Rihanna Goes Glam For Gucci, Charity

• Rihanna has been made the face of Gucci’s new UNICEF campaign. Gucci's creative director, Frida Giannini, chose the pop star and founder of the Believe Foundation after seeing her perform at a UNICEF fundraiser in February. "When we decided to dedicate a full ad campaign, more than just creating products, to really come out and show our commitment to UNICEF, we wanted someone with a strong personality," Giannini explained. "I felt a musician and a beautiful woman was the perfect icon for this campaign." [ElleUK]
• Louis Vuitton has introduced a new bag that comes emblazoned with cornball jokes by mid-century Borscht Belt comedian Henny Youngman. (My wife went to the beauty shop and got a mud pack. For two days she looked beautiful. Then the mud fell off," is one.) It's part of the "Jokes" series by designer Richard Prince "pertaining to sexual frustrations and middle-class American mentality." [The Life Files]
• Naomi Campbell on fashion's inequalities: "Now at Paris Haute Couture there was only one black girl out of all the shows. It cannot be a trend." [Yahoo]

ELLE Continues To Toy With Nina Garcia's Affections

• The latest on the Nina Garcia saga: If she takes the editor-at-large gig she'll only be there til mid-October, when ELLE's contract with Project Runway ends and then she'll be let go for reals. (Dear Nina: You can do better than that.) Meanwhile, no one at ELLE or its publisher Hachette Filipacchi Media has issued a single comment on the entire situation. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Meanwhile, everyone at ELLE is pissed that the taping of its reality show Fashionista is ruining everyone's lives. [NY Daily News]
  
• Audrey Tatou is rumored to be the newest face of Chanel No. 5. Does this mean that Nicole Kidman got the boot? Maybe she and Nina can start a sort of ex-wives club together. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• "I think the luxury is not only what we give to ourselves, but what we can give to others. Obviously, we can get more of this and this, but the true luxury is being able to give back. When one has been blessed with the ability to have made it...it's our social responsibility." Nice try, Donna Karan. But...no. [WWD, sub req'd]

What The Fuck Do You Think You're Doing Picking On Poor Monsanto, Vanity Fair?

Retro Fashion: Marc Jacobs Tells Charlie Rose About His New Job At Louis Vuitton

"Next Top Model" Jaslene Gonzalez Smiles With Her Eyes, Books Job

• ANTM cycle 8 winner Jaslene Gonzalez: Now the face of Lot29. What? A Top Model winner actually booked a job after wrapping the show? [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Yes, still more on model Gemma Ward's film debut in The Black Balloon: Her character's name is Jackie. Jackie helps her boyfriend learn to accept his brother's autism. Also, Ward will be starring in another movie coming out this year, a thriller titled The Strangers which co-stars Liv Tyler. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• The new Versace fragrance is supposed to smell lke Donatella and its bottle is supposed to look like a Versace dress. We assume this means it actually smells like cocaine and cigarettes. [BellaSugar]
  
• Video! Marc Jacobs interviews Jennifer Jason Leigh, still has blue hair. [MySpace]

Venus Williams Thinks Fashion Design Is Actually About Design

• Venus Williams was awarded with an associate's degree in fashion design from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale over the weekend, becoming the first celebrity "designer" to ever get a degree in fashion design. She even got a prize for the "Best Sportswear Collection" and a 3.5 GPA. Also, she has a collection for Steve & Barry's. [Sassybella]
  
• Mango takes a nod from Pedro Almodovar, keeps Penelope Cruz as the face of its brand for a second consecutive season. Now if she could only find a boyfriend with the same devotion! [WWD, 3rd item]
  
• Italian director Franco Zeffirelli wants to give the Pope a makeover. But would the Pope approve of all the gratuitous tit scenes in Romeo & Juliet? [Sassybella]
  
• French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld is in New York for her lesser-known spawn Vladmir's 23rd birthday. [Fashion Week Daily]

Shocker: Not All Luxuries Are Created Equal

Stella McCartney Feels Heather Mills' Pain... Or, You Know, Would Like To Inflict More?

• The battle between Stella McCartney and Heather Mills rages on regarding Heather's divorce from Stella's dad Paul! And even though we declared ourselves Team Stella for this one, we're a little wary about her latest overture: A necklace baring a single leg. Perhaps in nasty homage to her prosthetic-using former-stepmum? Ouch. [NYP]
  
• You know how the Armani collections shown in September weren't, er, all that good? (Hello, I Dream of Jeannie pants!) Well, it seems like Mr. Armani gets that: "I want to fine-tune the organization behind the company. I offer too many choices, and variations of the same outfit. I must focus and edit, offering narrower guidelines." [Vogue UK]
  
• Ralph Lauren has poached the associate articles editor of Departures — OMG! the associate articles editor of an in-flight magazine! — to serve as editorial director for some new editorial venture that will no doubt be full of really hard-hitting, informative content. [WWD, 2nd item]

Marc Jacobs To Host Aladdin-Themed Halloween Party

• Those invited to Marc Jacobs' annual holiday costume party (aka - not us) need to start preparing their costumes now. The theme has finally been announced! "Arabian Nights." We double-dare someone to go as Edward Said. [WWD, 2nd item]
  
• The most important movie of all time, the Sex and the City movie, shot at the offices of the most important magazine of all time, Vogue. My god, how did the world not combust when these two forces joined powers? Also, Anna Wintour will not be appearing in the movie. But Andre Leon Talley will! And we hope that Jennifer Hudson, who is playing Carrie Bradshaw's assistant in the movie, manages to restrain herself re: that whole idiotic bolero-from-Mars thingy he made her wear to the Oscars. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Why we love Barneys New York's Creative Director Simon Doonan, reason #482: "Everyone in the music industry looks like a hooker. Let's call it porno-chic. It seems to me nowadays that Janis Joplin wouldn't be able to get her clog in the door without a full makeover!" [Fashion Week Daily]

Amy Winehouse To Save The Children Who Gave Her Hair

• Amy Winehouse is reportedly making donations to a Romanian orphanage as a token of appreciation for donating the hair that makes up absurd/awesome monstrosity on her head. [Sassybella]
  
• Designer Keanan Duffy on his David Bowie-inspired line for Target: "Fashion is always out of fashion; what happens on the street is always stolen by designers who, by their very nature, are out of touch. I actually find unfashionable ideas to be more interesting." Um, yeah, you're not exactly doing a Frank Zappa-inspired collection here, so maybe get off the cocaine horse. [The Fashion Informer]
  
• "I'm supporting other women for what they do and want to do. I'm all about burning your bra." —Actress Jaime Pressly regarding her attendance at Nicky Hilton's fashion show. [WWD, 2nd item]
  
• Catherine Bailey is the next face of lingerie label Agent Provocateur. Moe doesn't know who that is, but the ads can't be as fugly as those Maggie Gyllenhaal ones. [Vogue UK]
  
• Designer Adam Lippes went on Oprah. Now he's having crazy sales. We wonder if he'll be sending her 21 pairs of Louboutins as a thank you? [WWD, sub req'd]

Can Mariah Help Celebriscent Industry Shake Off Its Doldroms?

• The more celebs who launch perfumes, the worse they all smell, apparently. Sales of the celebrity stink fell 17% last year. Can Mariah Carey save the celebrity-olfactory complex? 80% of white women and 90% of black women view Mimi favorably, according to surveys. Which is really the only important thing when we're deciding how to smell — whether we approve of the public persona carefully cultivated by the celebrity licensing his or her name to the perfume. Usher, Gwen, Diddy, and SJP are also launching scents.[WWD]
  
• In other smells-need-faces news, the face of the new Tom Ford fragrance is...Tom Ford! He rated EXTREMELY favorably with himself. [WWD]
  
• "Bush's decision to wear black socks with his Crocs was ill-considered. The combination makes one think of an old man on his way to the beach." [Washington Post]
  
• LVMH is holding a Fendi fashion show on the Great Wall of China. Because the Great Wall was about as effective as keeping out Genghis Kahn as Chinese anti-piracy laws are at eradicating fake baguettes? Because no one told them you can't really see the Great Wall from the moon? Or just cause it wouldn't be the fashion industry if it weren't psychotically bombastic? [Reuters]