• Victoria Beckham is out at Armani, and Megan Fox is in. The actress has just been photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott for next January's Emporio Armani underwear and Armani Jeans campaigns. [WWD]

• Amber Valletta has a clothing line, and Saks Fifth Avenue will donate $250,000 to breast cancer research from goods it sells from this Thursday through Sunday, whether you shop there or not. [USAToday]
• Betsey Johnson — who has talked openly of wanting a diffusion line, perhaps with Target or H&M, in the past — might get her wish. She told the National Arts Club last night that she was in talks to do a line with QVC or HSN. [The Cut]
• Women's Wear Daily tries cheekily to make the point, through historic quotes and photos, that Emanuel Ungaro, the couturier, and Lindsay Lohan, the fake tan executive who now runs his label, share an aesthetic. But, seriously, he's the guy who said "Shock for its own sake doesn't interest me," and, "A maison de couture is not a circus." [WWD]
• Former Calvin Klein underwear model and Guess? campaign star Jason Lewis — also known as that hot guy Samantha starts banging on Sex And The City — is now shilling for something called Charisma Linens. [NYDN]
• Tory Burch is getting into microfinance for women entrepreneurs — domestic microfinance for women entrepreneurs. [TDB]
• A New York University-affiliated group has ranked Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, and Clinique as the top three luxury fashion brands, by "digital IQ." Strange that a company with so much apparent investment in its e-commerce division could show such an utter lack of understanding of the online media; Ralph Lauren's Filippa Hamilton Photoshop debacle, with its manifold examples of the company's digital stupidity, could be hurting the brand for years to come. [WWD]
• M.I.A. wore a $10 suit from Goodwill to meet Anna Wintour. [Twitter]
• Someone get 19-year-old French model Constance Jablonski a beer: she walked in 72 fashion shows in four cities in less than a month. [Models.com]
• Joe Corre, the famous loose cannon behind the Agent Provocateur label, has quit the brand abruptly. He will maintain his ownership share of the company, but no longer work for it. Instead, he'll concentrate on his men's wear line, called Child of the Jago. [WWD]
• Jennifer Connelly isn't returning as the face of Balenciaga. The brand's spring campaign is understood to feature Kasia Struss, and three other models. [Fashionista]
• Lacoste has collaborated with Brazilian industrial designers Fernando and Humberto Campana, and the results include a $7,000 polo shirt made entirely of the label's alligator appliqués, hand-sewn together in a lacey pattern. [WWD]
• Tommy Bahama is doing a line of shirts for Major League Baseball. The first one is for the next World Series. [Crain's]
• Patrick Robinson showed this season's Gap collection in Tokyo, after showing previous seasons in London and New York, to show that "We're all so super-connected. A lot of our stores are in big urban cities, and all of my friends now are all around the world." The designer continued, "But they're texting me and e-mailing me, and we're all connected. But we're also all trying to get back to nature. We're all starting to care about what we drink, and the food we eat, and where that food comes from. There's something about us that's longing to be back in nature. Those two things are sort of at odds with one another, and what I like about this collection is it sort of brings them together." Whatever. The guy makes incredible pants. [WWD]
• Marc Jacobs is bringing back its popular nude celebrity "Protect The Skin You're In" skin cancer awareness t-shirts. They cost $35, and all the proceeds go to the NYU Cancer Institute. [Hypebeast]
• L.L. Bean is trying to update its image with a new collection, designed by Rogues Gallery's Alex Carleton. [WWD]
• Some snooty society magazine editor named Rachel Johnson — Oxford-educated sister of London mayor Boris — decided it was proper to make fun of Twiggy's accent in her editor's letter. "I bumped into Twiggy at a Burberry event at London Fashion Week. I thanked her for being our cover girl. She went a bit blank but when I mentioned this publication her Bambi-eyes lit up and she said, 'Oi love The Lie-dee,' which made me feel very happy." [Daily Express]
• Abercrombie is planning on lowering its prices slowly and strategically, in the hopes of luring customers back without hurting its brand image. [NYPost]
• Burberry's sales in the most recent quarter rose 5%, to $545 million, ahead of analysts' forecasts. Same-store sales also rose 5%. [WSJ]

• Model Liskula Cohen has confronted the woman revealed as the author of a hate-blog directed against her. Cohen told the woman that she forgave her, but the blogger did not apologize — probably because a defamation suit is pending. [P6]

• Brett Favre is going to be the new face, and presumably butt, of Wrangler jeans. [WWD]
• Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone are reportedly eloping to Massachusetts this weekend. [P6]
• Elisabeth Moss, who plays Peggy Olsen on Mad Men, is sick of wearing mustard, says costume designer Janie Bryant. [W]
• Stella McCartney's perfume, Stellanude, will launch as planned, because Ali Hewson's court bid to prevent it has failed. Hewson runs a company called Nude Brands, and markets a line of skincare under the Nude trademark. [Telegraph]
• The headline — "David Bailey: Still Snapping Away At 71" — might as well just read "David Bailey, Amazingly, Still Alive." But the legendary British photographer actually has plenty to say on the topics of retouching and American Vogue: "D'you know any model over the age of 23 has to be touched up these days. Twenty-three? It's fucking ridiculous but that's what you have to do for American Vogue and it's getting to be the same over here." [ToL]
• Anna Wintour personally approves every photo published by Vogue's blog. [The Cut]
• Meanwhile, sources say that Vogue attracted early attention from the consultants McKinsey because they believe it is a model of a larger Condé Nast title, and that the lessons learned from studying Vogue will be applicable to other magazines. Vogue, representative? More likely it drew the money-savers' eyes first because of its legendary profligacy. [NYObs]
• Michelle Obama's principal hairstylist says, "I believe hair is a language, if it's not moving it has no voice." [W]
• Meanwhile, is there any reason Simon Doonan might be measuring the White House drapes? Or shall we just assume the Obamas have hired the wittiest interior designer ever? [VF]
• Ed Hardy designer Christian Audigier says there will be no Jon Gosselin clothing line. And we were so hoping. [E!]
• Sex-era Vivienne Westwood punk clothing is so popular that people are counterfeiting it now, a generation later. Three people were arrested in London and charged with fraud for allegedly selling clothing they claimed had come from Malcolm McLaren and Westwood's infamous store. [WWD]
• If you want to be an It Girl, Refinery29 created a handy charticle for your edification. It helps if you have the Cobrasnake's number. [Refiner29]
• Mario Grauso, the president of Puig Fashion Group, which owns Carolina Herrera and Nina Ricci, among other houses, is rumored to be resigning. [WWD]
• This fashion blind item is kind of generic, but anyway: "Which designer won't be showing in the Tent this year, like he usually does? Rumor has it he'll send his gorgeous gowns down the Salon's runway instead." Could be almost anyone, in this economy. But perhaps it's Zac Posen? [Fashionista]
• Earlier this month, the Michael Kors boutique on Prince Street in SoHo was burgled. A man distracted the security guard at the neighboring Apple store and made off with $13,000 worth of merchandise. [Villager]
• Pop-up stores are barely news these days, but if Rodarte is doing one at Colette in Paris this October, and selling DVDs of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and stuffed knit animals, that actually sounds cool. [WWD]
• Two men have now been arrested in connection with the $66 million jewelry robbery at the Graff store in London. [NYTimes]
• The Humane Society wants the FTC to investigate Bergdorf's and Neiman Marcus for allegedly mislabeling fur products. The Society alleges that both stores sold Manolo Blahnik boots made from ocelot fur, an endangered species. [WWD]
• The Limited's second quarter profit declined by 27% on last year's numbers. [WSJ]
• L.L. Bean is shaking things up with a new creative director, Rogues Gallery's Alex Carleton. [NYTimes]
• The Buckle has continued its trend of positive results, despite the recession. The last quarter saw its profits rise 12% on the same period last year, to $25 million. [WSJ]

• Is former overweight person and current size-o-phobe Karl Lagerfeld changing his Hedi Slimane stripes? Beth Ditto, who in addition to being very talented, weighs somewhat more than 100 lbs, is playing a Fendi party. [FWD]

• Agyness Deyn's 17-year-old sister Emily is starting a t-shirt company with a chum named Aliyah Hussein. Their first offerings feature images of the girls' icon, Queen Elizabeth II, whom Emily called "the original gangster!" [Blackbook via Nylon]
• I have no idea why this writer seems to think female models all have drivers — that might be true of the dozen top girls who walk in every show, but, trust me, the rest of us ride public transport. But it is correct that even the top-earning male models are always paid significantly less than their female counterparts. Russian Matvey Lykov, for instance, walked 34 shows in Europe, and only made enough to buy a ticket to the Dominican Republic to relax for a spell afterwards. [LA Times]
• And the indignities just don't stop: Doutzen Kroes, the model and Victoria's Secret angel, was treated to a super-original pick-up line on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten. At a bar called Tantra, a drunk stranger cooed, "I thought you couldn't go out without your wings." Barf. [NYDN]
• The Daily News also has this horrific model blind item: "Which top model's plastic surgeon is in big trouble? He accidentally spilled acid on her chest while they were having sex in his office." That, right there, is fodder for nightmares. [NYDN]
• Caroline Trentini, the elfin, freckled Brazilian whom Anna Wintour puts in every issue of Vogue, has been less omnipresent this show season. In fact, people were wondering where she was — models of her caliber don't normally just skip the shows. Well, mystery solved! She was on exclusive for Yves Saint Laurent, whose show she closed just yesterday. [Fashionista]
• More forthcoming about his schedule is Valentino. The retired Italian designer has announced he'll be in New York on March 17 to tape an episode of The Martha Stewart Show, just ahead of the theatrical release the documentary modestly titled Valentino: The Last Emperor. I hope they bake amazing cookies, or do collage in tones of red together. [The Cut]
• According to Women's Wear Daily's "sources" — who can be pretty spot on about these things — Halston is sizing up the London designer Marios Schwab to become their new creative director. The revived Halston has struggled, and is still trying to replace Marco Zanini, the designer they let go after just two seasons last year. [WWD]
• Cathy Horyn, whose life is more fun than your own, describes what it's like to run into the people she's savaged ("I said hey to Anna...") and then hangs out with Karl Lagerfeld on his doorstep on the eve of the Chanel show. [On The Runway]
• Jil Sander might be back. After being dumped from her namesake label — and then begged to return, and then fired again — following its purchase by Prada, Sander has been a fashion orphan. Attending an industry textiles fair might mean she has a new project. Or it might not. [WWD]
• Feministing is surprised an article in H&M's in-store magazine on dressing like a tomboy ignored any hint of a queer perspective — despite using Samantha Ronson as one of its examples. Remember, girlie, it's OK to steal from your boyfriend, just remember to add that feminine touch! [Feministing]
• Beth Ditto, meanwhile, is enjoying her first fashion week in Paris. Coming off her cover spot in the first issue of Katie Grand's Love magazine, the Gossip songstress has the keys to the carrousel du louvre. And mark no fear of queer connotations on her part: Ditto's favorite thing about the Jean Paul Gaultier show was "the butch clothes! I mean that in the best way. Masculine is hot!" [FWD]
• Three different women designers — get this — respond differently to the question of how to clothe, and by extension, represent, the female body. Imagine, there's not a 1:1 correlation between being female and making feminine clothing! [International Herald-Tribune]
• Buyers at Paris fashion week aren't sure exactly what consumers are going to want to own in six months. Handbags are a sure bet in the Middle East, says one, because they can be toted freely in public despite women's clothing restrictions. Russians will still want to buy, well, everything, says a buyer for one boutique. London might be about jewelry and scarves; Paris stores aren't sure whether to under-order for a fall in demand, or bet on a surprise recovery. Left unsaid is the fact that almost nobody in retail could stand to see a repeat of last fall's choked-off sales. [Reuters]
• American Apparel, which had to recently renegotiate costly new financing of both their $75 million Bank of America revolving credit line and their $51 million loan from private equity group SOF Investments, now is approaching the March 21 deadline for both loans. [WWD]
• L.L. Bean's revenues were down $1.5 billion, or 7.8%, over the last financial year. The company expects to be making layoffs. [The Street]
• The Italian brand Tod's finished out a difficult year with enough money to give $1,700+ bonuses to all its employees, including the people who make their goods in Italy. [WWD]
• A small American fashion brand that sells its wares in France reportedly included the message "We are sorry that our president is an idiot, we did not vote for him" on the care tag. Obviously they meant Bush. Reminds one of how the teenaged Alexander McQueen stitched "I am a cunt" onto the interlining of a suit for Prince Charles when he was apprenticed to Savile Row tailors Anderson & Sheppard. [InventorSpot]

• 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]

The DMA has its own opt-out service but it requires users to submit a credit card number to verify their identity and costs $1. That's right — they want you to pay not to get catalogs. Victoria's Secret and J. Crew declined to comment on the BusinessWeek article — while the Harry & David spokesperson said he was too busy making sure "all of Santa's orders come through" to discuss the issue. One thing is for sure: Without receiving catalogs, we would ever have found our new boyfriend or the beloved polyester Loser throw. Would you rather save the environment or live without a RoboPanda?

Cutting the Stack of Catalogs [BusinessWeek]

Earlier: Attention Shoppers: It's Not Too Late For L.L. Bean
'Tis The Season For Crappy Christmas Gifts
Barneys New York: Shiny Happy People & Crazy Expensive Clothes
'Tis The Season For Kooky Gadgets
Pears, Pumpkin Cakes & Homegrown Pecans

It's the last minute, and you're scrambling for stocking stuffers. How about the plaid duct tape ($9.50 for a pack of two rolls, one of each color) or the Toblerone in a bottle ($19.95)? Everyone likes chocolate-peppermint cookies ($19.50) and the Flex Reading Light may be random, but fun for kids ($16.95).

More good (affordable) stuff! The Slope Sliders are the best kind of sled - just sit and go ($19.95 for a set of four); the Polar Bear Maple Syrup ($19.50) is a good host/hostess gift; and even though we have no idea how to play Cribbage, the Folding Cribbage set ($19.50) is awesome.

An Irish Fisherman's sweater is a classic (and warm) present. Chicks dig 'em too! Just don't let her put it in the dryer. ($139 for cardigan; $119 for crewneck)

Remember Y2K? Yeah. Anyway, the Emergency Weather Radio has AM/FM and seven weather channels. Plus, it will charge a cell phone. ($50)

Flannel bedding's cool, but how about the retro-chic Moonbeam Clock? Originally introduced in 1952, It "wakes you with a gently illuminating light." ($39.50)

Yum, breakfast. Perfect anytime of the day. Breakfast sets include pancake mix, syrup, preserves and keepsake tote bags. There's also a hot cocoa set! Prices range from $29.50-$39.50, or just get a half-gallon of syrup for $45. Uh, so hungry right now.

[L.L. Bean]

Earlier: More SkyMall: The Mile-High Commerce Club
SkyMall: Shopping The Friendly Skies For Pointless Products
Sur La Table: Expensive, Accidentally Sexy Cookware
Victoria's Secret's "Last Minute Gifts": Whose Fantasy Is This, Anyway?
Neiman Marcus "Big 100 Gifts": 100% Overpriced, 100% Stupid
Lands' End: Practical Presents, Pleasantly Priced
Uncommon Goods: Quirky Stuff For The Person Who Already Has Everything
Brooks Brothers: This Christmas, WASPs Are Mad For Plaid
Bloomingdale's "Gifted": Overpriced Brand Names R Us
Doctors Foster & Smith: The Crazy Cat Lady Catalog
J. Crew's "Very Merry Gift Guide"
The Vermont Country Store: For Old Alcoholics & The Kids Who Enable Them
Bergdorf Goodman: My Kingdom For A Fountain Pen
Barneys New York: Shiny Happy People & Crazy Expensive Clothes
Anthropologie "Giving": We Love To Hate & Hate To Love It
'Tis The Season For Crappy Christmas Gifts