• Eva Longoria's perfume ad is a total Photoshop of Horrors. "I have always been somewhat allergic to all perfumes," admitted the actress. The scent was produced with the Falic Group, the company that recently shuttered Christian Lacroix. Priorities. [WWD]

• Phi, the edgy, six-year-old New York-based label, is closing its doors due to the recession. The spring collection shown at fashion week in September will not go into production; the pre-spring collection that just shipped will be Phi's last. Founder Susan Dell is the wife of tech billionaire Michael Dell; it's perhaps a little odd that she didn't want to reinvest to keep the widely acclaimed company afloat. Thirty-five employees learned they were losing their jobs yesterday; the C.E.O. says there will be a warehouse sale in January. [WWD]
• P. Diddy even gave Madame Tussaud's a bottle of his "I Am King" cologne with which to douse his new wax figure, for verisimilitude. [Spoiled Pretty]
• The four stars of Sex And The City will each get their own cover of Marie Claire, but that's absolutely not because they can't stand to be in one room together. [NYDN]
• A New Zealand fashion blogger who was invited to the America's Next Top Model Cycle 14 finale runway show — which took place last week in Auckland — but didn't go posted a shot of the invitation. Turns out Anna Sui is the featured designer. [IsaacLikes]
• "She already has a great handbag collection. She has a mirrored Fendi bag. And she'll say things like, 'I'm not going to wear that any more.' She has really good style as well. She knows what she likes and I can't force her to wear anything she doesn't, which is annoying sometimes. But now I rarely go shopping without her. She tells me what she doesn't like or she'll say: 'Mummy, you look nice' or 'that dress is amazing!' She's got it." Kate Moss, on daughter Lila Grace, 7. [Company via Daily Express]
• Agyness Deyn maybe made out with a dude at a club during Saturday night's snowstorm. Hot. [P6]
• "Giving back" is one way to characterize guest judging Project Runway, Catherine Malandrino. "I can give good advice and be an inspiration for the next generation. I think everyone in life needs direction and models." [HoustonChronicle]
• Thakoon Panichgul unveiled his first jewelry collection for the Japanese pearl brand Tasaki. It features lots of big pearls on rods. Prices range from about $6,000 to just under $40,000. [WWD]
• CFDA Award winner Sophie Théallet — whose dresses Michelle Obama has worn on more than one occasion — followed a traditional route into the industry, working for well over a decade in Paris and New York for established designers before founding her own label. (It became faddish during the 2000s to proclaim your design vision to the world immediately upon graduation from fashion school, à la Proenza Schouler, or even after dropping out, à la Alex Wang.) Jean-Paul Gaultier and Azzedine Alaïa were among her employers. "Gaultier taught me to stop at nothing and Alaia gave a taste for rigor," says Théallet, now based in Brooklyn. [Telegraph]
• Vivienne Westwood's wallpaper collection features her signature loud prints. [Vogue UK]
• A Racked tipster thinks this "Italian Appeal" store has a logo that looks too similar to the American Apparel trademark. We don't quite see it. [Racked]
• Karl Lagerfeld designed a doll with a spectacularly ugly dress, and a life-sized matching dress for little girls. They cost $315 and $1,190, respectively. Part of the proceeds will go to Carla Bruni-Sarkozy's charity. [WWD]
• In ten years of operation, online discounter Bluefly.com has never turned a profit. For the quarter ended September 30, its sales fell 14% on the same period last year, despite overall rising online sales this year. It is receiving a $15 million investment from Rho Ventures, and is reducing its inventory. [WWD]

• Lindsay Lohan's first collection for Ungaro has been derided by yet another industry heavyweight: Emanuel Ungaro himself. The designer, who sold the business that bears his name in 2005, says Lohan's work was "a disaster" that left him "furious." [Independent]

• Glamour editor Cindi Leive says the magazine has booked plus-size models for stories for every issue through February, including (relatively more prestigious) fashion and beauty spreads. "One of the plus-size models who was featured in our original story is in one of our two major fashion features in December, and looks amazing," added Leive. Could that be Crystal Renn? Or one of the other gaggle of naked lovelies the ladymag featured in November? [The Cut]
• Christopher Bailey is no longer the Burberry creative director. He is Burberry's chief creative officer, and don't you forget it. [WWD]
• Further layoffs at Zac Posen are rumored to be imminent. Since he eliminated his PR director on Monday, the task of handling publicity has been taken up by Posen's mom. Gucci is also said to be mulling serious layoffs. [NYDN]
• Marc Jacobs, maker of Louis Vuitton Everything: "The kennel was a bit of a joke, really." [ToL]
• Jason Wu loves to cook and bake, but macaroons had so far eluded his range of expertise. No more! Food & Wine arranged a special lesson for the designer with François Payard. It'll be the subject of an upcoming feature in the magazine. [Grub St]
• Not only did positive results for the last quarter not boost Crocs' share price — because investors took note that the surplus was largely the result of some kind of one-time tax bonus — but the maker of hideous shoes has trouble on the legal front, too. Porsche is suing Crocs over its use of the brand Cayman, which Porsche holds as a trademark in Germany. Apparently Porsche thinks there might be some confusion over the $29.99 Cayman sandal, and a $51,000 Porsche Cayman. [Footnoted]
• Prabal Gurung designed a festive red dress with poufy asymmetrical shoulders for Oprah to wear on the cover of the December issue of her magazine. Ellen, in a white suit, strikes a pose next to her fellow talkshow host. Gurung calls Oprah "a role model, a mentor, a leader and a constant source of inspiration." [People]
• Jean-Paul Gaultier's collection for Target will, he says, "shock parents, shock teachers." Perhaps not as much as his unwitting floor show at the Standard hotel, which has windows overlooking the High Line and Chelsea. "So, I am in the bedroom where it is an exhibitionist event!" says Gaultier. "I did not know that, so I did exhibition without knowing what I was doing. I did not know people could see. But, nobody was looking. It's quite hilarious, it's excellent." [The Cut]
• Heidi Klum will be the face of Ann Taylor's holiday collection. The company is struggling to reinvent itself after season upon season of declining sales and clothes that even the CEO has admitted were lacking in the design department. Photographer Peter Lindbergh and supermodel Klum are, apparently, part of the rejuvenation plan. [People]
• Someone is licensing John Lennon's artwork for a clothing collection. Imagine that! [UPI]
• Weirdest fashion story ever? German Vogue has an editorial featuring Lost's Jorge Garcia and Christie Brinkley. Bruce Weber shot it in Montauk. [Fashionista]
• Wow. Brazilian Vogue might just be worse than American Vogue. [MadeinBrazil]
• Adam Lippes has foot-in-mouth disease. After previously telling reporters that "it's rare to find an intern — especially one from a fashion school — that has good style," two of his workers came to him to suggest that he might, you know, apologize. He pooh-poohed them ("I was like, 'I don't mean THESE interns!'"), then reconsidered. He assembled the intern crowd, and told them "I just meant, like, fashion students." They seemed skeptical. "Meanwhile, one of them is wearing silver boots up to here and is a guy. 'Not you! Those boots are great.' But it was fine." Sure it was. The cherry on top: "Some of my interns dress fantastically." [The Cut]
• Diesel, which stopped selling its jeans in Macy's in 2005 to up its brand value, is reportedly in negotiations to sell a lower-priced line exclusively through the mega-retailer. "If they keep going this route, they'll end up like Levi's," says one person inside the company. [NYPost]
• Meanwhile, Macy's forecasts its same-store sales to fall 1-2% for the fourth quarter. Shares fell 3.4% in the day's trading. [Reuters]
• If you've ever wanted to experience the world of malodorous anguish and foot pain that is fashion blogging, here's your chance to submit to a humiliating public competition and vote! [Grazia]
• The Shophound thinks the clerks at New York's new Banana Republic are way too friendly. [Shophound]
• American Apparel's quarterly profits rose 83%, to $4.2 million, but investors aren't buying it. The stock price sank 4.6%, to $2.49. [NYPost]
• Italian cashmere producer Brunello Cucinelli runs a factory with long lunch breaks, no timeclocks, and posted "rules" are quotes from philosophers and writers. He thinks he can afford to be both a great boss and a good businessman, and his company's revenues for this year are forecast to reach 154 million Euros, which is some 7% greater than last year, even with the recession. [Reuters]
• Talbots has reportedly hired outside consultants to help the company, which has weathered five quarters of successive losses, refinance $225 million in debt. [NYPost]

• Dana Thomas — author of Deluxe — wrote an excellent feature on the quagmire of the house of Versace. Thomas takes aim at Donatella and Santo Versace's resistance to change and ham-handed business decisions. It's a thrilling read. [Newsweek]

• "My kids are my best style advisors because they are so honest," says Victoria Beckham. "I remember one time I was wearing a Chanel cape and skinny jeans and I walked down the stairs to see my sons and they said, 'Oh my God, Mummy, you're Batman!'" [Grazia]
• We know this is hard to imagine, but the new Calvin Klein billboard in SoHo is quite sexual. Some say it "goes too far"! For more details of the development of this shocking and unexpected outrage, you can count on the Daily News. [NYDN]
• Moises de la Renta, son of Oscar, is rumored to be "inking a deal" with Mango, presumably as a designer. [WWD]
• Pamela Anderson has not one, but two perfumes: Malibu Blue and Malibu Pink. They start at $39 and are available at drug stores. [People]
• Custom, one-of-a-kind Uggs really are a level of ugliness impressive to behold. [WWD]
• Tamara Mellon says the clothes she has produced for the Jimmy Choo for H&M collaboration were hard to conceptualize, because she doesn't sketch. Then, like so many designers, she had a brainwave, and picked apart some much-loved vintage pieces, cut patterns, and slapped labels on them. [LATimes]
• Although Mellon holds the copyright to the label Jimmy Choo, the real Jimmy Choo still designs bespoke shoes for an ultra-rich clientele under the name Jimmy Choo Couture. "I design like an architect," says the Malaysian-born Choo. "It's a beautiful, distinctive art, and shoes are like the foundations. If the foundations aren't right, the building won't stand upright, and if a woman's balance isn't right, nothing else is." Are you listening, Christian Louboutin? [Telegraph]
• Kate Moss is notoriously resistant to being interviewed, so when longtime hairdresser James Brown included more of her than she anticipated in the final cut of a TV doc about his shop, she cut him loose. "She maintains her hair herself nowadays," says Brown, we imagine a tad wistfully. [Daily Mail]
• Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons has a collection of handbags about the Beatles. [IHT]
• Heard of Roksanda Ilincic? Mareunrols? Bogomir Doronger? Baltic and Eastern European designers must be a trend! [FT]
• Hey, look: someone's applying the Netflix mail-order rental model to designer clothes. Drycleaning included in the fee. [NYTimes]
• Burberry's social-networking site, artofthetrench.com, has launched. [Artofthetrench]
• Cynthia Rowley is going to design new uniforms for United Airlines flight crews. [ChicagoTrib]
• Henry Holland says he and Agyness Deyn, who both grew up in a town called Ramsbottom, rarely ponder the nuances of their unlikely fashion greatness. "We'd be complete wankers if we did that, wouldn't we? Pause the TV! 'Hang on, you're the hottest model and I'm one of the hottest young designers, let's talk about that while I make a brew.'" [Guardian]
• While textile exports are worth around $12 billion to Pakistan's economy every year, the country's garment industry is relatively under-developed. "We are still doing the 30 dollar a dozen T-shirt business. There is no value added," said Ayesha Tammy Haq. "We should be employing millions of people, not hundreds of thousands of them." Hence Fashion Pakistan Week, of which Haq is the CEO. And don't expect the clothes to be dull: "This does not represent what we are as a people," designer Ayesha Tahir Masood said. "Only 0.001 percent of Pakistani women would wear these clothes, and then only in a controlled environment when drunk out of their minds." [AP]
• Carmen Colle is a French designer who runs a company, World Tricot, that hand-makes unique knitwear to the specifications of top houses like Christian Dior, Givenchy and Jean-Paul Gaultier. Colle is suing Chanel for allegedly taking one of her crochet patterns without paying for it. The four-year-old suit is finally being heard in Paris, along with a countersuit that asks the judge to consider Colle's level of fault for daring blacken the Chanel name with such an allegation. Since filing her lawsuit, World Tricot has been largely abandoned by its other clients, and Colle has been forced to lay off all but 12 of her staff. [Guardian]
• Lord & Taylor's same-store sales have risen 6% and 12%, respectively, on last September and October. Last September and October was pretty much the middle of the giant red Down arrow of the retail market, however, so even a double-digit improvement on those results is to be taken with a grain of salt. [WWD]
• The company that makes Crocs enjoyed a $22.1 million third-quarter profit, but the stock is still losing value. The surplus largely came from a one-time tax benefit, and investors are dubious about the company's long-term prospects. [TS]

• Jean-Paul Gaultier is doing a collaboration with Target that will hit stores next spring; stay tuned for pricing information and images as they inevitably leak. Please let there be lingerie-as-outerwear! [WWD]
• Agyness Deyn might star in a short film. [P6]

• Mad Men costume designer Janie Bryant says she intends to add women's wear, like evening gowns and office wear, to the clothing line inspired by the show. The first items, men's suits, go on sale at Brooks Brothers tomorrow. For now, of course, you can always dress like Joan Holloway by cruising the vintage stores. [Independent]
• Oh, someone at Agent Provocateur has a sense of humor that matches our own. Penis! Har de har, har. [Things Doanie Likes]
• The reason the Jimmy Choo for H&M collection tops out at $299, for a pair of thigh-high boots? The pieces are all real leather, says Tamara Mellon. Which begs the question, why does it cost so much, again? There's no law that says real leather has to cost $300. [The Cut]
• 17-year-old Kalief Rollins of Carson, California, started a t-shirt line called Phree Kountry. It sells shirts with messages like "Caution: Educated African American Male," and this week, his business plan was announced as the winner of the National Young Entrepreneur Competition. In addition to $10,000, Rollins got to meet the president, who kept one of the "Caution" shirts. Rollins needs to do two things: make those tees for women, and get a website. Hello! [CBS]
• Hassan bin Ali al-Nuaimi, the angel investor who is ready to acquire the bankrupt house of Christian Lacroix, says if his bid is successful, he will investigate licensing the Lacroix name to private jets, exclusive hotels, and yachts. [Reuters]
• Naeem Khan's Home Shopping Network line will be produced in sizes 0-24 and cost up to $450. [Style.com]
• Ali Wise, the now-ex Dolce & Gabbana publicist accused of hacking into an ex-boyfriend's new flame's voicemail, faces additional charges apparently related to a total of four victims. The Manhattan District Attorney added four counts each of computer trespass, eavesdropping, computer tampering in the fourth degree and aggravated harassment in the second degree, and one count of stalking in the fourth degree. These are all misdemeanors; Wise already faced two felony charges of computer trespass and eavesdropping. The full complaint alleges that Wise used a service called SpoofCard to gain access to two other people's voicemails more than 1,000 times. [WWD]
• From October 20, in France, you will be able to buy a 186-page "biography" of Chanel No. 5. Perfect for that chic woman you know who has...everything. [WWD]
• Jill Biden likes to wear miniskirts sometimes. [HuffPo]
• The Pierre Hardy for the Gap collaboration, which includes some high heeled boots that would be gorgeous if they didn't cost close to $200, has been delayed yet again. Although the boots were supposed to hit stores in September, Gap has been pushing back their delivery. Today was supposed to be Boot Day, but Racked is reporting that none of the Manhattan stores have any. What gives? [Racked]
• Pearl Lowe has designed a line for the British retailer Peacocks. Her daughter, Daisy Lowe, is modeling it. How sweet. [Telegraph]
  
• Vanessa Williams' PR rep must have some awesome dirt to be able to engineer coverage like this: a news item about the actress receiving a meaningless award for being "fearless" praises her "courage and humility," calls her an "entertainment denizen," and reports as objective fact her "fearless conviction." Williams herself accords that to "a thrill-seeking gene. The people that I come from are outspoken and driven and not afraid to take chances." Either really good dirt, or someone at Women's Wear Daily just loves Ugly Betty. [WWD]
• Tom Ford sure does say the darndest things. The Guardian collects his most enduring quotes, including "Richard [Buckley, his partner] hardly ever has anything nice to say about my work. It's my mother all over again." [Guardian]
• Vanessa Paradis is set to be the face of Chanel's Rouge Coco lipsticks next year. [Independent]
• Coach's lower-priced handbag line, Poppy, introduced this summer, has helped raise revenues at the company even as profits continued to fall slightly. First-quarter profits were down 3% on last year, to $140.8 million, but sales rose 8% in North America. [NYTimes]
• Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessyannounced a company-wide 0.6% decline in third quarter. [WSJ]

• "I've thought about clothing and jewelry lines," says Usher. "But fragrance stays on when everything else comes off." [People]
• Bottom of the barrel? For $8, American Apparel will sell you a bag of fabric scraps. [BF]

• Elle Creative Director Joe Zee dined with R.J. Cutler, the director of The September Issue. Which obviously means that he's going to spend two more years making a movie about Elle now! [FWD]
• Says lost soul Ashley Olsen, in fashion, "everyone is just really looking out for themselves. I don't know if I'll be designing this collection forever. A couple of years from now, I'm sure I'll want to do something else, and I'm not going to shy away from that. What if I just want to be an artist, or if I want to go back to acting? Which is not in the cards, but what if I wanted to do that?" [Daily Express]
• An Hermès representative says the rumors that creative director Jean Paul Gaultier is going to leave the company are false. Gaultier has been in his position for six years, and Hermès has experienced continued strong sales from its luxury categories since the start of the recession. [FashionMag]
• Christian Blanckaert, Hermès' director of international affairs, is leaving the company in early September. Blanckaert will become the non-executive chairman of the French children's clothing line Petit Bateau, and is expected to pursue a more international strategy for the brand. [WWD]
• Meanwhile, some anonymous sources in the finance industry are saying that Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy may spin off DKNY, the Donna Karan diffusion label it has owned since 2001. Or that it may sell Moët Hennessy itself, where revenues fell 17% in the first half of 2009. The reason the luxury conglomerate supposedly wants to free up some cash? To make a bid for Hermès, which is trading well below its usual share price. [Fashionista]
  
• Conservative party supporter Anya Hindmarch: "I started my business when I was 18, and I realized the difference it made having Thatcher in power. It was the start of privatization-there was a feeling of ‘Get out there, get going, be an entrepreneur.' I've seen what politics can do to make a difference. It really inspires me and that's why I've been passionate about it." [VF]
• Lara Stone is set to curate the choices available at Not Just A Label's online shop, a home for avant-garde and emerging designers. Lara's choices go on sale on September 2. [UK Elle]
• Uniqlo has a licensing deal with Disney that'll allow it to roll out Disney-themed apparel starting next month. Which should mean the mouse products will hit stores around the same time as Jil Sander's long-awaited first collection for the retailer. [WWD]
• Jean-Charles de Castelbajac is launching a diffusion line called JC/DC. The line will be presented in London and again in Paris at the upcoming shows, and the company wants real-life hepcats to model its wares — anyone who wants to apply for a spot in the runway lineup can do so via the websites of Dazed & Confused or Jalouse magazine, respectively. [WWD]
• Someone named Bronson van Wyck is obsessed with "The Penguin Sparkling Water Maker from Williams-Sonoma. The penguin makes the water fizzy. You can adjust from superfizzy like Perrier to moderate like S. Pellegrino to milder like Hendon." Socials! They're not like us at all. [WWD]
• Vogue Brasil mis-spelled photographer Guy Bourdin's name as "Guy Bourdain" in huge font on its cover. [MadeinBrazil]
• Rosemary Port, the writer behind the infamous "Skanks In NYC" hate-blog against model Liskula Cohen, says that she will continue her $15 million lawsuit against Google for disclosing her e-mail address and IP to Cohen. Even though Google only disclosed those details after losing its long legal battle and being ordered to so by a Manhattan supreme court judge! Port feels her right to privacy has been violated, and alleges of Cohen, "By going to the press, she defamed herself." Her lawyer had this to say: "I'm ready to take this all the way to the Supreme Court. Our Founding Fathers wrote 'The Federalist Papers' under pseudonyms. Inherent in the First Amendment is the right to speak anonymously. Shouldn't that right extend to the new public square of the Internet?" Which, if you think about it, is an airtight argument. Doesn't anyone else remember reading that long footnote in the Federalist Papers where James Madison goes on and on about how Brutus is, like, such a ho? And then of course next month Robert Yates was all like, Nuh uh, you're a big fat skank, Publius, and everyone knows it! Whatever, Rosemary Port. Defamation isn't traditionally considered protected speech. [NYDN]
• Louis Vuitton has won a $400,000 judgment against Bonini Handbags for trademark infringement. [WWD]
• Derek Blasberg watched The Rachel Zoe Project in Los Angeles, with Rachel Zoe. "Watching the actual show and having an alternate show happening in front of me was surreal. And kind of confusing. There was Brad on TV wearing a Missoni sequined shift dress impersonating his boss, and then there, in the flesh, was Brad trying on a Louis Vuitton tennis skirt and booties impersonating his boss. Taylor was on TV moaning, and there she was in person moaning." [StyleFile]
• Casual Male, a U.S. maker of men's plus-size clothing, has seen its quarterly profits increase by 92.1% on last year, even as sales fell 13.4%. [WWD]

• Katie Holmes made the cover of AnOther Magazine — along with Vanessa Paradis, Kate Moss, and Natalie Portman. [DesignScene]
• Apparently, we're supposed to support Gwyneth Paltrow's absurdly high-priced clothing line for Zoetee's because the profits are for charity. [People]

• Those pictures starring a Victoria Beckham lookalike, wearing Beckham's dresses, which the Daily Mail mistook for a lookbook from the line yesterday, are actually from an online-only editorial in V, and therefore not associated with Posh at all. Model Heidi Mount was cast by the magazine to impersonate La Beckham, and she does a mighty good job. [V]
• But the leaked images of Scarlett Johanson from earlier this week are indeed campaign shots for Dolce & Gabbana's new scent, Rose The One. [People]
• Marc Jacobs will have an after-party following his fashion show this season! And not just any party: He's doing it with Lady Gaga. [The Cut]
• Marc Jacobs said Anna Wintour is "Very maternal and caring," and then added the all-important follow-up, "to the people she cares about." [People]
• Because of Wintour's famed dislike of tardiness, all the bold-faced names at the September Issue premiere were remarkably prompt to arrive. Except for P. Diddy, who got to the red carpet, realized he was the only one there, and sprinted for the doors. Anna Wintour can make P. Diddy run. [NYObs]
• Maggie Gyllenhaal may be presenting Dries Van Noten with his award at the Couture Council of the Museum at FIT luncheon, which kicks off New York Fashion Week. Gyllenhaal has worn the Dutch designer several times in the past. [Stylefile]
• Michael Bay, the director the New Yorker called "stunningly, almost viciously untalented," is doing the Victoria's Secret holiday commercial again this year (he last got the credit in 2002.) And he just uploaded some behind-the-scenes shots of Doutzen, Adriana, et. al., to his website. [MichaelBay]
• Meanwhile, Hayden Christensen is shilling for Lacoste's scent, Challenge. [ONTD]
• We do not look forward to the day when celebrities, after developing exhaustive arrays of perfumes, launch into home fragrances, as Ferragamo is doing. [WWD]
• Christian Audigier says Jon Gosselin and Hailey Glassman, who flew to St. Tropez to holiday with the designer as reality TV star and reality TV star stylist, respectively, were not an item at first. But, "by the time two weeks passed it was a completely new story." Audigier also says that Gosselin "is not the same as he was. He has a more complicated life now." [People]
• Ralph Lauren went to a bar in Williamsburg, the ticking heart of New York hipsterdom, walked around, and left. This is news. [The Cut]
• Kellie Pickler is going to do an event next month for the charity Soles4Soles. [WWD]
• Could Haider Ackerman be in the running to take over Maison Martin Margiela? Margiela himself has been rumored to have stepped back from his namesake label for several seasons now — before the Fall 2009 show, there was a rumor that Margiela had taken on a consulting role, and just a couple months ago he was rumored to have left completely. Ackerman, when asked about the rumors that he might take over the house, said only, "When you meet the person you have admired for so many years, how can you possibly replace him? Sometimes it's better never to meet your heroes." [T via Fashionologie]
• And Jean Paul Gaultier is said to be resigning from Hermès, effective after his Spring/Summer show this October. [FWD]
• Perhaps we should be happy Rachel Zoe is a stylist, because if she hadn't ended up dressing small women in psychedelic tent dresses, she would have been "A psychiatrist. I am endlessly fascinated by people's minds and what makes them tick." [W]
• Electronic Arts is producing a line of video games targeted at 8-12-year-old girls, all of which will feature heavy product placement courtesy of Claire's, the costume jewelry chain. To wit: "My Fashion Mall, available for Nintendo DS, allows players to manage their own mall, taking it 'from drab to fab.' Girls can compete in mini-challenges at Claire's, which is featured in the game, as well as add Claire's charms to their virtual jewelry box." [BrandWeek]
• Christian Siriano is launching a line of makeup with Victoria's Secret, a collaboration that actually makes some sense because Siriano worked as a makeup artist when he first moved to New York. The products all reflect Siriano's Egyptian influence for his Fall 2009 collection, and include lots of bronzers and gold-flecked eye colors, named things like Oasis and, naturally, Gilded Fierce. And there's a kohl eye pencil that Siriano says is "really dirty and downtown — like, I dunno, you're going to go home with someone after you put it on." Or, as Edward Gorey put it, "The Wanton, though she knows its danger / must needs smear Kohl about her eyes / and catch the attention of a stranger / with drawn-out, hoarse, erotic sighs." [The Cut]
• Victoria's Secret just suffered a 27% decline in its second quarterly profit, so the chain is moving its focus to lower-priced items. Perhaps this means no more $80 tee shirt bra? [WSJ]
• Henry Holland loves "Walking. I just spent loads of money on a pair of studded Prada brogues and my justification was that my shoes are my car." We, car-less and broke and shoe-loving, wish we had never heard this justification. [W]
• Gap is apparently launching a pop-up store with the French concept shop Merci. All profits will be donated to charity, and the store will open on September 10 — just in time for fashion week — on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 54th Street. [WWD]
• A tipster claiming to work at Gen Art, the group that gives seed money to fashion designers and film-makers — Zac Posen is among the young talents to have received funds in the past — says the company, which has long been struggling financially, is the victim of its own leaders' mismanagement, and that while the staff experienced multiple rounds of pay cuts and layoffs, the brothers who run the show never even docked their own pay. [Gawker]
• Despite declining sales, cost-cutting at the Gap has meant the retailer saw a slight increase in its earnings for the second quarter, beating analysts' expectations. Sales fell by 7% across all the chains the Gap owns, but profits held virtually steady at $228 million, versus $229 million during the same period last year. [AP]
• Gap is also opening its first Israeli store in the city of Jerusalem on Monday. [UPI]
• Ann Taylor experienced a quarterly loss of $18 million. [TS]
• There is going to be a Twilight range of beauty products. By this point, we're only surprised there isn't one already! [WWD]

• Gwyneth Paltrow's clothing line with Zoetees is hitting stores this month. The collection includes tee shirts, studded tank tops, and a grey oversized blazer — fine basics, but there's no indication why the line should start at £100. [Elle UK]

• Earlier this year, Katy Perry, desirous of a fashion line, pre-emptively sued the Australian fashion designer Katie Perry for trademark infringement. Although the suit was later dropped, now that the pop star is in Australia, all mention of Katie Perry and the trademark issue is verboten during media interviews. Which is why when a television presenter asked the singer if there were any Australian artists she admired, Perry's manager actually killed the studio lights. [News.com.au]
• The tender melancholy of Being Donatella: "I would definitely prefer not to be obliged to attend certain events and parties, but I must." [ToL]
• Being longtime fans of documentarian Loïc Prigent — the man who made both the excellent Signé Chanel and Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton — we cannot wait to watch his new series, which follows four designers during the last 36 hours before their respective shows. Sonia Rykiel, Proenza Schouler, Jean Paul Gaultier Couture, and Fendi are featured; Prigent says "They only have 36 hours left; they don't have time to be polite." [W]
• Gaultier was among the guests evacuated from a hotel in Nice recently following a bomb threat. Nobody was injured and no explosives were found. [Yahoo!]
• Rachel Zoe's line for QVC will be shown in the biggest tent at New York Fashion Week. [The Cut]
• Between The Rachel Zoe Project, America's Next Top Model, Project Runway, Models Of The Runway, Project Runway All-Stars, The Fashion Show, and the upcoming Launch My Line, there's more fashion-themed reality television than any human being could ever watch. Is the genre reaching saturation? No, because women think about fashion the way men think about sports, and it would be silly to ask if there is too many sports shows! No, really: "The same way that sports is a passionate category for men, women look at style in the same way," said Style Network president Salaam Coleman Smith. "Women are passionate about transformation, and about ideas for living a fun, fabulous life, to improve themselves, find a new lipstick and figure out a new haircut." [WWD]
• Zoe, for her part, admits she has "a hard time" watching her show. That makes two of us. [WWD]
• Victoria Beckham found a lookbook model for her dress line who looks very much like Victoria Beckham. [Daily Mail]
• Hussein Chalayan's line for Puma looks exciting, intimidating, and totally technophiliac. [WWD]
• Pint-sized and cooler than we'll ever be, child style blogger Tavi WIlliams may have made the first cover of Pop magazine to be produced under new editor Dasha Zhukova. Interestingly, Tavi was just in the second issue of Love, which was founded by ex-Pop editor-in-chief Katie Grand. These are Tavi's first major magazine appearances. [Fashionologie]
• Meanwhile, Tavi was asked by Laura and Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte to film the presentation of the label's upcoming Target collaboration. None of the items in that collection will be priced above $80. [Lucky]
  
• Add Antonio Berardi and Stella McCartney for Adidas to the long list of English designers beating a return to London Fashion Week this season. [Telegraph]
• Cintra Wilson — the ordinarily funny writer who penned that amazingly tone-deaf, sizist JC Penney's store review for the New York Times — would like you to know that the controversy over her comments is officially over. At least to her. So don't write her about it! Don't read the comments under her post if you don't want to hear Wilson and an acolyte braying about the "whalesong" of complaint. [CintraWilson]
• House of Dereon now has a day dress collection. Weirdly, it includes an awful looking silk drawstring-waist jumpsuit. [WWD]
• You can watch an online short with Chloé Sevigny all about hip boutique Opening Ceremony's new store in Shibuya, Tokyo. [Dazed&Confused]
• Levi's Ryan McGinley-shot "Go Forth" ad campaign for its 501 jeans also has an online mockumentary component. You can watch these "Stories Of A New America" about good-looking young people doing cool things, you know, totally spontaneously, at Break.com. [MW]
• Kenny Chesney's apparel line will launch at MAGIC, the Las Vegas apparel industry event. [WWD]

• Australian Vogue's September cover is out, and it features a stunning illustration of Cate Blanchett. [WWD]
• Meanwhile, Fashion Week Daily is reporting on a rumor that Victoria Beckham might be American Vogue's October cover model. [FWD]

• The Kanye West-Gap intern story is back, this time as written in the Chicago Tribune. But no sources are named — doubly so where the rumor-within-a-rumor that West is looking to launch a clothing line with the retailer is concerned. But it would be so perfect! Amber Rose could model it. [ChicagoTrib]
• Jessica Simpson, on her new lingerie line, produced by a licensee of a licensee: "Of course I love lingerie. What girl doesn't? My lingerie reflects the way I'm feeling when I wake up and helps me set the tone for my day." [WWD]
• Takashi Murakami for Louis Vuitton stuffed animals: no celebrity artist megabrand collaboration should ever be this goddamned cute. [FWD]
• French street style photographer Garance Doré has a new gig expanding her blogging coverage for Paris Vogue. [WWD]
• Balenciaga returned to Jennifer Connelly for its fall ads — and then had Steven Meisel photograph her very awkwardly. [SassyBella]
• Jean-Paul Gaultier, for his part, booked Raquel Zimmerman and Raquel Zimmerman for his fall campaign. Raquel Zimmerman plays the girl role and the boy role and looks mighty good doing it. [FWD]
• Gaultier's collaboration with Doc Martens — available only in France, hélas — features boots with perforated leather in a grid. And, as Fashionista points out, you could totally make a DIY version. [Fashionista]
• Roberto Cavalli's house involves significantly less leopard print than we might have imagined. [The Moment]
• Naomi Campbell may have attacked a paparazzo with her handbag on holiday in Sicily. [Daily Mail]
• Designer Paul Smith, on photographing his own ad campaigns: "The whole idea of a designer doing photographs is sort of pretentious: ‘I do everything, you know.' Like Karl whatshisname. I'm a snapper, not a photographer. I'm not Mario Testino. But my lot have been saying, ‘You take pictures; you do it.' So I thought, ‘Let's have a go.' My creative director and the marketing guy and the press people are all pleased with them." [ToL]
• Amber le Bon is to be featured in an upcoming issue of (British?) Vogue wearing her mother Yasmin's vintage clothes. [Daily Mail]
• Late on Friday, fashion writer Diane Pernet published an e-mail exchange between the stylist for "a well-known singer of color" and a PR representative for designer Alexander Wang; the PR was denying the singer's request to wear Alexander Wang clothing, and when the stylist wrote back intimating that the denial was based on her client's race, the PR seemed to agree, and said she was quitting her job. Although Blackbook originally reported on the story, both it and Pernet have pulled their posts about it — did Wang threaten legal action? — but Blackbook's Facebook note publicizing its post is still visible, and Homo Neurotic has reprinted the full text of the e-mails. [Facebook and Homo Neurotic]
• You can now count Yves Saint Laurent designer Stefano Pilati among the thundering horde descending on London Fashion Week in September. Pilati will be in attendance because of his mentor relationship with the label Veryta. [Vogue UK]
• The fashion industry's huge waste is a serious environmental hazard in the third world countries where most of our clothing is made. [UPI]
• A particular jean factory in Lesotho, which produces denim items for the Gap and Levi's, exposed locals to burns and chest infections because of its toxic fumes. [CBS]
• Juicy Couture's higher-priced line, Bird, is now hitting stores. Anyone who had her eye on Rachel Zoe's recommended leather leggings, now is your time. [LATimes]
• Emma Watson, despite her professed abhorrence of celebrity clothing lines, is rumored to be in the process of launching one with the London fair trade organic brand People Tree. There's a Mischa Barton coke joke in here somewhere. [Daily Mail]
• New York is still an attractive place for overseas tourists to go shopping, since the dollar is slightly lower again. London, where the exchange rate has only recently become more favorable, has seen a 4.7% increase in retail sales over last year for the month of June. [WWD]
• Astoundingly, teenagers in America are spending on average 14% less on clothes than they were last year. [NYTimes]
• Christian Dior's profits were down 27%, to $943 million, in the first six months of this year. [WWD]
• A collage of snippets of fabric used in the late Princess Diana's wedding dress is available on eBay for £15,500, if anyone wants it. [Daily Express]
• 13,300 Burlington Coat Factory boys' hooded sweatshirts are being recalled because their cords pose a strangulation risk. [UPI]

• "I'm not a designer," says Emma Watson. "If someone asked me to do something that was beneficial to a cause, then maybe I'd consider it, but not just ‘Look at me! I've got my own line!'" And as for perfume:

• "[It's] gotten so ridiculous," continues the actress. "The idea of making my own perfume makes me want to vomit." There's a joke about Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans in here somewhere. [WWD]
• The Cut did this awesome thing where they analyzed couture week by the numbers. Ever wondered how many feathers Jean Paul Gaultier uses in his couture collection? (Approximately 10,000.) Or the length of the train on Lara Stone's Chanel couture wedding dress? (200 meters.) Or the number of false eyelashes used for the Maison Martin Margiela eyelash vest? (275.) Well, now you can know all that — and much more. [The Cut]
• Madonna's back-up dancers wear Brooks Brothers. Who knew? [WWD]
• Simon Cowell and Sir Philip Green are forming an entertainment company together that'll span music, television, and fashion and other merchandising — and rumor has it they've signed Kate Moss to be a figurehead for the fashion division, and to act as a talent scout for new musical artists. [Daily Mail]
• Karolina Kurkova and her documentarian ex-Marine boyfriend are expecting their first child together. Blahopřejeme! [P6]
• Anthropologie is collaborating with the estate of print designer Vera Neumann, who started her business just after WWII by using surplus parachute silk for fabric and whose stated goal was to make one new print design every day of her life (she died with some 7,000 to her name). In addition to reproducing plates, bedding, and other homewares with Neumann's distinctive designs, Anthropologie is doing a book about Neumann, out next March. [W]
• Now this is just weird. For her Fall '09 campaign, Donna Karan decided to use runway photographs — all fine and good. But her creative team obviously Photoshopped the head of her chosen campaign model, Toni Garrn, onto the bodies of Sasha Pivovarova and Anya Kazakova. Anya and Sasha were in the show, had their pictures taken on the runway, and as Fashionologie's side-by-side shots prove, they now have both been digitally replaced from the neck up by Toni Garrn. (From the looks of things, Karlie Kloss was also Photoshopped into the background of the campaign images.) If Karan hasn't paid Kazakova, Pivovarova and Kloss for being featured in the campaign, their agencies have an awfully good case to make. [Fashionologie]
• Vivienne Westwood: "Take the tablecloth if it's beautiful and even take a towel if it's good enough, or the curtains or anything, and put things together yourself. Take things from your husband or your boyfriend, like boxer shorts or whatever — and you can take a beautiful thing as well and put it with a bit of rubbish. Don't spend money, just take what you can find. Take your old things, keep on wearing them. Don't buy much fashion anymore, but if you do buy it, choose really well, wear it for a long time, till it sort of drops off your back, it'll get even more wonderful, maybe. Even if it's horrible, if you wear it for ages it'll probably look better. Forget all this business with the washing machine and buying all these clothes. Choose well, if it's dirty, don't bother. Dirt is patina. It's patina." "Dirt is patina" is totally our new catchphrase. [WoW]
• Christian Audigier has denied that he is working on a line of kids' clothing with Jon Gosselin. [UPI]
• Of course there would be a product tie-in. Kooba is producing bags named after the female characters in NYC Prep. They're brightly colored and have gold-toned hardware, which is to say that they look like Kooba bags — and they cost $595. [Luxist]
• Balmain is said to be starting a handbag business. Buyers in Paris are being shown pre-collection samples in a half-dozen styles. We imagine anything in studded, black fringed leather, done in Christophe Decarnin's hot-right-now style, would sell like the proverbial hot cakes. [WWD]
• Oh, Jesus. What is this? Lara Stone is not a U.S. Size 6. (And by no method of conversion is a U.K. Size 8 a U.S. Size 6!) Pull the other one. Have you ever seen Lara Stone? Don't be distracted by her (awesome) boobies: she has a small frame and strikingly narrow hips. Certain fashion writers may long for that brief early 90s interregnum when certain models could be a Size 6, but the way to get back there is not to seize upon a buxom Size 2 girl and insert her into your Procrustean narrative. [The Cut]
• If you speak Italian, maybe you might want to watch this Italian television segment about Terry Richardson's Pirelli Calendar shoot in Bahia, Brazil. Given the nature of the Pirelli Calendar, it is NSFW. [BlackBook]
• Come this September, for $39, you will be able to buy a "limited edition" biscuit tin, printed with an Erin Fetherston fashion sketch and filled with six packets of LU cookies. This was totally one of those partnerships finalized before the recession. [WWD]
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized over 800 items of counterfeit Izod, Old Navy, and Gap denim items at a port in Charleston, South Carolina. The haul had an estimated value of over $727,000. [WWD]
• After having to expensively back out of a Fifth Avenue lease for a planned flagship store, and after announcing the need to refinance some $170 million in debt this spring, Marc Ecko is putting his company's 275,000 sq. ft. 23rd St. headquarters on the market. If anyone needs an office with a half basketball court, now's your time — the price is "negotiable." [Crain's via CityFile, which has pictures]
• Gene McCarthy is leaving his position as co-president of Timberland, effective the end of this week. The company would not explain the departure. [WWD]

• 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]

Where does one go in sequined overalls and a mink? And when one arrives, can one sit down without ruining ones ensemble?

So many dead animaux, so little pretty.

Think this coat is all about strong shoulders? You may have a point.

Beautifully cut, with art deco details — an opaque version would be heavenly.

Are the hair and the thigh-bands a nod to Leeloo? Also — pay close attention to those gloves, which are clear on the inside of the arm and velvety on the outside.

The man knows drama; this coat is a spectacle.

This gown would be at home on the set of Serenity or on any inter-galactic red carpet.

If you like your silver screen goddess looks straight up, no chaser, this is it. Maybe not the most inventive dress, but stunning as it channels the '30s.

Here's where the "whimsy"comes in — those are film strips on her bodice.

Someone's been watching a lot of old movies.

What is this? Part Chrysler building, part Airstream trailer, part Pontiac Silver Streak, this (swimsuit? leotard? playsuit?) has Lady GaGa's name on it.

Attitude not included.

More steam-age meets space age. The structure is reminiscent of Thierry Mugler's motorcycle or Metropolis bustiers. But softer, with bling-shaped hips and shoulders.

Even if you wouldn't wear any of this, it's hard not to appreciate the fact that there is capital D Drama in every detail.

The silhouette here is very similar to that of the Diva Plavalaguna.

The Diva would not have worn a baby-doll dress with plastic platform shoes, though, would she? Luckily, in space no one can hear you scream.

Earlier: 51-Year-Old Gallic Supermodel Walks For Gaultier
Gaultier Fashion Show
Velvet D'Amour: "My Quest Is To Diversify Notions Of Modern Beauty"
The Fur Flies At Jean-Paul Gaultier
Fashion Show: Gaultier
Jean Paul Gaultier's Biker-Beekeeper-Pirate-CorpseBride Chic

[Images via Getty.]

• How cool are these Charlie Brown New Balance sneakers? Cool enough that we wish they weren't just for kids. [WWD]
• A London artist has created Kate Moss and Agyness Deyn paper dolls which look frighteningly like the real thing. [Pipeline.Refinery29]

• Your daily dose of the horrible: American Apparel shiny leggings for children. [Fashionista]
• Police in France have arrested 25 suspects in relation to last December's $118 million jewel heist at Harry Winston. Members of the alleged ring had been under police surveillance for months, and when arrangements had been made between the gang and some prospective buyers, the authorities swooped in. In addition to the 25 arrests, police found weapons and $345,000 in cash. [AP]
• Nicole Richie swears that her next collection for her House of Harlow 1960 jewelry line will be completely different than the first. In fact, it'll be "focusing more on old English, equestrian and more sophisticated looks" than the flea-market-inspired first trip out the gate. Richie's shoe and accessory lines, meanwhile, will be ready for Spring 2010. [People]
• Dolce & Gabbana, newly internet-savvy, uploaded Fall 2009 Dolce & Gabbana and D&G campaigns to its just-launched website. Steven Klein shot Mariacarla Boscono, Edita Vilkeviciute, and Heidi Mount at a casino for Dolce & Gabbana, and Mario Testino shot Katie Fogarty, Sara Blomqvist, Stephanie Rad, Hanna Rundlof, and Ragnhild Jevne for D&G. Heidi Mount also wears a giant pink Margiela-inspired fur and poses like an ape in one. [Fashionologie]
• The New Yorker sure knows how to give a bad restaurant review. Taking in the "sterile" and "unexuberant" fare at Armani's restaurant-within-a-store on Fifth Avenue, Lauren Collins writes: "At the bar, a manager and a bartender argued, loudly. The dispute seemed to be about a pen. Their passion did not extend to a pair of women who were waiting for a table, or, once the women were seated, to their full glasses of wine, paid for and awaiting transferral." [NYr]
• A historic Christian Science church on Park Avenue took a look at its dwindling congregation and finances, and its stellar real estate, and do the obvious thing: allow a catering company to use its building to host events, in return for necessary repairs, money, and continued access for regularly scheduled services. Even though the kind of events we're talking about here — shindigs with Sir Paul McCartney, Oscar de la Renta runway shows — are hardly Bushwick artist loft keggers, the Park Avenue set has gone all guerrilla in its opposition to the church's activities. One neighbour even parked her car in the middle of the avenue to block the access of de la Renta's show's guests. Is it too much to hope she was towed? [NYTimes]
• A maker of hypoallergenic beauty products has decided to associate its line with the 11th birthday of Malia Obama. Tacky. [US News]
• Natural cosmetics purveyor Dr. Hauschka is apparently swamped by demand — but, because of quality control concerns and its business philosophy based on the ideas of Rudolf Steiner (no, really), it's unwilling to expand too quickly. [Reuters]
• The website for MDLR, Moises de la Renta's fashion line, is now live. [MDLR]
• French documentarian Loïc Prigent, who made the excellent Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton and Signé Chanel, about the putting together of a Chanel couture collection, has a new series showing on Sundance starting September 10. Prigent's camera follows Sonia Rykiel, Proenza Schouler, Karl Lagerfeld, and Jean-Paul Gaultier in the last 36 hours before their respective runway shows. (It's a good thing Prigent is sensitive to the dramatic tension of a smoke break, because there'll be a lot of them.) Rykiel's show is her 40th anniversary extravaganza in Paris last October, Prigent finds Proenza Schouler and Fendi, designed by Lagerfeld, at the Fall/Winter 2009 collections of this Spring, and he'll catch up with Gaultier at couture week in Paris next month. I'm marking my freaking calendar. [Glamour]
• Looks like there's been a breakdown at Alessandro Dell'Acqua. The designer, whose namesake label has been owned since 2003 by Cherry Grove, an Italian corporation that produces high-end clothing, released an open letter informing the fashion world that he, Alessandro Dell'Acqua, would like to publicly distance himself from the Alessandra Dell'Acqua men's Spring/Summer or women's Pre-Spring collections, the former of which is about to walk in Milan, because he hasn't been given the opportunity to do anything beyond submit sketches to Cherry Grove. Alessandro Dell'Acqua lost his job with the Italian house Malo after holding it for less than a year following Itierre's bankruptcy; this angry letter reads like a gold-plated invitation to be fired from his own label, too. [FWD]
• Once every media outlet had dutifully covered the "outrage" over the Steven Meisel-shot Calvin Klein "foursome" billboard in SoHo, the brand replaced it with a tamer shot of a girl in a red bikini. Racked has a picture. [GoG]
• Well, lookie here: a male model who admits to having to maintain a diet to be catwalk skinny. [NYTimes]
• Everyone knows Abercrombie & Fitch has been struggling in the recession, and losing market share to lower-priced competitors like Aéropostale and The Buckle. Besides quietly breaking its rule against discounting its own stock and closing its Ruehl chain, the company hadn't exactly said what it was planning to do to reverse the tide that saw its May same-store sales slide a whopping 28% — until now. The proffered solution? Two hundred and ten store leases, which comprise some 20% of the chain's total, are up for renewal over the next two years. Abercrombie thinks it might save money by not renewing all of them. Revolutionary. [TS]
• A three-story Adidas factory in India was engulfed by flames on Tuesday night. There were no casualties. [HindustanTimes]
• Talbots may have had to cut 370 jobs, eliminate its 401(k) matching contributions, and suspend its quarterly stock dividend, but that won't stop it paying CEO Trudy Sullivan $1.2 million this year. Richard O'Connell, the struggling company's real estate and legal executive, will also get a 23% raise, to $500,000. [TS]
• Gen Art, an organization which supports emerging fashion talent in the U.S. and has helped launch the careers of such names as Vena Cava and Zac Posen, is in a bad spot financially. Already reeling from layoffs, the founders hope to raise $250,000 in ticket sales and donations for their 15th anniversary party tomorrow night. Gen Art needs another $500,000 after that to continue its operations. [WWD]

• John Malkovich has a clothing line. Who knew? His collection, branded Technobohemian, is actually the actor's second foray into fashion, he launched a line called Uncle Kimono in 2002. We hope his Milan show models all wear Malkovich masks. [WWD]

• Milan menswear week overall is on somewhat shaky ground. Although it's only three days long, there are 93 collections being presented — some 15% more than in January. Some organizers are talking like they've seen the bottom of the market, but on the totality of the evidence, that view seems premature. [Reuters]
• Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, Anna Wintour's event planner extraordinaire and the woman behind the annual Met Costume Institute Gala is leaving her position. She actually says it's to spend more time with her family. [P6]
• British designer Paul Smith designed some rather innovative trash cans for London's Covent Garden and Holland Park. Shaped like 5' bunnies holding out big plastic bags, the rabbits' ears light up when people throw in their litter. It's a little Donnie Darko but cool. [UnBeige]
• A new Dolce & Gabbana ad has Claudia Schiffer, Eva Herzigova, Naomi Campbell, Noah Mills, Fernando Fernandes, and Tyson Ballou all completely naked. And yet the mood of the picture isn't all Calvin Klein tawdry. [FWD]
• Those boots from Emma Hemming's W shoot with Bruce Willis, in case anyone was wondering, were Nina Ricci Fall 2009. We were, of course, already familiar. [W]
• Alexa Chung's wardrobe from It's On With Alexa Chung is viewable, purchasable, and fully archived via the MTV website. In case one should want to buy anything the host wears. [WWD]
• Coach is said to be developing a signature line for its creative director, Reed Krakoff. The company has recently trademarked "Reed," "Reed Krakoff," and "RK." Krakoff has led the company since 1996. [FWD]
• Karl Lagerfeld's costume for Elena Glurdjidze, of the English National Ballet, was not the toast of the dance critics on opening night. The Telegraph called it an "awful outfit that put Elena Glurdjidze's Dying Swan in a feathered neck brace, which did nothing to aid her performance of Anna Pavlova's favourite party piece" and the Guardian said the tutu was "conceived with cavalier disregard for the ballerina's working body - the line of the neck broken by an egregious, fluffy ruff, the waistline broken by a too-high skirt." [FP]
• There are some behind-the-scenes shots of Pirelli's notable nudie calendar in the making. Fashionologie has the best gallery; these are by Terry Richardson, so you should consider them unsafe for work (and life?) [Fashionologie]
• Escada is said to be on the verge of bankruptcy, and needs to raise cash now to survive. [Reuters]
• Mulberry's profits are up, on the back of same-store sales that grew 21% in the 10 weeks to June 9. [FT]

• Hilary Rhoda: Estée Lauder spokesmodel with a thing for drugstore makeup. A woman after our own hearts. [Daily Beast]
• In other news from model-land, Adriana Lima might be pregnant. [NYDN]
• Also said to be expecting: Gisele Bundchen. [NYDN]
• And sources say Kate Moss could be birthing a "novel." [Sun]

• Givenchy's Fall/Winter campaign, shot this time by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott after nine seasons in the hands of Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, features newcomer model Ranya Mordanova and her distinctive bowl cut. [WWD]
• Stefan Persson, the Swedish owner of H&M, is in the final stages of a $40 million deal to buy an entire village in Britain. Linkenholt, its manor estate, cricket grounds, town hall, forest, surrounding farm land, and all 21 current residents' homes, will become Persson's. Curiously, the neighboring town of Andover was the site, in 994, of the confirmation of Viking King Olaf Tryggvason, who, in following the religious ceremony and the receipt of other gifts, promised King Ethelred the Unready that he would stop raiding England. (The Viking king was technically Norwegian, not Swedish, but it's still an odd coincidence.) [UPI]
• Another country estate, this one in Scotland, with a fashion connection, is to be restored by its owner. Rundown Rosehall House, which was decorated by Coco Chanel in the 1920s, is going to be turned into a luxury country club under a £3 million renovation plan. [Daily Express]
• At Dior's party for Marion Cotillard at Cannes, Alex de Betak, who produces shows for the major houses, revealed that he's curating an exhibition dedicated to fashion shows that will unfurl in 3-D at the NRW Forum in Dusseldorf in July. Expect references to the now in-again late 80s/early 90s: "There are shows that made a big impression on me before I even started out, like the Thierry Mugler with the motorbike and George Michael or Gaultier's shows at the Villette where girls were coming out of the floor. Those were so memorable." [WWD]
• Cartier filed and withdrew a lawsuit against Apple in the same day. The jewelry house alleged that two iPhone applications infringed on its trademark Tank watches; Apple removed the apps from its online store. [WSJ]
• John Duerden, the new CEO of Crocs, a company which was supposed to be bankrupt already after losing $22.4 million in the first quarter of this year alone, thinks the company can be saved with aggressive cost-cutting and a thorough pruning of its inventory. [WWD]
• The rejected Aquascutum buyout may have been the company's last chance for survival. Former chief executive Kim Winser, who transformed Pringle into a fashion brand before taking over Aquascutum three years ago, had wanted to buy the venerable English house from its current Japanese owners, Renown, which is looking to spin off the brand as part of company-wide restructuring. Now, 400 jobs and the company's pension obligations are in jeopardy. [FT]
• Fellow iconic British label Burberry Prorsum will show in London, not Milan, this September, to mark the 25th anniversary of London Fashion Week and the British Fashion Council. [WWD]
• Rumors of a rift between Donatella Versace, creative director, and Giancarlo di Risio, chief executive, over Versace's falling fortunes and recession strategy have been denied "unanimously and categorically" by the company board. Di Risio was said to be on the point of leaving the company. Versace has so far refused to adapt much to the new patterns of consumer spending, emphatically not lowering its prices. The company believes that discounting would harm its luxury brand identity in the long term; sales have plummeted, even relative to the overall troubled high-end fashion market, with revenue falling 13.4% in the first quarter of 2009. [FT]
• Saks's CEO has pledged to offer more low-priced items following a 27% decline in sales in the first quarter. Lanvin, meanwhile, has just announced that it made $9.9 million in profits during 2008, a year for which sales grew 29%. [WWD]
• Nordstrom's prices are already an average of 10% lower than they were one year ago. [WWD]
• For his part, John Varvatos has one question he'd like to ask God, assuming s/he exists: "When is the economy going to turn around?" [The Fashion Informer]
• Sergio Rossi has a new president and CEO: Christophe Mélard. [WWD]
• Guthy Renker Australia, which, there as here, sells skincare products, including Proactiv and Principal Secret, via infomercial, lost AU$15 million last year. The American parent company has had to guarantee its debts. [News.com.au]
• Ittierre, the troubled Italian fashion company that Roberto Cavalli blamed for the cancellation of his Fall/Winter Just Cavalli show this February, has renewed its licensing deal not only with Cavalli, but with C'N'C, Costume National's diffusion brand. [WWD]

• The first pictures of Lindsay Lohan's foray into cosmetics have been released: at left, the often-orange starlet shilling for a spray tan called Sevin Nyne. [People]

• Sojin Lee, formerly of online pioneers Net-a-porter.com, and Simon Fuller, the man who gave you the Spice Girls and Roland Mouret, are starting an internet fashion business together. [WWD]
• Times critic Cathy Horyn went to a Chanel party, found Olivier Zahm and Stefano Pilati and no champagne. So she had a Bud. [The Moment]
• "When I'm wearing a hoodie, it looks like I just threw a hoodie on. I'm wearing what I discovered and figured out is the best hoodie I can find. And I'll tell you, if you ever want to know the best hoodie, I know the best hoodie." Whatever you say, John Mayer. [FabSugar]
• Editors are picking designers instead of models for their covers lately. Diane von Furstenberg graced Purple (and the issue promptly sold out) last month. Perhaps noting their success, this month i-D has Miuccia Prada on the front. [Fashionista]
• In case you need to be reminded why models can make great cover choices (perhaps your name is Anna Wintour?), the Times' "The Moment" blog has this neat feature where you can slide your cursor over a photo of Kasia Struss or Jourdan Dunn to see how the makeup and hair looks at the shows come together. Latest additions: Jean Paul Gaultier and Dior. [The Moment]
• And, on balance, why they might not: "I'm not your cheesy girl that's going to dress up in a hokey outfit and say all the sound bites that you want me to say," says Erin Wasson. No, Erin, you're certainly not! [Daily Beast]
• Sean Avery's fashion friends came out to support him at his first Rangers game since that internship at Vogue. Even the guy who works the door at the Beatrice showed up. Who says this business doesn't foster loyal and real connections? [Observer]
• There are pictures of Roberto Cavalli's new Cavalli Pets dog clothing line. The line includes a satin trimmed bath robe. For your dog. And leopard-printed shearling jackets. For your dog. [The Cut]
• Roberto Cavalli also sells sex toys. The inimitable New York drag queen Lady Bunny mentioned them to Fashion Week Daily, although she does say they're kinda small. [Racked]
• Model blind item: "Whicih two veteran models got into a "full-on serious fistfight" in a Paris nightclub this Fashion Week? The fight was so démodé, Uncle Karl himself had to break it up." Invitations to name the offenders or improvise the Kaiser's dialogue in the comments. [Fashionista]
• Freida Pinto says the news she is going to be a face of Estée Lauder is "but a lovely rumor." [WWD]
• "Beauty, economy, and usefulness are the best rules for the well-dressed woman," said Depression-era American fashion designer Muriel King. It's sound advice for today. If you're in New York City, you'd do well to check out the new exhibit of King's work at the Museum at FIT. King was a painter who got into fashion when she became an illustrator for publications like Vogue and Women's Wear Daily — eventually she hired patternmakers and garment workers to turn her original sketches into reality. [Style.com]
• And laundry detergent is the new fashion must-have. Tim Gunn says so. (And we can all agree with lower drycleaning bills.) [WSJ]
• Although J. Crew recently instituted cost-cutting measures including layoffs, a wage freeze, and suspending company matching of 401(k) contributions, the retailer's fourth quarter losses still reached $13.5 million, because of weak sales. However, because analysts had expected even bigger losses, their stock price rose. [Crain's]
• Interestingly, they still have plans to open more stores. [WWD]
• Liz Claiborne CEO Bill McComb lives in New Jersey. His misfortune is lessened by the fact that his company pays $10,500 in monthly rent to maintain a New York apartment for his occasional overnight stays in the city. Liz Claiborne's revenues shrank 10% last year, as same-store sales at Claiborne-owned Juicy Couture, Lucky Brand, Kate Spade, and Mexx all dropped by over 12%. The company announced its plays to lay off 8% of its workforce in February. [Crain's]
• Charlotte Russe is offering itself up for sale. [Dealbook]
• Neiman Marcus's quarterly loss: $509.2 million. Sales in the three months ended January 31 fell by over 20%. [WSJ]
• Comparatively speaking, American Eagle's modest fourth quarter profit of $32.7 million is a relief, in that it's not a loss. Revenue fell 9% on a year ago, and the company says the results are disappointing overall. [The Street]
• That L'Oreal/eBay legal wrangle over the sale of counterfeit goods online has been delayed in the French courts. [WWD]
• In honor of Young Buck's announcement that his clothing line, David Brown, is no more, Complex magazine has a look back at the top ten failed rapper clothing lines, including Master P's No Limit Clothing, and Fat Joe's FJ560. [Complex]
• Who else but Heidi Klum drove the Barbie dream car to the Barbie dream house in Malibu. [FWD]

• Like everyone, Anna Wintour heard that rumor Nina Ricci was firing Olivier Theyskens. Her reaction? "How could you do this to me!" It's nice to know her concern rests with the possibly unemployed guy. [Blackbook]

• But does Cathy Horyn know something about that unconfirmed scuttlebutt we don't? The New York Times critic wrote on her blog that last week's Nina Ricci show "appeared to be Mr. Theyskens' swan song for the house," and that senior Louis Vuitton designer Peter Copping will replace the Belgian when his contract expires in October. [On The Runway]
• The Council of Fashion Designers of America awards will be at Lincoln Center's newly reopened Alice Tully Hall this year, breaking the tradition of using the New York Public Library and the Bryant Park Grill as venues. (This confirms the general upward-westerly trend in New York fashion: next season, all the shows will be at Lincoln Center instead of Bryant Park as well.) The awards, once again sponsored by Swarovski, will be given on June 15; nominations are due next week and the nominees will be announced on March 16. [WWD]
• The Wall Street Journal's fashion magazine has an excellent profile of LVMH head Bernard Arnault — otherwise known as the man who can make John Galliano say, meekly, "If you tell me so, sir." [WSJ]
• Aretha Franklin will part with her inauguration day hat. Although previously unsure if she could cede the fancy bit of millinery to a mere institution like the Smithsonian, she has announced that, indeed, that's exactly where it will go. After the period of its loan to the museum, Aretha's hat will be displayed permanently at Barack Obama's presidential library. [The Cut]
• Michelle Obama wore a shirt from Isaac Mizrahi's first — or, if you will, inaugural — collection for Liz Claiborne this week. It's expected to sell out, since wearing a shirt like Michelle Obama's will make you automatically as awesome as she is. [WWD]
• Even though neither the president nor the first lady wears fur, the inauguration caused a spike in D.C. fur sales in December and January, and an unusually high number of the people in the crowd were wearing items of fur. Since Obama's presidency began, a guy who works at the Kennedy Center coat check has seen "ridiculous" quantities of fur. People think this has to do with two things: the fact that the new president has brought so many Chicagoans to Washington, and Chicago is second only to New York City in fur sales, according to an industry group, and also the fact that African-American fur consumption is growing at a much faster rate than consumption of fur by whites. PETA doesn't like this very much. [WSJ]
• PETA, possibly noting the increase in fur on the runways this season, or possibly just riveted by the attention paid their assholery, is stepping up its protests at Paris fashion week. After creating a raucous crush of street harassment outside the Dior show, PETA protesters actually ripped the sleeve off French Vogue editor and regular fur wearer Carine Roitfeld's Balenciaga dress outside Jean Paul Gaultier. She was also wearing a lilac coat apparently made of goat fur; presumably that was the intended target. [Style.com]
• The animal rights organization is also launching a gruesome television commercial wherein Ricky Gervais, Pink, and Stella McCartney — who uses no leather or fur in any of her designs — speak as animals who've been skinned for the garment industry. [Telegraph]
• British journalist Jonathan Heaf tries to get to the bottom of the latest men's catwalk trend — leggings. So he calls up that guy from The Darkness, who tells him to "Step and thrust," and pulls on a pair of sparkly black Margiela leggings. Things seem to go well until his girlfriend tells him his pants hurt her eyes. [Guardian]
• The founder of Net-a-Porter.com, Natalie Massenet, is launching a new business. To be called TheOutnet.com, it'll sell out-of-season designer goods at a discount — but unlike sites like Gilt, it won't require a membership to shop. [Times of London]
• Liz Jones of the Daily Mail does not understand this person named "Agyness Deyn." In fact, Liz Jones thinks "Agyness Deyn" dresses rather strangely. Also, Liz Jones would like "Agyness Deyn" to get off her lawn. [Daily Mail]
• Dancing With The Stars' Cheryl Burke has a new line of fitness wear, available online this week for $46-85. [People]
• It's confirmed: Freida Pinto is to be a new face of Estee Lauder. [Telegraph]
• And, finally an appropriate celebrity product endorsement! Lindsay Lohan is launching a fake tanning lotion. [WWD]
• Nicole Richie's long-planned House of Harlow jewelry line has debuted; Richie went to L.A. boutique Kitson to promote it in person. [Fabsugar]
• Christian Audigier says the rumored partnership with Madonna won't be a clothing line with Ed Hardy, but "a completely new project" with a new brand. I know I am on the edge of my seat. [WWD]
• In London, L'Oreal is suing eBay for allegedly fostering the trade of counterfeit cosmetics and beauty products, in what is seen as a test case for online retail and the enforcement of trade agreements. [Financial Times]
• Daphne Selfe, age 80, still works as a model for photographers like Nick Knight and Mario Testino, and books the occasional Dolce & Gabbana campaign to boot. She says she's only become more striking since her hair greyed. [Telegraph]
• Interior designer Jonathan Adler created a real-life Barbie's dream house, in — where else? — Malibu. [AP]

• Jean Paul Gaultier always brings surprise into his shows. He's had Coco Rocha Irish dance, and included plus models in his lineup. This time he closed the show with magnificent Ines de la Fressange. [AFP]

• Taylor Swift is launching a line of sundresses that will cost $14 and be sold at Wal-Mart. However! She says she's not like all those other celebrity "designers" who are all too happy to claim the title. "I like people who have worked their entire lives to become designers," Swift says. "I think that they have their place as designers and I have my place as a musician, and I'm going to pretty much stick to that." Huh. If Taylor Swift isn't a designer, then who designed the line? Or did the dresses simply spring, fully formed, from the fingertips of a bevvy of 14-year-old Indonesian sweatshop workers? [The Cut]
• A Real World: Brooklyn cast member has become an underwear model. Scott from New Hampshire is the new face of Baskit Underwear's organic line, "Pure." [Racked]
• The Japanese government held a runway show in New York to promote young Japanese designers on the international scene. [WSJ]
• On the occasion of Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli's first collection for Valentino, which will be shown today at couture week in Paris, the man himself has praise for the pair — and some choice words about his successor, Alessandra Facchinetti, who was fired after just eight months with the company. At the time of her appointment, Valentino, who left his company a year ago, would only say, "I've met her. She's pretty." After Facchinetti was dumped, he let rip: "[Chiuri and Piccioli] always demonstrated an enormous respect and love for my work. There is an existing archive with thousands of dresses where they can draw and take inspiration from to create a Valentino product that is relevant today. It is a shame that their predecessor didn't feel this need." Today, he'd like to remind everyone that, despite his affinity for Chiuri and Piccioli, he "categorically denies" helping them design their first collection. "If I decide to attend the presentation of their collection, it will only be as a supporter of two people I love and who have been close to me for many years," he said. All right then! [The Cut]
• Polyvoweled supermodel Iekeliene Stange was interviewed by Style.com on the occasion of her first solo photography show. She has this to say about fashion photography: "I think these days fashion photography is very restricted and lacks a lot of creativity. There’s always certain items that need to be shot in certain ways and you don’t have as much freedom. Very often these days it seems to be more about socializing and who knows who, rather than about actual photography." A pretty bold statement to make. [Style.com]
• Lydia Hearst's Pringle of Scotland ad leaked, and the trustafarian model has her patented dazed expression. Still, it's nice to see her actually, you know, working as a model. After last season's campaign efforts, which were a long way from her Prada heights, one would have sooner expected Hearst to turn up in an ad for Pringles than Pringle of Scotland. [The Cut]
• American Express, which, as a fashion week sponsor normally gets one designer to be in a special AmEx branded fashion show in the tents that card-holders can pay $150 to watch, is taking a slightly different route this fashion week. Diane von Furstenberg will be the featured talent, but instead of re-creating her Fall/Winter 09 show of a few days prior, she'll showcase looks from the current spring season. Things you can actually buy. (Of course, AmEx card-holders could also just walk into a DvF store to see her spring collection. But think of how it'll look on the runway, with hair and makeup and lights and music!) Ms. von Furstenberg will also do a Q&A with André Leon Talley before the show. The 850-seat venue is expected to sell out. [WSJ]
• Poor sales numbers at Swatch had a predictable effect on the company's performance for 2008. Gross profits rose less than expected, by 4.3%, to 6 billion Swiss francs ($5.2 billion). The company is predicting modest sales increases for 2009. [WWD]
• H&M had a better-than-expected fourth quarter, although it closed with disappointing December sales. Net profits for the brand jumped 9.4% to 5.09 billion Swedish kronor (about $626 million), up from last year's 4.65 billion kronor. Analysts had predicted a rise to 4.85 billion kronor. Overall profits for 2008 were up 13%; the chain is going to continue its expansion. [WSJ]
• Which is good news, because I'm already getting excited about Matthew Williamson for H&M, which hits stores this April. The designer himself will model in the ad campaign, alongside Daria Werbowy. Solve Sundsbo will shoot. [WWD]
• The 85% off sales of designer goods may have permanently affected the market. According to a new study, sales of luxury products are expected to fall between 3% and 7% in 2009, at least partly because now that consumers have seen how low prices can get, they feel like $600 is too high an asking price for a pair of shoes. I would agree! Some labels are going to permanently lower their prices, others might continue shifting production to Asia. [WSJ]
• Angelina Jolie wore a Max Azria dress to the SAG awards...backwards. I can actually see how it would have looked way too revealing if she'd worn it the "right" way around. Who among us has never turned a favorite sweater backwards for something new? [The Life Files]
• Project Runway's 5th season, which is still the subject of litigation in California, will still show at New York Fashion Week. But the designers featured, and whether there are any decoys among them, will be kept secret from the audience. Also Nina Garcia's writing another book, presumably to keep busy while the lawsuit shakes out. [Fabsugar]
• Betsey Johnson's reissuing a 35-piece capsule collection of garments from her archives. They'll only be sold at Opening Ceremony in Los Angeles and New York. And, I'm willing to predict, on eBay. [WWD]
• Oh. My. God: Lou Doillon and Charlotte Gainsbourg were shot by Annie Liebovitz for American Vogue. Did Anna Wintour just get a clue? [WWD]

• Who was the First Lady-elect wearing? Narciso Rodriguez. [Style.com]
• Marc Jacobs cancels his annual holiday costume party (this year was "Rock and Roll Circus")in deference to the economy. Last year he went as a camel toe. [ElleUK]
• Following the success of its Go!International collection, which features emerging designers, Target introduces a new line, Designer Collaborations. This one focuses on established names and kicks off with Alexander McQueen! "The collection will have rock 'n' roll influences and edgy details such as studs and tattoo-print fabrics." [WWD]
• And more! "McQ Alexander McQueen for Target will feature lightweight sweaters, skinny jeans, bubble dresses, slim skirts and cuffed shorts. Signature pieces include a coated cotton poplin black trench, a rock ’n’ roll gray denim cropped studded jacket, a men’s wear-inspired tuxedo blazer and a color-blocked one-shoulder dress with bubble hem. The collection also will include swimwear and cotton voile print scarves." His muse is Leila Moss, the lead singer of The Duke Spirit. [WWD]
• Elle Macpherson, for one, feels the credit crunch can only hope her lingerie line: “For every down-at-heel hedge fund manager who has had to ditch his mistress due to financial hardship there’s always another waiting to step in...And in these hard times you find that when a woman can’t afford a dress in the luxury echelons, she may opt instead to part with £20 on underwear that makes her feel good.” [Daily Express]

• Speaking of recession-proof people, Peaches Geldof will see her line for PPQ hit London shelves tomorrow - "the perfect party looks, mixing English eccentric with gothic glamour along with a healthy dose of fun." [ElleUK]
• Mumsy mainstay Marks & Spencer is way down despite desperate marketing efforts. "Everything about Marks and Spencer's marketing, from the use of Twiggy, Erin O'Connor, Lily Cole and Myleene Klass as the faces of M & S to Patricia Field's tacky bought-in Sex and the City collection, has become so overblown." [Telegraph]
• Young designer Jens Laugesen's eponymous line becomes a casualty of the economy. [VogueUK]
• Uh oh - now luxury sales are way down, too! [WSJ]
• Angel Sanchez talks bridal for Bristol Palin. Sorta. [Observer]
• New "trashion" line reworks old clothes with local artisans from Sierra Leone, and sells the results for big bucks - some of which help the community. [Independent]
• Pigs tattooed with the Louis Vuitton logo by a conceptual artist have been banned from an art show after they (not surprisingly!) aroused the ire of animal rights activists, people with taste. The artist claims "his pigs are treated humanely and they are given sedatives before being tattooed. Collectors can buy them live or purchase their tattooed skins when they die of old age." [Telegraph]
• Designers - not to mention the rest of the world - will be keeping a close eye on Obama. [WWD]
• YSL continues with the love for classic supermoddles by drafting Claudia Schiffer for spring '09. [WWD]
• Swimsuit model Valeria Mazza may be looking at hard time: she and her husband "are under investigation by the AFIP — Argentina's version of the IRS — for allegedly swindling the gub'ment out of what translates to nearly $2 million in unpaid taxes." [TMZ]
• Great. Apparently beauty creams are chock full of potentially toxic "nanoparticles" and there's no safety testing. [Telegraph]
• In a series of video vignettes, Chanel Iman conforms to every vapid model stereotype! [New York]
• An idea that could only make sense to a fashun type: A $270 satin Moschino piggy bank. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Speaking of job security! Gaultier rumored to be tapping third president in three years. [WWD]

• Tom Ford has spoken: eyebrow wiggling is now a sign of displeasure. "I haven't had any plastic surgery — despite what people think, this is my nose...I have had Restylane and Botox, but I don't think of that as plastic surgery any more. It's true I can't really frown, but I can move my eyebrows, so..." [Guardian]
• Well, at least Manolo Blahnik is less ridiculous! Oh, wait. "Manolo Blahnik tumbles into the room wearing an extremely dapper royal-purple suit, purple and yellow knitted tie, orange suede shoes and black circular glasses à la Le Corbusier. He stretches out his hand, and when I shake it he squeaks in pain, shaking, then retracting it." [Independent]
• Jean-Paul Gaultier, maybe? “'I did a revue with my teddy bear at home...I pretended he had breasts. The first cone bra I did was for my teddy bear, not for Madonna. I had a strawberry box for the stage, and I put a lot of feathers on my teddy bear for the headdress. I used feathers from my cleaning brush for the finale.'” [NYT]
• Come. on, Zac Posen, redeem your industry: "Puppies, babies and plastic surgery are the new fashion. That's where fashion's going." [Big Think]

• It's official: Project Runway saved from a fate worse than death, aka Lifetime Television for Women. [NY Mag]
• "Ironically, runways in the nation that brought us an all-black Vogue were not only less diverse than New York's but disappointingly white." [Shophound]
• The sale of YSL's art collection — which includes Picassos, a Matisse, a Leger and a Mondrian — is expected by auctioneers to bring in 440 billion dollars. [Breitbart]
• The Stylista contestants revealed! One of them is named Cologne. [NY Mag]
• This Lancome lip gloss and this Marc Jacobs shirt kind of look alike. [Glam Chic]
• The Queen's preferred dressmaker on the verge of collapse! Experts suggest it, um, failed to move with the times. [Telegraph]
• In a weird coincidence, the designer of Diana's wedding dress is going under, too. [Daily Mail]
• The Sergio Rossi-Puma sneaker heel is the stuff nightmares are made of. [Fashionista]
• Kate Moss apparently "snogs the face off" some Vivienne Westwood cohort. [Mirror]
• The Eastpak allegedly "reinvented" by Raf Simons. That's what they said about cafeteria food. [LA Times]
• Shoes are apparently a better investment than stocks. Although not, presumably, if you walk in them. Cue Carrie Bradshaw reference. [Business Sheet]
• "On Monday, men's magazine GQ India hits the newsstands, following in the footsteps of other male-only publications such as Men's Health, Maxim, and FHM, and experts are saying this is further proof that Indian men are embracing more global fashions." Pictured: an Indian guy in what appears to be a gold leather Harlequin outfit and bow-tie. [Reuters]
• Burberry Children's to bring overpriced (adorable) mini duffel coats to U.S. market. [WWD]
• Lenny Kravitz barred from Ric Owens show; sneaks in anyway. [Style.com]
• "Over the last year, Mr. Margiela, known as fashion’s “Invisible Man” because he never gives interviews and has rarely been photographed, has told colleagues that he wants to stop designing and that he has begun a search for his successor at the house." So...how will anyone know? [NY Times]
• Speculation rampant that Plum Sykes querying Guardian style column. Okay, not really. [Guardian]
• We can't really wrap our heads around the new Pat Field for venerable frump-purveyor Marks and Sparks line, so will probably stick to weeping. [The Sun]
• Fashion feels the credit crunch. [WWD]
• Gareth Pugh brings back the Elizabethan ruff. [ElleUK]