• There's the usual gloom, sex, scandal and, ahem, 50 Cent's makeup line - today, but first, brace yourselves: Michelle Obama has not RSVP'd to Fashion Week. This woman's priorities are way out of whack! [WWD]

• About Fitty: he's starting a men's grooming line, containing both moisturizers and supplements. Quoth "someone," "his range will be for the guy who likes to be pampered, but the supplements will make it more butch." [Yahoo via New York]
• Katie Holmes' latest batch of Miu Miu photos is "softer" than the last: Read, she's lying around dreamily in firelight. [Popsugar]
• A bunch of children's Harajuku Lovers Hooded Jackets by Gwen Stefani are being recalled in California because their defective ties are a "strangulation risk." [CPSC]
• Kelly Cutrone, who's cut an awesomely bitchy swath across the reality show landscape, may now be getting her own. Fashion PR doyenne Cutrone, who's stirred pots on The City and The Hills, has inked an eight-episode deal with Bravo for a show that follows her, presumably, insulting people at her company People's Revolution. [New York Post]
• Alexander McQueen brings a touch of punk to a Target near you: "The heart of McQ is rebellious youth culture, a certain spirit that embodies the regular line as well as the Target collection. It's an ‘eighties punk aesthetic that evokes the anarchy and social change of the time. Youth culture now really looks back and embraces the past, but keeps it contemporary but not sticking to one particular style." [New York]
• Victoria's Secret is introducing a new, green fragrance line to the bordello, plus a perfume that "smells like lace." [Racked]
• It would seem that the president of Theory was one of Madoff's manifold victims, along wit a score of other fashion insiders. Bernie, meanwhile, is still sitting pretty under house arrest - one hopes not in a Theory suit! [WWD]
• It's not much, but they'll take it: LVMH reported a "slim annual increase" and flat profits for the year. [WSJ]
• In case no one was sure that Lorenzo Martone was Marc Jacobs' boy toy, the Brazilian looker sported, to the premiere of He's Just Not That Into You, a shirt bearing the immortal words: "Do me in the park. Marc." [New York Post]
• Sometimes there's just no point in paraphrasing the perfection of the British press:
  "Alice Hawkins looks like Dolly Parton and likes to hang out with gangsters, showgirls and topless models. She also happens to be one of the fashion world's hottest photographers." [Telegraph]
• Oh noes! Teri Agins, the respected Wall Street Journal fashion writer, is a recession casualty. [Forbes]
• Hey, remember that cute "I die. Bananas" tee? Yeah, cease and desist. Zoe has them trademarked. [New York]
• DVF just threw an odd luncheon, the guest list of which included Diana Ross, James Frey, The City + cameras, and a bunch of designers. Stars: they're nothing like us! [WWD]
• Ugh: The UGG index is up, which is bad news for real shoes, the economy. [MSNBC]
• UGGS, at least, are total depression-wear: dreary, warm, stolid. The continuing popularity of Crocs? Totally baffling! [Telegraph]
• Zara, one of the other indestructibles, expands its sorta-fast fashion to India. [FT]
• We can add nothing to this: Lilly Pulitzer-print Jeep. [Fashion Week Daily]
• What can we say? Digging on Julia Roitfeld's ads for Mango! [Fashionista]

Lilly Pulitzer herself had a textbook background: Chapin, Miss Porter's, marriage to a publishing scion, and a youthful life of wealthy eccentricity (Pulitzer is famous for going without shoes and undies and for keeping a menagerie as a young wife.) Then came anxiety attacks, a stay in what she terms "the nuthouse" - “I can’t really remember how long I was there, but my cousin was there too, so that was nice” - and depression that led to the start of her "hobby," running a juice stand that called for a practical uniform of shift dresses that wouldn't show stains.

The rest is, of course, history: the gaily printed shifts became a sensation with the Palm Beach society set, former classmate Jackie Kennedy wore one in a magazine spread, and Lilly Pulitzer became a household name, selling not just pink and green dresses, but embroidered trousers and capris, sarongs, and all manner of sportswear. Pulitzer is often credited with creating the concept of "resort" - or, as she blithely put it, "it’s always summer somewhere.” Although she closed up shop in the businesslike 80s, she sold the brand in 1993 and has continued as a creative consultant in its new incarnation. The line currently has 20 boutiques, plus department store collections. According to today's WWD, "brand extension is a significant part of the growth strategy for Lilly Pulitzer as it begins its second half-century."

Of course, was Lilly Pulitzer really ever anything but a lifestyle brand? Did people ever really love wearing luridly-colored monkeys and sea-horses? Yes, the prints were cheerful, but when you see a Lilly Pulitzer, you think "Lilly Pulitzer" and that has surely always been the point. To wear one of her dresses was to momentarily be a part of a world where sporting goofy, unflattering clothes is a mark of dashing, privilege-bred confidence, the very definition of the uniform of an insider. Its appeal now is nostalgic. As W puts it, "the Palm Beach social swirl that Rousseau recalls—in which counts sat next to carpenters at her dinner parties and, as she relishes telling, Kennedy spoon-fed John-John on her kitchen floor—has an almost mythic quality, one she laments no longer exists." But to most of us, the nostalgic appeal is at least as much for a character like Pulitzer's as for anachronistic high society. She was, of course, inseparable from that privilege, and hers was a success inexplicably linked with her connections, friends, and lifestyle. But the old-fashioned no-nonsense sense of entitlement is also what allowed Pulitzer to build a successful business in a man's world, divorce her husband and move out on her own, where many women would have been happy to leave dresses as a pleasant sideline to a socialite's life. She took her lifestyle and made it a business. Everything about her story — from the world that inspired it, to the entitlement that encouraged it, to the scope of the achievement — is part of a long-gone world. This, as much as the unapologetic silliness of the clothes themselves, is a fascinating glimpse to another time for the rest of us.

Lilly Land [W]
All the Details: The Lilly Lifestyle [WWD]

• Designers like Donna Karan, Elie Tahari and Thakoon are fighting to get to Michelle Obama. [WWD]
• Even though her Narciso Rodriguez dress drew mixed reviews. [NY Times]
• According to polls, 65% considered it a "Don't." [USA Today]
• Proenza Schouler’s Jack McCollough on the election. “A shout-out to the gays? I mean, never, ever, ever in an election or an acceptance speech has a President-elect said something like that. To hear that, for me personally, is so fantastic. Barack Obama is exceptional. Exceptional!” [Style.com]
• Exceptional enough to inspire a "Yes. We. Did." thong. [Babble]

• Speaking of Michelle, her favored label Thakoon's about to hit Target! Take a gander. [Nylon]
• Doesn't it seem weird that Ed Westwick should choose K Swiss as his first campaign? Or are we thinking of his character? [E!]
• Ooh, those snarky British writers do not like Peaches! "Fresh from a disastrous foray into column-writing, Peaches Geldof has decided to tuck her be-fringed head back into her shell and stick to what she knows best. Apparently, that is designing clothes. Her capsule collection for cult fashion collective PPQ is due to hit the shelves in Selfridges today." [Guardian]
• Apparently Vogue editor-at-XXL Andre Leon Talley was in the VIP section at Grant Park; rumor has it his mag has his eye on a Michelle cover. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Alexander Wang on the recession: "There’s a certain amount of fantasy to fashion, but you also have to think about the fit, the sell-through, the accessibility. There’s no point in creating clothes so out-there, so special that no one can wear them. I try to stay in touch with the customer. We’ve been lucky—our sales are growing. I think we were also pretty lucky to get out a T-shirt line. It’s nice to have a $65 product. But it’s also nice to have a $1,200 dress, say, for that person at Colette. The key now is that dress has to be worth what it costs." [Style.com]
• Online retailers expect a lot of holiday shopping...maybe because it doesn't feel like real spending? [WSJ]
• The recession takes a heavy toll on India's textile industry. [BW]
• Meanwhile, Britain prepares for a steep rise in clothing prices. [Guardian]
• Good news, at least, for Adidas! [WSJ]
• Lilly Pulitzer never ages...maybe because it's permanently middle-aged? [NY Times]
• Elite moddle management gets some escort service to stop using their name. We're sure Tyra's relieved. [NY Daily News]
• H&M TV? It'd better be an improvement on their soundtrack! [Fabsugar]
• Patagonia's ambitious plan to sell only recycled materials by 2010 proves harder than they anticipated. [Business Week]
• Meanwhile, a Japanese company attempts banana fiber denim. [WWD]<<br /> li>"Syunsoku" sneakers make people faster...or not. Either way, they're big in Japan! [Reuters]
• Speaking of shoes, Zappo's stellar customer service keeps the company healthy. [NY Times]
• "Lagerfeld goes through at least 365 bottles of Shu Uemura’s Pleasure of Japanese Bath oil per year. 'Normally, you’re supposed to put one cup in the bathtub,' he says, sitting in the leafy garden of Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin in Paris. “' put the whole bottle in every morning. It is the most divine product.' His beauty ritual doesn’t stop there: Lagerfeld spritzes a scent on various items of his clothing, not to mention his bedding. 'What I put on my sheets is always different from what I wear on myself. It’s like if I sleep with a person who uses another perfume.'” [W]
• Juicy Couture store opens in Manhattan, which for some reason means "the Harlem Boys' choir, American Ballet Theatre dancers, Juilliard school violinists, and stilt-walkers will entertain the likes of Gina Gershon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Gretchen Mol, Molly Sims and Sarah Silverman, plus Saturday Night Live stars Seth Myers and Fred (Obama) Armisen." [New York Post]
• This fashion origami kit is totally the kind of thing we'd never actually assemble, but it's very cute. [Fashionista]
• Colin Firth on his director, Tom Ford: "If he turns his hand to this with the brilliance that he's turned his hand to everything else that he's ever done in his life, it'll be a masterpiece." [VogueUK]
• Ooh! Legendary fashion lecturer Rosamond Bernier is selling off some of her vintage couture! Well, it's fun to look. [Sassybella]

• "Rumor has it" that Madonna-maybe-estranged-hubby Guy Ritchie is gifting the material 50-year-old with "a specially designed, bespoke diamond necklace from Bulgari worth, £250,000" for her Golden tomorrow. [ElleUK]
• Apparently Diddy's "I Am King" campaign will involve Bond-like shots of him in a dinner jacket hanging with models and getting out of a chopper. Yawn! We were so psyched for crowns and ermine-trimmed robes! [The Life Files]
• Designer Rachel Roy does good. "For Spring 2009, Roy is introducing green designs, which she will continue to selectively incorporate in seasons to come. She will donate 100% of the proceeds to OrphanAid Africa, an organization that aims to help orphans in Ghana to grow up in healthy environments that provide quality care and education." Um, she's also partnering with Grey Goose Vodka for Fashion Week. [Fashion Week Daily]

• The founder of western shirt company Rockmount Ranch Wear has died. Don't be sad, he was 107! Jack Weil "was the first to design Western shirts with snap buttons and also created pockets with jagged, sawtooth-pattern flaps. The snaps are often topped with real or synthetic mother of pearl. Weil's shirts have been worn in movies by Elvis Presley, Clark Gable and Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain)." Most recently, Rockmount designed shirts for Colorado's House delegation for the Democratic National Convention in Denver later this month. The company is still family-run; until his death, Weil was still CEO, now his grandson ihas taken over. [Houston Chronicle]
• Nanette Lepore is presenting one of her signature retro shapes, the 'Unfaithful Shift," in red to support cancer charity Gilda's Club International. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Model Erin O'Connor's auctioning 30 items from her wardrobe, including a bag that was a gift from Kaiser Karl himself and gowns by Mouret and Galliano. She's selling the garments to benefit the British Fashion Council, which "provides support for up-and-coming designers" and, incidentally, because they don't fit anymore. Which I'm guessing means they won't fit anyone else, either. [BlackBook]
• If we'd thought about it, we'd frankly have thought that Lilly Pulitzer already made the fragrance equivalent of her frumpy Palm Beach WASP togs, but apparently not: the pink and green doyenne is launching three scents, Beachy, Squeeze and Wink. Why hasn't she launched a perfume before? "“They all stunk!” she said with a laugh during an interview at her Palm Beach, Fla., home, Casa Loca." [WWD]
• Back to School doesn't seem to be helping Abercrombie and Fitch: "Teen clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co (ANF.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported a lower quarterly profit on Friday and forecast full-year earnings below analysts' estimates, as the weak U.S. economy leads consumers to cut back on buying clothes." [Reuters]
• The return of Haltson! The ultimate 70s brand is back: check em out at Barneys or, more realistically, Net-a-Porter. [Fashionista]
• Brit label Sinha-Stanic gets backing from Cotton (the Fabric of Our Lives.) [VogueUK]
• Venerable British retailer Marks and Soencer courts teachers' wrath by trying to make kids like them. via latest school uniforms. 'The "Blazer for iPod", which is part of the shop's 2008 Back to School collection, has been branded irresponsible" by teacher's organizations, which are "concerned the new jacket, which has built in controls and hides the ear phone wire in the lapels, will encourage youngsters to flout school rules by listening to music in class." Gosh, in our day all they had to worry about was guys wearing caps in the classroom! [Telegraph]
• Penney's profits plummet. [WWD]
• "Wardrobe malfunction" has been added to the Chambers Dictionary. Under "anachronism" we hope. [Fashionista]
• Been dreaming of a custom Goyard trunk? Yeah, us neither, but if you're extremely rich, you can do this at Barneys for a limited time next month. [Fashion Week Daily]

• "Of course I am a Spice Girls fan. I love everything that teenage girls love. I am the oldest teenage girl." That's Michael Kors, who went to see the Spice Girls when they performed in the New York area this week. Other fashion world luminaries who showed up the concert to hear such sonic gems as "Two become One": ELLE editor-in-chief Roberta Myers and fashion director Nina Garcia, Harper's Bazaar EIC Glenda Bailey, and Vogue European editor-at-large Hamish Bowles. [WWD, 2nd item]
  
• "They're the most exciting thing since Warhol," says Vogue's Andre Leon Talley of English rockers/designers Rodnik. So enamored is he that he was willing to give up his front-row seat at Proenza Schouler last week so that he could join the Rodnik designers in the standing room area. [Vogue UK]
  
• Marc Jacobs: Fond of male escorts! [NY Daily News]
  
• The Times of India asks: Is fashion industry caste and gender biased? We're gonna go out on a limb and say "yeah." [TOI]

• Lilly Pulitzer is launching its very first fragrance. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Beauty product name or adult film title? [BellaSugar]
• Cynthia Rowley is now entering the wild world of mother-daughter fragrances, the very thought of which makes us throw up a little in our mouths. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Oh God: Hannah Montana shampoo??? [WWD, sub req'd]
• Luella Bartley: Now designing tees to fund kids going to the dentist in Colombia. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Who needs YouTube when there's ShoeTube? [UPI]

• Kate Moss is out as the face (and body) of lingerie line Agent Provocateur. Why, you ask? Because the company's co-owner Serena Rees had an affair with Moss's friend's husband. [Vogue UK]
  
• Poor Sadie Frost. The ex-Mrs. Jude Law's clothing line FrostFrench (co-designed with friend Jemima French) isn't doing so well financially, and yet the ladies are going ahead and opening their first stand-alone store in London in September. [Vogue UK]
  
• Famed fashion photographer Stephen Meisel shot a spread for August's Italian Vogue in which he had models re-create the most, er, infamous of celebrity gaffes documented by the paparazzi. And yes, he went there. By which we mean... the Britney vadge shot. [WWD, 1st item]

• Model Jodie Kidd beccomes the latest lemming on the low-is-the-new-high trend with her nine-piece collection of "designs" for England's largest home shopping venture. [Vogue UK]
• Lilly Pulitzer is doing a line of eyewear. [WWD]
• Despite the recent uptick in the attempts to blow the place up, retail sales figures for the past few days have remained strong in the UK. [WWD]
• Belgium's newly christened fashion capital Antwerp is building a 10,000-square foot Yohji Yamamoto boutique inside its prestigious MuMo museum. Because commerce is the new culture! [WWD, last item]