Fashion Trends
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Chinese labels flock to Paris to go global in high fashion

Kristen S. Sykes

PARIS, Oct 6 (Reuters) – Chinese fashion labels, including Shang Xia, Icicle and Fosun Fashion Group, are embracing Paris as a springboard for their international ambitions, opening flagship stores in the city and hiring French designers to burnish their credentials.

Chinese shoppers are the biggest buyers of luxury goods worldwide, including those of big European players like LVMH (LVMH.PA) and Gucci owner Kering . But China also has its own fashion companies that are growing fast at home and are now targeting the global market.

Chinese-owned brands are looking to expand abroad, sparking a trend of new labels being established in the country with the goal of international growth, said Yishu Wang, co-founder of Half a World, a firm that offers marketing advice to brands seeking to expand overseas.

“The Chinese market is very saturated and it’s just become very, very expensive to grow,” she said, noting that it was

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Fashoin Style
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The Hottest Brands to Watch

Kristen S. Sykes

Sustainability was the word of the day at this year’s Copenhagen Fashion Week for the spring 2022 season. The Danish capital’s newly implemented rule states that all brands participating in shows must be at least 60 percent sustainable to be included. And everything Danes do—from the beauty products they put on their impossibly fresh faces to the overcoats they wear in case of a quick rainstorm to the Teslas they drive—stems from a sustainable or eco-conscious mindset.

Not only are Copenhagen residents ahead of the curve sustainability-wise, they also have one of the most gender-fluid and diverse fashion weeks. During a whirlwind three days, most of the collections I saw were entirely unisex. Some brands showed love for women’s bodies by having pregnant women walk in their shows, which I appreciated. Curiously enough, instead of the candy-colored street style seen on editors and influencers, the runway looks tended to be

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Face and Body Spa
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Former auto body shop worker opens ‘healing’ salt cave in St. Cloud

Kristen S. Sykes

ST. CLOUD — At 8, Christina Piecek dreamed of owning a spa.

As an adult, she took the first step toward that dream by going to massage school, but she eventually ended up working in an auto body shop.

Then a few years ago, her father — a veteran who adopted Piecek — died by suicide after struggling with pain medication and its side effects for years.

“He was taking a bunch of pills every single day, and I saw him deteriorate from this big-muscled burly Marine to a shriveled-up person in a very short period of time,” Piecek said. “He was prescribed pills, and he was prescribed pills for the side effects.”

Piecek, 39, said she started researching alternative medicines after her father’s death. She stumbled upon salt therapy by happenstance.

“I found a salt cave on Groupon,” she said. “I thought, ‘I’m going to try that.’ I did

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Fashion & Shopping
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35 AAPI and Asian-Owned Brands to Support Now and Always

Kristen S. Sykes

Anti-Asian hate crimes have been on the rise since the start of the pandemic, but the United States has had a deep, storied history of oppression against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Following the tragic shooting in Atlanta, which reinforced the reality that Asian women have long-faced violence rooted in hypersexualization and fetishism, it’s clear that the AAPI community needs your support and solidarity now more than ever.

According to Amy Liu, founder of beauty brand Tower 28, “[Support] can look like many things: standing up for your Asian employees and coworkers (even when people brush things off as ‘just a joke’), letting your personal network know where you stand on the issue, and making a conscious effort to dispel the hurtful stereotypes.” Of course, you can educate yourself on the AAPI experience, donate to nonprofit organizations, and bookmark resources to help #StopAsianHate.

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