• "It has been the most incredible gap-year project," says Emma Watson on her new ethical fashion line. What happened to Habitat for Humanity? [WWD]

• Quoth the Chanel-clad sorceress: "I wanted to help People Tree produce a younger range because I was excited by the idea of using fashion as a tool to help alleviate poverty and knew it was something I could help make a difference with." [Telegraph]
• Coco Rocha takes a more traditional path, going with her church to work in Costa Rica. "My religion has always been important to me." [FashionWeekDaily]
• Christian Audigier, the man behind douche-outfitters Ed Hardy and Von Dutch, is for some reason going to be in a movie. "Explains" his agent, "The guy is a natural... Christian is into fighting, boxing, martial arts. And he wants to show people that side. That skill set." Oh, he's also cutting an album. [GQ]
• Speaking of multimedia: Versace has launched Facebook and Twitter accounts. As Karl Lagerfeld could tell them: demode. [WWD]
• If you don't feel you can exactly pull of Aretha's inaugural chapeau, here's a more wearable option: the Queen of Soul, avec chapeau, immortalized on a limited-edition tee. [New York]
• Whoa: Gaultier for Target? We could use a $20 cone bra...[WWD]
• And speaking of collabs: Christopher Kane for Topshop is awesome, selling brilliantly. Bring. It. Here. Now. [Independent]
• Says LVMH's prez: "There are four main elements to our business model-product, distribution, communication and price. Our job is to do such a fantastic job on the first three that people forget all about the fourth." They're not there yet. [Economist]
• Leigh Lezark, the somewhat vacant, sinister and inexplicably beloved former Misshape, has been tapped as the "brand ambassador" for Charles Worthington's new range. [ElleUK]
• Speaking of celeb faces, Alexander Wang: "Today, more than ever, it definitely makes a difference. But for us, it's always about finding the right person, whether it's an A-list celebrity or someone on the Internet who understands our brand and has a lot of influence on people." [WWD]
• A Coach employee is suing his supervisor for sexual harassment. "It was one of those weiner dogs and he would say, 'Ok, I have a big weiner, you wanna come see my weiner?'" [NYDN]
• Oh noes! Prescriptives - and its awesome custom-blend foundation - is a recession casualty. Parent company Estee Lauder is shutting the brand down as a cost-cutting measure. [WWD]
• Apparently Emmanuel Ungaro chose Lindsay Lohan for the role of "artistic adviser" over Madonna and Paris because the troubled starlet brings "something younger, more cool, with a different attitude." That and she has bullshit-fashion experience from Project Runway! [AP]
• "Microluxury" - teeny-tiny dolly-sized luxe accessories - are, maybe, the wave of the future. Or maybe not. [Time]
• Ann Taylor's flaks must be working overtime: the working-gal's label, working hard to change its frumpy image, got a whole laundry-list of celebs to go to the runway show. In attendance: Jennifer Esposito, Vanessa Williams, Mena Suvari, Gretchen Mol, Kelly Rutherford, Kelly Bensimon, Laila Ali, Katherine McPhee and Amanda Bynes. [WWD]
• Speaking of brands trying to turn it around: Gap is experimenting with a "Results-Only Work Environment" in which "employees are empowered to work whenever and wherever they want as long as the work gets done." Were guessing it's not quite as fun as that sounds. Because we can fold from a bar just fine. [BW]
• The skint Lacroix has a number of "suitors of means." Await reports on possible saviors. [WWD]
• Well, this one will work for sure: new cellulite-busting tights have crystals in the weave that'll shear the bumps right off. [Daily Mail]
• Tommy Hilfiger is a rebel: his new flagship is on Fifth Avenue. "Donna, Ralph, Calvin, Oscar, Michael? They're all on Madison," a block away, he declares. [Style.com]
• British psychiatrists are warning that London Fashion Week, with its accompanying trigger for ED-prone girls who regard the models as "thinspiration." [Telegraph]
• Meanwhile, anti-sweatshop protesters are taking on the tents. Celeb faces of "Love Fashion Hate Sweatshops" include Gael Garcia Bernal. [Mirror]
• At Peter Som's show, "the especially young models, perched in shiny chrome or deep-blue pumps, posed in groups of three on white pedestals while the crowd milled below them." The designer was inspired by "cruise ships, antique photographs and Japanese prints." [Observer]
• Isaac Mizrahi, meanwhile, celebrated his return to Fashion Week with the theme "Astaire Case or Obstacle Course." [Yahoo]
• Celebrity stylist Philip Bloch is filling the need for another style manual. The Shopping Diet: Spending Less and Getting More is, he says, "something all of us shopaholic recessionistas need — a self-help on excess shopping." [NY Post]
• Inevitably, teens can now buy a copy of the prom dress Bella Swan wore in Twilight - from the very town where Bella got hers! Can a vampire escort be far behind? [NYDN]

• Waiting, with Diane Von Furstenberg, for Mayor Bloomberg to arrive in Queens, Anna Wintour said, "If he doesn't show, Diane and I will run on a joint ticket and take over the city." Was that a...joke? Then Lindsay Lohan stole.

• The new Emanual Ungaro creative consultant thingamajig dutifully turned up at the Ungaro store for Fashion's Night Out, selected a leather jacket that met with her approval, and headed for the door. Sales assistants ripped off the tags. [NYDN]
• Yesterday afternoon, Gwen Stefani watched her own presentation, for her L.A.M.B. clothing line, from the audience. It took a while for anybody to recognize her, but once they did, she was mobbed — unusually, for fashion week, where everyone generally pretends not to notice the celebrities, and the celebrities wearily pretend not to notice that they're studiously being not noticed. Also Stefani and husband Gavin Rossdale made out. [The Cut]
• Claudia Schiffer, 39, has posed for an unretouched fashion cover and spread in Tank magazine. However, she is wearing makeup. [Telegraph]
• 13-year-old style blogger Tavi will be front row — with her dad — at Rodarte, due to her friendship with designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy. Tavi, who's on the cover of the current issue of Pop, is also reporting on the shows for the magazine. But the best part? She shops at Loehmann's with her mom. [WSJ]
• Eric Gaskins, the ex-designer behind the formerly anonymous blog The Emperor's Old Clothes, has a book deal and a television show in the works. [WWD]
• Last night, Zac Posen doused and stenciled four cream colored dresses worn live by model Anna Cleveland with paint. Because Fashion's Night Out is all about a) wearing pink leopard print capes to make grand entrances and b) stripping down to a tee shirt and getting one's hands dirty to "make people connect with the creative process." [USAToday]
• Nobody wanted to play Wii tennis with designer Chris Benz. And Justin Timberlake hid for an hour from screaming fans inside the bridal salon at Saks. [NYObs]
• Giorgio Armani says he has made a complete recovery from hepatitis. [AP]
• Peter Som, nobody should consider bread, chocolate, and cheese to be "guilty pleasures"! [GlamChic]
• The design duo behind label Libertine, Cindy Greene and Johnson Hartig, have split up. Hartig will take control over the line, and "return to its roots." [WWD]
• Vena Cava designers Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai have two special guests in from California at each one of their presentations: their mothers. [The Cut]
• Monique Lhuillier is pregnant, and due in November. She plans to name the daughter Sophia. Congratulations! [WWD]
• Life advice from Carolina Herrera: "You have to be so happy. You have to love what you are doing...life is complicated, but you have to make the best of it." [GlamChic]
• Remember how Thierry Mugler trumpeted his costume designs for Beyoncé's current tour? Turns out he may have had help from a high-profile freelancer, an experienced costume designer named Chris March. The Project Runway alum is suing Mugler for failing to pay for his services. March is also investigating starting his own line of women's wear with QVC. [WSJ]
• Dries Van Noten, after accepting his award from the Museum at FIT's Couture Council, asked to speak to FIT students. The hour-long Q&A covered everything from his aesthetic, design processes, and perspectives, to his business model. Van Noten founded his label without a backer, and remains self-owned today. "I don't have managers pushing me for fragrance licenses, but I'm informed. I know what Barneys is selling well. I'm known for flowers, but where others might be pressured to put a little bit of flowers in because that's what sells, I can still do a collection of black-and-white and checks," said the Belgian. [WWD]
• Tom Ford, on the release of his first film, A Single Man: "Of course I'm terrified because in a way it's the most personal thing I've ever done and it's the thing that is the most expressive of who I am." The main character, George, played by Colin Firth, is a middle-aged gay man who contemplates suicide following the death of his partner in a car crash. Ford says he based George's preparations for suicide on the actual suicide of a family member: "Someone did kill themselves in exactly that way — went to the store, bought a gun...went home and got a sleeping bag...laid everything out, got into the sleeping bag, zipped it up and killed himself because he didn't want to make a mess." Because it's an Isherwood adaptation, there will be lots of shots of men swimming naked, and playing tennis topless. [Reuters]
• The Buckle is continuing its peerless run of solid growth in sales and revenue, even during this recession. The retailer has now had ten consecutive quarters of same-store sales growth, and its second quarter net income rose 12%, to $25 million. [TS]
• Analysts are pleased by Ann Taylor's turnaround. Although the company announced a second quarter loss last month, stock has risen 21% since then. [Crain's]

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

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

• 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]

• For the September issue of Harper's Bazaar, the magazine interviewed Karl Lagerfeld, speaking as Coco Chanel. In character, the Grand Teuton shared such idiotic reflections as: "I was never a feminist because I was never ugly enough for that." [FWD]

• A very painterly, Frenchified image of 90s supe Linda Evangelista made the grade as John Galliano's fall campaign. [SassyBella]
• On Sunday, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, D.C., hosted an exhibition of the Indonesian batik textiles collected by President Obama's mother, Anne Dunham, during her years in the country. There were traditional Indonesian dance and music performances, and fashion shows from two Indonesian designers. [WWD]
• Victoria Beckham has decided not to renew her contract with Emporio Armani, apparently because she wants to concentrate on her dress line. [UK Vogue]
• Spice Girls svengali Simon Fuller has acquired a 51% stake in Storm, the London model agency that represents such top names as Kate Moss, Jourdan Dunn, Eva Herzigova, and Lily Cole. [Telegraph]
• This fall is going to be an exciting time for designer fast-fashion lines. Unrolling next season at a chain near you: Jimmy Choo for H&M, Stella McCartney for Gap Kids, Anna Sui for Target, Christopher Kane for TopShop, Adam Lippes for Mango, and, uh, Lauren Conrad for Kohl's. [TS]
• Add to that list Jil Sander's hotly anticipated +J line for Uniqlo, which will begin hitting stores in October. The 140-piece collection is believed to start at around $25. [Fashionologie]
• Stars like Mariah Carey, Jessica Simpson, Emeril Lagasse, and Martha Stewart are promoting Macy's "Come Together" program, a special night of dinner parties intended to inspire charitable giving. Americans are asked to host a special dinner in their homes, and solicit donations to Feeding America, in lieu of any gifts for the host. Macy's will match those donations until enough money has been raised to serve 10 million meals to poor families this fall and winter. You can register a dinner party or get new information at Come Together. [People]
• Are you a man? Are you really, really ridiculously good-looking? Have you ever dreamed of becoming a Calvin Klein underwear model? Do you live in one of nine European countries? In that case, you might be in luck: to launch a new underwear line, Calvin Klein is holding a model search. Jamie Dornan will be one of the judges. [WWD]
• "She's like, 'What about Maximilian? Bruno? Sebastian? Hector? Guido?' I always tell her I'll put it on my list." Karolina Kurkova's Slovak mother sure does have interesting taste in baby boy names. [USAToday]
• Donald Fisher, the Gap founder, and his wife Doris spent the last 50 years collecting art by such eminent figures as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Alexander Calder. But San Francisco preservationists have nixed the Fishers' plans to build a museum in the Presidio, a historic military base inside the city. The Fishers would prefer to keep the priceless collection in San Francisco, perhaps at the De Young or at the SFMOMA, but after the rejection of their standalone museum idea, other art museums are actively wooing the couple. [LATimes]
• Australian Merino lambs are routinely mulesed — that is, they have the skin around their buttocks cut off, often without anaesthetic, to prevent a disease called flystrike, which occurs when flies lay maggots in the folds of the lambs' skin, and those maggots then commence eating the animals' flesh. Although flystrike is horrifying, many animal rights activists are even more aghast at the mulesing, and with Australian farmers now announcing that they will fail to meet an agreed-upon 2010 deadline for ending the practice, some top fashion chains are discussing a ban on Australian merino wool. In which case, might I suggest New Zealand merino as an alternative? New Zealand is already phasing out mulesing. [Guardian]
• Heidi Klum had to close her five-year-old jewelry line because of a trademark infringement lawsuit from Van Cleef & Arpels, who objected to her use of its signature clover design. "We stopped because we had a lawsuit with Van Cleef & Arpels — they wanted to have the clover, even though our designs had never matched," said the supermodel. "I think when you're a small company, which we are, we're not a Van Cleef — they have a thousand lawyers. I'm a small fry next to that." [LATimes]
• Imagine the delicate hell of being a parts model: "Most people can walk away from work when they're done with a job, but parts models can't, because [our parts] have to be flawless. I moisturize 20 to 30 times a day, and wear gloves 90 percent of the time," says hand model Ashley Covington. [CNN]
• Coach C.E.O. Lew Frankfort, who has been with the company for 30 years, extended his contract until 2013. [Crain's]
• Paula Dorf cosmetics is bankrupt. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, owing more than 50 creditors a total of $3.9 million. [Crain's]
• K Swiss lost $11.5 million in the second quarter of this year. Last year, they made a $26.4 million profit in the same period. [WWD]
• Astoundingly, high-end children's clothing is also suffering in this economy. A Connecticut store that sold $995 Peter Som girls' dresses close its doors this summer, and companies are dialing back their kids lines. [WSJ]
• A new strategy in the open question of how, and whom, to sue over the online trade in counterfeit luxury goods: after the failure to get auction sites like eBay held accountable — L'Oréal lost its multi-million-dollar suit, and Steve Madden had to drop its lawsuit just last week — Gucci has hit upon suing the credit card processing companies. The lawsuit accuses the companies of facilitating the sale of fake purses, and names the companies "full partners in those counterfeiting activities." Gucci has already wrangled a $5.2 million settlement from the Laurette Company, which runs the website TheBagAddiction.com, where counterfeit bags were often sold, and the credit card processing companies are those companies which worked closely with Laurette. [Reuters]

• Kate Moss was shot by Mario Testino for the September cover of British Vogue. That trench coat looks very Gisele photoshop-gate/neighborhood flasher, no? [Design Scene]

• Speaking of Gisele, she has signed on to voice a series of web cartoons intended to educate children about the environment, finance, and science. The supermodel will record the role of Gigi, a supermodel who doubles as an environmental superhero. [UK Elle]
• Another image from Victoria Beckham's Armani campaign has dropped. [Daily Mail]
• Transformers director Michael Bay shot the Victoria's Secret holiday commercial. [P6]
• For some reason, Lady GaGa apparently told the News Of The World that she spends all her money on clothes. "Every single dollar that I've earned I put into my tour. Mainly into my crazy outfits. My performance is my life. And I'm not that great with money. I've gone bankrupt four times already." Um, hire a financial planner? Or a stylist who can pull Jean-Charles de Castelbajac Kermit coats for free? [NOTW]
• "My fashion wisdom comes from gardening. This is a difficult time for many, but I am not in crisis mode. Like the seasons of gardening, there is a time to plant and a time to harvest, and now is a time to weed. This will pass." Oscar de la Renta, like everyone else, is hoping he has green thumbs. [WWD]
• Mid-size fashion businesses, those who expanded in the boom years to $7-$10 million in annual sales, are at a greater risk in this recession than any other tranche of the industry, so Oscar will in fact probably be safe. But not so designers like Peter Som and Jane Mayle. As retailers continue to contend with falling consumer spending by cutting inventory and ditching labels that don't move swiftly from the racks, more designer bankruptcies over the coming season are likely. [WWD]
• Zandra Rhodes, on her style icon: "Me! Otherwise what am I designing for?" [Independent]
• We are not sure why this story, which has no news about Alexis Bledel and her projects, but several large photos of the actress wearing a leotard with incredibly teased hair, exists. But it does. Also, Alexis Bledel is not Rory Gilmore in real life. Who knew? [WWD]
• John Varvatos, who in the past has chosen rock stars like Iggy Pop as models, this year selected ZZ Top for his fall campaign. The group was shot against a diorama of water buffalo at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History. [WWD]
• The British Fashion Council is moving its headquarters — and its largest event, fashion week — to historic Somerset House. This September, London Fashion Week is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and British designers from Matthew Williamson to Gareth Pugh have vowed to show in the city. [Telegraph]
• Bobbi Brown and Lauren Bush are co-launching a FEED makeup bag. The model's charity project supports the U.N. World Food Program. The makeup pouch will cost $50, including three Bobbi Brown lip glosses, and Bush says the cost will support 10 women in the UNWFP's Food for Work program. [WWD]
• Alexander Wang's e-commerce venture is now live. When it asks for a password, type in AWSTYLE.COM. [AlexanderWang]
• Ciara supports not texting while driving. [WWD]
• Lela Rose may be on to something as an ice cream cook. When asked her favorite flavor, the designer replied, "My own homemade ice cream called Brown Bread. It's an almond base, with bread crumbs that have been baked in butter and brown sugar with almonds. It's just delicious." [WWD]
• Roland Mouret, on quitting smoking: "I read Allen Carr books. I was hypnotised. I am now a non-smoker, and I smoked for 20 years. It's over." [Guardian]
• Catherine Deneuve and L'Oréal principal shareholder Liliane Bettencourt are among those inducted this year into the International Best-Dressed List Hall of Fame; that, in case anyone's wondering, is Vanity Fair's made-up list of well-dressed people. [VF]
• Following the news that leather suppliers were selling skins from cattle involved in illegal deforestation of the Amazon, Clarks, Timberland, Adidas, and Nike have asked that their suppliers stop that. Seems a little weak. [Guardian]
• Tom Ford's directorial debut, "A Single Man," an adaptation of the Christopher Isherwood novel that stars Colin Firth and Julianne Moore, will take place at the Venice Film Festival this September. [WWD]
• Fast-fashion chain Peacocks is making its own très Chanel-inspired quilted rain boots. Maybe they heard Audrey Tautou's endorsement of the real thing? [Guardian]
• Instead of having to pay back 100 million Euros this month, and another 350 million Euros next July, Prada has won a loan extension until 2012. [WWD]
• Uniqlo's same-store sales for the month of July fell 4.2%. [WWD]

• Michelle Obama wore Michael Kors to celebrate the National Design Awards winners on Friday. "What I love about design is the artistic and scientific complexity that becomes useful," said the first lady, to a crowd that included Francisco Costa. [WWD]

• Meanwhile, Ikram Goldman — the Chicago boutique owner who is the closest thing to a stylist for Michelle Obama — is in New York to view pre-fall collections. Although Goldman won't comment on anything the first lady might or might not wear in future, she did say that Thakoon Panichgul (whose clothes have been worn by Mrs. Obama before) had produced "probably my favorite collection that I've seen so far." [Style.com]
• And the fashion love for the Obamas goes beyond mere dresses: Jacquetta Wheeler pulled an André Leon Talley and volunteered for the campaign for three weeks in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, last October. The supermodel described the 17-hour days she pulled as "the most interesting and rewarding thing I've ever done in my life." [Vogue UK]
• Wannabe model Amber Le Bon is too "free and liberated" for university. [Telegraph]
• After the rejection, by the administrator of the bankrupt company, of three bids for Christian Lacroix's fashion house, a fourth more "serious" offer has been received from Italy's Borletti group. If a buyer is not found by the end of this month, the current owners, Florida's Falic Group, plan to shutter the house and continue just producing goods that license the Lacroix name. [WWD]
• Three words: Hello Kitty Sneakers. Fourth word: $145. [HighSnobiety]
• Amber Valetta has announced a design partnership with Los Angeles label Monrow. The supermodel's pieces — t-shirts, simple dresses, and blazers — very closely mirror Monrow's existing offerings. [Elle UK]
• Scott Schuman got drunk at a party in his honor in Toronto and decided to give a speech described by one guest as "rambling" and "nonsensical." That same night, he went on the record with Globe and Mail reporter Amy Verner. What ensued was an object lesson in why not to give interviews under the influence: Schuman leveled spurious attacks on designers James Coviello and Peter Som ("When I had my showroom in New York, [I told them], 'You have to build your brand,' and they didn't listen"), disdain for the media that have helped make him ("I don't need another interview with any other magazine or newspaper in the world") and plenty of bragging about his own sexual prowess ("I'm pretty good at the sex. And pretty good at picture taking. That's about it. Garance is pretty happy. And the hotel-room neighbours are pretty pissed.") "Garance" is Garance Doré, the French street style blogger for whom Schuman left his wife of 20 years — who had financially supported him after his showroom business failed — Christa. [OmgBlog]
• Isaac Mizrahi's QVC just-announced program sounds like it might be zany good fun to watch when it launches in December. Called "Isaac Mizrahi Live!" it'll weave the designer's pitches between his extemporaneous monologues about life and his other daily activities. It'll be filmed in his real New York studio. The show will also sell Mizrahi's cheesecakes — which he, an accomplished home cook, fine-tunes the recipes for and decorates. Hopefully they'll find time to plumb his affection for the word "sauté" as well: "I liked the way it sounded — sauté, sauté, sauté!" [WSJ]
• There is an astounding 46.6 square feet of retail space for every single person in the United States. But, as we all know, this recession is causing that number to fall. Businesses are closing up shop entirely: regional department stores like Mervyn's and Gottschalks, as well as chains like Steve & Barry's, S&K Famous Brands, Abercrombie & Fitch's Ruehl, and Pacific Sunwear's D.e.m.o. and One Thousand Steps. Troubled retailers that still hope to survive this downtown are nonetheless shutting stores left and right: Jones Apparel Group is closing 225. Ann Taylor, 163. All told, 8.1 million square feet of retail space was vacated during the last quarter. UBS Securities expects a contraction of 10% in retail space over the next few years. [WWD]
• San Francisco artist Stephanie Syjuco decided to counterfeit designer handbags — in handicrafts. Her crocheted objects created after brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Burberry, and Chanel are intended as a "critique of a political economy," and you can watch a short documentary about Syjuco's project. [Threadbared]
• A slightly more par-for-the-course tale of handbag counterfeiting is buried in the story of last week's New Jersey money-laundering and corruption case, which led to the arrest of 44 businessmen and politicians. The government informant who helped make the case claimed his fortune came from the fake handbag business. The FBI gave the informant large sums of cash, which he then gave to the defendants to launder; his explanation for how he came by the cash was caught on tape. "The business is very good now because the market's down — economy's down, and everyone wants to buy. Instead of spending $1,000 for a Prada bag, we sell it for $200; Gucci bag, $300. It's $1,200 in the store," the informant, who is believed to be 36-year-old rabbi's son Solomon Dwek, said in June, 2008. [WWD]
• Oh, look: someone figured out how to make money from a fashion website by combining editorial content, user-generated content, and e-commerce. Magazines take note. [NYTimes]
• Inventors have discovered how to turn used coffee grounds into a soft, breathable, but water resistant fabric. [Guardian]

• One of the hazards of dating a rock star: When, mid-fight, you want to throw some of his stuff into a pool, there's a slight risk that he might have unreleased, non-backed-up new songs among his personal effects. [Mirror]

• "I used to bring pies to the office," says amateur baker Peter Som. "I can't eat them all myself." How did that dude ever get fired? [WWD]
• Thus spake Lacroix: "Don't tell anyone, because I'm not allowed to do this, but we absolutely are going to have a show in mid-July, during Fashion Week –- and it won't be a funeral: it'll be a fightback." Since Christian Lacroix's fashion house, owned by the U.S.-based Falic group, entered bankruptcy, the fate of the couture show has been in serious doubt. "It can't cost us a single Euro to put this show on, because I'm not having my workers lose a penny from their pockets, but so far, it looks like thanks to other people's kindness — friends and suppliers working for free — it might happen. I can't stand the idea that people think I am to blame [for the bankruptcy] but to a certain extent I am paying for not having done what everyone else did, with their logos and It-bags. I never went down that route." Lacroix has been working for free for 18 months, and is owed 1.2 million Euros in back pay. [Telegraph]
• Model Lily Cole earned a first in her end of year art history exams at Cambridge, one of only three students to receive the top grade. [Mirror]
• Yigal Azrouel, whose relationship with Katie Lee Joel is rumored to have brought about the end of the latter's marriage to Billy Joel, romances a lot of ladies. (He is an attractive, straight man working in fashion. Duh.) One rumor alleges Azrouel sleeps with editors at magazines to further his career. [P6]
• Chanel and Burberry model Emma Watson is said to be launching a clothing line for children and teens to benefit Unicef. [Hindustan Times]
• Usher says his men's fragrance really "represents the growth I've had in the last two years." VIP, which he's set to launch this September, is a "tool of engagement for seduction...made for a man but for women to enjoy." [WWD]
• Uh-oh. Sales of perfumes fell 6% overall in 2008, and 7% during the first quarter of 2009. Estée Lauder's fragrance division said the last three months of 2009 saw sales fall 20%, and another perfume company executive said anonymously that he believed sales for this year were down 15-20% because distributors are not restocking after selling to retailers. [NYTimes]
• "I don't want to do 'Adele by Adele' perfume!" says Adele. [LATimes]
• A judge refused to dismiss gourmet butter distributor Clint Arthur's lawsuit against Louis Vuitton for selling off-cuts of fabric as art prints. [P6]
• You really know you've hit the event horizon of aspirational shopping when someone from a company that makes plastic shoes describes her products as "affordable luxury." [LATimes]
• Robin Givhan at the Washington Post sees in H&M's just-announced collaboration with Jimmy Choo the end of luxury as we know it. "There's something about cheap Jimmy Choo shoes that doesn't feel right," writes the critic. "Women's shoes have been sold on a centuries-old mythology that makes the discovery that Jimmy Choo can produce a desirable pair of shoes for less than $50 as jarring as when Dorothy pulled back the curtain on the Wizard." [WaPo]
• Actually, the cheapest offering from Jimmy Choo's H&M collection will retail at around 40 Euros, or $55. The 12 women's styles and four men's models will range in price from there up to 200 Euros, or $138. Bags will cost up to 200 Euros. It all goes on sale in select H&M stores on November 14. [WWD]
• Cool looking Missoni-printed Converse Chuck Taylors will also be a thing you can buy, starting next summer. [WWD]
• Prince William's girlfriend Kate Middleton is, according to rumor, sitting on an offer for a year-long internship at American Vogue from Anna Wintour. Middleton, a former fashion buyer, could take her pick of either working in New York or Los Angeles. [Hindu]
• Jason Wu anticipates $4 million in sales this year and sees a men's wear division in his future. The 26-year-old enjoys spending his Sundays browsing at the Strand and playing poker with a $20 buy-in, "just enough to take it seriously but not enough to feel bad when you lose." [NYTimes]
• The Fall Calvin Klein Collection and CK Calvin Klein ads have leaked — they feature Monika "Jac" Jagaciak and Jourdan Dunn and Sigrid Agren, respectively. The Collection campaign was shot by David Sims and CK by Craig McDean. [Fashionologie]
• Isaac Mizrahi is opening a store for his namesake label in August. It'll be 1500 square feet and located on the Upper East Side. [WWD]
• Cashmere prices have fallen so drastically that many herders of cashmere goats have had to sell their animals for meat. Orders for winter cashmere sweaters from the West have fallen by up to 30%. And get ready for a cold season: the garments being made are using less cashmere. "They are too small — half the breast is outside the sweater," said one factory's sales manager. [NYTimes]
• Jil Sander is on the comeback trail in a big way. The German designer, who lost the use of her name to Prada when the Italian company bought out her house and fired her, has just announced a fine jewelry collaboration with Damiani. This is in addition to her new position as a creative director of Uniqlo. [WWD]

• It had to happen eventually. David Beckham has dipped a toe in the choppy waters of retail, becoming a Celebrity Designer. You can buy his clothes for Adidas Originals starting this fall. [WWD]

• Madonna allegedly got her friend Marc Jacobs to write the INS and say model boy-toy Jesus Luz was a necessity to his label and deserved a US work permit. [Daily Express]
• Jesus Luz also had a rough time backstage at his last runway gig, the Jeffrey Fashion Cares AIDS benefit in New York. Says one backstage source, "None of the other models would talk to Jesus or even look at him. They were gossiping like catty girls about how they couldn't wait for his career to fizzle out." The other male models, see, feel that Luz has been given unfair advantages because of his relationship with Madonna. Which is absolutely true, and absolutely beside the point, since any modeling career is built on lucky breaks that harden into unfair advantages. Normally models understand this better than anyone. [NYDN]
• Brides.com had Project Runway sprite Christian Siriano design fantasy dresses for celebrity brides-to-be Uma Thurman, Amy Adams, Zooey Deschanel, and Rachel Bilson. Surprise: They're all about "drama"! [Brides.com]
• Forever 21 is close to opening its 19,000 square foot flagship in Tokyo. [WWD]
• Ed Hardy is now a wine you can drink. I actually noticed this about a month ago, when I dropped by my favorite bottle store one afternoon and was greeted by the owner straightening a display of $10 bottles festooned with skulls; he said branding maestro Christian Audigier's vodka ranks with Ketel One, but that only the Cabernet Sauvignon is worth trying, among the wines. The rest, he said, breaking down a box covered in giant dripping daggers and tiger heads, are too sweet. I bought a Portuguese red and walked home, thinking troubled thoughts about branding and its increasingly oblique relationship to any given product's essential qualities. [LA Times]
• Which, if you think about it, is also the operating principle behind: Rebecca Taylor Cupcakes. [FWD]
• Troubled department store Barneys has announced an exclusive lower-priced menswear line by Paul Smith. Suits, basics, and shirts will cost 20-30% less than the same items from the Paul Smith collection. Smith must be a busy man; this collection is on top of a sheaf of brands that includes Paul Smith London, Paul Smith Jeans, PS Paul Smith, Paul Smith Blue, Paul Smith Black. There are just so many ways to sell monkey t-shirts. [WWD]
• Woman buys $700 Louis Vuitton Speedy size 30. Woman receives Louis Vuitton Speedy size 25. Woman returns the wrong sized bag. Louis Vuitton refuses the return, claiming it found a single human hair inside. Woman processes credit-card chargeback. And people wonder why the "luxury" industry is in trouble. [Consumerist]
• Peter Som has had one of the roughest times in fashion as of late. After being fired from Bill Blass, the talented designer he launched his own line, only to have his financial backers beat a hasty retreat as the retail climate turned frosty last fall. Still, Marymount College gave him their designer of the year award and invited him to speak at their annual graduate fashion show. I hope the award came with some money attached, so the man can get back to making beautiful women's clothes. [WWD]
• The creative director of Sonia Rykiel has left the company, after fewer than 18 months in charge. Gabrielle Greiss, who worked as Sonia Rykiel's chief assistant for three years before taking over the creative direction of the brand, will be replaced by a design team overseen by company president Nathalie Rykiel. [British Vogue]
• Zac Posen recreated his fall runway show at a Houston Saks Fifth Avenue for charity. And for "market research." [WWD]
• Banana Republic hired an Italian-trained menswear creative director away from Brooks Brothers last year, and now he's making the chain's offerings more like traditional tailoring. Only with places to put your wired accessories. [Esquire]

• Geithner's proposed new regulatory framework buoyed retail stocks by 4.4% yesterday. Saks' shares rose 15%, Ann Taylor was up 18%, Macy's climbed 10.2%, and Liz Claiborne rose 16.2%. Finally, some good fashion economic news! [WWD]

• But it isn't all rosy on the business side. H&M's profits have fallen for the first time in five years. Their first-quarter net profit was down by 12%, which was worse than analysts had expected. [WSJ]
• Marc Ecko Enterprises owes business partners $170 million. $100 million of that is due to Li & Fung, the global sourcing giants, who announced just yesterday that their net was down 21%. [NY Post]
• Hugo Boss lost $20.6 million in the fourth quarter of 08. That's a decline in net of 27%. for the year. [WWD]
• Thom Browne, whom the New York Post reported was close to bankruptcy yesterday, denies the charge in WWD. The men's wear designer says he is looking for a financial backer to grow his company — but has been slow in his search because the relationship is a crucial one and he doesn't want to sell a majority stake in his business. [WWD]
• The Telegraph takes a tour of the Chanel handbag factory outside Paris, and finds 340 people working very slowly and carefully to complete the 180 steps in the making of a 2.55 purse. [Telegraph]
• Simply Vera by Vera Wang's spring line is out at Kohl's. I agree with this reviewer that it looks basically cute — but one word of advice? Do not ever imitate a runway or lookbook outfit head-to-toe. It's snoozeville. [Fabsugar]
• Last winter, Peacock Holdings LLC — a men's shirt concern, apparently — bought the Bill Blass brand from NexCen, the company which fired Peter Som and 60 Bill Blass employees without severance. At the time, Peacock said it planned to revive the ready-to-wear division within the year; they are just now looking for a creative director. [WWD]
• Kérastase is discontinuing ten products, including their Bain Après-Soleil shampoo. You can mourn them by buying the last little pottles of goodness at 30% off online with the code VIP30. [Kérastase Paris]
• Jane Whitfield, a designer at Louis Vuitton who shares the distinction, with fellow Briton Peter Copping, of being commonly described as "Marc Jacobs Right-Hand [Pronoun]" (or who perhaps doesn't have to share it anymore, following Copping's departure to Nina Ricci), lives in a charming centuries-old cottage near Versailles with her husband and kids. This story is entirely about her apparent knack for interiors and contains no other insight into her design work or experience. [Telegraph]
• In China, Clinique and Sony banded together to create a 40-episode web series that just happens to feature an awful lot of Clinique and Sony products. [WSJ]
• If you want to buy a punk outfit from Bergdorf, it will cost you $3000. [Blogue]

• Agyness Deyn might try hypnotism to quit smoking. She "obviously" wants to stop so she can "settle down and have babies," says a friend of her boyfriend's. Obviously that's any woman's only consideration. [Daily Mail]

• Zac Posen will see your economic negativity and raise you an ounce of creativity. "I started my business in another trying time, right after 9/11. Everyone was saying ‘don't go into business, there's no place, there's no retail world out there.' Nobody wanted to hear about a new brand. But you create your own excitement, and you create the industry, and you create the customer, and that's what is going to get this country out of this difficult time." Yes we can wear beautiful dresses! [The Cut]
• Meanwhile a rag-tag group of former i-bankers has a crazy dream to make ugly shoes from recycled trash. Which is a kind of creativity that, environment aside, I'm not sure we need. [The Street]
• Lynn Yaeger goes to fashion week on the subway. Just. Like. I. Do. [The Cut]
• "Vivica Fox came out in this full sequined gown and she had the longest hair weave of her life. It was a shock, it was inspiring to women." If you've ever wanted to enter the mind of Christian Siriano, one good way of doing so would be to read an entire column by him. Fashion week is literally amazing, guys! [Time]
• Coco Rocha, in between attending fashion shows and walking in them, is also hosting an hour-long documentary about the lives of models during the week of weeks for E! Busy girl. [Elle]
• Kelly Cutrone had a hand in getting Ashley Alexandra Dupré to Yigal Azrouël on Friday. Yigal fired her. [NYDN]
• But Cutrone still wins for sheer audacity of media tricksterhood: she introduced Dupré to an editor at an avant-garde fashion magazine who wants to shoot the ex-callgirl, like, yesterday already. So this is how you get into Dazed and Confused. [The Cut]
• Are runways this season more diverse than last? It's looking like yes. The New York Times talks to some models from Harlem and the Bronx who are glad to see the "No ethnic models" signs retired. (The story also reminded me of how I know three models who all went to the same high school somewhere in deepest Queens. Once I told one of them I was thinking of moving to Queens and she gave me this withering look and said, "By 'Queens', you probably mean, like, Astoria, or Long Island City, don't you?" I did. But at least I know where Queens is, unlike a nameless designer in Eric Wilson's piece.) [NY Times]
• Model Sessilee Lopez eats egg McMuffins and asks to take home clothes from fashion shows. [NYDN]
• Peter Som has a fall collection, even if he didn't have a show. [Fashionista]
• An angel investor in Patrick Cox's struggling handmade shoe house was caught trying to license the Patrick Cox name and trademark for profit. [Telegraph]
• Somewhere, someone built an algorithm to analyze all the acres of type churned out in fashion week coverage, and that someone is here to tell us that this season's buzz words are "chiconomics" and "Michelle Obama." And "recessionista." [UPI]
• Anna Wintour is still talking about that sequined mini-dress The Recession made her not put in Vogue. Only now, in her mind it only cost $25,000, not $50,000. Times are hard. Anybody got any idea whose dress this might be? [WSJ]
• The May cover of Wintour's magazine might actually feature some models on it, in honor of the costume institute gala at the Met, which is model-themed this year. Online speculation points to Raquel Zimmerman, Natasha Poly, Liya Kebede, Isabeli Fontana, and Natalia Vodianova as among the final choices. [Fashionologie]
• British retailers are going to change their sizing for children's clothes because of the obesity epidemic. [Telegraph]
• Which will play right into noted obesity educator Karl "No Fat Chicks" Lagerfeld's talking points. The Kaiser also has reservations about online shopping, although this one time his assistant showed him how to order books and music on Amazon.com and it wasn't so bad, he supposes. [Portfolio]
• Nastia Liukin's line of denim isn't faring well. But her leotards, sold to other gymnasts, should keep her from the poor house. [The Cut]
• Wal-Mart isn't concerned about the souring fortunes of celeb-backed labels; it's launching a new Russell Simmons line. [WWD]
• Zooey Deschanel is also getting in on the action, with a limited-edition pair of $415 Oliver Peoples sunglasses she personally designed. My snark for this project is lessened in direct proportion to the share of the profits that will go towards victims of domestic violence. [LA Times]
• Posh's dress line has slightly lowered its prices from last season. But she's not sure if it's inspired by Mad Max or Mad Men. Either way there's a gray one with a butt ruffle. [Daily Mail]
• H&M's same-store sales beat analysts' expectations by only declining 1% on last January. This is good news. [WSJ]
• Whoa. A man in Osaka threatened 11 Uniqlo employees with a knife, tied them up with packing tape, and stole 2.5 million Yen. He was arrested as he tried to escape. [Breitbart]

• Women, gird your loins: Lady GaGa wants you to share her personal, pants-optional, control-top-hose-and-neon-and-sunglasses-at-night style of dress. Because in the future, everyone will have a clothing line. [Sassybella]

• Back in the realm of actual designers, Prabal Gurung (the other guy who used to design for Bill Blass) is presenting a self-funded 20-look collection at New York fashion week. He intends to grow the label slowly as a foil against the recession. “Controlled distribution is my mantra," says Gurung. "I’m in no rush to be the next big thing." Let's hope we can somehow see Peter Som at fashion week as well. [WSJ]
• Don't mind the layoffs, we're Forbes! In the midst of the recession, the financial magazine has some sunny news: the rich will still shop. Also, a Saudi prince spent $13,000 on sunglasses this one time. So clearly all is well. [Forbes]
• Or, at least it's well if you're Polo: profit was much higher than expected last quarter, the company reported this morning. The company earned $1.05 per share, after analysts had expected only 86 cents. [Reuters]
• Freida Pinto is this award season's "it" girl, if you can strike that mustard Lacroix sack from her record, that is. [WWD]
• The owner of a store called Forever Leather plies his wares on late-night television, only in this ad, he starts ranting about Hillary Clinton's presidential bid, Eliot Spitzer's prostitution scandal, and the economy. "Tell you what, if I ran the state of New York, there'd be jobs in New York, and people would be happy, instead of strugglin', and pissin' and moanin' about how bad things are all the time. Why dontcha do something?" Then he pulls out a cardboard cut-out of the senator and says, "Thanks for nothin', Hillary Clinton." You basically have to watch it. [AdAge]
• The hardest-working legal team in the Western hemisphere just got a new leader: American Apparel has announced that Glenn A. Weinman, former vice president general counsel and secretary for Guess, will take the same position at the California-based company, which as we all know continues to face numerous sexual-harassment lawsuits. Weinman's baptism by fire begins on February 17. [WWD]
• California Select, American Apparel's only vintage store, has closed down. (California Select, you might remember, is what the girls from Chictopia wear in their very special American Apparel ads.) The company's expansion was the fastest in US retail history, so it's no surprise there should be some blowback. [WWD]
• Isaac Mizrahi's first collection for Liz Claiborne is fully online, with prices and videos of Isaac getting excited about the clothes. [Liz Claiborne]
• This video claims to offer news of the "highly speculative" LVMH Coach buy-out, but I can't stop thinking about the shockingly ugly portmanteau "handbagorexia" and what, if anything, it might mean. [The Street]
• Now that fashion week has entered its last year at the tents, WWD has a look back at the 16 years the event called Bryant Park home. [WWD]
• The Target micro-site for McQ Alexander McQueen for Target has launched — just 28 days before the clothes hit stores on March 4. You can only see three of the looks, though, so if you're curious about the collection we covered it when the lookbook leaked. [Target]
• Michelle Obama had her hair done by a guy named Rahni on inauguration day. Rahni would like very much to tell you what that was like. Next up: the woman who did the first lady's nails. [The Cut]
• Simon Doonan says: "Keeping your best clothes for parties is the same as leaving the plastic on your lampshades. There are limitations, though; nobody wants an invasive medical procedure performed by a doctor in a Cavalli sequined unitard." Which is precisely why I'm writing this news roundup in a purple silk sheath dress, green vintage crocodile pumps, and an old Hermès scarf, cigarette holder in hand, while my ocelot, Mr. Snugglepuss, purrs on the divan to my right. It just feels so much better this way. [Times of London]
• Betsey Johnson may be cutting costs by holding a presentation instead of a runway show, but her invitations are in no way third-rate. How cute, a pot holder! [Fashionista]
• Meanwhile, Erin Fetherson has gone high-tech, forgoing paper invitations for a special Flash-animated website for RSVPs. [Style.com]
• Fresh after opening her first Paris store, Stella McCartney is expanding into the Middle East, and will have six stores in the region by the middle of this year. [WWD]
• More potentially terrible fashion news: a Badgley Mischka employee was reportedly overheard talking about a "massive fight" the lover/designers had and how it might lead to a split. After recently discounting their line, at that. The story was denied by the company's representative. [New York Daily News]
• Are you a megamogul looking for a famous face to shill for your products more effectively than average? Market research brings you all the necessary appeal/awareness rankings for celebrities in need of endorsement contracts. [WWD]

• Diane von Furstenberg attended the inauguration with her oldest African-American friend, André Leon Talley. She hobnobbed with Oprah and David Axelrod, then dressed up in, um, a ski suit to watch the swearing-in. [Financial Times]

• Poor Peter Som sounds like he's having a hell of a time. He left Bill Blass to focus on his eponymous line, only for his financial backers to, well, back swiftly away. The Cut asked how he was doing, and he told them, "Shit happens. Sometimes it's a lot, sometimes it's a little. So I think everyone's going through some tough times...Why don't you ask me some questions about Michelle Obama's dress?" Turns out he submitted sketches of a long, white gown — "I guess I was in the ballpark, right?" — but obviously wasn't Michelle Obama's final choice. The way I see it, while a Google bump and a Good Morning America interview might have given him some press, the fundamentals are still what counts. And his ability to design beautiful clothes women want to wear is, at least, recession-proof. [The Cut]
• Clearly Som is not the only one in fashion hurting. Abercrombie & Fitch, which had extremely poor fourth quarter sales, laid off 50 workers at their Ohio headquarters. The mall store sees itself as an aspirational brand, so it refuses to discount its wares to move units during any downturn — their sale-happy competitors have no such compunction, which is part of the reason for Abercrombie's double-digit slide in same-store sales since August of last year. Further layoffs have not been ruled out. [Reuters]
• For another view on the recession, check out this interview with Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce, conducted back in September, just as the financial news was going from bad to awful. It's a snapshot of two men who, like we all were back then, are still grappling with the daily news of a world economy in a slow-motion crash. Says Gabbana, "The money hasn’t changed, it’s the mentality." Dolce offers, "Maybe we go well with crisis?" before pointing out a trend piece in Corriere della Serra about the financial crisis bringing people together. Gabbana shoots back, "Yes, but I’m also tired of reading this stupid stuff. I’m sick of it. We said the same thing after September 11. We just continue to do our job in the same way, maybe putting more energy, more fantasia, more creativity into it." As worthwhile a strategy as any. [Interview]
• Other designers plowing resolutely ahead without saying 'boo': Brioni, which introduced a made-to-measure suit that can cost up to $43,000 in October, and Hermès, whose limited-edition silk Josef Albers scarves of last fall cost $2800 each. The "elite of the elite" have bought 30 of the suits, astonishingly. [WSJ]
• Supposedly, LVMH's Bernard Arnault and PPR's François Pinault have buried the hatchet. What kind of world is it where two French luxury-industry billionaires who share a last-name syllable can't get along? [Financial Times]
• Iman compared herself to a duck in an interview with E! Canada. Because ducks look calm and collected, but are paddling furiously beneath the surface. A writer for the National Post, apparently unable to grasp why a supermodel would find an animal metaphor useful in describing her personality as opposed to her looks, takes this to mean Iman has body-image issues. [National Post]
• A stage manager who worked on the set of "Lipstick Jungle" is being charged with the theft of almost $30,000 worth of costumes. Designers who had lent the production their clothing and accessories noticed unreturned items going up on eBay. [CNN]
• Jason Wu is feeling the love this week. The 26-year-old designer of that one-shouldered white gown got his very own profile in the Times' "Sunday Styles" section, right ahead of fashion week. Reporter Eric Wilson mentions Wu was taking interviews in between working on his fall collection, but offers no further details of the intriguing fur-fest. (Wu told Fashion Week Daily fall would be all about fur. And "luxury.") [NY Times]
• Inaugural fashion coverage would not be complete without a lengthy, considered piece by Robin Givhan all about the styles of dress of the attendees not named Obama. [Washington Post]
• For reasons unclear, Spanish feminists protested a Zara store in Madrid. [The F Word]
• J Peterman, the company best known for "Seinfeld" gags and a real-life 1999 bankruptcy, is back. [MSNBC]
• Awesome lady Jane Birkin watched the Hermès men's show in Paris wearing an Obama pin. [WWD]
• Chloe Sevigny talks to the Times about her style, but gives no information about that unisex collection she's presenting this week in Paris. She does, however, shop for hosiery from a guy who is "like the Soup Nazi, but he sells socks." [NY Times]
• Meanwhile, Padma Lakshmi has a line of fine jewelry she'd like very much to sell you. [WWD]
• The Fashion Design Council of India has a new program: model rehab. It's like industry exit counseling, to get you a new job when the clients stop booking you. [Hindustan Times]
• Jim Horne, male model of the 40s and 50s, and first cover subject of the newly renamed Gentleman's Quarterly, died at age 91 in New York. The business certainly was different then. [NY Times]
• Women shoppers are increasingly angered by the poor construction of budget fashion items. Complaints because of unwarned shrinkage, fading, breaking zippers, running dyes, and embellishments that fall off at the first wear are up 22%. Let's not take it anymore! Until there is another sale at H&M. [Independent]
• Marc Jacobs has palatial new digs in someAndre Balazs-developed condo building in SoHo. It's 2,500-square-feet, presumably expensive. [New York Post]
• Pam Anderson's Vivienne Westwood campaign is out. Shockingly, the pairing results in a less than demure aesthetic...let's just say Pamela Anderson's breasts are prominently displayed. Which is more subtle than the pics themselves! [Fashionista]
• At least they're going out with a bang: Hartmarx Corp., the Chicago company that owns Obama Inaugural tux-maker Hart Schaffner Marx, has filed for bankruptcy. [WSJ]
• Kanye West "promotes" his new Louis Vuitton-collab sneakers in a bizarre new video. Which is to say, he proclaims that he's changing his name from "the Louis Vuitton Don" (?) to "Martin Louis the King, Jr." (?) then declares, "and until then, I will be in the building, swagger, until one hundred thousand trillion." [Racked]
• Speaking of odd collaborations, we don't even want to imagine what kind of douchey teen will carry the new Ric Owens Eastpaks to school. At the very least, the inkstains had better be solid gold. [Fashionista]

• 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]

Because it is just so not fair that Deckers Outdoor Corp., the California-based company that manufactures the vile sheepskin boots (as well the Teva sandal) should be sitting pretty at a time when genuine fashion talents are scrambling to stay afloat. Overstocked major retailers are discounting so deeply that smaller, less nimble stores may not survive, financial backers are beating a retreat, and barely a day goes by without the news of store closures, label discontinuation, or outright bankruptcy. Obedient Sons and Daughters: gone. Peter Som: working hard to even put together a show next month. Macy's: shuttering 10 stores that together employed over 960 people. Badgley Mischka: permanently lowering prices. In the midst of all these threats to talents both established and emerging, would it be too much to ask for a little clearing of the dead wood?

And for that, might I nominate Uggs? Uggs should be prime candidates for demolition in this scorched-earth retail environment. Uggs flatter nobody. Though made of sheepskin, they are not waterproof or suitable for cold climates. (They come from Australia, and their international popularity epicenter is southern California, after all.) They are overpriced, costing well above $100 for what is a glorified pair of slippers. They were a trend eight years ago, and should, according to the laws of trend fashion, have matured into something the hip set would be embarrassed to be seen in by now. They make feet look like pastel sausages. They get so steamy inside that athlete's foot can be a concern. And they take only the merest provocation to roll a wearer's ankle.

And yet they persist. Last November, Ugg opened its first standalone store in Europe, inside a West London luxury mall. The Chicago Tribune reported on December 22 that an area Nordstrom was entirely quiet, except for the shoe department, where Uggs are sold. Racked snapped a picture of shoppers lined up outside the SoHo store on December 24, waiting for it to open. Although initially investors nervous about the retail sector let share prices for Deckers Outdoor Corp. fall to less than $50 in late November, the company's performance has been stellar by every other measure. Earnings and revenues are up from 2007. People are still buying the damn things.

This must stop. If ever there were a brand marked for total annihilation in these straitened times, it would be the uncomfortable, unsupporting, ugly footwear choice of megatanned B-list celebrities shuffling towards gas station convenience stores at 11:30 in the morning. The whole point of this recession was to throw a little cold water on overheated consumer culture so that people would no longer line up in the December pre-dawn freeze to pay too much charging so-called status items on their Visas; instead of blindly following trends, we were going to think about fit and flattering cuts and durability and wearability and whether buying non-waterproof boots with flimsy soles in shades of show-dirt beige is actually a sensible thing to do. Instead, we're abandoning CDFA award nominees and driving small retailers out of business. And I was so hoping for a silver lining.

Related: These Uggs Aren't Made For Walking [Independent]
Why Uggs Won't Be Feeling The Pinch [Telegraph]
A Shopper's Cold Toes Lead Her To A Warm Pair Of Uggs [Chicago Tribune]
Ugg in Soho Undaunted By the Recession, Christmas [Racked]
Ugg, Teva Maker Bucking The Recession? [BloggingStocks]

• Leo DiCaprio has taken over for Brad Pitt as the Tag Heuer spokesman. Wearing that watch is not an easy job. [WWD]

• Speaking of watches, here's the $8 grand Obama model. "To mark the occasion and commemorate John F. Kennedy's timeless style, Omega has reissued the ultra thin timepiece the man wore during his inauguration on January 20th, 1961." "The man" would surely approve. [Racked]
• Given her influence, anti-fur critics are urging Michelle Obama to avoid fur at the inauguration. [HSUS]
• Fur aside, 'Obama' is the biggest name in luxury goods for 09! [Extra]
• Get the Obama look yourself, on a budget! "If you're looking to mimic Michelle Obama's graceful style or Barack Obama's sharp suits, while not spending a fortune, you can find it on SHOP.COM." [Shop.com]
• Ambassador Anna Wintour's fate is being contemplated by the fashion world "'with a guillotine glee akin to that which preceded the death of Marie Antoinette.' But one fashion source dismissed the prospects of her purported replacement, French Vogue editrix Carine Roitfeld: 'I don't see how you could give it to Carine. She barely speaks English.'" [New York Post]
• Accessories led the counterfeit seizures in '08. Well, yeah. [WWD]
• We're not gonna lie: the waxen LiLo for Fornarina ads kinda depress us. [Fabsugar]
• Men's Vogue stays alive...in a Lord Voldemort sort of way. The Spring Issue will be "reverse-bound" to the back of women's Vogue.[ WWD]
• In an awesome and vaguely disturbing Dean and Dan ad, supermodels Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista engage in fisticuffs. [Models.com]
• Peter Som parts ways with Creative Design Studios. [WWD]
• Deep holiday discounting has hurt Ted Baker's profits. [FT]
• Daisy Fuentes's new beauty line, Style Pro, uses all natural ingredients. [WWD]
• Are we obsessed with Sofia Coppola's enchanting Miss Dior ad? Obvs. But are we the only ones who kind of wish it was Audrey, or at least someone alive with a bit more personality? [Fashionista]
• Katie Holmes buys a cookie, some sweaters. [WWD]
• Aeropostale was one of the few winners in a dismal retail season. [The Street ]
• We love Oscar de la Renta: "This is a challenging time to be a designer because a woman today knows so much more...There has never been a woman so in control of her destiny as a woman today." [Bergdorf Goodman via New York]
• By contrast: "Karl Lagerfeld: That's the kind of thing we promise to do, but we never do it… So I have your big book in front of me.
  Tom Ford: Yes, it's very big.
  Karl Lagerfeld: Quite beautiful, but it's really the final point of a decade.
  Tom Ford: It is a closed period. And that was one of the reasons I wanted to do the book. For me, like you, being a Virgo, we like to have things very neat, very clean, very finished and I wanted to finish that chapter of my life so I could move on to the next one.
  Karl Lagerfeld: Exactly. I never turn pages; I tear them out. When the time is finished I don't turn the pages anymore, I forget about them.
  Tom Ford: I see what you're saying.
  Karl Lagerfeld: I think it's a very good attitude in life." [FakeKarl]

For The Steps:
Albertus Swanepoel, 2008 Fashion Fund Winner, says"I actually believe she should wear a pillbox—the new era of Camelot!" We say: a tad literal, no?


Karl Lagerfeld's suit is way cuter than his gown. And there's something to be said for classic Chanel...


Doo-Ri Chung, 2006's Fashion Fund Winner, says, "The inauguration will be a historic occasion, so I wanted the dress to be something in her comfort zone. I stayed with the tailored, fitted silhouette that she prefers but used a print that I felt was celebratory." We say: srsly? We've seen rocks that felt more celebratory.



May We Suggest...?


Grace Kelly's look from High Society is both chic and whimsical!













For The Ball:


The Good:
How gorgeous is this ethereal Rodarte?


Loving Marc Jacobs' Poiret-esque drape.


Yeah, Peter Som's hitting us over the head with "Jackie O," but still...


This Diane von Furstenberg is lovely. Downside: we really don't want to see Whitney Port at the Inaugural Ball, and you know she'd "need" to be there.


Derek Lam's "nile green crepe" is one of our faves of the bunch: the simple lines and unconventional hue would feel fresh but classic, and he'd still be a fun and surprising choice.



The Bad:
Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig of Marchesa say, "For the ball Michelle should wear this ivory one-shoulder silk crepe column with draped overlay and crystal hand-embroidered bodice." We say: Dynasty much?


We know Barack loves Lincoln, but Zac Posen's Mary Todd is a bit much!


Alexander Wang says: "It's sexy but sophisticated…business in the front, party in the back. It is the inauguration ball!"
We say: Maybe that's why you might want to wear something slightly more fun than a friggin' LBD?!


We dig the drama of Monique Lhuillier's gown, but red? Really? It just feels so...First Lady!


The Not Happening:
The Vena Cava designers, Sophie Buhai and Lisa Mayock, would like to see Michelle rock "this floor-length gown made out of silk and polyester twill in one of our signature prints." We say: with all due respect, we don't think the country's ready for quite that much change.


All the Lacroix sketches are totally absurd, like he knows there's no way she's going to choose them. Still, imagine how impressed the French would be!


Maybe Betsey Johnson should just costume the whole capital, like it's a big George M. Cohan show!


May We Suggest:
If you want to channel 60s, it doesn't get better than Doris Day in Pillow Talk!


Hey, why not?

Michelle Obama: What Should She Wear? [WWD]
Runway to Change [Style.com]

First: There's nothing here by popular American designer Marc Jacobs, because his Spring 2009 collection was just too weird for Ms. Obama.


But what about the always classy Oscar De La Renta?


This pale, lean column would be a breath of fresh air!


What about a bouquet of flowers? Optimistic and gorgeous, especially for March. There's another floral dress de la Renta designed for Spring that could work, as well.


Perhaps some understated glamour? Ms. Obama has fantastic shoulders, and would look regal in this.




Maybe Carolina Herrera would be a better choice:


A beautiful, ruffled gown in Democratic blue! (It also comes in red, which Ms. Obama looks great in.)


Or, imagine Ms. Obama's skin against this sunny, bright yellow.


This straight-and-narrow ivory column is graceful and timeless.




Consider this: Michelle Obama wore a dress by Thakoon at the Democratic convention, and he has a few designs for Spring that might suit her: pink and floral, slouchy, modern metallic or fluttery ruffles.

But perhaps she should try young designer Peter Som:


Even though it's casual, Michelle Obama could rock the hell out of this blue shirtdress.

Ditto this shimmery blue jacket and skirt. Plus, don't you think she'd really, really like this graphic dress? Totally up her alley.




Michelle Obama looks amazing in color. Maybe the editors of Vogue could choose something designed by fashion's comeback kid, Isaac Mizrahi?


This pink frock is feminine and strong at the same time.


Orange would definitely pop on the cover of a magazine. She'd also look great in this incredibly romantic pink gown by Mizrahi.




But, in this writer's opinion, the editors of Vogue should put Michelle Obama in a dress designed by Tracy Reese. As the only black woman to show in the Bryant Park Tent during Fashion Week in New York, Reese is an inspiration, just like Ms. Obama. And Tracy Reese makes exquisite garments:


A dreamy, shoulder-baring dress could be a soft, pretty cover choice.


Something truly unique, like this painted frock, would be interesting.


What about a whisper-soft, romantic gown that would make Michelle look like the Goddess of Spring?


When blue and red states come together, you get a strong, fierce purple. Michelle Obama could make a statement without saying a word!




Memo Pad: Michelle Obama to Vogue? [WWD]
Blake Bags Vogue, Too [Fashionista]

• Kate Moss' line for TopShop sells out in 15 minutes! "Crowds of young women, who started queuing at 7.45am, scooped up the must have designer gear without even trying it on. " [Daily Mail]
• Rachel Weisz on method acting:"We were talking about the character of Penelope when I suddenly ran upstairs and brought down these old boots. They’re basically a cross between a clown boot and a Victorian lace-up boot....They suit Penelope because they don’t go with anything, they’re really clumpy and they gave me a funny walk. The character came entirely out of those boots — I wear them in every single scene!" If shleppy shoes equal verite, color me Stella Adler! [ElleUK]
• Piaf-impersonator Marion Cotillard signed by Dior. [WWD]
• Lagerfeld descends upon the Green Mountain State. He'll be the cadaverous one in the high collar who calls you "demode." [Fashionista]

• Peter Som leaves Bill Blass. “This was an extremely difficult decision for me...At this time, however, I have chosen to focus on my own namesake collection and the development of the Peter Som brand.” [WWD]
• NARS sells condoms. With Orgasm blush, natch. They also hedge their bets with a "ways to say no" package which, yes, also comes with the blush. As long as you have Orgasm! Sales benefit Amfar programs to promote global safe sex education initiatives. [BeautyAddict]
• Louboutin ups the ante with an 8" heel. The truly fashion-forward amongst us sigh up for stiltwalking, purchase matching Uncle Sam outfits. [Guardian]
• Way to de-sexy underwear moddles: "According to Make Me A Supermodel stylist Tiana Wallace, just one slice (of bread) wedged in the front of a pair of briefs is the secret ingredient to achieving the sought-after "smooth look.'' The crumb potential sounds uncomfy! [News.com.au]
• As elections approach, American Apparel amps up its "Legalize LA" campaign. [Reuters]
• Bluefly.com introduces shop-by-character Gossip Girl pages. Best part? You can skip the tedious "say-you-love-me-first" plotline! [Extra]
• Want to see something weird? Warning: there's music. [Live Science]
• Levi's introduces the new "Ultimate Lift 544 jeans." To wear with the new ass bras, perhaps? [WWD]
• Estee Lauder is up, but cautious. [Reuters]
• Did Paul Smith plagiarize this artist's work? [Flight404]
• Just in time for the recession, Tom Ford introduces $9,240 fur boots "calculated to appeal to wealthy glam junkies and luxury ski freaks in places like Aspen and Gstaad." Barf. [Luxist via New York]
• Even Rachel Roy can't find anything in picked-over NYC thrift stores! [FabSugar]
• Just in time for Halloween, Beyonce grotesque distorted by Armani photoshoppers! [Photoshop Disasters]
• U.S. retailers cut orders, unsurprisingly; designers worry. [WWD]

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