• Lagerfeld talks recession: “This... crisis is like a big spring housecleaning — both moral and physical... Bling is over. Red carpetry covered with rhinestones is out. I call it ‘the new modesty.’” [NY Times]

• As part of Barbie's golden anniversary blitz, Stila's offering a Barbie makeup palette so you can (literally) replicate her natural look at home. "The collaboration features a talking palette (so you can follow along as a Stila makeup artist gives you step-by-step instructions on mimicking Barbie’s pastel lids) as well as four “Decades of Beauty” cans. The cans each channel a different decade in Barbie history: #1 Ponytail Doll is all about Barbie’s black cat-eye liner and red lipstick, Malibu Doll mixes a baby blue shadow with a shimmering bronzer, Foxy Doll gets you a more sultry look, and Jewel Doll is, well, all about sparkle and shimmer." [Nylon]
• Flamboyant designer Roberto Cavalli is selling a minority stake in his fashion house to private equity company Clessidra. Hard times. [NYT]
• Valentino, meanwhile, is being accused of massive tax fraud! [WWD]
• Diane Von Furstenberg on her (presumably) mariage blanc to gay tycoon Barry Diller: "Barry respects me so much...We don't live together during the week, although we go out together. I live on top of my shop; he lives at the Carlyle hotel. It doesn't feel strange at all. I just need a little bit of space. If I can't be alone a little bit, then I lose myself—and I cannot lose myself." [Racked]
• Agent Provocateur's new "Virgins" line is being touted by "nymphs and satyrs cavorting in approved Dionysian style." The lingerie is pretty. [Luxist]
• Party-pooper Marc Jacobs conscientiously cancels his fashion week afterparty. [Fashionista]
• Elite modeling agency says its recent cuts weren't about belt-tightening: "Periodically every model agency reviews its roster and evaluates the performance and re-evaluates the potential of each model. Last fall, Elite conducted such a review and decided it was mutually beneficial to release several contracts." [New York]
• Goody's Family Fashion formally files for Chapter 11, following last week's announcement of their bankruptcy. [Breitbart]
• Meanwhile, struggling Liz Claiborne warns retailers of 4th quarter losses. [WSJ]
• On the other end of the spectrum, Tiffany fell a full 30% this year. [FT]
• The (possibly mythological) New York Topshop wanted to sell liquor; was prevented by puritanical old Americans. [Racked]
• American Eagle, for its part, is now successfully vending deodorant. [Nylon]
• Uh oh. Nina Ricci sues tween "Twilight" fragrance for ripping off her bottle. [Now Smell This via New York]
• Sonia Rykiel's anniversary book looks awesome...if you like fashion coffee-table books. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Carine Roitfeld's son, Vladimir, is curating some photography show during Fashion Week. [Fashionista]
• Tim Gunn's soft-spoken anti-fur documentary convinces Donna Karan to abandon the pelts. Score one for the silver fox! And, we guess, foxes generally. [Racked]
• Iconic 60's model Jean Shrimpton bites the hand that photographed her: “I gave up modelling at 28 because I’d grown away from it. I’m lazy with clothes. It’s boring pouting at a camera after the age of about 25 and if you’ve got a brain and everybody around you is more creative, you’re just the person pouting at the camera. You end up feeling a fool.” [Daily Express]
• Banana Republic launches a "heritage for women" collection, which sounds kind of like their regular collection. [WWD]
• Louis Vuitton customers are equally divided amongst the sexes. Not, we're assuming, the tax brackets. [BigThink]

• Literary sensations Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen premiere their first book, Influence. '"Ashley and Mary-Kate take readers on a journey through their celebrated young lives, pausing to reflect on what has helped shape them into who they are today," the book's publisher said in a statement. "They interviewed 20 people and wrote brief essays about each other." Those interviewed include fashion designers Karl Lagerfeld, Diane Von Furstenburg, John Galliano and Christian Louboutin. "We interviewed the people who have inspired us, with the hope that they will inspire and teach others," Mary-Kate said. "We want to explain culturally how ideas evolve."' [People]
• The first "Cavalli Club" will open in Dubai this Fall. Says Roberto, '“living against monotony, with the enjoyment of music, of good food, of pleasant company” is the club’s philosophy. In his goal to offer “multiple culinary and sensorial experiences,” Cavalli plans an Italian restaurant flanked by a sushi bar and a wine bar on the top floor.' We can only assume this will be convenient to Lagerfeld's "Fashion Island." [WWD]
• A new investor allows Sadie Frost's company to live another day. Said a rep of the Jude Law ex and her design partner Jemima French, "Sadie and Jemima relish the opportunity to be fully hands-on again and being able to return to the creative and business helm of a fashion label. Both designers are currently working on their next collection" [Independent]

• The new Calvin Klein "Secret Obsession" campaign, starring Eva Mendes, was deemed too provocative for U.S. air waves - so it's to preview on the 'net. "TV networks will simply not allow Steven Meisel's commercial to be aired - it's too raunchy and risque, featuring Eva enjoying a private, intimate moment, set to a seductive sound track, wearing very little." [ElleUK]
• Lipstick Queen Poppy King should stick to cosmetics: "To be in fashion right now means to understand the difference between feminine and female and to get the balance right: too feminine and we are back in the submission of the '50s, too confrontational and it becomes '80s power woman. But in between these two is that wonderful space that it just 100 percent female—neither overly hostile nor apologetic. Perhaps if Hillary Clinton had got this sense of female right it may have turned out differently for her." [JC Report]
• Ashton Kutcher to return as face of Pepe Jeans London. [VogueUK]
• Cartier apparently thinks it's 2005, teams up with MySpace. [Guardian]
• Denim line Rock & Republic launches makeup line for unclear reasons. [Cosmetics News]
• Hockey player and novelty Vogue intern Sean Avery now dating Calvin Klein's ex-wife, Kelly. Well, they said Wintour was crushing on him, too...[Page Six]
• Modeling agency sues other modeling agency for model poaching. [UPI]
• Jewelry designers haggle over intellectual property. [Fashionista]
• Good old J. Crew weathers economic storm through "honesty and communication." [AdAge]
• Vidal Sassoon on his "rags to riches" story of hairstyling to the stars. [KQED]
• LVMH, Sony settle over musicians playing fast and loose with their trademarks. Kanye West, "Louis Vuitton Don," we're looking at you. [WWD]
• "Supergirl" line a fashion dream team: "Warner Bros. is moving full-steam ahead with a long-term, global Supergirl branded contemporary sportswear line, ready for resort selling. The line is designed by the trio of Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss, Alice Roi and Laura Poretzky." [WWD]
• Weak global economy means less direct sourcing from India. [Business Week]
• Despite Blane's desperate attempts to force a catch-phrase, "boring contestants" and an earlier time slot have Project Runway off to a slow start, ratings-wise. [Portfolio]
• Canadian con man convicted of selling fake Gucci stock options. [WWD]

• Gisele's agent on that whole "anything but dollars" scandal: "She is based in America, pays her bills in America. She, like anyone else who lives in America, doesn't feel the fluctuation of the dollar until she goes shopping in Paris. She is pretty much here all the time and doesn't feel the difference." Well, now we're convinced. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Cavalli for H&M goes in-stores today, and you can be prepared for a full report if we do not get trampled. [Vogue UK]
  
• Marc Jacobs did not have a sex change operation. [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• British Harper's Bazaar has released their list of best-dressed women of 2007. The top 10: 1. Natalia Vodianova (model), 2. Thandie Newton (actress), 3. Agyness Deyn (model), 4. Helen Mirren (actress), 5. Lily Allen (singer), 6. Emily Blunt (actress), 7. J. K. Rowling (author), 8. Anouck Lepere (model), 9. Irina Lazareanu (model), 10. Kate Moss (model). Um, really? [FabSugar]

• Our love for Isaac Mizrahi continues to grow: He is set to narrate a new production of Peter and the Wolf being performed at the Guggenheim Museum next month in a collaboration between the New York City Opera and Juilliard. And the show is going to be open to the public. And the tickets only cost $35. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Polo expects to do sucky during the next fiscal quarter. They blame the economy. We blame the fact that they haven't really had a new idea in 20 years. [You mean making your logo the size of a HAND doesn't count as design innovation?? -Moe] [WWD, sub req'd]
• Alberta Ferretti, the designer behind the hyper-femme label Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti, is now going to design an activewear line! And she's naming it PHILO-sophy. Which sounds not active but pretty damn lazy to us. [WWD, sub req'd]
• BlackBook magazine is normally pretty retarded. But their idea to style female models as Karl Lagerfeld, John Galliano, Viktor & Rolf, Vivienne Westwood, Anna Piaggi and our idol Carine Roitfeld is just so awesome. We're suckers for shit like this. Especially when it pays homage to Karl and Carine, all at the same time! [WWD, 5th item]
• Oh, goody, Anya "I am not Dating A Fag" Hindmarch is "expanding her brand." We wish her all the success of Von Dutch, Uggs and Crocs in proving she is so much more than her one ludicrously popular item! [Fashion Week Daily]
• Menswear designer Paul Smith is the only retailer you can turn to if you want to purchase the exclusive, limited edition book by Geoff MacCormack My Travels with Bowie, about his, well, you get the point. We heart Bowie. And so Paul Smith just earned some major street cred in our book. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Sister-of-Jackie-Kennedy-Onassis Lee Radizwell was the Director of Special Events for Armani back inher day. Who knew? [Sassybella]
• Louis Vuitton got all progressive and used a model in its Resort advertising campaign. Oh no! However will Scarlett Johansson survive? [Sassybella]

Dolce & Gabbana Gold:

A supermodel could survive for a week on the Milanese veal cutlet we ordered. And what's this? A side of roast potatoes? The portions were so large that they obscured the Gold monogram on our plate.

[W]e could have bought this sandwich with a small salad anywhere. I guess we're here for the location.

Mr. Matsuhisa has made a career out of doing very little — keeping food true to its origins and not overworking it.

Here, the food actually might be the main attraction. The bread basket holds five different types, from olive-and walnut to multigrain, and they are worth every carb-filled mouthful.

[T]he food is served simply, without any Cavalli flash, on plain china. The staff says the bar sees the most traffic.

Milan Fashion Icons As Restauranteurs [WSJ]

• NY Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn continues to stick up for homeboy Marc Jacobs on her blog, disclosing that he personally dressed all of the models in his much-delayed show and that "if you're always under pressure, I suppose you're going to be more sensitive to the things you absolutely can control." Aw, tear? [NY Times]
  
• The Dress Barn's profits rocketed an amazing 38% this quarter. Um, what? Developing... [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Okay, we totally attended the wrong Fashion Week. Prince performed live at the Matthew Williamson show in London. [Vogue UK]
  
• Also at London fashion week: Courtney Love tripped Kate Moss, who went tumbling upon entering; someone spilled a drink on Anna Wintour; and Jade Jagger and Christian Louboutin were having "a private chat" (a private really ANIMATED and EXUBERANT chat, we're assuming) in the women's restroom. This is all at one party. [Vogue UK]

• Speaking of parties, the Christopher Kane afterparty was so good Agyness Deyn had to wait in line. [WWD, 2nd item]
• Things we did not know about Karl Lagerfeld that we learned just from reading a 300-word item about the forthcoming documentary about him: He has been sexually active since age 13, his family calls him "Shirley Temple," his bedroom looks just like mine, he talks trash about the former Chanel ("When I took on Chanel, it was a sleeping beauty. And not even a beautiful one. She snored'). [Vogue UK]
• Models/modelish types appearing in the Cavalli for H&M ads: Erin Wasson, Jessica Stam, Theodora Richards, Nicolas Malleville, Sean Lennon, Jane Schmitt, Lydia Hearst, Astrid Muñoz, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, Anouck Lepère. [WWD, 1st item]
• Stella McCartney is adding a golf line to her Stella-for-Adidas label. Says McCartney, "I think it is about time that women who play golf can now echo what they wear in everyday life on the green." On our list of things it's about time for, this, uh, doesn't even make our pile of rejected ideas. [WWD, sub req'd]

• Would you like a limited-edition carrying case with your ninety-pound September Vogue? Yeah, sorry, you only get one of you're an "FOV" — which we think is sort of like being an "SOB." [The Fashion Informer]
  
• Did you know Sting named his daughter "Fuschia"? She just mutilated her Dior gown. "Galliano would kill me," she says. Oh, we'd so happily do it for him. [WWD, 3rd item]
  
• Sean "Diddy" Combs will be airing the launch of his newest fragrance live on YouTube on Wednesday night. And yes: there will be liveblogging. [WWD, 4th item]
  
• Cavalli For H&M pix here. [Sassybella]

• Seventeen is going to do a whole special makeover section with women who have survived breast cancer. Which we think is really cool, but like: their readers are mostly thirteen, right? Um. [WWD, final item]
• More breast cancer-beautifying joint-venturing; buy a bra, cure the disease. [FabSugar]
• Did TopShop head honcho Philiip Greene really manage to make La Wintour laugh? During a fashion show? Eyewitness report, please. [Vogue UK]
• Please do us a favor: Will you read this interview with Elle Macpherson and tell us if it also seems to you that English is not her native tongue? [GlamChic]
• The Gap of France, Zadig & Voltaire, is suing Gap France, saying that they have stolen their designs. Such as: the T-shirt. Good lord. [WWD, sub req'd]

• A detailed, blow-by-blow (ha!) description of the events leading up to Lindsay Lohan's arrest! "There were definitely two people in the car with Lindsay that night." Who, who? "The cocaine was not Lindsay's; she was wearing someone else's pants." Riiiight. Also, one of the reasons Dina Lohan is not with her daughter? She has to appear in court regarding her custody battle tomorrow. [ET]
  
• Also, some straight-out-of-rehab socialite is a harbinger of trainwrecks, and she'd recently been hanging out with Lindsay. [Page Six]
  
• The new Robert Cavalli for H&M ads will have nude models? How will we see the clothes? [Page Six]
  
• Kelly Rowland is "chocolate and loving it." [Page Six]
  
• While working out with his trainer, Marc Jacobs talks smack about John Galliano. [Page Six]
  
• Nicole Richie will be interviewed by Diane Sawyer next week! Set your TiVos and cancel everything. [People]

• Will Whoopi Goldberg be officially added to the crew on The View? [Rush&Molloy, last item]
• The dude who played Zed in Pulp Fiction was arrested in New York Tuesday for possession of crack cocaine. [Gatecrasher]
• Tyra Banks, dating a banker? [Gatecrasher, 2nd item]
• If you didn't already see the video of Beyoncé falling down the stairs in concert, you may not have a chance — Sony BMG had it taken down from YouTube. [Gatecrasher, 3rd item]
• Blind item of the day: "Which indie actress, currently filming in NYC with an Oscar-winner and an Oscar-nominee, is annoying cast and crew with her superior airs? The big names are perfectly nice, but the international visitor is testing tempers on set, I hear." [Gatecrasher, last item]
• Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie took the kids bowling in France with Mariane Pearl and her son. [People]
• Paris Hilton bought a new Chihuahua, at the same store at which Britney purchased her $3,000 Yorkie. [People]
• Is Oprah an ice queen? [TheAwfulTruth]
• And: Are the people closest to Lindsay Lohan — who should be supporting her — getting high with her instead? [TheAwfulTruth]
• Johnny Depp may finally marry his baby mama Vanessa Paradis. [ET]

• "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]