• Here's the thing about Courtney Love losing custody of her daughter: Frances Bean Cobain wants to live with her grandmother.

Courtney Love's lawyer says that's what Courtney losing legal control of her daughter is all about. He says: "Courtney's been clean for years and is perfectly fine. This is simply about Frances preferring to live with her grandmother at this time. Frances is 17 and a strong-willed child, and this is a decision she made on her own." Wendy O'Connor, Courtney's Kurt's mother and Frances's grandmother, lives in Olympia, Washington, and last year, Frances told Bazaar: "She's probably the person I respect most out of anybody in the world." Do you remember when Courtney went on a Twitter rant in September? Frances Bean tweeted: "Someone adopt me please?" [People]

• Courtney Love's lawyer: "All I can tell you as Courtney's friend is that she loves her daughter more then anything in the world. Courtney will no doubt do what is best for Frances and will surely take her teenage daughter's desire and feelings into consideration with respect to the legal guardian issue." [Radar Online]
• Nicole Kidman's daughter Sunday Rose knows baby sign language. "She's picked it right up, Nicole says. As for her 17-year-old daughter, Bella: "She's incredibly talented… She expresses herself through drawing." [Showbiz 411]
• Yesterday's rant must have gotten him in a heap of trouble: Chris Brown has deleted his Twitter account. [Perez]
• Michael Lohan was arrested this weekend, after calling his ex-girlfriend — who has a restraining order against him. Whoops. [TMZ, Newser]
• Bethenny Frankel stripped naked for giant PETA billboard. "It's so tasteful and beautifully done," she claims. "I am especially pleased because it doesn't look like there's been any airbrushing, and I was already pregnant when I shot it." No airbrushing? Pardon us while we LOL. [Page Six]
• BREAKING: After giving birth yesterday, Kourtney Kardashian wanted a tuna sandwich. [TMZ]
• Elton John and David Furnish still want to adopt a kid, even though their attempt to adopt a 17-month old Ukrainian child who lives in an orphanage was denied. Furnish says: "We were upset not to be allowed to adopt but we'll fight and work with the Ukrainian government to change the law so that HIV positive children can be adopted. We'll be like uncles. They can visit us on holidays." [The Sun]
• So… Toby Keith was at the Nobel Peace Prize party, and Will Smith performed "Rapper's Delight." When the word "yellow" was uttered in the line "to the black, to the white, the red, and the brown, the purple and yellow," Keith pulled his eye into a slant. Asian people love that, right? [TMZ]
• A-Rod says: "I'm definitely single." Guess he won't be on Kate Hudson's arm at any Nine premieres. Still, a source says: "They've definitely broken up. There's been some drama before about his roving eye. But this isn't the first time they've split up and got back together." [Page Six]
• A-Rod was seen in Miami over the weekend in the company of a leggy blonde. A "snitch" says: "Alex has a wandering eye, and Kate is a hopeless romantic. It's not exactly the perfect match." [Gatecrasher]
• Wait, what? Tiger Woods' wife Elin Nordegren is having a "secret meeting" with Victoria Beckham? Apparently friends have urged Elin to talk to Posh, whose own marriage was threatened by claims David Beckham had an affair with his assistant, Rebecca Loos. [The Sun]
• Several women involved with Tiger Woods claim that he wired money to them — from $5000-$10,000 — on a monthly basis. "The money comes via a wire transfer," said one woman. "There's no contract about it, there's no discussion about what it's for, but it's implied that it's in exchange for keeping quiet about his affair." And! Apparently Elin has taken his cell phone away. [MSNBC Scoop]
• Jaimee Grubbs, who had a relationship with Tiger Woods, has been calling and texting an ex-boyfriend, boasting about her notoriety. A sample: "Hey u... It's been rough... I'm very well known now and everything I do is being blasted across the Internet… I'm on every news channel and in every magazine as Tiger Woods mistress." [Radar Online]
• Items like this one, about how Tiger Woods got out of sticky situations in the past, make you wonder about all the kinds of things celebrities get away with. [TMZ]
• Jennifer Garner's stalker was arrested Monday, and sorry to be judgy, but he's totally got a super creepy mug shot. [Radar Online]
• Alabaster-skinned Kelly Osbourne is the face of St. Tropez self-tanning lotions? Ah: Fake-baking is just one of the many things she learned on Dancing With The Stars! [Page Six]
• Chace Crawford was seen drinking red wine alone and texting. Stars! Just like us. [Page Six]
• Beyoncé hearts interactive theater. [Page Six]
• Jimmy Fallon's Michael Jackson impression is allegedly impressive. [Page Six]
• Ron Howard and daughter Bryce Dallas Howard would like to make a movie together; Bryce blames her dad for not making it happen: "He knows for a fact that I pester him every single day to put me in a movie. I really want to work with him!" [Gatecrasher]
• Daniel Day Lewis thinks Jeff Bridges should win the Oscar for Crazy Heart. "Everyone loves him. And he's so good." [Showbiz 411]
• Mel Gibson "rarely" has time for his girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, or their six-week-old daughter, Lucia. According to a source. "Mel can go days without even stopping by Oksana's home and checking in on Lucia - much less feeding her, putting her down for a nap or changing a diaper," spills a source. "Mel tells Oksana he isn't raising Lucia any differently than he did his other passel of kids, and that (his estranged wife, Robyn Gibson) really did the raising." [MSNBC via National Enquirer]
• "A movie company that hired Samuel L. Jackson to star in a big-budget film is pissed off they weer forced to settle for Laurence Fishburne instead, this according to a new lawsuit." [TMZ]
• Roman Polanski's The Ghost, starring Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor, will be released in the U.S. as The Ghost Writer in early 2010. [NY Daily News]
• Coming to a silver screen near you: In The Heights — based on the Broadway musical — directed by Kenny Ortega. Meanwhile, Corbin Bleu will do the show on Broadway. [Page Six]
• Alan Arkin's character in The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee: Loosely based on Arthur Miller. [Page Six]
• In a world of losers, SpongeBob SquarePants is a winner. [NY Daily News]
• The New York Film Critics Circle chose The Hurt Locker as best picture. Will director Kathryn Bigelow get an Oscar nod? [NY Post]
• A cheat sheet for the movies which will "most likely" be Oscar nominees at the link. [NY Post]
• BREAKING: Whatshisname doesn't like boobs. [The Sun]
• "Dear Santa, I want a boy for Christmas... wanna hook a sista up?! Oh, and not just any boy… one that holds the door open for you, and writes hand written letters, and spends time with the (parents).. ya hurrd?" — Teen star Demi Lovato, via Twitter. [MSNBC]
• "I thought a divorce was the best thing for both of them at the time, as they were a destructive influence on each other. But I was sad Blake had lost the love of his life. I speak to Amy on the phone. She said to me recently: 'You have an amazing son who is gorgeous and beautiful and sensitive. But other people don't see it.' I'm convinced Blake and Amy will remarry early next year. I don't know when, where or how it will happen. I'd like to be at the wedding this time round but I wouldn't be surprised if they went away and got hitched without anyone knowing about it. Whatever they do, I think it's going to be a happy ending this time." — Georgette Civil, mother of Blake Fielder-Civil, who says the drama between her son and Amy Winehouse almost drove her to suicide: "All this has taken a big toll on my own life… I reached my lowest ebb over the summer and even thought about ending it all." [Daily Express]
• "When I met Carey, I was an abused puppy in the corner, ready to bite anyone who put their hand out." — Pink says she has softened since meeting her husband. She also claims: "I've always said I like Britney. I swear to God, I've stuck up for Britney since the beginning." [Gatecrasher via Women's Health]

• Diane Kruger nabbed a L'Oréal contract. [Elle UK]
• And yes, Siriano provides the contractually-obligated fierceness. [Racked]

• Asked to nominated a 21st Century "heroine" by Harper's Bazaar magazine, Sarah Brown chose Naomi Campbell, for her work with women's charities. Brown calls the supermodel "impatient in a good way." [Guardian]
• Iman says David Bowie loves SoHo. "It's a perfect place for my husband," says the cosmetics company owner/legendary model. "Everyone's dressed better than he is, and they all think they're stars — so no one bothers him!" [TheMoment]
• The Stockholm department store that was set to carry NoKo jeans — the only jeans made in North Korea, by a trio of Swedish entrepreneurs who convinced the communist regime to allow production of its $215 jeans — decided at the last minute to back out. [AP]
• "Chanel in Shanghai: China goes from Mao to wow." No, that's the headline, really. [Telegraph]
• "Within East Africa, Kenyans are renowned for being the worst dressed." And, sadly, the photos accompanying this story are not helping. [BBC]
• Christopher Bailey, the Burberry creative director, went to Buckingham Palace to pick up his MBE for services to the fashion industry. [Elle UK]
• Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons — the label White House social secretary Desiree Rogers wore to the state dinner — has designed a limited edition Barbie dress. Comme des Garçons Barbie looks surprisingly normal, and costs £225. [DazedDigital]
• Christian Louboutin's Barbie, and her four not-sold-separately plastic Louboutin shoes, goes for a mere $150. That would be the Barbie Louboutin redesigned to eliminate her cankles. [People]
• Oh, look: Someone from the Daily Mail went to cover the Elite Model Look competition and forgot to Google Gérald Marie. [Daily Mail]
• Gucci is opening its third Indian store, in New Delhi, through a company the brand owns in partnership with two local entrepreneurs. Previous stores in India were franchises. [WWD]
• Vans and Robert Crumb are doing a collaboration. Two of Crumb's legendarily skeevy cartoon characters will adorn Vans sneakers, for $52-$60. [Independent]
• The Australian wool industry was supposed to end the practice of mulesing — amputating excess skin from lambs' hindquarters to prevent painful and life-threatening maggot infestations — by 2010. Having failed to do so, the Gap has bowed to PETA's pressure and announced it will stop sourcing wool from Australia. [PETA]
• Lord & Taylor has agreed to ban raccoon dog fur from its stores after the Humane Society filed a lawsuit against the company for mislabeling some fur garments. [WWD]
• Ksubi is in trouble over allegations of animal cruelty at one of its events in Sydney. Forty white homing pigeons were hired by the brand as live party props, and at least one died. [DailyTelegraph]
• What what what? Zappos is launching a printed catalog. Isn't that like going back in time? [NYTimes]
• Macy's will roughly triple the number of Sunglass Hut outposts in its department stores over the next year. [Crains]

[Seoul, December 6. Image via Getty]

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - DECEMBER 06: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) protest against fur at a MyungDong shopping district on December 6, 2009 in Seoul, South Korea. The demonstration was organized by the PETA to protest against the use of fur in clothing. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Perhaps you've seen the latest campaign, which features Dancing with the Stars contestant and Playboy model Joanna Krupa in angel wings that look like a palmier, and the words, "Be an angel for animals. Always adopt. Never buy." Obviously, she's also naked and holding a strategically-placed crucifix in front of her ladybits. For the animals, you see. In the other version, she's naturally holding a rosary.

The Catholic League, with its endless supply of free time, objects to the use of imagery - the nudity, one assumes, they're okay with. Krupa is shocked! Seemingly misunderstanding the objection and also making things much worse, the self-described "practicing Catholic" states, "It's understandable that the Catholic League is wary of another sex scandal, but the sex we're talking about pertains to dogs and cats." And, oh yeah, this was a statement, that she presumably read over first.

Joanna Krupa Vs. Catholics: Animal Rights, Not Blasphemy [E!]
Joanna Krupa And Peta Vs. The The Catholic League [EW]

• PETA has requested that school official replace Uga with a robot, but so far UGA hasn't responded. •  According to new research, men are more likely to be woken up by a fly or the wind than by a crying baby. Wailing infants doesn't even register on the top ten of sounds most likely to disturb their sleep. Not so for women, who may be evolutionarily programed to react to a child's cries, or so suggests the author of the study. •  After being caught with a prostitute, a Swedish man told authorities that he was driven to pay for sex because his wife was pregnant, and he hadn't had sex in five months. He also asked that all letters regarding the incident be sent to his work address, to keep the charges secret from his wife. •  Women in Syria are at the forefront of the country's religious revival, according to the BBC. Many women are turning to prayer groups lead by female preachers, who are often quite conservative. • A 13-year-old girl from Detroit met a 19-year-old man on Facebook, who she allegedly invited over to her house, where they had "sex". She then hid the man in her closet for two days, before her mother finally found him. •  According to a new study out of Australia, women spend more time doing pleasurable activities than men (15 minutes each day) and are more likely to spend time socializing. Researchers also report that men spend six minutes more everyday on activities they dislike, including commuting and work. •  Carlo Pacelli, the lawyer representing Congolese man Patrick Diya Lumumba—who Amanda Knox initially accused of murdering her roommate—called Knox a "diabolical she-devil" in court. He also made mention of her vibrators and rumors of bad hygiene, concluding that she "is unclean on the outside because she was dirty on the inside." Knox's stepfather, who was in court, said Pacelli's statement is a "sexist discourse that sets Italy back 100 years." • On the other side of her family, Amanda Knox's father and stepmother are being investigated for defamation. Last year, they told the Sunday Times that Knox was beaten and brutalized by members of the Italian police force. "It is odd that the timing is coming out now, five days before the end of the trial, and this is supposed to be something that happened over a year ago," said Knox's stepmother. • Mary Arnott of Toronto has been given an honorary diploma from St. Peter's Girls High School on Staten Island for her 100th birthday. She had been in the class of 1925, but dropped out when her mother died during her senior year. "I kept going to night school and more night school and finally got business training and became a secretary to a lawyer, but it wasn't the same," said Arnott. • One of the rites involved in Islam's annual hajj involves pilgrims jogging seven times between two spots in Mecca to reenact Abraham's consort Hagar running between two hills searching for water for her dying son. Shahidah Sharif, an American Muslim on this year's pilgrimage, says clerics should stop telling women to do the run slowly because they are "weaker" or running is immodest. "We are commemorating the act of a woman, someone who made a sacrifice not just for her child but to the building of an entire city," Sharif said. "And she was going through these extremes to provide for her child, without thinking about gender, and here it is now (they're) making it forbidden for women to run." •

[Sydney, November 24. Image via Getty]

Tattooed model and supporter for the environmental group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Australia, Dani Lugosi, holds a sign reading 'Ink, Not Mink' drawing the attention of workers in Sydney's central shopping precinct on November 24, 2009. Covered in little more than tattoos, Lugosi was helping PETA to ask shoppers to 'leave fur to its original owners' and to draw attention to what they see as cruelty rampant in the fur industry. AFP PHOTO / Greg WOOD (Photo credit should read GREG WOOD/AFP/Getty Images)

[Beverly Hills, November 12. Image via Getty]

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - NOVEMBER 12: Peta protesters, protest outside the Saban Theatre where Al Gore attended to promote his book at 'Our Choice' Book Soup Book Signing Event on November 12, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

• Giorgio Armani might be made Senator for Life (a real position) by the Italian president. The designer would then vote on the national budget, and "beautify" parliamentary proceedings. Armani's reaction to the nomination, and his political leanings, were unknown. [WSJ]

• Pamela Anderson has got to be the driest wit in Hollywood. When the tabloid press asked her to name her style icon, she replied, "Humpty-Dumpty." Pressed on the subject of her perfumes, Malibu and Malibu Night, which will be sold only at drugstores starting this November, the actress said, "That is why I always smell so cheap." Then she pulled up her Vivienne Westwood bedsheet dress — it "came with a million safety pins, and Westwood told me to just pin it and knot it in a bunch of places" — and walked away. [P6]
• Then she wrote a hand-written note to Allure. "I've been offered fragrance contracts like everyone else and their dog (hey, that's that good idea, all natural, of course) but all the elements never came together — the stamp of approval from PETA; the environmental aspects. (I was a bit ahead of my time). But now it works!" And: "I worship drugstores, it's hard to get me out." [Allure]
• Karl Lagerfeld has been immortalized in a 25 cm vinyl doll. The best part? Mini Karl is mute. [DazedDigital]
• The best part about Betsey Johnson's award from the National Arts Club? Her portrait will soon hang among the Gramercy Park institution's other dusty luminaries. We can't decide if this maneuver raises the NAC's stock more than it depresses Johnson's — perhaps O. Aldon James, Jr., will write us a letter of explanation — but we still think it's pretty awesome. [WWD]
• Guiseppe Zanotti is obviously one of those people who pulls a face when posing next to a famous person. In this case, Blake Lively. Oh, isn't he wild and spontaneous! [People]
• Four words: Olsen twin sunglass line. [Elle UK]
• Charlize Theron is collaborating on a t-shirt line for a humanitarian cause. Give and Take Tees is releasing $42 vintage-inspired t-shirts, and half the proceeds will go to Theron's own Outreach Africa Project, which funds a mobile health center for rural South Africa. [People]
• Laura Mulleavy, of Rodarte: "I can think of this outfit we did like our fall '08 collection that was red and black and it was all just hairy, leather jacket and fur. For me, that collection was specifically about Japanese horror films and this idea of these girls coming from the ground and being tied down with twine with the hair dangling in their face, and just being completely just like this sunken girl that maybe got stuck in a well somewhere, and I don't know if that would translate into everyday life as I see it, but I don't think that's necessary. I don't know, maybe I am just creating for, you know, the one character that survives." [DazedDigital]
• Kanye West had been planning to launch a clothing line called Pastelle since even before he gave us the immortal lines, "So go 'head, go nuts, go ape shit/ Specially in my Pastelle or my Bape shit." Pictures from a lookbook shoot for the brand finally hit the Internet yesterday, only for Yeezy to announce he's scotching Pastelle as a brand entirely. It's as dead as his Gap collaboration. But there still may be a Kanye clothing line under his own name. [HighSnobiety]
• The bankrupt Germany fashion house Escada has reportedly attracted 10 different would-be buyers. Perhaps it's not too much to hope for a Christian Lacroix resolution here? [Forbes]
• The Limited is trying to claw its way back to brand relevance. It's starting by opening a pop-up store on Spring St. in SoHo, re-launching the discontinued brands Forenza and Outback Red, and hiring Jodi Arnold — as in MINT Jodi Arnold — as a "partner." Does this mean we'll see Jodi Arnold designs at The Limited prices? C.E.O. Linda Heasley, who test-drives unreleased garments herself, says the company is looking forward to its first profitable year in well over a decade. [WWD]

• "I think people may have seen that and got the wrong idea about us," said the chief executive officer, and a former employee claims there is nothing sexual about it. Oh really? •  Wanna know what's on Obama's walls? The Times has a full list of the art on display in the White House. The pieces range from a Winslow Homer to a Degas to a Rothko, thus proving once again that the first family has good taste. •  A supermarket in Britain has issued an apology after a pregnant woman was denied an unpasteurized cheese by a concerned employee. She described the experience as the "most patronising encounter I have had the misfortune of experiencing in a long time." •  Recent legislation in Gaza that bans women from riding on motorbikes has raised concerns over efforts by Hamas to Islamise Palestinian society. While few women ride motorbikes, this seems to be part of a larger trend toward moralized legislation. •  Michael Vick, the football player most famous for his dogfighting bust, is getting a reality TV show. Although we hate PETA, we agree with them here: "People who abuse animals don't deserve to be rewarded. They shouldn't be given multimillion-dollar contracts...or given the privilege of being a role model." • A British man who had sex with his daughter over a period of 33 years and fathered two children by her has been sentenced to twelve years in prison. He pled guilty to two of incest, two rapes, 12 indecent assaults and two indecency with a child. • Here's a good reason to move to Sweden: Toys "R" Us has been reprimanded by an agency that polices advertising in Sweden after a group of sixth-graders learning about gender roles determined that boys were portrayed as active, but girls were passive in the store's 2008 Christmas catalog. • Mazen Abdel-Jawad, a 32-year-old Saudi man, has been sentenced to five years in prison and 1,000 lashes after boasting about his sexual conquests on TV. For being shown on TV with sex toys, condoms, and lubricants and cruising the streets for women he was charged with, "publicizing vice and confessing to crimes on a satellite television channel." • According to a new study from the University of Michigan, an increase in the number of cases of nasopharyngeal cancer, a rare condition in which a tumor grows behind the nose and above the tonsils, is linked to HPV. • University of Toronto researchers have invented a new technology that can measure tiny droplets of estrogen from samples of breast tissue the size of a needle. Currently doctors need to do a biopsy to collect such data, which could be useful to see the progress of breast cancer therapy, to see if a woman is at risk, or for other problems like infertility. The technology will not be ready for several years. • Katie Couric will be honored with the 2009 Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media by the University of South Dakota, but a columnist for the school's student newspaper says she's not ready for the award. "A 'life-time achievement award' to Couric is jumping the gun," writes David Whitesock. "Despite Ms. Couric's laudable efforts to introduce the evening news to the Internet generation, she has fallen short of 'Evening News' predecessors." • Bob Dole, who lived next to Monica Lewinsky at the Watergate complex in the '90s said at a heath reform summit today, "If I'd had little wiretap there, I could've been president... I never had..... a conversation with that lady." • Before making his final decision on whether he should run for president, Barack met with Chicago politicians Newton Minow and Abner Mikva who have six daughters between them. Obama said he admired both men's daughters, and hoped his own daughters would grow up to be like them, and that he wouldn't run if the two men felt that doing so while the girls were so young would damage them in any way. • An Australian hospital psychologist has had his license suspended for just two months after telling a sexual assault victim that he was sex-obsessed, had "very strong sexual feelings for her" and that he had "fucked up big time" with her therapy. He treated her in 2004 and 2005 and authorities only learned of his misconduct after the woman threatened to kill herself and hospital staff found a noose in her home. • Advocates say advances in DNA technology, reforms in how police investigate rapes, and better prosecution of rapists are reducing the number of reported U.S. rapes. FBI statistics say 89,000 women reported being raped in 2008, down brom the 109,062 reported rapes in 1992. • Julie Parker, 80, is the oldest and longest-tenured employee at Yosemite National Park. "Julia interprets Native American culture to our visitors," says a park spokesman. "She shows visitors how baskets were woven, toys or brushes were made and acorns collected from native black oak trees, ground up using a metate and made into mush... Julia is truly a national treasure." • It took Patrick Mills of Florida two days to get a nine week old kitten out of his car's engine compartment. Someone heard meowing coming from his engine, but Mills and firefighters were unable to coax the cat out even with donated milk from Starbucks and tuna from Panera Bread. The cat was finally frightened from her hiding spot when a Feline Friends of Destin volunteer rattled a metal coat hanger in the engine. The volunteer took the cat home and said she's healthy except for a minor cold. •

[Washington, D.C., September 16. Image via Getty]

'Blood' drips from the head of a member of PETA dressed as a seal on September 16, 2009 in front of the Canadian Embassy during a protest against Canada's annual seal slaughter. On the day that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets with US President Barack Obama, PETA members, urged Harper to heed the call of world leaders�including Obama and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin�to end Canada's annual seal slaughter. The 'seals' writhed on the ground in order to illustrate what happens to tens of thousands of harp seals�most of whom are pups�on the ice floes off Newfoundland and Labrador every year. Other PETA members held signs that read, 'Harper: Stop the Seal Slaughter.' PETA's campaign against the massacre will continue up to and through the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. AFP PHOTO/Karen BLEIER (Photo credit should read KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images)

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

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

As Amanda Hess at The Sexist points out, this is probably just a way to drum up publicity for PETA; after all, the organization has a site specifically for its "banned" videos.

'Cruelty Doesn't Fly'-Learn More at PETA.org.

Pam Anderson and PETA Release Another "Banned" Video [The Sexist]

• Two weeks after adding Nicolas Cage's home to his sheaf of L.A. properties, Ed Hardy designer Christian Audigier has announced he's moving into Michael Jackson's last residence. Audigier will rent the $38 million home from his C.E.O., Hubert Guez. [E!]

• The glove the late King of Pop wore to marry Debbie Rowe has sold at auction for $49,000. [TMZ]
• "I love Japan. I love the people, the shopping, the fashion. I think they have so much fun with fashion...they don't take it too seriously," says Nicky Hilton. Don't take fashion seriously? Because insanely awesome and carefully cultivated street fashion just happens. [WWD]
  
• Mad Men's Christina Hendricks tells InStyle Weddings about her planned wedding to actor Geoffrey Arend, and specifies the designer (Carolina Herrera) and the look (Sophia Loren) of her wedding dress, but doesn't let it be photographed. [People]
• Lily Cole is a model, who is also (very) smart. The Daily Mail took a break from publishing finger-wagging paparazzi photos of her and scurrilous scuttlebutt about her to notice these facts. [Daily Mail]
• Nanette Lepore would like you to remember Labor Day by saving New York's Garment District from rapacious commercial exploitation. [NYTimes]
• Juicy Couture co-founder Gela Nash-Taylor doesn't drink out of common Starbucks cups. She has her own paper cups, because "I'm so into monogramming. I'm doing it on everything right now." [ToL]
• More than 800 stores across all five boroughs are involved in Thursday's shopping-with-fun event, Fashion's Night Out in New York City. Other regional and international events are also planned. [BrandWeek]
• Karl Lagerfeld will be tending the Chanel store with Carine Roitfeld in Paris, for example. [WWD]
• R.J. Cutler's documentary, The September Issue took in more than a quarter of a million dollars over Labor Day weekend. The $40,000 per-screen average makes it the fifth-highest-grossing documentary ever made. [AdAge]
• Meanwhile, Studio 360's Kurt Anderson says that based on the film, the fashion world is "amazingly old-fashioned, like some royal artifact from the 18th Century." [Studio360]
• The Los Angeles Times says the film "charts the intersection of art and commerce with a perhaps inadvertent eye for an excess that wasn't to last." (I am quoted in this article, proving that if you write long enough and, well, long enough on the Internet, someday someone will mistake you for an expert in something.) [LATimes]
• Anna Wintour, for her part, says that complaining about the sea change in the fashion industry that has taken place since the filming of that documentary is "like talking about that house you could've bought for nothing on the beach in Southhampton. Forget it. It's gone. The amazing golden years that everyone in the industry was enjoying were fantastic from a business point of view but also maybe a little unseemly. Every celebrity thought she could be a designer, and how many handbags? How many shoes? How much of a thing does everyone really need?" Then Wintour goes to the Macy's in Queens where she will be — on Mayor Bloomberg's orders that the event not smack of elitism — kicking off Fashion's Night Out, and upon surveying the scene, asks in a horrified voice, "Can we...enhance?" [NYMag]
• Sixteen months of declining same-store sales at the department store chain might make the budget for those "enhancements" leaner, however. [BW]
• And retailers in general, after an apocalyptic fall and winter, and a barely-improved spring and summer, are hungry for the fall sales boost that events like Fashion's Night Out are aiming to provide. [WWD]
• WWD has a beautiful, subscription-only, series of photographs of various New York designers as they prepare for fashion week. Alex Wang looks radiant and un-stressed, but the same can't be said of the male models snapped lining up for a casting at Yigal Azrouël. [WWD]
• Naomi Campbell would like to point out, for all those who called her hypocritical for modeling fur in Dennis Basso's fall campaign, that she actually quit PETA years ago. So her hypocrisy has weathered a few seasons now — like a vintage mink. [SB]
• More bad news for Annie Leibovitz: the practically-bankrupt photographer is being sued by an Italian photographer, Paolo Pizzetti, who claims that Leibovitz used his pictures without consent — or payment — for a Lavazza coffee campaign. Since Leibovitz could not travel to Italy to complete the shoot, which features images of models in romantic poses in front of Italian landmarks like the Trevi fountain and the Piazza San Marco, she had Pizzetti scout locations and take snapshots for her. Then Leibovitz shot the models in a New York studio, and digitally stitched the fore- and backgrounds together. Pizzetti says he was never paid for the rights to his contributions. [AW]
• Lady Gaga is reportedly set to perform during New York Fashion Week at an after-party for Givenchy hosted by Out magazine and to be held at The Box. [WWD]
• On the night of the 13th in New York, a short teaser film for Spring '10 by Gareth Pugh will be screened at Milk studios' M.A.C.-sponsored fashion shows in Chelsea. Although the first screening will be invitation-only, the second is open to members of the public who register on M.A.C.'s Facebook page. [Style.com]
• And newly-minted director Christian Louboutin just wrapped filming on an advertisement for Piper-Heidseick champagne starring model Elisa Sednaoui. [WWD]
• Manolo Blahnik says he never wanted to be a celebrity designer, and blames Sex And The City for his unwilling transformation. "If people talk to me about Sex And The City, I get sick," he told the Telegraph. "The taxi drivers recognize me now. It becomes too much and I don't feel comfortable." [PC]
• Sojin Lee's new online fashion venture, Fashionair, has launched. Lee last worked for Net-A-Porter, and her backer is Simon Fuller's company. [Forbes]
• Giorgio Armani designed a custom costume for a Spanish matador. It's grey and spangled. [Telegraph]
• Despite growing sales, profits for 2008 at Armani shrank by 41.4%, to $188.3 million. [WWD]
• Harold Tillman, a British fashion businessman who already owns Jaeger, has apparently acquired the bankrupt house Acquascutum. [ElleUK]
• Tom Binns for Disney might seem like a weird combination, because, well, it's a weird combination. [WWD]
• The Ebony Fashion Fair, an important industry event for black designers and models, is canceling its fall tour. The largest traveling fashion show in the world, Ebony helped launch the careers of talents like Kevan Hall and Tracey Reese, and raised money for various local and national charities including the NAACP and the Urban League. The economy is the culprit. [Examiner]
• Milan Fashion Week has been thrown into "chaos" by a series of re-schedulings to avoid schedule conflicts, which begat new conflicts and new re-schedulings, and then yet more conflicts and re-schedulings. [WWD]

[Kuala Lumpur, September 2. Image via Getty]

An activist from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) promotes vegetarianism while clad in full lenght gown made of lettuce leaves in front of a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur on September 2, 2009. AFP PHOTO / Saeed Khan (Photo credit should read SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images)

• "Designer" Anand Jon has been sentenced to 59 years in prison for multiple rapes. [Times of India]
• Seems Naomi Campbell would, in fact, rather wear fur than go naked: the one-time PETA campaigner models furs for Dennis Basso. [Daily Mail]

• The judge who sentenced Anand Jon declares that the designer, who apparently lured dozens of young girls with promises of photo shoots and exposure, "shows no remorse." Said one accuser: "I was 14. You took my adolescence, my trust, my dream and completely manipulated them for your sexual desires...It sickens me that a grown man can do such a thing to a girl, a girl who was naive and had the belief that all people were good. And you took that to your advantage." [<MSNBC]
• Al Roker is starting a clothing line. Don't worry: it's rain gear! [WWD]
• The long-awaited Jimmy Choo-H&M collab images have leaked, and...well. Barbarella will be pleased. [Racked]
• The WTO has weighed in on the US-Brazil cotton dispute, saying Brazil can "target U.S. goods and services for punitive sanctions approaching $295 million." [WWD]
• In the new "Celebration" video, Madonna sports Balmain. This is all. [Telegraph]
• Rodarte, the movie? The Sisters Mulleavy have signed with William Morris Endeavor, to "advise the label on opportunities in publishing and film and identify potential strategic partnerships and sponsorships." We're seeing a lot of intricate deconstruction. [WWD]
• And...blind item! "Courtney Love was so enamored with which design team that she wrote them an "inspiration check" for $25,000 within a few minutes of meeting them?" [Fashionista]
• Speaking of acting (?) here's Daisy Lowe: "
  I just did a cool film for the band Noah and the Whale. It's really f—-ing great, excuse my language. It's for their new album, and I play the main love interest who breaks the guy's heart. It was my first taste of acting, and I really did enjoy it. I don't know if I'll ever just act though; honestly, I think I'll always do a lot of things because I'd get bored otherwise." [W]
• Coco Rocha's contribution to Fashion's Night Out: jigging. [Sassybella]
• Levi's pays tribute to Ted Kennedy, with an ad bearing a quote from the senator and the words "Let us continue his legacy of faith in the people and faith in the work that has yet to be done." [AdRants]
• Speaking of good works: Venus Williams will be vedning a "green" tee at the US Open designed to combine her passions of "tennis, fashion and the environment." Some profits go to Unisphere Inc., which maintains the area surrounding Arthur Ashe. [WWD]
• PayLess is expanding to Russia. Unclear if this is a victory for the West, or if, somewhere, Lenin is laughing. [WSJ]
• Will the new L.L.Bean Signature line be the revolution the staid retailer hopes? Although designer Alex Carleton has an impressive resume, the company's description of the new line - "You can dress it up and you can dress it down. It will be for men and women: apparel, footwear, some accessories, a couple of outerwear pieces" - is so incredibly vague that it's impossible to know much. [NPR]
• After trying that non-traditional venues thing everyone did at the last Fashion Week, Vera Wang decided she wanted back into the tents. But they were all full! Oh noes! [WWD]
• And speaking of NYFW, Narciso Rodriguez is getting this year's "Mercedes-Benz Presents" honor. [WWD]
• And noted journalist Peaches Geldof will be covering things for GMTV, so. [The Sun]
• Also Whitney Port - who we thought was an "intern" - will be launching her collection, "Whitney Eve," at the tents. Maybe that's why Vera couldn't get in? [New York]
• If you spend upwards of $150 on accessories at SoCal Bloomies, you can - maybe - get into this private screening of The September Issue, where one assumes you'll be thoughtfully prevented from buying popcorn like the masses. [BrandFreak]
• Liz Smith pronounces the documentary "a work of modern art." Salt, anyone? [Variety]
• The movie had the 5th best opening of any documentary, ever. [IndieWire]
• Justin Timberlake on his fashion icons: "Early Elvis — not the Elvis of onesies, but with the pomaded hair and big collar, the rockabilly stuff. Also, Sinatra. Johnny Cash. My stepfather was one of my style icons growing up. He was a banker, and I used to love to watch the routine he would go through. He would lay out his suit and the power tie he wanted to wear the night before. I used to watch him tie his own ties in the morning before going to school. When you go through the ritual of buttoning a collar, tying a tie, spraying on a scent, and picking out the right socks — you walk out a little more confident." Talk about bringing sexy back. [Out.com]
• Wednesday sees the kick-off of Lara Stone's September curation of new online avant-boutique Not Just a Label. Looks like it'll be a nice virtual (window) shop! [Fashionista]
• Whoa. Barneys, which has been losing dosh of late, is trying to break with the Dubai-based company that bought it in 2007, via bankruptcy Filing or debt restructure. Brace yourselves. [NYT]
• More on Daniel Vosovic's capsule collection. Trust: even if you think Korto was robbed, this is good stuff. [Fabsugar]
• LVMH continues its crackdown on counterfeiters, winning $32.4 million from a web vendor. [FT]
• The Sartorialist, Scott Schuman, has made waves by posting the photo of a homeless man. Says the blogger, "I don't usually shoot homeless people. I don't find it romantic or appealing like a lot of street photographers, and if you asked homeless people they are probably not to happy about their situation either."But! "In my quick shot I had noticed his pale blue boots, what I hadn't noticed at first were the matching blue socks, blue trimmed gloves, and blue framed glasses. This shot isn't about fashion-but about someone who, while down on his luck, hasn't lost his need to communicate and express himself through style." What say you? [BlackBook]

• Kate Moss's latest fashion contribution: tights that look like you took a drunken prat fall on a gravel driveway. [The Sun]
• The surprise guest of honor at Macy's Glamorama in Chicago: Miss Piggy. [WWD]

• Cindy Crawford: "I have cellulite. I admit it. But sometimes I just say, 'Screw it, I am going to wear a bikini." [Redbook]
• Real Housewife Kelly Bensimon is still talking "exclusively" to gullible (or merely cynical of their readers' attention spans?) publications about her Navajo-inspired jewelry line. "My mother looked like Pocahontas and was obsessed with jewelry, so I really learned at young age how accessories can change your look in an inexpensive way," explains the ex-model. At least she didn't say she was going to take Pocahontas out of the canoe and put her in the disco? [People]
• A French graffiti artist/media prankster tagged a dripping Chanel logo on the side of a Giorgio Armani store in Hong Kong. He was arrested. [ChicReport]
• As one of Fashion's Night Out's eleventy-billion events, André Leon Talley is hosting a life-sized board game tournament. You could play in it. [The Cut]
• And here's a ...deal? If you spend $2,500 on Dior merchandise at Fashion's Night Out, you can have your picture taken with Charlize Theron. [WWD]
• i-D has become the first — and so far only — major fashion magazine to feature women of color on its front cover for the September issue. Earlier this year, Sessilee Lopez and Chanel Iman tweeted separately on the same day about doing "a major surprise cover," which led fashion watchers to assume the two models would be featured together. It turns out that cover was i-D, and models Jourdan Dunn and Arlenis Sosa are also pictured. [Fashionologie]
• There is now a rumor going around about the rumor that Haider Ackerman is replacing the (rumored retired) designer Martin Margiela, which would have it — on rumor, you understand — that Margiela's rumored retirement is all one big hoax from the rumored identity-playful Belgian designer. Allegedly. [Hintmag]
• There are yet more pictures of a gorgeous Isabeli Fontana in +J, Jil Sander's hotly-awaited new line for Uniqlo. [Uniqlo]
• PETA is planning shareholder action at Talbots' shareholder meeting next year over the company's use of Australian wool; PETA holds that Australian sheep farmers' use of mulesing is inhumane. [Dealbook]
• After losing their sales commission, a majority of the employees at three New York Cole Haan stores have voted to unionize. [Crain's]
• Time is calling Abercrombie & Fitch, which has experienced ten straight months of double-digit sales declines, the worst recession brand in the world. [Time
• Also in the red: Esprit, down 26%. [WWD]
• If director RJ Cutler had to compare The September Issue to the Clinton campaign what would he say? "The similarity I would focus on is one of leadership-people who are passionate about what they do and are doing it under high stake circumstances. It's a good way of describing Anna Wintour. It's a good way of describing James Carville. And George Stephanopolous. And Grace Coddington. Though they certainly dress differently." (We'd have gone with, "NA.") [Fashionista]
• Speaking of Vogue: The Australian iteration's putting out a book that's "as much about trends of the time as it is about fashion." [News.co.au]
• Oh yeah, here's the way to pull in the kids: on Friday, the Gap "dressed 1,200 New York Stock Exchange traders in its new 1969 Premium Jeans." [New York]
• Gucci's put out a limited edition watch, sales of which go towards Mary J. Blige's "Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now." WWD describes "The Gucci for FFAWN Twirl watch" as "a sleek black PVD bracelet decorated with the signature double-G motif and a monochrome dial, and its rotating case has black diamonds. The $1,895 watch turns on itself to switch from a bracelet to a timepiece and is engraved with the words 'Gucci for FFAWN.'" It looks like a snap bracelet! But presumably won't be recalled for safety reasons! [WWD]
• American Apparel takes to the web cam. Don't worry: it's just tutorials on how to do different (sartorial!) stuff with bits of jersey and string. [AdRants]
• Speaking of new media, Henri Bendel's defeated the purpose of it entirely by sticking a model in their window for hours at a time, pretending to net-surf. You can friend her. [Observer]

The good news is that the billboard, which features a woman in a bikini and the highly offensive tag line "lose the blubber: go vegetarian," is coming down. Unfortunately, it will be replaced by another bullshit billboard. Former Jezebel editor Megan Carpentier writes,

Ms. Newkirk stated that the controversial billboard would be replaced with another highlighting the amount weight people can lose by switching to a vegan diet. Because, really, the only thing keeping every overweight person from a body type acceptable to PETA is their inability to obtain from eating meat, eggs or dairy products.

During the course of the four minute interview, Newkirk comes across as though she has the utmost confidence in her fat-shaming techniques. Sadly, she probably does. We've taken on Newkirk before, as has almost every blogger and media outlet worth its salt, but it doesn't seem like she's learned much from all the negative press. And as Montel points out, if her plan is to get attention for their cause, it sure is working. He says,

Ingrid, you have admit, come on, I've got it, you were controversial, you hit your home run, it went out of the park, I'm talking about it for three days. And the rest of America is going to keep talking about it. But the truth is, I think Joseph is right. Any child who would use that as a reason, or anybody who now says 'those fat people are people who pick on animals,' come on, we've got to slow down a little bit.

While we think PETA needs a much more radical change than to "slow down a little bit," there must be some good in having a discussion about the negative effects of PETA's advertising tactics, right?

Not really. Newkirk's response to Montel's criticism shows that her commitment to animal rights, at the expensive of human dignity and common consideration, continues to trump all else. She says:

I wish more than anything you can ever imagine that we could not be controversial, and we could not be provocative. I really do.

There is no other choice! We must shame every fat woman into losing their "thunder thighs and balloon belly." Thanks for clearing that up, Ingrid.

PETA Founder Apologizes For Fat-Phobic Billboard, Promises Another [Air America]
PETA's New "Save The Whales" Billboard Takes Aim At Fat Women [Huffington Post]

[Sydney, August 20. Image via Getty]

<blockquote<Five painted members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Australia form a Canadian flag and hold a banner as they protest outside the Consulate General of Canada offices in Sydney on August 20, 2009. The protest was PETA's attempt to focus the world's attention on the annual killing of baby seals in Canada during the run-up to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. AFP PHOTO / Greg WOOD (Photo credit should read GREG WOOD/AFP/Getty Images)

"They make women strip down, put vegetables over their genitals, and subject them to hours of photoshoots. No living creature should be treated like that!" Oh, it's satire, but the root of the joke rings true, when you think about the fact that, in the ad above, Nia Long's Photoshop Of Horrors is so severe she is missing a belly button (Plus: Have you seen this?!?!) In the video, "PETA" makes this statement: "We have no intention of changing our tactics until every last animal on the planet is given more respect than woman." At least the animals don't get Photoshopped?

Advocacy Group Decries PETA's Inhumane Treatment Of Women [ONN]
Nia Long Goes Nude On The Subway For PETA [EcoRazzi]
PETA Takes the Cake With ‘Save The Whales' Billboard [Deceiver]

Earlier: PETA Disgusts Americans With Adolescent Advertising
PETA's Ingrid Newkirk
Do More Men Really Go Vegan Because Of Pamela Anderson's Boobs?