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

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

• Bar Refaeli let Esquire write the opening of a Stephen King story on her body for its cover. The weirdest part of the process sounds like the proofreading. [Esquire]
• Michael Jackson is rocking this fall collection women's Balmain jacket. [Grazia]

• Kimora Lee Simmons and Djimon Hounsou named their son Kenzo Lee Hounsou, proving that Kenzo flower perfume really is universally loved. [P6]
• Harvey Weinstein, when asked why it took him a year and a half to schedule his honeymoon with Marchesa designer wife Georgina Chapman, replied "Every day with me is like a honeymoon." He then complained about how much his wife packs. [The Cut]
• "It's amazing what happens when you turn an item of clothing upside-down. It transforms. You can stick your legs through armholes or wear a shirt as a skirt," says a three-year-old stylist and designer Fi Doran. [Telegraph]
• Hermès shot its fall campaign in the Swedish province of Lapland. It features reindeer, orange boxes, and giant chunks of ice, and I am ready to love it already. [WWD]
• Oh, look. Nine West shoes for this fall are knocking off Giambattista Valli's shoes for last fall. Fashion is so creative! [Racked]
• On Sunday, Coco Rocha and 20 other models from Elite Canada went to Barrie, Ontario, for a fashion show that benefited a children's cancer charity. [WWD]
• Then, Rocha, who last dyed her hair red at Steven Meisel's insistence, promptly changed colors again — to "almost-black." Let the speculation as to which campaign or editorial it's for begin! [Oh So Coco]
• Henri Bendel announced a month ago that it would eliminate 8% of its workforce and no longer sell clothing after this summer, and instead carry only higher-margin items like cosmetics and accessories, while leveraging its name for its own lines of branded products, like chocolates and boxes of tea. But a little bird says that the iconic New York department store has ordered some coats and jackets for fall — so which is it? [Fashionista]
• Anya Hindmarch was awarded an MBE, the lowest ranking honor in the Order of the British Empire, at Buckingham Palace yesterday. [Telegraph]
• A.P.C. is going to do a unisex perfume for fall. The name and all other pertinent details are being kept secret. [WWD]
• Photographer Miles Aldridge: "I always want my models to have a kind of blankness of expression, which I don't see so much as a blankness as that look of contemplation I see on people's faces when they ride the bus or wait at the airport. That's the thing about being a fashion photographer — you spend a good amount of time waiting around in airport lounges and places like that, so you have a lot of opportunity to observe people. And it's like, there's a Martin Amis book, The Information, where the main character imagines all the men around him at home at night, crying in bed. In a way, that's what I'm doing when I'm waiting around." In New York, you can see a selection of Aldridge's surreal, acid-bright, Almodovar-esque work in a just-opened show at Steven Kasher gallery. [Style.com]
• Richard Chai is obsessed with t-shirts from those Japanese problem-solvers at Muji. But who isn't? [The Cut]
• One year on from his death at age 71, Yves Saint Laurent was remembered at a public memorial mass in Paris. [WWD]
• Laura Ashley's same-store sales rose 6.9% in the quarter ended May 30. [Daily Mail]
• Miley Cyrus, Max Azria, and Wal-Mart are in some kind of unholy branded-apparel deal. [WWD]
• Yesterday in bankruptcy court, the judge approved private-equity firm Emerisque's revised bid to buy Hartmarx. Emerisque raised its offer for the company's assets to $128.9 million, after principal creditor Wells Fargo rejected a $119 million bid as too low. [WWD]
• Christian Lacroix's company was placed under administration for the next six months. It only took Hartmarx four months to nail out its deal, so... [WWD]
• Random unconfirmed rumor to get ridiculously excited about for the day: The Face might be coming back. [Fashionologie]

• Michelle Obama wore tidy Thakoon in D.C., and vivid yellow Jason Wu in London. New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn wonders what it all means. [On The Runway]

• I love it when the Brits write authoritative, informative articles that get — how would they say it? — pipped at the fact-checking post. The New York Topshop store's opening party may take place tomorrow at 11 a.m., Kate Moss may be there live in person, there may be scones and jam and DJs, and there may be capsule collections from Preen, Richard Nicoll, Jonathan Saunders, and the latest Kate Moss line, but whatever you do, do not turn up for the party in "midtown Manhattan, one of the big apple's busiest, buzziest retail districts." The store's on Broadway near Broome St. That's in a part of town we like to call "SoHo." Yes, we know London has one as well, albeit spelled differently, but trust us, that's where the store is. [Telegraph]
• Those French sure know from populist outrage. François-Henri Pinault, the head of luxury goods multinational PPR (and Salma Hayek's hubby) was surrounded in his car by a crowd of angry workers for the better part of an hour. Pinault was trying to leave a meeting with the European workers' council. PPR, which owns brands including Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, and Bottega Veneta, announced plans to cut 1200 jobs recently. And, in a scene right out of Tout Va Bien, three Sony executives were held hostage by laid off workers at a factory the company closed in the south of France a few weeks back. [WWD]
• "Nicole is designing everything herself," says Nicole Richie's business partner, who is apparently unaware of Richie's well-publicized deal with jewelry designer Pascal Mouawad, who does the actual work on her House of Harlow 1960 line. Planning world domination of the accessories trade, Richie announced her intention to "design" bags, belts, and shoes for spring 2010. [People]
• Is Richard Chai going to be the new creative director of the revived Bill Blass? New owners Peacock Holdings are adamant Bill Blass will be on the New York runways come September, but they are staying tight-lipped about their choice of designer, despite the rumors that Chai is heavily favored. The reason for the odd delay in Peacock's next move, despite its stated intention of reviving the bankrupt line following its acquisition of the label from previous owners NexCen, is a six-month embargo period that was a term of purchase. [FWD]
• Resort shows are bearing the recession's bite: Gucci, which showed its cruise collection on the runway in both New York and Rome last year, is doing a mere presentation. Dior, which had a mega-show in New York last time around, isn't going to show at all. That's right. Christian Dior canceled its resort show. Chanel will have nothing of this; Karl Lagerfeld is going ahead with a lavish resort show at Venice's Lido Beach. WWD doesn't give any details about Céline's plans — Resort 09 is supposed to be Phoebe Philo's hotly anticipated industry re-entry after her years spent raising her family far from the madding crowd. If Celine scales back its resort show, then Philo's return won't look half as big a deal as it really is. [WWD]
• The latest images from Britney Spears' Candie's campaign are in, and, folks, it's a Photoshop of Horrors. [Daily Mail]
• Hayden Christensen is in an ad for a Lacoste men's perfume. He's shown reaching up for the bottle, a searching look in his eyes. [JustJared]
• Martha Stewart's shareholders might regard with interest the fact that, while Martha Stewart Omnimedia's stock price, at $2.50, has declined 67% on one year ago, Stewart's personal compensation more than doubled between 2007 and 2008, from $2.06 million to $5.4 million. (Other executives at the company's salaries declined.) Martha's daughter, Alexis Stewart, earned $209,000 for her work on the show "Whatever, Martha!" while her co-host, Jennifer Koppelman Hutt, got $130,000. Nepotism truly is priceless in this town. [WWD]
• Fashionista road-tested three sulfate-free shampoos — they're better for the environment, and your hair — and unfortunately fell for the expensive French one. I know that pain. Once I scored a gigantic bottle of Frédéric Fekkai conditioner after doing an unusually brutal hair job, and I trudged around the world with it for almost a year. Then I ripped off the label, so I could find the product again, and carried that around for months. When I finally found it, it cost $60 or something. I didn't buy it and my hair has never been as shiny and tangle-free since. [Fashionista]
• Speaking of Fashionista, a little bird tells me that editor Natalie Hormilla is leaving the site to pursue unknown other projects. We certainly wish her well.

Here's one to wear when you're doing your editorial assistant thing.

Ooh, and to your second job, waitressing!

For your weekend retail job...

And working after hours at that gallery opening...

Babysitting your boss's kids...

Selling stuff at the flea market...

Freelancing from home...

...and, of course, pounding the pavement!

Images via Nylon

• Agyness Deyn's mom Lorraine Collins is as amazed as we are that someone as FAT as Agyness could ever make it in fashion: "She has wonderful curves and a bit of meat on her. When she's home, she eats everything." [Mirror]
  
• Poor chivalrous BF-of-Marc-Jacobs Jason Preston! When he tried to stand up for a girl who got a drink thrown at her at a club, Preston got something worse thrown at him: a punch in the face. $10 says Marc incorporates a black eye makeup look into the Spring 2009 collection. [Page Six]
  
• Richard Chai is the latest designer to do a Target collection! [Who is Richard Chai? I asked Jennie. He's "very respected." And Asian. Okay. -Moe] [Nylon]
  
• But even more exciting: Alice McCall is designing for Topshop. [Who is...meh, forget it. I'm not the one reading the fashion news roundup.] [Sassybella]
  
• While we buy that Barack would smell like bergamot and musk, no way in hell is Hillary Clinton a "delicate floral." [BellaSugar]

• L'Oreal is honoring women for scientific achievements. No really! And not even, like, achievements related to wrinkle "therapy", but real achievements like discovering a new class of RNA molecules, although we're sure there is an anti-aging angle in there somewhere. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Louis Vuitton and Murakami are once again collaborating with a new print, "monoflage," which will make its debut when the Murakami retrospective opens at the Brooklyn Museum of Art on April 3rd. Because what the world really needs is another Vuitton-Murakami bag showing up everywhere. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Dries Van Noten's response when Diane von Furstenberg called him to tell him he would be receiving this year's CFDA International Award? "I don't know what to say! We're in a bad storm in Antwerp and I don't know whether or not we're going to have a house!'" Oy. [Chic Report]
• DKNY Jeans has recruited comic book artist Paul Pope to collaborate with the brand on a new line. Which should be really exciting for skater geeks who worship Tim Gunn? [Nylon]
• For the first time since Stella McCartney and Adidas joined forces together, they are not introducing a new fitness category for the collaborative brand for the Spring 2008 season. We guess that once you've differentiated "running" from "trail running" there really aren't any sports left. [WWD, 1st item]
• After 2010, New York Fashion Week is out of Bryant Park and moves over to...the 10th Avenue Rail Yards? Delightful! [Gatecrasher]
• Japan Fashion Week was, well, big in Japan. [Reuters]
• Will Coach buy Burberry? And if so, can Coach get a firm grasp on the devastatingly complex details of selling logo-ed accessories at accessibly outrageous prices? We bet they can! [Independent]
• Meanwhile, Coach is going to replace its own president with the COO of Victoria's Secret. Um, there's a track record we wouldn't be so quick to acquire, but okay. [WSJ]
• Anna Sui president Michael Pellegrino has announced his retirement. With a 65th birthday coming up, he wants to travel and volunteer with Meals on Wheels. And they say fashion has no heart. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Claudia Schiffer: The latest fashion star to judge London's Graduate Fashion Week. [Vogue UK]
• Coldwater Creek: In the throes of existential crisis. [MediaPost]
• American Eagle: Also not doing so well. [Reuters]