First of all, we suggest you refrain from searching. The picture that comes up is not of Michelle Obama. To put it bluntly: It's a picture of a monkey with earrings. But even more disturbing than the image itself is the fact that it shows up as the first picture on a major search engine.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like there is too much that Google can or will do. Last week, when the image first appeared on the search engine, they were able to remove the picture on the grounds that the website hosting the image was infected with malware. However, the image has been reposted on other websites that are virus-free and otherwise comply with Google's rules. It appears that the picture is the result of a Google bomb - an organized effort to change search results by linking repeatedly to a web page or image with certain key terms. Google has issued an apology. Sort of. Above the picture Google has used their adspace to run this message: "Sometimes our search results can be offensive. We agree. Read more." If you click on the link, you are directed to this message:

Sometimes Google search results from the Internet can include disturbing content, even from innocuous queries. We assure you that the views expressed by such sites are not in any way endorsed by Google.

Search engines are a reflection of the content and information that is available on the Internet. A site's ranking in Google's search results relies heavily on computer algorithms using thousands of factors to calculate a page's relevance to a given query.

The beliefs and preferences of those who work at Google, as well as the opinions of the general public, do not determine or impact our search results. Individual citizens and public interest groups do periodically urge us to remove particular links or otherwise adjust search results. Although Google reserves the right to address such requests individually, Google views the integrity of our search results as an extremely important priority. Accordingly, we do not remove a page from our search results simply because its content is unpopular or because we receive complaints concerning it. We will, however, remove pages from our results if we believe the page (or its site) violates our Webmaster Guidelines, if we believe we are required to do so by law, or at the request of the webmaster who is responsible for the page.

Google is sorry, but until the algorithms change, the picture will remain at the top of the image search.

Offensive Michelle Obama Image Returns, Google Buys Ad To Explain [Search Engine Land]
Google: Michelle Obama Pic Not Our Fault [CBS]
Google: An Explanation Of Our Search Results

• The stylist who allegedly walked out on Mark Fast's show says it wasn't because the models were too "fat" - but because they were too fat to walk right! "The walk is very important,'' she explains. [Mirror]

• The stylist in question is reportedly Erika Kurihara, fashion editor at hipper-than-thou London style mag i-D. [Frockwriter]
• "Another studio insider, Amanda May, has since tweeted that the names of the three models in question are Hayley, Laura and Gwyneth and that the company is 'so happy we stuck to our guns about the casting.'" [Frockwriter]
• Says Fast's creative director, "The decision to use fuller girls is something we have been talking about. There's an idea that only thin and slender women are able to wear Mark's dresses and he wanted to combat that. We wanted women to know they didn't have to be a size zero to wear a Mark Fast dress - curvier women can look even better in them." [Daily Mail]
• Burberry's multi-pronged approach for getting down with the kids: broadcasting their fashion week show online; Facebook; Twitter; and social media site, "Art of the Trench," which "will encourage customers and fans of the brand to upload pictures of themselves sporting a classic Burberry trenchcoat." [Racked]
• Wait, what? Apparently Clint Eastwood owns a clothing line, Tehama, and it's been bought by Nacabi Inc. [WWD]
• Kelly Cutrone: "I'm, like, the patron saint of interns. I made interning famous." Well, maybe Venerable. [New York]
• The ever-modest Tim Gunn on being named a "Top 5 Silver Fox": "Well, that's very flattering but I think someone is a little cuckoo." [MediaBistro]
• And who's the Loaded Gunn's favorite superhero? Batman, of course - "the most debonair of superheroes." [USAToday]
• A Philip Lim VIP show: An intern covered in vom and a careening model. Like a PhiDelt party, plus pleating. [Racked]
• Yoko Ono's fashion show for threeASFOUR is exactly as you'd imagine a runway show by Yoko Ono. Check it. [FashionWeekDaily]
• And Rick Owens' furniture line is exactly as you'd imagine a furniture line by the punky designer. "He calls the antlers on his angular plywood chairs "brutalist crowns," and said he loves the way their elegance contrasts with the chairs' crude wooden shapes. Plywood is one of his all-time favorite materials, and a staple, "the washed black leather," he said, of his furniture collections." [WWD]
• Perhaps inevitably, Yasmin LeBon has designed a fashion line, for Sir Philip Green's Wallis chain. It's allegedly very glam, and very good. No word on whether the iconic "Rio" video was an influence. [WWD]
• Louis Vuitton hits a snag in its epic fight to protect its TM: they've lost a fight to get Google and other search engines to stop using their name. [Telegraph]
• DeBeers - which has been linked to blood diamond mining - is talking about the role of diamond mining and climate control. Says the director: "We are making sure that we do not waste any water and that we have stepped up our programs." [WWD]
• Donatella Versace regards the recession as an "opportunity." Says the tanned titan vaguely, "The crisis is a big opportunity — it offers more stimulus for creativity ... more ideas come about." [Reuters]
• In case you were wondering what Lady Gaga considers the best costume for the Vogue offices? Here's Grace Coddington: "She was wearing Philip Treacy's hat with Vogue written on it when she came to see Anna, and when she came to see me the next day she had sprayed her hair red." [Fashionista]
• In their continuing desperation to change their staid image, the Gap is collaborating with awesome illustrator Garance Dore on a line of tees. [ElleUK]
• Twiggy is the subject of a retrospective exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery. Quoth the too-nice-for-ANTM super, "It's hysterical, and incredibly flattering. I think when you're living a life you don't mark down "this is this, and in 40 years' time I'm going to be that", you just live your life." [Telegraph]
• If there's one name you take away from London's Fashion Week, people, make it Christopher Kane. He is hottt. [NYTimes]
• And his TopShop line is, not shockingly, flying off the shelves - particularly the "crocodile dress." [Racked]
• Victoria Beckham and the other WAGs (for Yanks, that's "wives and girlfriends" of football stars; think, for fashion week purposes, Kim and Nene) have hit fashion week in full force, [ElleUK]

• They said it would never happen, but a judge ordered that Google reveal Liskula Cohen's anonymous online tormentor. The model sued Google to find out who was behind a hate-blog about her, in order to file a defamation suit. [NYPost]

• Marc Jacobs does not "enjoy", "look forward to," or anticipate seeing any shows besides his own at New York Fashion Week. "Enjoy?" said the designer, at a party in the Hamptons, "Enjoy is a weird word. It's work — work is more what it's about." So it's not fun? "No." In addition to his two collections to show, Jacobs has a wedding pull together just now — his nuptuals with partner Lorenzo Martone will take place privately in Provincetown, Massachussetts, "soon." [The Cut]
• Hopefully Jacobs was put in slightly better humor by a visit from Miss Piggy. She needed a dress for a red carpet affair in Chicago, and the designer was happy to oblige, so the porcine starlet popped in for a fitting. [WWD]
• Keira Knightley and a strategically arranged suspender star in the newest ad for Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle perfume. [Egotastic]
• Sass & Bide, the Australian denim label which generally shows internationally in New York, has announced it is joining the thundering horde heading to London Fashion Week this season. A raft of British designers have made special arrangements to return to London to show in this, London Fashion Week's 25th anniversary year, and even Anna Wintour — who normally drops the city from her fashion calendar — will be showing up. [Telegraph]
• The cast of the next season of Dancing With The Stars has been announced, and Vera Wang's name is not there. Kelly Osbourne, Melissa Joan Hart, and an Ultimate Fighting Champion might not make the best company, anyway, and Wang has a company to run, so we're not that surprised. [Us]
• Elettra Weidemann, Isabella Rossellini's daughter, scored another fall campaign, for G Star. Anton Corbijn, who directed the Joy Division movie Control, and has photographed U2 for years, was the photographer. [Fashionista]
• Eugenia Kim's diffusion line for Urban Outfitters, branded Eek!, includes a nice looking cloche, and some potentially interesting headbands and fascinators. For $28-$48, as opposed to Kim's main line's $200-$300 pricepoint, this line looks like a winner. [FabSugar]
• Speaking of Urban Outfitters, is there any other chain you would expect to take up the noble cause of saving Polaroid from obsolescence? [Elle UK]
• Hermès is reissuing one of its classic scarf designs to benefit the International Federation of Human Rights. The blue-green scarf will be sold on fidh.org for 215 Euros, starting early next month. [WWD]
• Fashion blind item! "WHICH rising American model has stopped getting snapped backstage by photographers? She's dated so many of them (and their important friends) that now they refuse to give her any exposure!" [Fashionista]
• Wal-Mart is expanding its reach into the tween market. In addition to having Taylor Swift design dresses for L.E.I., and selling Miley Cyrus's line with Max Azria, the world's largest retailer has inked a deal with Nickelodeon to partner with the young stars of a show called True Jackson. [WWD]
• Presumably in order to give Toby Keith a run for his money, Kenny Chesney is launching a fashion line. [People]
• Zara is expanding its outlet chain, Leftie's, into France, after successfully opening the super-budget stores in Portugal and Mexico. This is clearly something we need stateside, stat. [WWD]
• Saks' net loss in the second quarter widened to $54.5 million, an increase from the $32.7 million loss the company experienced during the same period last year. However, Saks actually beat analysts' expectations. [WWD]

Google AdWords is the network responsible for the weird and often unrelated advertisements that pop up in Gmail and next to "relevant" search results. In 2008, AdWords changed its policy so that it no longer allows ads for any kind of abortion services in over a dozen countries. Adelman writes:

I'm pretty disturbed by Google's ability to withhold information about reproductive health services in these countries without justification or accountability. Call me crazy, but it seems to me that women living in the countries in question should be granted the same access to reproductive health services as women in other parts of the world.

Although abortion services are not blocked on Google searches (not to mention that internet ads are probably not the best place to look for medical services), there is still something unsavory about Google's decision to prohibit advertisements for certain controversial services in some regions of the world but not others.

Adelman emailed Google to try to figure out why these particular countries were chosen for the advertising censorship. A representative responded:

The issue of abortion is an emotive subject and Google does not take a particular side. Last September, we reviewed our abortion ads policy in order to make sure it was fair, up to date and consistent with local customs and practices. Following the review we decided to amend our policy, creating a level playing field and enabling religious associations to place ads on abortion in a factual way.

We decided to disallow ads for abortion services, such as abortion clinics, in the following markets: Germany, Poland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, France, Italy and Spain. However, general, factual ads on abortion continued to be allowed and we also enabled religious associations to place ads on abortion in a factual way.

When pressed, they did not give a more illuminating answer, but simply said: "we conducted the review and made the change to ensure our policy was fair, up-to-date, consistent with local laws and codes of practice." Feministing urges readers to email Google (press@google.com) to urge them to alter their standards.

Google AdWords Policy Disallows Ads For Abortion Services In Over A Dozen Countries [Feministing]

• Michelle Obama says that the family's new puppy, Bo, is "kind of crazy," and really likes to chew on people's feet. • For the first time since they were donated almost a year ago, Emory University is planning to unveil Alice Walker's literary archives. • The University of California, Davis has launched a new program, titled "One Health", which will help save the world's remaining 740 mountain gorillas by not only caring for the gorillas, but also the people and animals the inhabit the surrounding community. • Joe Shuster, the creator of Superman, made most of his money drawing racy, bondage themed images for an obscure series of magazines called Nights Of Horror. • Philip Markoff, aka the "Craigslist Killer," has been put on suicide watch after corrections officers found shoelace marks on his neck. • The Philippine Court of Appeals has overturned the 2006 rape conviction of a U.S. Marine. The decision is final, and leftist groups are outraged. • The BBC put Google's new Similar Images tool to the test, to find out whether it actually brought back, well, similar images. The verdict: sometimes, but the Renee Zellweger/John Prescott comparison is not very flattering. • A fertility doctor who claims to have implanted cloned human embryos into several woman is being denounced by experts in the field as an "unscrupulous publicity hound." • The Public Health Commission in Wales has changed the national policy on sex change operations, making them more easily available to transgender individuals. • Two frat brothers from a New Hampshire college are facing misdemeanor charges after they branded pledges with a WWII bayonet. • Feministing takes the New York Times to task for its recent review of "17 Again," Zac Efron's new, possibly sexist, movie. • This is the funniest story I've read today: a woman dressed as Princess Leia was pulled over for drunk driving because both she and her husband (dressed as Luke Skywalker, natch) were too embarrassed to walk home in costume. • Henrietta Hughes, the woman who asked Obama for help and a house during one of his town meetings, is now jobless and is may soon be homeless again. • This quirky British couple got married in full-on Shrek costumes. Fairytale wedding indeed. •  Click here to learn about some weird medical mythology, like vagina dentata and sperm gone bad. • In what was probably a very good move, Apple yanked the "Baby Shaker" iPhone app from their store. • In efforts to prevent childhood obesity, ice cream trucks in Britain have been banned from parking outside schools. •  Students in Alaska have been suspended for cruelly taunting and frightening a moose so much that it suffered a fatal injury. • Andrea Wachner hated high school, so instead of attending her 10 year reunion, she sent a stripper in her place. Watch the whole thing on video here. • A new study has found that people who drink a glass of 100% juice each day are more likely to be thin than those who do not. • A 25-year-old woman from San Antonio has plead guilty to arranging the sale of her 5-year-old daughter for sex. She had also planned to sell her 10-month-old daughter into sex slavery, but fortunately, neither child was actually sold. • Massachusetts officials are conducting a DNA search on the body of the "Craigslist Killer" victim to determine whether to add rape to the charges leveled against Philip Markoff. • The women behind the Pink Chadi Campaign have organized another protest, called "One Night Stand". •  Scientists from the University of South Dakota have invented a wall paint that kills germs and bacteria. • Sad news: the Australian government has authorized the killing of thousand baby kangaroos that have been forced by drought into residential areas. •

• Fresh off his CFDA award women's wear nomination, Marc Jacobs is reportedly engaged to his Brazilian boyfriend of one year, Lorenzo Martone. Mazel tov to the happy couple! [WWD]

• Anna Sui, who is being given the Geoffrey Beene lifetime achievement award by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, talked to Style.com for the occasion about New York's garment district, which has been threatened by rent rises and zoning changes, not to mention the increasing number of designers who outsource their fabric and notions sourcing, and their sample construction. "So much of my work is based on the resources in that neighborhood — the lacemakers and the pleaters and so on," said Sui. "I have my design studio here; I drape on a mannequin; we sew our own samples. That's how I know how to make clothes. I can't make sense of a dress without seeing how a fabric drapes, for example...I would just really hate to see the fashion industry go the way of all industry in America, and give up and go totally outsourced. We used to have the most beautiful woolen mills here, and the best denim. There was a sense of craft." [Style.com]
• Louis Vuitton, a company whose zealotry in protecting its intellectual property is well-known, is taking on Google in the European Court of Justice. At issue: the fact that the search giant sells ads to companies that make counterfeit Louis Vuitton products, and that those ads appear above the legitimate search results. Louis Vuitton says it's tantamount to copyright infringement, Google says it's up to users whether they click on any ads or not. [The Cut]
• Spring at H&M involves a wide-legged drop-crotch zebra-print jumpsuit. Don't say nobody warned you. [Fabsugar]
• This otherwise fine profile of Lauren Hutton begins by calling her "fashion's most wondrous wrinkly." Which certainly made me wrinkle my nose. [Telegraph]
• Even though he, like Hutton, is increasingly an actor these days, Tyson Beckford wishes magazines would use more models on their covers. [AP]
• And as if to taunt him, here's Penelope Cruz, looking sort of like she needs to pee, on the April cover of Spanish Vogue. [Popsugar]
• There are all kinds of fashion-y things going on with your television this week. Today is the premiere of CNN International's Carine Roitfeld documentary, which you can watch online, Friday is Valentino Day on Martha Stewart, and Saturday is the debut episode of the newly revived House of Style with Bar Refaeli and Chanel Iman. In case that's not enough, Valentino: The Last Emperor is opening in select theaters today, and soon enough we'll be treated to whatever Morley Safer cooks up on Anna Wintour, too. Phew. [Fashionista]
• Speaking of Valentino: his half-dozen pugs might guest-blog on Martha Stewart's dogs' blog, the Daily Wag. I thought the whole point was that on the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog? [The Cut]
• Meanwhile, Gwyneth Paltrow (who says those pugs are "not good kids dogs") said at the New York premiere of the film that it had failed to reveal Vava's "naughty" side. "He's the naughtiest [man]-slash-gentlemen in the entire world," said the actress. [WWD]
• Catherine Zeta-Jones can be seen moonlighting in a seven-minute advertisement for Unilever's Lux hair product brand, developed for the Asian market. [AdAge]
• Nike's sales for the third quarter declined slightly, but there may be worse times ahead: the company largely sells according to futures orders, orders for clothing and shoes scheduled one season ahead of time. And those have contracted by 10% this quarter, to $6.5 billion. [WSJ]
• The company that makes Crocs is likely to go under. At least, that's the opinion of its auditor, as disclosed in the business's annual report. Falling revenue makes it all but impossible that the company will be able to secure a new revolving credit line after its current one matures on April 2. [The Street]
• Eddie Bauer also says it's at significant risk of violating its debt obligations. After two attempted debt restructuring deals were rejected by creditors, a third amended debt deal was made, under which the company will pay higher interest rates and issue warrants for its stock. Fourth-quarter revenue fell 5.7%, and the company has seen a wave of recent layoffs and store closures nationwide. [Reuters]
• The auction of items from Gianni Versace's Lake Como villa netted some $10.3 million — far exceeding the original estimate of $3.3 million. And that was after the withdrawal from sale of the 18th century Johann Zoffany painting whose ownership is now in question. [Telegraph]
• Hermes beat its profit forecast for 2008, and says it is on track as of right now to meet its expectation of stable sales in 2009. [FT]
• Proctor and Gamble-owned Rochas, which in the years since firing Olivier Theyskens has existed only as a perfume brand, is a fashion house once more thanks to Marco Zanini. Zanini was most recently heard from as the guy hired to relaunch Halston. (It didn't go so well.) The new collection looks a little bland, and it's interesting that only now, in the post-shows news gulch, is this a story. [WSJ]
• And in news to make you barf, Goyard has a "limited-edition" pink trunk for sale at Colette in Paris. It's large enough to fit a Barbie doll and her accoutrements, and it costs $3650. [Forbes]

• The Gossip played an hour-long set at the Paris Fendi party. Beth Ditto stripped off the five-piece stage costume Lagerfeld made her until she was performing in a sequined bra and thong. [Telegraph]

• Chanel's show at the Grand Palais in Paris was an appropriately star-studded affair, with Freida Pinto, Kate Moss, Olga Kurylenko and current Karl-favorite Claudia Schiffer in the front row. The models — basically a supermodel round-up, including several of the designer's former muses, like Karen Elson and Angela Lindvall — walked through a maze-like set that Lagerfeld designed himself. (Lindvall said they rehearsed the choreography three times.) Asked how it was that he got into the maze himself for the finale, the Kaiser said, "That I don't know and it's a strange thing. It happens to me often early in the mornings. I get into the middle of mazes and come out of completely nowhere!" [FWD]
• Alexander McQueen has heard your talk of recession-friendly safe fashion, and he bites his thumb at you. "I think it's dangerous to play it safe because you will just get lost in the midst of cashmere twin sets," said the designer, whose show was a vicious-minded mash-up of iconic fashions, played out on a set whose centerpiece was a crumbling, blackened heap of his own old set props. "People don't want to see clothes. They want to see something that fuels the imagination." [NY Times]
• This is the kind of gross original concept with a high potential for backfire: when launching a new cologne, how about not throw a crowded party and only allow guests into a backroom, one by one, to smell the scent — on a live male model? "It's really starting to smell in there," muttered someone who would have preferred, oh, I don't know, tester bottles. [WWD]
• Page Six is reporting that Anna Wintour shook hands with PETA vice-president Dan Matthews at the Stella McCartney show in Paris. Sees unlikely, given PETA's extra-vocal protests this season — French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld's Balenciaga dress had its sleeve ripped off by PETA operatives, who presumably were trying to target her goat coat — and the animal-rights organization's own history with Wintour. (Once, PETA dumped an animal carcass on the editor's plate in a restaurant. Wintour calmly placed her napkin over it and asked to see the dessert menu.) But, strange things happen in fashion, so... [P6]
• The 80s are definitely back. Leighton Meester's first Reebok ad is out — and she's posing next to a boom box that looks like it takes about 19 D batteries. [Sassybella]
• Liskula Cohen, the former Vogue model suing Google in an attempt to force the company's Blogger service to reveal the identity of a user who posts scathing content about her, broke down in court when some of the offending posts were read into the record. The blog Skanks in NYC is entirely dedicated to smearing Cohen, alleging she has no soul, and calling her "desperate," a "ho," and a "skank" many times, and Cohen's aim is to pursue a defamation suit against the author, should he or she be revealed. The lawyer representing the anonymous site called the posts "youthful, jocular, slangy comments." [NYDN]
• That's Shalom Harlow, Eva Herzigova, and Vincent Gallo (yeah, wtf?) in the spring H&M ads. [Fabsugar]
• Katie Holmes told Glamour that she is currently in talks to start a children's clothing line with her friend and stylist Jeanne Yang. [Hollyscoop]
• Meanwhile, the Jonas brothers want the tween clothing market. [WWD]
• And is Heidi Klum thinking that grown women will buy Barbie-inspired duds? [The Cut]
• Christian-owned knockoff emporium Forever 21 sold an unauthorized t-shirt with the logo of punk band Minor Threat screen printed into a thicket of generic 80s imagery. Dischord Records, Minor Threat's label, objected — and in a surprise twist ending, the shirts have actually been pulled from store shelves. [Pitchfork]
• An Indonesian company that produces around 500,000 pairs of Adidas shoes every month has been sued by its main local creditors, the Bank of Negara Indonesia and a leather wholesaler, after an ongoing dispute over the shoe factory's unpaid bills. [UPI]
• After profits declined 45.1% in 2008, luxury Italian jeweler and perfumer Bulgari will cut jobs, close stores, and eliminate unprofitable product lines. [WWD]
• Eric Gaskins, a New York-based couturier whose wares have been worn by Salma Hayek and Tina Fey, among others, has been forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after 22 years in business. Gaskins is one of the most prominent high-end African-American designers in the US. [Crain's]
• Net profits at Swatch fell 17.4% in 2008. [WWD]

So, The Guardian asks, is it apropos to Google someone before a date? One the one hand:

Leaving aside the force of raw curiosity, you might actually uncover something you urgently need to know. Like the woman in New York in 2004 who Googled her date and found an FBI warrant for his arrest. He'd been on the run for a year after allegedly stealing around $100,000. She didn't turn up for dinner that Friday; the Feds agreed to stand in.

Okay, but FBI warrants aside - and why, by the way, was this cat asking her out under his real name? Add "inept" to the list - the cons are pretty obvious. The piece idenitifies the potential awkwardness of being "in a difficult situation where you know something you shouldn't and then have to feign ignorance when it is mentioned:

If you've already discovered that he or she once won a Bafta, or spent three years learning throat-singing in Mongolia, you will find yourself steering conversation in that direction. Things become stilted; the spirit of mutual discovery isn't quite what it ought to be. Not only that, you run the risk of forgetting what you've been told and what you're not meant to know yet. You ask him how his pet bunny is and he peers at you oddly.

Sure, that sounds crap, and unless you're a nutjob like, say, Shannon on The Bachelor, to be avoided. (Also, you'll find you have Facebook friends in common, which is disconcerting.) But seriously, this is the only reason to avoid obtaining information which, as the piece points out, "could once only have come from a private detective?" It's not merely that it strips spontanaiety from the date, but, in my experience, it makes you feel creepy. We all have friends who have dived into quite unembarrassed orgies of online reconnaissance, and it doesn't exactly project self-assurance. But the bigger issue is karmic: who wants someone looking you up, judging you as the sum of a name on a college club list you only signed up for to be polite; a high school paper article; a picture of you with, let's say Mr. Met with a creepy stranger, maybe on a very humid hair-day, in a pair of jeans you got on super-sale. It is this, more than anything, that's stayed my hand (until, say, the third date.) Because, at the end of the day, an impressionistic Google portrait is, pretty much, worse than nothing.
Should you Google your date? [The Guardian]

• Versace model Liskula Cohen is suing Google after a blogger called her a "skank" and "old hag." Cohen hopes the defamation suit will unmask the mudslinger. [New York Daily News]

• Kanye West might be releasing a Louis Vuitton sneaker. We wish he'd stop being so lamely mysterious. [The Life Files]
• Monique Lhuillier and Naeem Khan are the latest designers to jump on the non-runway-show Fashion Week bandwagon. Cause who wants to be the insensitive designer throwing a show in these times? We all know an uber-select show in a small room is the way to fix the economy! [WSJ]
• First Lady Carla Bruni, at least, will be at Paris Fashion Week. [WWD]
• So, if you beat Stuart Weitzman in ping pong (which you won't, because he does "finger aerobics" and keeps his custom paddle in a silver case) you win a bunch of his shoes. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Talk about rags to riches! Model Daniela Cott, "who stands 5ft 10ins tall and has emerald green eyes, was spotted two years ago as she sifted through rubbish on the streets of Buenos Aires." Yes, she was fashionably gaunt! [Telegraph]
• Miss Vermont, Ashley Ruth Wheeler, will be wearing a green gown to the Miss America Pageant. The earth-friendly eco-frock will be made from hemp, organic cotton and silk, and lace and beads made from organic materials. No word yet on the swimsuit. [UPI]
• A new bra, designed for older and disabled women, has replaced tricky hooks with magnets. A boon for their suitors, too! [Science Daily]
• Diddy is king of his castle: "I need some advance notice because when I'm at home I'm really likely just to hang totally loose. I really like to just walk around in my underwear...I get a little embarrassed when people drop by; I'm not really prepared."[VogueUK]
• Stephanie Seymour for Valentino - part of the much ballyhooed 'year of the classic supermodel' —looks pretty amazing. [Fashion Week Daily]
• At least they can't be accused of false advertising: a new counterfeit shopping mall in China sells only knock-offs. [Mirror]
• This grotesque Roberto Cavalli snakeskin-print MasterCard was "created for those who thrive upon excellence, elegance and quality." [The Life Files]
• Los Angeles' 7 Showroom was robbed of $300,000 worth of merchandise on New Year’s Day. [WWD]
• Toni Chorley, a promising young model dubbed "the new Twiggy" when she came on the scene, has died of Hodgkin's Lymphoma at just 23. [Daily Mail]
• In a welcome piece of good retail news, fast fashion chain New Look reports that their numbers are up. [FT]
• Skechers launches (presumably fug) clothing line for kids. Sorry, that was uncalled-for. [WWD]
• Alfred Shaheen, credited as the inventor of the Hawaiian shirt that swept the mid-century nation, has passed away at 86. Aloha! [Reason]
• Now they say the first American TopShop is opening in March. Whatever. Fool us twice...[New York]
• Peaches Geldof has chopped her hair. It must be said: looks good. [ElleUK]

Attractive young woman in Manhattan, 1953.

Loving the shoulders, loving the glasses, loving the slender, delicate wristwatch.

Woman working in office, New York, 1957.

This lady must have a cool job, what with the cropped hair and the black and the arty supplies. Ixnay on the iggarettesay, though.

Typical secretary working in office, New York, 1957.

Oh dear.

Teenagers spending evening at movies. 1957.

Check out his little pompadour and her little flats!

Woman wearing wide shoulder fashion look, 1959.

Oh, so that's how to make a waist look microscopic: Wide, wide shoulders!

Model blowing on red feather boa & wearing large rhinestone earrings & bracelets for article featuring "the little red dress."

Bring back the little red dress!

Sculpture By Picasso
Four unident. models in red dresses dancing Charleston for article featuring "the little red dress."

No, seriously.

Seven African American teens walking the steps to the school, while the white students are watching on during the demonstration regarding school integration. 1956.

The '50s were not all fun and games.

A woman wearing a crab hat at the League of Women Voter's Convention, Atlantic City, NJ, 1958.

No idea what is going on here, but crabby women get my vote!

Actress Debbie Reynolds, 1950.

Can you believe that this is Carrie Fisher's mom?

Little girl model at fashion show. 1950.

Suri Cruise 1.0

Baseball great Jackie Robinson (in football uniform) w. wife Rae (Rachel) (C) and actress Ruby Dee (R) who is portraying Rae in "The Jackie Robinson Story," on the film's set, 1950.

Must find those shoes!

Actress Julia Adams is carried by monster "gill man" in the movie "Creature from the Black Lagoon," 1954.

"Mom! Dad! I totally found a girlfriend!"

African Americans dancing to the jukebox at the Harlem Cafe in Greenville, S.C., 1956.

Wouldn't you love to know what's on the jukebox? (This image is by Margaret Bourke-White, one of most accomplished female photojournalists of her time.)

Actress Elizabeth Taylor, 18, at graduation time, posing at desk in classroom at Hollywood's University High School, 1950.

No more classes, no more books. No more teacher's dirty looks. If you know what I mean.

Actress Laurette Luez (L) appearing in movie "Prehistoric Woman," 1950.

Note to self: Rent this movie.

Woman Sherriff, 1950.

Where ever this is, there must not be a heap of crime. Women get the job done!

Singer Lena Horne (R) and Lennie Hayton announcing they have been married since 1947. Paris, 1950.

Don't you want to sit in Paris wearing a lovely hat and some pearls and smile like this?

Straw Hair, 1950.

This photograph was taken backstage at a play by legendary photographer Gordon Parks, whose life was simply amazing. He shot quite often for Life.

French Fashion Models. 1950. By Gordon Parks

This Gordon Parks image seems worthy of buying, a framed print of these chic souls (and those Eames chairs!) would be a really nice gift. Cough.

Peruvian singer Yma Sumac, wearing native dress. 1950

Get to know the fabulous late Yma Sumac. Please.

Wives waiting impatiently for their military husbands to come home. 1951.

The more things change, the more things stay the same. Oh, and that one soldier is all, hmm, she is cute.

Portrait of singer/actress Dorothy Dandridge, 1951.

Stunning!

Hawaiians celebrating their admission to the US. 1959

This one is for the cheek-pinchers out there.

Harlem Debut, 1950.

Debutantes! So much tulle.

Hollywood Community Chest Fashion Show, 1950.

Gorgeous dresses, and lusting after the chandelier!

Earlier: The Way We Were: Life Magazine Photos Of Women In The 1940s
The Way We Were: Life Magazine Photos Of Women In The 1930s

Model showing off Lafaurie corduroy coat to group of admiring women. Paris, France, 1948.

God, I love the giant, poufy hair here. And the collars on all of the dresses.

Women & children models wearing inexpensive fashions. New York, 1945.

"Hey Margaret, I'll be having a stiff drink later, can I interest you in one?"
"Why yes, Doris, I'll need a double!"

Women protesting for a raise. UK, 1949.

I certainly hope they got what they wanted.

Crew cuts for women. US, 1949.

Any of these would work now, no?

Crew cuts for women.

Alternate view!

Two women riding their bicycles. France, 1940.

Everything about this looks awesome, despite the cobblestones.

African American women and white women working in the "Dead Letter" office. US, 1944.

Uh-oh, the dead letter office, where mail checks in and never checks out.

Student Carol Newcomb displaying the new American Look in women's fashions. US, 1945.

Her swimsuit is great, but is that pavement really the best she can do? No sand or grass to be found?

Women working in a gas mask factory. US, 1940.

Thank you for all your hard work, ladies!

Women jockey's leaving jockey's quarters for track. US, 1940.

Giddyap!

Chinese girl holding currency. China, 1945.

This is completely out of context, but sort of amazing.

American women playing bridge. US, 1947.

An incredibly early version of "Bish, plz."

Women sitting at a bar and having drinks. US, 1947.

Margaret and Doris finally get some booze!

Women truck drivers. US, 1942.

Tough, tough ladies. And the boots! And the trousers!

Nurses aboard Hospital Ship "Relief." Hawaii, 1940.

That game doesn't look very fun, but I am loving the wide-legged jumpsuit and the polka-dot dress.

University of Hawaii girls who are chosen by the student body to serve as Princesses and Queen in annual May Day ceremony held at the University. 1945.

So gorgeous. How I wish this photograph were in color.

People dancing at Rainbow Club U.S.O. Hawaii, 1945.

Hmm, they're not really jumping and jivin' — must be a slow jam.

Women's Club,Westport, 1947.

Gossip & gin!

Life Photo Archive [Google]
Earlier: The Way We Were: Life Magazine Photos Of Women In The 1930s

Young woman looking stylish in evening suit of chiffon, satin and velvet typical of 1930's fashions. UK, 1934.

Don't you wish you could see more detail in her jacket? I think it might be awesome.

Model wearing fashionable fur-trimmed coat with Russian Wolfhound dog at her side. 1929.

Loving the hot dog!

Russian woman grimly holding a slab of meat as other peasant women staunchly stand by in Siberia. 1931, by Margaret Bourke-White.

You can literally see the determination in their faces. Strong, strong people.

Good generic of woman operating sewing machine. UK, 1935.

What is she making? A shirt? Pajamas? Another snappy shirtdress?

Portrait of a woman in Harrar. By Alfred Eisenstaedt, 1935.

Ooh, an Alfred Eisenstaedt. This one would be great framed. Harrar is a city in Ethiopia, btw.

A Hungarian woman driving home the geese. Hungary, 1937.

No one rocks embroidery like this anymore. No one.

Woman sunbathing on the French Riviera. Cannes, 1938.

Awesome how while everyone else is all covered up, the French are rolling their swimsuits to be more skimpy. Vive la France!

Fashion buyers watching a young woman model new lines of fashion. US, 1939.

Fashion Week didn't always mean pandemonium and B-list stars.

Woman receiving a beauty facial complete with mask. New York, 1937. By Alfred Eisenstaedt.

The more things change, the more they stay the same! I just saw a terrifying Juvenique video on BoingBoing today!

A man and woman smoke cigarettes while riding aboard the El Capitan. US, 1939.

Something tells me this woman was a cool customer, fun to be around.

A woman modeling a new fashion at the Country Club. Palm Springs, CA, 1939.

Didn't Katie Holmes just wear this?

A woman showing off her new play suit. Palm Springs, CA, 1939.

I can't decide what I like better, her "play suit" or her manly, manly friend.


Life Magazine Images Find New Life On Google [Globe & Mail]
Life Photo Archive [Google]

One good example of this is political advertisements. McCain wants conservatives to think he'll eliminate it and people who inhabit the grey areas to think he won't; Obama wants liberals to think he will guard the gate and the grey-embracers to think that he'd listen to them, too. And so an abortion rights group runs commercials asking John McCain for how long he'll send women who abort fetuses to jail when he gets the Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, while conservatives insist they'll only jail doctors — not that that's better, but it doesn't mean the commercial is a fair depiction. A pro-life group run advertisements featuring an "abortion survivor" who claims that Obama wanted her dead (even though he was barely a teenager when she was born) due to his vote on a bill in Illinois about health insurance for late-term aborted fetuses — despite the media having debunked the conservative talking point on that issue ages ago. And John McCain runs radio commercials trumpeting his pro-embryonic-stem-cell research plans in liberal locales and hopes that the pro-lifers don't listen to Top 40 radio in the morning while Obama's radio spots suggest McCain is pursing a constitutional amendment against abortion (he isn't) and his new TV spots suggest that McCain personally objects to the rape-and-incest exception to making abortion, which isn't true (though the Republican party does).

All of this comes as pro-life groups have successfully pressured Google into agreeing to run anti-abortion ads that depict "abortion in a factual way." What this means is that if women are searching for information on abortion — like how to obtain one — their "sponsored" results might well come from anti-abortion advocacy, so-called pregnancy crisis centers that work to convince women not to have abortions. Are these advertisements likely to affect or dissuade me? Likely not, since I spent 15 minutes scrolling with little thought through graphic fetus pictures to find an appropriate illustration for this article. But I wouldn't expect advertisements for Planned Parenthood to convince the people running these ads. What they do attempt to do is try to create a false consensus about the "truth" about abortion through revulsion, rather than trying to win on a serious argument about the definition of "life." Because there is no one truth — and there never will be — about that, and so they'll take what wins they can get.

Another TV Ad Hits McCain on Abortion [Politico]
New Group Enters “Born-Alive” Fray with Anti-Obama Video [Utne Reader]
Two Carefully Crafted Messages On Abortion [CBS News]
Obama Hits McCain On Abortion In New Spot [Politico]
Anti-Abortion Groups Try To Buy Ads On Google [The Times]

Joanna's problem is twofold: she stalked, and then she wanted to lie about it (and perhaps threefold, as she is apparently a terrible liar). And so she stalked, tried to pretend she hadn't stalked, badly covered her own nervousness about the stalking and ruined the date. Yeah, that's not really the way to do that.

Me, on the other hand, I go one of two ways. When I'm Googling a guy (or looking at his Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter page), I'm not looking to see how many siblings he has or how fast a mile he can run. I'm looking to find out if, say, he's recently joined a bunch of NSA-sex cyberclubs (been there), is married (done that) or has a criminal record (have the T-shirt). I'm checking to see if he's got a girlfriend, or recently got rid of one, if he's some sort of crazy I should be scared to grab a drink with or if he's gay (yeah, done that, too). I have also been known to check out some internet dating sites to determine — particularly if it's a few dates in for us — if he's out and about on Match.com even as he's calling me his girlfriend (yes, I get dicked over a lot). If I happen to find out other information, I either make sure I get to that part of the conversation early on enough in the date that I can arrange my lying face appropriately, or I happily cop to part of the Google search. Are there people that don't Google? Especially in D.C. where — as Pearson points out — dating is practically a form of networking among a certain social set?

Hell, I don't doubt — especially when I tell people what I do for a living — that men I meet look me up because it is so easy, and so very, very tempting to read about me to figure out what my deal is. And, I'm fine with that. As far as I'm concerned, life is pretty short and if a guy doesn't want to date a loud-mouthed, overly-opinionated blogger type with all of my various well-catalogued issues, then I'd rather find that out before I even waste my time putting on makeup. So I feel perfectly inclined to subject others to the same scrutiny.

In the days when my mother dated, your friends used to introduce you, or you knew each other from social circles or your parents, so you had a kind of built-in vetting system for potential dates. In this day and age, a few minutes of charming awkwardness that you were interested enough to type a name into a search engine is well worth avoiding dates with the psychos, felons and religious conservatives that can contaminate the dating pool. At least, it would be if, unlike me, you actually refrain from dating the psychos, felons and conservatives once you find that out. Everybody's got to work on something.

So, Tell Me Everything I Know About You [NY Times]