• Michelle Obama wore French-born Brooklyn-based designer Sophie Theallet to unveil a bust of Sojourner Truth at Emancipation Hall yesterday. Naturally, journalistically, WWD asked the designer to specify the First Lady's measurements. Theallet declined. [WWD]

• Michael Kors, on the now-solved problem of women becoming socially invisible as they age: "I used to hear women saying, ‘Oh, I hate my arms, I hate my thighs' when they got older, but now they don't. They're in the gym or doing yoga, or getting what they don't like fixed. Sigourney Weaver's 60, Michelle Pfeiffer's 50. Michelle Obama is showing older women that you can be serious without looking stiff, and showing younger women that you don't have to dress like a hoochy mama to be modern. It's all different. Everyone is refusing to age." [Times of London]
• Christopher Kane is tackling a wider range of items than ever in his next season's Topshop range. Expect bags, knitwear, and shoes, in addition to the clothes. [Grazia]
• Fellow Brit Stella McCartney made the Time 100, the only fashion designer represented. Gwyneth Paltrow, her BFF, did the profile. [WWD]
• Vera Wang bedazzled a BlackBerry for a breast cancer charity raffle. Elizabeth Hurley will do the honors. [WWD]
• Now this is a match made in heaven: showmen fashion designers Viktor & Rolf are turning their talents to opera. For a German production of Der Freischütz, the duo made costumes with over a million crystals. That, Vera, is how you do bling. [Elle UK]
• The Payless shoes on Christian Siriano's runway back in February were kind of hideous; the ones likely to make it into stores this August are kind of boring. Let's hope he can even out his aesthetic at some point during his multi-year contract. [Racked]
• Alexa Chung, the British ex-model, moved to New York to further her television career — and was hotly rumored to be exploring options with MTV. That opportunity seems to have come to fruition: Chung will host a daily show on the network, something like TRL, only with Twitter. [Yahoo! News]
• The September Issue Director R.J. Cutler, on how his subject, Anna Wintour, communicates: "It's mostly in silences, gestures, and the occasional use of language. It's more than enough and she always gets her way. When she's not getting her way, she's happy to speak at greater length. In her work environment, that's how she communicates with everyone. Some people see the film and say, she seems so closed. She's a closed gal. That's who she is. But the times that she does open up in her life are the times that you see her open in the film — when she's with Bee, when she's talking about her dad, talking about her siblings. It's family." [MakingOf]
• The SoHo Hogan store is closing, and looking for a space uptown. [Racked]
• Australian Fashion Week, like fashion weeks everywhere, was smaller this season than before the recession. There were 15% fewer shows, and two catwalks inside the venue, compared to last August's three. Fewer buyers attended, and, barring any case of Aussie economic exceptionalism, the orders they place will prove smaller. Organizers say they expect things will be much better next season, because organizers have to say things like that. At least in public. [Reuters]
• As for the designers who did bother showing, half of them seemed to be phoning in 80s nostalgia and Balmain shoulderpads, and one, Ant!podium, well, they really, really like Beth Ditto. So they found a proudly non-model-sized tattooed artist named Tokio Pink to walk in their show. Such is their commitment to diversity. [News.com.au]
• Max Azria, on the other hand, isn't predicting any great improvement in business conditions during the rest of this year. [WWD]
• Jones Apparel Group, owner of the brands Anne Klein, Nine West, and Jones New York, handily beat analysts' expectations in their quarterly profit announcement. Although revenue still fell 9%, Jones shares rose 10% in response to the good news. [Reuters]
• Prada's profits fell 22% in 2008. [WWD]
• The opening of Forever 21's first store in Japan was a bit of a madhouse, apparently. It isn't hard to imagine why. [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]

• Yay! Everyone's favorite design power couple, Simon Doonan and Jonathan Adler, are making it official: the long-time twosome will marry in California in September in what one can only assume will be the most awesome wedding ever. Quoth the Barneys maven, “I always thought we were married, so I don’t feel like celebrating the fact that the government’s allowing me to think I’m married. It’s more like paying a parking ticket.” [NY Magazine]
• La Doonan also waxes on what works for a woman over 40 (expressing yourself) and what doesn't: "Don't: Try to look sexy. It's like Girls Gone Wild has affected this whole culture with the need to look like a poll dancer. I'll ask, "Are you a stripper? Are you a poll dancer? And they're not!"' Should not be limited to the over-40 set. [Wowowow]
• Avril Lavigne's heinous back-to-school line for Kohl's goes on sale after, like, a week. [NY Magazine]

• Queens sweatshop raided. [Crain's New York]
• Isabel Toledo finally addresses her firing from Anne Klein: "Let's just say that it was 'corporate,' which I am not," she told Portfolio.com. "Anne Klein was a great venture for me. When you design, you design, it doesn't matter what it's for." [Portfolio]
• But it totes worked out because now she's designing for Michelle Obama. [New York Magazine]
• New Valentino campaign seriously stunning. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Dorks sport "life is good" tee shirts so the world will lighten up. [New York Times]
• Bad credit climes for distressed firms. [WWD]
• Australian designer's ban on teen models pisses off teen models. [News.com.au]
• Interview with disgusting accused-rapist 'designer' Anand Jon. [Radar]
• Call the waahmbulance: "'There is a possibility I may not survive this ordeal," the Indian-born designer rants in a letter to journo Sharon Waxman in Los Angeles magazine. "I grapple with blankets that have bloodstains dried in tie-dyed patterns and battle nocturnal visits from . . . rodents and insects (that I have not even seen in the jungles of India!) . . . The whole thing feels like a Stephen King novel turned into a movie directed by M. Night Shyamalan."' In other words...box office poison? [Page Six]
• 'Conceptual' Chinese line Wuyong's debut involves pigeons, seeds, and t'ai chi. [WWD]
• What's with all the designers-turned-decorator? Roberto Cavalli on his new club, which will apparently be "dripping with Swarovski crystals." [New York Magazine]
• Eddie Bauer reinvents itself? [BlackBook]
• Top Shop, already a great jeans resource, to launch premium denim area. [WWD]

Socialite Jamee Gregory says women dress for other women. ("Noted fashion photographer" Nigel Barker points out that "most men don't realize what's going on half the time. If their friend at work wears the same thing every day, they wouldn't notice. It's not in the gene pool.­­") But Ken Downing, the fashion director for Neiman Marcus, disagrees: "Women want to look sexy and stylish. They certainly want to dress for the man in their life and there's always a little competition with other women. That is the truth because I spend a lot of time around women and clothes." Adds designer Agatha Ruiz de la Prada: "In Spain, women dress for men...I think it's very tiring to have to dress to be sexy all day. It's horrible and exhausting to have to wear high heels for 24 hours."

And then there are those who say that women dress simply for themselves: "I don't know for everyone else. For me, it's for myself. When you feel good about yourself, you feel good about everyone else," says Carine Roitfeld of French Vogue. Echoes actress Sophia Bush: "I dress for myself. There are days when I don't want to be dressed up so I'm not. And there are other days when I really want to be done from head to toe. You've got to dress for you." And former Anne Klein designer Isabel Toledo points out that while she thinks that, on the whole, "Women dress for men. I do dress for myself because it makes me feel empowered, but I'm definitely looking for [husband] Rubin's expression, not his approval. I do use clothes to speak — how I dress is a form of communication for me."

Now I'd be hard-pressed to think of a time when I've been conscious of having put on a certain outfit hoping to attract the sexual interest of men, but I've definitely dressed hoping for the approval of other women. And while most days I don't dress myself thinking "I must win the love and acceptance of others!" I think it's sort of a bullshit to say you dress for yourself, always. Because in my case, no one can see what I'm wearing. (Those neon orange sweatpants). And I like to believe that Carine Roitfeld would be, too, if no one could see her. After all, if a fashionista falls in the forest and no one is around to see, is she really a fashionista?

All Dressed Up For No One In Particular [WWD]

• OMG Bon Jovi is the motherfucking guest judge on Project Runway tonight! [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• What's this? Heidi Klum says that Seal used to design and sew his own clothes?! [Sassybella]
  
• Jones Apparel Group is saying au revoir to the Isabel Toledo-designed Anne Klein Collection despite the fact that fans and critics alike loved it. [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• Poor Giorgio Armani. A photo of him posing with one of the kids arrested in connection with the murder of a British student in Perugia last week is up on the arrested kid's Facebook page. The rep for Armani insists (and we believe it) that Armani doesn't know the 20-year old facing charges, but merely granted him the photo as a "tourist photo". [WWD, 3rd item]

• And in less detrimental-to-the-brand Armani news, Julia Roberts has collaborated with the Italian fashion house to create a leather bracelet, sales of which will benefit Bono's (Product) Red. [Fashion Week Daily]
• It's another designer collaboration for H&M! Next up is Swedish uber-textile company Marimekko, which is preparing a collection which a company rep says will be "like a vitamin injection." [WWD, sub req'd]
• "We were just like 'Oh my God! Oh my God!' And both of us just stood there, squeezing each other's hands. Agyness was completely mute and unable to speak. Anna asked me for a business card and I didn't have one. I thought, 'Oh my God, I've just ruined my career'." That's designer and Hagyness bff Henry Holland on his first meeting with Anna Wintour, natch. [Vogue UK]
• Why did Hayden Panettiere attend the Victoria's Secret Show? To see the Spice Girls, natch! And why did she want to see the Spice Girls? Because she's a cock-eyed optimist: "I just want to see all of them getting along." Don't hold your breath, hon. [FabSugar]
• Target's sales figures are down. Just don't blame our boy Isaac Mizrahi! [Business Week]
• Tory Burch: Bought one of her own pieces at the Nieman's in Chicago. [WWD, 7th item ]
• Claudia Schiffer is the face of Chanel Resort and based on the first images, we think she's still got it. [Sassybella]

• Diane von Furstenberg on designer Marc Jacobs' we-think-idle threat to stop showing his precious dresses in New York: "It would be really horrible to lose him... I am ready to beg in front of his pavement." [WWD]
  
• Terry Richardson just shot Tom Ford for the cover of Out. It's boxing-themed because it'll shock the world! [Page Six]
  
• Ann Taylor: The Jeffersons of retail! Movin' on up, pricepoint-wise. (Because nothing says "expensive" like expensive!) And also to the East side, with a new space on New York's Madison Avenue. [WSJ]
  
• Oh, brother: in the neverending high-low war H&M looks like the new Forever21. Now the "copyright" is Chloe's, and the beef isn't even with actual clothes but with the H&M ad campaign, supposedly "virtually identical" to Chloe's own. [WWD, 2nd item]
  
• New York Fashion Week! It's finally over! Oh no: London Fashion Week. It's just beginning. [Vogue UK]

• <<li>Bulgari profits are up a crazy 32%: Who is buying that much Bulgari? And what are they buying? We can't even name a single Bulgari product other than that Green Tea shampoo that we got as a sample in a hotel once. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Calvin Klein designer Francisco Costa is just like us: Stopped by security when trying to get backstage after fashion shows. [Fashion Week Daily]
• How Anne Klein designer Isabel Toldeo is going to be recovering from Fashion Week: "We head out to the San Francisco area where my husband is painting a large scale mural - and for the opening of Barneys - and then it's on to a Big Sur getaway where we are staying on a cliff to watch the fall fog roll in - very Play Misty For Me." Uh, yeah. Us too. [The Fashion Informer]
• Yohji Yamamoto is creating "his youngest and most affordable" line to date, which is getting the moniker "Coming Soon." Just us, or does this name make you think of lies you tell men in bed? [Um yeah just you -Moe] [WWD, sub req'd]