After years of making jewelry, Jay Strongwater decided to apply enamel and jewels to household items such as picture frames, candlesticks, clocks and winestoppers.

Now, he creates more home objects than jewelry, and the luxe conversation-piece items are collected by the likes of Cate Blanchett, Whoopi Goldberg, Halle Berry and Sir Elton John.

Mr. Strongwater will be at Saks Fifth Avenue this week to meet the public and to sign his colorful, sparkling creations. He will attend an invitation-only cocktail party Thursday evening. On Friday, he will do a signing event 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the store at 513 Smithfield St., Downtown, where he will sign every Strongwater gift piece purchased during the event.

Valvo honored

New York fashion designer Carmen Marc Valvo, who in the past few years has become one of America's pre-eminent designers, has received the 2006 Fashion Excellence Award. Singer-actress and former Miss America Vanessa L. Williams, who often wears Valvo designs and has been spotted in the front row of his New York Fashion Week shows, presented the award Oct. 28 at the 31st annual Dallas Fashion Awards.

Valvo was honored for excellence in women's fashion from sportswear to couture. He joins a distinguished list of prior recipients that includes legendary names such as Escada, Hubert de Givenchy, Diane von Furstenberg, Gianni Versace, Geoffrey Beene, the house of Emilio Pucci and the Missoni and Ferragamo families.

Part of Valvo's popularity lies in designing elegant, glamorous looks for a broad range of women. The petite Katie Couric, for example, wore a black strapless cocktail dress by Valvo to the Museum of Radio and Television Honors in Los Angeles on Oct. 30. The same day, plus-size entertainer Queen Latifah donned Valvo's black lace and crepe gown for the Glamour Magazine "Women of the Year" honors in New York.

Models in Cuba

The young Cuban models in training strutted down the runway in an old colonial mansion in Old Havana with a singular Caribbean style.

With hips swinging a bit more than they usually do on the average New York catwalk, the girls and young women from the Argane modeling school showed off clothing inspired mostly by the colonial era. Wearing long white unstructured dresses decorated with lace, they carried fans and sported elaborate combs in their hair.

Both male and female models train at the small school, which aims to prepare them for a world in fashion -- a sector still little-developed in a communist-run country whose government rejects commercialism.

"In other countries, models are 'constructed,' " said modeling teacher Gisela de la Barca. "We have to work three times as hard, and almost always we have to keep up with other jobs or studies."

"Mostly we do this for love of the art," she added as she put the finishing touches on a student's hairstyle.

Although the girls and young women ranging in age from 13 to 24 practice at the school twice a week, the teacher said few will ever step onto an international runway.

"I think that the foreign [modeling] agencies haven't discovered the Cuban woman at this level, or we haven't had the opportunity to let them know her," de la Barca said.

Nine young men are also enrolled at the school, but they did not participate in the show, recently held in honor of the late Cuban songstress Rosita Fornes, who was popular in the 1950s.

All of the students receive training in runway work and photo sessions and some work as product models at events.

-- Andrea Rodriguez,
The Associated Press