Flex your fashion muscles

Since the dawn of time, or at least since the dawn of the gym, New Year’s resolution lists have invariably included a pledge to get fit.

Sticking to that pledge – as most of us know from personal experience and countless surveys attest, year after year – is a different thing altogether.

Clearly, we need all the help we can get. Now you could take psychologists’ advice and document your progress publicly, which apparently makes you less likely to give up in the face of peer pressure.

Or, you could try a more enjoyable incentive, and trick yourself into looking forward to your workouts with some cool new gym kit.

Whether you’re venturing outdoors or have signed up to a new class, we’ve got the sportswear that will help you power through those motivation dips in style…

LOOK GREAT OUTDOORS

Unless you’re fond of a lunchtime workout, while daylight hours are still depressingly condensed, you’ll probably be running or cycling in the dark.

Safety, therefore, is of paramount importance and a high-vis jacket’s essential. A mixture of waterproof materials and mesh inserts offer rain protection as well as breathability, and look for a little concealed pocket to stop your keys jangling around noisily as you jog.

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Neon fabric and high-vis panels will help you be seen, but for maximum visibility, choose a top that’s reflective all over.

If you’re heading to the hills to hike yourself into shape, you’ll need something a bit more robust.

Synthetic padded down is best for heavy-duty insulation that won’t weigh you down. Many puffa-style jackets and body-warmers are now so lightweight, they can be squished into a tiny pouch to pull out when the temperature drops.

CLASS WARFARE

Exercise classes can bring out the competitive side in everyone – and not just the desire to stay in plank position for the longest. Be the envy of your Pilates pals in kit that’s as stylish as it is supportive. Compression tights are supposed to help your muscles recover after a wearying workout, which is great, but they also have the added bonus of being as slimming as a pair of Spanx. High-waisted styles are tummy-sucking, so you can pair them with a loose crop without feeling exposed.

Support up top is also a must, but if you want to show off a strappy-backed Lycra cami, then make sure your vest has an in-built bra.

FEET OF ENDURANCE

If you’re giving the trendy but gruelling HIIT (high-intensity interval training) a go, cushioned footwear is of utmost importance, combined with a breathable upper, because you’re going to get seriously hot.

For hikers, a sturdy high-top with plenty of ankle support and grip on the soles is key. These boots can be pretty pricey, so lookout for last season’s styles in the sales.

Meanwhile, the latest innovation in the trainer world is decidedly more about style than substance – but that’s no bad thing.

Adidas will let you customise your running shoes, choosing your own combination of colours for the upper, lining, laces and more, and even adding text on each heel – maybe the words ‘run’ and ‘faster’ will help boost your speed?

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Kristen Stewart Ditches Her Grungy Look And Goes Glam At Chanel Fashion Show

On Tuesday Kristen Stewart attended the Chanel Show at Paris Fashion week, and rather than wearing harem pants or a suit and scrunching her face into a scowl, the actress slipped into a beautiful dress — and she smiled!

Up until today Kristen had been spending every waking minute with her girlfriend Alicia Cargile, but when we caught the actress jetting out of Los Angeles International Airport the previous day, she was flying solo. K. Stew hasn’t confirmed that the two are dating, but it seems like she doesn’t need to, as the ladies were photographed nuzzling and holding hands while on vacation last month. And seeing as Rob Pattinson has moved on with his new love, FKA Twigs, isn’t it time Kristen found a new partner too?

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K. Stew appeared on Live! With Kelly and Michael on Monday, and she didn’t say anything about her love life, but she revealed that she was taking a brief break from acting. “I need to breathe,” she said. “I want to stay home for a while.”

So what will she do when she’s lounging around the house? K. Stew said she’s was looking for new hobbies. “Maybe do physical things,” she joked. “You can say one thing about a detail of your life and it expands like wildfire. Like, ‘Oh, so you’re a painter now!’ I’m like, ‘Not at all, I’m like in middle school art class in my garage, basically.’ I’ve done, like, six paintings. I just enjoy doing something different.”

K. Stew also revealed that she’s quite the chef. “If you can name it, I can make it,” the actress said. “I think I’m a good cook. I love food. I’m like a total foodie.” No wonder Alicia is spending every night with her!

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FASHION WEEK PARISIENNE DU 25 AU 29 JANVIER : DEMANDEZ LE PROGRAMME !

Juste après la Fashion Week homme, la semaine haute couture parisienne prend ses quartiers d’hiver du 25 au 29 janvier. Découvrez le programme complet des défilés et les créateurs présents !

rès New-York, Londres et Milan, c’est au tour de Paris d’accueillir certains des plus grands noms de la haute-couture qui proposeront les nouvelles tendances de la mode Printemps-été 2015. La Fashion Week haute-couture est un événement incontournable ayant lieu 2 fois par an dans la capitale parisienne, et il faut s’attendre à y rencontrer les plus grands spécialistes de la mode, journalistes, blogueurs, mais aussi bon nombre de stars planétaires !

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Fashion Week Haute-Couture : A qui s’attendre ?
Le premier défile pariesien de la haute-couture pour cette année 2015 nous réserve déjà quelques surprises. Tout d’abord, la présentation de la collection d’Alexandre Vauthier mardi 27 janvier. Le créateur vient en effet d’entrer dans le cercle très restreint des membres permanents de la Chambre syndicale de la haute-couture. Un défilé sous le signe du luxe pour Vauthier, qui a prévu de mettre l’émeraude et les cristaux Swarovski au cœur de sa collection. Quant à Jean-Paul Gaultier, également très attendu, ce sera sa première présentation haute-couture depuis qu’il a annoncé officiellement ne plus vouloir faire dans le prêt-à-porter homme et femmes pour mieux se concentrer sur ses créations haute-couture.

Le grand absent de cette fashion week parisienne, cependant, est Martin Margiela, dont le défilé était pourtant le plus attendu puisque la maison a été placée sous la direction de John Galliano. Malheureusement, la présentation de sa collection a déjà été réalisée en avant-première à Londres le 12 janvier. Le créateur présentera cependant sa collection à Paris, mais uniquement sur rendez-vous et en marge du calendrier officiel des défilés.

Le programme complet des défilés printemps-été 2015

Dimanche 25 janvier

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Hipster Hijabi: Fashionable but Modest Dressing

Is “Hipster Hijabi” an oxymoron to you? To many people, Muslims as well as non-Muslims, it is. But today we’re interviewing a young woman who will prove this belief wrong. She is 18-year-old Syrian American Summer Al Barcha, who turned the teenage obsession with taking selfies and sharing them on Instagram into an opportunity to inspire Muslim hijabis how to dress modestly and fashionably.

She has more than 35,000 followers, and she is now attracting potential sponsorship proposals. Last October, Al Barcha took part in Fashion Forward in Dubai, the definitive fashion platform for the Middle East, among many fashion-conscious Muslim women from all over the world.

Editor: Tell us about Hipster Hijabis. When and how did it start?

Summer: Hipster Hijabis is the name of the Instagram page I launched in August of 2012 as a way to inspire women to embrace dressing modestly, especially in a society where it is not customary, such as in the United States. I wanted to show that it is possible to still take part in the same mainstream fashions and just adjust them to fit one’s personal standards of modesty.

Editor: How did you, the hijabis, get to know each other and start to cooperate?

Summer: This has actually been a misconception in the media and I have never cooperated with any hijabis as part of the page. The hijabis mentioned in the media are also embracing modest fashion, but we are not related. They, however, named us all as “hipster hijabis”, when, in fact, that is just the identity I use online instead of my actual name, Summer Al Barcha.

Editor: Why did you choose this name?

Summer: I chose this name because hipsters are people who like to dress differently from the crowd and still appear modest, and hijabis represent people like me who wear the hijab and/or want to be modest. I wanted to inspire both due to my reluctance to today’s conformed and revealing trends.

Editor: Who are your targeted customers?

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Summer: I do not sell anything so I don’t have customers, but I would say my targeted audience is young women of all faith backgrounds wanting to make the extra leap to dress more modestly. I actually have several loyal Jewish Orthodox and Christian followers who look to my page for inspiration since they also want to dress more conservatively and still display their style.

Editor: I’ve read that you have non-Muslim customers. Tell us how you attracted them to you.

Summer: My audience, since I don’t have customers, were attracted from the controversy I was a part of in my collaboration with Mimu Maxi, a Jewish Orthodox clothing brand in New York City that sent me a skirt to model in one of my outfits as an advertisement. This later then led to criticism, especially because it was at the height of the Gaza-Israeli conflicts in the summer of 2014.

But nonetheless, the controversy brought a lot of attention and positive feedback in two faiths working together for the sake of promoting modesty in the United States.

Editor: What are your biggest obstacles?

Summer: My biggest obstacle is balancing my studies and keeping up with the Instagram page and website Hipster Hijabis. But nonetheless I enjoy a challenge and so I hope to continue to inspire girls around the world. It’s a great feeling.

Editor: “Modest clothing” is a relative term. How do you define it?

Summer: I would define modest clothing this way: every culture has a different standard of modest clothing ranging from full covering of head-to-toe to shorts that are mid thigh. For someone to define what is modest clothing for themselves, they look at the society they live in and find their comfort level of modesty that would not make them appear highly sexual or body-revealing.

Obviously, as Muslims we have certain guidelines for what to cover in our bodies, but modest clothing in general for all faiths can be defined differently depending on their cultural or religious standards.

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THIS WEEK IN FASHION: MAISON MARGIELA, MENS FASHION WEEK, AND SAKS LAWSUIT

It has been a long and busy week but a great one for us fashionistas. Multiple fashion shows have been presented, Kate Moss turned 41, and Saks Fifth Avenue has a new lawsuit on its hands.

The Men’s Fall 2015 shows have been as diverse as they get. Burberry delivered every color of the rainbow whilePrada kept it monochromatic. Kate Moss turned 41 and opted for a quiet celebration while the city of Los Angeles is making headlines in the name of fashion.

And we can’t forget the fashion news of the century: John Galliano has made his triumphant return to fashion with a seller show at Maison Margiela with fresh silhouettes and bold colors. This is a Week in Fashion as reported by303 Magazine.

Maison Martin Margiela, or now known as Maison Margiela, has been the talk of the fashion world this past week.John Galliano, known for his infamous position at Dior, made a huge fashion comeback with this week’s Couture Runway show.

The Maison Margiela house has been known for avant garde designs that rock the fashion world. Galliano is a lover of drama so we expected this pairing to be a match made in heaven. The show started off with a fairly simple look, almost native in some senses. But as time went on we started to see more and more of the Galliano spirit come alive. Large tulle trains littered the runway while ornate, origami-like textures were fastened onto dresses. There was leather, silk, wool and other materials – Galliano made sure to get it all on the runway.

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Saks Lawsuit

Fashion isn’t always glitter and bows. Saks Fifth Avenue, a department store synonymous with the identity of New York, is under fire this week for transgender discrimination.

Former employee, Leyth Jamal, was reportedly harassed then fired for her transgender status at a Texas store. Jamal claims that her managers constantly referred to her as a man, told her to use the men’s restroom, and to change her appearance to look more masculine. However, Saks did not respond to this case in the most elegant manner. “It is well settled that transsexuals are not protected by Title VII,” a Saks attorney responded. The case is still ongoing and has yet to be resolved.

Los Angeles Charm?

Dior in Los Angeles? We don’t believe it. either. The French powerhouse has announced that it will be holding the runway show for its cruise-wear collection in L.A. Dior is known for Parisian charm, so we can’t wait to see if there will be any L.A. influences in this up-and-coming collection.

But this isn’t the only fashion news taking place in L.A. we’ve received this week. Tom Ford has also announced that he will be staging his Fall 2015 show there, rather than his usual home in London. Let’s see if this trend from the City of Angels is here to stay, or if it’s just a fad.

Kate Moss turns 41

It’s hard to believe it but Kate Moss is now 41. The supermodel celebrated her birthday this past Friday with a simple affair. Moss and Husband Jamie Hince went out to dinner at Cecconi’s in London before returning home to their daughter.

In the past, Kate Moss has been known for her elaborate celebrations that we can only expect from a supermodel. One time she partied the night away at London’s Claridge hotel before blowing out the candles at midnight. She’s close friends with Donatella Versace and Naomi Campbell, both faces we often see at Kate Moss’ parties. We hope that Moss had a great birthday and many more to come.

Mens Fall 2015

Men’s Fashion Week is underway and going strong. If you missed our review of the top three shows, just click here. But beside those three shows, there has been some tremendous displays of art and fashion on the runway this past week.

Moncler Gamme Bleu showed us that uniformity does not have to be boring. It payed homage to the Moncler name by showcasing outerwear pieces accessible to everyone. Prada took black and gray in a new direction whileMissoni embraced classic fall colors such as camel and burgundy. Burberry, on the other hand, delivered a show full of color with a finale we won’t soon forget. There are still a couple of shows coming up and we can’t wait to see the hot trends for fall.

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