies curtailed spending wherever they could, and mannequin sales slowed. But after shedding unprofitable brands or merchandise during the recession, the retailers are focused on a specific customer and a particular brand position, and they want their windows to reflect that with custom mannequins.
"Over the past two years, everyone has really had to reassess their business and their client base," Steward said, "and the market is so competitive that people are just focusing on what they do well, and what they sell."
Prices of custom mannequins run from about $400 to $1,200 a mannequin, not including the $15,000 or more that places like Fusion charge for development. A mannequin makeover can cost a national chain millions.
Is it money well spent? Not always, said Scott, because shoppers are an unpredictable lot.
"Sometimes they're imagining themselves in the clothes, sometimes they're just entertaining themselves on an evening walk, sometimes they're standing there with a girlfriend talking about how stupid the clothes look," she said.
And Steward,the executive at Rootstein, said retailers sometimes ask too much of their mannequins.
"Everyone thinks they're going to reinvent the wheel," he said. "As I always say, there's only so many things a mannequin can do: Would you like two heads with that, madam?"
The upcoming launch of Zaggora Hotpants has the company's fan page buzzing. Using only Twitter marketing since launching the website 2 weeks ago, the company has had over 23,000 visits and over 10,000 Facebook 'likes.' Over 1,000 women, eager to lose weight and reduce cellulite, have signed up to be brand ambassadors for Hotpants. On Saturday, the fan page went 'viral' registering over 500 'likes' in just an hour.
The official delivery of Zaggora Hotpants is scheduled for June 29th. Zaggora currently has 300 women signed up to write about their experiences on Zaggora's Facebook fan page, providing real life testimonials, or 'social proof,' for anyone interested in Hotpants.
Hotpants were specially designed by Dessi Bell in London after finding that there wasn't anything in the market to really help her attack cellulite and lose weight before her wedding. She researched materials and fabrics after realising that comfortable clothing that targeted the areas women care about such as bum, thighs and tums, was the way forward.
After 12 months of development she found that during Hotpants trials women lost weight as well, an average of 2 jean sizes in 2 weeks.
Speaking about the craze so far, Dessi says, "It's been such a fantastic response, we're quite overwhelmed. On some days, the team doesn't have time to do anything but respond to emails and tweets - women just seem to love the idea - we haven't even delivered any yet.
"Women everywhere want to lose weight and look good naked this summer. Wearing Zaggora Hotpants helps them use natural body heat to maximize workouts," says Dessi.
Specially designed with Celu-Lite? technology, Hotpants maker Zaggora says they work hard to reduce body fat and the visible appearance of cellulite by using natural body heat to increase perspiration by up to 80%.
Hotpants are available for media outlets to review.
German photographer Peter Lindbergh tells a romantic and captivating story, with the help of legendary fashion editor Grace Coddington, for the July Issue of Vogue US. The story being told, is that of a love triangle, US Vogue favorite Lara Stone and Frida Gustavsson fighting for the affection of True Blood actor Alexander Skarsg?rd. Frida Gustavsson is stunning as the "other woman", her girly charm beautifully contrasting with Lara Stone's old school, gap-toothed glamor.
The pieces featured in this editorial, titled "Spellbound", conjure a sense of danger by creating the illusion of 1940's film noir mystery and elegance. Pieces from prestigious labels such as Marc Jacobs, Balenciaga and Miu Miu create major nostalgia, with high society styling from the past. Stunning prints from Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton help create this post-war glamor.
The mix of Black and White and color photography works really well in this editorial, and heightens the sense of romance and intrigue. The smallest details on this shoot all work together to create a stunning overall effect. The patent shoes and fur accessories make the 1940's cinematic look, with the film-set like surroundings shining just as brightly as the clothes.
Lara Stone makes this shoot. She's Vogues favorite. She's my favorite. I love you Lara!