Rohin Guha catches a case of the feelings when she tries to reach out to interview Mo'Nique for BlackBook and receives a quick brush-off:

After a lot of hoop-jumping, I decided to track down someone on the inside to see if Mo'Nique would open up, if not about Precious, then about her new late night talk show and other projects in the pipeline. Because just like how Christiane Amanpour's passion lies in covering turmoil in the Middle East, mine lies in chatting with thespians who act in films like Phat Girlz. Instead I got a curt response to the effect of:

Hello Rohin,

Thanks for your interest in Mo'Nique, but unfortunately, there's no interest in your publication. Thanks.

Burn! A follow-up from her camp revealed that Mo'Nique, who has landed nearly every Essence cover since time immemorial, was gunning for a cover feature, but unwilling to compromise. To which, I would've responded, "If I could, I would! And shot by Hedi Slimane, too!" But I was too busy collecting the detritus of my shattered dreams and crushed hopes to do so. I was also too busy skimming this remarkably incisive feature on the flick over at the Times.

Guha backs up her story with tons of reported links, including this detailed post fromShowbiz 411 :

One source close to the production insists that Mo'Nique asked for $100,000 at one point to show up with the rest of the cast. The last time she did any publicity for the film, which is about to be released, was last January at the Sundance Film Festival.

Apparently, too, Mo'Nique's demands have been communicated abroad, too. Foreign distributors have also balked at her demands.

At Lionsgate, a spokesperson insists this isn't true. "Mo'Nique is doing the ‘Today' show for us, she's coming to the New York Film Festival. She had scheduling conflicts for Cannes and Toronto, but she did come to the Sundance festival. We're not paying her to do anything." Calls to Mo'Nique's publicist have never been returned.

However, it's this line that interests me most:

This is really a shame, too. The 41-year-old actress and comedienne, whose real name is Monique Imes, has been one of the hardest working women in show business all her life. She currently hosts a talk show out of Atlanta on BET, and has made countless TV appearances. Her work in "Precious" as Mary, the main character's abusive mother, is revelatory. Her whole career could change overnight.

Change in what way? As was mentioned, Mo'Nique is already at the top of her game, having sped past Queens of Comedy and The Parkers to host her own talk show and become a prominent pitch woman for various companies and health initiatives targeting the black community.

Perhaps the answer to Guha's question lies in the NYT Magazine article she lauds as "incisive" at the end of her post. There, the reporter explains:

Mo'Nique wasn't in town to talk about "Precious." She recently signed a multimillion-dollar deal with BET (Black Entertainment Television) to do a nightly 11 p.m. talk show, and she had back-to-back interviews for five days to promote it. Although there have been published reports that she will not support "Precious" by going to film festivals unless she's paid a steep fee, Mo'Nique seems unequivocally devoted to Daniels.

Perhaps Mo'Nique is just living by the old adage "time is money."

Is 'Precious' Mo'Nique Sabotaging Her Career? [BlackBook]
'Precious' Actress Mo'Nique: Show Me The Money [Showbiz 411]
The Audacity of Precious [NYT]

• Australian Vogue's September cover is out, and it features a stunning illustration of Cate Blanchett. [WWD]
• Meanwhile, Fashion Week Daily is reporting on a rumor that Victoria Beckham might be American Vogue's October cover model. [FWD]

• The Kanye West-Gap intern story is back, this time as written in the Chicago Tribune. But no sources are named — doubly so where the rumor-within-a-rumor that West is looking to launch a clothing line with the retailer is concerned. But it would be so perfect! Amber Rose could model it. [ChicagoTrib]
• Jessica Simpson, on her new lingerie line, produced by a licensee of a licensee: "Of course I love lingerie. What girl doesn't? My lingerie reflects the way I'm feeling when I wake up and helps me set the tone for my day." [WWD]
• Takashi Murakami for Louis Vuitton stuffed animals: no celebrity artist megabrand collaboration should ever be this goddamned cute. [FWD]
• French street style photographer Garance Doré has a new gig expanding her blogging coverage for Paris Vogue. [WWD]
• Balenciaga returned to Jennifer Connelly for its fall ads — and then had Steven Meisel photograph her very awkwardly. [SassyBella]
• Jean-Paul Gaultier, for his part, booked Raquel Zimmerman and Raquel Zimmerman for his fall campaign. Raquel Zimmerman plays the girl role and the boy role and looks mighty good doing it. [FWD]
• Gaultier's collaboration with Doc Martens — available only in France, hélas — features boots with perforated leather in a grid. And, as Fashionista points out, you could totally make a DIY version. [Fashionista]
• Roberto Cavalli's house involves significantly less leopard print than we might have imagined. [The Moment]
• Naomi Campbell may have attacked a paparazzo with her handbag on holiday in Sicily. [Daily Mail]
• Designer Paul Smith, on photographing his own ad campaigns: "The whole idea of a designer doing photographs is sort of pretentious: ‘I do everything, you know.' Like Karl whatshisname. I'm a snapper, not a photographer. I'm not Mario Testino. But my lot have been saying, ‘You take pictures; you do it.' So I thought, ‘Let's have a go.' My creative director and the marketing guy and the press people are all pleased with them." [ToL]
• Amber le Bon is to be featured in an upcoming issue of (British?) Vogue wearing her mother Yasmin's vintage clothes. [Daily Mail]
• Late on Friday, fashion writer Diane Pernet published an e-mail exchange between the stylist for "a well-known singer of color" and a PR representative for designer Alexander Wang; the PR was denying the singer's request to wear Alexander Wang clothing, and when the stylist wrote back intimating that the denial was based on her client's race, the PR seemed to agree, and said she was quitting her job. Although Blackbook originally reported on the story, both it and Pernet have pulled their posts about it — did Wang threaten legal action? — but Blackbook's Facebook note publicizing its post is still visible, and Homo Neurotic has reprinted the full text of the e-mails. [Facebook and Homo Neurotic]
• You can now count Yves Saint Laurent designer Stefano Pilati among the thundering horde descending on London Fashion Week in September. Pilati will be in attendance because of his mentor relationship with the label Veryta. [Vogue UK]
• The fashion industry's huge waste is a serious environmental hazard in the third world countries where most of our clothing is made. [UPI]
• A particular jean factory in Lesotho, which produces denim items for the Gap and Levi's, exposed locals to burns and chest infections because of its toxic fumes. [CBS]
• Juicy Couture's higher-priced line, Bird, is now hitting stores. Anyone who had her eye on Rachel Zoe's recommended leather leggings, now is your time. [LATimes]
• Emma Watson, despite her professed abhorrence of celebrity clothing lines, is rumored to be in the process of launching one with the London fair trade organic brand People Tree. There's a Mischa Barton coke joke in here somewhere. [Daily Mail]
• New York is still an attractive place for overseas tourists to go shopping, since the dollar is slightly lower again. London, where the exchange rate has only recently become more favorable, has seen a 4.7% increase in retail sales over last year for the month of June. [WWD]
• Astoundingly, teenagers in America are spending on average 14% less on clothes than they were last year. [NYTimes]
• Christian Dior's profits were down 27%, to $943 million, in the first six months of this year. [WWD]
• A collage of snippets of fabric used in the late Princess Diana's wedding dress is available on eBay for £15,500, if anyone wants it. [Daily Express]
• 13,300 Burlington Coat Factory boys' hooded sweatshirts are being recalled because their cords pose a strangulation risk. [UPI]

Diehl writes,

Strangely, when speaking with Ms. Polly Jean Harvey by phone from London, just after she'd performed a low-key show, the acclaimed singer–songwriter seems nothing like the unhinged, unabashedly profane character inhabiting [her new song] 'April.' Decidedly English, with a proper accent, the diva offstage proves articulate, almost demure. When asked about 'April,' she seems to shudder with embarrassment at the thought of discussing it. 'That Luddite chorus-I couldn't even repeat it, because it's bad language,' Harvey says in total seriousness, a blush audible in her voice.

What? You mean what I see on stage is not PJ Harvey's real, unvarnished, everyday self? You mean she does not whale on her guitar and yell "I want your fucking ass!" when she is ordering a cup of tea?

Harvey's collaborator John Parish explains:

Polly can be intense-deranged even-but she never slips into histrionic vocal gymnastics. [...] She's very technically capable, but she's more interested in the emotional intensity of performance. I love that the record has many different voices, which Polly has an incredible gift for. The voices she uses emphasize the change in atmosphere and character from song to song.

Oh, so . . . she's performing. And part of her talent as a performer is that maybe she can convey emotional states that she is not actually feeling in her normal life. Got it.

I don't know if it's just female artists who get this shit (my suspicion is no), but the idea that everything you create must be coming straight from your molten core is pretty grating. Matt Diehl, everybody: people make stuff up. Art isn't always truth; sometimes art is lies. Also, PJ Harvey rocks.

Primal Scream: PJ Harvey's Tortured Genius [BlackBook]

At Hedonism II, in Jamaica, there's also a blowjob cave, an exhibition lawn, and, for men, a constant risk of having your dick grabbed by wayward women. Read the full article for further description, and to appreciate Boose's odd penchant for describing the breasts of everyone he encounters. Those of his traveling companion (and possibly wife) Claire, you'll be relieved to know, are both large and young. [BlackBook]

My favorite moment in the interview is this one:

[...] when the photographer says she looks a bit too much like a boy in one of the pictures, several hours into the shoot, she leans in and, as if letting him in on a secret, stage whispers: “That’s kind of who I am.”

Swinton's not into being cute, or girly, and although she describes herself as "resigned" rather then "comfortable" with her looks, she says, "I never had an aspiration to look like a doll, which is fortunate." Fortunate for her and fortunate for us, because we get a woman BlackBook calls "to some, the most beautiful woman on the planet," who is frankly odd-looking. I like to think of Swinton as post-beautiful, a visitor from some paradisaical future time when it's more important to look fascinating than to have big breasts or pouty lips (not that these things can't also be fascinating — they're just not the be-all and end-all of female hotness).

Part of Swinton's otherworldly look comes from her fashion sense, of which she says, "'red carpet dressing' sounds like something that would take you out of your own instincts, but haven't gotten there yet. I will wear what I want to wear." Which includes a one-shoulder Lanvin gown that looked, to my mind, space-age awesome.

When Swinton's iconoclasm goes beyond style, however, it gets a little more complicated. She calls the MPAA "the Motion Academy of doo da — what was it called?" And she says of her 2008 Oscar, "a lot of people really want one — really, really want one. And I'm embarrassed because I never did, and I feel a little ashamed that I was given one when I didn't really want one." What starts out as a bit of Doris-Lessing-style cussedness ends up sounding kind of ungracious, even holier-than-thou. And her opinions on Hollywood politics are just kind of confusing. She lists Javier Bardem and Marion Cotillard as proof that "there is a possibility for our generation, point being that one doesn't necessarily have to give it all up. One can actually stand up and be counted." Maybe her interviewer didn't push hard enough, but I'm not sure what she, Bardem, and Cotillard are being counted for, unless it's good acting and European hotness. Worthwhile pursuits both, but hardly revolutionary.

But perhaps I'm expecting too much of Swinton. I originally encountered her as a counterexample to a particular borrowed-Playboy standard of female sexuality, and she remains one to this day. She is also a very, very good actress. A woman doesn't have to be inspiring in every way to be inspiring, and looks are still important — or rather, it's important for us to see someone who still looks how she wants to look and wears what she wants to wear. Tilda Swinton shows that female beauty and sexuality can be creative, self-determined, and weird, rather than mere products of the male gaze. That — and Orlando — are enough for me.

A final note: in addition to her longtime partner and the father of her 10-year-old twins, Swinton is now involved with actor/painter Sandro Kopp, who played a centaur in The Chronicles of Narnia. At the end of the interview, Swinton describes him as "half New Zealander downstairs." Kopp's mother is from New Zealand, but what's with the "downstairs" crack? Is this some sort of centaur joke? Or are Kiwis known for their penises? Readers from the NZ, please help me out here.

Tilda Swinton's Reign [BlackBook]

• Lagerfeld on Bruni: "She’s imaginative, clever, educated. She knows how to behave. She speaks many languages. It must be an embarrassment for the wives of other heads of state to see this beautiful creature who can wear anything and speak like that. They are hunters who met—predators. It’s a good thing. He had seduced many women, and she was a kind of seductress. When two like this meet, it can be good.” [NY Observer]
• The Kaiser's mug is on this Urban Outfitters tee, part of a line called "Beautiful Ones Superstar Raglan." [BlackBook]
• So, NBC is totes suing the Weinsteins for how they handled the whole Project Runway decamping to Lifetime thing, but here's the really touching thing that came out on the stand: apparently Tim Gunn, the dearest fashion queen on cable TV, did the first season for free. Awww. [Rush & Molloy]
• Fergie's shoe collection: "I have always loved fashion because it's a great way to express your mood. And I'm definitely a shoe lover. The right pair of shoes can change the feel of an outfit, and even change how a woman feels about herself. A woman can wear confidence on her feet with a high stiletto, or slip into weekend comfort with a soft ballet flat." [FabSugar]
• Shocker: Naomi Campbell, terrible journalist. Her question to the Argentine president? "How did you feel when you saw Madonna playing Evita on the screen?" [The First Post]

• Marc Jacobs' marital status still ambiguous. [The Cut]
• Self-described "dirty fairy" and Gwen Stefani sorta-stepdaughter Diasy Lowe to model for Brit designer Karen Millen. "'She looks incredible in the clothes," gushed one fashionista, "and she's the ideal Karen Millen woman - young, eclectic, unique and an international style icon in the making." ' [Page Six]
• California institution Mervyn's files for bankruptcy. [Los Angeles Times]
• The south of France is seeing a high incidence of clothed breasts this summer. '"It looks like going topless has gone out of fashion," our girl on the Cote d'Azur tells us. "Men are whining everywhere you turn that there are no more bare boobs on the beach." ' [Page Six]
• Tory Burch seeks investor. [WWD]
• Is Kanye gonna buy Jil Sander? [Fashion Week Daily]
• Vanity Fair's 'up and coming designers' foldout cover is already generating controversy. And I mean, Zac Posen? Really? [Fashion Week Daily]
• Macy's categorically denies having used that sweatshop in Queens that got busted last week. [New York Times]
• With Vogue numbers slipping (and, come on, it's a recession) is the Nuclear Wintour's job safe? [Fashionologie]
• Kate Spade expands her (presumably preppy, perky, pricey) clothing line. [FabSugar]
• Feeding into our supposed hunger for inane fashion-driver rom coms, "'Fashionistas' traces the career of a young designer working at a design firm who plots to take down her ruthless boss by inventing a fictitious must-have designer." [Hollywood Reporter]
• The Mirror on Agyness's new do: "It's an unfortunate cross between Mr Spock, Sarah Harding and a suet pudding basin... The awful fringe, weird pointy sideburns, bouffant back and uneven sides are all reminiscent of the haircuts our mums used to give us. When we were three." [The Mirror]
• More on the Karan/Klein jungle jaunt: "Ms. Karan has been telling friends that the trip is part pleasure and part quest for inspiration for her new store and collection Urban Zen, which sells high-end organic clothes, furniture and knickknacks." [The Observer]
• You can't keep a good luxury brand down! LVMH sees profits. [WWD]
• Lots more shops planned for JFK Airport. [New York Times]
• Michelle Obama's harstylist: "The foundation of any hairstyle is the cut. That’s one thing we focus on doing very well here at Fekkai. With that, I am able to switch the hair into like maybe two, three different looks. We try not to give her too many different variations. People want to see her with the same style, especially when it comes to politics; there’s a lot of scrutiny when you’re in that arena." [Bellasugar]

• Kate Moss gives rare interview, reveals herself to be infantile. "I am still acting like a 17-year-old," she says defiantly. "I definitely haven't become middle-aged."' [The Mirror]
• Other revelations? "I like making money." [The Sun]
• Okay, that was edited a little unfairly. "But I don't call people up every day to see how much I've made. As long as I have what I need at the time. I am not completely money-orientated." [Telegraph]
• She's also launching a makeup line! [Fashionista]

• The Post reports, with characteristic relish, that Kimora's Fabulosity for J.C. Penney launch party was kind of a train wreck. "A guest tells us the event at Hiro was "so disorganized" that several people walked out because there were no seats. "It was a disaster," said our spy. "When we complained, we were offered bottles of champagne to stay." Another source said attendees were groping for freebies and stealing diamond-shaped Fabulosity perfume bottles." [Page Six]
• Wait, wait, wait — "promiscuous, violent and drug-addled" Naomi Campbell isn't a great role model for black women? [Daily Mail]
• Falling oil prices a boon for retail stocks. [WWD]
• Posh, fashion iconoclast: ""A fashion victim would have that must-have dress, that must-have handbag. I don't." [The Mirror]
• So you know that push to get models special Visas? Well, it seems Rep. Anthony Weiner's been taking kickbacks from modeling agencies to push the agenda through. [New York Post]
• The plot thickens at Stve & Barry's: as the retailer preps to auction its assets, the vultures circle for the licenses to celeb lines like SJP's "Bitten." [Footwear News]
• Vanity Fair hedges its bets for the September issue by putting, like, every supermodel ever on the cover: We're talkin' Stephanie Seymor, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford, here. [Fashion Week Daily]
• L'Oreal, not worth it: dismal first-half sales force the cosmetics giant to reduce its growth forecast. [Financial Times]
• The CEO puts a brave face on it: "In what everyone recognizes is a difficult economic environment, the cosmetics market is proving resilient, and L'Oréal is continuing to outperform the market while strengthening its worldwide positions." [WWD]
• Well, at least L'Oreal is being sued by a former employee who claims the company knowingly sold products to foreign countries containing banned chemicals! [UPI]
• Revlon shares, however, are jumping. [Crains New York]
• Let Armani put you through school! The Italian fashion giant just introduced a new scholarship that provides a young fashionista with a master’s degree in E-Fashion at the Business School of the MIP in Milan and a work-study with Armani's online division. Quoth Giorgio, “In today’s world, on-line shopping offers a new way of making purchases for an ever-increasing number of fashion clients. The future lies in the Web and I am proud to be the first designer to support this new master’s course. I hope that this academic program will assist aspiring students to express their full potential.” [Fashion Week Daily]
• High-street chain Naf Naf penalized 75, 000 euros for ripping off an Isabel Marant dress. [WWD]
• More on that weird short film for Tod's, “Pashmy Movie” (that's the name of the purse) starring Gwyneth, that Dennis Hopper for some reason directed. “There is a whole Fellini-like ending to the story that is really beautiful,” said the famously crazy thesp. [W]
• WalMart's brief stab at "trendiness" a dismal failure. "Wal-Mart's efforts in 2006 to compete with Target Corp and sell hipper clothes, such as skinny jeans and velvet blazers, backfired with its shoppers, who were looking for basic, affordable clothing. That misstep left Wal-Mart with heaps of unsold merchandise it was forced to mark down, hurting sales and margins." [Reuters]
• In news that should rock the foundations of the worlds of various Kardashians, "cleavage is dead" for fall. [The Guardian]
• Kindly refrain from mentioning the swan dress: fashion renaissance for Iceland's traditional knits. [Wall Street Journal]
• Some poor girl who was a contestant on Germany's Next Top Modelis being pilloried for a sex tape allegedly containing "wild erotic games and unbridled sex". NB: Don't make sex tapes, go on reality shows. [The Sun]
• Model/girlfriend of DiCaprio, Bar Rafaeli, is getting all kinds of work. [WWD]
• Demspsey for Versace: the love affair continues. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Thing about being an intern at a fashion mag is, there's not much to do. And yes, I speak from bitter experience. So BlackBook has filled the busywork void by giving its interns their own Tumblr. [BlackBook]
• It's that time of year again: Uniqlo's annual Grand Prix T-shirt design contest, with a jackpot of thirty grand. [fashionista]
• Helps to have friends in haute places: when Paris vetoed concept store Colette's attempt to park a pop-up on its 2nd Arrondissement streets, Comme des Garcons leant them a storefront. Aww. [The Style File]
• Sephora goes retro. [WWD]
• San Francisco's DeYoung museum nabs the first U.S. YSL retrospective; NY fumes! [Fashionista]
• "On a date with a nice fellow, I wore a wig with long hair and bangs — which I wore when I met him at a singles dance. I don’t look as nice without the wig; my own hair is thin and unattractive. My date seems to like me a lot and wants to see me again soon. But I don’t want to wear the wig, which is heavy and uncomfortable, every time I see him. What do I do? (Years ago when I was dating someone I really liked, I took off my wig and he stopped calling.)" What will the New York Times advise?! [New York Times]
• We sorta thought companies had been doing this for years, but apparently "His and Hers" fragrances are the future of perfume. [ElleUK]

According to Coutorture, "Videos are going to be scored based on weighted averages, 75% by the judges, and 25% by the general public." Before viral marketing and cross platform synergy, being an intern just meant unpaid humiliation at the hands of generally embittered and often irrational publishing types. Apparently now being an intern means humiliating yourself on the internet and/or television to further a brand that might not ever pay you a regular salary. Oh wait, being an intern is also about being super cute and camera-ready (Hello,
Fashionista Diaries). I forgot about that part. The future is bleak, my friends.

Fashion Internships In A 2.0 World [Coutorture]