With Brad Pitt posing as the new poster boy for Chanel’s No5 fragrance, it seems that male Hollywood stars are the first port of call for French fashion house perfume campaigns. The next hunk rumoured to have bagged an ad campaign is none other than home-grown Twilight star Robert Pattinson, who according to E! , has just signed a three-year deal with Dior. Estimated to be a worth a cool $12 million (£7.5million), the contract will see the heartthrob star in not one, but a series of ad campaigns for the brand, and join fellow Brit Jude Law, the face of the brand’s Dior Homme scent, on the luxury fashion house’s payroll. As last year’s Dior fragrance campaign sparked controversy over a topless photograph of Natalie Portman, we wonder what this lucrative dalliance into the world of couture cologne might hold for Pattinson. And, with estranged/not-so-estranged lover and Twilight co-star Kristen Stewart the face of Balenciaga’s perfume Florabotanica, could the cosmetic market have a war of the roses on the cards?

— The Telegraph

Vivienne Westwood to sell Julian Assange t-shirts

British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood will from Saturday sell T-shirts in support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The unisex T-shirt, featuring Westwood’s face and the words I’m Julian Assange, will cost 40 pounds ($62.47) with all profits going to Mr Assange’s website, the veteran designer wrote on her blog. “T-shirts for Julian: you can show your support of a real hero by going to www.viviennewestwood.com,” wrote Westwood, 71, who appears on the shirt wearing a denim jacket and a necklace with a skull pendant, with her red hair swept back.

Australian-born Assange, 41, walked into the Ecuadorean embassy on June 19 and claimed asylum in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces questioning over allegations of rape and sexual assault. Ecuador granted him asylum on August 16 but Britain has refused him safe passage out of the country, leaving Assange in the embassy as the two countries struggle to resolve a diplomatic stalemate. Assange denies the allegations of sex crimes and claims he could eventually be passed to the United States if he is extradited to Sweden. WikiLeaks enraged Washington in 2010 by publishing a flood of classified US documents.Flamboyant Westwood, a long-standing supporter of Assange, was pictured wearing the new T-shirt as she paid the WikiLeaks founder a visit last Tuesday.

— News.com

European fashion buyers look to Nigeria

A model struts the runway wearing a flowing newspaper print gown in this African megacity where international high-end fashion buyers are looking beyond the country’s bleak headlines to uncover the next new thing. There have been steady efforts to turn Lagos, a city with a fearsome reputation, into a fashion destination. They reached new heights at the MTN Lagos Fashion & Design Week that ran from Oct. 24 to 27 and drew European high-fashion brands such as the United Kingdom’s Selfridges & Co. and Munich-based MyTheresa.com to Nigeria for the first time.

Ituen Basi’s newspaper inspired Spring/Summer 2013 collection was among 39 collections spotlighted at the city’s latest major fashion week. The Nigerian label’s collection evoked fun and glamour through its use of print and color — characteristics which have come to define the vibrant local fashion scene. With local brands seeking wider platforms and international retailers hungry for novelty, designers and buyers see opportunities for collaboration. “There’s something about the fresh, the unknown, the possibility of seeing a new brand springing forth into the limelight. … These are becoming interesting to people outside Nigeria,” said Omoyemi Akerele, the fashion week’s founder and creative director.

The encouraging response to African-inspired designs by top Western labels gives buyers confidence that designs straight from the continent will also sell. “Over the past few seasons, there’s been a strong trend for print,” said Bruno Barba, the brand public relations manager at Selfridges. “If you look at the collection of Burberry inspired by Africa last year; there was also Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith. … They’ve made that inspiration quite mainstream now. So, for us, it was interesting to take that trend and take it from its roots in Africa.” Previously, several Nigerian designers have helped put the West African nation on the global fashion map.

— NY Daily News