Daily Front Row

2013 May 23

Another Milestone for Alice + Olivia

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Alice & Olivia's Stacey Bendet
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There's no stopping them! alice + olivia by Stacey Bendet has announced an exclusive strategic partnership to develop the brand in greater China and Southeast Asia through the opening of 23 stores. imagineX will commence the rollout with their first free standing store in Hong Kong's financial district in June with stores in Hong Kong, mainland China, Macau, Taiwan, and Singapore to follow. "China is the most exciting area to me now," Bendet explains. "It's amazing for me to have the opportunity to introduce the world of alice + olivia to a culture and woman that I have been fascinated by and admired for a long time. It's like being able to introduce yourself to someone you've always wanted to meet." That sound you hear? That's another bottle of celebratory champagne that just opened at alice + olivia's 14th Street headquarters.

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2013 May 22

Season Premiere! The Daily Summer Covershoot!

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The Daily Summer
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At last! The Daily Summer, your essential glossy dossier on all things fashion, debuts Friday in the Hamptons. But today we've got a behind the scenes look at our cover shoot, styled by Mary Alice Stephenson. Stunning Next mod Marloes Horst is a vision in white, donning glorious looks from the likes of Calvin Klein Collection, Carolina Herrera, and Marchesa. How'd the Giorgio Niro-lensed pictures come about? Chicly, of course! We had our cameras on the camera to find out the full backstory from the shoot. Click HERE to see it on YouTube.

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2013 May 22

Which CFDA Nominee's Swarovski Design Do You Love?

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CFDA Nominee Swarovski Creations For Free Arts NYC
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Check out the fabulous one-of-a-kind designs created by CFDA nominees Erin Beatty and Max Osterweis of Suno, Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne of Public School, Shane Gabier and Christopher Peters of Creatures of the Wind, Pamela Love, Irene Neuwirth, Jennifer Meyer, Tim Coppins, and Todd Snyder. The designers were each asked to create an objets d'art with Swarovski crystals to be sold at the store with proceeds going to benefit Free Arts NYC. Check out the gallery and vote which one you love the most!

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2013 May 22

Lorenzo Martone Takes Us For A Ride

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Lorenzo Martone
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If those Citi Bikes don't strike your fancy, Lorenzo Martone has come to the rescue with his infinitely chicer line of wheels, Martone Cycling, celebrated last night with a party at the Paramount Hotel. Martone's loyal posse of friends coming to toast him included Marjorie Gubelmann, Douglas Friedman, Marc Jacobs, Peter Som, Jonathan Cheban, Simon Collins, Ariel Foxman, Cory Bond, Mark Silver, Nate Berkus, Claude Morais, Brian Wolk, Dustin Patrick Smith, and Luis Fernandez. Already featured in Vogue, Vanity Fair and your Daily, the line of men's and women's bikes come in black, white, red, gold, and silver with a signature red bike chain and go for $899. Hunky Brazilian not included. 

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2013 May 22

Naomipedia

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Naomi Campbell Through the Years
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It's a cause for celebration today because Naomi Campbell turns 43! We checked out her Wikipedia page earlier today to brush up on all things Naomi and found some fascinating facts about the legend. Here's what we learned... (*Please note that since this is from Wikipedia so there is a very good shot that some of this was made up by a man on his computer in Virginia.)

1. Her first public appearance came at the age of seven in 1978 in Bob Marley's "Is This Love" video.

2. Naomi was dubbed a part of the "Trinity" with Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista.

3. She appeared in Madonna's racy book Sex with rapper Big Daddy Kane. (Where'd he go?)

4. Her novel Swan about a supermodel dealing with blackmail was released in 1994 to poor reviews. It was ghostwritten by Caroline Upcher, with Campbell explaining that she "just did not have the time to sit down and write a book." (Note: Loooooooooooooove!)

5. Former South African president Nelson Mandela has referred to Campbell as his "honorary granddaughter."

6. In 1995, she and Claudia Schiffer and Elle Macpherson invested in an ill-fated chain of restaurants called the Fashion Cafe.

7. In October 2001, she appeared with Sean Combs on the cover of British Vogue, with the headline "Naomi and Puff: The Ultimate Power Duo."

8. She has never married, but has dated Mike Tyson and Robert De Niro. She was engaged to U2 bassist Adam Clayton.

9. In 2009, she was awarded Honorary Patronage of Trinity College's University Philosophical Society for her charitable and professional work.

10. In August 1988, she became the first black model to appear on the cover of French Vogue, after Yves Saint Laurent threatened to withdraw his advertising from the magazine if it continued to refuse to place black models on its cover.

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2013 May 22

Exclusive! THEIA's Don O'Neill Is Engaged

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The proposal!
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Aw alert! THEIA designer Don O'Neill celebrated 20 years with his partner, Pascal, by jetting down to Miami and popping the question. Here's the play-by-play... 

"South Beach, Miami. It's the morning of Sunday, April 28th, our 20th anniversary. I woke up all a flutter. Today I was going to propose to Pascal. Everything was planned. The airplane banner would fly over South Beach between 10:15 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. The photographer due to nonchalantly pretend to be a sun bather next to us was arriving at 10 a.m. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. 

At 9 a.m., we set up on our beach chairs soaking up the sun when Pascal decided he wanted the umbrella up, obliterating the view of the sky. Concealing my panic, I played cool for all of five minutes before convincing him to close it. The beach was filling up and I'm thinking, 'I should have planned this for 9:30!' I fidget and fuss as Pascal tells me to relax and enjoy the sun because it’s our last day here. Sonia (the photographer) arrives and sets up a few loungers down from us. I coyly acknowledge her.

At 10:15 a.m., my heart is racing: 'What if the plane doesn't come? What if they mixed up the dates!' 

At 10:25 Pascal declares he is going for a swim to cool down.........PANIC!!! I tell him he has two minutes as my dad is calling us at 10:30 a.m. to wish us a happy anniversary. As he strolls down the water, Sonia mouths to me: 'Where is he going???' Suddenly in the sky behind Sonia I see in the distance a plane with two love hearts on the banner. OMG, panic. I yell at Pascal to get out of the water. Dripping wet, I don't give him time to towel off, and ask him to sit down. I yank his anniversary card out of my beach bag, rip it open, and thrust it in his face to read quickly. He asks me what's wrong. 'Just read the card,' I tell him. Pascal admires the outside. 'Aw, how cute is this!' he says. 'Just open it, and read it,' I bark! I hear the plane approaching behind me. In the card I had written everything I wanted to say, like how special he was to me, so I wouldn't forget. But it was too late, so I started to tell him as I reached behind me into my bag for the ring box. My emotions got the better of me as I tell him how much I love him in tears. He thinks something is terribly wrong. Then in tears, I tell him to just look up at the plane, which was flying behind me, its beautiful banner announcing 'Pascal Je T'aime! Will you marry me?' As he reads it, I open the red leather ring box and presented him with the ring. Then it all becomes slow motion, a blur of emotion. Pascal said yes with tears streaming down both our faces, and everyone on the beach around us erupted in cheers. Suddenly the photographer comes into view to take pictures as the plane continues to circle South Beach and the cheering continues—both of us literally float high above all the excitement to take up residence on cloud 9."

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