Fashion Briefs: Diesel Black Gold loses its driving force

Kokosalaki departs from Diesel

The Greek fashion designer Sophia Kokosalaki is stepping down from her position as the creative director at Diesel Black Gold. Her final spring/summer 2013 collection will show in September at New York Fashion Week. The farewell came after three years of collaboration and is said to have ended amicably.

Fashion films head to New York

Next month's New York Film Festival will be showcasing six fashion-themed short films, chosen by a panel that includes Donald Schneider, the creative director of H&M and Jaime Perlman, the creative director of British Vogue. The shorts, less than three minutes long, denote the importance placed on fashion brands to work with different digital outlets.

Carole White to work on memoir

Premier Model Management's co-founder Carole White is working on a memoir about her life as a model agent for the likes of Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer and Cindy Crawford. With a reality show, The Model Agency, based on Premier Model Management, White's book will expand the company's reach when it hits stores in April 2013.

Bill Blass fires team

The New York-based label Bill Blass Limited has laid off its whole womenswear team as well as the creative director Jeffrey Monteiro. The company's president cancelled their spring/summer 2013 show next month, despite the fact that most of the clothes had already been completed and the venue already paid for.

Look of the week

The most memorable fashion moment so far in the London Olympics happened on its very first day, when the US swimmer Ryan Lochte flashed an American flag dental grill - sparkling stars and stripes in diamond form - as he received his gold medal for the men's 400m individual medley. Created for him by the rapper Paul Wall and the jeweller Johnny Dang, it reportedly cost US$25,000 (Dh92,000). "It's a way of showing my unique personality to everyone," said the water whiz. While this patriotic showing seems harmless, we do have to ask: what was he thinking? Like winning an Olympic gold doesn't get one enough attention?