• Julia Roberts will become a face of Lancôme, appearing in ads beginning early next year. Roberts earns up to $20 million per film, and could realize a similar amount from her first major beauty contract; the company won't say. [WWD]

• Kate Moss so admired a fellow wedding guest's bracelet that her friend, Topshop owner Sir Philip Green, bought it off the woman's wrist. [P6]
• David Lynch is directing the next Marion Cotillard Dior handbag ad, and he's filming her in Shanghai right now. The video is intended to continue the story of the noirish, Hitchcockian ad by Olivier Dahan the company released in May. [Elle UK]
• Christian Lacroix has announced that he will not be involved with any of parent company the Falic Group's future projects for his namesake label, which was this week allowed to be reduced to a licensing operation by a Paris bankruptcy court. Lacroix had not been paid by Falic since the fall of 2008. The French minister of industry thinks the closure of the house of Lacroix is a travesty. He is trying to use diplomatic networks to contact the most interested-seeming buyer, an Emirate sheikh, "to alert him of the urgency of the situation." [WWD]
• Police acting on a tip raided two Detroit area stores selling counterfeit Gucci, Coach, and Polo clothing and accessories. (One had what it claimed was a $4,000 jacket on sale for $700.) The seized goods would have retailed for about $800,000, had they been genuine. [UPI]
• Silvia Fendi — the lady behind the baguette and the spy and the B Fendi bags — designed new guitars for OK Go to take on tour. The tricked-out Gibsons feature white leather, rivets, and goat fur, and, for that extra special touch, a red-and-green LED panel that flashes with the band's lyrics. "Any time an ‘F' appears in their lyrics, it's our double-F logo," says the bag lady. We need a picture of these guitars pronto. [WWD]
• Proenza Schouler has added e-commerce to its website, Proenzaschouler.com. [Vogue UK]
• Sephora is going to roll out 20 cosmetics vending machines to small J.C. Penney stores that lack full-service Sephora counters. Each machine will offer 50 of the makeup retailer's most popular products. How space-age. [WWD]
• Bottega Veneta is getting into the fragrance game. Expect the first perfume to launch in 2011. [WWD]
• André Leon Talley re-arranged a trip to China to attend the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's opening night. Though in his words he would not presume to dance, Talley did express a willingness to go horse riding, some day: "Because the man and the horse are ballet. The communication between the man and the horse in a race, that's sort of a little dance." [The Cut]
• For some reason, it is considered news that Marc Jacobs gave Will Smith a bunch of free clothes to wear during the presentation of the Nobel Prizes in Oslo. You'd almost think Smith was the laureate. [WWD]
• Aw, watching Oprah can make Chris Benz cry. [TFI]

• "It's not up to him to give her lessons; Michelle Obama is of her time; Oscar de la Renta is no longer," scoffed designer Azzedine Alaïa. Ooh, breaking: Oscar is on the View now. [WWD]

• Chloe Sevigny might not do her Opening Ceremony line every season, because she's busy being on the TV. Still with the I-actually-design-this-crap pretense! [The Cut]
• As promised, The Daily Beast now features advertising! Read all about HOW BOTTEGA VENETA IS KEEPING LUXURY RELEVANT. (Presented by Bottega Veneta.) [Daily Beast]
• Isaac Mizrahi just made an announcement on The Today Show: Women, we need to be spending all our money on our hair! It's what's important in life. [Anna's Twitter]
• Ads for Matthew Williamson's collection for H&M, which goes on sale May 14, have leaked. Daria Werbowy prances, mantis-like, on a beautiful beach wearing acid bright paisleys. And a bikini I really want. They gave Werbowy the same rope of loosely braided fake hair that the current H&M collection models sport in their campaign, and which I assume is not even supposed to look real. [Nitro:Licious]
• Depending on the outcome of a lawsuit, Forever 21 may find itself no longer able to copy designers' offerings willy-nilly. Trovata, whose shirts the fast fashion chain shamelessly ripped off several seasons ago, has been suing the company since, and the case is finally set to go to trial. Which means a jury would decide if the "inspiration" (which extended to the placement and choice of buttons and other unique design features) was illegal. [WWD]
• The chief executives of faltering fashion companies continue to get raises! After Kay Krill at Ann Taylor and Glenn Murphy at the Gap each got hefty pay hikes, Jones Apparel Group has raised the compensation of its CEO, Wesley Card, by 38%, to $5.5 million, for 2008. That was the same year Jones Apparel Group lost $765 million. The company owns brands like Jones New York, Anne Klein, and Nine West, and its sales fell 6% last year. Its share price has dropped by over 60%. [Crain's]
• Experts estimate global sales of luxury goods will shrink by 10% in the coming year. [WSJ]
• Marc Jacobs opened a store for his slightly lower-priced Marc by Marc Jacobs line in London. [Independent]
• While women's apparel sales have been falling sharply, menswear is up 1%. Tom Ford says his stonkingly expensive eponymous men's line is doing just fine (although we can't imagine he's sold many $30,000 cufflinks lately). Savile Row tailors Anderson & Sheppard — where Alexander McQueen once trained — say they've had 20 new clients in the past month, which is a significant increase for a small business. [FT]
• Splitting the difference this spring: pant suits, especially when the jackets are in that slouchy 80s boyfriend style. The Times does an apt enough job tracing the trend to its point of origin. [NY Times]
• Frida Giannini, the woman who's transformed Gucci's look (and who did groundwork for that blazer trend), says she's keen to start a Gucci cosmetics line. [Times of London]
• Oh, my. This latest ad for edgy lingerie company Agent Provocateur sure is very racy. I hope all the attention they get for it won't hurt their brand. [Independent]

• Sienna Miller is going to be the face of a new Hugo Boss fragrance. When was the last time you remember Sienna Miller actually acting? [WWD]

• In further crossover tales, newly minted TV host Coco Rocha, who's jumping between walking in shows and filming them for an E! Canada documentary this week, says she's glad she doesn't have to talk to celebrities because, unlike industry people, they don't know who she is. Also, she thinks her red hair makes people treat her differently. "I think people are more scared of me. They think I'm evil." [The Cut]
• The Costume Institute's spring exhibit will be all about the model as a fashion muse and the evolution of beauty standards for women. [Guardian]
• Event co-host Kate Moss's muse status has already translated to the art world: a set of Banksy portraits of the model, done in the style of Andy Warhol's iconic Marilyn Monroe silkscreens, are going to be auctioned in London. [Telegraph]
• Speaking of model muses, Japanese model Tao Okamoto's haircut inspired Philip Lim's runway hairstyle. She shot his look book and he was taken with her. [Elle]
• Meanwhile, Michelle Obama inspired the hair and makeup look at Baby Phat. [WWD]
• If you're taking any New York taxis this week, the video screen of asinine weather and real estate information ("Buy A West Village Condo For Eleventy Million Dollars! Someone From Corcoran Explains Why!") you immediately poke at furiously to turn off may contain images of Cynthia Rowley's fall collection. [WWD]
• Male model Cole Mohr shot a fashion week video for New York. He goes backstage and tells fellow model Tyler Riggs, "Say something meaningful! We're on film!" Riggs pulls a face and replies, "It's better to destroy than create what is meaningless." Then he thinks a second, lights a match, and says, "I am why the ozone layer is fucked up." And this is why I cannot hang out with male models. [The Cut]
• The New York Times has been to the tents and sees only Doom and Gloom (with sides of Sturm and Drang). Representative line about a drag queen: "Having spent two decades capitalizing on the froth thrown off by both boom and bust economies, he was also well acquainted with the uses of sobriety." And Twitters about Marc Jacobs' hair get at something existential. [NY Times]
• PPR, the megaconglomerate whose luxury holdings include Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, and Bottega Veneta, saw flat revenue in the fourth quarter of 2008. But luxury sales for this year have grown by 8.1% on last January. Emerging markets like China saw Gucci sales increase 42% in 2008. [Financial Times]
• Also weathering the downturn passably is Uniqlo chairman and CEO Tadashi Yanai, whom Forbes just named Japan's richest man. $6.1 billion is a lot of $30 cashmere sweaters. [WWD]
• The Italian apparel sector has formally requested aid from the government. Auto makers and homewares manufacturers were included in a stimulus package approved last month, but not fashion or textile companies. One large company, IT Holdings SpA, has already seen its luxury division (owner of the brands Gianfranco Ferre and Malo, as well as licenses for Cavalli Sport) teeter into bankruptcy. [Reuters]
• Dress Barn projects a second quarter loss. [WWD]
• PETA supporter Tim Gunn says designers "Hhve a responsibility to know about [ethical issues surrounding fur]. If you're going to use fur, you at least need to know which sources are less abusive than others...I would never use anything from China. What people don't tell you is that it's most likely dog. And they call it something else and they make it look like something else." Fur cannot be used in the Project Runway final collections, interestingly. [Reuters]
• Even Anne Slowey's dog is fasting this fashion week. [Elle]
• However, this story about how Slowey missed the first few days of shows because her 85-year-old mother in Indiana needed help converting her analog TV for digital signal is very sweet. [Observer]
• UK Vogue features editor Harriet Quick says Posh's new dress collection is good. (It's hard to imagine how a set of Roland Mouret rip-offs could be bad, exactly...) As if to highlight her unoriginality, the story is illustrated with pictures of Posh's dress presentation side-by-side with pictures of Posh wearing similar outfits in years past. [Daily Mail]
• Luckily, she wasn't taking inspiration from Cartier: the French jeweler is suing QVC over the similarity of several watch designs in their Joan Rivers collection. [WWD]
• American Vogue's fashion news and features editor, Sally Singer, is a Berkeley- and Yale-educated former book editor who certainly reads more contemporary fiction than you do. She also skipped several grades, wrote a letter to Andy Warhol when she was 12 asking for a job at Interview, and has sewn her own clothes since she was in middle school, because her family's budget didn't stretch to the kinds of garments she saw in the fashion magazines she scoured growing up. She seems friendly, well-adjusted, and entirely non-sociopathic. It is a heartbreaking paradox of this industry that some of the smartest, funniest, and most culturally engaged women you could ever meet, somehow, once they get together, are responsible for creating the lobotomized morass that is the women's media. [Mediabistro]

• Lauren Conrad is On The Move, Azlan-style. After a prolonged period of alleged laziness, Conrad is promoting her eponymous clothing line all over our fifty states. [Yahoo]
• According to this Sun columnist's "hunch," Kate Moss is pregnant. Take that for what it's worth. [The Sun]
• According to model Niki Taylor — and her husband, doctor and uterus' hunch — she's pregnant too! [People]
• Fashiongate FAQ. [Washington Post]

• More signs of economic apocalypse: the cancellation of Fashion Rocks, CondeNast's annual fashion-rock concert-magazine. [AdAge]
• Here's how to get those undecided swing voters! "On Thursday morning, (Zac) Posen filmed a 15-second video urging people to vote, to vote for Barack Obama, and to dress for the occasion." [WWD]
• L'Oreal keeps its head above water, but cuts forecasts. [WSJ]
• There's hedging your bets, and then there's...this. In case they don't get Runway back, Bravo's introducing Fashion House, Celebrity Sew-Off and The Fashion Show, which sounds suspiciously like a Project Runway where viewers choose the winner. [Yahoo]
• Kate Moss, friend, rumored to be dressing up as Tina Turner, Cher for Halloween, kicks. [Fashionologie]
• "Where would Moss be without her languidly rockish locks?" Um, I don't know. Anyway, her hairdresser is releasing a budget line of hair products. So that we can continue to look nothing like her, on the cheap! [Guardian]
• Ferragamo does all the beautiful, 40s-style shoes for the epic film Australia. [W]
• As an army of Bettys and Joans can tell you tonight, Mad Men has had a serious influence on fashion. [LA Times]
• Charlotte Ronson for J.C. Penney is predictably darling. [Nylon]
• Speaking of cute fast fashion: Old Navy's latest plus-sized line is really pretty. [Fabsugar]
• On the other side of economic divide, Balenciaga's Nicolas Ghesquière ditches his celeb moddles. [New York Magazine]
• And the head of Chanel: “Even in tough times, people want to see beautiful and inspirational things." [Economist]
• Rami Kashou lectures at the Phillips Collection. Quoth the master-draper: "I want to talk about what it takes to keep a dream alive...What it's like to be a 5-year-old and have a dream." [Washington Post]
• Bottega Veneta gets into cruisewear. Believe it or not, more frequent collections is actually a Recession-proofing measure. [WWD]

• Tara Subkoff's short films for Bebe are all set to premiere. Says the designer of her "star," Lydia Hearst: "She truly reminds me of the classic 'Hitchcock blonde' — he would have loved her and she would have been a huge star in his films if we could go back in time." Obviously, like Subkoff, Hitch would have staged lesbian makeout sessions with Aubrey O'Day in front of Bungalow 8 for his art. [WWD]
• Sometimes we wonder whether Karl Rove is behind this seemingly systematic campaign to get everyone in Fashionland behind Obama. "Designer Patricia Field has created an Obama t-shirt that reads "Elegance. Dignity. Obama. Statesman." Naturally, this is written in glitter. [Racked]
• We kind of don't understand why Jeremy Piven was the host of Conde Nast's Fashion Rocks concert last year, but according to Page Six the actor "was a 'nightmare,' insisting on a separate green room and rewriting the script up until the last minute. 'And it wasn't even funny,'said the source." [P6]

• Wait, what? Luxury brand LVMH acquires yacht company. [WWD]
• After months of speculation, minimalist label Jil Sander sold to Japan's Onward Holdings Co. [WSJ]
• Gryphon designer Amy Cho meets fashion halfway with a "Responsible Fur" initiative, which encourages the use of "recycled" vintage furs and extra-soft fakes. Methinks we love her. [Style.com]
• Baggy jeans are back. Not Katie-Holmes sloppy, either: these Bottega Veneat guys are more early-90s harem. [The Life Files]
• Buckingham Palace guardsmen may switch from real bearskin hats to Stella McCartney fauxs after animal rights activists meet with Ministry of Defense. [Daily Mail]
• Following in the footsteps of Vera Wang, various penniless freelancers, Oscar de la Renta will be a guest-blogger on Brides.com. "He'll be writing about wedding choices on dresses, jewelry and destinations. " [WWD]
• In a desperate bid to lure back-to-schoolers, mid-price retailers pull out all the stops. "Kohl's launched six lines of clothing this summer with a star-studded advertising campaign featuring celebrities from including Lenny Kravitz and Hayden Panettiere. JCPenney introduced another half-a-dozen labels, the department store's biggest crop of new brands, with looks ranging from urban rock to all-American. And Dillard's is chasing soccer moms with a line designed by Sheryl Crow that hit stores last month." Wait...Lenny Kravitz? [LAT]
• Style.com is branching out. "On Sept. 2, the site will debut Shop Now, where designer advertisers can pay to have their brands featured." Or, to have them considered: the editors will decide which of the submissions to feature. [MediaWeek]
• To celebrate its centennial, venerable makeup brand Max Factor has treated itself to Gisele Bundchen. For a campaign, I mean. [ElleUK]
• The relatively youthful British Harper's Bazaar is thriving. [Independent]
• Wait, isn't this what the internets do? The new magazine Distill "will present a digested read of the style and fashion press from all over the world, offering a shorthand guide to what and who are in fashion, and how those trends are being captured and covered." [Independent]
• Guess legendary photog Patrick Demarchelier likes his work. "I love all women. Women are sublime beings. I love all of it: their eyes, their noses, their bodies." [Telegraph]
• You know there's a problem when models are complaining that they're too thin: says Karen Elson, "Fashion is obsessed with finding young, beautiful and vulnerable girls, bringing them into the fashion world, praising them, worshipping them but suddenly dropping them like a stone when they hit puberty and grow boobs and hips. It's so dangerous and can potentially harm the girls mentally and physically." [Guardian]
• Shockingly, real designers don't want to dress Heidi Montag. "They don’t want their stuff on Heidi, even despite the fact that she is very media-friendly and is photographed a lot," the rep said. "It’s just not the caliber of celebrity most clients go for." [The Superficial]
• Sadie Frost arranges celeb auction for breast cancer. The haul? "Here are the black peep-toe size 38 Christian Louboutins which “Kate” has signed and covered with graffiti love hearts, a dress belonging to Amy Winehouse, a suit Jude Law wore on the set of Alfie, a guitar donated by Kasabian guitarist Jay Mehler, a Jake Chapman picture." [This Is London]
• Tamara Mellon's ex, Matthew, is hoping second time's the charm: "Mellon has joined forces with his new bride-to-be, designer Nicole Hanley, to introduce Hanley-Mellon, a clothing line that will launch for spring 2009. “It’s a mix of Chloé, YSL and bohemian chic,' Mellon told WWD." [WWD]

Her determination about this endeavor, and the obvious joy she took in the knockoff Bottega's acquisition, quite disturbed a pretty friend of mine who was also on the press trip. It was so shallow! But fast forward two years, and said pretty friend shows up to meet me toting...a Bottega Veneta! What happened? Below, an exclusive interview with said friend as to how she learned to stop worrying and love conspicuous consumption.

MOE: You! I have to consult you about something. And that something is...your handbag.
  Your anonymity will be closely guarded.
 
PRETTYFRIEND: um, ok. go

MOE: Is it Bottega?

PRETTYFRIEND: ha! i'm glad you think that. i got it for $20 off the street before i went to barcelona in the fall. hahahahaha!
take that [PUBLICIST] "hong kkong" [PUBLICIST]

MOE: The thing that's so funny about this story is how it's like, "Bottega is all about understated logo free design."
And I'm thinking, if it gets knocked off, it is a fucking logo.

PRETTYFRIEND: "Instead of buying a $1,500 handbag that may be indistinguishable from versions selling for one tenth of the price, they may part with several thousand dollars for a piece that looks durable and worth the splurge."
ha!

MOE: I just don't understand, after a certain age, why you would buy something so that...people would know you spent a lot of money on it.

PRETTYFRIEND: isn't that mostly with the upwardly mobile middle class? like the black guy that has to get rims on his car because he lives in a neighborhood where that is necessary blah blah blah
with women, it's mostly handbags, shoes and sun glasses. god, sunglasses. when did they start selling for $600?

MOE: oh. my. god. serioulsy.
  SUNGLASSES
  THAT IS A POST.
  WTF SUNGLASSES?

PRETTYFRIEND: that is DEFINITELY a post
 
MOE: THE MARGIN ON SUNGLASSES MUST BE LIKE 99.999999%
 
PRETTYFRIEND: because even the cheap-o brands have their names on teh side so you immediately know NOT GUCCI

MOE: ok but here's the thing, the people who get rims are usually not middle class ...they are more like...what became of the middle class.

PRETTYFRIEND: true. maybe a better example are women and ridiculous shoes. i mean to a certain extent a black patent leather pump is just a black patent leather pump, right? unless it's a christian loubitan and then it's an $800 pump which also happens to have a read sole
  red sole

MOE: Right, but why do middle and upper-middle class educated professional women fall prey to the same silly forces we associate with the rims-weilding lumpen?
  rims-rolling, excuse me.
  And all this shit starts with the plutocracy anyway.
I suppose Toqueville could answer that. sigh american exceptionslism long sigh

PRETTYFRIEND: wait, i have to run. but i just want to say that i do own ridiculous shoes — and not just because one of my lesbian friends works at saks and could get me a 65% discount. i own them because i am in a group of friends where everyone owns them
  and they make my calves look fecking fantastic
and yes, when i get too drunk i start smoking
i am that girl
sigh

MOE: i love you

You'll Know How Much You Spent [NY Times]

Related: Fela Kuti: Expensive Shit/He Miss Road [Amazon]

• Roberto Cavalli went as Karl Lagerfeld for Halloween: Oh Cavalli - you wish. But maybe you could pass for Phyllis Diller? [WWD, 3rd item]
  
• Project Runway's season 3 winner Jeffrey Sebelia is launching a lower-priced, younger line to complement his primary line. While the primary line is called Cosa Nostra, the new line will be called, simply, Jeffrey Sebelia. Unfortch, we kind of think that in order to properly capitalize on his microfame he'd probs have to call it "Project Runway Winner Jeffrey's Affordably-Priced Clothing Line!". [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Live in a town that doesn't reeeeally care about fashion (but probably has a Fashion Week anyway) ?? The Washington Post has a guide to the seven pieces you should buy this season and it's, well, maybe what you'd expect. [WaPo]
  
• Duran Duran just MASSIVELY advanced their hipster cred: they'll be dressing exclusively in Juicy Couture for an upcoming tour, because John Taylor is married to Juicy co-founder Gela Nash-Taylor. [WWD, 1st item]

• The 60's label Ossie Clark is being revived! Um, maybe someone cares? [Vogue UK]
• The House of Chanel will be paying homage to the men who "inspired" Mlle Coco in their upcoming pre-collection show. And by "inspired" we mean...oh Karl is going to love this. [Vogue UK]
• Vivienne Westwood: Now fur free! [Vogue UK, 1st item]
• Also, no fur at Bebe! [Fashion Week Daily]
• The strange love affair between fashion and hotels continues: Bottega Veneta is to launch a line of hotel suites in St. Regis hotels here in New York and in Rome. [Vogue UK, 8th item]
• If you work in fashion, you will name your son Lucas. [Fashion Week Daily]
• You knew Marc Jacobs made kiddie clothes, but can you really ever learn enough about a topic like that? [The Fashion Informer]

Prada: "Deeply erotic" "some will probably declare it not their Prada cup of tea." "The colors too drab," "too sexually ambiguous." "we are struck less by her references than by her complex view of women and women's lives." - Cathy Horyn, NY Times

"Fairies? At Prada?" "so sweetly unchallenging you (almost) can't recognize her" "literal connections between past and present were contradicted" "this is a woman who never loses the plot." -Style.com

"[W]eird and wonderful" "mythical" "eerily beautiful." "Full of surprises" "light and pretty fairy dresses" "took fashion on its mystery tour." "some of the loveliest summer dresses... that we have yet seen in Milan."-Suzy Menkes, IHT


Jil Sander: "Gumby-like silhouette" "supersaturated color" "ingeniously simple dresses" "light and airy" "starched or glazed" "some...so dense they looked frozen"-Cathy Horyn, NY Times

"putting the credibility back into Jil Sander" "there are difficulties" "The crop of the jacket might work on a flat-chested beanpole model, but on a woman with a real-life bosom?" "super-skinny pants are not the most forgiving" "hot pink, orange, and vivid royal blue seems unlikely to hit the spot" -Style.com

"[B]reaking the mode" "beautifully shocking" "vivid colors" "poetic" "in an abstract way, brilliant" "Can I handle a sheer cover-up on the subway?...Do my nipples look good in this?"-Suzy Menkes, IHT


Burberry: "[L]ean and aggressive" "slim skirts" "Chrome Hearts" "But is it fashion or just branded merchandise?" "What you don't find in this collection, really, is Mr. Bailey's distinctive voice. Instead you hear all the competing gimme demands: more luxury, more stuff on stuff." -Cathy Horyn, NY Times

"[L]uxury warrior" "the sexiest version of Burberry yet" "an accurate riff on nineties body-con dressing" "stirrings of the heavy-metal revival" "play[s] it to an international audience"-Style.com

"[S]ense of cool young London..had gone from the collection" "has rightly moved a long way from those checks" "skimpy ruched dresses were ultra glamorous" "But something was lost" "Bailey needs to migrate to his homebase" -Suzy Menkes, IHT


Giorgio Armani: "You've got to admire Giorgio Armani" "small jackets with silk pirate pants" "a tank dress with legs." "For him, this is fashion. And because he is Giorgio Armani, with brand power, they will find an audience."-Cathy Horyn, NY Times

"[D]idn't pack quite the knockout punch" "some lovely clothes" "unusual pants" "endless variety of covetable tops" "I Dream of Jeannie evening jumpsuits" "less formal, but no less special" -Style.com

"It's hard to believe that [what was] sent down his runway...had been created with the conviction that it might alter the way women think about their wardrobe" "simply too absurd" "strangely awkward shorts" "seems to have confused the source of pleasure"-Robin Givhan, Washington Post

"[H]eavy on the bloomers and sarong-tie pants" "handkerchief hems... floated on too long" "quintessentially Armani" "his most loyal clients...might even learn to love." "a particularly gentle and elegant version of the tropical isle theme"-Suzy Menkes, IHT


Bottega Veneta: "[T]oo prosperous a brand for its designer" "plays it safe" " classic summer dresses" "more in the world than the worldliest people"- Cathy Horyn, NY Times

"[E]xemplary illustration of...restrained, minimalist, functionalist design" "relevant" "delicious" "virtually colorless" "doesn't take a Ph.D. to analyze" "goddess draping" "you'd need a heart of stone not to think, There goes something gorgeous." -Style.com

"[I]f women wanted their wardrobe to go unnoticed, they would...go to Banana Republic" "At Bottega Veneta...a woman...should get...more from her clothes" -Robin Givhan, Washington Post

• The Spice Girls are reuniting, and Donatella Versace may be dressing them for the reunion tour. G-d works in mysterious ways, and Jennie may have just forgiven Him for the Holocaust... [AHN.com]
  
• Prada sells Azzedine Alaia back to Azzedine Alaia. Which would sound all heartwarming and benevolent, if only it weren't a shrewd business decision. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Stella McCartney will be debuting a lingerie line next year, offering a "high-end product with prices that are a little below La Perla." And by that they mean $71 for panties and $447 for chemises. If these represent reasonable prices, Nick Denton is definitely not paying us enough. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Vanity Fair's September issue proffers its annual "Best Dressed" list, featuring a few members of the Conde payroll: Vanity Fair's fashion director Michael Roberts, contributing editor Lisa Eisner, and photographer-at-large Jonathan Becker, as well as Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Amy Astley, Vogue's style editor Alexandra Kotur, contributing editor Marina Rust Connor, and Anna Wintour spawn Bee Shaffer. That we are reading about this in an article penned by a few slightly, um, less-dressed members of the Conde payroll is not at all making us feel like we are seated at the nerd table in the cafeteria. [WWD, 1st item]

• In a move straight totally copped from our college's alumni association, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) is launching a Business Services Network which seeks to connect members with "key industry executives" that can provide resources and help for their businesses. If you're already a CFDA member, how much help do you actually need? Oh wait. See financial records of the majority of American high-end fashion houses. Never mind. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Annie Leibovitz's latest way to pay the bills? The Bottega Veneta fall 2007 ad campaign! Woman's got a family to feed, yo! It ain't all taking celebrity portraits for the glossies and mourning Susan Sontag! [Vogue UK]
• Aw, models! They're just like us! One of Burberry's latest faces? The son of Virgin tycoon Richard Branson, 21-year old aspiring rocker Sam! [Vogue UK]
• One of our main reason's for not taking that fourth year of science in high school? Our aversion to safety goggles. Which look dumb, no matter how good your shoes are. So why the fuck would we pay Dolce & Gabbana to re-create this look? [FabSugar]
• Hermes bags: Ridiculously overpriced, but rightfully named for true style icons. [See Birkin; Jane; Kelly, Grace.] But Naomi Campbell? Puke. [Sassybella]

• "If I could just do one thing for 24 hours it would be [have sex] . . . or sew. Or have sex while sewing. Or sew an outfit to have sex in." So says singer Beth Ditto, which is why the plus-sized Ditto is now collaborating with New Look to become the most unlikely (and kinda awesome!) celebrity clothing endorser yet. [The Sun]
  
• Charlotte Ronson, whose name sounds familiar because she's Lindsay Lohan enabler Samantha Ronson's twin sister, is once again slated for a role in the forthcoming Soapnet reality show The Fashionista Diaries, which will chronicle the ins and outs of the week leading up to New York Fashion Week. If there's a God, Lindsay will be off the wagon by then. [WWD, 2nd item]
  
• "Fashion's over," declares the legendary Hubert de Givenchy. Now what are we supposed to write about? Oh yeah, celebutard nipple slips! [WWD, sub req'd]

• Roberto Cavalli is in Paris — not to show couture, but to preview his H&M line to magazine editors. Oh please please please someone report back re garishness, degree of in this line! [WWD, 1st item]
• After having posed for Italian Vogue , Gavin Rossdale's love child, 18-year old Daisy Lowe, is rumored to be assuming Kate Moss's soon-to-be-empty knickers as the face of Agent Provocateur. We assume this means that Rossdales's missus, Gwen Stefani, will not be wearing the line anytime soon. [Sky Showbiz]
• Too many fashion events, too little time: The 10-year anniversary of Gianni Versace's death is keeping Bottega Veneta away from its slotted showtime as the closing show for the first-ever Berlin Fashion week. [Vogue UK]
• Anime movies! Spectator shoes! An entire Rem Koolhaas exhibit around her skirts! So what's up next for renaissance fashion-quirkstress Miuccia Prada? Designing a bar in London with whimsical Belgian sculptor Carsten Holler, naturally. [WWD, 1st item]
• Fashion hungry private equity firm Permira hopes to buy out all remaining shares of Valentino through the Italian stock market's regulatory system for an estimated $3.52 billion. Which is probably only a slightly greater figure than the price of a couture Valentino wardrobe. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Since leaving his design perch at Dior Homme, Hedi Slimane has taken to designing... furniture? [WWD, 3rd item]

• If you are a wealthy foreigner and are friends with other wealthy foreigners, Diane von Furstenberg will personally escort you to one of the VIP dressing rooms in her new flagship store in New York City's Meatpacking district. [WWD]
• English pop doll Lily Allen's fashion line for British chain New Looks debuted yesterday, coinciding with the release of Kate Moss for Topshop in the US. Allen pretended not to care and, sadly, was utterly unconvincing. [WWD, 3rd item]
• The latest lead in the where-was-the-merchandise mystery plaguing Kate Moss for Topshop at Barney's: More pieces and higher quantities of the line have been ordered to be stocked for fall. [WWD]

• The nominees for the 2007 Gen Art Styles awards were announced late yesterday, meaning that all of the nominees have already started introducing themselves as the Next Big Thing, keeping in the heritage of past winners Zac Posen, Vena Cava, Twinkle, and Rebecca Taylor. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Bottega Veneta creative director Tomas Maier became the first fashion designer to receive his native Germany's prestigious Forum Preis award. [Vogue UK]
• Starting this fall, merchandise offered at Gap stores in Europe will be wholly separate from what is offered statewside: The Euros are getting more fashion-forward design, while we Yanks will be stuck with classic Gap basics. Sucks to be American, doesn't it? [Coutorture]

• Kate Moss' line for Topshop arrives in New York at Barney's stores. Says Barney's creative director Simon Doonan: "I have been at Barney's for twenty years and nothing... has rivaled the insane, frenzied build-up to the arrival of Kate and her Topshop line. I would put it right up there with the invasion of the Faulkand Islands and the first episode of AbFab, or at least the launch of the DVD of AbFab." Spoken like a true queen! [Barney's Babble]
• Kate Moss' U.S. entourage includes her favorite DJs, who traveled with her to the Barney's flagship last night. [Vogue UK]
• If you can't get to Barney's the moment they open today, seems you stand no chance of ever being clad by Kate: The Topshop line has already sold-out on Barney's.com. [The Shophound]

• Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen will solidify their standing as eating-disordered role models to fashion-obsessed girls everywhere when they host the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Awards dinner on June 3. [WWD]
• Bottega Veneta is big in Japan. Their largest flagship ever just opened in the Ginza neighborhood of Tokyo. [WWD]
• Steve & Barry's is becoming the place for celebrity clothing lines, it seems. First Sarah Jessica Parker's Bitten; up next is a line from teen queen Amanda Bynes, due in stores Aug 10. [WWD