• 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]

• Australian Vogue's September cover is out, and it features a stunning illustration of Cate Blanchett. [WWD]
• Meanwhile, Fashion Week Daily is reporting on a rumor that Victoria Beckham might be American Vogue's October cover model. [FWD]

• The Kanye West-Gap intern story is back, this time as written in the Chicago Tribune. But no sources are named — doubly so where the rumor-within-a-rumor that West is looking to launch a clothing line with the retailer is concerned. But it would be so perfect! Amber Rose could model it. [ChicagoTrib]
• Jessica Simpson, on her new lingerie line, produced by a licensee of a licensee: "Of course I love lingerie. What girl doesn't? My lingerie reflects the way I'm feeling when I wake up and helps me set the tone for my day." [WWD]
• Takashi Murakami for Louis Vuitton stuffed animals: no celebrity artist megabrand collaboration should ever be this goddamned cute. [FWD]
• French street style photographer Garance Doré has a new gig expanding her blogging coverage for Paris Vogue. [WWD]
• Balenciaga returned to Jennifer Connelly for its fall ads — and then had Steven Meisel photograph her very awkwardly. [SassyBella]
• Jean-Paul Gaultier, for his part, booked Raquel Zimmerman and Raquel Zimmerman for his fall campaign. Raquel Zimmerman plays the girl role and the boy role and looks mighty good doing it. [FWD]
• Gaultier's collaboration with Doc Martens — available only in France, hélas — features boots with perforated leather in a grid. And, as Fashionista points out, you could totally make a DIY version. [Fashionista]
• Roberto Cavalli's house involves significantly less leopard print than we might have imagined. [The Moment]
• Naomi Campbell may have attacked a paparazzo with her handbag on holiday in Sicily. [Daily Mail]
• Designer Paul Smith, on photographing his own ad campaigns: "The whole idea of a designer doing photographs is sort of pretentious: ‘I do everything, you know.' Like Karl whatshisname. I'm a snapper, not a photographer. I'm not Mario Testino. But my lot have been saying, ‘You take pictures; you do it.' So I thought, ‘Let's have a go.' My creative director and the marketing guy and the press people are all pleased with them." [ToL]
• Amber le Bon is to be featured in an upcoming issue of (British?) Vogue wearing her mother Yasmin's vintage clothes. [Daily Mail]
• Late on Friday, fashion writer Diane Pernet published an e-mail exchange between the stylist for "a well-known singer of color" and a PR representative for designer Alexander Wang; the PR was denying the singer's request to wear Alexander Wang clothing, and when the stylist wrote back intimating that the denial was based on her client's race, the PR seemed to agree, and said she was quitting her job. Although Blackbook originally reported on the story, both it and Pernet have pulled their posts about it — did Wang threaten legal action? — but Blackbook's Facebook note publicizing its post is still visible, and Homo Neurotic has reprinted the full text of the e-mails. [Facebook and Homo Neurotic]
• You can now count Yves Saint Laurent designer Stefano Pilati among the thundering horde descending on London Fashion Week in September. Pilati will be in attendance because of his mentor relationship with the label Veryta. [Vogue UK]
• The fashion industry's huge waste is a serious environmental hazard in the third world countries where most of our clothing is made. [UPI]
• A particular jean factory in Lesotho, which produces denim items for the Gap and Levi's, exposed locals to burns and chest infections because of its toxic fumes. [CBS]
• Juicy Couture's higher-priced line, Bird, is now hitting stores. Anyone who had her eye on Rachel Zoe's recommended leather leggings, now is your time. [LATimes]
• Emma Watson, despite her professed abhorrence of celebrity clothing lines, is rumored to be in the process of launching one with the London fair trade organic brand People Tree. There's a Mischa Barton coke joke in here somewhere. [Daily Mail]
• New York is still an attractive place for overseas tourists to go shopping, since the dollar is slightly lower again. London, where the exchange rate has only recently become more favorable, has seen a 4.7% increase in retail sales over last year for the month of June. [WWD]
• Astoundingly, teenagers in America are spending on average 14% less on clothes than they were last year. [NYTimes]
• Christian Dior's profits were down 27%, to $943 million, in the first six months of this year. [WWD]
• A collage of snippets of fabric used in the late Princess Diana's wedding dress is available on eBay for £15,500, if anyone wants it. [Daily Express]
• 13,300 Burlington Coat Factory boys' hooded sweatshirts are being recalled because their cords pose a strangulation risk. [UPI]

• 42-year-old Kristen McMenamy, whose deeply unconventional beauty shone in many of the most memorable fashion photographs of the early '90s, was chosen by Steven Meisel for the new cover of Italian Vogue. [FWD]

• Yves Saint Laurent's Stefano Pilati, whose recent ads have starred Naomi Campbell, continues his run with the '90s supes in his Fall 2009 campaign. Christy Turlington, wearing pleated pants that do no women any favors, poses against a white background, inside a black picture frame that floats in space. [Telegraph]
• Speaking of Naomi Campbell, she'll be the face of Dennis Basso this fall. Basso is a well-known fur designer, and Campbell once famously declared that she'd rather go naked than wear fur, but obviously her naked avarice got in the way. [WWD]
• Madonna wore jet-beaded Givenchy couture on stage in London. Says designer Riccardo Tisci, "She's wearing an outfit that will make history." [People]
• The couture shows get underway in Paris today, and in this economy, selling $70,000 dresses seems like a difficult task. But at Christian Lacroix, whose house recently declared bankruptcy, there is an order backlog for more than 20 outfits. [WWD]
• That still might not save Lacroix. Employees were told Friday of a restructuring plan that would cut the 124-strong workforce to 12, and reduce the Lacroix label to a licensing operation. The only hope is for a buyer to step in. [WWD]
• Prodigious design talent — and rumored Madonna collaborator — Christian Audigier has some sharp words for Victoria Beckham and her celebrity dress line. "I like her, she is a nice girl, but she is not completely my style. I have seen some of her designs — they are very simple. It's difficult for an artist or a singer to enter into the world of fashion," quoth the popularizer of such classics as the trucker hat and the tattoo t-shirt. "You can't just rely on your name to help you sell. The way to sell and who to sell to and what you want to accomplish, these are all things you will need help with if you're entering into the world." [HindustanTimes]
• "I can't analyse my appeal. If I did I'd be in a straitjacket," reports supermodel Daria Werbowy. "I am very lucid in relation to the reality of this industry, the ephemeral nature of beauty and fame,' she says, 'and that gives me a certain distance and quite a bit of humour." [Telegraph]
• Stylist Patricia Field took the opportunity of an interview with the Mirror to settle an old disagreement with Kristin Davis. And with A-line skirts, which we always have found extremely flattering. "I hate the A-line skirt. It's like a lampshade. Ugly. Kristin Davis always wanted to wear A-line skirts as she thought it hid her big behind. She has a fabulous figure – she is completely hour glass, and I would say: ‘Kristin, you have a small waist – show off your round ass!' She would never show it. I wanted to make her into a Bettie Page in Sex And The City, but all she wanted were A-line skirts and Ralph Lauren clothes." [Mirror]
• Meanwhile, Roberto Cavalli has deep thoughts on our economy. "I never pay attention to costs — it's not attractive to speak about numbers. Why can't we just focus on the beauty of an object? I don't know anything about the financial crisis." [ToL]
• Times of London writer Shane Watson asks whether Abercrombie & Fitch's decision to tell an employee with a prosthetic arm to stay in the stockroom was really all that surprising, given the chain's refusal to hire anyone who isn't "regulation cute." Because discriminating against disabled people is exactly the same as dictating your employees hair length and nail polish colors! [ToL]
• Seeing the Wall Street Journal's perspectival dry-point etching of a man wearing skinny jeans totally makes up for this pedestrian story about how the trend caught on. [WSJ]
• Foot wear maestro Manolo Blahnik: "Are shoes so important? Really? If I was a woman, I would be dressed in the same thing for a month and just change my hat and gloves. Maybe my shoes too; yes, I see what you mean but, really, it's jewels that change an outfit. And I do love gloves. And I adddore hats. There are toooo many shoes now. I always tell the children, 'Don't do shoes! Do hats!' And the shoes are so strange, so vulgar. I hate these platforms that are all over the place today; they are all about grabbing attention. They are suburban! I never do a platform. Well, I did, in the 1970s, but that was a bad experience." [FT]
• Ben Westwood, Vivienne Westwood's fetish photographer son, whose latest exhibit featured bound models with the heads of celebrities' children inexpertly Photoshopped onto their bodies, is launching a men's wear line. London Fashion Week must be holding its breath. [Harper's Bazaar]
• Children's apparel is more resilient than other sectors of the clothing market during economic downturns. Why? Kids grow. [WWD]
• The Guardian reviewed R.J. Cutler's The September Issue, and called it "utterly riveting." The paper also said, of the relationship between stylist Grace Coddington and editor Anna Wintour, "to watch them do battle over whether or not to shoot a rubber dress is to see the great fashion battle of creativity versus commerciality acted out in an urbane New York office: a Punch and Judy show scripted by Woody Allen." [Guardian]
• If this is news to anyone here: online ads in the form of fake quizzes, à la Coach's new "Are you a Poppy girl?", are rigged. We are all Poppy girls, in the eyes of Reed Krakoff. Buy a $198 tote bag now! [TBM]
• Apparently, while New York has been drowning in a consistent downpour since mid-April, London has been having a heat wave. Unsurprisingly, sales of bikinis — and beer — have spiked. [FT]
• Because he is paid primarily in stock and options, Ralph Lauren's compensation slipped by more than 40% in value this year. He still made $20.3 million. [WWD]
• Despite cashflow concerns, Prada is still opening stores at a fast clip. Two new boutiques will open this month in Paris and Prague, and the company plans to keep up its 2008 pace, which saw 34 new stores open, for the next three years. [WWD]
• For those nights when you can't seem to remember your underwear, behold: the anti-paparazzi handbag! Activated by camera flashes, the bag emits a beam of light (clue: it's like a slave flash) powerful enough to ruin anyone's shot. [BoingBoing]

• Kanye West and Amber Rose hit up the American Apparel in NoHo for hoodies and sunglasses. "He was really nice about getting his photo taken for our blog," said the store manager. Doesn't he look it! [AmApp]

• Last week, Kanye apparently stood up Agyness Deyn. [Mirror]
• Uh oh. Tim Gunn's Tide commercials were truth-squadded by Consumer Reports, who found that not only was his claim that Tide Total Care doesn't fade clothes after 30 washes untrue, but that another Tide product, Tide 2x Ultra Coldwater, performed just as well as Total Care, for half the price. [CR]
• Stephen Colbert's camouflage suit: custom made by Brooks Brothers. [The Cut]
• Is Vera Wang really going to Dancing With The Stars? [E!]
• Recent Columbia grad Bee "fashion is a really weird industry" Shaffer, everybody: "Right now I am looking for a job, but I also want to study acting." Because if there's one industry where all the people are well-adjusted and normal, it's acting! [FWD]
• Stella McCartney has announced a new partnership to create one-off collections for Gap Kids and Baby Gap. It's the first time the designer has ever done children's wear, and the clothing will hit stores late this year. [WWD]
• Clairol's Nice 'n' Easy at-home hair color is apparently in for a big relaunch, with The Office's Angela Kinsey. In the year to March, Procter & Gamble already spent 97 million on Nice 'n' Easy ads, almost double what it spent on advertising for the brand in the whole of 2008. As for Kinsey, it sounds like she'll play a sort of underminey girlfriend who tells women things like, "Remember when your friend Kelly said she liked your hair color? She lied!" [AW]
• Well, somebody must still have money: Stefano Pilati's "New vintage" collection for Yves Saint Laurent is all but sold out after one day on Barneys' sales floor. [WWD]
• New Yorkers stuck for Father's Day gift ideas, take note: designer John Bartlett's first collection with Liz Claiborne will be sold for four days starting June 18th at a pop-up store at 143 Seventh Avenue South. Shorts will be $55, polos $39.50, and sport coats $89.50. We imagine there'll be some nice socks and hankies, too. [The Cut]
• Pieces from Yigal Azrouël's current Spring/Summer collection, along with Alternative Apparel t-shirts hand-screened with woodblock-esque prints by the designer, are currently for sale on eBay. The items are offered at fixed prices, and while they are below retail ($215 for a cardigan), they're not exactly sample-sale affordable. But all proceeds go to the Natural Resources Defense Council. [eBay]
• Fashion blind item: "Which design collaboration's not actually going so smoothly? Major licensing and financial problems mean the summer-turned-fall launch is now looking like late winter. And if that's not enough drama the designer now 'despises' the collaborator." We'd say famously difficult Jil Sander and Uniqlo fit the bill here, except that line was always supposed to launch this Fall. [Fashionista]
• Net-a-Porter increased its sales by 47.8% in the year to January 31, to a volume of £81.5 million. [FT]
• Versace has named a new chief executive after the hasty departure of Giancarlo di Risio following tensions with the Versace family: the new guy is Gian Giacomo Ferraris, who led Jil Sander since 2004 (the year Sander herself was finally forced out of her design position by owners Prada). [WSJ]
• Jewelry can be a notoriously unethical business — and we don't just mean blood diamonds. Conditions in gold mines are often unsafe for workers, the chemicals used in mining, such as cyanide, can wreak havoc on local ecosystems, and the trade in precious gems like rubies and emeralds is often under the control of third-world strongmen. "Most gems are found in the poor parts of the world and they end up on very rich people's fingers and it's complicated," says jeweler Stephen Webster. The industry is taking a variety of voluntary measures to change its ways. [Telegraph]
• Things are head-spinningly complicated at Interview magazine — still. Fabien Baron and Glenn O'Brien used to be co-editorial directors; then, five months ago, Baron was fired, and O'Brien retained his position while a new creative team was brought in by Brant publications. Now, as of Friday, O'Brien is out — and Baron is back in his old job. [WWD]
• Shares in Men's Wearhouse gained 16% to $20.70 in trading on Tuesday, after the announcement that an affiliate of the company would buy the bankrupt Filene's Basement discount department store chain. Despite same-store sales that fell 5%, Men's Wearhouse still posted a first-quarter profit, and expects earnings of 50 to 60 cents a share in the next quarter. [TS]
• But another bidder in the Filene's auctions says the Men's Wearhouse bid should be invalidated because the auction was "a sham." [Crain's]
• Eddie Bauer might declare its bankruptcy as soon as the end of this week. [WSJ]

• What appears to be Kanye West's campaign for his Louis Vuitton sneakers has leaked. Amber Rose, the woman he squired around fashion week, is featured, along with a truly hideous crocodile bomber jacket. [Nah Right]

• George F. Will: hates jeans, or as he likes to call them, "the demon denim." "Denim," he says, "is the carefully calculated costume of people eager to communicate indifference to appearances." Then the columnist writes that the only acceptable jeans are "authentic work clothes for horny-handed sons of toil and the soil." He he he he horny. [WaPo]
• The New York Times is ending its weekly fashion spreads — which were always, to my eye, surprisingly good — its Sunday magazine. Ad pages are down 41% on last year, and the Times is going to concentrate its fashion coverage in the execrable T, as well as the Styles section. [WWD]
• Heidi Klum confirmed the seventh season of Project Runway (applications are due April 24, guys!) will be filmed in New York, not L.A. [E! Online]
• Prada is nearing the completion of some kind of an epic building in Seoul. Designed by BFF starchitect, Rem Koolhaas (who did this season's lookbook), and called the Transformer, the building's components will rotate and re-align to transform the structure completely. It'll be flexible enough to host film festivals and exhibits of all kinds. The building will be contained by a thin, elastic white membrane. [WWD]
• At least Karl Lagerfeld is honest about modeling. "[I]n fact there is no advice, because all circumstances are very different. It depends on what you are ready to give, the kind of life you bring, what may be exciting or disappointing … You can't accuse anyone of not doing enough to help you, because, besides yourself, there's nothing anyone can do. You have to be given what's needed by nature, and what's needed is to bring something new. But it's the most … (hits hand on table) unjust … (hits hand on table) thing in the world." [Fashionologie]
• Jewelry designer Anna Sheffield is the next in line for the Target: GO International diffusion line program. And Macy's will sell a cheaper capsule collection from Rachel Roy, under the label Rachel Rachel Roy, starting this August. [Fabsugar]
• Vivienne Westwood is now making pillows. Naturally, they're awesome but perhaps a little extreme — which is Westwood's aesthetic to a T. [FWD]
• Could Jennifer Connelly be making a return as the face of Balenciaga this fall? [The Cut]
• Cynthia Rowley turned up on the cover of an auction catalog with her guitarist husband. They like to collect contemporary art to decorate their West Village townhome. [WWD]
• Stefano Pilati, the creative director of Yves Saint Laurent, now has a floral sleeve tattoo. [Purple Diary]
• Coco Rocha says the weirdest thing about hosting that E! Canada documentary on New York Fashion Week was having to actually interview people. "For me to run up to people who have like, eight bodyguards was not my scene," said the model, who recently died her hair red at the request of Steven Meisel. "I don't like to get into people's personal space, I don't believe in it, so I was like, whoa!" [The Cut]
• WWD has a fascinating look at the process of clothing restoration. The case study: the work of Madeleine Vionnet. [WWD]
• There is now a thing called ModelFeed, which functions like a group blog, for models. So if you ever wanted to know how Myf Shepard feels about contemporary art, now's your time. [ModelFeed]
• Do you want to watch Rick Owens — a designer who bears some resemblance to Professor Snape — grinning maniacally for Nick Knight while Richard Strauss' Salomé plays in the background? The answer is yes. (Moreover, Owens takes his shirt off suddenly, and lets his trademark black sweater blow in the studio fan. It's dramatic.) [ShowSTUDIO]

• The first pictures of Lindsay Lohan's foray into cosmetics have been released: at left, the often-orange starlet shilling for a spray tan called Sevin Nyne. [People]

• Sojin Lee, formerly of online pioneers Net-a-porter.com, and Simon Fuller, the man who gave you the Spice Girls and Roland Mouret, are starting an internet fashion business together. [WWD]
• Times critic Cathy Horyn went to a Chanel party, found Olivier Zahm and Stefano Pilati and no champagne. So she had a Bud. [The Moment]
• "When I'm wearing a hoodie, it looks like I just threw a hoodie on. I'm wearing what I discovered and figured out is the best hoodie I can find. And I'll tell you, if you ever want to know the best hoodie, I know the best hoodie." Whatever you say, John Mayer. [FabSugar]
• Editors are picking designers instead of models for their covers lately. Diane von Furstenberg graced Purple (and the issue promptly sold out) last month. Perhaps noting their success, this month i-D has Miuccia Prada on the front. [Fashionista]
• In case you need to be reminded why models can make great cover choices (perhaps your name is Anna Wintour?), the Times' "The Moment" blog has this neat feature where you can slide your cursor over a photo of Kasia Struss or Jourdan Dunn to see how the makeup and hair looks at the shows come together. Latest additions: Jean Paul Gaultier and Dior. [The Moment]
• And, on balance, why they might not: "I'm not your cheesy girl that's going to dress up in a hokey outfit and say all the sound bites that you want me to say," says Erin Wasson. No, Erin, you're certainly not! [Daily Beast]
• Sean Avery's fashion friends came out to support him at his first Rangers game since that internship at Vogue. Even the guy who works the door at the Beatrice showed up. Who says this business doesn't foster loyal and real connections? [Observer]
• There are pictures of Roberto Cavalli's new Cavalli Pets dog clothing line. The line includes a satin trimmed bath robe. For your dog. And leopard-printed shearling jackets. For your dog. [The Cut]
• Roberto Cavalli also sells sex toys. The inimitable New York drag queen Lady Bunny mentioned them to Fashion Week Daily, although she does say they're kinda small. [Racked]
• Model blind item: "Whicih two veteran models got into a "full-on serious fistfight" in a Paris nightclub this Fashion Week? The fight was so démodé, Uncle Karl himself had to break it up." Invitations to name the offenders or improvise the Kaiser's dialogue in the comments. [Fashionista]
• Freida Pinto says the news she is going to be a face of Estée Lauder is "but a lovely rumor." [WWD]
• "Beauty, economy, and usefulness are the best rules for the well-dressed woman," said Depression-era American fashion designer Muriel King. It's sound advice for today. If you're in New York City, you'd do well to check out the new exhibit of King's work at the Museum at FIT. King was a painter who got into fashion when she became an illustrator for publications like Vogue and Women's Wear Daily — eventually she hired patternmakers and garment workers to turn her original sketches into reality. [Style.com]
• And laundry detergent is the new fashion must-have. Tim Gunn says so. (And we can all agree with lower drycleaning bills.) [WSJ]
• Although J. Crew recently instituted cost-cutting measures including layoffs, a wage freeze, and suspending company matching of 401(k) contributions, the retailer's fourth quarter losses still reached $13.5 million, because of weak sales. However, because analysts had expected even bigger losses, their stock price rose. [Crain's]
• Interestingly, they still have plans to open more stores. [WWD]
• Liz Claiborne CEO Bill McComb lives in New Jersey. His misfortune is lessened by the fact that his company pays $10,500 in monthly rent to maintain a New York apartment for his occasional overnight stays in the city. Liz Claiborne's revenues shrank 10% last year, as same-store sales at Claiborne-owned Juicy Couture, Lucky Brand, Kate Spade, and Mexx all dropped by over 12%. The company announced its plays to lay off 8% of its workforce in February. [Crain's]
• Charlotte Russe is offering itself up for sale. [Dealbook]
• Neiman Marcus's quarterly loss: $509.2 million. Sales in the three months ended January 31 fell by over 20%. [WSJ]
• Comparatively speaking, American Eagle's modest fourth quarter profit of $32.7 million is a relief, in that it's not a loss. Revenue fell 9% on a year ago, and the company says the results are disappointing overall. [The Street]
• That L'Oreal/eBay legal wrangle over the sale of counterfeit goods online has been delayed in the French courts. [WWD]
• In honor of Young Buck's announcement that his clothing line, David Brown, is no more, Complex magazine has a look back at the top ten failed rapper clothing lines, including Master P's No Limit Clothing, and Fat Joe's FJ560. [Complex]
• Who else but Heidi Klum drove the Barbie dream car to the Barbie dream house in Malibu. [FWD]

Writes Sheidlower, the president's attire "was, by the standards of men's formal dress, simply incorrect." Wearing a white tie but not "white tie" is a no-no, and what's more, wearing the more formal neck ornament at a black tie event is to commit the sin of dressing more formally than the engagement demands. Sheidlower to the rescue! White tie, in case you need reminding,

is not simply a tuxedo worn with a white tie. It consists of a tailcoat, not a tuxedo jacket, and it is worn with a wing-collar shirt with a front of cotton piqué. The trousers traditionally have double piping on the side seam. Black tie consists of a tuxedo jacket (which traditionally has peak, not notch, lapels with satin or grosgrain facing) worn with a black bow tie and a pleated straight-collar shirt. The trousers have a single wide piping on the side seam.

This is all true. By the recondite system of conventions that govern men's formal wear, our new president was all kinds of wrong. (Sheidlower might have also pointed out that Obama wore a wristwatch — traditionally a no-no with evening wear for both sexes, because it implies you might be marking time instead of enjoying the sumptuous event.) But I can't help but wonder why sniffing that Obama wore the wrong suit is apparently Sheidlower's most urgent impression of the inauguration?

The point is, Obama, for all his formal wear code-switching, looked good. The notched lapels on his impeccably-fitted suit didn't distract from the elegance of the event. The white tie on his straight-collar shirt didn't even immediately jump out at me as wrong. And I certainly wasn't counting the stripes on his pants as I watched video clips on my laptop. Obama's overall look was strong, handsome, and well turned out. A certain creativity with the dress code is not, in my mind, a sin.

But what's what menswear always comes down to, isn't it? Despite the best efforts of designers like Hedi Slimane (who, although no longer at the helm of Dior Homme, will always be at the helm of my suit-loving heart), Thom Browne, and Stefano Pilati to make men's fashion about more than two-button or three-button suits, to inject it with some of the vitality and purposefulness that women take for granted in our ready-to-wear, dressing up as a dude is still about following rules more than it is about looking good. Can you imagine if we were still trapped in some timewarp where everyone was talking about Michelle Obama's inauguration day outfits in terms of the "right" colors for day and evening, the proper length of gloves, the right kind of hat and the ideal heel height? It's refreshing that so little of the commentary on her clothes has given even a cursory nod to such restrictive, convention-based notions. When it comes to one's choice of dress, maybe it's easier to be a woman than a man.

Obama's Fashion Faux Pas [Slate]

• Designer Oscar de la Renta says Hillary Clinton, whom he's dressing for the Inaugural ball, is "very prudish about the type of clothes she likes to wear." It's a constant battle! [People]

• Fergie's MAC campaign is — how do we put this? —scary. [Oh No They Didn't]
• “Did you know there’s dissent in the Gossip Girl wardrobe closet? The main costume designer is clashing with the other stylists and producers on set because they think he’s making Blake look like a “trashy whore” and they’re convinced he was responsible for her awful Golden Globes dress." [Fashionista]
• Showing a total disregard for celebrity morale, every designer seems to be canceling their fashion week parties. [WWD]
• As the financial crisis hits the luxe market hard, both Elizabeth Arden and Estee Lauder cut their profit views. [Reuters]
• Alexander McQueen and Puma are teaming up for a (tartan?!) sportswear line. [WWD]
• Edina Monsoon, take note: Christian Lacroix is selling his Paris apartment for about $2.6 million. [WSJ]
• If you were panting to see the spawn of Keith Richards, Carly Simon and James Taylor shill for Lucky jeans (us neither), sorry, Charlie, you'll have to go online. [WWD]
• Optimism? Red herring? Either way, Project Runway is on the fashion week schedule, and we want to believe! [Blogging Project Runway]
• Dolce and Gabbana's long-awaited foray into cosemtics happens next month. [WWD]
• Wait for it: Alexander Wang's diffusion line is actually cheap! [New York]
• Jonathan Rhys Meyers, currently ludicrous for Hugo Boss cologne, will be the legs of New Energie jeans. [WWD]
• Stetson, us, wants Obama to wear a fedora to the Inaugural. We can all dream on. [Brand Freak]
• Oy: Saks is laying of 1,100 employees. That's 9% of its workforce. [WWD]
• And yet Uggs, the cockroach of the clothing world, are still doing better than ever! [Telegraph]
• Michael Pitt's doing the short film thin for designer Stefano Pilati. [WWD]
• And in real news, Calvin Klein is wrangling with the preservation board over overhaulin' his Hamptons waterfront home. [Media Bistro]

• Sarah Palin: "I'm back to wearing my own clothes from my favorite consignment shop in Anchorage, Alaska." The store's name? Out of the Closet. [L.A. Times]
• Oy. Celebrity stylist Philip Bloch christens Michelle Obama "Blackie O." [NY Mag]
• Michelle's J.Crew bump continues to push the company - because of course if you buy those separates you'll look just like her and be a potential first lady! [Racked]
• Thank God, local news is monitoring Karl Lagerfeld's Vermont activity. Apparently he's wearing the full Karl Kostume! And his neighbor is named "Loomis Beame." [NY Magazine]
• Keira Knightley carries Anya Hindmarch dust bag instead of the purse it came with. [ElleUK]

• How would you respond to this query to the WSJ's style column? "I always think my husband and I should look more like a couple when we go out, with complementary outfits. But he just puts on the same baggy jeans, even though I am in dresses. What's a way for us to dress more like a couple?" [WSJ]
• Obviously copying my Halloween costume, Rebecca Minkoff cites Liz Taylor as an inspiration. [WWD]
• Angelina's stylist on her red carpet "gown": "It's two separates that looked great together, clean and simple with a pretty shape, which is what we like." [FabSugar]
• Anand Jon's (whose real last name is apparently Alexander) trial wraps up. [Breitbart]
• Narciso Rodriguez: "I don’t recall a specific thought, like, 'Oh, this is who I am,' but I was always watching my mom make clothes, and so I was comfortable with the idea of tearing into a piece of fabric. I remember a piece of black wool felt—I was making a very cool vest, and Mom walked in on me with the scissors in my hand, as I was cutting into the felt, and she freaked out: “What are you doing?!” I was ruining a lot of fabric back then." [Style.com]
• Michelle Malkin accuses the Gap of promoting "Voter Fraud Chic." [Michelle Malkin]
• Is that why The Gap has sent all its employees on a three-day vacation?! "Cutting costs" my eye. [WWD]
• Model Carol Alt loses high-profile legal battle with her ex. [Reuters]
• Obama vows "to support five key textile industry policy positions" to save the listing U.S. industry and monitor China. [WWD]
• Say it ain't so! Spies say Nina Garcia was seen purchasing slutty schoolgirl costume! [NY Mag]
• Model moments through the ages: kinda fun. [Telegraph]
• Still got time to waste? Here's a gallery of movie fashion moments through the ages! [EW]
• Crotchety WSJ writer is proud to be a shlub. [WSJ]
• What do sharks in formaldehyde and prospectors have in common? Why Damien Hirst's line for Levi's, of course! T"he 12-piece Damien Hirst X Levi’s Collection revolves around some of Hirst’s favored themes — skulls, colorful spots and tropical butterflies. Jeans retail for about 180 euros, or $230 at current exchange, with T-shirts at 65 euros, or $83." You can get it in Berlin and Milan. [WWD]
• Stefano Pilati on sex — or not — at YSL. "For me, the main factor is the seduction factor. I want to look at a woman and feel seduced. I never touch the idea of sex...Sex one of the most complicated things; it's too subjective. And if you have subjectivity, you have to balance it out - with you skills, your knowledge, the values of your brand. Sex for me is personal." [VogueUK]

• Like everyone in Fashion, Vogue Editor at XL Andre Leon Talley has many opinions, feels they should be heard. "Asked how Americans can still look fabulous despite the recession, Talley said, 'Wear something old that you love' until Election Day. 'Then, vote for Barack Obama, who'll fix the economy.'" [NY Daily News]
• Most depressing/embarrassing WSJ video ever. "Guy" reporter goes to the Mall of America and interviews people about Republican style. [WSJ]
• Beloved former Chloe brain Phoebe Philo snapped up by Celine! [WWD]
• Nastia Liukin is so over gymnastics. The gold medalist, who's gonna be front and center at Fashion Week, is launching a line. "The five foot three athlete is working with Vanilla Star jeans on launching Nastia Liukin Gold jeans and tops for holiday sales. She is also in talks to design a line of activewear for GK, the company that makes her leotards, which she designs with her mom." [NY Mag]

• Chanel boycotts Russia because of Georgian situation...?! Oh, wait, no, the conflict just meant they couldn't get the venue they wanted. "A Chanel spokeswoman said the decision to nix Moscow was made in July before the crisis in Georgia as the company could not secure the venue it wanted in the Russian capital." [WWD]
• Crasher alert! "A man calling himself "Tom Klein" has been infiltrating chic soirees, claiming he works for Women's Wear Daily. This Klein character got caught when he tried to get on the list for last night's Gossip Girl party at the Empire Hotel, hosted by Dior Beauty, a source said. The crasher, claiming to be a senior editor at Fairchild Media, sends e-mails from a fake address. A WWD spokeswoman told Page Six, 'He is not an employee of Fairchild or Condé Nast.'" [P6]
• Here's how to deal with the recession: Meet the new status phones! "Constructed of precious metals, studded with diamonds and other jewels, and wrapped in exotic leathers, they have struck a chord among the small group of people who can afford them—namely, millionaires and celebrities." [BusinessWeek]
• Banana Republic courts Details readers...or the other way around? Are they different? "Beginning Wednesday through Sept. 17, each retail location will have extensive in-store magazine branding with "look cards," store displays, signage and fitting room signs. Bananarepublic.com will host a microsite with more style tips from Details and special offers from the retailer." [WWD]
• Stefano Pilati's beautiful YSL fashion look book being ignored because it's in a free tote. "When the news hit the fashion blogs last week, it was all about the cute bag, not the amazing images of Naomi Campbell, photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. To think, a real ‘It’ bag, for free, considering a Muse starts around $1,395. And, on the handout, the YSL logo is fetchingly printed upside down." [NYT]
• For those of us who already can't afford Tracy Reese, the news of her new, high-end line will not come as a joyful surprise. [WWD]
• Uniqlo might be bringing its cheap cashmere to India, Russia. [WSJ]
• What recession? H&M expands. Says the CEO, "Our strategy is based on the concept of fashion and quality at the best price...It helps us stay balanced even during economic downturns." [Business Week]
• Apparently, fashionistas have no qualms about fast fashion! Reports a Racked spy,"I was in the Forever21 in Soho and heard the one of the managers tell her staff in a meeting to 'look out' and 'be prepared' for stylists, editors and celebrities coming this week for Fashion Week." [Racked]
• Todd Oldham admits his show Top Design kind of blows. Okay, not really. "I would not want to be a contestant on this show at all," he says. "It's just too brutal. I said it before, but this is the only show I know on TV that is a thousand times harder than what it looks. It was way, way harder than what it looked like." [Breitbart]
• Designer and glamorous eccentric Isabel Toledo feted by the fashion elite: "A drag queen performed a cabaret homage to Ms. Toledo—"Isabel, you've chaaaaanged!"—which featured the word "motherfucker." Then Emcee Simon Doonan, of Barney's...narrated a slideshow of Ms. Toledo's life, from 'the Cuban Revolution to this incredibly un-Communist luncheon.'" [Observer]
• The Hef effect? "At New York fashion week, which kicks off Friday, designers including Phillip Lim, Michael Bastian and Tim Hamilton are expected to show a number of pajama-inspired clothes that are meant to be worn in broad daylight. The looks include colored piping on jackets and shirts, spread-open pajama collars, soft, unpadded jackets that hang loosely off the shoulders — and, of course, voluminous drawstring pants." [WSJ]
• Jonathan Saunders for Target might be awesome. Why must they tempt us with their fast fashion?! [Fabsugar]
• "With casual sweaters and sharp suits in shades of black, white and grey, Ji Wenbo became the first Chinese designer to showcase a collection at Japan's Fashion Week in a bid to woo customers in fashion-savvy Tokyo." [Reuters]
• With fashion in transition, we lack a Savior: "Still, there is no world-beater. There are no names that suggest clear-cut potential both to reshape fashion and somehow with it the global culture of style. There is no one, to take the obvious example, likely to replace Yves Saint Laurent, who died in June and seemingly took with him not merely a genius for conjuring glamour from whole cloth, but also for draping his designs to suit the mood of his time." [NYT]
• The New York Observer throws its pink hat into the fashion-glossy ring with Observer Style, "a semiannual magazine due to make its debut Nov. 16 and focused on the local fashion scene." [WWD]
• Carlos Miele is expecting a baby. "Insiders" say it's a boy called Leonardo. The item is titled, "stork to bring stylish baby." [P6]

• Keeping alive the fashion industry's carefully-cultivated reputation for bitchy pettiness, current Yves Saint Laurent creative director has his former boss Tom Ford in the Times mag: "Tom is talented but not gifted. That's the way he managed the business. Tom would say: 'We can't do this silhouette because she looks fat.' Or, 'Oh, no — women don't like this fabric; we can't use it.' That mentality was something to learn but was so far from my way of thinking." In sum, Ford "didn't challenge women." [WWD]
• How many times does she have to say it? Dita Von Teese is committed to glamor! "People always think I just hang around in jeans or a tracksuit, and I’m like, Well, no. I’m sitting here right now, having just rolled out of bed, wearing a vintage slip. I don’t have any makeup on, my hair is probably a disaster, but that doesn’t mean I’ll put on jeans and a T-shirt because no one’s looking." [BlackBook]
• In one of the oddest collaborations we've run across this week, model Erin Featherston is teaming up with LU Biscuits, described by Fashionista as "the little crackers with chocolate boys on them." We're "collaborating" with a chocolate-chip muffin right now. [Fashionista]

• If you can't see Helmut Lang's mixed-media sculpture, "Alles Gleich Schwer,"in Germany, you can catch it on the web. We're guessing as conceptual, un-cuddly as his clothes. [Men.Style]
• Don't worry about the environment: fashion is on it! "The Be EcoChic campaign, which raises awareness of environmental issues, is raising its fashion profile on Sept. 4, when it kicks off its global launch with a group runway show at the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. Designers including Donna Karan, Ralph Rucci, Carmen Marc Valvo, Christian Cota and Vena Cava have contributed looks that feature sustainable, low-impact or recycled fabrics, while women with environmentalist cred — including Mary Richardson, the wife of Riverkeeper’s Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Laura Turner Seydel, daughter of Ted Turner — will walk in the show." [WWD]
• Normally recession-proof L'Oreal challeneged by the "flare-up in the price of raw materials and energy." [WSJ]
• Apparently being in Japan Fashion Week is really hard. [WWD]
• How hard is it to don silk pajamas? Playboy has launched an online style guide for men. "As it is a patriotic year with the Olympics and an election, I wanted to focus
  the playboy.com fall style guide on an Americana theme," said fashion director Joseph DeAcetis." [WWD]
• If you're wondering why the Project Runway models are always flaking, maybe it's because the gig sucks. Daniel's auf'd model dishes on the unpaid, ten-hour ordeal that is a day in the life. [NY Mag]
• A Canadian retailer has pulled its catalogues after customers complained about the unhealthfully thin models. "Simons department store has pulled its back-to-school catalogue from seven stores in Quebec after complaints the models in the book were too thin. The family owned company, which dates back to the 1840s, received more than 200 complaints from consumers denouncing the rail-thin models wearing the Simons Twik brand." Now if only fashion would take notice... [WWD]
• It seems like these stats are always changing, but as of today, luxury brands scoff at the recession, do brilliantly. [The Guardian]
• Ferragamo did the shoes for Baz Luhrmann's latest spectacle, Australia. Wedges and riding boots play a supporting role in the (possibly ludicrous) epic. '"My grandfather, Salvatore Ferragamo, began his career working in costume design for the American Film Company, a precursor to Twentieth Century Fox, so it is only fitting that we carry on his name and our company's heritage by collaborating once again on a film from Fox," said James Ferragamo. [FabSugar]
• As we know, the solution to all the world's problems lies in celeb-designed T-shirts. Accordingly, Julia Roberts has done one for Armani. '"Julia has helped to create beautiful and unique designs for both women and men, which will be a visible reminder of the part that we can all play in fighting AIDS in Africa,” Armani said.' [WWD]
• Kate Hahn's book Forgotten Fashion will certainly be sold at Anthropologie. "It's deadpan social satire in a tone Hahn describes as 'glamorous dark humor...inspired by things like Edward Gorey and the Limony Snicket series.' In each of the supposedly historic episodes, everything goes wonderfully until some sort of 'regrettable incident or unlucky moment' ends the fun."[Deep Glamour]
• Sports bra sales are up; we suspect this has approximately 0% to do with the Olympics. [The Sun]
• Moschino does some "witty" ballet flats for Repetto. Spoiler: they look like wood grain and have random springs of flowers springing out of them. [VogueUK]
• Ooh! The Daily News brings us "The Top 50 of The NYC Fashion Hierarchy" just in time for Fashion Week! We love to know who's insulting us! [Daily News via Sassybella]

• It will not surprise anyone to learn that the clothes worn in the Sex & The City movie were not paid for by the movie's production budget but by designers hoping that product placement in the movie will result in clothing sales to actual people convinced that dressing like the characters in Sex & The City is a wise course of action. [Variety]
  
• Speaking of which, Matthew Broderick on the opening of his latest film, the Helen Hunt-directed Then She Found Me: "We just get dressed, get in a car, and hope for the best. But Sarah Jessica's premiere will be a big one! She looks really beautiful today, but it's just the dress rehearsal for now." [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• Hell to the no, Rami Kashou did not copy Yves Saint Laurent in designing a dress for Heidi Klum! [NY Mag]
  
• Bloomingdales' workers are on the brink of their first-ever strike. That's what you get when you let retail workers unionize, Terry Lundgren! [Crain's]

• "Her new 'grande bourgeoise' style suits her well," says lingerie designer Chantal Thomas of France's new first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. We think this is a compliment. [WWD, 4th item]
• Designer Bruce Oldfield is designing uniforms for McDonald's employees in the UK. But don't worry, they're not too "quirky and eccentric." [Vogue UK]
• Model Hana Soukupova on how she goes green: "I got a Range Rover as I just learned to drive and it's big and safe and great for driving around NYC. I am very eco-conscious and must admit I have been considering a different car for the summer. I'm thinking of swapping it for a Mini Cooper." You know, Hana? There's also walking. I know models at least have to know how to do that. [Chic Report]
• Yves Saint Laurent designer Stefano Pilati loves Jamba Juice. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Coach: Income up, stock down. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Calypso founder Christiane Celle has left the company she started, a mere seven months after cashing out big time to private equity firms. Blah, blah, irreconcilable differences, what else is new; can we still get candy-colored linen and silk little dresses? [WWD, sub req'd]
• Urban Outfitters: Soon to feature in-house collections by Geren Ford, Steven Alan, Charlotte Ronson, and Paul & Joe. Pete Wentz must be so excited. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Aw, vintage Krazy Karl. [Sassybella]

• Now the face of Versace menswear, Patrick Dempsey has started referring to Donatella Versace as his "Italian mother." [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• Model Erin O'Connor musing on the end of another fashion season: "...yes I'm howling, oh how woeful I was when the mini cab rocked up early Sunday morning to collect the regal attire, literally stripped from my back to be sent back to each designer. Kind enough to donate for the week I hear you mutter? Jees, and Cinderella thought she had it bad? Hark, where for art thou my four-door Sports Series Maseratti? Not even a pumpkin post-shows for this lowly creature, just her own two spindly legs to get her from A to B..." [Vogue UK]
  
• The Herve Leger dress that Victoria Beckham wore to the Marc Jacobs show last season is now on sale at Intermix. Er, maybe not? So many people tried to buy it online that the Intermix website crashed. [Fashionista]

• Why was this not a challenge on Project Runway this season? Clothing made from plastic bags is the new recycling. [Guardian UK]
• Alessandra Facchinetti debut collection for the Valentino label: Hitting the runway on Thursday! [FT]
• Fashion folk: Mainly computer illiterate. [IHT]
• Jeffrey Kalinsky of luxe boutique Jeffrey, is giving Nordstrom a "makeover." Jeffrey, if you have never had the distinct pleasure of being abused there, is known for its infamously bitchy salespeople. [WSJ]
• Yves Saint Laurent's Stefano Pilati wants shoppers to feel like they've been taking opium when visiting the new YSL store in Paris. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Oscar de la Renta has just inked two licensing deal for handbags and small leather goods, finding more and more ways to put a little O in your life. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Escada's got a new CEO and he's ready to whore out the company by focusing on money-making world of accessories. Didn't we just read like fifty-thousand stories on the death of the It Bag? [WWD, sub req'd]
• I will mock my boyfriend ruthlessly if he ever wears a robe like this. [Chic Report]
• Recession? What recession? Women's apparel prices areon the rise. [IHT]

• Rumor has it that Victoria Beckham will follow her appearance on the cover of Elle and the Marc Jacobs ad campaigns with the April Vogue cover. [Sassybella]
  
• Speaking of: "No size zeros here!" say the Spice Girls when interviewed alongside Roberto Cavalli by International Herald Tribune fashion critic Suzy Menkes in Milan yesterday. Um, sure. [IHT]
  
• Alessandra Ambrosio is the latest Victoria's Secret angel to get knocked up. Ambrosio is allegedly "several" months along. And to whom did she choose to confide this intimate knowledge? The Hilton sisters, of course. [Page Six]
  
• Sucks to be Bergdorf Goodman's mens fashion director Tommy Fazio: Sucker got ousted from his front-row seat at the Versace's menswear show Saturday so that Beyonce's bodyguard could have some place to sit. Yeah, maybe you wondered where Beyonce gets off thinking she needs a bodyguard in a room full of emaciated models and juice-fasting gays, but you can never be too careful these days, what with the whole Benazir Bhutto thing. [Page Six]

• French Vogue editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld's daughter Julia Restoin-Roitfeld is designing the Fashion Week invites for both Peter Som and Frank Tell. We'd maybe chalk this up to nepotism, but Jesus Christ, invites? Do we even care? Why are we even reading this? Oh right, because it's Carine Roitfeld's daughter.[Daily Chic]
• Yves Saint Laurent designer Stefano Pilati thinks he's super-duper hi-tech. Why, you might ask? Because he's showing his menswear collection this season in a short film. Wow. Next he's going to tell us he's traded in his cassette tapes for these newfangled things called compact discs. [Vogue UK]
• Gucci is issuing a limited edition accessories line, Gucci Hearts NY, to be sold exclusively in the Gucci 5th avenue flagship store. Somehow we think tourists are being targeted with this one? [Fashion Week Daily]
• Coldwater Creek's profits are in the toilet. Is global warming taking a toll on the Christmas sweater market? [The Street]
• English retailer Marks & Spencer has teamed with Oxfam to launch a new initiative where customers get M&S gift certificates in exchange for bringing in clothes to donate to Oxfam. But in case you were wondering, lingerie, underwear, swimwear, hosiery and socks can't be donated. Um, thank goodness. [Guardian]
• Lover of the dance Calvin Klein designer Francisco Costa is designing the costumes for the 27th-annual Elisa Monte Dance Gala, which begins on Friday at The Ailey Theatre in New York. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Burberry stock fell by 10% yesterday. Bet they're missing the chavs now! [FT]
• Ben Harper: Likes Lanvin! [WWD, sub req'd]
• January 23 is both the day of Valentino's couture show and the day of his retirement. Dude's been retiring longer than Cher. [Vogue UK]
• Dolce & Gabbana have collaborated with 20year old artist Alessandro Pezzati, who created hand-painted t-shirts for their menswear collection inspired by "found items." In other words, you can now buy a really expensive cashmere tee with a picture of garbage on it. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Model Coco Rocha: Enjoys a good spritz. [BellaSugar]
• 80s trend we'd rather not revisit... [Sassybella]

• Miramax mogul Harvey Weinstein and Marchesa co-designer Georgina Chapman got hitched on Saturday night at Weinstein's home in Westport, CT. The bride wore Marchesa, the groom Tom Ford, the Gypsy Kings gave a private concert and even Vogue's Anna Wintour attended. Also there: Model Natalia Vodianova, celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe, Renée Zellweger, Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Anne Hathaway and Cameron Diaz (all of whom, sadly, need no further introduction). [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Chapman designed not one but two gowns for her wedding: One for the ceremony and one for the reception. Modest! [GlamChic]
  
• This year's CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fun big winner Rogan Gregory is rumored to be the next designer to do a collection for Target, thus confirming Moe's theory that designers go straight from Vogue to the red bullseye, lovingly guided by Anna Wintour herself. [WWD, 2nd item]

• God bless Valentino. The man denied his retirement for an eternity, then announced he was retiring, then threw himself a giant party for the anniversary of his label, and now — just for good measure — he is being honored by the mayor of Paris with an honorary citizenship to the city. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Victoria Beckham's "V-Sculpt' make-up line scares us even more than Victoria Beckham's sculpted boobs. [BellaSugar]
• Oh Lord: Who would want Tara Reid to be the face of anything? Yet alone "sleepwear." [Sassybella]
• High Grant ex/English socialite Jemima Khan has designed a charm bracelet to benefit some charitable cause. The charms on the bracelet represent the five major world religions. Says Khan of her design, "I have been personally connected to the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism through my paternal grandfather, Christianity through my mother, and Islam through my marriage and my children." Well doesn't that make her special! [Fashion Week Daily]
• All that talk about Vivienne Westwood moving her show back to London from Paris? Sorta bullshit. Westwood will only be showing her secondary line, Red Label, in Mother England. The eponymous shit will still show en Paris. [Vogue UK]
• YSL designer Stefano Pilati has decided that runway shows and scary and impersonal so he will be showing the YSL menswear collection in a presentation and a private dinner this season instead. Touching is permitted. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Oh no! Another cryptic e-mail from ELLE's Gilles Bensimon! Really, someone please stage an intervention and soon. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Another reason to love/loathe Topshop: Launching collections ''collaborated" on by English designers Jonathan Saunders, Louise Goldin, Christopher Kane, Marios Schwab, Todd Lynn and Richard Nicoll starting in mid-January. [WWD, 5th item]
• Herve Leger is back! And now designed under the Max Azria label. Um, ok? [WWD, 4th item]

• Remember how, before Sofia Coppola was a fashion icon and Marc Jacobs muse and celebrity spokesmodel for numerous fashion labels, she actually worked in fashion and had her own clothing line? Yeah, well the clothing line actually still exists, in Japan. [Sassybella]
  
• Also, Marc Jacobs' new fragrance Daisy has its own film. Sigh. [Sassybella]
  
• The new face of lingerie line Agent Provocateur is Catherine Bailey. Who is 46 years old. We think this is pretty awesome, but we fear the dreaded Photoshop of Horrors. [Sassybella]
  
• Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour celebrated a birthday on Saturday! Maybe you want to send your belated birthday wishes to the Conde Nast building? [Fashion Week Daily]

• Tai-chi inspired lounge wear is the new yoga-inspired lounge wear! And Celine spokeswoman/actress Emmanuelle Seigner is teaming up with the Celine design team to create a line of it. (Actual model Karen Elson will take over.) [WWD, 1st item]
• See these Ferragamo flats? They cost $395. I got identical flats at Dolce Vita on sale for $30. [FabSugar]
• Yves Saint Laurent designer Stefano Pilati on being a child of divorce: "I was always the kid - I had to be careful how to express things, I could never be aggressive. Then my sexuality developed into homosexuality. And I think that this helped me, in the sense that I finally had the chance to understand a man's world, from the inside....I never liked [my father]. I went through so many things in my life by myself, I didn't need him, but I needed a man, I needed a father. So I got used to the idea, and grew up making my own decisions." [Vogue UK]

• Warning, Project Runway spoilers! Contestants will design for Sarah Jessica Parker and Jon Bon Jovi. One contestant who gets kicked off is HIV-positive. [NY Daily News]
  
• To celebrate Pete Doherty's engagement to another model, Kate Moss got a trim and bangs. [Vogue UK]
  
• Mary-Kate Olsen: "I love how you can totally change your look by changing your shoes. Or maybe you don't look different, and nobody else thinks you look different, but I feel different, anyway." File this one under "shit that sounds better in your head than it does aloud." [Vogue UK]
  
• Model Coco Rocha is going to help save the world will be teaching Irish dance to children in Harlem? The lessons go down Oct. 20 and yeah we are going. [Vogue UK]

• Oy gevalt! For the love of Judy Garland, which evil hotel could this be, this horrid place "where all the top editors stay" in Europe that is both anti-Semitic and hates the gays?! Start snitchin'! [NY Daily News]
• Los Angeles Fashion Week has started. But take heart: no one gives a shit! [Fashion Week Daily]
• Yves Saint Laurent designer Stefano Pilati is designing T-shirts for a charitable cause, which is a really popular thing to do now because people who actually want to donate money to charitable causes don't have enough money to buy handbags and crap like that. Stefano's T-shirt will fund France's Institute for cerebral and medullary disorders. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Vanessa Williams has inked a $20 million deal with Proactiv, because she and Rick Fox are low on cash. And she'll be starting a Proactiv cosmetics line, because the world is low on cosmetic lines. [NY Post]
• American Eagle is trying to reach out and touch some college students. They're setting up some sort of crazy promotion thingy at big state school football games, where they'll be interviewing kids for on-ine videos about how they get ready for a big game (Um, I'm guessing they just drink? And paint themselves their school colors once drunk enough to not care?) and hiring students at the schools they visit to give out $25 gift certificates to fellow students they see wearing American Eagle. Ah, grassroots marketing. [WWD, sub req'd]
• The New York Rangers love Alexander McQueen? [WWD, sub req'd]

• WHAT?! Model Irina Lazareanu is engaged to Pete Doherty. They're already on the registry at Cokespoons N' Things! So, like what is it with this man and models? What is it with models and this man? And like, does Irina read the tabloids? Does she read at all? [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Model Natalia Vodianova will be walking in the Valentino show today. She gave birth three weeks ago. Yeah, fuck her. [NY Post]
  
• Mazel Tov, Stella McCartney! Her eponymous fashion line is finally turning a profit, which makes us happy because we were seriously worried about how Stella was going to pay the bills and put food on the table. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• We can't help but wonder if it's the same, wounded-by-fashion soul who robbed both Elle international creative director Gilles Bensimon's home and Skeletor/celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe's during the flurry of fashion shows. [Fashion Week Daily]

• Yves Saint Laurent designer Stefano Pilati takes a cue from Howard Dean. On making his fall advertising campaign a political manifesto (complete with Gisele-bedecked pamphlets!) he says, "I decided I had to scream a bit more - not in an angry way, because that would be impolite, but to give people more opinions." [Vogue UK]
• Normally we get bitter when celebrities act as "guest editors" at magazines. But Charlotte Gainsbourg overseeing December issue of French Vogue? That's just cool. [WWD, 2nd item]
• Nepotism! 19-year old Delfina Delettrez Fendi makes a jewelry collection and it gets sold at exclusive Paris boutique Colette! Poor family planning! 19-year old Delfina Delettrez Fendi gets knocked up and has a baby this summer! And this is why we love Italian heiresses. [WWD, 3rd item]
• The dangers of smoking? Ain't Vogue's problem. The American branch of the international fashion magazine's advertising director is reaching out to congressional leaders to pass additional legislation to teach about the health risks associated with the habit. Because the magazine will continue to practice "freedom of the press" - aka, still take advertising dollars from tobacco companies. [WWD, 1st item]
• Just us, or isa coffee table book about stylists along the same lines as Kramer's coffee table book about coffee tables? [WWD, 3rd item]
• Miuccia Prada is to be honored by Los Angeles' Hammer Museum for the art space established in Milan by herself and her husband back in 1993. [Vogue UK]
• Why aren't we becoming millionaires predicting "trends" based on info you can otherwise get for free? [Guardian]

• Alina Shriver, who is part of the whole Shriver-Kennedy clan, is getting in on the whole rich socialite starting a fashion label thing. We hope it evades the Kennedy "curse"! [NYPost]
  
• He speaks! Notoriously hermetic, recently-ousted Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane will be interviewed in French newspaper Le Monde this weekend. We're suddenly glad we didn't take a more useful language in school! [WWD, last item]
  
• Actress and ridiculous person Nicole Kidman makes her modeling debut today at London Fashion Week, albeit via video like Princess Leia because she's a ghost or something, for label Antoni & Alison. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• The super-exclusive fete for the opening of the new Barneys New York outpost in San Francisco was hosted by Danielle Steele. Which is awesome. [Fashion Week Daily]

• Of the new Lanvin store in Paris, one of those "modern" raw and unfinished warehouse-y kinda spaces, designer Alber Elbaz says, ""It was not at all about making a beautiful boutique; it was about making a boutique that makes the clothes more beautiful." Wait a second - how hard is it to make a $8000 skirt look beautiful? [WWD, sub req'd]
• Yves Saint Laurent designer Stefano Pilati was approached about the design gig at Valentino, but turned it down 'cause he's all super loyal like that. That, and he just talked his way into a multi-year contract with YSL. [Vogue UK]
• Petanque, some weird French game where you hurl balls across a yard, was one of the best things we ever learned about in all those years of French class. And now we can, apparently, buy our very own set of Louis Vuitton petanque balls, retailing for approximately $1813, which is even more retarded sounding than the game itself. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Cathy Horyn has stopped talking about Marc Jacobs, started drinking heavily in London bars. [NYT]
• Andre Agassi is suing Target. [The Budget Fashionista]

Sometimes it's not your choice. You can't find [black models] that are beautiful and with the right proportions. I prefer them with lean proportions with no big hips.

Back In Fashion [Washington Post]
Related: Saartjie Baartman (Hottentot Venus) [Wikipedia]