• Creator of this season's mightiest shoes, Alexander McQueen, is suing Steve Madden. McQueen's lawyers say the only reason the Madden is a knock-off and not a pure counterfeit is the omission of the logo'd zipper pull. (L-R: McQueen, Madden.) [WWD]

• There are pictures and renderings of Domenico Dolce's just-bought $29 million Manhattan penthouse. It looks predictably lavish; it even has an elevator for the designer's car. [FWD]
• Christian Lacroix will design another day! Al Hassan Bin Al Nuaimi, a United Arab Emirates sheikh, has worked out a deal to buy the bankrupt company from its owners, the Falic Group. If the deal is approved by the French bankruptcy court, it is understood that the house will continue to produce the couture collection for which it had been known. [WWD]
• Strokes member Albert Hammond, Jr., finally has pictures of his suit line. It looks pretty snazzy, albeit laughably priced, at $2,100-$2,400. [Style.com]
• Before Mounir Moufarrige, the CEO of Ungaro, hired Lindsay Lohan as the house's "artistic director," he asked her how long she planned on spending in prison. That's due diligence! [ToL]
• Speaking of non-formally-trained designers: "I cannot drape. I mean I cannot cut patterns. But I know exactly what I want and where the shoulder should be and where the seams should be," says 70-year-old Carolina Herrera. "And it's the eye you have to have for the colours, to mix colours, or proportions ... It was born in me. Because I didn't go to fashion school." [Canadian Press]
• The mood among the American press at the Paris shows was said to be grim. Top editors were absent entirely, and those who did come to the continent were spending the hours between shows wrestling with decisions about the layoffs and budget cuts they will have to make upon their return. Every Condé Nast editor has been asked to reduce his or her budget by a quarter; layoffs are expected to begin tomorrow. [FWD]
• Some see signs of the budget cuts in the fact that Anna Wintour repeated an outfit three times in ten days. But she repeats outfits all the time. [CityFile]
• Since Prince is in Paris for fashion week anyway, he just announced two shows this week at the Grand Palais. [WWD]
• Hot on the heels of Claudia Schiffer's announced intention to visit Iraq comes news that Roberto Cavalli is going to Chechnya. [FWD]
  
• The staff at the Marikina Shoe Museum were able to save Imelda Marcos's footwear collection from the knee-high waters of the most recent Tropical Storm. Three hundred people may have died, and thousands may have been left homeless — but they got the shoes! [AP]
• Gavin James Bower, a Dazed & Confused intern who became a male model for two years, has written a book about his experiences, called Dazed & Aroused. He tells the Sun: "For all the press about female models being forced to conform to an unhealthy body image, and all the horror stories about apple diets and the like, the pressure to remain a certain 'look' is just the same for male models. It's just not talked about." [Sun]
• Lily Cole says acting is like walking a tightrope. "The good actor is the one who always has a moment when they nearly fall off." [Telegraph]
• Peter Brant, in divorce filings, alleges that Stephanie Seymour spends $50,000 a month on clothes. And also that she destroyed his Kentucky Derby trophy. [p6]
• Lucky Brand's holiday shopping bags are designed specially by Sir Peter Blake, the artist who did the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Guess we're over that whole hide-your-shopping-in-the-plain-paper-of-shame thing. Happy recession everybody! [WWD]
• Liz Claiborne is going to be sold only at J.C. Penney, starting next fall. [WSJ]
• Louis Vuitton says it's on track to rise over the holiday period. [Reuters]
• Carrefour, the French retail giant, denies it is even considering selling its Chinese and Latin American operations. Because, while troubled right now, those are growth markets. Rumors are flying that investor Bernard Arnault — the head of LVMH — to cut its losses in those regions. [WWD]

• Lady Gaga, in a show of uncharacteristic sartorial restraint, wore a chiffon-and-human-hair Holly Russell dress that more or less covered her legs to an awards show. She thanked her publicist. [WWD]

• Marc Jacobs loves people wearing his clothes. Even knock-offs: "Even when I see a copy, something that's inspired by something I've done, it's a rewarding feeling." [TeenVogue]
• Richard Nicoll is the new women's wear designer of Cerutti. [WWD]
• At a party celebrating a champagne's ascension to the menu at the Lowell Hotel — verily, some people will show up to the opening of an envelope in this town — a woman told a story about a fashion designer who never let a little thing like a death in the family interfere with his duties as a host. "Once I was in Rome for a dinner at Valentino's villa in honor of Jacqueline Kennedy. Sadly, his father had died upstairs earlier in the day. Valentino, always a gentleman, did not wish to upset his guests, so he didn't announce the death until the next day. Jackie had a wonderful time." [P6]
• Coach is suing Target for allegedly selling knock-offs of its handbags. A federal judge dismissed Coach's last infringement suit against the retail giant. [WWD]
• What recession? Domenico Dolce just bought two Manhattan penthouses for $29 million. [NYPost]
• Some 30 outfits belonging to Audrey Hepburn will be auctioned, along with the actress's letters, in London this December. Naturally, there's heaps of Givenchy. [Telegraph]
• Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Museum is auctioning off nearly 8,000 garments and accessories from its costume collection, following the decision to merge its fashion with the Met's. Items from as far back as the 17th Century, as well as modern looks by designers like Bonnie Cashin and Halston, will be deaccessioned as a cost-cutting measure. [NYPost]
• Rosie O'Donnell would like everyone to know that despite her starring role in Nora Ephron's Love, Loss, And What I Wore — a play which contains a joke about wearing Eileen Fisher being tantamount to announcing, "I give up" — she really loves the brand. "When we did the first reading of the play, I said to Nora, ‘I'm really objecting to the Eileen Fisher comment being that I just purchased every single thing she makes and threw out everything else I own. Literally, my entire wardrobe is only Eileen Fisher…that and sweat suits." [WWD]
• Last week in Los Angeles, David Beckham launched something called the David Beckham by J. Bond Collection for Adidas's Originals by Originals line. "It's my style. I wanted to create something that everybody could wear whether it be going to practice, or the gym in the morning, or going for a coffee or going out to dinner at night," explained the soccer star. Coffee or dinner! How versatile. [People]
• Tory Burch loved being on Gossip Girl. "I have never acted before, so I was a little nervous about messing up my line. Blake made me laugh and put me at ease though, and the crew was so gracious." [People]
• Is it proper to call Lindsay Lohan a "client" of the Ungaro boutique when no indication is given that she is paying for the $150,000 worth of clothing she snapped up there in just one trip? Mounir Moufarrige, the guy who hired Lohan to "revive" Ungaro on the justification that "it could work," says: "What do you want, for her to be naked? I'm just so glad she likes Ungaro." [WWD]
• After the new artistic advisor's first Ungaro show in Paris, she may be the only one. Moufarrige went on to say, "I'll tell you one thing on the level: I'm crazy." The collection — which was styled with sparkly love-heart pasties — was so bad that front-row photographer Greg Kessler asked guests to pose as Lohan by hiding their heads in their hands. [NYTimes]
• The after-party, to which the actress arrived late, was no better. Possibly because Ungaro designer Estrella Archs spent her time reading the reviews. Either the stunt will work, said owner Asim Abdullah, or "we go down in a blaze of glory. Or unglory." [WSJ]
• Reviews that rated the show thusly: "An embarrassment." [WWD]
• And: "The Emanuel Ungaro show on Sunday may go down in history as the final gasp of celebrity madness." That line's from a little story, entitled "Hearts But No Soul," by a woman who goes by Suzy Menkes. [IHT]
• Lohan, for her part, says working for Ungaro is "pretty much a fairytale." [People]
• As part of its ongoing "Go Forth" ad campaign, Levi's is launching some kind of online game to build its brand image. Its advertising agency invented the odiously named Grayson Ozias IV, a 19th Century home recording artist around whom the game revolves. Tediously, there is a "corporate responsibility" phase of gameplay, in which players will vote on which charity will receive Ozias' $100,000 "fortune." [AW]
• Levi's would like to point out that 75 years ago, it pioneered the marketing of jeans to women. Not that Levi's, or notoriously non-environmentally friendly denim production in general, is any particular friend to the predominantly female, and overwhelmingly non-union, garment workforce it relies upon. [Feministing]
• Stella McCartney — a woman who was once hired for an unlikely position (head designer at Chloé) by Mounir Moufarrige, though that is neither here nor there — thinks long and hard about the environmental impact of her garment dyes. And she sure seems pretty smart and likable in this interview. [Guardian]
• Meanwhile, McCartney's latest replacement at Chloé, Hannah MacGibbon, says of contemporary fashion, "Everything's so hard at the moment. I don't feel like wearing that at all, even though it's nice to look at. It's completely lacking that sentiment that draws you in — the emotion of it….There's a lack of romanticism in the air. There's a real need for that softness."
• If you just can't wait to see Alexander McQueen's spring show when it's broadcast live from Paris on Showstudio tomorrow, check out the teaser greatest-hits clip that's already running. [Showstudio]
• According to one survey of Japanese retailers being bandied about at Paris fashion week, Alexander Wang has the "hottest" brand right now. Whatever that means. [WWD]
• Is it still news that Kate Moss continues to "design" collections for Topshop? Yes, because it's moderately cute? No, because it's hilariously overpriced? Maybe, because it might inspire a productive trip to the Salvation Army? In any case, Kate Moss continues to "design" collections for Topshop. [Refinery29]
• Latest datum in the Evidence That Martin Margiela Is No Longer With Maison Martin Margiela file: the fact that Maison Martin Margiela has signed on to do something as douche-bourgeois lifestyle-brand-y as "redecorating a suite at Les Sources de Caudalie "vinotherapy" spa near Bordeaux, which is feting its 10th anniversary this year." [WWD]
• Israeli Sports Illustrated model — and current Israeli Defense Force draftee — Esti Ginzberg has added to criticism of fellow model — and compulsory service avoider — Bar Refaeli. After a general called Refaeli a draft-dodger for avoiding Israel's standard 2-year service by taking advantage of rules regarding soldiers' marital status (Refaeli briefly married a family friend), Ginzberg, who started her service in July, told the press, "enlisting is a duty, not a choice. There are a million things I don't feel like doing, but I do them because I have to. Military service is part of the things I believe in, the values I was raised on." Around a quarter of young Israelis find ways to make themselves ineligible for IDF service; Refaeli says she totally really absolutely wanted to do hers, but "celebrities have other needs." Ginzberg is putting in her two years at an IDF reception base, where among other things, she tells new recruits that enlisting is important. Naturally, the media's playing this one as a catwalk catfight. [Independent]
• There's a rumor going around that Milan fashion week might become Rome fashion week. [WWD]
• Betsey Johnson, of all people, is being honored this fall by the National Arts Club. We cannot wait to see how that particular hot-pink whirlwind of hair extensions takes to the club's stodgy Gramercy Park headquarters. [WWD]

[Formentera, Italy; August 26. Image via Bauer-Griffin]

• Lindsay Lohan channels Marilyn Monroe on the August cover of Spanish Vogue. [ONTD]
• Fornarina also decided to go another round with the actress — but in these fall ads, they Photoshopped the Lohan to look like Heather Graham. [Sun]

• Lara Stone, who looks like nobody so much as herself, says she wasn't interested in fashion before she started modeling. "I thought modeling was a big joke because I was just a funny-looking teenager." Also, she has no hobbies: "What qualifies as a hobby, anyway? I don't collect stamps." [W]
• Pixie Geldof, Alice Dellal, and Daisy Lowe all left their London agency, Select — possibly because Select closed its celebrity division, possibly because their booker, Sarah Leon, left the company. The trio were snapped up by Next. [Grazia]
• It's fairly obvious why Madonna would begin filming her new music video, "Celebrate," in Milan with her friends Domenico Dolce, Stefano Gabbana, and Jesus Luz. Less clear is why WWD would put in scare quotes what they drank on the set, "limoncello." Don't they know that's a real thing? Danny DeVito advertises it! [WWD]
• Danica Patrick is to be the next face of the watch brand Tissot. The race car driver was photographed in the rooftop swimming pool of the Soho House, and the campaign will hit men's magazines, like Details and GQ in September. Patrick's Twitter page is also sponsored by Tissot, an arrangement she says is "a great way to show my personality, unfiltered and on my terms." Presumably terms that involve lots and lots of money. [WWD]
• André Leon Talley wears monogrammed shirts and alligator loafers without socks — and his new obsession is gardening. "I don't plant. I go to auctions at Doyle and buy gardening ornaments or furniture. That's my idea of planting, it's arranging!" The occasion for this revelation was the book release party for Gloria Vanderbilt's Obsession, an erotic novel which Diane von Furstenberg compared to The Story of O. Fellow guest Salman Rushdie expressed his amazement that the 85-year-old Vanderbilt could even stomach writing an entire novel of sex scenes, which he called "very difficult" and said he used to avoid in his novels. Rushdie also hopes that "when I get around to being 85 that I'm A, able to write anything and B, that I'm still interested in sex." [NYObs]
• If you've ever wondered why there couldn't be a "natural" product for treating pimples — something with willow bark extract, say, instead of the lab-synthesized form of salicylic acid — then the new Burt's Bees acne skincare line is for you. If you grumble more at the idea of "natural" being used as if it had some kind of absolute, timeless, positive meaning than you do at the thought of spots, carry on. [WWD]
• Kylie Minogue is launching her first fragrance for men, and it's called "Inverse." [WWD]
• Pictures of Urban Outfitters' collaborations with milliner Eugenia Kim and jeweler Annie Costello Brown are out — the collections themselves will hit stores this fall. [Blackbook]
• Rumor has it that makeup artist Tom Pechaux, who frequently works his magic for the top magazines and brands, is launching his own namesake makeup line with a cosmetics company partner. [Fashionista]
• There is a picture of Catherine McNeil in a cone bra at the end of this link. Also: Bunny ears are happening. Prepare. (Link potentially NSFW) [Models.com]
• Jon Gosselin and Christian Audigier are in the throes of a full-on international bromance. (Hailey Glassman is now the former's "stylist.") [LATimes]
• Tweets from Forever 21 indicate that a magazine for the brand is in the works. [Racked]
• L'Oreal has added actress Kate del Castillo to its roster of pretty makeup-selling ladies. [UPI]
• The possible bankruptcy of lender CIT Group, which provides financing to many apparel vendors to cover their accounts receivable during the period between when they ship orders to retailers, and when the retailers pay for the goods, has many in the fashion industry alarmed. Nearly 60% of U.S. apparel and footwear makers use CIT, and squeezing out that liquidity will almost certainly drive some of them out of business. CIT owes over $1 billion and has another $10 billion coming due; a bail-out is apparently not an option. [Crain's]
• Nanette Lepore is one of those upset. "They are the only bank that still lends money to small businesses. There is no one else to take CIT's place." [HuffPo]
• Steve Madden's Australian division has gone into voluntary bankruptcy administration. [News.com.au]
• Bankrupt Eddie Bauer was bought by Golden Gate Capital for $286 million. [NYTimes]
• Joshua Walter, a 20-year-old model from Queens who walked for Hugo Boss, was arrested for his role in an alleged robbery ring. The armed five-man gang would target delis and gas stations, rob the register, and then rob all the patrons. Walter allegedly pistol-whipped one patron during a robbery at a Dunkin' Donuts. [NYP]

• Mango has replaced Penelope Cruz with Scarlett Johansson for its fall campaign. [WWD]
• A gigantic, 16'x24' nude photo of a 26-year-old Carla Bruni reclining in bed is up for auction in Berlin. Just the thing to brighten up any living room. [Daily Mail (NSFW)]

• When they first met, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana didn't take to each other's looks at all. Says Gabbana: "I thought he was a monster. Seriously, he was such a fashion victim. He looked like a priest, all dressed in black with that white skin and a shaved head. It wasn't very impressive." Says Dolce: "Stefano was very Milanese, with his long hair and Lacoste T-shirt." Then they spent 20 years together as professional and intimate partners, and though each now has a boyfriend, they say they'll be best friends until they die. [Telegraph]
• You can vote for one of 100 American fashion designers, or nominate one not already on the list, in the Council of Fashion Designers of America's newly introduced Popular Vote award. Cast as many votes online as you like, and register to win two tickets to a Spring/Summer fashion show in New York yourself, until June 9. [WWD]
• Roberto Cavalli just can't decide whether or not to sell a stake in his company. Lately, he thinks not. Translation: In the current market, nobody could offer him a price he'd accept? [WWD]
• Critical Shopper Mike Albo does the Tommy Hilfiger store in the West Village: "The male form was dressed in flower printed pants, a green polo and dark blue blazer. 'See? Jonathan would so wear that!' said one woman to another. Minutes later, a young man in white sunglasses stopped suddenly, clutched his faux-hawked friend and motioned to the window as if it were a large landscape painting. 'This. Is the moment. I am wanting,' he said." Funny. I walked by that display with a guy friend, elbowed him once the window had revealed its full grandma-wallpaper horror, and hissed Those pants! We both laughed. [NY Times]
• Forever 21 has made an offer of $17.7 million for 17 stores from the bankrupt Gottschalks chain. [WWD]
• Meanwhile, the jury in the Forever 21/Trovata copyright case — Trovata alleges that the fast fashion chain copied six of its shirts — told the judge it was deadlocked, with one juror suspected of misconduct by the others. The jury will begin deliberating again on Friday. [WWD]
• Lily Cole's first major film — The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, directed by Terry Gilliam — débuted at Cannes and has been roundly panned by critics. They say that the effort, which was also Heath Ledger's last movie, and features Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell as replacement actors, is a basically a mess. But Cole's performance, as 16-year-old Valentina, is being hailed by critics from such publications as Variety and the Times of London, which gave the movie only two stars but said the Cole "is mesmerizing as the teenage siren, Valentina. It's her tangos with the various [men] that keep us focused on the romance." [Fashionologie]
• Christian Audigier will show at the Las Vegas fashion trade mega-show Magic this season. [WWD]
• Levi Strauss & Company supports gay marriage. Not only did company lawyers file an amicus curiae brief with the California Supreme Court against upholding Proposition 8 last year, but the company sponsors programming on the Logo network, and now 20 of the company's stores in four major cities — New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco — will incorporate white knots into its window displays. White knots are a symbol of marriage equality. Which only leads one to wonder: why just 20 stores in a handful of urban centers? Wouldn't it be something if the Levi's shop at, say, First Colony mall in Houston, was decked out with white knots? [NY Times]
• Hong Kong-based YGM Trading Ltd. confirmed yesterday that it is in negotiations to buy Aquascutum, the British fashion house. Renown, the label's Japanese owners, last week rejected an 11th-hour buyout bid from CEO Kim Winser, who subsequently resigned. [WWD]
• Burberry throws open its doors in Manhattan, and switches on its new neon sign, on Thursday. Or, if you're Mike Bloomberg, "Burberry Day." [WWD]

• Sometimes the morning brings good news: Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana are going to play Italian priests in the movie version of Nine, which was inspired by Fellini's 8 1/2. Priests! [Elle UK]

• And here's the bad news: The U.S. Department of Labor reports job losses of nearly 10,000 in the apparel and textile sector for January alone. Departent stores cut nearly 9,000 positions the same month. [WWD]
• Luxury conglomerate It Holding SpA, which owns the labels Gianfranco Ferre and Malo, may go into bankruptcy. The Italian stock exchange has suspended trade of its stock indefinitely. [WSJ]
• Residents of San Francisco's Mission district — kind of like the Williamsburg of the west — successfully fought a proposed American Apparel using the city's stringent permit requirement laws for chain stores. The idea of hundreds of American Apparel-clad hipsters arguing the finer points of locally-owned commerce to the planning commission is a little wacky but sweet. [SF Gate]
• Meanwhile, spunky Badgers influenced the University of Wisconsin to let its contract with Russell Apparel, owner of the Russell Athletic brand, lapse following reports of anti-union activity by the company in Honduras. [U.S. News]
• Phoebe Philo talks at some length about her design process for her first Céline pre-spring and resort collections, which are to be shown in June. There's nary a mention of the fact that her first Céline collection was to be for fall 09, which booster Anna Wintour had booked into an exclusive Vogue editorial for the March issue, and which sources recently reported LVMH had gotten "a team" to work on in Philo's stead. [WWD]
• This completely escaped my notice: the real people in the background of the ad campaign for Isaac Mizrahi's first collection for Liz Clairborne include bloggers Dannielle Kyrillos of Daily Candy and Katrina Longworth of Spout Blog. Wonder whose idea that was? [Brand Freak]
• Model Heather Marks diaried her food intake for seven days in the run-up to New York fashion week. You can now commence arguing about whether or not it's healthy; I vote her a paragon of nutritional virtue, but then, I've been in this industry a long time. [Grub St.]
• Fendi's sole perfume, Palazzo, which launched in 2007, is being taken off the market due to disappointing sales. [WWD]
• Victoria's Secret has hired an L.A. entertainment company to help place their products in film and television venues. Look forward to a net increase of characters taking moments to adjust their VS bra straps in 3, 2, 1... [Brand Week]
• The Times of London has a sneak peek at a new exhibition of Madonna's clothes in the English capital, and a fascinating take on the semiotics of her Madgesty's dress. [Times of London]
• Oooh. I totally want stationery that features designers' doodles and sketches. [WWD]
• Fashion houses seem of two minds about how to design for the recession: some, like Louis Vuitton and Zac Posen, are talking all about "classic" this and neutral colors that, while others, like Coach, want more than ever to harness the bright sparkle of trendiness that might make their products stand out from others'. Everyone's going to be watching to see what Marc Jacobs does, of course. [WSJ]
• And whatever that might be, the Guardian has a good, long appreciation of Jacobs' recent Stephen Sprouse collection for Louis Vuitton, and a more than a few 80s New York stories of the designer himself. [Guardian]
• Unsurprisingly, Kate Moss is the female celebrity women most want to dress like. I think, cough, she is part of the reason Hunter rubber boots are selling so well, Wall Street Journal. [The Sun]
• Ew, Fergie has a shoe line now. [WWD]
• McDonald's McCafe will be the "official coffee" of New York fashion week, with espresso and drip coffee available for free in the tents all week long. Naturally they're expecting front-row celebs to be photographed, paper cups in hand. Micky D's hasn't traditionally had the best outreach with the womenfolk; I guess by now they figured out the shortest distance to a girl's heart is via vanilla latte. [AdAge]
• The pre-holiday 70% and 80% markdowns at Saks and other department stores were just a harbinger of things to come. Expect the big stores that can afford the hit to keep pushing prices down — and expect the smaller concerns to continue struggling to compete. [WSJ]
• This is just ridiculous. Heel height has nothing to do with the economic climate, and "sky-high heels," which I'm pretty sure didn't even exist in the 1930s since they didn't then know how to achieve height and strength by using a metal core within the heel shaft, have been in for about the last four years and certainly aren't any new recession thing. Who writes this crap, and why aren't they busy getting to the bottom of the Lipstick Sales Conundrum or retooling the Hemline Bellwether hypothesis? [The Sun]
• American Eagle Outfitters is suing Citigroup for allegedly misleading them into buying assets that they were assured were safe and liquid, but whose value has now plummeted. [Dealbook]
• Unlike Kellogg's, Speedo is standing by Michael Phelps in the wake of being photographed doing whatever he was doing with that unusual-looking pipe. [WWD]
• Jason Wu's PR firm threw the 26-year-old designer a party at the Soho Grand ahead of fashion week. [Style.com]
• Love magazine, the hotly-awaited brainchild of power stylist Katie Grand (formerly of Pop) has leaked its inaugural cover. It's a triple header, with one featuring Agyness dressed up as Queen Elizabeth II, another showing Iris Strubegger as a purple-haired cyber clubkid, and the third with Iggy Pop. Looks like a winner. [Models.com]

• Diane von Furstenberg attended the inauguration with her oldest African-American friend, André Leon Talley. She hobnobbed with Oprah and David Axelrod, then dressed up in, um, a ski suit to watch the swearing-in. [Financial Times]

• Poor Peter Som sounds like he's having a hell of a time. He left Bill Blass to focus on his eponymous line, only for his financial backers to, well, back swiftly away. The Cut asked how he was doing, and he told them, "Shit happens. Sometimes it's a lot, sometimes it's a little. So I think everyone's going through some tough times...Why don't you ask me some questions about Michelle Obama's dress?" Turns out he submitted sketches of a long, white gown — "I guess I was in the ballpark, right?" — but obviously wasn't Michelle Obama's final choice. The way I see it, while a Google bump and a Good Morning America interview might have given him some press, the fundamentals are still what counts. And his ability to design beautiful clothes women want to wear is, at least, recession-proof. [The Cut]
• Clearly Som is not the only one in fashion hurting. Abercrombie & Fitch, which had extremely poor fourth quarter sales, laid off 50 workers at their Ohio headquarters. The mall store sees itself as an aspirational brand, so it refuses to discount its wares to move units during any downturn — their sale-happy competitors have no such compunction, which is part of the reason for Abercrombie's double-digit slide in same-store sales since August of last year. Further layoffs have not been ruled out. [Reuters]
• For another view on the recession, check out this interview with Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce, conducted back in September, just as the financial news was going from bad to awful. It's a snapshot of two men who, like we all were back then, are still grappling with the daily news of a world economy in a slow-motion crash. Says Gabbana, "The money hasn’t changed, it’s the mentality." Dolce offers, "Maybe we go well with crisis?" before pointing out a trend piece in Corriere della Serra about the financial crisis bringing people together. Gabbana shoots back, "Yes, but I’m also tired of reading this stupid stuff. I’m sick of it. We said the same thing after September 11. We just continue to do our job in the same way, maybe putting more energy, more fantasia, more creativity into it." As worthwhile a strategy as any. [Interview]
• Other designers plowing resolutely ahead without saying 'boo': Brioni, which introduced a made-to-measure suit that can cost up to $43,000 in October, and Hermès, whose limited-edition silk Josef Albers scarves of last fall cost $2800 each. The "elite of the elite" have bought 30 of the suits, astonishingly. [WSJ]
• Supposedly, LVMH's Bernard Arnault and PPR's François Pinault have buried the hatchet. What kind of world is it where two French luxury-industry billionaires who share a last-name syllable can't get along? [Financial Times]
• Iman compared herself to a duck in an interview with E! Canada. Because ducks look calm and collected, but are paddling furiously beneath the surface. A writer for the National Post, apparently unable to grasp why a supermodel would find an animal metaphor useful in describing her personality as opposed to her looks, takes this to mean Iman has body-image issues. [National Post]
• A stage manager who worked on the set of "Lipstick Jungle" is being charged with the theft of almost $30,000 worth of costumes. Designers who had lent the production their clothing and accessories noticed unreturned items going up on eBay. [CNN]
• Jason Wu is feeling the love this week. The 26-year-old designer of that one-shouldered white gown got his very own profile in the Times' "Sunday Styles" section, right ahead of fashion week. Reporter Eric Wilson mentions Wu was taking interviews in between working on his fall collection, but offers no further details of the intriguing fur-fest. (Wu told Fashion Week Daily fall would be all about fur. And "luxury.") [NY Times]
• Inaugural fashion coverage would not be complete without a lengthy, considered piece by Robin Givhan all about the styles of dress of the attendees not named Obama. [Washington Post]
• For reasons unclear, Spanish feminists protested a Zara store in Madrid. [The F Word]
• J Peterman, the company best known for "Seinfeld" gags and a real-life 1999 bankruptcy, is back. [MSNBC]
• Awesome lady Jane Birkin watched the Hermès men's show in Paris wearing an Obama pin. [WWD]
• Chloe Sevigny talks to the Times about her style, but gives no information about that unisex collection she's presenting this week in Paris. She does, however, shop for hosiery from a guy who is "like the Soup Nazi, but he sells socks." [NY Times]
• Meanwhile, Padma Lakshmi has a line of fine jewelry she'd like very much to sell you. [WWD]
• The Fashion Design Council of India has a new program: model rehab. It's like industry exit counseling, to get you a new job when the clients stop booking you. [Hindustan Times]
• Jim Horne, male model of the 40s and 50s, and first cover subject of the newly renamed Gentleman's Quarterly, died at age 91 in New York. The business certainly was different then. [NY Times]
• Women shoppers are increasingly angered by the poor construction of budget fashion items. Complaints because of unwarned shrinkage, fading, breaking zippers, running dyes, and embellishments that fall off at the first wear are up 22%. Let's not take it anymore! Until there is another sale at H&M. [Independent]
• Marc Jacobs has palatial new digs in someAndre Balazs-developed condo building in SoHo. It's 2,500-square-feet, presumably expensive. [New York Post]
• Pam Anderson's Vivienne Westwood campaign is out. Shockingly, the pairing results in a less than demure aesthetic...let's just say Pamela Anderson's breasts are prominently displayed. Which is more subtle than the pics themselves! [Fashionista]
• At least they're going out with a bang: Hartmarx Corp., the Chicago company that owns Obama Inaugural tux-maker Hart Schaffner Marx, has filed for bankruptcy. [WSJ]
• Kanye West "promotes" his new Louis Vuitton-collab sneakers in a bizarre new video. Which is to say, he proclaims that he's changing his name from "the Louis Vuitton Don" (?) to "Martin Louis the King, Jr." (?) then declares, "and until then, I will be in the building, swagger, until one hundred thousand trillion." [Racked]
• Speaking of odd collaborations, we don't even want to imagine what kind of douchey teen will carry the new Ric Owens Eastpaks to school. At the very least, the inkstains had better be solid gold. [Fashionista]

[New York, May 5. Image via INFDaily.com.]

• Frances Bean Cobain is rumored to be the next face of Chanel. That's hot. And also crazy. Oh, Karl. [Vogue UK]
  
• Louis Vuitton has postponed indefinitely its "China Run" car rally, which was originally scheduled to take place in late May with a route from Chengdu and Kunming. Reason? Um, it's not exactly cool to be supporting China's blatant disregard for human rights right now and France is all pissed re: the Olympics etc etc. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Also, Yohji Yamamoto wants to teach China about Peace and improve relations though the country and his native Japan through his new Yohji Yamamoto Fund For Peace. This will mainly involve fashion shows. Of course. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Also China's on the warning list for counterfeiting shit. Oh, China. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Tommy Hilfiger, ambiguously racist? Says the designer, "[W]e feel that with our European-influenced approach, the sophisticated and higher level of quality and fashion somehow reaches the type of people who represent the brand very well... Ten years ago it was positioned with a lot of red, white and blue and a lot of logos and you would look at these street kids wearing the clothes as billboards." [FT]

• Elle still hasn't confirmed that fashion director Nina Garcia was fired, but Nina's assistants, Jade Frampton and Malina Joseph, just got big promotions, with Frampton taking the title of market editor and Joseph that of bookings editor. Senior style editor Kate Lanphear has been promoted to style director and rumors abound that she might be up for the fashion director gig herself. Can someone tell us the difference between a style director and a fashion director? The real difference, that is? That's what we thought. [WWD, 4th item]
• Um, but these promotions seem to be a result of the fact that bookings editor Claudine Ingeniri and market editor Helane Crowell have left the magazine. Associate art director Florence Sicard has also left. [WWD, 4th item]
• Anna Wintour's new assistant is named Claiborne Swanson. She comes from the Swanson-as-in-chicken-breasts family. Also, she must be a masochist to have taken this job. [NYMag]
• Okay, so here's what the rumor mill is reporting regarding who will come with whom at next Monday's Costume Institute Gala, hosted by George Clooney, Julie Roberts, and Anna Wintour: Giorgio Armani with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Jennifer Lopez with Alberta Ferretti, Kate Bosworth with Chanel, and Eva Mendes, Rachel Bilson and Fergie with Calvin Klein. Mariah Carey, Renée Zellweger, Scarlett Johansson, Kate Moss, Mary J. Blige, Claire Danes, Mischa Barton, LeBron James, Valentino, Tom Ford, Domenico Dolce, Stefano Gabbana and Donatella Versace will all be there too. [WWD, 1st item]
• The Wall Street Journal names Proenza Schouler, Peter Som, Zac Posen, Rodarte, Derek Lam, 3.1 Phillip Lim and Tuleh as the seven young designers to watch because they're thisclose to breaking mainstream. Um, they already have. Way to be up on the times, WSJ. [WSJ]
• Deep thoughts with Entourage's Emmanuelle Chirqui, "Why not wear something fabulous and save the environment at the same time?" [WWD, 2nd item]
• Rami Kashou: You can buy it online! [Sassybella
• Glasses are hot, Lasik eye surgery be damned. [WSJ]
• Men: Wearing jewelry. [LATimes]
• High-heeled Crocs: Oh. God. [Crocs]

• Despite toiling for so many years educating Americans on the merits of croc-skin bags on a certain premium cable TV show, Kim Cattrall says she has seen the PETA light: she's donating all the furs she wore in making the SATC movie to the animal rights organization so they can be donated to homeless people who no one will ever mistake for trendsetting style icons. There's just one flaw in that plan, and we think you might know what it is. [Page Six]
  
• Spanx is getting into the business of making bras. Shudder. [FabSugar]
  
• Gisele is the latest model to think she's a fashion designer. Ms. Bundchen's collection will be in stores in March 2008, but she didn't do it alone (surprise, surprise) — she's partnered with an obscure little duo known as Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. [Vogue UK]
  
• Gucci will release a limited edition collection in honor of the Beijing Olympics. Wonder if anyone will follow up with a "Genocide Olympics" line? Yeah, probably not. [WWD, sub req'd]

• Why was Colin Farrell wearing Juicy Couture at the screening of his new film (directed by Woody Allen) the other night? "I got it for free. My personal style is quick." [Fashion Week Daily]
• French Vogue's Carine Roitfeld is being honored by amFAR this January for her philanthropic efforts to fight AIDS. We always knew she was a hooker with a heart of gold! [Fashion Week Daily]
• Pastel-colored condom compacts: Oy. [Sassybella]
• Leather jacket experts Belstaff: Costumed not only Steve McQueen way back when, but also Will Smith for I am Legend and Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd. We will take an excuse to write about dreamy Johnny Depp. [Vogue UK]
• The latest pursuit by Donna Karan's holistic health care organization the Urban Zen Initiative: a celebrity DJ-created mix tape, natch. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Oh no! The writer's strike might mean celebs may not want to attend the big awards shows this winter like the Oscars and the Golden Globes? Which means that designers houses won't be able to tactfully loan out their garb to the pretty stars and get lots of free advertising? Well if that's not a reason to care now about the poor writers, we don't know what is. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Jade Jagger, Katharine Hamnett, the Scissor Sisters, Rihanna and Timbaland are amongst the celebs to join forces in creating yet another celeb-clothing-line-with-a-cause: Fashion Against AIDS. The line will be sold at H&M and 25% of the proceeds actually go to charity. [Vogue UK]
• Target: Sorta doesn't give a shit about Christmas this ear. No special decorations, no special merchandise. Bah Humbug. [WWD, sub req'd]