By Nadine Kam

DailyCandy

DailyCandy is about to enter the e-commerce world with the BETA launch of Swirl, Sample Sales by DailyCandy tomorrow, featuring cashmere sweaters by Alisha Levine. (The official hard launch of the members-only site will take place on Feb. 1, 2010, but who can wait that long?)

When it does launch, you’ll see their editors’ hand-selected picks of clothing and accessories from up-and coming buzz artists toestablished brands, at up to 80 percent off.

For now, 100 early members get a chance to win a $100 Swirl gift cards too. Visit www.Swirl.com to sign up now.

By Nadine Kam

Style.com photos
Peaked shoulders off the Balmain Spring 2009 runway appeared in Michael Jackson’s final concert footage.

I was so happy the footage of Michael Jackson’s last concert rehearsals were made into the film, “This Is It.”

I was especially thrilled for the many dancers, musicians and crew members who worked so hard at rehearsal and could finally get some long-awaited and well-deserved recognition.

There was one segment I wish could have been explored more, and that was the work on the costumes, which promised to be even more spectacular than what we would expect, even by Michael Jackson standards, which is extremely high. They talked about costumes and gloves that would light up by remote control.

I’m familiar with 30 years of signature looks and silhouettes of the fashion icon, and the film introduced one more, straight off the Balmain Spring 2009 runway, of the peaked-shoulder jacket. You can’t miss it, and every time it pops up you’ll wonder whether you love it or hate it. Of course, Michael Jackson being Michael Jackson, his jacket was tricked out with crystals.

You can read more about it in a story that appeared yesterday in the Los Angeles Times.

The movie starts as an ordinary behind-the-scenes concert documentary, but is very touching in then end as we hear Jackson’s thoughts about the state of the environment and our individual roles in making the world a better place while “Man in the Mirror” plays.

If Jackson were alive, I doubt that this documentary would have been released in this form, because he was a perfectionist. Because this is rehearsal footage, I could tell he was delivering only 70 to 80 percent of his full performing capability, but his 70 percent might as well be 100 percent for most people. He’s still amazing to watch and never stops moving on stage.

For all that has been said about his “weirdness” and “eccentricity” over recent years, he comes across as being thoughtful and sincere, and the film reaffirms his musical genius.

By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam photos
Julie Aragaki celebrates the launch of her new magazine Chromatic, with Kim Koga at left.

There’s a new fashion magazine in town. Julie Aragaki, of Hawaii Bride & Groom magazine and Hawaii In Style TV introduced her latest title, Chromatic, during a party at Bonsai last Friday.

Guests were treated to mini massages by Bhakti Massage, specializing in special events, office and home services; a candy buffet set up by Sweet Treats Buffets, pupu from the Bonsai kitchen, including the cutest miniature nigiri sushi; and a glorious dessert buffet — including mini guava cream puffs — set up by Sunshine’s Cake Creations.

These days, you can’t have a magazine without the party pictures, and I spotted one of myself from a few months ago, which is kind of surreal. I’m usually behind the camera and these days, when someone takes your picture, you never know where it’s going to show up. Taste of my own medicine, I suppose. Photographers aren’t particularly good at identifying who they’re working for, so that night I had no idea that photo would end up in print.

Sweet Treats Buffets set up a candy bar of black-and-yellow sweets to match Chromatic’s color theme.

By Nadine Kam

Too little, too lame, too tired for Paris.

It was a sad day for fashion on Sept. 9, when it was announced that Lindsay Lohan had been named artistic advisor for the house of Ungaro. Conspicuosly timed to the start of New York Fashion Week, the news was not well received and generated a negative buzz among editors and those working in the field. For any designer who has studied and worked to get where they are, and those who have not yet made it, it was a slap in the face.

Granted, there have been celebs with their own vision and creative instincts, who have made their mark in fashion. Think Olsen twins and Gwen Stefani, for a start. There have also been numerous collaborations that have worked our well for brands and celebs, but this was different. It was throwing a plum job to a washed up actress with no discernable fashion point of view beyond Hollywood trashy. That might have even worked in a boom economy, but on the Paris runways last week the new collection came off ticky-tacky and frivolous for these sober times and lacked the artistry associated with designers who have already proven they belong in Paris.

A bright spot was offered up by the Sydney Morning Herald, suggesting that Lindsay’s “insult” to fashion could result in companies seeking less input from celebrities. But that’s wishful thinking. Celebrities still seem to have the power to move brands. But I hope the brand owners can simply be honest and call these moves collaborations and give credit to the real designers who too often go nameless.

Due to the Lindsay association, though, we’ll probably all remember designer Estrella Archs name and I’m already wondering what she’ll do for the next Ungaro collection, hopefully without Lindsay.

Check out more opinions here:

LA Times

The First Post

New York magazine

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In happier news, Hilary Duff’s Femme collaboration with DKNY Jeans reflects her style while being on trend and perfectly suited to its young demographic, with each piece wearable, easy to mix and match and integrate with pieces every girl has, and coming in at less than $100 per piece.

Check it out: www.dkny.com

By Nadine Kam

On the eve of the broadcast of the new “Project Runway” on Lifetime, show host Heidi Klum, her husband Seal and their children enjoyed some time at Windward Mall yesterday afternoon.

According to mall reps, Seal hung out in the play area with the kids while Heidi did some shopping. They were photographed leaving the mall, with a Thinker Toys shopping bag.

Follow the link to the Popsugar story.

By Nadine Kam

Polyvore.com collage built around 3.1 Philip Lim’s draped neck T-shirt. Click on the box to be directed toward the items.

Let’s say you’ve had to slash your spending to pay off past bills. There is a way to shop around without spending, and get almost as much satisfaction.

I’ve been watching Polyvore.com for a while, but was too busy to try it out. Well, a run through Neiman Marcus last week gave me incentive to try it out.

During the Last Call presale I noticed a Marni flower necklace I had admired since spring was still available. I actually wanted the pink, but that was gone, so I had to settle for the blue — it’s more versatile after all — at a third off its original $695 price tag. Yay!

But it’s always one of those restrictive deals. That meant I would have to postpone any current season buys, so bye-bye 3.1 Phillip Lim black-and-gray striped T-shirt. I notice a lot of designers have been addressing the economy by offering more affordable creations, affordable for Philip being $195.

Polyvore.com allows you to put your artistry at work, creating collages of things you want but can’t afford. It’s also a fun way of putting your styling skills to work on paper, in building fantasy collections. It’s the contemporary equivalent of playing with collage or paper dolls and will help build your artistic skills as well.

My boyfriend took a look at my first collage, and when I told him, I can’t afford any of this, he said, “That’s good,” because it was a little to rock ‘n’ roll costumey for his taste. Not that I’d wear it public, but it’s fun to imagine. I think any collage I put together will always have high heels, for instance, but I avoid them in real life. Too painful. I long ago crossed over the threshold from where people believe you must suffer for fashion. I like being comfortable.

I built my second collection around the Philip Lim shirt. Polyvore allows you to pull images off shopping Web sites across the Internet. They also provide a few essentials in various categores: bags, shirts, dresses, jeans, accessories, etc., for those who don’t have time to go searching all over. The idea being, if you like something you see, clicking on the object will take you to the home site where you can make your purchase.

Unfortunately, the T-shirt was the least expensive item in my collection, so I can only gaze at the Lanvin purse and Fendi platform shoes. But at least I can see how they might go together.

By Nadine Kam

Above, Justine Miguel shows the animal print trend. She was a standout in our photo shoot for the University of Hawaii senior fashion show earlier this year.

Here’s a brief video to go along with the Neiman Marcus Fall Fashion Preview that appeared in Thursday’s paper. You can check out the copy here:

Shown during the presentation were designs by Donna Karan, See by Chloe, Robert Rodriguez, up-and-coming Leifsdottir, Stella McCartney, and Elizabeth and James.

I thought the models’ makeup was really beautiful, so chic and glamorous. Women who complained before about fashion being oriented only toward the young will appreciate the new sophistication on the horizon.

By Nadine Kam

Banana Republic

Do you see yourself in this picture? If so, stop into the Banana Republic store nearest you, where you can pick up an entry code for the chance to win a walk-on role in the AMC series “Mad Men,” plus a $1,000 BR gift card.

The catch is, you’ll have to submit a photo of yourself glammed up in your best “Mad Men” style, reflecting a time when men were men and it was OK for women to be curvy and voluptuous.

The contest ties in with Banana Republic’s “Mad About Style” guide to classic, tailored dressing in 1960 meets 2009 style. The guide is a great cheat sheet for achieving “Mad Men” style, pairing character profiles with looks off the rack.

By Nadine Kam

Emiri Miyasaka’s take on the national costume of Japan, presented last week in Tokyo.

Another pageant, another beauty queen; YAWN!

But Miss Japan Universe 2009 Emiri Miyasaka has stirred up more interest than usual in the Miss Universe 2009 pageant coming up Aug. 23 in the Bahamas, thanks to her national costume that is one part kimono (the top half) and one part Lolita (bottom half).

You can read a little bit more about it on VoyForums, the Philippine Pageant message board. Critics call the costume slutty and say the costume shows disrespect for the kimono.

But then, if you check out the contestant roster at www.missuniverse.com, you’ll see that Emiri is way down in the polls, so she’ll need attention if she wants to bring the crown back to Japan again.

The garter belt, stocking and panties are risque for the pageant, but it’s not as if we haven’t already seen similar in prime time during those Victoria Secret runway shows, and it’s not as if the Miss Universe pageant makes any pretense at scholarship and intellect.

The thing that prevents it from being 100 percent slutty is the cleverness in showing that duality in Japanese culture, the mix of conservatism and appetite for sexual content in media. Hmm, that sounds a lot like the U.S. puritan/porn ethos, which confuses the heck out of conservatives. Which is why we uncover so many stories of hypocrites preaching family values while breaking any and all vows they claim to uphold. That is a lot more offensive than a stage costume.

By Nadine Kam

Clarisonic
The Clarisonic and anemone flower that is the not-so-secret-anymore ingredient in Kinerase products.

Stopped by Sephora Ala Moana last night for a quick demo of the Clarisonic, the deep-cleaning sonic-care brush that massages your face as it cleans.

The demo was in conjunction with Kinerase, a powerful protection-oriented brand. The event introduces its new PhotoFacials Sun Damage Reversal System, with a starter kit valued at $143 selling for $100. The secret ingredient in the products is kinetin, an antioxidant derived from the anemone flower, which keeps the petals hydrated.

Brands often partner with Clarisonic, because the deep pore cleaning increases the efficacy of any serum or moisturizer you do use. Removing all the dead cells and dirt allows products to penetrate better.

The event repeats at the Ala Moana store from 1 to 6 p.m. today, and at the Pearlridge Sephora from 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. Appointment spots may be full, but you can always watch and ask questions.

The first time they were offering demos, I didn’t have time to go through it. This time I tried it on my hand because I didn’t want to take off my makeup. Such a bother to reapply, and I was off to Pecha Kucha at Linekona School, where Bytemarks’ Burt Lum was naming his picks for Hawaii’s Top 20 Social Media Geeks, and I was one of them! Thanks Burt!

My giant face on screen.

I found myself in the company of people I’ve met through work, but also, many people I’ve met strictly through Twitter. I later cornered Burt to ask him the whys of his human, non-database analytics, and he said he was looking for successful personal branding, community profile and active promotion of social media. As part of the old media guard branching into new media, I see that as a responsibility anyway, dragging my MSM peers into this new world order, as well as guiding mainstream readers through this territory.

Here’s his countdown, as borrowed from L.P. “Neenz” Faleafine’s Pono Media Web site. Names are followed by Twitter IDs should you wish to follow along.

20. Burt Lum @bytemarks
19. Judi Clark @judico
18. Ryan Ozawa @hawaii
17. Christa Wittmier @supercw
16. Ian Kitajima @ikitajima
15. Donna Nakasue @champuru
14. Liza Pierce @amauiblog
13. Jared Kuroiwa @KGMB9
12. Dan Leuck @dleuck
11. Greg Yamane @geewhy / Susie Collins @thecanaryreport
10. Todd Cochrane @geeknews
9. Roxanne Darling @roxannedarling
8. Vernon Brown @vbrown
7. Paula Bender @lavagal
6. Mitchell Dwyer @scrivener
5. Melissa Chang @melissa808
4. Nathan Kam @nathankam
3. Nadine Kam @fashiontribe
2. Andy Bumatai @andybumatai
1. L.P. “Neenz” Faleafine @neenz

Congrats all!

I still meet so many people who don’t know anything about Facebook or Twitter beyond the brand names. The best way I can describe it is that it’s like a parallel universe to the mainstream world, where people are meeting, conducting business and creating partnerships and events that pop up in the mainstream.

There are still so many people who tell me they’re afraid of social media because they’re afraid of loss of privacy. Well, guess what? The information you’d probably want to keep most private is already online in public data bases.

For the rest, your habits and goings on, you need only share what you want to share. If you’re attending an event, you can talk about it after the fact if you fear that someone will stalk you while you’re there.

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