The modeling industry went through a variety of dramatic changes during the last decade. It was in these years that two relatively economically underdeveloped regions — South America and the former Eastern Bloc — supplanted the West as the industry's main source of tall, skinny 16-year-olds. (And the skinny 16-year-olds became skinnier 14-year-olds.) Lots of stuff happened: models died. The industry hesitantly considered self-regulation. There was a recession that decimated the luxury sector.

Who were the faces that cropped up during these tumultuous years and stood out from the crowd? Think of the Brazilian bombshells who stomped into prominence on the runways of Versace in the late '90s and held sway over the industry for the first few years of the decade that is now coming to a close. Remember the post-9/11 mini-vogue for "intellectual"-looking Belgians? (Though some — An Oost — have been unfortunately largely forgotten, others — Hannelore Knuts — still work regularly.) The doll-like models of the mid-2000s (hello Gemma, hello Lily!) The Russians who gained prominence during the last years of the decade. Who will be remembered as the faces of the 2000s? Our money's on these ladies.

Gisele Bündchen

There's a strong case for calling Gisele the face of the decade. Although she technically rose to fame at the very end of the 1990s — she was Vogue/VH1 Model of the Year for 1999, and nabbed the November 1999, December 1999, and January 2000 covers of American Vogue in a rare hat-trick — Gisele has continued to dominate the entire fashion spectrum. Claudia Schiffer called her the only true modern supermodel. Gisele is a category-killer, pulling off high-fashion editorial work, commercial gigs, Victoria's Secret, and campaigns for Dior and Versace, with equal aplomb. (She is also one of the only contemporary models to have gained any kind of tabloid notoriety, which celebrity ironically makes her a more likely cover choice for fashion magazines, now that they don't put mere models on their covers.) Through every change in style, Gisele has remained on top. She goes by one name. She is the highest-earning model in the world. She has a line of sandals in her native Brazil. Her work ethic is highly praised, and an economist even made a Gisele Index to mathematically prove that companies that hire her make money. It outperformed the Dow! Other models should probably just give up now.

Crossover Stars Heidi Klum And Tyra Banks

Karl Lagerfeld may not know who Heidi Klum is, but millions of Americans do, thanks to Project Runway. Although Klum and Banks were both well-known models in the mid-to-late 1990s, thanks especially to their respective work for that august periodical, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, it was in the 2000s that their careers kicked into overdrive. In 2003, Tyra Banks debuted a little reality-television show called America's Next Top Model, and even if it was a little short on the reality, it certainly made great television. She parlayed it into her own talk show, a New York Times Magazine cover story, and continued to make occasional appearances in magazine editorials. Klum became the host and executive producer of Project Runway in 2004, and thus introduced the world to the magnificence that is Tim Gunn, and her own adenoidal catchphrase, Auf Weidersehen. Klum maintained her Victoria's Secret contract, and is currently the face of a rejuvenated Ann Taylor. Maybe these women recognized that modeling, qua modeling, was mostly a losing game in the oughts; maybe they knew their careers were dwindling into catalog obscurity anyway. Either way, they went and did their own thing, and are now more recognizable than ever.

Natalia Vodianova

After the Brazilians, came the Russians. And no Russian was more successful than Natalia Vodianova. A favorite of Calvin Klein, she walked every runway and cleaned up on the campaign circuit, starting in about 2004. With her spooky, wide-set eyes and thick hair, she could look alternately romantic and hard-edged. Unashamed of her impoverished background — she worked at a fruit stand before starting modeling in her early teens — she is an active philanthropist in her native Russia. Also she sometimes talks about how it's not a good idea to expect models to be so thin that they can develop disordered eating habits. We pretty much love her for that.

Gemma Ward

Gemma Ward had basically done it in fashion all by the time she was 19. After debuting as a runway exclusive for Prada, Ward saw covers, editorial work with Mario Testino (this shot comes from a Vogue Paris shoot with the photographer), Steven Meisel, and Patrick Demarchelier, and campaigns for brands like Burberry, Roberto Cavalli, and Dior all came her way. All told, she was on more than 30 different covers of Vogue around the world, including the debut issues of Vogue China and Vogue India. Her uniquely beautiful features commonly earned comparisons to those of a baby doll, and Ward originated the vogue for eery-looking, wide-eyed, pale girls, like Heather Marks and Vlada Roslyakova. Then, suddenly, in 2008, she took a break from modeling. She filled her time by taking a supporting role in the Australian film The Black Balloon, for which she was nominated for a Film Critics Circle of Australia Award in the category of Best Actress. She most recently popped into the news to quash — for a second time — rumors of her retirement; she says she'll return to modeling in 2010. Perhaps she can be a face of the next decade, too.

Liya Kebede

Liya Kebede burst onto the scene in 2002, when the then-largely-unknown was featured on the cover of Vogue Paris. And this Ethiopian model has continually been featured in editorials and campaigns during a decade that will probably go down in the fashion history books as one of the least diverse. (Kebede was the only black model before the fold on Vogue's supermodels cover from earlier this year.) She's been the face of brands from Estée Lauder to Tiffany's to Louis Vuitton (pictured), advocates for maternal health in the developing world, and has her own children's clothing line, which is entirely handmade in Ethiopia.

Daria Werbowy

With her cat eyes and multi-faceted nose, Polish-born, Canadian-bred Werbowy so captivated Steven Meisel that he put her on the cover of Vogue Italia twice in a row in 2003 (this is the first one). Plenty more work followed, including campaigns for Prada, Gucci, and Chanel, and a multi-year contract with Lancôme. She also is one of the bevy of supermodels who do ads for the jeweler David Yurman. Most recently, Werbowy motivated countless women to buy insanely colorful Matthew Williamson for H&M summer duds by merely glancing in Solve Sundsbo's direction.

Agyness Deyn

For a while in 2007, this girl's mug was inescapable. It seemed that Deyn — born Laura Hollins, some five years earlier than her agency had initially claimed — was in every editorial, on every billboard, and on every runway. With her highly recognizable haircut and signature mouth-agape look, she could radiate innocence or sex. Given she had oodles of style — or at least, a willingness to dress in really ridiculously 80s outfits in public — the obvious move would have been for her to transition from modeling into being a designer's long-term muse, a stylist, or to get a clothing line. Instead, she dabbled in music, did ads for Uniqlo, and dyed her hair black. Whether or not she makes a comeback, she's still got that 2000s look — po-mo anti-historical Salvation Army hipster — to a T. Her pictures will instantly conjure the period.

Coco Rocha

One of our all-time favorite model bloggers, the Canadian Rocha has been heavily featured in editorials and advertising for companies including Dior and Yves Saint Laurent since about 2006, and once did a jig on Jean-Paul Gaultier's runway. A favorite of Grace Coddington at American Vogue, she also dyed her hair red at the request of Steven Meisel himself. Rocha, who worked for several long years in secondary markets before making it big, is also one of the few models willing, like Natalia Vodianova, to talk about the industry's pressures regarding weight. (She herself has used diuretics to stay thin in the past.) Rocha practically has a patent on the open-mouthed, furrowed-brow, angry-cute expression we've seen so much of over the past few years.

Lakshmi Menon

When we first saw this woman's pictures, in 2008, we swooned. Menon worked in India for years to put herself through school while studying economics, and then hit the international circuit to do the occasional job for, well, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Alexander Wang, Stella McCartney, Givenchy, MaxMara, and H&M. At 27, practically elderly by the ridiculous standards of the industry, she became the face of Hermès and took pictures with an elephant. She even hammed it up for American Vogue, and all the while her unique look quietly worked its way into fashion's mainstream.

Lara Stone

A Bardot-ish blonde with gappy teeth, and features that can seem alternately androgynous and hyper-sexual, Lara Stone is a true model oddity. Cathy Horyn once compared her walk to Lurch's. We would love to disqualify her from this list for being in that God-awful blackface shoot, but the woman grabbed dozens of campaigns, a cover of British Vogue, two covers of Vogue Paris, and one group cover of American Vogue this year alone. Whether she's doing cannibal-zombie editorials or joking about pushing girls down the stairs, people seem to be fascinated.

Karlie Kloss

Karlie Kloss almost didn't make this list, because a lot of her work is very recent. After debuting as a runway exclusive for Calvin Klein and then Gucci in September of 2007, her breakout season was February of 2008, when the then-15-year-old walked for an astounding 66 designers in three cities. But editorial and campaign work, especially in the U.S., was a little bit slower in coming. No longer: Seems like someone up and became Anna Wintour's favorite. This year, Kloss racked up more international Vogue pages and covers than any other model, and she has been featured in some 23 editorials in American Vogue since first appearing in its pages this February. Add campaigns for Alexander McQueen and a Marc Jacobs perfume to the mix, and we can expect to see lots more of this 6' girl with the unusual eyebrows in the next decade.

• Victoria Beckham's team always denies the best rumors. Blake Lively, apparently, will not be the face of her next campaign for the dress line. [UK Vogue]
• Helena Christensen's photographs of climate change in Peru are being exhibited in London. [BBC]

• The sheikh who had such grand plans for Christian Lacroix when he bid for the company has failed to file key financing guarantees with the bankruptcy judge on time. This jeopardizes the sale of Lacroix, since all the other would-be bidders for the troubled company have dropped out. The sheikh, or anyone else interested in buying the brand, has until December 1 to prove they have the financial wherewithal and the business plans to relaunch the brand. [WWD]
• Lauren Conrad is authoring a book on style. Most astoundingly, it'll feature "new and never seen before photos" of the "style icon" — we assumed between the camera crews and the tabloids, her every style move was amply documented. [People]
• Francisco Costa of Calvin Klein dressed Penelope Cruz for the New York premiere of Pedro Almodovar's new movie, Broken Embraces. Says Costa, "I wasn't in the last fitting, and I got pictures of her in the clothes at the hotel room. And they looked like movie stills. She was just wearing the clothes in the hotel room, but it almost felt like Helmut Newton pictures, there was so much of her in the photos." [People]
• Rachel Zoe is hiring. She wants an L.A.-based ad sales exec to "evangelize The Zoe Report as being a leader in the fashion publication/newsletter space." Must have "an entrepreneurial attitude - overcome any obstacle, creative, willing to be an evangelist for a new product." Is she starting a business or founding a cult? [Fashionista]
• Leighton Meester, on the cover of UK Glamour this month, has some fashion advice for Blair Waldorf. We hate when actors do that; can you imagine Leonard Nimoy telling Spock to, you know, loosen up a little? Why must actors constantly remind us that they are acting? It's so meta. Anyway, she'd like her to put her hairbands on differently. Meester also says, "I actually think I'm prettier without makeup." Which puts her in the solid majority of women. [People]
• J.C. Penney is going to stop printing such big catalogs, because most people shop online now. [NBC]
• Russell Athletic closed a factory in Honduras when its 1,200 workers voted to unionize in 2008. Now, because of pressure from college anti-sweatshop groups that persuaded universities to drop Russell products, the company has announced that the employees will be rehired. The new Honduras factory where they will work will be unionized, and Russell has agreed not to fight unionization at its seven other plants in the country. [NYTimes]
• Model Karlie Kloss played ping pong against pro Wally Green. And won. The girl is unstoppable. [Style.com]
• After hearing that Gemma Ward planned to return to modeling in the new year, FrostFrench — Sadie Frost and Jemima French's London-based label — has announced it would like her to be the face of their next campaign. Right now, before she (presumably) gets down to her fighting weight again. This is like when a boy asks you out in front of the whole school, only FrostFrench is doing it in front of the whole Internet, and it smacks of a publicity stunt. Just, no. [Fashionista]
• Chanel Iman suggested to the Victoria's Secret stylist that they bedazzle her name on the back of the t-shirt she wears in one look for the show. [InStyle]
• Former Abercrombie & Fitch model Brad Greiner confirmed that the company recompenses its models pretty terribly: although Bruce Weber's images of Greiner were splashed all over national billboards, in-store displays, and even shopping bags, he made only $500 a day. The shoot lasted two days. That's not quite American Apparel-bad, but it's close. With runway work already pro bono, lookbook bookings suddenly a status symbol, and editorial work also unpaid, will campaigns be next to tell models it's worth it for the 'exposure'? Abercrombie has underpaid its campaign models for years, but other successful fashion companies might, in these straitened times, try applying its business model. [StyleSectionLA]
• An Australian fashion editor who bought a pair of Versace sandals and then had the heel quickly break off of one is pissed because when she sent the shoes to Milan for repair, they were returned with instructions for her to deal with the Australian Versace stores. There are no longer any Australian Versace stores, because the company closed them. [News.com.au]
• The U.S. Polo Association is suing Polo Ralph Lauren for allegedly blocking its efforts to license its trademarks for a line of fragrances. [WWD]
• Burberry is looking to open 21 stores in India through a partnership deal with a local company. Indians spent about £2 billion on luxury goods last year. [ToL]

You've noticed: Lindy, Christy, Claudia, Naomi, Cindy, et. al., are back and booking up all the glossy paper stock available. And there's been a renewed focus in the online and print media on identifying the current crop of models as individuals. Even if sometimes that noble sentiment backfires.

Maybe it's a reaction to the anonymized sameishness of much of the fashion imagery of the early oughts; maybe it's an inevitable response to the tedium of featureless plasticine airbrushing. Whatever the reason, it's hard not to notice the interest: the Met Costume Institute gala this year is themed "The Model As Muse," privileging an unusually model-centric understanding of fashion's workings. There was Sara Ziff's documentary, Picture Me. A little more light-hearted is Modelinia, a recent web start-up dedicated to the idea that people want to read (and Maybelline advertising can be sold around) content about models — everyday models who aren't bold-faced names, models who book the Dior makeup test, not the Dior show — and that those readers care enough to wonder what we do in our off hours and if we have any tips on where to buy good vintage clothes. (Eating, drinking, and reading, and the Hell's Kitchen Salvation Army, as though that's any great secret, thanks for asking.) And then there's ModelFeed, a group-blogging platform out of Australia that boasts a bevvy of (predominantly) Aussie model contributors; who knows how that site plans to monetize itself, but for now, its only too happy to lend its bandwidth to former band geek Sarah Stephens' old school photos, and Kieta van Ewyk's many practical uses for rain boots on the family farm.

If those last two of the above betray, at least in theory, allegiance to the idea that models merit acknowledgment as agents, and not just as subjects — that the young women who are seen and not heard deserve a shot at a voice, and the Internet is the perfect venue to provide it — then they also, unfortunately, have a whiff of artificiality about them. We don't actually know anything more about Stephens for having seen her band picture or for knowing that she gets lonely sometimes in Paris; despite the tagline "Not Made Up", this is some mediated content. (The girls' agencies are in on the ModelFeed action.) Modelinia occasionally veers into night-time Tyra territory. (If cinema truth at 24 frames a second, what is web video? Inanity at broadband speed?) There's something a little corporate, a little astroturf-y, about it all.

Not so models' independent, personal blogs, of which there are too many to list. Quality does vary; some of my tribe are simply out-and-out crazypants, and plenty are very keen on making the gig-to-gig life lived in tiny apartments split five ways sound extraordinarily glamorous indeed. (It is not.) More frequently, especially with bigger-name models, personal blogs wither to little more than vehicles for self-promotion. (It's hard to take too much of Sessilee Lopez's oddly flat blog, which might as well be titled, The Various High Heights Of My Fabulous Career Being Fabulous, So Far.) But for every Shannon Stewart ("The Lord Jesus just allowed me to get an agency in Miami, Paris, Munich (Germany), and I am in the process of getting one in Hambourg [sic] !!! Praise the LORD!! haha") there's an Elyse Sewell, making her mark behind the scenes with wit and verve. Below, my picks of five of the "model blogs" that are actually worth taking a look at.

Elyse Sewell

Photo of Elyse Sewell from her blog

Actually, there's no better place to start when considering model blogs and model bloggers than Sewell. Probably the most successful contestant to ever survive the Tyra Banks modeling school, this New Mexico native and one-time would-be medical student has been regaling a dedicated crowd of LiveJournalers with her travels throughout (mainly) Asia since 2004. Her creative neologisms ("streetmeatsketeer", "'conversatation': a conversation destined for eventual incomprehension by virtue of one or both parties' incomplete grasp of the language in use") sparkle, and her vivid descriptions — a bulimic roommate's mess is "a giant speech bubble of drying emesis" — make her blog a must-read. Sewell does a terrific job of writing in such a way that she acknowledges her audience without seeming to pander or overly adjust her content. It's as close to an unvarnished look at the Asian modeling market as one could hope for.

Cameron Russell

Photo of Cameron Russell from her blog

American Cameron Russell — who recently revealed her agency told her to sleep with a photographer when she was 16 — keeps things lively at her blog, Funny and Interesting. Although she generally only obliquely references her work (for clients including French Vogue, Yves Saint Laurent, and Calvin Klein), Russell, a Columbia undergraduate studying economics who does things like run the Boston marathon in her spare time, writes compellingly about everything from pareildolia to grifter nuns on the Acela. There's also sprinklings of fiction and interviews with people working on unusual projects.

Sophie Ward

Photo of Sophie Ward from her blog

If Russell's blog, while unmistakably animated by her personality, is outwardly focused, Sophie Ward's is at the other end of the scale: obviously personal, and esoteric to the point of self-involvement. Yet, due in no small part to her writing skill, it often holds interest. Ward, the older sister of fellow model Gemma (yes, that Gemma), has a sideline career as a writer and editor for the small imprint Paper Castle Press, and maintains her blog, Big Long Open Gash on its site. Ward, who is, like her better-known sister, represented internationally by the powerhouse IMG agency, has shot with Italian Vogue and walked for Armani Privé couture. Ward posts excerpts of what she's reading — about Buddhism, Dadaism, Pablo Neruda — and, although I can't bear to read when she puts up things like edited love letters, feeling too much the voyeuristic creep, I keep coming back in hope of spying acerbic observations like "I have many friends in the fashion industry (oh god, did I just write that?) and they are all lovely acquaintances when you get them for 3 seconds or less, or on a day when they have been eating." (Ward tweaks her posts like a maniac, and perhaps thought better of that particular gem. But I think she's at her best when she's mean, so thank goodness for Google's cache and my Apple Shift 4.)

Coco Rocha

Photo of Coco Rocha playing soccer from her blog

For something completely different: Coco Rocha. The Canadian supermodel — who last year dyed her hair red at the request of none other than Steven Meisel — maintains a blog at the corner of professional and cheery. It shouldn't be interesting, but Rocha is humble and the for-the-fans-ness of the enterprise somehow doesn't taint it. And occasionally she uploads a really funny video, maybe with her equally awesome friend Behati Prinsloo. I think what people object to, or at least what I object to, in a personal blog that feels impersonal, is the betrayal of the author's promise: it seems ungenerous to offer a glimpse behind the curtains, and then to deliver instead triple-exclamation-pointed Seinfeldian platitudes about shoes or tiny airplane seats. Rocha, although extremely measured in what she shares of herself, manages to remain highly likable.



Daul Kim

Photo of Daul Kim from her blog

Probably the weirdest model blog of all — and, just maybe, my favorite — is Daul Kim's. The Koren supermodel's I Like To Fork Myself is an ongoing notation of her working, social, and intellectual life, all delivered in conversational run-ons that clamber down the page, piling one weird and striking observation on top of the next. It's a style that, intentionally or not, perhaps most perfectly mimics the actual whorl of life as a busy working model. This week, at home in Korea, Kim shot for Numéro for two days straight, with wrap times of 4 a.m. and midnight, had her wisdom teeth pulled on the third day, and then worked again until the afternoon. Then she went to London, worked, and DJ'd a party. Now she is, apparently, en route to Paris and Berlin for more work. That she finds the time to make Absolutely Fabulous jokes and share her impressions of Milan Kundera ("im reading his books now days/and i like him alot./and ppl were like 'REALLY? U LIKE MILAN KUNDERA?'/like as if its EW... is it????/i dont get it/i love his style of writing, very analytical and psychological/very reasonable, erotic, interesting, kind of grotesque, kind of stereotyping.../but very very... true/i really like studying human behavior and how certain people's mind work/it is kind of like.. little things when you see how someone behaves/very slight things/where u can tell/'oh he/she has unresolved issues with his mother'/'oh that person , sexual deviant!'/'oh that person probably goes home and revises their conversation/e.g. im going to say this when i introduce myself at dinner today'") at all is impressive; all the more so that the unfolding record of her frazzled mind is so consistently interesting. Girl is whip-smart and funny.

Elyse Sewell's LiveJournal
Funny And Interesting (Cameron Russell's blog)
Big Long Open Gash (Sophie Ward's blog)
Oh So Coco (Coco Rocha's blog)
I Like To Fork Myself (Daul Kim's blog)

• Sofia Coppola for some reason to design shoes and bags for Louis Vuitton. "It is understood the products will be sold worldwide and launched in Japan." Will she distract us from the crappy-looking shoes with a cool soundtrack? [WWD]
• Kate Moss: The Movie. Maybe. [Graziavia The Cut]
• Usher launches lingerie line. “Comfort and intimacy is very important.” [Just Jared]
• "Alessandra Ambrosio's 4 pound Maltese named Buddha got out and is lost. He is tie dyed blue and green and is lost please help in anyway possible. She loves her dog so much and there is a large reward if someone returns him." [Perez Hilton]

• Vivienne Westwood's recession tips: "In these hard times, dress up," with towel capes and safety pin jewelry! [Daily Mail]
• No wonder her retrospective attracted 40,000 visitors. [The Star]
• In their futile attempt to sabotage the fur-lovin' Armani, PETA approaches fames bunny-boiler Glenn Close. [E]
• Post Jovovich-Hawk, Milla thinks big. “Now I’m here in Paris meeting with bigger houses about doing designing for them...Unfortunately, Carmen’s not working with me anymore–she’s taking pictures–but I am definitely going to keep designing.” [FashionWeekDaily]
• Um...what? Naomi Campbell on air travel: "I think after 9/11 you can't say anything anymore on a plane. I've flown British Airways for years, since I was a child...The stewardesses will tell you that I would get on a plane, put on the blanket and go to sleep. I'll never fly that airline again, but nothing's really lost. I did get my luggage. I was reunited with my YSL, and everything was cool." [Stereohyped]
• Lily Cole's French Playboy cover is out. [Fashionologie]
• If it's not broke: Dior reups Galliano's contract. [WWD]
• Wal-Mart bans cotton from Uzbekistan in an effort to end child labor there. [NY Times]
• Model bad-girl Alice Dellal kinda grosses out some people. 'Another fashion journalist, who also wanted to remain anonymous - because to be heard slagging off the fashionistas' favourite is hardly the done thing - told me that she found it all "baffling. She looks like she needs a good scrub. It's as if she's walked out of a 1990s Nirvana video".' [Telegraph]
• More on H&M's trials. [NY Times]
• Tennis ace Rafael Nadal to be spokesman for Lanvin fragrances. Cause sweaty athletes is exactly who I want to smell like! [WWD]
• New York Jets quarterback Brett Favre and racing icon Dale Earnhardt Jr. for Wrangler makes somewhat more sense. [AdWeek]
• Karl Lagerfeld and Tom Ford's mutual admiration interview. Given the players, disappointingly un-absurd. "For me, American fashion and the look of American elegance with an updated image is Tom. There may be others, but I don't wear those." [Time]
• Jay-Z's Rocawear sued for trademark infringement. [The Cut]
• Whether Target likes it or not, Anya Hindmarch is selling her cheapo line on her own site four days early. [Fashionista]
• Miss Sixty stores bite it. [Times of London]
• Wait, what? Gemma Ward decides she's going to be an actor, promptly nets Australian Oscar-like nom. [WWD]
• British women's breast size a whole cup larger than a generation ago; breast enlargement surgery likely culprit. [Telegraph]

• Elle UK is, for some reason, all agog over the 20-year-old celeb spawn, who they say has had some kind of chic makeover since turning 20. "It's official. We have a new style crush here at ELLE in the shape of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis' daughter Rumer." Well, to each her own, we say! [ElleUK]
• Rihanna models a look from Kanye West's new "Pastelle" clothing line. It kind of looks like she's wearing her dad's sweatshirt. [The Life Files]
• Designer John Varvatos (recently known for taking over punk emporium CBGB in New York and turning it into a high-end boutique) has a new baby girl: Thea. [P6]
• Remember that community garden Forever21's destroying in L.A.? It gets worse: "It's the former site of the South Central Farm - "where low-income, indigenous/immigrant Latino farmers grew food in the midst of a toxic industrial area for 14 years." Wait, Forever21's not an ethical company? But it's so cheap! [Feministe]

• Simon Doonan does his part for the economy with the new Barney's Catalog, which is centered around a narrative called "Emma's Dilemma." As Emma, model Coco Rocha is torn between two men and various luxury goods. '"The theme is, 'Oh just buy both,'" said Doonan, adding that even though the economy is fragile, the catalogue's message is right for these times. "Embedded in there is permission to be a little self-indulgent. It's a bit of glamorous self-indulgence." [WWD]
• Speaking of Cocos, the new Lifetime miniseries about Coco Chanel blows. "Shirley McLaine plays the "older" Chanel to Barbara Bobulova's younger incarnation, with the two apparently bearing "no resemblance to one another other than they both like a well-cut suit". [VogueUK]
• Narciso Rodriguez on the recession: “The economy is such that it’s a tough moment for everyone. We are happy we haven’t decreased the business in any way, but the company usually grows like 20 percent every year, and that hasn’t happened. We are trudging through this Bush mess and looking forward to the next steps.” They're also looking forward to a new fragrance. [WWD]
• Nautica, not an official Olympic sponsor, scores best product placement of the Beijing games: on Misty May-Treanor's forehead. [NYP]
• With back-to-school sales continuing to disappoint, retailers entice the young, predator-style, over the internet. Take Kohl's, who's selling a new line on Stardoll.com, "a virtual community for teens and tweens where kids can fork over "Stardollars" — purchased online at a nominal sum — to buy apparel for their online characters." It seems like, implicitly, retailers are hoping kids to a little clandestine shopping behind their penny-pinching parents' backs...[WSJ]
• Those "detox foot pads" that soak up all your toxins herbally and turn black overnight? Apparently they're frauds. [NPR]
• Foundering chain Steve and Barry's creditors probe a suspect $5 million loan. [WSJ]
• Gap pursues scorched earth policy, firing almost all its Euro designers. "The global chain will axe its European fashion design team from September, and is moving its advertising team to its US headquarters. It will, however, retain an in-house design team working on store design, visual merchandising and in-store events." [MediaBistro]
• Fendi makes hideous $575 patent hightop. Looks kind of like a 19th century work boot, only not a all utilitarian. [The Life Files]
• You know times are tough when even Target 's profits are down. [WWD]
• A California woman designs modest "halal" swimwear that covers the body. '"I understand most people are accustomed to not seeing a lot of clothing on the beach or in the water," Sabet said. "We don't want to look like freaks or stick out like sore thumbs for being so covered up on the beach, but I wanted to help make water activity accessible to Muslim women."' [UPI]
• Nearly "1,000 bra makers protested outside the German embassy in Bangkok on Tuesday in a labor dispute stemming from the vexed issue of whether Thais have the right not to stand up in honor of King Bhumibol Adulyadej." Basically, a union leader was sacked for wearing a politically-charged tee asserting her right to remain seated during the anthem, which is played before movies. It's an issue because the king has been traditionally been perceived as a semi-divinity and this view is meeting with increasing resistence. The bra company then fired her to avoid making waves; hence the protest. [Reuters]
• Mini courts the "creative class of New York" with its rooftop Fashion Week happening, '"curated" by
  Jefferson Hack, along with a performance by MGMT. ' [WWD]
• Model Gemma Ward "officially retiring" to pursue acting. [Sassybella]
• Vena Cava/Via Spiga (try saying that one five times fast) collaborate on capsule collection that could well be rad. [WWD]

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

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

• Oscar winner Marion Cotillard has conspiracy theories! She questions the attack on the World Trade Center towers: "We see other towers of the same kind being hit by planes. There was a tower, I believe it was in Spain, which burned for 24 hours. It never collapsed. None of these towers collapsed. And there (in New York), in a few minutes, the whole thing collapsed." Plus! She doubts Neil Armstrong! "Did a man really walk on the moon? I saw plenty of documentaries on it, and I really wondered," she says. "I don't believe all they tell me, that's for sure." [Variety]
  
• Are Britney and Adnan Ghalin dunzo? Did she throw his iPhone into the pool after finding "saucy" texts from another woman? [The Sun]
  
• Jennifer Lopez has indeed, as previously reported, named her twins Max and Emme. A reader points out that those were the names of the kids in the cartoon Dragon Tales. WTF? [CNN, YouTube]
  
• Colin Farrell is hooked on Russian steam baths. "There's something very basic about rubbing honey on your skin and going steaming with a bunch of strange Russian men," he says. Well, it's healthier than drugs and alcohol, for sure. [UPI]

• Jamie Lynn Spears' unborn kid is prolly a boy. Hopefully we won't be named Casey Lynn. [MSNBC]
• A new photography show features the tattoos of Lindsay Lohan. Highbrow! [Page Six]
• Family drama! Atonement star James McAvoy hasn't spoken to his father, James McAvoy Senior, in 21 years. And his 18-year-old half-brother, Donald, is in the clink for stabbing a man eight times. [Daily Mail]
• Simon Cowell doesn't believe in marriage, for financial reasons. "The truth is that you get married and in a year or two they clean you out! We have contracts with artists that are 120 pages long and last five years. Then you go into marriage with no contract and the laws are a thousand years old." [Mirror]
• Oh, and Simon was offered a million dollar deal to be the "face" of Viagra. His response: "Sorry, but that has to be a fucking insult." [The Sun]
• What??? A plot to kill Mick Jagger??? Oh... In 1969. [USA Today]
• Aussie model Gemma Ward, who was linked to Heath Ledger, says, "He told me to always be a punk and 'stand up for yourself.'" [Sydney Morning Herald]
• One of Paris Hilton's dogs is "mating" with the Yorkie of Johnson & Johnson heiress Casey Johnson. [Gatecrasher]
• While filming The Other Boleyn Girl, Scarlett Johansson was voted the world's sexiest woman by a men's mag. Some of the crew said she looked more like a grungy teenager; Scarlett heard and "lost her temper." Who could blame her? [UPI]
• Meanwhile, Scarlett is offering herself up on eBay; a night with her is being auctioned off for Oxfam. [Mirror]
• Paris Hilton has been seen hanging out with a "bearded guru." [Mirror]
• The spirit guide blessed a necklace Paris was wearing and then advised her to give it away, so some chick at Urth Cafe was the lucky recipient. [TMZ]
• Blind item! "Which single-ish A-list actor is back to his old ways since splitting with his wife? He was seen handing off a suspicious-looking vial to a hard-partying TV thesp who is about to hit the big screen." [Gatecrasher]
• Fall Out Boy Pete Wentz is opening a punk-themed unisex beauty parlor in his native Chicago, so everyone can be flatironed into oblivion. Joy! [Rush & Molloy]
• Jason Davis, brother of Mischa Barton's ex, Brandon Davis, was arrested for cocaine possession over the weekend. [TMZ]
• Mark Ronson is DJing Suri Cruises' 2nd birthday party? Seriously? [TMZ]
• Sophie Monk has released a statement: "Benji Madden did not leave me for Paris Hilton." Hmm, we never thought that, but whatever. Also: Paris has a new ring on her "engagement finger," is it from Benji? [People]
• Now that the writers' strike is over, Eva Longoria-Parker is getting back in shape, because apparently the pregnancy rumors stemmed from her gaining weight. Except she is plenty thin! What is wrong with people? [People]
• Prince Harry, back home from Afghanistan: "I wouldn't say I'm a hero. here were two injured guys who came back on the plane with us who were essentially comatose throughout the whole way. One had lost two limbs — a left arm and a right leg — and another guy who was saved by his mate's body being in the way but took shrapnel to the neck. Those are the heroes. Those were guys who had been blown up by a mine that they had no idea about, serving their country, doing a normal patrol." [People]
• Rapper Juvenile is "shocked and devastated" after learning that his 4-year-old daughter, her mother and another child were shot dead in their home in Lawrenceville, GA. [MTV News]
• Miley Cyrus and her dad are on the cover of a magazine called Cowboys & Indians. [ONTD]
• A judge dismissed part of actress Hunter Tylo's lawsuit against her late son's therapist. Her 19-year-old son drowned last October and Tylo sued the therapist, who had counseled the family. [UPI]
• Vanessa Williams and ex-husband Rick Fox were making the rounds Saturday, helping their daughter sell Girl Scout Cookies. [Concrete Loop]
• American Idol reject Robbie Carrico swears his hair is not a wig or weave. "I've been growing this hair for a very long time," Carrico says. Perhaps it's time to cut it off? [People]
• Mariah Carey on the cover of Allure! [The.Life Files]
• Will Ferrell's new flick was a dud at the box office, making a mere $15.3 million. [Reuters]

• M-K Olsen is supposedly venturing out of her Salinger-esque hiding to attend the Giambattista Valli show today. [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• Too bad, because also in MK news: she is writing a book! With Ashley, about (what else?!) her inimitable style. We assume this means she'll also go on the road promoting it, as opposed to hiding it away to be unearthed at her death with her bottles of pills and thousands of empty Venti Starbucks cups. [Sassybella]
  
• Meanwhile, Giambattista Valli is a fan of Obama. [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• Erin Fetherston: The movie. Starring Zooey Deschanel and Kirsten Dunst. Based on Romeo & Juliet. We're, er, skeptical. [Nylon]
  
• Designer logos made with cocaine. [NY Mag]

• Kat Von D (of LA Ink fame) is doing a cosmetics line for Sephora, which will be in stores in May. [Sephora's Beauty & the Blog via BellaSugar]
• How did model Gemma Ward prepare for her role in the film The Black Balloon? "I...listened to '90s music (i.e. MC Hammer)." [Chic Report]
• "We got here early because this party is usually messy," Julia Restoin-Roitfeld on the Balenciaga afterparty. Ew. [WWD, 1st item]
• M.I.A is starring alongside Karen O, Joan Jett, Billy Idol and other in the new ad campaign for Converse. But it's cool because Converse is owned by Nike now. [Chic Report]
• What the fuck? Norma Kamali for Wal-Mart?! And it's going to be licensed through Cherokee?! [WWD, sub req'd]
• Oh yay: model Coco Rocha to try acting. [WWD, 3rd item]
• Pepe Jeans wants to be the brand that denim whores run to instead of the so-called "premium" denim brands. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Limited Brands' profits are down by a whopping 11.6% this quarter. That ain't good. [WWD, sub req'd]
• The funnel-neck: It's back. Oy. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Why don't models brush their hair? I assume because they are like me: Lazy. [BellaSugar]
• Oh no: The cold is killing the pashmina goats! [Reuters]

• Georgio Armani is co-chairing a dinner to celebrate a Vogue-sponsored Costume Institute exhibit called "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy." Which is why he gave a press conference during which he professed to be "indifferent" to Anna Wintour while standing next to her. We assume he'll be too dead to make it to dinner. [NY Mag]
  
• Then again: the shocking new garment industry tell-all Gomorrah says Italian fashion is really just the Mafia so maybe Georgio knows what he's doing. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Model Gemma Ward's film debut The Black Balloon takes top prize at he Berlin Festival. [Sassybella]

• I grow increasingly obsessed with Victoria Beckham and Marc Jacobs as each new ad starring Posh as the face of MJ's Spring 2008 collection is revealed. Vicks as a naughty dark angel? Love. [Chic Report]
• Project Runway bitch slap! Chris Marc says Christian Siriano is going to be designing for K-Mart soon enough. [AdAge]
• Eva Herzigova: Doesn't need a swimwear line now that she has a son. "[The line] was my little baby. But since I have my own now, it's really hard to follow... Unless I get a license deal, I don't think I'll do it." See ladies, if your career is as pointless/lucrative as modeling and celebrity guest design, you don't have to feel any guilt about giving it up to have babies! [WWD, 3rd item]
• Hayden Panettierre is the new face of Candie's footwear. [Sassybella]
• Ooh la la! Former Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane is going to be shooting the haute couture collections for French Vogue. [WWD, 4th item]
• 15-year old Russian designer Kira Plastinina on who she hopes to see in her designs, "I like Paris, I like Vanessa Hudgens, I like the High School Musical girls, and Rihanna. I love Rihanna." [Chic Report]
• Yves Saint Laurent is once again pretending that advertising is political activism. [Vogue UK]
• A line of body shapers called Yummie Tummie. [WWD, sub req'd]
• The British fashion industry is blaming its second-tier status in the fashion world on the absence of enough factories to produce its wares. Uh...because Jakarta and Dhaka are totally the new fashion capitals. [Reuters] [WWD, sub req'd]

• (Photoshop of) Horrors! It's Drew Barrymore on the March Vogue and something just does not look right. [Just Jared]
  
• You won't be seeing Lily Allen in her underwear anytime soon: the rumors about her being the latest face of Agent Provocateur are allegedly BS. [Sassybella]
  
• The Gap's spring advertising campaign features Coco Rocha, Anja Rubik and other top models. Think this will finally be the advertising campaign that convinces everyone to start buying their crappy clothes again? [Sassybella]
  
• Because the Oscars are actually on (thanks WGA!), the WWD reports that all the big celebs are already headed out to Hollywood to primp for Sunday night — you know it takes a week of preparation for these things — meaning the biggest celebs that can be wrangled for the front row of the Milan shows are James Blunt and some soccer players who are not Beckham. [WWD, 1st item]

• And yet... Monica Bellucci, Naomi Campbell, Sheryl Crow, Fergie, Lindsay Lohan and French actress Fanny Ardant are all expected to show for the Dolce & Gabbana show. Because, uh, that other thing we just said about no big celebs was just some stupid angle we made up. You think it's easy filling an ENTIRE NEWSPAPER with material solely about the fashion industry every day? [WWD, 4th item]
• Kanye: Likes Chanel cell phones. [Chic Report]
• Isla Fisher on her upcoming starring role in Confessions of a Shopaholic: "I've done a lot of research." LOL. [Sassybella]
• Yay Bob Mackie! The man who dressed Cher, Carol Burnett, Diana Ross and Barbie in some of their finest frocks is being honored by the Costume Designers Guild today. [WWD, 8th item]
• Gemma Ward: The face of Karl Lagerfeld's spring line. It's all sorta suburban goth girl....so I'm weirdly into it. [Sassybella]
• J.C. Penney and Ralph Lauren have teamed up to create a new, "exclusive" label. Polo Penney! We can't say this aloud and not laugh. [NYT]
• Takashi Murakami: He's everywhere! First on Vuitton bags, then at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in April and then at the Museum of Contemporary Art in LA in October. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Isaac Mizrahi's designing the costumes for the New York City Opera's production of King Arthur, which could actually be enough to get our asses to the opera. [Fashion Week Daily]
• It's so hard to be a model: "Everyone sees you as merely another pretty face, and I work really hard every day to show I am more than that," says Vanessa Hessler. [WWD, 2nd item]
• Execs at Gianfranco Ferre are all grumpy that the fashion community is being all gossipy about the unexpected (and unexpectedly swift) exit of creative director Lars Nilsson from the label. Um, are they new to the fashion industry? Gossip always takes precedence over clothes. [Vogue UK]
• Fight MS! Wear lip balm! [BellaSugar]
• Playboy cosmetics: Definitely skeeve us out. [BellaSugar]
• Matthew McConaughey. Dolce & Gabbana. Video. LOL. [Sassybella]

• ANTM cycle 8 winner Jaslene Gonzalez: Now the face of Lot29. What? A Top Model winner actually booked a job after wrapping the show? [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Yes, still more on model Gemma Ward's film debut in The Black Balloon: Her character's name is Jackie. Jackie helps her boyfriend learn to accept his brother's autism. Also, Ward will be starring in another movie coming out this year, a thriller titled The Strangers which co-stars Liv Tyler. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• The new Versace fragrance is supposed to smell lke Donatella and its bottle is supposed to look like a Versace dress. We assume this means it actually smells like cocaine and cigarettes. [BellaSugar]
  
• Video! Marc Jacobs interviews Jennifer Jason Leigh, still has blue hair. [MySpace]

• More proof that everything is better in Japan: a machine washable suit will be introduced early next year. [USA Today]
• Alyona Akhmadullina, 29, is the biggest up-and-coming designer in Russia. Seeing that fashion is obsessed with all things Russian right now, expect to see her become fetishized and exploited in no time at all! [WWD, sub req'd]
• Three women in Birmingham, England were hospitalized after collapsing while waiting for a store to open after Christmas so they could score the big deals. [BBC]
• A la Karl Lagerfeld for Fendi, Ferragamo is also having a big ol' par-tay in China this year. [WWD, 3rd item]
• The dollar sucks against the pound right now, which means British fashion isn't selling so well stateside. Boo hoo, Stella McCartney. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Britain's Accessory Designer of the Year Tom Binns aspires to make women look trashier. [Vogue UK]
• Ew: Long pointy finger nails scare us. Do not want. [BellaSugar]
• Mazel Tov Karl Lagerfeld: Our favorite Krazy Kraut celebrates his 25th anniversary of designing Chanel in 2008. [Sassybella]
• Memo to all those celebrities shilling fragrances: The fragrance industry's sales are slipping. [WSJ]
• Fuck coffee: Fashion labels are going fair trade, too. [Times of London]
• The late Queen Mum was quite the soothsayer: bitching and moaning over the course of 80 years that fashion was too damn expensive. [Telegraph]

• Please, baby Jesus, all we want for Christmas is for the rumors that Victoria Beckham will be the guest judge on the season finale of Project Runway to be true! [Rush & Molloy]
  
• The Dynamite Hosts are a gang of chiseled male models the fashion set has been booking like crazy to saunter around half-naked at their parties. Even Miuccia Prada has hired them. Yay, every baby step towards the day objectification of men reaches parity with objectification of women! Or um... [Vogue UK]
  
• Van Cleef & Arpels is suing Heidi Klum for ripping off their four-leaf clover jewelry designs for the jewelry line she sells on QVC, as if anyone who wears a Van Cleef clover even stands the chance of crossing paths with the wearer of a QVC clover, and also as if the four-leaf clover is some crazily innovative design element to employ. [Sassybella]

• Model Gemma Ward's feature film debut in The Black Balloon to premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February. Apparently she's good. But is she good enough to warrant the 96 other stories we have read about "OMG a model manages to not suck in a movie" prior to this one? Nein. [Sassybella]
• "Retail visionary" and Kuwaiti royal Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah guest-blogs on the new New York Times blog "The Moment" about how no luxury brand would take him seriously when he was first starting out because apparently they were under the impression Kuwait was still the kind of place you had to get around on camel but then they realized the United States is the kind of place you have to get around on foreign oil and that oil was not getting cheaper so they needed to sell more merchandise and he seemed to have the money for it. It's a really inspiring story on so many levels. [NYTimes]
• Designer Shelley Steffe says her new handbag collection is "evolved from a garment." She better be careful dropping the e-word or her bags will surely soon be banned south of the Mason-Dixon line. [The Fashion Informer]
• Accessories designer Jesse Randall: Loves shopping at Target! (Us too!) Accessories designer Jesse Randall: Has a diffusion line coming out at Target next week. (Not us too.) Coincidence? Hmmm. [GlamChic]
• Just in case you were tempted, dousing yourself in glitter for the holidays is not a flattering look. [LATimes]

Earlier:
LOL'Vogue': Scarves, Silverware & Scooters
LOLVogue: Starving Models & Marionettes
Mon Dieu! C'est French LOLVogue: Shoulders, Champagne and Cigarettes

• Paris Hilton showed up at the Victoria's Secret fashion show earlier this month and demanded to be cast in the show, according to model Miranda Kerr. And then — and here's where it gets really classy — she stole an outfit from the show to wear herself. [Sassybella]
  
• On being asked who designed the dress she wore to a party for actor Ewan MacGregor's new book, Helena Bonham Carter replied, "I can't remember, I can't remember anything." [WWD, 9th item]
  
• Venus Williams is inspired "as an athlete and as a designer" by Madonna. [WSJ]
  
• Model Gemma Ward: "surprisingly impressive" in her acting debut. [Sassybella]

• Adidas is partnering with Diesel to do a denim line, because what the world needs now is... that's right! Another denim line. [Vogue UK]
• Fresh from their H&M collection, Viktor & Rolf are designing a line of luggage for Samsonite. [IHT]
• Pierre Hardy for Gap shoes: Coming stateside soon! [WWD, 4th item]
• Model Natalia Vodianova and a bunch of "celebrities" we've never heard of are designing t-shirts for the Buddhist Punk label to benefit Al Gore's The Climate Project. And I guess it's understandable for Al to be tired of winning awards and ready to just party with models for once, but seriously, I am tired of the whole "designing" T-shirts for charity trend. [Vogue UK]
• Steve and Barry's is really (really!) a helluva lot more than just the place to buy Sarah Jessica Parker's "Bitten" line. Did you know they bought 3.5 million square feet of retails space in U.S. malls last year? We're not even sure what 3.5 million square feet looks like. [Business Week]
• Topshop is going to China! OMG just like this cycle's contestants on America's Next Top Model! We hope to see Heather at the first store opening. [Reuters]

• Lancome spokeswoman Kate Winslet managing to sound annoying while dissing the celebrity product endorsement business: "I remember five or six years ago, it was really a big deal to be the face of a campaign or a spokesperson for a particular brand name. Now, it just doesn't seem to matter so much." [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Tim McGraw is getting his own fragrance through Coty; we hope it smells like blue jeans, beer and jealous wives. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Katherine Heigl is the face of Nautica's newest fragrance "My Voyage for Her," a name which sounds to us sounds like some seventies book on the female orgasm, but okay. [WWD, sub req'd]

• And in further fragrance news, singer Eve wants one, even if no deal has been inked yet: "I not only want to meet the nose, but I want to be the nose. I want to be that person who's in there putting stuff in the little bottles. I'm obsessed with smells." [WWD, 2nd item]
• Designer Rogan Gregory has won the CFDA/Vogue fashion award, beating out Philip Lim, Erin Fetherston, the Threeasfour gang, the Vena Cava girls, and the duo behind VPL. Honestly, what? We didn't even really realize he was in the running. Also he designs jeans and T-shirts. Albeit, eco-friendly jeans made with fair trade cotton and endorsed by Bono's wife or something. [Vogue UK]
• CoverGirl is giving itself a makeover, with its advertising to be more focused on "individualized beauty" and less about its approach of "fresh and clean" beauty. Which would normally be "whatever" until you think of the implications for NEXT WEEK'S EPISODE OF TOP MODEL WHEREIN THEY SHOOT COVERGIRL COMMERCIALS. We so think Heather is going to win. [WWD, sub req'd]
• J.Lo is now designing an intimates collection. It is to be "infused with Latino sensuality." [WWD, sub req'd]
• Okay, but if you thought that was absurd: Vivienne Westwood's cultural-political manifesto, uniformly declared a flop when she presented it earlier this year, is going to be presented once again, this time in London, with Georgia Jagger (yes, Mick and Jerry Hall's daughter) reading the part of Alice in Wonderland (yes, Alice Wonderland figures into the manifesto, which is sorta written as a play). Says Westwood of this trip down the rabbit hole, "If you follow it your life will change." [Vogue UK]
• Infamous footwear designer Manolo Blahnik has been made a Commander of the British Empire by the Queen of England. For his great contributions to giving women across the land major foot problems? [Vogue UK]
• Model Karen Elson just gave birth to her second child and has already been shot as the face of the new BCBG ad campaign. How do these woman look so damn put together this soon after giving birth? To the spawn of Jack White, nonetheless? [FabSugar]
• See Chloe Sevigny as the face of Chloe fragrance here. [Sassybella]
• Aw, we have tears in our eyes: Donna Karan, Zac Posen, and Diane von Furstenberg are all going to work the cash register at the 7th on Sale event (lots of shopping, benefits AIDS patients) this weekend. [NYP]
• Nike is selling off its low-end brand Starter. [WSJ]
• Liz Lange maternity has also gone all private equity on us blah blah and sold a majority share of its company off blah blah. Meaning that now banker types can not only knock their wives up but clothe them on the cheap too? [WSJ]
• And lingerie line Agent Provocateur was just sold to a private equity firm too. [Independent]

• The battle between Stella McCartney and Heather Mills rages on regarding Heather's divorce from Stella's dad Paul! And even though we declared ourselves Team Stella for this one, we're a little wary about her latest overture: A necklace baring a single leg. Perhaps in nasty homage to her prosthetic-using former-stepmum? Ouch. [NYP]
  
• You know how the Armani collections shown in September weren't, er, all that good? (Hello, I Dream of Jeannie pants!) Well, it seems like Mr. Armani gets that: "I want to fine-tune the organization behind the company. I offer too many choices, and variations of the same outfit. I must focus and edit, offering narrower guidelines." [Vogue UK]
  
• Ralph Lauren has poached the associate articles editor of Departures — OMG! the associate articles editor of an in-flight magazine! — to serve as editorial director for some new editorial venture that will no doubt be full of really hard-hitting, informative content. [WWD, 2nd item]

• Luxury brand conglomerate LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton has finally gotten its hands on the French newspaper Les Echoes, which was owned by the same parent company as the Financial Times.[Vogue UK]
• The Sundance Channel will air fashion-related programming during every night of next Spring' Fall 2008 New York Fashion Week they'll be airing fashion-related programming and documentaries. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Sorry, can't help it: We love Target! They've commissioned Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Elizabeth Peyton, and Kehinde Wiley to design beach towels which will retail for $50, the proceeds benefiting charity. All because Target believes that art should be for the people blah blah we don't care we love Target! [Fashion Week Daily]
• Australian model Gemma Ward turned 20 on Saturday. And had a "Jungle Fever"-themed birthday party. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Do not put Swarovski crystals on your ass. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Dita von Teese for Frederick's of Hollywood just looks trashy. We know, we know... Shocking. But we had hoped Dita could transcend marabou trim. [FabSugar]
• We're doubtful of a panty that claims to be line-less. [FabSugar]

• Yup, we're still bitter about not being at London Fashion Week. The Stella McCartney for Adidas show was held at an amusement park at which the models and guests frolicked, playing mini-golf and eating hot dogs. [Vogue UK]
  
• OMG. David Beckham is rumored to be designing the costumes for the Spice Girl Tour. OMG. [Vogue UK]
  
• Snaps to ELLE.com for recognizing that the fashion industry is just like high school. And even bestowing the superlatives to go along with it. And it's even almost bitchy! Just like high school should be! [Elle.com]
  
• At age 80 Eartha Kitt is the face of the new MAC line "Smoke Signals." And at age 80 she has better legs than we ever will too. Purrrrrrfect. [WWD, sub req'd]

• Louis Vuitton is showcasing the works of Moscow artists in its Paris store. Just like Sherri Shepherd (and Tom Friedman) told us, the world is flat. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Paul Smith introduces his first women's fragrance, Paul Smith Rose, which is inspired by the, uh, Sir Paul Smith Rose that his wife had named for him. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Aretha Franklin does PR speak about Sean "Diddy" Combs new fragrance "Unforgivable for Women": "I like [Unforgivable for Women] because it's sexy and refreshing and has a lot of really good elements to it." [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Meanwhile Combs has posted the video advertisement for Unforgivable for Women that was banned from TV on his MySpace page "I feel strongly that this movie needs to be viewed and judged by the public and not executives." Dude - it's an ad for perfume not Do The Right Thing. [Vogue UK]
  
• Want your own Versace-and-Liz-Hurley-esque black safety pin dress? London department store Harrods now says it will whip you up a custom version. For about $22,000 that is. [Sassybella]
  
• Virtual Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen dolls. For reals. [Fashion Week Daily]