• Freida Pinto looks fantastic on the March cover of Vogue India. [ONTD]

• Stella McCartney and Net-a-porter.com have announced the designer will produce a capsule summer collection exclusively for the e-tailer. [WWD]
• Coco Rocha posted an excerpt from her E! Canada show about New York fashion week to her blog. She goes on a fitting at Michael Kors, and then has an odd conversation with Heidi Klum about pole dancing. [OhSoCoco]
• Mad Men costume designer Janie Bryant shares a favorite designer with Edina Monsoon. She still can't talk about her potential namesake line, however. [The Cut]
• The rumor that Debra Messing and Cameron Diaz dumped Rachel Zoe as a stylist isn't true, say Debra Messing, Cameron Diaz, and Rachel Zoe. Phew. [People]
• Zoe also still styles Anne Hathaway, whose spectacular art deco-looking Oscars dress was Armani Privé. [USA Today]
• And everyone approved of Kate Winslet's Yves Saint Laurent — except, that is, for her daughter Mia, who objected to the fact that it was gray. [Yahoo! News]
• A coda to all this talk of hats coming back (or not) might be provided by an exhibition, curated by milliner Stephen Jones, at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Called Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones, it was culled from over 7,000 hats in the museum's collection, including the hat Cecil Beaton made for Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, Darth Vader's mask, and, appropriately enough, a bonnet and a top hat from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, respectively. [Style.com]
• Rodarte's response to the economic situation? Not making pants. "We don't sell our pants anyway," said Kate Mulleavy at a panel in Los Angeles — so as a cost-cutting measure, they didn't even design any for this fall. At the same event, Adriano Goldschmied, who does make pants — jeans that cost $200, to be precise — said in the downturn, luxury will return to its true, dreamy essence. "Even if [customers] can't afford it, at least you give them a dream. A dream, in my opinion, is the engine for our work." Of course, if dreaming is all your customers do, you're in trouble. [WWD]
• Former fashion editor Nonnie Moore died at 87 in Manhattan. Moore, who was the fashion director of Mademoiselle, Harper's Bazaar, and GQ during the 1970s and '80s, was an early promoter of Perry Ellis and Issey Miyake. [NY Times]
• Coach announced plans to cut 10% of its US corporate workforce. [WWD]
• All those 85% off sales over the winter were, unsurprisingly, harbingers of really bad quarterly results: Saks joins Nordstrom and other department stores in reporting sharp declines in sales for the quarter ended January 31. Same-store sales at Saks Fifth Avenue fell 15.3% in the period (in the fourth quarter of 07, same-store sales grew by 9%). All told, the retailer lost $98.75 million dollars during the quarter. [NY Times]
• Speaking of Nordstrom, it's making money — or at least stopping the losses — any way it can. Which includes sneaking up the finance rates on its store cards. And lowering its prices. I'd call that about a draw from the consumer's perspective. [WSJ]
• Someone who's expanding in this market is H&M. The fast fashion chain expects to open its first store in South Korea in the spring of 2010. [WWD]
• Could Tommy Hilfiger's new wife Dee Ocleppo be pregnant? [Page Six]

• The Man is cashing in on National Underwear Day, this ridiculous thing they do in Times Square every year with people running around in undies. This year, those wags will be competing with the pros: "Diesel, Natori, Nautica, Tommy Hilfiger and 2Xist underwear brands will have hotties strutting in their skivvies in a runway show at Espace on Aug. 5. "Lydia Hearst [Who models for Myla - ed] be 10 runway shows."" [Page Six]
• Speaking of unmentionables, Sadie Frost (aka Jude's ex)'s skivvies co, Frost-French, has gone bust to the tune of owing a ton of money. Sources say the actress is devastated. [Mirror]
• Gwyneth Paltrow is teaming up with Saks Fifth Avenue to front its Key to the Cure campaign, a women's cancer initiative. Mrs. Martin will appear in promos and, presumably, sport the tee that Karl Lagerfeld designed for the occasion. [UPI]
• Also in celeb endorsements, apparently Solange Knowles is the new face of Armani Jeans. Quoth Girogio, “Armani Jeans expresses my vision of a young, independent, casual lifestyle with a strong and cool, fashion sensibility. Solange epitomises this style perfectly and brings to it that swing so evident in her new single, I Decided." [Sassybella]

• Diane Von Furstenberg was unanimously reelected head of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. In the past year the CFDA has been active in promoting awareness of health issues in the industry. [WWD]
• Molly Ringwald: "I never thought of myself as an icon...my style was from necessity; my parents kept me on on allowance." [Star Tribune]
• Agyness Deyn is living the American dream, with an apt. in hipster-central Williamsburg, Brooklyn and a brand-new Yank PA. "The girl is responsible for keeping track of Agyness' schedule, travel plans, and general well being, which sounds like the easiest job in the world, since while it's true she's one of the busiest working models right now, she's also one of the nicest and most easygoing that we've ever met." [Fashionista]
• An enormous pair of Queen Victoria's bloomers, dating from the 1890s, just sold at auction for nine grand. Auctioneer Charles Hanson described the 50-inch knickers as belonging to '"a very big lady of quite small stature with a very wide girth." She was said to be 5 feet (1.52 meters) tall.' [AP]
• That woven dress that so wowed Natalie Portman on the second episode of Project Runway? Already sold out on Bluefly. Suede, obviously, released a statement. “I was so excited about this challenge and really wanted to win. Selling my dress on Bluefly is the opportunity of a lifetime. I knew I had to pull out all of the stops to impress this client and especially celebrity judge Natalie Portman, and Suede, "ROCKED IT!" And, now to see the customers responding to my "winning look" like this what a thrill. It is a million times better than immunity! Suede LOVES that!!!" [NY Mag]
• Polo takes Rugby online. [WWD]
• The new crop of Gap ads — featuring the daughter of French Vogue editirice Carine Roitfeld, sont arives! [Fashionista]
• David "Mulder" Duchovny is, for some reason, part of sportswear company Johnston and Murphy's push to be more relevant. "The ads show Duchovny, with a pensive look on his face, wearing Johnston & Murphy sportswear and shoes and, in some creative, accompanied by accessories such as a briefcase and other leather goods. Text reads: "Johnston, Murphy & Duchovny."" [BrandWeek]
• Defying the market, Avon profits jump. [New York Times]
• Bloomingdales to open SpaceNK boutiques within stores. [WWD]
• DKNY collabs with Chandon on sparkling wine. [VogueUK]
• Kinda thought it was still summer, but fashion says No! How to wear 'transitional' clothes. [ElleUK]

"Next time you tear up watching a beaming father walk his little girl down the aisle, remember that it’s just a tiny, barbaric little holdover from the days when daughters were nothing but dollar signs to daddy dearest," writes Jenn Thompson. "And that veil she’s wearing? Yeah, that was so the groom wouldn’t know if he was stuck with an uggo until it was time to kiss the bride and too late to back out on the transaction." Heartwarming! But here's the real question. Have these acts become divorced from their original meanings in a thoroughly modern world? I probably want my dad to walk me down the aisle when I get married, not because I think he owns me or because my husband-to-be is my "master", but because I really love my dad and I think it would be sweet to show our affection and connection in that ceremonial context.

If thinking about the patriarchy's influence on your beloved traditions has got you down, Thompson also describes some weird wedding laws that might cheer you up. My favorite is this one from Montana, which states that a couple can get married without even having to show up to court. "This miracle marriage is done by way of a 'double proxy' ceremony. Particularly popular with soldiers deployed overseas who wish to get married without coming home on leave, this type of marriage is arranged through a lawyer, who then hires two proxies (anyone with a free afternoon and a desire for some extra cash) to come sit before the judge, recite the vows and sign the marriage license on behalf of the absent bride and groom." Or, as Thompson points out, this kind of thing would be fantastic for the extremely lazy. Just picture it: you and your dude (or your lady), sitting on the couch in some nice A/C, wearing your skivvies, and getting married while watching Judge Judy.

The Bizarre Origins of 8 Wedding Traditions[Mental Floss]
Weird Wedding Laws Still on the Books [Mental Floss]

Earlier:Dude Says Diamonds Are "Profoundly Anti-Feminist," And Not Just Because He Can't Afford One [Jezebel]