<![CDATA[Jezebel: rag trade]]> http://tags.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jezebel.com.png <![CDATA[Jezebel: rag trade]]> http://jezebel.com/tag/ragtrade http://jezebel.com/tag/ragtrade <![CDATA[Eva Longoria Wants You To Buy The Perfume She's Allergic To; Anna Sui For ANTM]]>

  • Eva Longoria's perfume ad is a total Photoshop of Horrors. "I have always been somewhat allergic to all perfumes," admitted the actress. The scent was produced with the Falic Group, the company that recently shuttered Christian Lacroix. Priorities. [WWD]
  • Phi, the edgy, six-year-old New York-based label, is closing its doors due to the recession. The spring collection shown at fashion week in September will not go into production; the pre-spring collection that just shipped will be Phi's last. Founder Susan Dell is the wife of tech billionaire Michael Dell; it's perhaps a little odd that she didn't want to reinvest to keep the widely acclaimed company afloat. Thirty-five employees learned they were losing their jobs yesterday; the C.E.O. says there will be a warehouse sale in January. [WWD]
  • P. Diddy even gave Madame Tussaud's a bottle of his "I Am King" cologne with which to douse his new wax figure, for verisimilitude. [Spoiled Pretty]
  • The four stars of Sex And The City will each get their own cover of Marie Claire, but that's absolutely not because they can't stand to be in one room together. [NYDN]
  • A New Zealand fashion blogger who was invited to the America's Next Top Model Cycle 14 finale runway show — which took place last week in Auckland — but didn't go posted a shot of the invitation. Turns out Anna Sui is the featured designer. [IsaacLikes]
  • "She already has a great handbag collection. She has a mirrored Fendi bag. And she'll say things like, 'I'm not going to wear that any more.' She has really good style as well. She knows what she likes and I can't force her to wear anything she doesn't, which is annoying sometimes. But now I rarely go shopping without her. She tells me what she doesn't like or she'll say: 'Mummy, you look nice' or 'that dress is amazing!' She's got it." Kate Moss, on daughter Lila Grace, 7. [Company via Daily Express]
  • Agyness Deyn maybe made out with a dude at a club during Saturday night's snowstorm. Hot. [P6]
  • "Giving back" is one way to characterize guest judging Project Runway, Catherine Malandrino. "I can give good advice and be an inspiration for the next generation. I think everyone in life needs direction and models." [HoustonChronicle]
  • Thakoon Panichgul unveiled his first jewelry collection for the Japanese pearl brand Tasaki. It features lots of big pearls on rods. Prices range from about $6,000 to just under $40,000. [WWD]
  • CFDA Award winner Sophie Théallet — whose dresses Michelle Obama has worn on more than one occasion — followed a traditional route into the industry, working for well over a decade in Paris and New York for established designers before founding her own label. (It became faddish during the 2000s to proclaim your design vision to the world immediately upon graduation from fashion school, à la Proenza Schouler, or even after dropping out, à la Alex Wang.) Jean-Paul Gaultier and Azzedine Alaïa were among her employers. "Gaultier taught me to stop at nothing and Alaia gave a taste for rigor," says Théallet, now based in Brooklyn. [Telegraph]
  • Vivienne Westwood's wallpaper collection features her signature loud prints. [Vogue UK]
  • A Racked tipster thinks this "Italian Appeal" store has a logo that looks too similar to the American Apparel trademark. We don't quite see it. [Racked]
  • Karl Lagerfeld designed a doll with a spectacularly ugly dress, and a life-sized matching dress for little girls. They cost $315 and $1,190, respectively. Part of the proceeds will go to Carla Bruni-Sarkozy's charity. [WWD]
  • In ten years of operation, online discounter Bluefly.com has never turned a profit. For the quarter ended September 30, its sales fell 14% on the same period last year, despite overall rising online sales this year. It is receiving a $15 million investment from Rho Ventures, and is reducing its inventory. [WWD]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5432094&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Jessica Simpson Shows Bikini Line; Condé Nast Sues Blogger]]>

  • Jessica Simpson's swimwear line is here! Simpson says it's inspired by the jet-setting getaways she dreams about. [Stylelist]
  • Since snow ruined the last shopping weekend before Christmas for the Northeast, expect stores to offer extended hours and other enticements. [WWD]
  • In September, a hacker allegedly accessed Condé Nast's server and downloaded 1,100 files. Two months later, the blog Fashionzag posted some of the stolen content: five alternate covers of the December issue of GQ, and pages from Vogue, Teen Vogue, and Lucky. The company is suing to determine the identity of the blogger behind Fashionzag, and for unspecified damages. [WWD]
  • Rodarte's line for Target is still available at many stores in a full range of sizes, but many pieces are sold out online, leading to the inevitable eBay price-gouging. [Racked]
  • UK Elle is reporting a rumor that Taylor Momsen, of Gossip Girl fame, might be the new face of the fast fashion chain New Look. [UK Elle]
  • Meanwhile, the show's costume designer, Eric Daman, says "statement bracelets" and painterly prints are going to be big trends next year. You know he can make it happen. [NYPost]
  • Karl Lagerfeld made a kind of cute little film where Lara Stone and Baptiste Giabiconi are two well-dressed shoplifters who make off with all the goods they want from Paris area Chanel boutiques. If it only included getaway shots — the couple jumps on a Chanel motorbike, natch — it would be adorable, but Lagerfeld just can't resist moving the camera inside for some lingering dressing-room inaction, which, combined with the man's execrable sense of pacing, bogs the whole thing down. [SB]
  • Why, oh why, must a fabulous-sounding photography book called Backstage Dior by the legendary backstage photographer Roxanne Lowit cost $125? Sigh. [NYTimes]
  • Vivienne Westwood is launching a denim line! Unfortunately, it will cost at least as much as that book. [WWD]
  • Tag Heuer will not run any ads featuring Tiger Woods in the U.S. market for the near future. [CBS]
  • However, Woods will remain a face of the brand, the company stresses. [WWD]
  • Oscar de la Renta won back the rights to his own fragrance license from L'Oréal, after an 18-month legal battle. [WWD]
  • Did Claudia Schiffer receive special treatment on the stricken Eurostar whose engine failed just after the train emerging on the English side of the Channel tunnel? Other passengers are reporting that they saw a car drive right up to the train and collect the model, who frequently travels first-class on Eurostar between London and Paris on business. [Telegraph]
  • Balenciaga is suing Steve Madden for allegedly copying its 2007 "Sportiletto" shoe. [Cityfile]
  • Loïc Prigent, one of our favorite fashion documentarians, made a six-episode series, Habillees, about the search for new French design talent. And he captured Anna Wintour disparaging France's support for the next generation of designers: "I think it's totally important for all of us in the American fashion industry to support the young designers, and I think that's why New York's become such a vibrant fashion center, because people go there not only to see the Donna Karans of the world but a whole new generation. I'm just so sorry that there isn't something like that in Paris that's similar. I think that they should look for the younger generation here [in Paris] as well. Not only New York but London really supports their young talent; Franca Sozzani at Italian Vogue supports the young Italian designers, and I think when France is so known for its fashion industry — for them not to be reaching out to help younger people today is really a shame." Although New York and London each have cash awards and mentorships available to some of their young designers, to say that Franca Sozzani single-handedly puts emerging Italian designers on the map is rather a stretch. Which gives the impression this was a meandering way to get in a dig at Carine Roitfeld. [Fashionologie]
  • It's the American way to turn nurturing emerging talent into mass entertainment. Robin Givhan dedicates her weekly column to Christian Siriano, who is now three collections out from winning Project Runway. [WaPo]
  • Australians are apparently surprised that Louis Vuitton has found a way to sell a plain old polyamide/elastane bikini — and not even a cute one — for over a thousand dollars. [News.com.au]
  • Meanwhile, we have to contend with $2,995 custom-made Proenza Schouler surfboards. And it's not even summer up here. [NYTimes]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5431216&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Beyoncé's Hot Scent; Madonna Prefers Shoes To Sex]]>

  • Beyoncé's first perfume, Heat, launches in February. She says, "Red is one of my favorite colors, as is gold." And the bottle is intended to look antique, because her mother had so many old perfumes when she was little. [WWD]
  • Whitney Port, of The Hills/The City fame, says, of fellow fashion-designing show alums Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag, "I put myself in a different sort of realm as them." Port's biggest fear with her label is "people not understanding your point of view, not being able to get it. But I think my biggest competition is myself." [WWD]
  • About 200 Chanel employees picketed the company's headquarters just outside of Paris. Workers who make less than €3000 a month have been offered a 1% pay raise; instead, they would like a raise of 2.5%. [WWD]
  • Charlize Theron embroidered a baobab tree on a pair of red Toms shoes for her limited-edition collaboration with the eco-friendly, ethically managed company. Ten thousand of the shoes will be distributed free to children in her native South Africa, and the profits from the $54 slip-ons will benefit Theron's charity. [People]
  • According to Jimmy Choo, Madonna thinks his shoes are better than sex. "Madonna told me that buying a pair of my shoes is more satisfying than having sex with a man. At least you know they are going to last for ever!" [OK!]
  • Tory Burch is growing overseas. The designer recently opened a flagship in Manila, and her first Tokyo store, which just fêted its launch, will be joined by 30 more outposts across the country over the next few years. [WWD]
  • Check out the decade in Olsen style, from distressed denim and tube tops to Chloé wedges and studded Givenchy jackets, via the notorious NYU bag lady period. [Style.com]
  • Ever since Barack Obama identified his wife's pin, on Oprah, as one he had purchased for her at Garavelli on their anniversary, people have been buying Garavelli jewelry like it's going out of style. [WWD]
  • Lady Gaga curated a selection of goods for sale at the site Not Just A Label. You can snap up her fringed lace half hat from the video for "Bad Romance" for a surprisingly reasonable £92, should you feel the need to dress like a deranged Spanish widow from 2078. [NJAL]
  • Malls in Dubai still seem busy, despite the debt crisis there. [WWD]
  • Hilary Rhoda will be in next year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. Friend-to-Jezebel Liz Glover recently interviewed the model and asked her about her shoot for last year's issue. "For a model, it is a major achievement and a business tactic to widen my fan base," said the Chevy Chase native, over e-mail. "I work out every day, and to have a strong body instead of something frail like in fashion magazines, that's something to look up to." Rhoda, of course, sometimes does appear in the pages of fashion magazines — she once made the cover of American Vogue. Could her athletic look gain high-fashion acceptance? We can dare to dream. [Washington Times]
  • Model Jamie Bochert recently ran 12 blocks to get her purse back from a robber. Now that's an athlete. Also she is in the new Lanvin campaign. [WWD]
  • Christian Siriano says his maternity line includes party dresses because, "When you're pregnant you still do the same things that you would normally do — go to events, baby showers and weddings. Not every brand does sweet, fun party dresses like this." [People]
  • Says Carmen Dell'Orefice, whose name this time Page Six spells correctly: "Sympathy I don't need. Another ad campaign would be great." Dell'Orefice lost most of her fortune in Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme. [P6]
  • More details have emerged about the fashion business incubator program launching soon in New York. Twelve lucky designers will be given the opportunity to rent studio space in the heart of the garment district for under market rates — around $1500 a month. The program is underwritten by a $200,000 grant from the New York City Economic Development Corporation and operated by the Council of Fashion Designers of America. The tenant designers will be announced this month. [FWD]
  • Because of dismal sales, Ben Sherman is shuttering its women's line. The company earlier this year stopped making children's wear. [WWD]
  • Nike's quarterly results for the period ended November 30 were only slightly down on last year's. Profits and sales at the world's largest sporting goods company each fell by 4%. [WSJ]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5429653&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Christina Shills For Karan; Target Sells Footie PJs For Adults]]>

  • A handbag will co-star with Christina Ricci in a "Donna Karan-friendly" film directed by Sting's son, Jake Sumner. So that's what we're calling "advertising that aspires to go viral" these days? [WWD]
  • Antonio Berardi says he was "seriously misquoted" in comments that cast aspersions on Lady Gaga and her music. The designer had been quoted as calling her music "meaningless" and stating that he had rejected an offer to work with the Lady on a clothing collection. The tone of these comments was considered a little odd, not least because Lady Gaga has worn Berardi's clothing on several occasions, including in her video for "Poker Face." Berardi now says: "Whilst musically I am more of a Black Angels man, I have a huge amount of respect for Lady Gaga and everything she has achieved." And the only reason they aren't doing a clothing line is that their schedules conflict. [Grazia]
  • Lisa Loeb is finally getting an eyewear deal! This should please my friend who dressed up as her for Halloween. [Racked]
  • Hublot and Depeche Mode are collaborating on a line of 12 watches. [WWD]
  • Rihanna rocks some fierce "couture military" looks in these stills from her upcoming video for "Hard." [Nitrolicious]
  • Michael Jackson's hat and loafers from a 2001 concert sold for £22,800 at auction yesterday, nearly double the estimated price. [Mirror]
  • As rumored, Jeffrey Monteiro will in fact be taking the design reigns at the much-revived, much-abandoned, house of Bill Blass. [NYTimes]
  • Puma is officially denying that it is courting Elin Nordegren for an endorsement deal. [AdAge]
  • Or perhaps she's hammering out a deal with the Swedish company Tretorn. [WWD]
  • Julia Restoin-Roitfeld and Daisy Lowe are two of the models featured in Esprit's American relaunch campaign. [Refinery29]
  • Fashion Bomb Daily rounded up Arlenis Sosa, Jourdan Dunn, Chanel Iman, and Sessilee Lopez's editorial work for the year, and calls them the new fashion dream team. It's an impressive collection: magazine covers, that bewitching Harlem Renaissance editorial for Harper's Bazaar, and plenty of jumping for Vogue. Let's hope fashion really has decided for good to finally make room for more than one black model at a time. [FashionBombDaily]
  • "I teach at three different colleges, and I am amazed how dressed up some of the students are. Girls still come in their hoodies and pajamas, but boys come in their suits," says eternal trend-piece quote-giver Marshal Cohen. Pray tell, what colleges are these that their men flout the walked-on-hem jeans and ballcap rule? [NYTimes]
  • Adriana Lima picked up a nice Miami beach house for a song: $9 million. [WSJ]
  • eLuxury is relaunching itself next year as a web magazine called Nowness. [Independent]
  • Wow. Someone made an Anna Wintour mouse. [The Cut]
  • Smythson, the luxury house that employs Samantha Cameron, wife of David Cameron, is now Italian-owned. [ToL]
  • New Balance and Louis Vuitton have settled their intellectual property lawsuit out of court; the terms are confidential. In September, New Balance accused the luxury company of making a $590 knockoff of one of its classic sneakers. [WWD]
  • Target sells footie pajamas in adult sizes. Could this be the ultimate proof of our cultural arrested development/fetishization of childhood? [FMMH]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5428768&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Madonna Fronts For D&G; Grace Coddington Discusses Lady Gaga's Pubic Hair]]>

  • Madonna goes all Italian neorealist for spring's Dolce & Gabbana campaign. You'd almost swear these images were by Vittorio de Sica, not Steven Klein. The advertising shots ran as editorial content "previewed" in Italian Vanity Fair. [Swide]
  • If you believe TMZ, Elin Nordegren might get back at Tiger in a way that would really hurt: by signing an endorsement deal with Puma. [TMZ]
  • Well, that's a twist: Ungaro's C.E.O. is resigning, while Lindsay Lohan will remain with the house that so controversially benefited from her pasty-designing prowess. [WWD]
  • Kimora Lee Simmons is not judging America's Next Top Model, not even as a guest, says her rep. [The Cut]
  • Saks informed 116 employees at its cosmetics and fragrance counters that the company is eliminating their jobs as soon as the holidays are over. The move comes just weeks after the employees had voted to unionize. Merry Christmas! [NYPost]
  • Rodarte's Kate and Laura Mulleavy just won the same $50,000 grant as Sapphire, author of Push. [WWD]
  • Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady have yet to settle on a name for their week-old baby. Gisele vetoed the one they had picked out two days before giving birth, and they haven't been together long enough since then to really talk about it, says Brady. His only conditions are that it be "a traditional name" and something he can pronounce. [People]
  • Zac Posen's collaboration with Target includes an actual gown that can be worn three ways, a tuxedo, and a red leather jacket. The print-heavy capsule collection will get the widest distribution of any Target designer collab yet. [Racked]
  • Draw on your clothes lots as a kid? A dress designed by Berber Soepboer and Michiel Schuurman comes with fabric markers so the owner can add color to the eye-catching black and white print. [Daily Mail]
  • Advertisements for Olay Definity eye cream featuring Twiggy were the subject of more than 700 public complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority in the U.K., and yesterday, those complaints were upheld. The government watchdog found the heavily retouched advertisement was "misleading." Proctor & Gamble, which owns the Olay brand, voluntarily withdrew the offending ad and replaced it with one they claim has had no post-production in the eye area. [BBC]
  • Biba is being revived. Again. [WWD]
  • American Apparel is getting into the nail polish business. "We think this nail polish captures what American Apparel is all about — a Made in the USA, high-quality product in a beautiful range of colors. It's a venture of families in manufacturing, from the factory in which the polish is made to the Nail Lacquer logo created by Dov's uncle, the noted graphic designer Israel Charney," says a spokesperson. The 18 shades are named things like "Factory Grey" and "Hassid" and, naturally, "Downtown LA," and they cost $6 a bottle. Expect memos from Dov about appropriate nail and toenail styles imminently, retail drones. [Blackbook]
  • Or you could buy this darling new shade of teal, called "Dickweed." [Refinery29]
  • Grace Coddington granted a surprisingly revealing interview to the Times of London — and lets slip that she originally proposed Susan Boyle to play the wicked witch in her recent Hansel and Gretel shoot. Anna Wintour nixed the idea and favored Lady Gaga, whom Coddington describes thusly: "She turned up in a white rubber coat, stark naked underneath. No buttons, nothing — and completely you know, shaved." That's right, we just read about Lady Gaga's pubic hair in the pages of a daily paper! Coddington discusses Wintour (they can't fight "like a married couple," Coddington says, because "my marriages haven't been that successful"), front-row fashion week punditry ("I'm not prepared to crush some poor designer who's just spent six months slaving over a collection. I think it's horrible and they all talk about themselves. Plus, the questions are so stupid"), and the car crash that happened in her early 20s ("I remember bleeding all over a policeman and apologising for the mess. I had this driving mirror sticking in my head. I got to the hospital and they started sewing me up. Then someone said, what do you do and I said I'm a model and they said, hang on a minute. They took out all the stitches and made them more fine. Isn't that terrible? Because as a young girl, wouldn't I want the best anyway?"). Coddington admits to favoring British models — Lily Cole, Karen Elson — and says that models these days become successful so early that she sometimes thinks they have "no personality." Then she alludes to working with Karlie Kloss: "I was working with a very successful one the other day and she told me her parents were coming to take her on a trip to the place she loved best. I thought, where's she going — Africa? It was Disney World. And I thought, ‘Good for you. You're still a child'." (Kloss went to Disney World with her parents for her 17th birthday.) Erin O'Connor chimes in to praise Coddington for her work, and for "getting it past the censors." [ToL]
  • Lacoste, via a new partnership, is planning to launch high-end handbags and accessories. [WWD]
  • Hermès and Gucci each hosted their own name-brand equestrian competitions in the same week. Can you say, "Attempt to appeal to some kind of presumably authentic brand heritage?" [IHT]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5427878&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Rachel McAdams Covers Vogue; Is Victoria Beckham Working On A Fur Line With Marc Jacobs?]]>

  • Rachel McAdams — with a mop of, dare we say it, could that be Kate G.-inspired hair — graces the January cover of Vogue. McAdams went to a couple fashion shows with Anna Wintour in September. [JustJared]
  • John Galliano is getting into the men's wear business. Not satisfied with Christian Dior, Dior Haute Couture, John Galliano, and Galliano, the British designer will present his first men's collection at men's wear week in Milan next month. There will be knitwear, leather, shirts, jackets, and jeans, and the pieces be available for sale in the fall. [FWD]
  • Sienna Miller was asked whether she was a fan of the January issue of V, which will feature plus-size models. "I suppose that's something you'd have to say — I couldn't sit here and say, 'No, I'm not,'" said the actress, who modeled briefly before switching codes. "But I sincerely believe that that's more beautiful than someone who is poker-thin. I really do. I would love to have boobs to go with my hips, but I don't — that's just not the way the cookie crumbled." [The Cut]
  • An LVMH executive tweeted today that Marc Jacobs and Victoria Beckham were talking together about a line with fur. [Fashionologie]
  • Britney Spears' upcoming Candie's campaign was shot this week by none other than Annie Leibovitz. That woman must be a total spendthrift to be bankrupt. [ONTD]
  • Alberta Ferretti, who normally shows her Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti collection at New York Fashion Week, is downsizing, probably to a presentation, for this February. Ferretti herself may not even make the trip from Milan. [FWD]
  • In case any of you were wondering: Those new Louis Vuitton ads that look kind of like low-rent Vermeers, and feature models doing leather work by hand with waxed linen thread? They are as fake as the pebble-finish coated canvas on a monogram bag. Louis Vuitton products are mass manufactured out of machine-cut pattern pieces by people at industrial sewing machines who do piecework. (Next up we plan to exclusively reveal that some of the cheese you eat may not, in fact, come from happy cows.) [BW]
  • Barneys New York's parent company, Dubai World, received a $10 billion loan from Abu Dhabi to solve a cash flow emergency. This is fueling speculation that Barneys may be sold, although insiders say no sale is imminent. [WWD]
  • More Michael Jackson memorabilia is hitting the auction circuit. Shoes which Michael Jackson moonwalked in for a concert on September 10, 2001, are being sold off along with a fedora from the same gig. [Mirror]
  • After leaving fashion, Georges Marciano of Guess? jeans fame engaged in a kind of epic crack-up. He once dreamed of becoming governor of California, but his own paranoia, and a series of lawsuits, have him poised to lose a $500 million empire. [LATimes]
  • Some people with too much time on their hands scoured The Fashion Spot, counting editorial models in the various world editions of Vogue for 2009. 17-year-old Karlie Kloss, reigning favorite of American Vogue and Vogue Italia, won; Carine Roitfeld's model of choice, Lara Stone, came in second. Jourdan Dunn, who spent nine months of this year pregnant, still managed to come in ninth. [Fashin]
  • Nylon managed to say some nice things about the Olsen twins' JC Penney line, Olsenboye. Despite the fact that one of the pieces is a direct knock-off of Stephen Sprouse's graffiti pieces for Louis Vuitton. [Nylon]
  • Same-store sales at H&M fell 9% on last year this November, marking the seventh straight month of falling comparable sales at the Swedish chain. [WSJ]
  • Executives from Kohl's came to New York last week to look for real estate for what would be the company's first Manhattan location. Then New Yorkers could shop Lauren Conrad's collection in person! [WWD]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5426867&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Lady Gaga Sells Lipstick With Cyndi Lauper; Nike Calls Tiger's Infidelities "A Minor Blip"]]>

  • Helena Christensen protested in Copenhagen this weekend. In quieter times, she reads the dictionary to expand her English vocabulary. And she's one of those people about text messages: "I get obsessed with spelling. I make every text message I send correct in punctuation," explains the Danish supermodel. "I am super-fastidious about certain things." [Daily Express]
  • Phil Knight is standing by Tiger Woods. The scandal-plagued golfer's endorsement deal with Nike is worth a reported $30 million annually; Knight admitted doing a background check on Woods before signing him. "He came out clean," the company founder said. [Reuters]
  • It has been confirmed that André Leon Talley is a new judge for the whole next cycle of America's Next Top Model. Kimora Lee Simmons is only a guest judge. It's puzzling that Vogue would want to touch anything in Tyra Banks' smizing empire with a bargepole, but it'll be great to see André's judicial robes on nighttime television. (Also: I would leave New Zealand only for Tyra et al. to set off there. They are shooting the CoverGirl challenge today in Half Moon Bay, apparently.) [TVNZ]
  • Christian Lacroix has designed new uniforms for 20,000 French railway employees. They are grey and purple. Few more of these gigs and he'll have his couture business back in no time. [WWD]
  • "I've struggled with it! I've struggled with that. I've struggled with that," says Tom Ford, on the luxury culture of insatiable accretion, and charging $75 for socks."Just because one is spiritual doesn't mean one doesn't like crocodile, cashmere. We live in a material world." [TDB]
  • To produce its fashion show, Victoria's Secret allegedly filled half a city block with noisy generators that ran 24 hours a day for over a week. This disturbed the sleep of nearby residents, including those at a home for people with HIV. Michael Musto's anonymous source claims that the company, which coincidentally finally broadcast its show on World AIDS Day, had to offer the residents a cash settlement. [Village Voice]
  • Serena Williams returns to the Home Shopping Network to sell her line of clothing today. Last time the tennis star did the HSN rounds, her goods sold out in under three hours. How? "Everything in the collection is under $100," Williams explains. "And everything you get from me [is] great quality. I think for those prices and [this] quality, it is a no-brainer." Do you hear that? A no-brainer. It's not buying her clothes that really defies explanation. [People]
  • The family that owns Salvatore Ferragamo bought a decrepit estate with a vineyard in Tuscany in 1993. The restoration process now complete, Ferragamo is now introducing four wines into the U.S. market, ranging in price from $15-$80 per bottle. They do not carry the family name trademark, because that would be so vulgar. [BW]
  • Project Runway alumnus Rami Kashou has been dressing Queen Rania of Jordan. His spring collection is partly inspired by Frank Gehry. [LATimes]
  • Knitwear designer Carmen Colle's lawsuit against Chanel has been thrown out by a Paris court. Colle's company, World Tricot, which designs new knitting and crochet patterns for various designer clients to incorporate into their runway looks, sued Chanel in 2004 when she spied a Chanel coat made from what she alleged was a World Tricot crochet pattern that Chanel had rejected, and never paid for. But it wasn't all bad news for Colle. World Tricot also sued for breach of contract, after Chanel abruptly stopped patronizing the house. Chanel countersued for besmirching its good name by bringing the suit at all. The court found World Tricot was owed €400,000 for the breach of contract, and it also found that Chanel was owed €200,000 for "commercial prejudice." World Tricot may appeal the forgery ruling. [WSJ]
  • Jason Wu was asked if he was for or against brunch. "Pro, but only if it's after 1:30," the designer responded. Who the hell is against brunch? [TFI]
  • Christopher Kane clarifies his earlier statements about not liking fashion blogs because designers have little to no control over what they publish. Now he says blogs can be fine, so long as they're not "critical" or "negative": "You're allowed to say what you want but sometimes the blogs that you read are really negative and that's what I meant to say really. Sometimes it's too negative for my liking and I think maybe they could give someone a compliment or say something nice. But bloggers nowadays seem to be a bit negative...but when it gets to someone's work and they're being critical, it's like ‘Give them a break'." [Grazia]
  • Unilever has suspended its relationship with a palm oil supplier after Greenpeace alleged that the supplier was not harvesting its oil sustainably. Palm oil is a key ingredient in many cosmetics, but deforestation and environmental destruction can result when farmers slash and burn forests to plant palms. [WWD]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5425958&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Sarah Palin Gets Fleeced; Roberto Cavalli Enjoys "Primitive" Africa]]>

  • Sir Elton John is selling — completely fabulous, no doubt — designer clothes from his wardrobe for the benefit of his AIDS foundation. Prices start at £10. [Vogue UK]
  • Michelle Obama wore Calvin Klein collection in Oslo. [WWD]
  • Antonio Berardi is too cool to collaborate with Lady Gaga. "I was approached to design a clothing range with Lady Gaga but I knocked it back because I wasn't interested in someone whose music is meaningless," says the Italian-born designer. This, from a man who designed heel-less heels? [SN]
  • "Women have many lives in a day, and I try to do the best I can to accommodate that. If I have a meeting at my son's school, I don't want to look like a total fashion freak. I think, ‘Could I wear this to Trader Joe's?'" Ever sensible, that Maria Cornejo. [WWD]
  • Isaac Mizrahi is returning as the Narrator in the Guggenheim's holiday production of Peter and the Wolf. [NYP]
  • Could Taylor Lautner be the latest face of Armani? [InTouch]
  • Roberto Cavalli, when not lending his name to opulent Dubai nightclubs with black crystal floors, apparently likes to jet off to Africa and take pictures. Now he wants nothing more than to exhibit them, he told Martha Stewart, and the Daily, yesterday. "I love shooting primitive and simple things," explained Cavalli. You know. Primitive. Like Africa. [Vogue UK]
  • P. Diddy visited the New York Stock Exchange for a party celebrating AOL's re-listing as a separate company from TimeWarner, and was apparently inundated with requests for fashion advice from finance chaps. [NYDN]
  • A The Sartorialist clothing line and a The Sartorialist television show are just two of the many projects Scott Schuman is discussing presently. [Pedestrian]
  • Versace's spring shoes are insane. Normally the shoes that actually enter production are watered-down versions of the sky-high runway clodhoppers; these look like they're one and the same. [TheLifeFiles]
  • Jil Sander's second +J collection for Uniqlo will hit stores January 14. In the meantime, here are a few pictures. [Nitrolicious]
  • Alexa Chung's MTV show, It's On With Alexa Chung, will end after its season finale on December 17. The network plans to "revamp" the show's format for next January; MTV has already shortened it from one hour to 30 minutes, and experimented with the timeslot. Chung's contract with the company runs through early next year. [Variety]
  • At worst, Chung can console herself with the knowledge that she has inspired a Mulberry bag of her very own. The Alexa is a twist on the company's popular Bayswater, and starts at £695. [Elle UK]
  • Yesterday, we linked to a Daily Mail story that stated Mulberry's sales had jumped 16% in the six months to September 30. Well, we ought to have known better than to trust that rag for financial news: although profits at the company rose 16%, sales rose a whopping 39%. [Vogue UK]
  • Mango opened its first store in Iraq. [FWD]
  • "I get my best ideas when I'm in the bath in the morning or when I'm driving," says accessories designer Lulu Guinness. [WWD]
  • Lily Cole, on modeling versus acting: "I look at myself differently. I think in magazines I don't have very much control. If a picture of me is great, then great. If it's not so good, it's not my fault. I have less control in that situation. That is one of the things that I like about acting: I do have a lot more control over what I'm doing and more responsibility." [Interview]
  • As part of her Vogue/CFDA Fashion Fund award, Sophie Théallet will be mentored by none other than Oscar de la Renta. [WWD]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5424270&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Another Supermodel Welcomes A Son; Karen Elson Falls Off A Stage]]>

  • Jourdan Dunn, 19, has given birth to a baby boy with her boyfriend of five years. She memorably walked the runway for Jean-Paul Gaultier at seven months. [Vogue UK]
  • Gisele and Tom Brady might name their newborn son Gabriel. [P6]
  • Last night at the British Fashion Awards, Karen Elson strolled on stage to present a prize — and promptly stepped right into an orchestra pit. She fell four feet. (Kind of like that one time she fell on the runway at Zac Posen, but worse.) She picked herself and got back on stage to say, "I am the clumsiest person on this earth. I cannot believe I just did that. That is the worst fall I have ever had. I might have broken a rib, but I'm fine." [Telegraph]
  • For a play-by-play of the night, Elle's got you covered. [UK Elle]
  • Dita von Teese: "I also used clothes as a way to counteract my extreme shyness when I was younger. I wore a lot of extravagant vintage hats, which can make people somewhat intimidated. I think people will only approach if they have something very, very interesting to say to the girl in the outrageous hat!" [People]
  • Terrell Owens has signed with Wilhelmina Models to pursue endorsement contracts. [AP]
  • Martin Margiela, whose departure from Maison Martin Margiela was finally confirmed yesterday, was spotted shopping for a home in Los Angeles. [Fashionologie]
  • Vogue Brazil — long the poor relation in the Vogue family, with, if you can believe it, an even greater propensity for jumping model/white background editorials than the American pendant — convinced Alber Elbaz to guest-art direct a stunning cover, and a fashion story inside. The results are lovely. [MadeinBrazil]
  • Burberry will again show its women's collection at London Fashion Week in February. Until the LFW 25th anniversary last September, the brand's regular venue of choice had been Milan. [WWD]
  • Today in off-beat holiday gifts: The Marc Jacobs skate deck. It's Canadian maple, people! [FWD]
  • Betsey Johnson, for her part, would be satisfied with "a hot new lover." [WWD]
  • Perhaps better than Barneys' "Saturday Night Live" seasonal windows is this offering from Moschino. The holidays are a time we all wish we could be in therapy, apparently. [FabSugar]
  • Jason Wu is moving his West 37th studio to a bigger space. "When I first moved in there I painted the walls myself, it was very personal, I was like 'this place is so big, I'm never going to outgrow it'. Then we outgrew it," says Wu. Since the recognition that designing Michelle Obama's inauguration ball gown brought, he has also increased his output to four collections a year — spring/summer, pre-fall, fall/winter, and resort. "We need four seasons a year to keep the store stocked," explains Wu. [Yahoo!]
  • Douglas Hannant, who has not benefitted from Mrs. Obama's sartorial munificence, explained his earlier reported comment ("Michelle Obama is not the next Jackie O") thusly: "I did say 'Michelle Obama is not another Jackie Kennedy and I do not consider to be a style icon.' But in addition, I also said 'she has so much more to her and has mass appeal. I admire her as a role model and think she will achieve great things in her position as First Lady.' And by the way, I voted for Obama." [The Cut]
  • In other political fashion news, Hillary Clinton presented Blake Mycoskie of Tom's Shoes with this year's Award for Corporate Excellence. For every pair of Tom's Shoes purchased, two more pairs are donated to needy children around the world. As Mycoskie said at a gala for an entirely different ACE award earlier this year, "Shoes, for 40 percent of the world, are not an accessory. They're a necessity." [Blackbook]
  • Naturally, as gigantic arena rock-star fashion shows become the norm, since fashion shows are more about generating publicity than they are about selling to store buyers and editors, more brands are taking the next logical step: making their fashion shows public, on the Internet. [Time]
  • Adidas is entering the performance outerwear market. Which is a fancy way of saying: They're gonna make some jackets. [BW]
  • Despite the recession, Mulberry's sales rose 16% in the six months to September 30. Naturally the Daily Mail uses this as an opportunity to run a bunch of pictures of celebrities carrying Mulberry bags, and ponder the wastefulness of women. [Daily Mail]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5423335&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Gisele Spawns Baby Boy; Counterfeit Crackdown Hits Canal Street]]>

  • Naomi Campbell might do a modeling reality show in the U.K. Then she and Tyra would really have something to fight about. "Naomi has been approached with an offer, which we are talking about and discussing," says her spokesperson, somewhat redundantly. [UK Vogue]
  • Executives at Maison Martin Margiela have confirmed that the Belgian designer, famous for his closely guarded privacy and his avant-garde designs, has left the house he founded and later sold to Diesel. Margiela's presence or absence at the house had long been a subject of speculation, with most fashion commentators, including us, operating on the understanding that Margiela the person was gone, but this confirmation comes with a twist: Diesel will not be hiring anyone to take Margiela's place. (Haider Ackermann and Raf Simons had been mentioned as potential replacements.) The design work will continue to be spearheaded by the 28-strong creative team, saving the house the expense of a "name" creative director. Will this work? Fashion design is a collective effort — all designers rely heavily on their creative teams for the generation, not just the execution, of ideas — but fashion observers yearn for an identifiable individual (even one who is rarely seen in public) to pin their criticism on. [IHT]
  • Yesterday morning, police executed raids on 30 businesses on Canal Street in Chinatown, long a hotbed of counterfeiting. The Cut snapped a photo of what a shop without its imitation Coach and Prada goods looks like: basically a particleboard shell with racks and cases. "It's time to take back the streets of New York," said a police officer. Could this be the start of a crackdown? [The Cut]
  • The counterfeit goods seized, including perfumes and handbags, filled an entire trailer. The sting was the result of a month long investigation carried out by the police and a private firm called Counter Tech. Officers made controlled buys of the imitation goods, which bore the trademarks of companies like Cartier, Gucci, Tiffany, and Chanel, and then used those goods to obtain search warrants. Investigators noted that during the five weeks they observed Canal Street, there seemed to be more foot traffic in the stalls than ever before. [WWD]
  • Apparently pointing out that Michelle Obama "is not the next Jackie O" is enough to count as evil, unthinkable "sniping." Designer Douglas Hannant allegedly said this perfectly reasonable thing — Michelle Obama and Jackie Kennedy-Onassis are different women who had different roles in public life even if they shared a position, and all the Obama/Kennedy comparisons are a tad trite — and people gasped. [P6]
  • Vogue is doing a shoot with fashion bloggers. Somehow our invitation must have gotten lost in the post! There are allegedly seven bloggers involved, and only three of them have been named: Tommy Ton of Jak & Jil, BryanBoy, and Todd Selby of The Selby. Who are the others? Garance Doré recently mentioned losing weight thanks to Anna Wintour in New York, and Tavi Gevinson certainly merits inclusion. Seeing the women behind Refinery29 would also be great (although they were just in Elle). But how much do you wanna bet it'll just be Julia Frakes and Sea of Shoes again? [Fashionista]
  • Speaking of Tavi: She plays a prominent role in this video about the Rodarte for Target collection. You won't spend a better 2:37 today than watching Tavi interview Elijah Wood and Jason Schwartzman at the Rodarte show, or seeing the Target ad shoot in surprisingly picturesque North Dakota. [Style.com]
  • And Tavi is now writing for Harper's Bazaar. [WWD]
  • Just what you needed for the holidays: A $3,000 Judith Leiber Hello Kitty clutch. [Racked]
  • Tamara Mellon went out to the premiere of A Single Man after trouncing her mother, Ann Yeardre, in a legal battle. Mellon, the owner of Jimmy Choo, won a $10 million settlement against Yeardre after some Jimmy Choo shares were mistakenly transferred to Yeardre, and she refused to give them back. [P6]
  • The spring Louis Vuitton campaign has leaked. Lara Stone's position, reclining on dark, mossy grass, with white doves and, duh, handbags, looks like a friendlier revision of editorials done by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, one earlier this year for Vogue and the other in 2007, for W. The ads were shot by Steven Meisel. [Blackbook]
  • After auctioning off all his and Yves Saint Laurent's artworks and household goods, Pierre Bergé is putting their 5,400 square foot Paris apartment on the market. It has a garden roughly equal in size, and is expected to sell for around $30 million. [WWD]
  • Curious about who the most powerful 25 people in British fashion are? Well now you can find out. Good to know the British Fashion Council's on top of this stuff. [Telegraph]
  • Carolina Herrera is opening her first freestanding store on Madison Avenue. [WWD]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5422476&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Victoria Beckham Expands Her Reach; Valentino Doc Financed On Credit Cards]]>

  • Victoria Beckham opens up to Women's Wear Daily about everything from the childhood bullying she endured to why she couldn't bring herself to tell Marc Jacobs she was starting a fashion line. Clearly, someone wants to be Taken Seriously:
  • And Beckham sure is a busy woman these days. Not only is she judging American Idol next month, bu she recently redesigned her denim and sunglass lines, after taking them in-house (the innovations she came up with include square rivets). And she chaperones school field trips in her (limited, we imagine) spare time. When she moved into fashion, people were derisive — surely she was just another celebrity cashing in on the brand of her self. But perhaps we got it wrong? "There have been people that have wanted to knock me that haven't been able to because they haven't been able to argue with the quality or the sell-throughs," says the star, who moves about $7.5 million worth of products a year. "I've always been driven. I was mentally and physically bullied when I was at school and that gave me a very thick skin.…The only reason for me bringing that up is I have always been a fighter." [WWD]
  • Yet somehow we're still happier for this Bronx priest, Father Andrew O'Connor, whose sustainable cotton clothing line was worn by Cameron Diaz in Vogue and is now selling extremely well. A chance encounter set the wheels in motion: "I was helping a young woman and her fiancé prepare for their marriage," explains Father O'Connor, "and she said I'm an editor at Vogue; I'd really like to see your clothing line." In the resultant issue, Anna Wintour herself wrote in her Editor's letter, "the neat pair of checked shorts from the charitably minded fashion company Goods of Conscience [is] my personal favorite." The profits from the line fund domestic violence initiatives in the Bronx, and support the native Guatemalan communities where the fabric is woven. [NYDN]
  • Matt Tyrnauer tells the long, horrifying, funny, and strange story of making and distributing a documentary film about a subject who could be — a little difficult. And Tyrnauer financed the film by taking out credit cards with 0% introductory APRs. Whenever Giancarlo Giammetti inquired about the production's cashflow, Tyrnauer would reply, "It's fully financed by a bank called Capital One." Valentino: The Last Emperor is now shortlisted for a Best Documentary Oscar. [TDB]
  • Two men were found guilty of stealing more than £4 million worth of Cartier jewelry from an airport warehouse in 2001. They had apparently gotten away with it, but were found out when their third accomplice, a contestant on a reality TV series about cooking made by Jamie Oliver, contacted police to confess the crime last year. [BBC]
  • Tune in tomorrow to watch Tom Ford on the Martha Stewart Show. Then on Thursday, Roberto Cavalli takes his mark at Martha's kitchen island. [Glamchic]
  • Louis Vuitton's spring campaign does in fact feature Lara Stone, the company has confirmed. The Dutch model was shot in a pastoral studio set with white doves and handbags nestled into moss by Steven Meisel. [WWD]
  • The February release of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland will be heralded in Paris by a display of one-off Alice-inspired dresses by designers Ann Demeulemeester, Christopher Kane, Alexander McQueen, and Martin Margiela (or at least whoever it is who designs under Martin Margiela's name these days) at the Printemps department store. [Elle UK]
  • Daphne Guinness has officially moved from being Steven Klein's unpaid muse to his paid one. The heiress is featured in the spring Akris campaign. [WWD]
  • Coach has filed more than 100 lawsuits against retailers it suspects of selling counterfeit Coach goods in 2009, including several lawsuits in Texas. Even though selling counterfeited goods is a criminal offense, the lawsuits are civil, because the fashion company wants the court to file injunctions against the offending retailers. One manager of a Fort Worth store named in the suit says, "I didn't know it was wrong." [DN]
  • Barneys is looking to open its first Brooklyn Barneys Co-Op, most likely in Cobble Hill. [Crains]
  • And in other retail news, the Chelsea Filene's Basement on the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 18th Street will close this March, after the company was unable to renegotiate the terms of its lease. Seventy-five employees will be affected; the company could not say whether or not the workers would be transferred to Filene's other New York stores. It is looking for a new location nearby. [Crains]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5421558&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Diane Kruger New Face Of L'Oréal; Christian Siriano Does Maternity Wear;]]>

  • Diane Kruger nabbed a L'Oréal contract. [Elle UK]
  • And yes, Siriano provides the contractually-obligated fierceness. [Racked]
  • Asked to nominated a 21st Century "heroine" by Harper's Bazaar magazine, Sarah Brown chose Naomi Campbell, for her work with women's charities. Brown calls the supermodel "impatient in a good way." [Guardian]
  • Iman says David Bowie loves SoHo. "It's a perfect place for my husband," says the cosmetics company owner/legendary model. "Everyone's dressed better than he is, and they all think they're stars — so no one bothers him!" [TheMoment]
  • The Stockholm department store that was set to carry NoKo jeans — the only jeans made in North Korea, by a trio of Swedish entrepreneurs who convinced the communist regime to allow production of its $215 jeans — decided at the last minute to back out. [AP]
  • "Chanel in Shanghai: China goes from Mao to wow." No, that's the headline, really. [Telegraph]
  • "Within East Africa, Kenyans are renowned for being the worst dressed." And, sadly, the photos accompanying this story are not helping. [BBC]
  • Christopher Bailey, the Burberry creative director, went to Buckingham Palace to pick up his MBE for services to the fashion industry. [Elle UK]
  • Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons — the label White House social secretary Desiree Rogers wore to the state dinner — has designed a limited edition Barbie dress. Comme des Garçons Barbie looks surprisingly normal, and costs £225. [DazedDigital]
  • Christian Louboutin's Barbie, and her four not-sold-separately plastic Louboutin shoes, goes for a mere $150. That would be the Barbie Louboutin redesigned to eliminate her cankles. [People]
  • Oh, look: Someone from the Daily Mail went to cover the Elite Model Look competition and forgot to Google Gérald Marie. [Daily Mail]
  • Gucci is opening its third Indian store, in New Delhi, through a company the brand owns in partnership with two local entrepreneurs. Previous stores in India were franchises. [WWD]
  • Vans and Robert Crumb are doing a collaboration. Two of Crumb's legendarily skeevy cartoon characters will adorn Vans sneakers, for $52-$60. [Independent]
  • The Australian wool industry was supposed to end the practice of mulesing — amputating excess skin from lambs' hindquarters to prevent painful and life-threatening maggot infestations — by 2010. Having failed to do so, the Gap has bowed to PETA's pressure and announced it will stop sourcing wool from Australia. [PETA]
  • Lord & Taylor has agreed to ban raccoon dog fur from its stores after the Humane Society filed a lawsuit against the company for mislabeling some fur garments. [WWD]
  • Ksubi is in trouble over allegations of animal cruelty at one of its events in Sydney. Forty white homing pigeons were hired by the brand as live party props, and at least one died. [DailyTelegraph]
  • What what what? Zappos is launching a printed catalog. Isn't that like going back in time? [NYTimes]
  • Macy's will roughly triple the number of Sunglass Hut outposts in its department stores over the next year. [Crains]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5420586&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Pretty Woman Makes Money; Sephora Soon To Hit Vending Machines]]>

  • Julia Roberts will become a face of Lancôme, appearing in ads beginning early next year. Roberts earns up to $20 million per film, and could realize a similar amount from her first major beauty contract; the company won't say. [WWD]
  • Kate Moss so admired a fellow wedding guest's bracelet that her friend, Topshop owner Sir Philip Green, bought it off the woman's wrist. [P6]
  • David Lynch is directing the next Marion Cotillard Dior handbag ad, and he's filming her in Shanghai right now. The video is intended to continue the story of the noirish, Hitchcockian ad by Olivier Dahan the company released in May. [Elle UK]
  • Christian Lacroix has announced that he will not be involved with any of parent company the Falic Group's future projects for his namesake label, which was this week allowed to be reduced to a licensing operation by a Paris bankruptcy court. Lacroix had not been paid by Falic since the fall of 2008. The French minister of industry thinks the closure of the house of Lacroix is a travesty. He is trying to use diplomatic networks to contact the most interested-seeming buyer, an Emirate sheikh, "to alert him of the urgency of the situation." [WWD]
  • Police acting on a tip raided two Detroit area stores selling counterfeit Gucci, Coach, and Polo clothing and accessories. (One had what it claimed was a $4,000 jacket on sale for $700.) The seized goods would have retailed for about $800,000, had they been genuine. [UPI]
  • Silvia Fendi — the lady behind the baguette and the spy and the B Fendi bags — designed new guitars for OK Go to take on tour. The tricked-out Gibsons feature white leather, rivets, and goat fur, and, for that extra special touch, a red-and-green LED panel that flashes with the band's lyrics. "Any time an ‘F' appears in their lyrics, it's our double-F logo," says the bag lady. We need a picture of these guitars pronto. [WWD]
  • Proenza Schouler has added e-commerce to its website, Proenzaschouler.com. [Vogue UK]
  • Sephora is going to roll out 20 cosmetics vending machines to small J.C. Penney stores that lack full-service Sephora counters. Each machine will offer 50 of the makeup retailer's most popular products. How space-age. [WWD]
  • Bottega Veneta is getting into the fragrance game. Expect the first perfume to launch in 2011. [WWD]
  • André Leon Talley re-arranged a trip to China to attend the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's opening night. Though in his words he would not presume to dance, Talley did express a willingness to go horse riding, some day: "Because the man and the horse are ballet. The communication between the man and the horse in a race, that's sort of a little dance." [The Cut]
  • For some reason, it is considered news that Marc Jacobs gave Will Smith a bunch of free clothes to wear during the presentation of the Nobel Prizes in Oslo. You'd almost think Smith was the laureate. [WWD]
  • Aw, watching Oprah can make Chris Benz cry. [TFI]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5418952&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Lily Allen Quits Music For Fashion; Obama Breaks With Presidential Dress Code]]>

  • Lily Allen told a British radio show that she is quitting performing for two years to open a boutique called Lucy In Disguise. She's also going to found a record label. [Elle UK]
  • President Obama wore a parka to visit the Great Wall of China. "The jacket has a fleece bib and removable bucket hood, suggesting that President likes his jackets as he likes his health care bills: riddled with options," notes Women's Wear Daily. [WWD]
  • Michaele Salahi wore David Yurman jewelry to that little party she crashed about a week back, if you care. [WWD]
  • Japanese outfit Cross Company has bought a majority stake in Thom Browne. Which makes a certain kind of sense, since Browne's aesthetic certainly is well-suited to Japan. Haha, 'suited,' see what we did there? Sorry. Anyway, how much money Browne got to part with his controlling stake was not disclosed, and they plan to open a flagship in Japan next year. [WWD]
  • Cathy Horyn, on the closure of Christian Lacroix's couture and ready-to-wear lines: "I remember taking my mother, Nancy Horyn, to the Paris ready-to-wear shows in March of 1990. She saw three — Valentino, Romeo Gigli and Lacroix. She was utterly enchanted by Gigli; it was the season of the celebrated Murano glass collection. She didn't really care for Valentino; it was, you know, not her thing. She adored Lacroix. The show that season was held in the house, on those beautiful banquettes, so it was a different experience, more like a couture presentation. Before the show we stood in the little courtyard of the house, on the steps going up to the salon, and my mother asked about so-and-so, curious about their style of dress or exceedingly impulsive hairdo. It probably all seemed very urgent, though I imagine not in the least to her." [On The Runway]
  • Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone closed on a nice little love nest in the Village for $10.4 million. It has a private elevator, yard, roof terrace, and a rear terrace. [P6]
  • Anthropologie is moving into the Chelsea Market, at the corner of 15th Street and Ninth Avenue in New York City. [NYPost, second item]
  • British designer Christopher Kane isn't having any of this Tommy-Ton-in-the-front-row nonsense: "It's a bit mad, isn't it? It feels like it's happened all of a sudden and at some shows this season the front row was just all bloggers. I think it will die down though, and people know what they are doing. No one who wants to read a serious review of a show is going to look at what a 14-year-old thinks. But it has become more critical; people can say what they want about anyone on a blog without consequences and that's quite scary. There are real repercussions for a designer if a photo of something is leaked by a blog; it can be copied in a fortnight and that can really harm a business." [Vogue UK]
  • Dior Homme is launching a line of women's jeans. Women with the means to do so have been wearing Dior Homme's slim cut suits ever since Hedi Slimane was designing pants so sexy the darts alone could make you weak at the knees. Could the specifically-for-women versions be any better than those? [Vogue UK]
  • You can buy Joan Collins' Dynasty costumes — along with Shirley Bassey's YSL heels — at a charity pop-up store in London, opening tomorrow. [Elle UK]
  • Tom Ford smells like vanilla and has not only a Best Side but a Best Angle. He says things like, "I think of myself as a product." [NYTimes]
  • Cathy Horyn likes his movie, A Single Man. [On The Runway]
  • The Wall Street Journal investigates the peculiar and specific humiliation of having your once-treasured and still-fashionable clothing picked through by a snarky 19-year-old clerk at Buffalo Exchange, and found wanting. Word to the wise, as someone who used to make food and rent money by re-selling the designer "trade" I was usually "paid" in — and by scouring the $1 rag markets in LA for Lacoste sweaters and old prom dresses I could launder, repair and re-sell: Buffalo Exchange's prices are shit. They do not care if your shoes are thrice-worn Prada; they will offer you $9 for them. If you do not have the patience for eBay, go to Wasteland, if you're on the West Coast. If you're anywhere else, sew in some labels from your dad's old designer ties. Duh. [WSJ]
  • Liliane Bettencourt's daughter has filed a civil case to declare L'Oreal heiress Bettencourt, the richest woman in Europe, incapable of managing her own affairs. Bettencourt gave a reported $1.5 billion worth of cash and artworks to a photographer friend, François-Marie Banier, who is already the subject of a criminal case for "abus de faiblesse," or taking advantage of the infirm. Liliane Bettencourt's lawyers reject both of the daughter's cases as an attempt to seize control of Bettencourt's assets. [Reuters]
  • Someone you have never heard of before and will never hear of again was in the Victoria's Secret fashion show because she won a competition on the Internet. [AP]
  • Aeropostale's third-quarter profit grew by 47% over last year's results. Same-store sales for November were up 7%, and black Friday weekend sales rose 10% on last year. Quarterly earnings were $62.6 million. [WSJ]
  • Competitor Abercrombie & Fitch reported a 17% slide in same-store sales for the month of November. Analysts had expected only a 9% drop. The company's Hollister stores saw same-store sales declines of 23%. [TS]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5418033&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Whitney Disses Lauren; Maria Sharapova Wants A Clothing Line]]>

  • AIDS prevention is a cause dear to Carla Bruni's heart. Her brother, Virginio, died of the disease in 2006, and she told French television yesterday that working in fashion in the 1980s, the disease was omnipresent. "The fashion world was hit head-on by the AIDS pandemic," she said. "It really did lose members of its family." Bruni is now an ambassador with the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB, and malaria, and yesterday the Elysée Palace was festooned for the first time with red ribbons. [AFP]
  • A fan named Diane called in to P. Diddy's Home Shopping Network show Monday night. "I'm so nervous!" she squealed. "Don't be nervous," replied the suave object of her affections. "I wish I could just jump through the screen and give you a hug, girl." [The Cut]
  • Alber Elbaz designed some sweet heart-shaped Lanvin stamps, covered with his doodles, for the French postal service. [WWD]
  • Maria Sharapova would like a fashion line, just as soon as she's finished kicking everyone's asses on the court. [Reuters]
  • Liberty of London is taking its gorgeous William Morris aesthetic to the masses: it's partnering up with Target. [WWD]
  • John Galliano not only designed a gorgeous Christmas tree that looks right out of a Hokusai print: it will be installed at the Claridge's hotel in a constellation of 20 of his haute-couture dresses. Swoon. [Telegraph]
  • If Simon Doonan wanted a crowd, he should have gone the way of XOXO's flagship, which features a rotating cast of two female models paid to dress and undress in front of a glass window on 5th Avenue. The creative director who came up with the concept, in case you're wondering, is a woman. [CNN]
  • Mango inked a deal with J.C. Penney. The Spanish brand has 1,200 stores worldwide, but only 12 in the U.S., so their distribution in this country has just officially mushroomed. [Crains]
  • Carmen Dell'Orefice is working on a coffee table book of photography, scheduled for release on her 80th birthday. This story is funny mainly for how the Post mangles her name. Carmen De L'Orifice, indeed. [P6]
  • Jil Sander's latest jewelry collection, made with Damiani, is out. "Jil Sander, even being considered as the brand of pureness, can create a product category such as jewelry," sniffed creative director Raf Simons. Prices start at around €890 for the baubles; Jil Sander watches are coming in the spring. [Independent]
  • Seamstresses and designers who were employed in Christian Lacroix's workshop were yesterday told they had lost their jobs, following the court ruling that the bankrupt house could be transformed into a licensing operation. Dressmaker Nadia Schoope said, "I didn't think it would finish like that. I can't understand how a house like Lacroix cannot draw buyers." Monika Soszynska, who worked in couture accessories, said, "It's surreal, we can't believe that it's stopping, it's not possible. I can't believe we won't be doing the next haute couture collection." [ToL]
  • H&M wants to open home stores. The Swedish retailer, which has been plagued by declining sales, opened 240 stores this year. [WWD]
  • Dockers thinks the tag line "Behold the second dawn of man" will move some khaki pants. Global marketing vice president Jennifer Sey tells BrandWeek about the genesis of the campaign: "We started to do some research. In today's world, men have lost a bit of footing, in part because women have come so far, but we also found a few surprising facts: Eighty-percent of those who suffered unemployment in the last year were men. Women outnumber men in the workforce now. But the most surprising fact of all was that men's testosterone levels have been dropping by a percentage point a year for the last 20 years. All these factors add to up say, 'Wow, men are struggling in today's world.'" She's not trying to sell pants with pathetic anti-feminist rhetoric, she's just trying to "inspire today's men to be men," ladies. [BW]
  • Roland Mouret has a capsule collection for Net-A-Porter on sale now. The seven lovely silk dresses come in seven bright colors, and cost $1,495-$3,070. [WWD]
  • The fate of all Victoria's Secret diamond-encrusted bras is to be dismantled for parts. Because nobody ever buys them. [WSJ]
  • Christian Louboutin, on Jennifer Lopez's single, "Louboutins" — which name-checks his brand 45 times, yes, he counted: "Jennifer told me about the song back in January, and I was extremely flattered. But of course, in America the public pronounces my name in like a million different ways. So Jennifer called me, and she was like, 'Listen, I want to make sure that I get it right.' And she did...from the very first time! I know the song by heart now. Because the brilliant part of the single is that it's not about me. It's about a girl and her shoe. When something is so in mass culture and you have almost nothing to do with it, it's kind of cool. It's weird but not disagreeable." [FWD]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5417090&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Lacroix Is Dead; Watch Out, Kelly Cutrone Is Coming]]>

  • A French bankruptcy court has backed a plan that will cut 90% of Christian Lacroix's staff, and reduce the 22-year-old house to a licensing operation. [ToL]
  • None other than Simon Doonan is decorating the White House for Christmas. [NYTimes]
  • Speaking of the Obamas: Naeem Khan made not one but five dresses for Michelle Obama to consider for the state dinner last week. "It took 10 people three weeks to make the embroidery," says the Indian-born designer. The dresses were made in America, but the beading came from India. [W]
  • The point of this story seems to be: Rihanna has changed her style remarkably since she started entertaining us with song. [CNN]
  • Tiger Woods may still be wanted for questioning by the Florida Highway Patrol, but Nike is emphatically standing by their $40-million star. [WWD]
  • Kate Hudson loved the costumes in her movie Nine, set in 1960s Italy like its progenitor, 8 1/2, because the period fabulousness reminded her of watching her mother get dressed as a little girl. [UPI]
  • Catherine McNeil's Australian Vogue comeback cover is out. [Models.com]
  • Hey, everyone! This week is the week that all the major department stores expect to magically start reducing their prices as one! To a modest 30-40% off. (Just don't call it collusion!) Net-A-Porter went 30-50% off yesterday, so that $4,000 dress might now be $2,500, with tax, and Saks is starting its up to 40% off sale Thursday; hold on till after Christmas for steeper cuts. Stores laid in around 20% less stock than last year, in hopes of avoiding last fall's rash of below-cost markdowns. It appears they've been successful. [WWD]
  • "Whoever your mom is, people won't give you hundreds of thousands of dollars," says Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, who was given $50,000 to mount his first art exhibition last February, and whose latest show, of Nicolas Pol's work, drew Jean-Paul Gaultier, Andre Balazs, Daphne Guinness, and, oh yeah, his mother Carine Roitfeld, to its opening. Young Vlad's secret? "We work extremely hard." [Bloomberg]
  • For I-D's 30th anniversary spring issue, Nick Knight will photograph 100 portraits of different fashion stars featured in its pages over the years — live, in front of an audience. His studio will be open to the public as an exhibition until December 20, and people will be able to watch shoots with, say, Kate Moss or Naomi Campbell, through a two-way mirror. Or live on the Internet, at Knight's showstudio.com. There's nothing that strikes us as less tedious than watching a month-long editorial fashion shoot, but someone might be into it. [WWD]
  • The Telegraph gets to the bottom of the mysteriously straight and non-neurotic fashion designer Giles Deacon. How come he's so successful, anyway? "Don't know. My parents weren't into fashion. I didn't have an eccentric granny who mixed lace mantillas with tweed. I never believe people who say that, anyway. 'Oh, my granny had great style.' I just like doing it and I enjoy working hard. I go to work at 10am and I'm still there at 8.30pm. We get the wine out then, but anyone who is successful and tells you they don't work hard is lying." [Telegraph]
  • Olivier Theyskens has a book on the way! Olivier Theyskens: The Other Side Of The Picture is due out from Assouline in February. He also might be involved in a new "retail concept," but neither he nor the company involved would comment. [WWD]
  • It's official: Bravo will begin airing the Kelly Cutrone reality television series we've all been waiting for, Kell On Earth, next February. As long as Ms. Cutrone keeps dropping f-bombs on live morning television, an audience for this shit is practically guaranteed. [UPI]
  • Peaches Geldof, Photoshopped within an inch of her life, is in a second campaign for the UK underwear brand Ultimo. The dividends of just happening upon that News Of The World photographer starkers continue to accrue. [Telegraph]
  • North Korean jeans made by a trio of Swedes who describe making contact with the communist regime as "like Facebook poking a country"? Is this a joke? [FWD]
  • Inez and Vinoodh shot the spring Lanvin men's wear ads this weekend in Paris, and rumor is they totally pulled a Juergen and put themselves in the shot. [WWD]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5416164&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Karl Makes Over SpongeBob; Kate Moss Wants Photographic Proof She Eats]]>

  • Karl Lagerfeld gave SpongeBob SquarePants a makeover for a charity auction, resulting in this little charmer, which sold for €1,000. [WWD]
  • Zac Posen, who two weeks ago announced a lower-priced line, Z Spoke, will do a line for Target in the U.S. (He already designed a capsule collection for Target's Australian outpost in 2008.) Zac Posen for Target Go International will hit stores on April 25 of next year. Rodarte for Target goes on sale this December, at last. [WWD]
  • Even though it's late November in sunny London, Kate Moss is allegedly planning an outdoor dinner party. Her nefarious plan? The supermodel, whose recent choice, in an interview, of a notorious eating disorder sufferers' slogan as her motto we highlighted, wants to be photographed eating food. [Mirror]
  • The verdict on "Black Friday" post-Thanksgiving sales: an "unexceptional yet decent" $41.2 billion was spent. [WWD]
  • Both potential buyers of the bankrupt house of Christian Lacroix failed to meet a new, extended deadline to provide the bankruptcy court with guarantees of their capital. If the company is not sold, the current owners, the Falic Group, will likely go forward with their preferred scenario, in which only 11 key staff are retained, and the brand is either auctioned off to cover debts, or turned into a licensing machine for scarves and perfumes. [AFP]
  • Patrick Dempsey stars with his wife, Jillian, in his new Avon perfume ad. Because this scent is "about two people and the power of the relationship." [People]
  • Sonia Rykiel's H&M lingerie line will be launched this December with a fashion show at the Grand Palais. The models will walk on moving floats that travel around a fantasy Parisian streetscape, dominated by a 30 meter Eiffel Tower made from 25 km of wire and fairy lights. Trees will have balloon canopies, and the Café de Flore will be mocked up as the Café Flirt. Also, imagine 6 meter poodles and 2.5 meter bunnies. Best part? It'll be streamed live on the mighty Internet. [SB]
  • The pink-and-black '50s-themed collection goes on sale this Saturday in more than 1,500 H&M boutiques worldwide, as well as Rykiel's own stores. Prices range from €7.95 - €19.95 for underwear, and €79.95 for sleepwear. [WWD]
  • Morrissey is collaborating with Stella McCartney on a line of vegan footwear. McCartney says the shoes could be in stores next year. [Daily Mail, 2nd item]
  • Helena Christensen, on the term of art 'supermodel': it's "silly and cartoonish, but to be a part of that whole group of girls — at the end of the day, I was there. I did it. I am a million experiences richer." [Telegraph]
  • It's a comeback for Aussie model Catherine McNeil. McNeil will be on the cover of next month's Australian Vogue, a casting move that her booker says gives any model "credibility" — oddly implying that McNeil needs some. The 20-year-old has been on an extended break from international modeling, but is expected to rejoin the moil next show season, in January. [News.com.au]
  • Mulberry creative director Emma Hill, who previously designed accessories for Marc Jacobs and the Gap, on the heyday of 'it' bags: "I was partly responsible, at Marc Jacobs, for the It bag thing. I realized that we'd made it when I saw knock-offs on the street corner. But a trend like that squashes people's individuality. If you're all trying to get the same thing, it's not very special. There are possibly more things to worry about in life than waiting two years for a handbag. I think those years are over." [ToL]
  • Jenny Sanford applied to trademark her own name in early July, shortly after the June revelation that her husband, South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, was hiking the Appalachian trail enjoying two magnificent parts of another woman. Jenny Sanford applied for the trademark intending to use it to market a line of clothing, mugs, and other household items, to be sold through her website. The trademark application has not yet been approved. [State]
  • Christian Audigier is opening an Ed Hardy store in London this week, the U.K.'s first. [Guardian]
  • Victoria's Secret is a popular target for professional shoplifters. Four women pepper-sprayed a sales associate in Tennessee this month in order to boost 30 pairs of underwear. [UPI]
  • Due to Dubai's debt crisis, the American investors who recently and separately bought significant chunks of Barneys New York's debt, Ron Burkle and Richard Perry, might end up controlling the Dubai-owned company. If they do, they should probably convince someone there to hire a C.E.O. All the best companies have one. [Dealbook]
  • Pierre Cardin, 87, was briefly hospitalized in Paris for exhibiting falling blood pressure and a slow pulse. Cardin was en route to Greece, where he was holding a fashion show. As if this were 1963, or something. [AFP]
  • French eBay users are banned from selling or buying certain branded perfumes, like Christian Dior and Kenzo. A court in Paris has fined the auction site 1.7 million Euros for not enforcing the law effectively enough. [BBC]
  • The market in exotic skins, like alligator, has been among the worst affected by the recession. (It's not hard to imagine why, given a pair of alligator Manolos can easily run $4,000.) The farmers who raise the gators in Louisiana, Florida, and Georgia are paid for their troubles by tanneries, who then sell the processed hides to fashion companies. But while farmers complain that prices offered by tanneries have fallen below the cost of even raising the animals, fashion companies say the reduction in the cost of finished skins has been minimal. Which major fashion brand significantly expanded into alligator tanneries during the boom years? Hermès. The other thing you should know about this article is that a man named Tommy Fletcher, whose work involves going into bayous to fight mother alligators with a pole and frequent bites when handling the live young, says that running an alligator farm is "like being married to Miss America. You get all the benefits of the hugs and kisses, but she's mighty high-maintenance." [NYTimes]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5415208&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Heidi Klum's Jig Is Up; Scarlett's Cast-Offs Go For £40]]>

  • To mull during your post-Thanksgiving satiety: A reclining Heidi Klum, with feast, in jigsaw puzzle form. [FWD]
  • Karl Lagerfeld's helmets — first glimpsed on the runway earlier this year — have entered the retail food chain. Anyone in need of a €1200 - €4545 helmet, possibly mink-covered or embroidered with pearls, should try her luck at — where else? — Colette in Paris starting this December. These have iPod hookups, people. [Hintmag]
  • Online magazine Flamboyant — which has one of those frustrating websites where the component pages are unlinkable — did a wickedly funny editorial where it styled various bread rolls as though they were designer branded creations. In a world where Karl Lagerfeld can make $6,000 helmets and Christian Audigier can sell $3 name-brand water, let's not give them any ideas, shall we? [FWD]
  • If you can fit into the Kate MossScarlett Johansson size range, want to wear a Lanvin dress to your holiday party, and live in the UK, Topshop just might have your number. The high street chain has persuaded 20 celebs — Freida Pinto, Jourdan Dunn, and, uh, Peaches Geldof among them — to donate one preferred party frock apiece. (Peaches' is that horrid floral curtain number she wore at Cannes this summer, so beware.) The dresses will be available for public hire for £40, and then a silent auction for outright ownership. All proceeds go to a charity for the elderly. [Daily Mail]
  • Alternatively, you could just wait 6-12 months for Coco Rocha's fashion line to become a reality. She just posted a video on her blog announcing the new venture, and which shows her hard at work sketching. She's also seeking name ideas. [OhSoCoco]
  • Eugenia Kim reads Gawker. HAMILTON WILL NEVER LOVE YOU LIKE I DO, EUGENIA!! [TFI]
  • Tommy Hilfiger's Greenwich, Connecticut, home sold for $20 million, about $8 million less than his asking price, but still $2 million more than he paid for it in 2005. [AP]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5413904&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Michelle Obama Wears Naeem Khan, Orders French Thigh-High Boots]]>

  • Michelle Obama wore a sterling-silver sequined dress by Indian-born designer Naeem Khan to a state dinner in honor of India's prime minister. [USAToday]
  • Desiree Rogers wore Comme des Garçons. Which makes this the most fashion-forward administration, ever. [Mrs. O]
  • "I feel so happy to be a part of this historical event between the two countries where my heart lies," says Khan. [People]
  • And Mrs. Obama has apparently ordered thigh-high leather boots from Robert Clergerie. [Telegraph]
  • Daul Kim's recent video spots for the Chanel "Cocoon" bag line are still on the Chanel website. [Racked]
  • Emma Watson went to a hockey game n New York with a Spanish rock star and YSL designer Stefano Pilati. This is, apparently, big news. [Elle UK]
  • The mother of Catherine McNeil, the model who appeared in public in Sydney with cuts on her arms, says that her understanding is that McNeil fell down some stairs. (Her agency said the cuts were the result of a skateboarding injury.) Her mother also said that the loneliness and distance from her family of modeling often left her feeling "down." "She hasn't had it easy. She hasn't had much of a life. I never forced her into modeling, it was her decision, it was her choice," said McNeil's grandmother, who raised her. "But it's not as glamorous as it appears. There's a lot of pressure to maintain your looks and sometimes it gets her down." [News.com.au]
  • Mounir Moufarrige says Lindsay Lohan isn't going anywhere: "Yes [she's staying on], she has a job to do." Her first collection as "artistic advisor" for Ungaro led to the label being dropped by major U.S. retailers like Neiman Marcus. (Moufarrige says the clothes are "selling well.") Even Emanuel Ungaro himself — who has not been involved in the running of his namesake company since 2001 — joined in the chorus of criticism, calling Lohan's work "a disaster." "Mr Ungaro has his views, he can keep them," said Moufarrige, tartly. [Reuters]
  • Victoria Beckham is re-launching her denim collection. No longer will it be sold under the name dVb: she's opted for the more prosaic "Victoria Beckham Denim." Prices will start at £140. [Elle UK]
  • Of course D&G publicist Ali Wise would be getting filmed for Tinsley Mortimer's reality television show. [NYDN]
  • Adidas would like to move its production of NBA jerseys to Thailand, from a factory in upstate New York. Not if Chuck Schumer has anything to do with it! [AP]
  • Meanwhile, Stefano Lattanzi's Manhattan store continues to sell $18,000 men's crocodile skin boots. Women's cost $25,000. Arnold Schwarzenneger is allegedly a fan. [NYDN]
  • Refinery29's list of ten fashion catchphrases — from "smize" to André Leon Talley's "I look authori-taaay!" — is dead-on, perfect, the end. [Refinery29]
  • Target has announced its first ever collaboration with a millinery designer. Next April, a line of hats by Eugenia Kim — who previously did a lower-priced line for Urban Outfitters — will go on sale at the retailer. A shoe collection by Cynthia Vincent will also hit the chain on the same date. [Stylelist]
  • Don't hold your breath for such a collab with Michael Kors. "We don't need to," says the orange one. [Independent]
  • Jimmy Choo's collection for H&M cost up to 45% more in Ireland than it did in England. H&M says the difference reflects "taxes and transportation costs" as well as currency fluctuations. [IrishTimes]
  • Christian Restoin, longtime partner of Carine Restoin-Roitfeld, is teaming up with Current/Elliot's Serge Azria to relaunch Equipment shirts. [Elle UK]
  • Irina Shabayeva, of Project Runway near-fame, designed a wedding dress for Kelly Ripa. Since Ripa eloped with her husband, she wore it on national television instead of to her wedding. [People]
  • Fashion blogger Lindsay Ibarra, on fashion bloggers: "What has been a pertinent trend throughout the most popular fashion blogs is the sort of self-indulgent act of getting dressed up, striking an adorable pose and writing a few witty words about what you're wearing and what you did that day. While this is all well and good for the purposes of creative journaling, what is happening more and more is that these faces are starting to be considered the new voices in fashion. Sea of Shoes blogger Jane Aldridge recently designed a line of shoes for Urban Outfitters, Julia Frakes and Rumi Neely (of Bunny Bisous and Fashion Toast, respectively) have both been signed to Next and Tavi from Style Rookie has her own fan club of editors and stylists championing her as the next Diana Vreeland. What's interesting about fashion is that it is one of few industries where you need virtually no education to be a star. Dressing and presenting yourself well take the place of a diploma or experience and in some cases even dressing yourself badly works, too." [EvilMonito]
  • J. Crew's quarterly results were so far above analysts' expectations that its share price rose 7% in after-hours trading. Same-store sales for the period rose 8% on last year, and revenue rose 14%, to $414 million. [Crain's]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5412734&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Supermodel In Abusive Relationship; Leona Lewis Doing A Clothing Line]]>

  • A friend of Daul Kim who IM'd with the model the night before Kim was found dead in her Paris apartment says that Kim complained of feeling depressed, and was in an abusive relationship. But she was scared to leave:
  • Writes reporter Peter Davis, who read the chat, "She'd punched him in the face; he'd yanked her hair. But she was afraid to leave him, afraid to suffer the agony of being apart. The last time they separated, she hadn't been able to eat, dropping from 112 to 99 lbs. Her friend begged her to leave town, book a job, call her mother. No, she said. She'd miss her dog. She ended the conversation abruptly, saying she was going off to the clean the house. A few hours later, Kim was found by her boyfriend, hanged in her luxurious apartment in Paris' 10th arrondissement." This alleged history of violence between Kim and her boyfriend is the reason her father is understood to not believe his daughter killed herself. The rest of The Daily Beast's story is the usual sensationalist "5'10" stunner" bullshit, leavened with factual errors. Davis has Kim's work history spectacularly confused, and even gets both the name and the URL of Kim's acclaimed blog wrong. [TDB]
  • Top Australian model Catherine McNeil — who has been taking a five-month break from her work — appeared in public in Sydney with what appear to be self-inflicted cuts on her arms. (Her agent says she "fell off her skateboard and into some bushes.") Sensitive news articles that quote experts on the subject of self-harm will probably help the situation, right? Oh, wait. The professor this paper dug up says: "Self-harm is, sadly, very common and is becoming a bit of a trend...In some groups of young people, it's even considered virtually a fashionable thing to do." [Daily Telegraph]
  • Sharon Stone went to Uganda and saw some people with "nothing to eat. literally zero to eat." So her new jewelry collection for Damiani will devote a portion of its proceeds to building wells in developing countries. [WWD]
  • Tom Ford: "I like Twilight. I liked the first one, and I'm dying to see the new one." [The Cut]
  • Would Lady Gaga take inspiration from Doctor Who for a stage outfit? I think we all know the answer is yes. [Telegraph]
  • Pierre Bergé, who is the president of French AIDS charity Sidaction — the recent auction of Bergé's and Yves Saint Laurent's household goods and art collection went to benefit Sidaction — went on French television to tell off a fund-raising telethon for children with muscular dystrophy. The telethon is "[sponging] off the generosity of the French in a populist manner by exhibiting the unhappiness of children," said Bergé. [WWD]
  • Coco Chanel used to wear these big enamel bangles with the Maltese cross on them. They were made for her specially by a socialite jewelry designer who happened to be a member of the Italian nobility. Naturally, Verdura, the company the socialite founded, is reissuing the bangles in sets of two, made of 18ct yellow gold, and set with enough gemstones to make the 7-year-old rockhound in all of us squeal: there are sapphires, rubies, emeralds, amethysts, aquamarines, Madeira topaz, citrines, and a prasolite. Just in time for the holidays! They are, of course, price on application. [Telegraph]
  • Stella McCartney had a comedy troupe in drag for her holiday party. Sounds like our kind of shindig. [Elle UK]
  • Leona Lewis is going to do an animal-friendly fashion line with McCartney. [OK!]
  • And McCartney has lined up Natalia Vodianova for her spring campaign. The Russian model will also be replacing Christy Turlington as the face of YSL — apparently Stefano Pilati is still on his supermodels kick — and she nabbed Givenchy's campaign. [Elle UK]
  • Making Hermès boots involves soaking Swiss bullhides in chestnut oil. What, like you think they'd use inferior German bullhides? Pshaw. [Telegraph]
  • Sean "P. Diddy" Combs will appear on a sleek, all-white set with windows that display the New York skyline, an animal skin rug on the floor, and a gas fire, to toast his latest act of selling out: Shilling his perfumes — count 'em, he's got two — on HSN. [WWD]
  • Anna Wintour went to a party to celebrate current Vogue cover woman Cate Blanchett's role in A Streetcar Named Desire. [TDB]
  • Charis Wilson, a model and Edward Weston's muse and wife, has died in California, aged 95. [NYTimes]
  • By the way, that little fashion show Victoria's Secret threw a few nights back cost around $10 million to produce. [WWD]
  • Sales of women's clothing fell 3.3% on last year for the first half of November, the opening of the traditional holiday shopping period. Department store sales fell 7.1%, and sales of men's clothing fell just 1%. Online sales across all categories rose 19.4%. [AP]
]]>
http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5411789&view=rss&microfeed=true