ralph lauren

Some arena-playing rock bands travel less than young London’s designers. Those blessed by the British Fashion Council as part of the roving London Showrooms coterie have been on a whistle-stop world tour of late, hitting Paris, Hong Kong, L.A., and now, finally, New York, where they set up shop this morning to show their Spring wares to U.S.-based editors and buyers. To judge from the group assembled—including James Long, Thomas Tait, J.W. Anderson,wholesale Ed hardy Kids, Holly Fulton, Louise Gray, Marios Schwab, and milliner Nasir Mazhar—the journey may have tired them, but it didn’t dampen their enthusiasm. Almost every designer queried revealed he or she had picked up international stockists along the way; among the city’s reigning favorites, Long and Anderson drew the most attention, but even the youngest in the crowd can now boast increased U.S. visibility. Central Saint Martins grad Simone Rocha, who showed her first solo outing this Spring after a few seasons under the umbrella of Fashion East, now sells her vintage-lace dresses, fluoro tulle sheer layering skirts, and plastic raincoats at Opening Ceremony. Craig Lawrence, a 2011 NEWGEN winner who showed loose-weave knits and cropped, elasticized jumpers, is at several Henry Beguelin locations. Interested buyers were swarming, suggesting more reach is at hand for many present.

New categories and techniques were on display, too. Jeweler and sculptor Jordan Askill introduced pieces with ethical amethyst, sourced from a mine in Zambia, which he worked into silver pieces with his trademark swallows (below left). (A giant swallow cuff, which opened to reveal a hidden compartment, blurred the line between his two pursuits.) Also in the new collection were his first fine-jewelry pieces, with tiny diamonds surrounding a faceted, hand-carved swallow pendant. Holly Fulton had begun working with mother-of-pearl for accessories and real seashells for statement-making jackets; the trick, she confided, is finding shells of uniform shape. Tait, whose finely wrought, voluminous pieces suggest Couture shapes, had a surprising new footwear collaboration: a set of crisscrossed trainers he designed with Nike. (He was wearing a pair himself, as was a model; he had no plans to produce them, he revealed, but persistent interest on the part of buyers may change all that.) And Sibling’s Cozette McCreery was on hand to show off her knitwear label’s first official women’s line, Sister by Sibling. Women had been ordering small men’s sizes for so long, she said, that she and her co-designers, Sid Bryan and Joe Bates, decided finally to cut and knit for them. They were cropped neon and sequin leopard tops (left) and two complementary, sweatshirt-style sweaters emblazoned with the words LOVE and HATE. They’d sold, she said, about evenly, though she expected more interest in LOVE. Call it a knitted insight into the human race.
—Matthew Schneier

Photos: Courtesy of Sibling; Courtesy of Jordan Askill

“It’s all about bronze and about the copper in bronze,” Ton Cremers, former head of security at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, said in a telephone interview. “Very few thefts of sculptures are solved. I think it’s less than 5 percent. They damage the sculpture right away. Within a day, the sculpture disappears. That makes it very difficult to solve these cases.”

At the Johannesburg Art Gallery, home to Picassos, van Goghs and Rodins, thieves stole a figure of a woman in mourning by South African master sculptor Sydney Kumalo. The Kumalo is one of a total of four bronzes taken in a robbery in January and another in September at the city-owned gallery.

A small bronze titled “A chair, a boat and a vase” by well-known South African sculptor Barend De Wet was wrenched from the facade of the national art museum in Cape Town in May.

“If they are caught with it, they can’t say that they didn’t know,” he said.

“There’s a lot of very sophisticated (security) systems internationally that, unfortunately, we just can’t afford,” said Antoinette Murdoch, chief curator of the Johannesburg Art Gallery.

Cremers recommends that steel skeletons be built inside larger bronzes to make it harder for thieves to cut them into pieces and cart them away. Smaller pieces can be fitted with electronic devices, the same strategy boutiques use to keep shoplifters from walking off with clothing. He acknowledges, though, that such fixes might be beyond the budgets of museums in poor countries.

Bernard Maguire, spokesman for the Metal Recyclers Association, said his industry group alerts scrap dealers across South Africa when a theft, whether of copper wire or a bronze statue, is reported.

Two years ago, Massie said, a registry of thefts he makes public in an effort to ensure pieces are recovered listed no stolen bronzes. Last year, there was one. This year, there have been five four alone from the Johannesburg gallery and the one from the national gallery.

The Johannesburg Art Gallery is not a client, but Massie listed its losses because he wanted to help. The cash-strapped gallery has had to cut back on gardeners and can’t afford a badly needed new roof and air conditioning system.

“They’re in a woeful position of holding the nation’s treasures and having no budget,” Massie said. “One has to have a lot of empathy with the directors and curators. It’s not their choice to have poor security.”

___

Donna Bryson can be reached on http://twitter.com/dbrysonAP

Bronze sculptures are only the latest target in South Africa: Days before U2 played a stadium in Johannesburg earlier this year, officials blamed copper thieves for power problems at the venue. Cable theft has led to service interruptions on the Gautrain, a sleek new South African light rail service.

The phenomenon also has been seen in Latin America, where vandals in Brazil sawed off the arms of a bronze statue of soccer legend Pele in 2007.

“I understand that art will be stolen,” said Noah Charney, who founded a think tank called the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art. “But I get very upset when art is destroyed … that is an irrevocable attack on beauty, culture and civilization.”

Murdoch said the city has promised her 1 million rand (about $125,000) to upgrade security, and she is seeking more from donors.

South Africa, well known for its high rates of murder and other violent crimes, is only the latest country where copper thieves are targeting art.

He said the members code of conduct also makes it clear that “if you do suspect something is stolen, you’re duty bound to communicate that to police.” But he said some items are cut up before they even reach dealers.

JOHANNESBURG One of the bronze sculptures stolen from the Johannesburg Art Gallery is worth about $16,000. Curators fear thieves sold it to a scrap dealer for a mere $250.

Gordon Massie, managing director of a Johannesburg company that specializes in ensuring fine art, said the true extent of the problem may never be known because private collectors who have lost bronzes don’t want to invite attention. And some government galleries refuse to list losses on their site for fear they’ll be accused of failing to care for their nation’s heritage.

Prices for metals with industrial uses like copper the main component in bronze have been booming. And as the stolen bronzes fail to turn up at auction houses, galleries can only fear the worst.

In one stunning case in 2005, thieves took a two-ton, $5.2 million bronze by famed English sculpture Henry Moore from the artist’s estate north of London. Police, saying “Reclining Figure” was too well known to have been sold on the art market, said the thieves may have stolen the work to melt it down and sell it for a fraction of its value as scrap.

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) VH1 has decided to drop “Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew” like a bad habit. At least for the time being.

While the cable network hasn’t outright canceled the series, which has run for five seasons since its 2008 debut, it has no plans for new episodes of the reality offering for the foreseeable future.

A representative for VH1 told TheWrap that “Celebrity Rehab” — which stars Dr. Drew Pinsky and a rotating cast of famous faces struggling to recover from substance abuse — “is not on the schedule currently.” Which doesn’t automatically spell doom, but it certainly doesn’t bode well.

While popular, the series has generated controversy, with some questioning whether the show fosters effective treatment. Last year, two former cast members died, with “Grease” star Jeff Conaway succumbing to complications from prescription drug use and former Alice in Chains bassist Mike Starr expiring at the age of 44, weeks after being arrested while in possession of unauthorized prescription drugs. Meanwhile, “Real Housewives” alum Michaele Salahi was removed from the Season 5 cast,wholesale Ed hardy belts, reportedly because she had no actual addiction (other than to fame, of course) to treat.

Luckily for fans of Pinksy, there’ll be no shortage of him on the airwaves. In addition to “Dr. Drew” on HLN, there’s also his CW daytime show, “Lifechangers,” which launched in September.

Avid Tweeter Kiebler hasn’t but written about her Parisian jaunt, merely she did sound philosophical on the microblogging site late Tuesday. “If you know thatyou deserve better…then work get it,” she wrote.

PHOTOS: Who another has George dated?

It’s the second sexy premiere for the twosome, who walked for the 1st time attach at The Descendant’s splashy NYC debut on Sunday. See extra pics of George and Stacy together from PopSugar.

Goo-goo gaga!

PHOTOS: Meet George’s one-time caress!

George Clooney and Stacy Keibler looked awfully in adore in Paris on Tuesday by the French premiere of his flick The Descendants.

With hundreds of correspondents, photographers and fans looking on, Clooney, 50, and Keibler, 32, only had eyes for every other, pausing on the blanket to stare adoringly at an variant.

This time, Clooney — who split with Elisabetta Canalis over the summer and speedily migrated on apt former WWE Diva Keibler — wore a blue pinstriped suit. Keiblier wore a gray, strapless, floor-length gown stressed along jewels.

PHOTOS: George and Elisabetta’s romance

Beyonce shot the clip both pre-pregnancy or before she was showing. In the video, backed up by 5 handsome masculine dancers, she casually croons and struts in a bright NYC disco studio. As the song progresses, the diva shows off new choreography — undergoes 2 appended day-to-night costume alterations.

Now expecting her 1st baby (with husband Jay-Z) the Grammy-winning musician, 30, has released video for “Love on Top,” the effervescent single she fulfilled at the MTV Video Music Awards in late August — while she 1st accustomed her pregnancy by rubbing her navel.

Watch the jolly, sexy new “Love ashore Top” video now!

The ultimate see? A sexy tuxedo jacket — sans shirt or bra.

Another week, distinct immediately iconic Beyonce video.

PHOTOS: Beyonce’s sexy bikini bod

PHOTOS: Beyonce’s cilia evolution