• "It has been the most incredible gap-year project," says Emma Watson on her new ethical fashion line. What happened to Habitat for Humanity? [WWD]

• Quoth the Chanel-clad sorceress: "I wanted to help People Tree produce a younger range because I was excited by the idea of using fashion as a tool to help alleviate poverty and knew it was something I could help make a difference with." [Telegraph]
• Coco Rocha takes a more traditional path, going with her church to work in Costa Rica. "My religion has always been important to me." [FashionWeekDaily]
• Christian Audigier, the man behind douche-outfitters Ed Hardy and Von Dutch, is for some reason going to be in a movie. "Explains" his agent, "The guy is a natural... Christian is into fighting, boxing, martial arts. And he wants to show people that side. That skill set." Oh, he's also cutting an album. [GQ]
• Speaking of multimedia: Versace has launched Facebook and Twitter accounts. As Karl Lagerfeld could tell them: demode. [WWD]
• If you don't feel you can exactly pull of Aretha's inaugural chapeau, here's a more wearable option: the Queen of Soul, avec chapeau, immortalized on a limited-edition tee. [New York]
• Whoa: Gaultier for Target? We could use a $20 cone bra...[WWD]
• And speaking of collabs: Christopher Kane for Topshop is awesome, selling brilliantly. Bring. It. Here. Now. [Independent]
• Says LVMH's prez: "There are four main elements to our business model-product, distribution, communication and price. Our job is to do such a fantastic job on the first three that people forget all about the fourth." They're not there yet. [Economist]
• Leigh Lezark, the somewhat vacant, sinister and inexplicably beloved former Misshape, has been tapped as the "brand ambassador" for Charles Worthington's new range. [ElleUK]
• Speaking of celeb faces, Alexander Wang: "Today, more than ever, it definitely makes a difference. But for us, it's always about finding the right person, whether it's an A-list celebrity or someone on the Internet who understands our brand and has a lot of influence on people." [WWD]
• A Coach employee is suing his supervisor for sexual harassment. "It was one of those weiner dogs and he would say, 'Ok, I have a big weiner, you wanna come see my weiner?'" [NYDN]
• Oh noes! Prescriptives - and its awesome custom-blend foundation - is a recession casualty. Parent company Estee Lauder is shutting the brand down as a cost-cutting measure. [WWD]
• Apparently Emmanuel Ungaro chose Lindsay Lohan for the role of "artistic adviser" over Madonna and Paris because the troubled starlet brings "something younger, more cool, with a different attitude." That and she has bullshit-fashion experience from Project Runway! [AP]
• "Microluxury" - teeny-tiny dolly-sized luxe accessories - are, maybe, the wave of the future. Or maybe not. [Time]
• Ann Taylor's flaks must be working overtime: the working-gal's label, working hard to change its frumpy image, got a whole laundry-list of celebs to go to the runway show. In attendance: Jennifer Esposito, Vanessa Williams, Mena Suvari, Gretchen Mol, Kelly Rutherford, Kelly Bensimon, Laila Ali, Katherine McPhee and Amanda Bynes. [WWD]
• Speaking of brands trying to turn it around: Gap is experimenting with a "Results-Only Work Environment" in which "employees are empowered to work whenever and wherever they want as long as the work gets done." Were guessing it's not quite as fun as that sounds. Because we can fold from a bar just fine. [BW]
• The skint Lacroix has a number of "suitors of means." Await reports on possible saviors. [WWD]
• Well, this one will work for sure: new cellulite-busting tights have crystals in the weave that'll shear the bumps right off. [Daily Mail]
• Tommy Hilfiger is a rebel: his new flagship is on Fifth Avenue. "Donna, Ralph, Calvin, Oscar, Michael? They're all on Madison," a block away, he declares. [Style.com]
• British psychiatrists are warning that London Fashion Week, with its accompanying trigger for ED-prone girls who regard the models as "thinspiration." [Telegraph]
• Meanwhile, anti-sweatshop protesters are taking on the tents. Celeb faces of "Love Fashion Hate Sweatshops" include Gael Garcia Bernal. [Mirror]
• At Peter Som's show, "the especially young models, perched in shiny chrome or deep-blue pumps, posed in groups of three on white pedestals while the crowd milled below them." The designer was inspired by "cruise ships, antique photographs and Japanese prints." [Observer]
• Isaac Mizrahi, meanwhile, celebrated his return to Fashion Week with the theme "Astaire Case or Obstacle Course." [Yahoo]
• Celebrity stylist Philip Bloch is filling the need for another style manual. The Shopping Diet: Spending Less and Getting More is, he says, "something all of us shopaholic recessionistas need — a self-help on excess shopping." [NY Post]
• Inevitably, teens can now buy a copy of the prom dress Bella Swan wore in Twilight - from the very town where Bella got hers! Can a vampire escort be far behind? [NYDN]

[New York, September 14. Image via Bauer-Griffin.]

• Interesting: Chris Brown and Rihanna are "taking a break." They're not calling it a breakup, though.

Unfortunately, this report has sources close to Brown saying things like, "He's just putting ideas down for some songs he wrote," and "He needs to feel like he's moving forward." We're definitely interested in what he thinks he needs. [E!]

• Rihanna was spotted "flying solo" in New York over the weekend. [Page Six]
• Vanessa Redgrave was seen visiting the hospital where Natasha Richardson is reportedly on life support. [TMZ]
• Friends of Natasha Richardson are in mourning; Ted Casablanca says they have all been informed that she is "brain dead." [E!]
• A Natasha Richardson family friend says: "There is no chance. It is a fact that her heart is beating but she is brain dead." [People]
• Two of Nadya Suleman's octuplets have gone home. Six more to go! [The Insider]
• Apparently the police in Chicago are not amused that Lady Gaga does not wear pants; they stopped the singer, who says, "It was really funny because all you saw was this half-naked girl on the street yelling at some cop 'It's fashion! I'm an artist!' It was fun." [Perez]
• Lady Gaga hearts Prince Harry: "I spotted him last year in a club and couldn't take my eyes off him. British men are cool. I especially love the accent and Prince Harry sounds so posh." [The Sun]
• An artist named Ben Tegel has made an "American Gothic" type poster  called "American Sapphic," starring Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson. LL looks good, but Sam looks sinister. [E!]
• Coming soon to a bar near you: Justin Timberlake brand tequila. [Page Six]
• John Mayer's latest Twitter: "This heart didn't come with instructions." Naturally the papers think it's Aniston-related. [Mirror]
• Joy Behar has been with her man for 26-and-a-half years and may get married! She says: "Somebody that I know lost her partner. They were gay women. And the partner was in the hospital, and she had to pretend that she was her sister in order to really deal with stuff. I don't want that to happen to us … and I also just feel that I want to." [People]
• Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow had dinner with Valentino last night and talked goop all evening. [Daily Mail]
• Madonna will release a fourth greatest hits compilation, because she owes her current record label one more album. [Perez]
• Nicole Richie has launched NicoleRichie.com. You'll find posts about her jewelry line, her charities, her Brazilian blow dry  all while listening to Deep Purple. [Socialite Life]
• An ad for Angelina Jolie's film Wanted was banned in the UK for glamorizing violence. Here in the US, we encourage that sort of thing. [Telegraph]
• Two contestants on Paris Hilton's British Best Friend were screaming at each other and going so nuts a psychiatrist was called in. Apparently there is a shrink on hand "at all times," but shouldn't the doctor be questioning why the hell the ladies are on the show to begin with? [The Sun]
• Ellen DeGeneres will play Mother Nature in a comedy flick written by Sex And The City writer-producer Jenny Bicks. She does really really love animals… [Reuters]
• George Michael played a one-hour performance for a Russian nickel magnate and made £1,606,856. How much is that in rubles? [Daily Mail]
• Sleazy 'N Sync mastermind Lou Pearlman might be in jail, but he's plotting a reality show. Part Charlie's Angels and part Making The Band, "it essentially would feature Lou's disembodied voice on a speakerphone," a source says. Creepy! [Gatecrasher]
• Mena Suvari's image is being used to sell condoms in China without her knowledge. But she looks good. [SF Gate]
• Kimila Ann Basinger  more commonly known as Kim Basinger  is playing a the head of a large family whose perspective on life has been changed by breast cancer. A different kind of role for her, no? [Independent]
• Salma Hayek, Maya Rudolph and Colin Quinn have joined the cast of an untitled Adam Sandler comedy. Salma is Sandler's wife; Maya is the wife of Chris Rock. Yeah. The old goofy guy/hot chick cliché. [Variety]
• Simon Baker has been named the sexiest man on TV. Did anyone see him glisten in the sun in that movie Something New? That was hot. [Mirror]
• Actor Stacy Keach has been hospitalized for an undisclosed health problem. [Reuters]
• What the world needs now: A Goonies reunion. Seriously: Goonies never say die! [The Sun]
• Blind item: "Which hip-hop icon gets laughed at when he strips down at the gym? Guysin the locker room can't believe it's that small." [Gatecrasher]
• "It's hard to know what the rule book is for guy friends. Girls call their friends girlfriends. You'll never hear me say, 'My boyfriend Paul Rudd and I were working together.'"  Jason Segel, whose "bromance" flick, I Love You Man, is opening Friday. The back and forth between Rudd and Segel in this interview is pretty funny. [USA Today]
• "I went crazy for the script. I was going through a phase where I was turning everything down. This gem landed. I finished the last page and called my agent. It was a rare gem."  Clive Owen, on Duplicity. [USA Today]
• "I'm embarrassed on almost a daily basis. You sort of have to suck it up sometimes. [Fans] say stuff like, 'You're so much shorter in person Or 'Oh, my god, you look just like that girl, but you are a lot prettier than she is.' You have to grin and bear it. I might say in return, 'I know I looked skinnier in The House Bunny, but thanks to my diet of beer and doughnuts, I'm back to my fightin' weight!'"  Anna Faris, to Self. [People]

[Los Angeles, November 19. Image via x17]

• Miley Cyrus, 15 and Justin Gaston, 20, were "all over each other" backstage at the Christian Audigier show at LA Fashion Week. Justin walked in the show, and everytime he passed, he would blow a kiss and wink at his teenage girlfriend, and she, witnesses say, "licked her lips seductively as he passed her." A source heard Miley saying she was going to skip the after party to stay at Justin's and have a party of her own. [Page Six]
• Britney's dad testified in her misdemeanor driving-without-a-license trial Thursday that California is not her permanent residence. "Her home is Louisiana," he said. Um, perjury? Anyone? [People]
• Oh, Britney is building a house in Louisiana. This much is true. [TMZ]
• Look for Britney on the January cover of Glamour magazine. Shot by freakin' Patrick Demarchelier. [NY Mag]
• Yeah, so John Mayer spent his birthday with Jennifer Aniston. He had a party at the Grand Havana Room, a members-only restaurant and cigar club in L.A. They totally sat next to each other and "seemed happy." [People]
• In Angelina Jolie's interview with the New York Times, she says she wants her kids to see Mr. And Mrs. Smith someday: "Not a lot of people get to see a movie where their parents fell in love." Team Aniston peeps think that she's admitting Brad cheated on Jen with her. But Team Jolie folks are like, hey, it is when they met, and they denied they were together physically. The threads over on this posting are crazytown. [ONTD]

• Surprise, surprise: Amy Winehouse didn't show up for her DJing gig at that pub in London. She was "bedridden." [Mirror]
• Katherine Heigl: Adopting a Korean baby. So says the National Enquirer. Katherine's big sister Meg was adopted from Korea more than 30 years ago and has had a "profound impact" on Katherine's life. [ONTD]
• Awesome pix of Justin Timberlake and Ellen Degeneres playing golf. [ET]
• Madonna and Guy have not been speaking to each other for a while, because they allegedly "cannot be in a room together for more than a few minutes without having a shouting match." Think of the children! [Perez Hilton]
• Um, this report says Madonna's marriage began sliding towards divorce after her hubby’s "unsympathetic" reaction when she fell off a horse and broke eight bones. [The Sun]
• A source close to Guy says "It wasn't just one thing. They just lost their connection." [People]
• Madge and Guy won't battle over money, but they will fight over custody of the kids. They both hired high-powered lawyers. [Daily Mail, Telegraph]
• Madonna's brother Christopher Ciccone says Kabbalah killed the marriage. [The Sun]
• Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal's parents: Officially filed for divorce. Naomi and Stephen Gyllenhaal were married in 1977. Is it too early to start drinking? [TMZ]
• DJ AM has actually escaped death twice: "In the burn center, they did a scan and found that I had a blood clot that in this flight could have traveled to my heart and I could have died," he says. While still at the burn center in Georgia, he was put on blood-thinning medication. [People]
• Contrary to earlier reports, Steve Wonder's house did not burn down in the L.A. fires. Overjoyed? [TMZ]
• Tea Leoni in More magazine, talking about her new movie, Manure: "But at the same time, we have this incredible cast with Billy Bob Thornton, who is maybe my new favorite person in the world." [ONTD]
• Billy Bob Thornton swears he is not the reason David Duchovny and Tea Leoni split: His publicist issued a statement which reads: "Billy Bob Thornton and Téa Leoni are just friends." Strong words! [E!]
• Kathy Griffin's says Bravo claims she's signed on for another season of My Life On The D-List  but she hasn't, and she's "trying to extract tens more dollars from Bravo." [Perez Hilton]
• Is Bruce Willis getting married? He took his model girlfriend Emma Heming to Cartier in Beverly Hills and they totally looked at rings. [Daily Express]
• Mena Suvari's engaged and wants a "fairy-tale wedding." [Yahoo News]
• Actress and Brooklynite Hope Davis on the recession: "Even the little spa on my corner is advertising 50 percent off facials. Everybody’s suffering; it’s going to affect everybody." [NY Mag]
• Are you ready for an Eminem comeback? He's releasing a book on October 21 and an album later in the year. Here are some personal pictures that will be in the book, including snaps of Em as a kid, a picture of his first mix tape and shots of him with his daughter. [EW]
• Susan Sarandon: Guest of honor at the second annual Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. She said: "In the US we don't have the opportunity to see these films; even English(-language) documentaries are hard to find. Festivals are a wonderful opportunity for people to see documentaries they might not normally see." Plus, the formation of a Middle Eastern chapter of Women in Film and Television was announced. [Reuters]
• Daisy Lowe broke up with her boyfriend Will Blondelle because records by her ex, Mark Ronson were being played in a club. Yeah, I dunno. [Mirror]
• Hadn't heard this, but Kenneth Branagh will not direct Jude Law in Hamlet as planned. Branagh dropped out due to a scheduling conflict. [UPI]
• Headline of the day: Phil Spector "Used Obscene Language About Women And Stated They Should Be Shot." [Daily Mail]
• James Taylor's playing five free concerts for Obama in the election battleground state of North Carolina. "It's a great relief to see someone running who believes government can do good things for people," he says. He adds, "I've seen fire and I've seen rain." [AP]
• The Supreme Court says Survivor champ Richard Hatch must serve out the rest of his four-year, three-month prison sentence for failing to pay the IRS taxes on the million bucks he won. [E!]
• Chris Kattan and Sunshine Tutt officially divorced, after two months of wedded bliss. What's up with SNL alums and short (heh) marriages? [E!]
• Stephen Baldwin on Barack Obama: "If he wins the election, he'll hurt me. He's a cultural terrorist." [Perez Hilton]
• "I lie all the time. The last lie I told was the last time someone invited me to a wedding, or a christening, or a party. I can't say, 'I don't really like you that much, I'm worried about the other people you'd invite; a wedding bores me stupid, I think it's ridiculous and pointless and I'd rather sit at home in my [underwear] drinking wine." Ricky Gervais. [Guardian]
• "I strongly feel there needs to be a new way forward. Barack Obama is pushing things in the right direction. I’m excited about the election. Unfortunately, things will probably get dirty. I hope Obama can stay above the fray … I’m hopeful for the first time in a long, long while. It’s one of the most exciting elections in my lifetime."  Daniel Craig, who knows he can't vote, but is watching US politics very closely. [MSNBC]
• "I don't like guns much, and the reason I don't like them is because I do like them. If you put one in my hand, I feel incredibly omnipotent. And I hate that truth."  Colin Farrell. [Rush & Molloy]
• "I’m never at home and every woman gets sick of it. If I was them, I wouldn’t put up with me for too long, and they don’t. I wonder if I’m going to be relegated to three-year relationships for the rest of my life."  George Clooney. [Mirror]

• Unless you're living in a closet on Mars, you know that the Sex and the City movie premiered today.
• Slut Machine live blogged it wearing flip flops and eating some skittles. Suck on that, Louboutin wearers.
• The only part of the Sex and the City franchise that we're not sick of is Pat Field and her fabulous, gay, Payless lifestyle.
• Tyra Banks revealed her plans for world domination in the New York Times.
• TyTy sort of looked like a Bratz doll on that Times Mag cover; Bratz are also involved in world domination schemes

• Instead of casting a black actress in the forthcoming movie Stuck, they decided to get Mena Suvari in cornrows. Sigh.
• We didn't get cornrows at summer camp. We hated it anyway.
• But remember, even in a world where teenage Starbucks-swillers rob girl scouts without remorse, there are still puppies who nurse orphaned baby bunnies, and isn't that a world worth drinking in?

In an interview with Premiere magazine, Mena says of the decision to have cornrows: "It was in conjunction with [director] Stuart. I think we just wanted to kind of establish Brandi as a particular kind of girl from a particular place. I think that we felt that it would be, like, Providence, Rhode Island, with a mix of cultures. That's kind of what we were going for."

Stuart Gordon, whose films include Re-Animator, Castle Freak and Space Truckers, has the right to take creative license and make what ever kind of film he likes. But why didn't he use a black actress? Why was it okay to just put blonde, ethnically Estonian Suvari in cornrows? Why have Angelina Jolie play Marianne Pearl? There are so few black actresses in great, meaty roles (Jennifer Hudson in SATC does not count) and most of the big releases have male stars. There's a lack of parts for women in Hollywood altogether  do actresses of color have a chance if white women can just put on some corn rows (or a curly wig) and play "a particular kind of girl from a particular place" ?

Mena Suvari: 'I Never Had My Jaw Hit The Floor So Many Times' [LA Times]
Mena Suvari Gets 'Stuck' [Premiere]

Earlier: Coming Soon: 2008, The Summer Of The Dick Flick

The Good:

Felicity Huffman keeps it simple and showcases toned shoulders.

Gabrielle Union's little summer dress is pretty cute. She should take her hands out of her pockets, though.

Love the color and drape of Joy Bryant's dress. Beachy keen!

Love the color of Becki Newton's dress, too! Just one piece can look so chic.

Sanaa Lathan, golden girl. She looks so great in this dress I'm willing to forgive the borderline shoes.

Rachel Bilson's jacket and skirt seem sophisticated, but I'm torn on the shoes. They're sort of cool and new and different and they're sort of horrifying. I like the rest so much I'm erring on the side of Good.

The Bad:

Maria Cross: Meh. The shoes are too heavy, in my opinion. A thin-strap sandal for a more bare look might be better.

Yeah, I don't know, Mena Suvari. Part of me likes the Pat Benatar thing she's got going, the other part of me winces, because how long can we do '80s?

Amy Smart is a lovely lady, but this dress is bad. The neckline is bad, the belt is bad and I think the fabric is bad.

Is Elizabeth Banks wearing a wardrobe castoff from Sophia Coppola's Virgin Suicides?

Zoe Saldana's hemline is a gynecologist's dream.

Nicky Hiton looks awkward, like an overgrown baby doll.

I think Lost alum Maggie Grace looks pretty but the satin shorts are killing me. They're super cute if you're playing the role of Miss Adelaide is Guys And Dolls, but otherwise, no.

I like Kelly Rutherford's blouse. I like Kelly Rutherford's skirt. I love Kelly Rutherford's shoes. I do not like them all together. Maybe if the blouse wasn't quite so buttoned up and the skirt were longer? I don't know.

The Ugly:

Sophia Bush is gorgeous; this weird zippered apron dress and chunky brown shoes are not.

Oh, Whitney Port. So many trends, so little time.

[Images via FilmMagic.]

[Miami, March 31. Image via Bauer-Griffin]