Rick Owens, Born and raised in Porterville, California, Owens studied fine arts at Otis/Parsons (now known as Otis College of Art and Design) in Los Angeles for two years before a pattern-making class led him to drop out and work for some local companies that produced sportswear and inexpensive imitations of designer clothing. His own label, begun in 1994  found a following, selling exclusively to Charles Gallay, a pioneering Los Angeles retailer who kept Owens in business for several years. In 2001, he signed with Italian sales agent Eo Bocci Associati for world wide distribution, and his production moved to Italy.

He began to receive attention when an image of Kate Moss shot by Corrianne Day and styled by Panos Yiapanis appeared in Vogue Paris, featuring one of Owens’ fitted distressed leather Jackets. He showed his first runway collection in September 2002 during New York Fashion Week with the support of American Vogue and Anna Wintour, who also featured him and his muse Kembra Pfahler in a spread shot by Annie Leibovitz. The following season Owens launched his menswear collection, showing it alongside his womenswear in his Spring Summer 2003 runway show. After his second runway show in New York Owens made the decision to move the studio from Los Angeles to Paris and show during the Paris collections. He also began his longstanding collaboration with the stylist, Panos Yiapanis, who has been working with Owens on all his catwalk shows to date. He marked the anniversary of his 10th season with a launch of a retrospective book named ‘L’ai – Je Bien Descendue’.

In 2007 he was awarded a Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award. In 2002, he won the Council of Fashion Designers of America Perry Ellis Emerging Talent Award. His look has been described as “glamour-meets-grunge”, but Owens himself says “I try to make clothes the way Lou Reed does music, with minimal chord changes, and direct. It is sweet but kind of creepy. It’s about giving everything I make a worn, softened feeling. It’s about an elegance being tinged with a bit of the barbaric, the sloppiness of something dragging and the luxury of not caring. At Revillon, I felt it isn’t about displaying one’s junk, but rather giving the woman a selfish pleasure. It is about using sable as the lining under a very humble jacket, the luxury is all hers.” Courtney Love, Madonna and Helena Bonham Carter are among the celebrities who have been seen wearing his clothes, and Patricia Field used some of his pieces to create a fashion-forward look for Emily Blunt’s character in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada. The opening of his first shop in the Palais Royal, in Paris, also debuted his furniture range as well as his various clothing lines from the younger and more affordable Lillies and the denim range named DRKSHDW to the very exclusive Fur collection Palais Royal. His second store in New York’s Tribeca opened in the Summer of 2008 with plans of further expansion.

Behind closed windows in this grand Paris townhouse Alexander McQueen came back to life one more time. For fifteen minutes, a select number of guests viewed the collection that Alexander McQueen started but never lived to complete.
A true celebration of life, the collection revealed a feast of colours and textures celebrating his skill and passion for spectacle. Inspired by the Old Masters of painting, fabric was drawn back to reveal gold embroidery, a feather skirt or a glimpse of flesh.
Prints reflected the gory fantasies of Hieronymous Bosch, while long, floating gowns traced the soft sweetness of a Botticelli Venus.
Known as the rebel of fashion, McQueen shot to fame with provocative ideas such as low-cut “bumster” trousers, but his later work was dazzling and bewitching rather than shocking. The designer took his own life in February, reportedly inconsolable over the death of his mother earlier last month and with a history of depression. The inquest into his death has resumed.

Looking like a haute couture version of “Alice in Wonderland,” Christian Dior showed everyone at Paris Fashion Week — and hopefully Helena Bonham Carter  — what they should be wearing next season.

Burberry made history by unveiling the world’s first silmutaneous event broadcasted live in 3D globally, when the British luxury brand showed its Autumn/Winter 2010/2011 colletion in London.
The Autumn/Winter 2010/2011 Prorsum womenswear show, broadcasted to custom screening sites designed by Burberry’s Creative Director Christopher Bailey in Paris, Dubai, New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo. Bailey paid homage to the services with the latest collection, referring to Britain’s long involvement with the military. From runway to reality, the 150-year-old label brought the future of fashion to the runway. Burberry’s CEO Angela Ahrendts said it was important to have the iconic brand back on home turf. It’s magical having it in London. We are a British brand and we’d like to think one of the greatest British luxury brands to date so we are at home having it here, she said. Anna Wintour, the most powerful woman in fashion as the editor-in-chief of U.S. Vogue, said it was important to back Bailey and the label. I think it’s wonderful for British London Fashion Week and I think it’s wonderful that Christopher has decided to stay here for a second time. I’ve come all the way from New York this morning just to be here to support him, she added. Actress Kate Hudson said she has been a long fan of Burberry. I think throughout the years the trench coats have been staples for me, especially in movies. I think there are three movies that I have worn a Burberry trench coat. Across the globe in Dubai, the Middle East, a glamourous crowd gathered in a stunning ballroom to see 3D and fashion merge.

HONG KONG : Nancy Kissel, Hong Kong’s highest court on Thursday quashed the conviction of housewife Nancy Kissel, jailed for life for murdering her banker husband by feeding him a spiked milkshake and clubbing him to death, and ordered a retrial.

The appeal court verdict marks a dramatic reprieve for the American, whose 2005 trial riveted the territory with tales of rough sex, marital violence and adultery.

“The court unanimously allows the appeal, quashes the conviction and orders a retrial,” said Chief Justice Andrew Li at the Court of Final Appeal.

Kissel, dressed in black, broke down in tears after the judgment was read out in the wood-panelled courtroom, while her lawyers pumped their fists in celebration.

Kissel had admitted killing her husband Robert, a high-flying banker at Merrill Lynch, on Nov. 2, 2003, but pleaded not guilty to murder, a charge that requires premeditation.

After several years in prison and a failed appeal in a lower court, Kissel arrived in a wheelchair and appeared downcast as a large press contingent scrimmaged around her.

“Nancy is very frail, emotionally and physically,” said her defence lawyer Simon Clarke after the judgment was given by the five-member panel of judges. “She is obviously very delighted.”

REMANDED IN CUSTODY
The court remanded Kissel in custody pending the retrial, though several of her supporters said they would help her post bail if an application was granted by the retrial judge.

“We hope to see her tomorrow,” said Nancy Nassberg, a long-time friend. “Her body is weak, but she continues to fight and support victims of abuse.”

The so-called “milkshake murder” case engrossed Hong Kong, offering a rare glimpse into the high-living lifestyle that some foreign professionals enjoy in the former British colony.

Prosecutors said Kissel gave Robert, 40, a milkshake spiked with a “cocktail of drugs” before cracking his skull several times with a heavy statuette. Kissel tried to dispose of his body by rolling it up in a carpet and putting it into a storage room.

They said Robert had been planning to divorce Nancy and wanted custody of their children after discovering she had an affair with a TV repairman in the United States.

In quashing Kissel’s conviction, the judges described the lengthy trial as complex and riven with conflicting evidence. Kissel had argued that she was protecting herself after her husband tried to attack her with a baseball bat.

“Mrs. Kissel killed Mr. Kissel. That much is not in dispute,” the judgment said. “But was the killing certainly murder or might it have been in self-defence?”

The judges also questioned whether the seven-person jury that convicted Kissel in the original trial may have been misdirected, given Kissel’s argument that she had laced a drink to simply try to calm her husband, rather than as part of a plan to kill him.

“The miasma of those impermissible points was left to hang over the jury’s deliberations,” the judgment added.

Kissel’s lawyers maintain she was provoked into the killing and acted in self-defence after suffering years of domestic abuse.

French Minister to Convert to Marry Muslim lover, The architect of France’s burka ban was about to convert to Islam to marry his secret Muslim girlfriend.
Eric Besson, the country’s 51-year-old immigration minister, has admitted the relationship with Yasmine Tordjman, a Paris art student less than half his age. The French media has aired the likelihood Mr Besson, the hardline conservative, to convert to Islam to marry his girlfriend. The revelation comes as – tipped as a future prime minister – spearheads a campaign against non-Christian religions and cultures swamping France. He has called for Islamic head coverings such as the burka to be outlawed and wants potential immigrants to take French tests and swear allegiance to the Republic. His policies apply particularly to those arriving from Muslim countries, who do not share the same values as France’s predominantly Roman Catholic population. Miss Tordjman, who is in her early 20s, comes from a prominent family of Tunisian Muslims connected to the country’s former president, Habib Bourguiba. Before Christmas, divorced father-of-three Mr Besson travelled to the North African country to meet her mother, prompting speculation he would marry in June.

Concorde Crash Trial Begins in France, A trial began over the crash of an Air France Concorde in July 2000. The jet took off in flames from Paris airport and crashed shortly afterwards, killing 113 people.
Those accused include US airline Continental, two of its technical staff, two former Concorde engineers and a former French civil aviation official.

Namo Venkatesa Movie Review: Namo Venkatesa Telugu movie  directed by Srinu Vytla and produced by Achanta Gopinath,  Achanta Ramu,  Anil Sunkara  is released on 14th Jan 2010.

The  romantic comedy film stars Venkatesh as Parvathaneni Venkata Ramana, and Trisha Krishnan.

Music is Directed by Devi Sri Prasad

The film is a romantic movie with family drama, action sequences  and full family entertainment. Venkatesh plays a role of Parvathaneni who is an great devotee of Lord Venkateswhwara.

Popular south actress Trisha has played a key role in this movie and Brahmanandam does the role of a Paris Prasad.

The audiences are seriously waiting to experience the element of comedy in Venkatesh as he is pretty good at that it.

Paris Hilton Gets Diamonds For Christmas, Socialite and heiress Paris Hilton has already opened her and Christmas presents to find that she has been gifted sparkling diamonds by beau Doug Reinhardt, much to her delight.

The 28-year-old star couldn’t wait for the big day and unwrapped her gifts from ‘The Hills’ star on Thursday, which included diamond jewellery among other things, Contactmusic reported.

Hilton took to her Twitter page to express her delight at the gifts she has received. “At home opening Christmas presents from my man. So happy! He really spoiled me this year and gave me so many incredible presents!.

“All the jewellery he bought me from 14 Karats Jewellery Store is so stunning! It’s true diamonds are a girl’s best friend. I am speechless,” she added. After sharing her joy at the presents, Hilton also wished everyone a merry Christmas in the third tweet in the series.

LONDON: More than 100 people have died across Europe as days of snow storms and sub-zero temperatures swept the continent, causing traffic chaos for millions.

At least 42 people have frozen to death in Poland over the last three days and another 48 in Ukraine and other areas. Another 13 people died in car accidents in Austria, Finland and Germany, where temperatures fell to -33C (-27F).

Air, rail and road transport links were disrupted across northern Europe where more snow was expected in coming days. Eurostar said it would run a “restricted” service on Tuesday after a three-day shutdown stranded some 75,000 people.

Only passengers originally due to travel Saturday or Sunday would be eligible, and the remaining backlog would be cleared over the next few days. The crisis prompted French President Nicolas Sarkozy to call the head of national rail carrier SNCF, the majority stakeholder in Eurostar.

Meanwhile Eurotunnel – which carries vehicles under the Channel between England and France – said its terminal at Folkestone was at “saturation point” and closed its shuttle car service to new arrivals.

In Poland, police appealed for people to help if they came across homeless or drunk people lying outside, as temperatures dropped towards -20C in some areas.

Most of the 42 people who froze to death in the country over the weekend were homeless, police said. Meanwhile, one restaurant owner offered tens of thousands of homeless people a hot meal in Krakow’s main square.

“The food is not the only important thing,” restaurateur Janusz Kosciuszko was quoted as telling Euronews. “What is also important is that these people know that someone is thinking about them.” Cold-related deaths were also reported in France, where two homeless people died.

Treacherous travel conditions also caused havoc for rail services. Fifty people were injured when a train hit a buffer in the Croatian city of Zagreb, while 36 were injured when a passenger train derailed in Paris.

Parts of the continent saw 20in (50cm) of snow over the weekend. In France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, airport operators struggled to clear runways amid thick snowfall, with major disruption to flight patterns.

In France, a second wave of snowstorms hit the country’s north on Sunday with Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport warning as many as one in five flights was likely to be cancelled on Monday.

Germany’s third largest airport – in Dusseldorf – was also closed because of Sunday’s heavy snow.

In Belgium, the three biggest airports – Brussels, Charleroi and Liege – were completely shut. Severe delays and cancellations were reported at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.

Moscow said it was deploying 9,000 snow ploughs to clear the city’s streets. Temperatures were forecast to rise later in the week.