While the first decade of this century revisited nearly every retro look from the 1930s on, this recent return to classic is not without updates.  Designers are turning to classics for inspiration, but perfecting cuts, redesigning familiar patterns, and focusing on the textiles used to create these distinctive designs.  With an updated classic look, the elegant styles from which these new designs draw upon are no longer exclusively for the high-browed, for bold patterns and colors translate well to the modern, individualistic, everyday man. Brooklyn-based couturiers, Ryan Sovereign and Will Beck anticipated this resurgence of elegance, and well ahead of the curve.  Since 2005, Sovereign Beck has produced a variety of hand-sewn men’s accessories ranging from neckties, bow ties and pocket squares in 100% silk, wool and cotton.

Upon their meeting at the Rhode Island School of Design, where Sovereign studied industrial design and Beck studied sculpture, the two collaborated quite naturally in music.  The complimentary makeup of the their creativity, combined with their mutual interest in pattern design and collecting vintage ties eventually gave birth to a neckwear line appropriately known as Sovereign Beck.  In aim of making contemporary what was once mundane; Sovereign Beck began their line with subtle alterations to otherwise seemingly familiar prints on a timelessly cut necktie—not too skinny, not too thick.

In Sovereign Beck’s first collection, the typical striped or plaid tie was given an updated color palate, some adorned with flying birds or a slight splatter of a complimentary color; while others have been printed with natural inspired, fizz-like and reptilian-esque patterns.  Continuing on with three more seasons of 100% silk ties, Sovereign Beck’s modern take on a familiar classic has increasingly grown in sophistication.  Exhibiting what is now signature Sovereign and Beck design, their four collections of silk ties offer hints of bricolage, as bits and pieces of common patterns show themselves in a new light, creating truly unique prints that depart from the ordinary, while still maintaining a sense of timelessness.

A few years after the launch of Sovereign Beck, the two realized another simple accessory: the pocket square, which is now available as a companion to nine ties within the silk collections.  Coinciding with these nine pocket squares, a well-cut bowtie was added to the line (with a little help from hopeful clients), completing the three simple offerings from the Sovereign Beck collection.  In addition to exploring various suit-related accessories, Sovereign Beck also began investigating the use of other materials and techniques in their work.  Suited for the colder seasons, the 2009 F/W line yielded 100% wool ties in muted colors printed in hounds tooth, stripes and speckles; providing the modern gentleman with more seasonal variety.

Proceeding with their inquiry into the various types of materials, Sovereign Beck has more recently ventured to use men’s shirting cotton for a lighter, more casual spring and summer tie.  Collaborating with New York based Polluted Eyeball, Sovereign Beck’s first cotton line featured hand screen-printed patterns, and has since progressed to include plaid and stripe printed cotton ties.  The two designers are currently working on a new fall collection which will expand both the cotton and wool collections, including new color palates and fabrics.

All Sovereign Beck ties are printed in limited quantities, bias cut and hand sewn in New York City.   Whether actualized in silk, wool or cotton, Sovereign Beck provides enduring designs that are bold, yet understated; modern, yet timeless.

Sovereign Beck can be found in Los Angeles at the Standard Hotel in Downtown or online at www.sovereignbeck.com

Meiling was formally trained in fashion design at Lucie Clayton School of Design in London, England in the 1960s but has been sewing with the help of her mother’s instruction since childhood.  Upon her graduating from Clayton, Meiling moved back to Trinidad & Tobago in the early 1970s where she opened her first showroom in a retrofitted garage.  From here, Meiling developed her signature style in elaborating natural fabrics, as well as gracing the runway with her precedent-setting shows, making her a visionary in the Caribbean fashion world and the global fashion scene.  At the start of her career, Meiling began making a name in both fashion design and fashion shows with her still-talked-about 1976 runway show that featured Macaws.  Seven years later Meiling began working with costume designer Peter Minshall on costumes for the Trinidadian Carnival.  This reputation led to her eventual participation in the costume design for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1996 Olympic Games held in Atlanta, Georgia and the commission from Absolut Vodka to design the uniforms for one of their bars.

Further developing her interest in working with natural fabrics, Meiling launched a Resort line that draws upon traditional garments from around the world comprised of embroidered white linens and loose-fitting designs in 1996.  More recently, Meiling raised the bar higher yet with her 2002 fashion show entitled, “Meiling: The Private Collection,” where guests were invited into the designer’s Port of Spain home in Trinidad to witness the spectacle.  This distinct and highly developed style has been a common thread throughout Meiling’s work, which is reflected in everything she designs from her costumes and wardrobe to her fashion shows, photo shoots and even the somewhat eerie, voodoo inspired flash imagery on her website.  With such success in her career, Caribbean Fashion Week finally recognized Meiling for her unparalleled creativity with the honorary award of Grand Master of Fashion Design in 2008.  In that same year, Meiling worked with local Trinidadian boutique, Micles, to create a line at a lower price-point called MSQUARED, which again placed Meiling among the first to participate trend that many have now followed in the fashion world.

In addition to designing for her 2010 line, the Resort line and MSQUARED, Meiling is most recently experimenting in yet another direction.  This year Meiling has created Meiling’s Model Bootcamp, which is a five-day intensive training for runway models.  Spawning from the dozens of aspiring models requesting to participate in one of Meiling’s legendary fashion shows, Meiling was moved to create a resource for the “many young men and women who have no clue what it takes to be a model; whether physically, mentally, or even emotionally” that call upon her daily.  Meiling’s Model Bootcamp is designed to instruct models the ins and outs of runway shows, where they will learn behind-the-scenes information from industry professionals and get a chance to walk in one of Meiling’s upcoming fashion shows.

In the span of Meiling’s thirty-something year career, she has pulled from her Trinidadian roots, her European training and the ubiquitous Western fashion influences to develop a style unlike any in the Caribbean, placing her among the trend-setting renegades of the global fashion sphere. Meiling’s current study, “the secret life of plants,” is true to her style in design, and the powdered earth tones are well suited with the natural fabrics she has been working with.  Her recent exploration of the colors and patterns of decaying and preserved flowers is right on time with the color palate of the world’s fashion designers creating looks that are progressive yet classic, cutting edge yet timeless with designs subtly mimicking the listlessness of the dried ruffles of flower petals and leaves.

The Meiling line is available in Trinidad, Barbados, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Thomas USVI, Martinique, and is available for viewing at www.meilinginc.com

Davis, Parker, Cattrall, Nixon - photo courtesy of Warner Bros

Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Big (Chris Noth) have settled into marital bliss – much to Carrie’s chagrin since she’s trying to avoid falling into staid domesticity. Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is married to Steve (David Eigenberg) and has a new boss who’s making her life a misery. Charlotte (Kristin Davis) has a comfortable existence with husband Harry (Evan Handler) but is battling with the frustrations of motherhood and Samantha’s (Kim Cattrall) swapped monogamy for menopause and is desperately trying to retain her youth by swallowing a handful of pills every day.

After Samantha gets a gig doing publicity for a luxurious resort at Abu Dhabi, the land of repressed sexuality, the foursome jet off to the Middle East for a spot of pampering and a lot of over indulgence.  This is basically an excuse to dress the gals in exquisite jewelry and trot them through upscale hotels, bars and restaurants and it all feels remarkably familiar with the expected puns and pathos.

Fashion, friendship, frolics and run-ins with old lovers (John Corbett returns as Carrie’s blast from the past) is still the norm in this feather light fantasy and it’s a trip which abruptly explodes when Samantha’s libido issues wreck havoc with a handsome Danish architect.

Peppered with a little wit, which will elicit gasps and chuckles, there’s a fair amount of predictability given how well audiences know these characters.

Writer-director Michael Patrick King doesn’t try to cram in any unnecessary plot twists or unreasonable developments to set it apart from the series and for fans of the show, the comfort of the familiarity will still be a huge draw.

Organizers scrambled to accommodate the director of American Vogue, squeezing over a hundred shows and presentations into just four days. But, Fendi and Prada chose to show on Thursday _ with or without the powerful fashion arbiter, the inspiration for Miranda Priestly in the book and movie “The Devil Wears Prada.”

And they were glad they did. Fresh off the plane and decked out in purple, Wintour made a surprise appearance, and took her front row seat at both afternoon shows.

“You have to believe in what you are worth,” Silvia Venturini Fendi, the second generation Fendi designer, said after the show, which featured the label’s trademark furs.

Later Thursday, Wintour watched Prada, where designer Miuccia wowed the fashion crowd with her latest collection, a winter dream full of cozy knits and flared skirts, perfect for the screen heirs of 1950s stars Debbie Reynolds and Doris Day.

A parade of models, each with their hair in perfect chignons, came down the runway in below-the-knee skirts, wool gowns with ruffled hems and bodices, cable knit suits and short flared jackets with fur trimming.

They sported retro shoes from slingbacks to pumps to sandals, all worn with embroidered wool knee socks. Bags were of the old-fashioned handle strap or clutch variety. Black and retro Prada prints recalled a dimly lit winter.

Also seen on Thursday’s runway was Dolce and Gabbana’s second line D&G’s winter wonderland, complete with furry “apres ski” boots with a hidden high heel and crystal studded goggles.

Wintour plans to be in Hollywood for Oscar night March 7th and before that is scheduled to attend Paris fashion week. The French are likely to resist any changes to their well-orchestrated fashion calendar.

The scheduling to accommodate Wintour prompted much soul-searching among Italian designers, industry insiders and officials. Milan Mayor Letizia Moratti, the head of the fashion chamber, Mario Boselli, designer Giorgio Armani and Diego Della Valle, head of Tod’s shoes, all said Italy should stand its ground.

Fendi’s Venturini expressed regret that there was not more “esprit de corps” among Italian designers.

“We need the courage to join forces,” Venturini said.

Jenny P's fashion at Project Ethos X: The Experience of Fashion

Jennifer Prudhome prides herself on ensuring that her designs are done right — and that means bringing some style from the Caribbean into the mix of clothing that carries her Jenny P label.

Prudhome recently spent some time designing a custom hoodie with a graffiti-art crown for teen rapper Sean Kingston, and Carib Press was on hand for a chat while she painted a picture of her colorful world.

Custom hoodie for teen rapper Sean Kingston

“I am bringing in the urban vibe to this hoodie,” Prudhome declared.

The urban vibe included an asymmetrical crown on the gray Hoodie — drawn free-hand by Prudhome — with applications of black and white acrylic paint. The finishing touches included a few stitches here and there as part of a reconstruction of the hoodie, topped off with a splash of colorful green and yellow paint.

Prudhome’s design session on behalf of the rapper put her back where she started in the fashion game, making hand-dyed T-shirts and hoodie’s adorned with stenciled images and reconstructed into fresh designs.

The 24-year-old has plenty of other stuff going on these days, too.

“I moved from T-shirts and hoodie’s to a contemporary line of clothing conceptualized exclusively for women.” Prudhome says, referring to a 15-piece fall 2009 collection unveiled at the Project Ethos X: The Experience of Fashion, which took place on August 21 in Hollywood. Project Ethos is known for producing red-carpet events that bring together various forms of creativity from young adults of the so-called “Millennial Generation.” Prudhome’s collection featured uniquely constructed and richly colored pieces with couture style and figure-flattering cuts — and they rocked the house, judging by loud cheers, applause and whistles that greeted the debut.

Prudhome has come a long way, partly because she got an early start. She was painting and also designing business cards for friends and family before she reached her teen years. She says that her mother would sell the paintings to co-workers and friends. Prudhome decided to embrace her artistic dreams in her early teens, blending abilities in painting and design with a newly discovered love for sewing. She recalls going to the annual Black Business Expo in Los Angeles back then, wearing a reconstructed denim skirt she had made for herself. Someone stopped her and wanted to know where she got the skirt. She ended up making a skirt and jacket for sale. She says she looks back on the happenstance as the moment she began to understand her potential as a designer.

Much of that potential flows from her Jamaican heritage, Prudhome says, adding that she loves the music, color palette, and overall culture of her Jamaican mother’s homeland, and has fused elements of the Caribbean into her own clothing line.

That means bold color and a sense of originality.

Prudhome fuses elements of the Caribbean into her clothing line.

“I love using rich color — neon, fuchsia and tangerine — that’s where my mom comes in,” Prudhome says. “I grew up with mom wearing colors every season. I wore bright orange in the middle of winter — it was not a fashion faux paux.”

And it’s less a faux paux than ever these days, Prudhome says.

“There was a time when bright neon’s were too bold for mainstream designers, so you would not see bright colors in their fall collections,” she says. “During the fall, you would see black, brown, cranberry and gray. It wasn’t until a few years ago that designers have incorporated colors, and the trend continues.”

The trend has been pushed along by larger demographic changes in the U.S., according to Prudhome, who has seen consumers become more color-savvy and bold. Some of that owes to growing influences of Afro-Caribbean, African, and Latin American culture in U.S. markets, she says, adding that the trend has recently reached a tipping point, with consumers across demographic lines shifting from a fear of color to a love of color.

Proudhome’s reconstructs fresh designs from hand-dyed T-shirts and hoodies adorned with stenciled images.

Prudhome launched Jenny Ps designs in 2005 while attending California State University of Long Beach (CSULB), where she earned degrees in Fashion Merchandising and Textiles and Clothing.

Today her designs are showcased on the runway of Project Ethos, boutiques in Los Angeles and Orange County, and have caught the notice of the trade and consumer press, including California Apparel News and The 360 Magazine.

Just as impressive has been Prudhome’s ability to handle the business of fashion, mixing art with commerce.

“I am my own finance person,” she says. “I have to be a business woman. Art has to sell, clothes have to sell.”

Prudhome also handles her own marketing, including graphic design and the line’s website.

Then there’s the matter of getting out of the studio and putting the goods on display.

“Fashion shows are an excellent opportunity to build name recognition and familiarity with an audience that may not have known you yesterday, but now they do,” she said. “Network, network, network”

Next season’s ideas, meanwhile, come from many sources.

“Fashion forecasting comes from many places,” she says. “A walk outside, things you notice such as the sky, flowers, the way people live, and their surroundings. I might take a trip to Jamaica and receive inspiration from the greenery in Fern Gully and decide to create an entire collection that is influenced by the environment.”

So what does the fall trend report look like, according to Prudhome? For the daring there will be color-block styling trends, featuring bold chunks of various shades that will be in this season.

“The buzz for fall runways will illustrate creativity and artistry in terms of color and design, so we should see a lot of neon brights in the fall, which you [typically] would not see unless it is summer or spring,” she says. “That is something I’ve always done — I incorporate color.”

Looks like the fashion world will catch up with Jenny P this fall.

Visit jennyps.com on the Internet for more information about Prudhome’s designs.

Sheannette Virtue is a writer for Carib Press.

Photos from Carib Press