Archive for February, 2012
February 28th, 2012
Whats the one piece this very moment that can last forever in your closet and still always seem current and modern? Straight off your beau’s back — the Boyfriend Blazer!
I just love this look — not just because it covers up my tuchus but because it works with everything. You can wear it with trousers or a pencil skirt, over a sequined mini-dress or rocker tee and jeans. See?
Some Boyfriend Blazer rules to live by:
- You can style this with boyfriend jeans. Just make sure you put a sexy high heel with it.
- Don’t borrow a man’s jacket. The fit won’t be as flattering.
- Mix it up with a romantic tank top with ruffles or something feminine.
- Turn up the cuffs if the lining is nice. If not, go to the tailor and have it fitted properly.
The Boyfriend Blazer by XCVI — which counts Olivia Wilde, Molly Sims and Glee’s Dianna Agron as fans — retails for $150 at Neiman Marcus, but it can be yours for, well, free!
This just in: 25 lucky winners will each receive one Boyfriend Blazer by XCVI (available in sizes extra-small, medium, large and extra-large and in color options of black,wholesale Louis Vuitton belts, charcoal and cafe).
Open to residents of the United States age 18 and older, the contest runs from now until April 8 at 11:59 p.m./EST. To enter, email your name, address, daytime phone number and age, to giveaways@usmagazine.com. You must put “Boyfriend Blazer” in the subject line to be eligible. Please also include your blazer size and color preference.
Limit one entry per person. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Restrictions may apply.
Click here for official rules.
By Sasha Charnin Morrison for UsMagazine.com. To read more of the Recessionista blog, click here.
February 28th, 2012
Breaking news: Florals will be front and center for you this spring!
They have been plastered all over the runway, celebrities have been wearing them for months — and now it’s our turn. I love this limited edition dress — it’s a steal at only $27.80 — from the Twist collection at Forever 21. It’s time to go country rebel,Discount Baby Phat!
Check out more timeless beauty and style trends, from florals to red lips to LBDs!
For those of you who think it’s too early to buy such a pretty print, you can actually wear these with black opaque tights (like model Jacquetta Wheeler does) and a boot or high heel. You can layer a cardigan and belt the Rosy Sweetheart Dress as well, then shed the layers when it gets warmer.
Because this line is limited, I would recommend ordering STAT!
PRODUCT DETAILS
Giddyup and go in this satin sweetheart dress with a romantic rose pattern, pleated short sleeves, deep slit pockets, and a bubble hem. All that’s missing is a pair of cowboy boots.
- Lined
- Padded cups
- Shell: 54% polyester, 42% cotton, 4% spandex; Lining: 100% polyester
- Hand wash cold, tumble dry
- Sized small to large
- Imported
Buy it here.
February 27th, 2012
Pamela Love’s bold designs have always jibed with an individualistic, downtown kind of aesthetic, so it was on an intriguing note that she looked to factories as a starting point. “I was plowing through books on the Industrial Revolution—I must have read about six or seven of them,” the designer said. “I thought there was an interesting irony, comparing factories to how I actually produce my jewelry, which is in limited runs.” You could see the industrial weightiness in her sturdy arm and neck cuffs, but otherwise the inspiration wasn’t taken so literally. Pieces were accented with turquoise, jasper,Discount Fendi wholesale, and malachite, and there was a warmth to the metals, courtesy of an antiquing process with the silver. The entire effect was slightly tribal and that was helped along by the show’s styling.
More noteworthy were the geometric shapes, which, in a couple standout necklaces, tumbled together to form a sort of deconstructed Rubik’s Cube. The designs felt modern but also had retro flavor. “I also looked to the Art Deco and Bauhaus eras for visual references,” Love explained. Whatever the era, the pieces had versatility. They had the wow factor to hold their own at a black-tie gala, yet weren’t too precious to wear over a simple white T-shirt.
—Bee-Shyuan Chang
Photo: Carly Otness/BFAnyc.com
February 27th, 2012
The womenswear shows may grab the biggest slice of attention at New York fashion week, but let’s not forget about the menswear designers slated to show over the next few days. Gilt Manual hasn’t. In anticipation of the shows to come, the site checked in with a number of experts, from designers to writers to creative directors, about the current and future state of American men’s fashion. Included among the eminent interviewees is the ever-quotable Tim Blanks (”Clothes are what I wear; fashion is what I want”). Want to see more menswear? Consider this a little reminder that Tim,wholesale Abercrombie jackets, along with yours truly, will be reviewing all the Fall ‘11 menswear shows right here on Style.com.
Pictured, from left: Spring 2011 looks from Michael Bastian, Duckie Brown, and Simon Spurr.
—Matthew Schneier
Photo: Monica Feudi / GoRunway.com (Bastian and Duckie Brown);
Yannis Vlamos / GoRunway.com (Spurr)
February 26th, 2012
DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) China’s leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping received a warm welcome in the U.S. heartland on Wednesday, moving from Washington and talks on contentious international issues to Iowa, where the Chinese vice president was hailed as an old friend and a boost for billions of dollars in agricultural trade.
Before leaving Washington, Xi offered deeper cooperation with the United States on trade and security, citing Iran and North Korea, but called on Washington to heed Beijing’s demands on contentious “core interests” such as Tibet. Xi is almost sure to become China’s next president in just over a year.
Xi joined Iowa Governor Terry Branstad for a state dinner attended by several hundred business and government leaders, and was feted with a meal including Iowa-raised pork tenderloin, Angus beef and a soybean and corn salad.
Iowa is America’s largest producer of corn, soybeans and pork, and China’s appetite for all three is growing rapidly. Branstad invited Xi to Iowa to tout the state’s agricultural riches and reconnect Xi with Iowans he had met during an agricultural trade trip in the 1980s.
Xi laid out his views on ties with the United States in the keynote speech of his visit to Washington before heading to Iowa.
His message was dominated by reassuring vows of more balanced economic ties and more international cooperation. But he also stressed Beijing’s impatience with U.S. policies on Taiwan and Tibet - issues on which many Chinese citizens expect their leaders to show they will stand up to foreign pressure.
“The world is currently undergoing profound changes,wholesale Abercrombie t-shirts, and China and the United States face shared challenges and shoulder shared responsibilities in international affairs,” Xi said in a meeting in Washington with U.S. business executives, academics and policy-makers involved with China.
“We should further use bilateral and multilateral mechanisms to enhance coordination between China and the United States on hotspots, including developments on the Korean peninsula and the Iran nuclear issue,” said Xi.
Xi will finish his U.S. trip with a visit Thursday to Los Angeles after finishing his stop to Iowa.
SOYBEAN SALES
Xi said on Wednesday he enjoyed his time in the Midwestern state, both in 1985 and this week. He described Americans as “honest, warm hearted, hard-working, friendly” and said there was a “tremendous reservoir of goodwill” between the Chinese and American people.
The value of American-Chinese agricultural trade ties was underscored when Chinese soybean buyers traveled to Des Moines to announce they would buy more than $4 billion in U.S. soybeans this year.
All told, the Chinese are expected to sign deals to buy a record amount of U.S. soybeans - some 12 million tons - this year, officials said. U.S. corn and pork sales are also on the rise to China.
“We are proud of our mutual beneficial trading partnerships with China and Iowa farmers are proud to harvest safe and reliable agricultural products for use by the people of China,” said Branstad in a toast at the state dinner.
Branstad echoed comments of other U.S. and Chinese officials this week in saying that he hoped Xi’s visit this week would foster and “even deeper friendship” that would benefit both countries.
Xi’s visit to the United States this week has given him a chance to boost his international standing before his likely promotion to the head of China’s ruling Communist Party later this year and president in early 2013.
His offer to work with Washington on solutions to conflicts with Iran and North Korea was welcomed as a possible balm to U.S. worries that Xi (pronounced like “shee”) could take foreign policy in a more hawkish direction.
And the enthusiasm shown for U.S. farm goods, dear to the Asian economic giant as its rising middle class demands more and higher quality food, struck a promising chord with Americans. Several Chinese delegations shadowing Xi this week visited such U.S. agricultural giants as Archer Daniels Midland and Pioneer Hi-Bred International.
Still, friction remains. Xi this week stressed Beijing’s impatience with U.S. policies on Taiwan and Tibet - where Beijing fears its claims could be undermined by Western pressure.
“History demonstrates that whenever each side handles relatively well the issues bearing on the other side’s core and major interests, then Sino-U.S. relations are quite smooth and stable. But when it is the contrary, there are incessant troubles,” he said.
Washington should “abide by the one-China policy and take concrete actions to oppose Taiwanese independence,” he said.
‘ACTING PRUDENTLY’
“We also hope that the United States will truly implement its recognition that Tibet is part of China and its vow to oppose Tibetan independence, acting prudently in issues concerning Tibet,” he added.
Tensions over Chinese control of Tibet have flared in past months when a succession of protests and self-immolations have exposed volatile discontent. Chinese officials have blamed those tensions on separatists or supporters of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Buddhist leader of the region.
In early 2010, the Obama administration’s decision to move forward with proposed arms sales to Taiwan triggered vehement criticism from Beijing, including warnings of sanctions against U.S. companies involved in the sales.
Xi acknowledged the Obama administration’s recent strategic “pivot” towards Asia, which will see a more mobile U.S. military presence, but warned Washington not to push too far.
“China welcomes the United States playing a constructive role in promoting the peace, stability and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region, and at the same time we hope the U.S. side will truly respect the interests and concerns of countries in the region, including China,” said Xi.
For his part, President Barack Obama this week took aim at China’s trade policies, saying he will not stand by when American’s competitors “don’t play by the rules.
Members of Congress pressed Xi on China’s detentions of human rights activists as well. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner’s office said his staff delivered a letter on the case of Gao Zhisheng, a dissident and human rights lawyer imprisoned in China. The House speaker also expressed disappointment at China’ veto of a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria.
Many U.S. lawmakers also complain that China’s yuan currency is significantly undervalued, giving Chinese companies an unfair price advantage that helped lift the U.S. trade deficit with China to a record $295.5 billion in 2011.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Geithner said on Wednesday that Beijing is letting its currency rise, but not quickly enough.
“LONG-TIME FRIEND”
Xi, 58, is poised to become China’s next leader after a decade in which it has grown to become the world’s second largest economy while the United States has fought two wars and endured the deepest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
There were a few protesters outside the Iowa state capitol Wednesday, but Xi’s arrival in Iowa was largely celebrated. An estimated 650 business and government leaders attended the dinner for Xi.
Calling Xi a “long-time friend,” Branstad said his visit was a “historic opportunity.”
“So many Iowans are pleased that a man we befriended those many years ago, has risen to such a position of prominence and respect in the great nation of China,” said Branstad.
Xi spent Wednesday afternoon visiting the small town of Muscatine, Iowa, to reunite with townspeople he had met on a trade trip to the state in 1985 when Xi was a mid-level government official in the pig-farming region in Hebei.
On Thursday morning Xi will visit an Iowa soybean farm and help kick off a U.S.-China agricultural symposium hosted by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in Des Moines.
(Additional reporting by Paul Buckley, Rachelle Younglai and Susan Cornwell in Washington and Laura MacInnis in Milwaukee)
February 26th, 2012
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Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus has defended the NHS saying it is better than any healthcare he had seen in his native USA.
Asked what he made of a visit to the House of Commons during Prime Minister’s Questions, as the guest of Nigel Adams MP, he told BBC Radio 5 live’s Pienaar’s Politics that it was “a lot of people yelling at each other”.
The rock star is a judge on the House of Commons Battle of the Bands competition.
To hear other 5 live interviews, please visit the best bits page.
February 22nd, 2012
More than 1,000 people died in 1986 when a lake in Cameroon released a cloud of CO2 that suffocated entire villages. A much larger lake in Rwanda - with two million people living nearby - is also at risk of eruption, but plans are afoot to make it safer.
In the early evening on Lake Kivu, along Rwanda’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, lights bob on the surface of the water. They’re fishermen’s lanterns hanging off wooden boats to attract herring.
Lake Kivu’s fish are a crucial source of food for the two million people who live around the perimeter.
But there’s something else below the surface of the water besides fish. Something fraught with both risk and promise.
Deep at the bottom of the lake, about 1,000 feet (300m) down, Kivu’s water is heavy with dissolved gas. The lake contains an estimated 256 cubic kilometres of carbon dioxide (CO2) and 65 cubic kilometres of methane.
“It’s a highly volcanic area and much of the CO2 enters the lake from the volcanic rock beneath it,” says Professor Brian Moss from the University of Liverpool.
Bacteria in the lake then convert some of the CO2 into methane.
Fizzy drink
The dissolved gases are kept in the water by the high pressure at such depths. The higher the pressure, the more gas can be dissolved in the water.
Lake Kivu covers 1,040 square miles (2,700 km sq) on the border of Rwanda and DR Congo
However, the gas saturation of the deep water is now so high that if Kivu is shaken up - perhaps by a major lava flow into the lake or an earthquake - the deep water may be displaced upwards and cause the gas to shoot to the surface.
“Think of it like a bottle of fizzy drink,” says Prof Moss.
“The carbon dioxide has been dissolved in the drink. As long as it’s under pressure, it doesn’t bubble. But when you take the top off the bottle, the drink fizzes because you’ve reduced the pressure, and the gas is able to come out.”
Scientists estimate Lake Kivu contains around 1,000 times more gas than the two Cameroonian lakes, Lake Monoun and Lake Nyos, which both erupted in the 1980s.
If the build-up of CO2 is a concern, so too is the presence of methane, which could ignite once exposed to the air.
“The methane would not spontaneously cause an explosion on the surface. But … there are numerous possible ignition sources above and around the lake,” says Professor Robert Hecky from the Large Lakes Observatory at the University of Minnesota.
Recent data shows the methane concentrations in the lake are increasing.
“Right now, we’re taking sediment samples,” says Prof Hecky. “We’re trying to reconstruct Kivu’s history over the past five to 10,000 years. We have clues it probably has had serious disruptions in the past. But we don’t yet know how strong, or how frequent they were.”
Sucking gas
Partly in an effort to avert the threat of an eruption, the Rwandan government has a plan to suck up the water from the lower reaches of the lake and extract the dissolved gases.
A large blue barge is currently being loaded with equipment, before being floated to a spot about eight miles from the shore.
“Underneath the barge you’ve got what are called risers, and those are basically big straws,wholesale Large size Men,” says Bill Barry, of ContourGlobal, the New York-based company developing the project. “And we’re going to have four of those, and they’re going to go 350m (1,148 ft) into the lake.”
Mr Barry says the gases will be largely separated from the water, and from each other.
The methane will be piped to the Rwandan shore, where it will be used to fuel a new power plant.
The CO2, however, will be reinjected into the lake, partly to avoid releasing a greenhouse gas, and partly because even removing the methane alone makes the lake safer.
“Removing methane will move the lake further from the point of saturation, thus making the possibility of a gas eruption less likely,” says Bill Barry.
Risks
There is great interest in Rwanda about the power generation aspect of this project, known as KivuWatt.
The country has very few energy resources of its own, which has helped make it one of the most expensive countries in east Africa to power a home or business.
Artist’s impression of one of the barges - eventually ContourGlobal expects to have four of them
Almost half of its electricity is generated using diesel fuel, which has to be trucked into the country.
KivuWatt could eventually double the amount of electricity generated in Rwanda itself, supporters say, and help wean the country off its dependence on diesel.
But there are risks.
Environmental consultants Sinclair Knight Merz, who reviewed the KivuWatt plans, warned that if it was not carefully operated, it could itself cause an explosion or gas release from the lake.
Engineer Augusta Umutoni, who leads the Rwandan government team monitoring the project, rejects this idea, but does worry that the extraction process could change the lake’s chemistry.
There’s a risk the surface water could become more acidic, she says, or lead to a growth of algae. That would be bad news for Kivu’s fish and the human communities that depend on them.
That’s why the project will start small - with just a pilot phase expected to start producing energy from the methane later this year.
Kivu’s fishermen say the project will change their lives, they hope for the better. If they can continue catching fish, and have electricity in their homes for the first time, that would be a big step forward - and hopefully the risk of a lake eruption will be reduced too.
Listen to more on this story at PRI’s The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, Public Radio International, and WGBH in Boston.
February 22nd, 2012
President Obama used a Milwaukee factory Wednesday as the venue to amplify his call for the US to create more manufacturing jobs – including by enticing companies to move jobs back to the US from overseas.
After years in which American workers faced challenging trends labeled “outsourcing” and “off-shoring,” some people use the word “insourcing” to describe this goal.
The president proposed a blend of tax-code carrots and sticks. Companies would face higher effective taxes on profits earned by overseas operations, and Obama proposes using the proceeds to reward firms that create jobs in the US. Obama also outlined what appears to be a tougher stance on enforcing current trade laws against China, a policy that could aid the cause of US-based factories.
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Mr. Obama won loud cheers from workers at the Master Lock plant where he spoke. But many independent economists, while applauding the general goals Obama espoused, doubt whether the policies he framed in Milwaukee would work.
“The president is absolutely right to focus on this [manufacturing issue],” says Robert Atkinson, who heads the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a policy think tank in Washington. But he says he’s “not really enamored” of Obama’s proposals.
A central problem for US manufacturers, Mr. Atkinson says, is that they are currently asked to pay higher tax rates than their overseas competitors. He argues that what’s needed is an overhaul of the corporate tax system to bring rates lower, making the US a more attractive place to invest.
Obama, instead, offered proposals that create new incentives for investment at home, but would also penalize multinational manufacturers based in the US:
“No American company should be able to avoid paying its fair share of taxes by moving jobs and profits overseas,” Obama said. “From now on, every multinational company should have to pay a basic minimum tax. And every penny should go towards lowering taxes for companies that choose to stay and hire in the United States of America.”
Obama cited Master Lock as an example of a nascent revival for US manufacturing. It has moved about 100 jobs, previously outsourced offshore, back to Milwaukee since the middle of 2010, according to the White House.
Some tax-policy analysts say Obama is right to seek disincentives for firms that shift jobs overseas.
The group Citizens for Tax Justice, for instance, decries a current loophole that allows American corporations to defer US taxes on their offshore profits until those profits are brought home. They pay taxes in the overseas nation. But if they don’t “repatriate” the profits, they may avoid the current tax code’s goal of having them pay enough US tax to make up the difference between the foreign-country and US-side tax rates.
“This … provides an incentive for US corporations to shift operations and jobs to a lower tax country, or just use accounting gimmicks to make their US profits appear to be ‘foreign’ profits,” a recent report by Citizens for Tax Justice said.
Other economists, however, say the US needs to tread carefully on tax policy, and that the main problem is that the US corporate tax rates exceed those in other nations.
Gary Hufbauer, at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, says in an audio commentary on the issue that when US firms invest abroad they also tend to create export demand for their products made in the US. If you try to get them to bring their jobs “home,” the result may be that they lose a foothold in foreign markets, which can ultimately benefit US workers.
Currently, US corporations pay an effective tax rate of about 27 percent of profits, compared with an average of about 20 percent for many other advanced nations, Mr. Hufbauer says. If that tax-rate gap persists, and if the US cracked down on the deferral loophole, it might encourage more US firms to be bought by corporations based overseas,wholesale Juicy Couture Kids, over time, to get around the higher tax.
Atkinson says Obama is “long overdue” in pursuing tougher enforcement of trade laws against China.
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February 22nd, 2012
Sometimes you need the perfect 24/7 summer dress that works for all occasions: weddings, cocktails,Discount Giorgio Armani jeans, date night, brunch, tea parties, bachelorette parties and everything else. I think we found it! And it’s a celebrity HIT. With its sweetheart neckline, oversized waist bow and mini-dress fit, this figure flattering silhouette is perfect. Denise Richards and Adrienne Bailon both wore this French Connection Flash cotton dress!
Check out some of your favorite stars wearing cocktail dresses!
Richards gave it the daytime treatment with nude sandals and Bailon added an evening clutch! Mostly, I love the PRICE! $168! You can also carry this into fall, as hot pink is the big seller. Add black opaque or sexy sheer tights, black gladiator heels and a blazer and you’ve definitely got it all going without breaking the bank. Purchase Info: Buy it here.
February 21st, 2012
Milan Vukmirovic is no longer with Trussardi, but that doesn’t mean the fashion multi-hyphenate has slowed down. The launch issue of his new magazine, Fashion for Men, which is over 600 pages strong, hits newsstands at the end of the month, and Pitti announced last week that his capsule collection for Chevignon Heritage (four pieces for men, four for women) will make its debut at the Florence trade fair in January. Today, Style.com learned that Vukmirovic has been named the creative director for Boon the Shop,wholesale Coach Cheap, Korea’s pioneering multibrand retailer. For those unfamiliar with the store, a press release describes it as “a gateway to Seoul for brands like Marni, Yohji Yamamoto, Ann Demeulemeester, Comme des Garçons, Maison Martin Margiela,” and more. Vukmirovic himself calls it as a cross between Barneys and Colette, the latter of which he helped establish in 1997. In his new role, he’ll be responsible for two high-end retail concepts that are scheduled to launch in late 2012/early 2013. “I didn’t know Korea at all,” Vukmirovic said. “I was shocked by the modernity, the architecture, and the energy. It reminds me of Tokyo 15 years ago. I’m in love with it.”
—Nicole Phelps
Photo: Tommy Ton