Your morning fashion and beauty report: Chelsea Davy's royal-wedding look revealed. Blake Lively goes red.

We may not know what Kate Middleton will wear as she walks down the aisle Friday morning, but we do know what Prince Harry's sometime girlfriend Chelsea Davy, at left, will have on. She has two Alberta Ferretti outfits for the day. For the ceremony, she'll wear an aqua green bias reverse satin dress with a jacket. In the evening, she'll switch to a midnight blue crepe satin gown. [People]  

Women's Wear Daily goes way out on a limb here and calls Prince William the "groom of the decade." Gee, ya think? [WWD] (Subscription required.)

The woman behind much of the royal wedding planning is 71-year-old Lady Elizabeth Anson, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth who has been in the party-planning business for 50 years. Her strategy? "You have to really look on these things as military operations. You have to attack -- in your own mind," she said. [WWD] 

OK, enough about the wedding -- for now, at least.

The Time 100 gala this week was fairly crawling with celebrities and politicos -- such as Sting, Amy Poehler, Martha Stewart, a governor or two. But the biggest stir was caused by Blake Lively, fashion's reigning "it" girl. The attention she attracted was due to her new red hair color more than her sea-green gown by Zuhair Murad, even though the gown was lovely. (BellaSugar calls Blake's flowing red locks "Ariel-esque.") Lively said she'll wear Chanel at the Met Ball next week and that her escort will be Karl Lagerfeld -- of course. [WWD]  

The new ad campaign for Ralph Lauren's Romance fragrance features a real-life romance. Polo player Nacho Figueras and his photographer wife, Delfina Blaquier, are shown riding horses in the Argentine countryside. The ad was shot at Blaquier's family estate in Buenos Aires, where Nacho courted her and then wed her seven years ago. [BellaSugar] 

Wearing red lipstick can be daunting. How to find the right color? Celebrity makeup artist Tim Quinn has a neat trick: Don't pick your shade based on your complexion; instead, make sure it works with your eye color. [BellaSugar]

Lacoste has opened a gleaming new flagship "showcase" on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées in Paris, aimed at rejuvenating its image. [WWD] (Subscription required.)

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-- Susan Denley

Photo: Chelsea Davy, Prince Harry's on-again-off-again girlfriend, will wear Alberta Ferretti to the royal wedding. Credit: Nigel Roddis / Reuters 

 

 

Your morning fashion and beauty report: Lindsay Lohan necklace to go on auction block, Emma Watson designs go on sale, Maria Sharapova goes online

-- The $2,500 gold necklace Lindsay Lohan is accused of stealing is destined for the auction block after the case concludes. Jeweler Kamofie & Co. pledges that proceeds will go to charity. [New York Post] 

-- Tennis star and fashion fixture Maria Sharapova relaunched her popular website Mariasharapova.com on Thursday. Sharapova, who has fashion partnerships with Cole Haan, Nike and Tag Heuer, is active in social media too, with 3.9 million Facebook fans (more than tennis champs Venus and Serena Williams, Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki combined). On the website, fans can not only see pictures of Sharapova, but if she's wearing, say, a pair of Cole Haan shoes, they can click and buy. [WWD]

-- Emma Watson, who is taking a break from her studies at Brown to promote the last Harry Potter film and to work on other movie projects, is also still pursuing her fashion interests. She teamed with Alberta Ferretti to create a capsule collection of romantic, summer pieces made from organic cotton, muslin and hemp. Pieces will be sold online only at Albertaferetti.com starting in late March. Part of the proceeds from the Pure Threads collaboration will be donated to the fair trade fashion label People Tree, for whom Watson designed three collections previously. [Telegraph]

-- TOMS -- which gives away one pair of shoes for every pair purchased -- now offers shoes for weddings. No, not the delicate pumps or glamourous stilettos one would normally think of with a wedding gown, just the usual TOMS flat canvas style, but in pastels, whites and metallics for the women and tux-friendly black or white for men. [Mondette]

-- Our favorite Old Spice guy, Isaiah Mustafa, has a new ad out. In this one, the hunky spokesman is dressed in board shorts, plays a guitar and frolics with some cute puppies. What more could a woman want? [BellaSugar] 

-- Los Angeles designer Allen Schwartz is adding two new contemporary lines. [WWD] (subscription required)

-- Shipley & Halmos will add shoes and formal wear to its menswear offerings for fall. [WWD] (subscription required) 

--Susan Denley

Photo: Lindsay Lohan, who is accused of stealing a necklace that will go to auction. Credit: Alex Gallardo / Associated Press

Milan Fashion Week: The top shows and takeaways

The big news in Milan was the continued interest in updating classic couture shapes with unusual colors, fabrications and surface embellishments.

We saw it done best at Jil Sander, where designer Raf Simons made outsize drop-shoulder coats, tunics and dresses with martingale belts look completely modern, by showing them with sleek, skiwear-inspired knits and stirrup pants.

At Bottega Veneta, Tomas Maier used ladylike, 1960s-inspired coats and sleeveless shift dresses as canvases for incredible work with layers of lace and print.

The 1960s trend took a mod turn at Versace, Alberta Ferretti and most notably at Prada, where coats and coatdresses with low-slung belts came in solids, windowpane checks, decorated with contrast piping, shag fur or silver-dollar sized paillettes.

Fashion's love affair with fur is still going strong. Marni's Consuelo Castiglione was the most inventive with fur, showing a modern-looking, zip-front mink blouson jacket, a full-length fur coat sheared into a diamond pattern, and a stiff, molded black leather jacket with a broadtail hem.

Also carrying over from spring, vivid color, seen most clearly at Gucci. Forest green, rust, mustard yellow, peach and teal blue were all hot hues, used to spectacular effect in Fendi's collection of arty, English country chic.

As for accessories, the Mary Jane with a chunky heel is the must-have. And why carry just one bag when you can carry two?

Now onto Paris. But not before naming the top five collections out of Milan: Bottega Veneta. Fendi, Marni, Prada and Jil Sander.

--Booth Moore in Milan

PHOTOS: Milan Fashion Week fall-winter 2011 top five shows photo gallery

Photos: Looks from the Jil Sander, Bottega Veneta, Versace, Alberta Ferretti, Prada, Marni, Gucci and Fendi fall-winter 2011 runway collections shown during Milan Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson and Peter Stigter / For The Times.

Milan Fashion Week: At Alberta Ferretti, the odd mod squad

There has been a 1960s undercurrent in the shows this season. In New York, Barbara Tfank expanded her ladylike vision to include the retro evening tunic-and-cigarette pants look (as well as Justin Bieber-meets-the Beatles wigs on the models). And in London, the Burberry Prorsum collection was an all-out tribute to Swingin' Sixties model Jean Shrimpton.

The theme has come to roost in Milan, in Alberta Ferretti's uneven collection, which opened with wave-patterned minidresses over jewel-toned, bedazzled velvet, over-the-knee boots.

While bold color certainly is a trend for fall, at times the hues made the clothes all the more off-putting -- a pumpkin-orange chiffon bubble dress, for example, and a green fur coat with burnout wave and flower shapes.

An orange-on-orange tunic and flared pants ensemble, spangly coats and tent dresses only added to the feeling that we had stepped inside a eccentric aunt's closet.

When Ferretti turned to evening wear, things picked up. Sheer cocktail dresses, beautifully embroidered, should appeal to young starlets who are interested in looking more sweet than sexy.

-- Booth Moore in Milan, Italy

Photos: Looks from the Alberta Ferretti fall-winter 2011 runway collection shown during Milan Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson and Peter Stigter / For The Times.

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Milan Fashion Week: Alberta Ferretti's ladies of the canyon

Alberta Ferretti offered a pretty collection for spring, full of the kind of nature motifs we saw in New York from Michael Kors and Rodarte, among others.

Except that Ferretti's take was more of a romantic fairytale, with sheer chiffon layers in fern, flower and bird prints bringing to mind a magic garden, worn by models with loose wavy hair, fraying, floppy straw hats and gladiator sandals with leafy cutouts and rope ties.

Soft jackets and shorts came in a nubby, natural-colored linen, and blouses and dresses were pieced together from bits of cream chiffon, lace and macrame for a boho, 1970s ladies-of-the-canyon vibe.

-- Booth Moore in Milan

Alberta Ferretti spring-summer 2011 runway collection photo gallery

Photos: Looks from the Alberta Ferretti spring-summer 2011 runway collection shown during Milan Fashion Week. Credit: Antonio Calanni / Associated Press

Fashion's Night Out West Hollywood: The little city plans to go big

The cities of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills have both announced plans for a blitz of well-organized  Fashion's Night Out activities for the evening of Sept. 10, and now it's West Hollywood's turn.

FNO WeHo is shaping up to be a tiny city going big: The 1.9 square miles is already home to 27 participating retailers, including Alpha Gear for Gents, Vera Wang, 3.1 Phillip Lim, the Sunset Plaza shopping center, Nicole Miller and Coco de Mer.

In addition, West Hollywood plans to have free shuttles stopping at six locations throughout the city for the duration of the shopping extravaganza, which runs from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. (with some events starting at 7 p.m.).

While organizers expect more businesses to announce specific plans as the date nears, currently confirmed on the calendar are a Julia Clancey runway show at the Andaz West Hollywood's RH bar, a display of James Jean artwork at the 3.1 Phillip Lim boutique and a party in Sunset Plaza -- complete with aural ambiance courtesy of live DJs and a runway show of fall fashion from the center's retailers. (The price of admission? You guessed it: an FNO proof of purchase.)

But the coolest perk of the night might be the chance to have your portrait shot by celebrity rock photographer Robert Knight, who will do the honors for anyone who drops $300 at the John Varvatos store on Robertson.

A full list of participating retailers -- as well as updates and specifics about events -- can be found online at www.AvenuesWH.com/events/fno.

-- Adam Tschorn

More All The Rage coverage of Fashion's Night Out

Photo: A 2009 photo of the entrance to the Andaz West Hollywood's RH bar, which is scheduled to host a Julia Clancey runway show as part of the city's plans for Fashion's Night Out. Credit: Ann Johansson / For the Los Angeles Times

 

 

You're wearing WHAT?? How not to go too sheer

When this major DON'T- PLEASE- PLEASE- DON'T arrived in our All the Rage inbox, we were shaken enough to realize that with white and khaki coming on strong for summer, we'd be shirking our duties if we don't remind you that there is a right way and a wrong way to wear light-colored clothing.

First of all, don't go too sheer, unless you actually want to provide a peek at what's underneath.

Second, don't go too tight, or you'll show off every lump and bump.

Avoid visible panty lines: Wear seamless undies or a thong. And make sure your lingerie is flesh-toned, not white, black, red, pink, orange or any other color. Got it?

"Flesh tones" vary, of course. The picture above was provided by MySkins, a lingerie company that offers 20 different flesh tones -- "highly specific shades of flesh tones," they say. 

The best way to make sure you're not overexposed in white: Check every angle in a good mirror in  good light before you take one step out of the house, young lady!

--Susan Denley

Photo: Courtesy of MySkins

Fashion Diary: At Milan Fashion Week, fall 2010 collections look backward to 'Mad Men' era

"I wanted to see something that wasn't trying so hard to be new." That was how Marc Jacobs explained his fall 2010 collection last week in New York. And the sentiment seems to be carrying over to Milan, where so far, designers are banking on retro femininity for fall, from D&G's ski bunnies to Prada's sexy secretaries.

Using a set that brought to mind Internet Age information overload, with walls covered in pie graphs and fragments of geopolitical jargon, Miuccia Prada harkened back to the simpler "Mad Men" era of padded bums and beehive hairdos, while referencing some of her own past work.

This was the first Prada women's show to be webcast live, beaming her clothes around the world in a nanosecond. But on the runway, the collection -- including A-line leather skirts as glossy as a vinyl record; elaborately embroidered, jet-beaded skirts; and coats that must have required hours of old-fashioned handwork -- made a case for slowing down. In the background, a slow jazz soundtrack mixed with the clicking sounds of a typewriter.‬

The clothes were prim but also a tad subversive, as if to say that underneath the proper façade of the woman who wears them lurks the soul of a sex kitten. There were even a couple of fuller-figure models, suggesting that "Mad Men's" sexy secretary Joan Harris (née Holloway) may well be the fashion icon of the fall season.

The dominant look was the fit-and-flare dress in sketchy windowpane checks, with a full, swishy skirt. Some versions also had darts emphasizing the bust, or ruffles framing it.