BEAUTY MARKS: Rankin, designer Steven Tai and the U.K. charity Changing Faces have worked on a project that thrusts women with disfigurements, marks and scars into the spotlight, and aims to shatter conventional notions of beauty.
“Portrait Positive,” a book and campaign, was conceived by Tai and Stephen Bell, a London-based events manager, and features images of 16 women with visible facial and bodily differences. The women were shot by Rankin and are wearing designs by Steven Tai. It launched this week in London and retails for 29.95 pounds.
The book is available to purchase on the Portrait Positive web site and at stores, boutique and art spaces across the U.K. and proceeds from sales will support Changing Faces’ work. The charity is for 1.3 million children, young people and adults who have a medical condition, mark or scar that makes them look different.
“Living with a visible difference, you are literally judged by your appearance and compared to what I think is a fake idea of what it is to be beautiful or even ‘normal,’” Rankin said. “The only way to shift this perception is to talk about it and face it head on.”
Three of the women walked in Steven Tai’s show earlier this

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ARTS AND CRAFTS: Seven young artists have won a sponsorship jackpot from Tiffany & Co., part of an ongoing partnership with the Outset Contemporary Art Fund. The jeweler provides promising arts graduates with rent-free studio space for a year to help them refine their work and kick-start their careers.
Richard Moore, the brand’s divisional vice president, store design and creative visual merchandising, revealed the names of the seven winners for this year during a breakfast held at Tiffany’s new Covent Garden concept space.
They are James Fuller, who is best known for creating art pieces out of mundane, everyday objects; multidisciplinary artist Mark Corfield-Moore; sculptor Miriam Naeh; contemporary jewelry designer Neung Wi Kim; painter Roy Efrat; Sofia Mitsola who stands out for her abstract portraits, and mixed-media artist Yasmine Robinson.
“Art has been such an important part of our brand narrative,” said Moore. “We really wanted to create not only an opportunity for young and emerging artists in London to be able to make those first steps up the ladder, but also to create that sense of community. It’s one of our brand purposes, as big organizations should really be supporting the community and the world at large.”
The winning artists will be given

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Nashville’s fashion, music and culinary scene will be making a monthlong stop in New York at the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg via a pop-up shop event, Oct. 1 to 29.
“Greetings from Nashville” showcases the work of the Tennessee city’s “top designers, artists, makers, musicians and chefs,” according to The Callaway — the Nashville-based communications company that is curating the event. Libby Callaway, founder and principal of the firm said vendors that are being presented include Barista Parlor, Third Man Records, Little Seed Farm, Salt Ceramics and New Hat as well as the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
Callaway said the goal is to “introduce Nashville’s creative community to Brooklyn.” Callaway is a native Tennessean who spent 10 years working in New York, and conceived “the event as a way to ‘bridge the gap’ between two cities.
Greetings From Nashville is sponsored by the Nashville Conventions and Visitors Corp.
“Greetings From Nashville is a chance to show New Yorkers all of the amazing things happening in my hometown,” she added. The Shop at the Wythe Hotel will host the vendors, and will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The Shop is located on the ground floor of the eight-story boutique hotel, and organizers said it “will be filled with new

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PACK YOUR BAGS: First Lady Melania Trump rounded up fellow first spouses and other dignitaries Wednesday morning at the United States Mission to the United Nations.
FLOTUS used the occasion to reveal details of her upcoming trip to Africa which will include stops in Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt. “Whether it is education, drug addiction, hunger, online safety or bullying, poverty or disease, it is too often children who are hit first, and hardest, across the globe,” she said, according to a press pool report. “Each of us hails from a country with its own unique challenges, but I know in my heart we are united by our commitment to raising the next generation to be happy, healthy and morally responsible adults.”
Next week’s trip will mark the first official solo one for Trump, who has been exercising more independence in relation to her job title as of late. While many Americans and President Donald Trump are consumed with the upcoming Senate Judiciary hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, the first lady presented a more outward outlook. As for her itinerary, she said the countries were selected because they “have worked alongside USAID and our partners to make great progress in overcoming

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Although it’s officially fall, beach season lives on in the world of Cynthia Rowley and Maisonette.
The designer has teamed with the children’s e-tailer for an exclusive capsule collection of children’s clothing, inspired by beach culture on both the East and West coasts. The 13-piece CaliYork collaboration includes wetsuits, sweatshirts, beach bags and towels, available in both children’s and women’s sizes. Prices range from $55 for the towel to $265 for the women’s wetsuit.
“We debuted on Maisonette with our signature CaliYork collection — but now for kids — tying into our idea of this adventurous bicoastal lifestyle,” says Rowley, who recently opened her third store on the West Coast. “My daughters, Kit and Gigi, learned to surf at a young age and now it’s our favorite thing to do as a family. I wanted to share and promote the fun we have spending hours in the water.”
“The brilliant colors that she uses translated naturally into a children’s line. Her message of women embracing life and adventure is exactly what we celebrate at Maisonette,” says Maisonette cofounder and ceo Sylvana Ward Durrett.
The collection will be revealed during a one-day pop-up on Sept. 30 at the Cynthia Rowley store in Newport Beach.

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