• We love Betsey Johnson, but we're kind of weirded out by the revelation that she made out with Anna Nicole Smith, like on a Monday in 10th Grade when you hear about some really random hookup from a party over the weekend. "She was wearing one of those dotted net see-through things with roses on her bullet bra underneath . . . It was when she was doing TrimSpa, and she looked really beautiful." Okay, but wouldn't that be around the same time she was doing eating contests on her reality show? Again: to each her own. [Page Six]
• Janet Jackson's apparently unironic lingerie line, Pleasure Principle, is out. "The legendary hip-hop and R&B diva teamed with Bruno Schiavi, the Australian lingerie designer behind Dr. Rey’s Shapewear line (named for “Dr. 90210” fixture Dr. Robert Rey), for her debut fashion duet. The 18-piece line is named after the hit single from Jackson’s 1986 multiplatinum album “Control,” is designed to be comfortable for a range of sizes — 32A to 44G, and is crafted of mostly satin and lace." [WWD]
• It seems like celebs are always lying about how they're going to wear Project Runway designs, but after guest-judging the Australian iteration, Kelly Rowland's actually making good. "Wearing the custom-made, scalloped outfit on stage at a concert in Cannes, France, a few nights ago, the diva strutted her stuff - which almost brought a tear to the Brisbane designer's eye."She was so lovely and the fact that she has worn my design makes me so proud," Juli Grbac gushed. NB: from the pic, we can kinda see why they usually back out. [News.com.au]

• I think we've already expressed that the descriptions of Madonna's upcoming "Sticky & Sweet" tour are seriously depressing us. This doesn't help. "The Sticky & Sweet tour, which opens in Cardiff on Saturday, features an intriguing mix of gangsta pimp, dominatrix and gipsy costumes. And with looks designed by Givenchy's Ricardo Tisci, shoes by Miu Miu, thigh-high boots custom-made by Stella McCartney and sundry items from Yves Saint Laurent and Roberto Cavalli, it leaves no fashion stone unturned." [Telegraph]
• Kids aren't the only ones spending less on back-to-school; apparently teachers are some of the "hardest hit" by the recession. "Teachers from across the country are reporting they are spending less on clothes, waiting for sales and sometimes changing where they shop — even after some taking summer jobs to offset the increasing cost of living, according to an informal survey by WWD." [WWD]
• Nina Garcia "reveals" her list of top-ten "essentials." Spoiler: a little black dress is one of them. [Dallas News]
• Olympic committee rules make uniform expression a challenge: "Because country names on the front must be written in the Latin alphabet, countries like China compensate by using Chinese characters on the back. Flags and sponsor logos must be in a certain place and a certain size. The colors are regulated." [NYT]
• Speaking of rules, official sponsor Nike has been forced to let Speedo make the games' swim suits; seems the banana hammocks are just more efficient. "The apparent benefit of the LZR, which has a novel hydrodynamic construction that compresses the body into a tube, reducing drag while at the same time improving muscle performance, became apparent in national Olympic trials." [Times of Times]
• Teeny tiny Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth loves her some Armani: '"They really came though for me, and I'm a die-hard fan," she gushes. "After [the Oscars] were over, he sent me six dozen long-stemmed white roses with a really beautiful letter that said, 'Thank you so much' and 'I wanna dress you all the time.' " [Yahoo]
• Following Moe's profile of the editrix feuding at Elle, New York defends the story's integrity: "Maureen's story drew on many reliable sources — some on the record, and some on background. We stand by its accuracy." [WWD]
• Wait, so they don't just wear them to look hot? Holly McPeak explains that bikinis are more comfortable for beach volleyball: "You don't have an issue of sweat and sand collecting in places that you don't want it to," she says. "It really is the most functional uniform for beach volleyball." Thank you, we'd assumed that. [NPR]
• Heidi Klum's new ads for her Jordache collection - ripping off Heidi Montag? We're gonna go with, no. [Yahoo]
• Although the study is not conclusive, seems the rich are indeed different - or at least richer. Sales aren't flagging at all on Rodeo Drive. [LAT]
• Speaking of the rich — or at any rate, the titled — peers in the House of Lords have called for a moratorium on the waste culture that is fast fashion. No commentary required. [Daily Mail]
• Does Steve Carrell's wardrobe make the movie? Um, not really. [Guardian]
• Hayden Panettiere's mother apparently prepared to hawk her daughter's undies for charity. She didn't, though. [The Sun]
• Sweater company Lutz + Patmos, who in the past have done lines with random celebrities like Kirsten Dunst and Liv Tyler, is collaborating with Jane Birkin, who — if equally unqualified — is, at least, unassailably cool. [Nylon]

• The Man is cashing in on National Underwear Day, this ridiculous thing they do in Times Square every year with people running around in undies. This year, those wags will be competing with the pros: "Diesel, Natori, Nautica, Tommy Hilfiger and 2Xist underwear brands will have hotties strutting in their skivvies in a runway show at Espace on Aug. 5. "Lydia Hearst [Who models for Myla - ed] be 10 runway shows."" [Page Six]
• Speaking of unmentionables, Sadie Frost (aka Jude's ex)'s skivvies co, Frost-French, has gone bust to the tune of owing a ton of money. Sources say the actress is devastated. [Mirror]
• Gwyneth Paltrow is teaming up with Saks Fifth Avenue to front its Key to the Cure campaign, a women's cancer initiative. Mrs. Martin will appear in promos and, presumably, sport the tee that Karl Lagerfeld designed for the occasion. [UPI]
• Also in celeb endorsements, apparently Solange Knowles is the new face of Armani Jeans. Quoth Girogio, “Armani Jeans expresses my vision of a young, independent, casual lifestyle with a strong and cool, fashion sensibility. Solange epitomises this style perfectly and brings to it that swing so evident in her new single, I Decided." [Sassybella]

• Diane Von Furstenberg was unanimously reelected head of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. In the past year the CFDA has been active in promoting awareness of health issues in the industry. [WWD]
• Molly Ringwald: "I never thought of myself as an icon...my style was from necessity; my parents kept me on on allowance." [Star Tribune]
• Agyness Deyn is living the American dream, with an apt. in hipster-central Williamsburg, Brooklyn and a brand-new Yank PA. "The girl is responsible for keeping track of Agyness' schedule, travel plans, and general well being, which sounds like the easiest job in the world, since while it's true she's one of the busiest working models right now, she's also one of the nicest and most easygoing that we've ever met." [Fashionista]
• An enormous pair of Queen Victoria's bloomers, dating from the 1890s, just sold at auction for nine grand. Auctioneer Charles Hanson described the 50-inch knickers as belonging to '"a very big lady of quite small stature with a very wide girth." She was said to be 5 feet (1.52 meters) tall.' [AP]
• That woven dress that so wowed Natalie Portman on the second episode of Project Runway? Already sold out on Bluefly. Suede, obviously, released a statement. “I was so excited about this challenge and really wanted to win. Selling my dress on Bluefly is the opportunity of a lifetime. I knew I had to pull out all of the stops to impress this client and especially celebrity judge Natalie Portman, and Suede, "ROCKED IT!" And, now to see the customers responding to my "winning look" like this what a thrill. It is a million times better than immunity! Suede LOVES that!!!" [NY Mag]
• Polo takes Rugby online. [WWD]
• The new crop of Gap ads — featuring the daughter of French Vogue editirice Carine Roitfeld, sont arives! [Fashionista]
• David "Mulder" Duchovny is, for some reason, part of sportswear company Johnston and Murphy's push to be more relevant. "The ads show Duchovny, with a pensive look on his face, wearing Johnston & Murphy sportswear and shoes and, in some creative, accompanied by accessories such as a briefcase and other leather goods. Text reads: "Johnston, Murphy & Duchovny."" [BrandWeek]
• Defying the market, Avon profits jump. [New York Times]
• Bloomingdales to open SpaceNK boutiques within stores. [WWD]
• DKNY collabs with Chandon on sparkling wine. [VogueUK]
• Kinda thought it was still summer, but fashion says No! How to wear 'transitional' clothes. [ElleUK]

[Italy, July 22. Images via Splash.]

• Jude Law-ex Sadie Frost's company, Frost-French, has been accused of firing a sales associate based on her race. The highly-experienced Aba Yankah was hired over the phone, but when she showed up for work, she claims the store's manager was cold, subjected her to demeaning tasks and then summarily fired her without justification. While a tribunal has found that Yankah did not prove outright racism, they have judged that the company's explanation to be inadequate and compensated the plaintiff for damages and lost income to the tune of £5,000 ($9,800). [Daily Mail]
• Vogue Italia pictures are up!! [NB: NSFW][Fashionista]
• "An aging British model" was busted for shaving eight years off her age to get work. Apparently changing your birth certificate qualifies as tampering with official documents. [UPI]
• Kanye West steals thunder by sporting his own line in the front row of fashion week. Apparently the Milan fixture "was kicking it in the front row at Louis Vuitton, kitted out in a teal T-shirt, khakis and a denim jacket accessorized with a Michael Jackson button and a chunky red Lego heart. What appeared to be a silk LV scarf billowed from his back pocket." [Los Angeles Times]
• By the by...Project Runway is casting. [SeenOn]

• Armani gets the French Legion of Honor. [VogueUK]
• Recessionistas take note! Flailing economy's silver lining? "Aggressive sales." [New York Times]
• The guns of august: lingerie trade show battles. [WWD]
• Recessionistas, mourn: Steve & Barry's collapse will likely imperil SJP's "Bitten" line. [AdAge]
• Viktor and Rolf to do "haute" eyelash line for Shu Uemura. "The three lash designs are Wing, which we think looks like paperclips! (pictured), Rhombus, which are gold, inspired by the diamond pattern on jesters outfits and Swirl, a set of super long lashes, which are the most simple of the three."[ElleUK]
• New "good health certificates" are totally freaking out models, says one agency rep. She claims that the initiative, designed to prevent dangerous thinness in the industry, are just an added stress during London fashion week. "I think they (the certificates) are crazy — not a good idea," Doukas said. "It will make some of the girls even more paranoid and freaked out about the weight thing, and they won't come to the U.K. market, they simply won't come to London Fashion Week." [UPI]
• Pop Magazine editor Katie Grand is, apparently, "an icon of cool." Best part of the interview? "When I met Grand she'd just been to New York for a POP shoot with the art photographer Ryan McGinley and model Agyness Deyn. She'd never worked with McGinley but he said he'd like to photograph Agyness, whom of course Grand knew, and Grand suggested they should do some nudes, because Agyness had never done a nude shoot, and McGinley agreed. 'And then a week later he sent me this reference photograph of kids falling off a fire escape - it was from the 1950s I think - and said he'd really like to have her falling. And naked. So we ended up with two stunt men and Agyness jumping naked from five stories onto a huge huge crash mat. It was incredible." [Guardian]
• Stealing hats from beggars? All in a day's work for a fashion photographer. [Telegraph]
• Mario Testino's diaries are somewhat less exciting. [Independent]
• "In one shot, the woman - dressed in clinging black dress and spike-heeled Manolos - lies seductively across the man's lap. Elsewhere, she is captured in executive-style sharp tailoring in an office overlooking St Paul's, while he is pictured straddling an MV Agusta F4 - the "Ferrari of motorcycles" - in a chic trench." The new Aquascutum campaign. [Telegraph]
• Record metal prices challenge jewelers. [WWD]
• I've always hated purple; feels either new-agey creative or Lisa Frank. Must be because I fear "the ultimate fashion challenge." [Independent]
• That $60 V-neck you got at Uniqlo? Probably at the expense of some Mongolian farmer being undercut by cheap Chinese cashmere. [Reuters]
• Theory's new accessory line inspired by Hair My brother would so do the "loser" cough right now. [Los Angeles Times]
• For fall, everyone and their mother "passionate about legwear." [WWD]
• I guess we were about due for another go-round: cherries are a trend again! [VogueUK]

The Good:
Say what you will about La Campbell, the woman's a pro. No matter what legal snafus she's gotten herself into from week to week, she always brings it on the Red.

Nicolo Cardi's unidentified guest (obvi a model judging by gazelle-like physique, that gent's look of self-satisfaction) looks lovely in her metallic column.

I don't know that just everyone could pull this off. But Gucci creative director Frida Giannini absolutely rocks it. (And just N.B., I love the unapologetic red carpet stance everyone adopts in the old world.)

Time was, I had some unreasonable beef with Natalia Vodianova and her English peer hubby. (I think it was based on some Vogue profile that totally glossed over the fact that she was super-young when they met and he was obviously a creepy modelizer. They called it a storybook romance or something. But Vogue profiles make anyone sound insufferable.) I'm pleased to report that they seem unfazed by my disapprobation and look blissfully happy. I like her dress, much.

The Bad:

Tilda Swinton is one of those unabashed "glamorous eccentrics" who, I used to think, could kinda get away with anything. This has changed my mind.

Last week I ran a pic of Nicole Richie in a caftan which many of you felt overwhelmed her. I stand by Nicole, but will say, apply those criticisms to: Margherita Missoni.

Lapo Elkann is an international playboy, industrialist and Fiat heir. None of which explains this suit.

In case you can't tell, the skirt (pants?) of actress Jo Champa's getup is totally sheer.

We really like what Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani is doing with the July issue. With her shoes? Not so much. (Malkovich also a mystery.)

The Ugly:

Classic scroll-down situation. This applies only to Giorgio Armani's lower half. Although perhaps the utter normalcy of his top half throw the parachute pants/sneakers into more stark and horrible relief?

[Images by Getty.]

• "It's out of control. There's always a different boy and everyone is worried he's going to pull a Halston." That's an anonymous friend of Marc Jacobs on the increasingly-erratic fashion designer. [Page Six]
  
• Ouch: David Lauren was not invited to his girlfriend (of three years) Lauren Bush's cousin Jenna's wedding. You know, Jenna Bush: Daughter of the POTUS. Apparently the Bush clan think David is too old for Lauren. Oh, and also too Jewish? Awkward. [Rush & Molloy]
  
• Kristin Davis is pissed about the injustices she faced making the Sex and the City movie: "It's in the contract that we get to keep our outfits, which is a fantastic thing, except that, for me, all of my outfits were samples. I kept my running pants, which I love and wear them a lot, but I was like, Where are my clothes?" [E!]

• Blondes need not apply to model for the lookbook for Lindsay Lohan's new leggings line. [Perez Hilton]
• God is dead: Perez Hilton is getting his own clothing line. For Hot Topic. [Celebitchy]
• The New York Giants' Super Bowl Championship ring was designed by their defensive end Michael Strahan, who told jewelers at Tiffany's he wanted a "Ten-table ring": "When I walk into a restaurant, I want you to be able to see it from 10 tables away." Um, thanks but no. [WWD, 1st item]
• And what does Giorgio Armani think about paying the most in taxes in all of Italy? "I was on a beach when I heard that. I'm not concerned with it." [NYDaily News]
• Cindy Crawford: Regrets, she has some: ""I regret that I wasn't wilder," she says. "I was working and I was nervous. I was the one in the corner with the book, being responsible. I can be wild now. I'll sometimes dance on a table for my husband and his friends. But not naked - those days are gone." [Vogue UK]
• China's latest offense: The exportation of fake Nikes. [LATimes]
• Harper's Bazaar editor-in-chief Glenda Bailey says that her permanent plus one Steven Sumner says she was only awarded with an Officer of the British Empire award because, "I shop for Britain. He thinks OBE stands for 'Owns Bloody Everything.'" [WWD, 4th item]
• It's so hard to be Diane Kruger. Of the goings-on after the Met Costume Institute Gala, she says, "I went to that party at Phillipe, which was way too overcrowded, so I headed down to Bungalow, where I danced with Christian Louboutin. That was fun!" [Fashion Week Daily]
• Eva Mendes: Pics of her topless in Italian Vogue here. [Egotastic]
• Donatella Versace is still trying to tell anyone who will listen that her girl Hillary Clinton should wear a dress. [Page Six]
• Karl Lagerfeld's handbag and luggage line is inspired by...Karl Lagerfeld. [Vogue UK]
• Fergie's daughter Princess Beatrice is working at Selfridge's department store during her gap year between high school and uni. How pleb of her. [Telegraph]
• Hermes: Sales up 13.4%. Good for them? [WWD, sub req'd]

The trouble with last night's party at the Met, if I may speak frankly, is that it was a little like being sucked into a sequined wind tunnel. It started with a little breeziness before the superhero displays—Oh, hey, Narciso and Claire! Hi Liya! Alessandra! Isaac! Diane! Tom!—and then, suddenly, people seemed to be flying around the room....But I thought Anna Wintour looked great in her Chanel dress—fantastical fashion....And though I didn't see Victoria Beckham until later, in pictures, her lace Armani coat dress was definitely a look—Hollywood grandeur with a wink. Zac Posen and his date Kate Mara, in outfits painfully inspired by Superman, get the try-harder award. I'll be interested to know who you all thought looked super—and not.

One could probably read as many metaphors about the transformative power of fashion in the silver-sequined, elaborately padded Chanel gown that Anna Wintour wore to the Costume Institute gala on Monday night as one could in Superman's cape, which happened to be hanging in a gallery down the hall. The floor-length dress had curiously curling crescents attached at the hips and the shoulders, giving Ms. Wintour, the Vogue editor and overseer of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual Party of the Year, the fuller-bodied appearance of Botticelli's Venus on her clamshell. She seemed to be broadcasting a message of total earthly control. (Or it could have been that all the Vogue assistants standing along the way to Ms. Wintour's receiving line had been strictly instructed not to speak to anyone, not even to people they recognized, or that so many guests were unusually prompt.) With this year's gala titled "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy," Ms. Wintour pointed out that she was Storm, the "X-Men" character. "I control the weather," she said.

Blake Lively wore black gloves and a snug black Ralph Lauren gown involving feathers. She said that her favorite superhero was "Spider-Man. Cause he's awesome! He gets to swing around, and, I don't know....I've always seen pictures growing up, being a teenager, and thought, 'I'd love to go to that, a night just to dress up in ball gowns.' And here I am!"...Vogue editor and hostess Anna Wintour was the first to arrive, at 6:33 p.m., wearing a Chanel gown adorned with what appeared to be seahorse tails and accompanied by daughter Bee Shaffer, who required two men, including the formidable Vogue editor at large André Leon Talley, to carry the train of her voluminous blue Nina Ricci dress up the stairs....Designer Phillip Lim came with teenage model-of-the-moment Chanel Iman,..."I've been here last year, and this is her first time here, so she's the newbie...it's a lot of pressure."

It was a silver moment for Julia Roberts, wearing a swoop-neck dress by Giorgio Armani, who underwrote the event. Her co-chairs were Clooney and Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue, who wore a Superwoman creation by Chanel with snakes of padding at shoulders and thighs. Fashion's superheroes included Donatella Versace, who dressed Janet Jackson in a cut-away back dress, Karl Lagerfeld, wearing a sparkling silver jacket while he dressed Kate Bosworth in a multicolored patchwork of vintage Chanel; and Valentino, who was with the model Claudia Schiffer wearing a frilled blue dress from the retired designer's last collection....The cast of the newly revived "Hair" sang "The Age of Aquarius" and "Let the Sun Shine In." David Bowie, sitting with his wife, Iman, looked pained at this new rendition of the counterculture musical.

[George] Clooney joked that he had wanted to dress as Batman, but the costume was already in the exhibition, so he settled for a midnight blue Giorgio Armani tuxedo. Anna Wintour, shimmering in silver cyber-couture, by Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel, declared: "I stopped the rain"....The tennis star Venus Williams and American Vogue's editor-at-large, André Leon Talley, shared a red satin, super-cape for two that was custom-made by Chanel. The actress Scarlett Johansson wore a Dolce & Gabbana gown with a large diamond solitaire which announced her engagement to the actor, Ryan Reynolds. The designer Marc Jacobs confessed to wearing Superman underwear beneath his tuxedo....The "Superheroes" exhibition opens with a mirrored illusion of Clark Kent morphing into Superman and features radical catwalk creations by some of the world's top designers and comic book costumes from Hollywood blockbusters such as Spiderman and Batman.

It's the Oscars of the fashion industry, but if the looks on parade at Monday's Costume Institute gala in New York were anything to go by, that industry is in a sorry state of disarray. Hosted by Vogue editor Anna Wintour (in a Starlight Express moment, perhaps taking the superhero theme somewhat literally) and Giorgio Armani (looking as buff, relaxed and fashionably weathered as ever) the normally ultra-glamorous event fell flat as the proverbial pancake, where the frocks were concerned at least....how about Katie Holmes, who's clearly sharing a sunbed with her new best friend, Victoria Beckham? Someone really ought to have warned her that tomato red and orange is a challenging colour combination and that her razor-sharp bob is more Playmobil nurse than intergalactic heroine. And what of the aforementioned Mrs Beckham? Even by this particular fashion car crash's standards, her dress was disastrous. Nancy Reagan circa 1985, anyone? That cool-as-a-cucumber chignon, meanwhile, isn't kidding anyone. A Hitchcock heroine the artist formerly known as Posh most certainly is not.

Armani dressed Clooney and Roberts. "He asked me very sweetly if I'd be his date," Roberts, wearing a platinum Giorgio Armani Privé gown, said about the designer, who also outfitted other A-list celebrities, including Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Beyoncé Knowles and John Mayer....Clooney was taking it all in stride. "I get to have a drink. It's easy for me," he said. As for the superhero theme, he said he had a favorite when he was a kid: "Well, you know, I loved one that no one ever talks about, the Green Hornet. He was really cool." [Thandie] Newton, in a short dress in black lace with a long cape, said, "I like this because it's one look — and two looks. She made up her own superhero inspiration. "I'm Love Woman," she said. "I wanted to do a bit of skin."

"I think the secret of a good exhibition is when it happens very easily, which is what happened here," Anna Wintour told us of the Metropolitan Museum's Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy installation. We had many more looks in the exhibition than we could use, so [the idea] is obviously, once you start to look, really out there. It was largely Andrew [Bolton, the exhibition curator]'s vision that brought it all together but we've been very fortunate that at the same time," she added. "All these movies are coming out and the Olympics are coming up, so it all sort of came together."

Holy Stars, Batman! It was a celeb-studded affair at the Metropolitan Museum on Monday night as the world's fashion elite and Hollywood heavyweights met on Fifth Ave. to kick off the Costume Institute's latest exhibit, "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy." And while the night's theme celebrated cat suits and unitards, the red carpet featured far more glam getups: Co-hosts Julia Roberts and George Clooney giggled together as they strolled in wearing Giorgio Armani. "I wore the dress because he made it for me," said Roberts, who gave the designer, who sponsored the evening with Vogue magazine, a hug....Fashion darling Zac Posen took the theme seriously, rocking out Clark Kent-worthy spectacles and revealing his own secret identity. "I worked here as an intern for three years," he said. "I got paid $60 to do the event."

• 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]

• God bless Vivienne Westwood for being so undeniably herself. Says the fashion designer-cum-philosopher: "I'd like to do less, but there are people dependent on me now. My thing has always been, just let me finish this pair of trousers and then I can read my book. We've all got to wear something, I suppose. So my advice would be to buy quality. Choose well. I think there's a certain status in seeing someone wearing the same thing over and over again." [Vogue UK]
  
• God bless Heidi Klum. She's just so wise: "[Take] time out for yourself so you can engage in an activity that you really enjoy. [Also, don't] neglect the romance in your life. [And] wear pretty lingerie if you don't want to feel schlumpy." [Vogue UK]
  
• God bless Donatella Versace for saying at the Times Talks on Sunday that her fashion motto is "Don't let the rappers wear more bling than you do!" and that she hopes to be reincarnated as Maya Rudolph. [Fashion Week Daily]

• God bless Agent Provocateur co-founder Joe Corre (who is, incidentally, also the son of Vivienne Westwood) for making his brand's latest advertising campaign, fronted by Kate Moss, actually about his feelings of disdain regarding the Vatican and Catholicism. The apple clearly does not fall far from the tree. [NYMag]
• God bless the Project Runway producers for sticking to their guns and maintaining contracts with NBC rather than following their bastardized show to Lifetime. [Yahoo]
• God bless Burberry for not using Agyness Deyn in its next advertising campaign. [Fashionista]
• God bless Jack White and Karen Elson for seemingly non-stop sex. [Globe and Mail]
• God bless model/tsunami survivor Petra Nemacova for making big money in real estate. [Page Six]
• God bless Margerita Missoni for deigning to look at apartments in Alphabet City, NYC. [Fashionista]
• God bless Giorgio Armani for sorta slighting the Met when talking about last night's Costume Institute Gala: "The superheroes theme is both topical and modern and will, I believe, attract a wider audience than usual to the Costume Institute. I am looking forward to welcoming everyone." (Let us not forget in his first press conference regarding the exhibit, he managed to insult Anna Wintour.) [Vogue UK]
• God bless alice+olivia designer Stacey Bendet, who is reportedly pregnant with baby number one. [Page Six]

Then, in the early 90s, it all came crashing down, due to corruption in the Italian parliament, bankruptcy in the cities, deaths from AIDS and a lack of money in general. But Ms. Molho maintains it was great while it lasted. And possibly the fashion magazines were a lot more fun. Plus! Ms. Mohlo has some great insights about working in the industry: "There was a time when quality paid off," she says.

On being a young, low-on-the-totem-pole stylist:

"I instantly learned that the difficult parts of this job are the small ones. When you have the amazing dress and the famous photographer, you don't really have to do any work."

Easy money, constant partying, and one out of two people in the street was a foreigner. It was a very superficial atmosphere, but it was vibrant. The fashion money funded the arts. Think about the Fiorucci store that was entirely painted by Keith Haring. There was a sensation that everything was possible."

"These schools today are pretty useless. They are very theoretical. What do you need theory for? Nothing. What you need is experience, to have lived and seen and done other things in life. I taught for a while and I used to tell my students: 'Seeing one picture by Chagall is much more important than reading all the issues of Vogue ever published.'"

"Studying him and talking to all the people in his life, I think I managed to understand the reasoning behind some of his actions. There's a telling episode in his life. When his life partner, Sergio Galeotti, died, the only daily that mentioned AIDS was Rome's Messaggero. Immediately after that, Armani canceled his advertising account with that paper. It became something of a media scandal. Researching him as a person, I see that as an act of love aimed at the preservation of a man's dignity rather than an act of spite."

"Everything turned into a soulless homage to other things we had seen before. Think about the era of successive revivals that began after the 80s. For example, even today in most runway shows the music is nothing but a mix of 60s, 70s, and 80s music. It's a big empty hole. Nothing is exciting anymore, and most things are tremendously boring. Often, the best things are written by unknown editors and journalists, while the big names seem to sign things off with their left hand. Haven't you noticed that nobody expresses an opinion anymore?"

Drinking Milan [Vice]

• Donatella Versace loves Hillary Clinton but thinks she should dress more like Donatella Versace if she wants to nab the presidency. [Vogue UK]
  
• But forget politics — where are we, Washington D.C.? — Donatella would much rather meet Martha Stewart. [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• This week on Ugly Betty, recently fired ELLE fashion director Nina Garcia will appearing alongside Project Runway winner Christian Siriano. But in the season finale, ELLE's Nina-ousters Robbie Myers and Joe Zee will be appearing on the show, in a storyline featuring a softball game. Needless to say, this would seem to indicate a rapproachment on the level with Nixon meeting Mao, except when you remember that the common goal is not being on TV. [WWD, 3rd item]
  
• How the fuck did Heidi Montag's clothing line outsell Victoria Beckham's at Kitson's? [TMZ]

• Bummer: Frances Bean Cobain is not going to be the next face of Chanel. [Vogue UK]
• Meta: ubermodel Liya Kebide is set to play supermodel Waris Durie in the upcoming bipic beased on Durie's autobiography. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Best headline ever: "Louis Vuitton Sues Darfur Fundraiser." [TorrentFreak]
• More from the wonderful Simon Doonan: "Basically I don't know anybody that remembers just the hallmark moments where you are riding a Victorian bicycle around trying to catch butterflies. There may be people who remember that but I think the medical emergencies and the crazy outfits always trump that stuff. Hence, the emphasis [in his writing] on things like flying dentures, prostitutes, medical emergencies and freak accidents." [Vogue UK]
• What's it like to be Madonna's makeup artist? Says Gina Brooke, "Usually on certain jobs you walk in and go, "OK, this is my idea." She's like, "No, this is my idea, and then you guys give me what you've got." [BellaSugar]
• Designer Cynthia Rowley's advice to graduates of Marymount University's fashion design and merchandising students, "If I can do it, you can do it." Gee, that's helpful. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Designer Ralph Rucci: Honorary Jezebel? "I think we're in a state of mediocrity. Magazines are totally unrelatable to what you look like...To show a garment that's difficult to wear, that just has a concept to it, is not fashion." [WWD, sub req'd]
• Mazel tov, probably, to Giorgio Armani who is rumored to be receiving France's Legion of Honor medal next month. [Fashion Week Daily]
• The Solar Bag! So you can, um, recharge your cell phone using your handbag. [WWD, 1st item]
• Jean-Paul Gaultier: Now shilling man make-up. [NYMag]
• Avon profits are on the rise. This surely has something to do with the price of oil but we're too tired to come up with a silly theory. [Reuters]

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

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

• "I go to the same Starbucks every day in Beverly Hills and they're like, 'Can you please tell them that we want to have new outfits?'...I sit in American Airlines, same thing. I get it all the time. Those chains or big companies, they always come to me." Imagine: the entire American service industry remade in the image of Heidi Klum! [Sassybella]
  
• Every time we read an interview with Kate Bosworth, she talks about high school and sort of ups the ante in terms of the profound alienation she supposedly felt there. Here's the latest installment. [Vogue UK]
  
• "Four kids later, I'm a 32D, but my entire life I was told I was a 34B." And there you have things we never wanted to know about model-cum-Interview fashion director Stephanie Seymour. [Chic Report]

• Best protest sign outside of the new John Varvatos store in the old CBGB's space: "$1,600 used jackets destroy communities." [Does someone still care about CBGB closing, is that the issue here? Because guess what, guys, there's a global food crisis on and Al Qaeda is bombing countries you've never heard of, stagflation is upon us and we're in danger of electing a president who doesn't know the difference between Sunni and Shiite, so get over it, thanks. -Moe] [Fashion Week Daily]
• Fun contest! Giorgio Armani is sponsoring a contest where the little people can pitch him concepts for the new ad campaign for his latest fragrance. Ten finalists get to meet Mr. Armani, though only one will have their ideas usurped for the perpetuation of Mr. Armani's own wealth. [Vogue UK]
• Why isn't one of the options for this "Do You Wear Religious Symbols" poll "Only as tattoos"?! [FabSugar]
• "Wow! It just seems like the next step to our larger goal. Every time we conceive a collection, we try to think of all the elements that would go along with our designs. And bags are next! We want to conquer that next year," says Proenza Schouler's Lazaro Hernandez. Oh really, bags! What a novel idea. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Says Duckie Brown co-designer Steven Cox, "I've always had this fantasy of making a dress out of bricks." Aren't you just ill that Duckie Brown only does menswear? [Washington Post]
• Apparently there is no "right" hemline this season, but if there were, it would involve pairing a long skirt with a long sweater. We don't make the news, we just report on it! [Guardian]
• The color blue: It's important. [Washington Post]
• Showing off your baby bump is so totally out of fashion. Duh. [IHT]
• Crocs is shutting down its factory in Quebec City, meaning 669 people now are out of work. Which also means there is a whole new demographic of people who really hate Crocs! [NYT]
• I actually don't believe anything I read about ELLE's fledgling reality show (which may or may not be titled Fashionista) anymore, but some say that editors at the mag are calling in sick to avoid having to work on it. [Jossip]

• How did Christina Ricci respond when someone from Interview magazine asked how she likes being the face of Louis Vuitton? "Well, I'm not anymore. I was one of four actresses that they used in a campaign once and it was really fun. I liked it. I would like to be the face of Louis Vuitton. I am not, however. You know who is? Scarlett Johansson is the face of Louis Vuitton. Wrong interview." Awkward. [WWD, 4th item]
  
• Back in 2007, Harvey Weinstein said of NBC Universal top dog Jeff Zucker (who is, you know, now suing Weinstein for taking Project Runway from Bravo to Lifetime), "You can only have in your life five true friends, and I consider you one of my five friends." All together now, once more, with feeling: Awkward. [Page Six]
  
• We're guessing that Nina Garcia is turning down that editor-at-large gig at Elle since she was seen eating lunch yesterday at Bergdorf Goodman. Working fashion editors don't eat. [Page Six]
  
• How surprising: Prada isn't going public come June, as previously announced. (Actually, no one's surprised about this at all.) [NYT]

• Simon Doonan on why he loves Amy Winehouse: "I strongly disagree with her drug taking — I mean it's insane — but when I was that age I was a mess, too. I think she's triggering a whole movement of eccentricity where people don't want to look like everyone else. She says it's groovy to look completely different and insane; she pulled that beehive out of no where and has her own look. She should be applauded. Because everyone was getting the Kelly Clarkson makeover, everyone ended up looking like pop princesses. What's that about?" [FabSugar]
• The blueprints have been revealed at last for the new Prada art museum in Milan. Miuccia+Rem 4Eva. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Aw, Vicky Beckham: "I'm still a mom and a wife and I must be up at seven in the morning to get my boys ready for school!" [Fashion Week Daily]
• "It's got to be English — we're not going to give it an American twist," says Sir Philip Green of the soon-to-open first-ever American branch of Topshop. Does this mean they'll be taking pounds instead of dollars? [WWD, 7th item]
• I'm obsessed with Ginnifer Goodwin on Big Love so I'm happy enough, I guess, to hear that she's being honored with MaxMara's Women in Film Face of the Future award. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Chanel: Wants you to wear gold makeup for fall. Dear Chanel: how about you just give us some gold instead? [WWD, sub req'd]
• Stella McCartney: Now doing sunglasses. [Vogue UK]
• Balenciaga: Opening its first e-commerce site on May 15. A new place to impulse-buy expensive shit from the comfort of your own home while drunk! [WWD, 1st item]
• Oh! Gucci and Giorgio Armani are also upping their web presences. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Hubert de Givenchy, Roberto Cavalli, Giorgio Armani, Gianfranco Ferré, Alberta Ferretti, Antonio Marras, Emilio Pucci and Sonia Rykiel have all donated items from their personal closets for a charity auction to benefit children with leprosy in India. It's just. So. Fashion. [WWD, 4th item]
• The shareholders at Escada think the new CEO is being paid way too much. Yawn. [WWD, sub req'd]]

• "We'll get her," says Harvey Weinstein of ELLE's Nina Garcia (Weinstein) is being sued for breach of contract for taking Project Runway from Bravo to Lifetime. While Weinstein is probably the first person to say anything about wanting to continue to work with Garcia, we find his statement more creepy than encouraging. [WWD, 2nd item]
  
• "I am fine alone now, but not when I'll be 90," says Giorgio Armani of having a private equity firm get involved in his business. [WWD, 2nd item]
  
• "Buying vintage or revamping clothes and making things myself is my take on helping the environment." Oh bite me, Zooey Deschanel. [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• "I used to consider myself Italian, but now I feel very European." —Margherita Missoni. [Fashion Week Daily]

• PETA is trying to make nice with Beyonce and has issued a statement congratulating the pop star on her marriage to Jay-Z. They even sent her a faux fur stole as a wedding gift. Aw. [Sassybella]
• Wanna be on top? Says Sarah Doukas, who discovered Kate Moss: "You need the cheekbones, you need the jaw-line. You can look at someone who is gorgeous but perhaps has quite a round face, without the definition that you need for a camera and light to turn it into this fantastic canvas." How not encouraging. [Vogue UK]
• Tommy Hilfiger has his own TV channel. On the internet, that is. The just-launched Tommy TV will not be about fashion, however, but music. Says Hilfiger: "I became a fashion designer because of music and music has remained at the heart of Tommy Hilfiger." [WWD]
• Today is not Talbot's happiest day: Bank of America and HSBC are both pulling their lines of credit from the company. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Liz Claiborne Inc. wants someone to buy its fragrance holdings. Good luck with that, friends. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Marc by Marc Jacobs design director Fred Tremblay is leaving the label, or so the rumors go, to head to Coach. [WWD, 1st item]
• The latest expansion of the Vera Wang Bridal brand? Bed linens. Perfect for losing your virginity on top of on your wedding night, naturally! [WWD, sub req'd]
• Fendi: Busy busting counterfeiters. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Jim Belushi's wife, Jenny: Has a children's clothing store. [WWD, sub req'd]
• The Lord & Taylor logo: Indecipherable. [BusinessWeek]
• Nike and Adidas: Fighting over soccer star Zhang Zhi. [Guardian]
• Recession. No one's buying. Prices dropping. The end. [MSNBC]
• Accessory designer Jessie Randall says a "pootie" is a cross between a pump and a bootie. I say it's a vagina. You? [WSJ]

• Woody Allen is suing American Apparel for $10 million for using his image in its ads without consent. And to think if not for this minor infringement the two seem, well, cut from the same (sweatshop free knit jersey) cloth, if you know what I mean! [WSJ]
  
• And for those who'd rather read about it in Yiddish...[Daily Yid]
  
• The guys who design 6267 are now going to design Gianfranco Ferre. Everyone sorta knew this was coming. And by "everyone" I mean the people who actually know what 6267 is, which, I know for a fact, is not Moe Tkacik. [Dear Jennifer, Fuck you. -Eva] [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Talbots: Doesn't want to be "dowdy." Uh, John McCain doesn't want to be old, either, but sometimes...oh well, try to reinvent yourselves into the career woman's answer to Wet Seal, see if that works. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Patti Smith is still stylish, according to British people who know these things. [Times of London]

• BTW, fashion so over. [Telegraph]
• Banana Republic is doing a new "high-end" line called Monogram. LOL. [Fashionista]
• Playboy's e-retail women's store is doing so well, they're having to outsource the whole damn thing. Seriously, did no one read Bunny Tales?! Stop putting money in Hugh Hefner's baby-oil soaked pockets! [WWD, sub req'd]
• Donna Karan: Licensing a china and crystal line through Rosenthal. And Vera Wang's monopoly on label-conscious brides just shook in its stilettos. Not. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Recession special! Get your "basic men's sweaters" for only $3,500 here! [Village Voice]
• Alicia Keys says her friend Giorgio Armani "is like a magician." [Times of London]
• Dear Gucci: Stop having the people of Japan sully their cell phones with wallpapers bearing your logo and products. Kthxbai. [WWD, 2nd item]
• Paul Smith likes airports. [Nylon]
• Um is it wrong that I want to read the new Kate Moss biography? [Yes. -Errol Morris] [LA Times]

• 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]

Just Cavalli:

Missoni:

Burberry:

Jil Sander:

Gianfranco Ferre:

Giorgio Armani:

[All images via AP.]

• Victoria Beckham is depicted buck-nekkid on a Marc Jacobs T-shirt that supposedly celebrates the prevention of melanoma. But like, Posh is not wearing any clothes and neither Marc nor Posh are exactly a poster children for the tanning bed avoidance movement, so, again, mixed messages! [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Marc Jacobs to world: "Some people think I've lost my mind. But I feel good. I feel very strong....In the past, I've been very quiet. Now I'm just being very honest. I don't know if people are ready for that. I've learned over the years to first please myself because you can't please everyone." [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Karl Lagerfeld on his favorite memory of Valentino: "Let's just say it involved more than a red dress." Yikes! [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• Naomi Campbell's former assistant committed suicide over the weekend. We won't make a joke, even an obvious one. [Sunday Mirror]

• Diane von Furstenberg on Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis: "Graphic novel? Is that the way you call them? I didn't know that! I've read a few; I read Maus, and then I read this one. I was going to say comic book. I'm glad you taught me that! I thought it was provocative and free, everything I love about women!" [Fashion Week Daily]
• Natalia Vodianova has announced that the Valentino couture show last week marked the beginning not only of Valentino's retirement, but hers as well. BTW, Vodianova is 25. [Page Six]
• No runway show for Heatherette this season?! Sobs! [Gatecrasher]
• DKNY is partnering with the NYC Dept. of Transportation to set up bike borrowing stations throughout NYC during fashion week. The people who ride them in lieu of taxis will get a fuckload of fawning press in exchange for reducing approx .000007% of the Fashion Week carbon footprint. [WWD, 5th item]
• Liz Claiborne Chief Marketing Officer Gail Onorato is moving to Ralph Lauren to be president of womenswear its their Chaps line. As if you could tell the difference between Chaps and Claiborne before. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Giorgio Armani, man of the people: "Today, people want a designer who is thought to be a person of taste and genius and give them pointers on everything - from what to wear, to choosing something for the home, to their choice of holiday destination." [Vogue UK]
• English bad boy designer Christopher Kane on his upcoming Fall 2008 collection: "Think Big Bird - but without the feathers." We presume this means yellow? Daring. [Vogue UK]
• We really do love Agent Provocateur ads. [Chic Report]
• Sorry, but Mischa Barton just looks desperate in the Spring 2008 Iceberg ad campaign. [Sassybella]
• Krazy Karl has an eyewear line! [Sassybella]

Julie Christie - Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama (Away From Her)

English acting legend Julie Christie is a little bit quirky and a whole lotta classy. Which is why I thought the 66-year old actress would be perfectly suited in this Louis Vuitton dress — pinstripes paired with the coy purple sheath shows that there is sexy after 50, and Christie's face would be perfectly picture-framed in that portrait collar.


Marion Cotillard - Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical (La Vie En Rose)

French actress Marion Cotillard won big last night for her star-making turn as legende Francaise, Edith Piaf, the chanteuse whose heart-breaking songs weren't half as heartbreaking as her own life story. And shouldn't a performer/role that scream Vive La France! be paired with one of the country's most iconographic fashion houses, Chanel? This Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel-designed dress looks as if it were custom-made for Cotillard's moon face and full lips, the marriage of sexuality and innocence. Also, how cool are the nautical-esque rope details?


Cate Blanchett - Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture (I'm Not There)

I'm a little tired of seeing Cate Blanchett in Armani. Also, I imagine that Cate is a little tired herself, but not of Armani — just 'cause she now has an achin' pregnant woman's body. So I thought comfort should come first, which is easy enough in this Lanvin number, which, like Cate, seems simple but boasts an alluring complexity. (Also, I'm mad for orange!) Cate's a great beauty: She deserves to wear a dress that can match her, but allow her to shine.


Glenn Close - Best Lead Actress in a Television, Drama (Damages)

So Glenn Close gets the honors with this sexy yet sophisticated frock by Armani. She's 60-years and and still got a slammin' bod and she's damn proud of it. So why not show off a still toned chest in a diaphanous choice like this one? The shawl keeps it modest enough. Sorta. Kind of. And the cute and fabric will soften Close's appearance, which can sometimes veer towards the severe. Also, I'm all about white for formal wear. (And all against white for bridal wear. Ah, irony.)


Tina Fey - Lead Actress in a Television Comedy (30 Rock)

The idol of geek girls everywhere, I want to see Tina Fey in a dress that represents her wit and sophistication, without denying the fact that geek girls are never gonna compromise comfort for style. Also, geeks can be beauties too! Smarts, comfort, beauty? That's exactly what this strapless black gown by Israeli designer Sari Gueron offers. The attention to detail and flawless execution is like the sartorial equivalent to the perfect timing pla