• Model turned cookbook author Sophie Dahl is getting her own cooking show on BBC 2. Dahl says her show will cover on the "emotional" side of food. "It's cooking with an anecdotal thread, irreverent, unpredictable and not without flaw." [Sun]

• Tilda Swinton will be the Spring 2010 face of Pringle of Scotland. Ryan McGinley, who's also behind the current Levi's 501s campaign, will shoot the ads, and a short film featuring the actress. [WWD]
• Target reps denied that Anna Sui's upcoming collection for the retailer was in trouble for its Gossip Girl theme. (Rumors had circulated earlier this week that Sui's clothes were set to be worn by extras in a scene for an upcoming episode, but that executives at the chain were made uncomfortable by the teen soap's debauchery.) The Sui collection hits stores on September 14. [Stylelist]
• And nor, apparently, is it true that Kate Moss is going to be a part of Sir Philip Green and Simon Cowell's new global entertainment company. [WWD]
• Forever 21 is expanding into homewares and beauty. [WWD]
• Three armed men robbed a Cartier store in Cannes and got away — so far — with $20.9 million worth of jewels. [WWD]
• Two biographies of the late editor/muse Isabella Blow, who committed suicide in 2007 after failing several earlier attempts, are slated for release next year. Detmar Blow, her widower, is co-writing one with Tom Sykes, brother of the mostly intolerable Vogue scribe Plum. Fashion writer Lauren Goldstein Crowe is working on another. [NYObs]
• Frederic Bourke, the co-founder of Dooney & Bourke, remains the company chairman even after his conviction on conspiracy charges for his role in an investment group that bribed Azerbaijani officials with hundreds of millions of dollars. The investment group was seeking preferential consideration for its bid for the Azeri state-owned oil company, and although he beat money-laundering charges, Bourke now faces up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. "This is indeed an unfortunate situation," said Dooney & Bourke's lawyer, Thomas McAndrew. "It's tragic for Mr. Bourke. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family." [WWD]
• Everyone loves falling models. You've probably seen most of these — but there is one nasty spill from a Gharani Strok show we hadn't witnessed before. [Modelinia]
• The Project Runway model spin-off show that the producers have been threatening for ages now is a reality. Called Models of the Runway, the hour-long reality show will air after every episode of Project Runway's sixth season. [SassyBella]
• Amber Rose, who's now with Ford's celebrity division, has two Polaroids on Confessions Of A Casting Director. No word yet on the kinds of bookings she's attracting. [COACD]
• Karlie Kloss, on bagging the campaign for Marc Jacobs' fragrance Lola: "I didn't believe it, to be honest. I was shocked. I was like, 'No, you're kidding me. Me? Marc Jacobs knows my name?!' I was convinced that they accidentally drew my name out of hat or something." [W]
• Doutzen Kroes likes to read the New York Times. And Dutch papers: "I always try to keep up with what's going on in my own country too," said the model. "You have to!" [StyleFile]
• Times Critical Shopper Cintra Wilson, on Marni: "What I like best about Marni is that it gives a fashionable girl a creative direction if men finally dismay her past the point of no return. It provides a high-fashion shelter for those too badly scorched and shell-shocked by the battle of the sexes to return to the field. When you've really had it up to your push-up bra with the unfair sex, there may come a day when you stop waxing your legs and start hand-painting your car, brewing your own tattoo inks and converting your dining room into an abandoned-pet shelter — and Marni will be there for you." [NYTimes]
• Guiseppe Zanotti might be entering the mens footwear market. [WWD]
• Of course Alberta Ferretti has a sickeningly beautiful Italian country home. [FWD]
• Bebe is phasing out all Bebe Sport merchandise and stores. The replacement brand, targeting "value-oriented consumer spending," will be called PH8. [WWD]
• UK retail behemoth Asda's George line is offering deals on school uniforms that start at just £4.50. (Competitor Tesco's uniforms start at £3.75.) Asda's come with a money back guarantee against holes, rips, or untreatable stains — that occur within the first 100 days of purchase. Fast fashion really is a race to the bottom. [ToL]
• Supposedly, Jon Gosselin and Hailey Glassman's children's clothing line for Ed Hardy is back on. Christian Audigier, who earlier denied the project, told E! that it "should be" happening. [E!]
• Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler even took on the task of finding advertisers when they agreed to curate an issue of the Belgian title A Magazine. "They don't really have a staff when they hand you over the magazine," said Hernandez, "They're just like, ‘Here you go, now do it!'" At the launch party, cover star Chloë Sevigny turned up in a black leather Proenza Schouler jumpsuit. "I feel a bit like a super-slut superhero," she said. [NYObs]
• Simon Doonan: "I think the future of fashion lies in the hands of the consumer. All the press, art direction, hype and red-carpet celebs do not amount to anything at the end of the day if the customer is not on board. When Anna Wintour announced "Fashion's Night Out," I let out a loud cheer. Ms. Wintour is smart enough to understand it's time to swing the spotlight away from the front-row celebs and back into the fitting room. The customer is king…or queen." In the same interview, the Barney's creative director called not having a C.E.O. " a colossal drag." [WWD]
• An auction for bankrupt company Eddie Bauer's assets is taking place this Thursday, and VF Corp has announced its intention to bid. VF owns outdoorsy brands like The North Face, Eastpak, JanSport, and Eagle Creek. The successful bidder is expected to keep the 89-year-old retailer Eddie Bauer in operation. [WWD]
• Levi's lost money during its second quarter because of 3% drop in sales — but it still intends to keep opening new stores. [WSJ]
• In fact, everyone's opening boutiques like it's going out of style. Miu Miu just cut the ribbons on its first footholds in China and Turkey. [WWD]
• And Versace just opened its largest Middle Eastern store, a 6,480-sq. ft. shop in a Dubai mall. [WWD]
• Adjusted for exchange rate fluctuation, Burberry revenues sank 4% on last year during the second quarter. The company has already cut about 15% of its workforce. [Reuters]
• H&M;s June same-store sales fell a larger-than-expected 5%. [WWD]
• Wholesale prices on U.S.-made apparel fell 0.2% from May to June, but this June's prices were still 1.3% higher on last year's. [WWD]

• "Rumors are swirling" that Marc Jacobs and boyf may be adopting a baby girl. [New York]
• Damon Dash and Rachel Roy are divorcing. [NY Daily News]
• Why is Nicole Richie dressed as Lady Gaga? [BlackBook]

• Oy. Barneys eliminates 76 positions. [WWD]
• Tiffany's profits are down...although not as low as people expected! Silver linings...? [NYT]
• This 30-something reporter is worried that she's too old for "sheers." We feel her pain! "Then there is the problem of the sheer panel. You know the sort - where one five-inch peekaboo slot has the ability to make a slick cocktail dress look startlingly cheap." [Daily Mail]
• And another one down: menswear designer Mark Shale files for bankruptcy. [WWD]
• Lady Gaga has totally ripped off Hussein Chalayan's bubble dress. But they should feel honored! Besides, the original covers the vagina, a problem with Mme. Gaga rectified. [New York]
• Fashion types are awfully excited at the news of Marni's new summer capsule collection, which will feature "Marni's unmistakable abstract prints and block colour panels feature on easy-to-wear T-shirt dresses, casual jackets and mannish trousers." [ElleUK]
• So when she says, "her husband," is Michelle Obama really talking about "the media?" M.O. says: "He's always asking: ‘Is that new? I haven't seen that before.' It's like, Why don't you mind your own business? Solve world hunger. Get out of my closet." [New York Times via Fashionista]
• Taking the pulse of the times, Margiela opens a German flagship: "Eight white rickshaws and 10 white bikes ferried guests from the new shop on Maximilian Strasse to the art museum, while those who preferred to walk had only to follow the white Tabi toe-sock footprints and white helium balloons pointing the way." [WWD]
• Speaking of which: we can add nothing to this quote from VogueUK: "The yummy mummy enclave of London's W10 is set to become even yummier with the addition of Burberry's first UK childrenswear store on Westbourne Grove. [VogueUK]
• Fashion parties, on the other hand, are feeling the pinch: "At a recent soiree, there was a strict one tipple per guest rule." Accordingly, fashionistas are packing flasks. We know that game. [Fashionista]
• Patrick Robinson asserts, again, that he's changing the image of the Gap. Visits to the store fail to back this up. [VogueUK]
• Clarins is opening a series of in-department-store spas. [WSJ]

See, fashion is an industry based on image. Do you follow? Because, W has noticed, one of the effects of this is that people who work in fashion tend to be judged on how they dress. Kind of a lot, even. So many of them take the question of what to wear very seriously! And journalists, well, they find it interesting to write about in great detail without even a hint of the broader economic outlook or the narrowness of the audience that regularly wears $300 t-shirts from The Row and Lanvin flats.

Journalist Vanessa Lawrence's premise is almost too simple to be believed. "Working in fashion," she writes, "necessitates being fashionable from the moment you leave the house. And it is an implicit requirement that can prove exhausting for even the most passionate of clotheshorses....But when the weekend rolls around, they are faced with a dilemma: how to keep up appearances while giving their Yves Saint Laurent Tributes and Balenciaga sheaths a breather-if they choose to do so. Between trips to the gym, brunch dates and grocery store excursions, that 48-hour stretch is hardly a time for hibernation."

That's right. When you work in fashion, in addition to needing always to look your best, you might need to dress differently on different occasions. For instance, the weekend. Or the Hamptons! And any forays to distant nations — like the Upper East Side of New York, also known as "10021 land," where people wear these things called "blazers" and look "decked." What's a fashion worker bee to do?

Weirdly enough, everyone Lawrence quotes still seems to dress really well on the weekends. "When I'm in the Hamptons getting stuff at Citarella on the weekends, I'll see fashion girls who are in Marni and Lanvin in the daytime and I'm in a Tracy Feith cotton dress, Jack Rogers sandals and a ponytail," says designer Shoshanna Gruss, whose idea of 'weekend casual' is wholly relative. Others seem not to grasp Lawrence's issue: "French people don't really ‘underdress' on the weekends," remarks a confused Julia Restoin-Roitfeld.

There are plenty of moments of hilarity as the reporter valiantly tries to get a handle on the problem of what to wear in one's off hours. "Gruss's appropriately pulled-together look extends beyond Long Island summers to her Upper East Side residence," writes Lawrence; what range.

The thing is, anyone who spends a lot of time with magazine editors and stylists and General Fashion Personages knows a few things. For one, most of them do not have a lot of money — certainly not enough to be dropping $800 on stilettos every season. (Whether you've got a friendly quid pro quo going with a label's PR depeartment, or something occasionally goes missing from the styling closet is another issue.) For another, most of these people wear the same things every day. All-black ensembles are the norm, not the exception — because it's easy to look stylish in a dark monochrome, and you can switch out accessories without anything clashing, which is crucial if you spend a lot of time traveling and need to look like you have more outfits than you actually do. There are remarkably few people in fashion who consistently dress in ways that turn heads; pretty much everyone just wants to be stylish and look as nice as they can while they're working.

Which is fine, and normal, and fun — and the total opposite of the sort of sartorial-psychological weekend arms race Lawrence's article conveniently invents and then lavishes with attention, perpetuating the myth that all fashion folk are better-dressed than anyone else, and at all times. The real story is told in the pictures that accompany it: they're little images of the article's subject, photographed going about their daily lives, working in the fashion industry. Nobody looks bad — there's Charlotte Ronson at an event in a white dress and a black cardigan; Restoin-Roitfeld in denim shorts, a blue Oxford, and a blazer; Kate Etter in ballet flats, leggings, a green tunic and a long sweater. But nobody looks "fancy" or as purposefully styled as Lawrence's article implies is the industry norm. These look like outfits that have been doing reliable service in various forms for seasons already, and which will continue to see the light of day for a long time into the future. Bags and shoes might wash over Bryant Park like a tide each season, but a good pair of black pants is for the ages. And even people who work in fashion have enough good sense to know they can be worn on the weekends and to work.

Cartoon illustration via W

Weekend Warriors [W]

• 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]

• Courtney Love vs. PETA: "Yep, I'm a fur whore... I've been very, very good for a very, very long time, and this ermine is ancient and tattered and feels like it belonged to a Queen." [Daily Express]

• We know Kate Moss has been a big hit for TopShop but...Christina Aguilera? The megastore “believes she would add something new to TopShop. Christina is the blonde bombshell who is into pop whereas Kate is the rock chick and model." [The Mirror]
• The utilitarian shoes famously ducked by lame-ducker Bush has become best-sellers for their Istanbul cobbler. "I have a sensitive relationship with this shoe. I designed it myself, so it's like a father and a child. I was very happy when I saw it on the video," quoth he. [Christian Science Monitor]
• Boyfriend jeans have spread their poison to India. "You might soon see Bipasha Basu in John Abraham’s jeans and Kareena Kapoor in Saif’s denims. This trend — ‘Boyfriend jeans’ — has become quite a rage in west and is fast catching up here, with Delhi’s hi-street brand outlets stocking the style." [Hindustan Times]
• Embattled jersey-porn peddlers American Apparel are being sued by an alleged European whistle-blower. [WWD]
• The New Yorker does the wincey treatment on Marni."This holiday season, I longed for world peace, universal health care, an end to poverty and disease, and, most of all, one of those chunky Marni necklaces made from colorful shapes of melted and stretched bovine horn. Oh, and could I also have that strand of fabric-covered beads anchoring a large plastron of midnight-blue resin? And the pendant that looks like a conference pass except that, instead of a name tag inside the clear plastic pouch, there’s a grid of acrylic gems?" [New Yorker]
• Sahar Daftary, the model who tragically fell to her death from a Manchester apartment, may have recently suffered a miscarriage after learning her boyfriend was married. Her family denies suicide and has requested a second post-mortem. [Telegraph]
• Dspite generally disappointing results from Target's accessories collaborations (accessories just can't help looking kinda budget, we suppose) we're cautiously optimistic about Hayden-Harnett's upcoming line. Quoth the Brooklyn twosome: “The thought, print development and design approach for the Target collection was exactly the same as for our own collection - style, quality, function and uniqueness...The only real difference is that we didn't do the Target collection production ourselves.” [The Fashion Informer]
• Chanel lays off 200 as luxury market continues its slump. [Guardian]
• The luxe sector is hoping Asia will be a more fruitful market. [CBS News]
• Online sales were slightly better this holiday season...which is not to say good. [WSJ]
• Is this because more women are online nowadays? Because why would we be online except to SHOP TIL WE DROP?! [WWD]
• NB kids: the much-ballyhooed Thakoon for Target is spreading cut-rate patterned cheer as we speak! [Fashionista]
• Fabsugar has named Leighton Meester aka Blair Waldorf the year's best-dressed. What say you? [Fabsugar]

Okay, I'll admit it. The Teen Vogue way to wear this plaid D&G trench coat, which is not priced and probably won't be in stores until the temperature drops below 95, looks a lot more fun than the "run"-way. Maybe because the D&G way is…well…for starters, orange is a bad color for eyeshadow and…it looks like it was styled by the department of the Pentagon that conceives all the propaganda in charge of turning Americans against people wearing headscarves. (Or wait, Victoria Clarke!)

Behold: the punk pencil skirt, brought to you by Marc Jacobs. Everyone knows how Marc Jacobs invented grunge, but not everyone realizes he was one of the co-founders of punk as well. That is why his plaid at $238 is so affordable compared to Dolce & Gabbana's; he wants the kids to be able to pair his pieces with their $230 vintage T-shirts and $296 "Blue Blood" backpacks! He is like Ian McKaye in that way.







These are my personal faves. Doesn't it look like she just stepped out of a 1992 Mandee? Well except for the top part, which probably would have been a bodysuit. And she should probably be wearing a choker. I can't find a price tag on these House of Holland pants but their their website makes me want to kill myself.

• Model Agyness Deyn and designer Henry Holland went as Mr. and Mrs. Beetlejuice for Halloween. They did their own makeup. [Vogue UK]
  
• Jennifer Hudson on Vogue editor-at-large/hideous capelet advocate Andre Leon Talley: "I was like André, you don't have a cell phone? André, you don't e-mail? He's like, 'I don't e-mail honey, I don't do that,' I was like, 'No, no, no, we have to get that together." [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• Jacob "Jacob the Jeweler" Arabov has pleaded guilty to the charges of falsifying records and lying to a federal agent during a drug investigation. We hope all that ice can buy a man a carton of cigarettes in the big house. [WWD, sub req'd]

• Liz Claiborne is thisclose to selling off 4 of its final 9 brands. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Nina Ricci designer/wunderkind Olivier Theyskens is designing socialite Lauren Davis' wedding dress. Says Davis of the design, "[I]t's very bridal." Um. [Fashion Week Daily]
• T-shirt-for-a-cause alert! Marni shirts (ranging in price from $67 to $135) benefiting NGO Mani Tese, which helps underprivileged kids in developing countries. The shirts are portraits of six of the children who would benefit from this funding. Hmm. [Fashion Week Daily]
• What is model Iekeliene Stange's biggest secret in life? "I'm obsessed with roller-skating and having pancake parties!" Ah, models. [Fashion Week Daily]
• We confess: We would buy any magazine with Cate Blanchett on the cover. [Sassybella]

As Milan winds down, some of our favorite fashion critics [Ou est tu, Robin Givhan?] waxed not-so-poetic on what they've seen over the past few days. Gucci was universally slammed. Marni, Ferragamo, Dsquared, and Missoni got words good, bad, and ugly all thrown at them. The poison pens are out, there, and we're looking forward to the start of Paris Fashion Week on Monday - who shall be Cathy Horyn's next victim? In the meantime, we mourn those slain by Horyn this week.

"[A]nother Gucci glam slam for after dark" "energetic attempt to turn rock chick into rock chic just didn't happen" "pert party dresses and 1960s graphics...just seem so passé" "for people who party harder than they work" "many of her instincts are good" "parade of cute, commercial outfits" —Suzy Menkes, International Herald Tribune

"[A] difficult thing to categorize" "boyish checked shirts, and the odd little cropped biker jacket, including a noticeably good one in black snakeskin" "unrelenting combination of black, white, and a particularly harsh sunflower yellow" "the show was bumpy" "an off moment" —Sarah Mower, Style.com


Marni:
"A dungeon might be more fun than some of Consuelo Castiglioni's sad sacks" "cruelly linear shapes" "take some expensive cotton, print it with a streaky esoteric pattern and then make a shift that's gathered in random places" "If this weren't such a cool label, you'd wonder how much design or thought was involved." "just seemed boring" —Cathy Horyn, The New York Times

"[T]he story of the season" "the colors were a modern art riff" "intriguing example of the Marni duality" "plasticized finishes have lost their shock value" "powerful collection" "interpretation of the new fashion volumes" —Suzy Menkes, International Herald Tribune

"[A] staple formula" "one of the brands upon which Italy's pride as a style leader rests" "Castiglioni took the don't-mess-with-success approach" "easy-on-the-body loose-waisted shifts" "wonky-but-right abstract gathers and tucks" "seen before" "cute petaled cone hats" "didn't seem overly concerned with breaking too much new ground" —Sarah Mower, Style.com


Missoni:
"[F]resh" "sensuous lightness" "terrific tunics and smock dresses" "[o]ccasionally it worked" "hard to see what connected a baby-doll dress of beige silk knit and stone-embroidered chiffon with a mustard tunic of lace-cut cotton" —Cathy Horyn, The New York Times

"[A] friendly-scale line of highly identifiable knits and prints" "a bit of this and a bit of that" "has a place in a sunny holiday setting" "any piece would make a girl stand out at a relaxed party" "Missoni would do better to devise a more intimate way of showing them" —Sarah Mower, Style.com




D-Squared:
"[G]leaning the top notes of a supermarket tabloid and spitting them back to us" "a knucklehead version of Dolce & Gabbana" "popular fashion fantasy of an auto-repair garage" "you might wear at Cannes if your film career was tanking" "Rihanna looked fabulous and the gross guys in the front row grinned their heads off" —Cathy Horyn, The New York Times

"Rihanna...took to the runway for a very believable turn as a top model" "a lot of skin for a 9 a.m. show" "pretty standard stuff" "theme, loosely, was party girls and the grease monkeys who love them" "wasn't all trash and vaudeville" "cheap yet satisfying thrills" —Nicole Phelps, Style.com


Ferragamo:
"[O]n the wild side" "just a whiff of Africa" "sophisticated clothes" "accessories are king" —Suzy Menkes, International Herald Tribune

"[S]eized on the seventies" "hopscotching back through the decades...probably wasn't the best tack" "not without its better moments" "[t]he clothes could stand to be more distinctive" —Nicole Phelps, Style.com

• We are Nietzsche and God is dead: Paris Hilton's stint in jail saw her fragrance sales rise 30% higher than where they were at this time last year. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• The biggest conflict in the Middle East right now? Crocs. Price-fixing. The Holy Land. Is nothing sacred there? [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Daisy Fuentes: A sweatshop manufacturer no more! Now we can buy our Wet Seal clothes guilt-free! [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Today's installation of "When Designers Sell Out": The Alice Temperley for Moet & Chandon tote bag, specially designed with a compartment for toting... Moet. Ugh. [Vogue UK]
  
• Who says the English are all stodgy? They spend more on clothing than any other group of people in Europe, except the Italians. [Telegraph]

• Peter Som: next head designer at Bill Blass? And if so, will he break the Blass losing streak? [WWD, 2nd item]
• Vogue crisis! Marni designer's Consuelo Castiglioni's tent for a photoshoot was stolen! [WWD, 2nd item]
• In our 2nd "God is dead" moment — and it's not even 10 am! — Rugby by Ralph Lauren is to be featured at the coolest, most exclusive store in the whole wide world, Colette Paris. [WWD, sub req'd]
• The unexpected collaboration between film director David Lynch and the fashion industry continues with an exhibit of Lynch's photographs of... Christian Louboutin shoes. [WWD, 2nd item]
• French fashion house Ungaro's lead designer, Peter Dundas, has resigned. [Vogue UK]
• Permira's purchase of more shares of Valentino stock (they're now at 60.2% of the company) went through yesterday. [NYT]

Marni Fall 2007 = Cabbage Patch Kids? Faran Krentcil's charming mini-review. [Fashionista]

The New York Times reports the awful truth: Fucking Harvey Weinstein can help a fashionista go places. [New York Times]

Clothing that can warn you when you're packing on the pounds? We likey. [BoingBoing]

We love this Marimekko dress too. [NY Mag]

Petulant designers continue to throw tantrums over Cathy Horyn's reviews. [WWD]

What Oscar nominees may be wearing this Sunday. [WWD]