Anna Wintour has been unwavering in her support of Barack Obama. In order to raise money for his last presidential campaign, the Vogue editor played host to several $30,000+ per person fundraiser events at both her home and that of Harvey Weinstein's. Now that his re-election campaign is beginning to go into full force, she's created yet another initiative to support him.
According to WWD the editor has launched Runway To Win, a new initiative that will see 22 designers showcase exclusive products to be sold exclusively online at runwaytowin.com. All of the proceeds of the sales from pieces created by designers such as Marc Jacobs, Jason Wu and Alexander Wang, will go directly to the Obama Victory Fund. Jacobs was allegedly told not to participate by LVMH but decided to go ahead a design a t-shirt "following pressure from Vogue."
Will you buy something from the collection and support Obama's re-election campaign?
I know 2011 felt like an overload of diffusion line launches and high street collaborations with leading brands but that said, I'm really looking forward to the Jason Wu for Target collection.
While the line will remain true to the Wu aesthetic, the designer has used the collection to incorporate new pieces. "My goal was not to duplicate anything from my main collection,” he told the New York Times. “Instead I designed completely new clothes and accessories that reflect my taste and have a voice of their own.” But don't worry - the feminine blouses and subtle lace touches on coats are Wu all over.
Michelle Obama has mastered the art of creating air gasping moments with her outfit choices. She did that with her Jason Wu dress at Barack Obama's inauguration and most controversially when she wore Alexander McQueen to the Chinese state dinner. Over the weekend she did it again in this stunning strapless Vera Wang gown that she wore to attend the 34th annual Kennedy Center honors.
For Spring/Summer 2012, Jason Wu was inspired by artist KAWS. Yes, the graffiti artist well known for his carton-like prints. Not necessarily the most obvious starting point for Wu's latest offerings considering his clientele of Hollywood's elite and America's First Lady. But don't be fooled. The thigh hugging high waisted shorts that Wu used to open the show were about as 'street' and risky as the collection got - but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Wu's interest in the artist developed into the pair collaborating on a flower petal print that dominated the show. Said high waisted shorts featured the print, as did loose fitted cropped trousers and a wide selection of floaty dresses with asymmetric hemlines.
The collection started with a few black and grey looks, which quickly gave way to neon looks that were in a similar vein to his resort collection. Neon pink features on uber lightweight jackets and dresses alike. Other treats in the collection were the peplum looks, particularly the top covered in Swarovski cystals worn by Lindsey Wixson that came subtly belted at the waist teamed with short shorts and of course, Wu delivered a good selection of red carpet worthy dresses that will keep Hollywood starlets - and their stylists - happy for the next season.
The New York fashion industry isn't too happy with Michelle Obama at the moment. The First Lady has pushed the National Design Awards back from the middle of July to September 13, which bang in the middle of fashion week.
The problem? Many of this years honorees like Jason Wu and Prabal Gurung will be preparing for their shows so won't be able to attend. Gilles Mendel is the only honoree who has pushed his show date back in order to attend. "First Lady Michelle Obama sure knows her designer labels, but her handlers must have misplaced her fashion calendar," WWD wrote.
Collaborations are all the range at the moment. Last week Jason Wu announced that he is collaborating with Melissa Shoes on a range of shoes and now Emily Current and Merritt Elliott, the pair behind Current/Elliott, have revealed that they are working on a collection with Kate Spade.
The duo are preparing to release a six piece capsule collection this August with prices ranging from $245 to $1,295. "This collaboration really was about our girl stepping out of her normal comfort zone and hitting the road," Deborah Lloyd, president and creative director of Kate Spade, explained.
Earlier this year Jason Wu revealed that he was working on launching his website and it's finally here. You can shop the complete S/S11 and pre-fall collection on the site, but that's not all. Wu's website really allows fans to delve deeper into the brand by offering a 'Craftsmanship' section with a mini mission statement and detail shots of his elaborate pieces.
The website also features look books from the latest collections, as well as a blog area with behind-the-scenes images, news and interviews and the first of which is with Tommy Ton who has collaborated with Wu on images for the site. The street-style blogger shot Tati Cotilar on the streets of New York in the brand's Fall 2011 collection. When asked about how the collaboration came about Ton said: "It went perfectly hand in hand the collection is luxury sportswear and it’s a nice contrast when that is set against the streets of NY because that’s probably where it will look the best and I guess that’s why Jason asked me to shoot this today because I guess my photos will do the clothes justice. It’s actually my favorite collection of his, so I’m very honored to be shooting this particular collection in the way that I do on a girl like Tati who wears clothes so well I think that’s what amazing when the clothes are right and then you have a girl like Tati who wears the clothes very well who looks like she’s wearing the clothes and they aren’t wearing her. It’s very refreshing."
