Social networking may be the last refuge of the 21st Century scoundrel. Case in point: Crocsideas.com! Pulling the laziest designer trick of lazy designers everywhere, Crocs wants you to help them make their shoes into something half-decent. In the nauseous language of corporate prosumer sites everywhere, you can Join The Community, Post An Idea, and View & Vote (on the Community's Ideas). You can Share, Listen, and Innovate.

Isn't that sweet? Crocs wants you to tell it exactly what you think of it! And maybe to suggest what it might do that would be worth buying.

If crowd-sourcing its product development seems like scraping the bottom of the barrel, that's because it is. It wasn't always this way. When the company went public in 2006, it raised $208 million, and had the biggest stock market debut of any footwear company since people have been wearing shoes. One feverish day in October, 2007, the stock price hit $74.75. Various people have debated what this early-oughts vogue for spongy, candy-colored clogs meant, tying the trend in to America's deep desire for comfort in the aftermath of 9/11 and in the run-up to war ("America wanted a shoe that nurtured it, cradled it, made it feel warm and safe and loved...they quickly became the bacteriostatic security blanket for our souls"), or making them into cheap and cheerful symbols of the now-passed economic boom.

The reversal came swiftly. The company lost $181 million in 2008; it scrambled to service its debts, and laid off 2,000 employees. People stopped just buying them; attempts at branching out into Crocs clothing and Crocs cell phone holders and those idiotic Crocs hole charms, never caught on. (CEO John Duerden says the company was caught in "a perfect storm.") What happened to Crocs calls to mind those animals who evolve so perfectly to meet certain niche conditions that they find they can tolerate no others, like those amphibians who die in the South American jungle when the water level of their stream rises an inch. Crocs had one good idea: making cheap, funny looking but comfortable clogs in a cute array of colors, suitable for people who wanted to make a statement about caring more about comfort than about making statements. Unfortunately, the perforated foam rubber clog was widely copied by cheaper imitators, the fad blew up, and the market went away. Everyone who wanted Crocs, had them. The stock is currently trading at around $5.31, which is not quite its all-time low.

So how do you solve a problem like Crocs? We thought long and hard about this. OK, not really. But wouldn't it be great if...

• They had "no-slip soles and a secure upper," says Margaret. "You know, like actual shoes. My mom owns a pair (which, thankfully, she only wears while gardening) and I slipped them on last week when I was going to get the mail. I tripped and almost fell on my driveway."
• Take away the holes, says Hortense, who noticed the company pushing holey clogs for winter wear. "NOBODY wants holes in their winter shoes. They look cheap and stupid (and not to mention cold and drafty)."
• I say they should take a cue from, you know, every other shoe company on earth — even the ones who might have had less successful IPOs! — and make a better array of styles. Croslite, the proprietary foam that Crocs are made out of, is actually kind of a cool material: it's lightweight, it's waterproof, it doesn't absorb sweat or odors, and it molds to the wearer's foot under body heat. So why is it only ever used for ugly clogs? Why not make sandals? Jellies? Flip-flops? Think minimal, not clunky. Jesus, do we have to draw you guys a picture?
• Imagine Crocs going back to its nautical roots. (Company co-founder Scott Seaman originally thought they would make the perfect boat shoes.) Just think of the collab potential here! We're thinking: CrocSiders. For starters
• Is there any way we could get a pet line out of this?

Otherwise, we may have to break out the big guns, and think rebranding. Instead of Crocs, the cuddly Millennial shoe, why not be Sharks? Oh, wait, somebody did that.

Image via Weboo Shoes

CrocsIdeas [Official Site]
Crocs? They Were So Economic Boom [LATimes]
Can Crocs Be More Than A One-Hit Wonder? [Time]
Crocs On The Rocks [The Smart Set]

• Lindsay Lohan's first collection for Ungaro has been derided by yet another industry heavyweight: Emanuel Ungaro himself. The designer, who sold the business that bears his name in 2005, says Lohan's work was "a disaster" that left him "furious." [Independent]

• Glamour editor Cindi Leive says the magazine has booked plus-size models for stories for every issue through February, including (relatively more prestigious) fashion and beauty spreads. "One of the plus-size models who was featured in our original story is in one of our two major fashion features in December, and looks amazing," added Leive. Could that be Crystal Renn? Or one of the other gaggle of naked lovelies the ladymag featured in November? [The Cut]
• Christopher Bailey is no longer the Burberry creative director. He is Burberry's chief creative officer, and don't you forget it. [WWD]
• Further layoffs at Zac Posen are rumored to be imminent. Since he eliminated his PR director on Monday, the task of handling publicity has been taken up by Posen's mom. Gucci is also said to be mulling serious layoffs. [NYDN]
• Marc Jacobs, maker of Louis Vuitton Everything: "The kennel was a bit of a joke, really." [ToL]
• Jason Wu loves to cook and bake, but macaroons had so far eluded his range of expertise. No more! Food & Wine arranged a special lesson for the designer with François Payard. It'll be the subject of an upcoming feature in the magazine. [Grub St]
• Not only did positive results for the last quarter not boost Crocs' share price — because investors took note that the surplus was largely the result of some kind of one-time tax bonus — but the maker of hideous shoes has trouble on the legal front, too. Porsche is suing Crocs over its use of the brand Cayman, which Porsche holds as a trademark in Germany. Apparently Porsche thinks there might be some confusion over the $29.99 Cayman sandal, and a $51,000 Porsche Cayman. [Footnoted]
• Prabal Gurung designed a festive red dress with poufy asymmetrical shoulders for Oprah to wear on the cover of the December issue of her magazine. Ellen, in a white suit, strikes a pose next to her fellow talkshow host. Gurung calls Oprah "a role model, a mentor, a leader and a constant source of inspiration." [People]
• Jean-Paul Gaultier's collection for Target will, he says, "shock parents, shock teachers." Perhaps not as much as his unwitting floor show at the Standard hotel, which has windows overlooking the High Line and Chelsea. "So, I am in the bedroom where it is an exhibitionist event!" says Gaultier. "I did not know that, so I did exhibition without knowing what I was doing. I did not know people could see. But, nobody was looking. It's quite hilarious, it's excellent." [The Cut]
• Heidi Klum will be the face of Ann Taylor's holiday collection. The company is struggling to reinvent itself after season upon season of declining sales and clothes that even the CEO has admitted were lacking in the design department. Photographer Peter Lindbergh and supermodel Klum are, apparently, part of the rejuvenation plan. [People]
• Someone is licensing John Lennon's artwork for a clothing collection. Imagine that! [UPI]
• Weirdest fashion story ever? German Vogue has an editorial featuring Lost's Jorge Garcia and Christie Brinkley. Bruce Weber shot it in Montauk. [Fashionista]
• Wow. Brazilian Vogue might just be worse than American Vogue. [MadeinBrazil]
• Adam Lippes has foot-in-mouth disease. After previously telling reporters that "it's rare to find an intern — especially one from a fashion school — that has good style," two of his workers came to him to suggest that he might, you know, apologize. He pooh-poohed them ("I was like, 'I don't mean THESE interns!'"), then reconsidered. He assembled the intern crowd, and told them "I just meant, like, fashion students." They seemed skeptical. "Meanwhile, one of them is wearing silver boots up to here and is a guy. 'Not you! Those boots are great.' But it was fine." Sure it was. The cherry on top: "Some of my interns dress fantastically." [The Cut]
• Diesel, which stopped selling its jeans in Macy's in 2005 to up its brand value, is reportedly in negotiations to sell a lower-priced line exclusively through the mega-retailer. "If they keep going this route, they'll end up like Levi's," says one person inside the company. [NYPost]
• Meanwhile, Macy's forecasts its same-store sales to fall 1-2% for the fourth quarter. Shares fell 3.4% in the day's trading. [Reuters]
• If you've ever wanted to experience the world of malodorous anguish and foot pain that is fashion blogging, here's your chance to submit to a humiliating public competition and vote! [Grazia]
• The Shophound thinks the clerks at New York's new Banana Republic are way too friendly. [Shophound]
• American Apparel's quarterly profits rose 83%, to $4.2 million, but investors aren't buying it. The stock price sank 4.6%, to $2.49. [NYPost]
• Italian cashmere producer Brunello Cucinelli runs a factory with long lunch breaks, no timeclocks, and posted "rules" are quotes from philosophers and writers. He thinks he can afford to be both a great boss and a good businessman, and his company's revenues for this year are forecast to reach 154 million Euros, which is some 7% greater than last year, even with the recession. [Reuters]
• Talbots has reportedly hired outside consultants to help the company, which has weathered five quarters of successive losses, refinance $225 million in debt. [NYPost]

• Dana Thomas — author of Deluxe — wrote an excellent feature on the quagmire of the house of Versace. Thomas takes aim at Donatella and Santo Versace's resistance to change and ham-handed business decisions. It's a thrilling read. [Newsweek]

• "My kids are my best style advisors because they are so honest," says Victoria Beckham. "I remember one time I was wearing a Chanel cape and skinny jeans and I walked down the stairs to see my sons and they said, 'Oh my God, Mummy, you're Batman!'" [Grazia]
• We know this is hard to imagine, but the new Calvin Klein billboard in SoHo is quite sexual. Some say it "goes too far"! For more details of the development of this shocking and unexpected outrage, you can count on the Daily News. [NYDN]
• Moises de la Renta, son of Oscar, is rumored to be "inking a deal" with Mango, presumably as a designer. [WWD]
• Pamela Anderson has not one, but two perfumes: Malibu Blue and Malibu Pink. They start at $39 and are available at drug stores. [People]
• Custom, one-of-a-kind Uggs really are a level of ugliness impressive to behold. [WWD]
• Tamara Mellon says the clothes she has produced for the Jimmy Choo for H&M collaboration were hard to conceptualize, because she doesn't sketch. Then, like so many designers, she had a brainwave, and picked apart some much-loved vintage pieces, cut patterns, and slapped labels on them. [LATimes]
• Although Mellon holds the copyright to the label Jimmy Choo, the real Jimmy Choo still designs bespoke shoes for an ultra-rich clientele under the name Jimmy Choo Couture. "I design like an architect," says the Malaysian-born Choo. "It's a beautiful, distinctive art, and shoes are like the foundations. If the foundations aren't right, the building won't stand upright, and if a woman's balance isn't right, nothing else is." Are you listening, Christian Louboutin? [Telegraph]
• Kate Moss is notoriously resistant to being interviewed, so when longtime hairdresser James Brown included more of her than she anticipated in the final cut of a TV doc about his shop, she cut him loose. "She maintains her hair herself nowadays," says Brown, we imagine a tad wistfully. [Daily Mail]
• Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons has a collection of handbags about the Beatles. [IHT]
• Heard of Roksanda Ilincic? Mareunrols? Bogomir Doronger? Baltic and Eastern European designers must be a trend! [FT]
• Hey, look: someone's applying the Netflix mail-order rental model to designer clothes. Drycleaning included in the fee. [NYTimes]
• Burberry's social-networking site, artofthetrench.com, has launched. [Artofthetrench]
• Cynthia Rowley is going to design new uniforms for United Airlines flight crews. [ChicagoTrib]
• Henry Holland says he and Agyness Deyn, who both grew up in a town called Ramsbottom, rarely ponder the nuances of their unlikely fashion greatness. "We'd be complete wankers if we did that, wouldn't we? Pause the TV! 'Hang on, you're the hottest model and I'm one of the hottest young designers, let's talk about that while I make a brew.'" [Guardian]
• While textile exports are worth around $12 billion to Pakistan's economy every year, the country's garment industry is relatively under-developed. "We are still doing the 30 dollar a dozen T-shirt business. There is no value added," said Ayesha Tammy Haq. "We should be employing millions of people, not hundreds of thousands of them." Hence Fashion Pakistan Week, of which Haq is the CEO. And don't expect the clothes to be dull: "This does not represent what we are as a people," designer Ayesha Tahir Masood said. "Only 0.001 percent of Pakistani women would wear these clothes, and then only in a controlled environment when drunk out of their minds." [AP]
• Carmen Colle is a French designer who runs a company, World Tricot, that hand-makes unique knitwear to the specifications of top houses like Christian Dior, Givenchy and Jean-Paul Gaultier. Colle is suing Chanel for allegedly taking one of her crochet patterns without paying for it. The four-year-old suit is finally being heard in Paris, along with a countersuit that asks the judge to consider Colle's level of fault for daring blacken the Chanel name with such an allegation. Since filing her lawsuit, World Tricot has been largely abandoned by its other clients, and Colle has been forced to lay off all but 12 of her staff. [Guardian]
• Lord & Taylor's same-store sales have risen 6% and 12%, respectively, on last September and October. Last September and October was pretty much the middle of the giant red Down arrow of the retail market, however, so even a double-digit improvement on those results is to be taken with a grain of salt. [WWD]
• The company that makes Crocs enjoyed a $22.1 million third-quarter profit, but the stock is still losing value. The surplus largely came from a one-time tax benefit, and investors are dubious about the company's long-term prospects. [TS]

• Lindsay Lohan, finally addressing her disastrously received first Ungaro collection, says, "I am learning." But she will be back in Paris for the next show! "It's already in January. I thought it was in March." January? January means couture.

Could Mounir Moufarrige seriously be reviving Ungaro's couture division — which was shuttered in 2004 — with Lohan at the helm? God help us. Lohan also denies any responsibility for, or foreknowledge of, those ridiculous sparkly heart pasties that the Ungaro models purposefully flashed during the show that just walked in Paris. [People]

• Selena Gomez is launching a fashion line, called Selena Gomez Dream Out Loud. Something called Cynosure Holdings is responsible for the collection, which seems appropriate, somehow. It's not coming out till fall 2010, so if the economy gets worse, there's still time for it the whole idea to slink quietly away, like Pastelle. [WWD]
• Here are some first looks from Rodarte's Target collection, due out on December 20. It includes a lot of leopard print, lace, sequins, and tulle. [Seventeen and A Tiny Machine]
• Carmen Marc Valvo focuses on the positive: "I've survived in this business for over 20 years. And I've survived colon cancer; so a little dip in the world economy isn't enough to keep me down." [Houston Chronicle]
• Badgley Mischka are doing a lower-priced line, called Mark & James. [WWD]
• Ordinary New Yorkers speak out on Filippa Hamilton, the Ralph Lauren face who was fired for being too fat, at size 4: "It makes me angry," says Alexandria Blackwell, 15, of the Bronx. "They always want skinnier." Dr. Robyn Silverman, a child and teen development expert, says, "If a stunning size 4 model is too overweight to look good in their clothes, then they need to change their clothes, not the model." Revolutionary! [NYDN]
• Delia Ephron, on clothes and life: "Clothes have special power. I'll always remember the raspberry colored v-necked silk sweater I was wearing on my husband and my first date. If I hadn't been wearing that sweater that night, would any of it have happened?" Nora says dressing well becomes more important as women age. "Of course it does, because looking good is so easy when you're young. For openers, you're young, and that looks good." [Glamour]
• Linda Evangelista, on doing a shoot for W with chickens: "I grew up in Canada, in an area where everyone had chickens. I mean, we weren't supposed to have chickens — it was a residential area, but we did. Also, when I went back to Italy with my parents where they grew up, there were chickens. So you can say I know a lot about chickens." [W]
• Marie Claire editor Joanna Coles' limited vocabulary drew the attention of Fashion Week Daily, which provided a handy summary of Coles' questions for Hilary Swank, with every repetition of the word "assume" highlighted. [FWD]
• Crocs is opening a flagship store in Boulder, Colorado. [UPI]
• Someone, somewhere, "officially" named Ines de la Fressange the most chic woman in Paris. Carla Bruni, eat your heart out! [Telegraph]
• "I'm excited to go to Olympics in Vancouver," says former figure skater Vera Wang. "I'm definitely going. I always try to go anytime the Olympics come close to our continent!" She still thinks about her former sport. "Skating became a different sport with the magnification of television. And certainly a few exciting things happened in between, like knee clubbing and scandals to raise the sport's profile. But in the end, it's one of the most beautiful spectator sports that you can watch. It's not just about being insanely athletic; it's all being expressive and artistic. There's no other sport that combines spinning, jumping, choreography, costumes, music all in one- it's a full on press." [FWD]
• When she moved on to being an editor at Vogue, Wang had a few hairy moments. "There was a time where I put all of the furs on a Vogue shoot with Deborah Turbeville into the water, and the entire fur industry wanted to sue me," the designer recalled. "Another time we ruined a Frank Stella painting…we were shooting at night and I remember watching a model jumping up and down in front of a work of art that fell apart. It's hard to put a number on it, but that work of art was worth a quarter of a million 35 years ago. That's probably $3 billion now." [WWD]
• Vera Wang popped in to Karolina Kurkova's baby shower, which was also attended by Adriana Lima, Michelle Monaghan, Rachel Roy. Lima, who is also pregnant, compared bellies with Kurkova. [P6]
• Heidi Klum says she's not going to try and lose the baby weight just to be in this year's Victoria's Secret show. [People]
• Jason Wu is greeting his adoring public in Taiwan this week. [WWD]
• Zac Posen is dipping his toe in the churning waters of advertising. Coco Rocha stars and Ellen von Unwerth shot. [Fashionista]
• "Being fierce is a state of being, not something you can become. It's a high point of being a certain persona. Ferosh is a downgraded version of being fierce." — Leading ferocity expert Christian Siriano. [Star-Trib]
• The Gap is bringing back television advertising, after two years without. The chain will also open a flagship in China next year, but overall the company plans to reduce its retail space by 10% over the next five years. Its September same-store sales were down a relatively modest 1%. [TS]
• H&M's same-store sales slid 8% in September. [WSJ]

• Move over, David Beckham: Cristiano Ronaldo is posing in the spring Armani underwear campaign. [AP]
• Beckham, who says he decided not to renew his Armani contract, is said to be looking to launch an underwear line of his own. [WWD]

• A fit model who worked at Guess? for three years is suing the company for sexual harassment. She alleges that founder Paul Marciano made unwanted sexual advances, and cut her work hours after she resisted. [WWD]
• Yohji Yamamoto announced this morning it was filing for bankruptcy. [NYTimes]
• Meanwhile, Giorgio Armani launched a cell phone that costs $1,032. [Reuters]
• Grace Coddington's face on a t-shirt is definitely something we want. [Refinery29]
• Model Agyness Deyn abstained from booze at a party for a movie. Allegedly, it's because her boyfriend, Albert Hammond, Jr., of the Strokes, is in rehab. [P6]
• Naomi Campbell picked a bag from the Louis Vuitton spring collection to sell to benefit the White Ribbon Appeal, which works to reduce deaths in childbirth. The bag will cost 1,900 Euros; no word yet on what percentage of the proceeds will go to the charity. [Elle UK]
• Looking so nervous you'd have sworn she was about to have a heart attack, Katy Perry interviewed Karl Lagerfeld after his show in Paris. After asking him about the prevalence of metal trim in the collection, the Kaiser said it was actually metallicized leather. The look on the pop star's face when Lagerfeld tells her the one song that sums him up is Lily Allen's "It's Not Me, It's You," is priceless. Then the designer says, "I'm addressing what others do, or have done, but have never wanted to be somebody else." And Perry asks to borrow one of the "metal" dresses for the EMAs. [People]
• Mario Sorrenti is shooting Nicole Kidman in the next Omega watch campaign. "I love diamonds," says the star. [WWD]
• Project Runway is to become a Wii game. We hope that there will be secret levels you can pass into, where the designers will all start singing, "Daniel Franco, Where Did You Go." Or maybe, if you unlock a special sewing box, you look through it and see Tim Gunn and Andrae eating at Red Lobster. [MSNBC]
• Chanel Iman and Iman: Iman and Chanel Iman. These two beautiful ladies did a video for Modelinia, wherein they talked about diversity in fashion. "With the diversity on the runway, it's getting better. But we need more diversity in the campaigns," says Chanel. "The first couple of pages in the magazine is not, you know, ethnic girls." "It's amazing at this age, 2009, almost 2010, with Obama as President, that e should be even talking about this," adds Iman. Iman sums up her life advice thusly: "Just be true to yourself. And don't embarrass your parents. Please." [Modelinia]
• A Portuguese eBay user put a bag from the Jimmy Choo for H&M collection up for auction. The collection doesn't go on sale until November 14. The bag, allegedly from a photo shoot, didn't sell. [Racked]
• Dina Lohan told Access Hollywood not to believe everything you read about Lindsay's fancy new job in fashion, and how that's going. "She's just a little girl and God gave her this gift. She's just trying to create. She did great in Paris, don't believe what you read. She's genius at fashion." Meanwhile, she would like us to buy something called "Shoe-Hans." She herself will continue wearing footwear by Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci, thank you very much. [The Cut]
• Rachel Roy says moving to the East Coast for university after growing up in the Bay Area was a shock, because the former could be "quite segregated, and I wasn't into that. I'm only 35 — so it's not like we're talking many years ago — but I wasn't used to it because I grew up around Samoans, African-Americans, and Filipinos. You go to a club based on the music you like, not based on the kind of people you want to be around. I kind of went into a culture shock when I moved to the East Coast. I try to bring back that laid-back, hippie-chic attitude that the Bay Area has to my business because I've interned at so many places in fashion where it can be quite anal. But I also love New York. I love that it's the closest city we have to Europe, so that's a part of me, but thank God I'm from an area that keeps me out of it." [FabSugar]
• Yesterday in Japan, a suit went on sale that claims to offer some protection against swine flu to its wearer. The $580 suit is coated with titanium dioxide, a chemical that can break down viruses that come into contact with it. To put it mildly: this seems unlikely to work. Why not get the swine flu vaccine instead? [Telegraph]
• Nars is celebrating its 15th year in business with a book featuring photographs of fashion celebrities like Daphne Guinness and Marc Jacobs wearing its products. François Nars did both the makeup and the photography. [WWD]
• Kate Moss met her longtime hairdresser, James Brown, when she was 14. She went to a party at his house, and his sister threw her out. "She thought her boyfriend was flirting with me," explains the supermodel. "So that was that, really," adds Brown. "It started with a fight." Also relevant to this video: HOLY ACCENTS. [Elle UK]
• James Mischka and Mark Badgley live in a 546 sq. ft. studio apartment in Midtown. How relatable! Which they moved into because they were spending too much time in their weekend home, a Lexington, Kentucky, horse farm, to justify the expense of a Greenwich Village duplex. Sigh. [WSJ]
• Philip Treacy designed footwear for the first time ever for the Valentino show. The renowned milliner says working for the foot was like "a whole other dimension." [Elle]
• Again, the article about Crocs, what they mean, whether or not they can make it as a going concern, and what that means. [Time]
• Lost in the news of Liz Claiborne's reshuffle yesterday — the Liz Claiborne line will be sold exclusively at J.C. Penney's, and Isaac Mizrahi's Liz Claiborne New York line will go to QVC — was the fate of Claiborne by John Bartlett, the men's wear line. It will cease to exist. Sorry, guys. [Racked]
• Uniqlo's parent company posted a record profit for the year, of $1.2 billion. [AdAge]
• Levi's profits fell 41% in the third quarter. [WSJ]

• Ungaro's CEO says Lindsay Lohan was appointed creative director because, "Celebrities today attract lots of attention and having a moving, dancing, swinging, living doll is, we hope, going to bring down the age group at Ungaro while keeping the DNA."

• Linds has been working with Spanish designer Estrella Archs to produce Sunday's Ungaro collection in just three weeks, but when the New York Times stopped by the studio yesterday, "Ms. Lohan was conspicuous by her absence." [N.Y. Times]
• Christian Siriano will star in a Bravo reality show about him setting up a new shop and marketing his clothing line. [Variety]
• Suri Cruise's wardrobe has been valued at around $3.6 million. "They really splurge on Suri," says an insider. "Suri is very vocal when it comes to outfits. She's rarely seen in anything twice." [News.com.au]
• Isaac Mizrahi doesn't want you to call his new New York boutique a store. "I'm afraid to call it a store because that immediately makes you think about sales expectations," says Mizrahi. "It's more of an opportunity to show the collection and service the customer. I'm trying to get across the fact that clothing is a product of the creative process... Most designers are really good at retail. I always thought, ‘That's not my job.' This shop is me committing to retail." [WWD]
• Kim Kardashian is releasing her first fragrance in February with Lighthouse Beauty. Chris Lighty, a founding partner in the company, says, "Kim has created her own brand, which has really be able to extend off-screen and out of the reality show arena it started in. She's not a one-horse show." [WWD]
• Mariel Haenn, Rihanna's stylist, says of the look she'll be sporting to coincide with the release of her new album, "It's definitely going to be Rihanna in the raw state we've seen her in lately... Though she's an icon right now, this crazy super glam, we're going to see her being real—human. She hates too soft and girly... she still plays with her girly side, but there's always a tough piece somewhere, with edge." [Radar Online]
• Many designers are streaming their shows online this season including Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Emporio Armani, and Alexander McQueen. [Vogue]
• Burberry says it expects to boost operating profits by $6.4 million in the year ending in March 2010. It's re-negotiated its Japanese apparel license with two local partners and expects higher royalty payments than previously estimated. [WWD]
• Rather than having a huge relaunch, Nina Ricci unveiled its first collection under the creative direction of Peter Copping last night to only 75 people. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Mira Sorvino has been in New York this week asking people to donate suits to women who are trying to escape domestic abuse as part of the "Tell A Gal P.A.L." campaign sponsored by Allstate Foundation. People can donate business attire at Allstate offices through October 9. "The suits work in both a practical real way and a symbolic way," said Sorvino. "They give women a way to present themselves in a professional way." [WSJ]
• The costumes for Kylie Minogue's U.S. tour will be designed by Jean Paul Gualtier. [People]
• Crocs has entered into a new revolving loan agreement with PNC Financial Services group. The company can borrow up to $30 million under the new agreement. [Reuters]
• On The Bonnie Hunt Show yesterday Tim Gunn said of Michelle Obama wearing Crocs, "I like to think she was doing a footwear experiment... if she wasn't I'll do my first fashion intervention and show up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and insist I be taken to her closet." Video here: [People]

• We never thought of Lady Gaga's style as something one should actually seek to take credit for, but Roisin Murphy apparently feels differently. [Refinery29]

• Katie Holmes' clothing line, which she designs with her stylist, Jeannie Yang, is ready to launch for fall at Maxfield in Los Angeles. [WWD]
• Mariah Carey's latest scent, Forever, comes out this September. "I am in a wonderful place right now," says the singer, "surrounded by all the things I love, and Forever captures this moment in time." So Forever smells like marriage to a younger man, and something pink? [WWD]
• Also this September, Nanette Lepore is launching her new fragrance, Nanette by Nanette. [WWD]
• Political Science Ph.D. and former Communist Party member Miuccia Prada didn't vote in the last Italian elections, much to her family's chagrin. "My son criticized me. ‘You're not coming? You're not going to vote?' So I have to justify. Of course, because I always taught them principles and the idea of [the importance of] politics, if they see in myself a false step, they become...I know it was wrong. I should have gone." Speaking of false steps, Prada also said, of the many model tumbles that marred her Spring/Summer '09 show, which featured her impossible-to-walk-in shoes, "I liked it. It made the show more interesting." A hypocrite with a missing compassion chip? Our Miuccia Prada crush is rapidly dissipating. [W]
• Crocs apparently thinks that by selling what amounts to a rubber clog for your cell phone, it can save its business. Interesting. [InventorSpot]
• For some reason, somebody put Andy Warhol screenprints of dollar signs on a unisex perfume. People will license anything that isn't nailed down in this world. [WWD]
• Whitney Port made an awful, frosted pink lipstick that looks like what your slutty cousin wore in 1983. Even the fact that $2 from the sale price goes to charity isn't enough to stop us hating. [People]
  
• Covergirl is seeking more brand prestige. [WWD]
• Manolo Blahnik loves boots. Loves them. And skirts, which he'd wear if he were a woman. "Every year I have lots of boots in my collection. This year I have chosen something a little extreme — a paper-flat sole with lots of big buckles. I love this look – it makes me think of old films, of Margaret Lockwood, or crinolines. I love the look of a very long skirt with these paper-flat boots. Women in winter must wear very high or very flat boots, it's so chic — forget your pumps. Long skirts are a must in women's wardrobes, although you don't see many of them these days. It's what I would wear, though. Every year I have done over-the-knee boots. One year they were so high you could tie them to your belt — Elle Macpherson in that was so sexy." [Independent]
• Bloomingdale's is spending $55 million on a two-month renovation of its 60,000 sq. foot main sales floor. [WWD]
• Stella McCartney is opening a pop-up store in the Hamptons. All the better that we never see what we could never afford. [WWD]
• Oh, look. Gap gave certain fashion bloggers free jeans. And then certain fashion bloggers wrote about how awesome Gap's jeans are. Odd coincidence! We're sure the failure to disclose the freebie was simply an oversight. [Fashionista]
• Although retail spending was down 12.7% during the back-to-school period, compared with last year, spending on denim was relatively well-performing. Even sales-hemorrhaging Abercrombie & Fitch has seen its denim remain popular. [TS]
• Swatch reported a 28% drop in profits for the first half of this year, to 301 million Swiss Francs. Sales fell 15.3% on last year. [WSJ]
• Elizabeth Arden's sales for the last quarter, like pretty much everybody else's, slipped. The company lost $3.6 million. [WWD]
• JC Penney's quarterly results were not as bad as analysts had expected. The company lost $1 million, compared with earning a profit of $117 million for the same period last year. [NYTimes]
• The Hemline Index never made any sense to begin with. The Lipstick Bellwether sounded good, but wasn't true. The Heel Height Indicator came into vogue briefly, like platform shoes (which by the way weren't invented during the Great Depression). Of all the hokey, jokey faux-economic indicators — most of which, you might notice, are female-linked, probably because of undying cultural stereotypes about women and shopping — the so-called Men's Underwear Index is obviously our favorite. It just will not die! [PhilInquirer]

• Twilight clothing is happening — it's only surprising it took so long. The duds go on sale at Nordstrom in October. Selina Khan, on the right, looks like she just doesn't care about Edward or Jacob, bless her heart. [People]

• Amazon.com is acquiring Zappos.com. The cost? $847 million. [NYTimes]
• Wonder Woman Lynda Carter will be live in person at Talbot's for Fashion Night Out, a night of special sales and events designed to encourage consumers to shop at the start of New York Fashion Week. Carter will be at Talbot's Madison Avenue store to promote her new CD, "At Last." [WWD]
• Meanwhile, France is one step closer to allowing shops to open on Sundays after the bill was narrowly approved by the senate. Mon dieu! [WWD]
• Barney's New York took down a disturbing window display that featured bloodied mannequins, posed as though they were struggling against assailants. And here we thought Simon Doonan's judgment was impeccable in all things. [NYDN]
• The actress Melissa George has invented a new product which she calls "HemmingMyWay." Geddit! The Grey's star, along with her business partner Kara Harshbarger, plans to sell clear adhesive strips with snaps affixed that allow a wearer to quickly adjust the length of her pants when she changes from flats to heels. Look, it even has a Facebook page! [WWD]
• Amy Winehouse's father wants her to license her name to a perfume house for £500,000. [Telegraph]
• And Lily Allen is doing a line of jewelry. "I love jewelry, always have done," explains the pop star. [Vogue UK]
• A 1994 Arte documentary about Yves Saint Laurent, Tout Terriblement, is being released on DVD. [WWD]
• In London next Thursday, a Chanel-themed flash mob has been announced. Anyone wearing Chanel, or Chanel-esque outfits should meet like-minded sartorial souls at St. Pancras International Station at 6 p.m. [UK Elle]
• 19-year-old Georgian Sean O'Pry topped Forbes' list of the highest-earning male models. There are pictures. [Forbes]
• Retail executives' pay fell last year. The 10 top-earning executives compensation packages decreased by 9.4%. [WWD]
• Could Fabiola Beracasa really be developing a reality show in the style of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, where she flies around the world looking for...unusual fashion? [P6]
• Daniel Vosovic, Santino Rice, Korto Momolu, Sweet P, Jeffrey Sebelia, Uli Herzner, Mychael Knight and Chris March are the designers returning to Project Runway for a second helping of Tim Gunn's soothing drone and Heidi Klum's adenoidal exhortations. Project Runway: All-Star Challenge will be broadcast as a two-hour special before the show's sixth season premiere. All we want to know is whatever happened to Andrae? [People]
• Jeremy Scott is yet another designer heading to London Fashion Week this fall. Though based in Los Angeles, Scott normally shows in Paris. [WWD]
• MAC cosmetics is ending its sponsorship of fashion week, and instead holding its own competing roster of shows at Milk studios in Chelsea. Proenza Schouler, Erin Fetherston, and Alexander Wang have already committed to slots in the lineup. [NYTimes]
• Alex Wang on his day off, according to his friend Ryan Korban: "We do a lot of driving around - he loves driving. So we drive out to Brooklyn and just kind of cruise around. He's always got the music blasting and he's singing. It's surprising, but he's a really good driver. He's screaming and the music is to the max and he's drinking an iced coffee, but he's completely steady." [W]
• Esteban Cortazar is out at Emanuel Ungaro, WWD is reporting. The young Colombian designer had clashed with the house's management over advertising and the brand's direction; his collections met with mixed reviews, and at last month's resort show, the Ungaro CEO refused to say if Cortazar would be kept on. No successor has yet been named. [WWD]
• The quirky downtown gallery Partners & Spade got written about in the Times. Oh well — nothing good lasts forever. [NYTimes]
• Ozwald Boateng, the Ghana-born, London-based all-round spectacular menswear designer and tailor, made two suits for President Obama and hand-delivered them to the American ambassador to Ghana during the president's recent visit. If Obama wore Boateng's suits, nobody would call him frumpy, ever. [WWD]
• Another story about Crocs and what they mean. [LATimes]
• The New York Economic Development Corporation-run industry site NYCFashionInfo.com, which collates insidery arcana like designer showroom contacts and market week dates, might start accepting advertising and publishing more "lifestyle content" because it only attracts 2,000 visitors a month. [WWD]
• Apparel sales in England in the month of June rose by 1.2%. [FT]
• Skechers lost $5.9 million in the second quarter. The result was actually better than analysts had expected. [WWD]>

• Stella McCartney's fall ad campaign makes a Bambijoke out of all that nature imagery that suddenly became hip over the past few years. For everyone who's ever considered an ironic taxidermy at a bar and concluded, "Why?" [WWD]

• Joshua Walter, the 20-year-old male model whose clients included Hugo Boss, has confessed to a series of armed robberies in Queens, and is currently being held in a prison barge moored off the Bronx. Walter, who pistol-whipped one victim during a heist, last came to police attention in May, when he pleaded guilty to punching and choking his girlfriend, 37-year-old former teacher Gina Salamino. (Salamino, who taught second grade, was fired after her relationship with Walter, by whom she has a child, was discovered.) Walter insisted to a New York Post reporter that he is still modeling — how he's doing that from behind bars, after failing to make $550,000 in bail, is unclear. [Gothamist]
• Naomi Campbell is one of the celebrities donating a Birkin for charity to Hermès' annual vintage auction. Campbell's green alligator Birkin will be sold to raise money for the White Ribbon Alliance, which works to reduce the number of women who suffer preventable pregnancy complications every year worldwide. Also for sale on November 10 will be one of Grace Kelly's handbags, donated by her daughter, Princess Stephanie of Monaco. [UK Elle]
• WWD is already referring to the Beatrice Inn as "the former hipster hotspot." Ouch. Also, Lissy Trullie is going to be the fall face of Hervé Leger by Max Azria. [WWD]
• Prada's Seoul building, the Rem Koolhaas-designed Transformer, is changing its appearance once again. The elements of the structure, which are covered in a membrane, are designed to be shifted around to accommodate entirely different uses for the interior space. Opening in April to house a fashion exhibition before becoming a temporary movie theater, the Transformer is now becoming a contemporary art museum. "I want fashion for fashion and art for art," says Miuccia Prada. "So the Transformer concept was not for a generic space, but to be very specific, with all things separate in one building." [NYTimes]
• Meanwhile in Paris, Prada opened a more traditional kind of temporary structure: a pop-up store. Naturally, among the items sold will be an "exclusive," "limited-edition" gray handbag. Uniqlo also just opened a pop-up in Paris, intended to operate until its flagship in the city opens this fall, and Comme des Garçons' Black line currently has a pop-up in the Marais. [WWD]
• Perhaps not realizing that the coal mining scene in Zoolander was a parody, cult Paris shop Colette is releasing a limited edition collaboration with Timberland boots. Forty pairs of pre-distressed Timbs with blue trim will go on sale at the boutique this September, for 235 Euros. [Refinery 29]
• Some designers support the proposed Design Piracy Protection Act, which would offer limited copyright protection to fashion designers, while others either don't mind the knock-offs, or think the DPPA's proposed solution unwieldy. Maria Cornejo, who designs Zero +Maria Cornejo and has had her work ripped off, thinks the proposed law is a sound one. Makers of knock offs are "basically putting their hand in my head, which is my bank, and stealing ideas. It's basically robbery." Isabel and Ruben Toledo, fashion designer and illustrator, respectively, disagree strongly. "The American fashion system is all levels of value," says Ruben. "A woman knows when she's buying champagne and when she's buying soda-pop. It's two different markets. But why shouldn't a woman have the right to drink Coca-Cola when she feels like it and champagne when she wants to? That's the American way." Europe and Japan already extend copyright protection to clothing designs, but in the U.S., only a graphic of print used for a piece of clothing can be copyrighted, not the garment as a whole. [Reuters]
• Jason Wu covers some familiar territory — Michelle Obama, the loveliness of having pet cats — and some that's out of left field — sleeping pills! — in this sweet diary for the Times of London. The designer complimented a woman he saw wearing his clothes on the street, and, like a sartorial Secret Santa, didn't even tell her he had made it. [ToL]
• Some designers had standard-issue summer jobs for the fashionably-inclined, like working at a fabric store or a vintage shop, or being a doorman at a hip Manhattan club. (Wu, for his part, was a waiter at a BBQ restaurant in Taiwan during the summers when he was growing up.) Angela Donhauser and Adi Gil of Threeasfour worked for Buena Vista, touring Germany dressed as characters from the Lion King. [Style.com]
• Diane von Furstenberg hangs upside down from a swing in her Meatpacking District office. Diane von Furstenberg runs a business with 155 employees, 97% of whom are women. Diane von Furstenberg is 62, and she looks like a minx, like a dangerous, business-minded, fashionable minx, when photographed curled up elegantly on her desk. Diane von Furstenberg compares staying solvent in this economy to being "on a surfing board in the middle of a tsunami," and, if there were one woman who could pull off that totally sick stand up barrel, by God, after reading this profile, we believe it to be her. [NYTimes]
• Italian Vogue is re-releasing last July's iconic issue, which featured only black models. Because it's Barbie's 50th birthday year, the re-released magazine will come with a supplement dedicated to black Barbie. [British Vogue]
• Karl Lagerfeld shot press images for his pre-spring collection on the Rue Royale with Lara Stone and Baptiste Giabiconi — and a customized low rider motorcycle, which Chanel will, remarkably, not sell. [WWD]
• London's Estorick Gallery is holding an exhibition that pairs Italian Futurist paintings with the clothes designed by Ottavio and Rosita Missoni in the 1960s and 70s. Looks like a perfect match. [NYTimes]
• Celebrity hairstylist Ted Gibson is replacing Nick Arrojo, the hair makeover consultant on What Not To Wear. Arrojo, said network executives, was not "fresh" anymore, after six seasons. [WWD]
• There have been numerous stories about the possibility that the company that makes Crocs might go bankrupt — including one in the Washington Post last week. Even the company's auditor has raised doubts about its ability to meet its debt obligations. Unsurprisingly, the C.E.O. says everything's fine and dandy. [WWD]
• The new owners of the bankrupt Eddie Bauer brand say that most of its 370 stores will remain open. San Francisco investment firm Golden Gate Capital Management bought Eddie Bauer at auction for some $286 million. [UPI]

• Nicolas Ghesquière picked the intolerably cool Charlotte Gainsbourg to advertise Balenciaga's perfume. Ghesquière calls his friend "one of the most inspiring girls in the world." Gainsbourg said, "I was secretly hoping to be the face of Nicolas' first perfume." [WWD]

• Sources are saying Rihanna has an editorial, shot by Steven Klein, in Italian Vogue's September issue. [Fashionologie]
• Julia Restoin-Roitfelt, French Vogue editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld's daughter, is the face of a new perfume by Jil Sander. [NowSmellThis]
• Hold onto your quirky hats, everybody! There's going to be a new hour-long television drama set in the New York fashion world. Because it's going to star a lady, it'll be just like the new Sex And The City! Isn't that exciting? [Variety]
• The ten finalists in this year's CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund are: Flora Gill and Alexa Adams of Ohne Titel; Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin; Patrik Ervell, Sophie Theallet, Waris Ahluwalia of House of Waris, Wayne Lee of Wayne, George Esquivel of Esquivel Shoes, Gary Graham, Monique Péan, and Simon Spurr of Spurr. Congratulations to them all! The winners of the six-year-old cash and mentorship award will be announced on November 16; past honorees include Proenza Schouler, Alexander Wang, and Doo-Ri Chung. [WWD]
• Doo-Ri Chung is just one of many designers whose business has been hurt by the economic downturn. Chung is owed more than $60,000 by the owners of Jake, a small, independent Chicago boutique. Specialty retailers have been among the hardest-hit in the whole retail sector, but the two men behind Jake, Jim Wetzel and Lance Lawson, actually managed to reorganize their company when it went bankrupt, and continue on as employees of a new entity, the Jake Retail Group. Except that Jake Retail Group did not assume liability for any of the store's debts — meaning that Chung, plus other young designers like Brian Réyes, Tina Lutz and Marsha Patmos of Lutz & Patmos, and Emma Fletcher of Lyell, are out tens of thousands of dollars each for clothes they made and shipped, and Jake sold, but which haven't been paid for. [NYTimes]
• Lyle Lodwick, brother of fameballer Jakob, is a male model. He says that male models take their jobs less seriously than women models do — which is generally true — but also that women models are, naturally, bitchier. "I've heard horror stories of girls putting needles in a girl's shoes so when she's on the runway she'll fall over." Lodwick: Whichever sweet model lady told you that is pulling your leg. [TDB]
• Ossie Clark, the iconic British label that was briefly revived by private investors, is closing again. [WWD]
• The occasion of Berlin designer Patrick Mohr's recent homelessness-themed collection, where he had homeless people walk his runway caked in mud, is used to peg a list of other politically edgy collections of varying levels of success — like John Galliano's own Spring 2000 homelessness-themed couture work, Rei Kawakubo's 1995 Comme des Garçons collection that looked like concentration camp victim uniforms, and Karl Lagerfeld's 1994 appropriation of verses from the Koran. Somehow, the list ends with nary a mention of Miguel Adrover's 2001 MeetEast collection, which was so widely panned it drove the talented designer out of business. [TDB]
• Alber Elbaz: ""The people I chose to run my new store in London are nice. I cannot work with bitches, I can't, I can't. Maybe I am too sensitive, I get blocked. There are some people who don't give a damn. With me, I find that if there is no energy flowing or no connection, I can't think. Talent is amazing - I love it, appreciate it. I respect talent a lot. But if you ask me, ‘Talent and bitch, or less talent and good?' I'll go with less talent." [MyFashionLife]
• New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo caught the firm behind the "Lifestyle Lift" cosmetic surgery procedure posting fake customer reviews and testimonials on the Internet — and won a $300,000 settlement for the astroturfing. [Clickz]
• U.K. lingerie maker Intimas is in bankruptcy administration. Around 200 jobs are at risk. [ToL]
• Liz Claiborne, which has been struggling in the recession, renewed its C.E.O. William McComb's contract, but didn't give him a raise — just a bigger bonus. [WSJ]
• That story about how Crocs are going bust is getting written again, this time kind of artlessly. [WaPo]
• In the second quarter, net income at Joe's Jeans fell 17.8%, on a same-store sales decline of 4.3% [WWD]
• Chemists have traditionally been unable to produce fabrics that are reliably water-repellent when doused with hot, instead of cold, water. Which is why the development of a hydrophobic fabric coating that can repel hot water is potentially exciting news. Scientists think it could have applications in protective clothing, for instance for people who are at risk of scalding burns. [NS]

• Hilary Rhoda: Estée Lauder spokesmodel with a thing for drugstore makeup. A woman after our own hearts. [Daily Beast]
• In other news from model-land, Adriana Lima might be pregnant. [NYDN]
• Also said to be expecting: Gisele Bundchen. [NYDN]
• And sources say Kate Moss could be birthing a "novel." [Sun]

• Givenchy's Fall/Winter campaign, shot this time by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott after nine seasons in the hands of Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, features newcomer model Ranya Mordanova and her distinctive bowl cut. [WWD]
• Stefan Persson, the Swedish owner of H&M, is in the final stages of a $40 million deal to buy an entire village in Britain. Linkenholt, its manor estate, cricket grounds, town hall, forest, surrounding farm land, and all 21 current residents' homes, will become Persson's. Curiously, the neighboring town of Andover was the site, in 994, of the confirmation of Viking King Olaf Tryggvason, who, in following the religious ceremony and the receipt of other gifts, promised King Ethelred the Unready that he would stop raiding England. (The Viking king was technically Norwegian, not Swedish, but it's still an odd coincidence.) [UPI]
• Another country estate, this one in Scotland, with a fashion connection, is to be restored by its owner. Rundown Rosehall House, which was decorated by Coco Chanel in the 1920s, is going to be turned into a luxury country club under a £3 million renovation plan. [Daily Express]
• At Dior's party for Marion Cotillard at Cannes, Alex de Betak, who produces shows for the major houses, revealed that he's curating an exhibition dedicated to fashion shows that will unfurl in 3-D at the NRW Forum in Dusseldorf in July. Expect references to the now in-again late 80s/early 90s: "There are shows that made a big impression on me before I even started out, like the Thierry Mugler with the motorbike and George Michael or Gaultier's shows at the Villette where girls were coming out of the floor. Those were so memorable." [WWD]
• Cartier filed and withdrew a lawsuit against Apple in the same day. The jewelry house alleged that two iPhone applications infringed on its trademark Tank watches; Apple removed the apps from its online store. [WSJ]
• John Duerden, the new CEO of Crocs, a company which was supposed to be bankrupt already after losing $22.4 million in the first quarter of this year alone, thinks the company can be saved with aggressive cost-cutting and a thorough pruning of its inventory. [WWD]
• The rejected Aquascutum buyout may have been the company's last chance for survival. Former chief executive Kim Winser, who transformed Pringle into a fashion brand before taking over Aquascutum three years ago, had wanted to buy the venerable English house from its current Japanese owners, Renown, which is looking to spin off the brand as part of company-wide restructuring. Now, 400 jobs and the company's pension obligations are in jeopardy. [FT]
• Fellow iconic British label Burberry Prorsum will show in London, not Milan, this September, to mark the 25th anniversary of London Fashion Week and the British Fashion Council. [WWD]
• Rumors of a rift between Donatella Versace, creative director, and Giancarlo di Risio, chief executive, over Versace's falling fortunes and recession strategy have been denied "unanimously and categorically" by the company board. Di Risio was said to be on the point of leaving the company. Versace has so far refused to adapt much to the new patterns of consumer spending, emphatically not lowering its prices. The company believes that discounting would harm its luxury brand identity in the long term; sales have plummeted, even relative to the overall troubled high-end fashion market, with revenue falling 13.4% in the first quarter of 2009. [FT]
• Saks's CEO has pledged to offer more low-priced items following a 27% decline in sales in the first quarter. Lanvin, meanwhile, has just announced that it made $9.9 million in profits during 2008, a year for which sales grew 29%. [WWD]
• Nordstrom's prices are already an average of 10% lower than they were one year ago. [WWD]
• For his part, John Varvatos has one question he'd like to ask God, assuming s/he exists: "When is the economy going to turn around?" [The Fashion Informer]
• Sergio Rossi has a new president and CEO: Christophe Mélard. [WWD]
• Guthy Renker Australia, which, there as here, sells skincare products, including Proactiv and Principal Secret, via infomercial, lost AU$15 million last year. The American parent company has had to guarantee its debts. [News.com.au]
• Ittierre, the troubled Italian fashion company that Roberto Cavalli blamed for the cancellation of his Fall/Winter Just Cavalli show this February, has renewed its licensing deal not only with Cavalli, but with C'N'C, Costume National's diffusion brand. [WWD]

• Says totally important designer Alaïa, whose designs Nuclear Wintour snubbed in the Met exhibit, "she behaves like a dictator and everyone is terrified of her...but I'm not scared of her or anyone." BURN! [WWD]

• The Costume Institute curator, Harold Koda, says it's just a misunderstanding: "We would have loved to have had his pieces in the show, but there was a lot of miscommunication...Maybe it was oversensitivity on my part in broaching it informally rather than with a formal letter. Nobody is to blame. My understanding was that he didn't want his work in the show, so I honored it." [WWD]
• Speaking of Alaïa: Michelle Obama was not wearing him at Tuesday's Time 100 Gala. Contrary to what the White House reported, it was Michael Kors. Quoth the perma-bronzed Mikey's spoeksguy, "I've been digging out of the Alaïa hole all day." [WWD]
• And if you covet the square-necked stunner, it can be yours - for a price. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Speaking of the First Lady, Jason Wu still hasn't met her. But he'd like to! []
• Anna Wintour is also angry with Jack Bauer. For that whole head-butting unpleasantness. "Anna is furious that the Met Gala got upstaged by Kiefer doing something stupid at an after-party that wasn't even part of her event. Now that's all anyone is talking about, not her party. And she is so genuinely fond of Jack, she has supported him and Lazaro for years, she really feels they are part of the future of American fashion. So she's doubly annoyed." [StyleList via New York]
• Marc Jacobs is introducing another scent, Lola. And we're really hoping "Whatever Lola Wants" is integrated into the campaign. [WWD]
• Rival agencies Ford Models and Next Management are fighting over model Kendra Spears. In the meantime, Spears is walkin' for Next. Poached model on toast! [NY Post]
• Quoth the cuckolded Ford, "Kendra Spears is one of the shining stars of the Ford development system. Signed as a prospect while still a teenager in braces, for more than a year, Ford has painstakingly cultivated Spears - literally, taught her how to be an international fashion model." Literally, people! [New York Daily News]
• Oh, in case you were feeling good about yourself? Yeah, when moddles have babies, it makes them really, really skinny. Says Natalia Vodianova, "My agency thought that I might never do shows, because I was a bit shorter and not skinny enough, but what happened was; when I gave birth to my first son I was 19, so I lost a lot of weight. I guess the stress on the body was extreme and I suddenly just turned into this stick - just the way designers love models - and after Lucas was born that's when my career took off. I opened a lot of shows on the runway and that's where stars are made in my industry." [VogueUK]
• Thank God. Karl Lagerfeld has addressed the severe shortage of tweed motorcycle helmets with embedded iPod. [FashionWeekDaily]
• Says C.H.I.P.S. honoree Alberta Ferretti, in L.A., "It's wonderful to see both actresses and real women in my clothes." Real women, fake women - that's democracy in action, people. [WWD]
• The ugly family battle over the L'Oreal fortune escalates, as 86-year-old Liliane Bettencourt's children demand their mother get a psychiatric evaluation; they claim she's senile and in the clutches of a shameless gigolo. As one does. [Guardian]
• Stella McCartney's controversial Met Ball lace onesie was an improvisation. Quoth fellow rock-scion Liv Tyler, "Stella and Kate [Hudson] and I all got ready in Stella's suite at the Carlyle, which was like a four-hour process, and when I arrived at two o'clock they were literally cutting a piece of lace fabric with scissors, which later became Stella's outfit. They made it in two or three hours...It was coming apart at the seams at times and they were literally making it till the last second we left, but we had a ball." Her ladies-in-waiting also had to help her use the bathroom. Il faut souffrir, etc. [New York]
• The Crocs bubble has officially burst. [The Street]
• Dolce and Gabbana take the responsibility of designing a Tour de France jersey seriously! Quoth the pair,"An institutional symbol such as the Pink Jersey shall be respected. It cannot and shall not be distorted. And this is the reason why we customized it with certain historical details of the Dolce & Gabbana style, such as the tricolor bands and the effect of the superimposed jerseys, leaving untouched the base which is well-known all around the world." [Fashion Week Daily]
• Green is still the new black: YSL, Sergio Rossi and Banana Republic are all rolling out eco-chic. Only select pieces, of course. [ElleUK]
• More good news: Armani's up. [WWD]
• Talking about their Really!-It's-nothing-like-Project-Runway-we-swear! Bravo offeringThe Fashion Show, co-host Kelly Rowland says, "I think what makes The Fashion Show so unique is that it's the people's decision, and not only that but it's a real show for real people. This is coming from the consumer's point of view - what they like, how it fits, how creative it is." [TV Watch]
• Cupcake Alert! Rebecca Taylor is teaming up with New York's Billy's Bakery to do a line of Mother's Day sweets. "The Vanilla Twinkle cupcake - made of yellow cake with blue vanilla butter cream and a sprinkle of white crystal sugar and silver candy dots - is inspired by a blue dot chiffon dress from the designer's spring 2009 runway. The Mocha Meow cupcake - a chocolate cupcake with mocha-flavored butter cream topped with chocolate sprinkles - resembles the leopard-print pieces in the collection." [WWD]
• Here's some video of Victoria Beckham filming her nearly-nude Armani ad. Quoth Posh, "Creatively I have a lot of input into the shoot. I like the hair. it's really different for me, but I like to change it up, try different looks, a radical new image." [Grazia Daily]
• Ailing designer Pierre Cardin is on the mend, and heading home to the chateau after a stint in hospital. [WWD]
• Model Liya Kebede has a timely essay on global maternal health in the HuffPo. Sing it! [Huffington Post]
• FYI: a Jason Evans Associates hooded jacket has been recalled due to a strangulation hazard. But...aren't all drawstring hoods kind of strangulation hazards? [UPI]

• The future will smell like Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Kanye West. (And, if I'm understanding "established female artist" correctly, Beyoncé.) [WWD]
• Kim Gordon hates it when you call some fashion thing "fierce." [The Cut]

• Meanwhile, Solange Knowles snagged a spot in the new Op campaign. That's that Wal-Mart brand that egregiously Photoshopped Rumer Willis last year. [WWD]
• Marc Jacobs' people say they have no plans to use Anne Hathaway in any future advertising. So who will be in his fall campaign, now that Posh is concentrating on her own dress line? [People]
• For Easter, why not consider Florentine Armani-branded chocolate eggs from the Armani store? They start at $15 for 3.5 oz, and if you buy one of the $145 big eggs, inside you will find a "gift", like an Armani luggage tag. [NY Times]
• Speaking of Florence, Proenza Schouler is going to show in Europe for the first time this June at the city's fashion trade fair. But it's not going to be a "show" show, says designer Lazaro Hernandez. Expect a surprise! [WWD]
• The company that makes Crocs is on the cusp of bankruptcy. This is the week it has to pay off $22.4 million in debt from its revolving credit line — and nobody believes it has the money. Ready for a wistful look back? This article connects the success of the shoes that "looked like clogs that had mated with bath mats" to 9/11 ("in 2002, America was, more than anything, a country desperately in need of comfort") and a culture that privileges being noticed over looking good. [Smart Set]
• Daniel Vosovic is in the early stages of planning the launch of an eponymous line. He plans to hit a contemporary price point (aka nice dresses for $300-$800, like 3.1 Philip Lim and Alexander Wang), and it will be made domestically. He foresees beginning with presentations, not runway shows, for cost reasons, and he wants to debut for fall/winter 2010. He also tells an adorable story about how Tim Gunn used to have a tea set in his office at Parsons, and have people in for advice and a cuppa. [The Cut]
• Michelle Obama wore fake lashes in Europe, so this writer would like to let you know about some other weapons in the eyelash product arsenal. There are lash strips, individual fake lash clumps, semi-permanently glued lash extensions, and a prescription eyedrop adapted from its original use as a treatment for glaucoma. Of that last one, it should be noted, "There has been some controversy over possible side-effects, but that is unlikely to stop women from trying it." [Times of London]
• Richie Rich: Finds doing Pammy's bidding and producing vegan clothing difficult. For his own line, he intends to do "a plus size." I would make a crack about how one probably won't suffice, but I rather suspect Rich has simply fallen into one of the most basic patterns of fashionspeak: treating plural nouns as singular. Pants become "a pant." ("We're doing a very nice pant this season.") Shoes become "the shoe." ("The shoe is very important to our customer this spring.") (Truly. See for yourself.) Throw in a few well-judged repetitions of "fabulous!" and one mention each of "fabrication" and "costing" and you'll probably pass. [The Cut]
• Expectations are that LVMH will have strong quarterly results to report next week. [WWD]
• The Savannah College of Art and Design has honored Robin Givhan — the Pulitzer-toting fashion scribe for the Washington Post — and Russell Simmons at its annual gala. [FWD]

• Fresh off his CFDA award women's wear nomination, Marc Jacobs is reportedly engaged to his Brazilian boyfriend of one year, Lorenzo Martone. Mazel tov to the happy couple! [WWD]

• Anna Sui, who is being given the Geoffrey Beene lifetime achievement award by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, talked to Style.com for the occasion about New York's garment district, which has been threatened by rent rises and zoning changes, not to mention the increasing number of designers who outsource their fabric and notions sourcing, and their sample construction. "So much of my work is based on the resources in that neighborhood — the lacemakers and the pleaters and so on," said Sui. "I have my design studio here; I drape on a mannequin; we sew our own samples. That's how I know how to make clothes. I can't make sense of a dress without seeing how a fabric drapes, for example...I would just really hate to see the fashion industry go the way of all industry in America, and give up and go totally outsourced. We used to have the most beautiful woolen mills here, and the best denim. There was a sense of craft." [Style.com]
• Louis Vuitton, a company whose zealotry in protecting its intellectual property is well-known, is taking on Google in the European Court of Justice. At issue: the fact that the search giant sells ads to companies that make counterfeit Louis Vuitton products, and that those ads appear above the legitimate search results. Louis Vuitton says it's tantamount to copyright infringement, Google says it's up to users whether they click on any ads or not. [The Cut]
• Spring at H&M involves a wide-legged drop-crotch zebra-print jumpsuit. Don't say nobody warned you. [Fabsugar]
• This otherwise fine profile of Lauren Hutton begins by calling her "fashion's most wondrous wrinkly." Which certainly made me wrinkle my nose. [Telegraph]
• Even though he, like Hutton, is increasingly an actor these days, Tyson Beckford wishes magazines would use more models on their covers. [AP]
• And as if to taunt him, here's Penelope Cruz, looking sort of like she needs to pee, on the April cover of Spanish Vogue. [Popsugar]
• There are all kinds of fashion-y things going on with your television this week. Today is the premiere of CNN International's Carine Roitfeld documentary, which you can watch online, Friday is Valentino Day on Martha Stewart, and Saturday is the debut episode of the newly revived House of Style with Bar Refaeli and Chanel Iman. In case that's not enough, Valentino: The Last Emperor is opening in select theaters today, and soon enough we'll be treated to whatever Morley Safer cooks up on Anna Wintour, too. Phew. [Fashionista]
• Speaking of Valentino: his half-dozen pugs might guest-blog on Martha Stewart's dogs' blog, the Daily Wag. I thought the whole point was that on the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog? [The Cut]
• Meanwhile, Gwyneth Paltrow (who says those pugs are "not good kids dogs") said at the New York premiere of the film that it had failed to reveal Vava's "naughty" side. "He's the naughtiest [man]-slash-gentlemen in the entire world," said the actress. [WWD]
• Catherine Zeta-Jones can be seen moonlighting in a seven-minute advertisement for Unilever's Lux hair product brand, developed for the Asian market. [AdAge]
• Nike's sales for the third quarter declined slightly, but there may be worse times ahead: the company largely sells according to futures orders, orders for clothing and shoes scheduled one season ahead of time. And those have contracted by 10% this quarter, to $6.5 billion. [WSJ]
• The company that makes Crocs is likely to go under. At least, that's the opinion of its auditor, as disclosed in the business's annual report. Falling revenue makes it all but impossible that the company will be able to secure a new revolving credit line after its current one matures on April 2. [The Street]
• Eddie Bauer also says it's at significant risk of violating its debt obligations. After two attempted debt restructuring deals were rejected by creditors, a third amended debt deal was made, under which the company will pay higher interest rates and issue warrants for its stock. Fourth-quarter revenue fell 5.7%, and the company has seen a wave of recent layoffs and store closures nationwide. [Reuters]
• The auction of items from Gianni Versace's Lake Como villa netted some $10.3 million — far exceeding the original estimate of $3.3 million. And that was after the withdrawal from sale of the 18th century Johann Zoffany painting whose ownership is now in question. [Telegraph]
• Hermes beat its profit forecast for 2008, and says it is on track as of right now to meet its expectation of stable sales in 2009. [FT]
• Proctor and Gamble-owned Rochas, which in the years since firing Olivier Theyskens has existed only as a perfume brand, is a fashion house once more thanks to Marco Zanini. Zanini was most recently heard from as the guy hired to relaunch Halston. (It didn't go so well.) The new collection looks a little bland, and it's interesting that only now, in the post-shows news gulch, is this a story. [WSJ]
• And in news to make you barf, Goyard has a "limited-edition" pink trunk for sale at Colette in Paris. It's large enough to fit a Barbie doll and her accoutrements, and it costs $3650. [Forbes]

• So, why was Lithuanian-born model Auguste Abeliunate crying on the Jil Sander runway? Was it Raf Simons' severe, Germanic threads? Sander's in denial: "No model was crying on the runway!" says a rep. [WSJ]

• Michelle Obama's Michael Kors White House portrait LBD marks the biggest American designer name the first lady has chosen so far. [WWD]
• The mystery man who bid $40 million for two Qing dynasty bronzes from the YSL collection is now refusing to honor the winning bid, as the 18th century pieces were looted in 1860. [NYT]
• Notorious designer/rapist Anand Jon is requesting a new trial. [Times of India]
• Speaking of legal troubles! The perennially ludicrous Roberto Cavalli is being sued by Ittierre Spa's administrators for his comments regarding the Just Cavalli license. [WWD]
• He, characteristically, seems unruffled: "I have 11 million fans [on Facebook], I saw that only Madonna has more than me. It's lovely. It's not for the money–believe me, I don't care. It's vibrations. I hate drugs, I've never used them in my life–never smoked a marijuana cigarette. But my drug is the adrenaline, the vibrations. That's what makes me love life!" [Fashion Week Daily]
• H&M, struggling with fast fashion, gets into fast home textiles. [WSJ]
• Art world macher Dasha Zhukova has been appointed as editor in chief of POP magazine. [WWD]
• We're all for "feisty females" inspiring designers - and we dig the Pam Anderson-Westwood collab - but Pixie Geldof? Srsly? "Spoiled children" wasn't really what we had in mind. [Independent]
• Not, mind you, that actress/model/writers havn't suffered in their long lives. Writes Peaches: "As early as age 9, I preferred to wear garish, ill fitting ‘80s prom dresses over jeans – usually to disastrous results. I did envy the more put-together girls who had armoires full of perfectly ironed, timeless pieces; they looked effortless in their black or white silk staple skirts and trousers dressed up with a statement bag or Chanel jacket. But at heart, I was a magpie, always rooting through bargain bins at charity shops for, say, a sequined cape, which for some reason I just had to own." [Nylon]
• $7 grand for a heel? A bargain! The Louboutin "Marie Antoinette" is "an open-toe platform high heel in satin, embroidered with colorful beads by the house of Jean-Francois Lesage, edged with a ruffling of chiffon and velvet." Oh, and even better: it's grotesquely ugly! [LA Times]
• ScarJo, Dolce, Gabbana, some Italian department store. For unclear reasons, this drew a crowd of a thousand. Quoth the Waits enthusiast, "Who doesn't want to look like the femme fatales from the Forties and Fifties?" [WWD]
• Nicole Farhi's psyched to be a grandma, but within reason: "One thing I won't be doing, though, is a range of Farhi clothes for children. I love kids, but I'm not making kids' clothes!" [Telegraph]
• Stacy London is on a quest to end "mom jeans'" bad rep. "Moms are superheroes. 'Mom jeans' should be a super cool . . . pair of jeans," says the What Not to Wear maven. [LAT]
• Victoria Beckham's dress line has singlehandedly boosted the business of one British fabric mill. [Telegraph]
• "Do you want to smell like Halle Berry?" Well, that really depends on what she smells like. Presumably, like the new perfume she's seen advertising here in a series of diaphanous cover-ups. [The Life Files]
• In case you were wondering, model Eva Herzigova is "a 35-year-old woman, mother to a 21-month-old son - beautiful, powerful and in total control." [TimesUK]
• Oh, and homeless style enthusiast/model Erin Wasson? "It's humbling...I still can't get over the fact that these people want to come out to see little old me." Us, neither. [Style.com]
• Speaking of genuine modesty, we love Tim Gunn: "I'm grateful every day that I still have a job at Liz Claiborne. I make no assumptions about me...I'm confident that Liz Claiborne, Inc. will pull out of this, because we're operating so thoughtfully and so strategically ... But it is a challenging time."[New York]
• Even Obama fave J. Crew is feeling the pinch: they've eliminated 95 positions. [WWD]
• Steve Madden, at least, is up! [WWD]
• A "model" who fell through a hole in a "runway" in 2007 is suing the companies involved in the fashion show. [The Life Files]
• Crocs is confident that a new CEO will turn the company around. Hey, we couldn't have predicted their initial success...[WWD]

• Yes, it's fashion week, yes, there are better things to talk about, and yes, we'll get to them after the jump, but first: Toby Keith's clothing line debuted. It's worse than we thought. [TMZ]

• London's fashion week, small but mighty as always, starts today and only runs for four days. It's a strange paradox of British fashion that, while some of the top designers — McQueen, Galliano — are from the UK, and London's Central St. Martins is acknowledged as one of the best fashion schools in the world, London fashion week has never quite managed the automatic prestige of New York's, Milan's, or Paris's (which is, not incidentally, where Galliano and McQueen both show). [Reuters]
• André Leon Talley went nuts for Vera Wang's show in her new downtown store. [The Cut]
• Who invited Julia Allison to Philip Lim? He doesn't make pink clothes. [Observer]
• WWD gets its own loving spoof! Worldwide Womenswear Digest, or WWWD has stories like "THE PARENT TRAP: Bee Shaffer shocked to learn most parents don't have yearly hug limits" and "Diane von Furstenberg Debuts Controversial Spinach Wrap Dress." Awesome. [The Cut]
• Leanne Marshall, who won this show called Project Runway this one time, completed a cross-country move and finished her entire fall collection in a few weeks. She says the only thing that's hard about designing from her Brooklyn apartment is keeping her cat out of her sewing. [People]
• Bravo's replacement for their lost treasure, to be called The Fashion Show, will be hosted by Isaac Mizrahi, Fern Mallis...and Kelly Rowland. [Variety]
• In the front row at Calvin yesterday afternoon, Eva Mendes explains the concept of a fashion show to newbie Kate Beckinsale: "It's a little like going to a museum and seeing a beautiful exhibit, except it's emotion." Did she mean, "in motion"? [WWD]
• SIR — Thank you for your measured post considering the economic value of the fashion industry. I'll resist the temptation to call any of the economists who would argue that "creative innovation that matters is somebody in a lab at MIT coming up with a more efficient battery or solar cell. It is somebody at Stanford coming up with a way to make computers smarter or cancer more preventable. I just can't get excited about some frou-frou fashion designers and the magazines that feature their creations" pointy-headed misogynist assholes (who probably dress poorly and were made fun of for it in high school). [The Economist]
• There is justice! Crocs lost $33 million last quarter. [WWD]
• The three shareholders in De Beers — a mining company, the government of Botswana, and the family of company chairman Nicky Oppenheimer — have together loaned the diamond company $500 million as sales have softened because of the economy. The loan is interest-free for two years. De Beers had record sales in the first three quarters of 2008, but the last quarter was flat, and analysts expect 2009 to be even worse. [Reuters]
• Wholesale prices of US-made apparel rose in the month of January, despite concerns about deflation. [WWD]
• Brazilian designer Alexandre Herchcovitz is able to afford to show in New York partly because of his home country's lavish support of the arts. This season's show cost $170,000, around $70,000 of which came from the Brazilian government. I'm always mystified by the huge numbers some designers give as their budget costs for models — Herchcovitz claims he spent $90,000 on models a year ago — and I have to wonder, are they counting the "cost" of the trade they offer as payment to the girls who work the show? Because as far as I can recall, Herchcovitz is one of the many to "pay" in clothes. Not that giving away clothes isn't a cost to a designer, but I don't think it's unreasonable to recognize that providing some of your product for free is a different class of cost than actual out-of-pocket expenditures. [NY Times]
• Versace is dipping a nervous toe into the turbid waters of internet retail. [WWD]
• And Celine Dion wants you to smell Chic like her this April. [WWD]
• After Victoria Beckham agreed to sell her upscale line of dresses exclusively through Bergdorf's, Saks, which had been among the first to support her dVb by Victoria Beckham denim line, decided to drop the pants. Kitson and Henri Bendel stopped restocking dVb last year because of poor sales. [NY Post]

• There's the usual gloom, sex, scandal and, ahem, 50 Cent's makeup line - today, but first, brace yourselves: Michelle Obama has not RSVP'd to Fashion Week. This woman's priorities are way out of whack! [WWD]

• About Fitty: he's starting a men's grooming line, containing both moisturizers and supplements. Quoth "someone," "his range will be for the guy who likes to be pampered, but the supplements will make it more butch." [Yahoo via New York]
• Katie Holmes' latest batch of Miu Miu photos is "softer" than the last: Read, she's lying around dreamily in firelight. [Popsugar]
• A bunch of children's Harajuku Lovers Hooded Jackets by Gwen Stefani are being recalled in California because their defective ties are a "strangulation risk." [CPSC]
• Kelly Cutrone, who's cut an awesomely bitchy swath across the reality show landscape, may now be getting her own. Fashion PR doyenne Cutrone, who's stirred pots on The City and The Hills, has inked an eight-episode deal with Bravo for a show that follows her, presumably, insulting people at her company People's Revolution. [New York Post]
• Alexander McQueen brings a touch of punk to a Target near you: "The heart of McQ is rebellious youth culture, a certain spirit that embodies the regular line as well as the Target collection. It's an ‘eighties punk aesthetic that evokes the anarchy and social change of the time. Youth culture now really looks back and embraces the past, but keeps it contemporary but not sticking to one particular style." [New York]
• Victoria's Secret is introducing a new, green fragrance line to the bordello, plus a perfume that "smells like lace." [Racked]
• It would seem that the president of Theory was one of Madoff's manifold victims, along wit a score of other fashion insiders. Bernie, meanwhile, is still sitting pretty under house arrest - one hopes not in a Theory suit! [WWD]
• It's not much, but they'll take it: LVMH reported a "slim annual increase" and flat profits for the year. [WSJ]
• In case no one was sure that Lorenzo Martone was Marc Jacobs' boy toy, the Brazilian looker sported, to the premiere of He's Just Not That Into You, a shirt bearing the immortal words: "Do me in the park. Marc." [New York Post]
• Sometimes there's just no point in paraphrasing the perfection of the British press:
  "Alice Hawkins looks like Dolly Parton and likes to hang out with gangsters, showgirls and topless models. She also happens to be one of the fashion world's hottest photographers." [Telegraph]
• Oh noes! Teri Agins, the respected Wall Street Journal fashion writer, is a recession casualty. [Forbes]
• Hey, remember that cute "I die. Bananas" tee? Yeah, cease and desist. Zoe has them trademarked. [New York]
• DVF just threw an odd luncheon, the guest list of which included Diana Ross, James Frey, The City + cameras, and a bunch of designers. Stars: they're nothing like us! [WWD]
• Ugh: The UGG index is up, which is bad news for real shoes, the economy. [MSNBC]
• UGGS, at least, are total depression-wear: dreary, warm, stolid. The continuing popularity of Crocs? Totally baffling! [Telegraph]
• Zara, one of the other indestructibles, expands its sorta-fast fashion to India. [FT]
• We can add nothing to this: Lilly Pulitzer-print Jeep. [Fashion Week Daily]
• What can we say? Digging on Julia Roitfeld's ads for Mango! [Fashionista]

• Diddy likens himself to Obama. Speaking of his new fragrance, "I Am King," he declares, "When you see Barack Obama, you see a strong, elegant black man and when people see my ad, it's almost like that's the trend." [WSJ]
• "Mr. Obama sometimes wears jeans, as he did for a rally on Oct. 28, but his jeans are the loose, jingle-the-change-in-your-pocket type. He belts them at the waist, and when he wears them with white sneakers and a windbreaker, one could almost say he had stolen the look from Jerry Seinfeld’s character on the television series." — Cathy Horyn. [NY Times]
• Meanwhile, Donna Karan is rarin' to dress Michelle. “It’s not about her clothes, it’s really about who she is, and her passion for children, culture and wellness. I’m hoping to get to work with them — it would be my dream. They are so committed to ideals that are much in alignment with mine.” [WWD]

• Rumor has it that Pamela Anderson will be in a Vivienne Westwood campaign! But before she gets too excited: it's set in a trailer park. [New York Magazine]
• The Crocs bubble has officially burst. [Reuters]
• Gwyneth breaks it down: "Personally, I like to stick to the classics in both my everyday life and in the evening. Whether I am going to meet friends for dinner, a cocktail party or a bigger event, the most classic of classics, the little black dress, never fails me. I have found a few great ones in all different price ranges and each has amazing versatility. It could be Zara, it could be Balenciaga, but a well-cut, well-proportioned black dress has gotten me through many a fashion crisis." She pairs them with my betes noires, booties and gladiator boots. [Goop]
• We're reserving judgment on the new Diane Von Furstenberg blog: "The blog will be updated daily and will include news, shots of new items, horoscopes, cultural advice, and personal photos and posts by the Diane herself." [Fashionista]
• Ed Westwick's K-Swiss ads further remind us that he is no Chuck Bass. [Just Jared]
• Tartan is back. Why? Because apparently "plaid equals happiness." The Times suggests "a plaid scarf over a checked shirt and a plaid sport coat, topped with a tweed driving cap." [New York Times]
• Comme des Garcons for H&M is here. Shop at your own risk. [Sassybella]
• Wall Street Journal guy discovers there is no warranty on running shoes. [WSJ]
• Teens are apparently unembarrassed to dress exactly like Gossip Girl characters. [Portfolio]
• Ew. Is Vuitton bringing back the Stephen Sprouse graffiti bag? [Fashionista]
• They're refusing to confirm that Madonna's their new spokestar. [WWD]
• Stuart Weitzman plays a lot of ping pong. [Fashion Informer]
• (designer) Sienna Miller, for her part, enjoys Monopoly. [WWD]
• Dior Homme goes all porn-y for their new campaign. [NY Magazine]
• Uniqlo sells the new bra top through profiling: "20- to 40-year-olds were filmed answering a range of questions, from their favorite food to what they liked about Uniqlo products, and the answers were then played on a microsite for like-minded women. Filtering criteria allowed visitors to find women of a similar height, weight and shape and see how they answered the questions." [AdAge]
• Simon Doonan gets Tom Brokaw to unveil the Barney's Christmas windows. "I wanted someone with a little bit of gravitas to cut the ribbon," quoth he. [Style.com]
• Perry Ellis is pessimistic. [WSJ]
• Urban Outfitters, at least, is up! [WSJ]
• Marc Jacobs: "I've had boyfriends who were media whores, and, God bless them, they were great people." [New York Post]