Ryan Lochte Put His Hand On Anna Wintour's Knee

At the Ralph Lauren show yesterday, Vogue cover star and noted Sexy Douchebag Ryan Lochte decided to greet Anna Wintour, who had already taken her front-row seat. When Wintour didn’t stand, Lochte bent down to kiss her on the cheek and planted one paw on Wintour’s knee for support. Wintour seemed nonplussed, but then again she always does. [Racked]

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Gwyneth Paltrow is now a face of Max Factor. [WWD]

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In yet another sign that fashion week has worn on the nerves of just about everyone in the industry, Oscar de la Renta misunderstood a gentle joke from Cathy Horyn’s New York Times review of his spring show — and responded via a one-page open letter to the critic that he published as an ad in today’s Women’s Wear Daily. You see, for opening his spring show with a red latex miniskirt, Horyn called de la Renta a “hot dog” — you know, a showboater, an attention-seeker, a showoff. De la Renta retorted, in part:

I respect and accept criticism because in many ways it does help us develop; I try to make my work better each time. What I do not accept is when criticism is personal. If you have the right to call me a hot dog why do I not have the right to call you a stale 3-day old hamburger? My advice to you is to abstain from personal criticism. Professionals criticize the clothes, not the people.

Oscar de la Renta is an 80-year-old Dominican-American more used to dressing Upper East Side society doyennes than parsing dated surfing and skateboarding slang, so his literal interpretation of the term is perhaps understandable. What’s not understandable is how it is that apparently nobody in Oscar de la Renta’s office was in a position to Google “hot dog slang” before ol’ Oscar wrote and paid for a huge, and in retrospect somewhat embarrassing, ad in WWD. [The Cut]
Horyn confirms, “I used the term in a professional context, as someone showing off his tricks, like a surfer. I thought an ad was a little over-the-top.” [Fashionologie]

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Diane von Furstenberg filmed this movie using her magical Google glasses from the future. [YouTube]

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Kate Hudson looks damn fine on Harper’s Bazaar‘s October subscriber cover. [FGR]

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Angela Lansbury is on the cover of The Gentlewoman. Cool. [Fashion Copious]

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• A fire at a garment factory in Pakistan has killed 264 people. The youngest victim was just 10 years old. The fire in the illegally wired Karachi factory apparently started when a boiler exploded, and the business owners have been charged with murder and criminal negligence. The factory reportedly manufactured jeans for the U.S. and Europe, though the brands involved were unknown. On the same day, a fire at a shoe factory in Lahore killed 25. Speaking about the Karachi fire
• Chief fire officer Ehtisham-ud-Din told reporters that the large number of casualties was due in large part to the fact that there were no emergency doors, no extra stairways and most of the people died of suffocation in the locked, smoke-filled basement.
• [WWD]
• In this interview, Kelly Osbourne seemed to suggest that she is working on a clothing line, because “no one takes notice of a fat girl in fashion. That’s the truth! It’s sad. That’s why I love women like Beth Ditto who are doing their own clothes. That’s why when my line comes out I’ll never make anything that won’t be translated to plus-size as well. Because everyone deserves to wear fashion.” [Fashionista]
• Roberto Cavalli is mad, mad, mad that the Camera Nazionale de la Moda — the Italian body that oversees show scheduling at Milan fashion week — moved his show time to accomodate Giorgio Armani. Cavalli is now set to show on the evening of Monday, the last day of the fashion week when some press and buyers have already left for Paris fashion week, while Armani will show in the prime Sunday night timeslot. Cavalli wrote on his blog (obviously):
• The Cavalli maison has always been a member of the fashion chamber. I think that Armani is a member, too, but his every choice is perceived as an order! […] As usual, the Camera Nazionale della Moda is washing its hands of the situation and it will not go against the wishes of ‘Little King’ Armani.
• [WWD]
• The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that it is ending its probe into Avon’s overseas dealings. Avon’s Chinese bribery scandal led to an investigation into potential violations the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. No further action will be taken. [WWD]
• Betsey Johnson says even though her retail licensee went out of business, forcing her to lay off most of her staff and refocus her efforts on a scaled-back dress line produced under license, she will continue showing at New York fashion week. Asked if her big retrospective (where Cyndi Lauper performed) Wednesday night would be her last show, she said, “No, no, no, no, no. This is the one-and-only show like this. It’s my 70th birthday, and if 70 isn’t old enough to throw a retrospective, I don’t know what age is.” [WSJ]
• Deborah Needleman’s future at WSJ. — and whether she’ll jump ship to take over the Times‘ T — continues to be the subject of rumor. From WWD:
• On Thursday, insiders insisted that not only was Needleman going to T, but she was also planning to take a bunch of editors with her. It was believed that Needleman would make the transition from The Wall Street Journal to The Times following the collections in Europe. Reached by e-mail, Needleman said Thursday, “This is not true. If I had accepted a job there I would be working there.”
• Can’t really argue with that. [WWD]
• Christian Dior reported its sales rose year-on-year during the quarter just ended by 28%, to $405.7 million. [WWD]