Indeed it was. Just a month earlier, Fifth and Pacific Companies (the public company formerly known as Liz Claiborne Inc) sold Juicy Couture to Authentic Brands Group (ABG), a licensing company, in a cash deal worth $195 million. ABG, which also owns the licensees of the estate of Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Judith Leiber, Hickey Freeman and others, quickly inked a deal with discount retailer Kohl’s to sell Juicy Couture-branded product beginning in the autumn of 2014.

With more than 1,146 stores across the United States and 2012 annual sales topping $18.8 billion, Kohl’s is nothing to sniff at, despite its apparent lack of fashion credentials. Along with one-off designer collaborations with the likes of Narciso Rodriguez and Derek Lam, the store sells celebrity collections by Jennifer Lopez and Lauren Conrad, as well as Vera Wang’s diffusion line, Simply by Vera Wang.

But unlike the aforementioned designer labels with whom the store is partnering, going forward, Juicy Couture will be available only at Kohl’s — at least for now. In recent years, the brand had been entirely dropped by Lord & Taylor, Bergdorf Goodman and cut back significantly at Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus.

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To win some of these accounts back, Nick Woodhouse, chief marketing officer of ABG, revealed to BoF that the company is currently working to develop a contemporary-priced line that is being called the “international collection” which will be sold abroad via the brand’s many licensing partners, but also at wholesale in the US. “The phone hasn’t stopped ringing,” Woodhouse said of international companies eager to sell Juicy Couture products. Woodhouse declined to divulge the name of the designer for the new collection.

Yet it’s still all a far cry from 2003, when Juicy Couture founders Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor sold the company to Liz Claiborne Inc for $53.1 million.

Established in 1997, Juicy Couture hit its stride just as celebrity-heavy weeklies — particularly US Weekly, Life & Style and InTouch — were gaining traction in the US market. Suddenly, celebrities were being photographed more frequently off the red carpet than on it: during coffee runs, at the dog park, off-loading groceries into their SUVs. And they were often wearing Juicy Couture’s classic tracksuit, rendered in velour or terry cloth.

“We knew it was something big when all of the stylists and celebrities started calling us,” recalled Nash-Taylor. “Madonna wore a tracksuit embroidered with ‘Madge.’” Britney Spears, Victoria Beckham and Paris Hilton were also fans.

“It was revolutionary at the time,” said Booth Moore, fashion critic of theLos Angeles Times and co-writer, with Skaist-Levy and Nash-Taylor, ofThe Glitter Plan: How We Started Juicy Couture for $200 and Turned It into a Global Brand, set to be released in May 2014. “There were a lot of factors: the rise of celebrity culture and the rise of celebrity magazines were two of the biggest. People started looking at celebrity paparazzi photographs for style tips. Pam and Gela were smart because they gave a lot of clothes away to celebs. That’s a common marketing tactic now, but it wasn’t then.”

Juicy Couture tracksuits became the Uggs of activewear. Skaist-Levy and Nash-Taylor were able to transform a sloppy and un-fashionable style into a must-have. “It helped that they were comfortable and that the fit was great,” Moore said. Plus, they came in a rainbow of colours, most notably several shades of pink. Women would often pair them with Uggs for school runs, and Manolo Blahniks for dinner in Beverly Hills. “It was about marketing the lifestyle of Los Angeles and Hollywood.”

The company also emerged at a time when the contemporary fashion market was still new, before Marc by Marc Jacobs had even launched. (The contemporary market is now estimated to be worth more than $5 billion a year, in the United States alone.) While Juicy’s tracksuits were not cheap, at almost $200 each, they weren’t expensive either. “They played an incredibly big role in the rise of accessible luxury,” Moore said. “They paved the way for Alexander Wang, Phillip Lim and Tory Burch.”

Skaist-Levy and Nash-Taylor say they sold the rapidly growing Juicy to Liz Claiborne because they had to. “Paul Charron and Angela Ahrendts did what we couldn’t do,” Nash-Taylor said of the company’s then-CEO and group president, respectively. The duo worked alongside the Liz Claiborne executives to meet consumer demand, opening stores and launching what is now a $250 million fragrance business. “The synergy was perfect,” Nash-Taylor continued. “They loved us and we loved them. We’re very close to them still.”

By the time current Fifth & Pacific chief executive Bill McComb was installed in 2006, Juicy Couture was a “big, big machine,” Skaist-Levy said. By 2007, Juicy Couture’s net sales were $493.8 million, a 49 percent increase from 2006. The brand had expanded into multiple categories, including jeans and jewellery, and made an extremely successful foray into fragrance with Elizabeth Arden. But “big is the killer of cool,” she added. “And the new management were just not into founders.”

Indeed, while McComb and the brands energetic founders have their own ways of saying it, it’s clear that they were not on the same wavelength. Nash-Taylor and Skaist-Levy feel they were not allowed to let the brand evolve design-wise, even though many years had passed since bedazzled velour had been seen as more glamorous than gauche.

“We wanted to feed it with new ideas, stay current,” Nash-Taylor said. McComb points to a lack of continuity. “Pam and Gela worked on the highly creative parts of the business and primarily touched the apparel,” he said. “At the Liz Claiborne complex, designers were working on other products. There were different groups doing different things, and I saw that as a risk for the brand equity.”

The founders of Juicy Couture departed in 2010, 13 years after its launch. “As Paul and Angela would say, ‘You sold your business, it’s not yours anymore,’” Nash-Taylor said. “But we felt like it was ours. That was the difficult part. We thought we would be with Juicy forever.”

After riding out their non-compete clauses, the duo launched contemporary label Skaist-Taylor in 2012, which is currently sold by retail heavyweights like Neiman Marcus and Net-a-Porter. For Spring 2014, they decided to rename the brand Pam and Gela, and focus on the upscale activewear they became so well known for in the first place. “We realised, yet again, that there was a void in the market,” Skaist-Levy said. “Yes, you can get Lululemon, but that isn’t the same thing.” Pam and Gela will be sold at more than 150 retailers across the country come spring.

As for Juicy Couture, McComb, who spent 14 years at Johnson & Johnson before succeeding Charron, says that, coming to Liz Clairborne, his strategy was to “place a few big bets,” shedding most of the company’s underperforming licenses and focusing on just a few. The odds, initially, were very much in Juicy Couture’s favor. “When I walked in, Juicy was shooting itself out of a cannon, it was growing so fast; arguably, a little too fast,” McComb said. “The market research on that brand is still some of the most extraordinary research I’ve ever seen. There’s a phenomenal level of awareness, affection and affinity. We could have sold bubble bath and it would have flown out of the stores.”

But McComb says the global recession got in the way. The largest part of the Juicy Couture business was department stores, which were arguably hit the hardest. “When we pulled out of department stores, it was very disruptive,” he said. In 2009, Juicy Couture’s net sales were $539.9 million, a 10.7 percent decrease from 2008. By 2012, they had dropped further to $498.6 million.

What’s more, the contemporary market had evolved dramatically over 10 years. No longer simply a place for t-shirts, jeans and a few knit dresses, contemporary customers were looking for high fashion design at made-in-Asia prices. Even French fashion house Carven relaunched as a contemporary label, bringing a high fashion aesthetic to what was once the casual floor of the department store. Alexander Wang, Phillip Lim, Theory and others added more complicated pieces to their collections.

Suddenly, wild card Kate Spade New York was Fifth and Pacific’s shining star. Its own 2012 sales were $461.9 million, a 47.6 percent increase from 2011. “Kate Spade was tiny, so pulling out of department stores didn’t have as much of an impact,” McComb said. “Juicy can be a $2 billion to $2.5 billion business on the path that we were going. Lucky Brand jeans [also owned by Fifth & Pacific] over a billion. But Kate [Spade] can be a $4 billion to $5 billion business,” said McComb. “We live in a world where resource constraints are real. Do we divide the resources? That’s not what Wall Street is looking for. Kate Spade has proven that it has the longest runway. And that’s really what drove [the sale].”

McComb started shopping Juicy Couture around earlier this year. There were even rumours that Skaist-Levy and Nash-Taylor might buy it back with the help of a private-equity partner. “That story got sort of convoluted,” Nash-Taylor said. “People were calling us in a crazy way, and they all asked if they bought it, would we come back? We would have loved to have gotten it back, there’s no doubt.”

But instead, Fifth and Pacific sold to Authentic Brands Group. And just last week, persistent rumours that Lucky Brand jeans is on the block for $250 million surfaced yet again. “Philosophically, do we want to focus more resources on [Kate Spade]? Yes,” McComb conceded. “Someday, does it make a lot of sense for them to be separate? Yes. But that could be next week, or next year. Anything is possible.”

So what’s next for Juicy Couture?

Woodhouse is confident the company can become the $2.5 billion business to which McComb alluded. “We want to evolve the brand, while still maintaining its roots of whimsy and fun,” said Woodhouse. “It has the potential to have a very, very large global footprint.”

Its former owners agree. McComb says he’s still “bullish” on the brand. “It’s tough, but we want Juicy to live on and have great success,” Nash-Taylor said.

“Viva la Juicy,” Skaist-Levy added.

The CEO of Djemel Designs reportedly said designers who reproduce works of other designers are not only lazy but are not worthy to be called designers.

She, as a result, urged young and upcoming designers to try and be creative and come up with their artistic works.

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“People think fashion designing is an easy way out but I don’t see it like that. It is broader than that. It is an art and you need to create things for yourself. I don’t see fashion designing as looking at somebody’s design and making the same thing for somebody else and the person looks good, so you think you have done something. You haven’t done anything,” Mona-Leeza said.

“I think fashion designing involves creating things on your own. Well, they say there’s nothing new in this world. Like everything has been done before, but I think when you create something from your head, even if it has been done before, you have your own touch to it because it came from your imagination.”

“Fashion designing is much more difficult than people think it is. It involves sleepless nights, a lot of thinking and a lot of work if you need to set yourself above the rest. It is difficult but I am prepared for it and it does not deter me,” she added.

Mona-Leeza is one of the youngest designers from Joyce Ababio College of Creative Design. She studied Fashion Designing, Illustration and Fashion Management. She happens to be one of the creative minds with a lot of passion for what she does.

She also recently featured on some Exopa fashion shows, where she displayed an amazing range of designs from casual clothes to gowns.

Some exchange-traded funds—members of a new class of ETFs—have done just that. They are called fundamental-index funds because they focus on companies’ financial results, such as sales or earnings, not just their size. PowerShares FTSE RAFI US 1000 ETF (symbol PRF), for example, leans toward large U.S. firms with strong balance sheets. Over the past five years, it has returned 18.8% annualized, beating SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), a traditional index ETF that tracks Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, by an average of 3.6 percentage points per year (all returns are through November 1).

Eager to jump in? Not so fast. These newfangled designer index funds offer fresh, sometimes compelling strategies, but they are not magic. For starters, their strategies can take ten years or more to play out. Plus, each index is unique, so it’s important to understand how they are built and any extraordinary risks they pose before you incorporate one into your portfolio.

What are fundamental-index funds?

Instead of weighting stocks by market capital­ization, the way traditional indexes do, fundamental indexes use measures that are tied to a company’s financial picture, such as earnings or dividends, to name a few. A few of these funds are a decade old—among them, iShares Select Dividend (DVY), which sifts stocks for those with high dividend yields and ranks them by their yield. But many are much newer. Of the nearly 220 fundamentally oriented ETFs, nearly half have been around for five years or more. Nevertheless, investors are buying. The funds now hold more than $1 trillion in total assets.

The 16-year-old dedicated hours of her free time to making three outfits for the competition which is part of Liverpool Fashion Week.

The GCSE student, of Middleport Road, Burslem, even had the nerve-wracking experience of accompanying the catwalk model showcasing her creation to a panel of expert judges.

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But her hard work paid off as she took second place in the Model 101 competition last month.

Takudzwa, a pupil at The Co-operative Academy of Stoke-on-Trent in Tunstall, said: "I made three dresses. It took one week to make each one and then I got to showcase one of my designs.

"I had to go on the catwalk with the model and walk out in front of three judges. I was very nervous.

"It felt awesome to do so well, I didn't expect to come second although I am very confident in my ability. All of my family and friends are very happy for me and have given me lots of attention."

Now Takudzwa says she is determined to keep entering competitions with her unique designs.

She added: "I want to do this as a career and would be happy working anywhere as long as I got to design clothes."

Takudzwa plans to make her own evening gown for her prom next year before going onto to study art and design at Newcastle College.

Academy assistant vice principal Jennifer Crowther-Green, said: "Takudzwa is quite an independent young lady and a fantastic student. We are surprised that she entered, we had no idea – but we are delighted and extremely proud of her.

"The academy is very proud to share the fantastic news that one of our talented year 11 students has been awarded second prize in a national fashion competition. I am in awe of her.

"She has inspired lots of other students especially when she brings dresses she designs into school. We are all waiting with bated breath to see her individually designed prom dress."

Takudzwa has achieved excellent results in her textiles class at school and completed a successful work experience placement last year at Victoria Anthony Dressmakers in Burslem.

Linda Meir, aged 65, who works at the family-run shop, said of the teenager: "She is a fantastic girl who works very hard.

"She will make a great designer in the future.

"She came to us for work experience and we said she could use the machines any time."

For Iliza Ho, there’s the added plus of being the protege of none other than Datuk Jimmy Choo.

The 32-year-old Taiwanese national began her career in wooden toy design at Mentari Massen International Co. She then went on to become a watch designer for Leading Generation Corp where she packed, created and organised new forecasting products for Hush Puppies. She even dabbled in shoe design, but found herself wanting to learn more.

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“I realised I didn’t know how to design handbags and wanted to learn to create a staple product. With that in mind, I went to London to study handbag design. I enrolled in the FdA Fashion Design and Technology course at the London College of Fashion. It was then that one of my classmates suggested I apply to do an internship with Datuk Jimmy Choo,” she said.

What Ho didnt expect was that her short stint as an intern would lead to her becoming Datuk Jimmy Choo’s personal assistant and then protege.

“I became his intern in 2010. After a while, he would ask me to draw something and tested my potential on creativity and design details. He was really focused on the details,” she said. “When we travelled together, he would always say ‘use your surroundings for ideas and bring it back to your designs,’” she added.

Ho was encouraged to find inspiration from different aspects of life, and to observe what people wore.

Her Spring/Summer 2014 capsule collection, which was seen at the recent Kuala Lumpur Fashion Weekend, saw models dressed homogeneously in ethereal blush hued dresses strutting down the runway with the handbags.

The bags are certainly unique, with its bright colours, cutout designs and unusual shapes.

Set to launch next year, the main concept of the collection was the idea of “floating”.

“When I look at a handbag, it always seemed like it was drifting mid-air. Based on this very concept, all the handbags feature an outer leather bag with cutouts that allow you to see the ‘inner-bag’ or the lining that looks like another bag ‘floating’ within the outer bag,” said Ho.

“I am really proud of that fact as when I was in school, I usually completed a bag in two weeks and now I have made 10 bags in two months!”

On what she hopes to achieve, Ho said it was her dream that her namesake brand be known for its unique designs, especially in Taiwan and Europe.

“As a designer, I definitely want to achieve international recognition, but it takes hard work and that little bit of luck.”

Which is why it's significant that, after 103 years, the brand has decided to put a face with its name for the first time in a branding initiative that was unveiled earlier this month in the razzle-dazzle capital of the world, Los Angeles.

The new star is Stefano Pilati, who spent eight years as creative director of Yves Saint Laurent and who joined the Zegna Group in January as head of design for the Ermenegildo Zegna brand and designer of Couture, its premium menswear line of handmade suits, shirts, outerwear and accessories, which was shown on the runway for the first time during Milan fashion week in June.

Putting Pilati in the driver's seat marks a major branding shift for Zegna, which started as a textile maker in 1910 with a handful of employees and two dozen looms and has grown into a global label that saw revenue of 1.261 billion Euros in 2012 (about $1.7 billion U.S. at current rates), due in large part to its focus on super-luxe fabrics. Until now, the firm has eschewed the designer-as-star approach that is so prevalent these days, as seen at labels such as Chanel (Karl Lagerfeld) and Saint Laurent (Hedi Slimane).

But Zegna descended on Los Angeles earlier this month for a pair of high-profile events to signify it's ready to take a seat at the celebrity-driven branding party.

First was a star-studded grand reopening cocktail party at Zegna's recently relocated and expanded Rodeo Drive flagship that had Pilati posing for photos and mixing with celebrity guests, including Edward Norton, Jeremy Renner and Jim Parsons.

That was followed by the unveiling of an advertising campaign at a larger event — an equally star-studded dinner party at a cross-town design gallery — that left no doubt about Pilati's move to center stage.

Part of the campaign for Zegna Couture is a short video that starts with Pilati, seated at an anchor desk, introducing the collection, followed by a video voice-over in which Zegna Group Chief Executive Gildo Zegna, the fourth generation to work in the family business, calls it "a new chapter in Zegna's history."

The campaign also features actor Jamie Dornan (recently cast as Christian Grey in the upcoming film version of "Fifty Shades of Grey") positioned as the new Zegna Couture ideal: a blue-suited, scarf-wearing rake of a fellow, appearing in a series of images alongside model Paolo Anchisi, who is dressed in a slightly more conservative (but no less elegant) range of gray suits.

Pilati calls the campaign "New Éminence Grises," a French phrase for those who who wield power behind the scenes. "Part of it comes from the fact that Zegna is this brand that's always been known for its excellence in fabrics and its gray suits, and this new collection is one with a lot of color," he said.

But all the branding sizzle in the world isn't worth a tarnished cuff button if it's selling substandard steak, so what about the clothes themselves?

The new spring Zegna Couture pieces hit the shelves of the Rodeo Drive flagship in Beverly Hills just as Pilati arrived in town, making it the first stateside store to offer the collection (only two other U.S. boutiques — in New York City and Chicago — and 30 stores globally will carry it). Based on what we had a chance to check out, it's just the dash of fashion-forward fresh air the brand could use.

There was noticeable, but not over the top, color throughout the collection of suits, suit separates, shirts and outerwear; a range of blues (from navy to sky), greens (sage, fern, jade) and a few eye-catching colors like Bordeaux, coral and butter yellow, but in a range that also included earth tones such as olive, mud, brick, khaki and tobacco.

While strikingly beautiful from afar, it's only upon closer examination that the marvel of the fabrics can be truly appreciated; they include micro-pattern wool mohair, printed silks, floral jacquard wool and cottons shimmering with iridescence. One fabric that appeared in suit separates somehow managed to combine a floral jacquard with a chevron-pattern background.

Some of the other fashion-forward flourishes include pajama-like contrast tipping on dress shirt collar points, jacket lapels that fall somewhere between notch and peak, and rounded jacket cuffs that flare slightly, unencumbered by either buttons or buttonholes.

"There are no buttons for two reasons," Pilati said. "First, it gives the piece a certain Minimalist look. Second, all of these pieces are handmade, so if a customer wants a button and a buttonhole, that's OK. If not, that's OK too."

That kind of handmade luxury doesn't come cheap. Prices in the Couture collection are anywhere from 50% to 100% above those in the namesake Ermenegildo Zegna line, with shirts ranging from $695 to $1,145, suits from $4,895 to $6,995, and outerwear pieces from $2,650 to $6,400.

One retro-looking pattern that appeared on shirts and scarves could have easily been a riff on a happy-hour martini olive, though Pilati explained that the inspiration was even more retro than that.

"Gildo [Zegna's] grandfather used to write out in these record books, by hand, every amount of fabric that he sold," Pilati said. "Numbers followed by all these zeros. That pattern is actually the zero in his handwriting."

It was just one of the details culled from visits to the company archives in Trivero, Italy (founder Ermenegildo Zegna was, by all accounts, a scrupulous record keeper, jotting down "recipes" for each and every fabric that rolled off the looms, saving ledgers, employee records and the like).

"I keep joking about it, but the very first time I went to see the archives I almost fainted," Pilati said. "I couldn't believe it. I just remember I kept thinking: 'Oh, that's all mine!'"

Beyond just being a fashion focal point for the brand, that may be the real promise of what Pilati (who is also creative director of Zegna's women's label, Agnona) can bring to Ermenegildo Zegna. A kid-in-the-candy-store level of enthusiasm to be the mouthpiece for a century's worth of textile talent, the anchorman for a new generation and, maybe, just maybe, the éminence gristhat can help four generations of family take the Ermenegildo Zegna label roaring into the 21st century.

Dubai-based Lilian Afshar, who is 23 and only graduated from Paris’s esteemed ESMOD school three months ago, launched her collection of bug-adorned clutches after designing them as accessories to accompany her senior ready-to-wear thesis. An acquaintance — Sofia Guellaty, who just happens to be senior editor at Style.com Arabia — wore one to Milan Fashion Week. Suddenly, photos of L’Afshar bags were on Paris Vogue‘s website, and The Cut, too. Now, the collection is stocked in boutiques in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with Europe and the U.S. next on Afshar’s list. And there’s more:

Fashionista: Have you lived in Dubai all your life?

Afshar: No, I’ve moved around a lot. I was born in London, moved to Vancouver, then Marbella. I’ve lived in Dubai for five or six years. My father is in the camera business — he franchises Canon products in Iran, where we’re originally from — and my mother works with him.

You were studying ready-to-wear at ESMOD in Paris just a few months ago. How did you get into accessories?

I wanted to have acrylic handbags for my senior collection, and I found a factory here in Dubai. It was very industrial—they had never made such delicate items before. The first prototype wasn’t so amazing, but eventually we got it right. The price point is very good — the smallest bag is under $300. I really want to keep it accessible.

What look are you going after?

I want it to be a cool statement piece — something colorful but not in leather. I liked the texture of acrylic. The logo — which is on the bags — is a mixture of a beetle and a dragon fly. It represents transformation, growth and strength.

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How did people find out about the clutches?

Dubai has a very small fashion scene, and it’s easier to access people. I got in touch with the editor of Style.com Arabia, and she ended up wearing one to fashion week. Dubai, in general, is really interesting as a fashion city. Five, six years ago it was all big brands. Now they’re starting to bring really cool designers here.

Your parents run their own business. How involved are they day to day with yours?

Both have been extremely supportive, especially my mom. She’s like my business partner.

You’re stocked in some Middle Eastern stores. How important is it to expand to the U.S. and Europe?

I’m used to moving around so much that I would love to see it in Europe, and even New York. But we want to start small. Just handbags for now. I would definitely love to expand to shoes, but I believe it’s better to always start small and grow bigger.

“The Arcade is beautiful and we love it here!” Peters says excitedly from a chair inside Nude, the brand new clothing and accessory boutique that he owns and manages along with Abernethy. She sits beside him, nodding in agreement. With classic architectural details such as a tin ceiling and bay windows, Nude blends old-world charm with modern flare. Its neutral gray walls allow the colorful garments to take center stage. And they do.

Peters and Abernethy handpicked the décor, right down to the very kitschy and surprising dressing room, which you’ll just have to see for yourself. “What [developer] Evan Granoff has done with this building is truly inspiring and revolutionary for Providence,” Peters says. “We wanted to be a part of that. Entering the space really gives you the feeling of being transported to another era. We love the aesthetic of the building, being in the heart of downtown and, of course, the fact that all of the businesses in The Arcade are local.”

Once the no-brainer location was designated, the two friends began to flesh out the concept. Peters and Abernethy believe that the more items a client has to peruse, the better, and so they chose to expand the store’s inventory by inviting four other local and talented designers to display merchandise there: Amy Stetkiewicz, Sarah Prost, Kent Stetson and Susan Troy. Nude sells ready-to-wear, women’s custom clothing and handbags. All of the boutique’s designers have shown at StyleWeek.

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“We are hoping to target women who are professionals,” Peters says. “Smart, sharp and sophisticated women who want to abandon mall mentality and wear special hand-made garments that are completely individualized. The price points of merchan- dise varies greatly as there are six separate designers – however, shoppers might be surprised to find that there is handmade ready-to-wear available for no more than what they would pay at a specialty shop.”

Abernethy pipes in: “Yes, people think our clothing must be expensive but really it’s affordable. We’re no more expensive than a store like Nordstrom at the Providence Place Mall. Plus we’re local and every item in store is designer-created and made. If we don’t have an item in your size we can easily custom make it for you!”

Oh, and in case you’re wondering how they came up with their unusual name...

“Jess and I decided on the name Nude,” says Peters. “We thought it made a lot of sense along with our tagline of ‘local talent exposed’ and it also gave way to lots of funny, witty and tongue-in-cheek marketing possibilities!”

While getting the boutique up and running has been a feat of both time management and dexterity, Peters says he’s lucky to have Abernethy doing this project with him.

“We have known each other for over a decade and she is a great partner,” he says. “We make a giant to-do list and then get to split it in half. Honestly, when remaining focused, it’s amazing how much a person can accomplish in a day!” Nude is now open Monday-Saturday from 12-5pm.

You could say Carolyn Donnelly is a busy woman. This week she is in New York leading a team of young designers and buyers from Dunnes Stores, the biggest Irish store group, who are on a trend-spotting mission in the Big Apple.

Last week Donnelly launched her own fashion label for Dunnes Stores, Carolyn Donnelly: The Edit, which is the coolest collection in years from an Irish designer.

And in the middle of last year she launched her homewares collection for Dunnes called Carolyn Donnelly Eclectic, a funky, colorful, retro range that has been a huge hit in Ireland. Both can be seen on the Dunnes Stores website, where shopping online is available with shipping around the world, including the U.S.

But The Edit and Eclectic are just part of what Donnelly does because earlier this year she was appointed creative director of Dunnes Stores by Margaret Heffernan, the veteran boss of the chain and one of the most powerful business people in Ireland.

It’s a big job. Dunnes Stores is a huge retail group with over 150 stores, 16,000 employees and a presence in the U.K. and Spain as well as Ireland. It’s the only Irish-owned chain, unlike recent arrivals in Ireland like Marks & Spencer and Tesco.

It’s still a family business and a huge success, but in recent years it had become a less fashionable place to shop. Which is why they headhunted Donnelly, one of Ireland’s best loved designers.

Donnelly has been one of Ireland’s leading designers over the past 30 years, winning the Designer of the Year Award twice with her design partner Liz Quin for their Quin and Donnelly label. It was the best-selling Irish fashion label in Brown Thomas (the top store in Dublin) for years until the pair, who had met in design college, brought it to an end two years ago and to seek out new challenges.

Donnelly is leading a transformation of Dunnes Stores which will involve a significant shift for the retailer into a more design-led future.

Since her arrival she has reshaped the existing Dunnes fashion ranges, Savida and Gallery, and helped to introduce new designer lines, all originated within the group. And she’s leading by example, with her own new label The Edit.

As the name suggests, it’s a pared back look, even though it’s high fashion.

“It’s aimed at busy working women (like myself) who have limited time and want a simple, yet stylish way of dressing every day,” Donnelly said this week from New York.

“This collection takes the hassle out of deciding what to wear every morning. It’s a complete range, but edited down to what I believe are the essentials. It’s something I’ve wanted to do as a designer for some time. Like everyone else, I was fed up looking into my over-stuffed closet every morning and not being able to decide what to wear. The Edit solves that problem!”

So how is she getting on with her big job?

“I’m really loving my new role as creative director. A couple of years from now people won’t recognize Dunnes. Everything is changing, both the stores and what’s on offer, in fashion, homewares and food (Dunnes also is a major food seller).

“In the future Dunnes will be more sophisticated and designer led, and that’s where I come in. It’s incredibly exciting to be doing something like this.

“Our in-house designer labels Savida (for over-25s) and Gallery (for over-40s) are now as interesting as anything you will see in Brown Thomas, except at a much better price point. Myself and the team have been working on that for the past year and as a designer I’m really happy with what we’ve accomplished.

“Paul Costelloe (one of Princess Diana’s favorite designers) has also done a men’s range for us, we have our new Centered range for teenage boys, our Willow range for children and our Signature range for women in their 60s and 70s. And that’s only some of the new ranges that are planned.

“Paul also does his Living homewares collection for us and everyone loves it. His is cool and sophisticated, my Eclectic is full of color and a bit retro, so we complement each other. In fact myself and Paul are now the best selling homeware designers in Ireland.

“For me, it’s the scale of Dunnes that makes it so exciting. There’s no reason why we can’t be a global brand and that’s what I’m focused on.

“It’s brilliant for me at this stage of my career because I’m using all the knowledge that I gained over 30 years with the Quin and Donnelly label, which was a big favorite with Irish women. You can’t buy that kind of experience, you have to live it. Going to the international shows, picking fabric, designing and pattern cutting, dealing with factories, showing and selling, you do it all when you’re running your own label.

“We were the best selling Irish designer label in the country for years. We were stocked in Harrods, Bloomingdales and Macy’s among other places. We have great memories, like doing the annual London show for emerging designers in the 1980s. I remember chatting to another unknown young designer there who had the stand next to ours — his name was John Galliano.

“I’m using all of the stuff I’ve learned over the years now to transform Dunnes. We’re developing so quickly.

“In the future Dunnes Stores is going to be a destination for sophisticated shoppers, and it’s incredibly energizing to be part of the team that is leading that.

“We come to New York regularly and we love it. The buzz is great this time, as always.”

With the temperature falling below 40 degrees for the first time this fall, the fur was flyin' on the first night of Fashion Houston. "It's cold out," said Tootsies creative director Fady Armanious, who was swathed in a Plein Sud green fur jacket, Givenchy slacks and Prada loafers. "If you can't wear (a fur) now, you're not going to wear it."

The red carpet on Fish Plaza leading up to the entrance to the Wortham Center Tuesday night was filled with stylish fur (and faux fur)-clad fashionistas, including Todd Ramos in a jacket trimmed in a gray fur, Ruchi Mukerjee in an Alice + Oliva rabbit vest, Chris Goins in a Rebecca Taylor faux fur ombre jacket, and Joyce Echols in a black fur jacket. "I'm so happy," Echols marveled at the cooler weather. "I hope it's cold inside, so I don't have to take it off."

Houston's fourth annual fashion extravaganza provided the opportunity for supporters to strut their stuff. Amid the fur-clad crowd, Yasmine Haddad braved the cold in a glittery pair of gold slacks and blouse from Houston designer Jonathan Blake. "This event gives us the opportunity to support our local designers," she said.

Haddad said Fashion Houston "brings attention to our city. It proves that we don't just have the medical center and great restaurants, we have an appreciation of art and a sense of style that reflects on the international sensibility of our city."

While it was chilly outside, the looks on the runway were aimed at warmer weather, with resort and spring 2014 collections that exuded a cutting-edge sensibility. London-based designer Marios Schwab kicked the evening off with an edgy collection that featured body hugging dresses in airbrush patterns or shredded with indigo-dyed denim, sheer gowns with sequin underlays, and a series of striking white gowns with semi-precious stones cascading down the back.

Schawab, who will make a personal appearance at Sloan/Hall Wednesday from 2 to 5 p.m., said he enjoys mixing soft looks with a harder edge. And he's also sensible — he sent models out in thick sandals, which showed he's not a masochist like many designers, who make their models wobble in sky-high stilettos.

South African-born designer Catherine Deane followed with a collection that showed a return to her roots. A recent move from Hong Kong to London, where she had studied fashion design and started the collection, resulted in a more feminine lineup featuring subdued colors with intricate beading. "It was a feeling like I was coming home to a familiar place," she said.

Each model's hair was swept aside to show glittery back detail of gowns and dresses, a growing hallmark of a Deane design. One gown, with rhinestone back detail worn by Houston model Yuan Yuan Zhang, drew applause from the audience.

"We are getting such a good response to putting that special love and attention on the back of the dress," said Deane, who will make a personal appearance at Tootsies on Wednesday from noon to 3 p.m.

The design duo of Johnny Talbot and Adrian Runhof closed the evening with a strong collection of black and white geometric prints (they call it "white and black"), sometimes mixed with jacquards, tweeds with hologram foil flowers, dresses with capes lined in contrasting colors, and a Catwoman-like black stretch leather gown that will have everyone purring. While the gowns were edgy, they were also practical, as most had pockets.

"Men have pockets," Talbot said. "Why not women?"

The duo, whose celebrity clientele ranges from Carrie Underwood to Oprah Winfrey, make a personal appearance for theirTalbot Runhof collection at Neiman Marcus Wednesday from 1 - 3 p.m.

While the established designers all said they enjoyed taking part in Fashion Houston, no one was as thrilled as three young designers who showed their collections for the first time in such a large arena. Emerging designers Viet Kent Nguyen, Amir Taghi and Jo'se Reyes each unveiled about 15 looks and received warm applause.

"It's really exciting because this is my first time for the big, big show," said Nguyen, who showed a collection featuring pop-up 3-D swirls on shoulders of jackets and in strategic places on dresses. "Hopefully, everybody liked it."

Also spotted in the crowd were Sonia Aziz, Edward Sanchez, George Lancaster, Karina Barbieri, Kay King, Mary Ann and David McKeithan, Kalon McMahon, Monsour Taghdisi and Henry Richardson, Suzette Brimmer, Roland Maldonado and Jeff Shell.