Spring has just started but Yohan Solomon already has a fall/winter 2011 collection. And the highlight behind this collection is its distinctiveness as it is inspired by drugs and DNA.

His dresses are named things like “molecule” and “shoot-up“, it is clear that Solomon is not afraid to think outside the box. It’s an odd thing to serve as an inspiration for a fashion concept. However, Solomon was really able to carry it out. Aside from the unique names, his partiality to eco-friendly fabrics made the collection stand out among the other designers.

The nude and black dresses stood out in the collection, but his high heels and platforms also drew attention as well. Trimming them with leather “spikes” and lace, they are really different. There were pill shapes that appeared in the shoes, gowns and dresses, which look elegant given the inspiration.

When he discussed the inspiration behind his Fall/Winter 2011 collection, Solomon wasn’t shy to say that his past exposure to drug scene at Beverly Hills High gave him the idea. Though he wasn’t involved with it, the presence of prescription drugs taught him drug awareness. As Solomon said, “ I noticed that people were taking all kinds of drugs – prescription drugs – and to me it seemed that every time you take a pill to fix something it damages something else.”

And that something else is DNA. The criss-crossing and fringe designs of his gowns and dresses can be attributed from DNA’s double helix. It is obvious that the twisting of fabric was a good fit with the drapes of the full length gowns. This design could also be seen in one-shouldered dresses in the collection.

It is official. Spring has hit the stores. With this season, one thing is noticeable: 60’s and 70’s fashion is coming back. They are dictating the shapes of denim this season. Take notice that denim jeans come in cropped, flared bell-bottom and wide-leg styles. There are also bright colors, white ensembles and maxi dresses.

Derek Lam’s spring-summer 2011 runway are filled with wide-leg jeans with tucked-in white button-downs and wedge sandals. But on the street, a more relaxed look is expected with women wearing plain t-shirts and sandals.

Aside from the flared look is the ’60s crop. The pant leg ends at least 2 inches above the ankle. The jeans look great with ballet flats.

While the ‘70s inspired spring collection includes maxi-length skirts and dresses like in the collection of Max Mara, Jil Sander and Gap.

Other designers also tried the shocking trend. This style is everywhere on the spring-summer 2011 collections.  Aqua and cobalt were also displayed at the Rachel Roy and Burberry shows. Color blocking was also seen on the Marni runway. Jennie Lee, owner of Satine Boutique, also brought a lot of colors, from acid pinks, orange-red, blue and tangerine. Runway shows like Jil Sander, which showcased candy colors with white shirts or black coats to tone it down.

Retailer Hilary Rush, who owns her eponymous boutique on 3^rd Street has already noticed the color craze taking effect. When the over sized raglan shirt in hibiscus color has totally sold out, it is obvious that people are wearing colors this spring.

A dress that Kate Middleton had worn on a charity fashion event in 2002 has been sold for an astonishing amount of $105,000 (£78,000) at an auction held on Thursday

Speculations say the dress had sparked the interest of Prince William for the British brunette when he attended the fashion event at the University of Saint Andrews in Scotland.

The black-see through dress designed by Charlotte Todd was a hot item at the auction room in central London. It was being sold for a total of $126,000 or 78,000 pounds, which includes the commission.

The massive amount has exceeded the estimated selling price of 8,000-10,000 pounds by the Kerry Taylor Auctions.

The mesh slip-dress was bought by a man at the back room. He declined to tell his name, but said he bought the dress on behalf of a person he named “Nick from Jersey.”

Middleton was only 20-years-old when she strut the knitted dress on the catwalk during a fashion show at the university where she and William were students. Prince William was then siting in the front row during the event. Reports say a friendship blossomed between the two after the show.

The dress, which originally costs £30 to put together, was intended to be worn as a skirt. But, Kate had worn it as a strapless dress over black underwear.

Charlotte Todd, a textile and fashion design student at the University of the West of England in 2000, produced the dress for a project called “The Art of Seduction.”

After two years, Todd was invited to present a garment for the yearly fashion show in Saint Andrew, and Middleton was selected to wear the dress.

Todd, now 31-years old, was totally speechless after the sale.

Tyra Banks, at thirty-seven, just can’t sit still. She’s not only a supermodel, host and budding novelist but she’s into online venture as well. Banks, together with the Demand Media, opened a content and social media company in Santa Monica which focuses on fashion and beauty.

Like the other beauty websites, Type F features to give user friendly perks and experience. You can plug in a slew of physical attributes, such as eye color or body shape, and it screens the content according to your liking.

The site emphasizes glitzy applications more than fresh fashion. Its focus is not about the latest fashion but rather the fashion that would suit each person’s individual personality and beauty. It focuses on you– to become more beautiful rather than telling about the newest beautiful fashion collection.

There’s an application that walks user through beauty school. For instance, it teaches you about wearing your make-up, or how to master the eyeliner. There’s also a page where it allows  you to upload your daily look and comment about it.

As Tyra Banks said in a conference call with the media last March 15, “This site is something that is… connected to my mission—which is expanding the definition of beauty.”

If you are wondering what Type F means, you might actually think that it means Type Fashion. But rather as what the supermodel said in the Early Show hosted by Chris Wragge, that “One thing school has taught me is to stick with your core competency. And I know fashion and beauty.” When asked about the meaning of Type F, she actually said “It means whatever you want to mean. For me it means ‘Type Fierce’. It is a place; to me, it’s a revolutionary destination where women can come and get personalized information for them based on their specific body types”.

Banks actually enrolled herself in Harvard’s prestigious ‘Management Program’ and TypeF.com is her first reported venture since her enrollment.

New York Fashion Night, which will be held at Pure: The Existence, was organized to help a fashion model cope up with her disease—brain cancer.

The local fashion model, Morgan Griffin has hoped all her life to be a runway supermodel. She is stunningly beautiful at twenty-three years old, but her face and her catwalk were put to risk when diagnosed with a brain tumor in December 2010. Though she immediately had surgery to remove it,  the financial implication of the entire treatment course is something to worry about.

It’s an odd twist of events since Morgan had already landed her first magazine cover just before she was diagnosed with a Stage Two Astrocytoma. She had to drop out from college and put her modeling career on hold in order to cope with surgery and side effects of the treatment. To help Morgan, her family and friends put up a huge fashion show for Morgan’s benefit. As Massingill says, “From what I see and what I know, she is really genuine. She has a lot of friends and a lot of support. I don’t think she would have that kind of support if she wasn’t who she was on the inside.”

The fashion show is expected to be gigantic. As photographer Toni Riales who helped plan the show, said “We thought… Let’s just do something.. Let’s throw a party. Since we don’t do anything small, we decided to have a giant fashion show, and have band and a dj and make it a fundraising event for her.”

Though Morgan won’t be able to do the catwalk at the fashion event solely for her, her friends and supporters will surely be there.

Though the Christian Dior show went on, it’s obvious that John Galliano’s dismissal has totally created turmoil in his career.

It has been speculated that the anti-Semitic scandal will lead Dior’s sales to drop. It’s been said that John Galliano’s scandal is a career destroyer. However, the Fashion Week proved this wrong as Dior’s Fashion show at the Rodin Museum in Paris turned out to be a successful one. However, instead of the all-glorious John Galliano doing the catwalk, it was the huge team of master crafters who crowded the runway in their white lab coats. After all, it’s the crafters’ overall efforts that finished the show.

It’s not just on the runway where Galliano was missing. In Dior’s latest lipstick “Addict” commercial which is starred by supermodel Kate Moss, some find it strange to find Galliano missing in the 90 second tape.

The commercial is about a blond getting dressed for a fashion show. With perfectly painted cat-eyes and slick black nails, Kate has seductively applied the glossy pink Dior Addict lipstick before stepping out to the paparazzi.

As you watch the video, some just can’t help but wonder where Galliano went. Being a long time friend of Moss and the current Dior creative director while the advertisement was being filmed, one can really wonder if Galliano was removed after the anti-Semitic scandal or if the commercial was planned to be that way.

But it’s not just Galliano whose reported absence is noted. His collection, particularly his first fragrance in 2008 is being removed from the shelves. After Christian Dior fired him, retailers began to distance themselves from Galliano’s perfume. The Bay decided to remove the Parlez-moi d’Amour from the shelves. As a statement from the Canadian store said: “When we learned of the charges agians Mr. Galliano, we immediately suspended sales of Galliano products from our stores.”

It’s an irony that Parlez-moi d’Amour which means “speak to me my love” is made by a man being caught up speaking words of hate. The “I love Hitler” line has really changed Galliano’s life.

Apple Inc’s iPad 2 has finally reached Many stores in United States on Friday. The latest gadget, which was exclusively sold in Apple and Best Buy stores the previous year, is now also available at Target and Walmart branches nationwide.

Analysts expect the demand for iPad 2 to be much higher compared to the original tablet computer sold last year. Also, the device now covers a much wider retail market with the addition of two store outlets.

Early Friday morning, long lines were already formed outside Apple store branches in New York and San Francisco. However, other iPad 2 retailers did not attract as many of Apple’s crowd. According to a Target store representative, notable lines had not formed outside their stores.

The updated version of Apple’s line of computer tablet will go on sale later this month in Australia and in the rest of the world. On Friday, Apple (AAPL) shares had closed up 1.3 percent at $351.99.

In 2010, there were about 15 million iPads sold worldwide. Tim Cook, Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, said during a conference call held last January that production of the iPad had increased significantly in December when iPad sales soared 75 percent from the last period.

However, several analysts are expecting iPad sales to increase more than twice over in 2011. Apple’s iPad 2 might even sell its first million units faster than the original iPad, said Gene Muster of financial services Piper Jaffray.

The new iPad features a thinner and lighter frame than the first generation. It has a faster dual-core chip, which was designed by Apple Inc. Also, it has a new back and front video cameras.

Even with the latest improvements, Apple had kept iPad 2 price points same with the original. This means the price of a wifi-version iPad with a 16GB memory begins at $US499.

Galliano’s Arrest, Suspension and Dismissal

What overshadowed Paris Fashion week was the arrest of Dior’s creative director John Galliano because of his anti-Semitic remarks to a couple in a French bar.

His suspension hit the fashion news like a hurricane as he made his “I love Hitler” comment which led to his arrest and suspension from Dior. Days after the incident Dior decided to fire him. But with Fashion week on the go, Dior kept his designs to showcase on the runway.

Galliano is considered as one of the most talented designers in the industry. It’s a loss of good talent, not just to Dior but to the entire fashion world. Now, since Galliano is no longer connected with Dior, the Fashion house is looking for a new creative Director.

Kanye West’s Unwelcom Presence

Though America’s rapper Kanye West was seen in some of the Fashion show events, his absence was also noted in others.

Kanye West, who has an appreciation for fashion designing, flew his way to Paris for the Fashion Week and was caught up in the middle of the events because of his lack of invitations. He was seen attending Valentino, Givenchy and Westwood shows but he was not invited to some other shows.

According to Belwain representative, West tried, however the organizers let him know they cannot accommodate him. While on McQueen’s show, West didn’t make any request to attend, he just let himself in without an invitation.

His absence was also noted at Louis Vuitton show, it was speculated that West didn’t have an invitation for that event as well.

Smoking in Public?

Kate Moss smoking while doing the catwalk was really a head-turner during the Paris Fashion week.

The undisputed queen of the catwalk ignored the ban on smoking and indulged in her nicotine habit while strutting her style on March 9 fashion show. She may be 37 years old but she still got the moves. Instead of creating a drawback, her smoking entre has made a perfect ending to a fetish-themed collection by Marc Jacobs.

Kate Bosworth recently included “designer” to her lists of skills and background qualifications. In October 2010, she launched her jewelry collection called JewelMint, with long-time partner and stylist Cher Coulter.

Bosworth is an American actress who played as Bella Banks in the television series Young Americans. She also appeared in several notable films, which includes Superman Returns.

Her latest project is related to designing a jewelry line with her friend, Coulter. JewelMint is a new jewelry site with collections designed exclusively by Bosworth and Coulter. The two came up with a line of affordable yet fashionable jewelry.

Each month, members of the site will receive a new piece of jewelry designed by both artists based on the personalized choices suggested to them by the style quiz results featured on JewelMint.

The jewelry collection consists of a stylish mixture of classic, edgy and vintage-inspired items. Bosworth said she loves affordable finds and because of that they wanted to bring their unique jewelry collection into a $30 price point. She added that the response to their affordable jewelry line has been breathtaking.

The fashionable movie star loves to combine high-end designer products with less-extravagant items. The designer, who is very zealous about her collection, said she is mainly involved with the creation of every bit and piece of jewelry handed out every month.

Bosworth is expected to appear in the movie “Another Happy Day,” an upcoming project with Demi Moore and Ellen Barkin. Despite her busy schedule, she’s still able to stay grounded with her strong support system.

As it turns out, there ARE parties that Kanye West isn’t invited to. The Chicago rapper, who flew many miles to Paris for Fashion Week, was allegedly turned away from several fashion events. During the entire length of fashion week, Kanye was seen attending several fashion shows such as Givenchy, Westwood and Valentino, however, his absence was also noted at the rest of the fashion shows. And the reason behind that is his lack of an invitation to the events.

He was suppose to check out the latest fashion from Louis Vuitton but he was denied entry because of his lack of an invitation.The New York Post cited that organizers are tired of uninvited celebrities crashing in and anticipating royal treatment. KCD, the show organizers who handled Alexander McQueen; Balmain and Louis Vuitton shows were strict in their entrance hence it was rumored that West was having trouble getting in.

“Kanye has been a welcome guest at several events that KCD has managed over the years. Several designers chose to have smaller shows this season and therefore chose to not invite celebs in order to accommodate press and buyers.” A KCD representative told the Post.

A representative from Balmain said that Kanye requested access to the show however; they let him know that they wouldn’t be able to accommodate him. Instead of retreating, he chose to come to the door. Kanye also strutted his way in to Alexander McQueen’s show. “He did not make a request to attend, but he came uninvited”, said the McQueen representative. While the only words that Vuitton representative would say was “Kanye remains a great friend of the house”, though he wasn’t seen at the event nor he was invited either.