Above Stine Riis, winner of the H&M Design Award.

København native Stine Riis, a 28-year-old graduate of the London College of Fashion, has been announced as the winner of the first Hennes & Mauritz Design Award. Her winning collection, called Decadence & Decay, was shown on the catwalk at Stockholm Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week earlier today.
   The win sees Riis receive €50,000 and 15 of her designs sold in selected H&M stores in Sweden, the UK, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands in September.
   Stine calls her style ‘tailored future elegance’. She sees the construction of the garments as being part of the design, while ensuring the clothes are comfortable.
   The competition jury featured Christopher Kane, Hilary Alexander, Kristopher Arden Houser, Susie Lau, Margareta van den Bosch, and Ann-Sofie Johansson.
   ‘I am still overwhelmed. Showing at Stockholm’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week has been such a great experience. I can’t believe so many people came to see my collection! This award gives me the confidence and financial back-up I need to pursue my dream of building my own brand. I couldn’t have imagined a better start to my career as a designer,’ said Riis in a release.
   Alexander complimented Riis, calling her entry ‘a polished, well-cut collection of strict tailoring in contrasting materials including leather, wool, metallic and bonded fabrics. Her silhouette was lean but flowing, and particularly effective was her use of colour: a slim blue and orange bi-colour top, for example, or a blue coat stamped with white.’
   The H&M Design Award People’s Prize, decided online by visitors to the Awards’ website, was won by Anne Bosman. She receives a one-month internship at Christopher Kane in London.
   Students at fourteen colleges in six countries competed for the prize.

Kristian Loveborg Fotografering

As reported elsewhere, Steve Jones has already confirmed on Twitter that he will not return for the second season of the US version of The X Factor as creator Simon Cowell tinkers with the show.
   The UK media, meanwhile, are speculating that Nicole Scherzinger will also get the boot, and there’s even a hint that Paula Abdul will be on her way out.
   One possibility is that Kelly Rowland will head to the US version after performing well on the original. Naturally, Cheryl Cole has been mentioned as another possibility, but that may well be down to wishful thinking and her undeniable support among Britons.
   Mariah Carey’s and Fergie’s names have also been mentioned.

Todd Cole/ASOS magazine

Above Elizabeth Olsen, on the cover of ASOS magazine, wears a MiH Aztec jacket, and an Elizabeth & James striped silk Ella blouse. She wears an ASOS long-sleeve Breton top inside.

ASOS—once better known as As Seen on Screen—has continued to grow in profile. Its latest magazine features actress Elizabeth Olsen on its cover, photographed by Todd Cole at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York, reportedly one of her favourite spots in the city.
   She is the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and was one of the break-out stars at the Sundance Film Festival 2011 for thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene, about a woman who chooses to leave a cult.
   Her new film, Red Lights, with Robert de Niro and Sigourney Weaver, débuts at this year’s Sundance, while Liberal Arts, with Zac Efron, was released this week. Her horror film Silent House opens March 9.
   ASOS has 18·5 million unique visitors per month, 7 million registered users, and 4 million active customers, according to its own data.

Top Diane Krüger is one of the VIPs at the Versace Étoile de la Mer eyewear launch. Above Donatella Versace and Anna Wintour.

Versace hosted a dinner at Restaurant Lasserre in Paris on January 23 to unveil its spring–summer 2012 eyewear collection, dubbed Étoile de la Mer.
   The capsule collection features two sunglasses and one optical model, each in various pastel colours. Eagle-eyed readers will spot the signature frameless pilot-shaped model at the spring–summer 2012 women’s fashion show in Milano.
   Donatella Versace and Vogue Paris editor-in-chief Emmanuelle Alt played host, with celebrities including Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, Abbie Cornish, Diane Krüger, Haider Ackerman, Ludivine Sagnier, Daphne Guinness, Maggie Grace, Suzy Menkes, Bérénice Bejo, Salma Hayek and Riccardo Tisci.
   The campaign image features supermodel Gisèle Bündchen, photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott at an abandoned pool in the California desert. Giovanni Bianco art-directed.
   Donatella Versace says of the campaign in a release: ‘Gisèle was the perfect choice for this campaign. Her beauty is so bold in these images and she radiates true strength and sensuality. As an iconic beauty, she is also the perfect fit for the Étoile de la Mer eyewear collection. The images of her in the collection are stunning and powerful. This is exactly the vision I had when I started the design process.’
   The Versace Étoile de la Mer optical style will be available at OPSM in New Zealand from February, with the sunglasses following at Sunglass Hut in April.

Above Scenes from the launch event, with guests including Maggie Grace, Emmanuelle Alt, Daphne Guinness, Bérénice Bejo and Salma Hayek, and Haider Ackerman and Suzy Menkes. Below The Gisèle Bündchen campaign image and the three Versace Étoile de la Mer designs.

Chanel

Top Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey. Above Diane Krüger.

As expected at the Chanel haute couture show, plenty of celebrities showed up wearing their favourites from the label, and staying very much of the moment.
   Vanessa Paradis wore a jacket from the ready-to-wear spring–summer 2012 collection with Chanel shoes. Her make-up was by Chanel.
   Cameron Diaz wore a dress from the cruise Antibes collection, with a coat from the Paris–Byzance collection, accessorized by a Chanel clutch.
   Spanish actress Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey wore a jacket from the Paris–Bombay collection with a Chanel bag. Her make-up was by Chanel.
   Elizabeth Olsen wore a jacket from the Starting Point spring–summer 2012 collection, with pants from the ready-to-wear autumn–winter 2011–12 collection, with make-up by Chanel.
   German actress Diane Krüger wore a look from the Paris–Bombay collection, complemented by a Chanel bag.
   British model Alice Dellal, new face of the Boy bag, wore an haute couture top with a black vintage skirt and carried a Boy bag, with make-up by Chanel.
   Ana Girardot wore the jacket of from the ready-to-wear spring–summer 2012 collection, accessorized by a Chanel clutch.
   Other celebrities spotted by the house included Amira Casar, Poppy Delevingne, Clémence Poésy, Harumi Klossowski, Caroline Sieber, Caroline de Maigret and Laura Bailey.

Chanel

From top, left to right Ana Girardot. Vanessa Paradis. Elizabeth Olsen. Alice Dellal. Cameron Diaz.

Our correspondent Joanna Mroczkowska has sent us some images from Netherlands-based Polish designer André Lisowski, one of the men behind the Delikatessen label. The latest look book for spring–summer 2012 features Polish model Greg Nawrat, the face of the Gucci spring–summer 2012 campaign.
   Delikatessen, co-founded by Stephen Hartog, aims to combine old-world craft and modern design. As the company itself states, ‘We forget products valued on status but instead appreciate those where the time, thought and true commitment are put into their development. We are modern artisans.’

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week

   While Maurice Luckett is in Berlin shooting Fashion Week, we stumbled across this image of Karolína Kurková and Eva Padberg from the official stash.
   On the main part of the Lucire site, Stanley Moss takes in the healing waters of the Hacienda Hot Springs Inn, a mere two hours from Los Angeles.
   We wish all our readers a happy and prosperous New Year!

How appropriate that the 2,000th entry in the ‘Insider’ section of the Lucire website would be devoted to something very important to the internet.
   On January 24, the US will vote on internet censorship, despite the opposition of the majority of American citizens, with the Protect-IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in Congress.
   It’s little wonder that many Americans hold their Congress in such low esteem—when their Representatives do nothing that their title requires of them.
   It stifles the First Amendment: everyday Americans who are engaging in free speech who aren’t infringing copyright might still find their websites taken down.
   Ever film something innocently on your cellphone that has some music in the background? You could be found guilty, too—and face up to five years in prison.

Lawmakers don’t get it: the US joins Iran, China and North Korea
Why should a publication HQed in New Zealand care? It affects non-American websites, too, because it potentially blocks us from being seen by the American public. If you publish in English, there’s a fairly good chance the largest number of your readers will be American. If you have a site e-tailing products, you could well have a lot of US buyers.
   Already, New Zealand has seen amendments to our Copyright Act that have come thanks to pressure from American lobbyists. Amendments which already saw the most ridiculous debates in Parliament where one MP equated the internet to the fictional Skynet of the Terminator films. Amendments which our Prime Minister was against before he was for. In both major parties’ quest to appease foreign groups ahead of the voter, “guilt by accusation” is now part of New Zealand law.
   While President Obama has come out against the bills—though the White House’s words have been vague—this is no time to be complacent. The copyright amendments resurfaced in New Zealand in largely the same form. The bills have not gone away. Americans need to keep the pressure on their politicians to express how they all feel.
   Right now, American lawmakers want to put the entertainment lobby ahead of their own voters, by seeking to pass legislation that puts the US on the same playing-field as Iran, China and North Korea.

We believe in a fair go
We’re not against the idea of copyright, at least not the form that existed when we first started in the publishing business. In fact, we rely on copyright as our means of protecting our and our contributors’ authorship. But we are against this bill in the US.
   Copyright disputes should happen with due process. While we find ourselves on the side of the complainant in most cases, we believe that those who infringe copyright should have an opportunity to remove affected works, or offer an explanation. We believe in the common law right that there is a presumption of innocence. We believe in a world where people have a fair and equal access to justice.
   However, this bill goes further. A mere accusation of an infringing link posted by users can block a website to Americans.
   Lawmakers have defended the bill by saying it protects copyright, but it won’t. Those who still want to share copyrighted content will do so—simply by typing the IP address of the site into their browsers.
   The laws can remove any defence an innocent web publisher might have. Governments and corporations can potentially take down any website, creating new liabilities on the internet. As this is one of the areas of growth in many countries, the US included, it has the potential to harm economies.

Act now: it’s that important
You can read more here: it’s a simple guide to the proposed laws, explained far better than I could. The SOPA Strike website also has a good summary.
   We’re urging the 38 per cent of our readers in the US to stand up for your rights. Write to your local Representative or Senator, and let them know that you do not support these bills. If you use the internet, this will affect you. If you have never involved yourself in the passing of a bill before, this is important enough to warrant your attention for the first time.—Jack Yan, Publisher

Nothing like a celebrity endorsement to get the press noticing. And this time, it’s Simon Cowell, who has been spotted on a Slipstream superyacht docked at St Bart’s with a Together bag, from designers Thursday Friday.
   A Twitter user alerted Thursday Friday, a label that launched in December 2010, founded by Olena Sholomytska and Roni Brunn.
   And unlike the multi-million-dollar yacht, the Together bag is priced at US$65, a cheeky statement on luxury bags. The Thursday Friday range is carried by 550 stores worldwide.
   In other news, the Volkswagen Group has been busy at both ends of the motoring scale. It has launched a new SEAT Ibiza, its Spanish-built subcompact model at the more youthful end of the buyer base. The new car appears more robust while retaining its sportiness, and SEAT has said it has kept its new market of China in mind.

   Meanwhile, Bentley has débuted a new Continental GT, recognizing that times are tougher—reminding us of the time Bristol went with a smaller engine in the 1970s for one of its exclusive cars. Instead of the W12 engine in the regular Conti, the latest model features a four-litre, twin-turbo V8, which still develops a whopping 507 PS and peak torque of 660 Nm. There is an eight-speed transmission, and an engine that Bentley claims is 40 per cent more efficient, though we had to dig to find the actual fuel consumption figures: 10·5 l/100 km (26·7 mpg) for the combined drive cycle, with carbon dioxide emissions of 246 g/km, with the numbers slightly worse for the heavier, open-top GTC. Prices begin at £123,850 for the GT.