• The Olsen twins are launching a new juniors' collection for JC Penney, home of the brands Kimora Lee Simmons, Bisou Bisou, and Charlotte Ronson. It'll be called Olsenboye and is expected in stores this spring. [The Cut]

• The Olsens, plus Alexander Wang, Erin Fetherston, Jenna Lyons of J. Crew, Maria Pinto, and several others were officially inducted into the Council of Fashion Designers of America — "the Kiwanis Club of our business," as David Rees put it — on Wednesday night. After someone explained to Mary-Kate what the save the garment center campaign was about — the lax enforcement of existing zoning laws has allowed landlords in the area supposedly reserved for apparel companies to lease instead to higher-paying kinds of commercial tenants, driving up rents — she said she was totally for it. "We need it, as well. I hope we can save it," she said. [WWD]
• "As a child, I never saw a confident woman — I only saw women being abused," says Mary J. Blige. The singer has just opened the new Mary J. Blige Center for Women in the city of Yonkers, where she grew up. It's intended to educate, empower, and encourage women. "I want every girl and woman who walks through this door to know that she is loved — no matter who is telling her she isn't loved," says the singer. Gucci's Frida Giannini turned up to the opening, and an unspecified portion of the profit from sales of a Gucci women's watch costing $1,895 will be donated to Blige's charity. Giannini was also in town to open Gucci's pop-up shop in SoHo, which will showcase Mark Ronson's alleged "sneaker" for the brand. [WWD]
• First, there was the Sportiletto. And now, behold: The Lamborghini Heel. [FWD]
• From former New York Times food critic and memoirist Frank Bruni's Twitter: "Anna Wintour comes to Marea, orders chicken, with avocado salad, neither on menu. What's the point?" [Twitter]
• Tom Ford says the process of directing A Single Man, his adaptation of the Isherwood novel, has been about "coming to terms with the fact that I do spend so much of my life working in the material world. But as long as you keep it in perspective and don't take it too seriously, I think fashion is a great thing that adds quality to our lives. It doesn't mean that a beautiful pair of shoes isn't still beautiful. But if you lose them, big deal, because they don't really mean anything other than to be able to say, 'Wow, look at my feet. Aren't they pretty?'" [Out]
• Christian Louboutin has created a special carrier bag that includes a bottle of champers and a crystal champagne flute shaped like a stiletto. The package, known as Le Rituel, costs $500, and you can watch a 3-minute film about it here. [WWD]
• He made this bubbly slipper-sipper instead of doing a diffusion line for H&M. That sound just then was our hearts breaking. [The Cut]
• Burberry is getting into the cosmetics business. It won't happen till next summer, but expect a full line — about 100 products for face, lips, and eyes — when it does. [WWD]
• Manolo Blahnik does not want to talk about platforms, which he is relieved to note are finally falling from prominence. "Don't talk to me about platforms. I've done it all before. It bores me now. I want shoes to be beautiful, so women walk beautifully. Shoes should be beautiful — Oh, and of course, a little fun also." [Telegraph]
• Project Runway's Kit Scarbo, who does not skate, is doing a women's line with the skateboard brand Etnies. [The Cut]
• According to one student who took notes on Amy Astley's recent talk at FIDM, Teen Vogue is working on a new TV show. The mag's last dalliance with the medium resulted in The Hills. [Jazzi McG]
• Someone who is a really big fan of Hedi Slimane made this claymation video of an imaginary rock band, clad entirely in Slimane's Dior collections. [YoungestIndie]
• A kind of full-length women's chenille robe marketed by Pennsylvania company Blair is being recalled. The highly flammable robes have been linked to nine deaths so far. [NBC]

[Poznan, Poland; August 25. Image via Getty]

POZNAN, POLAND - AUGUST 25: Bahareh Alimoradi Nasrabadi of Iran competes in the Women's Single Sculls on day three of the World Rowing Championships on August 25, 2009 in Poznan, Poland. (Photo by John Gichigi/Getty Images)

She writes: "Americans now spend more years unmarried than married… What it means to live single has changed dramatically over the past half-century, but our perceptions have been left in the dust. Bogus stereotypes rule, and they need to be dethroned." Plus: she counts all the ways the 92 million single people in the U.S. are basically screwed over:

Writes DePaulo:

"Our educational institutions - those colleges and universities that should be at the leading edge of scholarship and critical thinking - have been just as smitten by the marital mythology as the rest of society. Those bastions of higher learning are filled with courses, degree programs, textbooks, journals, endowed chairs, research funding and all the other components of the intellectual industry that is the study of marriage. As for the other 42% of the adult population, we're still waiting for the scholarly spotlight to shine as brightly on us."

Dr. DePaulo also points out that single people get "shorted" on the federal benefits, protections, and privileges that are available only to people who are legally married. Not to mention the housing discrimination, tax penalties and pay disparities linked to marital status. She believes that unmarried people have untapped political potential and that for singles, "friends are hardly 'just friends.'" Meaning: We forge strong relationships! And yet we get no family leave if someone close to us is ill. DePaulo concludes: "We need to value single people because that's what progressive nations do. They look for the people who have been marginalized and diminished, and invite them into the center of society. That way, we can all live happily ever after." Sounds awesome.

But doesn't Singles Week really need some kind of mascot, like the Easter Bunny or the Groundhog? I was going to propose a gin and tonic, but actually, I think something more like an unbridled unicorn (single horn!), running free, might be fun. Any ideas?

It's National Singles Week: Here Are 14 Reasons Why We Need It [Psychology Today]

• Meanwhile, women in India are being trained as security guards to fulfill an increasing demand for female guards in retail shops, malls, and on the subway. • A new study has linked music taste to particular personality traits and found that metal fans are gentle, indie rock listeners lack self-esteem, and pop lovers are uncreative. • Yuriko Koike, the former defense minister of Japan and current contender for the prime minister (which would make her the first female PM in Japan) says that Japan doesn't have a "glass ceiling" but an "iron plate" against female advancement. • Policy Exchange, a think tank favored by Tory party leaders, recommends that the government give tax benefits to the tune of about $1,000 a month to women who chose to stay home with their newborn children instead of working. • Meanwhile, Steve Biddulph, an "expert on parenting" in Australia says that the government should adopt a paid 1-year maternity leave for new mothers to encourage new mothers to avoid child care. • With so many male Asian American designers being shown this week at New York Fashion Week (Phillip Lim, Peter Som, Derek Lam, Alexander Wang, to name a few) it is hard to remember that the first Asian designers to take over the Western market were mostly women, including Vera Wang, Vivienne Tam, and Anna Sui. • This season Broadway will focus more on the psyche of dudes with revivals and musicals like A Man For All Seasons, Equus, and All My Sons. • The Australian-born feminist, Germaine Greer laments the lack of "proper" statues of famous women in England. • A new study has found that women over 70 who sleep no more than 5 hours a night have a 50% increased risk of falling down two or more times during the year. • Sad! Bella, a labrador from England who was believed to be the world's oldest dog died on Saturday at the age of 29. •

Meanwhile, over on Salon, Rebecca Traister admits that she was single on eighteen consecutive Valentine's Days. Traister says she had to endure the following comment from a friend who was devastated her man would be out of town on the holiday: "I'll know I have a boyfriend, but I'll feel so pathetic when all the women in my office are getting ready to go out for dinner and it'll look like I have nothing to do!" HA! Fuck that.

So yeah, if you're single you may feel like this day shines a giant muthaluvin' spotlight on the empty space next to you. Or you may feel like everyone else around you are blissfully idiotic sheep, bleating meaningless words as they fuel the commercialized bullshit holiday based on some early Christian martyr and seized upon by possibly murderous diamond corporations and the pesticide-rich cut flower industry. So what do you do? Do you see it as just a day to treat yourself nicely? Some cheapo sparkly jewelry, a film set in another century, [Uh, what about 'Lost'??? -Ed.] some wine, some ice cream? Or do you rage against the machine?

Will You Be My Anti-Valentine? [NY Times]
'The Last Single Woman' Tells Why She Is Perfectly Content [USA Today]
Of Valentine's Jinxes And Packaged Gnocchi [Salon]