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Favorite Oscar Dresses 2010: Zoe Saldana wore the final look frm Givenchy’s 2010 couture show. The ball gown w/ the golden crystal bustier n shadow-dyed frm neon-lilac 2 intense velvet n finishin’ in bouncin’, pom-pom trains of ruffled tulle. Mine most favorite evenin’ look among ‘em all in romantic colors n immaculate tailorin’

Favorite Oscar Dresses 2010: Jennifer Lopez stunned in Armami Privé.

Favorite Oscar Dresses 2010: Rachel McAdams looked adorable in these soft-wash’d colors by Elie Saab.

Favorite Oscar Dresses 2010: Sarah Jessica Parker in Chanel which transform’d her into an elegant Greek goddess-like figure. Read the rest of this entry »

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Sometimes, size doesn’t matter.

In an Oscar showdown that has been taking shape for weeks, “The Hurt Locker” — a compelling but little-seen film about the Iraq war that cost just $11 million — beat out “Avatar,” the visually stunning sci-fi thriller that cost an estimated $400 million but has become the highest-grossing film in movie history, bringing in $720 million in United States alone. Each had come into Sunday’s Oscar ceremony with nine nominations.

But it was “The Hurt Locker” that took home the most awards — six — with director Kathryn Bigelow making Academy Award history by becoming the first woman to win best director. She was only the fourth woman ever nominated for the award.

Bigelow beat out her ex-husband, James Cameron, director of “Avatar.”

“The only way to describe it is that this is the moment of a lifetime,” Bigelow said in accepting the award.

In the Oscar acting categories, all the favorites going into the night were winners — including two popular Hollywood veterans receiving their first Academy Awards.

In the best actor category, Jeff Bridges won for his nuanced performance as a washed-up, booze-soaked country music singer in “Crazy Heart.” Veteran actress Sandra Bullock, a first-time nominee, took home the prize for best actress for her role as a well-to-do suburban housewife who takes in a homeless African-American teenager in the surprise hit “The Blind Side.”

Christoph Waltz, a distinguished Austrian actor largely unknown in this country, won best supporting actor for his riveting turn as a villainous Nazi colonel in “Inglourious Basterds.” Anyone who can easily fling around Quentin Tarantino’s manic dialogue in four different languages definitely deserves all the awards and praise Waltz has racked up.

The best supporting actress also went as widely predicted: Mo’Nique, previously best-known for her comedy work, took home the prize for her searing portrayal of a cruel and neglectful mother in the intense “Precious”.

In a very tough animated feature category that included “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “Coraline,” Pixar’s “Up” — a beautifully-written and visually inventive adventure-comedy that was also a nominee for best picture — took home the gold statue. It was Emeryville-based Pixar’s fifth win in the category since the first animated feature Oscar was handed out in 2001. Last year, the company won for “Wall-E.”

“Up” also won a second Oscar for Michael Giacchino’s glorious musical score.

Both of the screenplay Oscars went to writers who were not only first-time nominees but had never previously written for the big screen.

In an early sign that “The Hurt Locker” was building up steam, magazine writer Mark Boal won best original screenplay for “Locker,” his first script. Tarantino had been the favorite going in for “Basterds.”

And in another upset, the award for best adapted screenplay race went to Geoffrey Fletcher for “Precious.” Jason Reitman had been considered the front-runner for “Up In the Air.”

In a particularly emotional speech, Fletcher — a professor at New York University and writer-director of short films until being tapped to do “Precious” — said, “This is for everybody who works on a dream every day. Precious boys and girls everywhere.”

Perhaps the biggest surprise, though, came in the best foreign-language film race in which the obscure “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” from Argentina beat out Germany’s “The White Ribbon” and France’s “A Prophet,” which had been the frontrunners.

Best documentary went to “The Cove,” Louie Psihoyos’ controversial film about the abuse and slaughter of dolphins in Japan. Read the rest of this entry »

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One of the most predictable Academy Awards in years took a film-worthy twist as Kathryn Bigelow and The Hurt Locker beat out the closest thing the movies have to a Goliath — a film that just happened to be made by Bigelow’s ex-husband. In doing so, Bigelow became the first woman ever to be named best director. But even some of the night’s most foreseeable elements were pleasantly unsurprising: hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were as cutting as you would expect, and sometimes the overwhelming favorites are the overwhelming favorites for a reason. Welcome to our Top Moments: Oscars Edition.

See all the Oscars red carpet arrivals

11. Best Interplay: Co-hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin display an easy rapport in their opening routine as they deliver sharp jokes worthy of Baldwin’s 30 Rock, a show on which Martin once guest-starred. Among the best is their back-and-forth about exes James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow sending each other congratulatory gifts for their best director nominations. Baldwin: “She sent him a beautiful gift basket, with a timer.” Martin: “And he reciprocated by sending her a Toyota.”

10. Most Improved Award: After long, confusing speeches after his Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globes wins, Inglourious Basterds‘ Christoph Waltz accepts the supporting actor award with a charming, gracious speech that seems to leave out no one. He even opens with a quote-worthy one-liner after Penelope Cruz names him the winner: “Oscar and Penelope — that’s an uber bingo.”

Check out all the hits and misses from the Oscars’ red carpet

9. Best Tribute: Matthew Broderick and Molly Ringwald take the stage for a moving look back at the films of John Hughes, who died last year. It ends with the immortal words of Ferris Bueller: “Life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Broderick and Ringwald are then joined by five of the other young actors Hughes turned into stars: Macaulay Culkin, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Jon Cryer, and Anthony Michael Hall.

8. Na’very Funny Award: The usually funny Ben Stiller gets the unenviable job of dressing up as one of Avatar‘s Na’vi — and speaking in their James Cameron-commissioned language — as he introduces the best make-up award. “That means, this seemed like a better idea in rehearsal,” Stiller says, translating himself. Cameron stares up at him at one point with an expression that says, “No! You’re getting the accent totally wrong!” (Sacha Baron Cohen, who apparently drew the long straw, bailed out on the presentation a few days before the ceremony.)

7. Tackiest Moment: Music by Prudence co-producer Elinor Burkett cuts off the film’s director, Roger Ross Wilson, as he tries to accept the best documentary short award. “Let the woman talk. Isn’t that the classic thing?” she says. It’s not a full Kanye — at least she’s involved in the movie. But we don’t foresee these two collaborating again.

6. Funniest Lead-In: Martin and Baldwin, an ampersand away from not only looking but sounding like a classic comedy team, are forced to share a bed in a clever Paranormal Activity parody. “I can’t believe they didn’t give us our own room,” Baldwin says. Then, in stop-motion, nighttime photography, Martin wakes up from a dead sleep to slap Baldwin clear out of bed. The routine leads into a welcome tribute to horror, the most under-recognized genre in film. Read the rest of this entry »

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Angelina Jolie

The actress was only 10 years old when she attended the 1986 ceremony with her dad Jon Voight. In 1999, she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Girl, Interrupted.

Drew Barrymore

The star was only 8 years old when she attended the 1983 Academy Awards.

Michael Jackson

The late singer was only 22 years old when he attended the 1981 Academy Awards with a 15-year-old Brooke Shields.

Anna Paquin Read the rest of this entry »

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Shimmer, shimmer, shake. Looks from the Fall 2010 runways of Rochas, Anne Valerie Hash, and Dries van Noten. Photo: Getty Images (3)

The fashion flock have moved from New York to London to Milan and now Paris for the final run of Fall 2010 Fashion Week. From now until March 10th we will round up the best looks of the season from the City of Lights.

Golden touches and iridescent fabrics were the name of the game at Rochas, Anne Valérie Hash, and Dries van Noten today.

At Rochas, designer Marco Zanini channeled sixties-era glamour with bouffant hairdos, modern babydoll dresses adorned with bows, long leopard print coats, and groovy cropped pants in robin’s egg blue leather and gold lamé.

Gilded tips on oxford shoes complemented the lovely translucent pieces at Hash’s show. The collection also touched on the omnipresent menswear trend with slouchy, low-slung pants and tailored jackets and jumpsuits.

Finally, Dries van Noten downplayed his successful mixed prints repertoire for more military-inspired looks this season. (Worth noting: the designer didn’t abandon his bread and butter completely – there were cases of leopard fur mixed with floral silk crepe pants and a lace or striped top.) Overall though, it was the utilitarian classics that were the biggest hit. Army trench coats and pants, more slouchy menswear trousers, and other louche separates in shades of navy, gray, and black. Read the rest of this entry »

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A Paris court ruled Thursday that eBay harmed the image of the venerable French fashion house Louis Vuitton by paying to have misspelled search queries direct to its site.

LV was awarded €200,000 ($275,000) in damages and ordered to stop paying search engines to lead “Louis Viton” and “Wuiton” searchers to eBay, The Wall Street Journal reported. The ruling only applies in France.

Part of the luxury behemoth LVMH, the company argued that the misspelled terms are commonly used to advertise fake merchandise and that shilling these products on eBay damages their image.

EBay counters that the excessive fine shows that LVMH is out to damage eBay’s reputation.

This is not the first of such cases to hit the docket. LVMH won $63 million from eBay in 2008 when a French court ruled the site was not doing enough to stop the sale of counterfeit merchandise. Later that year, Tiffany lost to eBay in the U.S., as a Manhattan judge ruled that the online auction site does not bear the responsibility to prevent auctioneers from selling fakes.

Last year, back in French court, eBay prevailed of L’Oreal’s lawsuit over counterfeit goods. The judge said eBay wasn’t accountable for fakes. Read the rest of this entry »

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Deborah Lloyd, co-president and creative director of Kate Spade New York, begins thinking about her spring wardrobe while it’s still winter.

To plot her strategy, she takes a look at her clothes from previous springs. “Anything that was too fashionable or really too of the moment” from a previous season “I won’t wear,” she says. She sometimes makes an exception if she can alter the look. For instance, she’s keeping her favorite Marni trapeze-style dresses from recent years; she’s planning to wear them belted with cardigans so the dated silhouette isn’t apparent.

Ms. Lloyd then thinks about what spring colors and looks are drawing her attention. “You just get a general feeling from exhibitions, books, magazines, flea markets and things,” she says. “The new colors that I’m loving this spring are lilacs, fresh greens, citrus yellows, anything with a pop of fluorescent.”

As spring approaches, she starts working some of these colors into her winter wardrobe as accents. Ms. Lloyd will pair an acid-greenish yellow scarf with a gray coat, for example, as a “fresh nod toward spring.” A handbag—for instance, in cream, a black-and-cream pattern, or a bold color—can also do the trick. “You want something that’s a little happier and brighter and gives it that little twist,” she says, noting that she sometimes uses chunky, bright-colored necklaces for the same effect.

This year, Ms. Lloyd has a few key items in mind to give her spring wardrobe a lift. “Cute short jackets in tweed with a little embellishment” or small accents of color can be worn to work or paired with a tank top, jeans and high heels, she says.

Also on the list are spring dresses with big, watercolor-style prints, which she plans to ground with a solid cardigan. “The color can pick up on a color in the pattern of the dress but should be just a shade off,” she says. Read the rest of this entry »

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There may be a time not so far in the near future where fashion designers may start employing, electronic geeks to help design clothing. Ideal Star, a Tokyo based company, has come up with a rather interesting development, specifically a way to infuse threads with solar cells, and this method actually coats the threads, so it’s claimed that there is no need for expensive equipment to manufacture it. What’s even better is the flexible ability of the threads.

Read the rest of this entry »

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If you are starting a weight loss program, it may be helpful for you to know that there are some simple steps you can take to make any weight loss program more effective. I will share 7 tips that I have used to be successful in maintaining one’s health and improving weight loss.

Health Tip #1: Realistic Goals
The fastest way to lose motivation is to set realistic weight loss goals for yourself before you even start your weight loss program, so ask yourself, “What do you want to achieve from this weight loss program?” and “How much weight do you want to lose in a day, a week or a month”. Each small goal you achieve will propel you closer to your final destination. But if you set unrealistic goals, you will only end up in frustration and disappointment when they are not achieved, even when you are making great progress in your weight loss goals.

Health Tip # 2: Preparation is the Key
Now is the time to start a new lifestyle and start getting rid of your junk food, your sodas in the refrigerator, and those chocolates you stash in your drawer! Make a new list of the food you need and start stocking on them in large quantities. Always include vegetables, fruits, healthy snacks, mineral water and vitamins and minerals supplements in your daily diet.

Health # 3: Reward system
This is a great way to keep yourself motivated. Create a reward system to stay on your weight loss goals. For instance, you may want to buy yourself new makeup, a new CD or even a new handbag if you reach a certain point in your weight loss efforts.

Health # 4: Healthy Breakfast
This is the most important meal that you should never miss. Skipping breakfast means that you are programming your brain to think that you’re hungry starved and deprived, this will only cause you to feel lethargic and when the pressure is too much, you may decide to embark on an eating binge. This is sheer suicide so don’t avoid breakfast!

Health # 5: Exercise
For long lasting effects and to boost the rate of your weight loss and health, this is one important activity you must include into your routine. No weight loss challenge can be successful without a good exercise program. Choose a good exercise program that lets you burn fat and gives a good cardiovascular exercise at the same time. Read the rest of this entry »

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