Cyber chic? Internet technology becoming fashion friendly

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(SAN FRANCISCO-AFP) -- Models wearing Google Glass eyewear, Pebble smartwatches and other hot gadgets strutted a catwalk late Monday as Internet technology continued to merge with the world of fashion.

A Digital Fall fashion show here marked the close of the first Glazed Conference devoted to setting the stage for wearable computing startups to become billion-dollar businesses.

"It looks like technology for the sake of technology is dead," said Eliane Fiolet, co-founder of popular technology news website Ubergizmo.com and organizer of the fashion show.

"People want a great piece of technology that works well and looks great."

Companies are increasingly tuning into desires for sophisticated gadgets that also let people express personal styles, she noted.

Jawbone lets people customize colors of Jambox wireless speakers that synch wirelessly to smartphones, tablets, or laptop computers.

Nike allows people visiting its website to design their own athletic shoes, and matches some sports attire with wearable devices that track daily active for those chasing fitness goals.

"There will be more and more integration with fashion and technology," Fiolet said. "We are just at the very start of it."

She believed that Google has touched on a winning formula with Google Glass Internet-linked eyewear, which have become a fashion trend in the San Francisco and Silicon Valley areas.

"We are in the next stage of human evolution," said Glazed Conference organizer Redg Snodgrass, co-founder of Stained Glass Labs startup accelerator devoted to revving up the wearable computing industry.

"Entrepreneurs aren't those nerds living in a closet anymore," Snodgrass said as the fashion show was about to commence in a club not far from Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco. "They are out there pushing the limit. Anything that is technologically fascinating is sexy, and fashion is tied to that."

While fitness has been a winning theme for early wearable computing devices, such as UP and Fitbit bracelets for providing feedback on whether people are hitting activity and sleep goals, Snodgrass thinks films and games will be the next areas to catch fire.

The one-day Glazed Conference was intended to bring together entrepreneurs, investors and others to explore ways to realize ideas and make money in the world of wearable computing.

"Not only did they show up, they brought the heat," Snodgrass said of the turnout. "They brought some great stuff."

Among the attendees was self-described 'cybertechnician' Tyler Freeman, who sported Drum Pants lined with sensors that let him play percussion beats by slapping various spots on his legs. The sensor strips are held in place with Velcro, meaning they can be swapped between pieces of a wardrobe, he explained.

"The goal is to get banned in public schools; then we know we are a success," said the San Francisco-based entrepreneur.

Tapping on Drum Pants sends signals wirelessly to smartphones, which then direct thumps or synthesized sounds to come from speakers. The sensors could be used to control PowerPoint presentations or Google Glass cameras with casual touches of a leg, according to Freeman.

Fiolet already has her sites set on next year's show, with hopes of being able to showcase creations of London-based Cute Circuit, the cyber chic fashion house that wowed the world with a "Twitter Dress" worn by a celebrity to a 4G mobile network launch event in Britain in late 2012.

LED lights designed into the gown displayed posts from the globally-popular one-to-many messaging service.

Technology and fashion need to be combined tastefully to make for a winning creation, according to Fiolet.

"It has to be good looking; be a great piece of technology, and monitor something you care about," she contended. "If you don't care, you will never wear it. And, if it is ugly, you will never wear it."

Newport International Group Tokyo Economic Warning: Tokyo eyes economic boost with Olympics

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Real estate markets will boom and Tokyo Bay will be redeveloped if the Japanese capital wins the right to host the 2020 Olympics, a senior business leader told investors Wednesday.

Toyota Motor honorary chairman Fujio Cho said the already busy city would become even livelier if the sporting extravaganza came to town.

"It's certain that real estate markets will be quite active" if Tokyo's bid is successful, he told members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan.

"Without doubt, the Tokyo Bay area will be redeveloped on a large scale.

"In terms of road-building, there are many places where ring roads are not complete just because of small sections that have not yet been constructed.

"If the Olympics are to be hosted here, I think there will be a big boost in morale among Japanese people, which will enable the construction and completion of such projects," he said.

Tokyo is competing with Istanbul and Madrid for the right to stage the Games, with the final decision set to be made by the 100-strong International Olympic Committee at a meeting in Buenos Aires on September 7.

While many large Asian cities are throbbing with construction projects as their economies surge, there are few cranes standing over the Japanese capital these days.

The investment boost that hosting the Games could bring would be a welcome fillip for Japan, whose economy has struggled for much of the last two decades.

It would also dovetail well with a renewed push by the government to turn things around, with lavish public spending promised for infrastructure projects.

Tokyo is the only one of the three candidate cities to have previously hosted the Games, in 1964. It has promised to be a "safe pair of hands" with such advantages as financial strength, potential marketing and sponsorship opportunities and established infrastructure.

"I hope the younger generation can feel the prosperous future I had experienced in 1964," said Cho, who joined Toyota from university a few years before Tokyo hosted the Games.

Cho said his salary had risen considerably since that time "but recently the salaries of young people are not going up".

"I hope the Olympics come here, and together with 'Abenomics', the salaries of young people will rise," he said, referring to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policy aimed at kickstarting the economy.

Istanbul has emphasised its role as a city with a foot in both Asia and Europe, but anti-government protests there in recent months have cast a cloud over its bid.

Madrid, despite general worries over the plight of the Spanish economy, won universal praise from IOC members when the three cities presented their bids.

Lessons from the stylish: Tamara Rojo

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Humiliatingly, I think mine might be bigger - and it's only a fashion legacy. At least hers is an honourable dancing wound, although there's some debate about that. She's addicted to high heels, preferably from Prada - like many dancers, she finds flats painful.

Toe issues apart, she's a bit on the perfect side. Raven of hair with unlined skin the colour of swan's feathers, her colouring comes from her mother, who's so fair she can't go in the sun at all - something of a challenge in their native Madrid.

Lessons from the stylish: Inès de la Fressange

Rojo moved to London when she was 18 to dance with the Royal Ballet. She must have been one of the few small girls in the world not attracted by the uniform. "I hated pink when I was younger - I still don't wear it if I can avoid it. My favourite outfit when I was little was a bright yellow T-shirt with a Goofy face."

Spain in the Eighties didn't have much of a ballet tradition. It took a year to convince her parents she was serious, and she was 14 before she slipped into her first proper tutu and danced for the first time in public. "My parents had to buy it and I remember thinking that it was really expensive for them. It was a good tutu, though. I used it a lot in my twenties."

Dancers' wardrobes are generally a game of two halves: the glamorous outfits they wear to first-night galas and their rehearsal sweats, the more battered the better. "Dancers in New York tend to be very groomed. It's all about the pearl earrings and red lipstick. In Europe we're more grungy. We want to be 'artistes' and cool so we pretend we don't care. But a lot of care goes into those old leggings."

Complicating the wardrobe scenario, Rojo was appointed artistic director of English National Ballet last year at the age of 38 and her game changed radically. Sensing that torn T-shirts and faded leggings wouldn't cut it, she rushed out and bought an office uniform. "Fitted dresses, jackets, the lot." That regime lasted about six weeks. "Not very me. Now she's back in leggings, boots and long shirts, until she changes into her sweats again at the end of the working day - she's still a sought-after prima ballerina. Last month it was Swan Lake in front of an audience of 5,000 in the Albert Hall for several nights. In a few weeks she's doing "Song of a Wayfarer" as part of the ENB's Tribute to Nureyev: her evenings are spent at the barre.

Lessons from the stylish: Bec Clarke

Although the staff scuttling around the hospital-like corridors above the rehearsal studios where her office is are clearly protective of her and at pains to make her work schedule viable, she doesn't appear wracked with that neurotic fragility that some dancers exude. "At this point I've done the thinking behind the roles. That doesn't mean I'm going to repeat myself but I don't waste time over-analysing roles. I know the ones I love - women who don't feel they have to apologise."

None the less, hers is quite a schedule: Tube to work from home, studio by 8am, with her personal trainer until 9.30. Then a meeting with her assistant to go through the day's agenda. After that there's company class from 10.15 until noon, followed by rehearsals until 2.30pm. "That's it," she says, making it sound like a 20-minute relaxation session. "I'm in the office by mid or late afternoon." Tellingly she's never got around to decorating her flat in Bloomsbury. "It's white walls and a disaster," she says cheerfully. At least her boyfriend, Neil Austin, a successful lighting designer in the theatre, could help her out with some soothing tungsten.

Her stamina is formidable - maybe the giant tub of nuts on a bookcase in her office is a contributory factor. Shock horror - dancers eat. But carefully and, in her case, quite a lot of yogurt. They know how to wear clothes too - it's not just the highly self-critical streak; they learn to navigate scratchy, heavy costumes early on. "Sometimes you work with designers who haven't thought it through and it feels like you're dancing in a cage. If I have a big, cumbersome costume I like to rehearse with it for two weeks before opening night. But you can never prevent rips. Hems get stood on all the time, especially during pas de deux. You hear this tearing sound. Luckily the seamstresses are amazing. They stand in the wings and mend something in seconds."

Dancers, too, are make-up and hair pros, as they generally have to do their own, unless it's especially elaborate. Rojo often spends an hour backcombing to get that Fonteyn-esque bouffant. Tresemmé, she says, is the business. Her own hair is long and generally swept off her face. "I've thought about short hair, but I've seen too many wigs fall off on stage to want to wear them more than I have to."

Lessons from the stylish: Lulu

As artistic director she dreams up the season's repertoire - and then deploys her considerable charm to persuade world-class dancers to sign up. But that shouldn't be a problem - she's not easy to say no to. She's on a mission to collaborate with fashion designers. Vivienne Westwood designed clothes for a recent ENB poster campaign and there will be further collaborations. It's part of her strategy to cross-pollinate ballet with other art forms, and widen its appeal. "There are many seats at the Coliseum for £10, but people don't know that. It's cheaper than the cinema in London - and much cheaper than football."

Your work uniform: Black tutu, black tights. I get most of my dance gear from Chacott, a Japanese label. 
Dancers like to keep it tight: Wrong, I need to wear flowy clothes for my body shape. I need clothes that elongate my body and define my waist. 
Heels or flats? I can't do flats. At weekends I wear those wedge trainers from Isabel Marant. 
Permanent diet? I eat, but carefully. You need to eat at least four hours before you perform - slow-burning carbs and 20 minutes after you perform you need a certain number of grams of protein and carbohydrate to repair the muscle fibres. I usually have a drinking yogurt. 
Best eyeliner for balletic flicks? Rimmel. 
Best for dealing with make-up? Boots No 7 Beautiful Skin Eye Make-Up Remover. It always does the trick, even with false eyelash glue. 
Most treasured item: A long vintage black dress with a whole open back… I like a bit of drama when I go to a first-night party.

Newport International Group Ref 81345798500 NIG: Madridista varoitukseen Chelsean nuoria tähtiä

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Real Madrid nuori avustaja Rodriguez on lähetti varoituksen Chelsean nuoremmille pelaajille, viittaa siihen, että Jose Mourinho ei koskaan kimmoisuus hänelle mahdollisuus.

Tätä on erittäin lahjakas hyökkääjä, joka voi myös olla alas vasen laitahyökkääjä, mutta hän on arvostellut Mourinho koskaan antamalla hänelle mahdollisuus tehdä vaikutuksen hänen ollessaan emäntä Band.

Se on merkittävää kritiikkiä, koska Chelsea ovat puoli täynnä nuoremmille pelaajille ja stars joukkue reunalla, Kaikki haluavat rikkoa.

Jos he kuuntelevat tätä ystävät kommentteja sitten pelkonsa yli saada mahdollisuus Stamford Bridge ensi kaudella voi nopeasti kasaantuvat voimakkaasti muoti.

"Ehkä viime vuonna club ajatellut, että he eivät tarvitse lisää nuoria pelaajia ja Mourinho luulivat, että hän piti allekirjoittaa pelaajia ulkopuolella klubi," hän kertoi AS.

Mourinho Käytä Raphael Varane Real Madrid vastineensa viime kaudella, mikä osoittaa, että hän ei täysin pelkää heittää nuorempi pelaaja syvässä päädyssä erittäin korkea paine tilanteessa ytimessä.

Itse asiassa hän joutui tekemään niin, kun hän oli kiistänyt Pepe, erittäin suosittu hahmo Real Madridissa, mihin kysymyksiin, onko Varane olisi päässyt tilaisuuteen ollut Pepe hiljaisempi yksilön.

Mourinho ensimmäinen oikeinkirjoituksen vastuuhenkilöt Chelseassa ei voi käyttää esimerkkinä siitä, pitäisikö nuorempien pelaajien saada mahdollisuus tällä kertaa kierroksen koska olosuhteet takaisin sitten olivat erilaisia.

Mourinho tuli Roman Abramovitš aikakauden, sai valtavan potin rahaa, ja että on täsmälleen mitä hän teki, tuo toimijoiden ulkopuolelta, joka auttoi heitä club secure back-to-back Valioliiga otsikot.

"Uskon, ehkä olen ansainnut enemmän mahdollisuuksia. Joka tapauksessa, tämä oli Mourinho ajatus ja hän ei ole täällä nyt, joten mitä tahto tapahtuu tulevaisuudessa ja uusi valmentaja ajattelee,"lisätty tätä.

Chelsea on joukko ammattitaitoisia ja erittäin lahjakas nuoremmille pelaajille, jotka kaikki etsivät mahdollisuutta ensi kaudella.

Romelu Lukaku erityisesti toivoo että hän ei koe, mitä on tapahtunut Marko Marin ja ei päädy Thibaut Courtois ja Kevin De Bruyne, jotka molemmat ovat kyseenalaistaneet, onko ne koskaan palaa Chelsea.

Mourinho on paineita tavalla, koska useilla aloilla nykyisen Chelsea-puolella, jossa joukkue on lyhyt numerot ja pelaajat eivät saa mitään nuorempia.

Tässä on toivoen, että hän aikoo tehdä hyvää hänen lupauksensa, kun hän oli paljastaa Chelsean uusi pomo ja todella antaa nuoremmille pelaajille lisää mahdollisuuksia.

Se ei ole jotain, hän on aina tehnyt koko uransa, mutta se on varmasti jotain hän tarvitsee tehdä, luoda vahva Chelsea joukkueet, jos hän on Stamford Bridge pysyä tällä kertaa.