Label Closures

Christian Lacroix's namesake house teetered on the brink of collapse for the better part of this year. After filing for bankruptcy in Paris this May, owners the Falic Group announced a "restructuring" plan that would see the couture house shuttered, and the Lacroix name live on only in ready-to-wear and accessories licenses. After it became known that the house of Lacroix had never turned a profit in 22 years of operation, Christian Lacroix told the press he was "too angry to cry," and that he had been working without pay for over a year.

A frenzied campaign to save the business ensued. One couture client made an offer to buy; but during the bankruptcy process, suitors like France's Bernard Krief Consulting and Italy's Borletti Group dropped out. A relative of the Sheikh of Ajman in the United Arab Emirates made a serious offer, and seemed to speak seriously of Christian Lacroix private jets and Christian Lacroix yachts and Christian Lacroix lifestyle products; for a while, it seemed all would end well, and a fantastic couture collection was shown in July despite the cash-strapped state of affairs. However, the sheikh could not provide financial assurances to the bankruptcy court, and on December 1, Falic Group's own worst-case-scenario plans were put into place. At least 100 people lost their jobs. Christian Lacroix lost the rights to his own name, and started designing uniforms for French railway workers.

Luella, the critically acclaimed and very popular British label founded in 1999 by Luella Bartley, closed less than 12 months after being named Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards. The distributor withdrew its backing after the Italian company that produced Luella clothing went bankrupt. Bartley said at the time that she hopes to revive the label, when the credit crunch eases.

More avant-gard designers also have not fared well this year, as perhaps might be expected. Yohji Yamamoto announced it had filed for bankruptcy protection, with debts of around $68 million, in Japan this October. (It is continuing its operations while in bankruptcy.) Belgian designer Véronique Branquinho was forced to shutter her 12-year-old line in May. New York-based Phi, founded by billionaire's wife Susan Dell and designed by Andreas Melbostad, announced it would close up shop just this week.

Photo: A model in a 2004 Véronique Branquinho show in Paris.

Jennifer Lopez has had bad luck with her clothing lines. The star founded JLO clothing in 2007, and closed it two years later. Replacement label Justweet lasted two seasons. This June, her latest effort, Sweetface, also bit the dust. Good thing she's still raking in the dough from her perfumes.

You're Fired

After rumors swirled for months, Olivier Theyskens was finally fired from Nina Ricci. His last collection included towering heel-less Gothic boots, which later turned up in an evening ensemble worn by none other than Daphne Guinness. Peter Copping was his replacement. Anna Wintour, who allegedly gasped, "How could you do this to me?" when told the news, was so upset by the whole episode that she wrote a letter from the editor about it:

Olivier Theyskens's recent departure from Nina Ricci suggests to me that the vital role of artistic talent has been obscured in the current economic climate. My staff and I were shocked to learn that Theyskens's contract would not be renewed; and I am very concerned that the business of fashion is undervaluing the most important asset our industry requires: creative visionaries. There's a reason we continue to see Theyskens's influence everywhere, from catwalks to the mall. He'll be back, but fashion must hold its nerve. This is the mission that we at Vogue happily shoulder.

Despite this ringing endorsement, by the end of this year, all we've heard of the gifted Belgian is that he's writing a book and "discussing" a "retail concept" with Tory Burch's husband.

The whole situation at the house of Ungaro this year is just Kafkaesque in its web of intricate reversals of fortune and surprise non-sequiturs. After many strenuous denials that any such move might even be considered, might even be on the table, C.E.O. Mounir Moufarrige summarily fired young Colombian designer Esteban Cortazar for failing to generate sales and buzz for the esteemed, though somewhat dusty, fashion house — and, we later learned, for refusing to work with Lindsay Lohan.

New designer Estrella Archs was brought on board — with La Lohan as her "artistic adviser" sidekick. ("It could work," said Moufarrige.) Their collection of very short, very tight, and very embellished dresses was widely panned by critics and the line was dropped by most of its U.S. distributors; Lohan later distanced herself from the decision to style the show models with heart-shaped sparkly pasties over their nipples. Then the Times of London visited her and found a disturbing scene:

The room looks like the aftermath of one of those home-alone teen parties advertised on Facebook that then gets horribly out of hand. Chaos rules. Designer clothes are strewn everywhere; most of them from a sweep of the Emanuel Ungaro boutique that Lohan made upon her arrival in Paris, walking away with an estimated £90,000 worth of free clothes. Shoes, make-up, jewellery, even a stray lampshade obscure the hotel carpet. Her passport is in here somewhere. She's been looking for it for days.

Even Ungaro himself spoke out to attack Archs and Lohan's efforts; Moufarrige denied the disastrous reception had caused any tensions, and said Lohan would stay. Then he himself abruptly quit. Stay tuned for what happens next!

That Old-Time Revival Feeling

Halston was revived. Again. This time designer Marios Schwab was chosen to helm it, and former designer Marco Zanini and stylist Rachel Zoe were ditched.

Halston book published by Phaidon


Former Valentino chief executive Matteo Marzotto and Marni chief executive Gianni Castiglioni bought the rights to the house of Vionnet in February. The clothes, when they came, were perhaps the biggest disappointment of the year. Hint to designers: There is so much you can do with Vionnet! The real Vionnet frikking invented cutting on the bias, okay? Have the temerity to at least try something daring.

Bill Blass was one of the recession's earliest casualties. The talented creative director, Peter Som, and all the other employees were fired unceremoniously just before Christmas last year; the bankrupt label was later sold, for a bargain basement price of $10 million. (In January of this year, just before his planned show at New York Fashion Week, Peter Som lost the financial backing for his own label, too.) Just this month, the new owners, Peacock Holdings, announced Jeffrey Monteiro would be taking over the designing reins. We'll see his first collection — the Times called Monteiro's clothes "nothing startling" — next winter.

Photo of a model wearing Peter Som's Fall 2008 collection for Bill Blass, the bankrupt company's most recent.


Biba. Again.

Beyond Biba documentary poster via FashionTribes


You're Hired!

Jil Sander has the unusual distinction of having been fired from her namesake label by its new owners not once, but twice. After being told her services were no longer required by Prada group owner Patrizio Bertelli for the second time, in 2004, the German designer began a long period of fashion exile. (Perhaps she had a non-compete clause to abide by.) This year, she was spotted at an industry textiles fair scouting for fabrics — and tongues started wagging. A collaboration with Uniqlo was the surprise result, and Sander's minimalist eye is now employed as the Japanese fast-fashion chain's creative director. Her second +J collection launches in the new year.

Clothing Lines Of The Stars

In 2009, everyone who was anyone got a clothing line. (Or that potentially even more remunerative consolation prize, a namesake perfume.) In the stormy waters of a recession, perhaps it's no surprise that plenty of megabrands would seek the safe harbor of a celebrity and her or his contractually obligated promotional heft.

Not one month after finally shuttering Christian Lacroix, the Falic Group announced the launch of an Eva Longoria perfume. Despite the fact that Longoria is allergic to perfume. Miley & Max Azria did a clothing line for Wal-Mart. Toby Keith sold plaid shirts; he had that much in common with the Kings of Leon. Kevin Federline announced a children's line. Mischa Barton said, of her headband line, "People want to see that you can deliver and do, like, a good job."

Richie Rich rebounded from the 2008 closure of Heatherette with an "eco-friendly" swimwear line he created with Pamela Anderson. (I actually saw the launch of this live, in New Zealand. Richie Rich rollerskated, and the runway show concluded with Anderson, clad only in a scarf, accidentally flashing the audience during her bow.) Brad and Angelina did a serpentine collection for the jewelers Asprey. It started at $525, for a baby spoon.


Whitney Port tried to get Bergdorf Goodman to buy her clothing line in the finale of The City. The Olsen twins, after a couple years hitting the top of the market with The Row and Elizabeth and James, returned to their mass tween roots with a JC Penney's collection called Olsenboye. Emma Watson said the idea of a perfume named after her made her want to vomit, but did an ethical clothing collection with People Tree. (Mischa's other line, Tree People, sadly remains hotly anticipated, at least by me.) Katie Holmes released weird jumpsuits with stylist Jeanne Yang under the label Holmes & Yang.

And I leave you with news of the strangest star collaboration of all 2009: the announcement, in June, that John Malkovich would show a line called Technobohemian at Milan's men's wear week. We may not be John Malkovich, but we can dress like him.

What will 2010 bring? This was the year of huge falls in sales and constant readjustments; 2010's shocks, coming after this raft of closures and downsizings and layoffs and consecutive quarters of declining year-on-year results will, hopefully, seem and be modest. Nobody in the fashion industry is out of the woods yet, but perhaps it's not naïve to hope that the rate of attrition should at least slow down.

The rate of stupid celebrity fashion collab debuts, however, is a trend I expect to remain strong. At least Lindsay Lohan's second collection for Ungaro should be worth watching.

• Rachel McAdams — with a mop of, dare we say it, could that be Kate G.-inspired hair — graces the January cover of Vogue. McAdams went to a couple fashion shows with Anna Wintour in September. [JustJared]

• John Galliano is getting into the men's wear business. Not satisfied with Christian Dior, Dior Haute Couture, John Galliano, and Galliano, the British designer will present his first men's collection at men's wear week in Milan next month. There will be knitwear, leather, shirts, jackets, and jeans, and the pieces be available for sale in the fall. [FWD]
• Sienna Miller was asked whether she was a fan of the January issue of V, which will feature plus-size models. "I suppose that's something you'd have to say — I couldn't sit here and say, 'No, I'm not,'" said the actress, who modeled briefly before switching codes. "But I sincerely believe that that's more beautiful than someone who is poker-thin. I really do. I would love to have boobs to go with my hips, but I don't — that's just not the way the cookie crumbled." [The Cut]
• An LVMH executive tweeted today that Marc Jacobs and Victoria Beckham were talking together about a line with fur. [Fashionologie]
• Britney Spears' upcoming Candie's campaign was shot this week by none other than Annie Leibovitz. That woman must be a total spendthrift to be bankrupt. [ONTD]
• Alberta Ferretti, who normally shows her Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti collection at New York Fashion Week, is downsizing, probably to a presentation, for this February. Ferretti herself may not even make the trip from Milan. [FWD]
• In case any of you were wondering: Those new Louis Vuitton ads that look kind of like low-rent Vermeers, and feature models doing leather work by hand with waxed linen thread? They are as fake as the pebble-finish coated canvas on a monogram bag. Louis Vuitton products are mass manufactured out of machine-cut pattern pieces by people at industrial sewing machines who do piecework. (Next up we plan to exclusively reveal that some of the cheese you eat may not, in fact, come from happy cows.) [BW]
• Barneys New York's parent company, Dubai World, received a $10 billion loan from Abu Dhabi to solve a cash flow emergency. This is fueling speculation that Barneys may be sold, although insiders say no sale is imminent. [WWD]
• More Michael Jackson memorabilia is hitting the auction circuit. Shoes which Michael Jackson moonwalked in for a concert on September 10, 2001, are being sold off along with a fedora from the same gig. [Mirror]
• After leaving fashion, Georges Marciano of Guess? jeans fame engaged in a kind of epic crack-up. He once dreamed of becoming governor of California, but his own paranoia, and a series of lawsuits, have him poised to lose a $500 million empire. [LATimes]
• Some people with too much time on their hands scoured The Fashion Spot, counting editorial models in the various world editions of Vogue for 2009. 17-year-old Karlie Kloss, reigning favorite of American Vogue and Vogue Italia, won; Carine Roitfeld's model of choice, Lara Stone, came in second. Jourdan Dunn, who spent nine months of this year pregnant, still managed to come in ninth. [Fashin]
• Nylon managed to say some nice things about the Olsen twins' JC Penney line, Olsenboye. Despite the fact that one of the pieces is a direct knock-off of Stephen Sprouse's graffiti pieces for Louis Vuitton. [Nylon]
• Same-store sales at H&M fell 9% on last year this November, marking the seventh straight month of falling comparable sales at the Swedish chain. [WSJ]
• Executives from Kohl's came to New York last week to look for real estate for what would be the company's first Manhattan location. Then New Yorkers could shop Lauren Conrad's collection in person! [WWD]

For starters, those earrings on the cover are $19,600. They're not just earrings, see, they're 7.67 natural amoeba diamond slice earrings in 18K gold with colored diamonds. Plus, they possess the power to hypnotize!

This, friends, is a candle. A pretty candle, and yet: something you set fire to. $395. Are you feeling witty yet?

Rose gold chain with diamonds, $4900. Skinny jeans, $194. Hairdo that involves refereeing a cock fight: Priceless.

This Lacoste polo featuring a crocodile clusterfuck is a limited edition collaboration with Brazilian designers Humberto and Fernando Campanas and "reflects their commitment to creative chaos and triumphantly simple solutions." Witty! And $165.

"You can pretend to be serious; you cannot pretend to be witty." — Sascha Guitry

Honestly, I like the idea of peppering the catalog with witticisms, like this one, even though I had never heard of Sacha Guitry. I looked him up! He was a French actor, dramatist and director who wrote his first play at age 17. He wrote and directed and acted in Pasteur, a biography of the famous scientist; and there's something in his IMDb biography about how he lived a lavish lifestyle while the Germans occupied France in the '40s… He was jailed for a few months after the liberation of Paris. He was married five times, all to actresses who co-starred in either his plays or films. And! His name was apparently spelled Sacha, not Sascha.

But none of this is the point! The point is: That hair bauble, which would most certainly instantly fall out of my hair and through a sewer grate, is $1,990.

"Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you." — Carl Jung

"Show me someone willing to pay $2,900 for these earrings and I will show you someone rich and dumb." — Yours truly.

There's a Dorothy Parker quote on the lingerie page, where $125 gets you a strip of silk for romantic, light BDSM evenings.

Dammit, if I had $365 and poor eyesight, I would love a pair of Albert Maysles glasses. He directed Grey Gardens! He's avuncular! He rocks! And the Maysles Institute in Harlem is a nonprofit organization that provides training and apprenticeships to underprivileged individuals. And you can see movies there, too!

A "choosing between two evils" quote on page where both items are made of rabbit fur? Witty?

"If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?" —Abraham Lincoln.

New idea: LOLFoundingFathers.

Oh, hey, if this loose, body-disguising psuedo-homeless style looks familiar, it's because these garments are from The Row, aka Mary-Kate and Ashley's clothing line. $490 for the cardigan, $225 for the tank and $1,700 for the pants. That's $2,145 to look like you just rolled out of bed and threw on some laundry from your floordrobe.

Since alligators have been seen in the Mississippi River, a Mark Twain quote on this page is actually an inspired choice.

Barneys New York [Official Site]

Earlier: Ashro: Stop Being Such A Slob And Get Yourself A Suit, Hat & Wig
19 Crappy & Crazy Christmas Gifts From Sky Mall
Dean & Deluca Thanksgiving: Mouth-Watering, Wallet-Emptying
All previous catalog posts

• Zoe Kravitz, negotiating the transition from Famous Daughter to Celebrity, has committed the necessary act of being photographed by Bruce Weber for a perfume campaign. Vera Wang was the lucky partner in fame-chasing. Shall we expect a reality show? [People]

• Judge Richard Goldstone, who authored a U.N. report about Israel's war crimes, now has the honor of his name, embroidered in Arabic by local women, being used to sell scarves in Gaza. Shop owners say the scarves are selling out. [UPN]
• That rumor we mentioned yesterday about Georgia Jagger proved true. She will be the face of Versace's spring campaign. [WWD]
• Barbara Orbison, widow of Roy, has launched a perfume named for her late husband's best-known song: Pretty Woman. [WWD]
• Lily Cole: "I'm very good at making salads, which probably sounds rather meek and model-like, but they're fancy salads. I add things like figs, blue cheese and pine nuts. I never follow a recipe –- I even make cakes by guessing what is the right amount of flour and the right number of eggs." Jesus, Cole, do you fly planes and mentally calculate pi to the 100th decimal and cure cancer, too? [Telegraph]
• The Kimberley Process was set up in 2002 as an international regulatory body for the diamond trade. Incorporating governments, businesses, and NGOs and civilian groups, the goal was to end the trade in blood diamonds, which has destabilized the continent for decades. But at the group's annual meeting in Namibia, it failed to expel Zimbabwe from membership, despite a Kimberley fact-finding mission in June that discovered that Zimbabwean diamond miners are subject to constant government harassment, and that over 100 had been killed in the past year. The income from the mines, an estimated $1 million a month, is used by Robert Mugabe to prop up his regime. But Zimbabwe can't be expelled because the Kimberley group's own rules require unanimity before such a step is taken. (Looks like Kimberley might be the League of Nations of the gem trade.) The Women's Wear Daily journalist reports a mine owner said "it was up to consumers whether they should buy diamonds, when doing so could fund tribal warfare, genocide and terrorism." When the C.E.O. of a mining company tells you not to buy diamonds... [WWD]
• Mulberry is doing a line of laptop bags with Apple. [Elle UK]
• Justin Timberlake's William Rast is expanding. The company opened three stores in California this month, and plans another 40-50 by 2012. [WWD]
• Zac Efron says he wore his favorite jeans every day for eight weeks to get them to look perfectly lived-in. [WWD]
• Nicole Ritchie will be doing a House of Harlow 1960 collaboration with Bebe. The range will cost $38-$98, and one bracelet, for $25, will have "a portion" of its sales donated to the Ritchie-Madden Children's Foundation. The collection will hit stores on November 12. [People]
• Vogue editor Lauren Santo-Domingo says that the office normally celebrates birthday parties with pizza and cupcakes — but that the question of whether or not to surprise Anna Wintour with a cake with 60 candles was obviated by her being in Washington, D.C., on the big day. "She's in Washington right now being anointed. She's being knighted by President Obama — I think that's a pretty good 60th-birthday present," said Santo-Domingo. Actually, she was appointed to a White House committee. [The Cut]
• Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen had a beauty line at Wal-Mart called mary-kateandashley. Who knew? Now you can't buy it anymore, because it's dead. [WWD]
• Here's Rosie O'Donnell's account, given on her radio show, of a conversation she had with designer Eileen Fisher: "I see [her] and say, ‘I love you, and you have helped me. You can't imagine how much stress I had in my life because of clothing but once I found you three years ago everything changed. On behalf of every plus-sized woman in the world, I just want to thank you. And I want to ask you why do you only have the [plus] sizes down in SoHo?'" Fisher responded, "That's not really our demographic…you know, we sell a lot of size two." O'Donnell quipped, "Oh yeah, the plus-size two?" Fisher said, "No, the regular size two." O'Donnell leaped to the obvious conclusion. "So, you're trying to design for everyone and you don't really want the association with the plus-size people?" Fisher's response? "Well, it's just not the image that we're going for." Ouch. "It was like someone stabbed me in the heart. I was like, ‘OK, Eileen, we're broken up. I am wearing Donna Karan from now on.'" Sometimes meeting your idols is a terrible idea. But if Eileen Fisher is serious about passing over her established audience of professional women of means and age (a demographic which is severely under-served by the rest of the fashion industry) in favor of young things who want to wear leggings, then Fisher will probably get her comeuppance in the marketplace, won't she? [WWD]
• Madonna donated a pair of Christian Dior shoes to a charity working to end discrimination against Roma people, and the shoes fetched $16,600 at auction. [SB]
• Helena Rubinstein is coming back to the U.S. market with a new perfume, and Demi Moore as its face. [WWD]
  [WWD]
• If you live in New York, and somehow lack for opportunities to see men in strange outfits, you could go to Miss J's book signing next Tuesday at the TriBeCa Barnes & Noble. He wrote a tome entitled, Follow The Model: Miss J's Guide To Unleashing Presence, Poise, and Power. [Barnes & Noble]
• If you wanna chain-smoke your downtown fashion people-spotting, Carine Roitfeld is rumored to be coming to New York next Monday for an art opening. (Only semi-related: we saw Olivier Zahm at the Tracey Emin opening last night. Outside the dusky confines of the [late, lamented] Beatrice Inn, we had the revelation that the Purple Fashion editor looks exactly like Rick Moranis. Or Booger from Revenge of the Nerds; we couldn't decide. Snap poll?) [P6]
• Michael Kors says he enjoyed his Utah vacation. He went horse-riding, which he liked, and for a ride in a hot-air balloon, which left him "freaked out." "Face your fears!" says the designer. [WWD]
• Sanjana Jon, sister of rapist designer Anand, showed her new fashion collection in Delhi. It's "inspired" by her brother. [NYPost]
• Bankrupt German fashion house Escada has been bought by a daughter-in-law of Lakshmi Mittal, the Indian steel baron. [NYTimes]

• Cindy Crawford hasn't been back in the public eye for naught as of late — turns out she's launching a homewares line with J.C. Penney, which will be in stores nationwide this September.

Cindy's tablewares, window treatments, and bedding will be "moderately priced." Don't call her cheap, please. [WSJ]

• Men's boutiques are learning the simplest way to make a dude buy clothes: liquor him up. One, in the West Village, offers five different kinds of scotch! Ladies, let's not stand for this discrimination. [WSJ]
• I cannot improve, nor make sense of, this anecdote about Hermès announcing its marketing theme for the year, "Beautiful Escape." The French luxury brand had editors assemble at a wholesale food market outside Paris at 5 a.m., and then, "Wearing white smocks, the fashion pack was eerily silent filing through the giant meat locker — where a young woman in a tuxedo tinkled a gleaming black grand piano — but woke up in the fragrant cheese hall when a mouse-headed waiter glided towards them on Rollerblades offering a tray of cubed cantal. The tour ended with gourmet samplings - from oysters to crepe suzette — while Hermès' artistic director Pierre-Alexis Dumas led a crew of cyclists through the dining hall, capping off a quirky morning." [WWD]
• Elizabeth and James, the Olsen twins' second-highest-end line (after their abominably priced The Row) is doing just great. [NYDN]
• Roberto Cavalli is still toying with th idea of selling part of his company. The unpredictable designer met with Italian private-equity group Clessidra SGR SpA on Tuesday, apparently to discuss selling a 20% stake in the Cavalli empire, but there's no news on the deal because Mr. Leopard Print Sparkle Cleavage Lamé knows he won't get as much for his business right now as he would when the economy improves. Interestingly, Cavalli said he will keep working with Ittierre SpA, the company that is the sole contracted licensee for the Just Cavalli line until 2010, despite Ittierre's bankruptcy. When Ittierre went bust, it delivered Just Cavalli's fall line late and poorly constructed, forcing Cavalli to cancel the younger line's runway show just days ahead. At the time, Cavalli ranted angrily for minutes in a variety of languages to a roomful of journalists about his disappointment with Ittierre, before bursting into tears. But he can't afford, or doesn't want to afford, to break the contract. [WWD]
• Valentino says Michelle Obama will be the next Jackie O. Because that hasn't occurred to anyone else ever before. [E! Online]
• James Perse is getting tough on the use and return of editorial samples. Normally, when magazines use clothing and accessories for a shoot, these items are only borrowed — and generally not from off the sales floor, either, they're specially made samples that fashion houses keep just for sending out to magazine editors. (That's how come me and my ilk are allowed to punch stillettoes through skirts, smear lipstick on collars, and sweat through the hottest days of the year into boiled-wool coats — the garments are just going to be recycled into further editorial use.) Ordinarily, the labels are only too happy for their samples to see such abuse, because a credit in a magazine editorial is free advertising. Not so L.A. t-shirt maker James Perse! The label is going to start charging editors 90% of retail value for the use of their samples — part of the cost will be refunded if the samples are returned within 10 days of being sent out, but returns will only be processed through their L.A. headquarters, not any of their local showrooms worldwide. The first step to getting a James Perse item in your next editorial, stylists, isn't a call to the label's PR rep, but the filling out of a formal credit application. [WWD]
• Bruno movie trailer! [Mediaweek]
• Retail employment was down again in March. Specialty stores cut 6,200 jobs, and department stores eliminated 300 nationwide. [WWD]

• More rumored changes for The Greatest Show On Earth, Project Runway: Season 6 of the show, the first to be broadcast on Lifetime, may feature "More Than A Pretty Face" magazine Marie Claire in lieu of Elle as the affiliated fashion magazine sponsor. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Whoah: Are New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn and Skeletor/stylist Rachel Zoe more similar than we could have ever imagined? Possibly, if it's true that Cathy Horyn was also mysteriously not invited to the dinner and dancing portion of tonight's Costume Institute festivities. [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• And what does legendary costume designer Bob Mackie not like about the fashion industry? "Doing a fashion show that's on for 20 minutes and then it's over and everybody runs to the next one. Nobody sings, nobody dances, nobody tells jokes. I found it quite unsatisfying." I second that emotion. [WWD, sub req'd]

• It's so hard to be Gossip Girl's Penn Badgley: "I wear a lot of Burberry at events and the brand's been really supportive of me since the beginning. On the show, we wear H&M suits." [Fashion Week Daily]
• Sex and the City costume designer/fun drunk lesbian Pat Field: Now designing Diet Coke bottles. [FabSugar]
• More pearls of wisdom from Tim Gunn: "Always keep your tux jacket closed in photos." [Page Six]
• Starring in the latest Gap ads are actors Ginnifer Goodwin, Liv Tyler, Hugh Dancy, Fabcon Clemence Poesy, Catalina Moreno, Edgar Ramirez, photographers Scott Schuman (The Sartorialist) and Ryan McGinley, and also Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman, model Chanel Iman, Visioniare's Cecilia Dean, and Princess Coldstare herself, Leigh Lezark. [FabSugar]
• Leona Lewis: The latest celeb to believe she can be a fashion designer. A vegan fashion designer, that is. Watch your back, Portman and McCartney. [Fashionista]
• Lord & Taylor is launching a new "reality" advertising campaign, with TV and radio spots featuring real customers "ambushed' in their stores by "celebrity stylist" Robert Verdi and quizzed on their shopping experiences. Oh Lord. [WWD, sub req'd]
• WWD asks: "Tax Rebate Checks: Will They Spend Or Will They Save?" [WWD, sub req'd]
• More stars coming to tonight's Vogue and Armani-sponsored Costume Institute gala: Kate Bosworth, Thandie Newton, Audrey Tatou, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jourdan Dunn, Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann, and Roberto Bolle will all be there. In other words: Lots of good photos for us to dish on tomorrow. [WWD, 1st item]
• Also: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Gisele Bündchen and Tom Brady, Scarlett Johansson, Iman and David Bowie, Sofia Coppola, Karen Elson and Helena Christensen. [Vogue UK]
• Mary Alice Stephenson (formerly the fashion director at Harper's Bazaar and the co-host of America's Most Smartest Model on Vh1) is shooting a special for E! on tonight's festivities, set to air May 8th for the viewing pleasure of us plebs. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Elle editors might have put Kelly Clarkson on the cover of the mag, but that doesn't mean they think she's very fashionable. [Page Six]
• Marc Jacobs: Now in Moscow. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Former model Josie Maran may have fake breasts tits. [Awful Plastic Surgery]
• The fashion on Gossip Girl? Kinda crazy. But that's why we love it so. [EW]
• The rock stars today? The just don't dress like they used to. [LATimes]

Sarah Jessica Parker
SJP taught us to have fun with fashion. Why not wear a fanny pack with a peasant top and a mini-skirt with feathers coming out of the ass?

Paris Hilton
Class, taste, sophistication: Paris Hilton made a name for herself for doing nothing other than getting dressed and showing up! With a net worth over $5 million, clearly, the lady did something right.

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
Everything boho was new again when the sisters Olsen piled on the layers and made looking homeless something to aspire too. What came first, the Lagerfeld or the Olsens? Ha!

Nicole Richie
Her Califorina cool style makes us want to throw a bandana around our heads, an easy denim mini around our waists, and get to the beach (and the bar!) ASAP! Baby Harlow optional. ;)

Lindsay Lohan
Girlfriend owns the leggings trend and how sweet it is!

Rachel Zoe
She is so thin. It is so awesome. Also, long flowy dresses are fun!

Miley Cyrus
The youngest style icon on the block, Miley manages to do the near-impossible, creating looks both age-appropriate and aspirational.

Victoria Beckham
A busy mama-of-three, she manages to look polished all the time. This soccer game-watching outfit proves that Posh is always dressed for success!

Lauren Conrad
Jersey dressing was never so easy until Lauren Conrad taught us how!

Amy Winehouse
When she told us to go back to black, we did...and how! Beehives away!

[Images via Bauer-Griffin.]

Hoffman realized the book had been published after seeing a photo of Peggy and her daughter, Rya, in the Times' "Home & Garden" section last week. That story described Peggy's pink hoodie, "gangland slang" and acrylic nails, and congratulated her for her grit in overcoming her underprivileged existence. (Sample passage: "'The first time my o. g. visited me here'" — meaning original gangster, the gang's leader — 'he slept 20 hours straight. In L.A. your anxiety is so high you sleep three hours a night.'") The Times had been creaming themselves over Love and Consequences until the fabrication news broke. In addition to the "Home & Garden" profile, the notoriously poison-tongued and powerful book critic Michiko Kakutani had given Love an outright rave.

Sarah McGrath, Peggy's editor at Riverhead (the same imprint that published James Frey's My Friend Leonard), is devastated. "It's very upsetting to us because we spent so much time with this person and we felt such sympathy for her and she would talk about how she didn't have any money or any heat and we completely bought into that and thought we were doing something good by bringing her story to light," McGrath told the Times. McGrath added: "There was a way to do this book honestly and have it be just as compelling." (McGrath is absolutely correct. If you want to read a well-researched book about the inner city world of drug running, try Random Family by Adrien Nicole LeBlanc.)

Peggy sounds only semi-contrite about lying her way to a book deal. "For whatever reason, I was really torn and I thought it was my opportunity to put a voice to people who people don't listen to...I was in a position where at one point people said you should speak for us because nobody else is going to let us in to talk." Peggy did work with gang members in South Central and, for a time, attended Grant High in a poor section of the Valley; she based the book on the experiences of those around her. "Trust no one. Even your own momma will sell you out for the right price or if she gets scared enough," she writes in Love and Consequences. Sadly, book editors may have to start heeding that advice more and more.

Author Admits Acclaimed Memoir Is Fantasy [New York Times]
A Refugee From Gangland [New York Times]
However Mean the Streets, Have an Exit Strategy [New York Times]
Gangbanger Margaret B. Jones Is Really Peggy Seltzer, Valley Girl [Mediabistro]
Why Do We Keep Publishing Fake Memoirists? [Mediabistro]

Related: Fabricating Writer's Hilarious Interview

L to R: The stripes are like a bad Missoni, only this isn't even knit — it's just a tee; unlike this season's designers on Project Runway, at least the girls understand how to make pants? And look! They included kiddie clothes in the line too!
L to R: Oh God, this one looks straight out of the Lauren Conrad Collection; High-waisted skinny trousers are frequently unfortunate; You could just go get the tank at American Apparel and buy a Bedazzler and make the skirt yourself.
L to R: Guaranteed to look bad on most bodies; guaranteed to look trashy; okay, this dress is actually pretty nice, if you're into the Laurel Canyon look.
L to R: Is this look not dead yet?; swirls, sequins, dizziness; the new power suit?
L to R: A great looking dress if you're a tall, skinny girl with no boobs; again with the stripes?; a good blazer, yes, but can its equivalent be found at Forever21?
L to R: To both of these looks I say: How old are we? Seriously?

• Yup, we're still bitter about not being at London Fashion Week. The Stella McCartney for Adidas show was held at an amusement park at which the models and guests frolicked, playing mini-golf and eating hot dogs. [Vogue UK]
  
• OMG. David Beckham is rumored to be designing the costumes for the Spice Girl Tour. OMG. [Vogue UK]
  
• Snaps to ELLE.com for recognizing that the fashion industry is just like high school. And even bestowing the superlatives to go along with it. And it's even almost bitchy! Just like high school should be! [Elle.com]
  
• At age 80 Eartha Kitt is the face of the new MAC line "Smoke Signals." And at age 80 she has better legs than we ever will too. Purrrrrrfect. [WWD, sub req'd]

• Louis Vuitton is showcasing the works of Moscow artists in its Paris store. Just like Sherri Shepherd (and Tom Friedman) told us, the world is flat. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Paul Smith introduces his first women's fragrance, Paul Smith Rose, which is inspired by the, uh, Sir Paul Smith Rose that his wife had named for him. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Aretha Franklin does PR speak about Sean "Diddy" Combs new fragrance "Unforgivable for Women": "I like [Unforgivable for Women] because it's sexy and refreshing and has a lot of really good elements to it." [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Meanwhile Combs has posted the video advertisement for Unforgivable for Women that was banned from TV on his MySpace page "I feel strongly that this movie needs to be viewed and judged by the public and not executives." Dude - it's an ad for perfume not Do The Right Thing. [Vogue UK]
  
• Want your own Versace-and-Liz-Hurley-esque black safety pin dress? London department store Harrods now says it will whip you up a custom version. For about $22,000 that is. [Sassybella]
  
• Virtual Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen dolls. For reals. [Fashion Week Daily]

• Kate Moss' line for Topshop arrives in New York at Barney's stores. Says Barney's creative director Simon Doonan: "I have been at Barney's for twenty years and nothing... has rivaled the insane, frenzied build-up to the arrival of Kate and her Topshop line. I would put it right up there with the invasion of the Faulkand Islands and the first episode of AbFab, or at least the launch of the DVD of AbFab." Spoken like a true queen! [Barney's Babble]
• Kate Moss' U.S. entourage includes her favorite DJs, who traveled with her to the Barney's flagship last night. [Vogue UK]
• If you can't get to Barney's the moment they open today, seems you stand no chance of ever being clad by Kate: The Topshop line has already sold-out on Barney's.com. [The Shophound]

• Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen will solidify their standing as eating-disordered role models to fashion-obsessed girls everywhere when they host the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Awards dinner on June 3. [WWD]
• Bottega Veneta is big in Japan. Their largest flagship ever just opened in the Ginza neighborhood of Tokyo. [WWD]
• Steve & Barry's is becoming the place for celebrity clothing lines, it seems. First Sarah Jessica Parker's Bitten; up next is a line from teen queen Amanda Bynes, due in stores Aug 10. [WWD

A certain androgynous Weimar Republic, Cabaret-style pervades the black-on-black collection, which has the occasional fur and lots of too-short jersey shifts (the better to show off your malnourished thighs with, naturally). The styling is the most interesting part of the looks, with garter belts, center-parts, and strong brows featured front-and-center.

Our verdict? We were hoping for something a little more... shocking. Even H&M is more fashion-forward. And the Olsens expect women to shell out the big bucks at Barneys come fall for these ho-hum looks? Not in a New York Minute.

See MK & Ashley's The Row Collection! [FabSugar]