Fashion Industry

The return of fur to the world's fashion catwalks has spelled death to thousands of endangered animals with a boom in demand for their skins, a top wildlife protection officer said Friday. John Sellar, senior enforcement officer for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, said there had been a surge in seizures of tiger and leopard skins as the fashion industry embraced fur once again.

The fashion industry could be the place where AIDS has hit the hardest. And, certainly, looking at the California Fashion Industry salute to Geoffrey Beene Friday night at the Century Plaza, no industry in this town could have produced a stronger response. It was the event's second year--and organizers Michael Anketell, designer Carole Little, the May Co.'

Michael Lew is an up-and-coming fashion designer who has won accolades for his contemporary men's and women's clothing lines, which are sold at specialty stores nationwide. But he likes to emphasize that he is a California designer, born and raised in Southern California, trained in Los Angeles and committed to staying here. "People need to know California has a (fashion) identity," said Lew, 27, a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, based Downtown.

Cher has been transformed from the antithesis of fashion to its epitome. Rather than being portrayed in the history books as one of the world's foremost fashion victims, time has turned her into a fashion visionary. Influential designers have evoked her name as a source of inspiration and guidance in striking just the right note of contemporary wretched excess.

Two main events in the same week, on opposite coasts, proved that party plumage in Los Angeles and New York looks much the same these days. Just about every big name in Manhattan's fashion industry attended the gala of the Council of Fashion Designers of America at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The dominant style was glittery but understated, with many guests--including TV's Barbara Walters and designer Donna Karan--opting for ornately embroidered jackets over long, simple dresses.

How fun to read about little Hollywood scandals in the first person ["The 'Sabrina' Mystery," Oct. 24]. I hope you'll have further excerpts from Mr. Dorleac's forthcoming book, or maybe a column about costume design. Deborah Neikirk Hollywood Hills Limited sizes, limited customers Your article ["Kept Out of the Club," Oct. 24] made me angry. Since when is a 10 considered obese? The average woman wears a 10/12. The fashion industry needs to get it. If a store only has smaller sizes they are losing a lot of business.

IT'S ALMOST 2013 - which means it's time to take a look back at the sartorial standouts (Gwyneth Paltrow on the Oscars red carpet) and fashion faux pas (Paul Ryan on the campaign trail) of the previous 12 months. Though the world didn't end, as a flurry of Internet chatter had predicted, some in the fashion industry might have thought it had when Neiman Marcus teamed with Target on a holiday collection or when Nicolas Ghesquière announced he was leaving Balenciaga, the French fashion house he helped rebuild.

Shopping centers, department stores and boutiques all over Southern California are gearing up for the fourth annual observance of Fashion's Night Out, the worldwide shopping event created by Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour to stimulate sales in the fashion industry. The designated night of special activities and promotions is Sept. 6. But those who act fast enough to purchase the limited tickets can attend an intimate pre-event dinner and private Barbara Bui fashion show Sept.

There will always be beauty, style and grace on the pages of fashion magazines and books, but the death of Irving Penn this month marks the end of an era of seminal photography. Penn, along with Richard Avedon, who died in 2004, practically invented modern fashion photography -- a place where art meets commerce -- in the mid-20th century. The influence of both artists -- along with a small group of mavericks who came after them -- figures prominently in fashion editorial and advertising campaigns to this day. Their striking images shaped how the world saw fashion and have long been ingrained in our psyches.