• Michelle Obama wore a sterling-silver sequined dress by Indian-born designer Naeem Khan to a state dinner in honor of India's prime minister. [USAToday]
• Desiree Rogers wore Comme des Garçons. Which makes this the most fashion-forward administration, ever. [Mrs. O]

• "I feel so happy to be a part of this historical event between the two countries where my heart lies," says Khan. [People]
• And Mrs. Obama has apparently ordered thigh-high leather boots from Robert Clergerie. [Telegraph]
• Daul Kim's recent video spots for the Chanel "Cocoon" bag line are still on the Chanel website. [Racked]
• Emma Watson went to a hockey game n New York with a Spanish rock star and YSL designer Stefano Pilati. This is, apparently, big news. [Elle UK]
• The mother of Catherine McNeil, the model who appeared in public in Sydney with cuts on her arms, says that her understanding is that McNeil fell down some stairs. (Her agency said the cuts were the result of a skateboarding injury.) Her mother also said that the loneliness and distance from her family of modeling often left her feeling "down." "She hasn't had it easy. She hasn't had much of a life. I never forced her into modeling, it was her decision, it was her choice," said McNeil's grandmother, who raised her. "But it's not as glamorous as it appears. There's a lot of pressure to maintain your looks and sometimes it gets her down." [News.com.au]
• Mounir Moufarrige says Lindsay Lohan isn't going anywhere: "Yes [she's staying on], she has a job to do." Her first collection as "artistic advisor" for Ungaro led to the label being dropped by major U.S. retailers like Neiman Marcus. (Moufarrige says the clothes are "selling well.") Even Emanuel Ungaro himself — who has not been involved in the running of his namesake company since 2001 — joined in the chorus of criticism, calling Lohan's work "a disaster." "Mr Ungaro has his views, he can keep them," said Moufarrige, tartly. [Reuters]
• Victoria Beckham is re-launching her denim collection. No longer will it be sold under the name dVb: she's opted for the more prosaic "Victoria Beckham Denim." Prices will start at £140. [Elle UK]
• Of course D&G publicist Ali Wise would be getting filmed for Tinsley Mortimer's reality television show. [NYDN]
• Adidas would like to move its production of NBA jerseys to Thailand, from a factory in upstate New York. Not if Chuck Schumer has anything to do with it! [AP]
• Meanwhile, Stefano Lattanzi's Manhattan store continues to sell $18,000 men's crocodile skin boots. Women's cost $25,000. Arnold Schwarzenneger is allegedly a fan. [NYDN]
• Refinery29's list of ten fashion catchphrases — from "smize" to André Leon Talley's "I look authori-taaay!" — is dead-on, perfect, the end. [Refinery29]
• Target has announced its first ever collaboration with a millinery designer. Next April, a line of hats by Eugenia Kim — who previously did a lower-priced line for Urban Outfitters — will go on sale at the retailer. A shoe collection by Cynthia Vincent will also hit the chain on the same date. [Stylelist]
• Don't hold your breath for such a collab with Michael Kors. "We don't need to," says the orange one. [Independent]
• Jimmy Choo's collection for H&M cost up to 45% more in Ireland than it did in England. H&M says the difference reflects "taxes and transportation costs" as well as currency fluctuations. [IrishTimes]
• Christian Restoin, longtime partner of Carine Restoin-Roitfeld, is teaming up with Current/Elliot's Serge Azria to relaunch Equipment shirts. [Elle UK]
• Irina Shabayeva, of Project Runway near-fame, designed a wedding dress for Kelly Ripa. Since Ripa eloped with her husband, she wore it on national television instead of to her wedding. [People]
• Fashion blogger Lindsay Ibarra, on fashion bloggers: "What has been a pertinent trend throughout the most popular fashion blogs is the sort of self-indulgent act of getting dressed up, striking an adorable pose and writing a few witty words about what you're wearing and what you did that day. While this is all well and good for the purposes of creative journaling, what is happening more and more is that these faces are starting to be considered the new voices in fashion. Sea of Shoes blogger Jane Aldridge recently designed a line of shoes for Urban Outfitters, Julia Frakes and Rumi Neely (of Bunny Bisous and Fashion Toast, respectively) have both been signed to Next and Tavi from Style Rookie has her own fan club of editors and stylists championing her as the next Diana Vreeland. What's interesting about fashion is that it is one of few industries where you need virtually no education to be a star. Dressing and presenting yourself well take the place of a diploma or experience and in some cases even dressing yourself badly works, too." [EvilMonito]
• J. Crew's quarterly results were so far above analysts' expectations that its share price rose 7% in after-hours trading. Same-store sales for the period rose 8% on last year, and revenue rose 14%, to $414 million. [Crain's]

• Michelle Obama may have skipped the CFDAs, but she'll celebrate the National Design Awards at the White House on July 24. The winners, chosen by the Smithsonian and including Francisco Costa, will participate in events around Washington. [WWD]

• The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving Chicago apparel manufacturer American Needle and the National Football League. American Needle contends that the league ran afoul of antitrust laws when its 32 teams canceled their individual apparel licenses to manufacture exclusively with Reebok in 2001; the NHL says that it is, in fact, a single entity entitled to do business with whomever it likes. [Breitbart]
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection had a banner week, seizing $10 million worth of counterfeit goods. Six different intercepted shipments included fake Nike sneakers, fake Coach bags, fake Gucci shoes, and fake Louis Vuitton purses. [WWD]
• Victoria Beckham is bringing in an all-new team to design and produce her dVb denim line ahead of its relaunch, expected for next year. "Victoria makes out she's hands-on, but she doesn't sit there cutting patterns," explains an anonymous friend. Not that there was much misunderstanding on that count. [Daily Mail]
• Ed Westwick — from that show about high schoolers with credit cards — posed for K Swiss shoes, and boy does he talk about the experience as one itching to be re-hired! "They know who they are," the actor said of the company, before casually mentioning that he'd just love to do another campaign. [WWD]
• Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy talked to New York about his Spring 09 couture collection, and his just-presented Resort 09 collection. Tisci, who ascended to his position five years ago, at the age of 28, calls himself the youngest couturier in history, despite the fact that both Yves Saint Laurent, who took the reins at Christian Dior at the age of 21, and Hubert de Givenchy himself, who founded his namesake line at 25 back in 1952, were younger. [The Cut]
• Model Chanel Iman's inability to distinguish between "their" and "there" has not hampered her ability to snag an internship at Teen Vogue. In a sweet touch of near-authenticity, the Condé Nasties had her clean out the styling closet. [Twitter]
• Urban Outfitters now sells its clothes via mobile phone, for those occasions when you yearn to smell of Vincent Gallo's ballsweat and early 90s desperation, but can't find your way to a store or a computer. [WWD]
• Of course American Apparel would market its new bedding with a bunch of "Oh hai Dov, this your bed? Tee hee!" shots. [AmApp]
• In other news of products that signal the apocalypse, you can now buy an Oscar de la Renta dress for your three-year-old. [W]
• These fashion-show-throwing Manhattan middle schoolers, on the other hand, seem self-sufficient enough to never be heard wailing, "But Mommy I want an Oscar noooooooow!" [Reuters]
• Valentino's owner, the U.K. private-equity firm Permira, is in talks with the fashion house's primary creditors to relax the terms of its €2.5 billion debt. Permira bought Valentino for €5.3 billion in 2007, when such buy-outs — and the easy credit they were financed with — were common. Head designer Valentino Garavani retired within months of the deal, and the house has struggled to express a coherent creative vision since his departure. [ToL]
• Madonna's wholesale transformation of her boy-toy, Jesus Luz, into a real runway model is proceeding apace. After his exclusive appearance on the Dolce & Gabbana runway for Milan's men's wear week, he headed to Paris — unburdened by any exclusive deal — and promptly racked up a spot in Givenchy's lineup. His outfit included studded gladiator sandals, harem pants, and a very busy floral/plaid shirt. [The Cut]
• Esteban Cortazar and Mounir Moufarrige, the C.E.O. of the house of Ungaro, continue to do the will-they-won't-they dance around rumors of designer Cortazar's departure. Cortazar was at the Ungaro men's wear show in Paris and, when asked about his differences with management, said "For now I am here." Moufarrige, for his part, when asked if he would be retaining Cortazar's services into the future, said, "He's here," and pointed at the runway. [WWD]
• The rumor that Pierre Cardin's Chinese shoe and leather goods licensee was in talks to take over the French brand outright has been denied by both Pierre Cardin and the shoemaker. [Reuters]
• American retailers just can't catch a break. If it's not the recession, the rising unemployment rate, or the precipitous drop in consumer spending, it's the risk of tornadoes and unseasonal torrential rain keeping the customers from their stores. [WWD]
• Versace saw a 13.4% decline in revenue during the first quarter of this year, but its sales results were stronger during the months of May and June, company chairman Santo Versace reported. [Reuters]
• Maybe part of the reason that Aéropostale is outperforming competitors like Abercrombie & Fitch to such a large degree is due to the fact that the company spends 80% of its marketing budget online, online being where most of its customers are? [WWD]

• Unlike her husband, who plans on doing zero promotional work for his Adidas line, Victoria Beckham is in New York to unveil a new 20 ft Emporio Armani ad at Macy's. [UPI]

• Posh is also expanding her fashion reach, manufacturing her dVb jeans in-house in London, and signing a new sunglasses deal with maker Cutler & Gross. [WWD]
• Around 200 people waited on the street for Michelle Obama to emerge from the US mission to the UN on Tuesday. The First Lady wore the same Tracy Feith dress she wore to a post-inaugural prayer breakfast in January. [WWD]
• Three words: Target. Anna. Sui. [WWD]
• Did Kate Moss really refuse to shake Agyness Deyn's hand in the receiving line at the Met ball on Monday? [Racked]
• And did Gisele Bundchen and Bar Refaeli — ex- and current girlfriend, respectively, of Leonardo DiCaprio — have a frosty encounter at the end of the night? That sounds kind of like the last party I went to, only it was on a tiny fire escape, not at the Temple of Dendur, and the awkward partner-in-common pairing was male, not female, and, oh yeah, nobody was wearing Versace. [The Observer]
• Madonna apparently says Jesus Luz's name in the Lamb of God pronunciation, not the From South America pronunciation. [WWD]
• Dasha Zhukova, a socialite who took over Katie Grand's job at Pop despite having no editorial experience, said at Rodarte's Met afterparty, "Are we in a basement? Because this is the chicest underground party I've been to. Literally, underground." The venue, the SubMercer, is indeed underground. Well done, Dasha. [Style.com]
• Pierre Cardin was hospitalized in Marseille after a fainting episode earlier this week. He is expected to be discharged today. What, you wonder, does Pierre Cardin amuse himself with in his twilight years? Why, the meticulous restoration of the chateau of the Marquis de Sade. [AP]
• The new issue of Worldwide Women's Wear Digest is out, for anyone who tires of fashion's efforts at self-parody. [WWWD]
• Simon Doonan of Barneys asked Stella McCartney what the deal is with her and jumpsuits when the designer made an appearance at the store in New York. "I love them because they're just so effortless," McCartney replied. She then mentioned that at the Met ball, to which she wore a jumpsuit, she required the assistance of a friend every time she needed to use the rest room. Effortless, indeed. [Fashionista]
• Barneys, meanwhile, is said to be looking to close two of its seven stores, including the one it opened just last year in Las Vegas. Rumors have flown as of late about the luxury retailer's troubles. [WSJ]
• Designer Antonio Berardi says it took three attempts to be accepted at Central St. Martins, England's top fashion school — but not because his work wasn't up to scratch (he was already working in John Galliano's atelier). "I was 18 stone [252 lbs] and people didn't really see me, even in class. And, then, all of a sudden it changed and that was equally weird." [Telegraph]
• Anya Hindmarch's London Pont St. store was burglarized on Monday, and the thieves made off with just under $70,000 worth of spring and summer stock. It is the sixth time Hindmarch's stores have been targeted. You might think she'd beef up security, no? [Vogue UK]
• In a surprise move, the bankrupt Filene's Basement chain will not be liquidated by its new owners. The much-beloved designer discounter, which sells unwanted end-of-season wares from department stores at significantly lower prices, found its business fell off as high-end department stores scrambling for customers practically matched Filene's level of discounting. But the new owners, Crown Acquisitions and the Chetrit Group, who picked up the chain for only $22 million, plan to inject $25 million into inventory and marketing. Their focus will be on what they see as Filene's Basement's core customer — city-dwellers looking for a bargain. "The weakest stores they had were in the suburbs," explained the head of Crown Acquisitions. [NY Post]
• A French e-tailer is allowing users to buy items from its site for any sum they wish — so long as it's over 1 Euro and they order a maximum of two. Since this is a recession, and all. [Reuters]
• Olivier Theyskens says all that talk about him becoming creative director of Halston, now that he's been let go from Nina Ricci, is just rumors. [The Cut]
• Serena Williams did three hours on the Home Shopping Network and moved 25,000 units of her clothing and accessories. Not bad for an afternoon's work. [PR Newswire]
• Marks & Spencer, Britain's biggest lingerie retailer, has decided that all you ladies with curves should pay an extra £2 for the privilege of wearing anything larger than their D-sized bras. [Daily Mail]
• Model Katie Fogarty, on Internet folks watching videos of her fall on the Prada runway: "Whatever lightens people's days!" We're glad she sees it as a no harm, no foul situation. (And we're especially glad Fogarty didn't actually come to any harm during that mishap.) [Teen Vogue]
• True Religion jeans reported a 10% jump in earnings for the first quarter of this year, on the back of a 19% iincrease in sales. [The Street]
• Steve Madden's earnings for the same period jumped 68%. Profits were $6.6 million. [WWD]
• Kenneth Cole lost $8.2 million in the same quarter. Sales decreased by 16%. [The Street]

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

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

• You knew this already, but Project Runway judge/style tome author/ELLE fashion director Nina Garcia has parted ways with the magazine that made her. At least, ELLE has yet to tell anyone the rumors are false.
  
• Our sources say Garcia came in Friday morning around the hour fashion people usually get to work Friday morning, and was gone with all her earthly possessions by lunch time. Her assistants apparently cried all day, packing the rest of her things.
  
• New rumors are starting to surface that she's "in talks" with ELLE regarding some sort of position there.
  
• We suspect the fact that ELLE fashion news director Anne Slowey and creative director Joe Zee are getting their own Tyra-produced show this fall doesn't exactly make for a great environment. (Coupled with the fact that the magazine's fashion coverage has gotten a million times more interesting since Zee came on board.) But these are just our speculations. Know anything? Drop us a line! [WWD, MediaBistro, NYMag]
  
• And in other very important world news, Project Runway guest judge/style tome author/ELLE covergirl Victoria Beckham's denim line DVB has been dropped by Kitson and Fred Segal. Um, anyone else seeing a trend here? [News of the World]

• A reader wrote in to Guardian fashion writer Hadley Freeman asking when it is okay to wear shorts. Freeman's response? "When it's flipping well warm enough to do so, like, duh." [Guardian]
• Despite the rumors, Kate Moss is not on the outs with lingerie line Agent Provocateur and just shot a wedding-themed ad campaign for them. [This is London]
• Phat Fashions is suing Victoria's Secret for copyright infringement. Apparently, no one can use a frilly letter 'P' but the Phat designers. And while I can't believe I'm saying this, I think it's gonna be Kimora FTW. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Whoa, Vidal Sassoon was a resistance fighter during WWII?! [Telegraph]
• Elton John: Wears Tom Ford's fragrances! (Also likes that Tom Ford's ads frequently contain naked men? Again, JUST speculation.) [Page Six]
• The John Varvatos store in the old CBGB's space? Could suck more. [Washington Post]
• Yay for Cambodia, the latest country to allow its young female citizens to be exploited by the western world by making them into runway models. (And Cambodia is usually such a leader on the youth exploitation front.) In all seriousness, [ITN]
• Nicholas Huxley, the director of the Sydney Institute's Fashion Design Studio, says Australian women dress "cheap and nasty." [News.com.au]
• Want to have guaranteed success as a jewelry designer? Than go into a career in anything but jewelry design [WWD]
• OMG will or won't Prada go public in June? The suspense is killing me. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Carolina Herrera junior is pregnant again. Just what the world needs: Another kid with a trust fund. [WWD, 2nd item]

• Lindsay Lohan has been dropped as the face of Jill Stuart, because she's, well, Lindsay Lohan. Her replacement: Hilary Swank. [Porfolio - Mixed Media]
  
• Tomorrow's the last night of this season's Project Runway: What are fans supposed to do with ourselves now? Oh yes, stalk the casting sessions for Season 5, which begin this month. [Sassybella]
  
• Not content with shilling overpriced denim, Victoria Beckham is now doing a line of dresses which will be done under a separate label than her DVB denim line. The dress line's name? POSH Frocks, naturally. [Sassybella]
  
• Pete Wentz is opening his own salon in Chicago. To which I say: NO. [BellaSugar]
  
• Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony looks, well, like the crazy prepster-indie-skater-prairie girl shit you normally see on... Chloe Sevigny. [FabSugar]

• I would probably me more inclined to buy expensive shit if the ads showed a woman masturbating. [FabSugar]
• Ugh. Jean-Paul Gaultier isn't alone: Fur is more popular now than ever before. [Reuters]
• Hayden Panettiere's ads for Dooney & Burke are out: Does anyone think this girl looks increasingly like an anonymous blonde and less like, well, herself? [Sassybella]
• They say no splinters, but I'm still skeptical of lingerie made from pine trees. [Daily Mail]
• Poor organization made for a less-than-perfect Berlin Fashion Week. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Diane von Furstenberg: Helping people every day! Or at least asking business leaders to "inspire" women in developing countries. [WWD, sub req'd]
• John Galliano's models lurve him big time. [Fashion Week Daily]

• Anne Hathaway: Possible next face of Lancome, a brand already endorsed by "such luminaries as" Kate Winslet and Clive Owen. Wait, Clive Owen? Why can't they splash him all over our perfume advertisements? [WWD, 1st item]
  
• And in other face-of-campaign news, Jennifer Connelly will be fronting Balenciaga for spring and the rumor mill is already going that Victoria Beckham is to be the face of Marc Jacobs. But Marc has already worked so tirelessly to alienate himself to the fashion community! [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Speaking of Posh, did you think we were done hearing about Victoria Beckham's denim line, dVb? Ha ha ha, not a chance! For spring we have glitter denim headed our way! [WWD, 2nd item]

• And still speaking of Posh, omg! Tonight at midnight, the Victoria's Secret website will be selling a limited number of the new Spice Girls album, which will be available only at the lingerie chain because all the music retailers went into liquidation. [Fashion Week Daily]
• How precious: Sofia Coppola's 11-month old daughter played with all the shoes while the grown-ups looked at the private presentation Azzedine Alaia'c collection yesterday. We suppose a pile of Louboutins isn't all that different from the My Little Ponies of our youth. [WWD, 3rd item]
• The CW network attempts to atone for canceling "Veronica Mars" with a new — scripted — drama featuring Isaac Mizrahi. It's called "The Collection," and will recount his experiences as a designer/famewhore or something. [FabSugar]
• Uh-oh: Kate Moss for TopShop holiday line is available in the UK starting October 25. Which means stateside we can "look forward" to the flapper dresses and goth girl looks shortly thereafter. Will anyone care this time around? [Vogue UK]
• Confirmation for anyone who ever suspected fashion design is a load of crap: Marchesa designer Keren Craig on her design partner (and Harvey Weinstein lady love) Georgina Chapman's design process: "George will call me up and say 'I'm in a taxi and I'm thinking, light boxes, tulle' - and suddenly a dress appears from nowhere!" [Vogue UK]
• We like to eat fish. We are not sure yet if we would want to wear fish. Though we would if it just meant we would avoid agreeing with pain-in-the-ass Alice+Olivia designer Stacy Bendet. [NY Post]

THE SCENE: While there's definitely a crowd, it seems meager compared to the clusterfuck at Steve & Barry's for Sarah Jessica Parker's Bitten line last week. In fact, there are probably only 80 or so people here, not counting members of the press (who've been neatly wrangled into one of the biggest press corrals I have ever seen anywhere), and at least a third of the assembled are AWOL employees from the Saks make-up counters. But the seemingly mild-mannered crowd erupts into mayhem the moment Beckham enters the building: The paparazzi screams, "Victoria! Victoria!" and the crowd follows along, thrusting cameras and camera phones in the air with a fervor (and, frankly, arm-thrusting) comparable to that of a Nazi rally, ca. 1938. I am pushed, shoved, almost physically uprooted from my spot and then, almost as soon as it has begun, it's over. Beckham has simply entered, smiled, posed for a photo with Saks execs and casually headed up to the 5th floor, where the denim line is on display.

THE STAR: There are more people upstairs (about 100 - 200 — estimation has never been one of my stronger points) in line to get Beckham's autograph. As I watch her sign, I notice she's got the dealing-with-the-commoners thing down pat: First, a huge smile breaks across her face as each fan approaches, then she takes said fan's hand, shakes it, asks her (or him) for his name, signs a little notecard, and poses for a picture. (She is yes, also thin. Very thin. Crazy thin, even.) Creepily, the second the cameras start flashing the smile disappears and that famous pout of hers takes its place. She actually physically transforms herself into a different (and uglier) person when there's a camera aimed in her direction. Which is too bad — she's so much more accessible when she smiles.

THE CLOTHES: There is a bootcut jean, a straight leg jean, a miniskirt, and a capri. And that's it. Strangely — perhaps generously? — the clothes run huge. As the saleswoman guides me towards a pair of jeans two sizes smaller than I normally wear, she also mentions, casually, "You know they're all one length, right?". Yup, every single one of the full-length jeans has a 34-inch leg. The jeans, however, fit very well — extremely well, in fact, — which the saleswoman also mentions. They are, she tells me, almost universally flattering. But no one else seems to care: I am the only person who seems to be trying anything on. The jeans rest sadly on the racks, neither touched nor discussed. People, it seems, wanted pictures of Victoria, not any other part of her.

• Rapper Eve's clothing line Fetish is having a revival. After suffering bad break-ups with both the Innovo Group and Marc Ecko, it's now reborn under the Signature Group's tutelage. And, like, the quality's going to be really good and, like, Eve is totally involved on a day-by-day basis with the line this time and we stopped listening and...uh, wait, is Eve even actually famous anymore? [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Barney's, the luxury department store chain, will probably be acquired by the Dubai government's investment arm for at least $825 million. Because you can always find something to spend your excess oil money on at Barney's. [NYT]
  
• Apparently the Japanese Jill Stuart licensee wants to scrap Lindsay Lohan as the face of its fall marketing. Did these people learn nothing from Kate Moss? [Hollywood Rag]

• But OMG! Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham is totally going to be at the Saks Fifth Avenue New York flagship store this evening for the launch of her denim line, DVB. Because she is so imaginative, she didn't need a branding consultant to think of that name, which stands for "David Victoria Beckham." [Racked]
• Ok we get it already: Valentino isn't retiring anytime soon. (Even if he does have a bad case of "The lady doth protest too much.") [WWD, sub req'd]
• We are snickering at jewelry designer Carolyn Roumeguere, who told Vogue UK, "I think that my gold and silver discs... epitomise Bedouins. A percentage of each sale goes to education and medical aid in Africa so that I give something back to the country that I have chosen to be my home and have gained so much from." Ugh. [Vogue UK]
• The MAC Cosmetics AIDS Fund donated $1.25 million to the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation's HIV/AIDS Initiative. This is not exactly Bill Gates money but it makes us feel sorta better about buying at least one kind of MAC. [WWD, sub req'd]

In response to the recent news regarding Victoria Beckham's new clothing line DVB, we've got a few burning questions.

What does fashion grande dame (and CFDA president) Diane Von Furstenberg think of Victoria essentially appropriating her moniker? (It's only two half-circles from a "F" to a "B", after all.)

Will fashionistas be able to differentiate the designs of one skinny, plasticized European from the other?

And what exactly does the "D" in "DVB" stand for, anyway? "Designer"? "Dame"? "Dim-witted"?

Fab Flash: DVB Fashion World Domination [FabSugar]