Me & My Home, News

A range of Islamic dress designers and manufacturers will showcase their latest creations at the forthcoming fourth edition of International Festival Islamic style, scheduled to be held at All-Russian Exhibition Center, Moscow.Aiming to promote the correct understanding of modest Islamic fashion, the event will feature sophisticated feminine collections from a talented mix of Russian and international design experts. Slated to take place on June 15, 2013, the soiree will feature lines from renowned labels like Irada, Bella Kareema and Rimma Allyamova.Fashion designer Rezeda Suleyman would showcase an exquisite collection of dresses made from light fabrics, which could be comfortably worn in hot weather, at the event.The fashion show will be organized as part of the Moscow Halal Expo 2013, which will exhibit a range of Islamic food products and books.

RIHANNA is reportedly suing Topshop for $5 million (£3.28 million), for selling T-shirts that bear pictures of her face allegedly without her consent. According to The New York Post, the star's management team have been negotiating with the British high street brand to try and resolve the situation for the last eight months, without success, and international law firm Reed Smith have now been instructed to deal with it.

OVER €1 million (£650,000) worth of Chopard jewellery has been stolen from a Cannes hotel. The jewels were due to be loaned to stars attending the city's annual film festival, which began on Wednesday.The collection was taken from a safe in the Novotel hotel room of a Chopard employee yesterday, the BBC reports. The luxury Swiss label is one of the festival's official sponsors.The brand has already provided a number of stars with jewellery to wear for their red carpet appearances, including Cara Delevingne, Cindy Crawford and Lana Del Rey

In today’s ultimate good deed, shapewear queen and Spanx founder Sara Blakely has just become the first female billionaire to sign the Giving Pledge, an initiative started by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet in 2010 that encourages the world’s richest people to give at least half their wealth to charity, reported Forbes. Blakely—who’s worth a whopping $1 billion—became the world’s youngest female billionaire last year at the age of 42.

Blakely’s story is seriously amazing, as she started Spanx less than 15 years ago with an investment of just $5,000. At the time, Blakely—a young graduate of Florida State University—was annoyed that she couldn’t find pantyhose to withstand Florida’s humidity without rolling up. So she packed up everything, moved to Atlanta, and founded Spanx with her life savings. Now it’s the largest and most recognizable shapewear brand in the world. Kudos to her for giving back

H&M and Inditex, the company that owns Zara, have agreed to sign a fire and building safety agreement to support and protect Bangladeshi garment factory workers. The pledge stipulates that companies should pay for renovation and repairs in order to ensure that the country's garment factories are safe.

"H&M is the single largest producer of apparel in Bangladesh, ahead even of Wal-Mart. This accord now has tremendous momentum," said Scott Nova, executive director of labour rights watchdog the Worker Rights Consortium. "This agreement will save lives."

The binding agreement also demands that companies should agree to independent safety inspections and that brands sever ties with any factories that refuse to adhere to new safety requirements. The pact is "substantially the same" as a programme already signed by luxury conglomerate PVH, that owns Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. Other brands manufacturing garments in Bangladesh have been asked to sign the contract by May 15.

"This agreement is exactly what is needed to finally bring an end to the epidemic of fire and building disasters that have taken so many lives in the garment industry in Bangladesh," Nova told WWD. "It is a legally binding, enforceable agreement under which signatory companies must take the steps necessary to protect the lives of the workers who make their clothes."

ARCHITECT Zaha Hadid is the winner of the 2013 Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award. Hadid -who is known for her futuristic designs, which include the Olympic 2012 London Aquatics Centre and Guangzhou Opera House in China - was presented the honour during a ceremony held at Claridge's tonight.

The annual event celebrates the success of businesswomen worldwide, who share the same enterprising, determined spirit of Madame Clicquot - who, after becoming widowed at the age of 27, took on her husband's wine business and developed one of the first forms of Champagne.

SIR Philip Green and the Weston family have once again been named fashion's wealthiest, according to the 2013 Sunday Times Rich List. The annual compilation of Britain's richest was published yesterday.

A Pablo Picasso painting valued at 50 million pounds ($77 million) has been sold privately by Christie’s International (CHRS) after U.K. institutions failed to raise the necessary funds to keep it in the country. The 1901 canvas “Child with a Dove,” a precursor of Picasso’s Blue Period works, was one of the first paintings by the artist to enter a U.K. collection. The Picasso is owned by descendants of Lady Aberconway, who was bequeathed the painting by the industrialist Samuel Courtauld in 1947. It was placed on long-term loan to London’s National Gallery from 1974 to 2010, and is currently on show in the “Becoming Picasso: Paris 1901” exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery, ending on May 26.

U.K. Culture Minister Ed Vaizey placed a temporary export bar in August 2012 to give British institutions the opportunity to buy the painting at the recommended price of 50 million pounds. As no U.K.-based buyer was found, the Picasso can now be sold to Christie’s unidentified purchaser. “We can confirm that Christie’s was invited to negotiate the private sale of this picture but we are unable to discuss the matter further,” the London-based auction house said in an e-mail. The company declined to confirm the final purchase price yesterday