Lingerie maker Lucia Iorio says her new design targets the modern, techno-savvy woman, but the GPS-equipped “Find Me If You Can” line has raised the hackles of feminists who call it a 21st-century chastity belt.  The lingerie combo consists of lace bodice, bikini bottom and faux pearl collar, with the GPS device visibly nestled in the see-through part of the bodice next to the waist.

“This collection… is a wink to women and a challenge to men because, even if she gives him the password to her GPS, she can always turn it off,” Iorio told AFP. “She can be found only if she wants to.” “It’s not a modern chastity belt. Some men think they can keep tabs on their girlfriends with it, but they’re wrong,” she added.

Unconcerned with the controversy her new collection has raised, Iorio is also dismissive of the global financial crisis and its adverse impact on luxury items sales since the GPS lingerie retails from a cool 800 dollars, with a standard Global Positioning System, to 1,100 dollars with a more advanced model. So how many has she sold? Iorio admits to selling only a few so far.  No suprise there.

Hardy Amies, the fashion house that dressed Britain’s Queen Elizabeth for more than 30 years, plans to file for bankruptcy after failing to find new sources of funding, though it added that talks continue. Hardy Amies’ shares were suspended on London’s junior Alternative Investment Market on Friday after it said major shareholder Arev Brands Ltd was unable to offer any more financial support.

A steady stream of Britain’s retailers have gone into administration, a form of creditor protection, this year as shoppers cut spending amid rising food, fuel and mortgage costs.

Hardy Amies was appointed official dressmaker to Queen Elizabeth II in 1955.

In a long career on London’s renowned tailoring thoroughfare, Savile Row, Amies dressed pop stars like the Beatles and Rolling Stones and designed suits for England’s winning 1966 World Cup soccer team, as well as costumes for films, including “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

He died in 2003 at the age of 93.

Hardy Amies shares closed at 1.25 pence on Thursday, valuing the business at about 2.8 million pounds ($5.2 million).

-Julia Roberts has returned to work with Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani to raise money for the fight against AIDS in Africa, designing a T-shirt to be sold under the “Red” label.

-The Procter & Gamble Co. is linking laundry to fashion in what’s billed as the biggest product launch yet for its venerable Tide brand. This is being done with a tidy $60 million dollar budget.

-Madonna has chosen French Haute Couture house Givenchy to design clothing for her new “Sticky and Sweet” world tour which starts in Britain this month, the fashion firm said on Tuesday.  Great boost and good tie-in.

-U.S.-based modeling agency Wilhelmina is planning an initial public stock offering (IPO) this year, according to a German daily. More details should be available shortly.

Here is an intersting fashion statement from some crook.  Police in a Colorado town are searching for two robbers whose masks were constructed from women’s thong underwear.

A surveillance video released this week by police in Arvada, Colorado, shows two unarmed men inside the convenience store. They stole an undisclosed amount of cash and cigarettes in the May 16 robbery.

One man wore a green thong and the other wore blue.  Each thong barely covered the man’s nose, mouth and chin and left the rest of his face exposed. One also wore a pink backpack in which he stuffed the stolen items.

The suspects were described as being in their 20s. One had a left arm tattoo. Rumor has it the one with the green thong will go to jail for double the time because it clashed with his brown jacket.

This girl is very pretty and she has some very sexy curves.  Gratz to all women out there with real bodies!!

I guess there really is a model for every occasion, here are some when you need someone who is beauty challenged.

Find more great ugly models here.

Brazilian Gisele Bundchen is the world’s mega top supermodel with estimated earnings of $35 million during the past year, according to new ranking released on Wednesday. She more than doubled the estimated $14 million earned by Heidi Klum, who came in at No. 2 on the list by Forbes.com, followed by Kate Moss with $7.5 million, Adriana Lima with $7 million and Doutzen Kroes with $6 million.  That’s a lot of dough, but she deserves it!

Forbes.com said that although Bundchen finished her lucrative Victoria’s Secret contract last year, she continues to juggle 20 other modeling jobs. The web site said that while Klum is still a Victoria’s Secret model, the mother of three is “more of a media and retail mogul” these days with her U.S. “Project Runway” and “Germany’s Next Top Model” hosting duties and lines of jewelry, jeans and skincare.

As a fashion student struggling for recognition, Jasmine Sangria (then Sanghera) vowed to help others “when I have a real job.” Now a principal in the It Inc marketing and management firm, she followed through Tuesday. That’s when the Vancouver Fashion Council she co-founded with sister Luvlina helped stage and promote what its present-day-student participants called Not Just Another Lame Fashion Show. The title was a dig at current Vancouver Fashion Week shows by established and rising designers.

Student garments can be all over the map, if seldom all over the body. So it was when Holly Margaret Hunter and Michael A Ninian, Esq. (there’s a student name) aired plenty of their models’ upperworks, Ciji Greene did so below the waist, and Ian Chen’s menswear featured full coverage. Who knows if the tyro designers will get anywhere. But Sangria has, and she’s not backing off the promise she made herself and we find that quite refreshing.

The first New York Fashion Week was organized in 1943 by fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert for buyers and fashion media unable to travel to Paris for the runway shows.

In the 1970s and ’80s, designers began to show their collections across New York City in lofts, restaurants and clubs. In 1993, Fern Mallis searched for a venue where all of the shows could be centralized and in spring 1994, Fashion Week was held in the tents at Bryant Park.

The event will continue to be held at the park for two more years, but its location beyond that remains uncertain–and Mallis is not giving away any hints.

“Stay tuned,” she says.  Fashion week is  such an exciting time, it still gives me goosebumps!

Are you a fashion magnet?  Here’s the major hot trend for style-conscious men in 2008: Buy a skinnier tie. Yes, in the world of men’s fashion, the shrinking of the tie from a 3 3/4-inch width to around 3 1/4 inches counts as monumental news.

That would never do in women’s fashion, where changes can be measured in volumes — say, from sleek to swinging — in the course of a season or two. Menswear moves at a much slower pace. Five years is the norm. A “fast-track” shift could happen in three.

The attention to narrower ties and slimmer lapels comes as the industry continues to embrace dressier looks, Hoffman said: “From our point of view, we’re going through a period of change from distressed, grungier looks toward clean looks, polished looks. It’s crisper — we definitely see that as an important direction.” Says Ari Hoffman.  Lucky I kept mine from the 80’s so I will be set.