It’s never a good thing when you hear that the retail fashion industry is suffering anywhere in the world. It affects so many different cogs in the business wheel of fashion. This exact dilema is affecting the retail fashion industry in Sydney Australia. Instead of sitting on their rear ends and not doing anything about it though, the industry in that city is doing something about it. Currently they are holding an event to bring the fashions seen during Sydney Fashion week directly to the people.

Sydney Fashion Festival started today and it open to anyone who wants to see upcoming designs from their favorite fashion designers and several unknowns who may end up becoming someone’s favorite. The Sydney Fashion Festival starts today.

Reading the online edition of Vanguard Newspaper, Nigeria’s daily, one starts to think that the fashion worlds on different continents are are not so dissimilar. Reading through YEMISI ABAH’s article is like looking through a mirror albeit with some obvious differences. Abah, writes and an article in Sunday’s Vanguard that highlights some of the upcoming Nigerian Fashion trends including references to tailored pants and voluminous skirts which made me look at a recent posting on Papierdoll’s US edition and lo and behold, the Maxi skirt is looking to be a staple in the states as well.

It’s not exactly the same you say? Ok. Here in Hong Kong cocktail shorts are all the rage, bling accessories are not high on the radar in some places, but in general, once again, they rate high on the Hong Kong radar. So does this say that we share more in common that what separates us? Probably not. You’d be hard pressed to find the colorful Nigerian garb on someone in Hong Kong and saris are a novelty in Amsterdam I’m sure. But Abah’s article illustrates that the world is getting smaller and trends are becoming less a regional thing and more global.

Read the entire article here.

If you get images of Caucasian socialites playing tennis and sweaters ties at the sleeves lowly hanging around the neck then you have the wrong idea about BIFF. BIFF is actually an acronym for a favorite event of mine, the Bangkok International Fashion Fair. This season according to BIFF there’s set to be over 60 designers featured. They are split into three specific sections:

Now- 40 young designer with an attention to detail and less than 8 years of designing experience (it’s always fun to see young designers who are unfettered by convention)

Next – A group of 8 designers with established brands and over 8 years of experience

Design Circle – a group offering their expertise in the fashion world which includes freelance designers, industrial designers and international design professionals

The now and next groups really seem as if they should be rearranged (Now being Next and Next being Now) but I won’t argue with the way things are done as long as the creativity flows through.

The event takes place August 27th to the 31st

online – Read more here

The Jakarta Post saw it fit to do a writeup on the Islamic Fashion Festival and with good reason. Islamic and Fashion are two words that are rarely mixed in media today but it does exist and many designers are now looking to address the deficiency in this arena. With nearly 1 billion practicing Muslims in the world it’s hard to ignore the seemingly endless pool of people that need to be dressed. Designers like Bernard Chandran, Ida Royani and Sebastian Gunawan are all part of the spectacle that is the Islamic Fashion Festival.

20 or so designers descended on the Dharmawangsa Hotel in Jakarta to show off their wares to an appreciative crowd of buyers and prospective customers. Founder Dato’ Raja Rezza Shah was in attendance and said that his hope is that the Islamic Fashion Festival in Jakarta and Dubai become the Islamic world’s answer to New York, London and paris fashion weeks. His dreams may be coming true with the record turnout happening at the Fashion Festival.

online: Islamic Fashion Festival Website

She didn’t wear it for some sort of parade, she didn’t wear it to grab attention (though the jury may be out on that) she just wore it just for the fun of it. Many of the items on her could be found in random stores like H & M. There’s something to be said about the creativity behind a fashion on the streets.

via: Oslostil

Read this news last week and had to hang my head in shame. A 17 year old receiving all that money to create a fashion line. She’s getting $160,000 for eight pieces and while her name is attached to a rocker I can think of so many other designers more deserving. Maybe she is that good, but I can’t remember the last time a designer actually received money at that age to create a fashion line. While Lily Allen’s collection may have seemed contrived at best, for New Look to go back to the well with Geldoff seems odd. Something may be wrong with the fashion world.

Is it casual or is it a dress made up for a special occasion. Dresses like this straddle the realm between both places. It’s hard to decide. But we’re happy that Oslostil highlights it for all to see. The wearer, Gunn Helen, says this:

Shoes from Les Prairies, skirt – Isabel Marant, tee – Armani, skarf from Dries Van Noten, bracelet from Bottega Veneta and sunglasses from Chloe.

via: Oslostil

If you’re trying to figure out why Dubai is the center of rich, expensive and cool look no further than the Dubai Fashion Fiesta 2008. This event highlights middle eastern centric fashion but with influences around the world. Dubai is quickly becoming an international city with people from everywhere crowding the gleaming streets. Another designer that showed during fashion fiesta (which ended on Sunday) was Dutch designer Larisa Karts. Yes a good chunk of the fashions seemed to have a Middle Eastern flare, but with Dubai as a world center, international fashion is bound to spread it’s wings in this city. Read more about Dubai’s Fashion Fiesta here.

It’s interesting how insulated we can be. Here in Hong Kong I watch Big Brother, not realizing that Nigeria has it’s own version of the Big Brother show. The Vanguard Online Edition has an interview with a star from Big Brother Nigeria. Helen Eremiokhale was interviewed by the Nigerian paper on her stint at the show, her views on fashion and many other things. I’m sure this is what we meant by international fashion, but I didn’t realize that it would come in the form of Big Brother. Read the interview here.

All one has to hear is that Henrik Vibskov is going to be at Copenhagen Fashion Weekend and the trail of stragglers will become an Obama sized crowd. Copenhagen fashion weekend is going on this weekend and we’re looking at tons of the most prominent designers in Scandinavia bringing their fashion genius to the stage. This is basically a tourism initiative to get folks happily involved in all that Denmark has to offer, specifically the city pf Cophenhagen but when you hear the cast of characters that will be making the rounds at the fashion weekend, you can’t help but get excited:

Baum und Pferdgarten, baumundpferdgarten.dk
Henrik Vibskov, henrikvibskov.com
Wood Wood, woodwood.dk,
Hubsch, hubsch-und.dk,
Trine Kryger Simonsen, trinekrygersimonsen.com,
Mads Norgaard, madsnorgaard.dk

The fashion weekend happens this weekend and they even have a website for you interested fashionistas: Copenhagenfashionweekend.com