• Jean-Paul Gaultier is doing a collaboration with Target that will hit stores next spring; stay tuned for pricing information and images as they inevitably leak. Please let there be lingerie-as-outerwear! [WWD]
• Agyness Deyn might star in a short film. [P6]

• Mad Men costume designer Janie Bryant says she intends to add women's wear, like evening gowns and office wear, to the clothing line inspired by the show. The first items, men's suits, go on sale at Brooks Brothers tomorrow. For now, of course, you can always dress like Joan Holloway by cruising the vintage stores. [Independent]
• Oh, someone at Agent Provocateur has a sense of humor that matches our own. Penis! Har de har, har. [Things Doanie Likes]
• The reason the Jimmy Choo for H&M collection tops out at $299, for a pair of thigh-high boots? The pieces are all real leather, says Tamara Mellon. Which begs the question, why does it cost so much, again? There's no law that says real leather has to cost $300. [The Cut]
• 17-year-old Kalief Rollins of Carson, California, started a t-shirt line called Phree Kountry. It sells shirts with messages like "Caution: Educated African American Male," and this week, his business plan was announced as the winner of the National Young Entrepreneur Competition. In addition to $10,000, Rollins got to meet the president, who kept one of the "Caution" shirts. Rollins needs to do two things: make those tees for women, and get a website. Hello! [CBS]
• Hassan bin Ali al-Nuaimi, the angel investor who is ready to acquire the bankrupt house of Christian Lacroix, says if his bid is successful, he will investigate licensing the Lacroix name to private jets, exclusive hotels, and yachts. [Reuters]
• Naeem Khan's Home Shopping Network line will be produced in sizes 0-24 and cost up to $450. [Style.com]
• Ali Wise, the now-ex Dolce & Gabbana publicist accused of hacking into an ex-boyfriend's new flame's voicemail, faces additional charges apparently related to a total of four victims. The Manhattan District Attorney added four counts each of computer trespass, eavesdropping, computer tampering in the fourth degree and aggravated harassment in the second degree, and one count of stalking in the fourth degree. These are all misdemeanors; Wise already faced two felony charges of computer trespass and eavesdropping. The full complaint alleges that Wise used a service called SpoofCard to gain access to two other people's voicemails more than 1,000 times. [WWD]
• From October 20, in France, you will be able to buy a 186-page "biography" of Chanel No. 5. Perfect for that chic woman you know who has...everything. [WWD]
• Jill Biden likes to wear miniskirts sometimes. [HuffPo]
• The Pierre Hardy for the Gap collaboration, which includes some high heeled boots that would be gorgeous if they didn't cost close to $200, has been delayed yet again. Although the boots were supposed to hit stores in September, Gap has been pushing back their delivery. Today was supposed to be Boot Day, but Racked is reporting that none of the Manhattan stores have any. What gives? [Racked]
• Pearl Lowe has designed a line for the British retailer Peacocks. Her daughter, Daisy Lowe, is modeling it. How sweet. [Telegraph]
  
• Vanessa Williams' PR rep must have some awesome dirt to be able to engineer coverage like this: a news item about the actress receiving a meaningless award for being "fearless" praises her "courage and humility," calls her an "entertainment denizen," and reports as objective fact her "fearless conviction." Williams herself accords that to "a thrill-seeking gene. The people that I come from are outspoken and driven and not afraid to take chances." Either really good dirt, or someone at Women's Wear Daily just loves Ugly Betty. [WWD]
• Tom Ford sure does say the darndest things. The Guardian collects his most enduring quotes, including "Richard [Buckley, his partner] hardly ever has anything nice to say about my work. It's my mother all over again." [Guardian]
• Vanessa Paradis is set to be the face of Chanel's Rouge Coco lipsticks next year. [Independent]
• Coach's lower-priced handbag line, Poppy, introduced this summer, has helped raise revenues at the company even as profits continued to fall slightly. First-quarter profits were down 3% on last year, to $140.8 million, but sales rose 8% in North America. [NYTimes]
• Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessyannounced a company-wide 0.6% decline in third quarter. [WSJ]

• PETA will protest Anna Wintour, Michael Bloomberg, and the cast of Hair as they kick off Fashion's Night Out in Queens. [PETA]
• Betsey Johnson will spend tonight driving between her stores in a pink convertible, holding up big signs. [WWD]

• Rihanna wore a bag by the British label Fleet Ilya that has a shoulder pad on the strap that looks like armor. [Elle UK]
• Agent Provocateur's Soiree collection, which costs $750-$2790, includes one extra special-order piece: a black bustier embellished with studs and 2" spikes, which will cost $4900. [WSJ]
• A lace top from Rodarte's Target collection, which doesn't launch till December, sold on eBay for $10.49. [Nitrolicious]
• Narciso Rodriguez is planning an entire spring collection that will only be available for sale on the auction site. [NYPost]
• When the best the Grey Lady can say of someone is that she is "not always known for her facility for keeping her clothes on," that could be reason enough to not hire her as a creative consultant to a legendary fashion house. Didn't stop Ungaro from picking Lindsay Lohan, because, after all, like the C.E.O. said yesterday, "Odds are it could work." Then Lohan herself call up to share her love of fashion — but the only example she can give is of a motorcycle jacket, recently received, made by competing French house Balmain. [NYTimes]
• Designer Tom Ford's adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's A Single Man is being withheld from press screenings and advance sales, and Ford himself will do no interviews before its release at the Venice film festival. Sounds like it could be terrible. [Variety]
• "The higher the heel, the closer to god," says Rachel Zoe's assistant, Brad Goreski, who ought to know. [WSJ]
• Actually, we have always thought of Diane von Furstenberg as a trendsetting designer. Not just a placeholder on the Ann Taylor — Carolina Herrera continuum. [NYObs]
• Henry Holland is going to create a "young" fashion line for U.K. fast fashion retailer Debenhams. [Elle UK]
• Chanel Iman is rumored to be taking over the model-judge position on America's Next Top Model. Bit of a comedown from Vogue, no? [Fashionista]
• Alexander McQueen is going to stream his Paris show live on the Internet, for all to see! [Elle UK]
• A few pieces from Jimmy Choo for H&M are featured in British Harper's Bazaar, including the high heeled sandals we've seen before, which are priced at £79.99, or around $132. There will also be clothing (a grey suede one-shouldered dress, at £149.99 or $247, is pictured) and handbags (not pictured). A pair of black leather over-the-knee boots will come in at $350. [TFS]
• Tiffany's is suing to prevent the opening of an H&M in a Westfield mall where it is a tenant. [LATimes]
• Cintra Wilson does Comme des Garçons. [NYTimes]
• Grizzly Bear's lead singer, Edward Droste, will be at fashion week. "Fashion is fun!" he alleges. [NYObs]
• Cindy Crawford, for her part, will be staying away. "I don't like watching shows. It's like I used to be at the kids table and now they want me to sit at the grown-up table. And I'm not ready for the grown-up table yet. My friends are backstage-the hairstylists, the makeup people, the designers-and that's all happening behind the scenes." [WSJ]
• Kenley Collins met five plus-size buyers at MAGIC, and is considering producing her collection in larger sizes. "I'd rather do that than wedding dresses," says the Project Runway alum. "I fucking hated it. I'm not doing it anymore. I hate it. I'd rather slit my wrists. I did it for a year. And I'm not going back." Also Kelly Rowland's stylist wanted some samples, but Collins refused to lend them. Complaining about our customers, only making the default straight sizes, and ix-naying the celebs is exactly how we'd go about building a fashion business, if we had one! [The Cut]
• Derek Lam, whose fashion label had just entered profitability when the global financial crisis hit, has embarked on an aggressive retail expansion this year, and his first ad campaign. "We said, Let's take advantage of the fact that maybe the magazines are smaller. Your ad doesn't get lost. Contrary to what other people would say — that it's a bad time to advertise — it is setting a foundation." [WSJ]
• Similarly undaunted by the current economic environment is the Italian e-tailer Yoox, which is taking steps toward an IPO. Brazen. [WSJ]
• Mickey Drexler, the C.E.O. of J. Crew, sold 500,000 of his shares, for $16.9 million. He tops the list of executives selling company stock; the next most valuable sale was from a Microsoft exec, who dumped 70,000 shares for $1.7 million. [TS]

[West Hollywood, August 19. Image via Flynet]

• The details of Fashion's Night Out — aka Anna Wintour's Plan To Save Retail — have been announced. Over 700 stores in all five boroughs will be participating in events that range from sewing circles to cook-ins to rock shows:

• Celebs and designers who will be in attendance at the various festivities include Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, Francisco Costa, Manolo Blahnik, Isaac Mizrahi, Kate Mulleavy, Diane von Furstenberg, Liev Schreiber, Stephanie Seymour, and Anna Wintour herself. Although all the tee shirt customization and free music will be enough to drag us around to at least a few stores come September 10, we're also tremendously excited by the idea of taking salsa lessons taught by Juan Carlos Obando. [WWD]
• As is to be expected, Vogue is apparently attracting a lot of attention from cost-cutting consultants McKinsey. Dare we hope that McKinsey will shake things up at the tired mag, and shake them hard? In other Condé Nast news, Teen Vogue's very stylish accessories editor, Taylor Tomasi Hill, is leaving to take a position at Marie Claire. There are no plans to replace her. [Fashionista]
• Agent Provocateur is launching a new line of super-expensive lingerie it's calling couture. Agent Provocateur Soirée will launch with an in-season show at New York Fashion Week on September 9, and hit stores in November. Prices top £2450. [Elle UK]
• The second issue of Love is out, and it turns out the preview image that surfaced online last month actually is one of the covers — editor Katie Grand chose Alex Hartley, and 18-year-old bass player she found on the Internet, for one cover, and Sting spawn Coco Summer for the other. [Fashionologie]
• Katie Grand had 35 guests at her recent wedding. Thirty-five guests who finished 28 bottles of vodka. Our kid of woman. [ToL]
• Dasha Zhukova, the 28-year-old heiress, art gallerist, and Grand's replacement editor at Pop, is rumored to be pregnant by her 42-year-old boyfriend, Roman Abramovich. [P6]
• An image of Scarlett Johansson which might be part of the ad campaign for a Dolce & Gabbana perfume launching later this year has leaked. The perfume is called Rose The One, and the picture is very soft and rosy looking, plus Johansson is already confirmed to be the face of the scent, both of which are signs that point to yes. [SassyBella]
• Tori Spelling has launched a children's clothing range. Little Maven will cost $26-$88, and is designed for kids up to 4 years of age. [Daily Mail]
• Naomi Campbell and Queen Rania of Jordan were introduced while holidaying in the south of France. There's no word on what they discussed upon meeting. [Daily Mail]
• The mayor of Kennesaw, Georgia, which is male model Sean O'Pry's hometown, is today giving the 20-year-old an official proclamation, because O'Pry speaks highly of Kennesaw in the interviews he does between gigs for Armani and Calvin Klein. [P6]
• Comme des Garçons and Converse are giving their collaboration wider distribution this fall. Four styles of the Comme des Garçons-designed sneakers will go on sale in select cities at the end of this month, and worldwide in October, for $100 a pop. [WWD]
• When asked about the person who irrevocably changed the way she looked at fashion, Heidi Klum generously named Karl Lagerfeld, despite the designer's stated dislike of her. [Newsweek]
• Everybody is wearing Lolita glasses. And by everybody, we mean Madonna, Drew Barrymore, Katy Perry, Nicole Richie, Kelly Osbourne, and Kim Kardashian. Clearly we ought to be wearing them, too. Or something. [NYDN]
• If you are a man who wants to buy Levi's jeans that are "re-created using the original techniques from 1873" for $395, you can do so, at J. Crew's downtown men's stores. [WWD]
• Riam Dean, the young woman who was asked to work in the stockroom by Abercrombie & Fitch because of her prosthetic arm, has sold the full, terrible story of her experience of discrimination to the Daily Mail. Dean says the £9,000 she won from the company in damages hasn't covered her legal fees. [Daily Mail]
• Hats are back, again. This story gets re-written every six months. [WSJ]
• The alligator "harvest" begins later on this month in Florida, but wildlife experts expect the number of the creatures that will end up as purses this year to be drastically reduced: while revenue from alligator skins topped $71 million in Florida in 2007, a mere $10 million is this year's industry estimate. What doesn't make sense about all these stories about exotic skins, whether alligator, crocodile, or python, losing their marketplace appeal, is the fact that among luxury categories, the bridge products — wallets, keychains, and other "aspirational" branded baubles — are the ones that are experiencing the steepest decline in sales. Brands from Hermès to Louis Vuitton have reported that their most expensive offerings, like exotic skinned bags, are still experiencing strong sales — if not actually leading sales across the whole brand. So what gives? Are the pythons and gators going to be left to their own devices in the Everglades this season, or not? [MSNBC]
• H&M's same-store sales fell 3% on last year during the month of July; analysts had expected a more modest 1% drop, since the fast fashion chain has been performing relatively well in the recession so far. [Reuters]
• Following another disastrous quarterly result, Abercrombie has announced it plans to further cut its prices. [WSJ]
• Escada USA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York, one day after the German parent company opened bankruptcy proceedings there. [WWD]

• File under matches made in heaven: Karl Lagerfeld has designed couture costumes for England's National Ballet. [Telegraph]

• Did Eva Herzigova drink a lot of champagne at the opening of the Michael Kors store in London, and then walk out the door with a bracelet, watch, and sunglasses? Security guards reportedly looked like they were going to stop the supermodel, until the paparazzi started taking her picture. Kors claimed the next day that Herzigova was "being cheeky" — but that the items were a gift. [Daily Mail]
• Get ready to see a lot more of Jessica Biel: The actress has been named the newest face of Revlon. [WWD]
• Filene's Basement has filed for bankruptcy protection. Apparently, now that other stores have been forced to cut their prices, Filene's discounts are less impressive in the retail lineup. [Reuters]
• The Olivier Theyskens/Halston rumors are back. With the added complicator of Anna Wintour's involvement. [WWD]
• Holding the annual costume institute gala at the Met might distract from the Renoirs, sniffs writer Michael Gross. [NY Post]
• Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, and Linda Evangelista will all skip the event. Turlington is out of the country, filming a (doubtless very important) "documentary on maternal health." Steven Meisel will also sit the party out — but that's no surprise since the man is rarely glimpsed in public. [P6]
• Patti Smith doesn't require fashion. "I can wear rags," says the musician. "But they have to be cool rags." [The Cut]
• Mischa Barton, however, pretty much requires headbands. Or at least requires you to buy hers, since she doesn't have a career anymore, other than waiting to see if her pilot is getting picked up. [People]
• England apparently has has a Dress of the Year award since 1963. And this year it went to Kate Moss, for one of her Topshop designs. [Independent]
• Meanwhile Topshop, ever the good neighbor, has apparently knocked off Alexander Wang's "naked" dress — the one with the floating embroidery on mesh. [Racked]
• Wang's jacket for the Gap looks like a a biker jacket that swallowed a trench coat. [Racked]
• Is Azzedine Alaïa looking to launch a lingerie line? If so, why wont the famously body-conscious women's wear designer design it himself? [Elle]
• Speaking of lingerie, you should read this entertaining profile of Joe Corré, son of Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, and co-founder of Agent Provocateur. "I don't buy into all this brand-identity bollocks — the Gucci lifestyle, the Prada lifestyle," says Corré. "What does that mean? That you're a rich, bored idiot with no soul? It's just emperor's new clothes bullshit. We're against all that. Agent Provocateur is about an attitude, about empowerment." [Guardian]
• Hogan's fall campaign will reportedly star Nate Lowman, an artist who dates Mary-Kate Olsen. [Fashionista]
• Bar Refaeli, the Israeli supermodel, has designed "the perfect little black bikini." It looks exactly like every other string bikini you've ever seen, but it costs $120. [People]
• Ben Sherman is quitting the footwear business by the end of this year. [WWD]
• On the other foot: Skechers, which is now back in the black. [WWD]
• Lily Cole, the British model, has not one but three movies coming out. And a new Rimmel ad. And, oh yeah, she's a full-time student at Cabridge. [The Cut]
• Thom Browne, whose business was rumored to be in dire straits recently, had his CEO and CFO depart on Friday. [WWD]

• "It's not up to him to give her lessons; Michelle Obama is of her time; Oscar de la Renta is no longer," scoffed designer Azzedine Alaïa. Ooh, breaking: Oscar is on the View now. [WWD]

• Chloe Sevigny might not do her Opening Ceremony line every season, because she's busy being on the TV. Still with the I-actually-design-this-crap pretense! [The Cut]
• As promised, The Daily Beast now features advertising! Read all about HOW BOTTEGA VENETA IS KEEPING LUXURY RELEVANT. (Presented by Bottega Veneta.) [Daily Beast]
• Isaac Mizrahi just made an announcement on The Today Show: Women, we need to be spending all our money on our hair! It's what's important in life. [Anna's Twitter]
• Ads for Matthew Williamson's collection for H&M, which goes on sale May 14, have leaked. Daria Werbowy prances, mantis-like, on a beautiful beach wearing acid bright paisleys. And a bikini I really want. They gave Werbowy the same rope of loosely braided fake hair that the current H&M collection models sport in their campaign, and which I assume is not even supposed to look real. [Nitro:Licious]
• Depending on the outcome of a lawsuit, Forever 21 may find itself no longer able to copy designers' offerings willy-nilly. Trovata, whose shirts the fast fashion chain shamelessly ripped off several seasons ago, has been suing the company since, and the case is finally set to go to trial. Which means a jury would decide if the "inspiration" (which extended to the placement and choice of buttons and other unique design features) was illegal. [WWD]
• The chief executives of faltering fashion companies continue to get raises! After Kay Krill at Ann Taylor and Glenn Murphy at the Gap each got hefty pay hikes, Jones Apparel Group has raised the compensation of its CEO, Wesley Card, by 38%, to $5.5 million, for 2008. That was the same year Jones Apparel Group lost $765 million. The company owns brands like Jones New York, Anne Klein, and Nine West, and its sales fell 6% last year. Its share price has dropped by over 60%. [Crain's]
• Experts estimate global sales of luxury goods will shrink by 10% in the coming year. [WSJ]
• Marc Jacobs opened a store for his slightly lower-priced Marc by Marc Jacobs line in London. [Independent]
• While women's apparel sales have been falling sharply, menswear is up 1%. Tom Ford says his stonkingly expensive eponymous men's line is doing just fine (although we can't imagine he's sold many $30,000 cufflinks lately). Savile Row tailors Anderson & Sheppard — where Alexander McQueen once trained — say they've had 20 new clients in the past month, which is a significant increase for a small business. [FT]
• Splitting the difference this spring: pant suits, especially when the jackets are in that slouchy 80s boyfriend style. The Times does an apt enough job tracing the trend to its point of origin. [NY Times]
• Frida Giannini, the woman who's transformed Gucci's look (and who did groundwork for that blazer trend), says she's keen to start a Gucci cosmetics line. [Times of London]
• Oh, my. This latest ad for edgy lingerie company Agent Provocateur sure is very racy. I hope all the attention they get for it won't hurt their brand. [Independent]

• Helena Christensen told InStyle magazine that she's never lived with a man — although she was actually married for five years. [Daily Mail]

• Bill Clinton made a surprise appearance at the Tribeca Ball, an event that benefits the New York Academy of Art. A fashion crowd including designer Jason Wu mingled with performers like Liev Schreiber and Justin Timberlake, hotel impresario Andre Balazs, and socialites. The event was filled with student art; Timberlake and Schreiber reportedly took a lot of interest in an exhibit that included two live models whose bodies guests were invited to paint and decorate with eggshells. At the end of the night, Bill Clinton's security detail was also overheard muttering, "That man is a chick magnet." [WWD]
• Speaking of politico-sartorial news, Sarah Brown, wife of the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, met with Michelle Obama for more than an hour during her husband's state visit. Brown's gift to the First Lady was kid's clothes from TopShop for Sasha and Malia; like Michelle Obama, Sarah Brown sometimes likes to mix inexpensive chain-store items in with her wardrobe. I know, right! [Telegraph]
• Arena, the British men's magazine, is another casualty of the recession. The April, 2009, issue will be its last. Arena Homme Plus, the twice-yearly fashion magazine spinoff, is supposedly not affected, and nor are the six international editions, all of which are published under license. [WWD]
• Tracy Feith for Target doesn't get into stores until May 17, but lookbook images have already surfaced. The clothes are — not great. (There's a romper with bloomer shorts.) But one of the models is Allie from The City, if that makes any difference to you. [Racked]
• That other, slightly better, Target designer collection — Alexander McQueen's McQ line — is now available online. [Racked]
• Badgley Mischka's spring campaign, shot by Annie Leibovitz, features Anjelica Huston, Brooke Shields, Lauren Hutton, Eva Longoria...and Carrie Underwood. [WWD]
• I really hope that Agent Provocateur, the lingerie label, won't be hurt by all this press about their "racy" and "saucy" new ad campaign. I mean, what if The Sun were to determine it "crosses" the line"? I imagine that'd be just terrible. [The Sun]
• An ad for Olay's Regenerist wrinkle cream has been banned in England for being "offensive and demeaning to women" — because the makers, Proctor and Gamble, lied about the results of a study of the cream's effectiveness, and implied that cosmetic injections were an inevitable step in as any woman aged. [Telegraph]
• In Milan, Roberto Cavalli showed an 80s-heavy collection that was so small the LA Times wondered if all his samples had arrived. Could the cash bleed of his diffusion line, Just Cavalli — whose licensee, Ittierre, went bankrupt, and then sued Cavalli this week for angry statements the designer had made to the media about his losses — be affecting his main line? [LA Times]
• Scarlett Johansson, face of Dolce & Gabbana cosmetics, was the inspiration for the makeup at Dolce & Gabbana. Pat McGrath recreated "modern Hollywood glamor" with false lashes, liquid eyeliner, and red lips, not that anyone's ever done that before. [WWD]
• The booker of Auguste Abeliunaite, the Lithuanian 16-year-old who cried on the Jil Sander runway, says Abeliunaite won't be going to Paris, despite walking four top shows in Milan, because she's too young. But Paris sets — and actually does a good job enforcing — 16 as the minimum age for runway work. (Milan has no age limit.) And a girl who'd walked any show cast by Russell Marsh, let alone Prada, would be sent to Paris yesterday if she were really 16. My guess is this pale-eyed schoolgirl has a passport that makes her out to be 15 or younger. [WSJ]
• There's good news and bad news on the retail front this morning. First, let's do bad: The Body Shop is cutting 275 jobs. [WWD]
• And Kenneth Cole's fourth quarter loss has increased, to $12 million. [WWD]
• Liz Claiborne's fourth quarter net loss also widened — to $828.9 million. The company also declined to provide an earnings forecast for 2009. [WSJ]
• Adidas, meanwhile, increased its fourth quarter profits by 151%, or to a net of $74 million. [WWD]
• And all the designers are cutting costs — by rooming together at the Ritz for the Paris shows. Alexander Wang, Brian Reyes, and Victoria Bartlett are reportedly sharing digs, which sounds like the most awesome sleepover, ever. [The Cut]
• There's an unusual juxtaposition of stories in WWD's brief items this morning: first up is Simon Doonan, who was asked about the fashion industry's troubles at an AIDS benefit auction he co-hosted with Tim Gunn, which is all standard fare. But then next is a paragraph about an ultrarunner who spent five years running across six continents, all of which was filmed by his wife for a documentary, and in so doing raised $400,000 for an Alaska-based charity. The fashion content of the latter story is unclear; the reporter, in being dragged so far from his realm of expertise, also seems to have gotten a little confused. Something about the sentence, "His wife was held with a knife to her throat for more than an hour at the Morocco-Gibraltar border," strikes one as off. Perhaps because there is no "Morocco-Gibraltar border" — only some 7.7 nautical miles of sea. [WWD]
• Paris Hilton's perfume will exist for another five years. Sigh. [WWD]

• That sound you just heard was the excited gasp shared by every Mad Men fan who ever dreamed of dressing like Betty Draper or Joan Holloway. But will Janie Bryant also do men's suits? [Glamour]

• The Black Artists Association Amna Eele, who criticized Michelle Obama for not wearing clothing by any African-American designers during the inauguration, has received death threats over her comments. And one of the designers Eele mentioned as possible alternatives, b. michael, has released a statement tactfully distancing himself from the BAA's position. Death threats over dresses? What is our world coming to. [The Cut]
• Michael Kors is being sued by the estate of American designer Tony Duquette. Duquette's legatee, Hutton Wilkinson, alleges that in the promotion of Kors' current resort collection, Kors used images and patterns from the Abrams book Tony Duquette. When he first presented his collection, Kors told the media, "It's Babe [Paley] and Tony [Duquette]!" His spokesperson says the company does not comment on pending lawsuits. [LA Times]
• Sales of beauty products declined 3.3% in the US last year. Leading the way down were fragrances, and most categories of cosmetics — including lipsticks. So much for that old canard about women buying lipstick to feel special when times are bad. [WSJ]
• Tony Hawk's pajamas have been recalled because they could catch fire. Amazingly, about 30,000 people paid $30 each to dress their children in nightwear called "Boards Estate," "Heathen Skull," "Backspray," and "Stix Jester." Refunds will be given. [UPI]
• Luxxotica eyewear and Tory Burch have announced a licensing deal, which means there'll soon be sunglasses and prescription frames under the Tory Burch imprimatur. [PR Newswire]
• The 2001 ad for Agent Provocateur where Kylie Minogue rides a mechanical bull was voted the best ad ever in a poll by a British company. [News.com.au]
• Brooke Shields is going to be the face of a new line of Coppertone broad-spectrum SPF 70+ sunscreens with antioxidants. It's the first time Coppertone has used a well-known face in their advertising. [WWD]
• Target is cutting its workforce because of the recession. Six hundred employees at the company's Minnesota headquarters will be let go, and 400 currently open positions will not be filled. A distribution center in Little Rock, Arkansas, will also be closed, leading to job losses of 500. [WSJ]
• The Olivier Theyskens/Nina Ricci rumors take another strange turn: WWD is reporting that the label owners Puig are thinking of replacing Theyskens with British designer Peter Copping, even before Theyskens's contract runs out in October. Copping, a graduate of Central St. Martins, the London college that produced Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Sophia Kokosalaki, Hussein Chalayan, and John Galliano, among many others, is Marc Jacobs's right-hand man at Louis Vuitton. Before that, he worked for Sonia Rykiel. Copping met with Puig boss Mario Grauso two weeks ago. [WWD]
• Urban Outfitters is certainly in a collaborative mood. The chain is rolling out capsule collections from Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon, designer Mary Ping, milliner Eugenia Kim, and a raft of other young talents. Some pieces will be in store by the end of this month. [Racked]
• Helena Christensen talked to Blackbook about her photography show with her fly undone. This just confirms my irrational love of that woman. [Blackbook]
• Speaking of model/photographers, Dutch supermodel Iekeliene Stange's first solo photography exhibit opens today at Projekt Galerie in Berlin. [Projekt Galerie Blog]

• Two days after the fact, Vogue's Anna Wintour has come up with two paragraphs on Michelle Obama's inaugural style. She approves. [Vogue.com]

• British model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley stars in an online video for Agent Provocateur where, after receiving the excuses of her oblivious boyfriend on February 14, she goes to the office where he's working late, ties him to his desk chair, and performs a lap dance in her lingerie. Then she punches him in the nose and says, "This'll teach you to forget Valentine's Day." But the Times of London thinks it's too sexy, or something. While it is possibly NSFW, it's shot in a light-hearted, cheery style that achieves the opposite of a sexy mood. [Times of London]
• What is sexy is this video shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin for YSL menswear. It features the actor Michael Pitt — Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Last Days — shot in extreme close-up while an unseen French woman talks about his clothes. It sounds weird, but watching his expression while she says things like "You breathe my transparency" and "I want to lick this animal skin that falls, well-cut, from your rounded shoulder" before describing the drape of a silk crepe lining and, of course, the body beneath, is hot. This one is SFW because all you see is his face. [Dazed Digital]
• Louis Vuitton's menswear show in Paris was inspired by "the traveling wardrobe of an African king" and featured a closer look at some of the sneakers Kanye West has designed for the brand, which are to hit stores this summer. Mr. West sat in the front row and said he was "proud" of his handiwork. (Then he shouted, "Fuck this, I'm better than Marc Jacobs! My shoes cost a million dollars. Pamela Anderson is gonna wear 'em. To jump across canyons and shit. If I don't become creative director, LVMH loses credibility. Nothin' against you, MJ, but hell, man. Please, press people, print, 'Kanye says Fuck that.'") [Guardian]
• Taking a leaf out of Rad Hourani's book of gender, Chloe Sevigny is showing a unisex line at menswear week in Paris. [FabSugar]
• The maker of Aretha Franklin's impressive inauguration day hat, Detroit milliner Luke Song, is going to produce a line of 12 similar hats. They will be various colors and have differently sized bows, and cost $150-$250. Song estimates that nearly 1,000 people have ordered the $179 hat that Franklin's was based on. "I’d be very stupid not to take this opportunity," Song said. "It's like a huge gift." [WSJ]
• Jason Wu, inaugural gown designer extraordinaire, is focused on his upcoming New York show. "I'm doing a significant fur collection, and the message will be all about luxury," says Wu. What? The last thing this kid needs is PETA on his case and a collection of $4,000 coats to sell. [Fashion Week Daily]
• People has another image from Scarlett Johanson's campaign for Dolce & Gabbana makeup. She looks like she's blowing on a candle. However, I like the sound of the goods, which are to be scented with rose: “We wanted to create makeup with a scent," said Gabbana. "Domenico and I remember when we were children and opened our mother’s handbags — the scent of her lipstick trailed out. I observed that when women open makeup, they smell it first.” I like his observance. [People]
• When you become first lady, everyone wants a piece of you. Up to and including the Smithsonian, which is ever-so-politely requesting Michelle Obama give them her clothes from inauguration day. [WSJ]
• The NY Post's Tempo Espresso blog — "We speak Spanish so you don't have to" — has an interview with Isabel Toledo. She says, "For me color and beauty really are in the eye of the beholder — and color should never be a barrier because it's all about tone. The color in question I call lemongrass for its freshness. It has been called sunflower, gold, mustard, sunshine, and some describe it as sparkly but in fact its wool lace. But I love the way the its open to interpretation and the fact that the color defies being named." [NY Post]
• Kristin Davis is the new face of a skincare company that includes salts and minerals from the Dead Sea as ingredients. And she would like very much to tell you how special it is that they are paraben- and sulfate-free and "all natural." Is this venture related to those attractive Israelis who are always trying to sell Dead Sea mud in jars at the mall? [WWD]
• Helena Christensen is going to shoot Façonnable's first runway show, and their next campaign. [WWD]
• Jones Apparel Group is projecting a fourth-quarter loss and $840 million in write-downs. Costs are being cut across the board in the face of flagging retail spending; the quarterly dividend will sink 64% to 5c a share. [WSJ]
• The Oscar nominees are in. Now begins the speculation on what the actresses will wear. Rachel Zoe has a finger in this pie, too. [WWD]
• Possibly the best reaction, bank account permitting, to losing financial backing for one's label is to breezily announce a year-long vacation. Holly Dunlap, founder of Hollywould, writes on her website: "In 2009 you may find us surfing off the beaches of Brazil, skiing in the mountains of Switzerland, sailing near the shores of Italy, and sunning on the sands of Palm Beach, and wherever we are, we’ll be thinking of you." [WWD]

• Lagerfeld talks recession: “This... crisis is like a big spring housecleaning — both moral and physical... Bling is over. Red carpetry covered with rhinestones is out. I call it ‘the new modesty.’” [NY Times]

• As part of Barbie's golden anniversary blitz, Stila's offering a Barbie makeup palette so you can (literally) replicate her natural look at home. "The collaboration features a talking palette (so you can follow along as a Stila makeup artist gives you step-by-step instructions on mimicking Barbie’s pastel lids) as well as four “Decades of Beauty” cans. The cans each channel a different decade in Barbie history: #1 Ponytail Doll is all about Barbie’s black cat-eye liner and red lipstick, Malibu Doll mixes a baby blue shadow with a shimmering bronzer, Foxy Doll gets you a more sultry look, and Jewel Doll is, well, all about sparkle and shimmer." [Nylon]
• Flamboyant designer Roberto Cavalli is selling a minority stake in his fashion house to private equity company Clessidra. Hard times. [NYT]
• Valentino, meanwhile, is being accused of massive tax fraud! [WWD]
• Diane Von Furstenberg on her (presumably) mariage blanc to gay tycoon Barry Diller: "Barry respects me so much...We don't live together during the week, although we go out together. I live on top of my shop; he lives at the Carlyle hotel. It doesn't feel strange at all. I just need a little bit of space. If I can't be alone a little bit, then I lose myself—and I cannot lose myself." [Racked]
• Agent Provocateur's new "Virgins" line is being touted by "nymphs and satyrs cavorting in approved Dionysian style." The lingerie is pretty. [Luxist]
• Party-pooper Marc Jacobs conscientiously cancels his fashion week afterparty. [Fashionista]
• Elite modeling agency says its recent cuts weren't about belt-tightening: "Periodically every model agency reviews its roster and evaluates the performance and re-evaluates the potential of each model. Last fall, Elite conducted such a review and decided it was mutually beneficial to release several contracts." [New York]
• Goody's Family Fashion formally files for Chapter 11, following last week's announcement of their bankruptcy. [Breitbart]
• Meanwhile, struggling Liz Claiborne warns retailers of 4th quarter losses. [WSJ]
• On the other end of the spectrum, Tiffany fell a full 30% this year. [FT]
• The (possibly mythological) New York Topshop wanted to sell liquor; was prevented by puritanical old Americans. [Racked]
• American Eagle, for its part, is now successfully vending deodorant. [Nylon]
• Uh oh. Nina Ricci sues tween "Twilight" fragrance for ripping off her bottle. [Now Smell This via New York]
• Sonia Rykiel's anniversary book looks awesome...if you like fashion coffee-table books. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Carine Roitfeld's son, Vladimir, is curating some photography show during Fashion Week. [Fashionista]
• Tim Gunn's soft-spoken anti-fur documentary convinces Donna Karan to abandon the pelts. Score one for the silver fox! And, we guess, foxes generally. [Racked]
• Iconic 60's model Jean Shrimpton bites the hand that photographed her: “I gave up modelling at 28 because I’d grown away from it. I’m lazy with clothes. It’s boring pouting at a camera after the age of about 25 and if you’ve got a brain and everybody around you is more creative, you’re just the person pouting at the camera. You end up feeling a fool.” [Daily Express]
• Banana Republic launches a "heritage for women" collection, which sounds kind of like their regular collection. [WWD]
• Louis Vuitton customers are equally divided amongst the sexes. Not, we're assuming, the tax brackets. [BigThink]

Okay, confession time: my cup does not runneth over, my breasts are an average size on a good day and they are pretty easily ignored, most of the time. I thought I was pretty comfortable with my boobage until I made a trip to Agent Provocateur.

While attempting to try on one pretty little bra, a saleswoman jumped into the fitting room with me and explained that Agent Provocateur sizes are not like "American bras" and that I should consider trying on different sizes. Okay, sizes are (frustratingly) different everywhere, so I tried to keep an open mind about it.

I awkwardly tried on my regular 34B while the saleswoman stood there ("Hey...uh...oh, you're not leaving? Okay....) and emitted an exasperated sigh. "Let's talk about bra sizing," she said. Great, I'm a female failure, I don't even know my proper bra size. She then ran out of the fitting room and came back with bigger bras. "You're a 32D," she said flatly.

What?

Me? A D-cup!? For small-to-average boob-havers out there, D is a magical-sounding size. That's the size that curvy movie stars and Joan Holloway probably have, right? D-cups fill out a sweater and fill up a hand. D-cups make even a t-shirt look feminine. Instead of regular coffee cups, I felt like I was holding cafe au lait bowls. I had, you know, breasts.

Naturally this made me a little excited, I felt like a 14-year-old who had just gotten sized at Victoria's Secret. Suddenly, I had to buy as many bras as I could, or else I might lose the magical-sounding D-cup. When I got home and looked at my receipt, I suddenly felt played. Just because I was a D-cup in Agent Provocateur sizes didn't mean I was a 34B in every other bra I owned. And, hey, there are a lot of women out there with larger breasts than me, how are they supposed to squeeze into these cute bras if they cut smaller?

But was I really getting tricked? Maybe I was caught up in the re-sized afterglow, but everyone is a different size in different brands of clothing. I've worked retail and I know there is a lot of vanity-sizing out there so it causes sizes to jump up and down. I have no problem trying on several sizes of dresses when I go to a new store, so why should I assume that I am always going to be the same size in my bra? It isn't Agent Provocateur's fault that I naively expected all bras to fit the same way and put up with some ill-fitting bras because I was lazy. Could women's magazines and morning talk shows be right, at least a little bit, about being open to wearing different bra sizes in different bras?

Earlier: Bra Science: Hope For Those Whose Cup Runneth Over
Wearing The Wrong Bra Can 'Damage' Breasts—So What?

• Bill Blass Couture closed Friday, laying off 60-plus employees without severance. [WWD]
• At least someone is doing well: Stuart Weitzman opens three new stores in Mexico, Greece, and St. Barths. Rich people still need fabulous shoes, y'know. [WWD]
• In an attempt to lure in more last-minute buyers, Macy's and H&M have announced that they will be staying open round-the-clock on the days leading up to Christmas. [WSJ]
• British department store Selfridges is reportedly guilty of “unbelievable” safety errors following an asbestos scare. Gives new meaning to the phrase "shop 'til you drop."[Independent]
• Charity organization Souls4Souls filed a federal lawsuit after finding moccasins intended for needy Africans for sale on ebay. [WWD]
• Is American Apparel in trouble? Dov Charney’s hipster empire received a three-month extension on a debt due to mature next month. [WWD]
• Retailers are edgy about the decreased shopper turnout over the last holiday shopping weekend. [ABC]
• And maybe they should be, given the “whiteout” storms that hit the Midwest and Northeast. [WSJ]
• Ailing stores continue to play the how-low-can-we-go game. [WSJ]
• And in other, totally not surprising news, sales are up for off-price footwear brands like TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and DSW. [WWD]
• Fewer shoppers are buying on credit. [WWD]
• Agent Provocateur launches new, fantastical-sounding ad campaign, titled “Pan and the Vestry of Virgins.” [WWD]
• Another casualty of the recession: catwalk shows. Wonder what this means for the moddles! [Guardian]

[Images via

• After Palin names Escada as her fave brand, the creative director is gracious: "If she does wear Escada because she likes it, I mean, I’m honored actually. It’s not politics; it’s clothing, after all. No? She’s an attractive woman, so why not?" [New York Mag]
• Fashion's totally in the tank for Obama — but we knew that. [WWD]
• Halloween update: Blake Lively was Cleopatra, Martha Stewart was Medusa. [Sassybella]
• Andre Leon Talley: "Fashion may not be the most important thing in life, but it definitely helps you get through it," [Philadelphia Inquirer]

• Adidas launching high-end SLVR line. It'll include sportswear, accessories and shoes — but no activewear. [WWD]
• Stella McCartney introduces kid-friendly windows. "Using just colouring pencils, Gary Card will create over-layered drawings of animals, dinosaurs, superheros and fantasy inspired characters on children's wardrobes in his typically naive and charming signature style." Just what you want to see on your six-year-old's Christmas list! [VogueUK]
• SJP's new "Twilight" perfume: just a coinci-dink that it jibes with the teen vampire flick? Synergy! [Fashionista]
• Georgia May Jagger's "style" includes derby hats, shiny leggings. [ElleUK]
• Prada's costume jewelry is gorgeous, as expensive as real jewelry. [Fabsugar]
• Goodwill tries to change its image for the recession; but why? [NY Times]
• Not shockingly, Anand Jon's defense lawyer says he's innocent. [Breitbart]
• Suits make the man. [Forbes]
• Timberland moves into video blogging to woo young men, who allegedly like that sort of thing. [Business Week]
• The first YSL retrospective is kicking off in San Francisco and sounds amazing: "The clothes, displayed in a gallery with low lighting and the feel of a giant walk-in closet, are stunningly beautiful: A 1988 Van Gogh "Irises" jacket embroidered with 40 pounds of sequins and beads. A 1997 garden party of a gown with a thicket of pink and green organza flowers, leaves, semiprecious stones and satin ribbons. A 1990 coat flocked with flame-colored rooster, pheasant and vulture feathers. The black wool dress with satin collar and cuffs worn by Catherine Deneuve in the 1967 film "Belle de Jour."" [LA Times]
• Supermoddle Jacquetta Wheeler comes from a huge Tory clan! [Daily Mail]
• These descriptions of the Australia costumes are totally overcoming our initial resolve not to see it: "Ms. Martin did extensive research for the costumes. She studied archival images and newspapers from 1930s and ’40s Australia and interviewed descendants of the original ranchers around Darwin. 'Whether an indigenous stockman'— or drover — 'wore socks with his boots when he rode a horse, that’s something you either get through a snapshot,' Ms. Martin said, 'or something you have to go talk to the people who lived there about.'" [NY Times]
• The new Chanel Unlimited bags, in a "glossy gray canvas material," sound grotesque. Opines Fashionista: These are totally Karl's answer to Prada's nylon bags. But worse, because they're plastered in not just one, but many logos." [Fashionista]
• Yeah it's barely past Halloween, but if you have "questions" about Holiday attire, The Washington Post will help you out. [Washington Post]
• Rosetta Getty expands her line, beloved of her celeb friends. Nice work if you can get it! [WWD]
• Is it just us, or are these new Helena Christensen ads for Agent Provocateur really unsexy? (Oh yeah, prolly NSFW.) [Daily Mail]
• Rochas names Marco Zanini creative director; he'll show his first collection for the the fall/winter 2009 season. [WWD]
• Princess Di's threads go under the hammer for charity. [VogueUK]

• Poor Rachel Zoe! "I thought: I've done blood, sweat and tears for 15 years — why am I the victim here? I have had the nastiest things said about me! I don't understand." [NY Post]
• Shockingly, the CFDA's "Health Booth" (which educates fashionistas about eating) is deserted. [NY Mag]
• You already knew Sean Lennon was an ass: Spotted at Fashion Week, the modelizer "wore a magisterial women's coat with gold buttons and a top hat decorated with Native American bands. His girlfriend, Charlotte Kemp Muhl, wore a coyote headdress." [NY Mag]
• Justin Timberlake brings pissy back at his William Rast show. [WWD]
• Punk legend Malcolm McLaren accuses son and Agent Provocateur founder Joe Corre of counterfeiting punk duds. "I think my son actually used – maybe – the original labels, because we didn't use them all up...There'd be a roll of ribbon around in the workroom and maybe my son got a hold of those. I think he did this before he set up Agent Provocateur. Or in order to set up Agent Provocateur and fund it, he made a number of these fake clothes and sold them to dealers in Japan." [Independent]

• Speaking of Agent Provocateur: there's a new ad campaign! "Chanelling the gothic decadence of Hogarth, Caravaggio, Rubens and Delaroche’s Execution of Lady Jane Grey, it is a seething orgiastic scene of girls on top, girls on girls and boys and beasts. Peaches (Geldof) and Daisy Lowe, the bad girls du jour, both star, as does the flame-haired American actress Paz de la Huerta, who holds court over a sacrifice of a topless virgin, accompanied by two male cohorts — David Bailey’s Byronesque son, Fenton, and a 21-year-old albino boy named Alex." [Times of London]
• Intrepid fashionistas weather the storm at Fashion Week; Tory Burch even went barefoot! [NY Mag]
• Um, ex-squeeze us? Lifetime, the Project Runway-stealer, is delaying the premiere of the show's sixth season until January 2009. Resentment mounting. [Yahoo]
• Are we the only ones who are totally sick of hockey player/budding fashionista Sean Avery? Now he's decorated some booth at hot spot Beatrice Inn with sunflowers. [Style.com]
• Apparently lacking creativity, designers start predicting trends via computer programs. [NY Times]
• Knockoff jeans even bigger than knockoff bags! [UPI]
• The political tee market is also booming. Yes, Obama's outselling Mac. [NPR]
• The Mulleavy sisters keep their Rodarte label personal and awesome. "In 2005, to introduce themselves to the fashion world, the Mulleavy sisters sent out 30 handmade paper dolls, each with a paper armoire containing seven paper dresses. 'I was inspired by Zelda Fitzgerald’s paper dolls,' explains Kate, who, like Fitzgerald, drew extensively accessorized wardrobes." [NY Times]
• Dolce and Gabbana take their inspiration from Queen Elizabeth: "In place of riotous floral and animal prints, hour-glass corsetry and itsy-bitsy skirts came Argyle knits, oversized kilts that fall to mid-calf, printed silk headscarves and sensible footwear." We are not amused. [The Independent]
• Almost all the shoes we wear are imported, "yet the U.S. still imposes a tax on imported shoes that can reach as high as 67%." [WSJ]
• More PR for Ivory Coast fashion, as Patricia De Medeiros reinvents traditional motifs in her line, Tradition Mode. [Reuters]
• Pat Field's collaboration with British frump-monger Marks and Spencer is a gamble. [Independent]
• Iconic model Veruschka releases coffee table tome: “'I can’t say that I have any favorite photographs,' she said. 'Though I do have some favorite memories of the days they were taken. Working with Avedon, for example, was always a joy. But then it was all joy because that was a joyous time.'” [Style.com]
• Scandal-plagued model Jodie Kidd comes by it naturally: her grandfather tried to bribe Winston Churchill. [This Is London]
• PETA crashes DKNY, does nothing. [NY Mag]
• Following a lackluster start, Halston feels the heat. [WSJ]
• YSL has reformulated (we're guessing this means butch packaging) its Touche Eclat concealer for the metrosexual set. Zac Efron rejoices! [Telegraph]
• The fashionistas heave a sigh of relief that both potential first ladies dig clothes. [Reuters]
• DKNY, CK, battle it out at their runway shows for "most New York" designer. Doesn't Karan automatically win by having "New York" in her name? [Guardian]
• Struggling to define itself, Old Navy shops ad agencies. Remember how cool it was when it opened? Can't they just rehire whoever did that? [AdWeek]

• Rapper Nas is partnering with Fila. The company will pay for his tour and album, he'll wear their stuff and create a "late-80's"-inspired line. [Adage]
• You will be relieved and delighted to hear that celebrity? socialite? sex-taper? Aha! television personality Kim Kardashian is launching a perfume. "It all started when my mom introduced me to famous perfumer Caroline Sabas from Gras, France. She and I have been working together to create a scent that is uniquely me that I can share with everyone!" [Official Kim Kardashian]
• Renaissance woman, polymath and Strokes-dater Agyness Deyn can add "DJ" to her ever-lengthening resume (which one can only assume is printed on hot-pink paper and doesn't actually exist). [New York Magazine]
• Tan television personality and alleged designer Michael Kors "dishes" on Condi Rice, Anna Wintour and that skintight black tee he always "sports." [Huffington Post]
• Hey, you guys watch The Closer? Me either. Anyhoo, QVC's selling a replica of Kyra Sedgwick's purse. [UPI]

• Project Runway's prolific breeder and steely redhead Laura Bennett brings you swimsuit advice. [Blogging Project Runway]
• Atlanta Jeans gang steals over a million dollars' worth of premium denim. [WWD]
• Kate Moss, Lily Allen, Scarlett, Liv, my brother are all, for some reason, sporting Wayfarers. [Independent]
• Stars also like really, really big watches. So they're never late! [ElleUK]
• Surf-wear company Billabong buys skateboard company Sector 9. One assumes this will upset either skaters or surfers, but maybe they can't be bothered. [News.com.au]
• Hey, you like that cross-dresser from the new Marc Jacobs ads? Good, cause here's more of him. [Style.com]
• New Valentino designer did the old man proud. [Yahoo]
• Oh, yeah...the fancy mascaras that give you longerfulleryoingerbettersmarterextreme lashes? They can also cause glaucoma and blindness. [New York Times]
• Katharine Hamnett channels Baywatch. "Hamnett has linked up with the Environmental Justice Foundation, or EJF, to produce a range of lifeguard-themed organic cotton T-shirts, emblazoned with "Save The Sea", to spread the message about the damage illegal pirate fishing is doing to the world's oceans." [Vogue UK]
• Oscar de la Renta sues Elizabeth Arden over perfume shenanigans. [WWD]
• Runners-up in a duct tame prom dress competition demand a recount, I refuse to use the words "sticky situation." [UPI]
• China is a new source for young fashion talent. [Wall Street Journal]
• "Thursday Styles" discovers that denim is big! [New York Times]
• Concert tees go green. "Fabrics are softer, with organic cotton often supplanting synthetics. Shirts are U.S.-made or crafted in factories that uphold fair labor standards." [USA Today]
• Totally missing the point, The Guardian asks, "who can afford couture?" [Guardian]
• That douche who didn't win America's Most Smartest Model has been cleared of all sexual assault charges. [Page Six]
• Pre-Olympics, Adidas steps up Beijing presence. [WWD]
• Agent Provocateur-designed car (hint:it's pink and black) sells for like 70 grand. [Sassybella]
• Finnish-gnome-David Marrimekko versus big Italian Goliath Dolce and Gabbanna. [Breitbart]
• Goody's expands Ashley Judd line to include plus sizes. [WWD]
• Designer Rachel Roy teams with Grey Goose vodka. So has the bum on my corner! Well, I don't know if it's Grey Goose. [Vogue UK]

• Fashion giant and world-famous monogram Yves Saint Laurent dies in Paris. [NY Times]
• Unfortunately, his legacy is honored by the hiring of legally-challenged Naomi Campbell. [Daily Mail]
• But then she goes bald! [The Sun]
• NY Times employs appropriately dated Herbal Essences reference to describe SATC fashions. [NY Times]
• ...although Herbal Essences is one of the few brands not aggressively promoted within the movie! [Vanity Fair]
• Meanwhile, SJP “deceived” by elfin designer Olivier Theyskens into wearing a gown socialite Lauren Davis Santo Domingo sported at the Met last month. [NY Times]

• The YSL-ousted Kate Moss acts like an angry baby at some regressive hipster birthday party. "First up, was a giant game of Pass the Parcel. Every time the music stopped Kate looked gutted when she wasn't left holding the prize," the source said. "And she also held on to the bundle for an indecently long period of time.” [UPI]
• …and is fired by Agent Provocateur. [The Sun]
• Liz Claiborne reorganizes global sourcing to combat recession. [Financial Times]
• “Most influential designer in the country” Tory Burch “has loved hippie chic since her younger years, when she was a kind of Dead Head lite who wore tie-dye T-shirts with Hermes scarves.” [LA Times]
• From his cold, dead hand: Roberto Cavalli not going easily. [WWD]
• After rocky May, H&M back in the saddle. [Reuters]
• Queen Latifah addresses the severe shortage of celebrity fragrances.[WWD]
• ”Stylist Aristotle Circa” has suspiciously awesome name. [LA Times]
• And, oh yeah: Flip-flops are bad for your feet. [USA Today]

• God bless Vivienne Westwood for being so undeniably herself. Says the fashion designer-cum-philosopher: "I'd like to do less, but there are people dependent on me now. My thing has always been, just let me finish this pair of trousers and then I can read my book. We've all got to wear something, I suppose. So my advice would be to buy quality. Choose well. I think there's a certain status in seeing someone wearing the same thing over and over again." [Vogue UK]
  
• God bless Heidi Klum. She's just so wise: "[Take] time out for yourself so you can engage in an activity that you really enjoy. [Also, don't] neglect the romance in your life. [And] wear pretty lingerie if you don't want to feel schlumpy." [Vogue UK]
  
• God bless Donatella Versace for saying at the Times Talks on Sunday that her fashion motto is "Don't let the rappers wear more bling than you do!" and that she hopes to be reincarnated as Maya Rudolph. [Fashion Week Daily]

• God bless Agent Provocateur co-founder Joe Corre (who is, incidentally, also the son of Vivienne Westwood) for making his brand's latest advertising campaign, fronted by Kate Moss, actually about his feelings of disdain regarding the Vatican and Catholicism. The apple clearly does not fall far from the tree. [NYMag]
• God bless the Project Runway producers for sticking to their guns and maintaining contracts with NBC rather than following their bastardized show to Lifetime. [Yahoo]
• God bless Burberry for not using Agyness Deyn in its next advertising campaign. [Fashionista]
• God bless Jack White and Karen Elson for seemingly non-stop sex. [Globe and Mail]
• God bless model/tsunami survivor Petra Nemacova for making big money in real estate. [Page Six]
• God bless Margerita Missoni for deigning to look at apartments in Alphabet City, NYC. [Fashionista]
• God bless Giorgio Armani for sorta slighting the Met when talking about last night's Costume Institute Gala: "The superheroes theme is both topical and modern and will, I believe, attract a wider audience than usual to the Costume Institute. I am looking forward to welcoming everyone." (Let us not forget in his first press conference regarding the exhibit, he managed to insult Anna Wintour.) [Vogue UK]
• God bless alice+olivia designer Stacey Bendet, who is reportedly pregnant with baby number one. [Page Six]

• You knew this already, but Project Runway judge/style tome author/ELLE fashion director Nina Garcia has parted ways with the magazine that made her. At least, ELLE has yet to tell anyone the rumors are false.
  
• Our sources say Garcia came in Friday morning around the hour fashion people usually get to work Friday morning, and was gone with all her earthly possessions by lunch time. Her assistants apparently cried all day, packing the rest of her things.
  
• New rumors are starting to surface that she's "in talks" with ELLE regarding some sort of position there.
  
• We suspect the fact that ELLE fashion news director Anne Slowey and creative director Joe Zee are getting their own Tyra-produced show this fall doesn't exactly make for a great environment. (Coupled with the fact that the magazine's fashion coverage has gotten a million times more interesting since Zee came on board.) But these are just our speculations. Know anything? Drop us a line! [WWD, MediaBistro, NYMag]
  
• And in other very important world news, Project Runway guest judge/style tome author/ELLE covergirl Victoria Beckham's denim line DVB has been dropped by Kitson and Fred Segal. Um, anyone else seeing a trend here? [News of the World]

• A reader wrote in to Guardian fashion writer Hadley Freeman asking when it is okay to wear shorts. Freeman's response? "When it's flipping well warm enough to do so, like, duh." [Guardian]
• Despite the rumors, Kate Moss is not on the outs with lingerie line Agent Provocateur and just shot a wedding-themed ad campaign for them. [This is London]
• Phat Fashions is suing Victoria's Secret for copyright infringement. Apparently, no one can use a frilly letter 'P' but the Phat designers. And while I can't believe I'm saying this, I think it's gonna be Kimora FTW. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Whoa, Vidal Sassoon was a resistance fighter during WWII?! [Telegraph]
• Elton John: Wears Tom Ford's fragrances! (Also likes that Tom Ford's ads frequently contain naked men? Again, JUST speculation.) [Page Six]
• The John Varvatos store in the old CBGB's space? Could suck more. [Washington Post]
• Yay for Cambodia, the latest country to allow its young female citizens to be exploited by the western world by making them into runway models. (And Cambodia is usually such a leader on the youth exploitation front.) In all seriousness, [ITN]
• Nicholas Huxley, the director of the Sydney Institute's Fashion Design Studio, says Australian women dress "cheap and nasty." [News.com.au]
• Want to have guaranteed success as a jewelry designer? Than go into a career in anything but jewelry design [WWD]
• OMG will or won't Prada go public in June? The suspense is killing me. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Carolina Herrera junior is pregnant again. Just what the world needs: Another kid with a trust fund. [WWD, 2nd item]

• Oh sweet Jesus: Is Amy Winehouse going to be the new face of Roberto Cavalli? And if so, who would be sullying whose image? Though the rumors are still unconfirmed, Cavalli has said in the past, "She is a fashion icon because she is unique." [Vogue UK]
  
• This weekend, American starlets flew to Shanghai to celebrate Ferragamo's 80th anniversary and the launch of its new fragrance, Tuscan Sun. [Vogue UK]
  
• You see, Ferragamo hopes to exploit the people of China because they have so much money to spend on luxury goods. [Guardian]
  
• Adidas, however, is paying its Chinese workers about $5 a week. Good times. [Times of London]
  
• Miuccia Prada will fire you if you eat lunch at your desk. [Page Six]

• Oh the heartbreak that comes with working as a fashion designer! Before Anna Wintour made Laura and Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte go on a diet, the designing duo could hardly afford to eat. Says Laura, "I became a waitress. We sold everything that we owned. We also sold Kate's record collection, which was immense and very in-depth." [Fashion Week Daily]
• Your jeans do not need microdermabrasion. [Chic Report]
• Us: Skeptical of "HD" make-up. [LATimes]
• Lucky Brand: Now doing watches. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Coach: Still selling lots of expensive shit. [Business Week]
• And Hugo Boss is like, totally okay, even though it's in debt. [Reuters]
• Gucci: Wants to be big in India. [Times of India]
• Moscow Fashion Week is big in...Russia. [NYT]
• If I had clothes with sensors in them that could detect my mood, they would tell you that I'm a little sleepy, a little hungry, and wishing it were fucking spring already. [Science Daily]