A variant on Isabella (famous patroness of Columbus), Isabel radiates class. Even if you spell it in the slightly cutesier way — Isabelle — it's got the hard s and the soft "bel" that suggest its possessor is both beautiful and not to be fucked with. She may indeed be descended from Spanish royalty — or she might just have stuck-up parents. An anonymous poster on The Baby Name Wizard writes,

I named my daughter Isabel because I thought it could be cute as Izzy or sophisticated — a girl named Isabel could definitely be President!

Please, no more Isabels, Isabelles, or Isabellas! Or Sophias. We now have five little girls named Isabel/la in a neighborhood radius of 5 blocks, and three Sophias. Not to mention an Isabel Sophia. This name is epidemic in Yuppieland.

Our Isabel is adopted from Guatemala. We wanted a name that was hispanic in origin but also crosses over culture. We are certainly not yuppies!

Ouch! Isabel may not come from yuppie stock, but her parents definitely think she's better than other little girls. Thing is, they might be right. Isabel could be President — or she could be Isabel Toledo the awesome designer who made the First Lady's inauguration dress. Or maybe Isabel Allende, magic realist author of Eva Luna and The House of the Spirits, and cousin to Chilean President Salvador Allende. Or Isabel Archer, the flighty yet independent heroine of Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady.

Unlike Courtneys, Isabels are full of themselves for a reason. While the quintessential Courtney is good at being popular and not much else — at your high school reunion, you discover she's not that interesting — Isabel is going places. In fact, she's probably already been more places than you, and she knows it. She's not particularly warm or friendly, but people pay attention when she talks. Everybody wants to go to her birthday party, and lots of people show up for her dance recital. She's not quite the prettiest girl in school, but she has great jewelry, and an elegance beyond her years. She's the kind of person about whom a book called The Portrait of a Lady might be written.

Isabel has skyrocketed in popularity recently, a fact that the non-yuppie parents on Baby Name Wizards probably aren't thrilled about. It went from #495 in the US in the sixties to a high of #82 around 2003. It dipped down to #96 in 2008, but that might still be a little too common for nobility-minded Isabels — especially since its more fun-loving sister Isabella now clocks in at #2. If that's the case, they can always go by Izzy, which I think of not as "cute," but as one of those high-class names that subverts its own goofiness. Grey's Anatomy's Izzie Stevens doesn't really fit this mold, but in general the name Izzy says, it doesn't matter how silly my name is, because you'll take me seriously anyway. And if you don't, you'll be sorry when I'm famous.

Isabel [Wikipedia]
Isabel [Baby Name Wizards]

• Stella McCartney's fall ad campaign makes a Bambijoke out of all that nature imagery that suddenly became hip over the past few years. For everyone who's ever considered an ironic taxidermy at a bar and concluded, "Why?" [WWD]

• Joshua Walter, the 20-year-old male model whose clients included Hugo Boss, has confessed to a series of armed robberies in Queens, and is currently being held in a prison barge moored off the Bronx. Walter, who pistol-whipped one victim during a heist, last came to police attention in May, when he pleaded guilty to punching and choking his girlfriend, 37-year-old former teacher Gina Salamino. (Salamino, who taught second grade, was fired after her relationship with Walter, by whom she has a child, was discovered.) Walter insisted to a New York Post reporter that he is still modeling — how he's doing that from behind bars, after failing to make $550,000 in bail, is unclear. [Gothamist]
• Naomi Campbell is one of the celebrities donating a Birkin for charity to Hermès' annual vintage auction. Campbell's green alligator Birkin will be sold to raise money for the White Ribbon Alliance, which works to reduce the number of women who suffer preventable pregnancy complications every year worldwide. Also for sale on November 10 will be one of Grace Kelly's handbags, donated by her daughter, Princess Stephanie of Monaco. [UK Elle]
• WWD is already referring to the Beatrice Inn as "the former hipster hotspot." Ouch. Also, Lissy Trullie is going to be the fall face of Hervé Leger by Max Azria. [WWD]
• Prada's Seoul building, the Rem Koolhaas-designed Transformer, is changing its appearance once again. The elements of the structure, which are covered in a membrane, are designed to be shifted around to accommodate entirely different uses for the interior space. Opening in April to house a fashion exhibition before becoming a temporary movie theater, the Transformer is now becoming a contemporary art museum. "I want fashion for fashion and art for art," says Miuccia Prada. "So the Transformer concept was not for a generic space, but to be very specific, with all things separate in one building." [NYTimes]
• Meanwhile in Paris, Prada opened a more traditional kind of temporary structure: a pop-up store. Naturally, among the items sold will be an "exclusive," "limited-edition" gray handbag. Uniqlo also just opened a pop-up in Paris, intended to operate until its flagship in the city opens this fall, and Comme des Garçons' Black line currently has a pop-up in the Marais. [WWD]
• Perhaps not realizing that the coal mining scene in Zoolander was a parody, cult Paris shop Colette is releasing a limited edition collaboration with Timberland boots. Forty pairs of pre-distressed Timbs with blue trim will go on sale at the boutique this September, for 235 Euros. [Refinery 29]
• Some designers support the proposed Design Piracy Protection Act, which would offer limited copyright protection to fashion designers, while others either don't mind the knock-offs, or think the DPPA's proposed solution unwieldy. Maria Cornejo, who designs Zero +Maria Cornejo and has had her work ripped off, thinks the proposed law is a sound one. Makers of knock offs are "basically putting their hand in my head, which is my bank, and stealing ideas. It's basically robbery." Isabel and Ruben Toledo, fashion designer and illustrator, respectively, disagree strongly. "The American fashion system is all levels of value," says Ruben. "A woman knows when she's buying champagne and when she's buying soda-pop. It's two different markets. But why shouldn't a woman have the right to drink Coca-Cola when she feels like it and champagne when she wants to? That's the American way." Europe and Japan already extend copyright protection to clothing designs, but in the U.S., only a graphic of print used for a piece of clothing can be copyrighted, not the garment as a whole. [Reuters]
• Jason Wu covers some familiar territory — Michelle Obama, the loveliness of having pet cats — and some that's out of left field — sleeping pills! — in this sweet diary for the Times of London. The designer complimented a woman he saw wearing his clothes on the street, and, like a sartorial Secret Santa, didn't even tell her he had made it. [ToL]
• Some designers had standard-issue summer jobs for the fashionably-inclined, like working at a fabric store or a vintage shop, or being a doorman at a hip Manhattan club. (Wu, for his part, was a waiter at a BBQ restaurant in Taiwan during the summers when he was growing up.) Angela Donhauser and Adi Gil of Threeasfour worked for Buena Vista, touring Germany dressed as characters from the Lion King. [Style.com]
• Diane von Furstenberg hangs upside down from a swing in her Meatpacking District office. Diane von Furstenberg runs a business with 155 employees, 97% of whom are women. Diane von Furstenberg is 62, and she looks like a minx, like a dangerous, business-minded, fashionable minx, when photographed curled up elegantly on her desk. Diane von Furstenberg compares staying solvent in this economy to being "on a surfing board in the middle of a tsunami," and, if there were one woman who could pull off that totally sick stand up barrel, by God, after reading this profile, we believe it to be her. [NYTimes]
• Italian Vogue is re-releasing last July's iconic issue, which featured only black models. Because it's Barbie's 50th birthday year, the re-released magazine will come with a supplement dedicated to black Barbie. [British Vogue]
• Karl Lagerfeld shot press images for his pre-spring collection on the Rue Royale with Lara Stone and Baptiste Giabiconi — and a customized low rider motorcycle, which Chanel will, remarkably, not sell. [WWD]
• London's Estorick Gallery is holding an exhibition that pairs Italian Futurist paintings with the clothes designed by Ottavio and Rosita Missoni in the 1960s and 70s. Looks like a perfect match. [NYTimes]
• Celebrity hairstylist Ted Gibson is replacing Nick Arrojo, the hair makeover consultant on What Not To Wear. Arrojo, said network executives, was not "fresh" anymore, after six seasons. [WWD]
• There have been numerous stories about the possibility that the company that makes Crocs might go bankrupt — including one in the Washington Post last week. Even the company's auditor has raised doubts about its ability to meet its debt obligations. Unsurprisingly, the C.E.O. says everything's fine and dandy. [WWD]
• The new owners of the bankrupt Eddie Bauer brand say that most of its 370 stores will remain open. San Francisco investment firm Golden Gate Capital Management bought Eddie Bauer at auction for some $286 million. [UPI]

• Kylie Minogue was in Jean Paul Gaultier's front row yesterday because she's looking for outfits for her American tour, which kicks off in October. Might we suggest this? [Elle UK]

• In the 1930s aesthetic of some of the couture shows — especially Gaultier's — some observers see the influence of our current economic crisis. We'd argue that anyone who saw Jean Paul Gaultier's crocodile overalls and furs and thought "This is the new frugality!" is blind, but whatever. [Reuters]
• Marc Jacobs is extending his reach in the West Village of Manhattan. The designer already has five stores in a radius of as many blocks, but he still expects to open a sixth in the neighborhood next February. The space, at the corner of Bleecker and West 11th Sts., has been occupied by the Biography Book Shop for over 20 years. "The space is now worth eight times what the Biography Book Shop was paying," said building owner Alexander Brodsky, who added that Marc Jacobs would be paying more than $400/sq. ft. The fate of the book store is unknown. [WWD]
• And here's Jacobs on those bunny ears Madonna wore to the Met ball, which she also sports in the fall Louis Vuitton ad campaign: "There's a girl who works for us, Lucy, she's on the design team, and Adrian, one of the boys, was tying a little bit of fabric around and it reminded me of bunny. We were thinking of all these different things like can-can dancers, and I saw this piece of fabric wrapped around Lucy's head and said, 'Bunny ears, that's what we need to finish this look.' So we made all these radzimir bunny ears and that's how it happened. I like the kind of Playboy, French coquette aspect to it." Jacobs also referred obliquely to the extensive use of Photoshop — "The solarization that they're doing to the pictures is going to give a really dramatic effect" — and confirmed that the painter Tamara de Lempicka had been a reference. [Fashionologie]
• Celebrity fashion lines are not faring well in the market downturn. A round-up of those that have closed: Mandy Moore's Mblem, Heidi Montag's Heidiwood, and Jennifer Lopez's Sweetface and JLO by Jennifer Lopez. Paris Hilton also closed her unsuccessful line with Dollhouse, and Lauren Conrad put her clothing line "on hiatus" (although she did hit back with a lower-priced range for Kohl's). Interestingly, lines where the celeb doesn't have the star branding role — Justin Timberlake's William Rast, Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B., Jay-Z's Rocawear — are proving more resilient. [WWD]
• That doesn't mean fashion houses don't still believe celebs can move product. Marion Cotillard is in another new ad for Dior's Lady Dior handbag. [GlamChic]
• Diane von Furstenberg totally wishes Brüno had crashed one of her shows. [WWD]
• New York bumped into prominent couture consumer Daphne Guinness on the street, and asked her about her outfit. Guinness was wearing a fitted black dress by L'Wren Scott, black scarves, asymmetrical cat-eyed sunglasses, and 7" red platform Mary-Jane heels. [The Cut]
• An exhibit at the Museum at FIT, which opened Tuesday, explores fashion's relationship with politics. Included is everything from white suits worn by suffragettes to Jean-Charles de Castelbajac's sequined dress with Obama's face. Of course, also still open at the Museum at FIT is the Isabel Toledo retrospective that features Michelle Obama's inauguration day outfit. [WWD]
• We've officially found the limits of Mrs. Obama's fashion appeal: Russia, apparently, is immune to the charms of her sheath dresses and belts. "Her clothes are modest and neutral," said local designer Denis Simachev. A Russian fashion historian attributed the cool reaction to a difference in taste, the Russian being somewhat more outré: "A lot of Russians think that when something shines, it's beautiful." [WWD]
• Meanwhile, the White House is locked in a war of words with an Italian luxury goods brand over a clutch purse. VBH claims that Michelle Obama carried its black crocodile envelope clutch, sticker price $5,950, during a meet-and-greet with President Medvedev and his wife Svetlana. The White House says the purse was a black patent clutch that cost $875. Please let the Obamas not be stupid enough to lie about something so minor and so easily disproven. [NYDN]
• Everybody's favorite pervy photographer, Terry Richardson, is being immortalized in a 7.5" action figure. [Slamxhype]
• The Wall Street Journal road-tested some vegan shoes, and found that faux leather and suede are getting realer looking by the minute. Pity two of their four offerings cost over $150, and one costs over $1,200. [WSJ]
• Isaac Mizrahi curated a summer show at the Julie Saul Gallery in Chelsea, which opens tonight. The busy designer modestly says the principal theme is just "work I like by people I like," but Mizrahi goes on to explain how his famous sense of color has been informed by his favorite artists over the years. "Every time I think about color I refer to Julia Sherman," says Mizrahi. "Those Julia Sherman reds next to pale, pale pink, my Spring collection is going to be all about that. I feel like people are really open to color now. When I launched in ‘87 and I did super-bright colors, they loved it, but they didn't buy it. They'd shoot it, they'd laud it, but they'd wind up buying black. I'm talking about New York, now. The South is a different story-that's always been a haven for me. But here in the city, these days-it's nuts, color is what flies off the rack. My own line, and Liz Claiborne, too. More color sells better."
  [Style.com]
• Shoe designer Jimmy Choo says you should wash your feet in warm, salted water every night before you go to bed. Also he says that Malaysia is beautiful and you should visit. [Daily Mail]
• In case you're not already reading BryanBoy, plus Susie Bubble, the Sartorialist, Jak & Jil, and Fashion Toast, here are a few reasons why you might want to.
  [TDB]
• Once upon a time, Kira Plastinina was just another teenaged Russian orange juice heiress with a love for pink clothes. Then Kira wanted a fashion chain, so her dad bought her one. The stores did well enough in her home country and in Ukraine, but Plastinina had her her eyes set on a higher prize: the American market. So her dad agreed to pay for Kira Plastinina stores all over the East and West coasts, and threw a launch party/16th birthday where he paid Paris Hilton and Usher to show up. Within seven months, the whole hot-pink operation had been shuttered, and Kira's U.S. vehicle, the K.P. Clothing Co., was in Chapter 7 liquidation with debts of over $54 million. Which outcome, one might think, would put paid to little Kira's notions of world chain store domination — but no! Cleverly disguised under a new business name (Pink Square) and a new brand (K. Plastinina), the teenaged tycoon reopened two of her former Los Angeles locations. Which is where protesters from a building company that did $2.5 million worth of unpaid work went to go find her yesterday. "The point of all this is that there are still people suffering because of what [the company] did," says Aaron Rectenwald, who built Kira eight of her original American stores. "We haven't gotten the attention of management yet so we'll be coming back until we do." [WWD]
• The 17 workers suing New York-based retailer Scoop for allegedly giving them bogus promotions to salaried positions to avoid paying them overtime staged a protest outside Scoop's SoHo store yesterday. The former employees, most of whom are from West Africa, also allege that Scoop fired people who were in fact legal residents for supposed immigration violations. Scoop's current owners released a statement that read, "Although these allegations are against Scoop's previous management, we've conducted an internal audit to insure the company is in compliance with local, state and federal wage and hour laws. Scoop's current wage and hour practices are conducted in accordance with all state, local and federal laws." The chain's founding owners had no comment. [WWD]
• Gap Inc. expects to expand into Thailand by next Spring. The company as a whole will, however, close more stores than it will open in the next fiscal year — 100 compared to just 50. [WSJ]
• Over 3,000 pairs of Charles by Charles David high heeled shoes sold at Nordstrom Rack from April to June of this year are being recalled. The recall affects various colors and styles of shoe, and was put into effect because the heels of the shoes can easily detach while the wearer is walking. If you're affected, you can take yours back to the store for a full refund. [UPI]

The outfit - sorry, the "lemongrass yellow wool lace shift dress with matching overcoat " - is the centerpiece of Isabel Toledo's retrospective show, which opened last night at the Museum at FIT. To the fashion outsider, walking through the doors of the 7th Avenue building was akin to the moment when the golden ticket-holders are first ushered into that room full of lollipop flowers and chocolate waterfalls and Gene Widler sings "Pure Imagination": bizarre, fantastical, somewhat sinister. Kenny Loggins wasn't playing, though; Santana was, although it was hard to tell over the din of shrieks and air-kisses.

Vogue editor Andre Leon Talley was there, holding court in some kind of docent's robe, and refusing to let fashion fan-girls take his picture "because I don't know where it might end up." ("Bitch!" he screamed delightedly when Narciso Rodriguez appeared.) Photographer Bill Cunningham darted about, elongating his vowels and taking down the names of those in the most outrageous getups. His muse, Louise Doktor, was there too. And someone in a sort of pink velvet admiral's hat. Simon Doonan wearing a jacket whose back read "There is No Such Thing As Good Taste." A couple who sort of looked like Buckingham-Nicks, if Buckingham-Nicks were also art collectors with a home in Tuscany, and wore buckskin trousers to boot. And a man in a thong. Lots of Toledo, of course, distinguished by its intricate craftsmanship and the wealth of its wearers. The unofficial dress code seems to have been "Victorian school-boy" but "Damon Runyan" got its fair share of play, too.

The Toledos, looking characteristically dashing, spent the entire time talking very nicely to friends and admirers and posing for pictures with anyone who wanted them to. Also very nice were Lynn Yaeger, Austin Scarlett and Betsey Johnson, all looking like themselves, except that in Scarlett's case this also kind of means young YSL. Many others were satisfyingly horrible. Presumably as a nod to Toledo's Cuban heritage, the nibbles were Latin-inflected: little empanadas, a sort of chicken and refried-bean wrap, and one thing composed of a miniscule pastry shell, three black beans, and two corn kernels.

The exhibit is downstairs. It's beautiful; there are Toledo's origami shapes, the zig-zag and the tube; her work with lace; the unbelievably pretty work for Anne Klein, with the textiles her husband designed. All of it polished and intricate and engaging, with Ruben's illustrations throughout.

And there, of course, is The Outfit. The "lemongrass yellow wool lace shift dress with matching overcoat." People were having their friends take their picture next to it, so it took a little while to get a good view. The first thing one thinks is, "Michelle Obama is really tall." The "wool lace" is a lot woollier, and more crewel-like, than one realized. The chiffon ribbons seem particularly benign and uncontroversial and demure, behind glass. It's nice. You don't feel any closer to Mrs. Obama or anything, but it's nice. "Splendid!" someone bellows behind you, and you have to move along.

• Helena Christensen is one of the many hailing British Vogue's Alexandra Shulman. "Obviously I am of the same belief," said the supermodel photographer. "Aren't we in a business that is supposed to explore all kinds of shapes and silhouettes?" [WWD]

• H&M is famous for its sought-after designer collaborations. Matthew Williamson's of this summer being just the latest in a long, mostly successful, line. But the Swedish fast-fashion giant has never brought a high-profile shoe maker on board — until now. Behold: Jimmy Choo for H&M. Jimmy Choo accessories collections for women and men will be in 200 stores November 14. [Reuters]
• Designer Malcolm Harris, of the label Mal Sirrah, hung up on Angelina Jolie when she rang to inquire about one of his dresses. Twice. Harris thought it was a prank; Jolie still bought three of them for $225 apiece. [P6]
• So how did designer Zac Posen get ready for the CFDAs? "I was on Perez Hilton all day." [The Cut]
• Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy are getting hitched, and, no surprises here, Danes is choosing her favorite designer (and CFDA date) Narciso Rodriguez to make her wedding dress. The actress says the process is "intimate" and often makes her "weepy." [People]
• Rodriguez even whipped out a needle and thread to repair the train of Danes' dress at the CFDAs after a fellow guest stepped on it and it ripped. [NYDN]
• Kanye West went on a $5,000 spending spree at a Chicago store called Deliciously Vintage. With no lady in sight while he shopped, speculation is rife as to who'll get the haul. Amber Rose? Kanye himself in the privacy of his own multi-million dollar home? Rife, we say. [TMZ]
• Vera Wang was unwilling to confirm that she would be on the next season of Dancing With The Stars at the CFDAs. "They approach a lot of people, not just me," said the designer. As for going on the show, "We haven't decided. They haven't and I haven't." [The Cut]
• Esteban Cortazar, the young Colombian designer who has helmed the troubled house of Ungaro since 2007, says he is still at the company. Despite rumors of an acrimonious split, and a lawsuit on the part of Cortazar, at the CFDAs he told journalists "I am still there," but admitted, "We are trying to work things out. We have had some differences but hopefully things will work out for the best, whether I am there or not." [WWD]
• Agyness Deyn, says an anonymous friend, is considering quitting modelling and moving back to London to pursue roles in British indie films. [Mirror]
• Karl Lagerfeld made his transition into film — assuming we're not counting the excellent doc Lagerfeld Confidential — by providing the voice for an animated kid's movie villain. The designer apparently worked hard through take and re-take, bringing his famous perfectionism to bear on the character of a bitter ex-model who kidnaps people in order to "fabulous" them, or turn them into his own image. "He was very serious about it and very open to criticism," said his spokesperson. [WWD]
• Super-stylist Nicola Formichetti: "I hate the whole idea of celebrity in America. It's so boring — all fake smiles and big business. It seems like you can sell crap if you put a famous name on it. America's crazy, you know?" [The Cut]
• Eddie Van Halen's held a copyright on the famous red, black and white striped pattern of his Frankenstein guitar since 2001. So how did it end up adorning the soles of a bunch of Nikes? The rocker's lawyers sure wanna find out. [WWD]
• Sales are so bad at the Gap that the company might use a different advertising agency for its holiday campaign, after a seven-year unbroken streak with the same house. [AdAge]
• Also agency shopping: Zappos. [BrandWeek]
• Check out the new Isabel Toledo exhibit at the Museum at FIT on video. Ms. Toledo and her husband are on hand to talk about their history in fashion, and that dress that Michelle Obama wore that one time on the Mall. [The Cut]
• Aeropostale, one of the mall chains whose business isn't hanging by a thread during the recession, plans to launch P.S., a new line for 7-12-year-olds. [WWD]
• MTV VJ Alexa Chung once said of her retirement, "Modelling gave me a distorted body image. As soon as I stopped, I realised how ridiculous it all was. I went on about it because I was really fed up with modelling –- it's like I was saying negative things to reinforce in my mind that I had to get out. I never say or think those things now. I've used up all that neurosis –- there's none left. It's just really boring. I'd rather have a bigger brain than smaller bones." Apparently, Chung still models — when the project suits her. She's turned up in the look book for quirky L.A. label Wren. [Fashionista]
• A worker at London's Oxford St. Topshop flagship has a confirmed case of the H1N1 swine flu virus. The store reportedly sees over 200,000 visitors a week. Topshop has no plans to close it. [Racked]
• Giorgio Armani is set to unveil his latest scent, Idole d'Armani, next month. Polish actress Kasia Smutniak will be the face of the brand. [Reuters]
• Calvin Klein designers Italo Zucchelli and Francisco Costa defend their racy billboard against the pearl-clutchers of SoHo. (Or something.) Said Costa, "There was no intention of making that controversial. Just make beautiful ads. And they're beautiful ads. And I think, you know, we're such a forward society, but we tend to be a little prudish sometimes. It's New York City! It's the 21st century! Honey, we have to move on!" Zucchelli called the ad "In the best tradition of Calvin Klein," and said, "It's my favorite campaign ever! ...Everyone needs to be scandalized and screaming. That is what we want." [The Cut]
• The economy goes one way, shoplifting statistics go another. [WWD]
• Sophia Kokosalaki is moving to helm Diesel's Black Gold line. [WWD]
• After the hash-up of a bankruptcy auction, eventual owners of the Filene's Basement chain, Syms and Vornado Realty, say they want to proceed with their purchase as quickly as possible. [WWD]

• British Marie Claire cover star Brüno gave the magazine a scintillating interview. On Naomi Campbell,: "She's amazing — twenty years in ze business und all ze pressure und fame hasn't changed her a bit — she's remained a total bitch."

• In a fashion A-Z guide of his own invention, which Marie Claire ran with a disclaimer, he says:
• "A is for Austria, ze most amazing place in Europe. Ve're all proud of our country und are raised to try and achieve ze Austrian dream - find a job, get a dungeon und raise a family in it."
• H is for "High-vaisted Jeans. In terms of human tragedy on a mass scale, vy are zese not getting the attention zat Hurricane Katrina did?"
• K is for "Kampf, mein... ze fashion bible written by Austria's black sheep Adolf Hitler. It literally translates as 'My Flamboyance'."
• L is for "Little black child... thanks to Madonna... it's zis season's vardrobe essential."
• S is for "September 11th 2001. Famous, of course, for being ze day on vich Oscar de la Renta reintroduced ze chambray peasant blouse."
• Then, he compared Anna Wintour to "a pre-op trannie." [Marie Claire UK, Daily Mail, Telegraph]

• Breaking: Versace C.E.O. Giancarlo di Risio is said to be stepping down this Friday. Di Risio has been the head of the company since 2004, but lately rumors of a rift with Donatella Versace have spread. Versace continues to struggle to make its wares attractive to consumers during this recession. [NY Times]
• Karl Lagerfeld will be one of the voices of an animated French movie called Totally Spies. He's going to play a bad guy named Fabu. Which we think is Fab! [Reuters]
• Isabel Toledo has already dressed Michelle Obama, but she still wants to take a crack at Bo. "I'd dress him in little booties!" said the designer. [NYDN]
• Funny. She's got no beef with (or, perhaps, no rebuttal for) the coke stuff, but anyone who insinuates Kate Moss might be pregnant better watch it. She'll sue the pants off you. [WWD]
• The will-I, won't-I, could-I-possibly dance comes to an end: Roberto Cavalli will sell a stake in his company. He signed a letter of intent to sell a 30% stake in Roberto Cavalli SpA to Italian private equity fund Clessidra SpA. How much the stake should be worth is something the two parties have until September 30 to determine. So, after months of teasing, this time it's totally going to happen. Except! The letter is non-binding. So our favorite gun-shy Italian could still beat a retreat at the last minute. [WSJ]
• Tracey Ullman says her hosting gig at the Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards on June 15th will largely be an opportunity to explore how further and further derivations of celebrity affect the industry. "You can imagine Oscar de la Renta being shown a picture of Lauren Conrad, and saying, ‘Oh, if only we can get her to hold our purse!' " said Ullman. Then she did a pitch-perfect imitation of Diane von Furstenberg. [NY Times]
• Fashion blogger Susie Bubble may get no love from Pam Hogg, but she still gets to preview Christopher Kane's autumn line for Topshop. "I defy people NOT to find something they like," raves Susie. The collection is apparently 40 pieces, includes shoes and bags, at a price range of approximately £40-£160. The lot hits stores across the chain this September. [Style Bubble]
• Menswear designer Michael Bastian: "The hardest thing is to take something familiar and make it better. The easiest thing is to create something no one has ever seen before. There's a reason no one's ever seen it - because someone tried it, and it didn't work in the real world." [NY Times]
• Perry Ellis is now sponsoring...an IndyCar driver. [Racked]
• Despite the high prices, Thakoon Panichgul's just-launched second line, Thakoon Addition, is apparently doing brisk business. [Style.com]
• It's in with the new and out with the old at Nina Ricci. To mark the departure of designer Olivier Theyskens, the French fashion house will be hosting a multi-season sample mega-sale, where shoes, clothing, and accessories will all move at fire sale prices. Like 40 Euros for a pair of shoes. [WWD]
• Dissatisfied Saks shareholders managed to push through a resolution that will put company directors up for election annually, and require them to win their seats on the board by a simple majority, as opposed to a plurality of votes. Previously, directors had held staggered, 3-year terms. Supporting the plan was the hedge fund P. Schoenfield Asset Management, whose cry for more accountability from the board was apparently supported by such other shareholders as Carlos Slim Helú (who came to prominence in the U.S. when he invested $250 million in the New York Times earlier this year) and Tod's founder Diego Della Valle. [NY Times]
• Meanwhile, Amy Odell over at The Cut takes a moment to remind everyone that fellow troubled luxury retailer Barneys still doesn't have a C.E.O. After more than a year. [The Cut]
• British fashion house Aquascutum just took the first step toward laying off its entire 343-person staff. [Times of London]

• Funny, this picture of Amy Winehouse looking "healthy and stylish" still looks off. British label PPQ is bringing the troubled singer's long-rumored fashion line to fruition — if you count PPQ "providing all materials and doing the design," as anything like having your own collection. [This is London]

• Here are about 500 words on how Michelle Obama sometimes lets the press know what she is wearing, and sometimes doesn't. [WWD]
• Designers at Sao Paulo Fashion Week have agreed to cast a minimum 10% quota of models of African or indigenous South American descent. Last year, only 2.3% of the models — 8 girls out of 344 — were non-white. The quota will be enforced by a hefty $120,000 fine. [BBC]
• In more news from the annals of New York real estate envy, Sally Singer, fashion news and features editor of American Vogue, lives in an eclectic apartment in the Chelsea Hotel. [The Selby]
• Pat McGrath, one of the sweetest and most talented makeup artists around, was in New York to publicize Dolce & Gabbana's new makeup line, which she helped develop. What McGrath would like most, however, would be the fountain of youth in a pill, or her own, namesake line, like François Nars, Laura Mercier, and Bobbi Brown. One of those things just might come true, in a just world. [NY Times]
• Since Gisele and Tom got married and became 78% more boring, voilà: your new model/quarterback couple is Hilary Rhoda and Mark Sanchez of the Jets. [P6]
• Complicated modern woman Miuccia Prada: "If you compare with philosophy, [fashion] is frivolous, but frivolity may be something good, something that is part of our lives, so I don't dislike it and what I like is the mix, that in your life you can have serious things, [and] more frivolous ones...Beauty is not something that is contrary; it is the right of everybody." [CNN]
• Thierry Mugler earned a kind of fashion comeback when Beyoncé chose him to design the costumes for her current world tour. And why not? Cinched waists, severely cut skirts, and padded shoulders are everywhere now. While Mugler has no plans to re-start his label, which he had already sold to Clarins long before he quit designing in 2000, this profile explains just how a ballet dancer from Strasbourg came to fashion prominence, via driving a van around Afghanistan and living in the Haight-Ashbury in the late 60s. Interesting start for a man who's made all his money from perfume since 1992. [Telegraph]
• "I don't like most perfumes," says Nicole Miller. Which is why she had to make another one of her own! Perfectly logical really. [WWD]
• And Armani, too, has a new perfume. His scent pays tribute to his muses. [WWD]
• How does El Museo Del Barrio in New York raise funds? Why, by getting Isabel and Ruben Toledo to tutor students from Spanish Harlem in art, and then auctioning their work — "portraits of Latin icons like Salvador Dalí and Christina Aguilera," reports Style.com. Also, by throwing a kick-ass party where Gloria Estefan took the stage. [Style.com]
• Burberry, which moved into the space vacated by New York magazine on Madison Avenue, will turn on its big neon sign next Thursday. Designer Christopher Bailey and CEO Angela Ahrendts will fly in from London for the vernissage. Neon signs of this type aren't normally permitted in that part of Midtown, but because of New York's iconic sign, now dismantled, Burberry has a rare opportunity to grandfather its own in. [HintMag]
• Oh, how cute. The Daily Mail have an anonymous fashion mole. Today, s/he reveals that — gasp — models aren't paid very much (but do get to meet a lot of the rich menz, which we of course totally love, since we're all privileged alphas doing this to snag hubbies anyway) and are often required to change their names. For practical reasons, such as our agencies not wanting four "Jennifers" on their books. Shocking. [Daily Mail]
• Aeropostale's profit for the first quarter grew a whopping 81% on last year. Sales were up 21%, and same-store sales jumped by 11%. [The Street]
• First quarterly profits at Gap Inc. dropped by 14%. [WSJ]
• Aquascutum's chief executive Kim Winser has resigned after the rejection of her bid to buy out the company. [WWD]
• Designer denim sales are one thing that is not going soft in the current economic climate — high-end jeans sales grew by 2.3% in the quarter just ended. [LA Times]
• Brooks Brothers luggage: launching just in time to take to Southampton for the opening of the summer place. What a relief! [WWD]
• Linda Morand, who runs this website — probably the best compendium of 60s fashion magazines out there, and the members who scan and post to it care about identifying models to boot — is to be one of the producers of a two-hour television tribute to the supermodels of the last six decades. The idea is to make it an annual event, and impanel judges of industry prominence to induct models into it. I can't lie; I would probably watch this. Especially if it turns out better than the Vogue/VH1 Fashion Awards. God knows I've happily killed far more than two hours on MiniMadMod60s. [PR Newswire]

• Victoria Beckham reportedly owns 100 Birkins, with a $2 million value. Although Posh's penchant for the carryalls isn't in question, we do nonetheless note this story has two pictures of her holding Kellys. [Daily Mail]

• Right after settling the lawsuit brought against it by Woody Allen to the tune of a cool $5 mil, American Apparel released its quarterly results. And they were less than glowing. In the period ended March 31, the fashion giant lost $9 million, as operating costs rose 21%, to $69.3 million, and sales grew only 2.4%, to $114.3 million. Company stock fell by 20% during yesterday's trading. Because of the classification of its revolving credit facility as a long-term obligation, American Apparel may also be obligated to restate its previous financial statements. It has already reduced its full-year sales forecast by $25-$50 million. [Reuters]
• Michelle Obama cut the ribbon on the renovated American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art wearing a purple Isaac Mizrahi sheath. Oscar de la Renta was heard to sob quietly into his pocket square. [WWD]
• Then, she went to the American Ballet Theatre's spring gala at the Metropolitan Opera House, where she wore an Azzedine Alaïa dress and a Thakoon jacket. Earlier, at the museum, she said: "The arts are not just a nice thing to have or to do if there is free time or if one can afford it. Rather, paintings and poetry, music and fashion, design and dialogue, they all define who we are as a people and provide an account of our history for the next generation." [AP]
• Anna Wintour's office chairs, glimpsed briefly in the 60 Minutes segment that aired Sunday, have been ID'd: they are classics of Art Deco design, and cost $250 apiece. [UnBeige]
• Brüno has a Twitter account, and you can expect Tweets in the character's voice until the movie hits theaters on July 10 (it is, naturally, a marketing effort). For now, enjoy witticisms such as: "Am I ze most gifted Austrian ever? Let's just say zat at 14 ich could play Rock Me Amadeus on ze flute. Falco didn't write it til he vas 29." And: "Ze vorld ist zo screwed up - vhy do zey give out Nobel Prizes for physics, medicine und svimming, but not for fashion?" [Brüno's Twitter]
• Isabel and Ruben Toledo, fashion designer and fashion illustrator, respectively, were honored with the André Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award at the Savannah College of Art and Design's annual fashion show. Talley told the crowd, "The Toledos represent a quarter century of love and brand building. They're like two oaks, branches intertwined forever." [Reuters]
• In other awards-show effusions, Betsey Johnson compared New York Fashion Week head Fern Mallis to David Bowie and Mick Jagger as she presented her with Parsons' AAS Icon Award. When students in the Associates in Applied Science fashion marketing program got a little rowdy, Johnson quieted them with four words: "I'm looking to hire." [WWD]
• For a taste of how the Valentino half lives, imagine this: fireplaces ablaze out of season, air conditioners running, and uniformed manservants depositing cool glasses of water onto linen napkins. Also: secret buttons inside the bookshelves. [Guardian]
• Marc Ecko has announced he'll be doing co-branded collections with DC Comics, incorporating the characters of Batman and the Rogues Gallery. Perhaps the superheroes can save his troubled business? [WWD]
• Burberry, in the year ended March 31, lost $9 million. Its core earnings fell 13%, but annual sales rose 21%. The main reason for the loss was a company write-down that cost £116 million. The brand, which has already laid off 800 workers, still expects to open 10-15 stores this year. [WSJ]
• Yesterday, we included a Rag Trade item, sourced to WWD, about designer Erin Fetherston. Fetherston was reported to be making a short film about her fall collection in New York's West Village, starring Juliette Lewis with music by Damon Dash, and her husband, the artist Hedi Firjani, told WWD that Fetherston was looking to launch a line with QVC, probably timed to coincide with New York Fashion Week this September. Both are untrue, according to Fetherston's PR rep, who contacted us shortly after we published. Fetherston is making a film, with director Marisa Crawford, but Juliette Lewis isn't the star. And the deal with QVC is not confirmed.

• Vogue subscribers are lured with a free-gift gimmick that looks...different when it comes in the mail. Of course, subscribing to Vogue is basically scheduling disappointment monthly, but the bait-and-switch is not normally so overt. [NYPost]

• Natalie Portman would very much like to tell you about some t-shirt brand she likes. Band tees are a great way of learning about music, see! [Daily Beast]
• Lauren Hutton might miss the Met ball, which is themed around models this year, because a young surfer accidentally rammed his board into her knee in Hawaii, causing ligament damage. "The only thing that's holding our foreleg bones attached to our thigh bones are these little ligaments around the knee," said Hutton. "And once they go, the bones fall sideways inside the bag of skin. It was like one of those Halloween skeletons." The supermodel, currently in LA, cannot walk without crutches. Her date, Michael Kors, will probably understand if she stays home. [Daily Intel]
• Fellow famously made-up face Isabella Rossellini is pretty sure Lancôme regrets dumping her back in 1995 for being soooooo old. But she made her money and now does videos about the sex lives of animals. Lancôme contents itself with Rossellini's daughter, Elettra Wiedemann. [WWD]
• "I'm Not A Plastic Bag" designer Anya Hindmarch says, "Accessories are how women accent their character; they are a form of self-expression. If you see someone carrying a tatty, beaten-up handbag, full of crumbs, doesn't it kind of make you wonder if their house is just like that, too?" She would say that, wouldn't she? [Telegraph]
• Adriana Lima, the Brazilian model best known for wearing giant wings and Bedazzled bras for Victoria's Secret and looking hot on the covers of men's magazines, stunned when she walked for Givenchy in Paris. (Normally, the fashion industry likes to draw as bright a line as possible between camp and the "real" stuff.) Could she be working herself out from under the taint of commercial lingerie to take on a Givenchy campaign for fall? And does that mean Lima is transforming into a Gisele-style double threat, who magically gets bookings for Dior and drugstore makeup at the same time? [Fashionologie]
• Hudson St. in New York's West Village has 15 empty storefronts on one six-block stretch — and, like, 14 Marc Jacobs, Marc by Marc Jacobs, and Ralph Lauren shops. Some see a connection: one retailer, who did not want to be named, said that when businesses' leases turn over, landlords are asking for steep increases in rent, because the high-end retailers are able to pay up to $60,000/month. "They are killing the Village," the man said. "Ten years ago — mom-and-pop stores gone, restaurants gone, they're all gone." [The Villager]
• Tao Okamoto, the hot "new" Japanese model with the interesting haircut, bagged the Fall Ralph Lauren campaign — and, according to rumor, the Fall ads for the Polo Ralph Lauren line, too. [Style.com]
• Nadja Swarovski, scion of the Austrian crystal concern, is a pretty brilliant businesswoman who's taken her family's product from an icon of kitsch to the raw material of fashion's avant garde. But that's not what makes this profile writer like her: the fact that she feels she doesn't see her kids often enough ("much as one rushes to reassure, she is probably right," notes the Times) is the chink in the armor that lets her feel comfortably pitying. The profile is sprinkled with German words, but unfortunately Schadenfreude is not one of them, so let me insert it here. [Times of London]
• Robin Givhan writes this week about the Museum at FIT's announcement of its upcoming Isabel Toledo exhibit, and the question of fashion exhibits in general. The most popular clothing shows are inevitably those organized around a celebrity name, like Jackie O's at the Met; "It's an ongoing battle," Givhan writes, "in fashion exhibitions: the scholarly preference for the clothes to stand on their own and the public fascination with the back story." [WaPo]
• Stila, the makeup brand recently rumored to be facing bankruptcy, has been saved at the 11th hour by a New York private-equity firm. Patriarch Partners will acquire the brand from Wachovia and CIT Group, the banks that took Stila over after it defaulted on debt obligations. [WSJ]
• Filene's Basement is in a similarly dire position — facing bankruptcy and courting buyers. The discount chain closed 11 stores in January, but its parent company said Friday that the cost-cutting moves are "not likely to lead to sustainable operations for Filene's Basement." How is it possible that "it's like a department store, but everything's on sale" is a failing business model at this juncture? [Crain's]
• Valentino's operating profits fell 7% in 2008, the year its founder and namesake retired. [WWD]
• J. Crew opened a beach-themed store in Malibu. [LA Times]
• Headstrong model Elle MacPherson popped home to Sydney for Easter, and made a supermarket deli worker come out from behind the counter to load her cart. Then she snapped at a gossip columnist and micro-managed a television appearance. [News.com.au]

• Before we tackle today's inevitable layoffs, liquidations and bankruptcies, look at David Beckham. Look at semi-naked David Beckham. In his very important new Emporio Armani ad. Why, good morning to you, Dave. [People]

• Unfortunately for Heidi Montag, clothing lines whose main qualification as same is the attachment of a famous name are not faring well in the downturn. (Please, let someone therefore piece it together that continuing to announce B-List Star for Major Middle Market Retailer arrangements isn't a recession-proof move.) [AdAge]
• Unfortunately, the news came too late to stop Hilary Duff for DKNY Jeans... [WWD]
• ...and to stop Jessica Alba from dipping her toe into the designer waters. [Fashionista]
• And Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen menswear. (OK, so The Row technically should get a pass for being, actually, kinda good, but it's the principle of the thing.) [Elle]
• But getting a celebrity to wear your dress on a red carpet is still worth a starlet's weight in gold. [WSJ]
• The recession will not, however, kill Spanx, which had sales volume of over $350 million last year. Because while the shitty economy is temporary, hating your body enough to want to squeeze and yank and pull it into a girdle is forever. [Reuters]
• The economic situation is making it tougher perhaps than ever for young designers who were in the midst of expanding in line with pre-recession demand and fanfare. [NY Times]
• Esprit has reported its first interim drop in profits in ten years. Sales are slow worldwide, and particularly so in Europe. [Financial Times]
• Estee Lauder's second-quarter profits are also down by 30%. The company will restructure 2,000 workers out of working existence. [The Street]
• Elizabeth Arden, however, beat analysts' expectations for the second quarter by 2 cents a share. Sales still fell 12.7% and net profit was down from $33.8 million one year ago to $17.4 million now. [Reuters]
• A handful more details about the Mathew Williamson line for Target: it launches on April 23, it will be colorful (which, frankly, if anything at all comes to mind when you think "Mathew Williamson" you already knew), and in addition to the regular frocks and tops, there'll be jumpsuits. Controversial move! [Blackbook]
• Kim Gordon discusses her line for Urban Outfitters, Mirror/Dash, with the New York Times, but although they hit stores on February 16, there's only one picture of the actual clothes. She's surprisingly realistic about Mirror/Dash's design process — she admits she doesn't actually sketch so much as talk about fabric and "ideas" with her partner before sending away to Urban Outfitters' sample houses. [The Moment]
• Never to be outdone by Vogue and its eyebrow-raising Sean Avery internship, Elle now has for an intern the fashlete (did I just make that up? I think I did. Let's go with it!) Stew Bradley, an actual Philadelphia Eagle. May he cherish the coffee-schlepping, xeroxing, and sexual harassment that are the hallmarks of any true New York media internship. [The Cut]
• Except, on his first day, Bradley went to lunch with Diana Ross, Diane von Furstenberg, Jessica Alba, Jason Wu, Anil Kapoor Veronica Webb, Eva Amurri, John Frey, Roberta Myers, Joe Zee, Anne Slowey, Whitney Port, and Olivia Palermo. At Diane von Furstenberg's studio. [WWD]
• Now, if she'd only worn her favorite label, Carhartt, on the campaign trail, Sarah Palin might have had a shot at the Brooklyn hipster vote! [US News]
• Janie Bryant, the costume designer for Mad Men, is crafting a contemporary, not vintage, clothing line. And that's about all she's willing to say just now. [WSJ]
• High-end Baltimore fabric store Michael's Fabrics says it has the lemongrass embroidered wool Isabel Toledo used to create Michelle Obama's inauguration day outfit. It's 33" wide and yours for a mere $500 a yard. Just in case you want to whip a dress up at home. [Unbeige]
• Isabel Toledo is still reeling from the media attention following dressing Michelle Obama. (Her husband, the fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo, calls it "Obamathon.") An exhibition of her dresses is going up at the museum at FIT in June. [WWD]
• Monique Lhuillier is introducing a new, more moderately priced line for fall. Given her regular dresses retail for $3,000-$7,000, "moderately priced" in this sentence means around $2,500. [WSJ]
• The Washington Post saw Jill Biden and her security detail nip into Bloomingdale's to buy some Tory Burch shoes. [Washington Post]
• UK Elle has Vivienne Westwood's handwritten "manifesto," and it includes such worthwhile tips as "DIY Suggestions: Necklace of safety pins" and the reminder "We need an estimated $30 billion per year to save the rainforest. $30,000,000,000,000,000,000,000etc-->" Also, she believes Leonard Peltier is innocent. [Elle]
• PETA Photoshopped a Pinocchio nose on to Giorgio Armani's face for a full-page ad in Variety after the scrappy perma-tanned Italian allegedly went back on his word after pledging to no longer use fur in his collections. Armani's people say they use only rabbit fur from animals raised for meat. [New York Daily News]
• Now, this should be fun: Lynda Carter, Valerie Bertinelli, Katie Couric, Natya Liukin, Jennie Garth, and Tori Spelling are among those modeling for a fashion week show dedicated to heart health. Designers include Christian Siriano, Carolina Herrera, and those guys at Badgley Mischka. [WWD]

• Two days after the fact, Vogue's Anna Wintour has come up with two paragraphs on Michelle Obama's inaugural style. She approves. [Vogue.com]

• British model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley stars in an online video for Agent Provocateur where, after receiving the excuses of her oblivious boyfriend on February 14, she goes to the office where he's working late, ties him to his desk chair, and performs a lap dance in her lingerie. Then she punches him in the nose and says, "This'll teach you to forget Valentine's Day." But the Times of London thinks it's too sexy, or something. While it is possibly NSFW, it's shot in a light-hearted, cheery style that achieves the opposite of a sexy mood. [Times of London]
• What is sexy is this video shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin for YSL menswear. It features the actor Michael Pitt — Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Last Days — shot in extreme close-up while an unseen French woman talks about his clothes. It sounds weird, but watching his expression while she says things like "You breathe my transparency" and "I want to lick this animal skin that falls, well-cut, from your rounded shoulder" before describing the drape of a silk crepe lining and, of course, the body beneath, is hot. This one is SFW because all you see is his face. [Dazed Digital]
• Louis Vuitton's menswear show in Paris was inspired by "the traveling wardrobe of an African king" and featured a closer look at some of the sneakers Kanye West has designed for the brand, which are to hit stores this summer. Mr. West sat in the front row and said he was "proud" of his handiwork. (Then he shouted, "Fuck this, I'm better than Marc Jacobs! My shoes cost a million dollars. Pamela Anderson is gonna wear 'em. To jump across canyons and shit. If I don't become creative director, LVMH loses credibility. Nothin' against you, MJ, but hell, man. Please, press people, print, 'Kanye says Fuck that.'") [Guardian]
• Taking a leaf out of Rad Hourani's book of gender, Chloe Sevigny is showing a unisex line at menswear week in Paris. [FabSugar]
• The maker of Aretha Franklin's impressive inauguration day hat, Detroit milliner Luke Song, is going to produce a line of 12 similar hats. They will be various colors and have differently sized bows, and cost $150-$250. Song estimates that nearly 1,000 people have ordered the $179 hat that Franklin's was based on. "I’d be very stupid not to take this opportunity," Song said. "It's like a huge gift." [WSJ]
• Jason Wu, inaugural gown designer extraordinaire, is focused on his upcoming New York show. "I'm doing a significant fur collection, and the message will be all about luxury," says Wu. What? The last thing this kid needs is PETA on his case and a collection of $4,000 coats to sell. [Fashion Week Daily]
• People has another image from Scarlett Johanson's campaign for Dolce & Gabbana makeup. She looks like she's blowing on a candle. However, I like the sound of the goods, which are to be scented with rose: “We wanted to create makeup with a scent," said Gabbana. "Domenico and I remember when we were children and opened our mother’s handbags — the scent of her lipstick trailed out. I observed that when women open makeup, they smell it first.” I like his observance. [People]
• When you become first lady, everyone wants a piece of you. Up to and including the Smithsonian, which is ever-so-politely requesting Michelle Obama give them her clothes from inauguration day. [WSJ]
• The NY Post's Tempo Espresso blog — "We speak Spanish so you don't have to" — has an interview with Isabel Toledo. She says, "For me color and beauty really are in the eye of the beholder — and color should never be a barrier because it's all about tone. The color in question I call lemongrass for its freshness. It has been called sunflower, gold, mustard, sunshine, and some describe it as sparkly but in fact its wool lace. But I love the way the its open to interpretation and the fact that the color defies being named." [NY Post]
• Kristin Davis is the new face of a skincare company that includes salts and minerals from the Dead Sea as ingredients. And she would like very much to tell you how special it is that they are paraben- and sulfate-free and "all natural." Is this venture related to those attractive Israelis who are always trying to sell Dead Sea mud in jars at the mall? [WWD]
• Helena Christensen is going to shoot Façonnable's first runway show, and their next campaign. [WWD]
• Jones Apparel Group is projecting a fourth-quarter loss and $840 million in write-downs. Costs are being cut across the board in the face of flagging retail spending; the quarterly dividend will sink 64% to 5c a share. [WSJ]
• The Oscar nominees are in. Now begins the speculation on what the actresses will wear. Rachel Zoe has a finger in this pie, too. [WWD]
• Possibly the best reaction, bank account permitting, to losing financial backing for one's label is to breezily announce a year-long vacation. Holly Dunlap, founder of Hollywould, writes on her website: "In 2009 you may find us surfing off the beaches of Brazil, skiing in the mountains of Switzerland, sailing near the shores of Italy, and sunning on the sands of Palm Beach, and wherever we are, we’ll be thinking of you." [WWD]

• Michelle Obama wore Tracy Feith yesterday. She has yet to warn any designer what she's wearing — which is kind of awesomely normal. It must be the best surprise one could get. [WWD]

• There's a slick "behind-the-scenes" video of Madonna's shoot for Louis Vuitton. Marc Jacobs explains his casting choice, and our girl from Detroit says she thinks MJ is "kinda hot" in her weird pan-European accent. [The Life Files]
• Remember when pink-obsessed Russian orange juice oligarch heiress/designer Kira Plastinina’s chain of stores was depressing because it proved the wealthy will get ahead regardless of talent and cutting taxes for billionaires only encourages them to do dumb-shit things like giving 15-year-olds stores to "run"? Well, now it's depressing because the recession is here and suddenly the rich not having more money than they know what to do with is, you know, A Problem. Less than one year (and one Sweet Sixteen party with Chris Brown) after its US launch, the firm is in bankruptcy court, owing over $54 million. Employees were turfed out on the street. Russia! magazine has a timeline. I suggest you use it to occupy your forebrain as you ponder the moral correctness of feeling schadenfreude at the expense of a schoolgirl. [Russia!]
• Michelle Obama might be at NY Fashion Week. She certainly will soon be entertaining overtures from Fern Mallis, the IMG vice-president who runs the event. Mallis wants to propose some charity initiatives that would be a good fit for the new first lady. [NY Mag]
• Imagine what an impact she could have on fashion week during this economy of lowered expectations: Yesterday, in addition to crashing J. Crew's site with her choice of gloves, Michelle Obama made Isabel Toledo and Jason Wu the 70th and 11th most-searched terms on the internet. [NY Times]
• As my mother would say, some people just have no class. "Designers" are already lining up to copy Wu and Toledo's inaugural looks. [NY Daily News]
• Whatever happens, don't expect this fashion week to be like fashion weeks past. As you know, there's a general trend away from the Bryant Park tents and towards cheaper presentations in designers' own spaces, or towards group shows to split costs. Also pretty much nobody is having an afterparty. However, registrations and sponsorships are about the same as last season, and the total number of fashion week events is only down to 197, from 225 one year ago, so...maybe it won't be so bad? [WSJ]
• Giorgio Armani showed the quilted pants that he claimed Dolce & Gabbana ripped off in Milan; now there's a photo for comparison. They look like two pairs of pants that are ugly in the same way. [Guardian]
• Hussein Chalayan has sensible advice for aspiring fashion designers: the most important thing — even and perhaps especially in these days of Lauren Conrad and Project Runway contestants, more memorable for referring to themselves in the third person than any garment they may have sewed — is not to become your own brand. It's to make good clothes. And to learn how to work as part of a team. Hussein Chalayan is wise. [Elle UK]
• Coach's profits fell 14% in the last quarter of 2008, and the company is scaling back its expansion plans as a result. Ali Michael was paid a reported $50,000 to shoot Coach's fall 2009 campaign last week. [WSJ]
• NOOOOOOOO! Filene's Basement is to close almost a third of its stores. Damn you, recession. Don't they understand that now more than ever do we need designer wares at 90% off! I will go and cry into the hem of my latest Filene's find now. [Boston Globe]
• Scott Schuman's The Sartorialist is to become a photography book. [Reuters]

The 26-year-old was watching Michelle Obama on TV like the rest of us when he found out. "Words couldn't describe how I felt," he told Meredith Vieira. The gown may very well end up in the Smithsonian, and Wu sighed, "It's incredible." As for Cuban-born Toledo, 48, she says she cried when Michelle Obama emerged in the lemongrass coat and dress she'd designed. The color was supposed to be about "optimism," Toledo explained, and also said: "As an immigrant, it's such an important thing to know I am living the [American] dream." Clip above.

• Good morning! Obama is president, did you hear? The hat Aretha Franklin wore to sing "My Country, Tis Of Thee" was hand-molded and embellished with Swarovski crystals by Detroit milliner Luke Song. [WWD]

• Sasha and Malia's colorful ensembles were all from J. Crew kid's line Crewcuts. When consumers figured this out yesterday, traffic crashed J. Crew's site. [NY Daily News]
• Michelle Obama's gown of choice for her 10+ inaugural balls last night was by Jason Wu. The 26-year-old designer had thought he was a long shot. Says US magazine of Michelle's one-shouldered cream gown, "She's bringing sexy back." Really. Her husband wore a tux by his favorite suit maker, Hart Schaffner Marx. [US]
• The New Yorker's Judith Thurman, who profiled Isabel and Ruben Toledo last March, spoke to the designer and her husband about the First Lady's choice to wear one of her designs at her husband's swearing-in. Says Ruben, “To be woven into the thread of this historical moment is a major blessing." Making the outfit was a family affair: "Vitelio Toledo, Ruben’s father and the couple’s pattern cutter, was particularly proud to have worked on it. The seamstresses, almost all immigrant women, also took particular pride in participating in a historic moment. Ruben told me that they added a very fine inter-layer of pashmina to help keep Michelle warm on the dais." How touching. Maybe someone can please hire Isabel Toledo again now? [New Yorker]
• Regardless of whether or not that happens, Toledo's sales are sure to see a boost. Barney's Simon Doonan reports scrambling to get her wares into his windows yesterday. "It’s going to be an Isabel Toledo homage," he said, before adding, "I’m sort of annoyed that Michelle Obama has spring merchandise before us!" [WWD]
• Here is a 735-word story about Michelle Obama's eyebrows. [Chicago Tribune]
• And why not let her hairstylist in on the action? [Allure]
• Lois Cassanos has been make-up artist to every president since Nixon. Cassanos claims she never uses anything more than foundation, concealer, and powder on her charges, since the leader of the free world has got to look manly, and reveals there was nothing on George H. W. Bush's lips when he said "read my lips." Good to know! [Allure]
• Can everyone please stop with the tacky Obama tie-ins? It's opportunistic and the thought of wearing something called "Obalma" on my lips makes my toes curl. [BrandFreak]
• Kim Kardashian is thinking of forswearing fur — because when her sister Khloe agreed to do so, PETA put her in her very own naked ad. Could it be that vain entertainment personalities are more interested by the thought of appearing nude and hot on a billboard somewhere than the actual plight of farmed animals worldwide? [E Online]
• PETA nonetheless salutes Payless's decision to produce its first-ever totally non-leather shoe line. In fact the animal rights group gave the company some kind of an award they call a "proggy." [PETA]
• Audrina Patridge vamps it up in her unique Real Girl way in the campaign for her Arden B. jeans line. Jonathan Rhys Meyers and celebspawn Alexandra Richards and Ben Taylor (Carly Simon and James Taylor's son) also scored spots in the deluge of spring denim ads. [NY Mag]
• New York designer Valdemar Iodice has an approach virtually guaranteed to get editors and buyers to make it to his scaled-back Fall/Winter show, even though a showroom presentation is a little less sexy than seeing designs on the catwalk. Upping the stakes for free gifts henceforth, he's offering attendees free dresses. Funny, that's normally how they make sure the models show up. The worm turns, etc. [WSJ]
• Goldman Sachs downgraded Polo Ralph Lauren to a "sell"; shares slid 7% in the remainder of the day's trading. [WSJ]
• Another groan-inducing Kenneth Cole billboard: "In tough times, some land on their feet (others on the Hudson). — Kenneth Cole. Thank you to the pilots, crew, and N.Y.ers for all that you did, and all that you do." How is it that Cole is only able to express even totally respectable notions in the voice of your corny old uncle-to-be-avoided at the annual reunion? [WWD]

WWD posed this question to front row types during fashion week and got the expected range of answers. French Vogue's Carine Roitfeld says she dresses for herself; designer Isabel Toledo takes another view. “Women dress for men. I do dress for myself because it makes me feel empowered, but I’m definitely looking for [my husband's] expression, not his approval.”

It's kind of a tricky one: it's basically asking you to define yourself. Obviously Roitfeld's answer is the "right" one (if life were a Cosmo quiz) but the truth is it's the rare woman who decks herself out to sit alone in her apartment, and when she does it can often skew more Dare Wright than confident fashionista. I'd also say most women don't dress for men — who for the most part don't care or, if pressed, at the end of the day like figure-friendly stuff and are baffled by much that is awesome. Isabel Toledo and her husband are a famously tight artistic unit who inform each other's work, but most of us wouldn't make a decision based on a significant other's opinion — while it's undeniable that someone's disapproval has the power to deflate excitement, it's rarely going to change an independent mind. (And to the perverse amongst us, it's like a red flag to a bull.)

As to friends? Also a dicey proposition: if by "fashionable friend" Anne means the person most likely to appreciate efforts that's one thing; if it's craving the approval of a stronger personality, that's quite another. (And yes, this is probably putting way too much thought into an off-the-cuff response to a reporter's question.)

Different women dress for different people. In a sense, though, Roitfeld's answer is probably closest to the truth: when we think about self-presentation of any kind, it's with the ideal of our perfect selves in our mind's eye — but this itself is a mutable concept, varying depending upon the movie you've seen or novel you've read or, yes, the company you keep. Even Toledo's statement seems to suggest that she wants — rather than "approval" — to see reflected in her husband the person she is trying to project. Clothes, after all, are just pieces of cloth, and it takes the burden of an awful lot of human context to make them more. The chic aunt, the TV style expert, the nagging mom, the critical boyfriend, the mysterious girl who left your school after 10th grade — all these people are standing behind the mirror. That's why the career of a stylist must be a tricky one; a good one has to ferret out this information and project it; otherwise it's deciding who someone wants to be to the world. Your "friend" may dress for a dashing spinster Spanish Civil War correspondent with a French mother, but that's just "her." If you're honest, probably no two answers will be the same.

Year in Fashion: For Whom Do Women Dress? [WWD]

• Like everyone in Fashion, Vogue Editor at XL Andre Leon Talley has many opinions, feels they should be heard. "Asked how Americans can still look fabulous despite the recession, Talley said, 'Wear something old that you love' until Election Day. 'Then, vote for Barack Obama, who'll fix the economy.'" [NY Daily News]
• Most depressing/embarrassing WSJ video ever. "Guy" reporter goes to the Mall of America and interviews people about Republican style. [WSJ]
• Beloved former Chloe brain Phoebe Philo snapped up by Celine! [WWD]
• Nastia Liukin is so over gymnastics. The gold medalist, who's gonna be front and center at Fashion Week, is launching a line. "The five foot three athlete is working with Vanilla Star jeans on launching Nastia Liukin Gold jeans and tops for holiday sales. She is also in talks to design a line of activewear for GK, the company that makes her leotards, which she designs with her mom." [NY Mag]

• Chanel boycotts Russia because of Georgian situation...?! Oh, wait, no, the conflict just meant they couldn't get the venue they wanted. "A Chanel spokeswoman said the decision to nix Moscow was made in July before the crisis in Georgia as the company could not secure the venue it wanted in the Russian capital." [WWD]
• Crasher alert! "A man calling himself "Tom Klein" has been infiltrating chic soirees, claiming he works for Women's Wear Daily. This Klein character got caught when he tried to get on the list for last night's Gossip Girl party at the Empire Hotel, hosted by Dior Beauty, a source said. The crasher, claiming to be a senior editor at Fairchild Media, sends e-mails from a fake address. A WWD spokeswoman told Page Six, 'He is not an employee of Fairchild or Condé Nast.'" [P6]
• Here's how to deal with the recession: Meet the new status phones! "Constructed of precious metals, studded with diamonds and other jewels, and wrapped in exotic leathers, they have struck a chord among the small group of people who can afford them—namely, millionaires and celebrities." [BusinessWeek]
• Banana Republic courts Details readers...or the other way around? Are they different? "Beginning Wednesday through Sept. 17, each retail location will have extensive in-store magazine branding with "look cards," store displays, signage and fitting room signs. Bananarepublic.com will host a microsite with more style tips from Details and special offers from the retailer." [WWD]
• Stefano Pilati's beautiful YSL fashion look book being ignored because it's in a free tote. "When the news hit the fashion blogs last week, it was all about the cute bag, not the amazing images of Naomi Campbell, photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. To think, a real ‘It’ bag, for free, considering a Muse starts around $1,395. And, on the handout, the YSL logo is fetchingly printed upside down." [NYT]
• For those of us who already can't afford Tracy Reese, the news of her new, high-end line will not come as a joyful surprise. [WWD]
• Uniqlo might be bringing its cheap cashmere to India, Russia. [WSJ]
• What recession? H&M expands. Says the CEO, "Our strategy is based on the concept of fashion and quality at the best price...It helps us stay balanced even during economic downturns." [Business Week]
• Apparently, fashionistas have no qualms about fast fashion! Reports a Racked spy,"I was in the Forever21 in Soho and heard the one of the managers tell her staff in a meeting to 'look out' and 'be prepared' for stylists, editors and celebrities coming this week for Fashion Week." [Racked]
• Todd Oldham admits his show Top Design kind of blows. Okay, not really. "I would not want to be a contestant on this show at all," he says. "It's just too brutal. I said it before, but this is the only show I know on TV that is a thousand times harder than what it looks. It was way, way harder than what it looked like." [Breitbart]
• Designer and glamorous eccentric Isabel Toledo feted by the fashion elite: "A drag queen performed a cabaret homage to Ms. Toledo—"Isabel, you've chaaaaanged!"—which featured the word "motherfucker." Then Emcee Simon Doonan, of Barney's...narrated a slideshow of Ms. Toledo's life, from 'the Cuban Revolution to this incredibly un-Communist luncheon.'" [Observer]
• The Hef effect? "At New York fashion week, which kicks off Friday, designers including Phillip Lim, Michael Bastian and Tim Hamilton are expected to show a number of pajama-inspired clothes that are meant to be worn in broad daylight. The looks include colored piping on jackets and shirts, spread-open pajama collars, soft, unpadded jackets that hang loosely off the shoulders — and, of course, voluminous drawstring pants." [WSJ]
• Jonathan Saunders for Target might be awesome. Why must they tempt us with their fast fashion?! [Fabsugar]
• "With casual sweaters and sharp suits in shades of black, white and grey, Ji Wenbo became the first Chinese designer to showcase a collection at Japan's Fashion Week in a bid to woo customers in fashion-savvy Tokyo." [Reuters]
• With fashion in transition, we lack a Savior: "Still, there is no world-beater. There are no names that suggest clear-cut potential both to reshape fashion and somehow with it the global culture of style. There is no one, to take the obvious example, likely to replace Yves Saint Laurent, who died in June and seemingly took with him not merely a genius for conjuring glamour from whole cloth, but also for draping his designs to suit the mood of his time." [NYT]
• The New York Observer throws its pink hat into the fashion-glossy ring with Observer Style, "a semiannual magazine due to make its debut Nov. 16 and focused on the local fashion scene." [WWD]
• Carlos Miele is expecting a baby. "Insiders" say it's a boy called Leonardo. The item is titled, "stork to bring stylish baby." [P6]

• Yay! Everyone's favorite design power couple, Simon Doonan and Jonathan Adler, are making it official: the long-time twosome will marry in California in September in what one can only assume will be the most awesome wedding ever. Quoth the Barneys maven, “I always thought we were married, so I don’t feel like celebrating the fact that the government’s allowing me to think I’m married. It’s more like paying a parking ticket.” [NY Magazine]
• La Doonan also waxes on what works for a woman over 40 (expressing yourself) and what doesn't: "Don't: Try to look sexy. It's like Girls Gone Wild has affected this whole culture with the need to look like a poll dancer. I'll ask, "Are you a stripper? Are you a poll dancer? And they're not!"' Should not be limited to the over-40 set. [Wowowow]
• Avril Lavigne's heinous back-to-school line for Kohl's goes on sale after, like, a week. [NY Magazine]

• Queens sweatshop raided. [Crain's New York]
• Isabel Toledo finally addresses her firing from Anne Klein: "Let's just say that it was 'corporate,' which I am not," she told Portfolio.com. "Anne Klein was a great venture for me. When you design, you design, it doesn't matter what it's for." [Portfolio]
• But it totes worked out because now she's designing for Michelle Obama. [New York Magazine]
• New Valentino campaign seriously stunning. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Dorks sport "life is good" tee shirts so the world will lighten up. [New York Times]
• Bad credit climes for distressed firms. [WWD]
• Australian designer's ban on teen models pisses off teen models. [News.com.au]
• Interview with disgusting accused-rapist 'designer' Anand Jon. [Radar]
• Call the waahmbulance: "'There is a possibility I may not survive this ordeal," the Indian-born designer rants in a letter to journo Sharon Waxman in Los Angeles magazine. "I grapple with blankets that have bloodstains dried in tie-dyed patterns and battle nocturnal visits from . . . rodents and insects (that I have not even seen in the jungles of India!) . . . The whole thing feels like a Stephen King novel turned into a movie directed by M. Night Shyamalan."' In other words...box office poison? [Page Six]
• 'Conceptual' Chinese line Wuyong's debut involves pigeons, seeds, and t'ai chi. [WWD]
• What's with all the designers-turned-decorator? Roberto Cavalli on his new club, which will apparently be "dripping with Swarovski crystals." [New York Magazine]
• Eddie Bauer reinvents itself? [BlackBook]
• Top Shop, already a great jeans resource, to launch premium denim area. [WWD]

• Christian Siriano for president! I mean, hell, if Sienna Miller, Eve, Brett Ratner, Becki Newton, and Brittany Murphy all like him, surely the's a uniter, not a divider. [Page Six]
  
• Botkier is doing a line of bags for Target. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Designer Anna Sui on what she does: "My main objective was to design clothes for rock stars and people who went to rock concerts... The ultimate goal of making a show that is entertaining for people is always in the back of my mind. I also think, 'Is this collection going to be cool enough for people like Keith Richards to appreciate?'" [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• And designer Isabel Toledo on what she does: "I try to interpret things. A garden can have a shape and I interpret that." [WWD, sub req'd]

• English model Daisy Lowe (aka - bastard lovechild of Gavin Rossdale and Pearl Lowe) is like the new Agyness and everyone wants her "style." [Vogue UK]
• Marc Jacobs and Jason Preston are off. Again. [Perez Hilton]
• J. Crew: pushing accessories hard. Which is almost like pushing drugs hard. Almost. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Avon is in talks with crazy print-maker Marimekko to do a color cosmetics collection. Which seems weirdly enticing. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Yeah this coat is really cool. [Vogue UK]
• Want some freebie Ferragamo perfume? Than take a flight on Singapore Airlines. [Fashion Week Daily]