• PETA will protest Anna Wintour, Michael Bloomberg, and the cast of Hair as they kick off Fashion's Night Out in Queens. [PETA]
• Betsey Johnson will spend tonight driving between her stores in a pink convertible, holding up big signs. [WWD]

• Rihanna wore a bag by the British label Fleet Ilya that has a shoulder pad on the strap that looks like armor. [Elle UK]
• Agent Provocateur's Soiree collection, which costs $750-$2790, includes one extra special-order piece: a black bustier embellished with studs and 2" spikes, which will cost $4900. [WSJ]
• A lace top from Rodarte's Target collection, which doesn't launch till December, sold on eBay for $10.49. [Nitrolicious]
• Narciso Rodriguez is planning an entire spring collection that will only be available for sale on the auction site. [NYPost]
• When the best the Grey Lady can say of someone is that she is "not always known for her facility for keeping her clothes on," that could be reason enough to not hire her as a creative consultant to a legendary fashion house. Didn't stop Ungaro from picking Lindsay Lohan, because, after all, like the C.E.O. said yesterday, "Odds are it could work." Then Lohan herself call up to share her love of fashion — but the only example she can give is of a motorcycle jacket, recently received, made by competing French house Balmain. [NYTimes]
• Designer Tom Ford's adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's A Single Man is being withheld from press screenings and advance sales, and Ford himself will do no interviews before its release at the Venice film festival. Sounds like it could be terrible. [Variety]
• "The higher the heel, the closer to god," says Rachel Zoe's assistant, Brad Goreski, who ought to know. [WSJ]
• Actually, we have always thought of Diane von Furstenberg as a trendsetting designer. Not just a placeholder on the Ann Taylor — Carolina Herrera continuum. [NYObs]
• Henry Holland is going to create a "young" fashion line for U.K. fast fashion retailer Debenhams. [Elle UK]
• Chanel Iman is rumored to be taking over the model-judge position on America's Next Top Model. Bit of a comedown from Vogue, no? [Fashionista]
• Alexander McQueen is going to stream his Paris show live on the Internet, for all to see! [Elle UK]
• A few pieces from Jimmy Choo for H&M are featured in British Harper's Bazaar, including the high heeled sandals we've seen before, which are priced at £79.99, or around $132. There will also be clothing (a grey suede one-shouldered dress, at £149.99 or $247, is pictured) and handbags (not pictured). A pair of black leather over-the-knee boots will come in at $350. [TFS]
• Tiffany's is suing to prevent the opening of an H&M in a Westfield mall where it is a tenant. [LATimes]
• Cintra Wilson does Comme des Garçons. [NYTimes]
• Grizzly Bear's lead singer, Edward Droste, will be at fashion week. "Fashion is fun!" he alleges. [NYObs]
• Cindy Crawford, for her part, will be staying away. "I don't like watching shows. It's like I used to be at the kids table and now they want me to sit at the grown-up table. And I'm not ready for the grown-up table yet. My friends are backstage-the hairstylists, the makeup people, the designers-and that's all happening behind the scenes." [WSJ]
• Kenley Collins met five plus-size buyers at MAGIC, and is considering producing her collection in larger sizes. "I'd rather do that than wedding dresses," says the Project Runway alum. "I fucking hated it. I'm not doing it anymore. I hate it. I'd rather slit my wrists. I did it for a year. And I'm not going back." Also Kelly Rowland's stylist wanted some samples, but Collins refused to lend them. Complaining about our customers, only making the default straight sizes, and ix-naying the celebs is exactly how we'd go about building a fashion business, if we had one! [The Cut]
• Derek Lam, whose fashion label had just entered profitability when the global financial crisis hit, has embarked on an aggressive retail expansion this year, and his first ad campaign. "We said, Let's take advantage of the fact that maybe the magazines are smaller. Your ad doesn't get lost. Contrary to what other people would say — that it's a bad time to advertise — it is setting a foundation." [WSJ]
• Similarly undaunted by the current economic environment is the Italian e-tailer Yoox, which is taking steps toward an IPO. Brazen. [WSJ]
• Mickey Drexler, the C.E.O. of J. Crew, sold 500,000 of his shares, for $16.9 million. He tops the list of executives selling company stock; the next most valuable sale was from a Microsoft exec, who dumped 70,000 shares for $1.7 million. [TS]

• The UK supermarket chain Asda has knocked off the Fall '09 Balmain dress that Kate Moss wore out dancing — and burst the seams of — two months ago. Asda's version costs just £16. [Telegraph]

• Frederic Bourke, the co-founder of Dooney & Bourke, has been found guilty of conspiracy and faces up to 10 years in prison. Bourke, 63, was part of a group of investors who spent hundreds of millions bribing officials in Azerbaijan during the late 1990s, in order to ensure its bid for the state oil company would be accepted when the asset was privatized. Bourke even arranged for medical treatment in New York City for two corrupt officials from the former Soviet republic. The investment group was run by Viktor Kozeny, a Czech financier who earned the nickname "the Pirate of Prague" for his aggressive, and sometimes illegal, tactics in buying up formerly state-owned assets across the former Soviet Bloc. Kozeny and Bourke were, naturally, neighbors in Aspen. The handbag company executive was acquitted on money-laundering charges but in addition to jail time, he still risks up to $500,000 in fines for the conspiracy conviction. [WWD]
• Convicted rapist designer Anand Jon has fired his attorney and is seeking to represent himself through his appeals process. This should end well. [HindustaniTimes]
• Anna Sui's Target line was set to be featured Gossip Girl, according to sources from the production, but executives at the retailer changed their minds because of the debauched nature of the show. Extras were going to be wearing Sui's Target collection in a scene to be filmed at Sui's store, and there were even going to be Target logos in the background — but no more, since all the characters do drugs and get drunk and Serena killed that dude. [NYDN]
• British Vogue has pictures of all the sumptuous costumes from Coco Avant Chanel. [British Vogue]
• Matt Tyrnauer, the documentarian who spent years making Valentino: The Last Emperor, says the designer was "Difficult." Imagine that. [NYP]
• Elie Tahari and his wife, Rory, were profiled by Town & Country magazine, and said a lot of tone-deaf things about their 9,000 sq. ft. SoHo triplex penthouse. "SoHo is like our Hamptons away from the Hamptons," says Rory. Have a nice recession, reader! Hope you still have a job. [The Awl]
• Not only does everything give you cancer, according to a television doctor, everyone will get cancer. "Cancer has affected my family and me," says a cheerful Patrick Dempsey. "It's going to affect everybody. Its [sic] just a matter of time." Dempsey's new Nike campaign meanwhile features "an innovative technology piece with the Chalkbot, a mobile unit that will receive messages from consumers (via e-mail and text) and transcribe them in yellow chalk along the roads of the Tour de France." We can imagine so many ways that could go wrong, all of them entertaining. [LATimes]
• Richard Tyler's iconic red dress uniform for Delta only goes up to a size 18. [BlackBook]
• The reason Ali Wise, Dolce & Gabbana's New York publicist, hacked into designer Nina Freudenberger's voicemail? A boy. Freudenberger says she dated Downtown Records founder Josh Deutsch two years after Wise did — and five other Deutsch ladyfriends claim the publicist subjected them to harassment and hacking, too. One was so freaked she contacted a private investigator. Wise spent the night in jail after being arrested on felony hacking charges. [Daily Intel]
• Mary Kay is suing Yahoo! for providing keyword-generated ads with links to its products via Yahoo! Mail. Mary Kay only sells directly to consumers, and feels its brand image and trademarks are negatively impacted by unauthorized online sales. [WWD]
• Meanwhile, Maybelline might become the official cosmetics sponsor of New York Fashion Week. [WWD]
• Project Runway's Leanne Marshall talked to Blogging Project Runway about her line for Bluefly (now on sale) and her future plans as a designer. Marshall didn't mention the blog post she wrote last month about her frustrations working with Bluefly, but she did talk about this one time she tried to make shoes with a pair of old flip-flops and a hot glue gun. [BPR]
• Jason Wu's doll business is going gangbusters. The slight designer used to moonlight as a drafter for doll companies, and now that he's made it big, he gets to produce limited-edition dolls in tiny versions of his signature line. In addition to producing dolls for Colette in Paris (215 Euros) and Jeffrey NY (price unavailable), he's also doing a version for Japan that'll cost a cool grand. [Stylefile]
• For 215 Euros, if you were perchance Christian Lacroix, you could have paid the top models Vlada Roslyakova, Hanne Gaby Odiele, Daria Strokous, and Siri Tollerød to walk in your couture show, and still had enough left over to buy lunch. [Imaginary Socialite]
• Jon Gosselin hasn't been wearing all those Ed Hardy shirts out of the goodness of his heart, or the keenness of his fashion sense. [TMZ]
  li>For some reason, the Telegraph decided to run an Anya Hindmarch press release in its style section. The accessories MBE's latest "invention"? The "hands-free handbag," a small handbag with a long, resizable, removable strap. It can be worn across the body "so it becomes part of you, instead of being a nuisance," or, get this, it can be carried inside a larger bag like a pocketbook! Innovative. [Telegraph]
• Giorgio Armani's home division is doing the interiors for a 62-apartment historic redevelopment project in Rome. [Reuters]
• Sounds like Escada's refinancing plan isn't going so well: The German luxury goods company only has enough liquidity to last through August, and it may cease trading. [AFP]
• The September issues of the ladymags are all closing this week, and indications are that they'll be about one third lighter than last year. Cash-strapped retailers and luxury brands have sharply cut their ad spending so far this year, and the September issues, normally the fashion magazine industry's fattest cash cows, will be no exception. [WWD]
• Mickey Drexler, the man who made The Gap what it was in the 90s and J. Crew what it is today, sometimes pedals around the office on his bike. [CBS]
• Or perhaps the credit for the classic brand's rejuvenation should be shared with creative director Jenna Lyons. [LATimes]
• Punky Brewster has a kids clothing line. [People]

• Posters The Last International Playboy, featuring Lydia Hearst in a state of undress have been banned in major cities. We just hope all this publicity right ahead of the June 12 release won't harm its box-office! [Observer]

• Karl Lagerfeld, Olivier Theyskens, and Alber Elbaz are rumored to be doing a grand fashion switcheroo. According to fashion writer Diane Pernet, Lagerfeld hasn't renewed his contract at Chanel, and Elbaz, of Lanvin, is going to take his place. Theyskens won't go to Schiaparelli, as previously thought, and instead will take the reins at Lanvin. Just wrap your head around that for a minute. [ASVOF]
• Proctor & Gamble is ending distribution of Max Factor makeup in the United States. [WWD]
• A nude photo of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy auctioned in Berlin sold for $19,600. It had been estimated to fetch $3,568-$4,997. [AP]
• André Leon Talley says that Anna Wintour was "thrilled" with Morley Safer's softly-lit, mostly softball 60 Minutes profile — this despite the fact that Safer essentially called Wintour a "bitch" to her face. Talley did puzzle at some of Safer's takes on the various designers and models he met in the course of his research — he memorably said Karl Lagerfeld "this season favors a Dracula look." "He's had that look for eight years!" laughed Talley. [Mediabistro]
• Model Daisy Lowe: "I'm going to get old and wrinkly, and when I'm older I'm going to put on loads of weight, and I'm excited about it. I think it's just really important to remember that you aren't your face." [Telegraph]
• Designer Charlotte Ronson: "i lost my favorite black vintage sweatshirt at Avenue in ny last night. Please if anyone finds it contact me. there will be a reward." [CJRonson's Twitter]
• Linda Evangelista says that lip liner and a slick of gloss is a much more "modern" look than lipstick. Okay. [MSN]
• Creative director Esteban Cortazar is said to be on his way out at the troubled house of Ungaro. Although Lindsay Lohan is not, as had been rumored, in the running for any kind of creative position, C.E.O. Mounir Moufarrige favors her, or another celebrity, as a face of the brand. This marketing strategy was not to the 25-year-old Columbian designer's liking. [WWD]
• Jason Wu showed his resort collection yesterday in New York, and some of the editors who came to watch it did not eat any of the hors d'oeuvres. Shocking fashion behavior, that! [P6]
• Banana Republic is going to launch a men's and women's fragrance duo, to be called Republic Collection. [WWD]
• Pictures of the Hotel Missoni in Edinburgh, the first of three currently planned Missoni-designed hotels, are now available. It looks nice. Single rooms start around $289 per night. [Hotel Missoni]
• For those of you who appreciate good design, have several homes, and enjoy the sun (but not the surf), Rosa Cha has a line of beach wear that can't get wet. Although Raquel Welch has already bought up all their $1,200 leather bikinis (joke), and a $1,900 caftan also already sold out, the designer's Swarovski-studded bathers are still available, at $3,200 for a maillot and $1,200 for a bikini. "The people that buy the pieces are people who, well, can definitely afford these kinds of items," said store manager Christina Delice. Indeed. [UPI]
• First order of business for Roberto Cavalli and Clessidra SpA, the private equity fund he just agreed (in a non-binding way) to sell 30% of his business to, is finding a C.E.O. Apparently, they already have a shortlist, although we don't know who's on it. Versace, whose C.E.O Giancarlo di Risio is expected to tender his resignation to the board at its meeting in Milan today, isn't in any such hurry. The company is understood to be still drafting its list of potential leaders. [WWD]
• Abercrombie & Fitch experienced a 28% drop in same-store sales for the month of May. Stock fell by 13% after the announcement. [The Street]
• Madewell, the slightly-less-expensive J. Crew outpost, is going to launch an e-commerce site in its name by the first quarter of next year, said C.E.O. Mickey Drexler. Let's hope it works a little better than the regular J. Crew site. [WWD]
• Although Orla Kiely's privately held company is not obligated to disclose its sales and revenue figures publicly, the designer says her business is going gangbusters, recession be damned. Her housewares line for Target is especially successful. [NY Times]
• A Pennsylvania woman who patented her design for a bra that would provide uplift and a smooth silhouette, and then sought out Victoria's Secret as a potential manufacturing partner, says that the company instead consulted with her long enough to steal the idea. She is suing. [UPI]

• Olivier Theyskens is holding true to the fundamentals. “When the economy changes, it’s not like you want to start eating bad-tasting chocolate,” he said, after showing his pre-fall collection for Nina Ricci. [WWD]

• Serial rapist Anand Jon, the former celebrity designer, is scheduled to be sentenced today. The penalty for his 16 counts of sexual abuse against models, including 7 counts of forcible rape of women aged 14-21 is a mandatory life sentence, with earliest parole eligibility in 2075. Regardless, his mother was apparently overheard approaching wealthy guests at a hotel in Chennai, India, asking for money for an appeal. Jon's website greeting page opens with a quote from Gandhi: "Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth." [NY Post]
• Nixonite dirty trickster Roger Stone — subject of an excellent Jeffrey Toobin profile last year — apparently thinks himself a fashion maven. Taking up the mantle of the deceased Mr. Blackwell, Stone inaugurated a new annual feature on his website, a worst- and best-dressed list. Though occasionally wacky ("Lobbyists are the only elegant men left in America"), his advice isn't all off the mark: Obama and Carla Bruni tops the men's and women's lists, respectively, and he says Tom Wolfe "looks like he's a cross-dressing character in a lesser Dickens novel." [The Stone Zone]
• Designer Vivienne Tam held a fashion show in Beijing to raise money to save the panda habitat destroyed in last year's Sichuan earthquake. The five one-off outfits she auctioned featured panda motifs. Adorable. [Reuters]
• As part of his prize for winning the 2008 CDFA/Vogue Fashion Fund award, Alexander Wang gets one year of professional mentoring from none other than Diane von Furstenberg. Runners-up Vena Cava and Albertus Swanepoel are to be mentored by Patrick Robinson and Andrew Rosen, and Andy and Kate Spade, respectively. [WWD]
• Ellen Tracy has inked a licensing deal for intimate apparel. Expect to see "sleepwear, at-homewear, robes, foundations, shapewear and lingerie" everywhere Ellen Tracy is sold as soon as this fall. [WWD]
• WWD has a good round-up of the status of designers' venue preparations for New York Fashion Week, just one month away. IMG is not introducing a fourth, off-site presentation venue this season, as had been floated, meaning rental at the Bryant Park Tents proper will cost $28,000-$48,000. Many designers are opting for cheaper locales. Calvin Klein is moving its show to the ground floor of the company headquarters, Vera Wang is holding hers in her new SoHo store, smaller labels are banding together for shared shows, and others, like Thakoon and Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti, are showing in Chelsea gallery spaces. Meanwhile, Tommy Hilfiger is back to the tents after a multi-season absence. Marc Jacobs, as usual, intends to use the Lexington Avenue Armory. [WWD]
• Sass & Bide are down for the count entirely. Although they intended to return to fashion week this season, co-founder Sarah Jane Clark's third pregnancy means the Australian duo will stay home. What a happy event to spur such a sad occurrence. [Fashionista]
• High dudgeon at a retail bigwig confab: J. Crew's chief executive Mickey Drexler reportedly took Neiman Marcus' chief executive Burt Tansky to task over luxury markups. Drexler told Tansky the days of the $800 high heel are over. “Wall Street is over,” he continued, and “more wealth has been created on non-productive [financial] transactions” than ever before. When the market comes back, Drexler said, consumers will not be tricked into paying department store margins again. “There’s a whole reset button that has been pushed," he said. Tansky responded by saying “It’s premature to start denigrating what the affluent customer will want.” This fight sounds like it was awesome and very, very awkward. [WSJ]
• The man behind the "Save Anna" t-shirt has a new thing for you to wear: A Rachel Zoe "bananas" shirt with a Warhol-esque screenprint of the stylist-approved fruit and the phrase "I die. Bananas." underneath. Eating disorder, tanning club card, and giant hippie dress optional. [The Cut]
• NY Mag has a sweet video of Marc Jacobs in bed talking about the Stephen Sprouse graffiti collection, which was recently relaunched. "I have a lot of Stephen's clothes and the thing is every time I look at them, they never feel old-fashioned to me, they never look out-of-date. I don't originate or create anything, I'm just here putting things together or re-putting things together, and I like it that way," says Jacobs. [The Cut]
• Wait, what? Stephen Alan for Uniqlo? Please let this not be like that time Amy Winehouse said she was doing a clothing line. [The Cut]
• Dolce & Gabbana's new campaign, shot by Steven Klein, is being proudly trumpeted as a potential source of controversy. Inspired by the Visconti film The Leopard, about a Sicilian aristocratic family at the time of Italian unification, the ads will feature images of male models praying. "For sure they will say we are offending religion," sighed either Domenico or Stefano, reports Reuters. "Instead it could be read as a return to values. And there is a need for that at this time." Yes. For "values," and, presumably, for valuable clothes. [Reuters]
• Remember how Domenico Vacca and John Varvatos both claimed to have dressed Jeremy Piven for the Golden Globes? Turns out it was a tie. The actor's publicist says he wore a Domenico Vacca jacket and John Varvatos pants. Which might be true, or it might be her trying to stay on both companies' good sides after pledging separately to each to wear its clothes and screwing that up royally. How much you want to bet pissed reps for both labels are poring over photos trying to tell their lapel notches from the competitor's as we speak? [WSJ]
• Nonetheless, expect more of the same as award season wears on through the grim retail market. The thin consumer dollar means designers are even more eager to get their gears on a red carpet. Katie Holmes' Golden Globes stylist even received personal phone calls from several solicitous designers. "That never happened before," said the stylist, "usually I just hear from their publicists." And cows walk upright and eat manburgers in this strange opposite world! [WSJ]

Abercrombie & Fitch
This probably won't shock you: Abercrombie & Fitch is torn between mindless apathy and pure evil. In the past six election cycles only one candidate has managed to crack a thousand in campaign contributions collected from Abercrombie employees' studiously frayed pockets, and that politician would be — you guessed it! — George W. Bush. The Skull & Bones candidate has raised $5,000 in racist classist Abercrombie dollars over the past few cycles, largely thanks to spokesman Tom Lennox. It is the only retailer whose employees have contributed to the Worst Presidency Ever.

Urban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters founder and CEO Dick Hayne is notorious for his support of that weird Pennsylvania senator who brought home his dead baby and became the first politician to become synonymous with butt sex. But the single largest recipient of Urban Outfitters campaign contributions has been Barack Obama, whose $7,400 collected from various executives — perhaps subliminally influenced by those clever T-shirts? — just tops the $7,100 of Dick's dollars that have lined the coffers of Rick Santorum.

J. Crew
J.Crew is your store if you are into uneasy family reunions! CEO Mickey Drexler has donated nearly a hundred grand to Democratic committees alone, while octogenarian founder Arthur Cinader likes lining the coffers of any fucking batshit Republican who bats an eyelash his away. Cinader has donated to Alan Keyes, Sam Brownback and Malcolm Forbes, but his fave is Phil Gramm, who has received $8,000 from him over the years.

Barney's
Barney's is the place to shop if you like avant-garde design and hate Hillary. Employees have donated thousands of dollars to New York politicians over the past few years — $1000 to Charlie Rangel, $4,000 to Chuck Schumer, $3,000 to Rudy — and a mere five Benjamins to Hills. (Though $250 did come from creative director Julie Gilhart, who is like the Karl Rove of fashion trends. Perhaps she likes pantsuits?)

Forever 21
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the store for your blue-collar budget is the biggest supporter of the Hillary Clinton campaign, clocking in at $11,500. Interestingly, two executives also donated a total of $4,000 to Rudy Giuliani's campaign and another $2,300 to Obama. Everyone knows variety = the spice of Forever 21!

• It will not surprise anyone to learn that the clothes worn in the Sex & The City movie were not paid for by the movie's production budget but by designers hoping that product placement in the movie will result in clothing sales to actual people convinced that dressing like the characters in Sex & The City is a wise course of action. [Variety]
  
• Speaking of which, Matthew Broderick on the opening of his latest film, the Helen Hunt-directed Then She Found Me: "We just get dressed, get in a car, and hope for the best. But Sarah Jessica's premiere will be a big one! She looks really beautiful today, but it's just the dress rehearsal for now." [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• Hell to the no, Rami Kashou did not copy Yves Saint Laurent in designing a dress for Heidi Klum! [NY Mag]
  
• Bloomingdales' workers are on the brink of their first-ever strike. That's what you get when you let retail workers unionize, Terry Lundgren! [Crain's]

• "Her new 'grande bourgeoise' style suits her well," says lingerie designer Chantal Thomas of France's new first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. We think this is a compliment. [WWD, 4th item]
• Designer Bruce Oldfield is designing uniforms for McDonald's employees in the UK. But don't worry, they're not too "quirky and eccentric." [Vogue UK]
• Model Hana Soukupova on how she goes green: "I got a Range Rover as I just learned to drive and it's big and safe and great for driving around NYC. I am very eco-conscious and must admit I have been considering a different car for the summer. I'm thinking of swapping it for a Mini Cooper." You know, Hana? There's also walking. I know models at least have to know how to do that. [Chic Report]
• Yves Saint Laurent designer Stefano Pilati loves Jamba Juice. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Coach: Income up, stock down. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Calypso founder Christiane Celle has left the company she started, a mere seven months after cashing out big time to private equity firms. Blah, blah, irreconcilable differences, what else is new; can we still get candy-colored linen and silk little dresses? [WWD, sub req'd]
• Urban Outfitters: Soon to feature in-house collections by Geren Ford, Steven Alan, Charlotte Ronson, and Paul & Joe. Pete Wentz must be so excited. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Aw, vintage Krazy Karl. [Sassybella]

• Agyness Deyn's mom Lorraine Collins is as amazed as we are that someone as FAT as Agyness could ever make it in fashion: "She has wonderful curves and a bit of meat on her. When she's home, she eats everything." [Mirror]
  
• Poor chivalrous BF-of-Marc-Jacobs Jason Preston! When he tried to stand up for a girl who got a drink thrown at her at a club, Preston got something worse thrown at him: a punch in the face. $10 says Marc incorporates a black eye makeup look into the Spring 2009 collection. [Page Six]
  
• Richard Chai is the latest designer to do a Target collection! [Who is Richard Chai? I asked Jennie. He's "very respected." And Asian. Okay. -Moe] [Nylon]
  
• But even more exciting: Alice McCall is designing for Topshop. [Who is...meh, forget it. I'm not the one reading the fashion news roundup.] [Sassybella]
  
• While we buy that Barack would smell like bergamot and musk, no way in hell is Hillary Clinton a "delicate floral." [BellaSugar]

• L'Oreal is honoring women for scientific achievements. No really! And not even, like, achievements related to wrinkle "therapy", but real achievements like discovering a new class of RNA molecules, although we're sure there is an anti-aging angle in there somewhere. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Louis Vuitton and Murakami are once again collaborating with a new print, "monoflage," which will make its debut when the Murakami retrospective opens at the Brooklyn Museum of Art on April 3rd. Because what the world really needs is another Vuitton-Murakami bag showing up everywhere. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Dries Van Noten's response when Diane von Furstenberg called him to tell him he would be receiving this year's CFDA International Award? "I don't know what to say! We're in a bad storm in Antwerp and I don't know whether or not we're going to have a house!'" Oy. [Chic Report]
• DKNY Jeans has recruited comic book artist Paul Pope to collaborate with the brand on a new line. Which should be really exciting for skater geeks who worship Tim Gunn? [Nylon]
• For the first time since Stella McCartney and Adidas joined forces together, they are not introducing a new fitness category for the collaborative brand for the Spring 2008 season. We guess that once you've differentiated "running" from "trail running" there really aren't any sports left. [WWD, 1st item]
• After 2010, New York Fashion Week is out of Bryant Park and moves over to...the 10th Avenue Rail Yards? Delightful! [Gatecrasher]
• Japan Fashion Week was, well, big in Japan. [Reuters]
• Will Coach buy Burberry? And if so, can Coach get a firm grasp on the devastatingly complex details of selling logo-ed accessories at accessibly outrageous prices? We bet they can! [Independent]
• Meanwhile, Coach is going to replace its own president with the COO of Victoria's Secret. Um, there's a track record we wouldn't be so quick to acquire, but okay. [WSJ]
• Anna Sui president Michael Pellegrino has announced his retirement. With a 65th birthday coming up, he wants to travel and volunteer with Meals on Wheels. And they say fashion has no heart. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Claudia Schiffer: The latest fashion star to judge London's Graduate Fashion Week. [Vogue UK]
• Coldwater Creek: In the throes of existential crisis. [MediaPost]
• American Eagle: Also not doing so well. [Reuters]

[A] White House Wedding will be great politics. It could be a terrific way to hook women — who are the angriest about the war, and one of the biggest problems for Republicans going into the election. Women — even the angry ones — are going to eat this up...The father of the bride is responsible for the loss close to 4,000 American lives, the lives of uncounted Iraqis, and many thousands of injured and maimed... But on this day... eyes will grow moist, and approval ratings will rise.

It is sad to say, but Drexler is pretty much on the money. Because if the TheKnot.com message boards are any indication, people looooove them a wedding. Even when there is a war going on. (Especially when there's a war going on!) We'd make a joke that the whole thing is something so sick only Karl Rove could have dreamed it up but then we remembered that little Jenna's fiance is none other than Rove's former intern.

Here's To The Happy Couple — And A 10-Point Bump [Huffington Post]
Related: Afghan Weddings Bring Limos And Bling