By Yena Kim

Summer 2008 looks like a 50/50 do’s and dont’s for celebrities. With paparazzi shadow walking lavish celebs in beaches, hotels and resorts, we come to certain conclusions about trends of this hot summer of 2008.

It’s been 60 years since the bikini appeared in beaches and struck people in awe, and it still seems to stay true to its effect today. Fashion Icons such as Lindsay Lohan and Mischa barton choose white, the key color for summer/fall 2008 and translate it to glory- topping off with crucial accessories such as broad sunglasses (not oversized to the point of no recognition, thank god) and big hats to block the harsh rays.

Then on the flipside, black will always be the new black. Courtney Cox and Jessica alba sport black swimsuits in bikini and cut outs, and the outcome is classy as ever. Black’s effect of making one appear slimmer plays its good parts on these celebrities and enhance their million dollar beauty and bods.

While bright colors such as yellow, orange and light blue have been spotted on Nicole Richie and Britney spears, patterned swimwear seemed scarce this summer at the beaches. With the exception of large floral or polka prints, the once ubiquitous neon-triangle and stripe patterned one-piece looks to have extinct.
Instead, bright and solid colors dominate the celebrity swimwear market.

To choose between cut out or retro swimsuits (which seems to be at the initial stage of launching into popularity) in the celebrity world really comes down to personality. Scarlett Johansson, who exudes natural beauty and elegance chooses retro swimsuits- it adds to her character and somewhat 50’s curvacious build. Sexy-driven actresses such as Eva Longoria and Jessica alba leaned towards the cut outs to expose more skin in the right places, and weren’t afraid to throw in some thin metalic chains in there.

Bold, Patterned, Dark, Light, Retro or Cutout, the most important factor in choosing the right celebrity swimsuit was more about personality. Some celebrities hit the high-end swimsuits from Chanel but regardless of price, at this point, the energy and confidence seems to spark celebrities to distinction at beaches and under the hot summer sun.

By Victoria Zaleski

Let’s face it: no other place in the nation does Independence Day quite as well as New York City. With this year’s annual 3-day-weekend of fireworks, hot dogs, and beach blankets soon impending on us, here are some of the best places to hit in the metro area and out.

First, the oldie, but goodie. The Macy’s Fireworks display. The fireworks can be seen between 23rd and 42nd street in Manhattan and down near South Street Seaport. They can also be seen in Greenpoint and downtown Brooklyn and Queens. There area also tons of other festivities all throughout the city. 4th of July weekend there are historical walks in Greenwich Village and Gramercy Park as well as a candlelight walking tour of Revolutionary New York beginning at the wee hour of 2AM in the morning. Alternative rock band Sonic Youth will be playing a concert in Battery Park (you have to get your tickets in advance online through the River to River festivals) and The Village Voice will be having its annual free indie rock concert at Coney Island, which may be the last ever since the site will be demolished this year. The Great Fourth of July Street Fair will be taking place as well with tons of great vendors on Water St. between Fulton and Broad Streets.

If you feel like staying local, but getting out of the city, Long Island is your best bet. Jones Beach is having a fireworks display. As well as Eisenhower Park and the Hamptons. If you feel like going all the way out the to the Hamptons, the Halsey House Gala is the party to get tickets to. The colonial festivities are $125 in advance at $150 at the door. Southampton is also having a parade on Main Street.

If you want to do enjoy your holiday by going away from your normal grind, start with Vegas. There are festivities and parties all over the city. Our nation’s capital can also be great fun with its patriotic spirit. Washington DC has fireworks as well as a showcase at the Smithsonian. Williamsburg, Virginia can also be a great place to ring in the holiday with vineyards, historical sites, and Bush Gardens.

NEW YORK, NY – May 28, 2008 — Giovanna Federico, the young entrepreneur and international expert of the art world, founder and owner of GFSpace, the exclusive, contemporary art salon she hosts at her home, a wonderful downtown Manhattan loft, announces her latest success, a TV program for the national Japanese TV Channel NHK.

The Arts Salon, its artists and hostess, its reception and young collectors will be hosted on the acclaimed “New York Street” a program which has been famous for the past ten years and featured by NHK.

“GFSpace was conceived to represent established artists and to provide emerging talents from around the world with a platform to showcase their work and achieve international recognition. But more importantly, GFSpace provides access to a sophisticated audience that is sensitive to recognizing the intrinsic talent and potentials of these promising artists,” declared Giovanna Federico, then she continues “this opportunity offered to me by Ms. Yumi Suzuki, an established reporter from NHK, is in perfect synergy with my philosophy, to be open to the world”.

GFSpace’s hostess Giovanna Federico, a native of Milan, Italy, calls upon her experience in both the Milanese and New York gallery world to inform her often-provocative choices. Among her collaborations, Ms. Federico counts the Galleria Sozzani and the Galleria Arte Centro in Milan, and the Robert Pardo Gallery and the Cristinerose Gallery in New York. Ms. Federico, who effortlessly embraces art and design as a philosophy of life, dedicates her attention to the fusion of cultures, eras and ideas. Ms. Federico has a Phd in Political Sciene, and a Master Degree in Art History and Management, both achieved in Milan at University Cattolica.

For additional information, an event calendar, and location contact:

Giovanna Federico at (212) 629-0552 or giovanfed@aol.com

June 14 - August 3, 2008
Opening Reception: June 14, 2008, 6 - 9 PM
Hours: Wednesday - Sunday, 12 - 6pm or by appointment

Holy Holes: Absolute Stalls is a multimedia exhibition exploring different viewpoints on
the relationship between religion, power and economics.This show looks at religion from a
humorous, poetic and critical perspective, subverting traditional expectations and inviting the
viewer to interact, transform, or reflect on the relationship between religious rituals and consumerist
everyday practices.

Among the more general ideas gathered in this show is how religious rituals and dogmas
are used to sustain gender and ethnic differences, and to claim absolute power through
propagandistic consumerist strategies. The other end of the spectrum is how believers
react: whether individually or collectively, intimately or overtly, believing or disbelieving,
most of us are caught in the web of religious imagining as receptacles of divine inspiration
or intervention, or as messengers of absolute power. Another aspect of how believers react
is in the flux of social change through language and culture assimilation, the
re-contextualizing and reshaping of language structures which leads to competing and
shifting positions of power. Some dogmatic languages remain untouched, while others
result from the mixing of sub-cultural trends into the mainstream via the many cultural
industries of a free market society.

In this show, absolute messages are equated with anarchic demonstrations, self-conscious
humor and a bit of deep reflection, bringing the viewer to a contradictory duality of cathartic
interaction and religious critique.

Artists: Brent Wahl, Dylan Mortimer, Grady Gerbracht, Hadassa Goldvicht,
Jenny Marketou, Joseph Bennett, Adriana Varella, Angela Freiberger, Gearóid Dolan,
Tobaron Waxman, Kimberly Simpson, Karin Giusti, Marcia X, Meirav Leshem,
Kwabena Slaughter, and Neil Beloufa.
Denise Carvalho is an art critic, curator and independent scholar based in New York City.

By James R. Sanders

The fashion world, mourns the loss of Yves Saint Laurent who died at his Paris estate on Sunday. Saint Laurent 71 was known for classic elegance, and masculinity. He established the feminine in masculinity through his tailored suits and slim pants. Saint Laurent stood as one of the original designers from the classic period in fashion which included visionaries such as: Coco Chanel, and Christian Dior, for whom Saint Laurent worked.

Chief executive of the fashion house, Pierre Berge told France Info Radio, that Saint Laurent, died at 11 p.m. (5 p.m.est)
“There will be two who will undeniably remain — one who symbolized the first part of the 20th century, and that’s Chanel, and the other one who will symbolize the second part of the 20th century, and that’s Yves Saint Laurent,” Berge said of the impact of his dear friend.

For decades, Saint Laurent consistently created pieces of work which blended femininity with masculinity; especially with his slim cuts in pants, and suits which are said to have been an innovative advancement in fashion.

“Saint Laurent’s death leaves a great emptiness but also a sublime inheritance,” a rep from The Gucci Group, which acquired the Yves Saint Laurent fashion house in 1999, told the Associated Press, Paris.

Saint Laurent was a visionary in every sense of the word. He enrolled in the Chambre Syndicale School of haute couture in 1954, where he was a successful student for three months. During this time he met Christian Dior, then and now considered one of the greatest designers of all time. Dior immediately hired Saint Laurent. Upon Dior’s death, Saint Laurent was named head of the fashion house at the age of 21.

Perhaps the widely known blue pea coat is considered his paramount item. The designer showed this item originally in 1962 and updated it, up until his retirement in 2002. Saint Laurent’s career was certainly touched by the fashion gods before him. A highlight in his career came in 1985, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art showed his work, a first for a living designer. Despite this, Berge told a French radio station that Saint Laurent was depressed. “He was born with a nervous breakdown,” Berge said of Saint Laurent. Saint Laurent had been suffering from Brain Cancer for the past year, according to Berge, who is said to have been present during Saint Laurent’s passing.

“He had a great, immense love affair with fashion. It’s true that he left the profession, but in a couple you can split up because you must do so … and still be very unhappy,” he said. “That was his case.” In his own words, Saint Laurent once said he felt “fashion was not only supposed to make women beautiful, but to reassure them, to give them confidence, to allow them to come to terms with themselves.” Funeral services will be held Thursday at the Saint Roch Church in central Paris. Saint Laurent’s ashes are to be placed in a vault in the Majorelle botanical garden in Marrakech, Morocco, which he and Berge purchased in the 1980s, their foundation said.