Rocking the black blazer

We can thank Coco Chanel for giving us the perfect jacket to top everything from skirts to jeans. A great blazer or jacket can dress up any outfit and protect women from blasts of overzealous air conditioning systems everywhere. Blazers aren't just for schoolgirls or bank tellers. Whether you are going to work, a club, a soccer game, or the theater, your blazer can dress up your jeans, skirt, pants, or cocktail dress. A fashionable blazer can take the place of a sweater on a cool night. Check out ShopWiki for some 'how to fit'-information.



(Pictures: Just Jared/Celebutopia/Celeb slam)

Sweet music: Lights

Her real name is Valerie Poxleitner and she describes herself as 'small girl who dwells in Toronto and makes music.' Lights is a Canadian synth-pop singer and songwriter best known for her song February Air, featured in the February 2008 Old Navy commercials. She composes and sings powerful and beautiful electronic indie-pop songs.
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(Lights - February Air)

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Lights grew up in a musical family. When asked about when she wrote her first song, Lights has said "I was eleven, and I learned three chords on the guitar it was the first time I really learned how to play guitar and I wanted to write a song with them so I went down to my mom and I said pick a number between 1 and 150 and she picked 5 or something, I can’t really remember the number, but I went and opened up the Bible and there was 150 Psalms already written so I went to the number she chose and wrote a song with that and that kicked off the biggest thing of my life."

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Lights got her break while modeling at the age of fifteen for a Wal-Mart flyer. The makeup artist on the shoot heard her sing and introduced her to singer-songwriter Jian Ghomeshi, who developed her first demo and now manages Lights.

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For more information, check out her myspace

Rendez-vous with Daisy Lowe

It-girl Daisy Lowe was born to be a star. She is the 19-year-old daughter of fashion scenester Pearl Lowe and Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale and she modeled for the first time at age 2, although she admits that modeling “was never something she wanted to do.” But Daisy changed her attitude in 2005, when she was spotted by a talent scout who encouraged her to give modeling a second chance.

In 2004 a DNA test reveals that Lowe is the daughter of Bush front man (and Gwen Stefani’s husband) Gavin Rossdale, who up until now has been Lowe’s godfather. "It was a really weird time in my life. I stopped going out and just sort of hid from it a lot. The press - they were absolutely horrible, just w*nkers". Daisy considers Pearl's husband, Supergrass drummer Danny Goffey, her "dad", adding, "I definitely don't call Gwen 'Stepmum'".

Daisy Lowe has a brilliant career as a fashion model ahead of her. She has already appeared in Italian Vogue, W Magazine, and Jane. She was featured in advertisements for French Connection and she replaced Kate Moss for Agent Provocateur. Daisy will also appear on screen in Class Of 2008. It’s being billed as an “observational documentary series that follows six up-and-coming young talented people in London on their creative journeys”. Famous friends of Daisy are Peaches Geldof, Pixie Geldof, Liv Tyler and Agyness Deyn.

Sweet music: One Night Only

One Night Only is another indie-rock band from the UK. They started out as a bunch of school friends 'just making noise' in their rural hometown of Helmsley in North Yorkshire where they got banned from their rehearsal spaces because they were too loud. "The first one was in a historic village with a monastery and we were just doomed from the start," recalls George. "Then we went to this dugout place underneath the town hall and trashed that as well. Well, we didn't trash it, they just didn't like the holes in the walls they kept finding."

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(One Night Only - It's about time)

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Last October Steve Lamacq began spinning the demo of You And Me, prompting the band to really take themselves seriously. George dropped out of school and they frantically phoned every venue in the UK asking for gigs. They got about ten and the A&R pack duly pounced: some caught them first at Liverpool's Cavern Club in front of a bus full of their most mosh-happy York fans and within a month every major label in the UK was trekking up to their rehearsal room for a personal showcase.

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"We knew friends' bands who'd had a bit of interest from labels and gone down to London to play to them and it was like 'go away, come back when you're a bit older'. So we didn't want to do that, we cancelled all our shows and said 'if you want to see us you'll have to come to York'," said George."Then we hired out the rehearsal room, practiced there for a week, got really tight and then we did individual showcases. We were so tired by the end of it. We couldn't be arsed to talk to them. We'd had all week of doing three a day, all asking the same questions." A funny fact about the band is that they have recorded and uploaded their own message onto Limewire, preventing people from downloading their music and explaining that downloading music that way is "a bit illegal".

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Click here to read the entire interview

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For more information, visit their:

Official website

Myspace

Fringe fever

A fringe (or bangs in the United States and Canada) is the front part of the hair, cut to hang or curl over the forehead. Hairstyles that feature fringes or bangs have come and gone out of fashion as frequently as other hairstyles, and they can be worn in any number of styles. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, poofy, curly, teased fringes were in fashion. In 2006, the fringe saw another massive revival as a hair trend, this time thick, deep and blunt-cut. But it looks like 2008 is gonna be another fringe-year. The 2008 fringe is different. You could call it an out of bed-fringe: it's kind of messy, but at the same time you can make it look chic.



(Pictures: Just Jared/Mischa B/Oh Hilary/The Sun)

Rendez-vous with Lou Doillon

When she was about 15 years old, she was living an insane and wild life in Paris. She had red hair and piercings all over her body. Taking drugs and not really caring about anything, her papa thought that putting her in one of his movies might help settle her down. And he was right: Lou calmed down. "It made me a new person".

Meet Lou Doillon, she's the daughter of French director Jacques Doillon and actress Jane Birkin. Lou is a stunning 25-year-old actress and model who is currently taking Paris by storm. "I don't really understand it," she says of her newfound fame. "It's quite amusing, actually. Suddenly I hear my name being called out by strangers all over Paris. I hear good rumors and bad rumors. It's funny to be the ‘thing’ everyone's talking about." Her beauty contract for the house of Givenchy is not strictly as a model, but as something more haunting: their muse.

The quirky Parisienne definately has an own, unique style. Her style is a bit tomboy-slouch with a Parisien flare for dramatic. "History is a big inspiration, and then literature, paintings, and films. I like hidden references; I'll be inspired to wear thigh-high green socks by an Egon Schiele painting. For the Lee Cooper collection, my style inspiration is the Artful Dodger—my favorite character ever [from Oliver Twist]." Long admired in the fashion world for her individual style - it's not every day you find someone who claims the Artful Dodger as their fashion inspiration - the Parisien It-girl is friends with Milla Jovovich, and can ensure the attendance of the Olsen twins and Mischa Barton at an event.

Click here to read an interview with Lou and click here to see more pictures.

(Thanks to Refinery29, The Sartorialist and The Vintage Society)

Go horizontal

In the world of fashion, almost everything is recycled. That hot new trend you've latched onto probably isn't new - it just found its way back to the crowd. Although stripes never really been away from the streets, they are back. We've already spotted stripes on the catwalk last year but now it seems like everyone is going crazy for the 'horizontal-things'.



(Pictures: Gossip Girls/Celebutopia/CelebrityBodyGossip)

Sweet music: The Kooks

Say hello The Kooks: a band of four guys who studied at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music. The Kooks is a indie rock band formed in 2004.


(Naive, live at Leeds)

Lead singer and rhythm guitarist Luke Pritchard got bassist Max Rafferty involved in a college project, which formed the base of the band. After getting lead guitarist Hugh Harris and drummer Paul Garred involved, they chose a band name from a song off the 1971 David Bowie album Hunky Dory, entitled "Kooks".

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The Kooks released a debut EP and played Brighton's Free Butt festival, and were instantly signed to Virgin Records. Pritchard wrote The Kooks' hit song "Naïve" when he was only 16 years old, which after release catapulted the debut album, Inside In/Inside Out into the UK Top 20 charts for more than half of 2006.

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The band mix a whole range of styles and influences within their music. Influences like Bob Dylan, Jack Johnson, The Kinks, The Beatles, Velvet Underground, David Bowie, The Doors and Jeff Buckley. They seem to blend quite edgy and bouncy pop guitar riffs with a nice solid beat. But it is lead singer Pritchard that really gives the band a unique sound and defines them from the majority.

For more information/music, check out their:
Official site
Myspace