HEADING TO DALLAS: Frances Valentine intends to open a pop-up store in Dallas by year-end, and chief executive officer Elyce Arons began outreach on Monday with lunch for 20 women at Grange Hall, followed by a private home trunk show on Tuesday.
Guests included Michelle Nussbaumer, Cindy Schwartz, Capera Ryan and Chandra North Blaylock.
“We’re still small and haven’t been around very long, so we don’t have a lot of brand awareness,” explained Arons, who launched the label in 2015 with the late Kate Spade and her husband Andy, and Paola Venturi.
Yet Dallas is one of the brand’s “major” e-commerce markets and has been on her radar for a while, she noted.
“Last summer we opened a pop-up store in Sag Harbor, which we still have and are keeping indefinitely, and we had so many people come into the store and say, ‘You’ve got to be in Dallas,’” Arons explained.
It’s no secret that Dallas women are fond of bright colors and feminine style, which are hallmarks of Frances Valentine. Bestsellers at the trunk show were $695 linen caftans vividly embroidered with peacocks and Mexican-inspired motifs.
Arons was scouting for a space in Dallas’ hottest upscale retail spots –– Highland Park Village, NorthPark Center, the

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LONDON — Fashion Trust Arabia has announced the 25 finalists who will compete for its second annual awards which take place in Qatar on March 25.
The finalists, who were chosen from more than 570 applications, work across the jewelry, accessories and ready-to-wear categories and represent 13 countries in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region.
A wide range of designers from across the Arab world have made the shortlist, and they are bound by their commitment to social responsibility.
“It is so impressive to see how mindful they are about the future of fashion,” said Tania Fares, founder of the initiative. “There is also a huge social responsibility highlighted in a lot of their brands, whether it be designing through communities or preserving artisanal craftsmanship.”
The designers in the rtw category include Jordan-based label Nafsika Skourti; Sudanese Omer Asim Jamal; Beirut-based Emergency Room which addresses the environmental emergency by working with vintage and deadstock fabrics only; Born in Exile by Ibrahim Shebani; and the contemporary label Beige by Muna al Othaiman.
There is also a dedicated eveningwear category that includes names such as Bazza Alzouman, Sara Mrad, Yousef Akbar, Ilyes Ouali and Shahira Lasheen.
In the accessories category the finalists include footwear designers Andrea Wazen, Reem

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YOUR OWN IDOL: Gone are the days when teenagers would hang their idols’ pictures on their bedrooms’ walls. In the age of social media it’s more likely they will scroll down their Instagram feeds looking for inspiring types — or just become one.
Up-and-coming brand Teen Idol wants just that: Offering teenagers a chance to play with fashion, get the look and have fun.
During Milan Fashion Week the youngest fashion folks crowded the city’s Antonia luxury shopping destination to fete the brand, joining model Stella Maxwell, who fronts the label’s digital campaign, and Anna Dello Russo, Vogue Japan’s creative director at large and a fashion icon herself.
“I think we’re experiencing an epochal revolution, if I think about the future I believe the connection with the younger generations is crucial. So teenagers are the ones inspiring me the most. They can reinvent the consumerist language,” Dello Russo said.
Local influencers and young fashion enthusiasts craved for a picture with models lineup up looking like manga characters, in their ruffled and neon-hued minidresses accentuated by a bow in a contrasting color nipping the waist.
The collection is sold through the company’s online store, retailing at between 299 euros and 399 euros. Each party dress comes

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The disease has affected everything from international sales to fashion month events.

Unlike most concepts, Polestar’s EV prototype doesn’t feel that far from reality.

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The $10 million home is one of the latest additions to the Big Island’s super-exclusive Kohanaiki Club. 

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PARIS — Before stepping up on the Fendi catwalk on Thursday, Paloma Elsesser was hardly a unknown figure: the American model features regularly in Glossier campaigns and is a face of Fenty Beauty.
But walking for an LVMH-owned luxury house is another thing. While most Millennial-savvy, digital native brands have embraced diversity from their very inception, getting better representation of all body sizes is a relatively new phenomenon for the higher spheres of fashion — especially the European ones.
“Plus-size models started in the U.S. quite a while ago,” said Nathalie Cros-Coitton, chief executive officer of Women Management modeling agency and founder of its new Curve W360 division dedicated to curvier body types. “Maybe because the American population is a better reflection of that particular market. But what we’ve seen recently with social media and the personal expression it allows is that brands have finally realized there is a wholly different audience out there.”
While models like Ashley Graham and Tess Holliday have truly made their mark and become ambassadors for body diversity within the industry, the second wave of body positivity is brought on by a flurry of new faces that are scouted on social media, where some of them already have

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Brooks Brothers has a history of dressing American presidents so it makes sense that the White House Historical Association would turn to the specialty retailer to produce an accessories collection.
The exclusive collection will feature the Truman Presidential Seal and will include red, blue and navy neckties, a red or blue double-sided bowties, a navy bowtie and a multicolored pocket square. Called the Presidential Collection, all items are 100 percent silk and manufactured in the U.S.
The Truman Presidential Seal was established in 1945 when then-President Harry S. Truman issued an executive order that officially defined the Presidential Coat of Arms and Seal for the first time. Eventually, an eagle’s head, which originally faced right toward a bundle of 13 arrows held in its talons, was turned to face left toward an olive branch to symbolize peace.
The products will range in price from $55 to $89.50 and can be purchased online through the association’s web site or the White House History Shop and White House Visitor Center in Washington, D.C.
The organization said it will continue to partner with Brooks Brothers on additional products in the future.
A Brooks Brothers spokesperson said the Historical Association approached the company about the partnership because it “recognized

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