Posts with tag LA

Lauren Conrad showed at L.A. Fashion Week yesterday and we must say that the collection was a profound improvement on anything she's sent down the runway in the past.

After presenting at LA Fashion Week with much fanfare and receiving an award from US Weekly for creating the most fashionable celebrity clothing line this year, The Hills' Lauren Conrad has found herself in a veritable quandary: no one wants to buy her pieces anymore.

Agh...the outrage!

It turns out that her little appearance at Bloomingdale's a couple of weeks, you know, the one that made the department store's vice chairman proclaim that LC's collection was "the best-selling celebrity line [they had]," well, didn't do much to help her brand's slagging sales.

Apparently, the racks with Lauren's designs are totally overstuffed because no one wants to buy anything. At all. Not even when stores like Kitson offer a buy-one-get-one free deal are people willing jump on those jersey dresses. But really, this is suppose to be a surprise to whom?



[via NYP]

Rubber Duck is back with a fall collection filled with plaid. Fans like Lindsay Lohan, Sienna Miller and Hillary Duff will be excited to see that the LA/Copenhagen hipster line includes more choices of their infamous Snowjoggers, which are either tons better or a million times worse than Uggs, depending on your age and coolness orientation.

In addition to the Snowjoggers, you can also get tennis shoes and scarves in matching plaid. And to complete your Rubber Duck look, grab a pair of the brightly colored Wayfarer style sunglasses, or the porno-riffic "Las Vegas" goggle-style that we totally covet in white.

Need help putting together your perfect Rubber Duck outfit? In the gallery, a few of our choice favs, including those sexy sunglasses.

Michael Buckner is a fashion and celebrity photographer who travels around the world taking pictures on the red carpet. He gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the hottest entertainment industry events.


John Varvatos USA brings Los Angeles part of CBGB at the Fred Segal Santa Monica store. By gutting an old bricked room in the flagship department store (where the clothing normally serves as the decor), and putting floor to ceiling concert posters and woofers, Varvatos has established himself as the standard in men's apparel with no hint of modesty.

The store features original concert promo posters and record covers from American Rock N' Roll greats like Tom Petty, Cheap Trick, Bruce Springsteen and Joan Jett, as well as a Red, White and blue Harmony acoustic guitar.

Oh yeah, clothes also fill the walls of the room.

Jesse Metcalfe came out to shop and mingle. He arrived in John Varvatos and left with bags of the new Fall collection. He played a little guitar in the shop. Who knew he was so multi-talented?

A plot of land in LA that was a productive community farm for more than 20 years is once again the center of controversy and political intrigue, with tramptastic and disposable clothiers Forever 21 in the thick of the dispute.

The LA Times reports that the 14 acres that used to be South Central Farm, and that activists are still trying to turn back into a community farm, is being considered as a site for a warehouse and distribution center for Forever 21. Besides losing the farm, those against the development are also upset about the additional traffic and environmental impact of the 2,400 (!) daily truck trips that would be created by the center.

Back in July, Dov and his pervvy minions put on a blowout Independence Day sale called Operation Freedom. While we did catch the news about the ultra-low prices in time -- we somehow missed the accompanying commercial.

Now, thanks to the watchful eyes over at Copyranter, we find out that a poorly produced Operation Freedom commercial had been released, and it seems to sum up American Apparel's controversial advertising strategy: soft-core porn.

King/Queen of Schadenfreude Perez Hilton is gleefully proclaiming the death of the clothing line "created" by Hills "star" Lauren Conrad. Kitson dropped her from their L.A. boutiques because of "lackluster sales." Ouch.

Like seemingly everyone else, we found the stuff she "designs" to be overpriced given their lack of originality, but not that bad. If anything, they were an almost perfect thermometer of vapid popularity. Are maxi-dresses still popular? Yes, LC has one in the latest "collection" which means they will be around for another 15 minutes.

Sure, it's a blow to get dropped by trend-maker Kitson, but like a weed, we're sure LC will pop up somewhere else. In the meantime, mid-western sweet sixteens with fat allowances and a "reality" show addiction can still get their drapey jersey dress fix online.

Building a fake New York City in the back lots of LA is expensive and difficult -- not to mention ridiculously unnecessary when there's a perfectly good real NYC only a few thousand miles away. Apparently, Ugly Betty's producers have finally caught on to this revolutionary concept, and insiders say the whole production is headed for the East Coast. No more green screens of New York skylines or LA streets dressed up to look like New York -- next season's Ugly Betty will be shot in the real Gotham.

We're a little confused over why they even started filming the show in LA, except maybe that they didn't expect the show to last 2 seasons, but they were obviously dead wrong. Now that they're looking at the long-term, ABC execs are looking for ways to cut down costs and still get that authentic New York vibe. We think they'll be happy with their decision. New Yorkers Vanessa Williams and Ana Ortiz are probably happy about it too.

[via Perez}

Here in America, we love us some beauty pageants, and Miss USA is no exception. The gossip, spills, and thrills make the ridiculous contest a must see for all fiends of pop culture. But apparently, Heather Mills has a different impression of why Americans tune in to watch the pageant -- to see her gold-digging celebrity face.

It's hard to imagine why she has such a high opinion of her popularity here in the States, when the New York Post is reporting that the audience "booed and hissed when Mills was announced as a judge for the show." Still, somehow she's found a way to convince herself that America loves her. Reportedly, her enormous ego prompted her to launch an all-out attack on the show's producers to fatten up her contract.

The guys at American Apparel may consider Woody Allen their spiritual leader, but apparently they didn't read up on his teachings regarding celebrity endorsements, or copyright infringement. Woody's legal team filed a lawsuit yesterday against the clothing company, seeking damages in excess of $10 million for using an unlicensed image of the filmmaker in some of their billboard advertisements. The billboards went up last May in New York and LA, where they were on display for about a week before they got pulled. In the gospel according to Woody: you use an image from one of his films without permission, you get served.

Oh, boy.

And by "oh, boy," I mean the boys in LA have got to be loving the fact that Kiki de Montparnasse has opened up a store in the City of Angels. In case you don't know who, or what, Kiki de Montparnasse is, let me give you a little heads up. Kiki de Montparnasse is a line of ultra high-end lingerie that celebrates "sexy." In fact, some of it's downright "kinky," but in a luxurious, sophisticated way. We're not talking about Trashy or Frederick's here. Not sure what I mean? Take a peek at some of KdM's pieces.

The new store in LA features an aphrodisiac garden, the store set up like a boudoir, and best of all, plush dressing rooms that, in the spirit of sensual exploration, come equipped with accessories, mirrors, and multiple light settings.

Kiki de Montparnasse
8280 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA
(323) 951-9545

For those of us retro-y style fans out there planning a late-summer road trip (and who also happen to live in the LA area), we might want to mark our calendars for Saturday August 25 for a quick visit to Design Within Reach (DWR) in Manhattan Beach.

DWR has partnered with architect and designer Chris Deam to introduce the Design Within Reach Airstream travel trailer. Deam gutted a vintage Airstream trailer, keeping the aluminum shell, but bringing a lighter, more spacious feeling to the interior. The special edition trailer will be showcased at the Manhattan Beach store. Details about the event are on the DWR website.

If Paris Hilton sneezes, it's reported in every major newspaper on the planet, so it's not surprising that, when the cele-brat actually does something, it's a big deal.

Yesterday, when the heiress unveiled her new clothing line at Kitson, a trendy LA boutique. The crowd was so enormous that police and city workers were called to the scene, and a lane of traffic was closed to keep people from being hit by passing cars as they spilled into the street.

Of course, when Paris revealed she wasn't going to take her top off and say something stupid, the friendly masses turned angry, and started to riot, but it was going really well there for a minute.

Just kidding. By the sounds of it, everyone was very nice, and the clothes sound half-decent. According to Paris, they're even "affordable" -- though, who knows what affordable means when you're an heiress.

If you're a design and decor freak and you happen to live in Los Angeles, you'll be happy to know that the NYC-based Moss has made its way out here. The new store opened last week at 8444 Melrose Avenue at North Croft.

Not familiar with Moss? To get a feel for what kind of cool, beautifully and well-designed stuff they have, pop on over to their online store at www.mossonline.com and browse through their stuff, like a spherical copper lamp shade for $545. It's not just lighting and furniture either. They have gadgets, things for the kitchen and tabletop, and even books.

Did you ever think you could be so lucky? I can hardly contain myself [insert sarcasm here].

Paris Hilton will be at Kitson boutique on August 16th from 1-3pm promoting her new clothing line. Whether people are interested in what Paris has to sell or not you know the line to get in will be long. In order to skip ahead of the crowd you will need to purchase a gift voucher for $100 or more. Kitson claims that Paris Hilton will be on hand to personally style each of her fans. Right.

Paris' line already has two pieces available for pre-order on Kitson.com which includes the shirt she has been spotted around town in; you know the one with her own pop art inspired face on it. There is also a pair of cheesy $88 jeans, which I am pretty sure Paris wouldn't be caught dead in. The jeans are of the skinny variety, have a twisted seam which looks to be bedazzled with studs, and no back pockets. For those of you who don't know jeans with no back pockets is a huge fashion no-no, you may as well have "tramp" stamped on your rear.

So there you have it folks -- finally a Paris Hilton line of clothing because having Nikki hog up all of talent just wasn't enough; which proves that there is plenty of room in Hollywood for crappy celebrity clothing lines. Whew!