Dig it: Daniel Kruger, a researcher at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, has found that there's an evolutionary basis for the discrepancy between the sexes' skill at shopping. Explains ScienceDaily,

From an evolutionary perspective, it all harkens back to the skills that women used for gathering plant foods and the skills that men used for hunting meat. The contrast emerges because of the different foraging strategies for hunting and gathering used throughout human evolution.

Hunting versus gathering, if you will. And, as he puts it, "Evolved foraging psychology underlies sex differences in shopping experiences and behaviors." Women are good at taking the time to find the right stuff; men, not. Your stereotypical woman lives to shop; her husband holds down the "husband chair" and leafs through Teen Vogue.

Interesting as this is, it poses a major dilemma for Payless Shoes: for the past few years, they've advertised their BOGO sale with nature-documentary style narration about women "hunting" for shoes and deals. What will they ever do now?

Male And Female Shopping Strategies Show Evolution At Work In The Mall [ScienceDaily]

Forgive me if I revert to a 16-year-old Valley Girl version of myself, but ohmigawd, grody. This is soap wrapped in felt. My bathroom pet peeve is hair on soap. SOAP, BY DEFINITION, SHOULD BE CLEAN. If there's pube hair on your Lever 2000, your shower is VOID. Ew ew ew.

The sweater seems nice and all, but my lust is reserved for that Clothbound Penguin Classic version of Sense and Sensibility. Actually, my favorite designs in the series are the chandelier-covered Great Expectations and the peacock-feathered Picture Of Dorian Gray. You have Coralie Bickford-Smith to thank for the exquisite patterns.

This "message in a bottle" thingy is $16 for a little glass jar and some blank paper. Blink. Blink.

Is the "in-the-clouds scarf" pretty, in a shabby chic/grandma's attic kind of way? Yes. Is it $168 pretty? No.

Someone's been in the Ugly Betty wardrobe department.

My problem with Shabby Chic is my same problem with Olsen twins chic. It's not hip to be homeless, so why is it hip to LOOK homeless? Derelicte your own balls.

The "noble lore" blouse is probably cute and Blair Waldorf-esque, but the "hazy" photo treatment makes it hard to tell. It's worse than the time they shot shit underwater, because it makes me feel like I have glaucoma.

If I have one gift, it's the uncanny ability to look at a page of items and only like the most expensive thing pictured. In this case it's the "Enveloped Petals Cardigan," ringing up at $248 — the Upended Poppy tee is $68; the In-A-Moment dress is $118 and the Waltzing Daphne blouse is $98.

"He said he was a painter… He asked me if I wanted to get plastered… I didn't know it he painted walls… Still, he made me feel dizzy and weak in the knees! Or was it the fumes? All I know is I haven't spackled like that in a long time."

Excellent things about this shot:
1. Eyebrows
2. Eyes
3. Masculine/feminine combo of blazer and lace

Terrible things:
1. Blazer wouldn't look good on me/fit my rack
2. Doesn't come in my size anyway

AAAAAHHHH my eyes! Make it stop.

More lovely books. The striped "Saturation Point" heels are cute, too: $88.

She is humming "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes." Mark my words.

The "Great Heights Shift," $148: Cute or corny? As a city girl, I'm a sucker for a skyline.

Oh, Anthro. This always happens. I hate you, then you do something sweet — like pairing a girl "For Flora Skirt" ($168) and pindot tights ($18) with retro "Carved Celadon" heels ($168). Le sigh.

Anthropologie [Official Site]

Earlier: Man Shops Globe: The World Is Your Boho Bazaar
Man Shops Globe: The World Is Your Boho Bazaar
Anthropologie: Sartorialist-ic "Real" People Impossibly Pretty, Well-Dressed
May Anthropologie Catalog: Totally Watered Down
Anthropologie "Adorned": Critters & Kids Steal The Spotlight From Bags & Baubles
Anthropologie "Revival": TV-Ready Fall Fashion
Pottery Barn, Anthropologie & West Elm: Bedding Porn For Sleepyheads
CB2, Anthropologie & Delia's: More Bedding Porn For SleepyHeads
Please Do Not Look The Anthropologie Model In The Eye
Anthropologie "Vignettes": Forcing Us To Look Forward To Fall
Anthropologie "Giving": We Love To Hate & Hate To Love It
Urban Outfitters, Free People & Anthropologie: What's The Difference?
Anthropologie Doesn't Care About Black People

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19 Crappy & Crazy Christmas Gifts From Sky Mall
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All previous catalog posts

• Lily Allen told a British radio show that she is quitting performing for two years to open a boutique called Lucy In Disguise. She's also going to found a record label. [Elle UK]

• President Obama wore a parka to visit the Great Wall of China. "The jacket has a fleece bib and removable bucket hood, suggesting that President likes his jackets as he likes his health care bills: riddled with options," notes Women's Wear Daily. [WWD]
• Michaele Salahi wore David Yurman jewelry to that little party she crashed about a week back, if you care. [WWD]
• Japanese outfit Cross Company has bought a majority stake in Thom Browne. Which makes a certain kind of sense, since Browne's aesthetic certainly is well-suited to Japan. Haha, 'suited,' see what we did there? Sorry. Anyway, how much money Browne got to part with his controlling stake was not disclosed, and they plan to open a flagship in Japan next year. [WWD]
• Cathy Horyn, on the closure of Christian Lacroix's couture and ready-to-wear lines: "I remember taking my mother, Nancy Horyn, to the Paris ready-to-wear shows in March of 1990. She saw three — Valentino, Romeo Gigli and Lacroix. She was utterly enchanted by Gigli; it was the season of the celebrated Murano glass collection. She didn't really care for Valentino; it was, you know, not her thing. She adored Lacroix. The show that season was held in the house, on those beautiful banquettes, so it was a different experience, more like a couture presentation. Before the show we stood in the little courtyard of the house, on the steps going up to the salon, and my mother asked about so-and-so, curious about their style of dress or exceedingly impulsive hairdo. It probably all seemed very urgent, though I imagine not in the least to her." [On The Runway]
• Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone closed on a nice little love nest in the Village for $10.4 million. It has a private elevator, yard, roof terrace, and a rear terrace. [P6]
• Anthropologie is moving into the Chelsea Market, at the corner of 15th Street and Ninth Avenue in New York City. [NYPost, second item]
• British designer Christopher Kane isn't having any of this Tommy-Ton-in-the-front-row nonsense: "It's a bit mad, isn't it? It feels like it's happened all of a sudden and at some shows this season the front row was just all bloggers. I think it will die down though, and people know what they are doing. No one who wants to read a serious review of a show is going to look at what a 14-year-old thinks. But it has become more critical; people can say what they want about anyone on a blog without consequences and that's quite scary. There are real repercussions for a designer if a photo of something is leaked by a blog; it can be copied in a fortnight and that can really harm a business." [Vogue UK]
• Dior Homme is launching a line of women's jeans. Women with the means to do so have been wearing Dior Homme's slim cut suits ever since Hedi Slimane was designing pants so sexy the darts alone could make you weak at the knees. Could the specifically-for-women versions be any better than those? [Vogue UK]
• You can buy Joan Collins' Dynasty costumes — along with Shirley Bassey's YSL heels — at a charity pop-up store in London, opening tomorrow. [Elle UK]
• Tom Ford smells like vanilla and has not only a Best Side but a Best Angle. He says things like, "I think of myself as a product." [NYTimes]
• Cathy Horyn likes his movie, A Single Man. [On The Runway]
• The Wall Street Journal investigates the peculiar and specific humiliation of having your once-treasured and still-fashionable clothing picked through by a snarky 19-year-old clerk at Buffalo Exchange, and found wanting. Word to the wise, as someone who used to make food and rent money by re-selling the designer "trade" I was usually "paid" in — and by scouring the $1 rag markets in LA for Lacoste sweaters and old prom dresses I could launder, repair and re-sell: Buffalo Exchange's prices are shit. They do not care if your shoes are thrice-worn Prada; they will offer you $9 for them. If you do not have the patience for eBay, go to Wasteland, if you're on the West Coast. If you're anywhere else, sew in some labels from your dad's old designer ties. Duh. [WSJ]
• Liliane Bettencourt's daughter has filed a civil case to declare L'Oreal heiress Bettencourt, the richest woman in Europe, incapable of managing her own affairs. Bettencourt gave a reported $1.5 billion worth of cash and artworks to a photographer friend, François-Marie Banier, who is already the subject of a criminal case for "abus de faiblesse," or taking advantage of the infirm. Liliane Bettencourt's lawyers reject both of the daughter's cases as an attempt to seize control of Bettencourt's assets. [Reuters]
• Someone you have never heard of before and will never hear of again was in the Victoria's Secret fashion show because she won a competition on the Internet. [AP]
• Aeropostale's third-quarter profit grew by 47% over last year's results. Same-store sales for November were up 7%, and black Friday weekend sales rose 10% on last year. Quarterly earnings were $62.6 million. [WSJ]
• Competitor Abercrombie & Fitch reported a 17% slide in same-store sales for the month of November. Analysts had expected only a 9% drop. The company's Hollister stores saw same-store sales declines of 23%. [TS]

• And now, the cold, hard, retail reality sets in: Neiman Marcus and Net-A-Porter are dropping Ungaro for Spring. Barneys and Saks also aren't ordering. Lindsay Lohan and Mounir Moufarrige, what have you wrought! [Style.com]

• Ashley Tisdale does not yearn for a clothing line. "I've started a production company; I guess that's kind of my clothing line," says the actress. [WWD]
• The incredible Alexander McQueen shoes — both the bulbous hoof ones, and the ones that look like some piece of anthropomorphic weaponry out of eXistenZ, which Lady Gaga wore in the video for "Bad Romance" — are apparently a hit. The designer says he's been inundated with calls from women wanting to buy the so-called "Alien" shoes, albeit some who are interested in them as art pieces. The process by which the shoes are made is protected by copyright, says a spokesperson for the brand. No word on whether a commercial version will be produced for wide sale; McQueen is mulling a charity auction for the runway samples. [Grazia]
• Carlos Falchi's line of handbags for Target is in stores now through December 27th. The designer says, if he didn't have his current job, "I'd like to be a Brazilian cowboy." [TFI]
• Victoria Beckham's people are denying the rumors she is planning, with Simon Fuller, to open a modeling agency — perhaps a U.S. branch of Storm, in which Fuller holds a controlling stake — in New York. "There is absolutely no truth in the story regarding Victoria Beckham and Simon Fuller opening a modeling agency in New York," says her spokesman. "Victoria is concentrating all her efforts on her fashion line and her family." [Vogue UK]
• Daniel Lalonde, president of Louis Vuitton, basically confirmed Lara Stone will be the face of the spring campaign. [The Cut]
• Betsey Johnson is redesigning her stores. Gone will be the hot-pink walls, replaced with white walls and checkerboard floors, to better display the clothes. [Racked]
• Dooney & Bourke co-founder Frederic Bourke has been sentenced to 366 days in prison and a $1 million fine for his role in a failed scheme to bribe Azeri officials into privatizing Azerbaijan's oil company, which would have essentially deprived the country of profits from its greatest national resource. Bourke is appealing. [WWD]
• Model Karmen Pedaru spent a year as goalie on an Estonian national soccer team. [W]
• Funny, the only item this list of How To Look Like Gisele Bundchen is missing is: being born to look like Gisele Bundchen. (OK, so Nars Orgasm is bog standard by now, but $475 moisturizer? Come on.) [Blackbook]
• The BHV — pretty much the most awesome department store in Paris — is getting Beth Ditto and Jean-Charles de Castelbajac to do its holiday windows. Meanwhile, stately old Printemps has Natalia Vodianova. [WWD]
• The British Fashion Council will give an award to the winner of a public vote on who best "embodies the spirit of London." Nominees include Alexa Chung, Kate Moss, and Vivienne Westwood. [BFC]
• Jeffrey Monteiro might be taking over as head designer at Bill Blass. [WWD]
• Liz Lange is launching a lifestyle shopping site, apparently kind of like Gilt crossed with Daily Candy. [Crains]
• People are trying to save Luella on the Internet. [Fashionista]
• The Gossip Girl timeline is apparently now forever divided by the caesura of the Threesome; say Before The Threesome or After The Threesome, and everyone immediately knows what you mean. The boys on the show have been wearing a lot of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's line, Elizabeth & James, People notes. [People]
• Jason Wu is doing a capsule collection for Tse this spring. [WWD]
• Anthropologie is the most profitable of the three Urban Outfitters brands, quarterly results reveal. [TS]
• Marie Osmond is licensing her name to a fashion and home decor line. Every last piece in the Marie Lifestyle Collection will retail for under $100. Expect to see it in stores later this month. [UPI]
• Donna Karan's West Indies home is currently making us cry bitter tears of envy from our very black souls. [SB]

• Marisa Miller has earned the most coveted position of all the Victoria's Secret runway girls: Wearer Of The Diamond-Studded Bra. Her equipment costs $3 million. "It's surprisingly comfortable," says Miller. Sure looks it. [People]

• Sir Paul Smith would love it "if fashion shows died out completely." The 63-year-old British designer explains, shows are "pure, self-indulgent theatre. How many girls were there this year in horns or neck braces with bare breasts? It wouldn't matter if they didn't take it all so seriously, but the fashion world is a dangerous, superficial and fickle place." [Telegraph]
• Although the press sometimes jumps all over Anna Wintour for repeating her outfits, it's something she does all the time, and will continue to do, because who wears clothes once, for God's sake? "I usually wear the same dress twenty times. I think it's always fun to have something new, but it doesn't mean that everything you already have in your closet has to be thrown out, you know? Recycle." [The Cut]
• The USAToday and W did the hard work of "parsing" Amelia Earhart's style. You know her, she's that woman famous for...wearing pants. [USAToday]
• Donatella Versace tells a Vogue reader who says she would buy clothes in larger sizes, if Versace made them, that "I certainly wouldn't want to do a plus-size line, as I have no problem with women of any size wearing my clothes. I guess some styles lend themselves to being scaled up, while some others just don't work." Versace's own daughter, Allegra, has struggled with anorexia. [Style.com]
• Donatella hosted a party for the Whitney, and a lot of celebrities came. (Since when are Lindsay Lohan and Taylor Momsen "just-wanna-have-fun blondes"?) Also in attendance at what was, you know, an art benefit were Chuck Close and Ellsworth Kelly. [Style.com]
• Meanwhile, that equally tanned and fashionable Italian female, Gucci creative director Frida Giannini, is headed to Yonkers today to cut the ribbon with Mary J. Blige on something called the Mary J. Blige Center for Women. [P6]
• Somebody should tell Mark Ronson that what he has designed for Gucci is not in fact a sneaker, but a boat shoe. The eyelets give it away. [Hypebeast]
• Karl Lagerfeld is heading to Argentina. Lest you think it's to enjoy some steak and a nice Malbec, know this: "I only go to places if I have a professional reason. I'm not a tourist." He'll be shooting Freja Beha Erichsen, Baptiste GIabiconi, and Claudia Schiffer in the next Chanel campaign — what, no Lara Stone? — and researching a book about Argentine architecture. [WWD]
• London Fog's holiday ad campaign features Tony Parker and Eva Longoria. There's got to be a Mad Men joke here somewhere. [People]
• Meanwhile, John Galliano himself has revealed that the spring Dior campaign will star Karlie Kloss. [WWD]
• Grace Kelly and Cartier are each getting stars on the Walk of Style on Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles. [HoustonChronicle]
• Angelina Jolie is apparently in talks with Ridley Scott to star in a film about the 1995 murder of Maurizio Gucci. [Variety]
• Tom Ford, the man Maurizio had hired to revitalize the brand, says he will do women's wear again. Just as soon as he can get financing. [WWD]
• The Times' Critical Shopper, Cintra Wilson, went to Ann Taylor. She didn't expect to like it, but then: "Clothing companies, when they panic, tend to go rococo. They get flashier, busier and more disposable by slapping on bigger logos and more useless bows and frippery. Ann Taylor must be commended for choosing less clutter and better details that aren't always: the finished seams inside a little faille opera jacket; the velvet ribbon inside the waist of a peplum coat; the Italian three-season wool." [NYTimes]
• Iconix Brand Group, the company behind everything from Candie's to Badgley Mischka, has been fined $250,000 by the Federal Trade Commission for violating certain provisions of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act when it collected information during some of its promotions last year. [Crain's]
• Burberry is suing the U.K.-based pet supply store Pets At Home for using a checked fabric the company says is too similar to its own. Pets At Home, which has 250 stores, has pulled the offending products, but the dispute is ongoing. Burberry creative director Christopher Bailey told the New Yorker earlier this year about suing a pet store that advertised a dog cushion "in the famous Burberry check." [Guardian]
• Maybe the answer is that Burberry should make like Mulberry, and do its own line of pet clothes. [FWD]
• More details about the city's planned fashion incubator in the garment district have emerged: New York will subsidize 12 slots in a 10,000 sq. ft. space, reducing the rent from $2,900 to $1,500 a month. The designers, who are being selected right now, will also have access to mentoring and support from the Council of Fashion Designers of America. It's not for students fresh out of school: every designer must have already been in business for at least a year, and employ a staff (even if that staff is volunteer). What a wonderful use for a vacant showroom floor. [NYTimes]
  
• Australian denim brand Ksubi is going to do a lower-priced line with the department store David Jones. And possibly another one with Topshop. [Sassybella]
• Anhropologie is extending its reach across the Atlantic. Its first European store opens on Friday in London. [WWD]

• The Kardashian sisters are going to put on their thinking kaps and hopefully kome up with a kollection for Bebe. [Kim Kardashian]
• Which makes about as much sense as Jermaine Jackson's rumored clothing line. [Times Of India]

• Megan Fox has been gunning for her just-announced Armani campaign, for which she was paid a rumored $2 million, for years — or approximately as long as she's been famous. She has worn Armani to events and finally met the designer at his couture show this summer. [AP]
• After missing the opportunity to release a Sarah Jessica Parker scent to coincide with the Sex And The City movie, Coty, the clever clogs company behing the actress' perfume deal, vowed to be prepared next time around. And lo, SJP NYC, a cute little pink thing in a beveled bottle, will launch next May, just in time for Sex And The City 2: Electric Boogaloo. [WWD]
• Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas has signed a perfume deal with Avon, the preferred perfume partner of Reese Witherspoon, Courteney Cox, and Patrick Dempsey. [WWD]
• See how Selena Gomez's new clothing line, Dream Out Loud, stacks up against the luminaries of tween clothing collections past: the Olsen twins' Wal-Mart line, Miley Cyrus and Max Azria's concatenation of sequins, and the criminally God-awful Stuff By Hilary Duff. [Refinery29]
• Yeohlee Teng has been honored by the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. She says, "Fashion is so often about the Eighties, about the Seventies, but not about original thinking." Teng's preferred design philosophy? "Construct a cube, then put it on the body and watch the body activate it." Check out her current show at the Crow Collection of Asian Art in downtown Dallas. [DN]
• In some kind of grand, music-fashion-industry circle jerk, Michael Stipe will give an award to Renzo Rosso, Jon Bon Jovi will present something to Kenneth Cole, Oscar de la Renta will receive a prize from Grace Coddington, and Dita Von Teese will bestow something on Stephen Jones. In fashion, everyone's a winner. [WWD]
• Coach creative director Reed Krakoff is not only getting an eponymous fashion line, but a New York Fashion Week debut. Expect to see Krakoff on the schedule for February. [FWD]
• When I, like the Italian luxury — luxury as in $30,000 suits — label Brioni, turn 65, remind me to celebrate by releasing a limited-edition perfume and selling each of my 7,000 bottles for $399 (100 ml) r $830 (300 ml). Then, inexplicably, I'll invite Bryan Ferry to the launch. [WWD]
• Nitrolicious was given a free pair of Steve Madden's "Seryna" booties — the alleged knock-off Alexander McQueen is suing Steve Madden over — and posted an understandably glowing review, with photos. But with praise like, "These are really a good copy of the original boots but cost a fraction of the price," not to mention the fact that posts like these serve as timestamped evidence that Steve Madden is continuing to promote the product, could the company only end up developing Alexander McQueen's case? [Nitrolicious]
• We know Vera Wang won't be on the next season of Dancing With The Stars, but is it because the producers wouldn't let her design her own costumes? [FWD]
• Wang's president of creative direction, Constance Darrow, announced her resignation from the company yesterday. The designer is understood to have offered Darrow a promotion to stay. The senior vice president of worldwide marketing and communications, Elizabeth Musmanno, left Vera Wang last week. These developments could be related either to Wang's rumored reality television show, or to the arrival of new company president Mario Grauso, who starts work today. [WWD]
• Thus says model Liya Kebede: "Mothers are the world's best stimulus package because they invest in their families and their communities. When a mother dies, her children are up to 10 times more likely to die within two years. They are less likely to be immunized, more likely to be malnourished, more likely to contract HIV, and more likely to be exploited. When a mother lives, her children are fed, attend school, and know that someone exists who will do absolutely anything to make their lives better." [TDB]
• The American launch of A*Muse, Richie Rich and Pamela Anderson's eco-friendly swimwear line, sounds much like the international launch, at New Zealand Fashion Week in September. Even down to Richie's rollerskates. (I'm beginning to feel bad for the models who have to wear the samples, no doubt well-rubbed with body makeup and other people's sweat, by now.) [People]
• Ruffian's new collection for Anthropologie, Mise en Scene, is out. It's less whimsical than the retailer's typical fare, though the connection to vintage fashion is still obvious. [WWD]

Watching the new Sundance Channel series, which premiered last night, I kept thinking: It's one thing to buy stuff from all over the world and collect it in one store; Johnson's goal is to make sure all Anthro stores from mall to mall, New York to Los Angeles, have the same shabby-chic "found object" vibe. This requires spending thousands of dollars to travel and shop. So that a mass retailer looks like a quaint boutique.

Sometimes, the shopping excursions make total sense: For instance, Johnson purchases work from artist Aurélie Alvarez, which allows her to make a living as an artist.

But on the other hand, there seems to be no difference between "want" and "need" in this show. Of course, it's Keith Johnson's job to find things to put in Anthropologie stores, but it's kind of weird to hear him say, "I need a huge pieces." No, you want large pieces. To keep up the marketing tool that is retail design. Would people shop at Anthropologie if the stores had blank white walls and just racks? No, they need to be convinced they're somewhere special, with special things. That is why Johnson purchased this gorgeous antique circus backdrop — which will end up behind a cash register. It was 800 Euros. Now shoppers can look at something pretty while handing over a credit card. It was a "must-have."

Still, it's interesting to watch Johnson shop, if you love antiquing and haggling. He has a bargaining technique involving the code word "taxidermy."

With many of the items he snaps up — like these antique posters — there is no price mentioned to us, the viewing audience, at all. If you see them for sale in Anthro, remember that the markup includes airfare from France.

At L'Isle sur la Sorque, the "third largest antiques center after Paris and London," Johnson found this "Hollywood" bed.

There's no mistaking that Johnson has vision — the bed looks exactly like what customers expect from Anthropologie.

And guess what? There's now no need to travel to France to find a dreamy bedframe: Anthropologie knocked off the design.

That's what sort of bugs me about Anthropologie. You spend money to look like a world traveler with wonderful, unique pieces — when you've just gone to a corporate store — possibly in a mall — and purchased the same thing women in 120 other stores purchased. Since the prices are so high, if you didn't shop at Anthropologie, you could probably afford to fly somewhere and buy some "unique" stuff yourself. Or just go to your local flea market and give a local dealer your business. Instead, shopping from Anthro, you get the safe, sanitized, pre-approved Americanized version… Without ever having to leave your town, and really see and experience different cultures and countries.

Whatever. I'll probably watch again next week.

Earlier: Man Shops Globe: Where Your Heaps Of Overpriced Tchotchkes Come From
Previous Anthropologie Posts

Reading the reviews, the show sounds painfully smug and self-important. Gina Bellafante writes for The New York Times:

Each half-hour episode of the eight-part series finds him in a new country, shopping antiques stores, open-air markets, galleries and artisans' studios. On the spectrum of unjustified self-importance, he falls somewhere between the standard annoying contestant on Project Runway, and that psycho realtor on Flipping Out. Like so many in design and fashion, he anxiously labors under the belief that what he is doing is akin to negotiating for the United Nations…

…What he pays for the tchotchkes he finds below the equator is never clear, ensuring that you can't do a spit-take when you calculate the markup.

Salon's Heather Havrilesky calls the show "at once so fascinating and so repugnant." She writes of Johnson:

His job traveling the globe to buy enormous overpriced pieces of weird, ancient junk so that Anthropologie can put that junk in its stores and sell it for truly ludicrous, mind-blowing prices is obviously the sort of job that anyone who wishes they had enough time and energy to rummage endlessly through flea markets would love.

In case you're not entirely sure where she stands on this, her piece is titled "Overpriced Antiques For Anxious Yuppies." (In case you don't know, Anthro is owned by Urban Outfitters Inc, along with Free People, Terrain and Leifsdottir. The company has a revenue of $1.50 billion.)

The Washington Post's Hank Stuever has branded the program "An Inventory of Malarkey," and he writes:

We are told over and over how exciting this is, traveling beyond the mere state of retail inventory and into the higher realm of object curation; how Johnson's "heart stops beating" when he senses a find around the corner in a Parisian flea market or an Istanbul bazaar. […] [B]ut Johnson's suitcase (an old-fashioned hard-sided piece of luggage with leather straps) is more interesting than he is.

He also notes that the show is a "protracted ad for Anthropologie."

Traveling the world and picking up fabulous finds does sound like an amazing job — and even a great premise for a show. But seeing how Anthopolgie's sausage gets made — knowing ceramic cups bought for a song in Argentina will soon be priced up and on thousands of mall shelves around the country — kind of sucks the fun out of it. (At one point, in South Africa, Johnson sees ceramic veggies for sale and finds them tiresome, spitting: "You can buy a ceramic piece of corn in China for less than a dollar.") All I can think of is Edina Monsoon selling Eskimo papooses in Ab Fab, justifying it by telling Saffie: "Don't look like that, sweetie. Any chance of a quick buck in the Artic, they tip the babies out and ship them down, I tell you." If there's a way to take stuff from the have-nots and sell it — with a considerable markup — to the haves, without seeming crass, you apparently won't see it on this show. Which doesn't mean I won't tune in to check it out.

The World Is His Oyster. His Pearls: Tchotchkes. [NY Times]
Overpriced Antiques For Anxious Yuppies [Salon]
'Man Shops Globe': An Inventory Of Malarkey [WaPo]

Earlier: Anthropologie: Sartorialist-ic "Real" People Impossibly Pretty, Well-Dressed
The Urban Outfitters Ethics Survey: Unintentionally Hilarious
5 Hideous Things Urban Outfitters Wants You To Wear This Summer
May Anthropologie Catalog: Totally Watered Down
Anthropologie "Giving": We Love To Hate & Hate To Love It
Free People: More Overpriced Thrift Store Crap Masquerading As Vintage Chic
Summer At 'Free People': Crafty Crocheted Crap, At Twice The Price Of Thrift Stores!

Here's the statement on the opening page of the catalog: For our August edition: We photographed what inspired us… Real people. Real places. You.

Not you, though. Someone thinner, with a better haircut and nicer bone structure. You understand.

The fluttering pencil skirt is lovely ($158) but doesn't actually come with the guy from Simply Red; the sweater vest thing on the right is mystifying and best left alone.

This cape ($148) is probably chic all by itself, but of course it looks chic when the damn Eiffel tower is in the background and she's got perfect bangs and there's an enfant peeping about. Merde.

Even if you think you like this "water & roses dress" ($148), the chances that you will be this cool are so incredibly slim it seems like folly to even think about trying to buy the frock; she has rocked it the way it deserves to be rocked and now it's over and done with and we'll all have to try and move on somehow.

And actually, that's the problem with this catalog. In addition to completely ripping off The Sartorialist (I actually emailed him just to make sure he didn't actually shoot these pictures; he confirmed that he did not), the use of "real people" wearing these clothes gives the impression that these people own these garments. Which makes you feel like, well, I can't wear that, that's hers. It's like trying to shop through someone's Facebook album. It feels wrong. The people look great, you just don't want to take their clothes from them!

That first series of shots were all from Paris; the next few are from New York. New continent, same thin, gorgeous, chic, citified aesthetic!

Here's one image in which you actually notice the clothes, because they are fug. Not talking about the chic cape in the background. Referring to the icky sleeves and the pukey pleats in the front and center. As the kids say: Vom.

Clockwise from top left: Ew, ew, pretty!, ew.

London, and that same $248 leather jacket we saw in New York. Plus! More "real" people who are just too freakin' attractive.

She's lovely. Hate the granny clothes, but she looks great.

Sick of the oh-so-slender, oh-so-muted, oh-so-artsy, oh-so-liberal-arts-school grad who now lives "downtown" look yet? Feel like any minute now, you may as well be listening to The Smiths or watching indie gem (500) Days Of Summer?

Zooey, is that you?

Earlier: Urban Outfitters: Does This Make My Ass Look Wack?
Fall At J. Crew: Romantic Ruffles, Destroyed Jeans, Hideous Shoes
May Anthropologie Catalog: Totally Watered Down

• "I'm not a designer," says Emma Watson. "If someone asked me to do something that was beneficial to a cause, then maybe I'd consider it, but not just ‘Look at me! I've got my own line!'" And as for perfume:

• "[It's] gotten so ridiculous," continues the actress. "The idea of making my own perfume makes me want to vomit." There's a joke about Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans in here somewhere. [WWD]
• The Cut did this awesome thing where they analyzed couture week by the numbers. Ever wondered how many feathers Jean Paul Gaultier uses in his couture collection? (Approximately 10,000.) Or the length of the train on Lara Stone's Chanel couture wedding dress? (200 meters.) Or the number of false eyelashes used for the Maison Martin Margiela eyelash vest? (275.) Well, now you can know all that — and much more. [The Cut]
• Madonna's back-up dancers wear Brooks Brothers. Who knew? [WWD]
• Simon Cowell and Sir Philip Green are forming an entertainment company together that'll span music, television, and fashion and other merchandising — and rumor has it they've signed Kate Moss to be a figurehead for the fashion division, and to act as a talent scout for new musical artists. [Daily Mail]
• Karolina Kurkova and her documentarian ex-Marine boyfriend are expecting their first child together. Blahopřejeme! [P6]
• Anthropologie is collaborating with the estate of print designer Vera Neumann, who started her business just after WWII by using surplus parachute silk for fabric and whose stated goal was to make one new print design every day of her life (she died with some 7,000 to her name). In addition to reproducing plates, bedding, and other homewares with Neumann's distinctive designs, Anthropologie is doing a book about Neumann, out next March. [W]
• Now this is just weird. For her Fall '09 campaign, Donna Karan decided to use runway photographs — all fine and good. But her creative team obviously Photoshopped the head of her chosen campaign model, Toni Garrn, onto the bodies of Sasha Pivovarova and Anya Kazakova. Anya and Sasha were in the show, had their pictures taken on the runway, and as Fashionologie's side-by-side shots prove, they now have both been digitally replaced from the neck up by Toni Garrn. (From the looks of things, Karlie Kloss was also Photoshopped into the background of the campaign images.) If Karan hasn't paid Kazakova, Pivovarova and Kloss for being featured in the campaign, their agencies have an awfully good case to make. [Fashionologie]
• Vivienne Westwood: "Take the tablecloth if it's beautiful and even take a towel if it's good enough, or the curtains or anything, and put things together yourself. Take things from your husband or your boyfriend, like boxer shorts or whatever — and you can take a beautiful thing as well and put it with a bit of rubbish. Don't spend money, just take what you can find. Take your old things, keep on wearing them. Don't buy much fashion anymore, but if you do buy it, choose really well, wear it for a long time, till it sort of drops off your back, it'll get even more wonderful, maybe. Even if it's horrible, if you wear it for ages it'll probably look better. Forget all this business with the washing machine and buying all these clothes. Choose well, if it's dirty, don't bother. Dirt is patina. It's patina." "Dirt is patina" is totally our new catchphrase. [WoW]
• Christian Audigier has denied that he is working on a line of kids' clothing with Jon Gosselin. [UPI]
• Of course there would be a product tie-in. Kooba is producing bags named after the female characters in NYC Prep. They're brightly colored and have gold-toned hardware, which is to say that they look like Kooba bags — and they cost $595. [Luxist]
• Balmain is said to be starting a handbag business. Buyers in Paris are being shown pre-collection samples in a half-dozen styles. We imagine anything in studded, black fringed leather, done in Christophe Decarnin's hot-right-now style, would sell like the proverbial hot cakes. [WWD]
• Oh, Jesus. What is this? Lara Stone is not a U.S. Size 6. (And by no method of conversion is a U.K. Size 8 a U.S. Size 6!) Pull the other one. Have you ever seen Lara Stone? Don't be distracted by her (awesome) boobies: she has a small frame and strikingly narrow hips. Certain fashion writers may long for that brief early 90s interregnum when certain models could be a Size 6, but the way to get back there is not to seize upon a buxom Size 2 girl and insert her into your Procrustean narrative. [The Cut]
• If you speak Italian, maybe you might want to watch this Italian television segment about Terry Richardson's Pirelli Calendar shoot in Bahia, Brazil. Given the nature of the Pirelli Calendar, it is NSFW. [BlackBook]
• Come this September, for $39, you will be able to buy a "limited edition" biscuit tin, printed with an Erin Fetherston fashion sketch and filled with six packets of LU cookies. This was totally one of those partnerships finalized before the recession. [WWD]
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized over 800 items of counterfeit Izod, Old Navy, and Gap denim items at a port in Charleston, South Carolina. The haul had an estimated value of over $727,000. [WWD]
• After having to expensively back out of a Fifth Avenue lease for a planned flagship store, and after announcing the need to refinance some $170 million in debt this spring, Marc Ecko is putting his company's 275,000 sq. ft. 23rd St. headquarters on the market. If anyone needs an office with a half basketball court, now's your time — the price is "negotiable." [Crain's via CityFile, which has pictures]
• Gene McCarthy is leaving his position as co-president of Timberland, effective the end of this week. The company would not explain the departure. [WWD]

The survey has 68 questions (all posed as statements) and is supposed to take 20 minutes. You're instructed to respond on a scale, with choices like "Totally Disagree, " "Very Slightly Disagree," "Strongly Agree" and "Totally Agree."

But: However loosely your moral compass is wound, it's pretty easy to cheat this test, since with many of the questions, it's so obvious how you should respond, if you want to get hired.

For instance, Question 13:

I have problems with long hours at work.

Who in their right mind — who really wants a job — is going to admit this?

Question 14:

Most employees get high on the job at one time or another.

Question 41:

Smoking a marijuana cigarette is the same as having a drink.

Question 5:

In previous jobs I've had problems getting to work on time, but that's behind me now.

Question 30:

Some people work as well slightly high as they do sober.

You know what? Some people do. Some people work better high. Are you going to say so when you want to work at Urban Outfitters? No. No, you are not.

Even more amusing are the questions about stealing. As you may know, Urban Outfitters has quite frequently been accused of ripping off other designers. (More here, here, here, here; and then there's an entire site called Urban Counterfeiters.)

But there were several questions hinting that prospective employees had better not even think about stealing from UO.

Question 32:

In some instances an employee who steals small items should be overlooked if he/she does an otherwise outstanding job.

Hey, I'm gonna work super hard and only walk out of here with some earrings. Or a purse. Hire me?

Question 55:

Most employees steal at one time or another.

Psst. Everybody's doing it. Hire me?

Question 44:

A person who takes $5.00 a year from his/her employer is a thief.

I steal, but only a little. Hire me?

Question 20:

In previous jobs I've stolen small items, but I will never do it again.

Unless I go back on crack. Hire me?

It would be really interesting to see how the creative types at Urban Outfitters — who knock off T-shirts, shoes and jewelry — and whose sister company, Anthropologie, doesn't like black people — would reply to these questions:

Question 24:

A company's policies and procedures should be followed without deviation.

Question 38:

Cheating is the way a majority of individuals succeed in business.

Question 23:

An employee should criticize his/her company when he/she believes it to be wrong.

But maybe the answers lie here:

Question 4:

A good employee should always support the organization when outsiders criticize it.

Question 7:

Some rules should be altered to fit the specific situation.

Related: Urban Counterfeiters
Earlier: Anthropologie Doesn't Care About Black People

• In a move that smacks of Chanel-Audrey-Jean-Pierre, Dior announced it's making a 6 1/2 minute online perfume ad with Marion Cotillard and Olivier Dahan, who of course directed Cotillard in La Vie En Rose. [WWD]

• Richard Avedon's retrospective at the International Center of Photography, opening tomorrow, is the largest show of his fashion work yet mounted. Cathy Horyn spoke to curators Carole Squiers and Vince Aletti, plus friends like the New Yorker's Adam Gopnik, about the legendary lensman and his manifest influence on contemporary fashion photography. [NY Times]
• Alexa Chung, the British former model who recently moved stateside to present a new show for MTV, endears perhaps most of all by not pretending her job is difficult. "Presenting isn't hard. You're basically reading cards. I mean, how fucking difficult is that?" And then by sharing these words about the television industry: "I think the mistake a lot of TV channels make is that they assume kids are dumb when they're not. Middle-aged fat men [shouldn't] tell young people [what] to watch when they have no idea." [WWD]
• Aldo, the normally good relatively cheap shoe line, wants us to wear horrendous teal 'n' bronze 'n' snakeskin 'n' studs gladiator sandals this summer. [LA Times]
• Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's fashion line, Elizabeth and James, gave People the exclusive on the release of their fall '09 lookbook. This marks a new uppermost notch on the continual rise of lookbooks into campaign territory. [People]
• Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and her husband are reportedly considering moving into the Paris apartment formerly owned by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. [Daily Mail]
• The Agyness Deyn on Twitter is, says BFF Henry Holland, an imposter. "THIS IS FAKE PEOPLE!!!" typed the designer. "AGGY DOES KNOW HOW TO OPERATE A COMPUTER AND MOST CERTAINLY DOES NOT EAT BREAKFAST!" [Grazia]
• C. Scott Hemphill and Jeannie Suk, law professors at Columbia and Harvard, respectively, give a good summary of the current status of U.S. copyright law in relation to clothing — which is that it offers designers not a whit of protection from knock-off artistes — and why it would be a good idea to change it. [XX]
• In related news: Trovata's case against Forever 21, which it accuses of copying six of its designs, has begun at a federal court in California. [WWD]
• Urban Outfitters is rolling out two new designer diffusion lines for summer: both Burberry and fellow British brand Pistol Panties are going to be selling bikinis at the American chain this summer. [Telegraph]
• Urban Outfitters' Philadelphia-based parent company just announced very disappointing earnings for the first quarter of this year. Same-store sales across the whole company dropped by 9.6%, and profits fell 28%, to $30.8 million. Free People was the biggest-losing brand, with sales at its stores slipping by 23%. Anthropologie's sales were down by 13%, and Urban Outfitters by 6%. The CEO, Glenn Senk, says his company is "well-positioned to show improvement over the next several quarters," in what is surely the understatement of the year. [The Street]
• Yesterday's flurry of rumors about the future of i-D magazine — Derek Blasberg Twittered from the Chanel resort show in Venice that the fashion monthly might have closed — the publishers have clarified that i-D will be bi-monthly as of this September. The current April issue will be on newsstands until then; the magazine will run more frequent online content instead. [Fashionologie]
• Another not-new piece of menswear news: Designers using foam batting, instead of perhaps down, as lofty insulation within garments. You know, because foam has structure. [WSJ]
• According to sources, Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy is to buy an almost 50% stake in the eco-conscious fashion line Edun, owned by Bono and wife Ali Hewson. Edun was founded in 2005 and manufactures its organic cotton goods in the third world, while paying workers fair wages. A cash infusion from LVMH would allow it to ramp up its advertising and exponentially expand its reach. [WSJ]
• Philip Lim, whose clothes — though still expensive — hit a price point well below that of many of his designer competitors, is anticipating a 15% growth in sales this year. Accordingly, he's planning to add three new lines to his label: swimwear, footwear, and lingerie. The first, his swim collection, will launch this summer, with three styles, two one-pieces and one bikini, priced at $175 each. Lingerie, for $65-$125, will be available at his Manhattan boutique from May 20. Footwear, at $290-$675, will hit stores this fall. And don't expect 6" heels with fiddly feathered doo-dads that might last twenty steps in their original condition. "Everyone's making crazy shoes," said Lim, "so we were like, ‘Let's do working shoes, but sophisticated and beautiful.'" [WWD]
• Maidenform's first quarter earnings declined by 0.8%. Although the brand experienced higher sales, its margins were hurt by aggressive discounting to move old stock. [WSJ]
• Kohl's profit for the quarter just ended fell slightly on last year, to $137 million, but still beat analysts' expectations. Sales rose during the same period by 0.4%. [Reuters]
• Hartmarx wants another six months to file for reorganization in bankruptcy court. [WWD]

This is a gorgeous, "editorial" photograph that delights my senses and would make me think of that hazy summer I spent by the lake if I ever did such a thing. As a consumer, though, I just think: I cannot see/understand that dress!!! How do you expect me to pay $168 when I don't even know what the hem looks like?

I've made Virginia Woolf drowning jokes in a catalog post before; now I wish I'd saved them.

Oh, too bad. They left this bag in the water so long it accumulated barnacles.

A swimsuit shot underwater makes sense, but — am I crazy or is the fabric color bleeding?

Bet you can't guess what these are! The caption I omitted purposely, so you can just stare at hem agog and question life itself. Give up? Highlight this "hidden" text: They're $88 earrings.

Yes, yes, beautiful shot. But is this a top, a dress, a jumpsuit or a muumuu?

Such a killjoy, I am. All I can think of are the waterlogged samples from the shoot. What became of them?

Oh, and even when the models were not in the water, they were threatening to submerge themselves:

Like this young lady, who is just daring you to whisper, "jump!"

Or this chick, who is contemplating a dip, especially since that dude is like, "It feels so good."

Or these two, who are clearly seconds away from a swim.

Three… two… one… drenched.

Even the furniture is moistened in this catalog.

Now I have to pee.

Anthropologie [Official Site]
Earlier:
Anthropologie "Adorned": Critters & Kids Steal The Spotlight From Bags & Baubles
Anthropologie "Revival": TV-Ready Fall Fashion
Pottery Barn, Anthropologie & West Elm: Bedding Porn For Sleepyheads
CB2, Anthropologie & Delia's: More Bedding Porn For SleepyHeads
Please Do Not Look The Anthropologie Model In The Eye
Anthropologie "Vignettes": Forcing Us To Look Forward To Fall
Anthropologie "Giving": We Love To Hate & Hate To Love It
Urban Outfitters, Free People & Anthropologie: What's The Difference?


Anthropologie Doesn't Care About Black People

• 1. Kate Moss is fat. 2. Kate Moss is in. 3. Fat is in. Q.E.D. [Times of London]
• Salma Hayek wore Balenciaga for her second wedding to Francois-Henri Pinault, head of PPR. [UK Elle]

• Robin Givhan has a report on the lobbying trip made last week by Maria Cornejo, Jason Wu, and Narciso Rodriguez. The designers went to Washington, D.C., to argue for a law that would offer stricter protections against design piracy. "There's a lot of misconception thanks to movies like Sex and the City or The Devil Wears Prada," said Cornejo. "People think designers spend all this time swanning around. We don't do much swanning." Cornejo, who has only twelve employees, can't compete directly with larger businesses on price. "The only way we can compete is with our ideas. That's like my bank. So when someone steals my idea, it's like they've put their hand in my bank. They're taking ideas out of my head." [WaPo]
• Diane von Furstenberg hit the headlines late last week after a Canadian blog revealed striking similarities — down to the placement of darts and the distinctive raw edged collar — between a jacket by von Furstenberg's company, and an earlier piece made by the Montreal label Mercy. Von Furstenberg, who has championed the expansion of copyright protection and attacked copy-catting in the past, is blaming the apparent knock-off on a member of her design team who is no longer with the company. "When I saw it on the Internet, I thought, The print is completely different. But then I saw something about the style with the bow, so I am not sure," said von Furstenberg. "I am finding out the information, and I have asked my attorney to contact [Mercy's designers] and say that we are investigating. I am mortified that something like that could happen here. I will do what is necessary to do, and if indeed there was an infringement, I will compensate and will use this example to make sure this doesn't happen again — not just for me, but for everybody." [WWD]
• Meanwhile, in one of Forever 21's several ongoing court cases on knock-off allegations, the company founders were deposed for two whole days earlier this month. Anthropologie is suing the fast fashion chain for allegedly copying nine of its garments. [WWD]
• That blonde lady with the nose has a new perfume. Wonder if they'll box them in a collection? 'The Nine Smells Of Paris Hilton.' [NYDN]
• Michelle Obama wears Rodarte. This makes me insanely happy, for some reason. [WWD]
• Lily Cole, the doll-faced red haired model, spoke at a student-organized ethical fashion show at Cambridge University, where she studies. [Daily Mail]
• Leggings: The Trend That Will Not Die. [WWD]
• Serena Williams, tennis star/fashion designer, has more than 300 pairs of shoes, but can't find a pair of jeans to fit. [NY Times]
• And if you think those two facts aren't connected, you're dreaming. Shoes are easy to love, and their sizing doesn't connote judgment. I can admit to refuging in a new pair of shoes after a mortifying defeat in some other wardrobe arena. Maybe that's why shoe stocks are winners. Of course, in spending money on shoes, I am left with less to put in shoes. Now that's an economic catch-22. [WWD]
• Ever wonder idly about Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone's relationships? No? Well, regardless, it turns out that Martone was the one who proposed, after having picked out matching rings at Jacobs' favorite jeweler in Paris. Now that the designer has met his fiancé's extended family in Brazil, it's full steam ahead to the wedding. Martone likes the thought of St Bart's in December. Don't we all! [The Cut]
• Kerry Washington already has her mind on gifts. "I'm not saying what I'm really going to get them — then it would ruin the surprise! If I could get him anything in the world, it would be a private jet so they could jet around all around the world to have fittings in the world with all the girls, stress-free!" [FWD]
• Beyoncé gets dressed with the aid of Style.com. [Style.com]
• Tim Gunn is set to receive an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, the Corcoran College of Art and Design, when he speaks at its commencement ceremony on May 23rd. [Blogging Project Runway]
• Six people were arrested when police raided a warehouse full of $20 million worth of counterfeit goods in Brooklyn. [WWD]
• Filene's Basement, the much-loved discount department store, was acquired on April 21 by a company that specializes in liquidations, which could mean the 25-store chain will close. If Filene's does meet that fate, it could imperil former sister company Discount Shoe Warehouse, which lent Filene's millions of dollars. [WWD]
• Sophie Dahl: "To everything there is a season; from 17 to 21 mine was the season of chocolate cake. I didn't know how to eat within the boundaries of reason; instead I learned loudly through trial and error...I really don't believe in cutting out food groups or subscribing to militant, forbidding diets. What I do believe in is moderation and balance, because both have served me well. The recipes in my book are all things I cook and eat. There are recipes for rainy, insatiable chocolate days and lighter things for the gossamer, less hungry summer evenings." Now that's a cookbook I would buy! [Daily Mail]

• Amanda Lepore has a scent which is more art project than perfume — sold at a gallery for $950, the crystal bottle contains notes of steamed rice, mandarins, champagne, and cucumber. It's fermented. [NY Times]

• The first issue of Indian Harper's Bazaar is now available. It features actress Kareena Kapoor on the cover, and a limited number of the issues are also bedazzled with "Xilion crystalized — Swarovski elements," whatever those are. [Mag-Scene]
• Meanwhile, the March '09 issue of V, featuring Natalia Vodianova and Luke Grimes, has a glow-in-the-dark cover logo. [The Cut]
• Back at London fashion week, Sienna Miller threw a "raucous" party for the label she co-runs with her sister Savannah. Her entire street was reportedly clogged with guests and their cars, and she didn't even warn the neighbors. [Daily Mail]
• Niki Taylor gave birth to a daughter, named Ciel Taylor Lamar, with husband Burney Lamar yesterday, the day before her birthday. Aw. [People]
• Chanel Iman has been publicly confirmed as Bar Refaeli's co-host on the revived MTV House of Style. [Sassybella]
• UK Esquire named Prince Charles its best-dressed man. [Yahoo! News]
• Lou Doillon is opening a concept store in Paris's 11th arrondissement. So we can add that to the list of places where I'd shop if I had any money. [Fashionista]
• For a wrap-up of the Milan shows from Aquilano e Rimondi to Versace, you can't really go past Cathy Horyn's analysis for the Times. [NY Times]
• New York decided to count models of color on the runways in Milan — and the results, especially after such a promising season in New York, are depressing. Dozens of shows with all-white casts, and then a cameo from Jourdan Dunn, does not diversity make. [The Cut]
• And, just like that, it's on to Paris. [WWD]
• British bag-maker Mulberry's January sales were up 30% on last year's results — although this article doesn't specify whether those are same-store sales (sales from stores open one year or longer) or if that figure includes sales from stores that have opened in the past 12 months. (Retail expansion inevitably boosts sales but has huge overhead costs, so same-store sales are the measurement usually considered most reliable.) [UK Vogue]
• A Wall St. analyst upgraded Steve Madden to a "strong buy," arguing that the share price had hit a floor and that the company was well-positioned with no debt, and the stock price jumped 10% in one day's trading. [Crain's]
• Urban Outfitters' same-store sales at subsidiaries Anthropologie and Free People fell during the fourth quarter, and earnings for the company were down 24% as a result. Across the whole business, January sales rose 9%, but same-store sales actually fell by 1%. Urban Outfitters won't be opening as many stores as it had planned in 2009. [WWD]
• Jaclyn Smith, former Charlie's Angel and, given her K-Mart label was launched in 1985, grand-mommy of the celeb clothing line world, says her line is doing fine in the recession, but gives no specifics. [Reuters]
• Fashion directors at department stores are finding their roles are changing — or being eliminated altogether — during this economic downturn. Harper's Bazaar interviewed six of them, at top stores like Saks and Bergdorf, only to find that two had been fired by the time the issue went to print. Let's just all cross our fingers and hope Barneys keeps Simon Doonan in our lives. [NY Times]
• Clients of models aged under 16 in the Australian state of New South Wales will have to adhere to a code of practice set by the government, and obtain the permission of the state Children's Guardian, under new legislation under consideration. The government also wants to add a zero to the fine limit for clients found to skip either of the above steps. [News.com.au]

• Moddle Erin Wasson declares that in '09, "I'm definitely devoting myself to saving and adopting more animals... Yes, I can only imagine how crowded my house will be by 2010!" [Refinery29]

• Abigail Lorick's '09 plans are closer to home: "My New Year's resolution is to get health insurance. And to be more selfless." [Refinery29]
• Daisy Lowe, Gwen-Stefani's sorta-stepdaughter and Mark Ronson's sorta-girlfriend, looks appropriately It-Girly in her new Marc by Marc Jacobs ads. [Sassybella]
• Anthropologie, in a continuing bid to pretend not to be a major conglomerate, launches in-store craft workshops. Says the chief merchandising officer (CMO?), they “aren’t designed to sell anything...We wanted to share something really personal, which is our creative side, on a one-on-one level,” and it's not their fault that they're surrounded by stuff people can buy! [WWD]
• I know everyone's saying "Mimosa" is the new black for '09...but what no one seems to get? People like black because we can actually wear it. [BoingBoing]
• Things have gotten so bad that the Liz Claiborne CEO is flying coach. Not being sarcastic; it's bad enough without knowing what you're missing. [WSJ]
• Thakoon is pleased about Michelle Obama sporting his resortwear: “A print dress? On TV?” Panichgul notes puckishly. “There’s change you can believe in.” [Style.com]
• Amid turmoil, American Apparel names new CFO. Worse still, the Wall Street Journal refers to them as "a teen retailer." [WSJ]
• Slate's "Explainer" tells us what to do if our synthetic clothing melts to our body. Having read it, we'd rather just avoid having it happen. [Slate]
• Clothing manufacturers want stores to absorb the losses caused by slashed holiday prices. This is a no-win, fellas. [Reuters]
• We're all for Phil Collins' daughter starting an accessories line for a good cause, but when we were 19? We did a lot with volunteering. [WWD]
• Dame Edna is digging her gig as a MAC face. Quoth the drag diva: "I'm very lucky, because I do have fantastic skin...I'm sure Liz Hurley is a very nice girl, but it's time for her, Isabella Rossellini and Nicole Kidman to move over. Those girls are all passé now – tragically for them." [Telegraph]
• Bar Rafaeli, moddle and DiCaprio squeeze, draws shoot out, makes photographer miss dinner. [Fox News]

• PETA apparently can't get over Armani's betrayal. Their latest devastating riposte? They've made these posters of Giorgio with a Pinocchio nose. [Towelroad]
• And in case that was over your head, that's "the puppet whose nose would grow when he told lies." [UPI]
• They should be happy with Henri Bendel; the department store's no longer carrying fur! [Nylon]
• Karl Lagerfeld cares about animals, too. Or at least that freaky teddy bear. “I was instantly seduced by the idea. I very much like animals. Above all when they are stuffed with cotton or plastic!” [Fashion Week Daily]
• Sean Connery looks super silver-foxy in his new LV ads. [Telegraph]

• The honeymoon's over: Narciso Rodriguez and Liz Claiborne officially part ways. [WWD]
• The "antiques buyer" from Anthropologie's getting his own show. Which is, I'm sure, very exciting for those of you who watch the Sundance Channel. [Fashionista]
• And if that sounds fun, you might be fascinated by the knowledge John Galliano's going to be speaking at some gala next month. [WWD]
• Avon forced to yank ads that claim its creams stop aging or something completely reasonable. [Daily Mail]
• Apparently in the current economic climate, women "plan" to spend less. Mice, men etc. [Reuters]
• Charlotte Ronson's doing a line for J.C. Penney. This in addition to, at last count, her eponymous line, her stuff for Urban, the collaboration with Shoshanna, and, you know, being a socialite. [WWD]
• Old Navy finally chooses an ad agency. We hope they'll make them bizarre again — I miss Carrie Donovan. [BrandWeek]
• Thanks to a new backer, Rochas pulls (another) Lazarus. [WWD]
• Marco Zanini may design for them. [ElleUK]
• The Pussycat Dolls are looking for a wardrobe assistant. Those with vinyl allergies need not apply. [The Sun]
• Nina Garcia's neuroses: "I wasn’t nervous about being in front of the camera, but I was nervous about seeing myself on camera. My husband makes me watch the show. I cringe the whole time." [Babble]
• Everybody's used to "Orgasm' blush. So Nars ups the ante: Super Orgasm Blush! Take That! [Nylon]

• Everyone's favorite human being, Tim Gunn, likes Dunkin' Donuts (Grace Mirabella turned him onto it.) And he can't afford to buy an apartment in New York, either! (Stars! They're just like us!) [Time Out New York]
• Simon Doonan, the woman's champion, bemoans that there's "a lot of conformity, a lot of blonde hair ... I often wonder if feminism was just a dream. I can't believe how women feel so scrutinised, and they're still so self-critical - I thought they would have let go of that now but they haven't. There's a very masochistic thing with women now that I didn't used to see. My girl friends in the punk era weren't like that at all." [Guardian]
• How's the fashion set responding to the economic crisis? "Everyone's freaking out. Everyone." [WSJ]
• AOL pulls the plug on Glass-House dwellers Joan and Melissa Rivers' Emmy coverage because of repeated humorous references to the Third Reich, corpulence. [P6]

• Prada denies it's trolling for an investor in Dubai; says it's still going public. The economy says otherwise! [WWD]
• Tom Ford's bringing in the whole Mad Men design team to work on his directorial debut. Which we would totally do, if you changed "directorial debut" to "our apartment." [E!]
• Not shockingly, Woody Harrelson is a big advocate for hemp. [Guardian]
• Of her unisex clown-in-the-asylum collection for H&M, Rei Kawakubo declares, “The collection is constructed around Comme des Garçons’ style. Rather than aiming to make clothes that no one has ever seen before, it is very much Comme des Garçons to its roots. My priority has always been creativity, which was not the least bit compromised with this collection. That was the last thing H&M wanted us to do. Otherwise they wouldn’t have asked us.” [BlackBook]
• Munichers at Oktoberfest are furious - furious! - at the poor quality of cheap, Chinese-made lederhosen. [Business Week]
• Hoping to avoid a similar fate, Scottish kiltmakers hold a summit to protect their industry. [UPI]
• Our greatest minds have come up with Kix by Katie, "a stick-on, lightweight, supportive strip which is applied to the inside back hemline of pants. This useful innovative invention adds just a bit of extra weight to your pants, making them hang down nicely." Thus is eliminated the heel-wedgie, the apparent bane of many a high-heeled dame. [InventorSpot]
• Nike's in trouble. [WSJ]
• PETA harasses Armani customers because he went back on his word about not using fur. No one makes a fool of PETA! They do that themselves! [Daily Express]
• Gillian Anderson, for one, is furious with him. [FirstPost]
• He responds by releasing a chocolate. "Available at Armani/Dolci stores this week through the end of October, the dark chocolate praline sweets are enclosed in a thin coating of white chocolate, conjuring “a tiny ethereal ghost,” the company said." [WWD]
• We apparently don't feel nearly self-conscious enough about our rapidly-aging hands. [NYT]
• Did Anthropolgie rip off their whimsical wall design? [Slog]
• British film on Hijab fashion rubs some the wrong way. [Muslim Media Watch]
• Aw, no one wants Elton John's really expensive brooch! A casualty of the economy? [The Star]
• Some Milan designers apparently in deep economic denial, all about "optimism!" [VogueUK]

Okay, seriously. There is no doubt that the bag is gorgeous, but I can hardly focus on it because I'm all, OMG puppy!!! Oh, are there shoes on this page? I didn't notice. And that is saying something.

Convertible tote, $228; well-bred mary-janes, $368.

Puppy! And the bag is adorable, too.

Chintz leather duffel, $188.

What we have here is a situation in which I am going to purposely ignore the hideous shoes and focus on the flowing locks of the Afghan hounds instead. Pretty!

Best-in-show boots, $318; ruffle row peep-toes, $138.

You're supposed to be looking at the belt, the bag and the shoes, not the children! But it's tough not to want to play in a treehouse in herringbone trousers now. Sigh.

Treehouse belt, $128; quilted corona bag, $448.

Well, shit. When Beyoncé had little girls wearing grown-up clothes I was annoyed; this picture just makes me go, "squee!" This girl is badass and I want to read her blog.

Flowering vine necklace, $58.

Dear silver shoes: Will you be mine?

Cherry-picked boots, $228; mercurial mary-janes, $128.

El oh el.

I might want all catalogs to have kids and dogs now.

Even though I consider Mrs. Roper to be one of my style icons, I have issues with jewelry like this. Bulbous baubles are ethereal on some people, but this necklace would make me look like a deranged mental patient. Also, if it looks like 75¢, it ought to cost 75¢.

Pearl menagerie necklace (glass, cotton, lucite, wood, brass), $68.

Oh, are we wearing blush on our temples now? I did not receive that memo.

Anthropologie [Official Site]