Alana Thwaites's blog: "dressup"

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Charleston Fashion Week is upon us with a group of talented designers who hope to get noticed as the next Emerging Designer Competition. We caught up with eight past winners of the EDC to see what life has been like after their CFW experience.

2009 Marysia Reeves

A former ballet dancer and surfing enthusiast, Polish-born designer Marysia Dobrzanska Reeves has created a luxury swimwear brand that epitomizes poolside style.

The line, launched in 2009, eschews trendy prints and typical cuts for perfectly executed silhouettes in premium fabrics.

Her swimwear has been featured in the 2010 and 2011 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit editions, Vogue, Coastal Living, Teen Vogue and WWD.

The Marysia Swim collection has been picked up by Barney’s New York, Anthropologie and other high-end boutiques across the country and internationally.

Reeves has relocated to Los Angeles from New York with her husband, Nathaniel, and their two daughters.

2010 Larika Page

A native of Portland, Ore., Larika Page launched her debut collection in 2010 at Charleston Fashion Week.

She won the Emerging Designer of the Year for her Spring collection titled “Miami Beach — Circa 1950.” Page landed her first retail account with a luxury lifestyle boutique after exhibiting at Atlanta’s Apparel Mart.

“Winning CFW catapulted our brand into a more mainstream audience. It allowed exposure to people, markets, and regions that I had not been exposed to prior, but the most rewarding has been the growth of our custom division. We pride ourselves on the ability to keep our brand intimate so that we are able to provide the upmost quality to those that appreciate high fashion and individuality. We are forever grateful for the cult following we have been able to build with the help of CFW, that allows us to stay on par with our vision.”

2011 Charlotte Hess

Knitwear designer Charlotte Hess creates the entire Isobel & Cleo collection by hand and frequently uses organic and sustainable yarns. A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Glasgow School of Art, Hess built on a solid fashion foundation through work experience and positions at Karen Walker, Nom*D, Remar Knitwear Factory, Salaam, and Free People.

Isobel & Cleo was born in Glasgow, Scotland, from a desire to sustain traditional handknitting and hand manipulated machine knitting techniques through producing knitwear.

Now based in a quaint studio on Nantucket Island, the collection uses the finest yarns and materials from around the world.

2012 Hannah Goff

Originally from North Carolina, Hannah Goff is based in New York City. She earned a bachelor’s degree in textiles from North Carolina State University and a master’s in fashion design from Savannah College of Art and Design.

After winning the Emerging Designer Competition in 2012, she established the Hannah Goff label.

With a heavy influence on print, pattern and texture, Goff sets out to create beauty in the overlooked problems and commonplace objects of our world. Goff’s signature is original print design and collage of multiple prints and fabrications to create a single garment. These designs have gained the attention of Elle.com and Nylon Magazine.

2013 Afriyie Poku

Ghanaian-born designer Afriyie Poku became entranced by arts and crafts at an early age. In 2000, he migrated to the United States and discovered his passion in design during his second year of college while pursuing a degree in electrical engineering.

In 2011, he made his way to Atlanta and provided tailoring services in a boutique within the city.

Among 20 emerging designers selected to show during the 2013 CFW, Poku was the only male contestant and menswear designer. He went on to win the “Overall Designer” and “People’s Choice” awards during the initial debut and finale showcase, a feat that has never been matched.

Following his victory Poku formed the brand OberimaAfriyie. The O.A. brand philosophy rests upon the belief that there is a gentleman in all of us.

2014 (tie) Rebecca and Leah Plante

Sisters Leah and Rebecca Plante grew up in Charleston. Their childhood was spent making paper dolls, playing dress up and begging their mom for a sewing machine. Both sisters moved away from Charleston for college. After college the sisters launched their clothing line “Plante,” after their surname and their shared love of nature. Their goal was to create garments that would be a joy to wear while using sustainable and ethical manufacturing practices.

Now in it’s sixth season, Plante is stocked in several boutiques around the country.

“Since our win, we’ve gone on to create four more collections,” says Becky Plante. “We’ve been picked up by about 10 stores, including revolutionary ecommerce sites like Garmentory and the Nineteenth Amendment. We were featured designers on Amazon Fashion. We now attend fashion trade shows twice a year to continue to grow our wholesale business, and we’ve seen increasing online sales on our own website as well.”

2014 (tie) Anna Toth

After graduating with an art degree in printmaking and ceramics at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, Anna Toth moved to San Francisco where she adopted the medium she’s loved most ever since: pattern making and clothing construction.

A few years and a few odd jobs later, she returned to Asheville and founded Bow + Arrow.

“Bow + Arrow was born of a desire to create something both lovely and wearable. We ride bicycles, sit on curbs, roll down soft, grassy hills, and jump spontaneously into refreshing bodies of water whenever possible. We want the clothes we make to keep up with us, and with you.”

2015 Gloria Forehand

Gloria Forehand was the winner of the 2015 Emerging Designer Competition at Charleston Fashion Week.

The Korean-born designer infused her heritage into every elegantly designed piece, giving her collection an authentic point of view. Eastern sensibility meets American wearability in her fall collection that focused on evening wear.See more at:blue formal dresses

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For those of us who have the habit of binge-eating, opting for protein-rich diets can do wonders, according to a new study.

For years, many diets have been claimed to be safe and healthy ways of shedding those extra kilos, but now the brand new official analysis has confirmed that increased protein consumption really does make us feel fuller.

In the study, researchers conducted a systematic review of the evidence on the effect of protein intake on perceived fullness and confirmed that protein does, in fact, make us feel fuller.

The recent popularity of low-carb, high-protein diets can partially be attributed to the fact that dieters often feel fuller when protein intake is high, even if they are consuming fewer calories overall.

Lead investigator Richard D. Mattes said that a good deal of evidence suggests that protein activates satiety hormone release and so should be most strongly tied with fullness ratings, but individual studies are often conducted in small populations or with different approaches that can make interpretation of results challenging. The study combined multiple experiments to confirm the presence of an effect.

"Feelings like hunger and fullness are not the only factors that influence intake. We often eat for other reasons. Anyone who has ever felt too full to finish their meal but has room for dessert knows this all too well," explained Mattes.

The exact amount of protein needed to prolong fullness as well as when to consume protein throughout the day is not resolved and their study did not determine this, said University of Missouri's Heather Leidy.

The study appears in Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.See more at:purple formal dresses

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Beauty confession: I like my cosmetics to be synthetic and preferably chemical-laden. If my nail polish top coat doesn’t smell like airplane glue, it’s a sure sign my mani is doomed to chip before the day is out.

Foundations free of dimethicone don’t glide across the face easily enough. I like my base blended, so give me more of those silicone polymers, thank you. Admittedly, my fondness for chemicals is an odd juxtaposition with my other consumer choices.

I buy organic produce. I choose minimally processed food. My desire to avoid consuming or using chemicals and ingredients I’m unsure of has led me into the natural beauty aisle before, often with disastrous results. I will spare you the details of the time I experimented with all-natural deodorant; just know that it involved a rash that lasted for two months.

Lately, new, indie skin care brands are turning up at high-end beauty counters, bearing little resemblance to the natural products of the past. In addition to being mostly natural and organic (95 percent of a product’s ingredients must be organically sourced for the Food and Drug Administration to allow the organic designation), they are beautifully packaged, luxurious, and above all else, effective.

My general thought is that cleanser is not where to invest in your skin care dollars. A cleanser, after all, is a product that is ever so briefly on the skin before it’s washed down the drain. My exception to this is Tata Harper Purifying Cleanser (Sephora, $58), and this isn’t because it’s 100 percent natural and nontoxic, soap-free, and made of botanicals from an organic farm in Vermont (that all sounds wonderful though, doesn’t it?); I make the exception because this cleanser feels divine on the skin, gently removes oil without over-drying, and bedevils me with a fragrance derived from silver fir.

Caudalié Beauty Elixir (Sephora, $49) is a part-toner/part-serum facial mist made (mostly) of plant extracts. It’s cooling, refreshing, and prepares the skin for whatever product you layer over it. I particularly like using this after cleansing and before moving on to serums and moisturizers.

Serums are the heavy lifters of any skin care routine, and Korres Black Pine Firming, Lifting & Antiwrinkle Serum (Sephora, $74) harnesses the very potent polyphenol in black pine to help maintain skin’s elasticity, connective tissue, and boost renewal.

It’s best to think of Indie Lee Calendula Eye Balm (Saks Fifth Avenue, $42) as a protective product, not one that corrects. Calendula has anti-inflammatory properties to soothe the eye area. The balm is packed with mango and lavender oils to hydrate and diminish dark circles.

Any product with “peel” in the name sets my skin care loving heart aflutter. Tammy Fender Epi-Peel (Saks Fifth Avenue, $80) is no exception. This kaolin clay mask has a toothpastelike consistency, and grit to clean and refine pores. Additional botanicals, like spearmint, have antimicrobial properties, and there’s rosemary as well, to improve circulation. This mask packs the feel of a long pampering session into just five minutes.

Kat Burki Vitamin C Intensive Face Cream (www.beautybar.com, $90) is a small jar of wonderful. This moisturizer is light enough for daytime use, and sits beautifully under makeup. It brightens, smooths, firms, and generally makes skin look pretty.

I don’t miss the chemicals in these products, but more important, I don’t feel I’m substituting carob for chocolate, or botanicals for efficacy.Read more at:pink formal dresses

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Jeremy Scott seems to be saying that fashion is going up in flames.

The provocative Moschino creative director is Milan’s master of the theatrical, and models paraded down an oriental-rug strewn runway suggestive of decadence gone wrong. The centre was piled with smashed pianos and discarded furniture.

Scott’s story line opened with devil-may-care biker chicks mixing leather duds with big jewel-coloured bows — super-size-me big. Then the Moschino girl went all super-hero with billowing capes over bodysuits, followed by the party girl with cigarette earrings, cigarette pack backpacks and beer-can shoulder bags — all sure to be hits with the anti-PC crowd.

Chains and strings of pearls fashioned on a black dress to give the appearance, from a distance, of a walking skeleton, had a real wow factor, but also foreshadowed doom to come.

Things didn’t spin out of control until she got into evening wear, and then the tuxedo jackets were singed and the taffeta gowns had smoke billowing out of the underskirts.

Melodrama ensued with a model clad in a chandelier twinkling down the aisle, followed shortly after by what may well have been the devil herself in a bright red, burned-out dress.

Scott was a pioneer in bringing a capsule collection straight from the runway to stores, so it is fitting that his collection would use irony to poke fun at the state of fashion.Read more at:yellow formal dresses

Sky Cubacub, who uses the personal pronoun “they,” runs excitedly around this Lakeview studio, retrieving variouschainmaille garments in the process. The bounty includes a chainmaille vest, a halter dress and bands of “metamaille,” or chainmaille that has itself been woven into a chainmaille pattern.

“I’m super drawn to chainmaille because of its texture, and the way it moves,” Cubacub says, smiling. “It’s like: kinetics!”

Cubacub, whose gender does not conform to the male-female binary, is a genderqueer garment-maker and performance artist whose sculptural chainmaille garments are an integral part of a new clothing collection, Rebirth Garments. But chainmaille isn’t the only thing that makes Rebirth unique: the clothing is designed specifically for people who are queer and/or transgender and have disabilities, a demographic Cubacub refers to as “queercrip.”

“ ‘Crip’ is the politicized, umbrella term for people with disabilities, inclusive of people with all kinds of disabilities and disorders …physical, developmental, emotional, psychological,” Cubacub says. “I like using ‘queer’ and ‘crip’ together because that’s what describes my line the best.

Cubacub designs garments with individual wearers in mind, calling upon queercrip clients to describe aspects of their bodies that make them feel confident or vulnerable and then tailoring looks accordingly.

Carrie Kaufman is a friend and model of Cubacub’s who has collaborated with the designer on a number of garments for people with disabilities. Kaufman, who uses a wheelchair, is excited by the prospect of adaptive clothing that is also creative and attractive. Her favorite piece is a pink lace miniskirt designed to look like a mermaid’s tail.

“The tail goes over both my legs and attaches with garter clips to an amazing hip-hugging miniskirt of shiny underwater colors,” Kaufman says. “So it’s a brilliant and sexy design, plus a subversive and radical way to take advantage of the fact that my legs don’t move, and that they actually look best in a mermaid type of pose.”

Rebirth pieces for trans people include binders designed to flatten the chest and “packers” that mimic a phallic shape. Pieces for people with disabilities include catheter covers and drool cloths for those whose motor function impedes swallowing saliva. All pieces burst with Rebirth’s signature blend of bold lines and electric color. Some pieces – a multicolored stocking for an artificial leg, a chain that rattles against a foot cast – draw attention to the wearer’s disability, a type of hyperintentional design Cubacub calls “radical visibility.”

Even on a casual day, Cubacub is a walking example of radical visibility. Small and slight, Cubacub wears a colorful Rebirth unitard beneath a purple hoodie. Cubacub mentions the unitard is made of Spandex, a favored material for its elastic ability to accommodate wearers of all sizes. On Cubacub’s right hand is a half-glove of “scalemaille,” a chainmaille pattern featuring woven beads shaped like lizard’s scales. Beneath the right eye is a geometric design – makeup, not a tattoo. The look’s pièce de résistance is a headpiece of scalemaille that gives the impression of a futuristic swimming cap.

Cubacub, who has been diagnosed with anxiety and panic disorder, says the headpiece functions as a form of armor. Typically anxious and shy in social situations, Cubacub feels confident wearing the conversation-starting scalemaille. The garment has the added benefit of confusing and deterring likely harassers.

“All my clothing is supposed to be emotional armor,” Cubacub says. “Kind of inviting but also saying, ‘I’m bold enough to be wearing this, so you can stay away.’ Like brightly colored, poisonous frogs or beetles.”

The child of a video artist and dancer/ornament-maker, Cubacub is no stranger to the creative life. Cubacub began attending art shows at age 2 and was selling wares by age 10. By 13, those creations included chainmaille jewelry.

“Sky was able to visualize difficult weaves right away,” says Rebeca Mojica, who first taught Cubacub how to weave chainmaille. “In the 18 years I’ve taught the dragon scale weave – and I’ve taught it to somewhere between 60 and 100 people – I’ve only had one person finish the bracelet, and that was Sky.”

Cubacub attended Northside College Preparatory High School, winning a full scholarship to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago on the basis of a garment collection called Repetitive Motion. Northside faculty recall a dedicated and unusually gifted student.

“Sky was a very unique high school kid,” says art department chair Joanne Minyo. “They had a queer vision of what they wanted to do from a really early age, and they were driven to a ridiculous degree.”

Minyo remembers Cubacub wrestling with a drill in the process of making a chainmaille outfit for Repetitive Motion. Eager to finish the outfit before the showcase, Cubacub accidentally increased the speed of the drill, resulting in the loss of a thumbnail.

“The crazy thing was Sky was angry but was not upset about the pain,” Minyo says. “They were more upset that this was going to put them off schedule for finishing all their outfits. But of course they got all their outfits done. Nothing stopped Sky.”

At SAIC, Cubacub met with ideological opposition: a fashion department that cherished thinness, had little interest in disability and frowned upon Cubacub’s practice of using friends as models.

“They’re constantly telling you, ‘This is how the fashion world is and you can’t change it,’ ” Cubacub says. “They’re just teaching us to assimilate. It’s all very ridiculous.”

Cubacub left the fashion department, choosing instead to take classes in fibers and performance art, where professors were less critical of queercrip design. Rebirth launched in November 2014, six months before Cubacub’s graduation from SAIC.

Unsurprisingly, Cubacub is not interested in showcasing the line in traditional fashion shows, choosing instead to organize “performances” where models of all races, genders, sizes and abilities dance in Rebirth clothing. Performances are typically held in spaces designated for queer dialogue and empowerment.

The world beyond Chicago has begun to take notice of Rebirth. New York-based trans South Asian performance art duo DarkMatter has showcasedCubacub’s garments, and Cubacub will be showing Rebirth pieces at largely queer venues in Mexico, Italy, Armenia and Germany this summer.

As if this isn’t enough, Cubacub has a number of Chicago-based projects lined up as well: making free chest binders for residents of the Broadway Youth Center, starting an online magazine for queercrip teens and designing Rebirth Warriors, a children’s version of the clothing line.

When asked about plans for Rebirth Garments, Cubacub doesn’t miss a beat:

“I’m planning on doing this collection for the rest of my life.”Read more at:formal dresses online australia | unique formal dresses

A 10-year-old fashion prodigy is standing against bullies from her school by debuting her size-inclusive clothing label at New York Fashion Week.

Egypt Ufele, who goes by “Ify,” started designing clothes to cope with bullies who taunted her about her weight at her school in the Queens borough of New York.

“I was bullied, and they called me all kinds of names. One time I got stabbed with a pencil,” Ufele told NBC’s “Today.”

At first, Ify just made outfits for her dolls. Then she started cranking out women’s and girls’ clothing for all shapes and sizes with her grandmother’s sewing machine.

“She started making doll’s clothes with a regular sewing needle with the hand. And she started designing clothes and sketching,” Nellie Rembert, Ify’s grandmother, said to “Today.”

Now, Ify has launched her own line of clothing, called Chubiiline, and has become a trailblazer as possibly the only child designer to dress plus-size models at one of the world’s most prestigious fashion shows.

She hopes her passion and artistic vision will empower others facing adversity.

“I turn negative attention into positive attention,” she told “Today.”

Ufele’s Afrocentric and eye-catching fashions propel Chubiiline’s goal of “Bringing Africa to America; One Design at a Time.”

The enterprising preteen also leads a BullyChasers movement that works to spread awareness on gun violence and bullying. More than 3.2 million students in the United States are bullied each year, according to DoSomething.org, an advocacy group.

Some big names have shown support for her cause. Actor Mack Wilds, recording artist Lil Mama and Miami Heat player Anthony Mason Jr. were spotted with Ify at a “Ballin’ 4 Peace” celebrity basketball game earlier this month at York College in Queens.

“My God is (awesome) … he is bringing me from a tragedy to a triumph,” Ify wrote Wednesday on her Facebook page. “Never give up even when the world seem cruel.”Read more at:plus size formal dresses | celebrity dresses

SHE might have made her name strutting down the catwalk, but now Jesinta Campbell has made it to the most prestigious spot in a fashion show.

Joining an exclusive inner circle, Campbell was sitting pretty in the front row at Vera Wang’s runway at New York Fashion Week — complete with the designer’s distinctive vertically enhanced shoes.

Zoe Kravitz and Kylie Jenner, sitting right next to her, sported an identical pair, but it wasn’t a case of Jesinta putting her foot in it — the shoes were given as gifts to the special guests.

The chunky footwear, not yet available in Australia, was also worn by models strutting the catwalk.

The 24-year-old model uploaded a photo of herself with world-famous teenager Kylie Jenner, Lolawolf singer Zoe Kravitz and Sports Illustrated model Hannah Davis.

While some were asking questions about how Buddy Franklin’s fiancee found herself in the box seat, Campbell has the backing of Australia’s largest department store — itself a Vera Wang stockist.

Awkwardly, the local paparazzi appeared totally clueless over who she was. In photo descriptions, she was labelled as a nameless guest: “Hannah Davis, guest, Zoe Kravitz, Kylie Jenner, Jordyn Woods”.

Yep, even Jordyn Woods got a name — and she’s only famous for being Jenner’s bestie.

Campbell oozed class in an all-back outfit made up of a long-sleeve crop and tassled midi skirt — teamed with a choker necklace and those killer heels.

The tanned brunette was far from camera-shy, easily wriggling herself into sultry poses.

The newly appointed David Jones ambassador has been sharing moments from her New York trip on social media, including a snap of her standing in the snow.Read more at:cocktail dresses online | evening dresses online

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Making the wedding of your dreams a reality may require some creativity. It can be challenging to organize all of the creative ideas swimming around in your head, but inspiration boards may be able to help.

Inspiration boards, sometimes referred to as idea boards, are commonly used by interior designers, artists, writers and even wedding planners. Such boards can serve a great purpose when starting a new project, especially if all of your creative ideas seem to lack cohesion. Sometimes seeing things together, rather than in bits and pieces on their own, can fuel even more creativity.

Inspiration boards can include magazine clippings, photographs, fabric swatches, quotes or literary passages and color swatches. As the idea board grows, you may find a common denominator among your inspirational elements. This can help determine a theme for your wedding or jump-start other planning.

While poster boards may be more traditional idea boards, creative ideas also can be compiled in binders or scrapbooks, which work especially well at keeping all items organized and concise. Plus, they’re portable, which means you can take a scrapbook to a meeting with a wedding vendor and show him or her your concepts for the wedding.

Later, when photographers, florists and other vendors have been booked, you can attach receipts or agreements to the inspiration board for future reference. This keeps all of your important wedding information in one place rather than requiring you to search through different folders or files for important documents. In addition, if friends or family members ask for advice on vendors and planning their own weddings in the future, you can readily access your inspiration board.

To start building your own board or book, take clippings of photos or articles that resonate with you. As you visit bridal shops and other stores, take fabric swatches and pictures of particular looks. Attend bridal shows and take home promotional materials. Remember, inspiration may not always come from bridal-related resources. Anything you come across in your daily life — such as window-shopping at a furniture store or passing an art exhibit — may inspire some creativity.

Inspiration boards are used by top design professionals and can be a handy resource for couples planning their weddings.Read more at:short formal dresses

Luxury children's line to debut in STYLE Fashion Week New York in February.

Known for their impressive designs for both children and adults-Dallas based Bentley and Lace has put together yet another fantastic and creative line for their FW16 showcase. Bentley and Lace will debut their "Conte de fee" collection on the Style Fashion Week - New York stage, February 14th.

"Conte de fee" is an exclusive collection which features sophisticated cocktail and floor length silhouettes, encompassing a color palette of jewel tones, and topped with cascading beads, filigree and multicolored embellishments.

Bentley and Lace has selected 35 models from across the U.S. to walk for their show during STYLE Fashion Week New York. These young models were selected out of hundreds of submissions. (McKenzie Mercer-Oklahoma; Race Austyn and Pyper Elizabeth-Texas; Paige Brooklyne-Texas; Keira Loftin-Texas; Magnolia Jenny-Texas; Taylor Tevis-Texas; So'Cara Milan-Anaye-TEXAS; Aliyah Cole-Texas; Averie Cole-Texas; Karli Klinkhammer-Texas; Hannah Marie-Texas; Reagan Orr-Texas; Cashlen Garrett-Texas; Kamdyn Corwin -Texas; Kendall May-Texas; Cara Hoskins-Texas; Brooke McCormick-Texas; Mila and Suri-Texas; Allie Benefield-Texas; Bella Fenoglio-Texas; Madison Slaton-Arizona; Hadley Lester-Illinois; Bayli Alley-Tennessee; Keely Acor-Pennslyvania; Riley Conachan- Louisiana; Isabella Rexroad-West Virgina; Arianna Utreras-GA; Bleu Borromeo-Michigan; Summer Borromeo-Michigan; Brianna Ortiz-GA; Isabella Spitale- Louisiana; Remi Willhite-Arkansas; Marisabel Mercado-Florida.

Bentley and Lace has greatly evolved since 2012. Elizabeth Copeland, Designer and Creator, of Bentley and Lace is a Dallas based designer. Copeland, debuted her SS16 mini collection at FASHION X DALLAS in September of 2015 and was a crowd pleaser. She went on to debut her full SS16 collection at STYLE Fashion Week Los Angeles in October of 2015. Copeland, wowed the crowd with a gorgeous opening dance preformed by Sarah Allen and Presley Draeger and choreographed by Timothy Coronado. Bentley and Lace strives to allow young girls from all across the country to not only model their pieces but to also showcase rising talent as well as lend support. Bentley and Lace will be sure to bring that same excitement to their debut at STYLE Fashion Week New York in February.

Since the launch of her first company, E COUTURE DESIGNS, in 2007, Copeland has fast become a favorite among celebrities and has become known for her quality, attention to detail, and is known for her exquisite eye to accessory styling, unique designs and luxurious fabrics.

Bentley and Lace, not only strives to help mentor young models, but also enjoys lending their support to emerging brands and photographers from across the country.Read more at:bridesmaid dress | cocktail dresses online

When it came time to launching their first-ever pop-up shop at one of the most highly photographed events of the year, Canada Goose—the puffer coat of choice for pretty much every stylish celeb from Emma Stone to Liv Tyler—wanted to make a splash—a very chic splash.

So, for the shop's opening in Park City, Utah, during the Sundance Film Festival, the outerwear brand flew in Sama and Haya Khadra—two of the most stylish girls today—to DJ the opening night party and made it one of the liveliest parties of the fête-filled festival.

You might know the 22-year-old identical twins Sama and Haya Khadra from Instagram (@simihaze) where they have over 130,000 people following their travel, style and sisterly shenanigans. But the girls were first noticed at age 14, when they were spotted looking fabulous at the Paris couture shows and took the fashion world by storm. The Saudi Arabian-born sisters have incredible taste in clothes, from the poshest stores in London and Paris, to vintage jeans and sunglasses. And as you'll see, the twins always dress alike (but not usually on purpose!). The Khadra sisters moved to Los Angeles several years ago and recently took up DJ'ing, after being inspired by their 24-year-old brother, who's a musician.

We got a chance to catch up with the girls at Sundance to talk fashion, travel, and yes, music:

Glamour: You girls have amazing style! Where do you find inspiration?

Sama Khadra: My parents are really artistic people. My mom is an interior designer, and my dad is an art collector...but we always loved fashion. All of our summers [growing up] were spent in Ibiza and randomly there are amazing photographers who shoot on the beach and we have all of these amazing shoot images of us as kids, posing and hanging on trees. Our style then is very similar to by style now—it was combat boots, always combat boots. We never took them off!

Glamour: You guys are often photographed wearing coordinating outfits. Do you plan to dress alike?

Haya Khadra: Not at all, but it happens naturally. We have the same style, but like different things too. Whenever we walk out of the house and look too similar, we have to go and change.

S.K.: The worst thing is that we share all of the same clothes and we don't even realize we're wearing the same thing.

Glamour: Describe your styles.

H.K.:t's a mixture of '40s-meets-punk-meets-gothic with a little dress-up aspect. It has a lot of '90s influence to it, like the London punk era and even the Spice Girls.

photo:cheap formal dresses online

S.K.: We really take advantage of being young and seeing what we can get away with [in terms of style.] Right now, I'm really into '70s and it's all based on these round, really cool glasses that Chanel sent me.

Glamour: It's cold in Park City! Do you have any tips for looking stylish when it's absolutely freezing?

S.K.:I really like mesh and fishnet anything sheer. We love sheer [elements] so we love to mix that with our style. In the winter it adds that subtle sexiness in the winter.

Glamour: Tell us about your music. What do you like to play?

H.K.: We love any music, from Jamaican dance hall music, to U.K. hip-hop. The other night we played Always on Time [by JaRule and Ashanti, circa 2001] and everyone went crazy. I love Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, and also new artists, like Kehlani.

S.K.: Our sound is really about music people that people generally don't sing along with.

Glamour: Will we be seeing more of you guys during Fashion Month coming up in February? Will you be DJ'ing any shows?

H.K.: I think so! Everything kind of happens last-minute; we’re waiting to see about New York and Paris [Fashion Weeks]."

Here are the girls in some of their best looks:

read more:formal dresses online australia