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By sally, June 6, 2010 9:57 pm

The story for this summer is nudity – the vast majority of shows opened with nude, ice-cream colours, making cut and drapery the big style statements as opposed to eye-popping colours. Where last summer we obsessed about colour blocking, next will be about subtleties of tone: nude with peach with washed out nutmeg, or grey with icy blue. A general lack of clothing will be approved of too – your underwear must look its best next summer because if it’s not on show it’s not worth wearing – only to be covered by swathes of knotted and ruffled sheer chiffon – and a touch of lace will keep things interesting Stella McCartney, Fendi. White is always a trend for summer, but 2010 is expecting a full washout – bleached cotton came tailored and masculine or bulging and ruffled. And if you want colour, make it a check  Christopher Kane, Louis Vuitton.  So what to buy, if you will be shopping? Party dresses – lots of them, to be worn day and night: with interesting and forgiving  folds around the hip for added shape. A jumpsuit – single shouldered or strapless if you dare. Loose trousers that taper to the ankle, preferably in silk. Bring shoes down a level or two, and if you venture from the washed out palette, make it a bold, tribal or ethnic print  Dries Van Noten. A trench coat, long or short  or turned into a party dress at Burberry. A belt – skinny ribbons or wide leather versions; the waist intends to allow you to show off your curves. And if your curves are that good, swimwear is teeny weeny as can be.

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By Nwinkus, August 20, 2009 3:04 pm

Karl Lagerfeld is the master of reinvention. From a portly fan-wielding designer for his own label he shrank to a snake-hipped figure (after which he authored and published The 3D Diet – about dropping 92 pounds in 13 months), and – although he still brandished a fan – he set about world domination as designer for Fendi as well as Chanel, plus a range for H& M.

He is a mini polymath: an intellectual who owns 7L – a bookshop in Paris – speaks several languages and has published books of his art photography too.

• Born in Hamburg in 1938, Karl Lagerfeld emigrated to Paris at the age of 14
• He has designed costumes for La Scala opera
• In 1955, at the age of 17, Lagerfeld worked at Pierre Balmain, after winning a competition. He then worked for Jean Patou, Krizia, Charles Jourdan and Valentino
• In 1967 he joined Fendi, then Chloe the following decade, then Chanel in 1983 – returning briefly to Chloe in 1993 to replace out-going designer Martine Sitbon
• In 1984 he also launched his own name Karl Lagerfeld label which, he said, would channel “intellectual sexiness”

It’s no wonder that he appears to be such a master of the fashion landscape. By 1997, Vogue crowned him the “unparalleled interpreter of the mood of the moment”. Humour in his designs never deserts him whether with quilted handbag earrings, to 2007’s quilted ankle bag.

In 2005 he sold his own name brands (Lagerfeld Gallery and Lagerfeld), to Tommy Hilfiger but maintained full design involvement