Louis Vuitton Is Seeing Spot; Will Collaborate With Artist Yayoi Kusama

Artist Yayoi Kusama

After its successful six-year collection featuring Takashi Murakami’s bright colored LV monograms and smiling anime cartoons, Louis Vuitton has decided to collaborate with yet another modern Japanese pop artist.

Yayoi Kusama, 82, who is known for her polka dots installation, will join Marc Jacobs in designing a broad range of products including leather goods, ready-to-wear, accessories, shoes, watches, and jewelry, which are set to hit stores in July.

Source: WWD

Kusama Fashion Shoot on New York rooftop, 1968 (Source: Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo)

Elle-o Kitty!

Look who made the cover of Elle Taiwan. A fashion statement for both young and old alike, Hello Kitty is always rocking the latest trends, and in celebration of their 20th Anniversary, Elle Taiwan has chosen the chic cat to grace not only one, but two of its covers. Definitely a lot cuter than Miss Piggy’s cover for Harper’s Bazaar (sorry Kermit).

Source: NYMag.com

Fashion Feature: Liu Wen

Liu Wen at VS Fashion Show 2011

In honor of recent events, we’d like to dedicate this fashion feature to Victoria’s Secret’s first Angel of Asian descent, Chinese model Liu Wen. In 2009, VS plucked Wen out of a regular casting call, and had her strut down its glittered covered runway. ”Liu Wen is a beautiful woman. She has a strong and energetic presence on the runway. She looked absolutely stunning in our fashion show,” said the show’s executive producer Monica Mitro in an interview with CNN.

Who knew that such a star-studded career with begin with a computer. It was in 2005 that Wen entered a modeling contest in China to win a computer, and the rest is fashion history. She has since been featured in some of the glossiest trend editorials as well walked in such prestigious fashion shows as Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton and of course, Victoria’s Secret.

Get Peter Som’s Favorite Thanksgiving Recipe

Peter Som (Source: Stylelist.com)

Chinese-American designer Peter Som shared his favorite Thanksgiving Recipe “Panettone Bread Pudding” with Vogue.com. “This is a relatively new recipe in my family’s Thanksgiving repertoire, an adaptation of a regular bread pudding that my mom makes.” says Som. “Now we have both traditional pumpkin pie AND pumpkin bread pudding because why not add more delicious food to the menu? That’s what Thanksgiving’s all about.”

Ingredients:

10 cups cubed panettone
2 cups half and half
1 15 oz.-can pure pumpkin
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 extra-large eggs
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, and seeds scraped out
1/2 cups golden raisins.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Trim crust of panettone, cut into 1-inch cubes and place on sheet pan in single layer. Place in oven for 10 minutes until slightly browned. Place in buttered baking dish.
Whisk half and half, pumpkin, dark brown sugar, eggs, spices, and vanilla bean in large bowl. Mix in raisins. Pour entire mixture over bread cubes and let sit for 10 minutes. Bake for about 40 minutes until golden brown and—voilà! you’re ready to eat, preferably with sweetened whipped cream. Or ice cream. (And yes, this makes good morning-after leftovers!)

Altuzarra Wins CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award

Joseph Altuzarra (Source: NYMag.com)

French designer Joseph Altuzarra has become this year’s winner of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award, granting him $300,000 as well as mentoring opportunities for his namesake fashion line, founded in 2009.

Altuzarra, who stems from a French-Basque father and a Chinese-American mother, has been met with great praise and excellent reviews (When reviewing his Spring 2011 collection, Style.com wrote: “He opted for evolution, not revolution … He’s been confident from the get-go. But with this collection there’s a depth and complexity to the clothes to match.”) He has become one of the many Asian-descended designers making great strides in a Western-dominated industry.

(Source: NYMag.com)

China’s Latest Fashion Trend: Couples in Matching Shirts

Husband and wife, Frank Cai and Anita Zhang (Source: CNNGo.com)

According to CNNGo, Chinese couples will wear the same shirts to show they are are dating (a more fashion-based method of Facebook’s “relationship status”). In some cases, couples will have entire wardrobes paired up to include matching shirts and shoes, but it appears that the fad won’t stop there. “We can take pictures and when we are older we can see ourselves together,” said Anita Zhang. “Later, we will take our child with us and there will be three people wearing the same clothing.” Refinery 29 has also shared that the couple trend exists in Korea as well.

Source: CNNGo

Check out more cute couple photos:

Source: CNNGo.com

Source: CNNGo.com

Source: CNNGo.com

Fashion’s Misguided Glamorizing of Asia

Limited Edition Rickshaw Bike (Source: Anthropologie.com)

Though great strides have been made in the movement to bring more Eastern-based influences into the Western fashion industry, New York Magazine writer Amy Odell feels the direction has been taken in the wrong way. Read her article on the deglamorization of Asia in fashion and tell us what you think:

The economic opportunity the luxury fashion industry sees in Asia is undeniable. The economic opportunity American retailers see in symbols of Asia — often of the most stereotypical and sometimes offensive nature — is also undeniable. Forever 21′s got an “oriental girl” necklace; American Apparel offered a “conical Asian hat“; Chanel’s bags were, literally, Chinese takeout containers; and Anthropologie is now selling a $2,200 rickshaw (plus $300 for shipping), inspired by what employees saw on the streets of India. When I make it over to Asia I’ll have to check the stores for “white girl” T-shirts, or better yet, “poor white girl” tees, because too often the Asian-inspired items stores sell are symbols of poverty.

But it’s not necessarily a given to expect more from an industry in which sales are driven by glossy magazines that too often present Asia in a stereotypical and narrow-minded fashion, where it seems okay for the expensively dressed white girl to joyfully preen in a factory staffed by young girls that look anything but expensively attired. On the one hand, at least they acknowledge China’s widespread poverty, even if they don’t realize this or intend to. But flip the page and it’s back to China’s version of the 1 percent. Isn’t it fun to sell fancy things to them?

Less noise exists about the way fashion treats Asia and Asians than some other hot topics in the business, such as models who are too thin, or perhaps even Fashion Week seating. Drawing attention to whitewashed runways, magazines, and ad campaigns is an ongoing uphill slog, as all those outlets remain misrepresentative of the real multicultural world we live in. Asian models are making gains but are still largely token. Asian-inspired items are making gains, too, but come off as little more than trinkets for ignorant consumers. Shoppers deserve better.

Source: NYMag.com