Label Closures

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

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

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

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

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

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

You're Fired

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That Old-Time Revival Feeling

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

Halston book published by Phaidon


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

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

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


Biba. Again.

Beyond Biba documentary poster via FashionTribes


You're Hired!

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

Clothing Lines Of The Stars

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

• A French bankruptcy court has backed a plan that will cut 90% of Christian Lacroix's staff, and reduce the 22-year-old house to a licensing operation. [ToL]
• None other than Simon Doonan is decorating the White House for Christmas. [NYTimes]

• Speaking of the Obamas: Naeem Khan made not one but five dresses for Michelle Obama to consider for the state dinner last week. "It took 10 people three weeks to make the embroidery," says the Indian-born designer. The dresses were made in America, but the beading came from India. [W]
• The point of this story seems to be: Rihanna has changed her style remarkably since she started entertaining us with song. [CNN]
• Tiger Woods may still be wanted for questioning by the Florida Highway Patrol, but Nike is emphatically standing by their $40-million star. [WWD]
• Kate Hudson loved the costumes in her movie Nine, set in 1960s Italy like its progenitor, 8 1/2, because the period fabulousness reminded her of watching her mother get dressed as a little girl. [UPI]
• Catherine McNeil's Australian Vogue comeback cover is out. [Models.com]
• Hey, everyone! This week is the week that all the major department stores expect to magically start reducing their prices as one! To a modest 30-40% off. (Just don't call it collusion!) Net-A-Porter went 30-50% off yesterday, so that $4,000 dress might now be $2,500, with tax, and Saks is starting its up to 40% off sale Thursday; hold on till after Christmas for steeper cuts. Stores laid in around 20% less stock than last year, in hopes of avoiding last fall's rash of below-cost markdowns. It appears they've been successful. [WWD]
• "Whoever your mom is, people won't give you hundreds of thousands of dollars," says Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, who was given $50,000 to mount his first art exhibition last February, and whose latest show, of Nicolas Pol's work, drew Jean-Paul Gaultier, Andre Balazs, Daphne Guinness, and, oh yeah, his mother Carine Roitfeld, to its opening. Young Vlad's secret? "We work extremely hard." [Bloomberg]
• For I-D's 30th anniversary spring issue, Nick Knight will photograph 100 portraits of different fashion stars featured in its pages over the years — live, in front of an audience. His studio will be open to the public as an exhibition until December 20, and people will be able to watch shoots with, say, Kate Moss or Naomi Campbell, through a two-way mirror. Or live on the Internet, at Knight's showstudio.com. There's nothing that strikes us as less tedious than watching a month-long editorial fashion shoot, but someone might be into it. [WWD]
• The Telegraph gets to the bottom of the mysteriously straight and non-neurotic fashion designer Giles Deacon. How come he's so successful, anyway? "Don't know. My parents weren't into fashion. I didn't have an eccentric granny who mixed lace mantillas with tweed. I never believe people who say that, anyway. 'Oh, my granny had great style.' I just like doing it and I enjoy working hard. I go to work at 10am and I'm still there at 8.30pm. We get the wine out then, but anyone who is successful and tells you they don't work hard is lying." [Telegraph]
• Olivier Theyskens has a book on the way! Olivier Theyskens: The Other Side Of The Picture is due out from Assouline in February. He also might be involved in a new "retail concept," but neither he nor the company involved would comment. [WWD]
• It's official: Bravo will begin airing the Kelly Cutrone reality television series we've all been waiting for, Kell On Earth, next February. As long as Ms. Cutrone keeps dropping f-bombs on live morning television, an audience for this shit is practically guaranteed. [UPI]
• Peaches Geldof, Photoshopped within an inch of her life, is in a second campaign for the UK underwear brand Ultimo. The dividends of just happening upon that News Of The World photographer starkers continue to accrue. [Telegraph]
• North Korean jeans made by a trio of Swedes who describe making contact with the communist regime as "like Facebook poking a country"? Is this a joke? [FWD]
• Inez and Vinoodh shot the spring Lanvin men's wear ads this weekend in Paris, and rumor is they totally pulled a Juergen and put themselves in the shot. [WWD]

• Did L.A. boutique Maxfield drop Victoria Beckham's dVb in favor of Holmes & Yang? Posh's people say Maxfield hasn't ordered the line for three seasons, and the decision had nothing to do with Katie Holmes, who is Posh's friend. [P6]

• Luckily, old bandmate Mel B says she loves Posh's clothing lines. "I'm going out with Geri and Emma while I'm here — and I'll be wearing one of Victoria's dresses," the singer told a crowd in London. [Daily Mail]
• American Apparel is laying off 1,500 workers — more than 10% of its total workforce — because of immigration violations. When ICE raided its factory in downtown L.A. two months ago, 1,600 workers were found to be unauthorized to work in the U.S., and a further 200 were found to have immigration irregularities. Company founder Dov Charney released a statement saying: "Many of you have been with me for so many years, and I just cry when I think that so many people will be leaving the company. It is my belief that immigrants bring prosperity to any economy." This is the latest in a long line of bad news for the company. From being dogged with sexual harassment lawsuits, to the $5 million settlement it had to pay Woody Allen in May after using his image on billboards without authorization, to this week's reprimand from the British Advertising Standards Authority for "sexualising a child," American Apparel can't seem to keep its house in order. [LATimes]
• There are behind-the-scenes shots of Lily Allen working with Karl Lagerfeld on the new Chanel Cocoon bag campaign. [DailyMail]
• We don't doubt that Patrick Demarchelier is planning to shoot 100 top models in Fashion's Night Out t-shirts outside Bryant Park on September 9, but somehow we think someone got confused when noting that "Iman and her daughter Chanel" would be among them. [WWD]
• OMG! Modelfights on Project Runway: Models Of The Catwalk. [P6]
• If you have any interest in beautiful, softly draped leather jackets, deconstructed tee shirts, or vaguely gothic skintight pants — or if you just want to know where that ubiquitous no-closure wraparound sweater, like a high-fashion snuggie ancestor, that everyone from Alice + Olivia to Eileen Fisher has knocked off came from originally — you need to learn about Rick Owens, now. And how his aesthetic is back in a big way just now. [NYTimes]
• Speaking of which, peep Jennifer Connelly in the British InStyle in Rodarte thigh-high boots and Olivier Theyskens' gothic heel-less 8" runway shoes. [Daily Mail]
• Also big for fall, at least in men's wear: Steve McQueen. [WSJ]
  
• There's a rumor going around that Peter Som is set to become the first creative director of Tommy Hilfiger. [WWD]
• Thom Browne is launching two new lower-priced lines for Spring 2010. [WWD]
• Mark your calendars! She by Sheree, apparently some design offspring of a Real Housewife, is coming to Fashion Week. [People]
• Juergen Teller, who shoots all of Marc Jacobs' campaigns, reports that only one set of images has ever caused any particular controversy — and it's not the ones of a then-12-year-old Dakota Fanning, which even the photographer calls "very hard-core." In Fall of 2006, Jacobs chose makeup artist Dick Page and his partner, James Gibbs, to star in the campaign, and Teller shot the couple making out in the woods outside their home. There was a furor: Men's Vogue even refused to run the ads. [The Moment]
• Kenny Chesney says his new clothing line, Blue Chair Bay, is designed to reflect his life off the stage. "I would wear these clothes in Malibu, East Tennessee, where I'm from, or on my boat in St. John," the singer explained at MAGIC, the apparel trade conference that just ended in Las Vegas. Chesney's apparel partners had an airstream full of clothes and purposefully-weatherbeaten blue wicker chairs parked in their booth at the show. [WWD]
• Daisy Lowe's jewelry line with Swarovski is said to feature pieces inspired by the stars, moon, and planets. [Elle UK]
  
• Derek Lam's CEO, Jan Schottlman, denies the anonymous reports published by Page Six that the company is haemorrhaging money. [The Cut]
• Dooney & Bourke are going back to models for their campaigns after seasons of using actresses. Hayden Panettiere is getting thrown over for Maggie Rizer. [WWD]
• Georgia May Jagger, in her new denim ad: "Hudson jeans. Soft...and blue. And very tight." Descriptive! [TDB]
• Richard Chai is doing a line with Keds. Chai's sneakers, which are canvas and leather in white, grey and black, have silver zippers between the rows of eyelets. They hit stores in January of next year, and pricing information isn't yet available. [WWD]
• Someone painted an entire Spanish Colonial-style bungalow in Louis Vuitton's signature logo print. So long as Britney Spears doesn't use it as the set for her next video, we imagine these folks in Mexicali might be safe from LVMH's lawyers. [BoingBoing via hazmeelchingadofavor]

• The return of Mad Men is a mere 37 days away, and the AMC show has struck a deal with Banana Republic:

The retailer will be selling a line inspired by the suits worn by the gentlemen of Sterling Cooper. (The show has also partnered with Clorox, so look for cheeky collar-bleaching spots.) [Vulture, NY Times]

• It's riveting to watch one of Chanel's couture looks being made. Whatever one thinks of the design, the craft of couture is magic. The concentration in the atelier flou's eyes as she makes the toile is an inspiration. [The Cut]
• David Lauren thinks now is as good a time as any for Ralph Lauren to launch a watch division selling $10,000-$80,000 timepieces. Marie Claire will probably still advertise them. [WWD]
• That gorgeous nude-and-black dress Emma Watson wore on David Letterman's show on Tuesday night to promote her movie was by Christopher Kane. [Grazia]
• Come this September, you'll be seeing Justin Timberlake starring in ads for two simultaneously developed and released Givenchy scents, called Play and Play Intense. [WWD]
• Accessories designer Tarina Tarantino marked the 70th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz with an Oz-themed collection — and by shooting Kelly Osborne and Debi Mazar as Glenda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West, respectively. [CBS]
• Couture week closed yesterday, which motivated the Daily to reflect on those comrades who were missing. Anna Wintour, who has never missed the couture collections before, wasn't there. Nor was her counterpart at British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman, or T magazine's Stefano Tonchi. Celebs down for the count included frequent couture customer Dita von Teese. [FWD]
• Another fashion mystery: Why has Peter Copping's first collection for Nina Ricci, Resort 2010, been delayed by one month and counting? Time's Kate Betts hasn't seen the collection, but says "an extremely reliable Parisian source" says it's "great." Copping, formerly Marc Jacobs' right-hand-man at Louis Vuitton, replaced Olivier Theyskens in the middle of his contract earlier this year. [Fashionologie]
• Fendi is "taking a break" from producing a men's wear collection. The 84-year-old Italian company is hoping to be back in the men's game by next season. [WWD]
• Do you ever question the entire nature of fashion week? The tug-and-pull of the trade/consumer focus? The fact that retailers have come to expect new deliveries monthly, not semi-annually? Do you ponder the impact of nonetheless timing the ready-to-wear collections twice per year, and the effects of having pictures of next season's clothing available instantly online months out from production? If so, you're probably a designer, and the CFDA wants to hear from you this July 28, at a townhall meeting that promises to put up for discussion everything about fashion week. What with MAC looking to produce competing shows at Milk Studios, and the coming change in venue from Bryant Park to Lincoln Center, the talk — moderated by Diane von Furstenberg — is timely. [WWD]
• Alexander Wang is debuting his first menswear collection later this month in the pages of T. And according to rumor, for his women's wear show this September, Wang will be eschewing the styling help of his friend, model Erin Wasson. In Wasson's place will be Karl Templer, who styles Calvin Klein (and worked for Interview magazine last year — or maybe he's been hired back, we can't keep track of that revolving door anymore). [Sassybella]
• Meet 20-year-old Rochelle Owen, whose job it is to help customers with Beth Ditto's clothing line at the Evans store in the Meadowhall shopping center in the UK. Her pic is fierce! And the "voluptuous size 20" says: "Beth's style is very much my look, I dress to be noticed and love girly clothes, bright colours and funky dresses with leggings and loads of accessories." [The Star]
• A day at the office with Aussie brand Ksubi: "Shit fucking happens." [BlackBook]
• Uh-oh: "The Consumer Product Safety Council recalled 3,200 pairs of Charles David of California women's shoes sold at Nordstrom." One report of a heel breaking off, resulting in bruising. [WWD</a.]
• Juicy Couture is closing its 3,300 sq. ft. store at Madison Avenue and 70th St. The rent ran $2 million a year, and the company simply cannot afford to continue paying it. [WWD]
• This June, retailers saw on average a 4.7% decline in comparable sales, supposedly because it was such a rainy, miserably month, nobody felt like shopping — and certainly not for summer clothes. But if that's the case, why were sales in the largely sunnier month of May down 4.2%? We think it's the economy, stupid. [Crain's]
• Abercrombie alone saw sales tumble 32% on last year. And a lot of companies' spin-off brands — like Abercrombie's now-closed Ruehl — are suffering even worse. American Eagle's Martin + Osa isn't faring well, and Aeropostale's Jimmy'z has already closed. J. Crew now thinks it priced offerings at its Madewell spinoff too high. [WaPo]
• And the apparel crowd doesn't expect the back-to-school season to be much better. [WSJ]
• One sector that still has the luxury of 35% margins: online, members-only designer sale e-tailers, like Gilt Groupe, RueLaLa, and HauteLook. They have virtually nil marketing costs, and their small inventories actually enhance demand by creating scarcity. [WSJ]
• New York-based fashion chain Scoop, which is being sued for employment violations by 17 ex-staffers, is allegedly behind in its payments to numerous of its creditors, too. "They're unresponsive in their accounts payable department," said Gary Wassner, president of Hildun Corp. "They're not cooperative. They're not providing any financial information to make any kind of analysis of how they're doing. In today's market, it's important to be transparent...Clients are shipping at their own risk." Rosenthal & Rosenthal's Michael Stanley said, "We're very concerned about the status of the account." Robert J. Wichser, a representative of Scoop's owners, says the company is "financially sound" and currently looking for a new CEO. The last one left in February, which is when Hildun Corp. says the company stopped paying its bills. [WWD]

• Eva Mendes should just drop the transparent "acting" career. The woman — Calvin Klein perfume campaign-snagger, fashion event-schmoozer, Revlon face, and Italian Vogue poseur — is, as these Calvin Klein ads further prove, basically a model now. Embrace it! [People]

• Seriously, nobody is thinking about her critically acclaimed performance in Hitch here. Also the lingerie campaign shots? Are reminiscent of the Posh & Becks his 'n' hers Emporio Armani ones. [E]
• Stop the presses: Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson might still be together because Lindsay bought Sam a clutch purse at the NoHo shop Cream & Blue. She also picked up a pair of Nikes for her brother, Cody. In other Celebrities...Go Shopping! news, Robert Pattinson nearly caused a riot when he browsed the racks at Aloha Rag in the far West Village. There's a video of the commotion, but he's not in it. [Racked]
• L.A.'s boutique for the privileged ragamuffins of the super-elite, Kitson Kids, is being sued by its landlord for some $38,000 of unpaid rent. Kitson claims it is on a kind of rent strike until the landlord makes building improvements, including furnishing "a child-safe stroller ramp" so that parents will no longer have to "put children in danger on a daily basis" by taking the rugrats up the steps. [TMZ]
• Speaking of rich youngsters, Russian orange juice heiress Kira Plastinina might be making a comeback in the U.S. The self-styled fashion designer, already successful in Russia and Eastern Europe, expanded into the U.S. retail market with much fanfare — and then, seven months later, her chain collapsed into liquidation amidst allegations of unpaid wages by former employees. The teenaged tycoon is looking at two of her old L.A. locations, under the name "K. Plastinina." [WWD]
• You know what they get to worry about across the pond, where there are no guns? "Knife crime"! It's no joke: designer Nicole Farhi was allegedly strangled into unconsciousness and robbed of jewelry outside her London home by two knife-wielding brothers. And then there's fashion design student Ryan Houlton, of the University of Salford, for whom knife crime is inspiration. His latest collection is based on the hoodies and tracksuits that knife-crime-committing street gangs wear — but, the designer is quick to point out, the clothes are "not designed for people who commit crimes." Whoever does wear these threads will definitely look sharp. [Telegraph]
• Fellow British fashion student George Davies designed a dress that lights up when the wearer's cell phone rings. Maria Sharapova unveiled it. Why would you want anything so unsubtle? [Reuters]
• Dolce & Gabbana is launching an online store on June 23. [10 Magazine]
• Jesus Luz is also set to walk in Dolce & Gabbana's menswear show in Milan this Saturday as an exclusive (translation: Jesus Luz is going to make a lot of money from doing this show, and no others.) He already bagged one campaign for the brand; could this be the beginning of a beautiful partnership? [WWD]
• Diego Della Valle, who is the founder of Tod's and a big investor in Saks Fifth Avenue, owns the Schiaparelli trademark. But, Della Valle says he does not plan on reviving the house until at least 2011. That timeline casts doubt on the rumors that Olivier Theyskens, lately of Nina Ricci, could be set to take over the brand. Inquiring minds want to know: What is the Belgian boy-wonder gonna get up to instead? [WWD]
• When Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough of Proenza Schouler guest-edited A Magazine, the Belgian fashion title, they made it all Team America World Police-y. There's Chloë Sevigny with stars on her face, pencil drawings of Abe Lincoln, and a story about Marfa, Texas, inside. [NYTimes]
• Designer Kenzo Takada sold his art collection at auction for $2.6 million in Paris. [WWD]
• To the surprise of exactly nobody, retail apparel prices dropped again in May. In fact, the overall Consumer Price Index fell by its sharpest year-over-year amount since, well, January. [WWD]
• Liz Claiborne announced it expected a bigger loss for this quarter than it had previously thought. Its share price tumbled 13%. [Reuters]
• Money-losing company Pacific Sunwear has chosen a new C.E.O., and it's former Vans chief executive Gary H. Schoenfeld. [LATimes]
• Eddie Bauer declared its long-anticipated bankruptcy yesterday. It's the company's third bankruptcy filing in its nearly 90-year history; it hopes to be sold and emerge as a going concern. [AP]
• Fellow recession-plagued retailer Abercrombie & Fitch, while not bankrupt, has announced the end of its pricier Ruehl brand. Ruehl's same-store sales were down 33% in the month of May. All 29 Ruehl shops will be shuttered by the end of this year. [WSJ]
• Macy's is recalling 33,000 hoodies that pose a choking hazard. The hooded sweatshirts, sold under the brand names Greendog and Epic Threads between July, 2008, and March of this year, should be returned to the store for a full refund. [UPI]
• Topshop is renting bicycles to New Yorkers for free at its SoHo store. The catch? It's only for the week starting June 20, and there are all of 30 bikes available. But still: Free bikes! [

• 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]

• British Marie Claire cover star Brüno gave the magazine a scintillating interview. On Naomi Campbell,: "She's amazing — twenty years in ze business und all ze pressure und fame hasn't changed her a bit — she's remained a total bitch."

• In a fashion A-Z guide of his own invention, which Marie Claire ran with a disclaimer, he says:
• "A is for Austria, ze most amazing place in Europe. Ve're all proud of our country und are raised to try and achieve ze Austrian dream - find a job, get a dungeon und raise a family in it."
• H is for "High-vaisted Jeans. In terms of human tragedy on a mass scale, vy are zese not getting the attention zat Hurricane Katrina did?"
• K is for "Kampf, mein... ze fashion bible written by Austria's black sheep Adolf Hitler. It literally translates as 'My Flamboyance'."
• L is for "Little black child... thanks to Madonna... it's zis season's vardrobe essential."
• S is for "September 11th 2001. Famous, of course, for being ze day on vich Oscar de la Renta reintroduced ze chambray peasant blouse."
• Then, he compared Anna Wintour to "a pre-op trannie." [Marie Claire UK, Daily Mail, Telegraph]

• Breaking: Versace C.E.O. Giancarlo di Risio is said to be stepping down this Friday. Di Risio has been the head of the company since 2004, but lately rumors of a rift with Donatella Versace have spread. Versace continues to struggle to make its wares attractive to consumers during this recession. [NY Times]
• Karl Lagerfeld will be one of the voices of an animated French movie called Totally Spies. He's going to play a bad guy named Fabu. Which we think is Fab! [Reuters]
• Isabel Toledo has already dressed Michelle Obama, but she still wants to take a crack at Bo. "I'd dress him in little booties!" said the designer. [NYDN]
• Funny. She's got no beef with (or, perhaps, no rebuttal for) the coke stuff, but anyone who insinuates Kate Moss might be pregnant better watch it. She'll sue the pants off you. [WWD]
• The will-I, won't-I, could-I-possibly dance comes to an end: Roberto Cavalli will sell a stake in his company. He signed a letter of intent to sell a 30% stake in Roberto Cavalli SpA to Italian private equity fund Clessidra SpA. How much the stake should be worth is something the two parties have until September 30 to determine. So, after months of teasing, this time it's totally going to happen. Except! The letter is non-binding. So our favorite gun-shy Italian could still beat a retreat at the last minute. [WSJ]
• Tracey Ullman says her hosting gig at the Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards on June 15th will largely be an opportunity to explore how further and further derivations of celebrity affect the industry. "You can imagine Oscar de la Renta being shown a picture of Lauren Conrad, and saying, ‘Oh, if only we can get her to hold our purse!' " said Ullman. Then she did a pitch-perfect imitation of Diane von Furstenberg. [NY Times]
• Fashion blogger Susie Bubble may get no love from Pam Hogg, but she still gets to preview Christopher Kane's autumn line for Topshop. "I defy people NOT to find something they like," raves Susie. The collection is apparently 40 pieces, includes shoes and bags, at a price range of approximately £40-£160. The lot hits stores across the chain this September. [Style Bubble]
• Menswear designer Michael Bastian: "The hardest thing is to take something familiar and make it better. The easiest thing is to create something no one has ever seen before. There's a reason no one's ever seen it - because someone tried it, and it didn't work in the real world." [NY Times]
• Perry Ellis is now sponsoring...an IndyCar driver. [Racked]
• Despite the high prices, Thakoon Panichgul's just-launched second line, Thakoon Addition, is apparently doing brisk business. [Style.com]
• It's in with the new and out with the old at Nina Ricci. To mark the departure of designer Olivier Theyskens, the French fashion house will be hosting a multi-season sample mega-sale, where shoes, clothing, and accessories will all move at fire sale prices. Like 40 Euros for a pair of shoes. [WWD]
• Dissatisfied Saks shareholders managed to push through a resolution that will put company directors up for election annually, and require them to win their seats on the board by a simple majority, as opposed to a plurality of votes. Previously, directors had held staggered, 3-year terms. Supporting the plan was the hedge fund P. Schoenfield Asset Management, whose cry for more accountability from the board was apparently supported by such other shareholders as Carlos Slim Helú (who came to prominence in the U.S. when he invested $250 million in the New York Times earlier this year) and Tod's founder Diego Della Valle. [NY Times]
• Meanwhile, Amy Odell over at The Cut takes a moment to remind everyone that fellow troubled luxury retailer Barneys still doesn't have a C.E.O. After more than a year. [The Cut]
• British fashion house Aquascutum just took the first step toward laying off its entire 343-person staff. [Times of London]

• Unlike her husband, who plans on doing zero promotional work for his Adidas line, Victoria Beckham is in New York to unveil a new 20 ft Emporio Armani ad at Macy's. [UPI]

• Posh is also expanding her fashion reach, manufacturing her dVb jeans in-house in London, and signing a new sunglasses deal with maker Cutler & Gross. [WWD]
• Around 200 people waited on the street for Michelle Obama to emerge from the US mission to the UN on Tuesday. The First Lady wore the same Tracy Feith dress she wore to a post-inaugural prayer breakfast in January. [WWD]
• Three words: Target. Anna. Sui. [WWD]
• Did Kate Moss really refuse to shake Agyness Deyn's hand in the receiving line at the Met ball on Monday? [Racked]
• And did Gisele Bundchen and Bar Refaeli — ex- and current girlfriend, respectively, of Leonardo DiCaprio — have a frosty encounter at the end of the night? That sounds kind of like the last party I went to, only it was on a tiny fire escape, not at the Temple of Dendur, and the awkward partner-in-common pairing was male, not female, and, oh yeah, nobody was wearing Versace. [The Observer]
• Madonna apparently says Jesus Luz's name in the Lamb of God pronunciation, not the From South America pronunciation. [WWD]
• Dasha Zhukova, a socialite who took over Katie Grand's job at Pop despite having no editorial experience, said at Rodarte's Met afterparty, "Are we in a basement? Because this is the chicest underground party I've been to. Literally, underground." The venue, the SubMercer, is indeed underground. Well done, Dasha. [Style.com]
• Pierre Cardin was hospitalized in Marseille after a fainting episode earlier this week. He is expected to be discharged today. What, you wonder, does Pierre Cardin amuse himself with in his twilight years? Why, the meticulous restoration of the chateau of the Marquis de Sade. [AP]
• The new issue of Worldwide Women's Wear Digest is out, for anyone who tires of fashion's efforts at self-parody. [WWWD]
• Simon Doonan of Barneys asked Stella McCartney what the deal is with her and jumpsuits when the designer made an appearance at the store in New York. "I love them because they're just so effortless," McCartney replied. She then mentioned that at the Met ball, to which she wore a jumpsuit, she required the assistance of a friend every time she needed to use the rest room. Effortless, indeed. [Fashionista]
• Barneys, meanwhile, is said to be looking to close two of its seven stores, including the one it opened just last year in Las Vegas. Rumors have flown as of late about the luxury retailer's troubles. [WSJ]
• Designer Antonio Berardi says it took three attempts to be accepted at Central St. Martins, England's top fashion school — but not because his work wasn't up to scratch (he was already working in John Galliano's atelier). "I was 18 stone [252 lbs] and people didn't really see me, even in class. And, then, all of a sudden it changed and that was equally weird." [Telegraph]
• Anya Hindmarch's London Pont St. store was burglarized on Monday, and the thieves made off with just under $70,000 worth of spring and summer stock. It is the sixth time Hindmarch's stores have been targeted. You might think she'd beef up security, no? [Vogue UK]
• In a surprise move, the bankrupt Filene's Basement chain will not be liquidated by its new owners. The much-beloved designer discounter, which sells unwanted end-of-season wares from department stores at significantly lower prices, found its business fell off as high-end department stores scrambling for customers practically matched Filene's level of discounting. But the new owners, Crown Acquisitions and the Chetrit Group, who picked up the chain for only $22 million, plan to inject $25 million into inventory and marketing. Their focus will be on what they see as Filene's Basement's core customer — city-dwellers looking for a bargain. "The weakest stores they had were in the suburbs," explained the head of Crown Acquisitions. [NY Post]
• A French e-tailer is allowing users to buy items from its site for any sum they wish — so long as it's over 1 Euro and they order a maximum of two. Since this is a recession, and all. [Reuters]
• Olivier Theyskens says all that talk about him becoming creative director of Halston, now that he's been let go from Nina Ricci, is just rumors. [The Cut]
• Serena Williams did three hours on the Home Shopping Network and moved 25,000 units of her clothing and accessories. Not bad for an afternoon's work. [PR Newswire]
• Marks & Spencer, Britain's biggest lingerie retailer, has decided that all you ladies with curves should pay an extra £2 for the privilege of wearing anything larger than their D-sized bras. [Daily Mail]
• Model Katie Fogarty, on Internet folks watching videos of her fall on the Prada runway: "Whatever lightens people's days!" We're glad she sees it as a no harm, no foul situation. (And we're especially glad Fogarty didn't actually come to any harm during that mishap.) [Teen Vogue]
• True Religion jeans reported a 10% jump in earnings for the first quarter of this year, on the back of a 19% iincrease in sales. [The Street]
• Steve Madden's earnings for the same period jumped 68%. Profits were $6.6 million. [WWD]
• Kenneth Cole lost $8.2 million in the same quarter. Sales decreased by 16%. [The Street]

• File under matches made in heaven: Karl Lagerfeld has designed couture costumes for England's National Ballet. [Telegraph]

• Did Eva Herzigova drink a lot of champagne at the opening of the Michael Kors store in London, and then walk out the door with a bracelet, watch, and sunglasses? Security guards reportedly looked like they were going to stop the supermodel, until the paparazzi started taking her picture. Kors claimed the next day that Herzigova was "being cheeky" — but that the items were a gift. [Daily Mail]
• Get ready to see a lot more of Jessica Biel: The actress has been named the newest face of Revlon. [WWD]
• Filene's Basement has filed for bankruptcy protection. Apparently, now that other stores have been forced to cut their prices, Filene's discounts are less impressive in the retail lineup. [Reuters]
• The Olivier Theyskens/Halston rumors are back. With the added complicator of Anna Wintour's involvement. [WWD]
• Holding the annual costume institute gala at the Met might distract from the Renoirs, sniffs writer Michael Gross. [NY Post]
• Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, and Linda Evangelista will all skip the event. Turlington is out of the country, filming a (doubtless very important) "documentary on maternal health." Steven Meisel will also sit the party out — but that's no surprise since the man is rarely glimpsed in public. [P6]
• Patti Smith doesn't require fashion. "I can wear rags," says the musician. "But they have to be cool rags." [The Cut]
• Mischa Barton, however, pretty much requires headbands. Or at least requires you to buy hers, since she doesn't have a career anymore, other than waiting to see if her pilot is getting picked up. [People]
• England apparently has has a Dress of the Year award since 1963. And this year it went to Kate Moss, for one of her Topshop designs. [Independent]
• Meanwhile Topshop, ever the good neighbor, has apparently knocked off Alexander Wang's "naked" dress — the one with the floating embroidery on mesh. [Racked]
• Wang's jacket for the Gap looks like a a biker jacket that swallowed a trench coat. [Racked]
• Is Azzedine Alaïa looking to launch a lingerie line? If so, why wont the famously body-conscious women's wear designer design it himself? [Elle]
• Speaking of lingerie, you should read this entertaining profile of Joe Corré, son of Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, and co-founder of Agent Provocateur. "I don't buy into all this brand-identity bollocks — the Gucci lifestyle, the Prada lifestyle," says Corré. "What does that mean? That you're a rich, bored idiot with no soul? It's just emperor's new clothes bullshit. We're against all that. Agent Provocateur is about an attitude, about empowerment." [Guardian]
• Hogan's fall campaign will reportedly star Nate Lowman, an artist who dates Mary-Kate Olsen. [Fashionista]
• Bar Refaeli, the Israeli supermodel, has designed "the perfect little black bikini." It looks exactly like every other string bikini you've ever seen, but it costs $120. [People]
• Ben Sherman is quitting the footwear business by the end of this year. [WWD]
• On the other foot: Skechers, which is now back in the black. [WWD]
• Lily Cole, the British model, has not one but three movies coming out. And a new Rimmel ad. And, oh yeah, she's a full-time student at Cabridge. [The Cut]
• Thom Browne, whose business was rumored to be in dire straits recently, had his CEO and CFO depart on Friday. [WWD]

• Kohl's seems to think a Lauren Conrad fashion line will be a winner. And we had been so joyful when it seemed the Lauren Conrad Collection was taking a permanent vacation! [NY Times]

• Marc Jacobs: "If Naomi [Campbell] were very well behaved and always on time, and didn't have her little tantrums, I don't know that she'd still be around and traveling like Elizabeth Taylor with an entourage." I suppose you just have to find what works for you, and do it. [Style.com]
• Interesting tidbit from the set of the Prada fall campaign shoot: Steven Meisel worked for four days at Pier 59 studios in New York City — last season, the campaign was shot by Meisel in Los Angeles, but then a studio's a studio, more or less. And this season's undertaking involved an actual live horse. Can't wait to see how that turns out. [FWD]
• The New York Times finally got its Critical Shopper, Cintra Wilson, into Topshop (which, weeks after opening, still has a line outside and "bouncers" at the door — whether or not the shop is close to capacity). Wilson's take? "Everything looks so sarcastic and right-this-second trendy as to be planning for a near-immediate obsolescence." [NY Times]
• As had long been expected, Peter Copping was officially named Olivier Theyskens' successor at Nina Ricci in Paris. [WWD]
• New York asked Liya "Kibede" — May American Vogue cover girl, and the third black woman on the cover in as many months — to talk about fashion's cautiously increasing diversity, which the Ethiopian supermodel attributes in main to Barack and Michelle Obama. "I think there's a lot more black models working and I think that's because of having Michelle and Barack out there," says Kebede. "I mean there's been this issue, raised last year — how there wasn't enough black models on the runways — but I think Barack and Michelle have really helped us, hopefully forever, to get over this hurdle for black models." Three covers with black women in a row for Vogue is better than the one cover every 2-3 years that had been the norm for the twenty years of Anna Wintour's tenure at the magazine — but Vogue's 117-year history still counts only a mere 16 covers with black women featured solo, and 5 covers where a black woman was pictured as part of a group. We hate to say it, but Kebede's optimism may be premature. [The Cut]
• Tyra Banks announced that this season she was taking contestants on her watch-pretty-girls-cry TV show to Brazil by having a male model come on the set and offer her Brazil nuts in Portuguese. Unfortunately, that model's name was Hugo Vieira. Vieira is from Portugal. Not Brazil. [MadeInBrazil]
• Meanwhile, in the upcoming season of Australia's Next Top Model, a 16-year-old contestant, who took the preparatory step of dropping out of high school to jump-start her modeling career, is ordered into anger management counseling after threatening to assault another contestant. Seriously, where do they find these people? [News.com.au]
• Polymath (ADD?) designer Isaac Mizrahi was happy to be a judge on Bravo's Project Runway replacement, The Fashion Show (which premieres May 7). But not because it would lift his personal brand: "I respect people for doing that," Mizrahi said, tactfully, "but I'm doing it because it's really fun." [Variety]
• Jason Wu, despite his quick rise to household name status after it became known that he designed Michelle Obama's inaugural ball dress, is nevertheless still doing his quirky bread-and-butter sideline project: designing dolls. His latest is inspired by Lana Turner. It's for sale at FAO Schwartz, for $180. [FWD]
• Model-slash Daisy Lowe: "When I think of 'It Girl,' I think of someone who is privileged, someone who has everything given to them. My parents don't have loads of money. I've been looking after myself, paying my own way since I was 17." [Daily Beast]
• Patrick Robinson's quest to make the Gap cool (again? for the first time? can anyone remember? or is the Gap's alleged hip is beyond a sartorial event horizon: no information about it can reach the wider world?) takes on the jeans. Robinson and his design team have spent two years rethinking the chain's denim offerings, and come August there'll be new offerings like boyfriend jeans, well-fitted drainpipes, and bell bottoms in a variety of lengths. All for $69. [Style.com]
• Penelope Cruz's Mango line's summer collection looks pretty damn cute. As does Ms. Cruz herself. [Fabsugar]
• Yesterday, If we were to have ranked designers by their relative likelihood to launch homewares lines, Martin Margiela's name would have been near the bottom. Shows how much we know! [WWD]
• Quoth the artistic director of Shu Uemura: "I have so many ideas that it can be overwhelming." [The Cut]
• Four images from Shipley & Halmos' Uniqlo line, launching May 7, have leaked. The clothes look a little...boring. [Nylon]
• Matthew Williamson for H&M launches tomorrow in select stores. [Times of London]
• Could a Missoni for H&M line be on the horizon? Angela Missoni, creative director of the venerable Italian knitwear house, says in a recent profile, "I would like to do something with H&M because I think it is a very powerful way to reach younger girls now." Missoni is also frustrated by the format of modern runway shows, which she finds "cold and distant" and a distraction from the clothes. And she hates that more established models can command high runway fees: "I prefer to show my collections on fresh, young girls to capture that spirit. Having Naomi or Gisele in your show is really just about saying that you were able to get her." But girls like Nimue Smit — who is in the spring Prada campaign — and Sara Blomqvist — who was launched to fame by a Prada exclusive in 2007 — both of whom walked in Missoni's last show, aren't exactly "unknowns". [Telegraph]
• M by Missoni, the company's diffusion line, experienced 25% annual growth last year — so it's launching new accessories and denim collections. [WWD]
• H&M says it's strongly positioned, despite the troubled economy and its recent lackluster sales figures. The company plans to open 225 more stores than it will have to close this year. [WSJ]
• Here is your fashion inanity of the day: "Designers always say, 'Gray is the new black,' and the next season say, 'I can't do one more gray piece.' Where does it go? How come the loyalty vanishes? Why don't you love gray every season?" Stephanie Seymour — never afraid to ask the tough questions. [Fashionista]

• Lindsay Lohan's spoof singles video doubled as an ad for her leggings line and self-tanner. [WWD]
• And Zooey Deschanel wrote and performed a ditty about cotton — the fabric of our lives! [Videogum]

• Could Madonna be returning for another season's duty as the face of Louis Vuitton? Rumors say this fall's campaign will maintain both her Madgesty and photographer Steven Meisel. [Fashionologie]
• Eddie Van Halen is launching a namesake sneaker, the EVH. They look exactly like chucks. [WWD]
• Not to be outdone, Puma and Yves Saint Laurent have released a sneaker. (Puma also did kicks for Alexander McQueen and Sergio Rossi, which are both, like YSL, brands owned by parent company PPR, which makes sense since Puma is itself part-owned by the luxury goods giant.) The shoes are surprisingly...ugly. The toe box looks like one of those godawful Clarks Wallabee shoes that came briefly into fashion and set the bar of taste low enough for Crocs to duck under shortly thereafter. I had a friend who called those shoes with that terrible toe "piss-catchers." Which was accurate. [WWD]
• Diane Pernet reports on a rumor "from a very good source" that ex-Nina Ricci designer Olivier Theyskens will be brought in to revive the house of Elsa Schiaparelli. Which would be a much better fit for Theyskens than Halston, which was last week's rumor. [ASOF]
• Georgina Chapman, otherwise known as the co-founder of Marchesa and Mrs. Harvey Weinstein, says she made her own wedding gown. "I didn't finish my dress until about three days before my wedding — I had the flu and was stitching it from my bed," she told New York. Her only advice for the "impulsive" bride who might choose one of her $3,100-$6,500 dresses off the rack on her way to the registry office, is that she make sure she can walk in it. [NYMag]
• Same-store sales at H&M, the world's third-largest apparel retailer by revenue, fell 3% in the month of March. Sales at fast fashion chains had been more resilient in this downturn than the figures for department and boutique stores; this drop took analysts surprise. [WSJThe thing about this economy is that there's always ample evidence business could be worse: Levi's earnings fell 50.5% last quarter. [WWD]
• The Texas-based private investment group that took J. Crew public three years ago has sold its last remaining shares in the troubled retailer. J. Crew's share price has fallen more than 60% in the past year. [Crain's]
• Duncan Quinn, the brand whose last ad featured a man strangling a nearly naked woman on the hood of a car, went for restraint this season. The new campaign is a man holding a sawed-off shotgun. [Racked]
• Tory Burch and David Yurman are now ratified members of the Council of Fashion Designers of America board. [WWD]

• Could Anne Hathaway be taking Posh's gig as Marc Jacobs' favored campaign model? [Daily Mail]

• Derek Lam, like Rodarte and Zac Posen, just shot his first advertising campaign. For fall, expect to see Solve Sundsbo shots of Karmen Pedaru wearing Lam's wares, walking down a beach. [WWD]
• Retailers hoping for a boost in sales, or even just foot traffic, courtesy of the Topshop opening weekend melee, were disappointed. SoHo businesses found that while people were willing to line up for almost two hours to enter Topshop, once they'd achieved that goal, they didn't feel moved to shop anywhere else. [Crain's]
• Miranda July, the filmmaker and writer, will get married in a specially-made Rodarte dress. Which I am already coveting, even in absence of any photos. [WWD]
• Could Olivier Theyskens — who was essentially fired from both Rochas and Nina Ricci for making clothes that were intricate and critically successful but didn't actually sell — be on his way to Halston? American sportswear seems a less than likely berth after being found "too editorial" for Paris. But Halston needs a designer, and some people are saying that the talented Belgian gothic visionary...no, this is just too ridiculous. [Hint]
• Not only will Roberto Cavalli smile and make nice with Ittierre, the Italian licensee that the designer savaged after its move into receivership forced him to cancel his Just Cavalli fall show, for the remainder of their contract — Cavalli is reportedly close to extending that contract another five years, to 2015. Cavalli is in talks to sell a minority stake in his business, and a trouble-free relationship with his diffusion line's licensee might make such an interest more attractive to potential buyers. [WWD]
• Ann Taylor isn't the picture of financial health just now. The company lost $334 million last year, its revenues shrank by 9%, and 160 of its stores are to close. At its head offices, 19% of the staff has already been laid off. Same-store sales were down 29% in the fourth quarter, and its stock price hit a 52-week low last month. So clearly it's the right time for CEO Kay Krill to receive a 14% pay raise, to $7.84 million. [Crain's]
• The retail sector as a whole rose 5.8% in last week's stock trading; some experts hope this means the worst is over. [WWD]
• Stores giving away money: officially a thing now. [WWD]
• Alexa Chung, who is a former model and a current British TV presenter, is moving to New York to further her television career. Last time this happened, it didn't go so well, but Chung can actually write, so I say, fuck the haters. Welcome to Brooklyn! [Grazia]
• Snotty designers like Vera Wang, Donna Karan, and Oscar de la Renta complained to WWD about how Michelle Obama isn't wearing their clothes. "You don't go to Buckingham Palace in a sweater," said de la Renta. [WWD]

• 80s supermodel-turned-businesswoman Elle MacPherson will star in the CW's Beautiful as an 80s supermodel-turned-businesswoman. The show revolves around models living in agency housing. It'll be MacPherson's first television gig since her stint on Friends. [THR]

• Barack Obama started wearing a Jorg Gray wristwatch instead of his Tag Heuer — and the private label, which had only been marketed on the corporate gifts market, promptly launched Barackswatch.com to make the best of the endorsement. Stay classy, Jorg Gray! [WWD]
• Robin Givhan, longtime Washington Post fashion critic, is departing New York City for Washington in order to cover the First Family beat. She'll still write a weekly column on fashion, but in her new surroundings, the scope will widen to include "politician[s] looking especially appalling." [WWD]
• Anna Wintour, who has always been a strong supporter of designer Olivier Theyskens, lashes out at Puig fashion group in her April editor's letter. Puig fired Theyskens before his contract with the house of Nina Ricci was even up. Of course, Wintour's support doesn't mean Theyskens will automatically ascend to a similarly good position: Phoebe Philo, who left Chloé in 2005, has always enjoyed Wintour's good graces, and she's only just about to settle into a design role at Celine now. [FWD]
• Jessica Joffe is going to be in Katy Rodriguez's fall campaign. [Vogue UK]
• Agyness Deyn and Albert Hammond, Jr., they of the Vogue Valentine's Day photo spread, are no longer an item. [Daily Intel]
• Is it still news to anyone that editorial work is not remotely remunerative? Here is yet another industry person, Betty Sze of Models.com, to give the good word about the bad pay. Condé Nast, says Sze, pays new models about $150 a day, and more experienced girls can expect to net about $250. Those rates actually set the curve for editorial pay in the rest of the industry: three of the last half-dozen eds I've done didn't pay at all. I will say this of Condé Nast: if one of their titles is shooting you in an out-of-the-way location, unlike other media conglomerates, they send a car to take you to the airport. Which is rad, because LIRR and MTA are two acronyms you do not want on your mind when you're trying to make a 7 a.m. departure at Kennedy airport, and dropping $100 on cabs to take you to and from a job that's gonna pay $200 (after your agency's cut, when you get paid in three months, if other expenses your agency assesses in the meantime don't eat it up entirely) makes no sense. The idea is to do editorials to work with good photographers and generate enough buzz to book campaigns (or, at least, catalogs) but that second, crucial step to financial solvency is a lot tougher than anyone makes it sound. [Fashionologie]
• Collabs between designers and mass-market retailers are on the rise this season — I'll give you one guess as to why. (Starts with "R"!) [WWD]
• Urban Outfitters has been unveiling an unusual number of collaborations, particularly with lesser known, cutting-edge designers, this season. But that didn't stop their design team ripping off a sandal design by Hayden Harnett. They even copied the name. The New York designers called their shoe the "Camille" — Urban's offering is the "Camilla." [Fashionista]
• Palm Beach's retail environment is struggling under the twin curses of Bernard Madoff and The Recession. [WWD]
• Lakme fashion week in Mumbai has a bunch of designers — and a Barbie-themed show. Because what world fashion week is complete without that? [FWD]
• The Lauren Conrad Collection is no more. Funny to think that you couldn't sell an entire line of boring jersey dresses produced by a girl whose claim to fame is playing herself on television in this economy. [P6]
• In somewhat more disappointing news of reality star fashion projects, House of Harlow, Nicole Richie's jewelry line, sold out online before it even reached stores. Alas, she plans an empire: "I'm focusing on my brand right now. There will be a maternity line, a clothing line, shoes, belts, everything!" [People]

• Fresh off his CFDA award women's wear nomination, Marc Jacobs is reportedly engaged to his Brazilian boyfriend of one year, Lorenzo Martone. Mazel tov to the happy couple! [WWD]

• Anna Sui, who is being given the Geoffrey Beene lifetime achievement award by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, talked to Style.com for the occasion about New York's garment district, which has been threatened by rent rises and zoning changes, not to mention the increasing number of designers who outsource their fabric and notions sourcing, and their sample construction. "So much of my work is based on the resources in that neighborhood — the lacemakers and the pleaters and so on," said Sui. "I have my design studio here; I drape on a mannequin; we sew our own samples. That's how I know how to make clothes. I can't make sense of a dress without seeing how a fabric drapes, for example...I would just really hate to see the fashion industry go the way of all industry in America, and give up and go totally outsourced. We used to have the most beautiful woolen mills here, and the best denim. There was a sense of craft." [Style.com]
• Louis Vuitton, a company whose zealotry in protecting its intellectual property is well-known, is taking on Google in the European Court of Justice. At issue: the fact that the search giant sells ads to companies that make counterfeit Louis Vuitton products, and that those ads appear above the legitimate search results. Louis Vuitton says it's tantamount to copyright infringement, Google says it's up to users whether they click on any ads or not. [The Cut]
• Spring at H&M involves a wide-legged drop-crotch zebra-print jumpsuit. Don't say nobody warned you. [Fabsugar]
• This otherwise fine profile of Lauren Hutton begins by calling her "fashion's most wondrous wrinkly." Which certainly made me wrinkle my nose. [Telegraph]
• Even though he, like Hutton, is increasingly an actor these days, Tyson Beckford wishes magazines would use more models on their covers. [AP]
• And as if to taunt him, here's Penelope Cruz, looking sort of like she needs to pee, on the April cover of Spanish Vogue. [Popsugar]
• There are all kinds of fashion-y things going on with your television this week. Today is the premiere of CNN International's Carine Roitfeld documentary, which you can watch online, Friday is Valentino Day on Martha Stewart, and Saturday is the debut episode of the newly revived House of Style with Bar Refaeli and Chanel Iman. In case that's not enough, Valentino: The Last Emperor is opening in select theaters today, and soon enough we'll be treated to whatever Morley Safer cooks up on Anna Wintour, too. Phew. [Fashionista]
• Speaking of Valentino: his half-dozen pugs might guest-blog on Martha Stewart's dogs' blog, the Daily Wag. I thought the whole point was that on the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog? [The Cut]
• Meanwhile, Gwyneth Paltrow (who says those pugs are "not good kids dogs") said at the New York premiere of the film that it had failed to reveal Vava's "naughty" side. "He's the naughtiest [man]-slash-gentlemen in the entire world," said the actress. [WWD]
• Catherine Zeta-Jones can be seen moonlighting in a seven-minute advertisement for Unilever's Lux hair product brand, developed for the Asian market. [AdAge]
• Nike's sales for the third quarter declined slightly, but there may be worse times ahead: the company largely sells according to futures orders, orders for clothing and shoes scheduled one season ahead of time. And those have contracted by 10% this quarter, to $6.5 billion. [WSJ]
• The company that makes Crocs is likely to go under. At least, that's the opinion of its auditor, as disclosed in the business's annual report. Falling revenue makes it all but impossible that the company will be able to secure a new revolving credit line after its current one matures on April 2. [The Street]
• Eddie Bauer also says it's at significant risk of violating its debt obligations. After two attempted debt restructuring deals were rejected by creditors, a third amended debt deal was made, under which the company will pay higher interest rates and issue warrants for its stock. Fourth-quarter revenue fell 5.7%, and the company has seen a wave of recent layoffs and store closures nationwide. [Reuters]
• The auction of items from Gianni Versace's Lake Como villa netted some $10.3 million — far exceeding the original estimate of $3.3 million. And that was after the withdrawal from sale of the 18th century Johann Zoffany painting whose ownership is now in question. [Telegraph]
• Hermes beat its profit forecast for 2008, and says it is on track as of right now to meet its expectation of stable sales in 2009. [FT]
• Proctor and Gamble-owned Rochas, which in the years since firing Olivier Theyskens has existed only as a perfume brand, is a fashion house once more thanks to Marco Zanini. Zanini was most recently heard from as the guy hired to relaunch Halston. (It didn't go so well.) The new collection looks a little bland, and it's interesting that only now, in the post-shows news gulch, is this a story. [WSJ]
• And in news to make you barf, Goyard has a "limited-edition" pink trunk for sale at Colette in Paris. It's large enough to fit a Barbie doll and her accoutrements, and it costs $3650. [Forbes]

• That's it. Olivier Theyskens is out, fired, goneburgers, signing off, stick-a-fork-in-it done at Nina Ricci. The Belgian has left the building. Peter Copping, senior designer at Louis Vuitton, is in. [WWD]

• Fashion designer Anand Jon's family has appealed to President Obama to intervene in the designer's ongoing rape case. Jon, who once dressed celebrities like Paris Hilton and had a guest appearance on America's Next Top Model, was indicted by a grand jury on 59 counts of rape and sexual assault against victims, mainly models, as young as 14. Prosecutors built their case around representative charges they felt were the "strongest"; last November, Jon was convicted of 16 counts of rape and sexual assault. Jon's lawyers have filed a retrial on the grounds of prosecutorial and juror misconduct, and his sister says she'll go on a hunger strike if he's not freed. [Times of India]
• Laurence Dacade, the shoemaker who brought Olivier Theyskens' mesmerizing Nina Ricci heels to life, says, "You should put these on when you walk into the boss' office to ask for a raise. He wouldn't be able to say no." [WWD]
• The creative director of recently-revived London label Ossie Clark has left the company. [Elle UK]
• Grand dame of English fashion Vivienne Westwood took her gardener, Andy Hulme, as a muse for her latest menswear collection. [Independent]
• Carine Roitfeld says she hasn't been offered Anna Wintour's job, but if she were she wouldn't dismiss it out of hand. Still, she has reservations about creative control and the size of the editorial team: "I'm very happy at French Vogue to be able to do everything — almost everything — I want in the magazine," Roitfeld said. "It would be too political at American Vogue for me. And I'm not sure I'm talking enough good English to work there." So, Carine fans of the 50 states, dream on — or just watch CNN International's doc about the editor when it airs this week. [CNN]
• Robin Givhan has an appreciation of fashion's capacity to choose diverse It girls, from Beth Ditto to Michelle Obama. [WaPo]
• Claudia Schiffer says she has so many closets of Chanel "it's like a Chanel boutique." She cleared out her wardrobe, which she's saving for her daughter Clementine, into a helicopter hanger on her property in England. [Daily Mail]
• The first images of Matthew Williamson's hotly anticipated H&M line is out. Let there be tie-dyed sequined tunics! [Racked]
• Storm, meet teacup: Pierre Bergé, Yves Saint Laurent's effective widower, has withdrawn several Warhol portraits of the designer from an upcoming exhibition of the artist's work in Paris. Saint Laurent's likeness was to be hung in a section of the show called "Glamour," which included — horrors — other designers like Giorgio Armani. Bergé thought his former life partner should be in the "Artists" section. [NY Times]
• Meanwhile, Valentino is getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Style. It's yet another promotional tie-in for his new documentary, titled Valentino: The Last Emperor. [WWD]
• And let it be said that there's another reason, besides the market crash, that Valentino's glad he retired when he did. The fact that the collections now are all So! 80s! "I hate the eighties," he says. "I did it, and I hate it. When I go to see my dresses of the eighties, I vomit." [NY Mag]
• Forever 21 is opening its first store in Japan next month in Tokyo's Harajuku district, but the retail chain plans to have an additional 49 outlets there in the next few years. [WWD]
• The CEO of the privately-held luxury goods brand Salvatore Ferragamo is worried about the economic outlook, though he won't divulge any numbers. The company is slowing its retail expansion for 2009, and believes concentrating on Asia might work. [FT]
• The world's biggest eyewear company, Luxottica, has posted 59.9% declines in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2008. [The Street]
• Sitting comparatively pretty is Christian Siriano. The new designer saw his orders double this season, and he also added ten new stockists. [The Cut]
• And in other news from the wake of Project Runway, Jay McCarroll on the documentary 11 Minutes. "I let them [co-directors Michael and Rob Tate] be filmmakers," says the designer. "I stepped back and prayed that they wouldn't show my naked body." McCarroll also has noticed that models these days are very thin. (And that Marilyn Monroe was not.) I have actually never heard anyone put it quite like that before! What a wonderful insight. [CBS]

The show, which took place in Paris yesterday, was goth in the truest sense of the word — black and sumptuous, with vivid spurts of red and glimmers of sapphire. But with each piece came these preposterous platforms, which New York magazine claims add ten inches to your height. Writes Sharon Clott:

From what we can tell, not one model fell, which proves the theory that heel-less shoes are easy to walk in.

Still, The Life Files blog felt the need to dub them suicide shoes. Because the sheer height — and the fact that the heel doesn't touch the ground — seem like a deadly, if not merely ankle-snapping, combination. The models look like castle-dwelling decendants of royalty, but the chateau had better have an elevator — can you imagine going down a flight of stairs in these?

The question is, do the chunky platforms represent strength and power, through their height and visual weight? Or is is this another case of women being hobbled and handicapped by fashion? And maybe more important: Do you like them? Personally, I'm mesmerized… but not because I want them anywhere near my feet.

Nina Ricci's Shoes Double As Stilts [NY Mag]
Nina Ricci Introduces The "Suicide Shoes" [The Life Files]
Earlier: Olivier Theyskens Totally Naked in French Vogue: Hot or Not?

[Main image via New York; other images via AP and Getty.]

• PETA named Madonna one of its 6 worst-dressed celebrities, along with "Maggot" Gyllenhaal and the Olsen twins. "Someone needs to tell Madge that wearing fur doesn't make you a cougar," the animal-lovers sniffed. [PETA]

• Meanwhile Madonna might be doing a line with Ed Hardy. Expect lots of rhinestones. [Elle UK]
• An Armani Exchange ad featuring the naked ass of male model Parker Gregory has been rejected by billboard company Van Wagner. [Towleroad]
• Did Forever 21 knock off Alexander Wang's shoes? Does the pope shit in the woods? [Fashionista]
• Model turned photographer Christina Kruse started learning how to take pictures back in 1996, by concentrating on the only convenient subject available — herself. When traveling for work, she'd also create collages and drawings, and compile them into books. Her first show is now up at the Steven Kasher Gallery in Chelsea. Says Kruse, "I didn't show anything to anyone for a long time. But I think that's good. Doing things by myself meant that I didn't just teach myself to take pictures, but that I also got to teach myself how to see." [Style.com]
• Valentino Garavani is sure glad he quit last spring, before the economy cratered. Now he just gets to do fun things, like go around the world to places like Aspen and New York City where a documentary made about him, Valentino: The Last Emperor, is opening. Just don't call him "Emperor": "That doesn't sound very young or fresh," says the former designer. [W]
• I realize Roberto Cavalli is in trouble, and all, with the bankruptcy of Just Cavalli's licensee, Ittierre, and the lawsuits stemming from that, and the ranting in front of reporters and the tears and heartbreak of it all, but I wonder if launching the "Roberto Cavalli Pets" collection is really the answer. [W]
• Angela Missoni, who built her family's clothing company into the multinational knitwear brand we know today, was honored at the annual Women's World Awards in Vienna. Princess Rania of Jordan gave her her prize, which I'm imagining as a kind of Stanley Cup of womanhood. [Elle UK]
• There's a fashion line called Jezebel, which we like. Unfortunately, it's done by the daughter of a celebrity, and seems to be exclusively overpriced t-shirts, which we don't. Shoulda trademarked that shit, Denton. [WWD]
• Anna Kournikova, new face of K Swiss, poses seductively with a variety of tennis nets and balls for the spring campaign. [Daily Mail]
• Bertrand Hennet, an executive at Elite Model World, the parent company of Elite, the world's largest modeling agency, has been charged with buying and transporting cocaine. Hennet admitted sending as much as 2 grams of the Colombian marching powder up his snout every night, and both his home and office were searched during the bust. However, he was not charged with supplying the drug to others. [Breitbart]
• Lambertson Truex, makers of $3,995 python handbags, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the state of Delaware. The company reports debts of $10-50 million, and assets of $1-10 million. [WSJ]
• Three editors at Cosmopolitan have reportedly been fired. [Daily Intel]
• Olivier Theyskens takes a different approach when folks try to fire him. Theyskens, creative director of Nina Ricci, has been the subject of increasingly urgent rumors about his future at the company over recent months. This week, after he showed a masterful collection for the brand in Paris, the word is that Puig boss Mario Grauso fired Theyskens but that he will not leave. [The Cut]
• Also not taking any crap from anyone is cantankerous Canadian septuagenarian Morley Safer. Following Anna Wintour around the global fashion circuit, Safer might have missed his bedtime a few too many nights in a row; he stopped editors and celebrities from taking their front-row seats at Balenciaga and "shushed" them so he could finish a chat with Wintour, whom he's covering for 60 Minutes. [NY Times]
• Apparently, Marky Ramone used to play in a band called King Flux with Andy Hilfiger. This led him to meet Tommy Hilfiger, King Flux's sometime manager/stylist, which in turn led him to design a line of Authentically Punk (TM) ripped (of course) jeans and studded (natch) leather jackets, which you can now buy at Tommy Hilfiger's stores. [Observer]
• Katy Perry, a celebrity designer Marky probably wouldn't want to be associated with, is making sure to take her time with her clothing line. She wouldn't want it to look opportunistic, after all. [Hindustan Times]
• Ann Taylor's fourth quarter loss has widened significantly, to $375.6 million. [Crain's]
• Dior's strategy for the recession: insuring that nobody forgets their brand is the meaning of luxury. Those that will brook no substitutions will still probably be wealthy enough to shop there. [Portfolio]
• Yves Saint Laurent is also digging in to an ambitious plan for growth. [WWD]
• We had the Lipstick Bellwether (which wasn't actually true, but sounded good) and then the Hemline Indicator (which just never made any sense to begin with). Then it was the Heel Height Index and the Platform For Economic Growth, because you know platform shoes were invented during the Depression (not). If you can abide one more idiotic trend story about what item of clothing we are, or are not, buying in this economic climate, this one about the Skinny Tie For Lean Times is good for a laugh. [Telegraph]

• 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]

• That sound you just heard was the excited gasp shared by every Mad Men fan who ever dreamed of dressing like Betty Draper or Joan Holloway. But will Janie Bryant also do men's suits? [Glamour]

• The Black Artists Association Amna Eele, who criticized Michelle Obama for not wearing clothing by any African-American designers during the inauguration, has received death threats over her comments. And one of the designers Eele mentioned as possible alternatives, b. michael, has released a statement tactfully distancing himself from the BAA's position. Death threats over dresses? What is our world coming to. [The Cut]
• Michael Kors is being sued by the estate of American designer Tony Duquette. Duquette's legatee, Hutton Wilkinson, alleges that in the promotion of Kors' current resort collection, Kors used images and patterns from the Abrams book Tony Duquette. When he first presented his collection, Kors told the media, "It's Babe [Paley] and Tony [Duquette]!" His spokesperson says the company does not comment on pending lawsuits. [LA Times]
• Sales of beauty products declined 3.3% in the US last year. Leading the way down were fragrances, and most categories of cosmetics — including lipsticks. So much for that old canard about women buying lipstick to feel special when times are bad. [WSJ]
• Tony Hawk's pajamas have been recalled because they could catch fire. Amazingly, about 30,000 people paid $30 each to dress their children in nightwear called "Boards Estate," "Heathen Skull," "Backspray," and "Stix Jester." Refunds will be given. [UPI]
• Luxxotica eyewear and Tory Burch have announced a licensing deal, which means there'll soon be sunglasses and prescription frames under the Tory Burch imprimatur. [PR Newswire]
• The 2001 ad for Agent Provocateur where Kylie Minogue rides a mechanical bull was voted the best ad ever in a poll by a British company. [News.com.au]
• Brooke Shields is going to be the face of a new line of Coppertone broad-spectrum SPF 70+ sunscreens with antioxidants. It's the first time Coppertone has used a well-known face in their advertising. [WWD]
• Target is cutting its workforce because of the recession. Six hundred employees at the company's Minnesota headquarters will be let go, and 400 currently open positions will not be filled. A distribution center in Little Rock, Arkansas, will also be closed, leading to job losses of 500. [WSJ]
• The Olivier Theyskens/Nina Ricci rumors take another strange turn: WWD is reporting that the label owners Puig are thinking of replacing Theyskens with British designer Peter Copping, even before Theyskens's contract runs out in October. Copping, a graduate of Central St. Martins, the London college that produced Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Sophia Kokosalaki, Hussein Chalayan, and John Galliano, among many others, is Marc Jacobs's right-hand man at Louis Vuitton. Before that, he worked for Sonia Rykiel. Copping met with Puig boss Mario Grauso two weeks ago. [WWD]
• Urban Outfitters is certainly in a collaborative mood. The chain is rolling out capsule collections from Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon, designer Mary Ping, milliner Eugenia Kim, and a raft of other young talents. Some pieces will be in store by the end of this month. [Racked]
• Helena Christensen talked to Blackbook about her photography show with her fly undone. This just confirms my irrational love of that woman. [Blackbook]
• Speaking of model/photographers, Dutch supermodel Iekeliene Stange's first solo photography exhibit opens today at Projekt Galerie in Berlin. [Projekt Galerie Blog]

• Noooooo! Grazia reports Olivier Theyskens is leaving Nina Ricci. [The Cut]
• Or not: the mag attributes the scoop to "buzz currently sweeping through the front rows of the Couture shows in Paris." [Fashionista]

• Los Angeles jeweler and creator of the worst ad ever Loree Rodkin is enjoying a bump in sales following Michelle Obama's decision to wear a number of Rodkin's pieces. Like Jason Wu, she won't recreate the exact jewelery, since it was all custom-designed, but she will make similar items available for public sale. For $20,000-$50,000. [WSJ]
• ONTD has what they claim are leaked David Alexander sketches of costumes for Britney Spears' upcoming tour; if these are legit, expect our girl to look a little like Barbarella when she takes the stage. [ONTD]
• One thing that hasn't changed in the recession: the purpose of the couture shows is still not to much to actually sell a large number of $80,000 hand-made dresses but to maintain a brand identity fantasmagorical enough to shift gallons of perfume, acres of accessories, and counters of cosmetics. Attendance at the Paris shows hasn't dropped, and Chanel and Dior's couture divisions are expecting modest growth. (Further proof those wealthy enough to buy couture are very far removed from current economic realities.) [Portfolio]
• That seems to be the customer Tom Ford is seeking as he releases a $990 jean. The button is gold-plated. [The Cut]
• There for us at the other end of the denim market is Stacey London, of What Not To Wear fame. She's going to shill for Lee, because Riders "fit great and make you look slimmer." We'll take 'em 'cause they cost less than $20. [Brandweek]
• Never to be outdone, Hermès is releasing a $24,000 folding chair. It's made of black crocodile and nickel. [Racked]
• Beth Ditto is going to design an 80s-inspired fashion line with the British plus sized brand Evans. They're only in Britain and Northern Ireland, and there's no word on potential US distribution. Maybe Barney's will pick it up, like Kate Moss for Topshop? [Blackbook]
• Amanda Seyfried has become a face of Movado. [WWD]
• Eddie Bauer is being sued by outdoor clothier Woolrich. They say Eddie Bauer's slogan "The Original Outdoor Outfitter," is too much like Woolrich's, "The Original Outdoor Clothing Company." No argument there, but hasn't that been Eddie Bauer's slogan for eons? Did Woolrich just notice? [AP]
• Multinational giant Unilever, owner of the brands Dove, Axe, as well as skin-bleaching cream Fair & Lovely, is buying the TIGI hair product line and its hair-care schools from Toni & Guy. I just learned Unilever also owns Ben & Jerry's, so next time before I get high and mighty about an Axe ad, I'll try and remember how much I love Cherry Garcia. The world being nuanced and all. (But, ugh, Fair & Lovely?!) [WSJ]
• Time "investigates" the Anna Wintour retirement/replacement story, talks down to Page Six and the online sources that initially broke the rumors, and then rehashes everything you read here and elsewhere six weeks ago. MSM FTW! [Time]
• Glenn Close must have read that article in February's Glamour about "shopping your closet": She went to the Armani couture show in the same outfit she wore to the 101 Dalmatians premiere. In 1996. [WWD]
• Freida Pinto, the female star of Slumdog Millionaire, has been criticized for the mustard-yellow strapless Christian Lacroix gown she wore to the Golden Globes. She says, "It seemed like the right choice at the time." So many things do. [Times of India]
• PETA defaced Aretha Franklin's star on the Hollywood walk of fame. They called her a "Fur hag." [Daily Express]
• At the other end of this link lies proof positive that anybody can be made to look like Marilyn Monroe for a fashion ad. You'd never know Daria Werbowy to be a brunette. [Sassybella]