• Katy Perry, like Lady Gaga before her, has succumbed to the charms of Jean-Charles de Castelbajac's fall collection. The singer wore this dress to the label's spring show — which is like wearing the band t-shirt to the concert. [People]

• Twelve Syrian fashion designers presented 60 looks in a catwalk show at a Damascus hotel. Framed portraits of Bashar and Hafez Assad looked down on the runway. [Breitbart]
• During a burlesque performance at Simon Cowell's birthday party, a man stripped down to a thong, wandered into the audience, and picked up Kate Moss and gave her a twirl. All while singing, "Don't Stop Believing." Shame her boyfriend, Jamie Hince, didn't think it was funny: he started yelling at the supermodel. [P6]
• Giambattista Valli, who used to design the house of Ungaro's ready-to-wear line before founding his own critically acclaimed label, speaks out on the Lindsay Lohan "artistic director" debacle: "An actress ought to be an actress, and a fashion designer ought to be a fashion designer. These are their own professions, so everybody ought to concentrate on one thing. I chose, in my life, to be a fashion designer." [FWD]
• Barneys New York's winter windows will present mannequins in tableaux based on famous moments from Saturday Night Live. Yes, there will be a Tina-Fey-As-Sarah-Palin. And an Amy Poehler on 'Weekend Update'. [WWD]
• Times' Critical Shopper Cintra Wilson, on Isaac Mizrahi's boutique: "Mr. Mizrahi's new boutique is cheerful and comfy: poured concrete floors, off-white armchairs draped with fur blankets. The designer appears to be playing his greatest hits for his most loyal audience: Upper East Side ladies of a certain age, for whom the designer seems to feel great tenderness and sympathy. Women who are vivacious without being loud, who defer to convention but still want to appear playful and smart." [NYTimes]
• Sylvia Venturini Fendi — the woman behind two of the biggest blockbuster bags of our time: the Baguette and the Spy — tells Women's Wear Daily that if the rumor that the Italian shows might decamp from Milan to Rome, which WWD was first to even mention, is true, she wouldn't be bothered in the least. "I think Rome is the perfect place for creative happenings. Gucci is there, Valentino. We are Roman — why not?" [WWD]
• In further "reporting" on its own rumor, the trade pub discovered that, actually, the head of the Italian Chamber of Fashion says relocation is "nonsense." [WWD]
• Speaking of handbags, don't expect to get your Hermès Birkin or Kelly any faster simply because of this recession: the company, long having incorporated artificial scarcity into its sales plan, says there is no reduction in the typical two-year waiting time for a purse. "It is shocking to have to wait two to three years, so we try to train as many craftsmen as we can," says Patrick Thomas, the chief executive. But: "Consumer demand has grown so fast that we haven't yet managed to reduce the waiting lists." Sure, sure. [FT]
• Four Chinese firms are seeking the bankruptcy of Ellen Tracy in a Manhattan bankruptcy court; they claim they are owed $3.8 million for goods sold. Macy's, which just yesterday announced an agreement to sell Ellen Tracy exclusively at a lower price point, says the petition doesn't affect the deal, as the firms' dispute is with the brand's former owners. The bankruptcy judge ordered Ellen Tracy to file lists of creditors and assets by October 21. [Crain's]
• Due to a slump in demand, Versace has shut its four stores in Japan, and is in the process of closing its Tokyo office. The Italian brand had operated in Japan for nearly 30 years. [FT]

• Handbag model Lily Allen performed live at the farming-themed, hay-strewn Chanel show this morning. [Fashionista]
• Claudia Schiffer has formally announced she will no longer do any runway modeling. She plans to fill her downtime with a trip to Iraq. [Sun]

• Marc Jacobs' and Viacom's flacks have denied the reports that Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone are to appear on a gay version of the Real Housewives for the Logo network. [CityFile]
• Vera Wang, however, says bring on the cameras. "I'm doing a TV show. It's coming. I don't know when, or how, but it's coming," said the designer at the National Arts Awards. Wang, seated at the table of collector Julie Minskoff, said she doesn't buy art because she can't afford it. But if money were no object, "I would buy Tom Sachs, because I like Hello Kitty. And the guy who does all the pills, because I take them all." Should make for some interesting viewing, then. [StyleFile]
• A Puma branded mobile phone: It's happening sometime next spring. [WWD]
• Ever phlegmatic Vogue editor Grace Coddington, on fans now recognizing her in the street: "It's probably a short-lived thing. There will be another fashion movie and another person who comes out from that." [Grazia]
• During the Givenchy show, someone stole Coddington's purse from her chauffeured car while the driver apparently napped. [NYDN]
• Prince turned up at the Yves Saint Laurent show in a gold sequined suit he designed himself. [WWD]
• The only odd thing about this sweet article on the art show Rodarte is curating in Paris: who is this documentary crew that's mentioned in passing, and why have they been following the Mulleavy sisters for four years? [NYTimes]
• Actress Ashley Judd is releasing a perfume, of which she says, "Beloved Red Rose captures the essence of love." Not that she'd be an objective source on that or anything. [People]
• Meanwhile, Tamara Mellon's Jimmy Choo has signed a 12-year fragrance licensing contract. So expect a Jimmy Choo scent soon. [WWD]
• The reason Celine had a lag of 13 months between confirming Phoebe Philo as its new creative director and actually giving her a catwalk show is apparently not because the LVMH overlords' were given pause by anything Philo did — it's simply that 2009 was marked off as "Transition Year" in Marco Gobbetti's calendar, and spring 2010, well, that's a whole ball game. [Reuters]
• French Connection is closing it s21 stores in Japan. The retailer lost $16.8 million in the first six months of this year. [WWD]
• Cher and Bob Mackie are at it again, creating costumes out of rhinestones, nude tricot, and feathers for the star's Caesar's Palace show in Vegas. What else would you expect? [People]
• Juergen Teller is working on a book of nude photographs of Raquel Zimmerman and Charlotte Rampling at the Louvre. [WWD]
• Ellen Tracy is taking its sportswear slightly downmarket. From this spring onwards, its wares will cost $50-$149. The brand has signed an exclusive distributorship deal with Macy's. [Crain's]
• For those who wish they could be Don Draper: A limited run of 250 suits inspired by Mad Men will be sold at Brooks Brothers starting October 19th. [WWD]
• Pierre Bergé, Yves Saint Laurent's life and business partner, says he received death threats and was accompanied by bodyguards following his decision to auction two Qing dynasty bronzes from his and Saint Laurent's art collection that China wanted repatriated. [Reuters]
• Chef Marcus Samuelsson, television chef Giada de Laurentiis, and Zac Posen are cooking this weekend for a $325-a-head event at the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival. Samuelsson muses on the similarities between professional cooking and fashion design: "I've been backstage at a fashion show, and it's like a kitchen. It's a very similar energy." Posen, a home cook, says Martha Stewart and Jacques Pépin saved his life. "I was a very depressed middle-school student and I watched [those shows] avidly, and then Martha Stewart changed my life. Her first cookbook [Entertaining] was given to my mom, but I took it." WWD even re-prints Samuelsson's maple-glazed salmon and couscous recipe. [WWD]
• Renzo Rosso, the Diesel founder who owns Maison Martin Margiela, has confirmed that the rarely seen Belgian designer, rumored to have departed his namesake house, has been gone for "a long time." Instead, Margiela is "here but not here. We have a new fresh design team on board." This season's collection, just shown in Paris, was rated a disappointment by the fashion press, who would like to see a successor named. Haider Ackerman and Raf Simons are rumored to be under consideration, but anyone named would have to design the label anonymously. [Vogue UK]
• Roland Mouret: Just another designer broadcasting his show live on the Internet. [WWD]
• Some Very Important Designer forgot his ticket to Viktor & Rolf and nearly had to stand with the hoi polloi! [Fashionista]
• The Clean Clothes Campaign is pressuring Europe's biggest retailers, like Tesco, Aldi, and Carrefour, to institute a common guaranteed minimum wage for garment workers across Asia. Its lofty goal? Assuring that the people who make the clothes we wear are paid $475 a month and get a 48-hour workweek. You can e-mail retailers via the Campaign's website. [WWD]

• Bono's wife Ali Hewson is suing Stella McCartney over the title of her unreleased perfume, "Nude." Hewson, who also has a sustainable fashion brand, oversees Nude Skincare, and feels that McCartney's brand is too close to her own. [Daily Mail]

• More than 100 garment workers protested two New York apparel companies in support of six workers who allege they are owed over $500,000 in back pay, and that they were wrongfully fired. Union organizer Jei Fong said, "Long Island City is a sweatshop zone; these conditions are rampant and have only gotten worse through the years. Today we really want to make a stand. People need to demand better conditions; it's the only way for the garment industry to improve." The six workers allege that they were paid minimum wage, but that their employers deducted 5% from their pay, and failed to pay any overtime despite the fact that they often worked 100 hour weeks. All the workers were fired shortly after complaining about the pay and conditions to the National Labor Relations Board. [Crain's]
• Harper's Bazaar decided to rush out a Michael Jackson-themed fashion shoot in time for the current issue — and the model they picked was Agyness Deyn? There is also a monkey. Who's bad, indeed. [ONTD]
• It took Nicole Richie less than half of the actual human gestational period to conceive of and birth her maternity wear line for A Pea In The Pod. [WWD]
• Pierre Cardin owns the Marquis de Sade's castle. [NYTimes]
• We doubt that anyone is copying P.C. from NYC Prep's style. A white t-shirt, scarf and a cardigan is something he has a copyright on? Give us a fucking break, Paper magazine. [Stylelist]
• Jason Wu has announced the location of his Spring 2010 show — the opulent St. Regis hotel. [WWD]
• Why is it that every time one or two designers cycle through to something different than previous prevailing tastes — long skirts after a few seasons of minis, or in this case, flats after a few seasons of skyscraper 7" heels — fashion writers have to act as though it's tabula rasa time and WE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN? The heel is not "dead" just because Christopher Kane now things "boyish" flats are nice. Most women will continue wearing heels sometimes, and flats other times, depending on their mood, where they are going, and the rest of their outfit. [ToL]
• Leonardo DiCaprio is apparently smitten with model Anne Vyalitsyna. Meanwhile, recent ex Bar Refaeli has been spotted with polo player Ricardo Mansur, who happens to be an ex of Gisele Bundchen, who also dated Leo. And the circle is complete. [Sun]
• Because of a write-in campaign, Men's Wearhouse is canceling its advertising on the Glenn Beck program. [MediaMatters]
• Bloomingdale's is launching a major ad campaign highlighting its links to classic films. [NYTimes]
• Last month, Kelly Bensimon told the W magazine editors' blog, of her jewelry line, "I love Navajo and I love the idea of taking Pocahontas out of the kayak and putting her into the disco. Everyone knows that she's had enough in her little canoe and now she's out and having fun in the disco." Yesterday, Kelly Bensimon told StyleList "exclusively," of her jewelry line, "The bad thing about Pocahontas is that she's, like, in the kayaks. So I took her out of the kayak and into the disco so she could have a little fun." Conclusions: Nobody reads anymore, and the Internet will eventually eat itself. And Kelly Bensimon still does not apparently realize that Pocahontas lived her entire life without ever meeting any Navajo people, because they lived thousands upon thousands of miles apart. [StyleList]
• Molly Sims now has a jewelry line. (At this point, who doesn't?) [WWD]
• Point the first: We have not heard anything of Nia Long since her immortal turn as Lisa on Fresh Prince, so her inclusion in PETA's ancient "Rather Go Naked" campaign proves the animal rights organization is scraping the very bottom of the barrel. Point the second: We get that Nia Long doesn't much care for the fur, but she seems to have no problem with gasp-inducingly unrealistic media images of women. The Photoshop job on her ad is eye-popping. Point the third: This quote speaks for itself: "There's no difference, in my opinion, [between fur and] slavery or the Holocaust." [DListed]
• Twiggy is releasing an album of pop songs on September 14. [Modelinia]
• Amber Rose posed for a series of racy photos in Complex magazine. She also told the mag: "I always looked up to Slash from Guns N' Roses. I had every single poster of Slash in my room. It was crazy because I grew up in an all-black neighborhood and everybody I went to school with was black. I was the only biracial looking girl in my school, and Slash was biracial too, he was just a fucking rock star. I always wanted to play the guitar. I've tried, but other things came up." [ONTD]
• In yet another high-yield jewelry heist, two armed robbers hit up the Graff store on New Bond St. in London for $65 million worth of baubles. Forty-three items were stolen, and while the suited robbers fired two shots and briefly took a Graff worker hostage, nobody was injured. [NYTimes]
• For reasons unknown, Maybelline has made a calendar. [Fashionista]
• The "moderately priced" designer "bridge" category — home of labels like Tory Burch, Elie Tahari, and Eileen Fisher — is losing one of its biggest players, Ellen Tracy. Starting next spring, the brand is down-shifting to concentrate on lower-priced sportswear, where it'll roll with labels like Lauren by Ralph Lauren and Michael by Michael Kors. [WWD]
• Meanwhile, members-only online sample sale site Gilt today is launching a website where it will host sales of lower-priced lines, called Gilt Fuse. In running Gilt, chief executive Susan Lyne says, "What we discovered was that, one, even though we discount significantly on the brands we carry on Gilt [up to 70 percent], it's still expensive for [our customers]. A $200 or $150 dress is still a big purchase for them." So Gilt Fuse will exert similar discounts on merchandise that was a little cheaper to begin with. Revolutionary concept, really. [NYObs]
• Escada's proposed fund-raising bond exchange has failed because fewer than 80 percent of investors approved it within the given time frame. The company plans to file for bankruptcy this week. [WWD]
• Pakistan's textile industry is suffering because of the twin ills of political instability — even consistent electrical power is not assured — and the global credit crunch. An estimated 200,000 people have lost their jobs in the textiles sector during the past year. [Reuters]
• After cutting $70 million worth of costs from its balance sheet in the first quarter, Liz Claiborne's losses still increased during the second quarter of this year — so a second, $100 million, cost-cutting plan is to be put in place. [WSJ]
• Although the sale of bankrupt men's clothier Hartmarx to Emerisque Brands and SKNL North America has managed to save 2,400 jobs that otherwise might have been lost, three plants which were not part of the sale, finalized last week, are shuttered. About 525 employees at factories in Rock Island, Illinois, Anniston, Alabama, and Hamilton, Ontario have lost their jobs. Hartmarx owns the brands Hart Shaffner Marx and Hickey Freeman. [WWD]

Retailers, see, aren't dumping plus ranges because they don't want sweet ca$h money from fatsos — they're ditching them because of contracting consumer spending, patternmaking costs and production expenses. But how well do these excuses hold up?

As you might have heard, plus-size clothing has been one of the early casualties of the recession-plagued American fashion industry. Ellen Tracy has gotten rid of its plus-size division, and Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor Loft have joined retailers like the Gap and Banana Republic in only selling sizes 16 and up online. The ostensible reason? Lack of demand and higher costs. This is despite the fact that the "average" U.S. woman is a size 14, and the fact that an interest in fashion knows no size. With each new move to take plus-size clothing off the shop floor — or out of production altogether — we are told that designing and manufacturing plus-size clothes is simply too costly in current market conditions.

One good way to test just how much of these moves are motivated by sizeism, and how much by economics, is by considering another kind of size range that departs from the standard: Petites.

What petite and plus size ranges share is that neither is merely a scale version of standard size clothing. Instead, they are each specialized creations, made using different pattern blocks and different fit models. Petite clothing isn't just regular-size clothing with shorter hems and sleeves, and plus clothing isn't just a bigger cut of a standard size. In both cases, potentially fit-wrecking pattern details like the knee break, the armscye, pocket placement, torso length, waist-hip ratio, and shoulder breadth have to be re-examined. Buttons, belts, pockets, and any other final touches should be sized proportionally. The gauge of the prints on the fabrics used should be adapted, so that petite women aren't swimming in giant florals, and those of us who are heavier aren't swathed in dinky blooms. Petite women, it bears pointing out, face a lot of the same issues as plus-size women do when shopping for clothes. I winced when I watched this video of Lisa Taylor, a 4'9" woman from the UK, trying to shop. Although Taylor is extremely polite about the "petite" offerings from Selfridges department store, when she steps out of the dressing room in a wide belt practically the size of her own ribcage, it's clear that something's not right. Half the so-called "petite" pants have to be pinned at the waist; none of them look particularly flattering in the butt.

For a dress to look the same on a petite woman, a standard size woman and a plus woman — for the hem to hit at the same place on each woman's leg, for the waist to sit at the appropriate height, for the neckline to flatter but not overexpose, for the pockets to be useful, easily reached, and neither too small nor too big — requires, in effect, three totally different paper patterns, each with a separate, and expensive, development process.

The argument that this intellectual property takes time and money to develop is not a wholly disingenuous one, especially in an economic climate where apparel sales are falling across the board (and faster among plus-sizes).

For mass market retailers, whose main manufacturing costs are for raw materials, not labor, fabric-use-intensive plus sizes can be seen as more expensive for this additional reason. But the thing is, the fashion industry tolerates so much ambient waste at all levels that highlighting fabric expenses is more than a little off. A factory running at maximum efficiency would in any case make up this cost when it produced petite sizes, which use less fabric.

Complicating all this is the fact that there is no single plus-size woman. People of the same weight can and do have radically divergent body shapes, and at the upper reaches of the size range, these differences are magnified. A size 16 cut for a body with average bust-waist-hip proportions won't fit a size 16 woman who is significantly bustier than the fit model, or one who has heavier hips and thighs. Retailers see a point of diminishing returns in plus sizes — each new size is a separate set of investments in fit and pattern development, and the number of women the product might reach does get smaller and smaller. Banging out a few more size 4 and 6 tops, on the other hand, is simple. What's worse, to reduce these costs, retailers rely disproportionately on stretch fabrics and looser cuts for what plus ranges they do offer — and these can often be unflattering. It's a lose-lose.

And when it comes to the designer market, which is the sector of the apparel industry that should have the money and the attention to detail to really create properly tailored plus-size pieces, there is genuine fat phobia at play. With a high-fashion example set by the likes of Anna "little houses" Wintour, it's not hard to wonder why. I've heard designers sneer at the thought of making a U.S. size 8. It's depressing as hell to watch the wave of standard capitalist interest break against a rock of pure sizism, and roll away. Pricier brands that do offer larger sizes, like Eileen Fisher, have managed to do so for years without harming their brand image.

The truth is, that if the cost of garment development were the only reason that plus-size ranges are making a hasty exit from shop shelves, we would be seeing the discontinuation of petite lines, too, because they face all of the same expenses. And that hasn't been happening. Moreover, the excuse about cost boils down to complaining that making clothes that fit most women is really hard — and that doesn't sound quite right coming from companies who are in the business of clothing women. Given the market share at stake, how is it that nobody is willing to step up and do cute, well-fitting clothes in larger sizes?

The Real Reason That Ann Taylor Hates Plus Sizes — It Has Nothing To Do With Fat-Phobia [Double X]
Petite Fashion [YouTube]
Plus Sizes A Fashion Victim [Crain's]

Earlier: Big Problems Arise With Plus-Size Clothing For Teens
Stylish Doesn't Mean Skinny: Meet The Fatshionistas
Plus-Size Clothing Production Is Downsized

• Michelle Obama will not attend the CFDA Fashion Awards, despite the fact that she is receiving the CFDA's Board of Directors' Special Tribute (an award they made up especially for her). [WWD]

• A few months back, Peaches Geldof obligingly posed for a News of the World paparazzo while frolicking topless in St. Tropez. (The things you must do for cash in this economy!) Lingerie brand Ultimo noticed the shots, and offered Peaches six figures to be its new face. Which is why there are now pictures of the 20-year-old noted Nylon correspondent lying on a table in her underwear, surrounded by cupcakes and milkshakes, and giving quotes about how it's better for her to model lingerie than "an anorexic model." Tell that to the Photoshopper, doll. [Daily Mail]
• Supposedly, despite the global financial crisis and the recession it has spawned, the Chinese are still buying luxury goods. Either that, or the AP found the one lady in Beijing who can still afford Dior. [AP]
• Lanvin and Kate Spade, however, see business opportunities in Japan. (Have they read any economic news out of Japan recently?) [WWD]
• Donatella Versace went to the White House Correspondents' Dinner — her second — and reflected on the differences between the last administration and the current one. (The Obamas made sure to have "cool" Hollywood people, not "stiff" Hollywood people, at their party, for one.) Then she met Colin Powell, who is apparently her "hero." [HuffPo]
• Tim Gunn was also in Washington, D.C., this week — as a lobbyist. The CFDA sent Gunn, along with Project Runway Season 5 winner Leanne Marshall, to talk to politicians about the recently re-introduced Design Piracy Bill, which would extend copyright protection to clothing. (At the moment, images printed on clothes can be copyrighted, because they're considered artwork, and an exact pattern can be copyrighted, but all the other distinctive design features of a garment can be legally copied by any manufacturer.) Gunn was soon besieged with questions from Hill staffers about how to spruce up their outfits. [NY Observer]
• This fall, you too can smell like Akon. In two different ways. [WWD]
• Katy Perry: "Usually, I'm trying to look like a party." [People]
• If you care about Gossip Girl, which I hear is a television show people watch, sometimes, then perhaps you would like to read this article about how, during the soap opera's 80s flashback scenes, the characters dress in clothes. From the 80s. [WWD]
• Suzy Menkes — writer of that terrible story on the "African" fashion trend — thinks blogs are great. But that they get things wrong. No argument there! But since when are newspapers any different? A commenter on this story promptly identified an error in a four-year-old piece Menkes wrote for the New York Times. [The Cut]
• If you wear a size 16 in Ann Taylor or Ann Taylor Loft clothing, after this spring — wait, that's, like, right now! — you'll need to go online to find it. The company says they will no longer stock size 16 in stores because of lack of consumer demand, which seems awfully fishy when you remember that 70% of American women are a size 12 or above. Ann Taylor thus joins Banana Republic and J. Crew in selling size 16 only online. [Crain's]
• Jenna Lyons, the creative director of J. Crew, comes across as the kind of person who thrives under stress in this interview. [Fashionista]
• The inaugural Ellen Tracy intimates collection will be available in stores this December. [WWD]
• Betsey Johnson is into designing a diffusion line for Target or "whatever it's called." HSN, QVC, Topshop, H&M — anything, really, she swears. Call her. Please. [The Cut]
• Zaha Hadid for Lacoste shoes look like a rubber octopus with a foot fetish. [WWD]
• Puma's sales actually increased 3.6% in the first quarter of this year, but its overall net income fell 93.8% on figures from two years ago. [WWD]
• Troubled retailer Abercrombie & Fitch is taking over a 4,300 square foot space on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue — only three blocks south of its current flagship store. Hickey Freeman, the menswear store, is forced to close its old flagship at 666 Fifth because of the bankruptcy of its parent company, Hartmarx, and Abercrombie is apparently only too happy to take it over. [WWD]
• John Varvatos — the designer who made CBGB's a store selling $2,000 jackets — just laid off 12 people, or 4% of his workforce. [WWD]
• Scientists at Virginia Tech have created a fabric that can measure the speed, motion, and direction of its movements, and transmit those data to a computer. Science is magic, guys. [Advanced Imaging Pro]
• A makeup artist for The Bold And The Beautiful thinks women will go for putting her own special brand of concealer on their feet to hide corns and calluses. To which I say: Why not do that with the foundation you already own, should you feel such a step be necessary? And: Makeup smudges on my lovely shoes? No thanks. The brave ladies of The Cut road-tested the execrable product. Warning: click only if you want to see pictures of feet before lunchtime. [The Cut]

• Olivier Theyskens is holding true to the fundamentals. “When the economy changes, it’s not like you want to start eating bad-tasting chocolate,” he said, after showing his pre-fall collection for Nina Ricci. [WWD]

• Serial rapist Anand Jon, the former celebrity designer, is scheduled to be sentenced today. The penalty for his 16 counts of sexual abuse against models, including 7 counts of forcible rape of women aged 14-21 is a mandatory life sentence, with earliest parole eligibility in 2075. Regardless, his mother was apparently overheard approaching wealthy guests at a hotel in Chennai, India, asking for money for an appeal. Jon's website greeting page opens with a quote from Gandhi: "Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth." [NY Post]
• Nixonite dirty trickster Roger Stone — subject of an excellent Jeffrey Toobin profile last year — apparently thinks himself a fashion maven. Taking up the mantle of the deceased Mr. Blackwell, Stone inaugurated a new annual feature on his website, a worst- and best-dressed list. Though occasionally wacky ("Lobbyists are the only elegant men left in America"), his advice isn't all off the mark: Obama and Carla Bruni tops the men's and women's lists, respectively, and he says Tom Wolfe "looks like he's a cross-dressing character in a lesser Dickens novel." [The Stone Zone]
• Designer Vivienne Tam held a fashion show in Beijing to raise money to save the panda habitat destroyed in last year's Sichuan earthquake. The five one-off outfits she auctioned featured panda motifs. Adorable. [Reuters]
• As part of his prize for winning the 2008 CDFA/Vogue Fashion Fund award, Alexander Wang gets one year of professional mentoring from none other than Diane von Furstenberg. Runners-up Vena Cava and Albertus Swanepoel are to be mentored by Patrick Robinson and Andrew Rosen, and Andy and Kate Spade, respectively. [WWD]
• Ellen Tracy has inked a licensing deal for intimate apparel. Expect to see "sleepwear, at-homewear, robes, foundations, shapewear and lingerie" everywhere Ellen Tracy is sold as soon as this fall. [WWD]
• WWD has a good round-up of the status of designers' venue preparations for New York Fashion Week, just one month away. IMG is not introducing a fourth, off-site presentation venue this season, as had been floated, meaning rental at the Bryant Park Tents proper will cost $28,000-$48,000. Many designers are opting for cheaper locales. Calvin Klein is moving its show to the ground floor of the company headquarters, Vera Wang is holding hers in her new SoHo store, smaller labels are banding together for shared shows, and others, like Thakoon and Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti, are showing in Chelsea gallery spaces. Meanwhile, Tommy Hilfiger is back to the tents after a multi-season absence. Marc Jacobs, as usual, intends to use the Lexington Avenue Armory. [WWD]
• Sass & Bide are down for the count entirely. Although they intended to return to fashion week this season, co-founder Sarah Jane Clark's third pregnancy means the Australian duo will stay home. What a happy event to spur such a sad occurrence. [Fashionista]
• High dudgeon at a retail bigwig confab: J. Crew's chief executive Mickey Drexler reportedly took Neiman Marcus' chief executive Burt Tansky to task over luxury markups. Drexler told Tansky the days of the $800 high heel are over. “Wall Street is over,” he continued, and “more wealth has been created on non-productive [financial] transactions” than ever before. When the market comes back, Drexler said, consumers will not be tricked into paying department store margins again. “There’s a whole reset button that has been pushed," he said. Tansky responded by saying “It’s premature to start denigrating what the affluent customer will want.” This fight sounds like it was awesome and very, very awkward. [WSJ]
• The man behind the "Save Anna" t-shirt has a new thing for you to wear: A Rachel Zoe "bananas" shirt with a Warhol-esque screenprint of the stylist-approved fruit and the phrase "I die. Bananas." underneath. Eating disorder, tanning club card, and giant hippie dress optional. [The Cut]
• NY Mag has a sweet video of Marc Jacobs in bed talking about the Stephen Sprouse graffiti collection, which was recently relaunched. "I have a lot of Stephen's clothes and the thing is every time I look at them, they never feel old-fashioned to me, they never look out-of-date. I don't originate or create anything, I'm just here putting things together or re-putting things together, and I like it that way," says Jacobs. [The Cut]
• Wait, what? Stephen Alan for Uniqlo? Please let this not be like that time Amy Winehouse said she was doing a clothing line. [The Cut]
• Dolce & Gabbana's new campaign, shot by Steven Klein, is being proudly trumpeted as a potential source of controversy. Inspired by the Visconti film The Leopard, about a Sicilian aristocratic family at the time of Italian unification, the ads will feature images of male models praying. "For sure they will say we are offending religion," sighed either Domenico or Stefano, reports Reuters. "Instead it could be read as a return to values. And there is a need for that at this time." Yes. For "values," and, presumably, for valuable clothes. [Reuters]
• Remember how Domenico Vacca and John Varvatos both claimed to have dressed Jeremy Piven for the Golden Globes? Turns out it was a tie. The actor's publicist says he wore a Domenico Vacca jacket and John Varvatos pants. Which might be true, or it might be her trying to stay on both companies' good sides after pledging separately to each to wear its clothes and screwing that up royally. How much you want to bet pissed reps for both labels are poring over photos trying to tell their lapel notches from the competitor's as we speak? [WSJ]
• Nonetheless, expect more of the same as award season wears on through the grim retail market. The thin consumer dollar means designers are even more eager to get their gears on a red carpet. Katie Holmes' Golden Globes stylist even received personal phone calls from several solicitous designers. "That never happened before," said the stylist, "usually I just hear from their publicists." And cows walk upright and eat manburgers in this strange opposite world! [WSJ]

• Clothing line Anchor Blue has signed Heidi Montag to be its new face. Because execs want to appeal to a "slightly older" demographic. No, really. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Would you like to be Erin O'Connor's escort to a show during London Fashion Week? Well lucky for you she's holding a contest with Vogue UK. To win her hand (or, you know, the seat next to her) all you have to do is compose her a poem. Start work-shopping those dirty limericks here! [Vogue UK]
  
• Thrilling/disturbing news: Steve & Barry's has inked a licensing deal allowing them to create and sell t-shirts bearing images and logos from The Little Rascals, The Andy Griffith Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Brady Bunch, The Love Boat, The Twilight Zone, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Cheers and Beverly Hills 90210. And if you feel a twinge of sadness that the average Steve & Barry's customer has probably never known the joy of watching an episode of Laverne & Shirley, just think of the poor children in China who will be sewing them. [WWD, sub req'd]

• So the family of the actual Ossie Clark, whose namesake label was just revived during the opening of London Fashion Week, says they never gave anyone permission to use the house's name. And are now taking legal action. Awkward. [WWD, 4th item]
• Talk about expensive shit! Remember those Van Cleef & Arpels-Earnest Sewn jeans we told you about? They retail for between $9,700 and $11,300. Also, they are fug. [Fashion Week Daily]
• "I couldn't fit into my [Bill] Blass sample. I guess it's because I'm not an 18-year-old Russian." Socialite Plum Sykes: just like us! [Fashion Week Daily]
• Ooh la la: Heidi Klum and Seal on the cover of French ELLE! [Sassybella]
• Alessandra Gucci (daughter of dead Maurizio) is launching her own accessories line under the label AG, since the Gucci clan won't let any of its usurping-relatives use the family name to promote their own half-wit businesses. But Alessandra's business sounds less half-wit than most: It's all alligator handbags in pretty colors. And the girl does have a degree in economics, so good for her? [WWD, 2nd item]
• Perry Ellis revenues are down. Insert instinctual defensive remark about the halycon days of Marc Jacobs and his grunge collection. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Jones Apparel also doing not so good. That's a recession for you, folks! [Reuters]
• Liz Claiborne is thisclose to selling off Ellen Tracy to (who else) a private equity firm. The sale will fetch $50 million, which...seems kind of low, albeit to someone who will never see that kind of cash ever. [NY Post]

• Karl Lagerfeld has designed a lead figurine of himself, to be sold as a limited edition (1,000 units only) for $300 at Paris boutique Colette. Perfect for teaching etiquette, nutrition, and brand-expansion strategy to your Homies! [WWD, 3rd item]
  
• Agyness Deyn has replaced Drew Barrymore as the face of English designer Giles Deacon's diffusion line, Gold. Anyway, if they were looking for someone less overexposed than Drew Barrymore, they failed. [Vogue UK]
  
• Aw, gender equality! Male models are getting freakishly thin, too. [NY Mag]
  
• Diane von Furstenberg: "Is it clothes that make you glamorous? I don't think so! Glamour is shine, glamour is having an aura, and that is not just about clothes or makeup — I am very often without makeup, and I always look for comfortable clothes. For me, it's important to be who you are, or — even better—to be who you want to be." This doesn't exactly make sense, but at least it seems sincere! [BlackBook]

• The couture shows start in Paris on Monday. And are the suits behind the labels worried about the sucky economy and the fact that, uh, no one can afford couture? Nah, they're just worried it might rain. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Stupid celebrities attending the upcoming couture shows: Ellen Pompeo will be attending Armani "exclusively" (well, excuse us!) and Gossip Girl star Blake Lively is being taken by Vanity Fair to Chanel, Valentino, and Gauliter. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Oh the anticipation, it kills us. A documentary entitled Valentino: The Last Emperor (made by Vanity Fair correspondent Matt Tyrnauer) makes its debut in May at Cannes. [Vogue UK]
• Heidi Klum will be wearing a custom-made John Galliano to the Oscars in February (um, presuming the Oscars actually happen this year), which is somehow supposed to raise awareness for Diet Coke's Heart Truth campaign to educate women about heart disease. Yeah, we don't get it either. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Badgley Mischka are on Martha Stewart today showing bridal looks. Must watch. [Chic Report]
• Okay, not gonna lie: I actually really do want to learn how to get Blake "Serena van der Woodsen" Lively's make-up look. [BellaSugar]
• Barneys New York: Now in Vegas. The store was designed to look a little trashy to, y'know, match the Vegas aesthetic. "There's more glitter here," says Barneys creative director Simon Doonan. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Home Shopping Network is debuting a line of products by Dr. David Watts, which he claims will delay customers' inevitable need for plastic surgery. [WWD, sub req'd]
• American Eagle is starting a line of children's clothing called 77kids, aimed at 2-10-year olds. Just in case you were worried that your kids weren't emblazoned in logos at a young enough age. [WWD, sub req'd]
• It Bag-makers Mulberry just announced that they're going to start doing shoes, also. And today they announced they'll be adding eyewear as well. Way to diffuse the brand, guys. [WWD, 5th item]
• Designer Monique Lhullier's new Bel-Air home is featured on the cover of ELLE Decor this month. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Sass & Bide is doing a diffusion line called Vie that is supposedly reasonably priced. [Okay, note to self: Ask Jen what a "diffusion line" is. Is it like a "bridge" line, only with more particles? -Moe] Pieces range from $63-$260. Your call whether that's reasonably priced or not. [FabSugar]
• Yay for the Gap for making their new CFO a woman. We wish Sabrina Simmons well in her new position. [The Street]
• Vanessa Williams on her retail therapy: "It's much more fun buying shoes at night, after dinner and a few drinks. It just doesn't hurt as much." Note to self: Always get drunk before Prada. [Fashion Week Daily]

• Todd Oldham has been named creative director at Old Navy. Says ON prez Dawn Robertson:"Todd was an interesting choice because he is so relevant. He is really modern." Which is interesting, you see, because the Gap usually goes the extra mile to be irrelevant. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Cell phones are the new handbags, so if your Prada phone, your Dolce & Gabbana phone, and your iPhone aren't cutting it for you, never fear! Armani is getting into the mix too. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Chanel president Veronique Morali has resigned, having only held her position at the French fashion house since March. Meaning the turnover rates for heading up Chanel are about on par with the turnover rates for fashion magazine assistants. Only with, like, three zeroes added to the salary. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Former Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane told France's Le Monde newspaper he agreed with us about how fashion weeks are completely absurd and retarded because we have the internet now, duh. "[Seasonal fashion shows] don't relate to anything anymore." [WWD, 2nd item]

• Vera Wang: Set to play herself (but bitchier) on Ugly Betty! [WWD, 4th item]
• Ellen Tracy founder Herb Gallen has died at age 92 of natural causes. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Burberry: Now offering its already-expensive shit at even more ridiculous prices, courtesy of a new luxury handbag capsule collection. Oh and if you feel like coughing up the dough for one of these, take heed: Buying one is invitation only. Barf. [Vogue UK]
• On the fate of his company (will he sell it or won't he?), designer Roberto Cavalli says, "I'm not a great businessman unfortunately." But at least he knows his way with a snake print and neon-hued ruffle? [Vogue UK]
• Cathy Horyn may have finally stopped talking about Marc Jacobs, but Simon Doonan has just begun: "I'm sure I would've loved Marc Jacobs but I had to go home. By 10:40, I was out the door. Not in a huff. I didn't leave in a huff. I just thought, I need to go home now and walk the dog and take my girdle off." [The Fashion Informer]
• If by chance you find yourself in Milan with the hope of stalking your favorite (and by favorite we mean least favorite) fashion types, here's a good list of places to start. [GlamChic]
• Further evidence that high fashion in fact steals from its knockoffs: Burberry has taken to manufacturing, and incorporating into its ad campaigns Burberry plaid buttons that originally emerged as a clever means off renegade logo-theft. [EV Said via Coutorture]