Author Archives: Catherine Balavage

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley 'honoured' to be Burberry Body

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Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is thrilled to be working with Burberry again, crediting the British label with helping to launch her career.

The Victoria’s Secret model and ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’ actress has teamed up with the brand to become their first Burberry Body, making her the face and body of the company’s new fragrance.

Rosie said: ”It’s a huge honour to be working with Burberry again, a brand that put my career on the map and helped launch me. To be asked to be the first ‘Burberry Body’ is an amazing compliment.”

Chief creative officer Christopher Bailey – who handpicks up-and-coming British stars to appear in the label’s advertising campaigns – added: “Rosie’s effortless style and her staggering beauty made her the natural choice as the first Burberry Body.”

In the pictures, shot by renowned photographer Mario Testino, the 24-year-old model flaunts her stunning figure in a strategically styled Burberry trench.

Rosie – who lives in Los Angeles with her British actor boyfriend Jason Statham – is also the spokesmodel for the British heritage brand’s beauty range.

Elle Macpherson loves Victoria Beckham's 'timeless' designs

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Elle Macpherson loves Victoria Beckham’s fashion line because the clothes embody the way she likes to dress.

The supermodel is hugely impressed with how the former Spice Girl has reinvented herself as a respected fashion designer and says Victoria’s simple, elegant designs are “beautiful” and “timeless”.

She explained: “I think Victoria is one of the smartest businesswomen around. She has really taken that brand and followed her dreams when people said that she couldn’t do it and that’s what I really love about her.

“She’s always been fascinated and passionate about fashion and she found the best people she could to make dresses that fit like a glove.

“They’re really beautiful, they’re timeless and they come to the knee. For me, they make the body look amazing and they’re very simple. They really embody the way that I like to dress and she has really tapped into it and does it better than anybody.”

However, Elle admitted she tries not to wear to same dresses as Victoria because she believes she will never look as good.

She explained to Scotland’s Daily Record: “Unfortunately when you see her in a dress and then you in a dress, you think, ‘Oh gosh, better not pick that one!'”

Dior still searching for perfect Galliano successor

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Dior without John Galliano has been compared to an orchestra without a conductor.

The troubled designer was fired as the label’s creative director in March after a video showed him apparently drunk, telling a woman in a cafe he “loved Hitler” and while the company is coping without a successor for now, LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault, who also runs Dior, believes they need to appoint someone new soon.

He said: “I think we have the equivalent of the Vienna Philharmonic. From time to time, the Vienna Philharmonic could play without a conductor because they are so good. But that cannot last forever. We want to [make] the best choice for the house and find the best conductor.”

CEO Sidney Toledano revealed the company is looking for a replacement but want to ensure they make the perfect choice although he did praise the label’s “technical people” for their hard work.

He said: “A lot of schools produce designers but the technical people – this is what we have to protect. They work very hard here, and they live outside of Paris. They are not living like the designer. They are simple people. Some of them have a difficult life. They have their feet on the ground. They’re sustaining the house.”

Alexis Jordan wants soapy perfume

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Alexis Jordan wants her signature scent to smell like soap.

The ‘Good Girl’ hitmaker would love to have her own signature scent but rather than a delicate flowery scent like may other celebrities choose, she wants hers to smell “fresh” like soap.

Asked what she would name her own perfume, Alexis said: “I can’t tell you that because if I come up with a great name, someone might steal it! It would smell very fresh, like soap. I like the smell of soap.”

Because Alexis is constantly on the move for work, there are a few beauty essentials that she can’t live without.

She explained: “Because I have long curly hair, a big thing for me is after I wash it, I put in this stuff that I just found. I think it’s John Frieda. It’s like root something. I forgot, but if you go in the store and see something that says roots and its John Frieda, then that’s it and it’s amazing. I love John Frieda’s products.

“I also love Aveeno exfoliating scrub. Of course you have to pack your toothbrush and toothpaste and I love Crest, so that’s a big thing for me and floss of course and I always carry around Chap Stick or lip balm or something like that and I just like Chap Stick in general. I have to always have something on my lips.”

Harvey Weinstein splits from Halston

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Harvey Weinstein has left fashion label Halston.

The movie mogul – whose wife Georgina Chapman co-founded the brand Marchesa – held an equity stake in the company for the past several years although he had little input into the day to day running of the business.

The news of Harvey’s split from Halston comes following reports Sarah Jessica Parker recently ended her working relationship with the iconic label after serving as president.

Although no formal announcement has been made by either party, the split was alluded to in a recent interview the star completed with US Vogue.

A line in the interview reads: “When ‘Sex and the City’, to her own surprise, made her a fashion star, she launched her own design label and perfumes, as well assigning on to run the Halston Heritage label, a relationship that recently came to an end.”

Although insiders have claimed the future of the brand is now in doubt, designer Kevan Hall, who has worked with the label told The Daily Beast: “You’ve got this incredible iconic brand that fashion people remember-the brand DNA is strong. It’s just a question of whose hands it’s in, who’s the design director, and who’s in place managing the brand.”

Justin Bieber's perfume rakes in over 3 million

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Justin Bieber’s debut perfume looks set to become the top-selling perfume of 2011.

The 17-year-old singer’s women’s scent, Someday, generated more than $3 million in retail sales at Macy’s in New York in under three weeks and experts are already hailing its debut on June 23 as the most successful celebrity fragrance launch in history.

Karen Grant, vice president and senior global industry analyst of the NPD Group Inc., said: “If it sustains this momentum, it will become the number-one-selling fragrance of 2011. We haven’t seen anything like it since [Jennifer Lopez’s] Glow and [Britney Spears’] Curious.”

To launch the fragrance, Justin made a personal appearance at Macy’s, where the first 325 fans who purchased the $135 Someday gift set had their pictures taken with the ‘Baby’ hitmaker and the store believe the star’s presence propelled the fragrance’s high sales.

Terry Lundgren, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Macy’s Inc., told WWD: “Justin Bieber’s Someday fragrance, propelled by Justin’s incredible personal appearance at Macy’s Herald Square, has resonated with our customers, and has now become the biggest celebrity fragrance launch on record.”

Following’s its success in Macy’s, other US stores – including Dillard’s, Boscov’s, Belk, Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor, Sephora and Ulta – are now stocking the fragrance, while it will also be sold overseas, including in the UK, Australia, Germany and New Zealand.

The fragrance was created through Give Back Brands – a company designed for entertainers to use to raise money for good causes – and the proceeds will go to several charities, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Pencils of Promise, an initiative which builds schools.

Robert Hollander, president of Give Back Brands, said: “Justin Bieber Someday has launched to numbers that are nothing short of astounding, making this the industry’s single most successful celebrity fragrance launch. Our retail partners simply cannot keep it in stock. Justin has truly made his mark on the fragrance industry, and we could not be more proud of this partnership.”

Taylor Swift's perfume inspired by love

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Taylor Swift’s fragrance Wonderstruck was inspired by falling in love.

The pop star has collaborated with Elizabeth Arden to create her first perfume and Taylor revealed the name came from her song ‘Enchanted’ about meeting a special someone.

She told WWD: “I share personal life experiences through my music, and my fragrance will allow me to share these experiences with my fans in a completely different and new way. Falling in love is a moment every girl daydreams about and Wonderstruck represents that magical feeling of promise and hope and intrigue. It was fascinating to learn that you can layer so many different scents to create a beautiful end result.”

The new scent -which will be rolled out worldwide over two years starting in September – features freesia, green tea, apple blossom, raspberry and dewberry and Taylor likened choosing the scent to planning an album launch.

She said: “Writing songs is a process unlike anything else, and I’ll never experience anything like it. However, coming up with ideas for this fragrance and the packaging and message of it reminded me of what it’s like to plan an album launch. You come up with a theme that represents all these tiny moving parts, a sum of all the planning and creating. Then it goes out into the world and becomes a part of people’s daily lives.”

Whitney Port's push-ups before parties

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Whitney Port likes to do push-ups before a night out.

The former ‘The City’ star-turned-fashion-designer is constantly on the move for work – including a recent trip to the UK and Ireland – so squeezes in some exercises whenever she can, despite reservations from her friends.

She told People: “Push-ups get me pumped. I’ll do them before we go out at night. I hardly exercise when I travel which is which is not so great.

“Before my friends were like, ‘no, please don’t do that.’ And now it’s just like, ‘okay, go for it!'”

It is not surprising that Whitney completed her exercises despite her friends’ misgivings as she has previously revealed she isn’t afraid to experiment with her look and “doesn’t care” if people don’t like her style.

She said: “I feel like I’m open to all kinds of silhouettes. As long as it’s flattering on the body it doesn’t matter if it’s really out there. I can be a risk taker when it comes to fashion and I don’t really care if people accept my style.”