Joanna Mastroianni launched her signature collection 15 years ago. Clean and sensuous lines describe this talented designer’s style. Fall 2008 is inspired by the Kingdom of Morocco, with Moorish architecture, elaborate grillwork and the delicacy of inlaid tiles. Descriptions like Tangerine/copper/black print cap-sleeve, and Cypress bengaline elongated jacket with mandarin collar and half-belt, matching slim pants—don’t begin to describe the intricacies of Joanna Mastroianni’s most recent designs.

Brazilian designer Vlademar Iódice’s love for design came from watching his mother hand sew their family’s clothes. Following in his family’s footsteps, he learned the technical aspects of creating and producing clothes. He launched his label in 1987 and created a trademark with his last name. Vlademar is personally involved in every step while creating his designs. He explains that his creativity and inspiration is nurtured by whatever surrounds him.

Jayson Brunsdon has been involved in the fashion industry for 20 years. He was first an illustrator and stylist and the creative director for an Australian fashion brand, Morrisey. Jayson’s client list includes HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, Linda Evangelista, and Naomi Watts. His designs have been featured in UK Vogue , Marie Claire Australia, and Harper’s Bazaar Australia.

Gloria Bass is the wife of a fireman and a stay-at-home mom who home schools her teenage daughter. She has a hefty schedule volunteering in her community and designs beautiful vintage jewelry in her spare time. She has only been designing and selling her jewelry a short while and has already sold quite a few pieces in select boutiques. She has been featured in Ocean Magazine and Riviera Magazine. Celebrities Gloria Loring, Anastasia Brown, Leeza Gibbons, and Cathy Rigby also own pieces from the Vintage Glo collection.

Socialite, fashion designer Esther Nash is a graduate of FIT, and has attended and received several scholarships to the top schools of design in New York. My head was spinning when she listed her credentials. I found it even more intriguing when she told me that she used to model, was a gymnast, and was also a ballerina with the Joffrey Ballet for 5 years. She has appeared in several television shows, movies, and commercials including Law & Order and Lift. And her designs have been featured on Sex in the City.

Candice Held is an LA-based designer who creates one-of-a-kind pieces from recycled scarves. She puts pieces together from hand-woven, hand-laundered scarves. She defines the Candice woman as fun, feminine, vibrant, and liking to have a good time. Her spring/summer collection is about the first bloom of spring when the flowers come out; and the heat of summer, which inspired her “hot air balloon” print.

Sympathy for the Kettle is not your typical tea retailer. It was started back in December 2003 in the East Village in New York City. Jodi Holiday purchased the initially dark and bankrupt Korean tea room and its business, learned the art of tea, and created a whole new tea experience. She experienced tea while living in Germany and traveling through Denmark, France, and Holland. That’s when she made the switch from European coffee to tea layered in herbs and dried fruit.

(Written by Kaylene Peoples)

The trick to weight loss is simply to use up more energy than you take in (food and stored fat are energy). Now, you first have to make sure you don’t eat less than your body’s safety point, called your BMR. This is basically how many calories you would burn if you were to just sit for a 24-hour period.

(A new column by fitness trainer/nutritionist Anthony Heredia)

Your body doesn’t care what you look like. It doesn’t care what car you drive, what job you have, what designer name you’re wearing; who you know, what style is in fashion, what color hair you have, or even who you married. Your body has better things to worry about like, hmmm, survival.

A 90-year-old man—or is he 93?—narrates the story of his one summer as a veterinarian with the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth during the summer of 1931 in depression-era America. Jacob Jankowski resides in an assisted living home with other elderly people, many of whom require more medical attention than he. He is quite mentally astute for his age, yet because of his age, most of the people in charge of the facility treat him as mentally incompetent, all but Rosemary, a forty-seven-year-old nurse, who treats him and the rest of the patients/residents with the loving care, dignity, and respect they deserve as human beings.

(Reviewed By Lee L. Peoples)