• Stephanie Seymour's divorce from Peter Brant is getting even uglier. After police were called to the couple's home following Seymour's complaint that Brant's security assaulted her, Brant has accused the model of drug use and is seeking sole child custody:

• Brant alleged in court filings that Seymour sought treatment for Vicodin abuse, and subsequently became addicted to the drug Subutex, which is used to treat opiate addiction. He says Seymour has missed multiple court-required breathalyzer tests, and has twice submitted urine samples that, though clean of Subutex, were too cold to meet the minimum valid temperature. The media mogul also says Seymour "broke in" to the couple's Florida mansion and removed $700,000 worth of items, all while the kids sat in a hotel in Connecticut. [NYP]
• When fashion goes Galt, you know we're in trouble. [TDB]
• Nanette Lepore, Michael Kors, Zac Posen, Anna Sui, Betsey Johnson, and that guy who was just endorsed by Barack Obama, whatsisname, Bill Thompson, will be on Seventh Avenue on Wednesday for a rally to save the New York Garment District. Twenty-five thousand people work in the district, and designers say they need their convenient access to sample houses and manufacturers it provides, but lax enforcement of existing zoning laws and competition from cheaper labor sources overseas have led the zone to dwindle. [NYDN]
• Not to be outdone, Mayor Bloomberg — whom some designers have criticized for failing to do enough to protect the garment district — is launching a fashion incubator program for 12 up-and-coming designers this fall. [NYP]
• Woody Allen is reportedly considering casting Adriana Lima in his new movie, which is set in Rio de Janeiro. Because he's "fascinated" by her beauty. [NYP]
• "My fashion advice is to have a flattering mirror at home and then forget about it," says Vivienne Westwood. The designer lives in Captain Cook's old house, and has never sold out to a larger company or a private investor, despite some offers. And some polite nos: reports Cathy Horyn, one backer in the 90s picked another designer instead. "They could have made money with me. They lost it. I'm a woman," says Westwood. "I'm like household management or whatever it is. I would never spend more than I have." [NYTimes]
• Tim Gunn has a cameo in the Sex And The City sequel. [E!]
• JMS, a brand owned by Hanes, is adding a dedicated plus-size apparel line to its existing plus-size offerings, which were mainly jeans and underwear. It'll be sold at Wal-Mart and the creative director promises "slimming seams, strategically placed pockets, freedom of movement and appropriate-weight materials." [WWD]
• Christian Louboutin, the designer who slimmed down Barbie's ankles when he had the chance to release a line of dolls under his own name, says he never meant to imply her ankles were big before. "Fat ankles she didn't have, she just could have had thinner ankles," explained Louboutin. Still digging, then. [WWD]
• Manolo Blahnik: "I hate celebrities. All those pointless girls — I won't name names, but you know who I mean. They are 'famous'. Ridiculous. I like women with style: actresses like Uma Thurman, icons like Audrey Hepburn. I like women with style to wear my shoes." [Vogue UK]
• Model Selita Ebanks joins Sinbad, Darryl Strawberry, and Cyndi Lauper in the next season of Celebrity Apprentice. [NYDN]
• Pat Field made a tote bag for Diet Coke to give away with purchase, which will be available later this month from Boots stores. [Daily Express]
• Erin Wasson, presumably to avoid her dreaded homelessness, makes an appearance in the fall J. Crew catalog. She eats a necklace in one shot. [Refinery29]
• Something called the Japan Jeans Association given the country's first lady, Miyuki Hatoyama, its Best Jeanist Award. (She shares it with a pop star and an actor.) Pleased, the 66-year-old Hatoyama said, "This is the prize I have long wished to win. I'm a jeans lover. I'm always putting on jeans as they're easy to wear." She also recalled that she and her husband were each wearing jeans when they met. [AFP]
• Gee, we're so glad reporter Giles Hattersley puts that nice boss, successful businesswoman, and maker of lovely shoes Tamara Mellon in her place in this hard-hitting profile. Apparently she smokes, wears "teensy" dresses, and altogether reminds Hattersley of "the heroine of some dicey Danielle Steel bonkathon." Can't have that. [ToL]
• Love Moschino, the Italian company's lower-priced clothing line, is adding accessories to its collection. [WWD]
• Georgia May Jagger, already having nabbed the Hudson Jeans campaign, is now the face of Rimmel cosmetics. [Telegraph]
• Yasmin le Bon's daily life: "If lunch is at home then I tend to eat up leftovers from the fridge. I'm the leftover queen. I can't help it. I might mix them into an omelette or throw them all into a soup. One of the children won't eat soups any more because she's worried what old food I've put in it. Simon's mother, Ann Marie, often comes round with homemade bread and cakes." [ToL]
• Alvin Ailey company dancers will wear Mark & James, Badgley Mischka's just-announced lower-priced line, to their season opening gala on December 2. [WWD]
• Henry Holland kinda maybe sorta wants to move to New York. "Every time I come, the need to live here becomes more and more urgent and I want to go home less and less. I spend my entire time here plotting about how I would do it." But even if he did cross the Atlantic, he says he would still show his line in London. [Grazia]
• The luxury market, once in free-fall, is still declining, just not as steeply as some analysts earlier expected. Instead of the overall 10% drop in luxury sales that had originally been forecast for 2009, analysts say the industry is on track for an 8% decline in sales. [WSJ]

I quit drinking diet soda two years ago, after about a decade of being hooked on the stuff. I had started drinking it when I was around 18 or so, and over time I'd become completely dependent on it to get through the day. I started every morning with a can of Diet Coke (or Diet Dr. Pepper) and then made sure I had at least two 20 oz. bottles to get me through the first half of my class schedule or work day. At around 3pm, I'd have to go get a fountain drink somewhere, because I'd start getting very nervous and agitated once the caffeine fix wore off. At night, I'd drink a few more cans. Unsurprisingly, I went through a fairly nasty period of insomnia for a few years.

I had tried to quit several times: I knew it was really gross, and really expensive, as I couldn't bring myself to buy cheaper generic diet cola and I was blowing money on 12-packs the way a chain smoker drops money on their favorite brand of cigarettes, price be damned. It wasn't until I moved into my own home and noticed the piles of recycling I'd built up just through one week of drinking pop (yes, I call it pop, sorry) that I realized how bad it had gotten. So I decided just to give it up cold turkey, which was a bit of a nightmare, as the headaches from caffeine withdrawal were rough, but two years later I can safely say it was worth it.

But though I personally found diet soda drinking to be detrimental to my overall existence, is there really anything that bad about having a Diet Coke habit? Sian Lewis of the Times of London argues that a dependency on Diet Coke is a "civilized addiction," in that people tend to brush off fears about chemicals in their cans in order to happily continue drinking their favorite beverages. Concerns over osteoporosis and tooth decay are also dismissed in favor of continuing one's beloved Diet Coke habits. Sometimes, I guess, we'd rather not know what we're drinking, as long as it makes us feel better.

Daniel Finklestein, a self-proclaimed Diet Coke addict, tells busybodies to back off, noting that his soda addiction isn't hurting anyone: " don't drink alcohol, coffee or tea. I don't smoke. And I have never taken an illegal drug. But I do like a cool refreshing can, just for the taste. Actually, a number of cans. Or even, in the right convivial setting, with the right food, a 2-litre bottle. I am not bothering anybody else."

So what say you, commenters? Is a diet soda habit something to be concerned about? Or are there worse habits one can have? I know for me, personally, kicking the habit was worth it. But as someone who used to rely on that fizzy pop to get through the day, I also know how hard it is to give it up. The trick, I suppose, is to find some type of moderation, or at least a way to have a Coke and a smile without always equating one with the other.

Diet Coke: A Civilised Addiction? [TimesOnline]

• New lows in celebrity sartorial publicity: Dior would like everyone to know that Madonna was wearing its sunglasses when she visited the victims of her stage collapse in Marseille, which killed two workers and left eight injured. [WWD]

• A Tracey Emin etching of Kate Moss is among artworks for sale via raffle - tickets are just £1 - to benefit Mothers4Children. [Telegraph]
• For some reason, Levi's decided to give its Fall '09 lookbook a jailbird theme. Since, at least before orange jumpsuits, denim was the fabric of life in the big house, the lookbook features models styled for mug shots, and photographed through bars. (The bars appear to actually be...a fire escape.) File under Annals of Idiocy, subsection Stupid High-Concept Lookbooks. [HighSnobiety]
• Levi's has also just acquired its own footwear and accessories licensee for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, DC Co. The company wants to strengthen its presence in those markets. [WWD]
• An American Apparel store in Silver Spring, Maryland had its window broken, allegedly because the window display featured the company's "Legalize Gay" gay rights t-shirts. A threatening telephone call was also received by another area store after the attack. The company took down its window displays - "We just don't want a broken window," explained the Silver Spring store manager, Kassandra Powell - but released a statement affirming its support of gay rights, and its intention to continue running "Legalize Gay" ads in Washington, D.C., area media and providing its t-shirts to local activist groups. [The Sexist]
• Angie Everhart is eight days away from giving birth as a single parent. Her worst pregnancy cravings were for egg salad. [People]
• Jerry Hall's advice for modeling (and life?): "Be nice to everyone, even if you don't want to. Just be nice and gracious. And don't show your bum." [WWD]
• That's one way to multi-task: Alexandra Richards had a hotel minion perform a pedicure while she deejayed. "Stuff that you can't do while getting a pedicure" seems like as good a definition of "actual professional labor" as any; this anecdote therefore proves beyond all doubt that deejaying ain't a real job. (But doing pedicures sure is.) [P6]
• Bar Refaeli's new campaign for Rampage is predictably hot. [People]
• Gloria Vanderbilt told model Kiera Chaplin, Charlie and Oona Chaplin's granddaughter, that she was the spitting image of her gran. "Oona and I were often mistaken for being sisters," explained the newly minted erotic novelist. [P6]
• Top model Du Juan is being sued by the Chinese agency New Silk Road for allegedly violating her contract with them when she signed with international powerhouse agency IMG in 2005. New Silk Road wants a portion of Du's IMG earnings, and an approximately $439,000 fine. [China Daily]
• Erin Wasson is joining Swiss skateboard company Doodah's line of naked supermodel boards. Isabeli Fontana, Lara Stone, Toni Garrn, and Edita Vilkeviciute are already featured on individual skateboards, wearing shoes they could not actually skateboard in. [The Cut]
• Naomi Campbell is featured in a similar state of undress for a new D&G perfume campaign. Which motivated the Sun to write the pun, "breast assets." [Sun]
• French fashion house Cacharel is re-launching itself at Paris Fashion Week this September. [WWD]
• Scott Schuman's book, The Sartorialist, is rolling off the presses now, even though the official release date is not until August 12. The cover features stylist Julie Ragolia. [The Sartorialist]
• American Eagle's "Artist" jean, which was a best-seller until it was discontinued last year, has been brought back after a redesign. The new cut is intended to be more flattering to a lady's rear. The jeans will retail at $39.50; the two kinds that have "destroyed details" cost $10 more. [WWD]
• American Vogue's Sarah Mower writes that fashion this fall is going to be a grown-up affair - that clothes will no longer worship at the feet of youth. The girl in the photo illustrating this story looks to be about 14. [Telegraph]
• Steve Madden, which produces watches through a licensee, allegedly found fakes for sale on eBay. Imagine! But when they asked the site to remove the items, eBay didn't comply, so the company is suing. [Reuters]
• Stylist Patricia Field designed an Ugly Betty-inspired Diet Coke bottle. It's pink. Will people seriously buy anything? [Fashionista]
• Charlotte Russe announced a 4.9% drop in third-quarter profits, to $6.3 million. [WWD]
• Avon has announced it will be laying off 1,200 people, or 2.8% of its workforce, over the next four years. [AP]
• Escada's bond exchange, which needed an 80% acceptance rate from bondholders in order to save the company from bankruptcy, has only met with approval from 37% of the company's creditors. So it has extended the exchange period until August 5, and implemented an exchange of stock to raise additional cash. [WWD]
• 1.4 million pairs of children's shoes are being recalled. The shoes, shaped like racecars, have wheels which can detach and pose a choking risk. Buster Brown & Co.'s eight different styles of shoes were sold at retailers including JC Penney, Famous Footwear, Meijer, Sears, Target, and Wal-Mart, and can be returned for a full refund. [WWD]

• LiLo's "Marilyn Monroe-inspired leggings" (?) are "blowing off the shelves." [NY Daily News]
• Speaking of qualified designers: is Victoria Beckham's collection just a Roland Mouret ripoff? "Rumors are circulating in the fashion industry that the man behind the famous Galaxy dress — the hourglass dress that made women look like Forties Hollywood stars — is largely behind her collection. Last night, Victoria’s PR team admitted she is using the same seamstresses, pattern cutters and fabric makers as 45-year-old Mouret." [Daily Mail]
• Just go with it: Pharrell Williams is manufacturing yarn. [WWD]
• Poor Marc Jacobs: lonely, still using MySpace. “I need some photographs for my MySpace page...I don’t know how to post the pictures, so my assistant does it. MySpace makes people happy, which is cool. Also I get very lonely, and MySpace makes me feel better.” [Times of London]

• Lagerfeld's latest campaign is based on Colette's novel Cheri, the story of a young man enamored of a much older courtesan. Jerry Hall's taking the lead! [WWD]
• And other designers have discovered there are women over 40; make Michelle Obama their "muse." [WSJ]
• Speaking of Michelle, Tommy Hilfiger, not surprisingly, thinks she should choose an American designer for the inaugural ball. "And it should be of her choice. I don't think a stylist or somebody else should pick it out for her. She has great taste and I think she should go for it herself." [ET]
• Speaking of Tommy, he just signed a bunch of perfume bottles in Berlin. [WWD]
• Speaking of cologne, Coty is going to be distributing Antonia Banderas' latest scent. [WWD]
• Does the Beijing Dior exhibit sound ever-so-slightly...dissonant? "In a former factory space in the city’s booming 798 arts district, 50 works specially commissioned for the exhibition commingle with the original couture gowns by Dior and John Galliano (creative director since 1997) that inspired them." [New York Times]
• As if we didn't know we were in a recession: "Spring is awash in romantic Seventies motifs and styles: lush florals, hippie fringe, earthy tunics and eclectic accessories." [WWD]
• Speaking of recessions, more designers jump on the cut-rate Fashion Week bandwagon. [Times of London]
• Throw Cacharel on the pile, too. [WWD]
• And this Diet Coke fashion webcast — featuring Rihanna, Robin Thicke, and Cynthia Rowley — is really no substitute. [Fashionista]
• Still speaking of the recession! Fashionistas discover tailoring! [Daily Mail]
• They also discover "conscious consumption!" Or anyway, that's what Faith Popcorn's trying to coin. [WWD]
• In response, the luxury market needs to end "fast luxury," get serious! [WWD]
• And speaking of the Depression (literally), this Manhattan Boutique "1929" is giving out free soup while people browse their pricey clothes. Tasteful. [Fashionista]

[Image via Daily News]

Why hello there, dear. The words that come to mind immediately are "exquisite corpse." Yeah, it means something else, but damn. She is dead in the eyes. The lip gloss is purty, though! And positioning her mouth thusly doesn't make me think of swollen labia, no, not at all!!

Okay, so the copy claims that this product is "the end of overprocessed blonde," but over there on the right, Ms. Johansson's hair looks sorta overprocessed. To me. I know it's in the light, but is it supposed to look like cotton candy? Or is she imagining better tresses, hence the title "Dream Blonde"? Also, L'Oreal, You Have Taken The Title Case Thing Too Far, Methinks.

Look, I have no idea what the hell goes on under the hood of a car, but I do know that you don't need sunglasses to check out an engine. It's like they're trying to be pro-woman with a bad-ass chick mechanic, but from the way she's holding that wrench to the faux grease on her arms, it's clear she doesn't know what the fuck she's doing. "Genuine since 1937." Really? Also, this whole image is very Herb Ritts circa 1990, when Carre Otis was hot. Show me something new.

Guess what? If my birth control method fails I am not going to "Be Calm." I am going to freak the fuck out. Then I'm gonna read that thing Moe wrote about Plan B and throw up.

You know what else makes me freak out? When someone suggests that "we girls" should freak out less. We make less money than men, are expected to be thin and hairless and we have the crampy bleeds every 26 days. A body wash solves nothing. Fuck off.

Correct me if I am wrong, but waxing is not an orgasmic, kick up your heels, throw-your-head-back-in-ecstasy experience as illustrated here, is it?

The copy reads, "Unleash the enchantment of Brazil," and there's some sort of kudzu emerging from her crotch.

As a rule, if you have to put the word "SEXY" in electric lights behind you, then you are not sexy. And this is no exception. These ladies, none of whom are wearing pants, want me to believe that "big hair is sexy," and they appear to be in possession of yards and yards of extensions. And the bedraggled, voluminous crazytown hair, frankly, looks like crap. Try to count the number of times the word "sexy" appears, then ask yourself: Why is there so much going on in an ad for hairspray?

Pinocchio's sister dreams that someday, Diet Coke will turn her into a real girl. And cure migraines.

Haha, wow, OMG you guys, not having cellulite looks like SO MUCH FUN!

Aww, nostalgia! These happy white people have been in this same Newport ad since I was a kid. There's another one with happy black people. The greatest thing about Newport ads is how white everyone's teeth are. Smoking other cigarettes may discolor and rot your gums and give you oral cancer, but Newports are basically Crest White Strips!

• Stella McCartney calls dibs on bride-to-be Scarlett Johansson: "I'm definitely doing her wedding dress. She doesn't know it yet." Awkward. [People]
  
• Says Marc Jacobs on the bride-to-be, "I'm really happy for her. She's a great girl. I just think Scarlett is great and I hope she is very, very happy. She's super funny. I love a smart, ballsy, New Yorker and that's what she is. I wish her the best." And by "the best" he clearly means, "Do why didn't that bitch ask me to design her wedding dress?" [Vogue UK]
  
• Chris "Mr. Big" Noth has some strong feelings about Victoria's Secret, "I'm not into Victoria's Secret so much. I find it over the top. I like subtlety and I like elegance. I think their things are gaudy and they are really trying too hard. If I could make a fashion statement, I think that Victoria's Secret looks to me like somebody who is putting on too much make-up. It's too gaudy, man. I mean, come on take it easy, you don't have to have a fuckin' bouquet of flowers on your underwear. Sorry Victoria's Secret; I hope they're not one of our sponsors!" [Oh No They Didn't]
  
• "You can get diamonds cheap," says Heidi Klum, which is why she's going to start sewing them into the pockets of her Jordache jeans line. Clearly, she has not seen Blood Diamond. [WWD, 9th item]

• Good for you, Adidas, for winning your lawsuit against Payless shoes for their blasphemous thievery of what is clearly a design that only you own: Stripes. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Seriously, Suri Cruise does not need custom-made Roger Vivier shoes. I, however, do. [WWD, 1st item]
• So what did More editor-in-chief Lesley Jane Seymour do Monday night in lieu of attending the Met Costume Institute Gala? (She wasn't invited.) "I dressed up in my best Versace and barbecued on the my outside deck in the suburbs! Only kidding about the Versace! I wore Prada." [Fashion Week Daily]
• Oh also, Christina Ricci left the Costume Institute Gala in a huff after realizing upon entering that she and her boyfriend had not been seated together. [Page Six]
• If only I had been trapped in an elevator with Giorgio Armani yesterday. [Wowowow]
• So Gwyneth Paltrow is all, "I don't get why there's this big fuss about my S&M footwear fetish." [USA Today]
• Video footage of Gemma Ward trying to slay Liv Tyler: Here. [Fashionista]
• Video footage of Karlie Kloss doing ballet: Here. [NY Mag]
• Model and sometimes di Caprio girlfriend Bar Rafaeli sorta needs to pony up and serve in the Israeli Army already. [UPI]
• Oh of course Jimmy Choo is trying to usurp as much press and glory as they can from the opening of the Sex and the City movie. [Vogue UK]
• Ksube + Kanye = Pretty cool. [Sassybella]
• Diet Coke + Patricia Field = Pretty random. [Sassybella]
• OMG why did The Sartorialist get fired from the new Gap ads as a model already?! Why?! Why?! [Fashionista]
• Beth Ditto will be entertaining guests at the opening of the Alexander McQueen store in L.A. next week. [Fashion Week Daily]
• In the midst of economic downturn Barneys New York and Target seem to be entering into one of those "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship" sorta things. [WWD, sub req'd]
• And young design bad-ass Danielle Scutt is designing for Topshop. Seeing a theme here? [WWD, 8th item]
• The Turks? Love them some Dior. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Just what you needed: How to dress like celebrities, made easy. And a little stalker-ish. [TechCrunch]

• More rumored changes for The Greatest Show On Earth, Project Runway: Season 6 of the show, the first to be broadcast on Lifetime, may feature "More Than A Pretty Face" magazine Marie Claire in lieu of Elle as the affiliated fashion magazine sponsor. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Whoah: Are New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn and Skeletor/stylist Rachel Zoe more similar than we could have ever imagined? Possibly, if it's true that Cathy Horyn was also mysteriously not invited to the dinner and dancing portion of tonight's Costume Institute festivities. [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• And what does legendary costume designer Bob Mackie not like about the fashion industry? "Doing a fashion show that's on for 20 minutes and then it's over and everybody runs to the next one. Nobody sings, nobody dances, nobody tells jokes. I found it quite unsatisfying." I second that emotion. [WWD, sub req'd]

• It's so hard to be Gossip Girl's Penn Badgley: "I wear a lot of Burberry at events and the brand's been really supportive of me since the beginning. On the show, we wear H&M suits." [Fashion Week Daily]
• Sex and the City costume designer/fun drunk lesbian Pat Field: Now designing Diet Coke bottles. [FabSugar]
• More pearls of wisdom from Tim Gunn: "Always keep your tux jacket closed in photos." [Page Six]
• Starring in the latest Gap ads are actors Ginnifer Goodwin, Liv Tyler, Hugh Dancy, Fabcon Clemence Poesy, Catalina Moreno, Edgar Ramirez, photographers Scott Schuman (The Sartorialist) and Ryan McGinley, and also Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman, model Chanel Iman, Visioniare's Cecilia Dean, and Princess Coldstare herself, Leigh Lezark. [FabSugar]
• Leona Lewis: The latest celeb to believe she can be a fashion designer. A vegan fashion designer, that is. Watch your back, Portman and McCartney. [Fashionista]
• Lord & Taylor is launching a new "reality" advertising campaign, with TV and radio spots featuring real customers "ambushed' in their stores by "celebrity stylist" Robert Verdi and quizzed on their shopping experiences. Oh Lord. [WWD, sub req'd]
• WWD asks: "Tax Rebate Checks: Will They Spend Or Will They Save?" [WWD, sub req'd]
• More stars coming to tonight's Vogue and Armani-sponsored Costume Institute gala: Kate Bosworth, Thandie Newton, Audrey Tatou, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jourdan Dunn, Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann, and Roberto Bolle will all be there. In other words: Lots of good photos for us to dish on tomorrow. [WWD, 1st item]
• Also: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Gisele Bündchen and Tom Brady, Scarlett Johansson, Iman and David Bowie, Sofia Coppola, Karen Elson and Helena Christensen. [Vogue UK]
• Mary Alice Stephenson (formerly the fashion director at Harper's Bazaar and the co-host of America's Most Smartest Model on Vh1) is shooting a special for E! on tonight's festivities, set to air May 8th for the viewing pleasure of us plebs. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Elle editors might have put Kelly Clarkson on the cover of the mag, but that doesn't mean they think she's very fashionable. [Page Six]
• Marc Jacobs: Now in Moscow. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Former model Josie Maran may have fake breasts tits. [Awful Plastic Surgery]
• The fashion on Gossip Girl? Kinda crazy. But that's why we love it so. [EW]
• The rock stars today? The just don't dress like they used to. [LATimes]

According to the LAT, the Loser brass has been encouraging contestants to chew it because "gum can curb appetite, prevent snacking and provide an edge in the weight-loss game." It might be true to an extent, but the contestants on Loser are also exercising several hours a day and being fed incredibly healthy food in a controlled environment. The fact that they're losing a ton of weight? Yeah, it's not the gum.

Chewing gum is also a weight-loss strategy among some of the women interviewed by Allure for an article called, "Junk-food dieters fake their way to skinny." Kate, a 32-year-old advertising executive, chews an entire 18-piece pack of Extra a day to avoid snacking. Other women interviewed for the piece swear by Diet Coke, Starbucks, Tasti-D, and those apocalyptic 100-calorie snack packs as weight loss helpers. "Many believe ingesting a few artificial ingredients is a small price to pay for being able to eat the things they love while staying as thin as a Pringle," according to Allure. Um, no shit? Basically, these women are counting calories and sometimes rely on processed foods to do so. How is this newsworthy? Eating fewer calories will always make you lose weight, even if those calories are spent entirely on sugar-free Jell-O. When your paramount goal is to be skinny, not healthy, you're going to resort to whatever measures possible to reach your goal. That said, I will give up diet coke when they pry it out of my cold, dead hands.

Chew Gum To Lose Weight? [Los Angeles Times]
Junk-food Dieters Fake Their Way To Skinny [Allure via MSNBC]

Earlier: Annals Of Anorexia
100-Calorie Snacks Are The Downfall Of American Civilization

• New York Fashion Week and the showing of the Spring/Summer 2008 Ready-to-Wear collections start today. Expect us to be increasingly tired and irritable as the week goes on. Unless we see Vogue's Anna Wintour, in which case we will perk up momentarily, grab our BlackBerrys, and then go back to being tired and irritable. [Vogue UK]
  
• Models who were dancers say that their dance backgrounds give them a leg up in the industry because they are already well-versed in performance. We say that models who were dancers have a leg up in the industry because they've had years of practice starving themselves. [NYT]
  
• Those close to Oscar de la Renta say that "None of the girls who just show up to places to get their pictures taken were invited. Oscar thinks they are tacky and is only interested in the women who actually support his work and, you know, buy the clothes." [NY Post]
  
• Marc Jacobs, however, seems to totally dig those kind of girls, and has invited Lauren Conrad to participate in his show. [NY Post]

• Donna Karan apparently likes her men young and strapping. How the hell is Donna Karan dating a male model and we can't even get a date? [NY Daily News]
• Valentino: Still retiring. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Guess's net income sky rockets by 81.5% percent this quarter. Which can only mean one thing: The spirit of Anna Nicole Smith lives on. [WWD, sub req'd]
• JA Apparel Group owns the Joseph Abboud trademark. Designer Joseph Abboud does not. The latter is now being sued by the former for copyright infringement. And we are very, very confused. [WSJ]
• Even before we step foot in the tents today, we feel fully confident in saying this pic of an Olsen-designed furry coat (for their Elizabeth and James line) is the most terrifying fashion we'll see all day. [FabSugar]

Apparently when Diet Coke first debuted, it was a big friggin' deal and involved the Rockettes dancing around in front Radio City Music Hall in front of a giant Coke can as though it were a golden calf or something. But it sort of is. As we sit next to our very own can of Diet Coke right now, looking at the straw bobbing up and down from the beautiful carbonation, we're really happy that it exists in our lives, and have nothing but love in the hearts that it is most likely polluting with toxins. Happy Birthday Diet Coke!

Diet Coke is 99% Water (And That Is Now a Good Thing) [NY Times]
Are Diet Foods The Real Thing Or Just Good Buzz? [MSNBC]

Study: Diet Soda Linked to Heart Risks [Time]

Yet another reason for parents to feel guilty: Children who spend time in day care are more likely to be disruptive in school. [NY Times]

Parents' excessive worrying may be screwing up their kids as well. [WSJ]

Your Diet Coke addiction is screwing up your diet. [USA Today]

Bill Maher rants against purity balls during Friday's Real Time With Bill Maher. Plus, an adorable and mildly-horrified John Legend. [Feministing]

Two women in today's NY Times obituary section: Journalist Catherine Seipp, 49; dancer (and sister of Buddy) Vilma Ebsen, 96. [NY Times]