• "I think he's a great-looking guy but I think his suits don't fit him very well...I wouldn't say he's badly dressed, but he could sharpen up his look a little better." —Tom Ford on Barack Obama. [Vogue UK]
  
• Holy. Fucking. Shit. Comme des Garcons for H&M? Start lining up for this now. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Jude Law is set to be the face of a yet-to-launch men's fragrance from Dior. It will invariably smell douchey. [Cosmetics News]
  
• Your cell phone does not need its own pair of Crocs. [Sassybella]

• The Murakami-Louis Vuitton show at the Brooklyn Museum is kind of a big "fuck you" to counterfeiters. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Liz Claiborne CEO WIlliam McComb took a 2% paycut this year, making only $8.9 million for 2007. Poor guy. [Crain's]
• Word on the street is that Alessandro Dell'Acqua wants to be the new creative head of Malo. [Vogue UK]
• Two resignations from Harper's Bazaar in under a month? And both of them to go to InStyle? Ouch. [Fashion Week Daily]
• This just in! Fashion has just discovered a new-fangled contraption that lets people communicate, transmit information, and buy expensive shit with the greatest of ease. It's called the Internet. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Kate Moss acting? Uh, stick to modeling, tootsie. [Sassybella]
• Dude, how crazy is it that American Apparel will be selling American-made clothes in China? [LATimes]
• The new St. Ives campaign focuses around the slogan "Get a happy face." Because loving your wrinkles should be a positive experience, they say. [Brandweek]
• The Greeks buy more designer clothes than any other country. Who knew? [WWD, sub req'd]
• Another reason to love Patricia Clarkson: "You will never guess where I bought these earrings: Sears! They came free with a washer and dryer." Love. [WWD, sub req'd]

• "'Who are these dreadful women?' Manolo Blahnik screams in horror as he brandishes the latest edition of a smart society magazine. An assistant points out kindly that they are four of Hollywood's top female stars. Looking pained, Blahnik turns away muttering 'Dreadful, dreadful,' before adding, with a roll of his eyes heavenwards: 'I'm totally confused. I don't even know what taste is any more. Frankly, I can't bear to buy magazines. I just get so upset.'" Yeah, we hated that Vanity Fair cover too. It's so gross and pink and Easter Sunday and like how does Anne Hathaway qualify as "fresh"? And also: who is responsible for those fug satin slingbacks? Let's check the credits...ah yes! Shoes from Manolo Blahnik, London, or call 011-44-207-352-8622. Click the jump to see them displayed on six other well-known actresses!) [Times of London]
  
• A link to the first time Blahnik got all Jonathan Franzen on us! [NY Observer]
  
• Hey, and it turns out Blahnik isn't the only guy who takes this fashion stuff pretty seriously! Giorgio Armani dis-invited New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn a day before the show! Cathy seems to take this pretty seriously herself: "It's no wonder that cynicism, and not mere dramas, is born." [NY Times]

• Danny Masterson to open an East Hollywood boutique. Yes, that Danny Masterson! (Also: has he had work done?) He says it will be a "mini Fred Segal." (Also: is Fred Segal wildly overrated?) [NY Mag]
• Holy shit Vivienne Westwood what the fuck. [Daily Mail]
• Is Naomi Campbell secretly engaged to a Brazilian businessman? Hey, if News of the World says so...[News Of The World]
• Comme des Garcons is opening a secret "guerrilla" store in LA. Such a subversive marketing move, guys! Is actually great design just not enough to cut it in this market anymore? You have to have, like, a gimmick? Don't answer that! [UPI]
• Oh, look what highly underrated Brazilian supermodel just landed a sorely-deserved endorsement contract! Life = complete. [E! Online]

• The rumors are true! Victoria Beckham is the face of Marc Jacobs' spring 2008 collection and has already been shot by Juergen Teller for her print ads. Fashionista says it means Posh is now "officially and undeniably cool." Others within the fashion community are, um, bound to disagree! But they disagreed when he showed up two and a half hours late for his New York show, and he still hasn't filed for Chapter 11, so... [Fashionista]
  
• Kirsten Dunst, meanwhile, has been selected to be the face of the Miu Miu spring collection. God, is Kirsten Dunst still passing as some sort of style icon? She makes Sienna Miller look interesting. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• And speaking of! Ashton Kutcher is ousting Sienna Miller as the face of Pepe Jeans. We're pretty sure this doesn't mean great things for Ashton's career, but it means good things for us! [WWD, 1st item]

• And Matthew McConaughey is set to be the new face of Dolce & Gabbana's new men's fragrance. Gay, anyone? [Fashion Week Daily]
• Whoah: French Vogue editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld was Tom Ford's muse when Ford was designing Gucci?! Yikes. [Sassybella]
• The poor, long-suffering Stella McCartney won designer of the year at the British Fashion Awards, which gives us some hope that there is a God, as she beat out "I'm Not A Plastic Bag" slag Anya Hindmarch for the title. No, nevermind, we take that back: Agyness Deyn took home model of the year and Hindmarch did win best designer brand. Marchesa (co-designed by Harvey Weinstein's special lady friend Georgina Chapman) won best red carpet label and Christopher Bailey won best menswear designer for Burberry. The totally insane Dame Vivienne Westwood won for outstanding achievement in fashion design, which we guess means that the voters just decided to pretend that her incoherent "manifesto" about the state of culture today never happened. [Vogue UK]
• The woman who brought us J Brand jeans is now moving into the world of dresses, launching a line of all-jersey dresses called Riller & Fount. They'll retail for between $100-$156, which we're pretty sure is still cheaper than a pair of fucking J Brand jeans. [WWD, sub req'd]
• The designers of the label Rodnik started a rock band. Also called Rodnik. And their first single just dropped in England. And Rei Kawakubo is throwing them a party to celebrate at the Commes des Garcons flagship store in London. Who wants to bet whoever DJs it will make more than Rodnik ever will for a gig? [Vogue UK]

Dior
"[A]lluring androgyny" "Marlene Dietrich" "Billie Holiday, Josephine Baker and the Great Gatsby" "1940s-style dresses had accentuated shoulders and below-the-knee hemlines" "epitome of early Hollywood glamour" —Hillary Alexander, Telegraph

"[T]he man-woman thing exemplified by Marlene Dietrich" "variations on the top hat showed a seductive way" "more John than Christian in the ultra-glamorous take on Galliano's signature bias-cut dresses" "let the couture and its major theatrics go to turn out a seductive but simple collection that, with its racy tailoring and lacy delicacy, will please rather than provoke." —Suzy Menkes, International Herald Tribune

"Sting's "Englishman in New York" set the theme" "a light, nonintellectual revival of all the patterns John Galliano has amassed through his ten-year career at Dior" "twenties-through-forties styling" "this wasn't one of his camp-hysteria evasions, nor was it one of his more passive-aggressive collections of bottom-line merchandise" "pretty, accessible things" "a knowing nod to the current feel for pajama dressing" "missed the flair and humor Galliano can muster at his best" —Sarah Mower, Style.com


Balenciaga
"[V]ivid floral prints" "old-fashioned couture fabrics" "full of thought and invention" "incredibly precise and clear" "a strong fashion statement" "push[es] our imaginations" —Cathy Horyn, The New York Times

"[A]ll about the extreme beauty" "21st-century techno treatment" "extreme, ultra-modern volumes" "catapulted into the future" "The silhouette was of a short dress with rounded shoulders and hemline" "it was a magic carpet ride." —Suzy Menkes, International Herald Tribune


Vivienne Westwood
"[U]ltra-hourglass dresses and jewelled "trapeze artist" costumes" "what the offspring of a marriage between Marilyn Monroe and an English aristocrat would have looked like" —Hillary Alexander, Telegraph

"[I]nimitable blend of cheek, sensuality and historical histrionics" "tribal, tough and rock 'n roll" "a twinkle in the eye, a sway of the hips and a dress designed to cup the bosoms" "reveal as well as conceal, with a bodice swooping down, a skirt cut to rise in a half moon up to the thigh and beyond" "fringe...looked more Las Vegas showgirl than English aristocrat" —Suzy Menkes, International Herald Tribune

"[T]here were a lot of different, seemingly unrelated looks packed onto the runway" "buttons askew over unfastened dresses" "twisted ball gowns" "holographic sequin dress with padding at the hips and bum" "A beautiful mess? For members of Westwood's tribe, yes. But to the uninitiated? It just looked nutty." —Nicole Phelps, Style.com


Comme des Garcons
"[C]razy-wonderful" "layered coats and bloomers in Crayola colors" "about a cartoon-absorbed culture as randomness" "kooky ikat print, deconstructed bloomers in ruffled pink and yellow cotton, and roomy coats with built-in bags. Loved those for the Food Town." —Cathy Horyn, The New York Times

• Designer Issey Miyake's show taking place today in Paris is inspired by vacuum cleaners. Guaranteed not to blow you away? [WWD, 5th item]
  
• TopShop is opening its first U.S. store, supposedly in time for the holiday season. [Fashionista]
  
• Giorgio Armani paid himself $346.5 million this year. We hope he enjoys it before the "I Dream of Jeannie" pants he designed this season hit the stores. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Donna Karan is taking her Urban Zen concept beyond the integration of holistic practices into Western medicine: Now she's reconciling Palestinian and Israeli children and selling Urban Zen: The Clothing. How does she do it? [WWD, sub req's]

• You know how some dudes are really into having sex in really uncomfortable positions with girls wearing nothing but their most uncomfortable heels? We kinda think that's what David Lynch was getting at with his latest series of Louboutin ads. Edgy! And we are so tempted to buy now! [Sassybella]
• Chanel (and Fendi) designer Karl Lagerfeld might be starving himself these days, but he's gorging his resume! His latest project: shooting the Dior Homme ads, now that former Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane has been Auf'd. [WWD, 1st item]
• Oh fuck: Fashion has even attacked the trees in Paris! Stop the madness! [GlamChic]
• Uh, oh: Calvin Klein designer Francisco Costa better not be going all Ralph Lauren on us! [The Fashion Informer]

• Drew Barrymore is the first-ever celebrity face of Gucci, picked because some PR bullshit like "sense of humor" and "sensitivity" and "confidence." We say it's because she's thin now! [WWD
  , 2nd item]
  
• Kohl's stock rose 4.4% yesterday, and the predicted continued upward growth is being attributed to mounting momentum from Kohl's collaboration with one of our all-time favorite hard-working sluts, Vera Wang. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Getting rejected from Fashion Week sounds eerily similar to being rejected from college. Designers who were declined admission to show in the tents this year received a letter stating: "While we would have loved to present your collection in the tents this season, we have had an overwhelming number of requests for time slots and spaces....Please give us another try next season (Feb. 1-8) when we hope we can be more flexible and accommodating." Hey, designers — take it from us, no one gets off the waitlist for an Ivy....except, you know, maybe Penn. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• The burning questions over Chicago's recent anointment as cool fashion city still loom: Is Chicago designer Maria Pinto cool because she dresses Michelle Obama? Or are Obama and Pinto made cool because they're from Chicago? The world may never know. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Stella McCartney will be launching the first-ever virtual anti-fur protest on July 12 (virtual! how Web 2.0! and will be serving Linda McCartney veggie burgers at the actual event (Linda burgers! how old-school!). [Vogue UK]
  
• Fashion deep thought of the day: When a Commes des Garcons model speaks of his tenure, what does he say? "I loved the clothes [Commes des Garcons designers] Rei [Kawakubo] designed for me to wear." Whoah. [Vogue UK]
  
• Marc Jacobs is using models — and not childs! — in his Fall 2007 ad campaign. What is the world coming to?! [Sassybella]