Alexa Chung is set to dive head first into the fashion industry with the launch of her new line for J Crew’s new label, Madewell. The U.S. based label will bring on the UK television presenter to collaborate for the new subsidairy of the American clothes giant.

An offshoot of J Crew, the new high-street label will focus on high fashion designs to suplement their more basic clothing made by the traditional
side of the company.

Ms. Chung, who has been called one of the world’s most stylish individuals by magazines such as Vogue, has previously modeled for brands like

Pepe jeans, and even dabbled in design with Mulberry as the inspiration for their newest bag.
But, so far, Ms. Chung has yet to collaborate on a fashion line, and this new deal with Madewell will mark the first clothing design venture for the TV star.

Ms. Chung will be brought on to the label as their celebrity consultant designer. The label, which is a favourite of Ms. Chung’s, also boasts celebrity clients such as Michelle Obama.

The subsidiary of J Crew focuses on vintage-inspired designs making it a quickly growing brand which has become popular with people across the States.

Millard Drexler, CEO and chairman of J Crew, reportedly asked his staff who they would pick as Madewell’s number one customer, to which the majority named Ms. chung. Many of them had personally served the star in the store.

In a comment to Women’s Wear Daily, Mr. Drexler said that there was no master plan to the collaboration, and that Madewell had not been looking, particularly, to hire a celebrity spokesperson, but that the company had found Ms. Chung to be so pleasant and likeable that, combined with her impeccable fashion sense, the partnership was perfect.

Emerging on the runway with bedrolls, cardboard boxes, sleeping bags, and other sorts of items, models for Dame Vivienne Westwood’s latest fashion line surpised fashion experts at last week’s Milan fashion week. The show, which featured Dame Vivienne’s latest menswear line, took place at the Museo della Permanente, Milan as part of the city’s famous fashion week taking place this week.

The idea behind the line was hobo-chic with models emerging looking more like rough-sleepers than high-street fashion gods. Westwood’s take on her theme encompasses a much broader viewpoint, however, which she said was inspired by a lawyer friend of her husband’s who works for a charity which centres around the homeless.

Ms. Westwood commented after the show that the line had been her husband, Austrian-born Andreas Kronthaler’s idea. The catwalk was decked out with cardboard boxes while model’s hair was intentionally dishevelled and discoloured.

Despite, somewhat shocked reactions most critics seem to be upholding the move as brave and innovative, with one media outlet saying that the move
was odd, but heroic.

Westwood said that, although she has no lens into the life a homeless person, she was aware of the delicate subject matter. Westwood ended the show by being wheeled onto the stage via an ambulence stretcher to a huge applause from the audience and critics in attendance.

Teachers in local public schools across the UK are constantly looking for inventive, interesting new ways to keep young pupils interested in learning. Some of the most challenging subjects include math and science, and instructors are constantly adapting teaching methods to appeal to these young, technology savvy students.

And while Ofsted has said that one such school was using drums to get students to understand the relationship between numbers for a math section, a school in London staged a mini “fashion week” inspired after the annual London Fashion Week in order to generate an interest in the science behind making clothing.

The move, however, has broached concern that instructors are simplifying complex science concepts in order to capture the attention of uninterested students. Think-tank, Civitas’ head of education Anastasia de Waal expressed her fear that techniques such as the fashion week approach would take away from challenging students with bigger issues.

Many have argued that by “dumbing” down such science concepts so that they will be entertaining to children is missing the idea of education, which according to de Waal is to challenge and engage students.

Patrick Lesson, director of education for Ofsted, disagrees however. He added that using creative approaches can make school more relevant and interesting for young students capturing their attention and increasing cognitive learning. He even added that one school in the UK altered their teaching methods to include more alternative, creative methods and over a period of three years saw GCSE results double.

Primark, a low-budget fashion retailer, announced that it had seen increasing amounts of growth in the chain over the past 16 weeks up until January 2. Like-for-like sales for the fashion chain were up 7 percent over the last period, according to analysts.

Panmure Gordon analysts have said that Primark’s like-for-like numbers came out at the beginning of this year as some of the most impressive in the industry for the Christmas holiday season. Primark also reported that their overseas sales where up in addition to reporting large numbers for their UK stores.

The fashion chain’s European stores include 14 in Spain, two in Germany, two in Portugal, one in Holland, and one in Belgium. Sales in Spain were some of the highest for the company reaching into the double digits in percentages during the Christmas holidays.

John Bason, finance director for the parent company of Primark, Associated British Foods, said that in terms of Spain’s economy, the company’s final sales for the holiday period were phenomenal. The high figures are causing the company to push forward their new store opening programme which will begin in the UK this year.

Mr Bason added that the firm would also look into expansion into other countries as their success continues to mount. Revenues for Associated British Foods in other aspects also increased this year despite the harsh recession hitting the economy.

Ugg and Jimmy Choo, two of the most popular footwear companies, have announced that they will team up for a joint-venture. The launch will feature a line of Ugg-inspired sheepskin footwear which will be marketed and geared towards women.

The collection is based mostly on Uggs’ popular Australia boot design however, Jimmy Choo will be adding its signature luxury style which is indicative of the Jimmy Choo high-end brand name. The collaboration should be quite popular as both shoe companies are well known for their incredible sales numbers.

The collection, which is expected to be available by October, will be sold exclusively by Ugg Australia as well as Jimmy Choo stores. Both footwear designers will also sell the new designs on their respective websites.

Jimmy Choo founder and president, Tamara Mellon, said that Ugg Australia is the only thing she will wear outside of her Jimmy Choo shoes, and that she was excited to be collaborating with the footwear company which has become famous internationally.

She added that both brands combined will provide the best of both worlds incorporating the famous comfortable nature of Uggs with the impeccable style of the Jimmy Choo trademark. The collection will offer a range of five different styles all which will be available in multiple colours.

Prices for the new line will range from £495 to £695. The new Ugg-Jimmy Choo line is expected to be launched in October, being sold exclusively in the footwear outlets of both companies. The shoes will also be available online.