Claire Danes and Cynthia Nixon celebrated International Women’s Day with a stylish bent.
The actresses attended a shopping fund-raiser for the Afghan Hands foundation — an organization that looks to foster autonomy for Afghani women, by funding careers in handicrafts and seeding educational efforts in the Kabul area.
The charity was founded by Danes and Nixon’s makeup artist Matin Maulawizada.
“I think it’s a great thing to be doing for all of us who are here; there are upsides and downsides to globalization and one of the upsides is you really can reach out and completely change for the better a life of a woman halfway around the globe,” said Nixon.
The event was held at the offices of jewelry brand Gabriel & Co., where attendees could purchase jewelry to benefit the charity, or scarves created by the women Afghan Hands supports.
“We should all be able to take time and build houses for people but most of us can’t. So if you have some money to buy some jewelry, to buy a beautiful scarf made by a woman in Afghanistan — it’s great. It’s a relatively painless thing and then you have something beautiful to wear and something beautiful to say when people compliment

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Considering themselves a safe place to disconnect and bring people together, SoulCycle has launched a new Army of Love campaign that will run through the month. The aim of the campaign is to spread acceptance, respect, community, collaboration and love.
SoulCycle has created unisex Army of Love tanks, retailing for $48, which are being sold in all 72 studios and online.
In addition, studios will hand out stickers with encouraging phrases like “Peace Warrior” and “I love you no matter who you love.”
The company is donating 100 percent of the proceeds from sales of the tanks to the organizations hosting charity rides at SoulCycle this month, which have included ALS Research, JDR, Hopeful Hearts and the ACLU.
Melanie Whelan, chief executive officer of SoulCycle, said, “SoulCycle is committed to being a powerful force for good in our communities. This is our focus: providing a sanctuary for those who seek it, daily. Army of Love is a movement about not just embracing each other’s differences — our varying experiences, ethnicities, beliefs and more — but celebrating them.”

SoulCycle’s Army of Love tank. 

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A STUDY IN CONTRASTS: Anum Bashir, one of the Middle East’s leading style stars whose blog Desert Mannequin showcases her androgynous look, has teamed with the Tbilisi, Georgia-based designer Natuka Karkashadze of N-Duo to launch a capsule collection for fall. DM x N-Duo is a “boy-meets-girl collection,” according to Bashir, who launched it this week in Paris with a private preview at Caviar Kaspia.
Masculine cuts in feminine colors dominate the collection. “We wanted to contrast textures, like juxtaposing lace with corduroy,” she said. Key pieces include a double-breasted, boyfriend-cut corduroy suit that’s available in pink and brown, while softly tailored pajama sets combine silk print and velvet. An oversize raspberry velvet puffer coat is a nod to Bashir’s experimental style.
“I’m really excited to be on this journey with Anum,” said Karkashadze. “Her vision is so fresh and positive. She is a real N-Duo girl with an experimental aesthetic, the girl who is excited by her favorite pieces and is always creating something imaginative.”
Bashir, who has been a guest buyer for some of the Middle East’s most progressive boutiques, said she is not trend-driven. “I love the idea of clothes having a true life, not something you just wear for one

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FOOD FOR FEED: Editors, colleagues and friends came out on International Women’s Day to toast Rebecca Minkoff and Lauren Bush Lauren’s FEED collaboration. Among those who enjoyed cocktails and a full-course dinner at Tiny’s in TriBeCa were Amy Astley,  Heba Abedin, Zanna Roberts Rassi, Eden Grinshpan and Kathy Lee. The Rebecca Minkoff for FEED collection is being sold at Minkoff’s stores, rebeccaminkoff.com, feedprojects.com and at Nordstrom.
Lauren told WWD that the bags have nearly sold out on her site.
“Rebecca slightly stalked me,” joked Lauren, in describing how the collaboration came about. She said the sale of these bags will “give meals to the children in the poorest countries around the world.”
With each purchase, the FEED foldover clutch provides 37 meals, the unlined cross-body provides 62 meals and the whipstitch tote provides 74 meals. The bags, made of a tapestry material that was hand-loomed in India, are 100 percent cotton and in a tribal print in black, ecru and yellow with a soft black pebble leather trim. They retail from $145 to $295.
Minkoff said about the collaboration, “To work in tandem with such a strong female entrepreneur who has made it her company’s mission to give so much to so many is unbelievably moving.”
Minkoff

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GAINING SCOPE: The Chambre Syndicale-backed Designers Apartment showroom, which showcases young France-based designers, is becoming a compulsory stop on buyers’ Paris fashion schedule.
“Designers Apartment was exceptional,” said Nicole Fischelis, group vice president and fashion director of Macy’s Inc, citing Coralie Marabelle, Mazarine and Quetsche as standout brands among the 11 designers showing at this season’s edition, which closed March 8. “They really are talents to follow.”
Hélène Timsit, one half of design duo Mazarine, which won the Grand Prix de la Création de la Ville de Paris in 2015, said the brand had seen a difference in reception this season, the young label’s second time showing at Designers Apartment — indeed, its “Bladerunner”-inspired fall lineup is only its second wholesale collection.
“We’ve really seen a progression this time,” she said, adding that the label had visits from buyers from Colette and Le Bon Marché, as well as Macy’s, and had also seen interest from retailers in Asia, Spain and Qatar.
Hudson’s Bay Co. senior vice president and fashion director Suzanne Timmins picked out young Paris-based American designer Quoï Alexander as one of her discoveries of the week.
Alexander, another second timer, bases his distinctive style on creating designs without sewing. He created his label

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The retailer partners with Where I Was From for a vintage-inspired collection.

Designers went mad for plaid, rocking looks usually associated with bagpipers, preppy dads and punk rockers.

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Liz Bacelar, the founder of Decoded Fashion, has a new baby called TheCurrent.
The firm’s mission is to gather retail and brand leaders around the world through an open-innovation environment to help companies cut down on their research and development costs while they discuss and create cutting-edge solutions to help firms increase sales.
Bacelar said the collaborative focus of an open-innovation environment is the best way economically for companies to track the trends and innovate together. She noted firms that have in-house incubator programs often don’t get too far due to its cost structure. “When you innovate internally, you can’t move as fast as you are [restrained] by the company’s limitations. An open-innovation [process] can filter all that is going on, and then you can act fast [on what’s important to you],” Bacelar said.
Bacelar called Decoded Fashion step one in the process, which was aimed at getting the decision-makers in the fashion, beauty and retails sectors to talk with emerging tech firms. TheCurrent represents stage two, with less of a focus on talking and more on “doing relevant things together,” she said.
Also new is an accelerator program that will be offered in September. The business model for TheCurrent has three components: Scouting

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LADIES FIRST: In what was her most pointed remarks to date that defined issues that she will focus on, First Lady Melania Trump spoke of the struggle for equality, her former immigrant status and the need to challenge gender bias in all its forms as part of International Women’s Day on Wednesday. She also emphasized the importance of education as the most powerful way to promote and ensure women’s rights.
In honor of International Women’s Day, she addressed a White House crowd that included members of the United Nations Women for Peace Association and Girl Scouts of America. Calling for greater inclusiveness regardless of race, gender or ethnicity, Trump encouraged attendees to share in her campaign for a world with more tolerance. FLOTUS had conversations with guests, according to Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, senior adviser and chief strategist to the First Lady, who gave details on the event.
Her designer of choice for the occasion was Ralph Lauren, with a sleeveless black wool dress with leather trim details on the shoulders. The announcement of next month’s Easter egg roll at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue seemed almost incidental considering what else is in store.

Melania Trump in Ralph Lauren on Wednesday. 
Mathieson Sr./REX/Shutterstock

In an exclusive to WWD, it was revealed that the First

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