• Yes, this outfit is available! [OC via Racked]
• Kanye's so-last-week jackassery has spawned a tee shirt. We say: stop trying to make "I'ma let you finish" happen! [InventorSpot]
• Miuccia Prada has a "passion for knickers," believes deeply in no-pants. [Telegraph]

• Burlington Coat Factory has accused a NYC pants manufacturer of bribery. The manufacturer is accusing BCF of tarnishing their reputation. [NYP]
• I think we can all agree that what we need is more celebrity fragrances: in order to boost sales, this holiday season will see more boldface B.O. than ever before. Is our dream of "Joyce Carol Oates: Enigma" about to come true?! [WWD]
• Aspiring fashionistas, NB: Proenza Schouler's looking for design, production, and sales interns. [Fashionista]
• Vanity Fair Italia is throwing its weight around: "It's bigger than any international Vogue," says Jonathan Newhouse of the ever-expanding glossy. [WWD]
• Uniqlo brings its budget cashmere to a Paris flagship: will France dig it? [NYT]
• Model Sessilee Lopez has broken with Twitter. "Sorry twitter but this is my very last tweet ... we had some good times and bad but now our relationship is over ... " Was it something @ said? [New York]
• Frankly, we'd kind of forgotten about Enrique Iglesias, but Azzaro hadn't! He's the face of new fragrance Azzaro Pour Homme. [People]
• Karl Lagerfeld toys are practically a cottage industry: now the Kaiser's a 10" Manga-inspired Tokidoki figurine. Now he can have his own, cryptic Toy Story! [WWD]
• Jimmy Choo founder Tamara Mellon is for some reason no longer, repeat no longer, suing her mother. [Daily Mail]
• Paul Smith's iconic signature logo is, in fact, faux: "It was very practical to call it Paul Smith. Then I tried my signature and you couldn't read it, it was sort of ‘Gug Giz' and it didn't quite work! Pauline [Paul's wife] and I asked lots of friends to write it and one just wrote that signature. But I can do it now!" Hold up: Paul and Pauline? Okay, carry on. [Daily Express]
• Nobody's worn spider silk - "a textile stronger than steel and made from the silk of the golden orb spider, native to Madagascar" - for hundreds of years. But socialite Tinsley Mortimer donned a spider silk shawl at a Museum of Natural History exhibit dedicated to the wonder fabric. [Observer]
• WWD.com has "tweaked" its site - again - to make it more user-friendly. Yes, most everything is still subscription. [MediaBistro]
• French Connection has launched a baby's line, thankfully named "fc:baby" rather than "little fcuk." [Telegraph]
• We knew moving Project Runway to L.A. was a mistake! Here's Nina on why she and Michael Kors have been tragically MIA: "When it was in L.A. and in that time period that we filmed, it was very difficult to be there the entire time. He has another job, he's a designer and work on his collection, and I had to fly to Paris to see the fashion shows for the fall. It was impossible to be there for an entire month." [LAT]
• Although here's someone who's probably in favor of the move: Lauren Conrad! "I think that for the Kohl's line we wanted a very California brand...We were able to make the California-look very accessible everywhere." [People]
• Thanks to Ann Taylor's aggressive re-branding efforts, the stock is up 90% and analysts are lowering their rating. [Crains]
• From their scores of suitors, Zappos has selected Interpublic Group of Cos.' Mullen as its creative agency. Let's cross our fingers. [AdAge]
• Alber Elbaz spoke at "Creativity, innovation and excellence: from crafts to the design and fashion industry" at UNESCO's First Forum on Cultural Industries, in Italy. He was apparently charming, and presumably was more succinct than Gaddafi. [WWD]
• Vogue UK is having a "Miss Marple moment." We're guessing they interpret this less literally than we do. [VogueUK]
• Roberto Cavalli is opening an online shop, and the first 500 customers will receive a free bag "in Cavalli's signature prints." Threat or promise - you decide! [Sassybella]
• Perhaps inspired by Tim Gunn's Marvel turn (we wish) the Women Paris model agency's show package used a Sin City aesthetic, which sends a sinister message, but whatever. [The Fash Pack]
• We've heard of strange bedfellows, but Swatch and Tiffany? Says Swatch's prez, "It will be the perfect gift, to a well-educated, beautiful woman, a perfect gift. So man, back to your wallet." [Guardian]
• Out magazine feted itself at Original Penguin's NYC pop-up shop yesterday. Reports Racked: "Guests guzzled Blue Moons and were entertained by roving models, live mannequins, a soundtrack of diet dance pop, and slightly terrifying larger-than-life prints of October Out covergirl Donatella Versace." [Racked]

At downtown boutique Opening Ceremony, the line stretched down the block. The promised customized cars, out of which designers like Rodarte (a low rider convertible) and Alex Wang (a black van) were to sell their wares were just a row of cars parked cheek by jowl on the side of the narrow street; the real action was in the store, and the entire population of Williamsburg appeared ready to wait upwards of an hour to see it. I texted a friend who works at the store — no response — then screwed up my courage to go talk to the burly security guard at the door. "I'm a reporter," I said, plaintively. "I'm here to write about this!" He looked at me skeptically. I repeated this claim to a small woman in a large fascinator and a complicated dress, who eventually waved me in.

New Fashion Rule: If you cannot spell "Azzedine Alaïa", you should not be permitted to sell his shorts for $60.

I'd had a weird day at the tents — at one point I was standing next to four people deadpanning conversation, all wearing sunglasses inside — so I called that affable Marxist/skewerer of frivolity/drinker, former Jezebel editor Moe Tkacik. My partner in crime for the night eventually made it into the store, and we were served big cans of Asahi by a smiling bartender in a skintight waistcoat. We looked at the people. We looked at the wares — knits covered in rickrack, jewelry that looked like animal claws — and watched as people lined up to buy Fashion's Night Out t-shirts. We drank our beers and watched the crowd. Later, we made our way to Rag & Bone, the pricey vintage store What Goes Around Comes Around, and a multi-designer sample sale at the TriBeCa Grand hotel. Sadie, on the whole a more dedicated shopper, checked out Opening Ceremony, Prada, Intermix, Banana Republic, Oak, Club Monaco, Madewell (she likes their boots!) and a couple of boutiques.

Jenna: So! I was just writing about the scene at Opening Ceremony. What did you think of Opening Ceremony? How long was the line when you got there?
Sadie: The line was nuts - all the way down the block, and it didn't seem to be progressing at all.
Jenna: I shamelessly blagged my way in as press.
Sadie: The whole vibe was unpleasantly "hot club" — down to the letdown of getting in.
Jenna: Yes! All it needed was a velvet rope. The bouncers, the clipboard dragons. The boomboom music. It was just like a club, except inside it was brightly lit. And, you know, except that the Beatrice never tolerated anything so unseemly as an actual line outside.
Sadie: Well, Banana Republic actually had a 3" velvet rope!
Jenna: Wow. Tell me about that — I didn't go there.
Sadie: Ha, that was the best: they had the rope, and this poor woman in an evening gown wielding a fan — but then inside it was...Banana Republic. Open late, it's true! Did you get to Intermix?
Jenna: No, I missed it. I went to Rag & Bone to see my friend who works there, except the FNO iPhone app sent me to the Christopher St. store. And my friend works at SoHo. Thanks, Style.com!
Sadie: Oh, dear. How was R&B otherwise? Hipstered out?
Jenna: Actually, it had a very pleasant down-home kind of feel. I rendez-vous'd there with some friends who had just come from the gallery openings in Chelsea, and one of them lives in Japan. He kept on comparing the store's aesthetic to Japanese clothing, which I can actually totally see.
Sadie: Oh, definitely. Were folks shopping?
Jenna: You know, that classic pieces reworked and finessed, done with an eye for design, but subtle, kinda thing. But it was strange at the same time, because the store was made over as an Irish pub.
No, I saw very few shoppers.
But they had a fiddle band! And honeyed whiskey. And Guinness, from an actual keggerator. (I think.)

Sadie: Ooh, nice!
Jenna: Moe and I got to talking about keggerators, because she used to live in a house that had one.
Sadie: I got insufficient drinks, considering.
Jenna: (Dude room-mates, of course.) Rag & Bone also had this neat gravity-fed whiskey autodispenser. Very technological.
Sadie: Ha! Now: what did you wear?!
Jenna: Important question, which I spent a long time thinking about before leaving the house. I wore: a green 1940s bouclé jacket with balloon sleeves and a nipped waist. It has a totally shattered lining — which meant I got it cheap — but the greatest part is it's got an awesome collar. It's self fabric on one side, and rabbit fur (I think?) on the other. And you can either let the collar fall open across your shoulders, and it looks like these awesome, structured, furry shoulderpads on the outside of your jacket. Or you can tie the collar up tighter and it forms a big muffler around your face. It came in handy because it was so cold last night! I wore it with jeans and comfortable shoes. What did YOU wear? :P
Sadie: Well, I changed from my actual work clothes into a fake business costume, trying to convey that "coming-from-a-cool-office" vibe. I wore this swell pair of very high-waisted pleated plaid trousers, apparently the former possession of an elderly society matron, now in a nursing home. They are about 40% ridiculous. With them, a plain blouse and some very high vintage heels. Oh, and I cut myself a possibly ill-judged ragged bang just before running out the door.
Jenna: Oooh, last-minute haircut. I like that. I trimmed my own hair myself the other day because it was getting shaggy in back — I'm trying to turn my pixie into a messy bob, Karen Elson c.a. 1997 kind of thing. Naturally, I thought of your post and all kinds of disastrous self-inflicted haircuts of years past.
Sadie: Yes, but the temptation always proves irresistible! Did you see any really noteworthy looks? (Besides those dudes voguing wildly in the window of Opening Ceremony.)
Jenna: I saw two great looks, actually: I dragged Moe, Japan-man, this German guy, and everyone else I was with to What Goes Around Comes Around, where they were almost out of booze but had amazing black and white cookies. And this shopgirl had on the perfect pair of jean shorts, not cut-offs but actual high-waisted vintage shorts, and a really simple silk printed blouse. And cowboy boots. It was very straightforward but the pieces looked fantastic together, and she looked comfortable, especially for someone who was standing around in 40 degree weather in shorts. Then, at the sample sale at the TriBeCa Grand, there was a beautiful woman wearing a teal suede vintage mini-dress. It had shoulder pads and a scoop neck, and it fit her perfectly. She said she'd bought it at a thrift store in Palm Beach for $4.
Sadie: I saw one girl whose look was so hip as to verge on dowdy, and I loved it: she had sort of Cameron-Diaz-in-Being-John-Malkovich hair, big glasses, and this maxi dress. She also looked furious.
I spied Lynn Yaeger, in what looked like vintage lace but might have been partly Prada.
Most folks were too self-consciously fashion-y in cage heels and leggings etc.
Jenna: Oh, man, a Lynn Yaeger sighting. I am so jealous. That Cameron Diaz in Being John Malkovich look is so hard to pull off, I always mentally nod in respect when I see it even attempted. I agree, though, in general the crowd was very skinny-destroyed-jeans, studs-on-things, chunky-heels, blouson-top, "I-totally-just-threw-this-on," either all-black or whoa-random-colors. Kind of a boring look.
Sadie: I complimented her, which was maybe breaking the fourth wall, because she was clearly put out by my importuning. My blouse got ripped in the crush. But hopefully everyone thought it was a deliberate twist on buttoned-up menswear. Punk edge, you know.
Jenna: me: Absolutely. So where else did you go?
Sadie: Saw a little of the Rapture's "set" at Prada...glimpsed the Miller sisters...
Jenna: Spy Grace Coddington?
Sadie: No! Sadly. I bet she left; I don't blame her — having to strand around these stores for 6 hours seems very tedious.
Jenna: Absolutely. Not least because nobody was buying much.
Sadie: I grabbed drinks at Madewell and Club Monaco, as they were en route to the hot dog truck.
Jenna: I guess they are hoping heavily for a sort of follow-through, now the seal has been broken.
I did not have any food all night! Aside from those black and white cookies.
Sadie: One assumes. Tell me how much actual shopping you saw, because I witnessed very little!
Jenna: Plenty o' booze, though. Moe and I did well on that score. Very little shopping. Some people were trying things on at the TriBeCa Grand. But most of the stores I went to were mobbed because of the entertainment/gawking/novelty factor.
Sadie: The atmosphere was really not conducive to shopping. And some places served red wine!
Jenna: Not because of actual sales opportunities.
Sadie: How would you characterize the atmosphere, overall? And the crowd? (Relative to the hype.)
me: It was really cool, actually, I enjoyed myself more than I thought I would. It was definitely fun — if occasionally ridiculous. I saw a woman in a leopard print dress and a (different) leopard print scarf at What Goes Around Comes Around. She tried on a blue sequined jumpsuit I had just browsed on the rack. It cost something like $2,500.
And the Opening Ceremony scene was just — nuts. The camera set-up in the store window, the prices of things, the mayhem.
Sadie: I mean, that was frankly kind of my idea of hell. That's why I don't go to "clubs."
Jenna: did you see that cardigan by Rodarte at Opening Ceremony, folded up, with two tags? One was printed and said $2,800. The other was written by hand in highlighted sharpie, and said DO NOT PICK UP RODARTE. It was the most heartbreaking thing ever. I took a picture.

Sadie: YES! But overall: yeah, kind of fun. There was definitely a carnival atmosphere on the streets.
Jenna: So Moe and I went over to the mannequins and TOUCHED THE RODARTE. Rodarte is soft, it turns out.

Sadie: NO!!!
Jenna: Yup, we did.
Sadie: Did officious publicists scream at you? Did the guys in the window stop voguing? DID YOU HURT THE ECONOMY?
Jenna: No! We just pawed at the pretty gothic-Stevie Nicks dresses until we were satisfied. Then drank more Asahi. Did you buy anything?
Sadie: Nope! (Well, except the hot dog.)
Jenna: I bought a gorgeous Marios Schwab dress from a vintage seller at the TriBeCa Grand. me: it's black, billowy chiffon, with polarfleece sleeves, and a strange technofabric-and-elastic boned harness that comes over the shoulders and clicks in front with a — one of those closures they use on backpacks or fanny packs, generally with poly webbing. You know? Or on bicycle helmets. It was really cool, in a sort of techno-gothic way. I'm wearing it right now! It's warm. Best of all, it was only $50. But I only had $20, so I had to get my Opening Ceremony worker friend to spot me $30 from his hidden stash of emergency money. As he said, it was clearly a Fashion Emergency. (Yuk, yuk, yuk!)
Sadie: That is the perfect thing to buy at a fashion event. (Besides a hot dog.) Wear it next year — maybe we can skip the lines at O.C. Assuming this hasn't fixed the economy, that is.

• Naomi Campbell: "Unfortunately, we are the same as before...People, in the panic of the recession, don't dare to put a girl of colour in their campaign, full stop. Nor of any other race. It's a shame. It's very sad." [Telegraph]

• Designer Tara Subkoff is on the mend following the removal of a benign brain tumor: speedy recovery! [NYPost]
• Let the wild rumpus begin! Hipper-than-thou retailer Opening Ceremony, no stranger to the celebrity vanity project, is carrying a line of faux furs inspired by, yes, Where the Wild Things Are. We're more inspired by the dough suit in In the Night Kitchen, personally. [W]
• Speaking of Opening Ceremony: its Tokyo store opening was predictably sparkly and Olsen-studded. [WWD]
• Apparently high-end retailers - think Tiffany and Neiman's - have taken to holding secret sales for VIPs, so as to get the biz without "diluting their brand" with vulgar door-busters. [TimesUK]
• What does Maria Sharapova like to do? "I'd probably have to say shopping and eating...I mean, I am a girl after all, and there's no better place than New York to shop." What, no chasing men with a sassy sidekick? [WWD]
• TopShop is getting into workout clothes. Because we know we like sweating in "chenille." [WWD]
• "Themes of youthful disdain and playfulness continue in Victoria Beckham's second film for her A/W 09 collection," which you can watch. We don't know about the "disdain," but it's pretty cute. [Dazed Digital]
• Sara Ziff, on her documentary Picture Me: "(T)here's a hierarchy when you pair a 45-year-old male photographer-and many of the photographers are older, heterosexual men-with a 15-year old girl. And I think in a way you're asking for trouble if that girl is totally unsupervised, living miles away from friends and family. It's kind of a no-brainer. There should be some protection for these girls." [Mother Jones]
• Temperley of London is launching an affordable (no, really!) line of their ultra-cool duds, coming this spring. [New York]
• Grace Coddington, on The September Issue: "But my very favorite scene is when Raquel [Zimmermann, the model] was eating pies at the couture. She kept looking at them and saying she wanted one, while we were lacing her into this tiny corset and reminding her she wouldn't fit if she ate one. So she didn't eat them ... and she didn't eat them. Then when the shoot was over she ate, like, a whole pie! It's a funny scene, and she looks absolutely beautiful." Well, yeah: that box of pastries was just sadistic! [New York]
• Wait, what? In that doc, Anna Wintour's daughter, Bee Shaffer, says she wants to be a lawyer. Now, apparently, she's working in theatre. Lady's prerogative, we suppose! [NY Post]
• Well, thank God. Pamela Anderson's addressing the serious dearth of celebrity perfumes, launching "Malibu by Pamela" this fall. [New York]
• Kim Kardashian: "My YRB magazine shoot just came out and I am loving the results! "I really love the transformation and the clothes were amazing!!! This has got to be one of the most unique shoots I've ever done! Not sure I'll ever go for a permanent short cut, but it definitely works for this shoot." She looks kind of like Karen O, weirdly. [People]
• Speaking of covers: if you buy the special Lady Gaga issue of V, you can peel her New Wavy glasses off the mag and wear them yourself! Or, you know, not. [New York]
• Model Lily Cole, who's taken a hiatus to go to university: "I like learning. I was going to do social and political science, then I switched to history of art, but I could have done either. I can get impassioned about politics, but I find studying it can lead to a boxy way of looking at the world, so I was put off studying it." [TimesUK]
• Peter Som on his scaled-down collection: "I have to make sure that every piece I design is special and unique," Som says. "People don't come to me for basics. They come to me for print and for color and for happy clothes." [New York]
• Um. For Fashion's Night Out, which we're almost starting to buy the hype for, Calvin Klein has commissioned "a performance by CK One model Jamie Burke and his band, Burke." That'll pack 'em in. [WWD]
• Alleged designer and convicted rapist Anand Jon is about to learn his fate: he could get life. [Yahoo]
• Michael Kors' description of his trip to South Africa is exactly what you'd guess if you were parodying Michael Kors describing a trip to South Africa. "We saw the big five (lions, leopards, rhino, elephant and buffalo) within the first two days. Truly mind blowing. Chilled out midday at the spa and one day even ended up doing an impromptu yoga session in the bush next to the Jeep." [WWD]
• Tyra sports Alexander Wang on ANTM, leading fashionistas who speculate that she'll start supporting more high fashion. But Ty-Ty is a fickle mistress! [Fashionista]
• Department store shoppers, take note: Miranda Kerr was momentarily blinded by a spritz of "Heavenly Enchanted" perfume at the scent's launch. [NYPost]

• Gwyneth Paltrow's clothing line with Zoetees is hitting stores this month. The collection includes tee shirts, studded tank tops, and a grey oversized blazer — fine basics, but there's no indication why the line should start at £100. [Elle UK]

• Earlier this year, Katy Perry, desirous of a fashion line, pre-emptively sued the Australian fashion designer Katie Perry for trademark infringement. Although the suit was later dropped, now that the pop star is in Australia, all mention of Katie Perry and the trademark issue is verboten during media interviews. Which is why when a television presenter asked the singer if there were any Australian artists she admired, Perry's manager actually killed the studio lights. [News.com.au]
• The tender melancholy of Being Donatella: "I would definitely prefer not to be obliged to attend certain events and parties, but I must." [ToL]
• Being longtime fans of documentarian Loïc Prigent — the man who made both the excellent Signé Chanel and Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton — we cannot wait to watch his new series, which follows four designers during the last 36 hours before their respective shows. Sonia Rykiel, Proenza Schouler, Jean Paul Gaultier Couture, and Fendi are featured; Prigent says "They only have 36 hours left; they don't have time to be polite." [W]
• Gaultier was among the guests evacuated from a hotel in Nice recently following a bomb threat. Nobody was injured and no explosives were found. [Yahoo!]
• Rachel Zoe's line for QVC will be shown in the biggest tent at New York Fashion Week. [The Cut]
• Between The Rachel Zoe Project, America's Next Top Model, Project Runway, Models Of The Runway, Project Runway All-Stars, The Fashion Show, and the upcoming Launch My Line, there's more fashion-themed reality television than any human being could ever watch. Is the genre reaching saturation? No, because women think about fashion the way men think about sports, and it would be silly to ask if there is too many sports shows! No, really: "The same way that sports is a passionate category for men, women look at style in the same way," said Style Network president Salaam Coleman Smith. "Women are passionate about transformation, and about ideas for living a fun, fabulous life, to improve themselves, find a new lipstick and figure out a new haircut." [WWD]
• Zoe, for her part, admits she has "a hard time" watching her show. That makes two of us. [WWD]
• Victoria Beckham found a lookbook model for her dress line who looks very much like Victoria Beckham. [Daily Mail]
• Hussein Chalayan's line for Puma looks exciting, intimidating, and totally technophiliac. [WWD]
• Pint-sized and cooler than we'll ever be, child style blogger Tavi WIlliams may have made the first cover of Pop magazine to be produced under new editor Dasha Zhukova. Interestingly, Tavi was just in the second issue of Love, which was founded by ex-Pop editor-in-chief Katie Grand. These are Tavi's first major magazine appearances. [Fashionologie]
• Meanwhile, Tavi was asked by Laura and Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte to film the presentation of the label's upcoming Target collaboration. None of the items in that collection will be priced above $80. [Lucky]
  
• Add Antonio Berardi and Stella McCartney for Adidas to the long list of English designers beating a return to London Fashion Week this season. [Telegraph]
• Cintra Wilson — the ordinarily funny writer who penned that amazingly tone-deaf, sizist JC Penney's store review for the New York Times — would like you to know that the controversy over her comments is officially over. At least to her. So don't write her about it! Don't read the comments under her post if you don't want to hear Wilson and an acolyte braying about the "whalesong" of complaint. [CintraWilson]
• House of Dereon now has a day dress collection. Weirdly, it includes an awful looking silk drawstring-waist jumpsuit. [WWD]
• You can watch an online short with Chloé Sevigny all about hip boutique Opening Ceremony's new store in Shibuya, Tokyo. [Dazed&Confused]
• Levi's Ryan McGinley-shot "Go Forth" ad campaign for its 501 jeans also has an online mockumentary component. You can watch these "Stories Of A New America" about good-looking young people doing cool things, you know, totally spontaneously, at Break.com. [MW]
• Kenny Chesney's apparel line will launch at MAGIC, the Las Vegas apparel industry event. [WWD]

• A rare, left-handed Michael Jackson glove — the one the star wore when he unveiled his moonwalk at Motown's 25th anniversary in 1983 — is to be auctioned in November at the Hard Rock Café in Times Square. [CTV]

• Pictures of the +J women's collection are starting to trickle out. Isabeli Fontana stars in the campaign, and my god are we excited for Jil Sander's return to form. Not least because the godmother of minimalism is re-materializing after her long absence at Uniqlo's sensible price point; the full range will cost between $21 and $155. [WWD]
• Diane Kruger, on Karl Lagerfeld: "Karl is like a dad. I've known him since I was 16 – I would do a lot for Karl. I was once on his plane flying to China. He wouldn't stop talking. After a while, I said to him, ‘I have to sleep now Karl.' When I woke up 10 hours later he was still talking to some poor assistant!" [SassyBella]
• Designer Tory Burch and Marchesa co-founder Georgina Chapman are both making cameos on Gossip Girl's next season. [WWD]
• Mad Men's Alison Brie, on the wardrobe: "You wear girdles and tight clothes you can't really breathe in that make you sit up straight. That alone is kind of oppressive and really makes you feel how these women were feeling at the time." [TVGuide]
• From the horse's mouth: Kanye West isn't interning at the Gap. Quoth designer Patrick Robinson, on the occasion of the launch of the Gap's new 1969 Premium Jeans Collection, "He's a friend of mine, and he just likes to see what we do. I tell him, if he wants people to take him seriously in fashion, they have to see blood first! They have to see the blood and the sweat, to see that he really wants it — but he definitely has the capability." [FWD]
• Harlem resident Sessilee Lopez cooks to unwind. "I just made a pepper steak, rice and beans for Wendell the other night. I grew up watching my grandmother cook and she can make anything taste good. So I try to apply what she does. I'm also getting into baking, but I think that might be dangerous for my career." On role models: "Definitely Tyra [Banks]; I would love to benchmark myself after her. She went from being a pretty face to a mogul. It would be great to follow in her footsteps." [W]
• Justin Timberlake's Givenchy perfume ad has a behind-the-scenes video — the behind-the-scenes video now being de rigueur — so you can double up on your Justin pleasure. [People]
• Oscar de la Renta, on not dressing women with double-digit dress sizes: "Well, you cannot be a jack-of-all-trades. You must do what you do best." [VF]
• Robert Geller has a men's capsule collection with Levi's that hits stores next month. [WWD]
• The body of a man was found on the roof of Opening Ceremony, the downtown Manhattan boutique. Signs indicate the death may have been accidental, and the man a vagrant, but police investigated the scene for seven hours yesterday. [Gawker]
• London police have made one arrest in connection with the Graff jewelry heist that netted $65 million worth of jewels last week. A 50-year-old man, who is not believed to have been one of the two robbers who held up the store, was arrested and bailed. [WWD]
• Jewelry designers Arielle de Pinto and Pamela Love are each doing standalone presentations at New York Fashion Week this September, and Bliss Lau — whose original necklace was shamelessly re-cast and copied by Erin Wasson for the supermodel's jewelry line — Philip Crangi, and Eddie Borg are all working on collaborations with unnamed designers for September. [Style.com]
• Anna Wintour has confirmed she will be attending London Fashion Week in September. Although Wintour normally skips the London shows, this year, a special effort by British designers to show on their home turf has resulted in a glut of bold-faced names on the schedule — Burberry, Christopher Kane, Jonathan Saunders, Gareth Pugh, Matthew Williamson — that Wintour simply can't ignore. [Grazia]
• Helena Christensen is naked and gorgeous on the cover of Citizen K. [Sun]
• Ralph Lauren is being sued over shirts he made that say "Lifeguard" on them. The Lifeguard Licensing Corp. says it registered that trademark in 1937. [NYPost]
• Artist Hugh Hayden: "I do dinner parties. The most famous one, in college, was called "Smooth." I wanted people to focus on the taste of food but make everything else a constant. We puréed all the food, had the guests wear all white and arranged them in chairs, facing the wall, around the perimeter of the room. We tied their hands behind their back and fed them through this device, which looked like a snorkel with a funnel attached. So you focus on the taste of what you're eating." Label Hayden-Harnett hired this guy to give their NoLiTa boutique a sporty temporary makeover, and to work with them on the Spring 2010 presentation next month. We're kind of scared, because that dinner party sounds like it would have a long and troubling afterlife in one's subconscious. [W]
• One thing we actually do not want to wear or even see is a "sneaker/boat shoe hybrid," but thanks anyway, Lacoste. [WWD]
• JC Penney's has a line called Twelfth of Eleven that comprises mainly t-shirts, and they won't reveal who designs it. Racked.com thinks it might be Rachel Roy, who designs a line of similar t-shirts (at higher prices) for Macy's. [Racked]
• Wal-Mart's second-quarter results were positive; the world's biggest retailer's profits rose 1.4%, to $3.45 billion. Urban Outfitters' income declined by 14%, to $49 million, but sales rose 1%. [WWD]
• Kohl's second-quarter profit fell just 3%, to $229 million, and sales actually rose slightly, by 2%. [AP]
• Same-store sales at Macy's this quarter fell by 9.5%, but the retailer clung to profitability by cutting costs, and turned in a better-than-expected result of a $7 million profit. [Reuters]

• This speaks for itself: Win A Chance To Design Lindsay Lohan's Leggings. [FabSugar]
• Similarly exciting is news that Juicy Couture is launching a perfume called "Couture Couture." At a certain frequency of repetition, "couture" actually loses all meaning! [WWD]

• Selena Gomez is a new face of Sears. [UPI]
• Mike Dirnt of Green Day has a vegan shoe out — and all of the proceeds will go to the charity Soles4Soles. [WWD]
• Director R.J. Cutler says that larger-than-life Vogue editor-at-large André Leon Talley almost didn't make the final cut of The September Issue. "The process of boiling down the enormous amount of footage was so complicated that one late-stage cut of the film actually eliminated Editor At Large André Leon Talley entirely! Clearly a huge mistake, Talley was abundantly re-inserted into the next cut." [Racked]
• We demand to eat Isaac Mizrahi's strawberry-rhubarb pie RIGHT NOW. [W]
• If we were Isaac's interns, we'd probably have achieved that life goal already. [Fashionista]
• Le Bon Marché, the Paris department store, is selling a limited number of archival Balenciaga clothing and jewelry items reissued from the period 1932-67. Doubtless for thousands and thousands of dollars. Sigh. [WWD]
• Givenchy is adding another collection, to be called Redux. It'll be the house's signature looks, presented twice annually, and it'll hit stores just before its existing pre-season collections do. Ranya Mordanova looks pretty ballin' in this blouse and pants, and Redux pieces will start at around $340, this might be worth watching. [Vogue UK]
• Ever go looking for a reason to not give a shit about fashion designers going out of business? $395 Alexander Wang bike shorts might be that reason for today. [Cheap JAP]
• If you loved Missy Rayder's spread from the August issue of Dazed & Confused, or if you just love Missy Rayder, you should check out this mesmerizing behind-the-scenes video of the Wisconsin-born model going through her paces in an insane black leather corset. [DazedDigital]
• Looks like Marco Zanini's current position at Rochas is more secure than his last. (The designer was fired from Halston in the blink of an eye.) Zanini will open Paris Fashion Week, a tremendous show of support from Rochas' backers. [FWD]
• Hussein Chalayan, who just released a denim collaboration with J Brand, actually only wears A.P.C. jeans. Details, details! [Style.com]
• Lucky Brand underwear and sleep wear will be in stores next spring. [WWD]
• In case you need some leather booty shorts, Chloé Sevigny's fall collection for Opening Ceremony is starting to reach stores. [ONTD]
• Sorry, Fort Greene. That random rumor that you were getting a Topshop was...just a random rumor. [Racked]
• Although revenues dipped 2.1% in the last quarter at L'Oréal, sales rose 2.6%. [WWD]
• Steve Madden increased its quarterly profits by 59% over last year, to $12.1 million. [WWD]
• As a sector, retail stocks gained 1.4% yesterday, achieving a new high for the year despite some poor quarterly results and weak consumer spending. [WWD]
• A new state law in Minnesota requires state colleges to sell American-made apparel whenever possible. So those Gophers t-shirts might not actually come from China anymore. [NPR]

• Christian Siriano is collaborating secretly with Starbucks. He won't say on what, but isn't speculation fun? Maybe he's changing the uniform to something fierce, with ruffles. [The Cut]

• Christian Lacroix might have found a buyer. The firm Bernard Krief Consultants has announced its intention to bid for the bankrupt French fashion house. Krief has apparently been treating the recession as a chance to buy up properties on the cheap: it recently bid for the distressed French fast fashion chain Morgan, and successfully took over the textiles company DMC. No dollar value for Krief's proposed bid was mentioned, and Christian Lacroix had no comment. [WWD]
• Marc Jacobs' menswear division publicist Tim Mark Garcia is wearing an ankle bracelet and facing extradition to the Philippines on charges of "plunder." Garcia's father, former major general Carlos F. Garcia, allegedly stole $6.2 million from the Filipino people, and then used it to buy New York real estate — like the publicist's Trump Park Avenue condo — in his children's names. [P6]
• Three of the six nominees for this year's Swiss Textile Awards are Americans: Alexander Wang, Thakoon Panichgul, and Ohne Titel. Also in the running are Erdem, Alexis Mabille, and Peter Pilotto. Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte, who won last year, were the first U.S. designers to ever nab the prestigious award. [FWD]
• The Guardian compiled some of Vivienne Westwood's wisest words from over the years, including, "Fashion is about eventually becoming naked." Makes for an interesting read. [Guardian]
• Photos of Betsey Johnson's reissued vintage collection for boutique Opening Ceremony show it to be dark and punky and '80s, not pink and frilly and '80s. Johnson says, "There was always this harder side to me but it was hard to see it through the prints and ruffles." [Racked]
• Charlotte Gainsbourg says she wasn't much of a perfume wearer, you know, before she became the face of Balenciaga's new scent. [Style.com]
• Erin Wasson will be showing her Rvca collection at New York Fashion Week in September. [UK Elle]
• Kat Von D has created a line of tattoo concealers for her Sephora line, because she's realized that some people don't want all their tattoos to be visible all of the time. (Maybe a conservative cousin's wedding isn't the best time to show off your ink Barbarella.) She says the concealer is waterproof and won't smudge or transfer to clothing, and it is kind of strange seeing her entire torso without any tattoos for the ad shoot. [People]
• British tabloid the Sun is reporting that model Daisy Lowe fell into a month-long depression after surgery to remove a pre-cancerous growth from her cervix in May. [The Sun]
• Lowe's first campaign for Anna Sui just leaked to the Internet. [Sassybella]
• Chris Benz, Alex Wang, Maria Pinto, and Jason Wu are all newly minted members of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Oh, and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen of The Row got in, too. [WWD]
• Model Sigrid Agren — face of the Stella McCartney campaign we posted yesterday — has summer plans that include fishing in a lake and looking for berries with her brother, Quentin, in Sweden. [W]
• Wow, Avril Lavigne really hasn't changed her makeup since 2002. (This story is about her kids' line, which includes, wait for it...hoodies.) [Budget Fashionista]
• Hermès' sales grew by 12% in the second quarter. As had been previously reported, the super-expensive leather goods division led the increase. Its sales were up by 33.4%. [WWD]

• "It's not up to him to give her lessons; Michelle Obama is of her time; Oscar de la Renta is no longer," scoffed designer Azzedine Alaïa. Ooh, breaking: Oscar is on the View now. [WWD]

• Chloe Sevigny might not do her Opening Ceremony line every season, because she's busy being on the TV. Still with the I-actually-design-this-crap pretense! [The Cut]
• As promised, The Daily Beast now features advertising! Read all about HOW BOTTEGA VENETA IS KEEPING LUXURY RELEVANT. (Presented by Bottega Veneta.) [Daily Beast]
• Isaac Mizrahi just made an announcement on The Today Show: Women, we need to be spending all our money on our hair! It's what's important in life. [Anna's Twitter]
• Ads for Matthew Williamson's collection for H&M, which goes on sale May 14, have leaked. Daria Werbowy prances, mantis-like, on a beautiful beach wearing acid bright paisleys. And a bikini I really want. They gave Werbowy the same rope of loosely braided fake hair that the current H&M collection models sport in their campaign, and which I assume is not even supposed to look real. [Nitro:Licious]
• Depending on the outcome of a lawsuit, Forever 21 may find itself no longer able to copy designers' offerings willy-nilly. Trovata, whose shirts the fast fashion chain shamelessly ripped off several seasons ago, has been suing the company since, and the case is finally set to go to trial. Which means a jury would decide if the "inspiration" (which extended to the placement and choice of buttons and other unique design features) was illegal. [WWD]
• The chief executives of faltering fashion companies continue to get raises! After Kay Krill at Ann Taylor and Glenn Murphy at the Gap each got hefty pay hikes, Jones Apparel Group has raised the compensation of its CEO, Wesley Card, by 38%, to $5.5 million, for 2008. That was the same year Jones Apparel Group lost $765 million. The company owns brands like Jones New York, Anne Klein, and Nine West, and its sales fell 6% last year. Its share price has dropped by over 60%. [Crain's]
• Experts estimate global sales of luxury goods will shrink by 10% in the coming year. [WSJ]
• Marc Jacobs opened a store for his slightly lower-priced Marc by Marc Jacobs line in London. [Independent]
• While women's apparel sales have been falling sharply, menswear is up 1%. Tom Ford says his stonkingly expensive eponymous men's line is doing just fine (although we can't imagine he's sold many $30,000 cufflinks lately). Savile Row tailors Anderson & Sheppard — where Alexander McQueen once trained — say they've had 20 new clients in the past month, which is a significant increase for a small business. [FT]
• Splitting the difference this spring: pant suits, especially when the jackets are in that slouchy 80s boyfriend style. The Times does an apt enough job tracing the trend to its point of origin. [NY Times]
• Frida Giannini, the woman who's transformed Gucci's look (and who did groundwork for that blazer trend), says she's keen to start a Gucci cosmetics line. [Times of London]
• Oh, my. This latest ad for edgy lingerie company Agent Provocateur sure is very racy. I hope all the attention they get for it won't hurt their brand. [Independent]

• Chloe Sevigny says doing oversized unisex menswear for Opening Ceremony was easy. "Except for the trousers — getting the fit right was really difficult." She thinks we'll buy that she draped the pants herself? [WWD]

• Here's the Times of London's reviews of the Twenty8Twelve, Nicole Farhi, Christopher Kane, Richard Nicoll, and Luella shows, which all took place at London fashion week. (The gist is: Sienna Miller — good; Nicole Farhi — better than usual; Kane — a "masterclass" in cut; Nicoll — better luck next time; Luella — OK.) [Times of London]
• Fashion bad boy Gareth Pugh is the subject of renewed speculation about LVMH's possible decision to name him as the new creative director for Dior Homme. [The Cut]
• Blind item: maybe a model working London fashion week got a boob job recently. Any thoughts? (I'm going with not Kate Moss, because upsizing from an A to a B cup while simultaneously gaining a little weight on one's hips sounds totally within the realm of non-surgical female experience to me. Frankly, it sounds like something to aspire to.)
• It can't be Adriana Lima. She was busy eloping (to Wyoming!) that weekend. [People]
• And Lily Cole was too busy studying. She's skipping the rest of London fashion week to return to her art history classes at Cambridge. [Daily Mail]
• Mario Testino used to study economics at Lima University, and when he first moved to London he squatted in a partially disused hospital where the parties were legendary. Of fashion, he says, "Anyway, I am not really of that world, I just work in it." Which is about the best attitude you can have towards the industry. [Telegraph]
• Despite the economy, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé's art collection fetched the highest price of any private collection ever sold when it was put to the hammer in Paris yesterday. The first night of auctions have already raised $264 million. The proceeds will go to Saint Laurent and Bergé's charitable foundation. Record bids were tendered for works by Matisse, Marcel Duchamp, Constantin Brancusi, James Ensor, Piet Mondrian and Giorgio de Chirico. A 1911 painting by Matisse sold for $40.9 million, or double its estimate. Bidding did have to be stopped on a Picasso that failed to meet its 25-30 million Euro estimate, but all in all it seems like the rich people of the world are doing their part for the art market. [NY Times]
• The fashion crowd, on the other hand, needs to learn to do its part and spread a little economic love around at this difficult juncture. Make your coffee at home if you must — I'm straining yesterday's grounds through a sock — but please, please, please, if you are in any kind of financial position to do so, buy something from this season that'll make you feel pretty for years to come. [WWD]
• Liz Claiborne has signed a long-term agreement with the Hong Kong-based exporter Li & Fung to let them handle Liz Claiborne's global sourcing exclusively. Li & Fung will pay the American retailer up to $83 million for the privilege. [Crain's]
• That deal to buy the house of Vionnet has gone through. Matteo Marzotto, former chairman of Valentino, and Marni CEO Gianni Castiglioni, joined forces to purchase this bit of prime fashion real estate. Others have tried to revive Vionnet before, never successfully, but the name seems latent with so much promise I can't help but cross my fingers. [WWD]
• Marzotto's old stomping grounds are seeing layoffs at the New York office. The director of communications and head of men's sales — plus his assistant — were among those to be let go. [WWD]
• Things continue to stumble along in the retail sector. Yesterday, Nordstrom announced earnings for the 4th quarter of last year dropped by 67.9%; they expect double-digit falls in sales and earnings this year. [WWD]
• Jaeger, which is privately held and therefore not obligated to release sales or earnings figures, but which does admit its US sales have not met expectations recently, intends to weather the downturn by concentrating on emerging markets like the Middle East and Australia. [Reuters]
• Just Cavalli has canceled its show at Milan fashion week. The move was expected after its main licensee, Itierre — a division of IT Holdings SpA — was forced to recently file for bankruptcy protection. [WWD]
• Conversely, Versus, Versace's diffusion line, picked this season to make its comeback. [WWD]
• In case you hadn't suspected, now is a bad time to be looking for a job in fashion. Two thousand people turned up to a job fair where only 20 companies were hiring; one of the job seekers was a 58-year-old production manager who was just laid off from his job at the Olsen twins' clothing line. [NY Post]
• Hello Kitty has signed a licensing deal with toymaker Jakks Pacific that will see Hello Kitty dolls and collectible figurines hit Target stores this fall. [BrandWeek]
• Erin Wasson, who said last summer that she thought the people with the best style were the homeless on Venice Beach, totally compounds the offense in this explanation. [The Cut]

• Tilda Swinton, one of the few celebrities who can actually pull off avant-gard fashion, looks predictably stunning on the cover of Another Magazine. [Stylefrizz]

• Also heralding the opening of London fashion week is Chloe Sevigny, who threw an opening party and showed her new collection for Opening Ceremony there this weekend. [UK Elle]
• The first show on the British Fashion Council's schedule, however, was a showcase of ethical fashion by a slew of different designers. Click through for another picture of models with TP in their hair. [Guardian]
• Tyson Beckford turned up to support the Central St. Martins fashion students showing at fashion week. [WWD]
• Giorgio Armani says he was totally kidding about that one time he called Dolce & Gabbana plagiarists. [Time]
• The Calvin Klein show was last Thursday, but this is still big news: for the first time in the label's history, it favored a black model, Lyndsey Scott, with one of their coveted exclusives. (An exclusive is when a model is chosen by a label to walk only in its show during a given fashion week, and in New York, the only exclusive that matters is Calvin's.) [The Cut]
• The creative director of Mulberry, who seems like an otherwise reasonable woman, says "I think everyone should be able to participate in a brand, but you have to be careful what you do. A key ring at £50 is okay, but don't try to make a bag that looks cheap. I won't have tat on my watch." Just so we're clear, she's talking about a $73 thing to hold your keys. [Times of London]
• Henry Holland talks an awful lot about his mum in this interview. Which is really very sweet. [Independent]
• Christian Siriano's second collection might finally earn him some retail love. His front row was crammed with buyers who seemed receptive to his particular brand of drama. [WSJ]
• He already has a deal with Payless — but tell me if you don't take one look at the spiked shoes and think, Rodarte Fall/Winter 08/09? [The Cut]
• Rodarte's Kate and Laura Mulleavy flew back to California after their New York show — and threw a tea party for Jenny Lewis and assorted friends. Kate says the next collection will be inspired by "houses in various states of construction." [WWD]
• That was quick: Celine Dion's ad for her just-announced fragrance, Chic, is out. [People]
• Ed Westwick for K Swiss is also out. [ONTD]
• Laura Ashley's husband, Bernard, was apparently a terrible tyrant and bully to her and their children. [Daily Mail]
• Lauren Bush's clothing line is hitting Barneys and Intermix next month. She's releasing it under the name "Lauren Pierce." Proceeds go to charity, and her UN World Food Program "Feed" bags are also still available. [The Cut]
• Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé's art collection went on public display in Paris this weekend, and will be auctioned today. Christie's is cutting 300 jobs, or 14% of its workforce, because of the depressed state of the art market. Some wonder if the more valuable pieces in the catalog — which includes works by Picasso and Matisse — will find buyers. [Times of London]
• Robin Givhan wants celebrities to do the patriotic thing and show their support of their favorite designers by buying, as opposed to just wearing, their clothes. [Washington Post]
• Harvey Weinstein on Project Runway's legal troubles: "Apparently there is some contention." No shit. [People]
• Are these people for real? "I am going shopping less, too," says a 22-year-old model from Miami. "I love shopping. This year, I've only gotten three pairs of shoes." What financial heartbreak! [UPI]
• More pictures of Kim Gordon's Mirror/Dash capsule collection for Urban Outfitters have become available — and it looks good. [LA Times]
• Kanye says he doesn't dress as well as Michael Jackson — yet. [Daily Intel]
• Ever wonder, 'What's Naomi Campbell doing right now?' The Daily Mail is on top of that: the 38-year-old supermodel is settling down in Moscow with her Russian real estate tycoon boyfriend. [Daily Mail]
• The New York City Economic Development Corp. is expected to announce plans today to help the fashion industry. [WWD]

• Jean Paul Gaultier always brings surprise into his shows. He's had Coco Rocha Irish dance, and included plus models in his lineup. This time he closed the show with magnificent Ines de la Fressange. [AFP]

• Taylor Swift is launching a line of sundresses that will cost $14 and be sold at Wal-Mart. However! She says she's not like all those other celebrity "designers" who are all too happy to claim the title. "I like people who have worked their entire lives to become designers," Swift says. "I think that they have their place as designers and I have my place as a musician, and I'm going to pretty much stick to that." Huh. If Taylor Swift isn't a designer, then who designed the line? Or did the dresses simply spring, fully formed, from the fingertips of a bevvy of 14-year-old Indonesian sweatshop workers? [The Cut]
• A Real World: Brooklyn cast member has become an underwear model. Scott from New Hampshire is the new face of Baskit Underwear's organic line, "Pure." [Racked]
• The Japanese government held a runway show in New York to promote young Japanese designers on the international scene. [WSJ]
• On the occasion of Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli's first collection for Valentino, which will be shown today at couture week in Paris, the man himself has praise for the pair — and some choice words about his successor, Alessandra Facchinetti, who was fired after just eight months with the company. At the time of her appointment, Valentino, who left his company a year ago, would only say, "I've met her. She's pretty." After Facchinetti was dumped, he let rip: "[Chiuri and Piccioli] always demonstrated an enormous respect and love for my work. There is an existing archive with thousands of dresses where they can draw and take inspiration from to create a Valentino product that is relevant today. It is a shame that their predecessor didn't feel this need." Today, he'd like to remind everyone that, despite his affinity for Chiuri and Piccioli, he "categorically denies" helping them design their first collection. "If I decide to attend the presentation of their collection, it will only be as a supporter of two people I love and who have been close to me for many years," he said. All right then! [The Cut]
• Polyvoweled supermodel Iekeliene Stange was interviewed by Style.com on the occasion of her first solo photography show. She has this to say about fashion photography: "I think these days fashion photography is very restricted and lacks a lot of creativity. There’s always certain items that need to be shot in certain ways and you don’t have as much freedom. Very often these days it seems to be more about socializing and who knows who, rather than about actual photography." A pretty bold statement to make. [Style.com]
• Lydia Hearst's Pringle of Scotland ad leaked, and the trustafarian model has her patented dazed expression. Still, it's nice to see her actually, you know, working as a model. After last season's campaign efforts, which were a long way from her Prada heights, one would have sooner expected Hearst to turn up in an ad for Pringles than Pringle of Scotland. [The Cut]
• American Express, which, as a fashion week sponsor normally gets one designer to be in a special AmEx branded fashion show in the tents that card-holders can pay $150 to watch, is taking a slightly different route this fashion week. Diane von Furstenberg will be the featured talent, but instead of re-creating her Fall/Winter 09 show of a few days prior, she'll showcase looks from the current spring season. Things you can actually buy. (Of course, AmEx card-holders could also just walk into a DvF store to see her spring collection. But think of how it'll look on the runway, with hair and makeup and lights and music!) Ms. von Furstenberg will also do a Q&A with André Leon Talley before the show. The 850-seat venue is expected to sell out. [WSJ]
• Poor sales numbers at Swatch had a predictable effect on the company's performance for 2008. Gross profits rose less than expected, by 4.3%, to 6 billion Swiss francs ($5.2 billion). The company is predicting modest sales increases for 2009. [WWD]
• H&M had a better-than-expected fourth quarter, although it closed with disappointing December sales. Net profits for the brand jumped 9.4% to 5.09 billion Swedish kronor (about $626 million), up from last year's 4.65 billion kronor. Analysts had predicted a rise to 4.85 billion kronor. Overall profits for 2008 were up 13%; the chain is going to continue its expansion. [WSJ]
• Which is good news, because I'm already getting excited about Matthew Williamson for H&M, which hits stores this April. The designer himself will model in the ad campaign, alongside Daria Werbowy. Solve Sundsbo will shoot. [WWD]
• The 85% off sales of designer goods may have permanently affected the market. According to a new study, sales of luxury products are expected to fall between 3% and 7% in 2009, at least partly because now that consumers have seen how low prices can get, they feel like $600 is too high an asking price for a pair of shoes. I would agree! Some labels are going to permanently lower their prices, others might continue shifting production to Asia. [WSJ]
• Angelina Jolie wore a Max Azria dress to the SAG awards...backwards. I can actually see how it would have looked way too revealing if she'd worn it the "right" way around. Who among us has never turned a favorite sweater backwards for something new? [The Life Files]
• Project Runway's 5th season, which is still the subject of litigation in California, will still show at New York Fashion Week. But the designers featured, and whether there are any decoys among them, will be kept secret from the audience. Also Nina Garcia's writing another book, presumably to keep busy while the lawsuit shakes out. [Fabsugar]
• Betsey Johnson's reissuing a 35-piece capsule collection of garments from her archives. They'll only be sold at Opening Ceremony in Los Angeles and New York. And, I'm willing to predict, on eBay. [WWD]
• Oh. My. God: Lou Doillon and Charlotte Gainsbourg were shot by Annie Liebovitz for American Vogue. Did Anna Wintour just get a clue? [WWD]

• The first images from Katie Holmes' campaign for Miu Miu have arrived... [Vogue UK]
• ...and she looks a lot like her BFF Victoria Beckham, whose ads for Emporio Armani are just out as well. [Telegraph]

• Lindsay Lohan's latest campaign, for Fornarina, has debuted. She looks a little like a hard-partying LA star who woke up in a strange mansion wondering, 'Why?' Must have been a stretch. [People]
• One reason J Crew's chief exec may have been so confident the era of the $800 shoe was over yesterday is because he knew the era of the $300 shoe was over, too: the retailer, for the first time in its history, has so much unsold stock that it's been forced to contract with a sample sale operator just to move the units. The brand's own network of factory stores could not absorb the overruns. Fellow retailer Calypso recently took the same move, and one industry consultant says another "high-end retailer" is planning a first-time warehouse sale. J Crew's sale starts next Tuesday in Manhattan, and stock will be discounted up to 70%. [Crain's]
• Barnes and Noble, being booksellers, probably should know a thing or two about copyright and intellectual property, no? Unfortunately, the megastore is pimping a bookbag (with a lifetime guarantee!) that bears a striking resemblance to a Louis Vuitton resort collection canvas tote from 2005. Down to the very buckles, and the striped webbing handles. Someone's gonna get fired for this. [Fashionista]
• Valentino has been fined for tax evasion in Italy. His longtime business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti, is also cited, and together they owe some $39 million. Valentino retired from his label last year, and officially moved his residence back to Italy, which is how they got him. The two claim it's all a misunderstanding. [WWD]
• Second bankruptcy of the week: Retailer Gottschalks is in Chapter 11, trying to get a reorganization plan approved. [AP]
• Kenneth Cole is forecasting a fourth quarter operations loss and 11% reduction in same-store sales. Share prices are near 52-week lows. [Crain's]
• Decidedly not floundering is Swatch. The watchmaker plans to open 15 stores in Hong Kong alone this year. [WSJ]
• Vera Wang, who founded her line after failing to male the U.S. Olympic figure skating team, is being inducted into the sport's hall of fame for her costume designs. How sweet. [WWD]
• I kind of love it when the mainstream press covers fashion; they always think they have discovered some massive, important story about how industry conditions are changing, or something, and then they go and drop a line like "Linda Evangelista, the current face of fashion giant Prada" and I get my hackles all up like BITCH, THAT NEW CAMPAIGN DROPPED TWO WEEKS AGO, and it stars Ymre Steikema, Anna Jagodzinska, Giedre Dukauskaite, Katrin Thormann, Nimue Smit, Sigrid Agren, Toni Garrn, and Viktoriya Sasonkina. And then I discount everything the esteemed Daily Telegraph has to tell me about models getting "curvier" (ha, ha, ha!) or whatever. [Daily Telegraph]
• Peter Som is in a state of uncertainty after the departure of his financial backer and the cancellation of his fashion week show. The talented designer is putting out feelers to do a diffusion line for Target or H&M. He doesn't care which. [The Cut]
• And...Opening Ceremony for Uniqlo! Shazam. [Refinery29]
• Designers are also creating t-shirts and totes in support of our president-elect. The sales of the items, by talents like Alexander Wang, Diane von Furstenberg, and, er, House of Dereon, will help pay for the inauguration. [WWD]
• The USA Today has some standard-issue rules for inauguration outfits, including such headscratchers as keeping your gown 1-1.5" off the floor since "that way, you're not going to step on it" and "High heels may look great, but they're not always comfortable." Revolutionary. [USATODAY]
• Time talked to Vivienne Westwood, and she said awesome things like, "I just think people buy too many clothes, whether they love fashion or whether they just want 12 T shirts, all different colors, and 12 pairs of jeans all the same. People look a mess because they're buying too many clothes; they're not thinking. If you do buy something new, if you've got the money to afford it, then buy a beautiful piece." Read it. [Time]
• Now it makes sense. The reason Niki Taylor was replaced by Australian model Nicole Trunfio on Make Me A Supermodel: she's pregnant again. She wanted to share the news with ET, naturally. [ETonline]
• Now, ladies, let Diane von Furstenberg explain how to do a mariage blanc: "Barry respects me so much," she said of husband Diller. "We don't live together during the week, although we go out together. I live on top of my shop; he lives at the Carlyle hotel. It doesn't feel strange at all. I just need a little bit of space. If I can't be alone a little bit, then I lose myself — and I cannot lose myself." Actually sounds pretty giddy. [Racked]

• Naomi Campbell has finally been charged for her April freakout at London's Heathrow airport. “Campbell is accused of three counts of assaulting a constable, one count of disorderly conduct likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress and one count of using threatening, abusive words or behavior to cabin crew, according to reports.” Her court date is set for June 20th; does anyone think that maybe a stint in juvie could set her straight? [The Guardian]
• Christian Dior cosmetics spokesmodel Sharon Stone continues to pay for her ridiculous remarks regarding last week's earthquake in China: Dior is pulling all ads starring the Hollywood wackadoo "from all of the department stores and from all of China". Karma, baby! [NY Times]
• Andre Leon Talley is returning to the Savannah College of Art and Design to speak at the school's May 31 commencement ceremony. Think he'll wear the "floor-length red satin robe and silver crown accented with red 'rubies'" this time around? [Paris Parfait]

• Is Chloe Sevigny is never not working? The Big Love star and Opening Ceremony fashion designer is coming out with a limited edition tome based on her first OC look book. "You can flip all the clothing around. You can kind of, like, mix the heads with the bodies," OC's Humberto Leon tells New York magazine. [New York]
• Stars scheduled to appear at the CFDA awards on Monday: Victoria Beckham, Eva Mendes and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Posh will be in Marc Jacobs, Mendes in Calvin Klein, and Maggie G in Proenza. [Elle UK]
• Laura Bennett, the redhead overachiever from Project Runway has 8 million kids, a clothing line, a huge apartment, and a comic strip in the Village Voice. [Blogging Project Runway]
• Proenza Schouler, who have been nominated for the 3rd year in a row for CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year award, spill all (er, some) in an interview with Fashion Week Daily. These guys must have been nuns in a past life or something. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Patricia Field won’t be applying for welfare anytime soon. The stylist who got her start throwing glitter on the hot-pants of drag queens is now developing a line of clothing for Australian department chain, Myer. [The Australian]
• Beauty may fade, but supermodels are forever. Miles Socha reports in WWD how old-school models are returning to big-time ad campaigns. “Linda Evangelista is starring in Prada, Naomi Campbell in Yves Saint Laurent, Claudia Schiffer in Chanel and Salvatore Ferragamo, Eva Herzigova in Louis Vuitton and Christy Turlington in Escada.” More here: [WWD]
• Need to know how to deal with articles of clothing that have shrunk? The WSJ offers groundbreaking suggestions such as, check the label for cleaning directions, store your receipts in a shoebox, and other things my grandmother told me in 1957. [Wall Street Journal]
• Michael Kors confesses that he used to layer legwarmers: “I not only wore them, I used to wear two or three pairs. Everything was some shade of dusty mauve and rose, what I call 'ishy colors.' At the time I was wearing a burgundy boot.” [Style.com]
• Ugh. Members of the Chinese elite “are willing to spend their savings on designer fashions, seen as the ultimate status symbol in a communist country that is increasingly becoming preoccupied with the trappings of wealth.” [Reuters]
• Coach Inc., plans to open 50 new retail units in China. Um, I’m sorry, but wasn’t there just a devastating earthquake there? [WWD]
• Anthropologie: "[The store's] retail environment is an artful rendition of a French market that creates a mood of discovery and whimsy. While the merchandise is a unique mix of found objects from around the globe, the store is as close to a genuine French flea market as is the French bread sold at Safeway." [Business Week]
• Vogue is prepping a photo shoot starring its own editorial and fashion assistants. Says one source: "...At Vogue, you have to dress like a model anyway, so this probably isn't a stretch for the various women involved." [Fashionista]

• Lindsay Lohan has been dropped as the face of Jill Stuart, because she's, well, Lindsay Lohan. Her replacement: Hilary Swank. [Porfolio - Mixed Media]
  
• Tomorrow's the last night of this season's Project Runway: What are fans supposed to do with ourselves now? Oh yes, stalk the casting sessions for Season 5, which begin this month. [Sassybella]
  
• Not content with shilling overpriced denim, Victoria Beckham is now doing a line of dresses which will be done under a separate label than her DVB denim line. The dress line's name? POSH Frocks, naturally. [Sassybella]
  
• Pete Wentz is opening his own salon in Chicago. To which I say: NO. [BellaSugar]
  
• Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony looks, well, like the crazy prepster-indie-skater-prairie girl shit you normally see on... Chloe Sevigny. [FabSugar]

• I would probably me more inclined to buy expensive shit if the ads showed a woman masturbating. [FabSugar]
• Ugh. Jean-Paul Gaultier isn't alone: Fur is more popular now than ever before. [Reuters]
• Hayden Panettiere's ads for Dooney & Burke are out: Does anyone think this girl looks increasingly like an anonymous blonde and less like, well, herself? [Sassybella]
• They say no splinters, but I'm still skeptical of lingerie made from pine trees. [Daily Mail]
• Poor organization made for a less-than-perfect Berlin Fashion Week. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Diane von Furstenberg: Helping people every day! Or at least asking business leaders to "inspire" women in developing countries. [WWD, sub req'd]
• John Galliano's models lurve him big time. [Fashion Week Daily]

I know I'm not the first to say this, but I just hate how Fashion Week seems designed to make a lot of people feel bad about themselves—you're not thin enough, rich enough, important enough—in order to stroke the egos of a precious few. Ugh!

So basically, having to wait in line in the rain for an hour made me so salty I'm surprised I didn't melt right there from the moisture. What exacerbated the problem were the girls behind me. One of them kept talking about her pole dancing class over and over and over, as though it were the most novel and hilarious thing that nobody had ever heard of before she had the guts and spunk to go and sign herself up. I so badly wanted to be like, "Bitch, that shit was on season two of Celebrity Fit Club! When overweight has-beens beat you to the punch on something that was already long played out, you should just keep it to yourself."

But instead I just clenched my fists and scowled. Here are some quotes of theirs I furiously typed into my phone:

"What? What does 'accosted' mean?"
"I took the 'How Shallow Are You' test on Facebook. I got a 95%."
"He's not cute and I'm not into him, but he has all this money. Like a lot of money. And a cool apartment. So whatever."
"I don't know what 'neuter' means. What is that? 'Neuter'?"

A wadded up mound of TP with a giant, still wet, period stain. I wondered if that fell out by accident or if someone was just as pissed as I was about the door policy and pulled a Donita Sparks by throwing their makeshift pad on the ground. I like that second idea best.

I went up to the bar and waited roughly 15 or 20 minutes for the bartender to even look at me. Then when I heard her charge the person next to me $6 for a domestic beer, I realized that it was, in fact, not an open bar, even though the invite mentioned a vodka sponsor. I was like, fuck this, and went up to the balcony to check out the crowd from above. That's when my friend Alex spotted Natasha Lyonne. I tried to take a picture, but my camera is like a 3 megapixel piece of crap, so this is the best I could do.

She didn't look her best, but she also didn't look her crackiest, so that was an improvement from the last time I saw her, when she was wearing filthy clothes five sizes too big, picking at sores on her face while fighting with a bodega owner about how she didn't want to have to pay for her Marlboro Reds.

Other celebs I saw were Karen O, Richie Rich, Three as Four, Sophia Lamar, Ben Cho, Leo Fitzpatrick, and I'm pretty sure I saw Margherita Missoni. The Slits took the stage at like 12:30 or something. I realized, looking around, that instead of a "party" this was merely a free concert. The one thing I actually really liked was seeing Chloë down in front of the stage, singing along and jumping up in down. It was cool to know she was having a really great time in the crowd with the peons, instead of sitting in the V.I.P. area with the idiot assholes.

Chloe Sevigny [Style.com]

• The latest supposedly offensive Dolce & Gabbana ad is supposedly offensive because the women are made out to be dominatrixes and the men are objectified. Really, our hearts bleed for them. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Annoying-on-her-own, awesome-when-accompanied-by-other-television-wives Chloe Sevigny is doing ("designing"? "inspiring"? We so don't care anymore) a clothing line in partnership with NYC boutique Opening Ceremony just in time for New York Fashion Week. [Vogue UK]
  
• Sorry "directional" - you've been replaced as our favorite fashion term (to mock) by "relevant." Example, "I do have a number of cool longer dresses in my spring collection and I think they're really relevant again," Sue Stemp. [The Fashion Informer]

• "Italian designers are not aware of their strength. They don't have the courage to stand up for their right to have a longer fashion week, conversely to their French neighbors." That's Mario Boselli, head of the Italian Chamber of Fashion, and that, folks, is what we mean when we talk about "First World Problems."[WWD, sub req'd]
• South Korean teen clothing chain Who.A.U. is coming stateside. The name stands for "Who are you?" and they apparently push a message of personal expression. There is a cappuccino bar in every store. Oh, and the chain is making its big debut in Stamford, CT. Indeed, all these things make us think of teenage individuality. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Levi's sues two more companies for copyright infringement. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Isn't it heartwarming when fashion tries to do something for the environment? Now it's Rag & Bone, making a 100% organic t-shirt sold exclusively at Parisian boutique Colette with the words "Carbon Free" emblazoned across it. We here they're being shipped to the stores via carrier pigeon. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Merrill Lynch predicts Burberry will be snatched up by some other luxury goods behemoth — and soon! Coach, apparently, looks the hungriest. [NY Times]