"Save My Flat Strands!"

by Maura Lynch

Backstage at Phillip Lim Fall '08

Save my flat strands!

Superfine may be a desirable descriptor when it comes to your looks—but just not your locks. Unfortunately, lackluster hair is an irreversible malady for many women. "Fine hair is something you are born with!" says Ricardo Rojas, owner of the eponymous Manhattan salon. To get the most out of what you have—no matter how little—healthy hair is key.

"Breakage is a common concern for women with fine hair," says Rojas, who has given a boost to everyone from Natasha Bedingfield to Kate Moss. And it should be—weak hair not only looks lifeless, but constant breakage naturally results in hair loss. For proper strength straining, Rojas recommends bulking up with regular deep conditioning treatments and says to lay off the straightening irons and tight buns and ponytails. "These can easily compromise the integrity of hair," he adds. A flattering cut, on the other hand, is an easy way to get a lift: "Long or short, an angled cut is a must," he says. And while you're already in the salon, a dose of color might do you some good. According to Rojas, while one-dimensional color will only call attention to the fact that your hair is indeed flat on your head—"Natural-looking highlights and lowlights help give the illusion of depth."

As if you needed more of a reason to skip the straightening iron, body may be tough to achieve with sleek hair. "Adding texture and not keeping hair pin straight will give volume and make hair look fuller," notes Rojas. Start by adding a volumizing lotion or spray to your roots-only and blow-drying hair upside down. Then, try large hot rollers or a curling iron—just be sure to use a protective spray beforehand. If you find your strands are strung out by midday, a dry shampoo should do the trick. "It will help absorb the oil from your scalp that's bringing the hair down," adds Rojas. And while it's normal to lose a small amount of hair on a daily basis, if you are noticing more hair than usual in your brush or shower drain, you may want to consult your doctor. "Fine and thin hair are very often confused, although the two can go hand in hand," says Rojas. "Thin hair can come as a result of not caring for hair properly, but it could also result from a long list of other causes, including health problems."

Key Players

They're not designers, stylists, or magazine editors—yet. The next generation of influential fashion forces is making its mark online with buzzed-about style blogs.

by EVONNE GAMBRELL

CLOSET CONFIDENTIAL: Blogger Jane Aldridge in front of her wall of shoes, wearing her own Prada skirt and Dries van Noten heels.

No Drop Caps

Read the full article and then meet more of our favorite fashion bloggers.

Trophy Club, Texas, 30 miles outside of Dallas, isn't exactly the style capital of the country. "My friends aren't into fashion at all," laments sixteen-year-old local Jane Aldridge, who prefers moody Ann Demeulemeester ensembles to Abercrombie & Fitch. "They're embarrassed to go out with me!" And with a school-uniform policy in effect Monday through Friday, this runway aficionada often finds herself quite literally all dressed up with no place to go. What's a Balmain-worshipping girl in the middle of the suburbs to do? Start a blog, of course.

Since last summer Jane's site, Sea of Shoes—part style diary, part shopping wish list, part virtual inspiration board, and always with an emphasis on to-die-for footwear ("There's something really compelling about shoes," she explains. "I collect them and keep them on shiny shelves, like miniature works of art")—has bloomed into a cult Internet hit, drawing up to 25,000 visitors a day and connecting Jane and her dream closet with a more clothes-conscious crowd. But despite all the high-fashion houses she regularly name-checks on the site, Jane says, "I get lots of e-mails from girls telling me they really like how I work in my thrift-store finds."

The recent explosion in the presence and popularity of personal-style blogs—often featuring high-low mixes and anonymous labels—means that with each page view, girls are registering it's not what you wear that counts, but how you wear it. And those who wear it best are emerging as fashion's new stars. "The fact that bloggers are real girls with normal clothing budgets is probably more inspiring than looking at pictures of celebrities with seemingly endless resources," surmises Rumi Neely, 24, of Fashion Toast, a style site that has served as a model for many young girls getting in to the game. Scores of fans have also been attracted to blogs displaying DIY ingenuity, from sixteen-year-old Camille R.'s superchic sewing projects at Childhood Flames to Arabelle Sicardi's resourceful takes on runway trends at Fashion Pirates. Arabelle, sixteen, most recently brought high-concept style to the halls of her New Jersey school by re-creating a Comme des Garçons skirt from a bunched-up tablecloth. "My look can be kind of wild," she admits. "Sometimes I'll try things out just because I'm curious what the reaction will be." Cautions Rumi, "You've got to have a thick skin if you want to start a blog." Like so many areas of the Web, the conversation can turn nasty quickly, and it takes a certain attitude to rise above it all. "I would never change out of something just because it got a bad response," Arabelle says. "You need to realize that people who leave mean messages ... they're just anonymous people on the Internet who would probably never have the courage to put pictures of themselves up there."

Luckily for the camera-shy, starting a fashion blog doesn't necessarily mean making yourself the main attraction. When it comes to her site, Bunny Bisous, eighteen-year-old New York City college student Julia Frakes says, "I try to post as few pictures of myself as possible." Instead she offers her insider's view of the fashion world, a perspective she gained when she began blogging for papermag.com while still a designer-obsessed high school student in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Julia started her own Web site, she says, to cover the "more whimsical, offbeat stories" she came across "that weren't exactly Paper territory"—from a vegan dinner with her model BFF Simona McIntyre to a favorite fashion magazine editorial. "Now I get, like, 800 e-mails a day from PR people pitching me stories, especially modeling agencies," says Julia, who recently posted an interview with up-and-coming catwalker Kate Somers. "I think they like letting me interview the models because I'm a girl their age," Julia explains. Her industry friendships have in turn helped her score more inside scoops. "I might tag along with someone backstage at a show, which gives me unique behind-the-scenes access to things like what the models are saying about the clothes." Julia also posts her pictures ("I lug around a massive Nikon; everyone jokes that the camera's bigger than me") and in-depth reviews of her favorite runway looks. "I feel like there aren't a lot of younger voices out there covering the shows in person," she says. "The spirit and camaraderie don't come across from just looking at a snapshot on a runway site, and I want to share that energy with my readers."

Audrey Hepburn from Tiffany's

udrey Hepburn (4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a Belgian-born, Dutch-raised actress of British and Dutch ancestry.(1929-05-04)

Born in Brussels, Hepburn lived in Arnhem in The Netherlands during her childhood and for the duration of the Second World War. After the war, she studied ballet and then moved to London in 1948, where she studied drama and worked as a photographer's model. After making a few films and appearing in the 1951 Broadway play Gigi, Hepburn played the lead role in Roman Holiday (1953), winning an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for her performance. She also won a Tony Award for her performance in Ondine (1954).

Over the next several years, she was one of the most successful film actresses in the world, and performed with some of Hollywood's most notable leading men, including Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, Henry Fonda, Gary Cooper and Fred Astaire, with whom she danced in Funny Face (1957). She won BAFTA Awards for her performances in The Nun's Story (1959) and Charade (1963), and received Academy Award nominations for her work in Sabrina (1954), Breakfast at Tiffany'sWait Until Dark (1967). She also played Eliza DoolittleMy Fair Lady (1964). (1961) and in the film version of

Her war-time experiences inspired her passion for humanitarian work, and although she had worked for UNICEF since the 1950s, during her later life, she dedicated much of her time and energy to the organization. From 1988 until 1992, she worked in some of the most profoundly disadvantaged communities of Africa, South America and Asia. In 1992, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

Hepburn was married twice, and had a son with each of her husbands, the actor Mel Ferrer, and the psychiatrist Andrea Dotti. From 1980 until her death, she lived with the actor Robert Wolders. She died of colorectal cancer at her home in Switzerland at the age of 63.^[1]

She was posthumously awarded the The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for her humanitarian work. She received a posthumous Grammy Award for her spoken word recording, Audrey Hepburn's Enchanted Tales in 1994, and in the same year, won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement for Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn, thereby becoming one of a few people to receive an Academy, Emmy, Grammy and Tony award. In 1999, she was ranked as the third greatest female star of all timeAmerican Film Institute.

UGG'S baby booties at Thopsop

This one for you baby boy and girl, from Thopsop at Thopshop.com.Made from sheepskin and in a gorgeous range of colours - beige, cinnamon and baby pink - they'll ensure your little one stays cute and cosy over the coming months.

Louis Vuitton launches Sprouse Collection

Louis Vuitton's Speedy bag, with Stephen Sprouse Rose design, from the new collection

The collaboration between the fashion house and the artist, which was borne of creative director Marc Jacobs' desire to "deface" Vuitton's iconic monogram, gets a new lease of life in the neon-hued offering which takes as its basis two signature Sprouse concepts: graffiti and the rose.

Thus, favourite bag designs the Keepall, the Speedy and the cult Neverfull holdall are daubed with Sprouse designs and there is a distinctive street vibe to graffiti-tagged jeans with Day-Glo details, slouchy T-shirt dresses and fluorescent leggings in tribute to the artist, who died in 2004 after battling lung cancer.

"I tried to use the things in Stephen's vocabulary, and give the collection the shape, silhouette and styling that Stephen would have done when he was at the top of his game," Jacobs explains. "It really is a complete homage, and a complete combination of what is Louis Vuitton, and what is this legendary icon, and then what are the icons and the lasting aesthetics that Stephen left in the fashion world."

As part of Louis Vuitton's commitment to Sprouse's work, the house will also make a donation to the National Academy of Design - Stephen Sprouse Scholarship Fund to mark the launch of the collection.