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• Lindsay Lohan's first collection for Ungaro has been derided by yet another industry heavyweight: Emanuel Ungaro himself. The designer, who sold the business that bears his name in 2005, says Lohan's work was "a disaster" that left him "furious." [Independent]

• Glamour editor Cindi Leive says the magazine has booked plus-size models for stories for every issue through February, including (relatively more prestigious) fashion and beauty spreads. "One of the plus-size models who was featured in our original story is in one of our two major fashion features in December, and looks amazing," added Leive. Could that be Crystal Renn? Or one of the other gaggle of naked lovelies the ladymag featured in November? [The Cut]
• Christopher Bailey is no longer the Burberry creative director. He is Burberry's chief creative officer, and don't you forget it. [WWD]
• Further layoffs at Zac Posen are rumored to be imminent. Since he eliminated his PR director on Monday, the task of handling publicity has been taken up by Posen's mom. Gucci is also said to be mulling serious layoffs. [NYDN]
• Marc Jacobs, maker of Louis Vuitton Everything: "The kennel was a bit of a joke, really." [ToL]
• Jason Wu loves to cook and bake, but macaroons had so far eluded his range of expertise. No more! Food & Wine arranged a special lesson for the designer with François Payard. It'll be the subject of an upcoming feature in the magazine. [Grub St]
• Not only did positive results for the last quarter not boost Crocs' share price — because investors took note that the surplus was largely the result of some kind of one-time tax bonus — but the maker of hideous shoes has trouble on the legal front, too. Porsche is suing Crocs over its use of the brand Cayman, which Porsche holds as a trademark in Germany. Apparently Porsche thinks there might be some confusion over the $29.99 Cayman sandal, and a $51,000 Porsche Cayman. [Footnoted]
• Prabal Gurung designed a festive red dress with poufy asymmetrical shoulders for Oprah to wear on the cover of the December issue of her magazine. Ellen, in a white suit, strikes a pose next to her fellow talkshow host. Gurung calls Oprah "a role model, a mentor, a leader and a constant source of inspiration." [People]
• Jean-Paul Gaultier's collection for Target will, he says, "shock parents, shock teachers." Perhaps not as much as his unwitting floor show at the Standard hotel, which has windows overlooking the High Line and Chelsea. "So, I am in the bedroom where it is an exhibitionist event!" says Gaultier. "I did not know that, so I did exhibition without knowing what I was doing. I did not know people could see. But, nobody was looking. It's quite hilarious, it's excellent." [The Cut]
• Heidi Klum will be the face of Ann Taylor's holiday collection. The company is struggling to reinvent itself after season upon season of declining sales and clothes that even the CEO has admitted were lacking in the design department. Photographer Peter Lindbergh and supermodel Klum are, apparently, part of the rejuvenation plan. [People]
• Someone is licensing John Lennon's artwork for a clothing collection. Imagine that! [UPI]
• Weirdest fashion story ever? German Vogue has an editorial featuring Lost's Jorge Garcia and Christie Brinkley. Bruce Weber shot it in Montauk. [Fashionista]
• Wow. Brazilian Vogue might just be worse than American Vogue. [MadeinBrazil]
• Adam Lippes has foot-in-mouth disease. After previously telling reporters that "it's rare to find an intern — especially one from a fashion school — that has good style," two of his workers came to him to suggest that he might, you know, apologize. He pooh-poohed them ("I was like, 'I don't mean THESE interns!'"), then reconsidered. He assembled the intern crowd, and told them "I just meant, like, fashion students." They seemed skeptical. "Meanwhile, one of them is wearing silver boots up to here and is a guy. 'Not you! Those boots are great.' But it was fine." Sure it was. The cherry on top: "Some of my interns dress fantastically." [The Cut]
• Diesel, which stopped selling its jeans in Macy's in 2005 to up its brand value, is reportedly in negotiations to sell a lower-priced line exclusively through the mega-retailer. "If they keep going this route, they'll end up like Levi's," says one person inside the company. [NYPost]
• Meanwhile, Macy's forecasts its same-store sales to fall 1-2% for the fourth quarter. Shares fell 3.4% in the day's trading. [Reuters]
• If you've ever wanted to experience the world of malodorous anguish and foot pain that is fashion blogging, here's your chance to submit to a humiliating public competition and vote! [Grazia]
• The Shophound thinks the clerks at New York's new Banana Republic are way too friendly. [Shophound]
• American Apparel's quarterly profits rose 83%, to $4.2 million, but investors aren't buying it. The stock price sank 4.6%, to $2.49. [NYPost]
• Italian cashmere producer Brunello Cucinelli runs a factory with long lunch breaks, no timeclocks, and posted "rules" are quotes from philosophers and writers. He thinks he can afford to be both a great boss and a good businessman, and his company's revenues for this year are forecast to reach 154 million Euros, which is some 7% greater than last year, even with the recession. [Reuters]
• Talbots has reportedly hired outside consultants to help the company, which has weathered five quarters of successive losses, refinance $225 million in debt. [NYPost]

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• Erin Wasson is reviving her jewelry collection as a cheaper costume line. Let's hope in addition to ditching the $1000+ price point, Wasson also abandons her unfortunate habit of claiming jewelry designer Bliss Lau's pieces as her own. [Elle UK]

• Because she lurves Roger Federer, Anna Wintour and her longtime boyfriend, Shelby Bryan, went to see Federer's match at the U.S. Open. They left before Serena even took the court. [P6]
• Vivienne Westwood has chosen Pamela Anderson for her Gold Label campaign for the second season running. Westwood and husband Andreas Kronthaler also re-join Anderson in the whimsical set of images. [Daily Mail]
• Crazy enough to work: Threeasfour and Yoko Ono. Ono reportedly inspired the wacky design trio's spring collection, and also contributed her artwork for prints. [WWD]
• Rachel Zoe's QVC collection, which clocks in at a relatively modest $32.50-130 price range, is full of faux fur and snakeskin pieces. [Nitro:Licious]
• Tim Gunn on Project Runway guest judge Lindsay Lohan: "I was surprised and pleased by how extremely knowledgeable about fashion and articulate Lindsay Lohan was. She's very young and can be portrayed in ways that aren't all together flattering, and she was a true statesperson and really weighed in on the designers and what they were doing exceptionally well. And it was really a thrill to have her." [People]
• Although 19-year-old model Jourdan Dunn was included in the Women agency's Spring/Summer 2010 Show Package, which was thought to mean that the five months pregnant runway star would make the circuit of casting directors this season, Women has confirmed that Dunn will not be at fashion week. Guess we won't get to add Dunn to the list of models (Dunn's compatriots Karen Elson and Stella Tennant among them) who have also walked shows while pregnant. [The Cut]
• Yigal Azrouël, who has earned more press in recent months for his alleged role in the breakup of Billy Joel and Katie Lee's marriage than for his designs, is reportedly in the unique position of seeking less media attention. Although his show will still be attended by around 800 people, expect fewer celebrities, and no after-party. Also, nobody who ever slept with Eliot Spitzer is invited. [NYDN]
• Daphne Guinness, on what tuberose, the principal note in her new perfume, Daphne, reminds her of: "My mother and the flower market in Figueres in Spain and in Cadaqués, where I grew up. We always used to have these huge vats of them, and they would just fill the house with scent all summer long. It reminds me of my childhood. I would collect them and put them all on greaseproof paper with a kind of gel, and then you leave it for a few days. Then you'd scrape off the gel and have a sort of essence. It's quite an ancient plant. Don't quote me on this, but someone told me that pterodactyls used to eat them...it does make sense, because when they die they smell like rotting flesh, and that's why pterodactyls were attracted to them — actually maybe it was archaeopteryx. Tuberose, they're not beautiful in the peony sense of the word, but the smell is unlike anything else. I love it. And I love the scent of sort of all those woods that you get from the Middle East. I grew up in the seventies and everybody was running around burning Joss sticks and, you know, banging tambourines." [Style.com]
• Paper magazine is hosting a black-tie event at the New York Public Library — which is adjacent to Bryant Park — to kick off fashion week. Liza Minnelli and Queen Latifah, plus other "surprise" guests, will perform. [People]
• L'Oréal principal shareholder Liliane Bettencourt's legal fight with her daughter, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers, has gone to court in France. Bettencourt, 86, has admitted turning over about $1 billion worth of her fortune to François-Marie Banier, a 62-year-old photographer who is her confidant. Bettencourt-Meyers accuses Banier of "exploitation of weakness," a criminal offense, while Bettencourt's side says that Bettencourt-Meyers is simply jealous and ungrateful. [ToL]
• Time's Style & Design issue will suspend publication after the current issue, which goes out today. Ad pages in the magazine had decreased precipitously. [WWD]
• Abakus jewelry designer Marsha Chun-Matsubara: "My parents say that when I was four, I wore a small, heavy bike chain around my neck. Later, when I really wanted my ears pierced I stuck Chiquita Banana stickers on my earlobes. When I was about seven, my mother was teaching me how to use an abacus. I was so frustrated that I threw it and all the beads scattered. From then on, I used the wooden beads to make necklaces. That's where I got the name for my line." [W]
• The sadly deceased DJ AM — a noted sneakerhead who owned more than 700 pairs of Nikes — was working on his own line for the shoe giant when he died last week. Although the final designs, Nike says, had Adam Goldstein's approval, whether and when they will ever be released now depends on the desires of the musician's family. [TMZ]
  
• Nancy Talbot, the woman behind the Talbot's retail chain, has died in Colorado. She was 89. [NYTimes]
• Donatella Versace tells Out magazine — the October cover of which she graces, with model Paul Sculfor — that "You can be too boring, but you can never be too seductive." Which is a point of view we were pretty much familiar with from looking at her clothes. [WWD]
• Vanessa Williams says Ugly Betty's wardrobe department is spending its money wisely — and sticking to sale items. "There was a Naeem Kahn dress that went for $3,000, and they watched it and watched and by the time we got it, it was like $800." [People]
• The premium denim market may have some life in it yet. At the apparel trade show in Las Vegas, pricey brands like True Religion and Citizens of Humanity reported strong wholesale sales, and the NPD Group says the premium denim market grew 5% in the 12 months ended in June. [Reuters]
• But during the month of August, across the whole apparel sector, same-store sales declined an average of 2.5%. Back-to-school sales and promotions did little to stoke the desire of unwilling consumers. [Crains]
• Quiksilver reported a 53% drop in third-quarter earnings on last year. [WSJ]
• Movado scraped through the quarter with a modest profit — $528,000 — after six months of losses. The result still represents a 93.5% fall in earnings on last year. [WWD]
• Meanwhile, Abercrombie & Fitch continues to live up to its reputation as the Worst Recession Company Ever. (Thanks Time!) After announcing its latest disastrous monthly comps — August same-store sales fell 29% — Citi downgraded the stock to a Sell, and share prices fell 6%. [TS]
• Choosing the 50 Sluttiest American Apparel ads is like shooting fish in a barrel. [StyleCrave]

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• Kate Moss's latest fashion contribution: tights that look like you took a drunken prat fall on a gravel driveway. [The Sun]
• The surprise guest of honor at Macy's Glamorama in Chicago: Miss Piggy. [WWD]

• Cindy Crawford: "I have cellulite. I admit it. But sometimes I just say, 'Screw it, I am going to wear a bikini." [Redbook]
• Real Housewife Kelly Bensimon is still talking "exclusively" to gullible (or merely cynical of their readers' attention spans?) publications about her Navajo-inspired jewelry line. "My mother looked like Pocahontas and was obsessed with jewelry, so I really learned at young age how accessories can change your look in an inexpensive way," explains the ex-model. At least she didn't say she was going to take Pocahontas out of the canoe and put her in the disco? [People]
• A French graffiti artist/media prankster tagged a dripping Chanel logo on the side of a Giorgio Armani store in Hong Kong. He was arrested. [ChicReport]
• As one of Fashion's Night Out's eleventy-billion events, André Leon Talley is hosting a life-sized board game tournament. You could play in it. [The Cut]
• And here's a ...deal? If you spend $2,500 on Dior merchandise at Fashion's Night Out, you can have your picture taken with Charlize Theron. [WWD]
• i-D has become the first — and so far only — major fashion magazine to feature women of color on its front cover for the September issue. Earlier this year, Sessilee Lopez and Chanel Iman tweeted separately on the same day about doing "a major surprise cover," which led fashion watchers to assume the two models would be featured together. It turns out that cover was i-D, and models Jourdan Dunn and Arlenis Sosa are also pictured. [Fashionologie]
• There is now a rumor going around about the rumor that Haider Ackerman is replacing the (rumored retired) designer Martin Margiela, which would have it — on rumor, you understand — that Margiela's rumored retirement is all one big hoax from the rumored identity-playful Belgian designer. Allegedly. [Hintmag]
• There are yet more pictures of a gorgeous Isabeli Fontana in +J, Jil Sander's hotly-awaited new line for Uniqlo. [Uniqlo]
• PETA is planning shareholder action at Talbots' shareholder meeting next year over the company's use of Australian wool; PETA holds that Australian sheep farmers' use of mulesing is inhumane. [Dealbook]
• After losing their sales commission, a majority of the employees at three New York Cole Haan stores have voted to unionize. [Crain's]
• Time is calling Abercrombie & Fitch, which has experienced ten straight months of double-digit sales declines, the worst recession brand in the world. [Time
• Also in the red: Esprit, down 26%. [WWD]
• If director RJ Cutler had to compare The September Issue to the Clinton campaign what would he say? "The similarity I would focus on is one of leadership-people who are passionate about what they do and are doing it under high stake circumstances. It's a good way of describing Anna Wintour. It's a good way of describing James Carville. And George Stephanopolous. And Grace Coddington. Though they certainly dress differently." (We'd have gone with, "NA.") [Fashionista]
• Speaking of Vogue: The Australian iteration's putting out a book that's "as much about trends of the time as it is about fashion." [News.co.au]
• Oh yeah, here's the way to pull in the kids: on Friday, the Gap "dressed 1,200 New York Stock Exchange traders in its new 1969 Premium Jeans." [New York]
• Gucci's put out a limited edition watch, sales of which go towards Mary J. Blige's "Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now." WWD describes "The Gucci for FFAWN Twirl watch" as "a sleek black PVD bracelet decorated with the signature double-G motif and a monochrome dial, and its rotating case has black diamonds. The $1,895 watch turns on itself to switch from a bracelet to a timepiece and is engraved with the words 'Gucci for FFAWN.'" It looks like a snap bracelet! But presumably won't be recalled for safety reasons! [WWD]
• American Apparel takes to the web cam. Don't worry: it's just tutorials on how to do different (sartorial!) stuff with bits of jersey and string. [AdRants]
• Speaking of new media, Henri Bendel's defeated the purpose of it entirely by sticking a model in their window for hours at a time, pretending to net-surf. You can friend her. [Observer]

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• Twilight clothing is happening — it's only surprising it took so long. The duds go on sale at Nordstrom in October. Selina Khan, on the right, looks like she just doesn't care about Edward or Jacob, bless her heart. [People]

• Amazon.com is acquiring Zappos.com. The cost? $847 million. [NYTimes]
• Wonder Woman Lynda Carter will be live in person at Talbot's for Fashion Night Out, a night of special sales and events designed to encourage consumers to shop at the start of New York Fashion Week. Carter will be at Talbot's Madison Avenue store to promote her new CD, "At Last." [WWD]
• Meanwhile, France is one step closer to allowing shops to open on Sundays after the bill was narrowly approved by the senate. Mon dieu! [WWD]
• Barney's New York took down a disturbing window display that featured bloodied mannequins, posed as though they were struggling against assailants. And here we thought Simon Doonan's judgment was impeccable in all things. [NYDN]
• The actress Melissa George has invented a new product which she calls "HemmingMyWay." Geddit! The Grey's star, along with her business partner Kara Harshbarger, plans to sell clear adhesive strips with snaps affixed that allow a wearer to quickly adjust the length of her pants when she changes from flats to heels. Look, it even has a Facebook page! [WWD]
• Amy Winehouse's father wants her to license her name to a perfume house for £500,000. [Telegraph]
• And Lily Allen is doing a line of jewelry. "I love jewelry, always have done," explains the pop star. [Vogue UK]
• A 1994 Arte documentary about Yves Saint Laurent, Tout Terriblement, is being released on DVD. [WWD]
• In London next Thursday, a Chanel-themed flash mob has been announced. Anyone wearing Chanel, or Chanel-esque outfits should meet like-minded sartorial souls at St. Pancras International Station at 6 p.m. [UK Elle]
• 19-year-old Georgian Sean O'Pry topped Forbes' list of the highest-earning male models. There are pictures. [Forbes]
• Retail executives' pay fell last year. The 10 top-earning executives compensation packages decreased by 9.4%. [WWD]
• Could Fabiola Beracasa really be developing a reality show in the style of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, where she flies around the world looking for...unusual fashion? [P6]
• Daniel Vosovic, Santino Rice, Korto Momolu, Sweet P, Jeffrey Sebelia, Uli Herzner, Mychael Knight and Chris March are the designers returning to Project Runway for a second helping of Tim Gunn's soothing drone and Heidi Klum's adenoidal exhortations. Project Runway: All-Star Challenge will be broadcast as a two-hour special before the show's sixth season premiere. All we want to know is whatever happened to Andrae? [People]
• Jeremy Scott is yet another designer heading to London Fashion Week this fall. Though based in Los Angeles, Scott normally shows in Paris. [WWD]
• MAC cosmetics is ending its sponsorship of fashion week, and instead holding its own competing roster of shows at Milk studios in Chelsea. Proenza Schouler, Erin Fetherston, and Alexander Wang have already committed to slots in the lineup. [NYTimes]
• Alex Wang on his day off, according to his friend Ryan Korban: "We do a lot of driving around - he loves driving. So we drive out to Brooklyn and just kind of cruise around. He's always got the music blasting and he's singing. It's surprising, but he's a really good driver. He's screaming and the music is to the max and he's drinking an iced coffee, but he's completely steady." [W]
• Esteban Cortazar is out at Emanuel Ungaro, WWD is reporting. The young Colombian designer had clashed with the house's management over advertising and the brand's direction; his collections met with mixed reviews, and at last month's resort show, the Ungaro CEO refused to say if Cortazar would be kept on. No successor has yet been named. [WWD]
• The quirky downtown gallery Partners & Spade got written about in the Times. Oh well — nothing good lasts forever. [NYTimes]
• Ozwald Boateng, the Ghana-born, London-based all-round spectacular menswear designer and tailor, made two suits for President Obama and hand-delivered them to the American ambassador to Ghana during the president's recent visit. If Obama wore Boateng's suits, nobody would call him frumpy, ever. [WWD]
• Another story about Crocs and what they mean. [LATimes]
• The New York Economic Development Corporation-run industry site NYCFashionInfo.com, which collates insidery arcana like designer showroom contacts and market week dates, might start accepting advertising and publishing more "lifestyle content" because it only attracts 2,000 visitors a month. [WWD]
• Apparel sales in England in the month of June rose by 1.2%. [FT]
• Skechers lost $5.9 million in the second quarter. The result was actually better than analysts had expected. [WWD]>

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• Britney Spears' second trip out the gate for Candie's is an equestrian-themed acid-trip Photoshopped to ridiculousness. [DListed]
• No Shit Headline Of The Day: "New Report Sees Luxury Struggling." [WWD]

• Megan Fox said at the Armani Privé couture show that she is going to star in a fashion campaign for "a worldwide brand." [WWD]
• Lipstick sales may not actually spike during a recession, but that doesn't mean you can't make money off the colorful tubes. If you want to have a go at naming designer Chris Benz's shade of Lancôme lipstick, which will be worn by models at his September show as well as sold to the public, you could win a $500 gift certificate and a whole bunch of the lipsticks. And even if you aren't into lipsticks, you can re-sell these limited-edition rouges on eBay. One of Proenza Schouler's Lancôme lipsticks went for $120. Write your suggestions on Benz's Facebook fan page and wait for the money to roll in. [Fashionista]
• Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs wore a giant, caped caftan printed with lobsters and multi-colored eyeballs to Glastonbury. She topped it off with a Native-American-inspired headdress made of fringed hands of Fatima. [British Vogue]
• Meanwhile Roberto Cavalli, the animal-print-enamored designer who says "I don't know anything about the financial crisis," is opening a made-to-measure service. While it won't technically be a couture collection, it will hit a couture price point: The cheapest item is a $41,000 cocktail dress. [WWD]
• Louise Wilson, head of the fashion design M.A. program at Central St. Martins in London, shared some harsh words for her students and her industry in an interview with Cathy Horyn. "There are immensely talented people around but I feel huge vortexes of them are sucked into this mediocre world where nobody criticizes and it's all terribly politically correct. Even journalists are the same. You now hardly get a bad a review. In their mind the journalists are supporting the industry, so they don't want to dish it. For me it's that banality of what is youth....[A]nother thing I've noticed today — everything is farmed out. Someone else is going to cut it, and someone else is going to supply the fabrics. The hands-on gets more and more removed. If Lee McQueen or Christopher Kane had nothing, they could still make their garments. They have the skills. I think the problem is that fashion has become too fashionable. For years, fashion wasn't fashionable. Today fashion is so fashionable that it's almost embarrassing to say you're part of fashion. All the parodies of it. All the dreadful magazines. That has destroyed it as well, because everybody thinks fashion is attainable." [OnTheRunway]
• For her part, Miley Cyrus says of her upcoming collection for Wal-Mart, designed with Max Azria, "The jeans are my favorite part of the entire line. Because, like, literally this is going to be good for, like, Middle America, and it will be great for kids that really want to be in fashion but that don't have it available." [Sassybella]
• Cheaper designer clothes are our manifest economic destiny! Retailers are requesting collections be produced to hit a much wider range of price points — and designers are mostly happy to comply. [WWD]
• After winning the Council of Fashion Designers of America womenswear award last month for their label Rodarte, the Mulleavy sisters vacationed at Yellowstone National Park, where they saw herds of bison. They would like to go to Redwood National Park next. [W]
• Unsurprisingly, the Dior atelier was a hive of activity prior to yesterday's couture show, the first the company has done in-house in some time. The seamstresses and tailors worked through the night, and the towering floral displays took 4,000 roses to construct. The audience of 500 was actually smaller than the crowds were at some of Christian Dior's own shows at the salon in the 1950s, because fire codes now prevent, for example, letting guests sit on the stairs. [WWD]
• New York Times critic Cathy Horyn's review just went up on her blog. She liked Galliano's collection, although she did admit to needing to "mentally erase the distraction" of certain of the lingerie-inspired elements. "Despite the archive references, the collection didn't feel archival. Every delicate, restrained tuck of the jackets made the difference, as did the emphasis on short dresses and modest splashes of embroidery. There were a few big skirts at the end, including one with a tiny beige silk corset and layers of white tulle, but longer lengths now seem as annoying as Rapunzel's hair. Oh, just chop it off." [OnTheRunway]
• Horyn also put up pictures of model Magdalena Frackowiak reading Proust while her hair was crimped to perfection. [OnTheRunway]
• A judge has upheld designer Anand Jon Alexander's convictions for rape and sexual assault of young women models despite juror misconduct. During the trial, one juror passed a note to Sanjana Alexander, the designer's sister, and she subsequently called him, twice, to discuss the case. Sanjana Alexander alleged the juror asked for money or sex as a bribe to influence the verdict, but this was not evident from her secret recording of one conversation. The judge held that both Sanjana Alexander and the juror, Alvin Dymally, committed misconduct, and found them both to be in contempt of court, but did not agree that the "trifling" misconduct cast doubt upon the jury's verdicts. Anand Jon Alexander, who was automatically sentenced to life in prison, has vowed to appeal. [LATimes]
• On the President's trip to Russia to talk about nuclear weapons, Michelle Obama wore Narciso Rodriguez and the same Sonia Rykiel plastic belt she wore on the cover of O. Malia and Sasha Obama wore J. Crew's kid's line, Crewcuts. [E]
• When they left U.S. soil, Michelle Obama was wearing the Talbots dress from her Essence cover, Sasha was wearing more Crewcuts — and Malia appears to be wearing a See by Chloé skirt. Designer birthday present? [ABC]

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• How cool are these Charlie Brown New Balance sneakers? Cool enough that we wish they weren't just for kids. [WWD]
• A London artist has created Kate Moss and Agyness Deyn paper dolls which look frighteningly like the real thing. [Pipeline.Refinery29]

• Your daily dose of the horrible: American Apparel shiny leggings for children. [Fashionista]
• Police in France have arrested 25 suspects in relation to last December's $118 million jewel heist at Harry Winston. Members of the alleged ring had been under police surveillance for months, and when arrangements had been made between the gang and some prospective buyers, the authorities swooped in. In addition to the 25 arrests, police found weapons and $345,000 in cash. [AP]
• Nicole Richie swears that her next collection for her House of Harlow 1960 jewelry line will be completely different than the first. In fact, it'll be "focusing more on old English, equestrian and more sophisticated looks" than the flea-market-inspired first trip out the gate. Richie's shoe and accessory lines, meanwhile, will be ready for Spring 2010. [People]
• Dolce & Gabbana, newly internet-savvy, uploaded Fall 2009 Dolce & Gabbana and D&G campaigns to its just-launched website. Steven Klein shot Mariacarla Boscono, Edita Vilkeviciute, and Heidi Mount at a casino for Dolce & Gabbana, and Mario Testino shot Katie Fogarty, Sara Blomqvist, Stephanie Rad, Hanna Rundlof, and Ragnhild Jevne for D&G. Heidi Mount also wears a giant pink Margiela-inspired fur and poses like an ape in one. [Fashionologie]
• The New Yorker sure knows how to give a bad restaurant review. Taking in the "sterile" and "unexuberant" fare at Armani's restaurant-within-a-store on Fifth Avenue, Lauren Collins writes: "At the bar, a manager and a bartender argued, loudly. The dispute seemed to be about a pen. Their passion did not extend to a pair of women who were waiting for a table, or, once the women were seated, to their full glasses of wine, paid for and awaiting transferral." [NYr]
• A historic Christian Science church on Park Avenue took a look at its dwindling congregation and finances, and its stellar real estate, and do the obvious thing: allow a catering company to use its building to host events, in return for necessary repairs, money, and continued access for regularly scheduled services. Even though the kind of events we're talking about here — shindigs with Sir Paul McCartney, Oscar de la Renta runway shows — are hardly Bushwick artist loft keggers, the Park Avenue set has gone all guerrilla in its opposition to the church's activities. One neighbour even parked her car in the middle of the avenue to block the access of de la Renta's show's guests. Is it too much to hope she was towed? [NYTimes]
• A maker of hypoallergenic beauty products has decided to associate its line with the 11th birthday of Malia Obama. Tacky. [US News]
• Natural cosmetics purveyor Dr. Hauschka is apparently swamped by demand — but, because of quality control concerns and its business philosophy based on the ideas of Rudolf Steiner (no, really), it's unwilling to expand too quickly. [Reuters]
• The website for MDLR, Moises de la Renta's fashion line, is now live. [MDLR]
• French documentarian Loïc Prigent, who made the excellent Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton and Signé Chanel, about the putting together of a Chanel couture collection, has a new series showing on Sundance starting September 10. Prigent's camera follows Sonia Rykiel, Proenza Schouler, Karl Lagerfeld, and Jean-Paul Gaultier in the last 36 hours before their respective runway shows. (It's a good thing Prigent is sensitive to the dramatic tension of a smoke break, because there'll be a lot of them.) Rykiel's show is her 40th anniversary extravaganza in Paris last October, Prigent finds Proenza Schouler and Fendi, designed by Lagerfeld, at the Fall/Winter 2009 collections of this Spring, and he'll catch up with Gaultier at couture week in Paris next month. I'm marking my freaking calendar. [Glamour]
• Looks like there's been a breakdown at Alessandro Dell'Acqua. The designer, whose namesake label has been owned since 2003 by Cherry Grove, an Italian corporation that produces high-end clothing, released an open letter informing the fashion world that he, Alessandro Dell'Acqua, would like to publicly distance himself from the Alessandra Dell'Acqua men's Spring/Summer or women's Pre-Spring collections, the former of which is about to walk in Milan, because he hasn't been given the opportunity to do anything beyond submit sketches to Cherry Grove. Alessandro Dell'Acqua lost his job with the Italian house Malo after holding it for less than a year following Itierre's bankruptcy; this angry letter reads like a gold-plated invitation to be fired from his own label, too. [FWD]
• Once every media outlet had dutifully covered the "outrage" over the Steven Meisel-shot Calvin Klein "foursome" billboard in SoHo, the brand replaced it with a tamer shot of a girl in a red bikini. Racked has a picture. [GoG]
• Well, lookie here: a male model who admits to having to maintain a diet to be catwalk skinny. [NYTimes]
• Everyone knows Abercrombie & Fitch has been struggling in the recession, and losing market share to lower-priced competitors like Aéropostale and The Buckle. Besides quietly breaking its rule against discounting its own stock and closing its Ruehl chain, the company hadn't exactly said what it was planning to do to reverse the tide that saw its May same-store sales slide a whopping 28% — until now. The proffered solution? Two hundred and ten store leases, which comprise some 20% of the chain's total, are up for renewal over the next two years. Abercrombie thinks it might save money by not renewing all of them. Revolutionary. [TS]
• A three-story Adidas factory in India was engulfed by flames on Tuesday night. There were no casualties. [HindustanTimes]
• Talbots may have had to cut 370 jobs, eliminate its 401(k) matching contributions, and suspend its quarterly stock dividend, but that won't stop it paying CEO Trudy Sullivan $1.2 million this year. Richard O'Connell, the struggling company's real estate and legal executive, will also get a 23% raise, to $500,000. [TS]
• Gen Art, an organization which supports emerging fashion talent in the U.S. and has helped launch the careers of such names as Vena Cava and Zac Posen, is in a bad spot financially. Already reeling from layoffs, the founders hope to raise $250,000 in ticket sales and donations for their 15th anniversary party tomorrow night. Gen Art needs another $500,000 after that to continue its operations. [WWD]

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• Filling Lily Donaldson's shoes, Emma Watson, 19, will be the face of Burberry. Said designer Christopher Bailey: "Her charm and intellect and brilliant sense of fun made the whole shoot feel like a picnic on the Thames." [Telegraph]

• Celebrities: They're Better Than Us! Their World Environment Day parties may be sponsored by Lexus and hosted by Stella McCartney's West Hollywood store, but when it gets down to it, their commitment to the greening of the planet is breathtaking: "I grow my own food and I'm trying to figure out how to make my own fuel," remarked Darryl Hannah. Emily Deschanel said she celebrated the day as follows: "I ate vegan meals. I drove my hybrid. I used environmentally efficient lightbulbs. The list is endless." Endless. (What's on your list, huh?) Rosario Dawson, for her part, "didn't use plastic bags at the farmers' market." There are levels of virtue to which we, mere mortals, cannot aspire. [Style.com]
• British accessories designer Lulu Guinness wore a purple dress with googly eyes on it to the 20th anniversary party of her label. We're still waiting to see her make the Hamburgler look hot. [The Cut]
• Elle MacPherson, whose Notting Hill home has been on the market for more than a year without attracting a buyer, has slashed its price by £2 million. The seven-story house is now available at the bargain price of £7.5 million. [Daily Mail]
• Peaches Geldof was apparently having a sleepover with Courtney Love, and decided to Twitter their little tête-à-tête. Including a reference to Love's rumored new clothing line, which, and we repeat the source here is Peaches Geldof's Twitter, supposedly includes such touches as "cotton ribbed body suits," "cashmere harem pants" and "stitching a ruby into every outfit." [Grazia]
• Naming your label "Comme des Garçons" ("Like boys") is one thing, but we never thought that actually meant Rei Kawakubo had anything against women per se. And yet: "I never felt my work had anything to do with being a woman," said the designer. "I am not a feminist. I was never interested in any movement as such. I just decided to make a company built around creation, and with creation as my sword, I could fight the battles I wanted to fight." [IHT]
• Christian Lacroix, who has been designing for the bankrupt fashion house that bears his name without pay for months now, has made the sad announcement that when the company leaves bankruptcy court, all that may remain is a licensing operation. With no couture. (This despite the fact that the lower-priced lines Christian Lacroix Jeans and Bazar were hemorrhaging money, and have already been shut down.) Couture is so much the essence of the Lacroix fashion identity that we shudder to think of the name existing only to brand sunglasses and perfumes, like a revenant. One of his couture clients offered to buy the company and its debts, but Lacroix turned her down. [WWD]
• In a step towards vertical integration, Hermès C.E.O. Patrick Thomas announced the company is now breeding its own crocodiles. Not to release upon its enemies — one chomp and you're dead meat, Prada It-bag — but to speed up their production of exotic skin bags, which fetch up to $48,000, or some of the highest prices of any of their accessories. How are crocodiles farmed, you ask? Very carefully! In separate crates, to stop them biting each other and damaging their hides. "It can take three to four crocodiles to make one of our bags so we are now breeding our own crocodiles on our own farms, mainly in Australia," said Thomas. Hermès' leather goods division has continued to see robust demand for its products during the downturn. The company even added another 50-100 leather workers to its staff of 2,000 France-based craftspeople so far this year. [Reuters]
• Also chasing the tippety-top of the market: Saks Fifth Avenue. The troubled retailer is set to open its $30 million designer showcase floor, which will be filled with the likes of Chanel, Oscar de la Renta, and Armani. No doubt the pieces will be chosen very carefully, to avoid a repeat of last Fall's debacle. [WWD]
• What does an American Apparel store in China look like, you wonder? Just like one in SoHo, only empty. [Racked]
• Starting July 5, Neiman Marcus will shorten the opening hours of half of its 40 stores. [WWD]
• Even after offloading J. Jill to a private equity fund for a quick $75 mill, all is far from well at Talbots. The retailer just announced its quarterly results, and it lost $23.6 million, on the back of same-store sales that fell by 26.9%, during the period ended May 2. It plans to eliminate a full 20% of its workforce. Three hundred and seventy corporate-level workers were already laid off in February. [Forbes]

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• Stephanie Seymour's divorce from Peter Brant just got ugly: security guards hired by Brant to protect the family home allegedly assaulted the model and pushed her through a screen door. Police have been called to the house twice. [E!]

• Fashion plate Kanye West, on his "wardrobe staple" Air Yeezy sneakers: "When I was designing these, I was inspired by the combination of materials used on the Fendi 'Spy' bags, as well as the colorways used on the robots in Robotech — muted tones accented with a pop of color. And of course we referenced the Nike mag from Back To The Future II. We're trying to bring kids into the future with this shoe." Doing the Lord's own work, this guy. [Style.com]
• Emma Watson was reportedly fine with appearing in a risqué W magazine shoot, but Harry Potter producers thought it wasn't appropriate for her character's image, so they forced the magazine to tone down the concept. [Daily Mail]
• Chloë Sevigny is hinting that she's in a collaborative mood. "I'd like to do something with a high-end company. You know, the way that Sofia Coppola did with Louis Vuitton. I thought it was very cool. There were no labels on anything. I like that. I prefer it." Her dream partner? Hermès. In which case, the actress might have to keep dreaming. [Style.com]
• Three-year-old Suri Cruise: Is cute, wears clothes. [Mirror]
• As had been expected, Versace C.E.O. Giancarlo di Risio tendered his resignation on Friday. [WSJ]
• Fellow former model Ines de la Fressange says Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is making her husband watch Italian films. "It's great for French culture that Sarkozy's watching Visconti and Fellini!" [Times of London]
• Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards event organizers KCD productions have made nine short films, one for each nominee. Instead of pairing the designers Thakoon Panichgul, Jason Wu, Alexander Wang, Justin Giunta, Alejandro Ingelmo, Albertus Swanepoel, Patrick Ervell, Tim Hamilton and Robert Geller with models wearing their clothes, director Michael Palmieri and still photographer Jennifer Livingston matched the designers with editors from magazines like V and Harper's Bazaar. To see the films, unfortunately, you have to be at the CFDAs on June 15. [FWD]
• Zac Posen, foodie: "I love grocery shopping. I'm a produce fanatic...I cook three nights a week. After the Met Ball I went home and made whole wheat pasta and puff pastry!" [Fashionista]
• The designer is said to be cooking with chefs Giada de Laurentiis and Marcus Samuelsson at the Wine & Food Festival in New York this October. [P6]
• Posen also confirmed that he is working on a scripted television series, but that the project is in its early stages. And he said his Spring line will be partly inspired by Facebook. [The Cut]
• While the New York Post and other outlets eagerly reported the tidbit that Anna Wintour appeared at Jason Wu's resort show without her sunglasses, they (or their source) forgot to mention that Wintour hurriedly left the building four minutes before the show was scheduled to start. "She had a plane to catch," says a Vogue staffer. "But she saw Jason's entire collection earlier and really liked what she was looking at." Okay then. [FWD]
• Nicole Richie's House of Harlow 1960 line of jewelry is now available for online purchasing in the U.K. [Telegraph]
• Tommy Hilfiger's sales rose 21% in the first quarter of this year. [WWD]
• The houses of Lanvin and Chanel each contradicted reports that Alber Elbaz and Karl Lagerfeld would be leaving their positions, and Elbaz would be taking the reins at Chanel. All the best rumors get denied. [The Cut]
• Fashion writer Shane Watson connects the rise of preppy style — Michelle Obama-style cardigans, schoolboy blazers, loafers, crisp white shirts and ankle-grazing jeans — with the changing taste patterns of the recession. "It's the antibling look," she notes. [Times of London]
• A division of Men's Wearhouse was the highest bidder in an auction to buy the bankrupt Filene's Basement chain of discount department stores. [WWD]
• Analyst Frank Curzio rates Kenneth Cole as a stock to buy, because the retailer is cutting costs aggressively in order to improve its numbers. (Last quarter, the company lost $8.2 million, and same-store sales fell by 16%.) But now that good ol' Kenneth has eliminated 401(k) matching contributions... [TS]
• Tory Burch has given money to a foundation bearing her name which will extend credit to aspiring entrepreneurs who wouldn't qualify for bank loans. Accion, a microlender, will administer the loans. [WWD]
• Talbots acquired J. Jill for $517 million in 2006, but it just had to offload the brand for a mere $75 million. The buyer was a subsidiary of San Francisco-based private equity fund Golden Gate Capital. Talbots lost $560.7 million last year. [WWD]
• "New fashion copyright bill will let big companies own public domain designs and bury young, indie designers in legal costs." Well. That's an interesting take on legislation that would allow designers, big and small alike, legal recourse when their intellectual property is stolen. [BoingBoing]

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• Yasmin and Amber Le Bon: They share a nose, and a familiar mother/daughter wardrobe dynamic. Only Yasmin, being a supermodel, can parry Amber's incursions by going nuclear with, "Maybe I'll donate to the V&A..." [Telegraph]

• This interview with André Leon Talley and Matt Tyrnauer, the director of Valentino: The Last Emperor, is absolutely wonderful. Tyrnauer explained again just how upset Valentino and Giancarlo Giammetti were when they first saw a rough cut of the documentary, an anger that only softened at the Venice Film Festival: "the audience gave a very long standing ovation, which Valentino received like Mussolini. There's something about Italians and balconies." The director also says that the reason Valentino has a butler dial Giammetti's number in the movie is because the designer doesn't know how to call long distance. "He lives a life that hasn't existed for 50 years. Valentino never changed." Talley interjected, "Karl Lagerfeld knows how to dial." [The Cut]
• American Apparel is letting you, the person who will have to look at it, pick the next ad to adorn its Harlem store. Exercise your consumer rights and vote for ass or titties, now! [Racked]
• Bravo's idea of a replacement for Project Runway? Something involving third-rate celebrities being mentored by industry figures as they compete to start their own fashion lines. Whatever happened to that supposed show with Fern Mallis and Isaac Mizrahi? Don't these people realize that the thing that made Project Runway fun was that its subjects' famewhore quotient was generally matched by their actual design abilities? And watching someone absorbed in a task they enjoy and have mastered is fun? Celebrities. Starting clothing lines. This is so much worse than when Jeffrey won. [Reuters]
• At least you can still catch Isaac Mizrahi on the radio: his new show for Martha Stewart's radio network debuts this Thursday evening. You can call in, and ask him questions about fashion, and he'll tell you to forget about it and just spend more money on your hair. [Fashionista]
• Meanwhile, Liz Claiborne has decided to limit distribution of its Isaac Mizrahi-designed line...to one store per mall. That slight measure of exclusivity might be enough to make the brand more desirable to consumers, and less vulnerable to markdowns. [WWD]
• Whitney Port will no longer pretend to work at Diane von Furstenberg for the purposes of her reality show. Instead, she will pretend to work at People's Revolution, with Kelly Cutrone. [The Cut]
• Talbot's sales dropped 23% in the fourth quarter, and the company lost a total of $366.5 million. [WSJ]
• Standard & Poor's downgraded Barneys' debt obligations yesterday. It's no surprise that a department store wouldn't be doing so great just now. [WWD]
• Word is, the July cover of American Vogue will feature Sienna Miller. Anna Wintour recently went to the premiere of Miller's new flick, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, and rumors have been swirling since. That would be Miller's second cover in as many years, which means that Keira Knightley and Gwyneth must both be busy that weekend. [Racked]
• If you feel moved to vote on the best-looking model on the current Vogue cover, you can now do so. (Unfortunately, there's no option for "They all look like plasticine dolls! Who retouched this?") [FabSugar]
• Re-designed versions of the plain white T by such talents as Philip Lim, Richard Chai, and Henry Holland are coming to Topman this May. Because nobody has ever "re-designed" T-shirts before! [FTape]

]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5211522&view=rss&microfeed=true The Essence cover of Michelle Obama and her mother Marian Robinson is out! They look so cute, and Michelle's dress comes from Talbots. She can make even Talbots look good? Damn her. [GlamChic]

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• Apparently Thierry Mugler's doing Beyonce's tour costumes. This could go in one of two directions. [Style.com]
• Diddy: “I’m only about five minutes late because I was running around and spraying people." We think he's talking about his new "I Am King" fragrance — a monarch's gotta mark his territory! [WWD]
• Let's continue to pretend we have some impact on Michelle's inaugural gown selection and evaluate these choices. [Forbes]
• We kind of assumed it was confirmed, but yes! Katie Holmes for Miu Miu. She was shot by "Mert and Marcus," our new band name. [ElleUK]
• Not a trick question: what do moddles eat on Thanksgiving? Food! [New York]

• Extremely awesome Luella Bartlet wins "Designer of the Year" at British Fashion Awards. "Bartley is the mother of three children and lives in Cornwall with her surfer-fashion photographer partner, David Sims." Other honorees included milliner Stephen Jones, Burberry creative director Christopher Bailey, and photog Tim Walker. [Telegraph]
• Check out Luella's Spring line here. [VogueUK]
• And Jourdan Dunn upset Agyness for moddle honors! [New York]
• To add insult to injury, Agy and Lily Allen were strip-serached at Dubai airport! [The Sun]
• Meet the "Madison Avenue (Doll) House, a futuristic structure displayed from suspension hangers. It features four fully decorated floors, replete with miniature replicas of Calvin Klein apparel, accessories and home furnishings, from clothing to tabletop." [WWD]
• Talk of a SAG strike is bad news for the designers counting on awards season for a much-needed boost. [WWD]
• J. Crew is down 30% — but still better off than analysts expected! [The Street]
• About time: they say they're going to return to "more friendly price points for Spring." [WWD]
• Talbots posts a quarterly loss but hopes a new credit agreement will buoy them. [NY Times]
• Meanwhile, the Liz Claiborne slide continues as it's issued a "negative" rating. In case you're wondering, that's bad. [Crains]
• Glam David — designer Richie Rich — beats the Goliath who sued him to stop using the "Richie Rich" name after acquiring Heatherette. [Page Six Magazine]
• Lego fashion show considerably more awesome than real fashion show. [AdWeek]
• Ernest Sewn launches cheap room for the cash-strapped. [Fashionista]
• Black Friday looms extra-manic as stores play 'how low can you go?' [WWD]

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• Vivica A. Fox is going to be the host of a new VH1 series called Glam God, in which the actress, who is known for her amazing style (??), will be searching for the next celebrity stylist. I can’t wait to see another reality show winner do absolutely nothing while everyone else on the show tries to one up Jerry Springer factor. I hope there’s a really good gay man or at least someone with a weave to yank on. [ConcreteLoop]
• Getting Gay With Bags is Here! Marc Jacobs completes his special handbag for twink-blogger Bryanboy (the bag is called “the BB”) and Bryanboy gets really excited and…whips himself? [Gawker]
• Designer Claudia Escobar has made a luxury clothing line out of salmon skin. "Many people who lived near rivers and oceans have used fish throughout history. It's not my original idea," she says. [Reuters]
• Mischa Barton’s created a line of handbags, coming to London’s John Lewis, Debenhams and Fenwicks stores on July 2nd. Why not make handbags for the United States, Mischa? Is the dollar too weak, or is it that we just don't give a shit? [FabSugar]

• Marc Jacobs keeps it simple at London design school Central Saint Martins: "I can't bear it when designers go on about inspiration … If a girl wants to wear it and feels good then who cares?" Say what you will about his shortcomings, but over-thinking fashion is not one of them. [NYMag]
• Agyness Deyn (aka The New Kate Moss) supposedly bought a loft in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (aka The New Lower East Side). I guess I'm supposed to write something about how "lame" that is for the neighborhood, but it actually seems pretty obvious to me. [Perez Hilton]
• Sarah Larson, George Clooney’s waitress girlfriend, graces Bazaar's 50 Most Beautiful People feature. Yeah, I’m pretty sure she’s not a waitress anymore. Take a look at the Pretty Woman here. [Models.com]
• Oh Crocs! What can’t you do? Inventor Spot reports that now there’s a special little Croc that can be used to carry a cell phone. This of course, is happening in Japan, where soon they’ll be inventing a pair of Crocs for your Crocs, as well as a Crocs reality show where the winner gets to turn into a Croc and sweep the nation yet again. [InventorSpot]
• Urban Outfitters, best known for its BoHo dresses, ironic tees, and teeny tiny dressing rooms, has always made us feel safe in our left-wing ways. Except, of course, the owner of the chain hates gay people and gives money to George W. Bush. [Racked]
• Busted! Now we know where some of the best American designers (Ralph Lauren, Mark Jacobs, Calvin Klein) go to get their clothing made. [NYTimes]
• New York Rangers hockey player Sean Avery talks about his Vogue internship, Anna Wintour, and photocopying. [MollyGood]
• Louisville, Kentucky porn shops “Victor’s Secret” and “Victor’s Little Secret”) settle the lawsuit brought by Victoria’s Secret for trademark violation. The store is now called “Cathy’s Secret” which, you know, doesn’t really have the same (cock) ring to it. [MSNBC]
• “Having streaked, chipped or just plain grotty nail polish no longer suggests drug addiction, manual labor or pure laziness,” writes Melena Ryzik for The New York Times. I have been waiting YEARS for this to become acceptable! Thank you Olsen Twins and Vogue model Cindy McCain! [NYTimes]

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• “There so many celebrity clothing lines out there that just really suck!” says Perez Hilton in this new video about his collaboration with Hot Topic. Thanks Perez, now there’s gonna be one more! [YouTube]
• Fashion iconoclast and actress Chloe Sevigny is teaming up with the designers at Opening Ceremony again, this time to do a men’s line. The cool thing, and this shit has “cool” written all over it, is that the men’s clothing will be for women too. "Not only did I want to do something for the guys in my life, but a lot of my girlfriends prefer to wear men's stuff," Chloe says. Why hasn’t someone thought of doing this before? [fashionologie]
• More Sex and the City fashion news! It never ends! The Notorious P.A.T. (that’s Patricia Field) has been tapped to create a line for England’s own Marks & Spencer (aka “Marks and Sparks” to London city-dwellers) this coming fall. [Telegraph]

• I guess old coke habits do die hard, because it seems as though Kate Moss is back Burberry's good books. Images from the spring campaign have leaked showing Moss donning a bikini and a veil. If the company dropped poor Agyness due to overexposure, what's the rationale for using Kate again? [Sassybella]
• Next up for the Target Go International line is none other than Jonathan Saunders. You might remember Mr. Saunders from such memorable pieces as "that pretty dress someone once wore" or "I have no fucking idea." The line will be out in early October so here's to hoping that Mr. Saunders will make us something we'll remember forever. [racked]
• House of Dior is set to launch a new line of luxury cell phones, which is good news for rich housewives in China, rich housewives in Russia, Paris Hilton, and Paris Hilton’s dog. That thing has a phone too, right? [WSJ]
• Paul and Stella McCartney team up for a night of fashion, music, and really fucking rich people at Paul’s old Alma Mater in Liverpool…Marc Jacobs gripes about the money side of fashion to students at Central Saint Martins, and dishes some queeny gossip about Tom Ford and how he was "different" back in the day, plus, another fancy store opens in The Hamptons, which is weird. That neighborhood used to be so much cooler when it was filled with junkies. JK! Read about fashion scoops here: [WWD]
• Queen Elizabeth seemed to be riding Camilla’s fashion dick this past weekend: the two attended a wedding looking like a much fancier version of the Bobbsey Twins. And did you know the palace has its own in-house fashion designers? Siiiick. [Telegraph]
• A weepy model who got the boot from Australia’s Next Top Model talks about how she was bullied on the show and she doesn’t want her parents to watch it. Alamela Rowan says she is relieved about getting kicked off and who can blame her? I guess reality shows just aren’t what they used to be. Or, they have always been exactly the same. [News.com.au]
• Writer Hadley Freeman talks about celeb clothing lines and the difference between Kate Moss and Lily Allen, who was never a fashion icon to begin with. [Guardian]
• “Rocket scientist” Maureen Kelly, founder of Tarte cosmetics, wants to the world to know that aside from starting her own makeup line, she also has a Ph.D and is like, totally smart. [TeenVogue]
• Somewhat-annoying Kristin Bentz from The Street takes us on a little tour of some of the biggest chain stores. She high fives J.Crew, stone-cold disses The Gap, and proceeds to rock the world with her stock predictions, Lollapalooza style. [TheStreet]
• Check out the a sneak peek at the video for Tod's starring Gwyneth Paltrow. [Fashionologie]
• Lower East Side retailers/designers Dana Foley and Anna Corinna say it sucks to get ripped off all the time by bigger brands like Forever 21. “Shoppers would still prefer to pay $12 for a copied handbag than $400 to $800 for the original.” No shit, Sherlock. [NYTimes]
• A gallery in the UK is set to celebrate Vivienne Westwood's life's work with an exhibition beginning next week. [TheStar]
• Talbots just may be tanking. [Reuters]
• In other Talbots news, the retailer has hired a new designer to revamp its women’s line. Chris Jackson, who has also designed for DKNY, French Connection, and others, is so excited about joining the Talbots team that he just wet his Talbots pants and bought another pair. [WWD]

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• "We'll get her," says Harvey Weinstein of ELLE's Nina Garcia (Weinstein) is being sued for breach of contract for taking Project Runway from Bravo to Lifetime. While Weinstein is probably the first person to say anything about wanting to continue to work with Garcia, we find his statement more creepy than encouraging. [WWD, 2nd item]
  
• "I am fine alone now, but not when I'll be 90," says Giorgio Armani of having a private equity firm get involved in his business. [WWD, 2nd item]
  
• "Buying vintage or revamping clothes and making things myself is my take on helping the environment." Oh bite me, Zooey Deschanel. [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• "I used to consider myself Italian, but now I feel very European." —Margherita Missoni. [Fashion Week Daily]

• PETA is trying to make nice with Beyonce and has issued a statement congratulating the pop star on her marriage to Jay-Z. They even sent her a faux fur stole as a wedding gift. Aw. [Sassybella]
• Wanna be on top? Says Sarah Doukas, who discovered Kate Moss: "You need the cheekbones, you need the jaw-line. You can look at someone who is gorgeous but perhaps has quite a round face, without the definition that you need for a camera and light to turn it into this fantastic canvas." How not encouraging. [Vogue UK]
• Tommy Hilfiger has his own TV channel. On the internet, that is. The just-launched Tommy TV will not be about fashion, however, but music. Says Hilfiger: "I became a fashion designer because of music and music has remained at the heart of Tommy Hilfiger." [WWD]
• Today is not Talbot's happiest day: Bank of America and HSBC are both pulling their lines of credit from the company. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Liz Claiborne Inc. wants someone to buy its fragrance holdings. Good luck with that, friends. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Marc by Marc Jacobs design director Fred Tremblay is leaving the label, or so the rumors go, to head to Coach. [WWD, 1st item]
• The latest expansion of the Vera Wang Bridal brand? Bed linens. Perfect for losing your virginity on top of on your wedding night, naturally! [WWD, sub req'd]
• Fendi: Busy busting counterfeiters. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Jim Belushi's wife, Jenny: Has a children's clothing store. [WWD, sub req'd]
• The Lord & Taylor logo: Indecipherable. [BusinessWeek]
• Nike and Adidas: Fighting over soccer star Zhang Zhi. [Guardian]
• Recession. No one's buying. Prices dropping. The end. [MSNBC]
• Accessory designer Jessie Randall says a "pootie" is a cross between a pump and a bootie. I say it's a vagina. You? [WSJ]

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• Woody Allen is suing American Apparel for $10 million for using his image in its ads without consent. And to think if not for this minor infringement the two seem, well, cut from the same (sweatshop free knit jersey) cloth, if you know what I mean! [WSJ]
  
• And for those who'd rather read about it in Yiddish...[Daily Yid]
  
• The guys who design 6267 are now going to design Gianfranco Ferre. Everyone sorta knew this was coming. And by "everyone" I mean the people who actually know what 6267 is, which, I know for a fact, is not Moe Tkacik. [Dear Jennifer, Fuck you. -Eva] [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Talbots: Doesn't want to be "dowdy." Uh, John McCain doesn't want to be old, either, but sometimes...oh well, try to reinvent yourselves into the career woman's answer to Wet Seal, see if that works. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Patti Smith is still stylish, according to British people who know these things. [Times of London]

• BTW, fashion so over. [Telegraph]
• Banana Republic is doing a new "high-end" line called Monogram. LOL. [Fashionista]
• Playboy's e-retail women's store is doing so well, they're having to outsource the whole damn thing. Seriously, did no one read Bunny Tales?! Stop putting money in Hugh Hefner's baby-oil soaked pockets! [WWD, sub req'd]
• Donna Karan: Licensing a china and crystal line through Rosenthal. And Vera Wang's monopoly on label-conscious brides just shook in its stilettos. Not. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Recession special! Get your "basic men's sweaters" for only $3,500 here! [Village Voice]
• Alicia Keys says her friend Giorgio Armani "is like a magician." [Times of London]
• Dear Gucci: Stop having the people of Japan sully their cell phones with wallpapers bearing your logo and products. Kthxbai. [WWD, 2nd item]
• Paul Smith likes airports. [Nylon]
• Um is it wrong that I want to read the new Kate Moss biography? [Yes. -Errol Morris] [LA Times]

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• Wet 'N Wild is doing a line of mineral makeup. Thank you, Gods! Finally, a line of mineral makeup for the people who really are too drunk to wash their faces before bed and too old to feel comfortable doing this anymore and therefore willfully buy into the myth that mineral makeup won't seep into your pores in your sleep no matter how long it's been since you changed your pillowcase. Because I know a few of those people, and they definitely can't afford to shop at Sephora. [WWD]
  
• Oh noes! It is going to be a bad year for Volcom, according to an analyst. Volcom is like the Abercrombie & Fitch of skater boys and the girls who so desperately crave their affirmation, only their motto is "Youth Against Establishment" instead of "No Coloreds Allowed" or whatever. Confession: I secretly used to own some Volcom products. I just like the logo. Did I just admit that to you? Please forget that immediately. [Yahoo! Finance]

• It's also a bad season for the clothing companies that used to maybe appeal to your mom but somehow your mom is too cool for them anymore. Talbots is exiting some business, Chico's stock is in the shitter and Liz Claiborne is trying to unload its Ellen Tracy brand on someone because they're fucked too. [WSJ]
• But it was an awesome season for the world's premier purveyor of granny dresses and tapered stonewashed jeans! [Barron's]
• That fashion thief of London strikes again. Good heavens, where is the New Yorker piece on this person already? [WWD]
• A UK retail critic visits a Mexx store and finds a helpful staff but a website with "atrocious spelling." [Times of London]

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• Betsey Johnson is selling a majority of her label to a private equity firm, which is sort of like the tent dress equivalent of this year's fashion financing world, but Portfolio blogger Lauren Goldstein Crowe is confused. What would a private equity firm want with Johnson, a "grandmother, 65 years old?" Um, and Valentino: such a strapping young lad himself! [Portfolio.com]
  
• The Atlanta City Council is attempting to amend the city's current public indecency law to stop the (twenty year old) "epidemic" of baggy pants and the horrific collateral damage of exposed boxer shorts. Women would also be prevented from showing thongs, sports bras, or any bra straps. We really hope this is a joke intended to provide Katt Williams with material for some epic Freaknik routine, but just in case, the ACLU is already on it. [AJC]
  
• If you have a Platinum Amex you can go to a New York Fashion Week show for $100 and watch the show from a sky box and, uh, eat some lunch, although shows last an average of 16 minutes, so you won't have time to eat much, which we guess is the point. [WSJ]

• Designer Behnaz Sarafpour sent emailed invitations to her Spring/Summer 2008 show in lieu of paper ones to help the environment. [FWD]
• Beth Ditto to model for Christopher Kane. Um, wow. [The Sun]
• Want to look just like Helena Christensen? Eat snake and drink Guinness. [Vogue UK]
• Anna Wintour will not be attending Paris Fashion Week, because she's going to London Fashion Week instead. The world: shocked. [WWD, 1st item]
• The latest celeb Steve & Barry's line: Venus Williams' EleVen. She says the name is rife with symbolism because the number shows how you can be more than your best? Um, whatever. What happened to her Reebok contract, anyway? [WWD, sub req'd]
• Danskin, in honor of its 125th anniversary, will offer key pieces from its "collection" in cashmere and silk. So what do you call a cashmere unitard? Unitarded! [WWD, sub req'd]

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