K-Pop Sensation 2NE1 Dresses Up in Jeremy Scott

If you haven't noticed, we love K-pop girl groups. They're perfectly groomed by their labels' respective training regimen, and know exactly how to tingle our hearts with sugary croons. Their cutesy antics and dazzling appearances also help a great deal. But often times, their actual talents as singers and performers come into question. High heels and coordinated mini skirts can dazzle a fan base only so far.YG Entertainment's girl quartet 2NE1 (a play on "to anyone") breaks that mold. First appearing on the scene in 2009 with the label's male counterpart Big Bang on a skull-drilling song "Lollipop," the girls quickly rebounded on the disputed hype with a thumping club single "Fire." Equipped with air horns, loud streetwear aesthetics, flamboyant rapping, and free-for-all choreography, the group stood out immediately in a market clustered with fembots. Thanks to the self-titled EP's release, 2NE1 instantly became a hot commodity in the emerging K-pop market. With a successful follow-up, the official debut LP To Anyone, raking in 120,000 copies in sales, and each of the five singles selling an average of two million downloads, the clique of CL, Minzy, Dara, and Bom became international superstars. Psy who?
Aside from their great range of musical outputs, the group's known for its excellent styling. While a typical K-pop girl group settles for schoolgirl uniforms or scantily clad dresses, 2NE1's stylists deck out the members in a wide range of clothing from Brooklyn streetwear brand Mishka to French design house Balmain. This soon caught the attention of designer extraordinaire Jeremy Scott, as he personally set off to provide collaborative adidas Originals gear for the group, propelling 2NE1 as K-pop's most recognized style icons.Back in August, during their New Evolution U.S. tour, Complex captured 2NE1 in their finest wardrobes. Jeremy Scott sent us his Fall 2012 collection, and the girls brought in their own Givenchy and Balmain fashions.Check our fashion photoshoot out in the thumbnails above, and read the next page for our in-depth interview where the girls talk about their upcoming ventures into the U.S. market, solo career ambitions, and how they stand different compared to other K-pop acts.We actually had this conversation on our way here. We feel like this is our third time debuting. We started in Korea, and then it was Japan last year. Like all starters, there are many places we have to introduce ourselves. When we debuted in Korea we had to do that, we did the same when we debuted in Japan, and it feels the same here.

To start off the fashion show

Mr. Rendell said he didn't think prices in the ancillary market for Lincoln memorabilia had gone up since Steven Spielberg's movie was released in November,"but interest certainly has," he said. "The same thing happened, for instance, when the movie 'Patton' came out," in 1970. (The interest in Kennedy and Beatles material, by the way, has gone down, he said.)Mr. Rendell added that he knew a lot of people who had asked Doris Kearns Goodwin to write biographies of them, but he'd never thought of how it could affect his own memorabilia business. "Maybe we should split the difference," he joked.Somehow it was even colder by the United Nations where Validas and the Seven Bar Foundation hosted the launch of Vera and its Save. Love. Give. campaign at the Ambassadors River View. This party was sort of confusing, so bear with us a little bit.
Vera is a new application developed by Validas to help you figureout what kind of money you're wasting on your mobile phone plan. It will also help you decide how to repurpose that money for philanthropic causes.Meanwhile, the purpose of the Seven Bar Foundation is to leverage the power of the fashion industry to empower women around the world through microfinance.Somehow, what these two institutions developed for the evening involved a fashion show featuring women in specially made corsets.Corsets, the party line went, bind and constrict women.Dress recycling effort boosts prom dreams.Microfinance does the opposite.To start off the fashion show, the designer Tara Subkoff collaborated with a few friends on an outfit made of recycled cellphone bills that was worn by her friend, the opera singer Eve Gigliotti. Ms. Gigliotti sang a semi-improvised, semi-scripted aria.
"She's waiting for the call to come offering the part to sing her dream role 'Carmen,'but she didn't pay her bill,"said Ms.Subkoff. "So she's begging for 12 more hours."As for the outfit,which fit Ms. Subkoff's mode of using recycled material,"it was extremely comfortable," said Ms. Gigliotti, who will appear in Robert Lepage's "Die Walküre" this spring at the Met."I think everyone needs a cocktail dress made of telephone bills." Outrageous behavior may be what makes "The Real Housewives"franchise such a success for Bravo, but has there ever been anyone like Kenya Moore? She took her feud with Phaedra Parks to a whole new stratosphere on the latest episode of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" by showing up at a charity event dressed as Phaedra. More specifically,it was her take on Phaedra on vacation.That meant wearing a mesh bathing suit, floppy white hat and "donkey booty" padding.This was, recall, a charity event. The other women couldn't believe what they were seeing.

Dress recycling effort boosts prom dreams

Julie Clough doesn't want a lack of money or planning to keep high school girls from going to the prom.Clough and her friends and family have been collecting and redistributing prom dresses to girls with dreams of going to the big dance. Most of the dresses are donated, but a few have been purchased.Her PROMise Program began with wondering what to do with her oldest daughter's prom dresses."They were so pretty," Clough said. "She (Laramie) went to her junior and senior prom, but my other daughter is only 15 and would probably not want to wear her sister's dresses."Clough began wondering what high school girls did when they wanted to go to prom, but didn't have the means.A survey conducted by VISA last year stated American families with teenagers spend an average of $1,078 for prom clothes, food, transportation and other amenities. The company said that in the Midwest the average is $696; the South is $1,047; the West is $744 and the Northwest is $1,944.
Clough noticed a local young lady on the Facebook Garage Sale site in need of a prom dress."I told her to come over, and if one of my daughter's dresses fit, she could have it," Clough said. And from there PROMise took off.Soon Clough created a Facebook page for PROMise. She invited people to donate prom dresses, and the program began to grow."The foster kids have a formal banquet in Lincoln every year," Clough said. "The kids needed dresses for that, and we gave out several."Clough has helped young women with dresses for winter formals and homecoming, and the program is getting ready for prom night. She is getting a lot of help from her friends and co-workers at Valley Bank and Trust in Scottsbluff. Yoko Lawing is offering to help prom-goers with makeup, and Marcy Urdiales' daughter is offering to do their hair.
"I'd like to do a yearly event like ‘Don't Stress the Dress,' in Lincoln, where girls make appointments and the organization helps them get ready for prom." Clough said.Right now, she is just getting the program off the ground, but all the young women and their mothers have been grateful for her help."Every mom that comes through says, ‘Thank you so much for doing this,'" she said. "It's not necessarily that they don't have money, but maybe just haven't budgeted for it, or the girl decided at the last minute to go."Clough has even helped teen moms, who are spending money on their babies, and not on themselves, but still need dresses for prom.

Winter formal dresses: It's all about the sparkle

It's all about the sparkle.Valley high school girls are flooding dress shops this month in search of the perfect dress for their winter formal, and they're flocking to anything that shines. Sequins, rhinestones and chunky faceted iridescent stones an inch wide are becoming increasingly popular.The bling trend has been around for a while, but is even more popular this year, says Keri Frazier, owner of Little Black Dress Boutique at Bullard and West avenues."Every year embellishment becomes more important," she says. "We can't sell a plain dress."January is winter formal season. About 30 schools from Atwater to Lemoore hold a winter formal this month, according to Megan Souza of Mia Bella Couture, a dress shop in the Palantine Building on North Fresno Street in Fresno.Instead of dresses with a few sequins or a sequined bodice, many long dresses are now sequined head to foot. Some, like the silver full-length sequined Jovani dress (at right) have stones attached to nude netting, making it look as though the sparkles float along the girl's back.
Such details may seem trivial to people whose high school dance days are long past, but to a teenage girl going to her first formal, selecting that dress is a huge choice. Shopping for formal dresses is starting to resemble the search for the perfect wedding dress."Girls spend hours and days and numerous trips," Frazier said. "It is a big deal."The price tag can be a big deal, too.Many winter formal dresses at Mia Bella average about $350 and at the Little Black Dress Boutique most cost from $169 to $250.Golden Globes fashion: the best and worst dressed stars.The more embellishments, the higher the cost.Stores keep records about the dresses so that no two girls end up wearing the same dress to the same dance.Girls often turn to seamstresses to add straps. Some add bustles -- commonly added to wedding dresses with trains -- to long dresses that drag on the floor, so the skirt can be tucked up with buttons for dancing.
Teens face the balancing act of finding a dress that makes them feel good, but doesn't show too much flesh. At least one school -- San Joaquin Memorial, a private high school in Fresno -- requires long dresses for its winter formal.Those are some of the reasons that dresses with open backs are becoming popular. This year, lots of open-back dresses have cowls that drape at the bottom of the back, Souza says."It makes it fun for high school girls," Souza says. "It's not too sexy."Madison Hiatt, 16, will wear a white, open-back dress to her formal at Clovis North High School Jan. 26 with horizontal straps across the back."I love open-back dresses," she said. "I just liked the feel of it."Lace is popular too, along with corset tops.And the trend of high-low dresses -- short in the front and long in the back -- has worked its way into formal dresses.

Golden Globes fashion: the best and worst dressed stars

The fashion parade down the Golden Globes red carpet featured several standout dresses as well as several fashion fails, some by usually well-dressed celebrities. We've picked some of our favourite dresses and some that we really disliked.Jennifer Lawrence, Best Actress - Comedy/Musical for Silver Linings Playbook - was a dream in Dior. Her strapless red ballgown was cinched in by a thin metallic belt and brought to mind a previous red carpet triumph - Calvin Klein, also red, at the Oscars in 2011.We also loved Anne Hathaway, Best Supporting Actress for Les Miserables, who was pristine in a white Chanel column. Also working the red trend was Claire Danes, Best TV Dramatic Actress, in Versace. Claire wore virtually no accessories - but she didn't need any, everyone was far too busy looking at her fantastic post-baby body. Incredibly, Claire gave birth to her son just one month ago.
Jessica Chastain, Best Actress - Drama for Zero Dark Thirty, also acquitted herself with honours in ice blue Calvin Klein, cut daringly low in front. big thumbs up to nominee Taylor Swift. She lost the Golden Globe for Best Original Song to Adele but took fashion honours in purple Donna Karan Atelier.The usually stunning Halle Berry led the worst dressed brigade in a Versace dress that tried too hard, working many trends - print, cutaway, sheer, asymmetrical, but failing to nail even one.Rachel Weisz was also an unlikely offender in black Louis Vuitton with a sheer dotted panel that replaced the bottom half of her dress.Nominee Sienna Miller also found herself on the other side of the fashion divide in a decidedly unglamorous top and skirt ensemble by Erdem that washed her out completely.Yes, that's Eva Longoria and not Kim Kardashian. Big hair plunging front too high slit equals a fashion disaster even if it is by Emilio Pucci.
I loved a zipped grey sweater over a paler grey shirt, tails showing (this tails out thing appears to be a big trend). The only sour note was a Frank Spencer beret. Nicole Farhi, too, with a new creative director, Joanna Sykes, showed wonderful Italian knits: no young man is sexier than when he is wearing a cardigan.There's also a woman at the helm of iconic design house Hardy Amies (designer Claire Malcolm) and though the checks were loud and the trousers cropped, there were plenty of narrow three-piece, single-breasted suits to appeal to the man who works in the City.Chunky knits were very Daniel Craig and the Thirties aviator outfit was lovely. And if your man is more of a cheapskate, then Topman also showed parkas for modern-day men who want to look like explorers - even if they never leave home without sat nav.I loved their navy pea coat, the chunky knits, the slouchy trousers and lace-up desert boots. In fact, this is how Prince Harry should be dressing, head to toe. Topman launches a Lux collection in March, which augurs well: mohair, knitted T-shirts, leather bikers and elegant evening wear, at slightly hiked prices.