• It had to happen eventually. David Beckham has dipped a toe in the choppy waters of retail, becoming a Celebrity Designer. You can buy his clothes for Adidas Originals starting this fall. [WWD]

• Madonna allegedly got her friend Marc Jacobs to write the INS and say model boy-toy Jesus Luz was a necessity to his label and deserved a US work permit. [Daily Express]
• Jesus Luz also had a rough time backstage at his last runway gig, the Jeffrey Fashion Cares AIDS benefit in New York. Says one backstage source, "None of the other models would talk to Jesus or even look at him. They were gossiping like catty girls about how they couldn't wait for his career to fizzle out." The other male models, see, feel that Luz has been given unfair advantages because of his relationship with Madonna. Which is absolutely true, and absolutely beside the point, since any modeling career is built on lucky breaks that harden into unfair advantages. Normally models understand this better than anyone. [NYDN]
• Brides.com had Project Runway sprite Christian Siriano design fantasy dresses for celebrity brides-to-be Uma Thurman, Amy Adams, Zooey Deschanel, and Rachel Bilson. Surprise: They're all about "drama"! [Brides.com]
• Forever 21 is close to opening its 19,000 square foot flagship in Tokyo. [WWD]
• Ed Hardy is now a wine you can drink. I actually noticed this about a month ago, when I dropped by my favorite bottle store one afternoon and was greeted by the owner straightening a display of $10 bottles festooned with skulls; he said branding maestro Christian Audigier's vodka ranks with Ketel One, but that only the Cabernet Sauvignon is worth trying, among the wines. The rest, he said, breaking down a box covered in giant dripping daggers and tiger heads, are too sweet. I bought a Portuguese red and walked home, thinking troubled thoughts about branding and its increasingly oblique relationship to any given product's essential qualities. [LA Times]
• Which, if you think about it, is also the operating principle behind: Rebecca Taylor Cupcakes. [FWD]
• Troubled department store Barneys has announced an exclusive lower-priced menswear line by Paul Smith. Suits, basics, and shirts will cost 20-30% less than the same items from the Paul Smith collection. Smith must be a busy man; this collection is on top of a sheaf of brands that includes Paul Smith London, Paul Smith Jeans, PS Paul Smith, Paul Smith Blue, Paul Smith Black. There are just so many ways to sell monkey t-shirts. [WWD]
• Woman buys $700 Louis Vuitton Speedy size 30. Woman receives Louis Vuitton Speedy size 25. Woman returns the wrong sized bag. Louis Vuitton refuses the return, claiming it found a single human hair inside. Woman processes credit-card chargeback. And people wonder why the "luxury" industry is in trouble. [Consumerist]
• Peter Som has had one of the roughest times in fashion as of late. After being fired from Bill Blass, the talented designer he launched his own line, only to have his financial backers beat a hasty retreat as the retail climate turned frosty last fall. Still, Marymount College gave him their designer of the year award and invited him to speak at their annual graduate fashion show. I hope the award came with some money attached, so the man can get back to making beautiful women's clothes. [WWD]
• The creative director of Sonia Rykiel has left the company, after fewer than 18 months in charge. Gabrielle Greiss, who worked as Sonia Rykiel's chief assistant for three years before taking over the creative direction of the brand, will be replaced by a design team overseen by company president Nathalie Rykiel. [British Vogue]
• Zac Posen recreated his fall runway show at a Houston Saks Fifth Avenue for charity. And for "market research." [WWD]
• Banana Republic hired an Italian-trained menswear creative director away from Brooks Brothers last year, and now he's making the chain's offerings more like traditional tailoring. Only with places to put your wired accessories. [Esquire]

An in depth study from The Times of London reveals that of the 51 women who have slept with James Bond on screen, 16 have died shortly after. Women have wound up drowned in crude oil, suffocated with gold paint, and eaten by piranhas. Sleeping with Daniel Craig's Bond has proven particularly risky, as every woman he's seduced has died. [The Telegraph]

• Angelina Jolie started working on Salt yesterday, and her character, rogue CIA operative Evelyn A. Salt, has a couple of different looks:

So far we're seeing raven-haired and blonde. Oh, and here's an interesting quote from producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, about reworking the script originally intended for Tom Cruise: "I had no idea how complex it would be," he says. "We had to rethink the whole notion of how a man vs. a woman operates in the business world, in personal relationship and in friendships." This should be interesting. [USA Today]

• Well, this just isn't nice: After reports came out that Guy Ritchie calls Madonna "It," Madge has been sent 100 copies of the horror movie Stephen King's It. "She's received the packages at all of her addresses so she suspects they are from somebody she knows. And she is furious," a source claims. [News.com.au]
• Krishna Siqueira is the ex-gf of Madonna's new "friend," Jesus Luz. She says: "He is a wonderful person. We were dating and then the magazine shoot came up. Then came the story that he was with her [Madonna]. We took some time out because we imagined he was going away to live and could not continue long-distance dating." Krishna says Jesus is not with Madonna for the publicity: "He's not that kind of person." [Daily Mail]
• Rihanna's family: Apparently not happy about her reconciliation with Chris Brown. "Everyone wants them to take a break, to cool off," a relative of Rihanna tells People. "No one wants them back together." The couple has left Miami and is now in L.A. [People]
• Lindsay Lohan's New York apartment, which she never actually slept in, is for sale. You get two bedrooms, two bathrooms, floor-to-ceiling windows, and an unobstructed view of the Statue of Liberty for the low, low price of $1,200,000. Any takers? [Gothamist]
• Oh, Christ. Lindsay Lohan's crazy ass father has started contacting Lily Allen. Lily says: "I got a Twitter from her dad saying 'Dear Lily, I think you have an alcohol problem that needs addressing. From Michael Lohan.' I was, like, leave me alone." This is not good. [The Sun]
• What's this? Michael Lohan had lunch with Courtenay Semel? A spy says it was superserious: "There was no laughing and no smiling." What could they have been talking about??? [E!]
• Nadya Suleman, mother of 14, says her original six kids are already jealous of the octuplets. When a friend showed the kids a picture of their new siblings, "they hit the picture," Suleman says. Oh, and by the way, she has a new house: "It's safe. It's about 2,800 square feet, four bedrooms. I don't want anyone to know where we are. I have trust issues. I know there are a lot of emotionally disturbed people." [MSNBC Scoop]
• George Clooney texted ex Lisa Snowdon and it made the paper. [Daily Express]
• WTF. Lauren Conrad has a novel?!?! The tome, L.A. Candy, is about Jane, a girl who moves to L.A. and unexpectedly becomes the star of a reality television show. Shocking. [People]
• Britney's family is excited for her tour, which will include a three-ring circus setup and magic tricks. Are they the only ones? [People]
• Wait: Madonna might join Britney on stage. That would be good. [Gatecrasher]
• Unsolicited uterus update: Mariah Carey is not pregnant. Her "baby" is her dog, Jack, and he may be getting his own reality show. Barf. No, wait: Arf. [Fox 411]
• Amy Winehouse has moved out of Camden to a gated house in the suburbs. Though she seems to be planning a "massive Camden pub crawl." [Daily Mail]
• Sharon Osbourne has been sued by the woman whose hair she grabbed on Rock of Love: Charm School. The charges? Battery, negligence and infliction of emotional distress. Seems like the emotional distress part is from just being on a reality show, no? [TMZ]
• Did you catch Jimmy Fallon's first show last night? Apparently Robert DeNiro, who rarely does talk shows, was pretty funny. [Fox 411]
• Mickey Rourke danced with a bathroom attendant. [Gatecrasher]
• Whee! Ashley Jensen, aka Christina, will return to Ugly Betty. She announced she was leaving in January, but now says: "It's time I challenged myself professionally. They haven't killed by character off, so I'll be back at some point." Her Scottish brogue would be sorely missed. [The Sun]
• Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester is inside the new issue of In Style and in this photo, she looks hungover and strung out. [Just Jared]
• Matthew McConaughey is officially in the record business! He's producing a Bermudian roots-reggae artist, naturally. McConaughey says of Mishka: "My one-liner to him is ‘Look, man, I think your music needs to be heard by more ears than it has. I've heard it. I love it. Anybody I've ever turned on to your music ends up loving it.'" Then he put the bong down. [Rolling Stone]
• Danny Boyle may helm the next Bond flick. Upgrade? [The Sun]
• ABC TV series Life On Mars has been canceled. [Variety]
• Uh-oh: The food may have been spoiled at Elton John's Oscar party; some guests ended up "vomiting for days." [Page Six]
• Angela Bassett will make her directorial debut with United States, an indie feature in which a prominent black literary figure writes a faux autobiography from the perspective of a barely literate hoodlum to decry what is wrong with the glorification of "ghetto" culture… and the book is a hit. [Hollywood Reporter]
• Natalie Imbruglia is not, repeat, not dating Prince Harry. She says: "He was just at my birthday party. That was it. I met him for about two seconds." [Daily Express]
• Sienna Miller is trying to charm people in the film industry in L.A. after being shunned over her affair with Balthazar Getty. Good luck! [Daily Express]
• John Travolta and Kelly Preston have written a letter to Lady Lake, FL, thanking the town for its support after their son Jett died. [UPI]
• Someone broke the windows in Jay Kay from Jamiroquai's Ferrari, but it's hard to care. [Daily Mail]
• Check out this Ricky Gervais meltdown, in which he is not pulling a "Christian Bale," even if that is the headline. [LA Times]
• You know how Bruce Willis is being sued for "walking off the set" of a flick he was supposed to direct? He's calling the suit "frivolous and without merit." [E!]
• The Flaming Lips track, "Do You Realize," is now Oklahoma's official rock song. [AP]
• Spinal Tap: Live! The "Unwigged and Unplugged" tour starts April 17 in Vancouver. [AP]
• Simply Red's plane was forced to make an emergency landing en route from Buenos Aires to Brazil, but everyone is okay. Holding back the years tears! [Reuters]
• If you're living on a prayer, get psyched for the Bon Jovi book which comes out in the fall — an "insider portrait" with previously unpublished photographs and text by the band members. [AP]
• Blind item! "Which sexy NYC-based celeb's pickup line needs a little improvement? 'Have we met?' he asks. 'Have we had sex? No? Do you want to?'" [Gatecrasher]
• Bad news: Fred Durst is making a comeback. [Page Six]
• Jim Carrey's daughter Jane has a band called the Jane Carrey band. [The Life Files]
• Legal troubles for Sean Connery: Did he profit from a loan to a former friend? [Daily Mail]
• "Because this album is so sonically different than anything I've done before and captures many flavors of my emotional life and voice, it needed an entirely new name. 'Terra Incognita' means unknown territory — and that's where I wanted to go musically. The guitars are more wild and atmospheric. The groove is dark and deep and allow for a lot of sonic contrasts. It took me five years to really cut my teeth both as a performer and as a songwriter and I wanted to break all the habits I'd gotten used to and let songs develop out of a groove or simple piano notes and melody." — Juliette Lewis, on her new album with her new band, the New Romantiques, who are replacing her former band, The Licks. [NME]
• "I think that criticism is a good thing because it teaches you to (ask) some questions." — Juliette Binoche, on her new dance performance, which the Times of London called "intermittently excruciating." [Breitbart]
• "I'm coping mostly and I'm mostly clean, I won't lie to you it is a struggle. My dad and I are estranged. In his mind if I'm still ­using in any way then I'm not his son. But my mum speaks to me ­secretly. I try and wrap myself up enough so that it doesn't get to me and I don't feel anything but really of course it gets to me. I love the man and I grew up kind of idolising him. It's breaking my heart that for him the be-all and end-all of our relationship is whether or not there's something despicable in my bloodstream. I'd love to just go to football with him like we used to or just go for a drink and be a son and him a father." — Pete Doherty. [Daily Express]

Sydney, November 15. Image via Flynet.

Slate:

Quantum of Solace (Columbia Pictures), the 22nd James Bond film since 1962 and the second starring Daniel Craig, occupies an uneasy place in the 007 canon. The novelty of Craig's decidedly unsuave take on the British superspy has worn off, though we're still eager to see where he'll take the character. And now that the audience has adjusted to the notion of Bond as a tormented brute, we're starting to remember what drew us to this series in the first place: exotic locations, nifty surveillance technology, creative villains, and babes with ridiculous names. In short, we're drawn by fantasy, pleasure, and fun, none of which figures on the to-do list of the new James Bond nor of the movie's director, Marc Forster.

Newsweek:

"Quantum of Solace" isn't frivolous or cheesy, but it isn't all that much fun either. Craig is still the right guy for the job, but for his boiling-on-the-inside performance to work, he needs more to play with. He's doing a dark character study in a movie that rarely stops to catch its breath. Couldn't he have been allowed a little of the superspy's rakish charm?

Premiere:

Forget all the lukewarm reviews you've already read and the British press' collective whining over the fact that this Bond's got too much action, because Quantum of Solace is the finest installment in the storied franchise's 22-film history. Spring boarding from his art house pedigree and using his love for classic Bond titles From Russia With Love and Goldfinger as inspiration, director Marc Forster has crafted a stylish 007 adventure that's both brutal and light on its feet.

Chicago Tribune:

Compared with "Casino Royale," " Quantum of Solace" is a disappointment. Craig anchors it, and Judi Dench's M enjoys some fine, stern scenes, but director Marc Forster ("Finding Neverland," "Monster's Ball," "The Kite Runner") isn't much of an action man. There's plenty, but half the time it's visually incoherent. A minute past the (drab) opening credits, a superhumanly implacable Craig is careening through a snaky Italian tunnel, pursued by enemy agents with vehicular or machine-gun homicide on their minds. Simple premise. Oldie but goodie. Yet the way it's shot and cut, it plays like a parody of a car commercial shot in the style of a Bond film.

USA Today:

Craig and his piercing gaze still mesmerize, but the thriller credibility is disappointing after the topnotch Royale.

Where the film should be lively, it's frenetic, sometimes so furiously paced that key plot details can be easily missed amid the whiplash editing. It's as if director Marc Forster (The Kite Runner) didn't so much study Casino as try to pull off another Bourne movie.

The Los Angeles Times:

Outside of its title, "Quantum of Solace" offers little solace for fans of the venerable James Bond franchise. All dressed up with no particular place to go, this 22nd Bond film tries hard but ends up an underachiever. That's especially disappointing because several of the key players, including star Daniel Craig, have returned from the last Bond film, 2006's "Casino Royale," which seemed like such a promising retooling of the antediluvian franchise that dates all the way back to "Dr. No" in 1962. Also back is the traditional Bond emphasis on exotic locales — "Quantum" was shot in six countries, apparently a franchise record — and forceful action. According to the press notes, more than 200,000 rounds of blank ammunition were purchased for the film and 54 controlled explosions were set off for the finale, but not even all this bang is enough to secure our interest. For while star Craig, screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade along with Paul Haggis, and stunt coordinator Gary Powell, among others, are unchanged, the film's director — and its direction — have been altered, and that has made a difference. For the first time, a Bond film has been envisioned as a pure sequel, with Craig's Agent 007 ferociously fixated on getting revenge for the death of the woman he loved, the languid and treacherous Vesper Lynd, played by Eva Green, who did not make it to the closing credits of "Casino Royale."

The New Yorker:

The narrative of Forster's film is certainly sketchy enough, and early viewers reported a dismaying sense of desiccation: no quips, no gadgets, no time to relax. For the aerial dogfight, both planes have propellers, as if Bond were just a throwback to Indiana Jones. He should wear Savile Row suits, but the costume designer puts him in a black blouson and flat-fronted cream chinos, like a slightly precious soccer fan. As for sex, you might as well stay home with a pair of bed socks and a DVD of "Alvin and the Chipmunks." Bond finds a beauteous comrade-in-arms, Camille (Olga Kurylenko), but she, it turns out, has her own agenda of revenge, and their sole point of contact is the kind of kiss that tennis partners exchange when they win a mixed doubles. I was cheered by the arrival of Agent Fields (Gemma Arterton), an upstanding British redhead, but, after showing Bond her raincoat and her naked back, in that order, she makes an alarming exit. Why, then, days after seeing "Quantum of Solace," do I find, against expectation, that I can't shake it off? Given that it seems such a diminution of the Bond legend, boiling him down to the bare bones of aggression, what can it bring to the party<./blockquote>

Variety:

Stripped of "Royale's" humor, elegance and reinvented old-school stylishness, "Quantum" has little left except its plot, which is rudimentary and slightly barmy, in the line of the Roger Moore pics of the '70s and '80s.

Craig, physically fine as a human killing machine but stripped here of any humor or warmth, doesn't generate any onscreen heat with his putative femme lead, Kurylenko, who most of the time looks as if she's wandered onto the set of the wrong film. The distaff side briefly livens up with an extended cameo by Gemma Arterton, as an MI6 agent in Bolivia, who recalls perky Bond women of the ''60s.

Salon:

Craig is the scrappiest of all Bonds, but he's also the most tender. And "Quantum of Solace" is best when director Marc Forster allows his star the latitude to explore emotions that, until Craig stepped into the shoes of the character, we didn't know Bond had. In fact, "Quantum of Solace" contains one of the most moving sequences I've seen in any Bond movie — including the devastating ending of "Casino Royale" — an emotionally exquisite Pietà that's the kind of thing you get when you allow your actors to carry a scene quietly and instinctively.

Washington Post:

It's in Haiti that Bond meets Camille (the ravishing Olga Kurylenko), who has her own issues to work out. As the "Quantum of Solace" producers proudly proclaim in their promotional literature, Camille is the first Bond girl that James doesn't sleep with. Like that's a good thing.

From its hyper-edited, incoherent opening sequences to the dreary monotony of Bond's revenge kick, "Quantum of Solace" is one brutalizing bummer of a ride, a chain of increasingly explosive fight scenes strung together by bits of talky exposition. Even the locations, long part of the lush vicarious enjoyment to be had at a James Bond movie, have no zing.

The New Republic:

Under other circumstances, I wouldn't applaud the surfeit of brutality—which still doesn't approach what you can find elsewhere at the multiplex most nights—but, as in Casino Royale, it is a useful corrective to the flabby excesses of the franchise, which so often portrayed 007 as ass-chaser first and assassin second. Moreover, Craig is so very good as the hitman with a heart of lead that it's hard to begrudge him his lethal mandate. His blue eyes are colder than even Fleming could've imagined, and his spare but fearsome frame seems, unlike most Hollywood physiques, built more for performance than for show. (Most of the women I know will be disappointed—and most of their husbands relieved—to hear that Craig takes his shirt off a good deal less than he did in Casino Royale.)

Apart from Craig, the chief pleasure of the film is Dame Judi Dench. In her earlier collaborations with Brosnan, I could never shake the sense that she was holding back a bit, lest the quiet domination of which she (and sometimes it seems only she) is capable might overwhelm her leading man and throw their scenes together out of kilter. Craig, by contrast, can and does withstand the full-on Dench, and their scenes together crackle with amiable ferocity. Who needs Bond Girls when this Bond Woman is so much more compelling?

The New York Times:

The death in “Casino” of Bond’s lover Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), along with the possibility that she had betrayed him before dying, provides an obvious psychological explanation for his somber demeanor in “Quantum.” But while the exploration of Bond’s psychology makes him, arguably at least, a deeper, subtler character — and there is certainly impressive depth and subtlety in Mr. Craig’s wounded, whispery menace — it also makes him harder to distinguish from every other grieving, seething avenger at the multiplex.

Which is to say just about every one. And here, I suppose, the deeper questions bubble up. Is revenge the only possible motive for large-scale movie heroism these days? Does every hero, whether Batman or Jason Bourne, need to be so sad?

'Quantum of Solace' opens today in movie theaters nationwide.

The Good:



A tad Vegas, yes, but Kalpana Pandit looks so glam!


I hate invoking Holly Golightly, but if Becki Newton's shoes fit...


Satsuki Mitchell was on Daniel Craig's arm all evening. Just sayin'.


The Bad:
Julia Stiles proves that sometimes frumpy chic just ends up looking frumpy.


As Kelly Bensimon shows, winter shorts are risky at the best of times, and shiny hose don't make things easier.


Something about Debra Messing's ensemble looks awkward.


When it comes to Liya Kebede (as Maury would say)...yeah, I have no idea.


[

[Images via Getty]

[London, October 29. Image via Splash.]

• McCain campaign claims that it didn't keep a lot of those Fashiongate duds: "about a third of it was returned immediately" when they didn't fit. Yes, that'd be $50,000 worth. [AP]
• Roseanne offers a McCain-Palin Hitler smiley-face tee on her website. Genocide sensitivity: ur doin it rong. [Oh No They Didn't]
• Tom Ford makes over 007: “It was time for a change and, whereas Brioni is very polished, this new Bond is edgier and darker...Tom Ford’s tailored suits work better for him.” [FT]
• Sarah Jessica Parker's hard at work on her new fragrances, Lovely Moments. "The collection will include three fragrances based on different expressions of time — Dawn, Endless and Twilight." What? [WWD]

• Moscow Fashion Week is uncharacteristically subdued. [Reuters]
• Because shopping at French Connection is a good indicator of your civic acumen, the chain is offering a 15% discount to those who can prove they voted. Seems ripe for voter fraud to me... [Nylon]
• Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell are co-hosting a Halloween party. What happens when they both come dressed as the Queen? [Fashionista]
• Quoth the creative director of Moschino: "The glossy, glamorous and cool world of fashion have never particularly fascinated me: I adore fashion and many of its representatives not for those aspects but for the creativity, the research and the effort that remains behind every collection." This translates to a front row filled with stuffed animals. [IHT]
• Zara continues to defy the market. In a good way. [Reuters]
• Ditto Avon; a gal still needs her undereye concealer. [Business Week]
• Other stalwarts? Plain white shirts. "Fun" men's shirts are out. [Telegraph]
• Tailoring, however, is in! [NY Times]
• Not to be left behind the, um, phone craze, Ralph Lauren launches an iPhone app, should you wish to gaze at madras at your whim. [MobileCrunch]
• British designer complains she can't find Size 10 (that's a U.S. 6) models to walk in her shows. "I have always been someone who would request that model agencies send me their curviest girls. But this time even they were too tiny to fill a pair of size 10 trousers and make them look great." [Guardian]
• The economy's climate of "retail darwinism" takes its toll on experimental fashion. [Portfolio]
• The carnage continues: although Elle is strong, Elle Accessories is suspended, loses four staffers. [NY Magazine]
• WWD names Natasha Poly and Lily Donaldson "the hottest models of the season." [WWD]
• Twiggy: "Just because you’re middle-aged you don’t have to live in flannel knickers!" It does mean you have to diet, apparently! [Mirror]
• "Sitting at his kitchen table recently, Mr. Siriano mused that he had a few days ahead of him with no bookings. I am like, 'Am I out? Is everyone over me?' That's kind of scary.'" Don't worry, Christian, you're fierce! [Wall Street Journal]
• Clothing line gives 400 poor little babies rashes on their backs! [USA Today]
• Alexander McQueen: "I was thinking of the British Empire...because we don't have one any more. Of course, it's not right for one nation to govern another, but I have no other mentality apart from a British mentality. We've lost our way as a nation at the moment, I think, and I wanted to unify myself with Britain throughout history, and to celebrate any heritage. The idea was to look at tradition as opposed to being anarchic." Translation? Rock necklaces. [Independent]
• Ecko employee sues over sexual harassment after a male colleague allegedly "threw a fistful of coins down into the crack of her buttocks." [NY Post]
• Lagerfeld is lukewarm on the contents of his Chanel pavilion: "The pavilion is the most exciting. Whatever may be in there—that is not my problem.” [The New Yorker]

• National tragedy: Heidiwood, Heidi Montag's fashion line, has apparently been discontinued! [Oh No They Didn't]
• Diddy buys Enyce from Liz Claiborne. [WWD]
• Karl Lagerfeld's interview with the Olsen twins is possibly the most awesome thing ever. The Kaiser dishes on his hatred of male models, tall women, men's opinions, and marriage! "Today you can have a baby first. If you want. I never liked the idea of a family at all. If it's a woman — it's more fun for a woman." [New York Mag]
• $700 mink Ric Owens stuffed bunny. You can put your keys in it. And it has "a mean face." [Fashionista]

• "Versatile classics" are the big sellers right now. [WWD]
• Another charming common touch piece from Cathy Horyn: "On Sunday afternoon I received a call from the Barneys women’s buying office saying my black Balenciaga dress was in. It was heartening to know in these difficult times that somebody wanted to make a sale." [NY Times]
• Having already beaten the candidates' neckwear into the ground, let's turn to their financial advisors! "Obama's man, Austan Goolsbee, wore a blue silk necktie with a subtle "neat" pattern—which on closer inspection turned out to be the phrase "Obama '08" repeated multiple times, like a subliminal message. His opponent, McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin, wore a conservative, law-and-order number: red with small white stars." [US News]
• Bond girls wear rad clothes. This premise serves an excuse for this reporter to try on all their outfits. [Telegraph]
• WWD takes full credit for Rodarte's breakout. [WWD]
• And speaking of Rodarte, the Mulleavy sisters are selling some of their archive online. [BlackBook]
• Although 50% of British women are size 16 and above, German designer Anna Scholz is the only one making high-end plus-sized clothes. "The problem is that other ranges want big women to apologise. It's always about disguising and concealing, never about celebrating. I don't understand it. Why would anyone want to wear a breast minimiser?”[Times Online]
• The Delhi Commission of Women seeks to ban a new film which they feel cruelly exploits the trials of the thinly-disguised model protagonist. [Hindustan Times]
• Zappos bans fur from its site, earning PETA's approval. [PETA]
• Apparently Zara's fall catalogue is good. [Fabsugar]
• Australian swimwear designer wrongly targeted in drug sting. [News.co.au]
• ABC cuts wardrobe budget for Desperate Housewives. [ MSNBC]
• Barneys gets all political, decorating the store with presidential portraits. Coolidge always gets me in a shopping mood! [WWD]
• There's some way you can win a clutch at Anya Hindmarch. It sounds like a raffle but it has something to do with Halloween. [VogueUK]

According to the AP:

MI6's Web site encourages mothers to apply and assures women they won't be used as "honey pots," or seductresses. Disabled applicants are welcome. And a special search is directed at minorities who speak Mandarin, Arabic, Persian and the Afghan languages of Dari and Pashto.

Obviously this makes perfect sense, but why has it taken so long? Alias aside, why do we imagine a "spy" to be a man in a trenchcoat?

I know a woman who was tapped to be a spy for the US. She was someone you would probably never suspect was a spy: A bubbly, chatty mother of three. She wasn't on the front lines — her life was never in danger — but she did go to cocktail parties and UN events, make conversation with various people and then report back to her employer — they'd meet at a bar or restaurant, never at the office — and she'd get paid in stacks of cash.

Though James Bond is a literary character — and will probably be a straight white guy for the next hundred years — wouldn't the best recruitment tool be a flick of Jane Bond saving the world?

Jane Bond? Britain's Secret Spy Agency Launches Recruiting Blitz For Women And Minorities [Tucson Citizen, via AP]

[New York, July 9. Image via Bauer-Griffin]

[Maui, June 12. Image via Splash.]

• Medic! Daniel Craig sliced his fingertip off while filming the new James Bond movie. Last week he cut his face and needed eight stitches. The man suffers for his art, you guys. [Mirror]
• Did a psychic help Angelina and Brad design a nursery for the twins??? Apparently someone was hired to determine the "vibe" of the unborn bébés. If you believe this crap. [MSNBC]
• One benefit for Angelina Jolie giving birth in France? "Medieval" paparazzi laws. [NY Post]
• R. Kelly told the judge in his child pornography trial that he does not plan to testify. The proceedings are winding down! [Miami Herald]
• Even though Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon didn't have a big celebration, you can totally buy them a wedding present! They're registered at Bergdorf Goodman. [Page Six]
• Lily Allen, Samantha Ronson and Lindsay Lohan had dinner together! Sam's brother produced Lily's album, remember. [Mirror]
• "My sister and Lindsay make a cute couple, don’t they?" — Mark Ronson. [DListed]

• Even though George Clooney and Sarah Larson have split up, he is still letting her friends use his Lake Como villa for their honeymoon, as he promised while he and Sarah were together. Because he is one classy mothertrucker. [E!]
• Two words: Smurfs movie. [UPI]
• Tricia Walsh-Smith, the woman who ranted about her husband via YouTube, has more issues: The lady who filmed her is releasing a "director's cut." [Page Six]
• Chris Martin writes Coldplay songs under the influence of sleeping pills? That explains a lot. [Page Six]
• Minnie Driver's pregnancy landed her a role in Uma Thurman's movie, Motherhood. We still don't know who the father is, though! [Page Six]
• Farrah Fawcett's battle with cancer is a cash cow, and she is milking it. [Page Six]
• Plus-size model Mia Tyler had suicidal thoughts and very nearly killed herself, poor thing. [Page Six]
• Those Oscar de la Hoya fishnet pictures? Fake. Fakety fake fake. Funny, though. [TMZ]
• Shia LaBeouf is "embarrassed" by that YouTube video in which he goads his friend to slap him by calling the guy a faggot. His rep says: "He regrets having used the word in any capacity and is very embarrassed that this footage is being seen by anyone." [E!]
• Brooke Hogan is "freaked out" that her mom is dating a 19-year-old. And Brooke actually knows her mom's new guy, Charley Hill. "I went to school with him," Brooke says. "He was a grade under me..." [E!]
• Iron Man sequel? Director Jon Favreau says neither he nor Robert Downey Jr. have been approached. [E!]
• One of the stars of Meerkat Manor was killed in a hit and run while crossing a road in the Kalahari Desert. Tragic! [ONTD]
• Little Richard will perform at a wedding on The Young And The Restless! Repeat: Little Richard will be on Young And The Restless. Actually, he was on One Life To Live in 1995, so it's not that weird. But still kinda weird. [ONTD]
• P. Diddy's $426,000 Maybach was hit by a drunk driver in New York's meatpacking district. [ONTD]
• There may be a Gossip Girl spinoff set at a boarding school. If you read the books, you know that there was a boarding school spinoff called The It Girl. And if you know GG producer Josh Schwartz, you may recall he wanted to spinoff a boarding school drama from The OC like 2 years ago. [Reuters, Digital Spy]
• Amy Winehouse's money was used to bankroll the plot Blake Incarcerated cooked up, which involved bribing a guy he'd beat up to retract his story and leave the country. [Mirror]
• The book seen in the SATC movie, Love Letters Of Great Men, does not exist. But the closest thing, Love Letters of Great Men and Women: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day, is now 134 on Amazon, thanks to Carrie wannabes. [CBS News]
• Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards are battling over vaccinations, but it is hard to care because I'm over both of them. [TMZ]
• The release date has been set for Terrence "Baby Wipes" Howard's new album. Mark your calendars: September 2! [UPI]
• Celebrity Rehab season two: Grease and Taxi star Jeff Conaway, son-of-Rod Sean Stewart, Rodney King, American idol contestant Nikki McKibbon, Tawny Kitaen and, um, Gary Busey. [UPI]
• The Harry Potter prequel: 800 words, hand-written, sold for $49,000 at a charity auction yesterday. [Reuters]
• A dude who claims he was tricked into putting his penis in a mousetrap by Adam Carolla, Jimmy Kimmel and Johnny Knoxville has dropped his lawsuit. Seriously? You can't blame other people for your stupid decisions. [E!]
• "I'm the most ill-prepared parent on the planet." — Marissa Jaret Winokur, who is due in six weeks. [People]
• "I'd like to be with someone who is secure with themselves. She has to understand that I have a lot going on and I'm busy." — Mario Lopez. [People]
• LOL @ Mario Lopez riding in the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. [E!]
• "When you get married, you're forced to drink the milk long after it's spoiled." — Kimora Lee Simmons. [People]
• "I'm very happy, and in a great place being a married man." — Usher. [People]

• Amy Winehouse has joined a list of young millionaires! She has an estimated £10 million fortune. And yet you'd never know it. Love that! [Telegraph]
  
• Uh-oh. Amy might get arrested today, because she headbutted some guy who might press charges. [The Sun]
  
• Madonna's new album, Hard Candy, debuts today on MySpace — four days before the official release date. [People]
  
• Lauren Conrad will become a fashion blogger. For the poorly-named site College Tonight. Think she can write? [Fashionista]
  
• So MSNBC is claiming they never asked Heidi Montag to sit at their table at the White House Correspondent's dinner. And yet! Radar has an email from Courtney Hazlett of MSNBC.com attempting to confirm Heidi's attendance at the dinner. But see MSNBC and MSNBC.com are different, you guys. So the site sent the invite and Heidi declined. In any case! Heidi will not be at the dinner. So there's that. [Radar]

• Jailed Pete Doherty missed his own art opening in Paris. On view: 30 paintings by the singer, using his own blood as well and pencil and paint. The one of Kate Moss is um, impressionistic. [Daily Mail]
• Jimmy Fallon will replace Conan O'Brien on Late Night sometime next year. Well, the show will be full of laughter: He's great at cracking himself up. [AP]
• The unlawful smoking charges against Shia LaBeouf have been dismissed! Light up, dude. In a designated area, though. [Yahoo News]
• Rebecca Romjin's character on Ugly Betty — being scaled back and downgraded to a "recurring" role. Boo. Everyone loves a glam tranny. [E!]
• Two newspapers and the Associated Press are asking for access to R. Kelly's pretrial hearings. The lawyer repping the media outlets claims that R's celebrity status doesn't justify a media ban. [AP]
• Meanwhile! R. Kelly has a new video, in which he sings about getting his hair braided. [ConcreteLoop]
• Jerry Springer will be the commencement speaker at Northwestern Law School for the class of '08 and some people are not happy. [Page Six]
• Ice-T is producing a documentary about his hero, Iceberg Slim, a pimp-turned-novelist. [Page Six]
• John Legend is not, repeat, not dating Maria Menounos; they just had a "friendly drink." John has a girlfriend, Christine Teigen. [Page Six]
• Nick Lachey will host a show called High School Musical: Summer Session that's like a talent search or something and I feel sad about the direction TV is going in so I'm not saying any more. [Variety]
• Bill Cosby is teaming up with a Superior Court Judge in Atlanta to speak about at-risk black youth. [CNN, via AP]
• George Clooney's Oscar Nominee Gift Bag: Up for charity auction. [PR Newswire]
• Cynthia Nixon may marry her girlfriend Christine Marinoni in "a quiet autumn ceremony in Vermont under the red leaves." And they both have red hair! Sounds sweet. [ONTD]
• Michael Jackson's asked Akon to produce his new album. And uh, he's sworn off women so he can "concentrate." Yeeeeah. [Page Six]
• A new book scolds Paris Hilton and Britney Spears for impulse-buying animals at pet stores. [Page Six]
• Heidi Fleiss will be on Dr. Drew's VH1 show, Celebrity Rehab to deal with her Vicodin and meth addictions. Oh, and she's hoping to fall in love. LOL. [Gatecrasher]
• Blind item! "Which 'sensitive' heartthrob rocker does his best work with a snoot full of booger sugar? Girls who flock to his side at NYC clubs notice he can't go but five minutes between bathroom breaks." [Gatecrasher]
• The Empire State Building will be purple, pink and white tonight in honor of Mariah Carey. Somebody take a picture! [Gothamist]
• The paparazzi are mad at Mariah Carey because at a CD signing, she showed up two hours late, rushed down the red carpet and wore sunglasses on the red carpet. They might boycott her. Ooooh, burn. [TMZ]
• Some dude who once appeared in a movie with Michael Douglas is suing Douglas over an effed up business deal. [TMZ/]
• Two production assistants who worked on The Hills and Next have filed a class action lawsuit against MTV, claiming they put in more than eight hours a day, without meal breaks, but were not paid overtime. Plus: They had to deal with the cast of The Hills. [TMZ]
• Three years after his memorable couch-jumping incident, Tom Cruise will be back on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah will be celebrating Tom's career since his breakout role 25 years ago in Risky Business. [People]
• Pete Wentz says the ring he gave Ashlee Simpson is not a conflict diamond, so you can all relax. [People]
• Ashlee is on the cover of Shape magazine, btw. In a string bikini. Is that why she doesn't want to admit she's preg? [MSNBC]
• The new 90210 might have Hilary Duff as a star. Meh. [E!]
• "I have accepted a part in a major studio film. It's a comedy. It's starting the first week in May and it's filming in Louisiana. I can't wait." — Kim Kardashian. The flick is one of those spoofs like Scary Movie, Date Movie, etc. You know, totes Oscar-worthy. [E!]
• Is there a James Bond curse? A stuntman is fighting for his life after crashing an Alfa Romeo into a truck while filming a chase scene. This is the third on-set accident this week. Fear not! Daniel Craig was not harmed. [Mirror]
• Oh, but production on the film as been suspended while the accident is investigated. [Perez Hilton]
• I've heard this before but maybe you haven't: Ashton Kutcher has webbed toes. [The Sun]
• "I think people are learning to actually aspire to be objectified. It's like the highest form of flattery for teenage girls. The culture we live in right now seems to reward behavior that we used to frown upon. We used to teach our daughters not to be like this. I think in the '80s, there would certainly have been a little bit of snobbery expressed if somebody admitted to getting a full Brazilian bikini wax. A circle of friends would be like, 'What are you, a porn star?'" — Christina Ricci. [MSNBC]

• 32-year-old Mark Ronson is dating "underwear model" Daisy Lowe — the 18-year-old daughter of Gavin Rossdale. Pout. [The Sun]
  
• Joe Simpson is offering the tabloids a $1 million photo/interview deal for engaged and pregnant daughter Ashlee — but the mags are like: Hahaha! No. [Page Six]
  
• As reported yesterday, Naomi Campbell erroneously believes British Airways actually wants her to fly with them again. [Page Six]
  
• Arrested Development funnyman David Cross, 43 and Joan of Arcadia star Amber Tamblyn, 24: Seen making out. [Page Six]
  
• The casting for Paris Hilton's reality show in which she looks for a new best friend is not going so well. Not that you give a shit. [MSNBC]

• Yesterday was Blake Fielder-Civil's birthday, but it seems wife Amy Winehouse didn't visit him, hmmm... [The Sun]
• Psst! Pseudo-spoiler! Someone dies in the Sex And The City Movie. [Page Six]
• Blind item! "Which celebrity stylist has been banned by Louis Vuitton because its stuff has a habit of not coming back from her shoots? She also had that full-figured star of a hit TV comedy leave the set in tears after telling her, 'Ugh, I can't believe you don't fit into that!'" [Gatecrasher]
• Sources say Rob Lowe's nanny is a flirt who likes older men. [TMZ]
• Uh, the nanny did a shoot for People magazine, btw. [TMZ]
• The nanny's lawyer, Gloria Allred, says it's because the nanny (Jessica Gibson) "has nothing to hide." [People]
• The restraining order against leechy Sam Lufti has been extended: He's agreed to stay away from Britney Spears through July. [TMZ]
• Britney's been taking voice lessons? And spending time in the studio "just for fun"? WTF? [E!]
• Cameron Diaz says her father, Emilio Diaz, who passed away on Tuesday, "was loved by so many people, and his humor and spirit will always live on in our hearts." [People]
• Daniel Craig's James Bond is the "first metrosexual Bond," says an insider. "As well as fake tan, bronzer, eye cream, cleanser, toner and moisturizer, Daniel's been having regular manicures." As long as he's hot and suave, who cares? Leave the man alone! [Mirror]
• Lost actress Michelle Rodriguez is annoyed that people are curious whether or not she's gay. As for the bloggers who write about it: "I picture them turning into pigs, slime coming out the side of their mouth, and I picture them jerking off. I don't answer those questions. I just keep it to myself and it's nobody's business. If I wanna fuck a girl, a boy, a dog, that's my business. That's why there's bathroom doors. What the majority of (people) want to know is what I'm doing with my vagina, and I think that that's sick. What do you care who I'm dating? I can tell when somebody just wants to know about sex. And it makes me sick." Touchy, touchy! [Mirror]
• Kylie Minogue thinks about having a hubs and kids but says, "Other days, I think perhaps this is not right for me. I never had the feeling of a conventional marriage." [The Sun]
• Barbra Streisand has given $5 million to Cedars-Sinai to fund research and education for women's heart disease. [Yahoo News]
• Kate Moss and Jamie Hince are "very very happy," says Kate's friend Sadie Frost. Good to know. [People]
• An Austrian woman is wanted by authorities for failing to appear in court on charges of stalking and threatening to kill CSI: Miami star David Caruso. Doesn't he seem too creepy to stalk? [Miami Herald]
• "I'm a huge fan of gays. They love me; I love them. They consider me kind of a gay icon, which they've labeled me as." — Tori Spelling. [Reuters]
• Wow, Chloe Sevigny's hair in Big Love does kind of look like the real Texas polygamists hair! [TMZ]