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The so-called “Kate Middleton effect” — by which anything the Duchess of Cambridge wears becomes an instant best-seller — seems to know no bounds.

She has graced the covers of countless magazines; entire blogs are devoted to what she wears. And, as it happens, the duchess is the perfect style icon for observant Jewish women.

Sarah Jessica Parker also helped popularize the style when she donned one that looked like a garden (with monarch butterflies, to boot) to the London premiere of the “Sex and the City” movie, Lady Gaga’s been spotted in fascinators, and the headwear selections of several guests at Middleton’s 2011 wedding to Prince William set social media abuzz. (Post-wedding, sales of fascinators reportedly climbed 300 percent — so much so that an inevitable backlash is underway.)

But for observant women, fascinators offer a fashionable take on a rule in the Mishnah Berurah — a 19th-century commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, a Jewish code of law — that forbids any blessing or prayers to be said in the presence of a married woman with her hair uncovered.

Today, some fashion-forward Jewish women now wear fascinators in place of a hat or lace doily during services at synagogue.

“It’s always great when Jewish law and fashion can coexist,” says Allison Josephs, the Orthodox founder of the website Jew in the City. “Fashion is one of the ways observant Jewish culture can grab pieces of larger culture, and women don’t have to feel cut off.”

More observant women wear fascinators atop their wigs.

“Women who wear wigs aren’t going to replace one with a fascinator, but they’ll add it,” Josephs adds. “It’s a fun accessory.”

Bella Basaleli, who owns Bella’s Hats and runs hat parties in the New York metropolitan area, says nearly half the headpieces she sells are fascinators.

For women in the more liberal modern Orthodox synagogues, they’re a trendy alternative for those moving away from wearing the more traditional hats.

“A lot of these girls wouldn’t wear anything otherwise,” Basaleli says.

Most of Basaleli’s fascinators cost $40 to $120. She decided to start her business after paying “way too much” for a fascinator for her son’s bar mitzvah at a boutique on Long Island two years ago.

“I wanted headwear that was different than what I would normally wear to shul,” she says. “As it was a special occasion, I decided to wear a fascinator. Fascinators were becoming very trendy at our shul, and it was the first time I had ever bought one.”

Leah Zweihorn wears fascinators to her modern Orthodox synagogue in Queens with some regularity (when she first married, Zweihorn covered her hair all the time; now she only does it at synagogue). At a recent family wedding, she picked a fascinator to match her dress.

“They’re just more fun than hats,” Zweihorn says. “Also, I find it harder to talk to people — especially in a crowded room — with a hat, since it blocks some of my view. But even more significantly, many of them come down over my ears and it’s harder to hear.”

Zweihorn gets plenty of attention when she wears a fascinator, she says, and at shul she tends to opt for larger ones that cover more hair.

“My husband feels strongly about women covering their hair in shul, so I like to wear something a little bit more substantial,” she says.

Indeed, not all synagogues or rabbis agree on the legitimacy of the fascinator as a head covering. Some synagogues in England — where fascinators have enjoyed long-running popularity, even prior to the ‘Kate effect’ — explicitly state the headwear is not permitted.

For example, the website at the Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue, just outside London, states: “All Jewish married ladies must wear a hat or other head covering (not just a ‘fascinator’) while in the Synagogue.”

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But Rabbi Benjamin Skydell of Congregation Orach Chaim, a modern Orthodox synagogue in Manhattan, explains that a fascinator — even one on the smaller side — may be entirely kosher. The passages in the Talmud that deal with the standards of hair covering mention little about how much hair must be covered, he says. There’s even discussion as to whether wearing just a basket on one’s head is enough (remember, women way back when carried baskets).

“A fascinator may very well fit the minimum requirement,” Skydell says.

But the rabbi also recognizes that many women who wear fascinators to synagogue are less concerned about the Talmudic rules and see it more as a fashionable take on a long-held tradition.

“For a lot of modern Orthodox women, it’s a vestige of the past,” he says of these women covering their heads in shul.

For women in Conservative congregations, the emergence of fascinators is a sign of changing times. Johanna Ginsberg, who attends an egalitarian synagogue in New Jersey, says she’s seen them pop up in in recent years. She even held a hat party earlier this year where fascinators were among the pieces for sale.

“Older women in the Conservative community carry more baggage when it comes to head covering,” she says. “They see hats as anti-feminist and prefer to wear kippot,” which were traditionally seen as a necessity for men only, not women.

“But the younger women don’t feel the way because they haven’t had to confront this issue. Many of those women like hats and fascinators because they feel more feminine than the kippah.”

One downside to the look has absolutely nothing to do with modesty.

“It’s potchky,” Zweihorn admits, using the Yiddish expression to mean time-intensive.

Rather than a hat, which can be plopped on your head and fix a bad hair day, a fascinator requires perfect placement.

“I don’t like it to look like I’m wearing a headband, so I need to cover the band with my hair,” she explains. “It takes more time.”

The end result, though, is worth the trouble.

“They’re fun to wear,” Zweihorn says, “and I fully intend on expanding my collection.”Read more at:mermaid prom dresses uk

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But what exactly is it, and what does it do?

Well, to give it its full medical finery, it is a neurotoxin (its full name is Botulinum Toxin ), whose purpose is essentially to reduce fine lines and wrinkles by paralysing the underlying muscles.

Or, in simple every-day language, it is essentially a type of Cosmetic Injection or Anti-Wrinkle Injectable, albeit the most widely recognised one of all, owing to its longevity (it is now 25 years old and counting ).

The difference between Botox and Fillers

Botox and fillers are very similar; both are used to reduce fine lines and wrinkles around the entire face area: forehead lines, frown lines, crow’s feet, cheekbones, lip contour and lip volume.

However, there are subtle differences between what are really two slightly different types of anti-wrinkle injectables:

Botox, on the one hand, is an injectable that is used to treat active facial lines - in other words, those lines that have only recently formed. Fillers, on the other hand, are used to treat firmly established wrinkles, reducing them simply by adding volume

Botox is probably now more famous than the many famous people who use it…and who regard it as just another essential part of their self-beautifying regime; look at any picture of any A-lister star and the chances are that the youthful, wrinkle-free face that you see before you has been accentuated enormously by the wonders of Botox or fillers.

From Kylie Jenner to Amanda Brunker

Kylie Jenner of Kardashian fame, is a perfect case in point; yes she is of course blessed with plenty of natural beauty. However, she freely admits that her wonderfully luscious lips are enhanced and maintained by the magic of fillers.

But of course, fillers are no longer designed purely for Hollywood mega stars with bucket loads of money, far from it. In fact and our own Amanda Brunker, author and model, feels that Botox is the only cure for stopping the rot (of ageing! ) and regularly avails of the treatments.

Amanda is a huge advocate of the wonders of cosmetic surgery because, although as a model and celebrity who is very much in the public eye she believes in eating well, exercising often and living as healthily as possible, she also realises that nothing can remove wrinkles from a face quite like Botox / Fillers can!

Botox and Fillers are temporary and completely safe - so enhance your natural look, knowing that nothing is permanent!

The great thing about both Dermal Fillers and Botox is that they are proven to be extremely safe treatments, with less than 1% of all treatments resulting in even minor side effects.

In fact, the main risk that people face is not the treatment itself, but rather the way in which it is administered by practitioners who are simply not well qualified in the area of cosmetic injections.

So, here’s our best advice: if you are considering fillers or some other anti-wrinkle injectable treatment you should only ever consider putting your trust in a clinic that has a proven track record and history, as well of course, as a leading, highly qualified, expert Cosmetic Doctor.Read more at:http://www.marieprom.co.uk/short-prom-dresses

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Kenzo Takada, an active pioneer in global fashion circles among Japanese designers, is as busy as ever in Paris this year, the 50th anniversary of moving his work base to the City of Light.

Recently, I visited his atelier, which is located in a historical building with a spectacular view of Paris and adorned with paintings and works of art. When talking about making clothes, he gave a mild smile, an indication of his warm, unaffected personality.

Based in Paris, he has made his "Kenzo" brand known worldwide. People's craze for the brand in the 1970s and 1980s is still a topic at Paris Fashion Week. It is said one of his shows was forced to shut down as too many people flocked to it.

A Hyogo Prefecture native, Takada was born in 1939. He learned clothing design at the Bunka Fashion College before moving to Paris. The capital of fashion seemed to be very sophisticated for the young Takada when he arrived there in 1965.

"I felt it was as if women had slipped out from fashion magazines and were walking on the Champs-Elysees avenue. For men, slim suits were trendy, so I couldn't wear clothes I brought from Japan as they looked so unsophisticated," Takada said.

In 1970, he held his first collection featuring clothes with ethnic flavors and vivid colors, which was accepted well.

"At that time, I wanted to use my Japanese identity as my strength in making clothes," he said. "I incorporated linear forms as seen in kimono and used Japanese fabrics and coordinated their motifs and vivid colors such as coordinating a kimono with its accessories before putting it on."

His dress using kimono fabric bearing a traditional motif of hemp leaves was selected for a cover photo for the Elle fashion magazine in 1970. It was an unforgettable, joyful event for Takada.

He is said to have been a pioneer in incorporating amusing elements into fashion shows, such as letting models walk freely to music.

"I did these things just feverishly without calculation, and they were accepted as new," he said. "At first, I asked acquaintances to be my models without fees. I used music and clothes that were just what I had at that time. We did it with no rehearsal."

Shoes for a show arrived right before the event. Buttons were being stitched to clothes up until the very moment of a show's start. This last-minute work style also stemmed from his strong desire to surprise people.

"When I moved to Paris, some Japanese residents there said to me, 'It's never ever possible for a Japanese to work in the fashion industry in Paris.' It was because Japanese were regarded as carrying a camera to copy apparel designs," he said. "But journalists in Paris evaluated my works fairly. Now, Japan and Japanese culture are really adored by young Parisians."

With the globalisation of the fashion industry, Paris Fashion Week has changed, according to Takada.

"In the 1980s, designers presented more than 100 clothes at each collection. Now, the number is about 50 at most," he said. "Due to the development of the Internet, information is delivered instantly. So transitions of fashion trends have been accelerated over the past 20 years."

He also said: "The meaning of collections has changed, too. Fashion brands tend to put more emphasis on presenting products that can sell well, rather than freely making what they want to make. I feel a bit sad about it."

He's also concerned young Japanese designers have been less adventurous or curious about new things. "I say this because I was nothing but adventurous and curious," he said. "In this globalised society, Japanese designers should find their own value in presenting things that are not found in the West."

He was decorated with highest-rank Commandeur (commander) of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 1998. He was also decorated with the Medal with Purple Ribbon by the Japanese government in 1999.

He retired as a fashion designer in 1999. He is now involved in designing tableware and interiors. "Recently, I worked with an architect to help design a hotel in Cambodia," he said. "Working with young designers in their 20s and being stimulated by them is my source of energy."

Fashion may seem pale in the run of things but in fact has enormous power because clothes reflect society and casually deliver the feeling of the time to people, Takada said.

On Sept. 17, he held an event in Paris to thank people for his 50-year stay in France. He entertained about 750 guests with a Japanese drumming performance and cancan dancing. Two elephants made a surprise appearance.

He is as powerful and curious as ever. "I hope I continue to work for Japan and Paris. Both are my hometowns," he said.Read more at:pink prom dresses