• 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]

It's not in dispute that the fashion industry is in some dark times right now; what are as-yet unanswered questions is just how bad things are, and what that will mean for future patterns of consumer spending.

On the former point, The Atlantic's Benjamin Schwartz takes a dire view indeed, calling the most recent New York fashion week "a splendid relic" and quoting liberally from F. Scott Fitzgerald's Depression-era essays on the free-spending, free-spirited, bull-market 1920s, and what the period meant. (Whether Schwartz's blithely generic line, "The current collapse, universally labeled within the fashion world a depression," and inclusion of data about the layoffs of just under 2,000 people at Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus are strong enough factual support to bear the weigh of Fitzgerald and his Jazz Age elegies is questionable; if and when we see California close its borders and tens of thousands of hoboes camp out on the Washington Mall, then we'll know for sure if this downturn merits a comparison in absolute terms with the Great D.)

But Schwartz's article gets a lot of things right, too. He's mostly on point with the queasy timeloop of fashion, wherein collections are presented six months ahead of the season for which they are designed, made of fabrics ordered six months earlier, and financed with the proceeds of the collection which had, all the way back then, just left stores. If anyone wondered why last September's collections seemed so deaf to the sudden financial crisis ringing through the land, that was why. Similarly, the glut of unsold product that clogged the department stores last fall — and which caused Saks and others to break the rule about not discounting new stock before it had been in store two months — was all there because buyers had ordered it the previous February, when no-one foresaw the crisis, the ensuing recession, or the cataclysmic correction in consumer spending they would bring. (I don't think that, as a result, this February runway models "halved their catwalk fees" out of the goodness of our hearts, as Schwartz's odd locution implies — and the per-show rate he quotes, $20,000, is typical only of models named Naomi Campbell, anyway — it was more like designers cut rates on the girls they were paying at all, cut payment-in-trade on the girls they never were paying to begin with, and we all ate it. But that's a small misunderstanding of an industry subsection that is itself willfully obscurantist.)

Exactly how bad things are — F. Scott Fitzgerald bad, or survive-and-reorganize bad — aside, what to do about the fall in consumer spending has advertisers and magazines thinking furiously. As W magazine reported, the luxury market reached its peak in 2007; unusually, the luxury-goods sector has been hit harder than retail generally, and was down 23% last month. Counter-intuitively, publisher Nina Lawrence sees this as evidence of a "luxury renaissance." In this view, aspirational consumers are down for the count, leaving the very wealthy to enjoy the perks of membership in what is once more a very exclusive club.

Others, and Schwartz is among them, see a place for the aspirational consumer still — but that new ways of reaching her are being found. Sally Singer, Vogue's fashion news and features director, wore a year-old doubleknit cashmere Halston blazer, a J. Crew sweater, and "very old" Devi Kroell ballet flats to the first day of fashion week, and speaks of "conscientious consumption"; ergo, says Schwartz, "this idea of buying so-called investment pieces resonates more deeply today than it did even six months ago." Julie Gilhart, Barneys' senior vice president and fashion director, says, "If I were a consumer now, I'd really want to buy pieces that count, that last; the customer is in no hurry. She should be choosing these things with great care." Singer reminds us that "things that are very expensive can be very expensive for just the right reasons — because they were made beautifully by someone who really gave a lot of care to the design and by people who were fairly paid along the way to execute something that was rather difficult. Those prices that often seem high are fair prices."

Singer edits the Vogue "Views" section, which this month leads off with an exclusive story about Christopher Kane's new position as creative director of Versus, Versace's relaunched, lower-priced line. The Kane-designed "gladiator heels" in the accompanying photograph cost $3,400.

Karl Lagerfeld would support Singer's view. As he tweeted yesterday: "Guilty feelings about clothes are totally unnecessary. A lot of people earn their living by making clothes, so you should never feel bad."

Chanel is a privately held company, so of course it's impossible for any of us to actually know what else besides honest middle-class livings for garment workers is financed by the cost of a $2,000 purse or a $4,000 dress.

The entire idea of "investment" dressing is actually pretty dubious, writes Lesley M. M. Blume, at The Big Money. It's nothing more than a marketing term designed to separate us from our hard-earned cash, says Dana Thomas, the author of last year's De-Luxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster. "They're just changing the slogans. It used to be, everyone deserves a little luxury and a little splurge. Now that no one can afford the splurge, the business executives are all scratching their heads and saying, how can we repackage this again? So now you're buying 'quality things that last forever.' "

Investments are, after all, supposed to hold or rise in value — but this season's $1,600 purse depreciates as soon as it leaves Bergdorf's, like a new car burning off value as it leaves the lot. Only a few luxury items can actually fetch comparable prices when sold second-hand (as-new Birkin bags can actually rise slightly in resale value, since Hermès controls the $6,000-and-up retail market with extraordinary artificial scarcity, closed three-year waiting lists and all). But when the resale boutique commissions (or eBay and PayPal fees) are taken into account, the "value" of a Birkin — or any fashion item — depreciates, often precipitously. "Investment" is a weasel word in fashion, and it's a disappointment to see The Atlantic repeating an advertising term uncritically.

Whether Singer and Gilhart are sincere in their belief that, as Singer puts it, "the world does not need more things," it's true that both work for companies that make their living by stoking the fires of consumption. (Cathy Horyn nailed Vogue's particular blitheness when she wondered at its "peculiar fascination for the ‘villa in Tuscany' story" this January; you would also do well to remember last September's $64,000 gold-dipped fur coat by Fendi, which is of course designed by Karl Lagerfeld. "Value" indeed.) I'm not saying that these industry figures, and others who share their sympathies, can't and won't lead us into a new, more sustainable era of fashion; I'm just saying I'm wary of anything that, at least for now, still has the feel of a cannily adjusted marketing strategy.

Fashion in Dark Times [The Atlantic]
A Luxury Renaissance Is Upon Us [The Cut]
Luxury As An Investment? [The Big Money]
Karl Lagerfeld's Twitter [Twitter]

Earlier:
When A Fashionista Turns On Fashion
Fashion Week: The Party's Not Over Yet
New York Times Bets Against Anna Wintour, American Vogue

• "It's really a crime - it makes me weep every time." Daniel Craig, on having to get his Tom Ford suits dirty while filming James Bond movies. [Vogue UK]
  
• Blind item! "Which aging actress was the celebrity guest for a fashion function and made the moves on the company's powerful and handsome - but married - CEO? The company no longer works with her." [Page Six]
  
• Looks like ELLE International Creative Director Gilles Bensimon is on the masthead in name only; though Bensimon has historically shot every cover in the history of the American fashion magazine, his services were not needed for its upcoming April and May covers. Incidentally, Bensimon's contract is up come December. Any bets on whether they'll continue to keep him on the payroll? [WWD, 1st item]
  
• OMG the designs from this season's Project Runway [Yes, I'll be liveblogging the finale tonight] are up for auction online! [Fashion Week Daily]

• Gucci: Giving money for playgrounds in New York's Central Park. Think those playgrounds are on the Harlem or the 10021 side? [Fashion Week Daily]
• Expensive shit alert! The new Louis Vuitton watch retails for between $10,425 and $135,000. Obviously. [Fashon Week Daily]
• And in no shit news regarding expensive shit, Jezebel girl crush Dana Thomas has concluded that Louboutins are wicked overpriced. [Sassybella]
• Oh wait, more expensive shit: A Hermes car. Which retails for $2.35 million. [Men.style.com]
• Speaking of expensive shit, want your child to grow up with a penchant for it? Than read her a children's book chronicling the life of Coco Chanel. [Chic Report]
• Avril Lavigne the clothing line? No, please. [E!]
• Take that, Sarko: Donatella Versace with be outfitting Nicolas Sarkozy's ex Cecilia for her wedding this month to Richard Attias. Carla who? [WWD, 2nd item]
• Isaac Mizrahi: Used to hate beer! But now likes it. [WWD, 6th item]
• Men's cardigans are supposedly "back." I question making "back" synonymous with "in style." [Telegraph]
• May we all blame Kate Moss's new boyfriend for her recent fashion misses? Um, ok. [Daily Mail]
• Avon, Reese Witherspoon and the U.N.: All joining together to help empower women in the third world. No, we're not sure what those three parties really have to do with one another either. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Sure, profits are way down at Liz Claiborne, Inc but fret not: Execs all received cash bonuses at year-end in 2007. [WWD, 1st item]
• Tommy Hilfiger: Gonna start making its shoes in-house. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Online shoe mueseum! [Chic Report]

• OMG! International Herald Tribune fashion critic Suzy Menkes and designer Marc Jacobs have somehow settled their seemingly-insurmountable differences! After their tiff in New York over Marc's really late fashion show, Marc left Menkes a Marc Jacobs T-shirt with a pretty bow on her seat at Louis Vuitton on Sunday. And what was on the T-shirt? A "love letter," says Marc. Coy! [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• But! Newsweek writer Dana Thomas, author of new luxury industry expose Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster, is now banned from Louis Vuitton after riding them particularly hard in her book about how luxury sucks now that it's all about logo-strewn accessories and crap. Good grief, couldn't LV just laugh all the way to the bank about shit like this? [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• Says Chloe Sevigny about being the face of the new Chloe fragrance: "I'm concerned that the customers might be confused, though; I have the umlaut in my name while they have the accent. I'm Chloë, not Chloé." Stop. Even if you're kidding? Stop. [Fashion Week Daily]

• Le sigh! Kirsten Dunst is, like, so over getting harassed at fashion shows for being so irresistibly fabulous. Kiki says that "Fashion shows really aren't my forte anymore" but somehow mustered the courage to go to the Chanel show anyway since, like, she was already in Paris. Her verdict? "Hey, it wasn't so bad. Maybe they had better security than other shows." [Fashion Week Daily]
• If you care about what editors think you'll be wearing this spring now that the Spring/Summer 2008 shows haveended (we know — you're thrilled), you can read here. Or you can, uh, just continue to wear whatever the fuck you want. [Vogue UK]
• Samuel L. Jackson: "I love fashion TV... Those of us who are comfortable in our maleness can appreciate fashion." [Vogue UK]
• Michelle Pfeiffer has never tweezed her eyebrows? My ass. [FabSugar]
• MTV is introducing a new online TV show following the lives of up-and-coming fashion designers. as they prepare for the MAGIC apparel trade show in Las Vegas, which is like the Fashion Week of shit people actually wear, not that that makes it any less ridiculous. Stars include renaissance DJ Steve Aoki. [WWD, 3rd item]
• It finally happened: Fashion blog Coutorture got bought out by Sugar Inc., which we hope means a name change to "TortureSugar." [WWD, 2nd item]
• Sex and the City costume designer (and longtime drag queen employer) Patricia Field swears she wasn't trying to shove Carrie Bradshaw-style down all our throats. "I'm just declaring it so. I know I look like I have a crystal ball or gypsy tea, but I don't." [WWD, 4th item]
• You know what irritates us even more than a brand getting celebrities to design a limited-edition version of a product? When a brand gets celebrities to design a limited-edition version of a product that's not even on sale! The offenders this time? French ballet slipper company Repetto. 30 designers (Chloe Sevigny, Jean Paul Gaultier). 30 pairs of ballerina shoes. On tour for your viewing pleasure. You know, because the Frick is so boring at this point. [WWD, 1st item]
• And on that note! The inhouse DJ of YSL, Balenciaga, Chanel, etc. is also a designer. His name is Michel Gaubert, and he "collaborated" with Longchamp on a collection of bags. [WWD, 4th item]

On a warm winter afternoon in Guangzhou, I accompanied Chinese police officers on a factory raid in a decrepit tenement. Inside, we found two dozen children, ages 8 to 13, gluing and sewing together fake luxury-brand handbags. The police confiscated everything, arrested the owner and sent the children out. Some punched their timecards, hoping to still get paid.

(The average Chinese factory worker earns about $120 a month; the counterfeit factory worker earns half that or less.) As we made our way back to the police vans, the children threw bottles and cans at us. They were now jobless and, because the factory owner housed them, homeless. It was "Oliver Twist" in the 21st century. What can we do to stop this? Much like the war on drugs, the effort to protect luxury brands must go after the source: the counterfeit manufacturers.

Terror's Purse Strings [NYT]

Although this volume quotes Anna Wintour, the editor of 'Vogue', saying such changes mean that 'more people are going to get better fashion' and 'the more people who can have fashion, the better,' the author reaches a more elitist and pessimistic conclusion...[Thomas concludes] 'Luxury has lost its luster.'