I recently worked as Special Features Manager for two lifestyle exhibitions, and as part of my brief, I had to deliver catwalk design shows for both a Spanish and Italian show.
The Italian show, Viva Italia, was a huge success, easy to source designer outfits - we had some fabulous clothes and everyone fell over themselves to show on the catwalk. There was a huge enthusiasm amongst retailers, designers and models. The Spanish show, Viva Espana, was still a great success, but it was so difficult to source designs that were Spanish.

Thank goodness for the wonderful PR team for Armand Basi - they were warm, friendly and incredibly helpful. Any ideas?

A. Italian Designer Jewelry History
The history of jewelry design in Italy is rich, diverse and passionate. Modern Italian designer jewelry draws from traditions in fine craftsmanship that dates back centuries. In many of the works by classical Italian jewelry designers, you see traces of Egyptian, Greek and Asian culture. From the 9th to 4th centuries B.C., these early Italian jewelry designers, whose gold jewelry designs have never been equaled in beauty, perfected the techniques that are still in use in making Italian designer jewelry today.

A prime example of the value jewelers place on their craft is seen in the life of one of the best known 19th century Italian jewelry designers, Pio Fortuna Castellani, who studied and revived the Etruscan "granulation" technique for crafting gold jewelry. The demand for gold Italian designer jewelry of today has not lessened, but the wonderful Italian sterling silver jewelry cannot be ignored either.

Now there are Italian jewelry designers that have chosen to work exclusively in the highest quality sterling silver, creating beautiful ornaments for every part of the body. The demand for Italian designer jewelry is the result of high production standards along with the originality, quality and diversity. The history of craftsmanship of Italian designer jewelry has always been highly valued, whether it was for gold, sterling silver or gemstone pieces.

Italian designer jewelry today continues to make fashion history with designs in bold and delicate gold, oversized and trendy sterling silver with diamonds or semi-precious gemstones. When you are ready to adorn your body with something beautiful, take advantage of the rich history of Italian designer jewelry to satisfy your every desire.

B. Italian Designer Sterling Silver Jewelry
While gold is ever popular, more Italian jewelry designers are turning to sterling silver to express their creativity, such as Stefani Argento, who manufactures beautiful designs exclusively in .925 sterling silver. In Valenza, the famous Italian city which is the undisputed world leader in jewelry designed with precious stones, you will find them combined in remarkable designs in silver.

Because of its high quality, the sterling silver jewelry of Italian designers is in high demand throughout the world. In fact, Italy is the power center of the European jewelry industry, with silver and gold articles covering 70% of the total production. There are over 10,000 companies operating in jewelry industry, employing 40,000 people for production.

Italy's history of fine jewelry design and craftsmanship continues today in both classical and contemporary styles. While gold designs are prized for their delicate artistry, in sterling silver the trend is oversized. Today's silver jewelry piece does not go unnoticed, the styles vary from sharp, angular shapes with alternating softer, rounder ones. The "au natural" designs combine wood with silver.

Where to Find Italian Designer Sterling Silver Jewelry
The jewelry-making districts of Italy are legend. You will find many top quality Italian designers with sterling silver jewelry showrooms in Arezzo and Vincenza. The designs you will find produced by these craftsmen honor the long history and tradition high quality of Italian silver jewelry. Italy designers are world renowned as the world leader in jewelry production because of their outstanding technical skills, which accounts for the abundance of jewelry schools in most of the cities of Italy, which hosts thousands of jewelry students from all over the world.

Fashion is an industry built on fantasy, to a great degree. Those fantasies are constructed in glossy magazines oriented to professionals in general (Vanity Fair) and to women who follow the trends (Elle). The online experience is a multidimensional tool to expand on designer fashions and the yearly line of products.

One of the intriguing features of the Gucci site is its frame-by-frame layout of their current ad campaign. The value of the advertising in keeping Gucci "current" is made evident by its prominence as a website feature.

Some fashion websites that you wouldn't expect to see doing it are retailing to the public directly from their websites. There's a corporate area for promotional materials and haute couture, and a retail section for deals on the latest products. Companies that engage in online retail include Dior, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein - not a great surprise - along with Versace; Armani; Giancarlo Ferre and Prada, companies that you wouldn't expect to see retailing on the web.

Visual tools can be used to rotate a dress, suit, jacket or pair of pants 360 degrees. Short video pieces can show a garment and provide voice-over describing its practicality, range of use, glamour or whatever factor the company wants to highlight.

Web searches on fashion turn up a large selection of generic fashion sites that gain their revenue from advertising. One of their principal content highlights is always a list of designer web sites. In one case, apparelsearch.com, the site lists fashion designers and design houses in three categories: website for corporate information, for retail opportunity, and for wholesale connections.

That is valuable, down-to-the-rack-sale advertising for even the most well established houses. The web also allows fashion houses to segment in other ways. Click on Donna Karen and you'll find a web site that offers her accessory line up. Designers use the web in many functional mixtures.

A. Home Fashion: The Fashion Of Modern Occupants
Home furnishing or soft furnishing is the latest trend in the business of fashion today. In the last 3-4 years, people have begun changing their home furniture like they change their wardrobe according to the changing fashions. Lifestyle furnishing has become a mix of aesthetics, comfort, colours and designs. For instance, brown sofas have become outdated and people now prefer lively colours like blue and red. Though brand awareness in this segment is low but at present the scenario is changing, a few years ago consumers never stressed on purchasing branded home furnishing products, but now they are aware about new products and brands.

The list of furnishings includes bed linen like bed sheets, pillow slips (pillow shams), bed skirts, duvet covers, quilts and cushions; for giving the complete look to the bedroom matching curtains, tie-backs and also mats can be included in this list. Towels and floor mats, shower curtains, same soap cases, toothbrush holders, soap dispensers, mugs and rugs can offer the attractiveness of a bathroom. Water in this room, evokes memories of sea and ocean, shells and fish, and hence these are major patterns in the design making of bathroom accessories. Bed-and-bath themes are also combined together by designers.

Cotton is the most favored fabric for bed sheets, particularly those with a greater thread count. Exporters have an increasing demand for cotton bed sheets, though some also demand silk made-ups. For new born babies soft basic colours are used, where as for grown up children complimentary colour schemes with cartoon like motifs are mostly used. The prints for curtains vary from animals, to soft toys, cartoons and candies; the same is applicable for rugs, bed sheets, duvet covers and cushions.

Adults chose from a wide range of colours and motifs including traditional Indian motifs to modern compositions. In fact, the selection of colour and design depends on the fashion trend of today.

One step out of the bedroom and you reach the most happening room of the house - the living room. A combination of huge variety of colours and its relevant coordinates are particularly made to cater to people's physical and psychological desires. Sheer curtains to bring in sunlight, heavy lined curtains to prevent it, embroidered curtains and valences with lace trimmings flaunting luxury and a taste for design, make the room look more appealing and beautiful. Curtains can surely make the room look more attractive.

Generally fabrics for sewing curtains are 54 inches wide or extra wide at 110 inches or 118 inches. Curtains with well-designed features like noise and light reduction are being particularly produced for exports. The options are many; curtains are available in every size, colour, fabric and designs like stripes, checks, floral, woven, printed, etc. One can chose the fabric from the cottons to linens, velvets, tapestries etc. This two-part curtain possesses a sheer fabric at the top and privacy panels below.

Tab-top curtains have fabric loops on the top to which a rod is fixed. Tie-top curtains possess fabric on the top of the panel that is fixed to the rod. And, grommet-top panels have metal eyelets on the top which is fixed with curtain rings. Tap-top curtains are a latest trend that is common in modern homes.

Many traditional Indian weaves and embroideries are being done all over India on the home furnishings products. Traditional Indian embroideries like 'kasida' from Kashmir, 'kantha' from Bengal and 'chikankari' from Uttar Pradesh are in demand for bed covers and curtains. Many home furnishing companies are making these products with handlooms. Normally, high quality silk and cotton are used for these products.

While traditionally curtains were either produced with heavy jacquards or luxurious prints, at present a wide range of fabrics covering embroidered fabrics are being used. The attractive display of colours can also be seen in plain sofas with striped and spotted cushions or plush heavy pile carpets with designs varying from geometricals to florals and abstracts.
The showrooms for soft furnishings provide the customers with a collection of designs to select from.

The Indian home furnishings market is around Rs 15,000 crore, of which the organised market is about Rs 1,000 crore. The major carpet manufacturing areas (including all types of floor coverings and durries) are Agra-Bhadoi belt in Uttar Pradesh, Kashmir, Bikaner-Udaipur belt in Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. In India, there are 1215 carpet production units recorded and of that 190 are in the organized sector and the rest are in small scale industry sector.

Panipat has witnessed high growth in handlooms during the last two decades with the number of looms holding 50,000 are well known for producing acrylic blankets, bed sheets, bed covers, tapestry, upholstery, table mats and table covers. There are about 60 carpet woolen spinning units in Panipat with an annual turnover of Rs 175 crore making a variety of handloom products such as durries, mats, table covers, bed sheets, curtains and carpets exported to various countries, including Canada, Japan, Germany and Australia.

Benefiting from this booming market and the increasing new and young homemakers, department stores make their home furnishings space by creating well organized living spaces that sell the products very effectively. Many popular companies working with soft furnishings products in India are Welspun, Gujarat (which started first 'Spaces Home & Beyond' store in Mumbai); Handfab, Panipat; Highness Exports; In Vogue Buying, New Delhi; Indian Exporters, Kolkata; Shabari International, Kerala; Cannanore; Amber Textile; and Reliance Industries, and there are brands like the decades-old Bombay Dyeing and just stated like Spaces, Portico, Season's, Yamini etc.

Raymond provides the widest range of colours to satisfy the various colour requirements of interiors in Home furnishings. Home Solutions Retail (India), a 100% holding of retail leader Pantaloon Retail, intends to close its third year of function with about of Rs 1,000 crore. Home Solutions is establishing chain of home stores, committed to all things that would be required for setting up, decorating and furnishing a home. Each store, covering an expense about Rs 14 crore, will be allotted about 120,000 square feet.

To achieve its brand recognized in the big commoditised home furnishings market, Welspun is investing in retail stores and increasing its capacity to serve the domestic market. Besides its own brand the company recently received the marketing rights of Tommy Hilfiger home furnishing products.

Amongst the 125, 100 would be standalone Spaces stores. Recently, Portico, a premium Home Decor & furnishings brand introduced its premium and 'Sparkly' range. Because of huge demands, many fashion designers have also forayed in this segment. At present the home furnishings segment is considered a flourishing sector in the textile industry. Domestic and export markets are both booming for home furnishings.

According to experts, to make brand awareness home furnishing companies have to put more emphasis on the overall shopping experience. Retail ambience, coordinated product ranges; in-store display; point-of-purchase promotional literature on the product features as well as the company's lineage and superior in-store service are some of the primary actions that home furnishing companies must take.

While it could support in making fashion consciousness in India about home furnishings, as well as the designs, colours and prints are contemporary, and the packaging and labeling are as per the good quality standards, home furnishing companies need not be bothered about making more complication in their business by creating repeated changes in their product offering at this stage. We require building up more colour and design sensitive people to work in this segment. Cushion covers and curtains are the more demandable products.

For them lifestyle furnishing is turning out as a mix of aesthetics, comfort, colours and designs. Brown sofas are outdated; people need lively colours like blue and red. A few years ago consumers never demanded highly branded home furnishing products, but now they are very well aware about new products and brands in the market, though brand awareness in this segment is still low. Many companies are adding two to three products in their product lines every year and many are comings with innovative concepts in this segment.

B. Becoming A Fashion Designer
Being a fashion designer certainly does come with its benefits; but it is also a career that requires a balance between creativity and skill. The way we dress on a daily basis, the clothing we run to the stores to purchase, all depend on what’s popular on the runways. And what’s popular on the runways is created by fashion designers. A fashion designer creates a look and makes it happen. A fashion designer must not only be skilled in the manufacturing of clothing – including knowledge of textiles and expertise in sewing – but also in sketching and drawing their designs. The savvy fashion designer understands color and how to use it to capture the essence of their design.

Becoming a fashion designer means attending a reputable school that teaches design, sewing, textiles, and the like. Working alongside a fashion designer who can give you firsthand experiences and help you build your portfolio is incredibly important to becoming a fashion designer. A strong portfolio that demonstrates your talent and desire to work in the industry will go a long way to helping you realize your dream of becoming a fashion designer.