Inspired by her husband’s “addiction” to Fantasy Football - in which sports nuts form six-member leagues and draft imaginary teams (made up from 10 real players in the NFL) to score points based on how each player does during the season - New Jersey stay-at-home mom Erica Salmon wanted to come up with an alternative for girls. Instead of quarterbacks or wide receivers, FFL’s online game drafts teams of clothing, accessory and jewelry designers who score points based on how many magazines, awards shows, and celebrities their goods grace between the Emmy night kickoff through the Oscar weekend playoffs.

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The concept:

You create your own fashion league - - your desired fantasy fashion team, made up of 4 fashion clothing designers, 3 accessories designers and three celebrities. WWD.com is the official Web site of Women’s Wear Daily, the industry’s most respected source of fashion news.

Mention of a designer’s first name, last name, or abbreviation of name (i.e. DVF for Diane von Furstenberg) in Today’s Top Stories, Fashion, Retail, Accessories, Sportswear, Beauty, and Financial sections will earn: 5 points for a headline and/or 1 point for first paragraph of article, bold name within article, or photo caption. Designers and celebrities pictured/mentioned in association with InStyle.com’s “Look of the Day” will earn 5 points. You can read more here

Who would be on YOUR Fashion Fantasy League??

Models are protesting the lack of rules in Milan - they’ve gone on strike and have refused to strike a pose. “When you go to New York or Paris, there are rules you have to follow. You need a visa to work, or a license, But when people come to Milan, there are no rules. I have worked in the industry for 25 years and I see many agencies that come to Milan and do work without any permits. stated Guido Dolci, the president of Assem, an association that represents some of the largest fashion agencies operating in Milan.

The strikers are pressing for a licensing system for agencies coming from abroad, and regulations that would require, for example, that an agency deposit money in an Italian bank before beginning work to ensure that people working on a shoot get paid.

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Our polls will cover everything from fashion, fashion trends, fashion news, celebrity fashion, accessories, shoes, jewlery, handbags and shopping - - basically everthing and anything fashion!

Uptown Girls question of the week:

How much does celebrity fashion influence your own fashion style?

Your options include:

TOTALLY! If Paris, Nicole, Lindsey or Christina are wearing it - - I run out to buy it!
Somewhat - I like to keep an eye on the red carpet fashions
A little bit - if I see something I like, then yes
Not much at all - unless I happen to catch something in a magazine
Not at ALL - I’m a fashion rebel - if Paris is wearing it, forget it!

Don’t see an answer in there that you’d give? Leave a comment and start a discussion on what you think about it! Heck, leave a comment either way and discuss your answer. Have fun!

Polls Archive

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Celebrity Hijinx with FASHION FIX: The Big Pink Elephant in the Room

Beauty Secrets 101 with Horrible Celebrity Fashion

Style Spotlight with Forget Bad Mother, Britney Spears is a bad dresser!

Style Spotlight (again!) with Jessica Simpson is insane for Lous Vuitton

GUNS N’ ROSES frontman AXL ROSE and fashion designer TOMMY HILFIGER got into a furious row at actress ROSARIO DAWSON’s birthday party on Thursday night (18MAY06).

The pair were at THE PLUMM nightclub in New York City, where Rose played a surprise acoustic show, when they got into a heated argument which ended with Hilfiger allegedly hitting Rose. The designer was promptly escorted out of the club by security guards, according to PageSix.com.

Rose told his side of the story yesterday morning (19MAY06) during an interview with KROQ radio station in Los Angeles, explaining that the fight started when he politely asked the designer to move his date’s drink so it wouldn’t get spilled.

Hilfiger allegedly went ballistic, “smacking” the singer in the arm and cursing at him. According to Plumm owner NOEL ASHMAN, Hilfiger took two swings at Rose. He says, “Axl was a gentleman and had the good sense not to retaliate, as he would have done some serious damage to Hilfiger.” Dawson’s mother ISABELLE told TMZ.com the designer politely told Rose to watch out for his date’s drink, which caused Hilfiger to begin screaming and swearing at him. She goes on to say that Hilfiger stood up and started punching Rose, getting in a few good shots before his own security guards escorted him out. The WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE star filled out a police report and later dedicated the song YOU’RE CRAZY to “My good friend Tommy Hilfiger.”

Birthday girl Dawson was unaffected by the scuffle and thrilled with the band’s surprise performance saying, “They’ve never played all acoustic, this is history in the making, how much does this f**king man rock?!”

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HARRODS confirmed this morning that Susanne Tide-Frater has resigned from her position as creative director there. “I’m really sorry to be leaving Harrods but the time has come for me to concentrate more time on my family life, most especially my young son,” Susanne, who left Selfridges to join Harrods in 2004, said. “I made this decision with a heavy heart but know that I leave Harrods in good hands and in great shape.”

DIANE KEATON is the latest face of L’Oréal. She will represent the company’s Paris Age Perfect Pro-Calcium skincare line, due to launch in July. “I love that L’Oréal is a company known for empowering women,” she said.

PARFUMS Christian Dior has signed a two-year deal with Italian actress Monica Bellucci, who will now front its Rouge Dior lipstick line. “My mother and my grandmother wore red lipstick. It’s so feminine,” she says. “Red is the colour of Italy. It’s about love and passion.”

CINDY CRAWFORD has hooked up with Swiffer, the revolutionary house dusting company, to choose the first-ever Swiffer Amazing Women of the Year. After a rigorous search and online voting system, five ordinary women have been honoured for their unprecedented contributions to the world around them. “Honouring women who are making a difference in their communities is something I am thrilled to be a part of,” said Cindy. “As a wife and mother, I know it takes a lot of dedication to balance a healthy work and home life.”

ELLE MACPHERSON is enjoying the single life. Asked about the issue of “scheduling sex” on a US television show this week, the Australian supermodel who split from her longterm boyfriend Arkie Busson last year, said: “I sort of believe in joyous spontaneity. I don’t know about this [scheduling]. Listen, I’m single at the moment so everything is joyous and spontaneous.”

IMAN has revealed the secret of her wardrobe. Apparently she stores all her dresses on mannequins with a company called Garde Robe, which is archived online. When she wants one, she simply logs on and chooses it, then waits for it to be delivered.

DEMI MOORE has apparently been called upon to play Coco Chanel in a forthcoming film about the iconic fashion designer’s life.

BRITNEY SPEARS has apparently lost none of her retail appeal: the pop princess, who announced this week that she is expecting her second baby, was also celebrating more than £159 million in global retail sales – and 10 million units sold – since her first Curious fragrance launched in September 2004.

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“I’m going to take everyone on and I’m going to shock everyone.”

Model Kate Moss is stepping into the world of fashion designers by launching her own fashion label.

After being the imagine of great designers like Chanel and Roberto Cavalli, Moss is determined to make her brand one of the most successful labels of fashion industry.

Moss insists that she is not over with her modeling career and has no plans of retiring in the near future.

We think being in rehab must have been an inspiring experience for Miss Moss!

Vibrant, colorful and bright handbags are in this spring, according to our sources. LOTS of big name celebrities are making their own huge style statement by carrying these vividly colored totes:

“My favorite bag is the new Marc Jacobs bright yellow bag, because it’s fun and cheerful,” says Rachel Bilson

Nicole Richie is also a fan of this hot MJ bag, and she smartly paired it with a chic little black dress at the MJ fashion show in New York.

“Pair any small or big handbag in a strong, bold color with a simple, contrasting color-neutral outfit. Don’t over-accessorize. Less is definitely more,” says celebrity stylist Nicole Chavez

The next Vera Wang is out there!

THE next Vivienne Westwood or Matthew Williamson is out there – and today we’re launching a fantastic competition to find the hottest fashion designer in Yorkshire.
We’ve joined forces with White Rose Shopping Centre in Leeds to find the Young Fashion Designer of the Year.
Last year, there were more than 1,500 entrants for the inaugural contest to find the region’s top fashion talent and this year it’s anticipated the response will be even greater.
Our contest winner will have a great platform on which to build a career and even top Leeds band Kaiser Chiefs are offering their support.

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The competition is open to boys and girls aged between nine and 16. The brief is simple: use your imagination to design an outfit – it can be hand drawn or created using computer aided design.

Last year’s winner Chloe Hodgson, 16, of Broad Lane, Bramley, Leeds, was a red mini dress with net underskirt and punk-influenced decoration.

The sketches of the 12 finalists this year will be made up into outfits to be worn by models at the White Rose Autumn Fashion Show on September 30.The competition, in age categories nine to 11, 12 to 14 and 15 to 16, carries a cash prize of £500 for the winner and £250 for the runner-up, while all finalists will receive a £50 prize. If the overall winning entry comes via a school, the school will also win a £500 prize. Three of the finalists will be selected by YEP readers.

White Rose marketing manager Andrea Allison, said: “Last year’s competition attracted an extremely high quality of entry which showed the depth of young creative talent that exists across the region.”

Entry forms are available from the customer information desk at White Rose, from the YEP website www.leedstoday.net, or www.youngfashiondesigner.co.uk or from headteachers. Entries must be received by the White Rose Customer Information Desk before noon on July 7.

Any aspiring designers out there?? We’d love to hear from you (or your kids!) if you’ve entered!

The house of Versace dramatically reduced losses in 2005, drastically reducing the red ink to a €5.5 million ($6.875 million), from a whopping operating loss of €92.4 million ($115.5 million) a year earlier.

The house also announced Wednesday that it had radically reduced its debt load. Versace said in a statement that its net banking indebtedness had swung from a negative position of €79.5 million ($99.4 million) at the end of 2004 to a positive balance of €2.1 million ($2.6 million) end 2005.

The modest loss was even better than Versace’s own forecast: the fashion label’s CEO Giancarlo Di Risio had forecast a full-year loss of €15 million ($18.75 million) when releasing half-year figures last September.

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Just plain old generic shoes from Target not good enough anymore? EasySpirit shoes? Only if Tara Subkoff designed them!

Plain old.. plain old just isn’t good enough for the masses anymore, it seems.

Take Payless Shoes, for instance:

Now that the bar has been reset, more and more mainstream brands have thought of ways to re-”design” their product and call lesser-known, but very promising designers onboard. Case in point: Laura Poretzky, the designer of Abaeté, a two year old label that started out as swimwear and quickly evolved into ready-to-wear, has just designed a capsule line of shoes for Payless.

While Laura Poretzky may not be a name that everyone throughout the country has heard of yet, she is a gifted new designer who caught the eye of Payless ShoeSource CEO Matt Rubel.

“We believe in supporting young, emerging talent and giving them an additional creative platform to bring their vision to life,” Rubel said via email. “We are looking for designers that have a pulse on what’s going on in contemporary fashion today. We found Laura’s work to be incredibly fashionable, yet understandable with a youthful spirit and great attitude. We believe this is well aligned with Payless and our focus to democratize accessory fashion and inspire fun fashion possibilities for women across America.” - Source

Can we expect a Louis Vuitton line of handbags at Walmart anytime soon? Eeek!