Icon Trend | ICONS | Elizabeth Taylor "Everybody is Blessed by their Gifts". You know, Republicans weren't always so bad. Hell, I married one!

Elizabeth Taylor

Excerpt from an Interview with Elizabeth Taylor 

conducted by James Grissom, Hotel Carlyle, New York City, 1991

You know, Republicans weren't always so bad. Hell, I married one!
But now they're growing so pinched and mean, envious and petty, like the extras on the set, giving the evil eye to the star.

If you live your life or craft a philosophy around the idea that you've been unfairly denied something, then you operate out of spite, and you take things away from people that you feel aren't deserving or they've got things that weren't fairly distributed.

It's how you look at things. I can't sing, God knows, but I benefit from those who can. Would I try to take away the voice of Leontyne Price? The world wins because we have Leontyne Price. [...]. Is it fair that I can't do what they do? I don't deal with questions like that. I ask, Is it fair that I get to wallow in all that they've given me?

Everybody is blessed by their gifts.
No one can take anything away from me, from anyone. But the world is now broken down the middle, with one side believing that their stuff is being purloined by another group.
I want a world, a government, that loves its people and takes care of them.
I want a world that recognizes that the cost of ignoring the sick and the hungry and the uneducated is bigger than any tax. I want a world that is safe, so we listen to those who can show us how to protect it. I want a world that is set, like a perfect gem, on the ideal setting, to display and to remind everyone that this is theirs, this is ours.

I want a world where you get older and have a little something set aside, and then you go out in the world and hold people, read to people, help people on the street. [...]

2016 James Grissom

Elizabeth Taylor Driver's Seat

FASHION BRANDS ARE INVESTING MORE IN INFLUENCER MARKETING THAN EVER

Sabine Warlich - Icon-Trend

EXCERPT 

from Fashionista HERE

by ALYSSA VINGAN KLEIN JAN 27, 2016

When it comes to plugging new products and building credibility, companies are spending whatever they can to get in on the action.

It's no secret that the term "influencer" is tossed around by both brands and consumers ad nauseam these days, and while hearing someone described as such might make your skin crawl, it's impossible to deny the selling power that many of these social media stars possess. In fact, their position as credible content creators is so valuable that brands are allotting more money and manpower than ever in an attempt to get in on the action. 

Budgets dedicated to "influencer" are projected to increase a whopping 59 percent in 2016.

According to a new study published by the Fashion and Beauty Monitor that polled over 300 marketing professionals in both industries, U.S.- and U.K.-based companies see influencer marketing as such a crucial advertising tool that budgets dedicated to it are projected to increase a whopping 59 percent in 2016. The majority of the study's respondents (57 percent) claim that their respective companies already work closely with influencers on paid projects and placements, and that a significant chunk of their marketing budgets — between 30 and 75 percent — is solely dedicated to partnerships with key tastemakers. Of the insiders polled that didn't have an influencer strategy in place, 21 percent plan on building one out over the next 12 months.

On the flip side, brands are also beginning to see that simply throwing wads of cash at any personality with a following in the millions does not equate to a "strategy": 73 percent of the companies polled admit that finding the right influencers with whom to enter into an authentic-seeming partnership is an ongoing challenge and time commitment — and one that is predominately researched in-house. At the same time, since many [...] relevant Internet personalities can cause items they feature to sell out within days or hours, their rates are steadily rising; loads of free product will no longer cut it as compensation. As a result, smaller niche brands are in danger of being priced out of this type of marketing, and larger companies are faced with greater competition in securing tastemakers for projects.

For these companies, the value in partnering with influencers lies in their seemingly credible (though not necessarily unbiased) voice and built-in audience, but according to the study, other criteria that signify a "successful" partnership to marketers are increased traffic to their brand's website, content that's widely shared, press coverage surrounding products and, of course, revenue generation. This is especially true when it comes to getting word out about a new release, as 69 percent of the respondents saw tastemaker placements as a top priority leading up to a launch. So, if you're growing weary of your favorite Instagram stars looking less like real humans and more like living, breathing advertisements, we hate to break it to you, but all signs point to this phenomenon growing in the year ahead.

Read more HERE to browse the study and its findings in full.

Mismatched shoes — same style, different colors, worn together