Ralph Anderl, designer for iC! Berlin, gathered 35 artists to design eyewear, t-shirts, and jeans which will be auctioned through a company Website to provide prescription glasses to poor people in Brazil who “have nothing.” Both Ralph Anderl and Maira Becke, a Brazilian model who lives in Germany, came up with the idea for the project.

Maira Becke stated, “It’s my consience about the difference (between) both continents and how big is the need there.” If all goes well, they hope to deliver about 2,000 frames by August.

The money that will be raised will also be used to provide the proper lenses.

The Chambre Sindicale in France has set up a large, and fully sanctioned ready-to-wear pre-collection calendar. The pre-collection calendar will begin in the last two weeks of January 2010, which will have labels like Chloe and Yves Saint Laurent.

The reason the Chambre Sindicale is adding emphasis for pre-collections at this time is because many buyers usually make their trip to Paris for the couture season. The couture season will go from January 25 to 28 in 2010. The pre-collection calendar will have nearly 20 labels presenting their collection.

Source: FWD

Labels including Noir held an eco-friendly runway show in Copenhagen on wednesday at Copenhagen’s Opera House. Many designs included organic cottons and silks, mixed with polyesters made from recycled plastic bottles and fabrics made from industrial and agricultural waste. Some of the retail heavyweights include H&M and Barneys who showed up at the show.

Some rare fabrics consisted of Crabion (a byproduct from the crab industry), Ingeo (silk-like fabric made from corn scraps), and Milkfiber (milled milk). Stine Hedegaard of the Danish Fashion Institute stated, “It was an exercise to show that you can replace traditional textiles with innovative new ones that are being made in mills in Japan and Italy that are less polluting.”

Source: Yahoo!

Designer Alexander Wang has received the 2009 Swiss Textiles Award. This award is quite historic because Alexander Wang is the second American designer to obtain Central Europe’s most prestigious fashion award. His award also includes a 100,000 euros or $147,000 dollars in prize. Part of the rules is to use 10% to purchase Swiss textiles.

The other six contenders included, Ohne Titel, Alexis Mabille, Erdem, and Peter Pilotto. Wang told Vogue, “It’s a family business- we don’t have any external backers- and this will help us take the business to the next level.” Last year, Wang had won the CDFA/Vogue Award and $200,000 dollars. “Obviousy winning the CDFA/Vogue Award was amazing, but that award has been set up to support youg American desigers.”

“To win this in Europe, against amazing European designers but also against designers like Thakoo, and Ohne Titel who I have grown up beside, feels really special.”

Source: Vogue

Last week, many designers, fashionistas, and models stood up to the Taliban by attending the symbolic four-day Pakistani fashion week. This event had been previously postponed twice due to fears of such event would cause conflict with the Taliban.

Victory came as a cultural statement that there is more to Pakistan than violence. “This is our gesture of deviance to the Taliban,” stated Ayesha Tammy Haq, the CEO of Fashion Pakistan Week. “There is a terrible problem of militancy and political upheaval… but that doesn’t mean that the country shuts down. That doesn’t mean that business comes to a halt.”

The fashion industry currently employs hundreds of thousands in Pakistan, and 60 percent of Pakistan textile exports are valued at $12 billion dollars a year.

Source: Telegraph

Korea’s top nine fashion designers presented their 2010 collections in a special runway show in New York on Wednesday November 4th. This two day event was held to entice local buyers.

Some of the top Korean labels include Cubellia, An Yoon Jung ANS, Ecole de Paris, Fashion Story, and Lilycomes. These designers are members of the Korean Federation of Design Association and Korea Women Entrereneurs Associations.

The collections presented ranged from Cubellia’s contemporary daywear to ANS’s sequined cocktail dresses to Ecole de Paris’s bohemian collared ruffled blouses.

Source: FWD

Ricadro Tisci, the creative director or Givenchy, is currently designing on “an upcoming show in 2011.” Tisci shared with The Cut that he is working on costumes which will be a combination of music and opera. Interestingly enough, his story coincides with Lady Gaga’s “Fame Monster” Tour which will consist of pop-electro opera.

In the same interview, Tisci mentioned that he has no plans to do a diffusion line for stores such as H&M. He currently is excited for Givenchy’s Capsule diffusion collection.

source the cut

Another reason to believe these rumors is because Stephanie W. Wolkoff, the event director that organized this affair, left her post from Vogue last week. In the previous eleven years that she spent in Vogue, she had invested much time for this specific event. Though some may fear that Wolkoff’s absence will affect the gala, a spokesperson from the museum states that, “Vogue’s role is unchanged.”

Women’s Designer of the Year Award
Kate and Laura Mulleavy for Rodarte

Menswear Designer of the Year Award
Scott Sternberg for Band of Outsiders
Italo Zucchelli

Accessory Designer of the Year Award
Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez for Proenza Schouler

Swarovski Awards for Emerging Talent Awards
Alexander Wang for Menswear
Tim Hamilton for Womenswear
Justin Giunta for Subversive Jewelry for Accessory Design

Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award
Anna Sui

International Award
Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton

Popular Vote Award
Ralph Lauren

CFDA’s Board of Directors’ Special Tribute
Michelle Obama

This event held at the company’s 650 Madison Avenue offices, served to unveil the new Pink Pony collection for Fall. The collection includes a quilted vest with the logo, a nylon running jacket, black glasses, and water bottles.

Dr. Harold Freeman, the president and founder of the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention, shared the company’s passion when he stated, “People should not die of cancer because they are poor.”