TO KICK OFF BRITISH SUGAR AWARENESS WEEK, SPLENDA LAUNCHES A GIANT SUGAR PYRAMID IN ST PAULS, LONDON

With the festive season fast approaching, supermarkets and Christmas shops are promoting all the goodies for this time of the year:  cakes, pies, chocolates, cookies, shortbreads, and the list goes on and on.
But do you know how much sugar you are really eating?

It's British Sugar awareness Week and Splenda sweetener brand has launched a giant Sugar Pyramid in St Pauls, London to raise awareness that Brits are eating twice the amount of annual recommended sugar.  Photo: Splenda.

Ethical brand From Belo launches new Eko collection

There is no doubt that reports of plastic pollution have made headline news in these two years and consumers have been awaken to the global problem that has caused environmental devastation.

Two ladies who were upset by such reports decided to take matters into their own hands and launch a handbag and accessories collection made from recycled and sustainable materials. Thus the ethical brand From Belo was born, set up by school friends and long-distance business partners Maria Costa, 28, who lives in Brazil and Charlotte Bingham-Wallis also 28, based in the UK.

Although 5,000 miles apart, they are united with an aim to have a brand centred on being kind and fashioning kindness. 

From Belo launches the EKO Collection

The new collection will be available from 17/11/18.  From Belo will also be celebrating on Saturday November 17th at the Cambridge Sustainable Fashion Festival at St Banabas Church (11am to 4pm) and then Sunday November 18th in London at the Bricklane Up market (10am – 6pm).

Not only did the two partners start an ethical brand that offers practical, responsibly-made products which fit with their values, they also made an effort to ensure they offer ethical working conditions, fair wages and employment for their artisans based in Brazil, as well as providing an opportunity to give back to Casa De Maria  - an organisation which helps feed the homeless and those in need in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

From Belo is no stranger to the jet set lifestyle either. Earlier this year they were finalists at the prestigious Handbag Designer Awards in the Most Socially Responsible Handbag category.

And this autumn they have launched the EKO Collection,  a vegan range using seatbelts and plastic bottles once destined for landfill and reincarnated into beautiful things and given a second life.

The range includes coin purses to tote bags, as well as a bucket bag which can be worn four ways, a clutch bag, a wine holder, a market bag and a make-up bag - all handmade with recycled materials, carrying their signature hummingbird motif - a symbol of the enjoyment of life and the lightness of being.

Each item is named in honour of the kind volunteers that work at the Casa De Maria charitable organisation.  

Maximum colour, bold patterns, warm scents.

As temperatures start to drop and the nights are drawing in, we take refuge in our home.  According to design houses in Europe and the UK, interiors should be filled with warm colours, rich patterns and great textures.   Think artfully arranged vibrant colours and wallpaper so patterned to make your heart feel warm.  And what better place to get inspiration than to take cues from nature.

The Swedish brand Boråstapeter Scandinavian Designers 11 wallpaper collection is a timeless range of designs for wall decor.  From geometric functional designs style of Arne Jacobsen to the decorative fairytale designs of Stig Lindberg.  Sketched foliage by Viola Gråsten . All the patterns in the collection have a natural, colourful and imaginative touch that make them a perfect compliment to the understated, clean Scandinavian interior scheme. Classic and contemporary have never been more on point.

Also just launched are scented candles from British designer Tom Dixon to bring luminosity and comfort to your interior this season.

"The more I get to understand the designing of spaces as well as objects, the more I realize that there are a series of intangibles that can be just as important as the usual interior-design armoury of colour, light and shape." Tom Dixon.

Tom Dixon Fire candles:  Scent Notes: Cypriol oil, black suede accord, guaiac, wood oil, vertiver oil, amber, musk. 

FIRE is part of the Elements collection. A complex assemblage of Cypriol oil, musk and amber to construct the scent of smoky scorched timber and hot dry tarmac.

Stone on the other hand is part of the Materialism collection. A set of heavy, generous, smooth containers made from forest green marble and turned by hand in India. Each rocky, rounded heavyweight container is unique due to the particularities of each individual block of marble. This forms the optimum vessel for the dry exotic fig and sandalwood essence.

Most shoppers would be tempted back to the high street if retailers offer original and British made goods

Shoppers are bored with the current offering on the high street ... 

... according to Matthew Hopkins, founder of retail sourcing specialist The Great British Exchange following a survey that  revealed 91% of British shoppers would visit high street stores more frequently if they could buy items that are hard to find anywhere else. 

Hand screen-printed Christmas sack from The Handmade Christmas Co.
founded in 2012 by Louis Porter and Tom Coleman
to offer a modern alternative to the traditional Christmas stocking.
All products hand-finished in the UK in a London-based studio.
Photo: The Handmade Christmas Co.

At a time when bricks and mortar retailers are finding it challenging to compete with online businesses as we enter the crucial Christmas shopping season, Hopkins said it has never been more important for retailers to find a point of difference that sets them apart from the store down the road.

“Even more critical is the need to give consumers something they can’t find online,” he added in response to the findings that almost all shoppers questioned would use bricks and mortar stores more often if it meant being able to find something “unique” and two thirds said they wanted more locally made and British manufactured products on the shelves.

The Great British Exchange study found that 20 per cent of the shoppers surveyed did more than half of their shopping online. 

However, when asked about their priorities when buying food products, 82% said the least important factor was online availability. One in 5 valued provenance and the fact that the goods were locally produced above anything else when buying food products and gifts.

Special occasion shopping was one of the biggest challenges faced by consumers, according to the research, with more than half of those questioned demanding easier access to unique and British made gift products.

Shoppers also said flexible opening times, including late night opening and in-store events, would encourage them to shop on the high street more often.

Hopkins of The Great British Exchange added: “People often say bricks and mortar retail is dead but I disagree. It just needs to be done well and that means injecting some excitement and originality into a pastime that has lost its soul.”

Laces from Maison Darquer in key art works and designs around Europe

Thanks to the initiative of its artistic director - the Paris design supremo Stéphane Plassier - laces manufactured by the celebrated French lace mill Maison Darquer (established since 1840) are currently on show in several international museums as impressive installations and works of art.

At the Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain - until 11th November 2018

Project made possible with the support of Maison Darquer.
Photo: Luis Vasconcelos

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao presents the first anthological exhibition in Spain dedicated to Portuguese designer Joana Vasconcelos (born in Paris in 1971).

The monumental work Egeria shown above was specially designed for the Atrium of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, where it will interact with the architecture of Frank Gehry, as well as with the exterior through the large windows glazed.  It is one of the most ambitious of the important set of Valkyries, which Vasconcelos created inspired by female characters of Scandinavian mythology, among which these include the Palazzo Grassi in Venice, the Palace of Versailles, the ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

Other works also featuring Maison Darquer divine laces ...

At MAD Brussels from 23rd November until 12th January 2019

Photo : Dominique Maitre

Works made by second year student at La Cambre Arts Visuels with the support of Maison Darquer
































And at the City of Lace and Fashion ( Cité de la Dentelle et de la Mode) in Calais, France - until 6th January 2019

Photo courtesy of La Cité de la Dentelle et de la Mode, in Calais, France

Close up of a dress designed by Bertrand Guillon (artistic director of fashion house Schiaparelli) with Tears & Lace  from Maison Darquer. 

Established in 1840, Darquer Dentelle is the oldest manufacturer of Calais and Caudry lace in France.   The quality and refinement of its products are testaments to its brilliant history of creativity and savoir-faire in Haute Couture, Prêt-à-Porter, and most recently, luxury lingerie.

Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour lit up by 100 choreographed drones

The 10th CCB (Asia) Hong Kong Wine and Dine Festival has opened.  The
 Victoria Harbour lit up by 100 choreographed drones to celebrate event’s 10th birthday

What an attractive picture of Hong Kong, provided by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB),
organiser of the CCB (Asia) Hong Kong Wine and Dine Festival that opened on October 25 2018.

Organised with China Construction Bank (Asia) as the title sponsor for the fifth consecutive year, this year the HKTB  arranged the first-ever drone performance over Victoria Harbour to celebrate the 10th edition of the event.

After the ceremony, the officiating guests witnessed Hong Kong’s first choreographic drone performance by 100 drones over the famous Victoria Harbour. The seven-minute performance displayed various patterns and animations, including the number “10” and birthday cakes against the breathtaking backdrop of Victoria Harbour.

This edition of the Hong Kong Wine and Dine Festival is the largest to date, with the event venue extended from the Central Harbourfront Event Space to Tamar Park to accommodate about 450 booths serving fine wines and exquisite food.

A host of new party elements, such as a gigantic birthday cake for selfies and a “Super Time” prize offer, are featured during this year’s event. Visitors and locals can also enjoy various limited edition wines, as well as some of Hong Kong’s most popular coffees and street eats in the new “Coffee Fiesta” and “International Street Eats” zones during the four day event October 25 - 28.

Lyst Index: Off-White is hottest global brand

In Paris, at the Roger Vivier
SS2019 presentation.
Photo by Francois Durand/Getty Images For Roger Vivier 

Today we’re seeing a growing alliance not only between fashion and sport but also between luxury and sport, leading to the term “athluxury” - a blend of ‘athletic’ and ‘luxury’ - according to Pascal Monfort, fashion expert and founder of REC Trends Marketing, a specialist in sports, youth and street culture.

Photo © Lucia Carpio 2018

Presenting a series of conferences on Sport &Tech at the Autumn 2018 edition of Premiere Vision Paris in September, Pascal Monfort said: “The inclusion of sport in fashion is no longer simply a trend, it’s a necessity for many fashion brands, whether they come from the fast fashion or luxury worlds.”
In his view, 2020 will be the pinnacle of this success, the ultimate incarnation of the love affair between sport and fashion.

Still it is remarkable to learn that Off-White is officially the hottest brand on the planet, according to the latest edition of the London-based Lyst Index.  Over the last year the cult streetwear label has risen 33 places in the Index, now surpassing Gucci and Balenciaga at the top of the table for the first time.

Lyst said, thanks to a quarter packed with globally-hyped launches and collaborations, the Off-White buzz surrounding Virgil Abloh and his disruptive creative aesthetic continues to grow. Searches for Off-White across Lyst’s partner retailers are up 14% quarter on quarter, and Off-White is responsible for 3 out of 20 products in the hottest products lists.

Nike is the other sport brand on the list of top 10 brands in the index, having moved up five spots to take fourth place.  Nike’s recent Just Do It campaign starring American footballer Colin Kaepernick helped boost total search traffic to its related pages by 13% quarter-on-quarter. Four out of the 20 hottest fashion products in the Index this quarter are by Nike.  Continuing the popular Ugly Sneaker trend, Nike’s M2K Tekno replaced the Fila Disruptor as the most wanted affordable take on the look that had been pioneered by the Balenciaga Triple S (which remains in the men’s hottest products list for a second quarter.) The Nike shoe is the first product to appear in both the men’s and women’s hottest products lists at the same time on the Lyst Index.

Roger Vivier sports-inspired luxury footwear for SS2019.
Pascal Monfort said: “80% of sneakers have never been run in, nor seen a gym.
Sneakers have definitively become fashion footwear.” 
Photo by Francois Durand/Getty Images For Roger Vivier

Photo © Lucia Carpio 2018

Pascal Monfort said: “What’s happening today is fantastic. Creativity isn’t dead, far from it. Together, fashion and sports can go a long way and we love that!”  

He added that the power of collaborations is incredible "We’re seeing the most unexpected and most surprising ones: Marine Green x Oakley, Vêtement x Oakley… Nike x Off-White for the team Nigeria fielded for the 2018 World Cup (3 million jerseys pre-ordered) … Koché x PSG: even football can become fashionable and cool!"

The fact is that fashion designers love sportswear, said Montfort.  The power of streetwear and sportswear designers is overturning norms. The most recent example is undeniably the appointment of Virgile Abloh (Off-White), a multifaceted American designer, as head of the House of Vuitton, an event which created quite a surprise in the fashion world.

Nevertheless, a series of collaborations with the biggest luxury brands and the creation of the “luxury” Nike City Ready line now places Nike on the pages of the leading fashion magazines such as Vogue.