2014 news

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

The dress that launched an empire

Editor's note: Leading Women connects you to extraordinary women of our time -- remarkable professionals who have made it to the top in all areas of business, the arts, sport, culture, science and more. Viewing this from mobile? Click here.

(CNN) -- When Diane von Furstenberg first unveiled her wrap dress back in 1974, she never expected the DVF brand and dress to reach such iconic status in the world of fashion.

Celebrated for its democratic fit, accommodating almost any age or size, the wrap dress is still widely worn by women today.

On the 40th anniversary of DVF's timeless dress, CNN explores how von Furstenberg and fellow designers launched their fashion careers earning their place in history.

Among them include Coco Chanel's little black dress, Miuccia Prada's luxury nylon bag, Vera Wang's exquisite wedding dresses and Donna Karan's practical capsule wardrobe -- innovative designs that have changed the fashion landscape and defined women's wardrobes today.

Who's your favorite fashion designer? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Click on the points on the image above to find out more.

Marina Abramovic, art sorceress

The grandmother of performance art Marina Abramovic is about to embark on the biggest challenge of her career -- creating art out of empty space in London's Serpentine Gallery: "Art is about taking risks. If you are smart it's very easy to find one style and do it over and over again, but then you get so bored."

She will spend 64 days walking the gallery's bare halls, relying only on the energy exchange with her audience: "I never feel fear while performing but I'm in terror before. The moment I step in front of the audience it's like another, warrior Marina takes place."

The grand dame of performance has spent a lifetime redefining the boundaries of what we consider art, and doesn't have much time for conventions of society: "I am female, that's for sure, but I'm not a female artist. An artist has no gender."

She has sought wisdom with the Aborigines in Australia, and shamans in the Amazon rainforest: "I'm drawn to indigenous cultures, nature, places of power such as waterfalls, volcanoes, and mountains which have almost magic-like energy. But I've never been inspired by other artists, because they are always inspired by something else, so that's like collecting second-hand information"

Abramovic, who was named one of Time Magazine's most influential people of 2014, has achieved mainstream recognition while keeping her avant-garde edge, but her utter dedication to her calling has left little space for other people in her life: "One of the most difficult things that I had to confront was to make a decision to live life the way I do. I really have had to conquer loneliness," she says.

In spite of those challenges, the formidable artist considers herself fortunate: "I was so lucky to find my way so fast. So many artists spend so much time doubting what they want to do -- I never had any doubts," she says.

Performance artist Marina Abramovic is staging her most controversial show yet

She will spend 64 days trying to create art out of empty space at London's Serpentine Gallery

The Serbian born New York artist was named one of Time's most influential people of 2014

She counts James Franco and Lady Gaga as loyal fans and friends

Editor's note: Leading Women connects you to extraordinary women of our time. Each month, we meet two women at the top of their field, exploring their careers, lives and ideas.

(CNN) -- Marina Abramovic is fixing her deep brown eyes on me.

She gently takes my hand and leads me across London's Serpentine Gallery's marble floor, to a window whose white blinds are obscuring the greenery of Hyde Park beyond. She places her hand reassuringly on my back and whispers: "Ten minutes like this." Frankly, if she had asked me to stay there forever, I would have probably agreed.

I have been charmed by the self-styled grandmother of performance art.

Tory Burch: Ambitious women face stigma

From stay-at-home mom to self-made billionaire

Mariah Carey on life and philanthropy

The legendary Serbian-born New York-based artist is in London for the biggest show of her career, and she is revealing a small glimpse of it to a room full of enchanted international journalists.

Entitled 512 Hours, the exhibition will see Abramovic in residence at the Serpentine Gallery for 64 days, spending eight hours a day with no breaks trying to create art out of nothing.

The museum walls have been stripped, and there are some folding chairs and beds which she may or may not use in storage, but essentially, Abramovic is relying purely on an exchange of energy with her audience.

"It took me 25 years to gather courage, concentration and knowledge to come to this" the formidable artist says, clad in an almost monastic outfit of black high-neck shirt, long overcoat and dark trousers. "It's difficult to say what I'm going to do because I don't know. What I do know is that in this piece I have to give not 100, but 120 per cent of myself, because only then I can create energy out of empty space."

If this seems like an audacious proposal, Abramovic has managed to do something similar with aplomb before. For her 2010 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, over 850,000 people queued day and night just to sit opposite her, many breaking down in tears when finally faced with her.

Mesmerizing appeal

It's hard to think of another artist who can draw monumental crowds with such an airy concept, but after spending half an hour with Abramovic, you start to see the pull. Strikingly beautiful in the flesh and looking two decades younger than her 67 years, she exudes a mesmerizing mix of hypnotic energy, reassuring warmth and sharp wit. Even so, what makes people from all walks of life, as seen in New York, wait for hours just to be in her presence?

The moment Marina Abramovic picked CNN's Milena Veselinovic out of the crowd.

"Connection," says Julia Peyton-Jones, co-director of the Serpentine Gallery, who first invited Abramovic to stage a show after she won the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 1997. "When we grow older we lose that connection with other people, and Marina helps us regain it through her."

"Every performance has a concept, and when I set out the rules I stick to them no matter what.

Marina Abramovic

In a career spanning over 40 years, Abramovic has constantly challenged the notions of what art should be, using her body as an instrument, and sometimes risking her life in the process. She has lain inside a burning star of sawdust, had a crossbow pointed to her heart, and even allowed the audience to prod and cut her naked body as she lay motionless.

"Every performance has a concept, and when I set out the rules I stick to them no matter what, "the artist told me over the phone when I interviewed her about the Marina Abramovic Institute, a space she is creating in Hudson, New York, for development and study of performance art.

"Even if in the end I don't survive, I don't care," she says.

Iron willpower

This steely resolve could be attributed to her upbringing in post-World War II Belgrade, as the daughter of two national heroes ordained for bravery. Her family valued achievement above all, and household rules were strict: "Until I was 29 years old and left home I had a curfew of 10 pm, so all my performances had to be done by that time.

"I think I inherited self-control and discipline from my parents, and the idea that your personal life isn't important, but that what you achieve matters," she explained in her thick Slavic accent, only slightly softened by the years she has spent abroad.

Marina Abramovic and James Franco, one of her closest supporters and friends, at the Met Gala in New York.

Larry Busacca/Getty Images

However, her ascetic approach to her craft has not stopped her from being the darling of the celebrity art circuit. She has danced with Jay Z in his music video, counts James Franco and Lady Gaga as loyal fans and friends, and was named as one of Time Magazine's most influential people of 2014. These mainstream accolades have led some critics to accuse Abramovic of losing her avant-garde edge, a judgment that doesn't seem to faze her: "I stepped out of an art context into a much larger context, but if anything, I have become more radical. At my age I should be having a nice retrospective, go on holidays, but instead, I decided to push myself like never before and create art out of nothing, it's not easy you know," she says laughing.

I wake up every day with so many ideas, and the desire to create is as strong as the need to breathe. For me, art is my cause.

Marina Abramovic

It takes less than 10 minutes in her company to see that for Abramovic, art and life are one thing. Even the act of breaking up with her lover and collaborator of many years Ulay was a performance -- they both walked the Great Wall of China from opposite directions, meeting for one final embrace in the middle.

Her unconventional lifestyle has left little place for other people in her world, but you get the sense that the way she lives is less of a choice and more of a necessity: "I wake up every day with so many ideas, and the desire to create is as strong as the need to breathe. For me, art is my cause," the formidable artist tells me.

For those who have hoped to snap a selfie with the grand dame at her Serpentine show, bitter disappointment awaits -- Abramovic is asking her audience to leave their gadgets at home: "I don't want people to blog or Tweet it without experiencing it. The now is the only reality we have in our lives," she says.

It seems that at a time when the pace of life threatens to engulf us, Marina Abramovic wants us to slow down and live in the present.

Inside Tory Burch's fashion world

Arrest after baby left on train platform

NEW: Police: Mother felt "she couldn't provide adequate care for the child"

Woman pushes stroller from a subway car and continued riding the train

Aunt says woman she was looking for help

Police say the baby girl is in stable condition and not malnourished

New York (CNN) -- Police say they've arrested a 20-year-old homeless woman on suspicion of leaving her baby daughter in a stroller on a subway platform this week.

Investigators allege Frankea Dabbs left her 7-month-old daughter at New York City's Columbus Circle subway station on Monday because she felt "she couldn't provide adequate care for the child," NYPD Detective Annette Markowski said.

Dabbs was arrested Tuesday on charges of abandoning a child and acting in a manner injurious to a child under 17, Markowski said.

A witness told police she saw a woman push a stroller from a subway car onto the platform when the doors opened. The woman didn't get off the train, instead letting the doors slide closed and continuing on, according to the witness.

After waiting 20 minutes with the baby on the platform to see whether the caretaker or mother would return for the child, the witness alerted police.

Police said early Tuesday that they detained the child's mother for questioning, and later announced Dabbs' arrest.

The girl is in stable condition at nearby St. Luke's Hospital. She was not malnourished, though she suffers from a bit of eczema, police said.

Aunt: She was looking for help

Dabbs told investigators that she was from North Carolina and currently homeless, Markowski said. The detective said she didn't know how long Dabbs had been in New York or whether the father still was involved with Dabbs and the baby.

Lawanna Edmonds, who said she is Dabbs' aunt, told CNN that the young mother had lived with her and left Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, late last week.

Dabbs has had some troubles in her life, and had been arrested for prostitution, Edmonds said. Police records also show that Dabbs had been arrested for possession of marijuana in 2012.

Edmonds says she understands why Dabbs may have left her child in the Subway.

"Everywhere she went for help, people turned their backs on her. What other alternatives did she have?" She said.

'Baby hatch' inundated with abandoned, disabled children

Texas jogger finds child abandoned in bushes after car theft

CNN's Julie Cannold and Jason Hanna contributed to this report.

Six Flags roller coaster derails

All passengers on the ride have been rescued

Part of the Ninja ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain was hanging off the track

Six Flags: A tree branch fell on the track, obstructing the train

Last year, a woman in Texas died after she was thrown from her roller coaster seat

(CNN) -- Americans love roller coasters -- until something goes wrong.

Attention turned to amusement park safety after a tree branch that fell on the tracks derailed a roller coaster car at a Six Flags amusement park Monday evening, leaving it dangling precariously and its occupants stranded for hours.

Four people were injured on the Ninja ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said. Two of the four were taken to a hospital as a precautionary measure.

Six Flags coaster derails in California

25. Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise in Japan features amusement park rides, an aquarium and over 500 varieties of fish.

24. Efteling theme park in the Netherlands is one of the oldest theme parks in the world.

23.Tivoli Gardens in Denmark features all sorts of amusements and entertainments.

22. While SeaWorld California has come under fire recently, with questions being raised about the care of its whales, visitors keep coming to see Shamu and other marine animals perform.

21. Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris is just one part of Disney's French empire.

20. Europa-Park in Germany features a restaurant with a one-star Michelin rating.

19. SeaWorld Florida also features the famous whales in its shows.

18. Check out the Steel Dragon roller coaster at Nagashima Spa Land in Japan.

17. Universal Studios Hollywood offers behind-the-scenes access to Universal Studios movies (the VIP tour is shown here).

16. Universal Studios at Universal Orlando in Florida is abuzz with additions to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, shown here in 2010.

15. The Everland amusement and animal park in Yongin, south of Seoul, is South Korea's largest amusement park.

14. Lotte World in South Korea includes a theme park, shopping mall, hotel, sports facilities and a movie theater.

13. Toy Story Land is one of the star attractions at Hong Kong Disneyland.

12. Ocean Park in Hong Kong has been criticized for how it treats its marine life, much like SeaWorld, but visitors keep coming to the park.

11. Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando features the Jurassic Park river adventure, where visitors will spot friendly and not-so-friendly dinosaurs.

10. Disney's California Adventure Park features Mickey's Fun Wheel and the California Screamin' roller coaster.

9. Universal Studios Japan in Osaka features Universal Wonderland, an amusement zone within the park.

8. Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park at Florida's Walt Disney World Resort welcomed daytime TV talk show host Wendy Williams and her son Kevin, shown here on a ride on Toy Story Midway Mania!

7. Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida offers hotel views of animals wandering by.

6. Mickey Mouse poses in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle at the Disneyland park outside of Paris.

5. Disney's Epcot at Walt Disney World in Florida features the futuristic Spaceship Earth geosphere and monorail, shown here.

4. Tokyo DisneySea offers steamer boat rides through all the ports of the park.

3. There's nothing like visiting the original Disneyland, featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle in Anaheim, California.

2. Tokyo Disneyland celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2013.

1. It takes many hands to keep the Magic Kingdom in Florida on top as the No. 1 amusement park in the world. Here a custodian polishes the Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse statue at the Orlando park.

25. Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, Japan

24. Efteling, Netherlands

23. Tivoli Gardens, Denmark

21. Walt Disney Studios, France

18. Nagashima Spa Land, Japan

17. Universal Studios Hollywood, California

16. Universal Studios, Florida

15. Everland, South Korea

14. Lotte World, South Korea

12. Ocean Park, Hong Kong

11. Islands of Adventure, Florida

10. Disney's California Adventure

9. Universal Studios Japan

8. Disney's Hollywood Studios, Florida

7. Disney's Animal Kingdom, Florida

6. Disneyland Park, France

5. Disney's Epcot, Florida

4. Tokyo DisneySea, Japan

3. Disneyland, California

2. Tokyo Disneyland, Japan

1. Magic Kingdom, Florida

$World\'s most popular theme parks$ World's most popular theme parks

It was an amusement park enthusiast's nightmare. "It was just a lot of leaf noise and then cracking noises and crashing noises and a lot of screaming," Brandy Chambers, who witnessed the incident from her vantage point on another ride, told CNN affiliate KTLA.

But worldwide, such incidents are very rare, and attendance at amusement parks has been increasing, experts say.

According to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, there are 4.3 injuries per million attendees at U.S. fixed-site amusement parks, citing 2011 statistics.

In 2011, the chance of being "seriously injured" at fixed-site amusement parks in the U.S. was 1 in 24 million, the IAAPA reported.

Still, it's hard to ignore images of a roller coaster car filled with people, drooping from the track.

The front part of the roller coaster detached from the track and dangled at about a 45-degree angle, pointing to the ground.

The car was about 20 feet in the air, Los Angeles Fire Department supervisor Ed Pittmann told KTLA.

Rescue workers climbed atop the track and used a thick rope to tie the front of the car to the track above.

By late Monday night, all 22 passengers had been rescued.

Twitter was abuzz Tuesday with people claiming they would never ride a roller coaster again.

Six Flags Magic Mountain is the 18th most popular amusement park in North America, with more than 2.9 million visitors in 2013, according to the Themed Entertainment Association and AECOM global attractions attendance report. The index lists the 25 most visited amusement parks and theme parks worldwide, based on attendance figures compiled by AECOM..

The derailment happened after a tree branch fell on the track, obstructing the train, Six Flags Magic Mountain spokeswoman Sue Carpenter said.

Six Flags describes the Ninja ride as a "stealth assassin" on its website.

"The black belt of roller coasters whips you into submission," the site says.

Passengers ride the swinging coaster suspended from the track instead of riding on top of the track.

The derailment is the latest in a series of high-profile roller coaster accidents in recent years.

Last July, Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington shut down its Texas Giant roller coaster after a woman was thrown from her seat and plunged to her death.

Between 1990 and 2010, more than 92,000 children were injured in amusement ride-related incidents, according to a study by the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Ohio. That's an average of more than 4,000 injuries per year.

The IAAPA had lower estimates for amusement park injuries -- falling from about 2,500 in 2001 to 1,200 in 2011.

Safety is on the mind of riders following Monday's derailment, and the organization provides a number of common-sense safety tips.

Among those: Obey age and height restrictions, keep arms and legs inside the ride, and report any unsafe behavior or condition to an attendant.