• Leo DiCaprio has taken over for Brad Pitt as the Tag Heuer spokesman. Wearing that watch is not an easy job. [WWD]

• Speaking of watches, here's the $8 grand Obama model. "To mark the occasion and commemorate John F. Kennedy's timeless style, Omega has reissued the ultra thin timepiece the man wore during his inauguration on January 20th, 1961." "The man" would surely approve. [Racked]
• Given her influence, anti-fur critics are urging Michelle Obama to avoid fur at the inauguration. [HSUS]
• Fur aside, 'Obama' is the biggest name in luxury goods for 09! [Extra]
• Get the Obama look yourself, on a budget! "If you're looking to mimic Michelle Obama's graceful style or Barack Obama's sharp suits, while not spending a fortune, you can find it on SHOP.COM." [Shop.com]
• Ambassador Anna Wintour's fate is being contemplated by the fashion world "'with a guillotine glee akin to that which preceded the death of Marie Antoinette.' But one fashion source dismissed the prospects of her purported replacement, French Vogue editrix Carine Roitfeld: 'I don't see how you could give it to Carine. She barely speaks English.'" [New York Post]
• Accessories led the counterfeit seizures in '08. Well, yeah. [WWD]
• We're not gonna lie: the waxen LiLo for Fornarina ads kinda depress us. [Fabsugar]
• Men's Vogue stays alive...in a Lord Voldemort sort of way. The Spring Issue will be "reverse-bound" to the back of women's Vogue.[ WWD]
• In an awesome and vaguely disturbing Dean and Dan ad, supermodels Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista engage in fisticuffs. [Models.com]
• Peter Som parts ways with Creative Design Studios. [WWD]
• Deep holiday discounting has hurt Ted Baker's profits. [FT]
• Daisy Fuentes's new beauty line, Style Pro, uses all natural ingredients. [WWD]
• Are we obsessed with Sofia Coppola's enchanting Miss Dior ad? Obvs. But are we the only ones who kind of wish it was Audrey, or at least someone alive with a bit more personality? [Fashionista]
• Katie Holmes buys a cookie, some sweaters. [WWD]
• Aeropostale was one of the few winners in a dismal retail season. [The Street ]
• We love Oscar de la Renta: "This is a challenging time to be a designer because a woman today knows so much more...There has never been a woman so in control of her destiny as a woman today." [Bergdorf Goodman via New York]
• By contrast: "Karl Lagerfeld: That's the kind of thing we promise to do, but we never do it… So I have your big book in front of me.
  Tom Ford: Yes, it's very big.
  Karl Lagerfeld: Quite beautiful, but it's really the final point of a decade.
  Tom Ford: It is a closed period. And that was one of the reasons I wanted to do the book. For me, like you, being a Virgo, we like to have things very neat, very clean, very finished and I wanted to finish that chapter of my life so I could move on to the next one.
  Karl Lagerfeld: Exactly. I never turn pages; I tear them out. When the time is finished I don't turn the pages anymore, I forget about them.
  Tom Ford: I see what you're saying.
  Karl Lagerfeld: I think it's a very good attitude in life." [FakeKarl]

[Los Angeles, December 29. Image via Bauer-Griffin]

• We are Nietzsche and God is dead: Paris Hilton's stint in jail saw her fragrance sales rise 30% higher than where they were at this time last year. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• The biggest conflict in the Middle East right now? Crocs. Price-fixing. The Holy Land. Is nothing sacred there? [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Daisy Fuentes: A sweatshop manufacturer no more! Now we can buy our Wet Seal clothes guilt-free! [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Today's installation of "When Designers Sell Out": The Alice Temperley for Moet & Chandon tote bag, specially designed with a compartment for toting... Moet. Ugh. [Vogue UK]
  
• Who says the English are all stodgy? They spend more on clothing than any other group of people in Europe, except the Italians. [Telegraph]

• Peter Som: next head designer at Bill Blass? And if so, will he break the Blass losing streak? [WWD, 2nd item]
• Vogue crisis! Marni designer's Consuelo Castiglioni's tent for a photoshoot was stolen! [WWD, 2nd item]
• In our 2nd "God is dead" moment — and it's not even 10 am! — Rugby by Ralph Lauren is to be featured at the coolest, most exclusive store in the whole wide world, Colette Paris. [WWD, sub req'd]
• The unexpected collaboration between film director David Lynch and the fashion industry continues with an exhibit of Lynch's photographs of... Christian Louboutin shoes. [WWD, 2nd item]
• French fashion house Ungaro's lead designer, Peter Dundas, has resigned. [Vogue UK]
• Permira's purchase of more shares of Valentino stock (they're now at 60.2% of the company) went through yesterday. [NYT]

• Daisy Fuentes' clothing line for Kohl's has been earmarked by the National Labor Committee for using sweatshop labor. The weird thing is that this is the odd celebrity sweatshop scandal where we are more surprised by Kohl's (does Vera Wang know?) than Fuentes. After all, celebrities who stoop to doing infomercials are not, we bet, keeping close watch of their personal brands. [WWD]
  
• Mariah Carey's new fragrance, M by Mariah Carey, has top notes of marshmallow and sea breeze... like an awesome Cancun bonfire! [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Nicole Miller CEO Bud Konheim seems to be under the impression that if it weren't for the Civil Rights movement, we would have never seen the trend towards the casual in American apparel. Racism, formality of dress, racism, formality of dress: Hmm, tough choice! [WWD, 2nd item]
  
• In commemoration of the 10th anniversary of Gianni Versace's death, a street is to be named after him in Milan and an original dance performance created in his honor. [Vogue UK]
  
• Though Guess is currently experiencing moderate success Stateside, the Europeans are gobbling its shit up. [WSJ]