• Laura Ingraham is auctioning Sarah Palin's fleece from her Going Rogue cover. Let's take up a collection and shoot a real Going Vogue. [Facebook]
• Givenchy was the winning bidder for Audrey Hepburn's How To Steal A Million LBD. [WWD]

• Sir Elton John is selling — completely fabulous, no doubt — designer clothes from his wardrobe for the benefit of his AIDS foundation. Prices start at £10. [Vogue UK]
• Michelle Obama wore Calvin Klein collection in Oslo. [WWD]
• Antonio Berardi is too cool to collaborate with Lady Gaga. "I was approached to design a clothing range with Lady Gaga but I knocked it back because I wasn't interested in someone whose music is meaningless," says the Italian-born designer. This, from a man who designed heel-less heels? [SN]
• "Women have many lives in a day, and I try to do the best I can to accommodate that. If I have a meeting at my son's school, I don't want to look like a total fashion freak. I think, ‘Could I wear this to Trader Joe's?'" Ever sensible, that Maria Cornejo. [WWD]
• Isaac Mizrahi is returning as the Narrator in the Guggenheim's holiday production of Peter and the Wolf. [NYP]
• Could Taylor Lautner be the latest face of Armani? [InTouch]
• Roberto Cavalli, when not lending his name to opulent Dubai nightclubs with black crystal floors, apparently likes to jet off to Africa and take pictures. Now he wants nothing more than to exhibit them, he told Martha Stewart, and the Daily, yesterday. "I love shooting primitive and simple things," explained Cavalli. You know. Primitive. Like Africa. [Vogue UK]
• P. Diddy visited the New York Stock Exchange for a party celebrating AOL's re-listing as a separate company from TimeWarner, and was apparently inundated with requests for fashion advice from finance chaps. [NYDN]
• A The Sartorialist clothing line and a The Sartorialist television show are just two of the many projects Scott Schuman is discussing presently. [Pedestrian]
• Versace's spring shoes are insane. Normally the shoes that actually enter production are watered-down versions of the sky-high runway clodhoppers; these look like they're one and the same. [TheLifeFiles]
• Jil Sander's second +J collection for Uniqlo will hit stores January 14. In the meantime, here are a few pictures. [Nitrolicious]
• Alexa Chung's MTV show, It's On With Alexa Chung, will end after its season finale on December 17. The network plans to "revamp" the show's format for next January; MTV has already shortened it from one hour to 30 minutes, and experimented with the timeslot. Chung's contract with the company runs through early next year. [Variety]
• At worst, Chung can console herself with the knowledge that she has inspired a Mulberry bag of her very own. The Alexa is a twist on the company's popular Bayswater, and starts at £695. [Elle UK]
• Yesterday, we linked to a Daily Mail story that stated Mulberry's sales had jumped 16% in the six months to September 30. Well, we ought to have known better than to trust that rag for financial news: although profits at the company rose 16%, sales rose a whopping 39%. [Vogue UK]
• Mango opened its first store in Iraq. [FWD]
• "I get my best ideas when I'm in the bath in the morning or when I'm driving," says accessories designer Lulu Guinness. [WWD]
• Lily Cole, on modeling versus acting: "I look at myself differently. I think in magazines I don't have very much control. If a picture of me is great, then great. If it's not so good, it's not my fault. I have less control in that situation. That is one of the things that I like about acting: I do have a lot more control over what I'm doing and more responsibility." [Interview]
• As part of her Vogue/CFDA Fashion Fund award, Sophie Théallet will be mentored by none other than Oscar de la Renta. [WWD]

• Gisele Bundchen has given birth to a baby boy. Husband Tom Brady has a two-year-old son with actress Bridget Moynihan. [People]
• A Chantilly lace LBD worn by Audrey Hepburn in How To Steal A Million sold for $97,000. [AP]

• Naomi Campbell might do a modeling reality show in the U.K. Then she and Tyra would really have something to fight about. "Naomi has been approached with an offer, which we are talking about and discussing," says her spokesperson, somewhat redundantly. [UK Vogue]
• Executives at Maison Martin Margiela have confirmed that the Belgian designer, famous for his closely guarded privacy and his avant-garde designs, has left the house he founded and later sold to Diesel. Margiela's presence or absence at the house had long been a subject of speculation, with most fashion commentators, including us, operating on the understanding that Margiela the person was gone, but this confirmation comes with a twist: Diesel will not be hiring anyone to take Margiela's place. (Haider Ackermann and Raf Simons had been mentioned as potential replacements.) The design work will continue to be spearheaded by the 28-strong creative team, saving the house the expense of a "name" creative director. Will this work? Fashion design is a collective effort — all designers rely heavily on their creative teams for the generation, not just the execution, of ideas — but fashion observers yearn for an identifiable individual (even one who is rarely seen in public) to pin their criticism on. [IHT]
• Yesterday morning, police executed raids on 30 businesses on Canal Street in Chinatown, long a hotbed of counterfeiting. The Cut snapped a photo of what a shop without its imitation Coach and Prada goods looks like: basically a particleboard shell with racks and cases. "It's time to take back the streets of New York," said a police officer. Could this be the start of a crackdown? [The Cut]
• The counterfeit goods seized, including perfumes and handbags, filled an entire trailer. The sting was the result of a month long investigation carried out by the police and a private firm called Counter Tech. Officers made controlled buys of the imitation goods, which bore the trademarks of companies like Cartier, Gucci, Tiffany, and Chanel, and then used those goods to obtain search warrants. Investigators noted that during the five weeks they observed Canal Street, there seemed to be more foot traffic in the stalls than ever before. [WWD]
• Apparently pointing out that Michelle Obama "is not the next Jackie O" is enough to count as evil, unthinkable "sniping." Designer Douglas Hannant allegedly said this perfectly reasonable thing — Michelle Obama and Jackie Kennedy-Onassis are different women who had different roles in public life even if they shared a position, and all the Obama/Kennedy comparisons are a tad trite — and people gasped. [P6]
• Vogue is doing a shoot with fashion bloggers. Somehow our invitation must have gotten lost in the post! There are allegedly seven bloggers involved, and only three of them have been named: Tommy Ton of Jak & Jil, BryanBoy, and Todd Selby of The Selby. Who are the others? Garance Doré recently mentioned losing weight thanks to Anna Wintour in New York, and Tavi Gevinson certainly merits inclusion. Seeing the women behind Refinery29 would also be great (although they were just in Elle). But how much do you wanna bet it'll just be Julia Frakes and Sea of Shoes again? [Fashionista]
• Speaking of Tavi: She plays a prominent role in this video about the Rodarte for Target collection. You won't spend a better 2:37 today than watching Tavi interview Elijah Wood and Jason Schwartzman at the Rodarte show, or seeing the Target ad shoot in surprisingly picturesque North Dakota. [Style.com]
• And Tavi is now writing for Harper's Bazaar. [WWD]
• Just what you needed for the holidays: A $3,000 Judith Leiber Hello Kitty clutch. [Racked]
• Tamara Mellon went out to the premiere of A Single Man after trouncing her mother, Ann Yeardre, in a legal battle. Mellon, the owner of Jimmy Choo, won a $10 million settlement against Yeardre after some Jimmy Choo shares were mistakenly transferred to Yeardre, and she refused to give them back. [P6]
• The spring Louis Vuitton campaign has leaked. Lara Stone's position, reclining on dark, mossy grass, with white doves and, duh, handbags, looks like a friendlier revision of editorials done by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, one earlier this year for Vogue and the other in 2007, for W. The ads were shot by Steven Meisel. [Blackbook]
• After auctioning off all his and Yves Saint Laurent's artworks and household goods, Pierre Bergé is putting their 5,400 square foot Paris apartment on the market. It has a garden roughly equal in size, and is expected to sell for around $30 million. [WWD]
• Curious about who the most powerful 25 people in British fashion are? Well now you can find out. Good to know the British Fashion Council's on top of this stuff. [Telegraph]
• Carolina Herrera is opening her first freestanding store on Madison Avenue. [WWD]

• Robert Pattinson took Kristen Stewart to a "secret" dinner with his parents. So secret that this Britloid knows about it!

Apparently the Sparkle Vamp's mom and dad "got on like a house on fire" with Kristen. Perhaps eventually these kids will be "ENGAGED!" like Ok! declared in September. [The Sun]

• At a New Moon press conference, Dakota Fanning "struggled to look interested." And: "Her wide-set eyes sometimes drifted to the middle distance as her co-stars answered questions. Even her responses to the adoring crowd of movie buffs and reporters felt uninspired." Maybe she was tired? [The Daily Beast]
• New Moon actor Kellan Lutz was declined entrance to his own movie party. [Page Six]
• Rihanna is dating Tristan Wilds, whom you may know from 90210… Or as Michael on The Wire. [Gatecrasher]
• "Jon Gosselin signed a secret, hand-written contract with Kate Major, hiring her as his personal assistant, promising to pay her a percentage of his "accounts" and spelling out that she would not talk about their relationship." [Radar Online]
• Bijou Phillips doesn't want to attend the premiere of her film Made For Each Other, because she might have to answer embarrassing questions, in the wake of half-sister Mackenzie's incest revelations. [Page Six]
• MTV has bought the rights to air Michael Jackson's This Is It beginning in 2011. Meaning: There will actually be music on MTV! [NY Post]
• Evan Chandler, 65, the father of Jordan "Jordy" Chandler — who accused Michael Jackson of molestation — killed himself via a gun to the head earlier this month. He was reportedly suffering from a serious illness, though the ailment was not named. [NY Post]
• Penelope Cruz was on David Letterman's show last night, and refused to admit if she was engaged: "I've been here a few times with you, you know I'm tough. One thing I don't do, I don't lie about my personal life," she said. "It's sacred to me. It's my life. But I don't give details about it because I am allergic to that." [People]
• Tina Fey went to the unveiling of Barneys New York's SNL-themed holiday windows, and the papier-mâché Sarah Palin hanging in the window "started spinning around uncontrollably," which was alarming. [WWD]
• Gerard Butler doesn't read gossip. He says: "I try and stay away from anything anybody sends me, some clips or articles that tell me what's going on… I normally tell them to leave me alone and to not remind me. But it's normally when I'm doing press someone will say 'oh so, is it true about...' - and that's when I catch up on all my rumors, when I'm doing press junkets." [Mirror]
• Michael Musto's interview with Levi Johnston is Hi. Larious. MM asks if Levi's junk is "really the Alaska pipeline" and Levi claims he's no Kevin Federline, because "I'm a country singer-I'm not gonna be no rapper." [Village Voice: La Dolce Musto]
• Beth Ditto was asked what she was doing in Paris. She replied, "I am trying to be really cool." Then she did a cover of "I Will Always Love You," the Dolly Parton song made famous by Whitney Houston, saying, "it's my favorite song." [WWD]
• Carrie Prejean is threatening to sue Vivid Entertainment if the company releases photos or videos of her "solo sex tape." [TMZ]
• Frances Bean Cobain has Bard at the top of her list of colleges. [Gatecrasher]
• Does Charlie Gibson bad-mouth fellow ABC anchor Diane Sawyer? [Page Six]
• Jennifer Lopez's ex, Ojani Noa, claims he's getting death threats after trying to sell a book and "steamy" home video of J. Lo. [Page Six]
• Adam Lambert, aka Glambert, is on the cover of Out magazine — with Wanda Sykes, Cyndi Lauper, Lt. Dan Choi and Rob Marshall — and the editor's letter suggests his record label didn't want him to be on the magazine solo, because that would be "too gay." The EIC writes: "It's only because this cover is a group shot that includes a straight woman that your team would allow you to be photographed at all…" Is this the same record label that okayed this shot? And this one? [MSNBC Scoop]
• I can't figure out if this story about Hulk Hogan being attacked at a press conference is real or a wrestling stunt. And isn't Ric Flair retired? All I know is that there's a hip hop song named after him. Ric Flair wittit! Woo! Yeah so anyway: Hulk was bleeding from the head after the "attack" and there's a picture. [News.com.au]
• Aaron Eckhart and Molly Sims: Dating. [People]
• The Bob Saget reality show actually sounds interesting. [NY Post]
• Whoa. Avril Lavigne is dating Wilmer Valderrama? Okay. Does she know that in a radio interview with Howard Stern, he talked about how Mandy Moore was a virgin until he met her? He's also been linked to Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ashlee Simpson. [Life & Style]
• A-Rod has given Kate Hudson a ring, but it's not an engagement ring, it's a $39,000 white-gold ring to thank her for her support of the Yankees. Allegedly. [Gatecrasher]
• Celebrities can make money off of Twitter? Damn. [NY Post]
• Oprah's homeslice Nate Berkus is about to sign a deal to star in his own syndicated daytime talk show. [NY Post]
• Wall Street 2 costars Carey Mulligan and Shia LaBeouf are totes in love. [Gatecrasher]
• John Travolta and Robin Williams became good friends after crashing a wedding in 1977; now they're in their first joint film, Old Dogs. Apparently, at some point in the movie, Travolta and Williams mix up their medications. Travolta's face turns into a Joker-like smile, while Williams' tongue grows to the size of a dill pickle. "That scene, I've probably laughed harder than I ever have," Travolta says. "I knew I wanted to do the movie when I read that part. I'd pay $10 to see that scene." Maybe because you're a millionaire? [USA Today]
• The interwebs have been buzzing about the banned Enrique Iglesias video, "Sad Eyes," in which our hero indulges in phone sex, then picks up a hooker… The pole/phallic imagery is not to be missed. And if you haven't seen it yet, you can, at the link. [Buzzfeed]
• This column is all about Rose McGowan's face. [NY Daily News]
• Rod Stewart's lawyers want $3,309,871.34 in back legal fees. [TMZ]
• The IRS wants over $1 million from Aaron Carter. [NY Post]
• Thirty-six items of clothing Audrey Hepburn wore on and off the screen from 1953 to the late '60s — along with accessories and letters — will be auctioned in London next month. [NY Post]
• Gloria Estefan lost a $220,00 Bulgari diamond bracelet getting out of a car in Miami, but her husband found it. [Page Six]
• "Slumdog Millionaire star Anil Kapoor says he and Danny Boyle will ensure the kids from the movie go to school to earn their trust funds." [Page Six]
• "We're in two minds. Damian doesn't want us to add to our family under any circumstances. He wants to remain the golden prince. He says, ‘Mummy, our family is big enough.' We toy with it but we're not sure." — Liz Hurley is not sure if she is going to have more kids; her son certainly doesn't want her to. [Daily Express]
• "I'm going to make a film on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It won't be a so-called David Lynch film, really; it will be about Maharishi and the knowledge he brought out. It'll hold a lot of abstractions. We're on our way to India in December to start the India part of it." — David Lynch. NY Mag]
• "It's scary on the one hand because we have really big shoes to fill — for God's sake, Marcia won a Tony for this role! On the other hand, there aren't a lot of great, great, great roles, especially for women, especially for older women, of which I am one. And I'm a stage actor primarily. I always have been, even though I took a break, but that's how I got my training before I began - eighteen years of stage in New York. Yes, it's daunting: We'll all be compared to the other cast. It doesn't matter - I don't read reviews, I don't care what other people say. At this stage of my career, there are no career moves anymore. I just think when a part like this comes along, you've got to grab it." — Christine Lahti is taking over Marcia Gay Harden's role in God Of Carnage. [NY Mag]
• "Farrah's and my relationship was based on a deep love and respect for one another and for our son Redmond… After discussing how her financial affairs would be handled in the event of her passing, we agreed that our son Redmond would be the primary beneficiary of her estate," he goes on. "These were Farrah's wishes and I am perfectly happy with them." — Ryan O'Neal doesn't care that he's not in Farrah's will. [Us Magazine]
• "During shooting I tried to not go onto the Internet at all if possible. I started to pay attention to fan reaction to the trailers that have been out and what kind of stuff they like, just in order to get a temperature of where things were heading. I think you end up being a politician responding to polls if you pay too much attention to the Internet. Because it's a quick way to convince yourself that one particular person who happens to be Twittering at the moment just happens to be the authority. I try to put out fires when bizarre rumors get started. One rumor I addressed was that the Volturi scenes were supposed to be set in a bathhouse with everyone naked." —Twilight director Chris Weitz. [Techland]
• "I watch Twilight and New Moon and I think, Gosh, there are a million lines that I wish were in it that aren't. You can't be expected to capture the book - what you are expected to do is capture an essence. That's always subjective. It's something that eternally worries me, but at the same time you have to suppress those thoughts. You would be playing a really disjointed character if you were taking everyone's considerations. It's impossible to please everyone. As long as they know that you are working hard, as hard as you can, I think the actual fans of the book accept that and appreciate that." — Kristen Stewart. [Time]
• "When I was reading the books, I felt so bad for Jacob's character. I was, like, 'Wow, he can't get the girl he wants and he's being shut down and used.' But now that I'm actually filming it and living this character, I feel so much worse." — Taylor Lautner, aka Twilight's Buff Werewolf, when interviewed earlier this year. [LA Times]
• "I felt pretty goofy stepping out into the sunlight in front of 2,000 people in a town square, ripping my clothes off. I was essentially doing a striptease. But here's the irony, it was also one of the moments where I've really felt closest to people's emotional attachment to Edward... It was quite uplifting and it was also very nerve-wracking." — Robert Pattinson. Mirror]

• Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have designed a fine jewelry collection for Asprey, which goes on sale this week. The line, themed around snakes and called "The Protector," starts at $525; all proceeds go to support Jolie's children's charity. [WWD]

• After decades of marketing skin-lightening creams, like Unilever's Fair & Lovely, to Indian women, cosmetics companies are beginning to target Indian men. Brands like Fair & Handsome, Fair & Lovely Menz Active, and Nivea for Men Whitening, are selling well. Says a male model who does commercial work, "Anyone who's fair gets on Indian television." The cultural preference for lighter skin can be traced back to the Hindu cast system. [NPR]
• Lindsay Lohan claims she's doing a jewelry line with Pascal Mouawad, and working on a clothing collection for Bebe. Mouawad says the line isn't finalized. [AccessHollywood]
• Four words: Paris Hilton Bridal Footwear. [Style Section LA]
• Speaking of shoes, don't go overpaying for Jimmy Choo's H&M collection on eBay. A spokeswoman for the chain says new stock will be available today. [Daily Mail]
• H&M's sales fell 3% in the month of October. The fast-fashion retailer has now had six straight months of declining sales. [WWD]
• Victoria Beckham, who already spent £250,000 on a lot of Audrey Hepburn's letters, is expected to bid for some of the actress's dresses in London early next month. [Independent]
• Beckham is rumored to have enlisted Blake Lively to model her spring dress collection. [SB]
• Iceland may no longer have a financial services industry to speak of, but the fashion industry has apparently been picking up there since the crisis of last fall. Emerging designers are more than happy to snaffle up spaces with cheap rents, and as one put it, "No one is traveling abroad, so you have to shop locally. We have actually doubled our sales." [Time]
• Iman, on how her life changed with retirement: "Where everything was about what you do and about how you look, it changed to more security about me. It was not about 'how will I look ten years from now?' It all became about what kind of person would I be ten years from now." [CNN]
• Hotelier André Balazs gets top billing alongside Angela Lindvall in the new Brioni campaign. Balazs donated the money he earned to charity. [P6]
  
• This week, 800 pairs of the late Adam Goldstein's sneakers are being auctioned off on eBay. All of the proceeds will go to the DJ AM Memorial Fund, which gives money to groups fighting addiction. [eBay]
• On Wednesday, eBay is launching its own online magazine, The Inside Source. [The Moment]
• Barneys is getting a blog. The department store has announced a 7% rise in same-store sales for the month of October, following September's 9% decline. No word on whether or not the company plans to hire a CEO anytime soon, but it is launching a blog for its fashion directors this week. [WWD]
• Not to be outdone, Forever 21 and Karl Lagerfeld are also founding their own magazines. [Blackbook]
• Perhaps Lagerfeld can use this new platform to declaim elasticized waistbands. "I never wear jogging pants. Those things are dangerous," says the designer. "Because they have an elastic band. It stretches and then you don't know when you put on weight. Also, I hate it when you let yourself go! I'm always looking the way you see me now." Also, even though he is now 76, don't say that "R" word around him: "Retirement is not one of the topics with which I deal. Why should I? I still have so many projects that I sometimes don't know where to begin. Chanel will still need some clothes when I'm 89. The world can count on me for a long time." [TV3]
• "Financially successful fashion companies have duped our industry into sacrificing a model's traditional earnings from both fashion shows and fashion advertisements in the name of positive exposure," says Chris Gay, president of Marilyn Model Agency. "If campaigns and shows are now considered just another form of positive exposure, then where's the recompense for a model's time and effort?" Good questions. [TDB]
• Lee Daniels, director of Precious, is modeling in the November J. Crew catalog. [StyleList]
• A dress designed with more than 24,000 ultra-flat LEDs is going on display at the Museum of Science of Industry in Chicago. [Wired]
• In other technofabrics news, a Swiss company has developed a fabric treatment that can make wearers of processed garments up to 9 degrees Fahrenheit cooler, reducing the black-suit-hot-day problem. [NYTimes]
• The New York Foundation for the Arts is under fire for allegedly withholding $175,000 raised for designer Tara Subkoff's struggle with a brain tumor. Subkoff, who was uninsured when the non-cancerous tumor was discovered, according to a source, apparently took a few acting jobs in order to qualify for Screen Actors Guild insurance to cover surgery. The NYFA, meanwhile, was sponsoring a fund-raising event for Subkoff's supporters, intended to raise money for the designer's medical and living expenses during her recovery. But now, $175,000 in hand, the NYFA allegedly won't give the money to Subkoff for anything but medical costs, leaving Subkoff to live in a borrowed apartment and necessitating her to skip required post-operative therapies. [P6]
• Rue21 and Dollar General each debuted as public companies on Friday, Rue21 on the NASDAQ and Dollar General on the NYSE. Rue21 closed at $19, above the hoped-for range, while Dollar General rose by just over a dollar during the day's trading. [WWD]
• Australian big-box retailer Big W has a clothing line inspired by Gossip Girl. It's designed by Kai Aiyub, who does makeovers and styling for a morning television show Down Under, and it includes dresses, shoes, tops, jewelry, bags, and an aquamarine "playsuit." [Big W]
• Saks' longest-serving employee, Nena Ivon, is retiring after 53 years at the Chicago flagship. Ivon began her career as a sales assistant while still in high school; she rose to fashion director and manager of special events. "Retail is retail," says Ivons, who plans to write a book. "It hasn't changed. We still sell clothes, but how we do it is different." [WWD]

• Jessica Simpson and Gerard Butler: DATING! Well, they went to dinner, and they were at a table with friends; but they were talking laughing and flirting, so clearly, it's on. [Page Six]

• "David Letterman Sex Tape Shocker"? There may be a studio surveillance tape of Dave and a "much-younger female co-worker in a compromising position." [Natiional Enquirer]
• Michael Jackson's kids were being driven to karate class by their nanny, Grace Rwaramba, when the paparazzi began chasing them. A photographer's car smacked into the back of a Jackson car — but not the one with the kids in it — a security vehicle following the kids' car. The kids are fine, the damage was minor, there are no injuries. [TMZ, People]
• Meanwhile, LaToya Jackson is telling people she will be the next Jackson to die: She believes Michael was murdered and thinks she is next because she knows too much. [TMZ]
• The John Travolta extortion case has ended in a mistrial; the judge is ordering a retrial. [AP]
• Roman Polanski will probably be extradited to the US to face sentencing. [LA Times]
• Champagne and sparklers arrived for Lindsay Lohan while she was out at a club, and the DJ announced: "23 bottles of Cristal for Lindsay Lohan's 23rd birthday!" LL said: "I don't know why they are doing this. My birthday is July 2nd." [Page Six]
• Richard Gere arrived on the red carpet for Amelia and a reporter fainted. Hard to tell if the two incidents are related. [Gatecrasher]
• Madonna reportedly turned over "her entire catalog" to Glee for covering… Except Madonna didn't write all her songs. Roger Friedman argues: "Don't get me wrong: Madonna is a spectacular, hard working performer and a force of nature. She's a fashion icon and she knows how to cause a commotion. So let's give the credit where it's due, but let's not pretend she's Lennon and McCartney. Glee will be gleeful for a lot of songwriters if they use Madonna's hits in the show." [Showbiz 411]
• Alicia Keys was at NYU yesterday — specifically, the Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music. She debuted two songs and told students (aspiring songwriters) "Just keep it simple. Every time I go into the studio, I don't know what to do. I say Alright, how I do this again? Part of songwriting is the journey." [Showbiz 411]
• Lily Allen didn't just quit Twitter. She's also quit MySpace and email, and given away her laptop and Blackberry. How long will it last?!?!? [Telegraph]
• WTF headline of the day: "Time Catches Up With Demi Moore As The Aging Actress Finally Shows New Wrinkles." They're not contagious, you know. Calm down. [NY Daily News]
• Was the burglary at Kourtney Kardashian's house an inside job? Kourtney and Scott were only away from the house — which is in a gated community — between 7 PM and 8:30 PM the night of the break-in; TMZ alleges that someone must have known where the jewels were to get in and out so quickly. [TMZ]
• I couldn't even read this piece about Lil' Wayne's gun possession case because I was distracted by how dapper he looks in his courthouse-appropriate ensemble. [NY Daily News]
• Did you know that Julia Stiles is a die-hard Mets fan? [Ed: Yes.] [Page Six]
• Salman Rushdie showed up at a party with a writer named Min Lieskovsky. This column points out that she wrote in Elle Girl last year: "I'm addicted to male models." [Page Six]
• "Real" housewife Jill Zarin has poor theater etiquette. [Page Six]
• Lifetime is pulling the episode of Wife Swap which stars the Heene family. [NY Post]
• Meanwhile, Balloon Boy's mom has hired her own lawyer. [NY Post]
• The Los Angeles County Museum of Art's film department is doing a series called "Audrey Hepburn: Then, Now and Forever." At the link, various people who worked with Hepburn discuss her "magic." Director Peter Bogdanovich says: "She was the opposite of the diva. She never complained." Robert Wagner gushes: "She was like velvet to work with. She was just an amazing woman. I adored her." [LA Times]
• Marley Shelton plays a young gallerist in (Untitled), which mocks the art world, and says: "How do you parody something that is changing every second?" [LA Times]
• Smallville co-star Sam Jones III: Busted for conspiracy to deal oxycodone pills. [NY Post]
• Whatshername has a new book. [Mirror]
• "This is a character who gets to a point where she starts to doubt her purpose and feels invisible in her own body. I think a lot of women will relate." — Uma Thurman on Motherhood, the film in which she plays a a fiction writer-turned-stay-at-home-mommy blogger who, for a parenting magazine contest, tries to write 50 words answering "What does motherhood mean to me?" [USA Today]
• "The idea of sex with a man doesn't turn me off, but I don't express it. I satisfied my curiosity about that years ago. I had lots of sex between the ages of three or four and the time I was fourteen or fifteen. Strange experiences with older boys. But men don't particularly turn me on. And, no, John and I have never been lovers. He's not my type. Too short and dark." — Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates in a 1985 Rolling Stone piece, when asked if he and John Oates were lovers. This interview is called a "Mid-80s Career Suicide" by Roger Friedman. [Showbiz 411]
• "I have another book I'm working on and I have a movie coming out. I'll probably just stay in the movies but I would like the sort of music career to have a little life of its own, that I tour once a month, a year, something with some new songs or maybe a new record here and there. But I don't have a big adventure plan and I'm not constantly looking for what's next." — Steve Martin. [Mirror]
• "I would do the baby voice and it's kind of like this character I made up, but in real life I'm completely different, I'm very down to earth, I'm smart, I know what's going on. It's kind of like I almost play to the image and kind of have a laugh at myself about it. I think a lot of people will assume that I'm just like an airhead. But in my everyday life, when I'm hanging out with my friends or if I'm in a business meeting I'll talk in my normal voice." — Paris Hilton. [Mirror]
• "It's so scary to think about such a thing. I don't know if I'm an Oscar-worthy actress or I'm in an Oscar-worthy film." — Precious star Gabourey Sidibe. [BBC News]
• "When we found out that music was being used as part of the torture going on at Guantanamo, shackling and beating people - we were angry. Just as we wouldn't be caught dead allowing Dick Cheney to use our music for his campaigns, you can be damn sure we wouldn't allow him to use it to torture other human beings. Congress needs to shut Guantanamo down." — The Roots, who, along with Trent Reznor, REM and Pearl Jam have joined the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo and are against using "Metallica, Britney Spears and rap music" as part of the torture there. [MSNBC]
• "I'm not gonna sit here and eat my lunch and talk about Kim. You want to ask me about something about myself, I'd be glad to talk to you about it. I have a book. I'm doing a lot of things. I'm not interviewing about Kim." — NeNe Leakes of The Real Housewives Of Atlanta gets testy in this interview. [LA Times]
• "You can't play Amelia Earhart and not learn how to fly. That's just wrong in every way. [Flying] is something I take very seriously. I'm not a big sweater, but when I land, my back is drenched. It takes a lot of concentration. It's really exhilarating." — Hilary Swank, who plans to earn her pilot's license after she's done promoting Amelia. [USA Today]

• Stephanie Seymour's divorce from Peter Brant is getting even uglier. After police were called to the couple's home following Seymour's complaint that Brant's security assaulted her, Brant has accused the model of drug use and is seeking sole child custody:

• Brant alleged in court filings that Seymour sought treatment for Vicodin abuse, and subsequently became addicted to the drug Subutex, which is used to treat opiate addiction. He says Seymour has missed multiple court-required breathalyzer tests, and has twice submitted urine samples that, though clean of Subutex, were too cold to meet the minimum valid temperature. The media mogul also says Seymour "broke in" to the couple's Florida mansion and removed $700,000 worth of items, all while the kids sat in a hotel in Connecticut. [NYP]
• When fashion goes Galt, you know we're in trouble. [TDB]
• Nanette Lepore, Michael Kors, Zac Posen, Anna Sui, Betsey Johnson, and that guy who was just endorsed by Barack Obama, whatsisname, Bill Thompson, will be on Seventh Avenue on Wednesday for a rally to save the New York Garment District. Twenty-five thousand people work in the district, and designers say they need their convenient access to sample houses and manufacturers it provides, but lax enforcement of existing zoning laws and competition from cheaper labor sources overseas have led the zone to dwindle. [NYDN]
• Not to be outdone, Mayor Bloomberg — whom some designers have criticized for failing to do enough to protect the garment district — is launching a fashion incubator program for 12 up-and-coming designers this fall. [NYP]
• Woody Allen is reportedly considering casting Adriana Lima in his new movie, which is set in Rio de Janeiro. Because he's "fascinated" by her beauty. [NYP]
• "My fashion advice is to have a flattering mirror at home and then forget about it," says Vivienne Westwood. The designer lives in Captain Cook's old house, and has never sold out to a larger company or a private investor, despite some offers. And some polite nos: reports Cathy Horyn, one backer in the 90s picked another designer instead. "They could have made money with me. They lost it. I'm a woman," says Westwood. "I'm like household management or whatever it is. I would never spend more than I have." [NYTimes]
• Tim Gunn has a cameo in the Sex And The City sequel. [E!]
• JMS, a brand owned by Hanes, is adding a dedicated plus-size apparel line to its existing plus-size offerings, which were mainly jeans and underwear. It'll be sold at Wal-Mart and the creative director promises "slimming seams, strategically placed pockets, freedom of movement and appropriate-weight materials." [WWD]
• Christian Louboutin, the designer who slimmed down Barbie's ankles when he had the chance to release a line of dolls under his own name, says he never meant to imply her ankles were big before. "Fat ankles she didn't have, she just could have had thinner ankles," explained Louboutin. Still digging, then. [WWD]
• Manolo Blahnik: "I hate celebrities. All those pointless girls — I won't name names, but you know who I mean. They are 'famous'. Ridiculous. I like women with style: actresses like Uma Thurman, icons like Audrey Hepburn. I like women with style to wear my shoes." [Vogue UK]
• Model Selita Ebanks joins Sinbad, Darryl Strawberry, and Cyndi Lauper in the next season of Celebrity Apprentice. [NYDN]
• Pat Field made a tote bag for Diet Coke to give away with purchase, which will be available later this month from Boots stores. [Daily Express]
• Erin Wasson, presumably to avoid her dreaded homelessness, makes an appearance in the fall J. Crew catalog. She eats a necklace in one shot. [Refinery29]
• Something called the Japan Jeans Association given the country's first lady, Miyuki Hatoyama, its Best Jeanist Award. (She shares it with a pop star and an actor.) Pleased, the 66-year-old Hatoyama said, "This is the prize I have long wished to win. I'm a jeans lover. I'm always putting on jeans as they're easy to wear." She also recalled that she and her husband were each wearing jeans when they met. [AFP]
• Gee, we're so glad reporter Giles Hattersley puts that nice boss, successful businesswoman, and maker of lovely shoes Tamara Mellon in her place in this hard-hitting profile. Apparently she smokes, wears "teensy" dresses, and altogether reminds Hattersley of "the heroine of some dicey Danielle Steel bonkathon." Can't have that. [ToL]
• Love Moschino, the Italian company's lower-priced clothing line, is adding accessories to its collection. [WWD]
• Georgia May Jagger, already having nabbed the Hudson Jeans campaign, is now the face of Rimmel cosmetics. [Telegraph]
• Yasmin le Bon's daily life: "If lunch is at home then I tend to eat up leftovers from the fridge. I'm the leftover queen. I can't help it. I might mix them into an omelette or throw them all into a soup. One of the children won't eat soups any more because she's worried what old food I've put in it. Simon's mother, Ann Marie, often comes round with homemade bread and cakes." [ToL]
• Alvin Ailey company dancers will wear Mark & James, Badgley Mischka's just-announced lower-priced line, to their season opening gala on December 2. [WWD]
• Henry Holland kinda maybe sorta wants to move to New York. "Every time I come, the need to live here becomes more and more urgent and I want to go home less and less. I spend my entire time here plotting about how I would do it." But even if he did cross the Atlantic, he says he would still show his line in London. [Grazia]
• The luxury market, once in free-fall, is still declining, just not as steeply as some analysts earlier expected. Instead of the overall 10% drop in luxury sales that had originally been forecast for 2009, analysts say the industry is on track for an 8% decline in sales. [WSJ]

• Lady Gaga, in a show of uncharacteristic sartorial restraint, wore a chiffon-and-human-hair Holly Russell dress that more or less covered her legs to an awards show. She thanked her publicist. [WWD]

• Marc Jacobs loves people wearing his clothes. Even knock-offs: "Even when I see a copy, something that's inspired by something I've done, it's a rewarding feeling." [TeenVogue]
• Richard Nicoll is the new women's wear designer of Cerutti. [WWD]
• At a party celebrating a champagne's ascension to the menu at the Lowell Hotel — verily, some people will show up to the opening of an envelope in this town — a woman told a story about a fashion designer who never let a little thing like a death in the family interfere with his duties as a host. "Once I was in Rome for a dinner at Valentino's villa in honor of Jacqueline Kennedy. Sadly, his father had died upstairs earlier in the day. Valentino, always a gentleman, did not wish to upset his guests, so he didn't announce the death until the next day. Jackie had a wonderful time." [P6]
• Coach is suing Target for allegedly selling knock-offs of its handbags. A federal judge dismissed Coach's last infringement suit against the retail giant. [WWD]
• What recession? Domenico Dolce just bought two Manhattan penthouses for $29 million. [NYPost]
• Some 30 outfits belonging to Audrey Hepburn will be auctioned, along with the actress's letters, in London this December. Naturally, there's heaps of Givenchy. [Telegraph]
• Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Museum is auctioning off nearly 8,000 garments and accessories from its costume collection, following the decision to merge its fashion with the Met's. Items from as far back as the 17th Century, as well as modern looks by designers like Bonnie Cashin and Halston, will be deaccessioned as a cost-cutting measure. [NYPost]
• Rosie O'Donnell would like everyone to know that despite her starring role in Nora Ephron's Love, Loss, And What I Wore — a play which contains a joke about wearing Eileen Fisher being tantamount to announcing, "I give up" — she really loves the brand. "When we did the first reading of the play, I said to Nora, ‘I'm really objecting to the Eileen Fisher comment being that I just purchased every single thing she makes and threw out everything else I own. Literally, my entire wardrobe is only Eileen Fisher…that and sweat suits." [WWD]
• Last week in Los Angeles, David Beckham launched something called the David Beckham by J. Bond Collection for Adidas's Originals by Originals line. "It's my style. I wanted to create something that everybody could wear whether it be going to practice, or the gym in the morning, or going for a coffee or going out to dinner at night," explained the soccer star. Coffee or dinner! How versatile. [People]
• Tory Burch loved being on Gossip Girl. "I have never acted before, so I was a little nervous about messing up my line. Blake made me laugh and put me at ease though, and the crew was so gracious." [People]
• Is it proper to call Lindsay Lohan a "client" of the Ungaro boutique when no indication is given that she is paying for the $150,000 worth of clothing she snapped up there in just one trip? Mounir Moufarrige, the guy who hired Lohan to "revive" Ungaro on the justification that "it could work," says: "What do you want, for her to be naked? I'm just so glad she likes Ungaro." [WWD]
• After the new artistic advisor's first Ungaro show in Paris, she may be the only one. Moufarrige went on to say, "I'll tell you one thing on the level: I'm crazy." The collection — which was styled with sparkly love-heart pasties — was so bad that front-row photographer Greg Kessler asked guests to pose as Lohan by hiding their heads in their hands. [NYTimes]
• The after-party, to which the actress arrived late, was no better. Possibly because Ungaro designer Estrella Archs spent her time reading the reviews. Either the stunt will work, said owner Asim Abdullah, or "we go down in a blaze of glory. Or unglory." [WSJ]
• Reviews that rated the show thusly: "An embarrassment." [WWD]
• And: "The Emanuel Ungaro show on Sunday may go down in history as the final gasp of celebrity madness." That line's from a little story, entitled "Hearts But No Soul," by a woman who goes by Suzy Menkes. [IHT]
• Lohan, for her part, says working for Ungaro is "pretty much a fairytale." [People]
• As part of its ongoing "Go Forth" ad campaign, Levi's is launching some kind of online game to build its brand image. Its advertising agency invented the odiously named Grayson Ozias IV, a 19th Century home recording artist around whom the game revolves. Tediously, there is a "corporate responsibility" phase of gameplay, in which players will vote on which charity will receive Ozias' $100,000 "fortune." [AW]
• Levi's would like to point out that 75 years ago, it pioneered the marketing of jeans to women. Not that Levi's, or notoriously non-environmentally friendly denim production in general, is any particular friend to the predominantly female, and overwhelmingly non-union, garment workforce it relies upon. [Feministing]
• Stella McCartney — a woman who was once hired for an unlikely position (head designer at Chloé) by Mounir Moufarrige, though that is neither here nor there — thinks long and hard about the environmental impact of her garment dyes. And she sure seems pretty smart and likable in this interview. [Guardian]
• Meanwhile, McCartney's latest replacement at Chloé, Hannah MacGibbon, says of contemporary fashion, "Everything's so hard at the moment. I don't feel like wearing that at all, even though it's nice to look at. It's completely lacking that sentiment that draws you in — the emotion of it….There's a lack of romanticism in the air. There's a real need for that softness."
• If you just can't wait to see Alexander McQueen's spring show when it's broadcast live from Paris on Showstudio tomorrow, check out the teaser greatest-hits clip that's already running. [Showstudio]
• According to one survey of Japanese retailers being bandied about at Paris fashion week, Alexander Wang has the "hottest" brand right now. Whatever that means. [WWD]
• Is it still news that Kate Moss continues to "design" collections for Topshop? Yes, because it's moderately cute? No, because it's hilariously overpriced? Maybe, because it might inspire a productive trip to the Salvation Army? In any case, Kate Moss continues to "design" collections for Topshop. [Refinery29]
• Latest datum in the Evidence That Martin Margiela Is No Longer With Maison Martin Margiela file: the fact that Maison Martin Margiela has signed on to do something as douche-bourgeois lifestyle-brand-y as "redecorating a suite at Les Sources de Caudalie "vinotherapy" spa near Bordeaux, which is feting its 10th anniversary this year." [WWD]
• Israeli Sports Illustrated model — and current Israeli Defense Force draftee — Esti Ginzberg has added to criticism of fellow model — and compulsory service avoider — Bar Refaeli. After a general called Refaeli a draft-dodger for avoiding Israel's standard 2-year service by taking advantage of rules regarding soldiers' marital status (Refaeli briefly married a family friend), Ginzberg, who started her service in July, told the press, "enlisting is a duty, not a choice. There are a million things I don't feel like doing, but I do them because I have to. Military service is part of the things I believe in, the values I was raised on." Around a quarter of young Israelis find ways to make themselves ineligible for IDF service; Refaeli says she totally really absolutely wanted to do hers, but "celebrities have other needs." Ginzberg is putting in her two years at an IDF reception base, where among other things, she tells new recruits that enlisting is important. Naturally, the media's playing this one as a catwalk catfight. [Independent]
• There's a rumor going around that Milan fashion week might become Rome fashion week. [WWD]
• Betsey Johnson, of all people, is being honored this fall by the National Arts Club. We cannot wait to see how that particular hot-pink whirlwind of hair extensions takes to the club's stodgy Gramercy Park headquarters. [WWD]

[Sydney, August 17. Image via Getty]

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 17: Australia's Next Top Model winner Tahnee Atkinson made-up to look like screen star Audrey Hepburn prepare backstage to celebrate Hepburn's 80th birthday this year and Paramount Home Entertainment's '80 Years of Audrey Collection' on the first day of Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival in Martin's Place on August 17, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Sergio Dionisio/Getty Images)

[Los Angeles, March 12. Image via INF]

• At an Oscar party, Madonna congratulated ex-husband Sean Penn on his win. Penn reportedly gestured at Jesus Luz and said: "Thanks. Another kid already?" [The Sun]

• Sean Penn skipped the Milk party, by the way. Why wouldn't you go to the bash for your own damn flick? [Page Six]
• Was Ben Stiller's Joaquin impersonation the only amusing part of the Oscars? [NY Post]
• Kate Winslet was psyched at the Vanity Fair party: she "cradled" her statue and shouted "Wooo!" at all who congratulated her. [Gatecrasher]
• Since receiving it, Kate Winslet has not put her Oscar down. [Daily Mail]
• Jennifer Aniston wouldn't let John Mayer pose for a picture with "backstage beauties" at the Oscars. Or, you know, people want you to think she is keeping a tight grip on this one. [E!]
• Sienna Miller was at Montblanc's/UNICEF dinner in Hollywood and came out of the men's room followed by a "short, straggly haired gent whom she didn't speak to again that night." [Gatecrasher]
• Are Evan Rachel Wood and Marilyn Manson back on? She was seen with him right before the Oscars. [Page Six]
• Prince's Oscar party: A "disaster." [Page Six]
• Will Billy Crystal host the Oscars next? Fox's Roger Friedman thinks so, since Crystal isn't working on anything else. [Fox 411]
• Madonna who? Gwyneth Paltrow is becoming BFFs with Jay-Z and Beyoncé: Her kids call him "Uncle Jay." [Page Six]
• Eminem is suing Universal Music Group — the world's largest music company — over how much he is entitled to when his tunes are sold to third-party distributors. [The Wrap]
• There was a hearing in the Britney Spears restraining order case yesterday; Dad Jamie Spears claimed that Britney has been talking to Sam Lutfi and Adnan Ghalib on a pre-paid cell phone. Danger, danger! [TMZ]
• Victoria Beckham's carbon footprint? Huge. [Guardian]
• Three words: Kathy Griffin memoir. [NY Observer]
• Parker Posey is a big tipper. [Page Six]
• Lily Allen wants to star in Miss Marple. She also wants to sing for and appear in a Bond film. She's a lady with dreams! [The Star]
• Stevie Wonder is in Washington to receive the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song from the Library of Congress; the ceremony will happen later this week at the White House and Barack Obama will present the award. Signed sealed delivered, it's his! [USA Today]
• Pix of the Slumdog cuties at Disneyland! [Extra]
• Here's a story about how the Slumdog kids are hometown heroes. "The whole country is happy about this. They are very happy that a boy from the slums is also now a star. I'm also very happy," said Mohammed Ismail, the father of a 10-year-old who appeared in the flick. [NY Post]
• A Tennessee teen who got raided last Fall for hacking Miley Cyrus's Gmail account also hacked other celebrity accounts and MySpaces for a spam scheme that earned him $110,000. [Wired]
• Jennifer Love Hewitt is so obsessed with Audrey Hepburn that she dressed up as the actress for her 30th birthday. Nice tiara. [E!, IDLYITW]
• Some dude in Seattle collects celebrity-autographed yarmulkes, and 32 of them will be displayed at the University Of Washington. [UPI]
• Charles Barkley was sentenced to 10 days in jail yesterday, stemming from a December DUI in which he told cops he was speeding because he was on his way to get a blow job. (Note: That excuse does not work.) [E!]
• Kate Beckinsale has some instant noodles named after her: Steak and BeckinsALE. What an honor? [The Sun]
• The author of gay comic book Hair-Raising Adventures of Jayms Blonde says Adam Sandler ripped off his idea and turned it into You Don't Mess With The Zohan. No one should be claiming credit for Zohan, though. [NY Daily News]
• Is U2 getting £1million in free advertising from the BBC? [Daily Mail]
• Regis Philbin's son Danny tried to kill himself with a pill overdose after splitting with his wife. [Perez Hilton]
• New couple: Elle Macpherson and Brit designer Oswald Boateng. [Gatecrasher]
• A martial arts instructor is suing Tito Jackson over unpaid debt. Is that family a magnet for trouble? [Mirror]
• Blind item! " Which billionaire's son is a scary misogynist? When women balk at his less-than-gentlemanly pickup lines, he calls them bitches and shouts a threat or two." [Gatecrasher]
• More blind items! "Which actor snorted cocaine in the bathroom during an Oscar after-party, while a slimmed-down stoner actor smoked pot outside with his pals? Which morning cable TV show hostess took off a week recently to get her eyes done and her breasts enlarged? Which aviation honcho is trying to knock down rumors he shacked up with a young hottie who works for him while his pregnant wife was back home and clueless?" [Page Six]
• "It's not up to me, but I'm sure we would (have him on SNL) if he had another hit single. We don't care about scandal. We just care about what brings us ratings!" — Kenan Thompson on Chris Brown. [MSNBC]
• "Possession of pouty lips and carefully contrived tousled hairdos doesn't exempt them from associating with the reporters and fans who made them famous." — from a rant against Angelina and Brad snubbing interviewers on the red carpet. [NY Post]
• "It doesn't cost $500 to cut my hair. Have you seen my hair? I don't even have that many strands. If for some reason i decided that I was going to throw $500 away on a hair cut I would pay for it myself, however - I have a great exchange going with my hair dresser - I make him cds - he cuts my hair. Yay! cheap and cheerful!" —Samantha Ronson, shutting down a report that Lindsay Lohan pays for Sam's $500 hair cuts. [MSNBC]

For The Steps:
Albertus Swanepoel, 2008 Fashion Fund Winner, says"I actually believe she should wear a pillbox—the new era of Camelot!" We say: a tad literal, no?


Karl Lagerfeld's suit is way cuter than his gown. And there's something to be said for classic Chanel...


Doo-Ri Chung, 2006's Fashion Fund Winner, says, "The inauguration will be a historic occasion, so I wanted the dress to be something in her comfort zone. I stayed with the tailored, fitted silhouette that she prefers but used a print that I felt was celebratory." We say: srsly? We've seen rocks that felt more celebratory.



May We Suggest...?


Grace Kelly's look from High Society is both chic and whimsical!













For The Ball:


The Good:
How gorgeous is this ethereal Rodarte?


Loving Marc Jacobs' Poiret-esque drape.


Yeah, Peter Som's hitting us over the head with "Jackie O," but still...


This Diane von Furstenberg is lovely. Downside: we really don't want to see Whitney Port at the Inaugural Ball, and you know she'd "need" to be there.


Derek Lam's "nile green crepe" is one of our faves of the bunch: the simple lines and unconventional hue would feel fresh but classic, and he'd still be a fun and surprising choice.



The Bad:
Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig of Marchesa say, "For the ball Michelle should wear this ivory one-shoulder silk crepe column with draped overlay and crystal hand-embroidered bodice." We say: Dynasty much?


We know Barack loves Lincoln, but Zac Posen's Mary Todd is a bit much!


Alexander Wang says: "It's sexy but sophisticated…business in the front, party in the back. It is the inauguration ball!"
We say: Maybe that's why you might want to wear something slightly more fun than a friggin' LBD?!


We dig the drama of Monique Lhuillier's gown, but red? Really? It just feels so...First Lady!


The Not Happening:
The Vena Cava designers, Sophie Buhai and Lisa Mayock, would like to see Michelle rock "this floor-length gown made out of silk and polyester twill in one of our signature prints." We say: with all due respect, we don't think the country's ready for quite that much change.


All the Lacroix sketches are totally absurd, like he knows there's no way she's going to choose them. Still, imagine how impressed the French would be!


Maybe Betsey Johnson should just costume the whole capital, like it's a big George M. Cohan show!


May We Suggest:
If you want to channel 60s, it doesn't get better than Doris Day in Pillow Talk!


Hey, why not?

Michelle Obama: What Should She Wear? [WWD]
Runway to Change [Style.com]

On being a Chanel fan:

"I started wearing her clothes — but they were knock-offs — when I was in my 20s and 30s because they worked for daytime or nighttime. I had knock-offs of everything she made and wore them everywhere. Audrey Hepburn turned me on to Chanel, and she told me that I should play Coco too."

On Karl Lagerfeld, whom she has never met:

"He wanted me to come to Paris for a fitting, but I am sorry. No. If he takes off his sunglasses and the gloves, maybe I'll go to Paris."

"I think it's dangerous for her to play the part," Shaw said. "Dangerous for the actor she's doing the judo with. She'll probably kill him."

Not only was her physical prowess amazing (Great Kate played tennis and swam for nearly all her 96 years), but she was also a supporter of Planned Parenthood almost from the womb. Her mother crusaded for suffrage and also for Margaret Sanger, and in 1981, Kate was speaking out in support of PP and its mission. "'It is imperative that I join Planned Parenthood," Kate said. "Sadly even today there are those who would completely destroy all of her tireless work and deprive all of us of our right to plan our families.'' The mealy-mouthed starlets of today could certainly take a lesson from Kate's outspoken example.

The Theatrical Katharine Hepburn, in Journals and Letters [New York Times]
Planned Parenthood Mourns the Loss of American Icon and Beloved Friend and Advocate Katharine Hepburn [Planned Parenthood]
The Return of the Helpless Girl [Time, 1967]

• We are apparently the only people who were moved to buy Gap's skinny pants by those Audrey Hepburn TV commercials because, this year, the retailer's campaign is print-only, featuring famous and semi-famous people in black and white magazine spreads. [We saw it in 'Vanity Fair' and it is soooooo alluring. -Ed] [NYT]
  
• Unacceptable Marc Jacobs item of the day: Happy Meal-inspired boxed-sets of baby items. [Vogue UK]
  
• Kate Moss's new fragrance is a floral musk, which expresses "the personality of Kate Moss in this duality." We assume her Pete Doherty-shagging side is represented in the "musk", which is, ahem, a kind way of describing the scent of cold sweat and junkie toilet. [WWD, sub req'd]

• Oh thank goodness! It's been at least a week since we wrote anything about Valentino! And their net profits for the quarter are up 18.3%. In other news, Valentino: still not retired! [WWD, sub req'd]
• Liberace paper dolls! We are desperate enough to have these we might have some sexual favors up our sleeve.. [WWD, 3rd item]
• Giorgio Armani's avatar on the virtual reality escapism website "world" thingy is... himself. Ha! [Portfolio.com]
• Japanese couples spend a third of what Americans do on engagement rings despite having higher median incomes and what sounds like a pragmatic reality-driven culture to us sounds like a huge opportunity to DeBeers. [WSJ]

• The Olsen twins are launching a new clothing line, not to be confused with their other two clothing lines. Called Elizabeth and James and named after the other two Olsen siblings, it's a joint venture with the parent company of Seven For All Mankind jeans with a fascinating theme: The "clash between masculinity and femininity." Is that like when you've been starving yourself so long you don't have to buy tampons anymore? [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• A movie is being made about the life of designer and debauched punk starfucker Vivienne Westwood, and we would looove to see Alan Cumming in the role of Sex Pistol/Westwood-ex Malcolm McLaren. [Vogue UK]
  
• You thought Nike couldn't get any more mileage (HAH!) out of reissuing new colors of its retro shoes? The latest shades are that attractive shade of old-PVC yellow, dirty maroon, and weatherbeaten green. Fuck them for looking kind of awesome. [NYTimes]
  
• The Wall Street Journal's Teri Agins attempts to explain why Polo is suddenly minting so much money. One theory: Douchebags! Seriously though, can we PLEASE BAN THE WORD "ASPIRATIONAL"? [WSJ, sub req'd]

• Armani is opening a 47,000-square foot megastore in Manhattan, which is apparently just the first phase of some Five Year Plan to boost Italian manufacturing. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Nordstrom is also opening here, finally, and though we'd rather get another Trader Joe's we can't hate that service! [WWD, sub req'd]
• Allen Edmonds shoes are superior to other men's shoes because they don't have a metal shank. We have no idea what a "shank" is but the word makes us giggle each time we say it. Blame Cosmo or something. [WSJ]
• Your longtime fantasies of having a nervous breakdown while wearing a party dress could have been realized if you 1) are a size 0 and 2) had 200 grand to burn yesterday, when Christie's auctioned-off the pink dress worn by Audrey Hepburn when she tears down the house upon learning of her brother's death in Breakfast at Tiffany's. The buyer was "private" which we did not need Jude Law in the movie 'Closer' to tell us also means "gay." [Yahoo News]

Pam Anderson not convinced her marriage to Kid Rock was such a great idea. Captain Obvious nods his head sagely.

Anorexic may have bought bulimic's dress.

Paris Hilton may breed. Humanity is doomed.

Hollywood women sometimes don't shave their armpits. But you can bet your Brazilian there's not a single pubic hair between them.

A 13-year-old girl is charged with child sex abuse after getting knocked up by her 12-year-old boyfriend. He's charged with the same offence, against her. Only in Utah, folks! Of course if he'd been 58 and she'd been his niece and they were polygamists, everything would be just peachy.