• Kim Kardashian is ticked Us used a picture of her alongside a story about Forever 21's just-launched plus-size line. "I love my curves, but curvy and plus-sized are two very different things," Kardashian protested. [PerezHilton]

• Kanye West's shoot with Amber Rose, the buzzcut model he was frequently seen with at the fall/winter collections, was not a campaign for his Louis Vuitton sneakers, after all. The Cut offers their take: "So to answer the question we all asked when we first saw these images, no, Louis Vuitton is not out of its mind. We're still not sure what the shots are for. We're guessing some kind of urban magazine like Giant." Because an urban magazine would be the only venue low-class enough to value shots of Amber Rose's ass? Oh, I forgot myself for a minute there! Obviously when someone with Iekeliene Stange's complexion goes entirely nude for six pages in Velvet, that's fashion. When a woman of color does it, that's crass and tacky. But of potential interest to urban readers. [The Cut]
• In some real Louis Vuitton news, tomorrow, for Earth Day, the company will donate 15% of all its US online sales to The Climate Project, Al Gore's non-profit. [WWD]
• Speaking of campaigns, Alexander Wang says he won't be doing one, because his lookbooks are so beautiful already. Is that canny or what? Lookbooks get picked up by blogs like this one nowadays; and what's more you can pay the creative team — model, photographer, stylist, art director, etc — relatively little to shoot a "lookbook" as compared with the cost if one were to call it a "campaign." [Style.com]
• Nicole Richie modeled for the lookbook for her line of costume jewelry, House of Harlow 1960. Of course she did: the whole point is to sell the stuff by associating it with her image. [Fabsugar]
• Tracey Ullman added Donna Karan and Miuccia Prada to her compendium of impersonations on her show this week. [WWD]
• Barbara Hulanicki, the legendary designer and illustrator of 1960s London, has descriptions but no pictures of her line for Topshop, which goes on sale on April 27. There will be shoulderpads, chiffon, grey suede, bloomers, and leopard print. Crazy like a fox? [UK Elle]
• Wait, Fashionista's got the lookbook! Definitely foxy. [Fashionista]
• Jefferson Hack, the founder of Dazed & Confused and Another Magazine — and erstwhile boyfriend of one Kate Moss — says things we wish other magazine editors would think, like, "Our readers' love of fashion shouldn't exclude an interest in the world around them." One of his favorite selections from the new Another Magazine photography book? The spread where Moss was shot at the back of the Hollywood sign. Reminisces Hack, "And then she climbed up and hung off the back of the 'O,' in this long McQueen dress. The dress is kind of metallic, but it's shredded, too, and to me, that image works as a symbol of a shredded optimism. A shredding of values. The Iraq war had just started when we ran that photo, and the Patriot Act was going through, and there was that whole ramping up of Bush's, you know, anti-democratic leadership. We were referencing those events in more direct ways in the rest of the magazine — in interviews and so on — but we also echoed it in some of the fashion imagery. And so for me, you know, that image encapsulates that moment." [Style.com]
• Meanwhile in London, Ms. Moss scooped up a beauty industry award for her fragrance, Velvet Hour. [News.uk.msn]
• American Apparel has a new argument about why it should get to talk about Woody Allen's relationship with Soon-Yi Previn in defending a lawsuit about using the film-maker's image in its advertising without authorization: because they talk about the company amongst themselves, sometimes! I think this is the moment on Law and Order where one lawyer says, "She opened the door," and the other one says, "Spousal privilege!" and then the judge calls them into the chambers. [Racked]
• Burberry's same-store sales fell slightly less than expected in the second half; it was partly because the weakening of the pound made their offerings more attractive. [WSJ]
• Coach's profit fell 29.3% in the third quarter. [Crain's]
• Fancy yourself a Sean John men's wear model? The company's doing an online search for its fall campaign. [WWD]
• And John Varvatos and Island Records are holding a battle of the bands. [WWD]

• Elle UK is, for some reason, all agog over the 20-year-old celeb spawn, who they say has had some kind of chic makeover since turning 20. "It's official. We have a new style crush here at ELLE in the shape of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis' daughter Rumer." Well, to each her own, we say! [ElleUK]
• Rihanna models a look from Kanye West's new "Pastelle" clothing line. It kind of looks like she's wearing her dad's sweatshirt. [The Life Files]
• Designer John Varvatos (recently known for taking over punk emporium CBGB in New York and turning it into a high-end boutique) has a new baby girl: Thea. [P6]
• Remember that community garden Forever21's destroying in L.A.? It gets worse: "It's the former site of the South Central Farm - "where low-income, indigenous/immigrant Latino farmers grew food in the midst of a toxic industrial area for 14 years." Wait, Forever21's not an ethical company? But it's so cheap! [Feministe]

• Simon Doonan does his part for the economy with the new Barney's Catalog, which is centered around a narrative called "Emma's Dilemma." As Emma, model Coco Rocha is torn between two men and various luxury goods. '"The theme is, 'Oh just buy both,'" said Doonan, adding that even though the economy is fragile, the catalogue's message is right for these times. "Embedded in there is permission to be a little self-indulgent. It's a bit of glamorous self-indulgence." [WWD]
• Speaking of Cocos, the new Lifetime miniseries about Coco Chanel blows. "Shirley McLaine plays the "older" Chanel to Barbara Bobulova's younger incarnation, with the two apparently bearing "no resemblance to one another other than they both like a well-cut suit". [VogueUK]
• Narciso Rodriguez on the recession: “The economy is such that it’s a tough moment for everyone. We are happy we haven’t decreased the business in any way, but the company usually grows like 20 percent every year, and that hasn’t happened. We are trudging through this Bush mess and looking forward to the next steps.” They're also looking forward to a new fragrance. [WWD]
• Nautica, not an official Olympic sponsor, scores best product placement of the Beijing games: on Misty May-Treanor's forehead. [NYP]
• With back-to-school sales continuing to disappoint, retailers entice the young, predator-style, over the internet. Take Kohl's, who's selling a new line on Stardoll.com, "a virtual community for teens and tweens where kids can fork over "Stardollars" — purchased online at a nominal sum — to buy apparel for their online characters." It seems like, implicitly, retailers are hoping kids to a little clandestine shopping behind their penny-pinching parents' backs...[WSJ]
• Those "detox foot pads" that soak up all your toxins herbally and turn black overnight? Apparently they're frauds. [NPR]
• Foundering chain Steve and Barry's creditors probe a suspect $5 million loan. [WSJ]
• Gap pursues scorched earth policy, firing almost all its Euro designers. "The global chain will axe its European fashion design team from September, and is moving its advertising team to its US headquarters. It will, however, retain an in-house design team working on store design, visual merchandising and in-store events." [MediaBistro]
• Fendi makes hideous $575 patent hightop. Looks kind of like a 19th century work boot, only not a all utilitarian. [The Life Files]
• You know times are tough when even Target 's profits are down. [WWD]
• A California woman designs modest "halal" swimwear that covers the body. '"I understand most people are accustomed to not seeing a lot of clothing on the beach or in the water," Sabet said. "We don't want to look like freaks or stick out like sore thumbs for being so covered up on the beach, but I wanted to help make water activity accessible to Muslim women."' [UPI]
• Nearly "1,000 bra makers protested outside the German embassy in Bangkok on Tuesday in a labor dispute stemming from the vexed issue of whether Thais have the right not to stand up in honor of King Bhumibol Adulyadej." Basically, a union leader was sacked for wearing a politically-charged tee asserting her right to remain seated during the anthem, which is played before movies. It's an issue because the king has been traditionally been perceived as a semi-divinity and this view is meeting with increasing resistence. The bra company then fired her to avoid making waves; hence the protest. [Reuters]
• Mini courts the "creative class of New York" with its rooftop Fashion Week happening, '"curated" by
  Jefferson Hack, along with a performance by MGMT. ' [WWD]
• Model Gemma Ward "officially retiring" to pursue acting. [Sassybella]
• Vena Cava/Via Spiga (try saying that one five times fast) collaborate on capsule collection that could well be rad. [WWD]

[London, March 3. Image via Bauer-Griffin.]