• Charlize Theron has nabbed the September cover of a slimmed-down Vogue. The issue counts only 584 pages, compared with the 840 pages of Sienna Miller's 2007 issue. Theron last made the cover in October 2007. [TFS]

• Kate Moss is the fall face of Just Cavalli. Splitting the difference between the competing trends of top- and bottomlessness, she poses for one ad in a tuxedo jacket and nothing else, and for another in some kind of leopard-print leotard. In a third, she wears a micromini sequined dress that seems to be held up with magic. [FWD]
• Legendary photographer Corinne Day — whose pictures of Kate Moss for The Face helped put the supermodel on the map — is facing a serious illness, and requires expensive medical treatment. Friends are trying to raise money by selling 500 prints of a 2001 photo of Moss nude on a bed; the pictures are £100 each. [LOVE, link NSFW]
• The first images of Jil Sander's hotly anticipated +J line for Uniqlo have just surfaced, and it looks fantastic. Japanese magazine Non-No shot seven looks from the men's collection, and it's entirely apparent that the German designer has not lost her talent for tailoring and her ability to pare down a look to its most basic, striking elements during her years in the fashion wilderness after being fired from her namesake label by owners Prada. +J, which hits Uniqlo stores this November, includes around 140 pieces of men's and women's wear, and prices start at $25. [Hypebeast]
• Macy's has announced that Ne-Yo will be the new face of Alfani's Red men's wear. [WWD]
• Uma Thurman has the campaign for Givenchy's new Angel or Demon perfume. [The Sun]
  
• Under Isaac Mizrahi's direction, Liz Claiborne continues to seek a higher-fashion image without shedding its affordability. To wit: this fall, Coco Rocha and her old flaming red hair star in a very kaleidoplaid campaign. Also, count this as another example of the models-in-the-supermarket fashion imagery trope. [Design Scene]
• Patrick Robinson and his design team at the Gap have been concentrating on the basics — and particularly on revamping the company's various styles of jeans. To advertise the offerings, the company has chosen a bevvy of top models, including Carmen Kass, Anja Rubik, and Arlenis Sosa, each identified with a particular style of denim — "The Boyfriend," "Curvy," "Long & Lean," etc. We wonder who it was, though, who chose to put the lesbian model Freja Beha Erichsen next to giant type that reads "Real Straight." [Models.com]
• Loeffler Randall is adding e-commerce to its website. [WWD]
• Jewelry designer Anna Sheffield's collection for Target hits stores at the end of this month. The pieces range from $19.99-$79.99; some are made of sterling silver. They all look very cool. [Lucky]
• You know the economy's terrible when Jessica Seinfeld serves pigs-in-blankets to Gwyneth at a charity gala. [WWD]
• In Paris, several recent fashion school graduates are starting their own lines — with a difference: instead of focusing on the tradition ready-to-wear, these young designers each want to do small collections made-to-measure for each client. And the prices are right: 50-80 Euros for a shirt, 70 Euros for a dress, 150 Euros for a jacket. In putting an affordable price on services that are something more than tailoring and something less than couture, with all its connotations of excess, these youngsters have almost certainly found a gap in the market. [DazedDigital]
• Meanwhile, shoe designer Jeffrey Campbell knocked off a Chloé boot. His offerings this season are basically just Ann Demeulemeester's and Balmain's shoes done for cheap(er). How is it this guy hasn't gotten sued yet? (Of course, Chloé probably took inspiration for their shoes from some vintage boots.) [The Greyest Ghost]
• And there are also instances of high-end brands ripping off less-expensive ones. Cf. Proenza Schouler's version of the Frye boot. [On The Fringe Of Fashion]
• After the record-breaking sale of all the art he collected with Yves Saint Laurent, partner Pierre Bergé plans to go ahead with an auction of furniture, sculptures, and textiles in November. The works are expected to fetch around $5.7 million; the proceeds will go to AIDS research. [WWD]
• Miss J's new memoir, Follow The Model: Miss J's Guide To Unleashing Presence, Poise And Power contains a troubling blind item about not being let in to a fashion show on the explicit instructions of the head of the PR company running the designer's front-of-house operations. The PR company seems to be Kelly Cutrone's People's Revolution, and the designer — specified as Brazilian — seems to be either Carlos Miele or Alexandre Herchcovitch. Was Miss J denied entry because he is black, or because he now bears the taint of Night-Time Tyra? The latter seems unlikely, since Miss J points out that the same designer later begged America's Next Top Model to use his line for the finale runway show when ANTM went to Brazil in Season 12. (That particular laurel went to Rosa Chá.) [Fashionista]
• The New York Fashion Week menswear schedule is out, and it contains some surprises. This season, Yigal Azrouël is killing his separate men's wear presentation, and combining his two shows into one. Philip Lim is doing the exact opposite, adding a separate men's wear presentation. [WWD]
• Feast your eyes on ShopBop's "WARTIME" array of products, and ponder the aestheticization of orchestrated human killing. [ShopBop]

• 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]

• This shoe is made by Christian Louboutin, out of python skin, leather, cobbler's glue, and, we assume, diamond-plated unicorn farts. Because what else could justify a $2,875 price tag? Happy recession! [The.Life.Files]

• Lindsay Lohan made the cover of Taiwan Harper's Bazaar, which a celebrity blogger initially misidentified as China Harper's Bazaar. An international incident unfolded in the comments. "Actually it is from Taiwan's Harper's Bazaar,not China……." wrote the user SAM. "Taiwan is a part of China," shot back someone called liangjuan. "Taiwan is independent as territory of the ROC, it is not part of the PRC," offered a stickler for details. "TAIWAN IS NOT PART OF CHINA!!!!! It is an independent country and it has NOTHING to do with China," said Taiwan Is My Life. Someone else pointed out the extensive use of Photoshop, and several users debated the invisibility of Lindsay's freckles, and downright Freudian levels of cocaine use. Someone called A split the difference: "photoshop does wonders ha. and taiwan and china are not the same." Then someone who reads Mandarin on The Fashion Spot pointed out the cover is from April 2008, not April 2009, and the seeming importance of all this faded. [JustJared]
• Charlotte Ronson threw a party for her J.C. Penney line, I Heart Ronson (which is pretty bad). This story doesn't mention how Lindsay Lohan was turned away at the door by security. Then she Twittered that Sam Ronson had broken her heart. [WWD]
• In response, Lindsay threw herself into her work. She's now designing pantyhose! Control-top pantyhose. [The Cut]
• People has the details of Gisele Bundchen's wedding gown. Presumably they shot this grainy telephoto image of a woman wearing an white dress before their photographers' window was shot out by a trigger-happy bodyguard? The dress and veil were John Galliano, custom, of course. Gisele's veil involved six feet of white silk tulle and hand-sewn lace, while her gown was bias-cut silk satin. [People]
• Veronica Webb might launch a jewelry line. "I would make accessories that would be the ultimate building blocks of women's wardrobes," she told New York last week at a Topshop opening party. "You know, things that they could interchange from season to season, and no matter what, they'd have the perfect little thing at their fingertip every time you need to get dressed in twenty minutes and leave the house — the belt that matters, the hoops that matter." Ah, yes. Accessories that matter. I've always craved those. Then she said Kate Moss was only as tall as her 6-year-old. [The Cut]
• Roberto Cavalli went ahead and extended his licensing deal with Itterre SpA, the bankrupted manufacturer whose subpar construction and late deliveries Cavalli alleged was the reason he had to cancel his fall Just Cavalli show at the last minute. At the time, Cavalli ranted — and cried — about Ittierre's actions to the international media, and Ittierre threatened to sue. Cavalli's new deal wipes away $26.5 million in royalties the designer claims Ittierre owes him. He must really want to sell that 20% stake in his company. [WWD]
• Alessandro Dell'Acqua has quit as creative director of Malo after less than a year in the position. IT Holdings SpA, the parent company of Ittierre, owns Malo and the label Gianfranco Ferré, which has been rudderless since the death of its founder last year. After Ittierre went bankrupt, IT Holdings was forced to announce its own bankruptcy. [WWD]
• Karen Elson, the British supermodel who married Jack White, moved to Nashville and opened a vintage store with a stylist friend. They look very happy. And well-dressed. [Blackbook]
• The CEO of the Gap, Glenn Murphy, took home $9.3 million last year. Despite his company's under-performance. [WWD]
• Christian Siriano would like everyone to know that CariDee English, formerly of that television show about weaves and feelings, is not his casting choice for his fall campaign. CariDee happened to do a test shoot recently with Brad Walsh, Siriano's photographer boyfriend, and for that shoot, Walsh styled CariDee in clothes from Siriano's main collection and shoes from his Payless line. Then, CariDee gave an interview to After Elton about how OMG she loves teh geighs SO MUCH!!! (and Fashion!), and somehow, the interviewer came away with the impression that the shoot was for Siriano's campaign. Which is not true. Christian loves CariDee, and he would do anything for her, but he won't do that. [The Cut]
• Yves Saint Laurent will offer a "new vintage" capsule collection starting next month at Barney's. The clothes will be made from fabrics from the label's archives. It's all part of a strategy to increase consumer spending on luxury items that doesn't involve sales — brands think they can do this by making their offerings seem more special and personal. [WWD]
• Beyoncé's $11,000 shopping spree at Patricia Field's store included the purchase of a hand-made mask. Pat has no idea what she'll use it for, either. [The Cut]
• There are three good stories at the end of this link: for one, Oscar de la Renta is still digging. On learning that the First Lady, who has yet to wear anything designed by him, had worked a few pieces by European designers into her wardrobe for her trip to, you know, Europe, he said, "Our industry right now is having a very difficult time. I think it would be great if the First Lady dressed in American styles. There are a lot of talented people here too." Which would sound less like a gloss on sour grapes coming from a guy who wasn't saying just last week that Mrs. Obama looked dowdy in that sweater she wore to meet the Queen. Secondly, Lord & Taylor is picking up Liz Claiborne again after five years. Because Isaac Mizrahi is the designer now, and L & T recognizes that kaleidoplaid is the way of the future. Thirdly, Stila is maybe bankrupt/for sale. Their website is down, and carries a warning that orders placed in late March might be canceled. [WWD]
• A good-looking 30-year-old San Francisco businessman, who happens to be a practicing Sikh, was spotted last year by the designer Kenneth Cole. Now he's working for GQ, which just proves that...hotness knows no religion? [Telegraph]

• PETA named Madonna one of its 6 worst-dressed celebrities, along with "Maggot" Gyllenhaal and the Olsen twins. "Someone needs to tell Madge that wearing fur doesn't make you a cougar," the animal-lovers sniffed. [PETA]

• Meanwhile Madonna might be doing a line with Ed Hardy. Expect lots of rhinestones. [Elle UK]
• An Armani Exchange ad featuring the naked ass of male model Parker Gregory has been rejected by billboard company Van Wagner. [Towleroad]
• Did Forever 21 knock off Alexander Wang's shoes? Does the pope shit in the woods? [Fashionista]
• Model turned photographer Christina Kruse started learning how to take pictures back in 1996, by concentrating on the only convenient subject available — herself. When traveling for work, she'd also create collages and drawings, and compile them into books. Her first show is now up at the Steven Kasher Gallery in Chelsea. Says Kruse, "I didn't show anything to anyone for a long time. But I think that's good. Doing things by myself meant that I didn't just teach myself to take pictures, but that I also got to teach myself how to see." [Style.com]
• Valentino Garavani is sure glad he quit last spring, before the economy cratered. Now he just gets to do fun things, like go around the world to places like Aspen and New York City where a documentary made about him, Valentino: The Last Emperor, is opening. Just don't call him "Emperor": "That doesn't sound very young or fresh," says the former designer. [W]
• I realize Roberto Cavalli is in trouble, and all, with the bankruptcy of Just Cavalli's licensee, Ittierre, and the lawsuits stemming from that, and the ranting in front of reporters and the tears and heartbreak of it all, but I wonder if launching the "Roberto Cavalli Pets" collection is really the answer. [W]
• Angela Missoni, who built her family's clothing company into the multinational knitwear brand we know today, was honored at the annual Women's World Awards in Vienna. Princess Rania of Jordan gave her her prize, which I'm imagining as a kind of Stanley Cup of womanhood. [Elle UK]
• There's a fashion line called Jezebel, which we like. Unfortunately, it's done by the daughter of a celebrity, and seems to be exclusively overpriced t-shirts, which we don't. Shoulda trademarked that shit, Denton. [WWD]
• Anna Kournikova, new face of K Swiss, poses seductively with a variety of tennis nets and balls for the spring campaign. [Daily Mail]
• Bertrand Hennet, an executive at Elite Model World, the parent company of Elite, the world's largest modeling agency, has been charged with buying and transporting cocaine. Hennet admitted sending as much as 2 grams of the Colombian marching powder up his snout every night, and both his home and office were searched during the bust. However, he was not charged with supplying the drug to others. [Breitbart]
• Lambertson Truex, makers of $3,995 python handbags, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the state of Delaware. The company reports debts of $10-50 million, and assets of $1-10 million. [WSJ]
• Three editors at Cosmopolitan have reportedly been fired. [Daily Intel]
• Olivier Theyskens takes a different approach when folks try to fire him. Theyskens, creative director of Nina Ricci, has been the subject of increasingly urgent rumors about his future at the company over recent months. This week, after he showed a masterful collection for the brand in Paris, the word is that Puig boss Mario Grauso fired Theyskens but that he will not leave. [The Cut]
• Also not taking any crap from anyone is cantankerous Canadian septuagenarian Morley Safer. Following Anna Wintour around the global fashion circuit, Safer might have missed his bedtime a few too many nights in a row; he stopped editors and celebrities from taking their front-row seats at Balenciaga and "shushed" them so he could finish a chat with Wintour, whom he's covering for 60 Minutes. [NY Times]
• Apparently, Marky Ramone used to play in a band called King Flux with Andy Hilfiger. This led him to meet Tommy Hilfiger, King Flux's sometime manager/stylist, which in turn led him to design a line of Authentically Punk (TM) ripped (of course) jeans and studded (natch) leather jackets, which you can now buy at Tommy Hilfiger's stores. [Observer]
• Katy Perry, a celebrity designer Marky probably wouldn't want to be associated with, is making sure to take her time with her clothing line. She wouldn't want it to look opportunistic, after all. [Hindustan Times]
• Ann Taylor's fourth quarter loss has widened significantly, to $375.6 million. [Crain's]
• Dior's strategy for the recession: insuring that nobody forgets their brand is the meaning of luxury. Those that will brook no substitutions will still probably be wealthy enough to shop there. [Portfolio]
• Yves Saint Laurent is also digging in to an ambitious plan for growth. [WWD]
• We had the Lipstick Bellwether (which wasn't actually true, but sounded good) and then the Hemline Indicator (which just never made any sense to begin with). Then it was the Heel Height Index and the Platform For Economic Growth, because you know platform shoes were invented during the Depression (not). If you can abide one more idiotic trend story about what item of clothing we are, or are not, buying in this economic climate, this one about the Skinny Tie For Lean Times is good for a laugh. [Telegraph]

• Helena Christensen told InStyle magazine that she's never lived with a man — although she was actually married for five years. [Daily Mail]

• Bill Clinton made a surprise appearance at the Tribeca Ball, an event that benefits the New York Academy of Art. A fashion crowd including designer Jason Wu mingled with performers like Liev Schreiber and Justin Timberlake, hotel impresario Andre Balazs, and socialites. The event was filled with student art; Timberlake and Schreiber reportedly took a lot of interest in an exhibit that included two live models whose bodies guests were invited to paint and decorate with eggshells. At the end of the night, Bill Clinton's security detail was also overheard muttering, "That man is a chick magnet." [WWD]
• Speaking of politico-sartorial news, Sarah Brown, wife of the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, met with Michelle Obama for more than an hour during her husband's state visit. Brown's gift to the First Lady was kid's clothes from TopShop for Sasha and Malia; like Michelle Obama, Sarah Brown sometimes likes to mix inexpensive chain-store items in with her wardrobe. I know, right! [Telegraph]
• Arena, the British men's magazine, is another casualty of the recession. The April, 2009, issue will be its last. Arena Homme Plus, the twice-yearly fashion magazine spinoff, is supposedly not affected, and nor are the six international editions, all of which are published under license. [WWD]
• Tracy Feith for Target doesn't get into stores until May 17, but lookbook images have already surfaced. The clothes are — not great. (There's a romper with bloomer shorts.) But one of the models is Allie from The City, if that makes any difference to you. [Racked]
• That other, slightly better, Target designer collection — Alexander McQueen's McQ line — is now available online. [Racked]
• Badgley Mischka's spring campaign, shot by Annie Leibovitz, features Anjelica Huston, Brooke Shields, Lauren Hutton, Eva Longoria...and Carrie Underwood. [WWD]
• I really hope that Agent Provocateur, the lingerie label, won't be hurt by all this press about their "racy" and "saucy" new ad campaign. I mean, what if The Sun were to determine it "crosses" the line"? I imagine that'd be just terrible. [The Sun]
• An ad for Olay's Regenerist wrinkle cream has been banned in England for being "offensive and demeaning to women" — because the makers, Proctor and Gamble, lied about the results of a study of the cream's effectiveness, and implied that cosmetic injections were an inevitable step in as any woman aged. [Telegraph]
• In Milan, Roberto Cavalli showed an 80s-heavy collection that was so small the LA Times wondered if all his samples had arrived. Could the cash bleed of his diffusion line, Just Cavalli — whose licensee, Ittierre, went bankrupt, and then sued Cavalli this week for angry statements the designer had made to the media about his losses — be affecting his main line? [LA Times]
• Scarlett Johansson, face of Dolce & Gabbana cosmetics, was the inspiration for the makeup at Dolce & Gabbana. Pat McGrath recreated "modern Hollywood glamor" with false lashes, liquid eyeliner, and red lips, not that anyone's ever done that before. [WWD]
• The booker of Auguste Abeliunaite, the Lithuanian 16-year-old who cried on the Jil Sander runway, says Abeliunaite won't be going to Paris, despite walking four top shows in Milan, because she's too young. But Paris sets — and actually does a good job enforcing — 16 as the minimum age for runway work. (Milan has no age limit.) And a girl who'd walked any show cast by Russell Marsh, let alone Prada, would be sent to Paris yesterday if she were really 16. My guess is this pale-eyed schoolgirl has a passport that makes her out to be 15 or younger. [WSJ]
• There's good news and bad news on the retail front this morning. First, let's do bad: The Body Shop is cutting 275 jobs. [WWD]
• And Kenneth Cole's fourth quarter loss has increased, to $12 million. [WWD]
• Liz Claiborne's fourth quarter net loss also widened — to $828.9 million. The company also declined to provide an earnings forecast for 2009. [WSJ]
• Adidas, meanwhile, increased its fourth quarter profits by 151%, or to a net of $74 million. [WWD]
• And all the designers are cutting costs — by rooming together at the Ritz for the Paris shows. Alexander Wang, Brian Reyes, and Victoria Bartlett are reportedly sharing digs, which sounds like the most awesome sleepover, ever. [The Cut]
• There's an unusual juxtaposition of stories in WWD's brief items this morning: first up is Simon Doonan, who was asked about the fashion industry's troubles at an AIDS benefit auction he co-hosted with Tim Gunn, which is all standard fare. But then next is a paragraph about an ultrarunner who spent five years running across six continents, all of which was filmed by his wife for a documentary, and in so doing raised $400,000 for an Alaska-based charity. The fashion content of the latter story is unclear; the reporter, in being dragged so far from his realm of expertise, also seems to have gotten a little confused. Something about the sentence, "His wife was held with a knife to her throat for more than an hour at the Morocco-Gibraltar border," strikes one as off. Perhaps because there is no "Morocco-Gibraltar border" — only some 7.7 nautical miles of sea. [WWD]
• Paris Hilton's perfume will exist for another five years. Sigh. [WWD]

• This seems like a heavenly match: Britney Spears asked DSquared to create the costumes for her comeback tour. Dan and Dean Caten's fetishistic, high-energy sense of style should be a perfect foil for Brit. [WWD]

• Let slip the knock-offs! The Oscar gowns worn by Kate Winslet, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Angelina Jolie will be among those replicated by the notorious inspiration-takers on the design team at prom label Faviana. (This is the utterly shameless company who called its collection re-creating things Michelle Obama wore the "First Lady Collection.") Interestingly enough, last year Faviana knocked off Miley Cyrus's Oscar dress — but not this season. Perhaps being copied is the ultimate test of taste. [NY Post]
• Amber Le Bon, daughter of Simon and Yasmin, just signed with Models 1 in London — her mom's agency — and says she might make her catwalk debut next season. For now, she's sticking to watching shows in Milan and "guest-editing" the Moschino online boutique, whatever that means. [WWD]
• That "announcement" that Roberto Cavalli said he'd make about the future of his Just Cavalli line? At the showroom presentation he held in lieu of his normal splashy runway show, the chain-smoking designer launched into a 45-minute rant in a variety of languages about the bankruptcy of Just Cavalli's production licensee, Ittierre, the just-announced bankruptcy of Ittierre's parent company, IT Holdings SpA, and the state of the fashion industry and the shrinking consumer dollar it chases. I never thought I could feel bad for a man who believes in leopard print sequined everything, but my heart actually goes out to him. I mean, he cried. [Guardian]
• In case you missed that: the bankruptcy a few weeks ago of Ittierre, licensee to John Galliano, Just Cavalli and Versace Sport, among others, has been followed by the bankruptcy of parent company IT Holdings SpA. IT Holdings owns the brands Gianfranco Ferré and Malo, both of which still plan to show and present, respectively, at Milan fashion week. IT Holding's debts total $376 million. [WWD]
• Mango, the Spanish fast fashion chain, is continuing its pattern of rapid expansion into the US market, even despite the recession. Earlier this month, the company announced what passes for healthy sales figures in the retail sector these days — revenue growth for '08 of 8%. [WWD]
• Eddie Bauer, on the other hand, sees a meager future in women's fashion apparel. It's retreating to its neglected core concern — outfitting the rugged menz for adventuresome outdoor pursuits. [WSJ]
• Fourth quarter profits at the Gap shrank 8.3%, which beat analysts' expectations because sales for the same quarter fell 13%. The retailer has been focusing on cutting costs and reducing inventory. [AP]
• Some of the many women who work at LVMH, the luxury conglomerate, posed for black-and-white portraits for a photo project concentrating on women in fashion. An exhibit of the photos opens on March 8, International Women's Day, at LVMH's Avenue Montaigne HQ in Paris. [WWD]
• Newlyweds Tommy Hilfiger and Dee Ocleppo confirmed they are expecting their first child together. [People]
• Seeking to diversify his portfolio of irritations, Pete Wentz has designed some t-shirts. [FWD]
• And Pamela Anderson has garnered a spot in the runway lineup for Vivienne Westwood's Red label, showing next week in Paris. [Vogue.co.uk]
• The perks of being a celebrity's parent: you get to go randomly to fashion week and hang out backstage. Hello, Gerard Hathaway, nice to meet you! [Times]
• The re-launched Versace diffusion line, Versus, is designed by Christopher Kane. It includes bags and shoes. [Telegraph]
• Model Erin Wasson left her issues with the homeless to go to London to launch her RVCA collaboration line. Which promptly sold out. [UK Elle]
• Cecille Villacorta was either a spectacular jewelry sales associate at Saks, earning over $400,000 in salary and commission in her final year with the company, or an inveterate thief who kept customers coming back by giving them unauthorized refunds and credits that were only discovered when the company updated its computer system. A criminal case and a countersuit in New York City aim to determine which it was. [NY Times]

• People love Posh's dresses. Net-a-porter.com sold out in one day, and Posh herself stopped by Neiman Marcus to instruct sales associates and top customers in the ways of the frock. Thirty pieces were sold. [WWD]

• Roberto Cavalli yesterday said that he will show Just Cavalli in Milan — albeit not on the runway. Following the bankruptcy of the diffusion line's primary licensee, Itierre, Just Cavalli's future was in doubt, despite the fact that the expanding chain has stores scheduled to open this year. But the designer says that he will show Just Cavalli to a select group of editors at showroom appointments tomorrow, before making an announcement about the future of the brand. Surely there must be a manufacturer somewhere willing to produce the brand. [FWD]
• The gist of this story is: Michelle Obama. Still wearing clothes. There, I saved you three minutes. [WWD]
• Saks is troubled. After holding 75% off sales all last November and December — a situation the company CEO says "you'll probably never see again" — it still had to lay off workers in the new year. And in leading the deep-discounting department store pack last winter, Saks achieved the triple whammy of pissing off its vendors — who didn't appreciate their wares getting the TJ Maxx treatment from a trusted name — losing $98.75 million of company money in three months, and spawning endless trend stories about whether consumers will ever be duped into paying $700 for a pair of pumps again (the magic eight ball says: not any time soon). Well, the CEO held an investor conference call and said some reassuring things that made the share price jump almost 13%; then the CFO happened to mention that, worst case scenario, the company does own some very nice real estate. Which it could sell. Presumably not at 75% off. [NY Times]
• Halle Berry and Jenna Jameson launched namesake perfumes in the same week. Weird. [Beauty Counter]
• In other news of celebrities who want a piece of the retail maelstrom, there's a certain pink-haired Canadian pop-punk sprite who would like to sell you her pajamas. They're black and neon all over, and have some weird-looking lace insertion-looking parts to the top. Not that anyone would dare call her complicated. [The Life Files]
• Scarlett Johanson, the face of D&G makeup, is a safe bet at the Dolce & Gabbana show in Milan on Monday. [WWD]
• Adam Lippes' Mango diffusion line goes on sale March 1. The women's clothes seem to exhibit a nice sense of proportion, and there are some potentially cool black strappy not-too-gladiator-looking sandals. But there are men's wear looks styled with notched-lapel jackets and — wait for it — dress shorts. I just don't know how to feel about that. [Racked]
• Not battening down the hatches are the Olsen twins, whose contemporary Elizabeth and James line is moving into men's wear. Their other label, The Row, has a men's wear division that has proved very popular very quickly. [WWD]
• Speaking of the Olsens, their Elizabeth and James shoes are about to launch, and will go on sale through Steve Madden stores. Although there is no pricing information as of yet, they'll be significantly more expensive than Steve Madden's other wares. [FabSugar]
• Moise de la Renta, who I am pretty sure does not have a degree in communications, does have a fashion line. MDLR, announced last summer, is finally here. [Style.com]
• Should you ever want to imitate the shiny corpse lip some of the models wore at Marc Jacobs, key makeup artist for the show François Nars explains how. It involves putting eyeshadow on your lips. [NY Times]
• True Religion posted double-digit sales and earnings increases for all of 08 — and the fourth quarter. [WWD]
• Old Navy is chasing the "quirky" 25-35-year-old customer. Its new campaign features a flier that looks like a mock celebrity magazine, and they would like to remind everyone they sell clothes for $5 and $10. [AP]
• Fourth quarter profit for the Limited brands fell 96% on last year. At least they still had a fourth quarter profit! [AP]
• The sound of Karl Lagerfeld's taste dying is a low, battery-powered hum. Which reaches a top speed of 12 mph! The Chanel Segway, a thing you can buy, is here. [The Cut]

• Chloe Sevigny says doing oversized unisex menswear for Opening Ceremony was easy. "Except for the trousers — getting the fit right was really difficult." She thinks we'll buy that she draped the pants herself? [WWD]

• Here's the Times of London's reviews of the Twenty8Twelve, Nicole Farhi, Christopher Kane, Richard Nicoll, and Luella shows, which all took place at London fashion week. (The gist is: Sienna Miller — good; Nicole Farhi — better than usual; Kane — a "masterclass" in cut; Nicoll — better luck next time; Luella — OK.) [Times of London]
• Fashion bad boy Gareth Pugh is the subject of renewed speculation about LVMH's possible decision to name him as the new creative director for Dior Homme. [The Cut]
• Blind item: maybe a model working London fashion week got a boob job recently. Any thoughts? (I'm going with not Kate Moss, because upsizing from an A to a B cup while simultaneously gaining a little weight on one's hips sounds totally within the realm of non-surgical female experience to me. Frankly, it sounds like something to aspire to.)
• It can't be Adriana Lima. She was busy eloping (to Wyoming!) that weekend. [People]
• And Lily Cole was too busy studying. She's skipping the rest of London fashion week to return to her art history classes at Cambridge. [Daily Mail]
• Mario Testino used to study economics at Lima University, and when he first moved to London he squatted in a partially disused hospital where the parties were legendary. Of fashion, he says, "Anyway, I am not really of that world, I just work in it." Which is about the best attitude you can have towards the industry. [Telegraph]
• Despite the economy, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé's art collection fetched the highest price of any private collection ever sold when it was put to the hammer in Paris yesterday. The first night of auctions have already raised $264 million. The proceeds will go to Saint Laurent and Bergé's charitable foundation. Record bids were tendered for works by Matisse, Marcel Duchamp, Constantin Brancusi, James Ensor, Piet Mondrian and Giorgio de Chirico. A 1911 painting by Matisse sold for $40.9 million, or double its estimate. Bidding did have to be stopped on a Picasso that failed to meet its 25-30 million Euro estimate, but all in all it seems like the rich people of the world are doing their part for the art market. [NY Times]
• The fashion crowd, on the other hand, needs to learn to do its part and spread a little economic love around at this difficult juncture. Make your coffee at home if you must — I'm straining yesterday's grounds through a sock — but please, please, please, if you are in any kind of financial position to do so, buy something from this season that'll make you feel pretty for years to come. [WWD]
• Liz Claiborne has signed a long-term agreement with the Hong Kong-based exporter Li & Fung to let them handle Liz Claiborne's global sourcing exclusively. Li & Fung will pay the American retailer up to $83 million for the privilege. [Crain's]
• That deal to buy the house of Vionnet has gone through. Matteo Marzotto, former chairman of Valentino, and Marni CEO Gianni Castiglioni, joined forces to purchase this bit of prime fashion real estate. Others have tried to revive Vionnet before, never successfully, but the name seems latent with so much promise I can't help but cross my fingers. [WWD]
• Marzotto's old stomping grounds are seeing layoffs at the New York office. The director of communications and head of men's sales — plus his assistant — were among those to be let go. [WWD]
• Things continue to stumble along in the retail sector. Yesterday, Nordstrom announced earnings for the 4th quarter of last year dropped by 67.9%; they expect double-digit falls in sales and earnings this year. [WWD]
• Jaeger, which is privately held and therefore not obligated to release sales or earnings figures, but which does admit its US sales have not met expectations recently, intends to weather the downturn by concentrating on emerging markets like the Middle East and Australia. [Reuters]
• Just Cavalli has canceled its show at Milan fashion week. The move was expected after its main licensee, Itierre — a division of IT Holdings SpA — was forced to recently file for bankruptcy protection. [WWD]
• Conversely, Versus, Versace's diffusion line, picked this season to make its comeback. [WWD]
• In case you hadn't suspected, now is a bad time to be looking for a job in fashion. Two thousand people turned up to a job fair where only 20 companies were hiring; one of the job seekers was a 58-year-old production manager who was just laid off from his job at the Olsen twins' clothing line. [NY Post]
• Hello Kitty has signed a licensing deal with toymaker Jakks Pacific that will see Hello Kitty dolls and collectible figurines hit Target stores this fall. [BrandWeek]
• Erin Wasson, who said last summer that she thought the people with the best style were the homeless on Venice Beach, totally compounds the offense in this explanation. [The Cut]

• It's too early for this heartbreak. Pixie (Pixie!) Geldof got the March Italian Vogue cover. Have Franca Sozzani and Steven Meisel lost their minds? The cover line is "So young, so cool." So barf. [Telegraph]

• Maria Sharapova for Cole Haan is now a reality. The new campaign looks pretty good, and for fall, Sharapova herself will create a line of shoes and bags for the brand. Assuming, that is, that we've started buying celebrity fashion lines again by fall. [Sassybella]
• Alexander Wang has designed a limited-edition run of condoms called Proper Attire. They're for sale in Thompson hotels, and all the proceeds will go to Planned Parenthood. Wang, whose fall/winter show is, appropriately, on Valentine's Day, said of the collaboration: "I used a spare design that felt sexy, modern and empowering; after all, women should always come first!" Yes. [The Cut]
• Prada, meanwhile is concentrating on objects that are intimate in a different way: The next edition of its LG phone launched last week. "You carry it with you and it tells something about you," said Prada's director of licensing. I'd go through the specs, but if you're buying a Prada phone, you probably don't care about any technical point of difference so much as you do about it being a Prada phone. [Business Week]
• The Paris show schedule was just released. At Balenciaga, Nicolas Ghesquière is changing his venue, and there's no mention of the troubles at Nina Ricci — Olivier Theyskens is on the calendar. (Allegedly, creative director Theyskens is to be replaced at Nina Ricci before the end of his contract by Marc Jacobs' second-in-command at Louis Vuitton, Peter Copping.) [WWD]
• Manish Arora, a London-based, Indian-born designer who showed last season in Paris (you remember — it was the show both Madeline and Austria booked in Paris) has a Q&A where he discusses his use of color, the influence of his homeland on his designs, and his upcoming projects. Which include a deal with Swatch. [Style.com]
• And Fashionista has a sit-down with Elise Overland. Her fall collection is all about food — sushi, to be exact. "It's very sexual, almost macabre," says Overland, "the way they show all the sushi and how the fish is all cut up, up close. If you look at like it like a small human, kind of." That was not a pleasant image this early in the morning, but, carry on I suppose. [Fashionista]
• New York talked to Jason Wu at his little soiree the other night. Unsurprisingly, still riding the post-inaugural boost, he was upbeat. "You know, you have to give someone a legitimate reason to purchase something," he said, of the current economic climate. "And that can only help the market." [The Cut]
• Which fits right in with Women's Wear Daily's view that young designers should find the brave new economy "invigorating." [WWD]
• The WaPo's Robin Givhan is more sobering. Read her thoughtful and considered expectations for fall/winter 09. "The conversation is focused on survival," Givhan writes. "There's palpable anxiety about the economy and how the fashion industry — the part dominated by razzle-dazzle dresses, hand-stitched embroidery and Italian cashmere — will weather the storm. And there's confusion over what sort of tone the industry should strike as it muddles through the worst of it. Magazine editors are running through their list of synonyms for budget and bargain while trying to maintain the fairy dust of glamour and élan. Big retailers have been discounting everything but the light fixtures." [Washington Post]
• L'Oreal has stopped shipping supplies of its cosmetics — including brands like Lancôme — to a leading Russian retailer. The store L'Etoile has been late on its payments due to the credit crunch. [WSJ]
• A tipster tells Racked.com that Gucci has disbanded its in-house architecture firm, which would normally be responsible for store interiors, and set designs at shows. So, that could be true. Or not. [Racked]
• More news on the potential bankruptcy of the IT Holdings SpA division that owns luxury labels Gianfranco Ferre and Malo, and ready-to-wear licenses from Versace Sport and Just Cavalli, among others. The group hit trouble because of the credit squeeze and falling demand for luxury products (duh), which cause it to run out of money to operate those licenses. The company says it hopes to restructure and come out of bankruptcy. [WSJ]
• A pressure group called the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics tested 33 well-known brand-name lipsticks over a year ago to find that 61% had lead levels of 0.01 - 0.65 parts per million, and a third had lead levels that exceeded the FDA's safe lead limit for candy. Twelve months on, the FDA still has not released the results of their own, independent lead tests. Lead is a neurotoxin and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to it. [UPI]
• The 18 million items L.L. Bean ships annually will now go via UPS. FedEx lost its contract with the brand after 12 years as their exclusive shipping agent. [The Street]
• JC Penney is advertising its most "fashion-forward" lines this spring, instead of its basics. Which lines might those be? Kimora Lee Simmons' and Charlotte Ronson's, for example. [WSJ]
• There's a cool-sounding exhibit called "Vreelandesque" up in Rome about Diana Vreeland's connection to Italian fashion. The co-curator says of the magazine spreads from the 40s to the 60s, "What you see nowadays on fashion magazines implicitly references these photo shoots, this is why 'Vreelandesque' should also be conceived as a reflection on yesterday and today's fashion, as the past is of fundamental importance to rethink what is fashionable nowadays." [Dazed Digital]
• Mandy Moore's new album was kind of a co-creation with Coach. She had company president and creative director Reed Krakoff style her cover shoot, and she played a private concert in Tokyo to open a new store there. Moore just closed her fashion line, Mblem, but says "I love the fashion world. I'm fascinated by it. I'm humbled by it." [WWD]

Just Cavalli:

Missoni:

Burberry:

Jil Sander:

Gianfranco Ferre:

Giorgio Armani:

[All images via AP.]