Jezebel: mary-kate and ashley

Zoe Kravitz For Vera; Mary-Kate & Ashley Close Beauty Line

Jenna — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:30:00 EST

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]

Nicole Richie's Jewelry Line Is Cute, Cheap

Sadie — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:30:00 EDT

Nicole Richie's cheap, chunky jewelry line is actually pretty get-behind-able. [FabSugar]
PETA protesters continue the conversation by appearing at an Olsen Twins book signing with the placard: "Trollsens: UR Hags From Hell." [New York Magazine]
Kate Moss is going to co-chair the Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute Gala, to which we are already not invited. [Telegraph]
Apparently the theme is "the model as muse." Feeling better about being left out! [WWD]
Candie's anti-teen sex ad stirs controversy; we're just wondering when a brand that featured Jenny McCarthy on a toilet became a moral authority. [AdRants]

Tom Ford's Isherwood adaptation, A Single Man, is cast! "(Colin) Firth is the gay man, an Englishman and professor who feels like an outsider in Los Angeles. (Matthew) Goode is the boyfriend who dies in a car accident and appears in flashbacks. (Julianne) Moore plays a friend of the professor." [Yahoo]
The Columbia Journalism Review is sick of talking about Michelle Obama's wardrobe. [CJR]
Tell that to J.Crew! They're cashing in on Michelle Obama's endorsement. [Politico]
And to all the random European designers inspired by the campaign! [Telegraph]
Meanwhile, J. Crew's brought on a new head of menswear, who says that men "don't appreciate or want change. They're set in their ways." [Men.Style]
Perk of being an It Brand? Hanging with whoever you want. Here, the Rodarte girls chill with Kim Gordon, say "I think music, film and art influence Laura and me more than anything else. We grew up near Santa Cruz and I can remember being so intrigued by skaters and psychedelic ’80s hippies who listened to Peter Gabriel. My environment was a huge inspiration." [BlackBook]
Zac Efron wears Calvins, apparently. [New York Magazine]
Things are getting really ugly in the Project Runway legal battle, with accusations of "sabotage" from both Bravo and the Weinsteins. [E]
Speaking of PR, are you an exhibitionist with an itch to stitch? Bravo's new knockoff, Fashion House, is casting! [Fashionista]
The DVF woman: "She walks where she wants her life to go...firmly on the heels of her of her wooden wedges…she moves like a whisper commanding a goddess gown as easily as a patterned T." [WWD]
Indian moddle Kangana Dutta is getting some serious designer play. [Style.com]
CNA calculates all the stuff the average American could buy with Palin;s wardrobe budget. Play along! [The Nation]
British factory-worker-turned-next-big-model has a Flashdance-worthy story of triumph! Can I admit I kind of choked up? [The Sun]
Want to see some plastic shoes dance a ballet? Be our guest! [Melissa Plastic Dreams via AdRants]
Burberry adds this enormous sign to the NYC skyline. [NY Times]
Vivienne Tam unveils "laptop for women." Seriously. It's "small, lightweight and colorful. Its red and pink peony injected plastic print exterior matches Tam’s spring clothing, and it will be sold at the Vivienne Tam store in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood in the spring." Thank. God. [WWD]

The Olsen Fashion Aesthetic: Twin-Sets No More?

Sadie — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:30:00 EDT

Rumor has it that the mini moguls' "lifestyle differences" are tearing their fashion collabs asunder. “Ashley really wants to be a respected businesswoman and be taken seriously...MK does too, but she hasn’t been willing to give up her lifestyle and act like an adult for their job.” Result? MK is being "distanced" from the business end. [LA Times]
Gossip Girls Blake Lively, Leighton Meester and Michelle Trachtenberg have all "designed" Stuart Weitzman heels for charity. "Blake's candy-themed kicks (no doubt courting comparisons like "sweet" and "confectious") are going for the highest of the three at $300 - Leighton's in the middle and Michelle's on the right." [Fashionista]
A petulant Oscar de la Renta is skipping the Metropolitan Opera's opening night for the first time in 20 years. He "was none too happy to learn that Renée Fleming’s onstage frocks for the affair were designed by Karl Lagerfeld, John Galliano and Christian Lacroix." Um, is his ticket going begging? Sounds better than fashion week! [WWD]
Markets rebound a tad; retailers still panicky. [WWD]

Uh oh. Amidst the recent financial turmoil, Prada has called off its widely-reported plan to go public this year, "making it the global financial turmoil's most high-profile fashion victim." [WSJ, WWD]
The "Obama Effect" has done wonders for designer Thakoon, whose rose-colored frock Michelle sported on nom night. "I saw her on TV and I couldn't even look, I was so embarrassed from being excited,'"quoth he. [LA Times]
Norwegian designer Peter Dundas joins venerable print-meisters Pucci as creative director. [IHT]
Rumor — no, it really might just be a rumor — has it that Marc Jacobs is opening a store in Manhattan's East Village. Which, even if true, doesn't seem like that big a deal. [Fashionista]
Thes auction Naomi "Siddhartha" Campbell organized for the White Ribbon Foundation was a big hit. "London’s big spenders outbid each other for looks donated by designers including Alexander McQueen, Zac Posen and Christopher Kane." [WWD]
"Last year, Giorgio Armani told Time that PETA had persuaded him to drop fur from his designs, but his fall line includes fur coats for babies, floral-printed fur coats, fur-hemmed skirts and fur-trimmed jackets." PETA's pissed. So now they're going to go back to the always-effective plan A: harassing and heckling! [P6]
Gap is opening in Mexico, stealthily: it'll be opening "stores within stores" in an established department store chain. [WSJ]
A graphic designer named "Salvor" has teamed up with Rogan to lauch a capsule collection which, one assumes, will have a one-word name. [Fashionista]
Fans of both clothes and Sonic Youth — read, anyone — must be thrilled about Kim Gordon's new line, Mirror/Dash. Even if, so far, it's just one jacket. [BlackBook]
The New Yorker's panel talk on "The Future of Fashion": snooze or revelation? [Fashionista]
"A Japanese designer and furrier, Chie Imai, has called her autumn 2008 collection of fur-trimmed capes and boleros Eco Harmony." The fabric is, indeed, recycled. The fur? The animals in question might take exception to the "harmony." PETA certainly would. [Independent]
Sears is introducing these 3-D virtual dressing rooms that will allow you to "try" things on from home. If you thought store mirrors were dishonest...! [Reuters]
Betsey Johnson loves being a grandma, fresh fish. [Fashion Informer]
Fashion Fringe winner: "Go By A Secret Path, aka designer Eun Jeong Hong, yesterday earned herself a rather nice end of week treat in the shape of £100,000, as well as continuous support from the Fashion Fringe at Covent Garden team to kick start her professional design career." [VogueUK]
Abercrombie and Fitch pioneers "scent ambience services" in its stores. Why am I having visions of the poppy field in the Wizard of Oz? [Breitbart]
Wyndam Hotel employees will go green whether they like it or not, sporting "uniforms made with polyester fibers spun from plastic beverage bottles." All we can say is, whoever made that virtuous decision better be wearing Coke couture, too. [BrandWeek]
A few royals hit Fashion Week, but paps mostly had to settle for Kate Middleton's little sister. [WWD]
Pamela Anderson escorted by "a man in a white mask" at Vivienne Westwood show. [ElleUK]

Olsen Twins Launch Jewelry Line

Sadie — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Do what you must to prepare yourselves: Crazy rich homeless-chic promoters Mary-Kate and Ashley are at it again! Not content to stay in clothing, they're moving on to baubles: "The diminutive Olsen twins have created a fashion jewelry collection through a licensing partnership with Robert Lee Morris under the brand Elizabeth and James, their contemporary apparel label that is sold in more than 250 doors globally." I am impressed by their industry, confused by the potential buyers. [WWD]
This is big (possibly magical) news: Hermione Granger is the new face of Coco Mademoiselle! [Daily Mirror]
Aging former model Bruce Hulse has, apparently, "penned" a "steamy tell-all" (why, yes, the source is Page Six!) about his sexual trysts with women like Paulina Porizkova, Andie MacDowell and Elle Macpherson. "I'd been Peter Pan, playing at love, skimming the surface, sleeping around for momentary pleasure," Hulse, now 55 and married with two kids, writes in Sex, Love and Fashion, out in August. "My desire to be with beautiful women had always been my weakness." [Page Six]

Sarah Larson, (aka, George Clooney's ex-girlfriend, the one he got in the motorcycle accident with) is the new, uh, face of Christian Audigier's line of couture dresses. [E!]
Like I need an excuse to write more about the Viktor and Rolf doll exhibit! "The exhibition is dominated by a gigantic doll house, a graceful structure with Palladian proportions where miniature versions of 15 years of fashion fill the series of rooms on three levels." [International Herald Tribune]
Um, on Friday, WWD reported that retail sales were up for May. Guess not! [WWD]
Kid Robot launches handbag line. Japanese teenagers and those who love them, rejoice. [Fashionista]
Saks stocks rise as takeover looms. [WWD]
Feeling the pinch? Get a vicarious thrill! "Recession may be looming in Britain, with unemployment up and the economy on the slide, but London Jewellery Week kicked off with spectacular celebrations, from fireworks in the headquarters of the private bank Coutts to the cult architect Zaha Hadid showing a sculpted body piece embedded with Swarowski crystals." [WWD]
Christie's auctions vintage YSL. "What's exciting about the collection is that you see the progression of his career. He was a real style-setter," says Christie's couture specialist Laura Leyfer. [Dallas News]
Exec dons lucky shirt. [Financial Times]
Kiehl's introduces curbside delivery! [Los Angeles Times]
OPI's "nail polish" sticks - theoretically, excellent idea. [Houston Chronicle]
Estee Lauder tailors beauty to (annoying) new realities of air travel. [WWD]