Bravo, Zoe!

And once you’re done buying these, check out some other looks Zoe created, such as her amazing faux-fur vests and her beautiful oversized sequined clutches that can work for day with its chain strap and easily transitions for cocktail hour.

Her QVC line has delivered these amazingly affordable, oversized plastic sunglasses to keep the sunshine out of your eyes and to keep the paparazzi going crazy wondering who you are. I love the scale, the size and the gradient lens that makes you appear like a VIP. The cut of the frame is so good, in fact, that it works on most face shapes. They come in gradient black, brown, purple and red.

These $34 swoon-worthy sunglasses are basically modeled after all the vintage eyewear that she used to style on her girls — including Nicole Richie as well as herself.

I have to say, I had been waiting for something like this from stylist-to-the-stars Rachel Zoe for a long time.

Photo: Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images

Berklee says its alumni include Quincy Jones, Esperanza Spalding, Diana Krall, Joey Kramer, Natalie Maines, John Mayer, Aimee Mann, Branford Marsalis, Melissa Etheridge and Gary Burton, who have won a total of 221 Grammys.

The city’s Berklee College of Music also has honored influential Ethiopian musician Mulatu Astatke, an alumnus.

BOSTON (AP) — The largest independent college of contemporary music in the world has awarded honorary degrees to the Eagles and Grammy Award-winning country singer Alison Krauss at a ceremony in Boston.

Eagles Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit didn’t perform at the nonprofit school.

Students paid tribute to the artists with a concert featuring their music. More than 900 students from 58 countries graduated from Berklee this year.

The style is so hot right now that I’m thinking of ordering one or two from FredFlare.com. But, be afraid when the almighty bustier makes a return. I for one will actually sit out on that one since I’ve already been there and done that. Just watch all the young’un’s frantically lace up and try the old hook and eye!

I found this version available for pre-order on FredFare.com designed by BB Dakota, one of our favorite designers. It comes in both black and white, and the look is favored by celebs like Beyonce and Rihanna, who have recently donned Balmain’s version. Their choices are fierce and also priced at about $6,000-$11,000.

PRODUCT DETAILS

Hook & eye closures.

Purchase information: Buy it here.

Black or white.

$80 PREORDER NOW

Available in XS thru LG.

A throwback to the Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper look, this style of jacket is back in a huge way!

Designer of the Year: Nicholas Kirkwood
Launches of the Year: Brian Atwood for B Brian Atwood; Rachel Zoe
Vivian Infantino Award for Emerging Talent: Burak Uyan

Company of the Year: Steve Madden
Retailer of the Year: Mindy Grossman, CEO, for HSN
Independent Retailer of the Year: Ron White
Brands of the Year: Vince Camuto; Angel Martinez and Connie Rishwain for Ugg Australia
Marketer of the Year: Adidas

Icon Award for Social Impact: Kenneth Cole
Lifetime Achievement Award: Manolo Blahnik
Hall of Fame: Patricia Field; Jim and Larry Tarica of Jimlar Corp.

Photo: Dave M. Bennett / Getty Images

I love this Zipper bracelet because with all those spikes and studs and chains out there, it’s nice to have something else to layer or stack.

Accessorize your LBD or leather jacket with this cool bracelet in either gold or silver. Mix the two or style with all those other cuffs or even your summer studded ethnic bracelets. You won’t break the bank at $15 a piece.

PRODUCT DETAILS
A stylized version of the humble closure, without which, we would be all buttoned up.
- 2 5?8 diameter
- Gold or Silver plated
- Nickel/Lead Safe

Purchase information: Buy it here.

But as a division of the British Army, the main role of the Royal Flying Corps, with its hundreds of pilots and thousands of ground crew, was very different.

Read the full Magazine article from 2009 Timewatch clip on aircraft of WWI

The Royal Flying Corps came into being 100 years ago and played a key role in World War I - but who were its heroic pilots and why was the corps so special?

By the end of the war, large fighters and long-range bombers were the norm, capable of much greater distances - and crucially, they were much more reliable.

Reading the squadron logs, it is heart-breaking how many pilots in the early stages of the war died or were seriously injured by aircraft that suffered mechanical breakdown or crash-landed, even before they got into combat.

Continue reading the main story Flying high Royal Flying Corps (RFC) formed 1912 Originally under Brigadier-General Henderson, with separate branches for Army and Navy Responsibilities involved aerial reconnaissance, fighter interception and tactical support There was a parallel force in the Royal Naval Air Service Of 14,000 airmen killed in WWI, well over half died in training Royal Air Force formed 1918 from a merger of RFC and the RNAS RAF interactive history of aviation Early Years of Military Flight (RAF) British Army 1916-18

At first, observers sketched rough maps of what they could see.

The first five squadrons to arrive in France included one of balloonists, brave men who risked their craft being set on fire or shot down as they were winched into position to survey the enemy. But before long, the fixed wing aircraft took on the main role of reconnaissance.

Continue reading the main story Find out more 100 Years of the Royal Flying Corps with Peter and Dan Snow is on BBC Radio 4, Monday 7 May at 11:00 BST

One artillery spotter reported having more than 600 rounds of explosive shells fired at him during a 40-minute crossing and re-crossing of the lines to direct the gunnery.

Initially, planes flew above enemy terrain almost unhindered. But soon enemy aircraft and ground-based anti-aircraft fire made the task more difficult and highly dangerous.

The Red Baron, a key rival

An Avro 504, in which pilots learned their craft

The real heroes of the war in the air were the pilots and observers who flew in all conditions to maintain British air superiority, and to keep the ground troops aware of everything that the enemy was doing.

The other was taking detailed photographs of the trenches. Cumbersome cameras had to be operated over the side of the cockpit, and reloaded at altitude as the aircraft dodged enemy fire.

Albert Ball VC and James McCudden VC - two of the most successful fighter aces - both started their careers as ordinary soldiers. And Mick Mannock VC was regarded as a "social misfit".

It was the eyes of the army.

For the first time in history, it was possible not only to get a detailed view of the enemy lines from above, but to see what was going on behind those lines - the trench systems, the support routes, the railways and road vehicles that manoeuvred troops and weaponry into position.

In most accounts of WWI, mention of the Royal Flying Corps goes hand-in-hand with stories of the fighter aces, men like Albert Ball and James McCudden, who downed dozens of enemy planes.

The Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden has one of the world's largest collections of airworthy WWI aircraft, and by today's standards they look terrifyingly flimsy.

But soon two distinct roles developed. One was helping the big guns of the Royal Artillery find their range, flying over the targets and signalling (later sending radio messages) to the gunners to improve the accuracy of their aim.

Notable RFC figures included (left to right) Hugh Trenchard, commander of the RFC and later Chief of the Air Staff, James McCudden VC and Albert Ball VC

But the men who commanded the RFC, Sir David Henderson, Frederick Sykes and Hugh Trenchard, recognised that they needed to train the very best men from all walks of life.

But the inspirational hero of both his squadron and the RAF was struggling to control his nerves.

"There was both a fierce personal rivalry and a mutual respect between the aces on both sides," says Snow. "When Albert Ball crashed after defeating the Red Baron's brother, the Germans buried him with full military honours."

The romance of gladiatorial combat in the air - initially firing revolvers at one another from the cockpit, and then shooting machine guns through the propellers of the aircraft - makes their adventures against such legendary foes as the Red Baron some of the most stirring tales of the Great War.

But all of them excelled in aerial combat, proving that the bravest and most resourceful of pilots could come from any walk of life.

"Feeling nervy and ill during the last week. Afraid I'm breaking up," he wrote in his diary.

Continue reading the main story Major Edward 'Mick' Mannock VC

He was a committed socialist and at 29 he was much older than his fellow pilots.

Behind his brash exterior was a deeply sensitive man. Born into a working class military family, Mannock was not the typical young public school airman associated with WWI movies.

At the start of the war, pilots had to pay for their own training, and were only reimbursed when they qualified. So initially being a pilot seemed to be a rich man's sport.

By 1918, the RFC had proved its worth to the army. But as Trenchard realised, it was beginning to develop a role for itself that was independent of the army and the navy, namely long-range bombing, far behind enemy lines. As the strategic need for a third, independent force grew, the RFC was subsumed into the new Royal Air Force.

When historian Dan Snow flew in the Avro 504 trainer at the collection, he felt every variation. The plane responded almost like a living thing to slight alterations in wind speed and felt different as it flew over buildings and trees.

It took five men on the ground to keep each pilot in the air, to start the aircraft, and to maintain and repair the planes.

The Royal Flying Corps saw the most rapid technological development of flying machinery ever. In 1912, when the corps was formed, its Farman "kites" were not unlike the Wright Brothers' aircraft that had made the first powered flight nine years before.

Despite the appalling noise, and his tiny wood and canvas aircraft being blown about the sky, he and his plane suffered no more damage than a tiny scratch to the upper wing.

Last year, young designer Fabiola Arias’ entrance-making dresses snagged her a coveted Fashion Group International Rising Star Award, and she has continued to pick up steam ever since, landing her collection in numerous Neiman Marcus Couture salons and garnering attention from Chicago’s Ikram Goldman.

This season, the Cuban-born Parsons grad made the next natural step in a budding design career, unveiling her latest collection at the Hotel Americano with her first formal fashion show. “I was thinking about winged creatures and my signature style of rich colors and texture manipulation. I just wanted the dresses to look like birds,” she said of the cocktail dresses and gowns, embellished with meticulously feathered chiffon in rich ombré jewel tones. Arias kept the focus on her experiments with fabric, such as a distressed emerald brocade or nude organza scattered with delicate rosettes. Additional drama appeared via headpieces crafted by her mother, a costume designer, and furthered the avian theme with wild fans of exotic feathers. Such confident peacocking appeals to Arias’ ideal customer, “a woman who wants to look like nobody else. She wants to be unique, and is a vibrant and luminous person wearing the most fabulous gowns.”
—Nina Stotler

Before joining ProPublica, Engelberg worked for The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, The Dallas Morning News, The New York Times and The Oregonian of Portland, Ore.

NEW YORK (AP) — The managing editor of the nonprofit news organization ProPublica has been named to the 19-member board that administers the Pulitzer Prizes in journalism and the arts.

ProPublica was the first online news organization to win a Pulitzer. It won the investigative reporting prize in 2010 for chronicling life-and-death decisions by a hospital’s exhausted doctors after Hurricane Katrina. A year later it won the national reporting prize for exposing Wall Street practices that contributed to the nation’s economic meltdown.