Lady Gaga or Donatella Versace?

Lady Gaga is no stranger to being in the fashion news whether it’s donning a huge seashell umbrella for a stroll around London or turning up to present an awards ceremony in a meat dress, but in her latest collaboration, she’s gone a bit more chic.

She’s seen lounging on a purple couch, shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Pigot in the new Versace campaign, and it can’t be an accident that she looks strikingly like… well, Donatella Versace.

The two sing each other’s praises, Lady Gaga literally – in a song on her latest album named ‘Donatella’ which she describes as a love letter to the designer, and Versace saying that Lady Gaga is ‘like family’ and ‘an embodiment of the Versace DNA’.

Lady Gaga has been a favourite on screen and stage as one of the most flamboyant and diverse artists, with a career that spans music, business and acting, as well as being a prominent LGBT activist.

Donatella Versace is the sister of Gianna Versace, the designer who founded the internationally renowned fashion label who was tragically murdered by Andrew Cunanan, who then committed suicide.

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From the Streets of Florence to the Heights of Fashion

Roberto Cavalli was certainly not born with a silver spoon in his mouth – quite the opposite. He grew up on the streets of Florence with his mother and sister after his father died when he was only two. But now, he is strutting his stuff and telling his life story to the eager students at Oxford University.

Life was not easy for the young boy with a stutter, who describes himself as a ‘difficult child’ and was not interested in learning or education.

Things started to change when he became interested in a pretty blonde and went about becoming an export in printing on leather in order to impress her – a technique that was new and unknown at the time, but would stand him in good stead for the future.

He says at the time he dreams were modest - all he wanted was his own little car. He still remembers the first little blue Fiat 500 he bought, though now he has a fleet of luxury transport, including performance cars, a super-yacht and even a private jet.

He describes himself as the orchestra director’ of his fashion company, telling his new creative director Yvan Mispelaere what to play, and he professes his love of animal prints because of a fondness of nature. 

He berates the habit of big fashion labels paying the stars to wear their designs on the red carpet, saying ‘I don’t like to suggest what a woman should wear – I want her to choose my clothes without any suggestion’.

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Victoria’s Secret Model Angels – the career Launchpad of a lifetime

 

Victoria’s Secret show 2013 has jusy completed, and it contained all the usual glitz, glamour and eye-watering budgets it has become famous for.

Many of the most successful supermodels in the world appeared, including Brazilian beauties Adriana Lim anad Allesandra Ambrosio, the longest serving Angels, who wooed the press  as the professionals they are.

Some of the leading pop stars of the day performed on stage, including prodigy singer songwriter Taylor Swift.

The supermodels led the show, in outrageous costumes including wings and glitter against a backdrop of everything from an abandoned ship to a Parisian Boulevard.

With the exception of Kate Moss (who seems to have a habit of breaking all the model career rules), almost every single supermodel that has appeared on the Forbes rich list has been a Victoria’s Angel at some point. The contract is one of the most lucrative in the business, not to mention the beauty contracts that inevitably follow.

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How to get a Victoria’s Secret Model Body

With the famed Victoria’s Secret Fashion show just over, starring the likes of Taylor Swift and some of the most successful supermodels in the world, perhaps you’d like to know how the ‘Angels’ as they are dubbed, keep their stunning physiques?

Erin Heatherton claims Ballet Beautiful is the key to her success. It is a serious of exercises and stretches designed by Mary Helen Bowers to polish and sculpt the female form. It increases flexibility, core strength and provides beautiful posture.

Alessandra Ambrosio carries out an intense fitness regime, including pilates and yoga three times a week and intense 10 day sessions of the Brazil Butt Lift class, devised by her trainer.

Doutzen Kroes favours running outside, especially along the Hudson River. She says she likes to have a really tough workout, working up a good sweat. Cardo is the best.

Other popular options are weightlifting, boxing, rope-jumping, running, cycling, and swimming. None of the models recommended dieting or eating less, though some do cut out sugary foods for a few weeks before a show. With all that exercise, you’d need to eat well!

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Gisele Bundchen’s body guards charged with attempted murder

We’ve all heard about certain celebrities who get into scuffles with the paparazzi when they feel that their privacy has been breached too far, but this story takes things a little bit further.

In 2009, Gisele Bundchen married NFL star Tom Brady in Costa Rica, and things got a little out of hand when some pushy photographers tried to get a picture of the bride for their magazines.

 

It was alleged that her bodyguards opened fire on the men, shattering car windows and narrowly missing Rolando Aviles and his colleague.

The couple have avoided talking about the incident, though Brady has previously denied that the bodyguards were armed.

However, the court appeared to disagree, as the bodyguards have been convicted of attempted murder, jailed and ordered to pay damages of around £6,200 to each of the two photographers.

 

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Emma Holmes crowned winner of the Face by mentor, Naomi Campbell

The most famous modelling competition on TV has taken its final steps, and the statuesque winner of this year’s season is half Jamaican, half Dutch, Emma Holmes.

It wasn’t Emma’s first foray into modelling, she had already had some experience with catwalk and advertising. A friend urged her to give the competition a try, and she hasn’t regretted it.

Naomi Campbell has been her mentor through the show, and the two speak very warmly of each other. Campbell says of Holmes: "I am so proud of Emma. Not only is she uniquely beautiful, she's also bright, and I think you will have seen how much she developed throughout the series. Becoming the face of Max Factor is an amazing jump start to what can be a very successful career for her.  I had a fun time mentoring her - sometimes more fun than others - and know we'll stay in touch."

And Holmes, for her part says Campbell is ‘tough, but nurturing,” and talks about how she was supportive during testing emotional times on the show.

Holmes wins a Max Factor False Lash Effect Mascara campaign as well as all the general publicity she gains from beating off 23 aspiring rivals, so expect to see her face more in the future.

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Ballet Beautiful – the model’s choice of exercise.

Yoga and pilates have long been a popular exercise style for models, as they improve core strength, flexibility and fitness, as well as helping to calm the mind and relieve stress and anxiety.

But a new kid is on the block, in the form of Ballet Beautiful. This is a new system devised by Mary Helen Bowers, and initially aimed at ballet dancers.

The system works through a series of exercises and postures intended to sculpt and tone sleek ballet muscles.

Both models and ballet dancers need to have great strength and fitness, but preferably without bulging muscles, so this kind of tonal exercise is perfect.

Benefits of Ballet Beautiful include improved posture, strong core strength, increased flexibility and natural, easy grace.

Many supermodels, including Victoria’s Secret Angels, including Erin Heatherton and Lindsay Ellingson swear by the system to keep their bodies in perfect shape for the catwalk.

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Will fashion mannequins start reflecting normal women’s sizes?

You probably don’t really notice the silent clothing display models, standing on the islands around the departments stores – but they are currently at the centre of a heated debate that revolves around the unrealistic body image portrayed by the fashion industry and the negative effects in can have on real people.

These shop window and island mannequins are usually around size 8 and have unfeasible body proportions which are humanly impossible – extra long limbs and tiny waists.

In recent years, stores in Scandanavia have begun displaying mannequins that reflect real women’s shapes, to the delight of campaigners. 

Now the pressure is on in the United Kingdom, as a Member of Scottish Parliament has called on retailers to follow suit.

SNP MSP Dennis Robertson’s daughter died of anorexia two years ago, and since then he has become a tireless campaigner to raise awareness of the damaging effects of impossible expectations.

He said: "People who have eating disorders, it's not caused by the mannequins, it's not caused by seeing the fashion within the magazines but it exacerbates a condition for people who are predisposed or who have an eating disorder and it hinders, it puts barriers, obstacles, up for those people who are going through the pathway of recovery.

"I urge the retail industry to get real and show us the images which reflect people and reflect the shapes and sizes of the community we live in."

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Jennifer Lawrence – a positive role model for young females

Oscar winning Jennifer Lawrence is a breath of fresh air in an industry famous for shallow values and cat-fighting.

She has already been a force for good against the pressure that Hollywood places on actresses to lose weight – no matter that they are a healthy and attractive weight to begin with. Lawrence proved her mettle as an actress in Winter’s Bone and The Hunger Games, and has already had a phenomenally successful career – so didn’t see why she should lose weight in order to maintain that career. Which is why she said ‘No’ when producers told her to lose weight.

In interviews she comes across as genuine and down to earth, genuinely speaking her mind, rather than pandering to sound-bites or saying what will help her get ahead.

She says she thinks it’s important for young girls to have positive role models, people who are atrong, physically and mentally and achieve important things – rather than only being faced with images of pre-pubescent pop stars simulating sex.

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