Sam Fine + Fashion Fair. What Are Your Thoughts? Like this article? Read the full story: Sam Fine + Fashion Fair. What Are Your Thoughts? | Afrobella

By Afrobella.com

Makeup lovers have been buzzing this week over the big news — venerable cosmetics brand Fashion Fair has hired legendary makeup artist Sam Fine to be their creative makeup director.

Photo above and info below via WWD:

“Fashion Fair Cosmetics has appointed celebrity makeup artist Sam Fine as its creative makeup director. The Chicago-based prestige cosmetics brand for women of color is tapping Fine, a 20-year industry veteran, to bring his experience with the fashion editorial world, global beauty brands and celebrities to Fashion Fair’s consumers. Fine will also advise on the creation of new products and, in 2012, Fashion Fair will unveil Sam Fine for Fashion Fair trend collections.”

I literally gasped and clutched at pearls I wasn’t even wearing when I read the news. Fresh life hs been brought to the Fashion Fair brand and I’m truly excited to see what this brings. I hope this brings big, exciting change for Fashion Fair, for the beauty scene in Chicago, and for we, the consumers.

I hope that Sam truly gets to execute his vision as he sees it, because I KNOW whatever it is, it’s an awesome vision. I’m psyched to see some true innovation coming from a brand that has been a favorite in my family through the generations.

When I think Fashion Fair, I think of classic cosmetics. Those beautiful vintage ads. Pink marbled packaging. Vantex. I also think of a very finite range of colors in terms of eye and lip cosmetics. So I hope this means Fashion Fair steps up and truly becomes a brand that younger women of color can look to as a trendsetter at the department store counters.

I hope to see the brand stepping away from the traditional coppers and browns and bronzes and moving towards some truly HOT new shades of eye and lip colors. I’m hoping to see lighter blends of foundation in a wider range of shades. I’m expecting awesomeness. And I am SUPER excited for Sam, because he is just all around a great guy.

What do you think, bellas? What do you hope to see from the new Sam Fine for Fashion Fair collections?

Like this article? Read the full story: Sam Fine + Fashion Fair. What Are Your Thoughts?

INTERVIEW: SHOES THAT ARE ALIVE

By Robert Cordero

JC Report | Inside Global Fashion Trends

ALIVESHOES is part store, part philosophical community. The company produces Italian-made, environmentally sound shoes, while mastermind Luca Botticelli also seeks to create an online network comprised of people who are interested in interactive art, philanthropy and statement-making footwear. Self-titled “the world’s first shoe-gaming community,” the website is now complemented by a pop up store in Amsterdam, with more locations to follow. JC Report caught up with Botticelli to discuss eco-minded fashion, artistic collaborations and what he means by “fashion 2.0.”

JC Report: What are your main ideas behind being ecologically friendly?

Luca Botticelli: Eco-friendly means that you research new process and materials in order to pollute less, and to make more intelligent products and services. Less is more is a big guide into this.

JCR: The inside tab of the limited edition shoes are designed by contemporary artists. How do you choose who you want to collaborate with?

LB: I gave [New York artist Steven Siegel] 500 pairs of shoes and told him to just create what he wanted. He made Blocks. The inside tabs reflect the installations [artists] make with shoes. It’s their sketches. We collaborate with curators to choose artists. We look for artists that have an open minded approach and are passionate about breaking the rules of art itself (i.e. going away from the museums).

JCR: Where do you see the future of shoes and shoe valley in Italy?

LB: I see the future of the shoe valley in the internet in www.aliveshoes.com. That means that the shoe business must convert to the digital world and must become eco. We are providing IT instruments for that, and research for sustainability to the valley. We are building a big headquarters open to the public in the middle of the valley to stimulate awareness from the core. “Made in Italy” must shift its awareness from total tradition to half tradition/half research and future. We are there for that.

JCR: What is the idea behind fashion 2.0?

LB: Fashion 2.0 goes away from aesthetic, and welcomes games and social interactions. Fashion 2.0 puts an end to the era of designers and stylists, and starts the era of gaming. Fashion 2.0 uses the internet as the medium and doesn’t relate to print press. Fashion 2.0 creates containers that leave space for people to express, and it uses pull communication and interactivity to make people active and entertained.

Details Magazine Gets a Makeover

by David Lipke

The March issue of Details will wear a new look when it hits newsstands on Feb. 15, including fresh layouts and the introduction of a section focused on health and fitness, called The Body. “It’s not a full redesign; it’s a necessary polish,” explained editor in chief Dan Peres of the 194-page issue — which for the first time has models rather than a celebrity on the cover to emphasize the new focus on fitness.

“We wanted a cover that would really resonate and look a little different than the norm,” said Peres of cover boys Sean O’Pry, Arthur Kulkov and Noah Mills. “Model covers are so rarely done — largely because they’re not a very popular newsstand driver, I’m not blind to that — however I actually believe this will be one of our better selling issues of the year.”

The new Body section is 13 pages and includes stories on a celebrity workout; a requisite 30-days-to-better-abs routine in calendar form (with an online feature that sends weekly schedules to your PDA), and a nutrition article.

“I’m late to the game, admittedly,” said Peres of The Body section, pointedly praising the powerful franchise Men’s Health has built around this zone. “But I think we’ve done it in a way that mirrors the Details lifestyle — it’s refined and polished.”

The Body is overseen by new senior editor Tyler Graham, a veteran of Rodale and O: The Oprah Magazine, who has a book coming out later this year called “The Happiness Diet: How Eating Real Food Will Build a Better Brain.”

The book’s new design elements were overseen by Nathalie Kirsheh, who joined Details this winter as design director, a new position at the title. The title’s Dossier section, which included interviews and short features, has been eliminated.

Details was down 1.4 percent in ad pages last year to 777, but the dip is a big leveling off after the 35.5 percent decline in 2009, according to Media Industry Newsletter figures. Still, the magazine has some heavy lifting to do in order to climb back to prerecession levels, when it sold 1,369 pages in 2007.

“If I’m really honest with you, I’d switched on auto pilot. But I’ve started to drive again and it feels good,” said Peres. Looking ahead, Details will launch a revamped Web site in April and an iPad app in September.