Chinese Grandpa Becomes Fashion Sensation By Modeling Girls' Clothing

A 72-year-old Chinese man named Liu Xianping is getting the world’s attention today for his work as a model. A model for his granddaughter’s boutique. Which sells clothes for teenage girls. After his first pictures were posted, Grandpa went viral and Web traffic to the store jumped. Liu says, “Why unacceptable (for someone like me to wear women’s clothes)? Modeling for the store is helping my granddaughter and I have nothing to lose. I’m very old and all that I care about is to be happy.” [NYDN]

---

Former Olympic swimmer and artist Casey Legler is a woman who works as a male model. She’s signed to Ford’s men’s board and has shot with photographers including Cass Bird. “I understand signifiers. We’re social creatures and we have a physical language of communicating with each other,” says Legler. “But it would be a really beautiful thing if we could all just wear what we wanted, without it meaning something.” [Time]

---

From noon to 1 p.m. today, Grace Coddington is in charge of the American Vogue Twitter account. [@voguemagazine]

---

Here’s Ruby Jean Wilson in the spring Marc Jacobs campaign. Shot by Juergen Teller, like always. [High Snobette]

---

• Kim Kardashian sent Kate Middleton some samples from the Kardashian Kollection, which recently launched in the U.K. Why on earth Kardashian might have imagined the Duchess would want a load of leopard-print-studded-stretch-lace-backless minidresses is anyone’s guess, but in any case, the palace returned the clothing, citing a policy against accepting gifts from people who aren’t personally known to the royal couple. [Daily Mail]
• Kristen Stewart‘s stylist says dressing the star for her final Twilight press tour has been like planning “a grand escape” instead of a grand entrance. And they squabble about shoes all the time:
• “There are definitely times when I have to say, ‘Please, please, please put the heel on just for me.’ […] She’ll always change into her Converse by halfway through a carpet, which is to be expected at this point, but she puts on the heels for me for the photos, God bless her. At the end of the day, I want my clients to be comfortable because I think it shows. She needs to put on her sneakers and that’s all right with me.”
• [The Cut]
• The organizer of the “Dump Trump” petition to get Macy’s to cut its ties with Donald Trump in light of his various offenses to American comity (if not humanity in general) is organizing a protest outside Macy’s New York City flagship where demonstrators will cut up their Macy’s credit cards. But he’s worried too many people will show up, so he’d like you to not come unless you definitely have a Macy’s credit card that you want to cut up. [The Cut]
• U.S. and Chinese authorities worked together to break up an $800 million counterfeit ring. Seventy-three people were arrested and 20,000 fake bags were seized, along with equipment and materials sufficient to make an additional 50,000 bags. China is the point of origin for most of the world’s counterfeit luxury goods. [WWD]
• Apparently, one in five consumers has been fooled into buying a counterfeit luxury product online. Only a small minority of shoppers — one in 20 — actually looks for fakes on purpose. [WWD]
• Meet the couple who are camping outside a California Best Buy for seven days in order to be first in line for the Black Friday sale:
• “Last year, I came on Tuesday and I was 17th in line. They only had 15 TVs.”
• [Racked]
• This is interesting. A Qatar-government controlled investment fund has entered into a joint venture with the Italian government’s strategic investment fund to create a $2.5 billion fund that will invest in the Italian apparel sector. Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti signed a deal during the latter’s trip to Qatar this weekend. [WWD]
• Anna Dello Russo, believe it or not, used to wear a lot of Yohji Yamamoto and Comme des Garçons in the 90s. Anna Dello Russo? An avant-garde minimalist? In men’s wear? She explains her style transformation thusly:
• “It was also my security at that time,” she explains. “When I used to be 28, of course I would like to be cool rather than be by myself. For a certain moment you prefer to be part of the group and not be outside. Plus, this group was called Vogue — which was, for me, my Mecca, my Babylon. Anything for them!”
• [Style.com]
• Male model Nathan Lowry:
• “You definitely have good jobs and bad jobs. The worst things that I’ve ever had to do are where clients are trying to get you to do something physical that probably isn’t necessarily safe. One time I had to jump on this trampoline and land on the ground over and over. This girl and I were doing this all day long. We’re not 60 years old or anything, but our knees hurt.”
• [WWD]
• In the year during which he sold his stake in the Bumble and Bumble brand to Estée Lauder for $29.6 million, company founder Michael Gordon, writes Women’s Wear Daily, “reported that his adjusted gross income was $1,350,883, his taxable income was $1,124,844 and the state owed him a refund in the amount of $39,298.” A refund. He has been arrested on charges of tax evasion. [WWD]
• Greenpeace is here with some more bad news about fast fashion: its manufacture involves hundreds of hazardous chemicals, most of which pollute the water in the third-world countries where apparel manufacturing has been outsourced, and many of which persist in the garments themselves.
• Of the 20 brands whose clothing we tested — including global fashion giants Calvin Klein, Levi’s and Zara — every single one of them was revealed to have traces of hazardous chemicals in at least one of their clothing items. Calvin Klein was the worst offender, with 88 percent of the items we tested found to contain hazardous chemicals. Levi’s came second with 82 percent, while Zara came third with 70 percent. Some of these chemicals are incorporated deliberately within the fabric, while others are unwanted residues remaining from the manufacturing process.
• The most commonly found chemicals include phthalates, carcinogenic amines, and nonylphenol ethoxylates. [BoF]
• The dance shoe company Repetto is planning to add a collection of apparel. [WWD]
• Word is that Croatian-board designer Ivana Omazic, who previously worked at Céline, Prada Sport, Jil Sander, and Miu Miu, is now at Maison Martin Margiela in what WWD calls “a senior creative capacity.” Martin Margiela left the fashion house that bears his name in 2009. Since then, its collections have been attributed collectively to the design team. [WWD]
• Meanwhile, Issey Miyake is reportedly back working at the company he founded, “or at least is working more closely with his protégés,” according to Tim Blanks. [Style.com]
• Kendall and Kylie Jenner are kollaborating with PacSun. [WWD]
• Urban Outfitters finally had a good quarter. Net income in the quarter just ended was $60 million, a 17.6% year-on-year rise. Sales rose year-on-year by 14%, and same-store sales were up a healthy 8%. [WWD]