lifestyle THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2015

Fashion Gisele Bundchen Gisele Bundchen set to quit catwalk?

n announcement concerning the catwalk career of Brazilian The 34-year-old blonde, married to New England Patriots star Tom supermodel Gisele Bundchen is set to be made today amid Brady, with whom she has two children, has notably been the face of Afeverish speculation she is planning to bow out as a runway Chanel and also worked with the likes of Valentino, Victoria’s Secret, model next month. A spokeswoman for Brazilian brand Colcci, which Versace and Louis Vuitton. has enjoyed a long relationship with Bundchen, the world’s highest She has recently been promoting her own lingerie line but said paid model, said an official statement. “To date there is nothing offi- in a recent interview she wanted to spend more time with her fami- cial, everything is speculation,” the spokeswoman told AFP. “We have ly. According to Forbes magazine, she earned $47 million last year no statement as yet to indicate if she will leave the catwalk or just the and has been the world’s highest-earning model for the past eight Colcci brand.” years.— AFP Speculation has been rife since media reports emerged last Friday indicating Bundchen would make her final runway bow at the April 13-17 Sao Paulo fashion show, 20 years after making her bow and turn her talents to advertising campaigns. Bundchen’s sister and public relations manager Patricia Bundchen was not available for comment.

Betsey Johnson to receive CFDA lifetime achievement honor

etsey Johnson will receive a lifetime achievement award awards, to be presented June 1 at Lincoln Center. luggage, fragrances and jewelry. Johnson is known for an eter- from the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Tom Ford was last year’s recipient of the CFDA’s Geoffrey nally youthful vibe, including poofy prom dresses, a vintage BFellow designer Diane von Furstenberg, president of the Beene Lifetime Achievement Award. Johnson is being hon- vibe and bright color. — AP fashion industry trade association, and Nadja Swarovski of the ored during her 50th year in fashion. She started her whimsi- Swarovksi Group announced the selection Monday night, cal label in 1978, expanding in 2004 as a lifestyle brand along with other nominees and honorees for the 2015 CFDA encompassing handbags, leather goods, footwear, eyewear,

In this Sept 11, 2012 file photo, designer Betsey Johnson In this Wednesday, Sept 10, 2014, file photo, designer Betsey Johnson, left, does a split In this Jan 24, 2007 file photo, designer Betsey Johnson speaks during an interview at her goes into a split after doing a cartwheel on the runway after cartwheeling with her granddaughter, Layla Margulies, 8, during the finale of her design studio in New York. — AP photos after the Betsey Johnson Spring 2013 collection show dur- Spring 2015 fashion show during Fashion Week in New York. ing Fashion Week in New York. Japanese clothes but few Japanese models at TOKYO FASHION WEEK

okyo Fashion Week has long been a platform for edgy Japanese designers-but perhaps more remarkable is just Thow few Japanese models grace its catwalks. Tall, white and often blonde young women dominate the runway, with a foreign look that is now commonplace in Japanese maga- zines, shows and advertisements. “It’s kind of odd,” said 24- year-old Rika Tatsuno, one of the few Japanese models appearing on the Tokyo catwalks, where she reckons she is in an Asian minority of about 10 to 15 percent. “Definitely we would like to see more Japanese models.” A lack of racially diverse catwalks is by no means unique to Tokyo, which is vying to compete on the global fashion stage. But its lack of Japanese faces is striking. In Japan, fashion is divided into “wafuku”, or traditional Japanese clothing, and “yofuku”, which literally means “Western-style clothing” and is now everyday wear. While Japanese models are usually chosen to showcase the former, such as kimonos by celebrated designer Jotaro Saito, they have limited opportunities in the latter category- even when the “Western-style” clothes are Japanese cre- ations that will mostly find domestic buyers. “It’s natural. If I was designing traditional Japanese clothes I would pick Japanese models,” said young designer Hiroki Uemura of the “byU” brand, who made his debut at Tokyo this week. He described his collection as an adult version of the hugely popular “kawaii” style-the Japanese word for cute or adorable-but one also influenced by the “mismatched” look of British actress and singer Jane Birkin in her youth. “I want to show the ‘made in Japan’ aspect, but the Japanese are attracted to Europe and foreign countries, so in order to Models display creations by Japanese designer Hirdenori Kumakiri during the ‘Beautiful People’ 2015-16 promote this brand’s image I use foreign models,” he said. autumn/winter collection.

Models display creations by Japanese designer Yu Amatsu during the ‘A Degree Fahrenheit’ 2015-16 autumn/winter collection at Tokyo Fashion Week. — AFP photos