• The economic situation has encouraged a measure of conservatism in fashion, but this is extreme. Versace's Fall 2009 ads with Gisele Bundchen in a jewel-toned dress under strong directional light look exactly like Versace's Spring 2009 ads with Gisele Bundchen in a jewel-toned dress under strong directional light. [Fashionologie]

• Gisele ain't pregnant, after all. [AP]
• The recession's latest casualty is Belgian designer Veronique Branquinho. After 11 years in business, the Antwerp-based designer is being forced to stop production of her namesake line due to a drop in Fall 2009 orders and a number of canceled orders and non-payments from Spring 2009. Branquinho has a fall-back position: artistic director of the Belgian leather goods brand Delvaux. [WWD]
• British designer Emma Cook is also discontinuing her line for fall. Cook herself did not make the announcement, but a manager at Manhattan boutique Opening Ceremony mentioned the news in an interview. [Paper]
• Puma has apparently listed all but one of its 11 U.K. stores with real estate agents — although the company claims it has yet to finalize decisions about store closures. [FT]
• Donatella Versace, on why the 80s trend is less interesting than techno fabrics: "I knew that trend was coming. I knew exactly when every designer was going to start doing it. And I couldn't, because I was with Gianni doing the '80s, in the '80s. I have so many pieces in the archives that I could put right out on the runway and they'd be perfect. [laughs] In general, I think, yes, we can look back, but not that much. It's too literal. Like shoulder pads. We belonged to that time. But for me, it doesn't make sense today. You can play with it for one season, but it's not going to be revolutionary. I think we should move forward, not back. To define the era we live in is very difficult. How do we define it? We define it by music. That's different today. We listen to different music than we used to 10 years ago. Fashion is struggling to define itself today. For me, I'm concentrating more on fabrics, on the technological aspect of fabrics." [Interview]
• Which, you know, totally fits, because the iPhone is the future of the fashion economy. [WWD]
• A man named Jinyoung Jo has designed a Chanel concept car in South Korea. His effort, the Fiole, comes with crystal double-C logos on the grill and on the wheels. It's a pretty snazzy little space-age sports car, to be sure, but what we wonder is: can anyone just up and design a Chanel something? Trademark and copyright protection law would suggest otherwise. It's not clear if Jo had Chanel's approval to make this car. [Sassybella]
• And we all know Chanel polices its intellectual property like the proverbial hawk. The company just announced a lawsuit against a Manhattan jewelry store, Joseph Anthony, for allegedly selling counterfeit Chanel baubles. [NY Post]
• Barbara Hulanicki, on her customers, past and present, and why she hates Barbie: "In that period in England, they hadn't traveled at all and they were very green. And now they're brainwashed by Barbie doll...She's been so damaging. [CHUCKLES] She has such abominable taste." [Interview]
• A see-through swimsuit (for efficient tanning, duh) sounds like just the sort of thing Barbie would approve of. And it sounds like melanoma. [Telegraph]
• Carlos Falchi, known for his extremely expensive handbags and penchant for python skin, is to be the next designer to have a Target GO! International accessories collection. Falchi's line for Target will be available in stores and online from October 11, and will comprise 13 pieces. The styles include jewel-toned faux-snakeskin pieces, and some bags which incorporate patchwork. [WWD]
• Marios Schwab, newly named creative director of Halston, on how he is not Roy Halston Frowick, reincarnated: "It would be a little bit weird to ask a designer who is exactly like Halston to design Halston, don't you think? I mean, I don't think Halston, if he were alive today, would be doing the seventies in 2009, you know? And anyway, there's so much more potential for an interesting result if the designer is versatile. From the perspective of the label, I think they wanted someone who understood the DNA of the brand and shared something of it, but who could bring a new idea." [Style.com]
• H&M opened its 10th Manhattan store, on the Upper East Side. [WWD]
• J. Crew earned $20.4 million in the quarter ended May 2 — a decline of 33% on last year's results, but still ahead of analysts' expectations. CEO Millard Drexler says the chain is sopping up customers from higher-end boutiques who've been priced out of their usual market. [WSJ]
• Tiffany's reported earnings of $24.3 million, which isn't too shabby for a company known for its diamonds in this economy of lowered expectations. But it's still a decline of 62% on last year's profits. Sales fell 22% overall — and 31% in the Americas. Among the worst-hit was its Manhattan flagship, where sales declined by 42%. [The Street]
• Bankrupt men's clothier Hartmarx won extra time to negotiate a possible sale to private equity firm Emerisque. Emerisque has pledged not to liquidate the business, should its bid prove successful. Hartmarx's main debt obligation is to Wells Fargo; employees at its Chicago area factory have threatened to sit-in if the business folds. [WWD]
• Natalie Suliman, a British lingerie model, claims that not only were her breasts not retouched for a Marks & Spencer billboard, but that she wasn't even wearing so much as a spot of body makeup. Or moisturizer. (Just to be clear: That. Does. Not. Happen. And how would the model know what happened in post-pro, anyway?) [Daily Mail]

• 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]

L to R: Colorblock dress, $39.99; Boyfriend vest, $34.99 & puff-sleeve tee, $16.99; Double-layer dress, $39.99
L to R: Ruffle-neck tunic, $22.99 & paperbag-waist skirt, $34.99; Ruffled-front blouse, $26.99 & high-waisted trousers, $34.99; Colorblock t-back dress, $34.99
L to R: Crisscross dress, $39.99 & puff-sleeve tee in peach, $16.99; Satin shift dress, $39.99 & pieced tunic, $22.99; Satin one-piece romper, $44.99; Voile mod dress, $39.99
L to R: Satin plaid shift dress, $34.99; Textured dobby anorak jacket, $49.99 & bikini top, $16.99 & high-waisted belted shorts, $24.99; Racerback tank in light blue, $16.99 & modal tunic, $18.99 & high-waisted linen skirt, $34.99

Final Verdict: Other than that scary satin shift dress, I love it. Even the romper. And I want that textured anorak jacket now.