The most fascinating butts in 2011 Miss Reef

(Photo: people.com.cn)

(Photo: people.com.cn)

(Photo: people.com.cn)

(Photo: people.com.cn)

(Photo: people.com.cn)

(Photo: people.com.cn)

(Photo: people.com.cn)

New York Fashion Week kicks off

A model presents a creation of BCBGMAXAZRIA during the spring & summer 2012 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York, the United States, Sept. 8, 2011. The eight-day Fashion Week opened here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Wu Jingdan)

A model presents a creation of BCBGMAXAZRIA during the spring & summer 2012 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York, the United States, Sept. 8, 2011. The eight-day Fashion Week opened here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Wu Jingdan)

A model presents a creation of BCBGMAXAZRIA during the spring & summer 2012 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York, the United States, Sept. 8, 2011. The eight-day Fashion Week opened here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Wu Jingdan)

Models present creations of BCBGMAXAZRIA during the spring & summer 2012 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York, the United States, Sept. 8, 2011. The eight-day Fashion Week opened here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Wu Jingdan)

Models present creations of TADASHI SHOJI during the Spring 2012 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York, the United States, Sept. 8, 2011. The eight-day Fashion Week opened here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Wu Jingdan)

A model presents a creation of TADASHI SHOJI during the Spring 2012 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York, the United States, Sept. 8, 2011. The eight-day Fashion Week opened here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Wu Jingdan)

T-shirts for the cool and trendy

Creativ Culture's affordable T-shirts with their eye-catching patterns. Provided to China Daily

A young Amercian, disappointed by what he found in malls here, starts his own business of T-shirts with Chinese designs. Gan Tian reports.
Daniel Meller was sitting at a cafe in Beijing's Solana Shopping Mall, when a stranger approached him to ask where she could buy the T-shirt he was wearing. Meller's eye-catching T-shirt, with its colorful pattern of a giant tree, birds, monkeys and other animal, was, in fact, from his own Beijing-based company, Creativ Culture. "Every time I wear these T-shirts and walk on the streets, people approach me to ask where to buy them," Meller says.
The 25-year-old American usually answers by handing out his colorful business card and inviting them to buy from the online store.
Creativ Culture, founded nine months ago, sells T-shirts with striking designs that are very different from those of well-known foreign labels such as Uniqlo and H&M, and have been created by Chinese designers.
Meller, who had a T-shirt business in the United States too, was disappointed by the choices he found when he landed in China and decided to start his own company.
It sources its designs by running online T-shirt design contests built around themes such as the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival, or environment protection. Winners are chosen by online votes and stand to win 2,500 yuan ($391). Meller and his colleagues then contact garment factories to make these fancy T-shirts, and sell them online at creativculture.com, for 39 yuan each.
"We try to connect the theme with something in China. Although design is an international language, we are trying to get people to think about China. We want to create original designs," Meller says.
When he first started out, some of his friends told him: "You'll never find a single good design." But he soon proved them wrong.
Although the company has only three full-time employees, it has run about 10 contests, each of which have attracted 300 to 400 participants, on average. Meller was pleasantly surprised to find that about 75 percent of the entries were good enough to be presented online. The website currently has 250 designs, culled from its latest contest.
He expresses most satisfaction with the environment-protection theme contest. "Probably the best contest we have had," he says.
The designs submitted were not only linked to the idea of eco-friendliness but were also connected to China. The winning pattern was reminiscent of ethnic handicraft from southwestern China, with its colorful animals and plants.
Meller, who has been studying ancient Chinese paintings, says amid all the detail is a very clear idea of symmetry.
Many Chinese go to England or France to learn fashion designing and return to start fancy clothing lines, he says.
He recalls walking into a store in Beijing's Wudaoying that sells very high-end costumes.
"They were very expensive, and extremely beautiful. Ordinary people can't afford them.
"When you look at them, there is no way you will know they come from China. They are international fashions done by Chinese people. They do not present Chinese culture," Meller adds.
His company is trying to help the world understand Chinese designs and one way of doing so is to put them on T-shirts, as these are affordable, he says.
This is what sets Creativ Culture apart from from Vancl and Uniqlo, he adds.
"Their purpose may be to sell T-shirts, but ours is also to promote designs from China. T-shirts are only a platform. At the same time, we are not Bathing Ape," he says, referring to the clothing company known for its so-called "original artwork".
The company is looking at sweaters next fall, and might also put its coolest graphics, on cups, notebooks, and decor items.

American designer Michael Kors wows New York Fashion Week

NEW YORK, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- American designer Michael Kors staged a safari-themed fashion show on Wednesday at Lincoln Center, celebrating three decades of his luxury lifestyle brand.
The designer's use of rustic textures, leopard and snakeskin prints alongside flowing silhouettes evoked a wildness in each model. The audience was immediately taken on a voyage to Africa.
Some standout pieces included a leopard hand painted feathered shift dress, zebra print stretch cady sheath, and an olive linen hand dyed trench.
Created in 1981 and headquartered in New York City, the Michael Kors organization will have over 200 stores in 74 countries worldwide by the end of 2011.
From Sept. 8-15, New York Fashion Week Spring 2012 will present over 80 shows from more than 200 established designers.
Each year, the 232,000 attendees at the biannual Fashion Weeks generate new economic activity for New York City businesses, producing more than 466 million U.S. dollars in direct visitor spending and contributing to 1.6 billion U.S. dollars in annual tax revenue to the City's fashion industry.

Ralph Lauren wraps up New York Fashion Week in style

Ralph Lauren wraps up New York Fashion Week in style

Design exhibition held in Shanghai

A visitor walks past painting screens at Shanghai Design Exhibition in east China's Shanghai, Sept. 15, 2011. (Xinhua/Pei Xin)

Visitors look at modern sculpture made up of scrap materials at Shanghai Design Exhibition in east China's Shanghai, Sept. 15, 2011.(Xinhua/Pei Xin)

Visitors look at model of ricksha, an outdated vehicle of Shanghai, designed by artist He Youzhi at Shanghai Design Exhibition in east China's Shanghai, Sept. 15, 2011.(Xinhua/Pei Xin)

A visitor walks past graphic designs at Shanghai Design Exhibition in east China's Shanghai, Sept. 15, 2011. (Xinhua/Pei Xin)

A visitor looks at cartoon saving boxes made of recycled paper at Shanghai Design Exhibition in east China's Shanghai, Sept. 15, 2011.(Xinhua/Pei Xin)

Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Fair held

Opal stones, the national gemstone of Australia, are displayed during the Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Fair in Hong Kong, south China, Sept. 19, 2011. (Xinhua/Chen Xiaowei)

Synthetic crystal items are displayed during the Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Fair in Hong Kong, south China, Sept. 19, 2011. (Xinhua/Chen Xiaowei)

Crystal raw materials are displayed during the Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Fair in Hong Kong, south China, Sept. 19, 2011. (Xinhua/Chen Xiaowei)

Rings with Chinese Character "he", which means harmonious, are displayed during the Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Fair in Hong Kong, south China, Sept. 19, 2011. (Xinhua/Chen Xiaowei)

A visitor views jewellery at the Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Fair in Hong Kong, south China, Sept. 19, 2011. (Xinhua/Chen Xiaowei)