• How cool are these Charlie Brown New Balance sneakers? Cool enough that we wish they weren't just for kids. [WWD]
• A London artist has created Kate Moss and Agyness Deyn paper dolls which look frighteningly like the real thing. [Pipeline.Refinery29]

• Your daily dose of the horrible: American Apparel shiny leggings for children. [Fashionista]
• Police in France have arrested 25 suspects in relation to last December's $118 million jewel heist at Harry Winston. Members of the alleged ring had been under police surveillance for months, and when arrangements had been made between the gang and some prospective buyers, the authorities swooped in. In addition to the 25 arrests, police found weapons and $345,000 in cash. [AP]
• Nicole Richie swears that her next collection for her House of Harlow 1960 jewelry line will be completely different than the first. In fact, it'll be "focusing more on old English, equestrian and more sophisticated looks" than the flea-market-inspired first trip out the gate. Richie's shoe and accessory lines, meanwhile, will be ready for Spring 2010. [People]
• Dolce & Gabbana, newly internet-savvy, uploaded Fall 2009 Dolce & Gabbana and D&G campaigns to its just-launched website. Steven Klein shot Mariacarla Boscono, Edita Vilkeviciute, and Heidi Mount at a casino for Dolce & Gabbana, and Mario Testino shot Katie Fogarty, Sara Blomqvist, Stephanie Rad, Hanna Rundlof, and Ragnhild Jevne for D&G. Heidi Mount also wears a giant pink Margiela-inspired fur and poses like an ape in one. [Fashionologie]
• The New Yorker sure knows how to give a bad restaurant review. Taking in the "sterile" and "unexuberant" fare at Armani's restaurant-within-a-store on Fifth Avenue, Lauren Collins writes: "At the bar, a manager and a bartender argued, loudly. The dispute seemed to be about a pen. Their passion did not extend to a pair of women who were waiting for a table, or, once the women were seated, to their full glasses of wine, paid for and awaiting transferral." [NYr]
• A historic Christian Science church on Park Avenue took a look at its dwindling congregation and finances, and its stellar real estate, and do the obvious thing: allow a catering company to use its building to host events, in return for necessary repairs, money, and continued access for regularly scheduled services. Even though the kind of events we're talking about here — shindigs with Sir Paul McCartney, Oscar de la Renta runway shows — are hardly Bushwick artist loft keggers, the Park Avenue set has gone all guerrilla in its opposition to the church's activities. One neighbour even parked her car in the middle of the avenue to block the access of de la Renta's show's guests. Is it too much to hope she was towed? [NYTimes]
• A maker of hypoallergenic beauty products has decided to associate its line with the 11th birthday of Malia Obama. Tacky. [US News]
• Natural cosmetics purveyor Dr. Hauschka is apparently swamped by demand — but, because of quality control concerns and its business philosophy based on the ideas of Rudolf Steiner (no, really), it's unwilling to expand too quickly. [Reuters]
• The website for MDLR, Moises de la Renta's fashion line, is now live. [MDLR]
• French documentarian Loïc Prigent, who made the excellent Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton and Signé Chanel, about the putting together of a Chanel couture collection, has a new series showing on Sundance starting September 10. Prigent's camera follows Sonia Rykiel, Proenza Schouler, Karl Lagerfeld, and Jean-Paul Gaultier in the last 36 hours before their respective runway shows. (It's a good thing Prigent is sensitive to the dramatic tension of a smoke break, because there'll be a lot of them.) Rykiel's show is her 40th anniversary extravaganza in Paris last October, Prigent finds Proenza Schouler and Fendi, designed by Lagerfeld, at the Fall/Winter 2009 collections of this Spring, and he'll catch up with Gaultier at couture week in Paris next month. I'm marking my freaking calendar. [Glamour]
• Looks like there's been a breakdown at Alessandro Dell'Acqua. The designer, whose namesake label has been owned since 2003 by Cherry Grove, an Italian corporation that produces high-end clothing, released an open letter informing the fashion world that he, Alessandro Dell'Acqua, would like to publicly distance himself from the Alessandra Dell'Acqua men's Spring/Summer or women's Pre-Spring collections, the former of which is about to walk in Milan, because he hasn't been given the opportunity to do anything beyond submit sketches to Cherry Grove. Alessandro Dell'Acqua lost his job with the Italian house Malo after holding it for less than a year following Itierre's bankruptcy; this angry letter reads like a gold-plated invitation to be fired from his own label, too. [FWD]
• Once every media outlet had dutifully covered the "outrage" over the Steven Meisel-shot Calvin Klein "foursome" billboard in SoHo, the brand replaced it with a tamer shot of a girl in a red bikini. Racked has a picture. [GoG]
• Well, lookie here: a male model who admits to having to maintain a diet to be catwalk skinny. [NYTimes]
• Everyone knows Abercrombie & Fitch has been struggling in the recession, and losing market share to lower-priced competitors like Aéropostale and The Buckle. Besides quietly breaking its rule against discounting its own stock and closing its Ruehl chain, the company hadn't exactly said what it was planning to do to reverse the tide that saw its May same-store sales slide a whopping 28% — until now. The proffered solution? Two hundred and ten store leases, which comprise some 20% of the chain's total, are up for renewal over the next two years. Abercrombie thinks it might save money by not renewing all of them. Revolutionary. [TS]
• A three-story Adidas factory in India was engulfed by flames on Tuesday night. There were no casualties. [HindustanTimes]
• Talbots may have had to cut 370 jobs, eliminate its 401(k) matching contributions, and suspend its quarterly stock dividend, but that won't stop it paying CEO Trudy Sullivan $1.2 million this year. Richard O'Connell, the struggling company's real estate and legal executive, will also get a 23% raise, to $500,000. [TS]
• Gen Art, an organization which supports emerging fashion talent in the U.S. and has helped launch the careers of such names as Vena Cava and Zac Posen, is in a bad spot financially. Already reeling from layoffs, the founders hope to raise $250,000 in ticket sales and donations for their 15th anniversary party tomorrow night. Gen Art needs another $500,000 after that to continue its operations. [WWD]

On May 21, 1969, the Snoopy lunar module and Charlie Brown command module arrived at the moon in a dress rehearsal for the Apollo 11 moon landing. "It went down in his life as one of the all-time highlights of his career," said Craig Schulz, son of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, who died in 2000. NASA also named Snoopy the mascot of their safety program. Schulz designed a Silver Snoopy award pin, which remains one of the space industry's highest honors. The pin is taken on space missions, then presented to NASA employees who contribute to the safety of space flights. As for the Snoopy lunar module, it is still in space and is the only Apollo module to ever be launched into a sun orbit. [Space.com via Live Science]

• A new survey suggests that fathers are better at giving driving lessons than mothers, who tend to panic, while dads just swear. • Brazilian researchers have found that among teenage girls, there are alarmingly high rates of STDs that often go undetected. • The BBC has an amazing video of a monkey teaching its young to floss with human hair. • More monkey news: zoologists have found that monkey tantrums should never go ignored. • From the Institute of No Shit Studies: men in their 60s drive the most powerful cars. • A Miami evangelist claiming to be the anti-Christ has gone into hiding following a court ruling to pay his ex-wife $2.2 million. Wonder if Satan will help him out of this one. • Some asshole put his wife up for sale, describing her as "Nagging Wife. No Tax, Not MOT. Very high maintenance - some rust." He says he was shocked that he received several offers. • The Hijabi Monologues, a little known play about Muslim women who wear the headscarf, is currently showing in LA. • A little over a year ago, Wajeha al-Huwaider made a pledged to get the Saudi ban on women driving lifted by Women's Day 2009. Sadly, the ban is still in place. • The man who threw his shoe at our esteemed former President has been sentenced to three years in prison by an Iraqi court. • This is not exactly news to any American college student, but the American Dietetic Association has found that 58% of "kid cereals" are actually being consumed by adults. • Sad: a survey of Boston teens found that nearly half of them believe Rihanna was responsible for Chris Brown's assault on her. •  Could Coulter's reign of terror be coming to a close? Ann Coulter's new book Guilty isn't selling nearly as well as her others did. • 

[New York, December 30. Image via Getty.]

NEW YORK - DECEMBER 30: Metlife Mascot Snoopy skates with kids at the 4th annual Department of Youth and Community Development Skate Day at the Pond at Bryant Park on December 30, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

• Katy Perry has design aspirations. "Agyness Deyn and Dita Von Teese are my fashion icons. I love to create a character, and I like looking like I've just stepped out of a history book." [New York]

• L'Oreal has signed Zach and Miri star Elizabeth Banks! About time she got a lead! [WWD]
• Speaking of L'Oreal... aging heiress Liliane Bettencourt denies that she's ill, being duped by a gigolo. [FT]
• And: Oy. L'Oreal lays off 500 in U.S. [AdAge]
• Liar! Despite claims to the contrary, Paris Hilton has been spotted wearing the same dress twice! [E]
• Is acclaimed designer Olivier Theyskens out at Nina Ricci? People are tossing around "creative differences," which it totally the "irreconcilable differences" of the work world. [FashionWeekDaily]
• Will Tommy Hilfiger be the only designer actually showing at the Bryant Park tents? [WWD]
• We kind of don't want to contribute to this latest Levi's ad going viral. [Videogum]
• Fun, PETA-style: throw virtual snowballs at celebrity "fur hags." [AdRants]
• Stores aren't even bothering to deck the halls of their sad beauty aisles this Christmas. [WWD]
• Fashion darlings Rodarte have discovered the secret to living left-coast: "This is the secret to L.A.; you listen to music from Peanuts. We realized it last night, driving — it was late, and the Peanuts theme was playing, and it’s like the whole city was transformed." [Style.com]
• Carine Roitfeld and Kanye West are BFF. [Style.com]
• The founder of Aussie label JustJeans was caught with his hand in the till...or the white-collar, $100 million equivalent thereof. [News.com.au]
• Speaking of crime, the fashion industry took a hit in the Madoff scandal. [WWD]
• Along with other less-than-hip brands, Laura Ashley's feeling the economic pinch. [Guardian]
• J. Crew's bridesmaid's dresses are becoming an industry standard. See, J, when you price things reasonably they sell! [W]
• Accessories brand Lambertson Truex is on the block, if you're looking for a sideline. [WWD]

Related: List Of Minor Characters In Peanuts

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

• Those Sisley cocaine-snorting ads? Not exactly real. Which makes us sad because we really wanted to see something realistic in a fashion magazine. [Sassybella]
  
• You know how sometimes we read too quickly and make up, like, an alternate news story? Um, we didn't with this. You actually can turn peanuts into diamonds. [The Budget Fashionista]
  
• Two-thirds of English consumers are happy with their collection of fake bags. And the other 33% would have rather coughed up a few grand on the real thing? [BBC]

• Lord & Taylor is spending $10 million on a "brand makeover" that will attempt to make you see it as more like Nordstrom. [WWD]
• Sayeth the lawyer representing Anna Sui in her case, one of many about the stealing of designs, against Forever 21: "I believe that Forever 21's business model is to copy the designs of other well-known designers." Um, ya think? [WWD, sub req'd]
• American Eagle is giving potential shoppers a free movie ticket for trying on a pair of jeans? That is really convenient, since, um, we were trying to figure out a way to see I Now Pronounce You Chick And Larry without actually, you know, funding the evildoers. [Reuters]