• Detroit milliner Luke Song has received more than 5,000 orders for the spring (pink! cream!) versions of the Aretha Franklin Presidential Inauguration Hat. The original's going to the Smithsonian. [IHT]

• "Which aging supermodel is planning a fake lesbian romance to get the tabloids interested again in her flagging career?" If it's not Janice Dickinson, we don't care. [BlindGossip]
• Shepherd Fairey, designer of the iconic Obama "hope" poster, is making a limited edition tote for Saks Fifth Avenue. The best part? It's only $20. [LA Times]
• American Apparel has signed a financing agreement with London-based private equity firm Lion Capital. [WWD]
• The jersey-mongers were in danger of defaulting on $16 million of debt. [NY Times]
• Perhaps in response, the company's latest ad bears the weirdly earnest, "American Apparel is ... Jobs." As AdRants describes it, "this crucial message is illustrated by a muscly bald dude who appears to be in the stock room" rather than some barely-legal porn spread. [AdRants]
• Spotted: Katie Holmes in stirrup leggings on the red carpet. Let us speak no more of this. [E]
• Sotheby's London has recreated Versace's incredibly garish Lake Como house for a sale of his equally garish furnishings. [WWD]
• "Versace's sister Donatella writes in Sotheby's publications describing the sale that her brother meticulously picked each item to create a sensual and glamorous environment: a fantasy 19th-century villa built on the water's edge by the eccentric English lover of all things Italian, Lord Charles Currie." [WSJ]
• Said the late designer himself, "The house in Moltrasio is a Proust house, whereas the ones in Milano and Miami are more Batman...It is the house that really belongs to me, reflecting a mirror image of all that I am, for better or worse." [Telegraph]
• Phoebe Philo is rolling out her Celine collection earlier than expected, to the undoubted delight of fashionistas everywhere. [VogueUK]
• The biggest challenges of being a designer, according to Andre Benjamin? "First, he said, being an African-American was a challenge, as there's a perception out there that "hip-hop stars will just throw their names on anything." Then he added, "I'm not a gay man." Says Canadian columnist Shinan Govani: "Basically the OutKast star says his challenges included a) being black, and b) not being gay." [New York Post]
• Andre will either be gratified or pleased, then, that Pharrell Williams is collaborating with Bionic Yarn to produce fabrics made from recycled plastic bottles. [IHT]
• And that the also-vehemently-not-gay Kanye West's Louis Vuitton sneakers are going to sell for like a grand a pop. [Nicekicks.com]
• This European couple is heading the creative aspect of J.Tim's William Rast. "He's sporting the sort of vintage motorcycle jacket that would be a once-in-a-decade find at the Rose Bowl Flea Market, styled with paint-splattered jeans, an Ann Demeulemeester necklace and a bushy beard easily mistaken for the latest in hipster affect, except that he's worn his for two years. She has the look that starlets often attempt, with varying degrees of success: a black peak-lapel blazer, loose T-shirt, leggings and leather ankle boots covered with black fringe. The kicks are from William Rast, though the brand has yet to release its footwear collection." [LA Times]
• "Which model made Karl Lagerfeld so angry at the end of last season that he told her she couldn't walk Chanel ever again, even though she used to walk all of his shows?" [Fashionista]
• We're guessing not Kate Moss, to whom he's apparently joined at the hip. [Fashionologie]
• Eva Longoria's in a Nike ad, for some reason. "It features Eva Longoria, in best Desperate Housewives mode, throwing real life husband Tony Parker's trainers off the balcony of their high rise flat and then his triumph in revenge." Great. [Mirror]

• Brad Pitt's mom was supposed to move into the Long Island estate where the posse is staying while Angelina Jolie films Salt, but Angelina has reportedly nixed the idea.

She thinks Brad should be able to handle the kids on his own, like she did when he was filming in Germany, according to a source. No word on what is up with the nanny, but that was a Star story and this is from a different source. [National Enquirer]

• Jen Aniston and John Mayer have indeed broken up. [Gatecrasher]
• It's official: Dancing With The Stars is a goddamn health hazard. Now Steve-O has pinched nerves. [ET]
• Injured Jewel will sing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" on DWTS on Tuesday. [UPI]
• Bong boy Michael Phelps's interview with Matt Lauer will air on the Today show this morning and again Sunday on Dateline. [ET]
• Here's what you're gonna hear Michael Phelps say during the interview: "mistake," "bad judgment," "stupid mistake." Wait, do you regret it? [People]
• Last week, four of the celeb weeklies put Rihanna on the cover, and none of them saw an increase in sales. Life & Style had a picture of Jennifer Aniston on the cover, and sold more than sister mag In Touch. [NY Post]
• Chris Brown's image still appears on Sony Music's website. [NY Daily News]
• Details on Mandy Moore's wedding to Ryan Adams: The bride wore a "cream-colored, lacy tea-length dress and flat sandals" and the groom wore "tight skinny jeans, a T-shirt with sport coat and sneakers." The pastor "didn't know who they were." The ceremony took eight minutes. [People]
• The woman is dead but Anna Nicole Smith's legal issues live on: Now Howard K. Stern has turned himself in for providing ANS with prescription drugs. He was arrested and booked yesterday and the charge is a felony. [TMZ, People, Fox 411]
• This report begins, "Let's stop encouraging Joaquin Phoenix's miscreant behavior - the only thing real about this rap act is the beard." [MSNBC Scoop]
• Joaquin's "brawl": "It was a fake fight," says a witness. "Nobody threw a punch. They were just holding onto each other." [Page Six]
• Here's what Hayden Panettiere has to say about that "outburst" she had on the red carpet: "I have tremendous respect for the media and reporters – particularly the press who treat the people they are interviewing with dignity. While in Hawaii, one reporter grabbed me suddenly from behind and frightened me. It happens. Typically, the press has treated me with great respect." [Ok!]
  
• Will Slumdog's Freida Pinto be the new Bond girl? Signs point to yes. [The Sun]
• Kelly Killoren Bensimon may have "beaten up" her boyfriend to make sure she stays on Real Housewives. People are saying the attack was fake. [Gatecrasher]
• Someone is leaving House. Who, who? Also, Judy Greer is in an episode next week. She says: "[My character] works at a nursing home and there's a cat, and whoever's bed the cat sleeps on dies in the next couple of days. And then one day the cat snuggled up to my character and she totally freaks out and goes to see House..." [E!]
• Miley Cyrus wanted to meet Radiohead after the Grammys. She was told they "don't do that." She says: "I left 'cause I was so upset. I wasn't going to watch them. Stinkin' Radiohead! I'm going to ruin them. I'm going to tell everyone." Radiohead responds: "When Miley grows up, she'll learn not to have such a sense of entitlement." [Mirror]
• Feel like doing a *headdesk*? Peaches Geldof will be in a reality show about her "career" at Nylon magazine. [The Sun]
• No one wants you to forget that auction documents show that Michael Jackson's house was filled with sculptures of boys. [TMZ]
• Mischa Barton has a job! She's been cast in a CW show produced by Ashton Kutcher. "Ashton developed it about his life growing up as a model from Iowa, so it's about the whole fashion world that he was in, and obviously I have a lot of friends in the fashion world, so I'm used to being around a lot of people in that," Barton says. "[I play] a bitchy model-type character, like it's a totally different character for me." [People]
• Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson did an SNL skit about Hawaii's tourist industry and now the Governor of that state is pissed. [CBS News]
• Congrats to Cesar Milan, the dog whisperer, who is now a U.S. citizen. [People]
• Hugh Hefner is selling his house. Not the Playboy Mansion — the one next door, where his wife was living. [WSJ]
• OutKast's André Benjamin says it's tough being a fashion designer because people think "hip-hop stars will just throw their names on anything." And: "I'm not a gay man." [Page Six]
• Set your DVR: Tracy Pollan (Mrs. Michael J. Fox) is playing Natalee Holloway's mom in a Lifetime movie. [USA Today]
• Nicollette Sheridan could return to Desperate Housewives after she leaves this season. The show's creator says: "I wouldn't be surprised if that's just a nasty rumour and Nicollette has more Desperate Housewives episodes in her future." [Mirror]
• Vin Diesel says his life has changed in "an incredible way" since the birth of his daughter last year. [Mirror]
• Chris Cornell not only has a new Timbaland-produced album coming out, he has a second career as a restauranteur. In Paris. [Guardian]
• A screenwriter is suing the makers of the Jane Fonda/Jennifer Lopez flick Monster-In-Law, accusing them of stealing her plot. Sorta late, no? [E!]
• Researchers with too much time on their hands have "discovered" that if you listen to U2, you're smart, and if you listen to Lil Wayne, you're not. [The Sun]
• Whatever happened to Mary Stuart Masterson? She's in a new indie called The Cake Eaters. [LA Times]
• Least blind blind item ever? "Which rapper threatened a pal after the buddy mistreated his girlfriend? The icon got in his face, then froze him out on the group's private jet." [Gatecrasher]
• "I certainly try my best not to be a terrible interview subject. But I am tortured. If you've been acting all your life, you can just talk about yourself without ever thinking about what's going on inside the head of the person that's interviewing you. But for me it's different, because I'm constantly seeing it from both sides. I don't think there's any connection between my journalism career and my film career." — Greg Kinnear. [Independent]
• "I think that the best way to judge movies is, like, 10 years after they're released. I think they should actually do the awards that way. I think they should have done the Academy Awards this year for movies from 1998. I think it's better to look at a movie and then step back and look at it again. I don't think that the awards necessarily get it right. I think they get it wrong more often than they get it right." — Matt Damon, to Parade. [MSNBC]
• "For me this thing happened so long ago and I just really wish people could move on from it. I don't live in the past. When I read headlines about me saying 'When she was 15 her mother shot her father' it's very sensational for me.It happened 18 years ago. Since then I've had a complete, full life and, my God, if I've been living the past 18 years in the past because of one event that happened in my life someone should put a gun to my head and put me out of my misery because that's a waste of my life. I am 33 and I have had a much bigger life than that one event." — Charlize Theron. [Daily Mail]
• "I'm probably a lot more boring than I used to be and more tired at night. You can't fake it. It's like when it's bedtime, it's bedtime. I go to bed earlier and I get up earlier. I think being a parent changes everything about you in really little ways and in ways that you don't really understand unless you have kids. It's kind of like describing a guitar chord - it's not really a simple thing to do." — Matt Damon, to Parade. [Mirror]
• "Before we were married, my wife and I used to play a game called Let's Go Get Lost. We'd be driving, and she would just tell me to turn. 'Turn here, turn here, turn here.' I'd say, 'Baby, I know this town too well. I can't get lost.' And she'd say, "Turn, turn, turn." Until we were out in Indian country, and they were shooting at us." — Tom Waits. [GQ]
• "I'm kind of frightened of the red carpet. I really am. And, you know, it gets worse. At one time, you could just come down the line, meet the fans, see the film and hopefully a good night is had by all. It's changed. You have people checking out your dress from the minute you step onto the carpet and then, you know, it's a hit or miss. That can be more frightening than the premiere." — Julia Roberts. [CBS News]
• "I'm currently in the writing process. I'm learning how to play music and write song, but they're comedy songs. Because I can't write music or play very well - actually, I have quite a bit of musical aptitude when it comes to the guitar, but I don't know how to write music - I'm collaborating with different artists who are giving me the music while I provide the lyrics. Two of the people I'm collaborating with will be performing with me at SXSW - Patty Griffin and Amanda Palmer [of the Dresden Dolls]. [The songs] are all pretty dirty. The titles are things like, 'I'm In Love With Someone Else So Fuck You' and 'Eat Shit and Die.'" — Margaret Cho, who is performing at SXSW… as a musician. [Time]

• Apparently emboldened by last week's success in Milan, Bruno — aka Sacha Baron Cohen — crashed Stella McCartney today. "With his red thong clearly visible above his jeans, the comedian — who was virtually unrecognisable in a flamboyant leather gilet, with his slicked-down hair dyed blonde and brown — sucked Tampax, clapped along to the music and generally disgruntled the front row by continually pushing aside those sitting in front of him for a better look at the models." He then delivered a "lone standing ovation." [VogueUK]
• In total radness: DVF to design a comic book in connection with her Wonder Woman-inspired collection. Really hoping she has to make the rounds of the comics conventions. [Fashionista]
• Chloe Sevigny gets into menswear. Well, Gallo will wear it. [Nylon]

• Andre Benjamin's clothing line is for the modern fop. "To create a persona for his fashion line, Mr. Benjamin combined his surname with that of Bill Bixby. The character is a world traveler whose wardrobe includes things like a $995 cotton corduroy blazer, a $350 felted waistcoat and a $95 newsboy cap." [NY Times]
• Whoever wears that will surely be the intended demographic for "J. Crew's first book." "Written by Max Blagg and illustrated by Hugo Guinness, What a Man Should Know is a collection of 50 (very) whimsical tips for the modern male. So what should you know? Chess, wine, and figure-drawing." [Men.Style]
• Some people claimed Heidi stole the Project Runway premise — aka the same setup every single competition reality show has ever had ever. A judge, not surprisingly, dismissed it. [wwltv]
• Michelle Obama sports H&M on the campaign trail. [BlackBook]
• Lagerfeld video. Nuff said. [NY Mag]
• Scary Spice Mel B wants a Project Runway-style reality show. Get in line, kid. [E]
• Rather than going bargain basement, Target courts recessionistas. [Business Week]
• More on Miss Sixty's woes. [BBC]
• Sorta It-Girl Cory Kennedy to replace Kinda It-Girl Daisy Lowe as the face of Docs. [Fashionista]
• Levi's tries way, way too hard: "The San Francisco company has launched a new viral effort it hopes will attract young men to pass along videos of customized "beasts" emerging from the button-fly of Levi's jeans. At Unbuttonyourbeast.com, visitors can choose from nine different animated characters with names like Trout Troutman, Paul the Pincher and Sock Nasty, then customize the beast's message by calling a toll-free number. The effort, unsurprisingly, is geared to young men just out of college." The emails are titled, "Do you dare to unbutton my beast?" [AdWeek]
• India eases the way for the burgeoning luxury market. [IHT]
• Guy Ritchie's first hit since hooking up with Madge: a Nike ad gets big on YouTube. [Telegraph]
• Naomi Campbell's gonna walk for Hermes; everybody flips out. [Fashion Week Daily]
• I wish these celebs would stop calling their mix tapes "albums." Anyhoo, Heatherette designer Richie Rich's, "Celebutante," is about to drop. [Fashionista]
• "If there were a gold medal for marathon modeling, Shalom Harlow would surely win it for the Viktor & Rolf fashion film that will begin today on the Dutch duo’s Web site. 'It was like the fashion Olympics,' said Rolf Snoeren, who, with Viktor Horsting, reenacted a high-tech version of 'Funny Face' to showcase their spring collection. 'It was 14 hours a day on high heels, but she was a champion.'” [WWD]
• 80's power shoulders are big (sorry) on the Paris runways. [WSJ]
• That gold statue of Kate Moss was just unveiled. [Mirror]
• UGGS are like cockroaches: all that will be left after a nuclear holocaust. While everything else is foundering, UGGs is way up! [WSJ]
• The Lauren Conrad line forlorn and unbought. [Page Six]
• Bossy new bikini has "decorative beads" that change color when UV rays grow dangerously high. [Telegraph]
• Screw Jimmy Choos. Cheap shoes make more sense for actual walking. [Daily News]
• "Margherita Missoni, meanwhile, has experienced some teasing for wearing vintage sparkling Harper’s Bazaar frames — due to an eye problem. 'Suzy Menkes says it’s my Sarah Palin look,' she laughed. 'It is definitely not inspired by her.'" [WWD]

• Following his stint as guest editor of Vanity Fair, jack of all trades Tom Ford makes his directorial debut with an adaptation of Isherwood's 1964 novel A Single Man, which will apparently star Colin Firth as said man. Julianne Moore and Jamie Bell are somehow involved. [E]
• Speaking of auteurs, Kate Moss sells a "painting" at auction. "Painted in 2005-2006, it is a self-portrait in lipstick marked with her own lip prints and stains of her former boyfriend Pete Doherty's blood." [Telegraph]
• She used to be a "short, flat-chested, bandy-legged schoolgirl." Weren't they all? [Daily Mail]
• Unlike other awkward schoolgirls, a museum in Paris is doing a retrospective on her life and style.[WWD]

• Andre Benjamin is a huge anglophile, vegetarian. [Guardian]
• J. Crew rips off Gossip Girl aesthetic. They wish they were a parent's worst nightmare. [Deep Glamour]
• For those who enjoy smelling like the dead, House of Creed premieres a new Jackie O. scent, "Love in Black," described as a "violet-Oriental." [Style.com]
• Yay! Everybody loves Issac's line for Liz Claiborne! [Reuters]
• Elton John is finally auctioning that really expensive brooch. "It is designed in the form of the letter J and includes multiple old brilliant cut and baguette cut diamonds. It also features five oval cut sapphires and a bombe cluster of circular-cut sapphires." [Telegraph]
• Calvin Klein names new CEO. [WSJ]
• Madrid Fashion Week KO'd by Milan. [WWD]
• Marc Jacobs' boyfriend shows up somewhere without Marc Jacobs. [Observer]
• Like everyone else in fashion, Burberry inexplicably "optimistic." [Reuters]
• After a stab at going high-end, Nike leaves the elite swimwear market. [AP]
• The Gap acquired women's sporswear brand Athleta. [FT]
• Spanish chain Mango hits Iraq. No, not in the violent sense! [W]
• Suits you can clean in the shower! Hey, that's already how we "iron..." [Reuters]
• Another fashion week, another delightful Andre Leon Tally blooper! Having lost his luggage en route to Milan, the Vogue editor at XXL "had to wear the same Juicy Couture shorts and gray Ralph Lauren polo shirt to D&G this morning that he wore on the plane." [Fashionologie]

• Naomi Campbell's started her latest round of amends, this time a stint in a soup kitchen for assaulting a cop. Apparently she was ten minutes late. [The Mirror]
• No one will either confirm or deny that Ellen is a new Cover Girl. [AdAge]
• Nastia Liukin thrown in with the sharks. "Ms. Liukin was excited—giddy, almost—but perhaps also a tad intimidated. Dressed in a marbled, off-white bubble dress, Ms. Liukin had attended her first Fashion Week show, Peter Som’s spring 2009 collection, just that morning." [Observer]

• The "Ocampo" is the hot item in Sudanese fashion right now, There's been such a run on the tob, a traditional sari-like garment, that it's become impossible to find. "The real lure is the brand name—after Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the International Criminal Court prosecutor who has charged Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir with war crimes." [Deep Glamour]
• Alice Dellal is in the midst of a coke scandal. But more to the point, she's rocking punk chic! [Elle]
• As previously noted, Ed Norton's gonna be the face — wrist? — of Breil for the next two years. Here are the ads! [Oh No They Didn't]
• The charmed life: Carlos de Souza's It boy career. [Observer]
• Leah Buechley breaks the glass ceilng of the high-tech materials world. "In the several years since she first sewed a circuit board to a T-shirt, the 31-year-old University of Colorado computer-science researcher has done a lot to bring gender equality to the world of do-it-yourself." [Forbes]
• Wondering what the hell inspired the trippy Rodarte show? "Skeletons, Donnie Darko, and Space Opera." [Elle]
• This woman knows how to make an exit: Romeo Gigli's designer quits just in time for the Milan shows. [Reuters]
• The much-anticipated Louis Vuitton-Comme des Garcons bag, sported by sullen Japanese teens. [The Life Files]
• Victoria Beckham: close, but no cigar? "Beckham's dresses appear both curiously wearable and really rather fetching. Primly foxy, kitted out with all manner of tailoring trompe-l'oeil, they will be available in sizes 6-14. Victoria apparently had in mind Nigella Lawson and Dame Helen Mirren by way of muses. The adjectives being bandied between air kisses were "beautiful", "classy" and "desirable". Be that as it may, the consensus regarding Brand Beckham remains a hearty "Thanks, but no thanks"." [Telegraph]
• Looks like chasing Harry Winston's worthwhile; the company's way, way up. [WSJ]
• Faux-fur Converse chucks. 'Nuff said. [The Life Files]
• Obviously a terrible idea: "With no catwalk in sight, nine sharply dressed models climbed up a ladder and plunged into a large tank of water in Australia's first public underwater fashion shoot, delighting tourists and passers-by in Sydney's picturesque Circular Quay." [Reuters]
• Dita Von Teese for Wonderbra: "I took all the best bits of the most beautiful vintage lingerie I have collected over the years to make this...But I made sure it was all really comfortable too, which vintage lingerie can't really claim to be." [Telegraph]