"She takes conventional dresses and makes them stand out," said Alexandra Shulman, the editor of British Vogue. But a dedication to perfection has played a significant part in the advancement of her fashion career. Yet Beckham, by her own account, is a wobbly work in progress. "I'm aware that I'm working my way up the ladder," she said. "I have a long, long way to go." With her business partner, Simon Fuller, the creator of American Idol, she presides over a luxury brand encompassing dresses, denim, sunglasses and now a line of handbags that debuted on the runway last week. Her dresses are magnets for well-heeled clients. Their growing allegiance has contributed to sales in excess of $7 million last year, said Zach Duane, the company's senior vice-president for business development, a figure that will likely hold steady through this year as well. Not so impressive, perhaps, by the standards of high profile fashion companies that tally their sales in the billions of dollars. But Beckham envisions a measured growth for her brand. "We are moving in baby steps," she said of the line, mostly financed at the outset with the proceeds - less than $1 million - from the sales of the Beckhams' successful fragrance line. The collection is tightly distributed - the dresses are made in England and carried in 20 stores around the world. New denim and eyewear collections are being sold in 100 stores, Duane said, and freestanding Victoria Beckham boutiques are in the offing.
Written off not so long ago, Beckham has been a fixture in the front row at presentations such as those of Chanel and Marc Jacobs. Her sinuously curvy cocktail dresses have been worn by Jennifer Lopez, Drew Barrymore and Diaz and are showcased in stores alongside luxury labels such as Narciso Rodriguez and Vera Wang. "Don't underestimate her," said Anna Wintour, among the many editors and retailers who have embraced her, adding that Beckham has managed, in a scant four seasons, to shed her dubious standing as the girl least likely to succeed. "She's growing up," said Ken Downing, the fashion director of Neiman Marcus, and an early advocate of Beckham's designs. "Her knowledge of dressmaking is impressive. She understands how to bring out the best in the female form and that's one reason our clients are drawn to what she does." Good clothes are a necessary part of a life spent basking in the public eye. Beckham has cavorted for the camera in the Mediterranean-style villa in Beverly Hills, Calif., that she shares with her husband, a home filled with art by Damien Hirst, Sam Taylor-Wood and Tracey Emin. She has sashayed from fashion runways to high-profile advertising campaigns and appeared on TV shows, including Ugly Betty and American Idol. Her life - the feverishly documented spending sprees, the star turns on the red carpet, the clamor for her designs - may be enviable, but she wants you to know it has left her unspoiled. "Doing diva," she said in London in June, "that's completely pointless."
Models in the blue, white and brown dresses and metallic jumpsuits - a jumble of scarves and chain necklaces wound round their necks - descended the long, narrow runway, which was strung with long gold strings representing, it became clear, rays of the sun. A massive circle made of gold foil burst into thousands of confetti pieces at the end of the show, as models sporting jumpers made from saturated pastel chiffon, their hair swathed in a rainbow of scarves, marched down the runway. Just watching the show was enough to make you itch for a Saharan getaway. JOHN GALLIANO For his upbeat sartorial remake of "Sunset Boulevard," Galliano recast the movie's tragic heroine - the faded screen siren Norma Desmond - as a tough cookie whose iron will and magpie eye allow her to prevail in the end. Galliano's models were all Norma, played in the film by Gloria Swanson, as she sees herself in the mirror plotting a wardrobe for her return to the red carpet. Her looks are cobbled together from what she's got hanging around - silken nighties, oversized jackets, bits of lace, feathers and oversized diva sunglasses. These are worked into over-the-top outfits that won't take no for an answer. Dialogue from "Sunset Boulevard" was piped in at the beginning of the show, and as soon as the models appeared, dressed in riotous looks concocted from layer upon layer of sheer negligees, light printed skirts, sharp shouldered jackets and trenches with lace paneling, it was clear.
While the entire country is celebrating Aluth Avurdu,a very few realize that the Sri Dalada Maligawa is celebrating the New Year in its own unique way.
It is a simple ceremony, mainly observing customs and traditions. In fact this is the beginning of the Sinhala New Year.
The time of the birth of New Year, is the passage of time from Pisces to Aries, which infact is announced by the Maligawa authorities and the Kariya Karavana Korale, the person who handles the festivities of the Sri Dalada Maligawa. In fact he is second in command next to the Diyawadana Nilame.
The Sri Dalada Maligawa becomes the centre in all activities. The times are set out and conveyed to the Devales who act according to the directives of the astrological data supplied to them.
In fact Sir John D'oyly attended the first Aluth Avurdu festival at Natha Devale after the Sacred Relic was brought back to Kandy from Kuruvita, the place to which it was taken for safe keeping by the people.
There has always existed, at all ages and in all societies, the clash between urban sophistication and rural manners and attitudes. What is truly shocking in contemporary Sri Lanka, however, is the degree of pastorality in society - not in the villages but in Colombo itself.
It is in this cosmopolitan beehive that you can meet the true rustics. While many in the villagers aspire to (openly or in secret) to some degree of urban sophistication, Colombo citizens aspire to become villagers. More often than not, they actually are.
By this, I don't mean people like those characters in the Martin Wickremasinghe novels, villagers who have made good in the big city, who are nostalgic about the simple routines of their erstwhile pastoral lives. I mean here second or third generation city dwellers, people who have spilt enough shampoo and deodorants on themselves to fill the Kalaweva tank many times over. These are the types who now profess a true love for the village, its ways, its clean air and its organically-cooked food.
Mallika Hemachandra who designed and created the crown for the winner had her black saree bordered in intricate thread embroidery in green, gold, red and touches of other colours she picked up with the necklace and eardrops of Ceylon stones.
Janet Balasuriya too had her sapphire blue saree bordered in a similar fashion that she wore with a turquoise blouse and a choker necklace of blue and white stones and pearls both at the front and bottom of it.
Yasodha Wimaladharma, the actress from the big and small screens, made a charming picture in an evening dress of deep champagne lace re-embroidered in sequins and beads, the lace up to a low waist, with the skirt in silk, in a graceful drape, she wore with perfectly matched gold handbag and shoes. A number of items of dancing, singing and mime kept the audience entertained and between the changes the girls had to do from costume to swim suit veiled over with ponchos and then into evening dresses created by Chrysanthi Feando-pulle and Lou Ching Wong.