• Change! Stately old American Vogue is apparently seeking to revamp itself. Says Wayne Sterling, the mag wants "a new circle of models, an influx of fresh, young photographers and a desire for 'unpredictability' in the stories." Unpredictability. In Vogue. [TI]

• Marc Jacobs has added two pro-marriage equality t-shirts to his Marc by Marc line. One shows a line drawing of a lesbian couple with a child, and the other shows an American flag and a dollar sign; both have the tag line "I pay my taxes, I want my rights." The tees cost $24 and are available now. Jacobs is of course looking forward to his own gay marriage, in Massachusetts, later this summer. [PerezHilton]
• Jacobs, along with Patti Smith and David Rockwell, has been named one of the Pratt Institute's Legends of 2009. [WWD]
• Madonna wears diamond dust on her eyes. For that extra sparkly something. [People]
• Patrick Demarchelier shot Gossip Girl's Taylor Momsen in Central Park for the September cover of Teen Vogue. [TFS]
• The Kaiser's Chanel accessories ads featuring Lily Allen, who recently launched her own jewelry line, are also out. She wears a tiara in one; in another, she looks like she's hiding behind a carry-all. [FWD]
• Amanda Hearst, the model/heiress, is rumored to have been offered a job sinecure at Hearst-owned Marie Claire. [P6]
• More details are emerging about the only bid for the house of Lacroix that the bankrupt company's administrator has yet deemed "serious": Italian department store company Borletti had bid jointly with Christian Lacroix himself. Borletti bought the Printemps department store chain from Pinault-Printemps-Redoute in 2006, and owns the Italian department store La Rinescente jointly with Deutsche Bank. French turnaround firm Bernard Krief Consulting made a bid that the administrator described as "insufficient" for the fashion house, and which it has promised to revise upwards. No dollar values for these bids has been revealed. [Reuters]
• Maybe one way Christian Lacroix could make a little cash would be licensing his name to an unaffiliated uniforms division, since that's exactly what Nicolas Ghesquière of Balenciaga did. Air Tahiti Nui sent out a very happy press release yesterday announcing the introduction of its brand-spanking-new Balenciaga uniforms — but further investigation has revealed that the gear was made under license by a uniform company using the Balenciaga name. Our visions of flying with space-age Ghesquière creations were crushed. [The Moment]
• The rumors were true: Coach is launching — and fully funding — a signature line for its creative director, Reed Krakoff. The designer's eponymous accessories collection will launch for Fall '10. [WWD]
• This is despite the fact that Coach suffered a 32% decline in quarterly profits for the period ended June 27. Net income fell from $213.5 million last year to $145.8 million. [WWD]
• Rachel Roy and Estelle are working together on a jewelry line. Roy announced this via Twitter. [WWD]
• Zappos earned $10.7 million from total sales of $635 million worth of sales last year, according to new owner Amazon's SEC filing. [TBI]
• New York City charity HousingWorks, which sells used clothing and furniture and donates its profits to fund AIDS and homelessness, has been doing great business in the recession — understandable, considering so many of their offerings are designer. Susan Sarandon, Bill Clinton, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Chloé Sevigny, as well as, one presumes, a whole slew of regular well-dressed folk, all recently donated clothes and goods. [NYObs]
• Bravo, still reeling from the loss of Project Runway, is launching another fashion-themed reality show: Launch My Line. The concept pairs new designers with established industry lights in order to develop the youngsters' businesses — the best mentee gets his or her line launched, and the best mentor gets $50,000. It all unfolds under the watchful eye of hosts Dean and Dan Caten, of DSquared2, and judges Stefani Greenfield, formerly of retail chain Scoop, and Lisa Kline. [FabSugar]
• Profits at the multinational luxury company LVMH, which owns everything from Louis Vuitton to Dior to Sephora, dropped 23% in the first six months of this year, to 687 million euros, or $934.3 million, from 891 million euros, or $1.39 billion, a year earlier. Sales during the same period rose 0.2% on a year earlier. The top performing brands was Sephora, and Louis Vuitton handbag sales remained strong. [WWD]
• Maybe, just maybe, one reason profits are down is the fact that Louis Vuitton is trying to sell a $450 USB key? Hermès, in any case, is jumping on the lux-tech bandwagon with a bluetooth device "made of super lightweight carbon fiber, aluminum and supple leather ... [with a] custom-built silicon earring." [Racked]
• Men's control underwear is still being talked about as if it's a new idea. It isn't. [Telegraph]

• Nicolas Ghesquière picked the intolerably cool Charlotte Gainsbourg to advertise Balenciaga's perfume. Ghesquière calls his friend "one of the most inspiring girls in the world." Gainsbourg said, "I was secretly hoping to be the face of Nicolas' first perfume." [WWD]

• Sources are saying Rihanna has an editorial, shot by Steven Klein, in Italian Vogue's September issue. [Fashionologie]
• Julia Restoin-Roitfelt, French Vogue editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld's daughter, is the face of a new perfume by Jil Sander. [NowSmellThis]
• Hold onto your quirky hats, everybody! There's going to be a new hour-long television drama set in the New York fashion world. Because it's going to star a lady, it'll be just like the new Sex And The City! Isn't that exciting? [Variety]
• The ten finalists in this year's CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund are: Flora Gill and Alexa Adams of Ohne Titel; Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin; Patrik Ervell, Sophie Theallet, Waris Ahluwalia of House of Waris, Wayne Lee of Wayne, George Esquivel of Esquivel Shoes, Gary Graham, Monique Péan, and Simon Spurr of Spurr. Congratulations to them all! The winners of the six-year-old cash and mentorship award will be announced on November 16; past honorees include Proenza Schouler, Alexander Wang, and Doo-Ri Chung. [WWD]
• Doo-Ri Chung is just one of many designers whose business has been hurt by the economic downturn. Chung is owed more than $60,000 by the owners of Jake, a small, independent Chicago boutique. Specialty retailers have been among the hardest-hit in the whole retail sector, but the two men behind Jake, Jim Wetzel and Lance Lawson, actually managed to reorganize their company when it went bankrupt, and continue on as employees of a new entity, the Jake Retail Group. Except that Jake Retail Group did not assume liability for any of the store's debts — meaning that Chung, plus other young designers like Brian Réyes, Tina Lutz and Marsha Patmos of Lutz & Patmos, and Emma Fletcher of Lyell, are out tens of thousands of dollars each for clothes they made and shipped, and Jake sold, but which haven't been paid for. [NYTimes]
• Lyle Lodwick, brother of fameballer Jakob, is a male model. He says that male models take their jobs less seriously than women models do — which is generally true — but also that women models are, naturally, bitchier. "I've heard horror stories of girls putting needles in a girl's shoes so when she's on the runway she'll fall over." Lodwick: Whichever sweet model lady told you that is pulling your leg. [TDB]
• Ossie Clark, the iconic British label that was briefly revived by private investors, is closing again. [WWD]
• The occasion of Berlin designer Patrick Mohr's recent homelessness-themed collection, where he had homeless people walk his runway caked in mud, is used to peg a list of other politically edgy collections of varying levels of success — like John Galliano's own Spring 2000 homelessness-themed couture work, Rei Kawakubo's 1995 Comme des Garçons collection that looked like concentration camp victim uniforms, and Karl Lagerfeld's 1994 appropriation of verses from the Koran. Somehow, the list ends with nary a mention of Miguel Adrover's 2001 MeetEast collection, which was so widely panned it drove the talented designer out of business. [TDB]
• Alber Elbaz: ""The people I chose to run my new store in London are nice. I cannot work with bitches, I can't, I can't. Maybe I am too sensitive, I get blocked. There are some people who don't give a damn. With me, I find that if there is no energy flowing or no connection, I can't think. Talent is amazing - I love it, appreciate it. I respect talent a lot. But if you ask me, ‘Talent and bitch, or less talent and good?' I'll go with less talent." [MyFashionLife]
• New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo caught the firm behind the "Lifestyle Lift" cosmetic surgery procedure posting fake customer reviews and testimonials on the Internet — and won a $300,000 settlement for the astroturfing. [Clickz]
• U.K. lingerie maker Intimas is in bankruptcy administration. Around 200 jobs are at risk. [ToL]
• Liz Claiborne, which has been struggling in the recession, renewed its C.E.O. William McComb's contract, but didn't give him a raise — just a bigger bonus. [WSJ]
• That story about how Crocs are going bust is getting written again, this time kind of artlessly. [WaPo]
• In the second quarter, net income at Joe's Jeans fell 17.8%, on a same-store sales decline of 4.3% [WWD]
• Chemists have traditionally been unable to produce fabrics that are reliably water-repellent when doused with hot, instead of cold, water. Which is why the development of a hydrophobic fabric coating that can repel hot water is potentially exciting news. Scientists think it could have applications in protective clothing, for instance for people who are at risk of scalding burns. [NS]

This is a "Parrot" jacket, by East West Musical Instruments, the misleadingly-named San Francisco-based specialty leather goods company that operated in the 60s, 70s and 80s. Notice how the patchwork leather on the shoulders and collar almost looks like two parrots in profile, their heads bent around the wearer's neck.

East West Musical Instruments specialized in intricately pieced jackets, and sold to the likes of Janis Joplin, Iggy Pop, and John Bonham; New York's hipster mayor, John Lindsay, even had one. These days, an East West jacket can sell for $1,000-$5,000 on eBay or at auction.

Which brings us to this jacket, presented this Monday in New York as part of Balenciaga's 2010 Resort collection.

Other bloggers have already taken note of this jacket's strong resemblance to the East West offering above.

It's not the first time Balenciaga designer Nicolas Ghesquière has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar of 70s American rock 'n' roll style. In Ghesquière's Spring, 2002, ready-to-wear collection, then Hintmag intern (and current anti-comfort activist) Sameer Reddy noticed striking similarities between Ghesquière's patchwork collection and the work of San Francisco designer Kaisik Wong, because he just happened to be looking through a book of Wong's work at the right moment. Similarities down to the placement of tassels and the shape of the patches.




Balenciaga Spring 2002



Kaisik Wong

Ghesquière admitted his pilfering to Cathy Horyn at the New York Times, telling her "I did it — yes." Unabashed, the designer even said, "I'm very flattered that people are looking at my sources of inspiration."

In this case, Ghesquière is not the only person looking to East West Musical Instruments for "inspiration." Urban Outfitters' Pins & Needles brand, which states clearly on its website that it "takes inspiration from a broad range of exquisite vintage and costume pieces, dating from early 19th to mid 20th century," copied the "Parrot" jacket earlier this year. (Its $298 version is now sold out.)



But Balenciaga, a high-fashion brand currently owned by the multinational PPR, and which acts swiftly when its own copyrights are infringed (for example with the much-copied Balenciaga "Motorcycle" bag), makes no such admission. Balenciaga posits itself as far more than mere knock-offs of vintage items; it's a fashion house that makes some claim to the originality of its designs — "inspiration" aside, when a designer of Ghesquière's talents is involved, you expect him to do his own work.

Or do you? Some would argue that, in our post-modern, post-Warhol, post-Grey Album age, that copying is no big deal. (This is not the view Balenciaga takes as regards its purses, but it is what some people say. Harold Koda, the curator of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, said Ghesquière's copy of Wong's work was an example of the Belgian "just rummaging through extant material culture and juxtaposing it with other things to create something different.") Some even argue that knock-offs force source designers to design more, and design better. And the fact that the East West Musical Instruments is extinct could, to some, seem like an excuse for the copy — and the Balenciaga jacket, with its only slightly adapted collar, is certainly a copy. If a book is out of print and unable to be obtained, in a way it seems only fair for someone else to republish it. But that person really ought, in good conscience, to leave the original author's name on the manuscript.

American fashion designers are currently pushing, via the Design Piracy Act, for the inclusion of their intellectual property under the umbrella of copyright law. They argue that their original ideas are currently too easy fodder for knock-off artists like Forever 21 (who had a very near miss, via hung jury, on a copyright case brought by Trovata earlier this year) and the many, many other brands who take prints, patterns, and other design features directly from the runway without acknowledgment or apology. A high-end designer getting caught stealing from someone else's archives — again — can't but hurt that case.

Balenciaga's Nicholas Ghesquire Copies Again [Addicted to YSL]
East West Musical Instruments Parrot Jacket XS [Goodbyeheart]
Is Copying Really a Part of the Creative Process? [NYTimes]

• It's too early for this heartbreak. Pixie (Pixie!) Geldof got the March Italian Vogue cover. Have Franca Sozzani and Steven Meisel lost their minds? The cover line is "So young, so cool." So barf. [Telegraph]

• Maria Sharapova for Cole Haan is now a reality. The new campaign looks pretty good, and for fall, Sharapova herself will create a line of shoes and bags for the brand. Assuming, that is, that we've started buying celebrity fashion lines again by fall. [Sassybella]
• Alexander Wang has designed a limited-edition run of condoms called Proper Attire. They're for sale in Thompson hotels, and all the proceeds will go to Planned Parenthood. Wang, whose fall/winter show is, appropriately, on Valentine's Day, said of the collaboration: "I used a spare design that felt sexy, modern and empowering; after all, women should always come first!" Yes. [The Cut]
• Prada, meanwhile is concentrating on objects that are intimate in a different way: The next edition of its LG phone launched last week. "You carry it with you and it tells something about you," said Prada's director of licensing. I'd go through the specs, but if you're buying a Prada phone, you probably don't care about any technical point of difference so much as you do about it being a Prada phone. [Business Week]
• The Paris show schedule was just released. At Balenciaga, Nicolas Ghesquière is changing his venue, and there's no mention of the troubles at Nina Ricci — Olivier Theyskens is on the calendar. (Allegedly, creative director Theyskens is to be replaced at Nina Ricci before the end of his contract by Marc Jacobs' second-in-command at Louis Vuitton, Peter Copping.) [WWD]
• Manish Arora, a London-based, Indian-born designer who showed last season in Paris (you remember — it was the show both Madeline and Austria booked in Paris) has a Q&A where he discusses his use of color, the influence of his homeland on his designs, and his upcoming projects. Which include a deal with Swatch. [Style.com]
• And Fashionista has a sit-down with Elise Overland. Her fall collection is all about food — sushi, to be exact. "It's very sexual, almost macabre," says Overland, "the way they show all the sushi and how the fish is all cut up, up close. If you look at like it like a small human, kind of." That was not a pleasant image this early in the morning, but, carry on I suppose. [Fashionista]
• New York talked to Jason Wu at his little soiree the other night. Unsurprisingly, still riding the post-inaugural boost, he was upbeat. "You know, you have to give someone a legitimate reason to purchase something," he said, of the current economic climate. "And that can only help the market." [The Cut]
• Which fits right in with Women's Wear Daily's view that young designers should find the brave new economy "invigorating." [WWD]
• The WaPo's Robin Givhan is more sobering. Read her thoughtful and considered expectations for fall/winter 09. "The conversation is focused on survival," Givhan writes. "There's palpable anxiety about the economy and how the fashion industry — the part dominated by razzle-dazzle dresses, hand-stitched embroidery and Italian cashmere — will weather the storm. And there's confusion over what sort of tone the industry should strike as it muddles through the worst of it. Magazine editors are running through their list of synonyms for budget and bargain while trying to maintain the fairy dust of glamour and élan. Big retailers have been discounting everything but the light fixtures." [Washington Post]
• L'Oreal has stopped shipping supplies of its cosmetics — including brands like Lancôme — to a leading Russian retailer. The store L'Etoile has been late on its payments due to the credit crunch. [WSJ]
• A tipster tells Racked.com that Gucci has disbanded its in-house architecture firm, which would normally be responsible for store interiors, and set designs at shows. So, that could be true. Or not. [Racked]
• More news on the potential bankruptcy of the IT Holdings SpA division that owns luxury labels Gianfranco Ferre and Malo, and ready-to-wear licenses from Versace Sport and Just Cavalli, among others. The group hit trouble because of the credit squeeze and falling demand for luxury products (duh), which cause it to run out of money to operate those licenses. The company says it hopes to restructure and come out of bankruptcy. [WSJ]
• A pressure group called the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics tested 33 well-known brand-name lipsticks over a year ago to find that 61% had lead levels of 0.01 - 0.65 parts per million, and a third had lead levels that exceeded the FDA's safe lead limit for candy. Twelve months on, the FDA still has not released the results of their own, independent lead tests. Lead is a neurotoxin and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to it. [UPI]
• The 18 million items L.L. Bean ships annually will now go via UPS. FedEx lost its contract with the brand after 12 years as their exclusive shipping agent. [The Street]
• JC Penney is advertising its most "fashion-forward" lines this spring, instead of its basics. Which lines might those be? Kimora Lee Simmons' and Charlotte Ronson's, for example. [WSJ]
• There's a cool-sounding exhibit called "Vreelandesque" up in Rome about Diana Vreeland's connection to Italian fashion. The co-curator says of the magazine spreads from the 40s to the 60s, "What you see nowadays on fashion magazines implicitly references these photo shoots, this is why 'Vreelandesque' should also be conceived as a reflection on yesterday and today's fashion, as the past is of fundamental importance to rethink what is fashionable nowadays." [Dazed Digital]
• Mandy Moore's new album was kind of a co-creation with Coach. She had company president and creative director Reed Krakoff style her cover shoot, and she played a private concert in Tokyo to open a new store there. Moore just closed her fashion line, Mblem, but says "I love the fashion world. I'm fascinated by it. I'm humbled by it." [WWD]

• Lauren Conrad is On The Move, Azlan-style. After a prolonged period of alleged laziness, Conrad is promoting her eponymous clothing line all over our fifty states. [Yahoo]
• According to this Sun columnist's "hunch," Kate Moss is pregnant. Take that for what it's worth. [The Sun]
• According to model Niki Taylor — and her husband, doctor and uterus' hunch — she's pregnant too! [People]
• Fashiongate FAQ. [Washington Post]

• More signs of economic apocalypse: the cancellation of Fashion Rocks, CondeNast's annual fashion-rock concert-magazine. [AdAge]
• Here's how to get those undecided swing voters! "On Thursday morning, (Zac) Posen filmed a 15-second video urging people to vote, to vote for Barack Obama, and to dress for the occasion." [WWD]
• L'Oreal keeps its head above water, but cuts forecasts. [WSJ]
• There's hedging your bets, and then there's...this. In case they don't get Runway back, Bravo's introducing Fashion House, Celebrity Sew-Off and The Fashion Show, which sounds suspiciously like a Project Runway where viewers choose the winner. [Yahoo]
• Kate Moss, friend, rumored to be dressing up as Tina Turner, Cher for Halloween, kicks. [Fashionologie]
• "Where would Moss be without her languidly rockish locks?" Um, I don't know. Anyway, her hairdresser is releasing a budget line of hair products. So that we can continue to look nothing like her, on the cheap! [Guardian]
• Ferragamo does all the beautiful, 40s-style shoes for the epic film Australia. [W]
• As an army of Bettys and Joans can tell you tonight, Mad Men has had a serious influence on fashion. [LA Times]
• Charlotte Ronson for J.C. Penney is predictably darling. [Nylon]
• Speaking of cute fast fashion: Old Navy's latest plus-sized line is really pretty. [Fabsugar]
• On the other side of economic divide, Balenciaga's Nicolas Ghesquière ditches his celeb moddles. [New York Magazine]
• And the head of Chanel: “Even in tough times, people want to see beautiful and inspirational things." [Economist]
• Rami Kashou lectures at the Phillips Collection. Quoth the master-draper: "I want to talk about what it takes to keep a dream alive...What it's like to be a 5-year-old and have a dream." [Washington Post]
• Bottega Veneta gets into cruisewear. Believe it or not, more frequent collections is actually a Recession-proofing measure. [WWD]

• Rumored brat Peaches Geldof — sister of model Pixie — can add designer to her resume of insta-careers. "Designing for PPQ has been fun and inspiring. I've always loved their clothes, the way Amy can pull off the perfect arty dress over and over again. I love that my collection came out exactly as I wanted, blending new romanticisim with gothic undertones," quoth the VJ-bride-rich-person-It-Girl. [VogueUK]
• Displaying their usual impeccable taste and penchant for dated trends, American Apparel suggests a bloodied Monica Seles costume. [American Apparel]
• According to one manufacturer, Obama tees are outselling McCain 54.1 to 45.9 percent. [SeattlePI]
• The crucial fashion designer demographic is, at least, solidly for Change. [WWD]
• After punching, groping pilot, Hermes heir is allowed to fly. Well, after posting an additional mil in bail. [New York Magazine]

• Ryan Gosling DJ'd at the Burberry Store Opening. Hey, don't ask me! [VogueUK]
• Louis Vuitton cleans up in latest counterfeit lawsuit. [WWD]
• New Banana Republic creative director unveils his first collection. It sounds...exactly like every other BR line. "For spring, Simon Kneen will be building on the Banana Republic brand DNA, focusing on the polished urban work wear aesthetic we have come to know and love." [ElleUK]
• Designers' 'breast cancer awareness' (read: pink stuff) isn't purely altruistic? Surely you jest! [Forbes]
• Armani says founding designers need to let their companies go. "It is painful but you need to have the courage that, once it is done - not to have any claims over it." But, oh yeah, he's not going anywhere. [Reuters]
• Some fashionista's "frugal fashion" tips: "Ms. Borissova, who is also a personal stylist, is updating her look with higher-quality designer pieces, such as a Balmain tweed jacket and Preen blouse, as well as vintage clothes including a Halston animal-print dress and a Thierry Mugler jacket. Not only are such styles likely to last longer than cheaper clothes; they also are investments that might have resale value." [WSJ]
• The recent bid for Pacific Swimwear might be kind of shady. [NY Times]
• Sigerson-Morrison (well, Sigerson) on how they got into designing (awesome, expensive) shoes: "I was 14, living in Omaha, Nebraska, and my Dad sent me a course catalogue for classes at FIT. I think I thought there was something exotic about shoe design. Clothing was relatively easy to understand how they were made and put together, but shoes??!! Shoes were a mystery; only the coolest people knew how shoes were made!" [The Fashion Informer]
• Topshop defies the market with a record year; owner credits Kate Moss. [Daily Mail]
• 1,500 Chinese dogs, bred for their raccoon-like fur, die from tainted feed. [Breitbart]
• Twiggy reunited with a dress she designed in the 60s; apparently she had been unable to track one down! [Daily Express]
• Lanvin tries to change the latex image: "Usually, latex evokes sex and S&M," says Nicolas Ghesquière, "but I didn't want to say that at all. The rubber is not intended to touch the skin, there is silk in between. It's a softer image, not about fetishism at all." [Independent]
• Vivienne Westwood's photographer son is staging a controversial photo shoot of "slaves." "The "chain gang" will include models and activists from the Consenting Adult Action Network (CAAN) who will be bound and gagged in a visual protest, in what campaigners believe restricts adults' sexual choices." [Telegraph]
• Aliens, astronauts loom large at India's fashion week. [Yahoo]
• Coach profits fall in first quarter. [Crains]
• Want to see a really ugly shoe?! [ElleUK]
• Donatella Versace's being honored; Prince and J.Lo will be there. [WWD]
• Murakami's being honored, too, by Pratt. But Prince won't be there. [WWD]

• Continuing his (Mc)dreamy stint as a model, Patrick Dempsey is adding to his fashion portfolio: The face of Versace menswear is now also the face of Avon's new men's fragrance. If it's got our favorite ER doc's face on it, then we know it'll be a little peppery, a little sweet, and really good at tending to your needs. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• As the weather warms, the hottest item to have now is a jacket! Whether bell-sleeved, belted or both, a jacket completes a look and protects you from weather patterns as unpredictable as the economy. Stability, style, and warmth? Yes, please. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Says Nicole Richie of her upcoming maternity line, "My line will be about making women look and feel good at a really emotional time. It's about showing your best self, not your tired, worn-down self." Oh, Nicole...but you always look so dazzlingly fresh! [WWD, 4th item]

• Fabulous news! (For those on a budget). Kimora Lee Simmons is launching a new junior's clothing line for J.C. Penney's called Fabulosity, priced between $29 and $108. [WWD, sub req'd]
• H&M's summer collection as modeled by Daria Werbowy is hot and mod, stylish and sweet. [Vogue UK]
• Prada SpA's profits are up by 66%. It turns out Miuccia didn't need our splurge on art nouveau-inspired platforms to make the rent these days! Which is exactly why we keep snapping up her every collection. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Speaking of which, if dry shampoo is good enough for Miuccia Prada, than it's good enough for us. [Sassybella]
• Gucci will be showing its resort collection this July in Rome, designer Frida Giannini's hometown. We're sure it will be a homecoming of Augustan proportions. [WWD, 1st item]
• Ooooh! Both Nike and friend-of-Adidas Yohji Yamamoto will be showing in Beijing's Forbidden City in the lead-up to the Olympics, in what is sure to be the most controversial Beijing showdown since Tiananmen Square. [WWD, 2nd item]
• "African women are very coquettish, and we love to dress up and we like to transmit a message. We are sending messages to society and to our husbands, or to the other wives of our husbands," says journalist Franceline Qubida of Burkina Faso. Take a page from our African brethren and always remember: How you dress is how you express yourself to the world and prospective suitors! Do you really think the eligible bachelor at the deli (or you boss!) wants to know you liked the Ramones in college? (Please, can you even name all the Ramones?) Didn't think so. Leave band T-shirts at home. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Congrats to power publicist Lara Schriftman on the birth of her baby son Lucas! [Fashion Week Daily]
• Spring cleaning never felt so good! Luxury denim line Earnest Sewn is launching its Make An Earnest Difference initiative, where your old True Religions — come on, we know you still have a pair or two hanging around! — can be donated to be recycled into insulation for homes for the needy. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Versace for the home: we agree, it may be too statement-y for full-time. But picture this chaise in the summer home: sublime. [Chic Report]
• Oh yes, I can overcome my fear of clowns for the Miu Miu Harlequin blazer. Love it or hate it, they ask. Is Fabien Baron French? [FabSugar]
• When we were a child our parents would take us to the North Georgia mountains to go panning for gold. Fool's gold, that is. But you'll be nobody's fool in the Laura Mercier Summer 2008 Gold Digger collection that gives you the right kind of shine in just the right places. [BellaSugar]
• Lingerie designer Collette Dinnigan is readying herself to launch a collection of skivvies for Target Australia, all priced for under $20. Pieces like this at a price like that makes us want to head down under and get under the sheets with someone special ASAP! [News.com.au]
• The new high-end J.Crew Collection is a little prep, a little boho and just what we want right now. [FabSugar]

• British Fashion Council head Harold Tillman wants to start a "Big Sister" program in which old skool supermodels mentor malnourished up-and-coming mannequins. Leading the way in this admirable new endeavor? Naomi Campbell. [Vogue UK]
  
• Elsewhere in Naomi news, she uses Berlin Fashion Week to point out on the 75th anniversary of Nazi rule that, uh, the industry is still pretty white. [Guardian UK]
  
• Elsewhere in Naomi news, did you know she asked Hugo Chavez about the Spice Girls? [Guanabee]
  
• Karl Lagerfeld: now a teddy bear. [WWD, 2nd item]
  
• Remember Zulema? From Project Runway season 2? Who got voted off for a dress which Michael Kors described as looking "like something the town whore's mom who's a real bad sewer made"? Which doesn't even make sense, but whatever? Well, now she's showing her collection during New York Fashion Week... on her MySpace page. [Sassybella]

• Balenciaga designer Nicolas Ghesquiere: really, really good at sports. Who knew? [WWD, 1st item]
• I would actually play sports if it gave me an excuse to wear Chanel. [Vogue UK]
• At Betsey Johnson's Fall/Winter 2008 runway show on Saturday (don't worry, we'll be there), the designer will be celebrating the 30-year anniversary of her line with a retrospective of 15 different looks from the house's history. She'll still be doing a cartwheel at the show's end, another 30-year old tradition, too. [WWD, 3rd item]
• Although many designers (including Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, DVF) are showing a single "green" look at tomorrow night's "Future Fashion" show, the sisters Mulleavy of Rodarte are making their entire collection eco-friendly this season. [Fashion Week Daily]
• The recession might be bad for you, but it's going to be great for the kids looking for work in sweatshops. [Guardian]
• Um, I'm weirdly excited by a website entitled MyTights.com. [FabSugar]
• Thou shalt wear your hair in a low and tight bun for spring. [BellaSugar]
• Mischa Barton's Spring 2008 Keds ads are so much better than the ones she did for Iceberg. [Sassybella]
• Oooh video of Chanel couture collection from 1983. [Sassybella]

• Isaac Mizrahi just inked a fur licensing deal. WTF, Isaac? Was all your money in collateralized debt obligations tied to the subprime mortgage market? Yeah, didn't think so. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Prince William's girlfriend Kate Middleton has taken a job working for famed fashion photographer Mario Testino, starting in a month. How long before she's on the other side of his camera? [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• Once the Paris Hilton footwear line launches next month...uh, we're having trouble finishing this thought. [Sassybella]
  
• Gifts we wish we had received: Krazy Karl designed matching his-and-hers iPods for Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni. [WWD, 6th item]

• Supermodel Helena Christensen on Heath Ledger's death yesterday: "I am just beyond sad at this point, and shocked. I was on my way over to pay him a visit when I found out. I had just left him a message and heard his voice on the machine. He was such a special and genuine person, so extraordinarily talented because he was so raw and honest with his feelings. He was so full of life, so electric...This is immensely sad." [Vogue UK]
• Balenciaga designer Nicolas Ghesquiere will receive a medal of merit from the French government on Tuesday night. French actresses Isabelle Huppert and Charlotte Gainsbourg will be on hand as his cheering section. [WWD, 3rd item]
• More unexpected self-deprecation from Ellen Pompeo! On her anticipated look for the Screen Actors Guild Awards: "Watch me show up in McQueen — with a headdress." On her Grey's Anatomy role: she's "a well-paid slave, tied down to ABC." [WWD, 5th item]
• Olympic snowboarder Shaun White: The latest celeb to "design" for Target. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Awesome English fashion line Preen is now designing a "younger, edgier" line called, um, Preen Line. [Vogue UK]
• As the Jezebel who can't hold her alcohol, I'm glad that I'll at least get to tote a Lacroix-designed Evian bottle around Fashion Week (which starts a week from Friday). [Chic Report]
• We just don't know what to think about the rumored Spice Girls-for-L'Oreal commercials. [BellaSugar]
• Coach: Doing badly here, doing well in Japan. [Reuters]