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• One of the hazards of dating a rock star: When, mid-fight, you want to throw some of his stuff into a pool, there's a slight risk that he might have unreleased, non-backed-up new songs among his personal effects. [Mirror]

• "I used to bring pies to the office," says amateur baker Peter Som. "I can't eat them all myself." How did that dude ever get fired? [WWD]
• Thus spake Lacroix: "Don't tell anyone, because I'm not allowed to do this, but we absolutely are going to have a show in mid-July, during Fashion Week –- and it won't be a funeral: it'll be a fightback." Since Christian Lacroix's fashion house, owned by the U.S.-based Falic group, entered bankruptcy, the fate of the couture show has been in serious doubt. "It can't cost us a single Euro to put this show on, because I'm not having my workers lose a penny from their pockets, but so far, it looks like thanks to other people's kindness — friends and suppliers working for free — it might happen. I can't stand the idea that people think I am to blame [for the bankruptcy] but to a certain extent I am paying for not having done what everyone else did, with their logos and It-bags. I never went down that route." Lacroix has been working for free for 18 months, and is owed 1.2 million Euros in back pay. [Telegraph]
• Model Lily Cole earned a first in her end of year art history exams at Cambridge, one of only three students to receive the top grade. [Mirror]
• Yigal Azrouel, whose relationship with Katie Lee Joel is rumored to have brought about the end of the latter's marriage to Billy Joel, romances a lot of ladies. (He is an attractive, straight man working in fashion. Duh.) One rumor alleges Azrouel sleeps with editors at magazines to further his career. [P6]
• Chanel and Burberry model Emma Watson is said to be launching a clothing line for children and teens to benefit Unicef. [Hindustan Times]
• Usher says his men's fragrance really "represents the growth I've had in the last two years." VIP, which he's set to launch this September, is a "tool of engagement for seduction...made for a man but for women to enjoy." [WWD]
• Uh-oh. Sales of perfumes fell 6% overall in 2008, and 7% during the first quarter of 2009. Estée Lauder's fragrance division said the last three months of 2009 saw sales fall 20%, and another perfume company executive said anonymously that he believed sales for this year were down 15-20% because distributors are not restocking after selling to retailers. [NYTimes]
• "I don't want to do 'Adele by Adele' perfume!" says Adele. [LATimes]
• A judge refused to dismiss gourmet butter distributor Clint Arthur's lawsuit against Louis Vuitton for selling off-cuts of fabric as art prints. [P6]
• You really know you've hit the event horizon of aspirational shopping when someone from a company that makes plastic shoes describes her products as "affordable luxury." [LATimes]
• Robin Givhan at the Washington Post sees in H&M's just-announced collaboration with Jimmy Choo the end of luxury as we know it. "There's something about cheap Jimmy Choo shoes that doesn't feel right," writes the critic. "Women's shoes have been sold on a centuries-old mythology that makes the discovery that Jimmy Choo can produce a desirable pair of shoes for less than $50 as jarring as when Dorothy pulled back the curtain on the Wizard." [WaPo]
• Actually, the cheapest offering from Jimmy Choo's H&M collection will retail at around 40 Euros, or $55. The 12 women's styles and four men's models will range in price from there up to 200 Euros, or $138. Bags will cost up to 200 Euros. It all goes on sale in select H&M stores on November 14. [WWD]
• Cool looking Missoni-printed Converse Chuck Taylors will also be a thing you can buy, starting next summer. [WWD]
• Prince William's girlfriend Kate Middleton is, according to rumor, sitting on an offer for a year-long internship at American Vogue from Anna Wintour. Middleton, a former fashion buyer, could take her pick of either working in New York or Los Angeles. [Hindu]
• Jason Wu anticipates $4 million in sales this year and sees a men's wear division in his future. The 26-year-old enjoys spending his Sundays browsing at the Strand and playing poker with a $20 buy-in, "just enough to take it seriously but not enough to feel bad when you lose." [NYTimes]
• The Fall Calvin Klein Collection and CK Calvin Klein ads have leaked — they feature Monika "Jac" Jagaciak and Jourdan Dunn and Sigrid Agren, respectively. The Collection campaign was shot by David Sims and CK by Craig McDean. [Fashionologie]
• Isaac Mizrahi is opening a store for his namesake label in August. It'll be 1500 square feet and located on the Upper East Side. [WWD]
• Cashmere prices have fallen so drastically that many herders of cashmere goats have had to sell their animals for meat. Orders for winter cashmere sweaters from the West have fallen by up to 30%. And get ready for a cold season: the garments being made are using less cashmere. "They are too small — half the breast is outside the sweater," said one factory's sales manager. [NYTimes]
• Jil Sander is on the comeback trail in a big way. The German designer, who lost the use of her name to Prada when the Italian company bought out her house and fired her, has just announced a fine jewelry collaboration with Damiani. This is in addition to her new position as a creative director of Uniqlo. [WWD]

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• Cute little 14-year-old Taylor Momsen — aka Gossip Girl's "Little J" — launches her modeling career with a rather self-important bang. 'A source from the shoot - in Brooklyn - tells us that "Taylor was so nice and so cool. She took the subway from her apartment in Chelsea to the set, with her mom. They said they didn't want to do the usual obvious stuff that a teen TV star would do; they were looking for really high-end things."' [Fashionista]
• Diane Von Furstenberg uses Warhol images. Unlike everybody else who does that, though, she actually knew him. [Fashionista]
• Naomi Watts has a total girl crush on Kate Moss, despite obviously being vastly more awesome. "I want to be hip like her," says Naomi. [VogueUK]
• "Nothing is dead or alive. There are just always great new categories. But who am I to say what’s in or out? I walked in here with my dress on backwards." That's Stefani Greenfield, the owner of the Scoop chain, being interviewed with pal Stuart Weitzman. [Scoop]

• Nike investigates worker abuse allegations. [Wall Street Journal]
• Video of that Vanity Fair new designers photo shoot. [Vanity Fair]
• Meet the "Nat 2 Shoe," which looks kinda like a really ugly Converse and "unzips" into a flip flop that is, presumably, equally ugly. Oh, it's German. [The Sun]
• I didn't want to believe it but we can deny it no longer: the leather dress is huge for fall. [Mail on Sunday]
• Also big, literally: huge bows. [Fabsugar]
• Time's running short for models to get their special, sorta illegal fashion week Visas! [Times of London]
• Liz Claiborne recruits creative type to revamp menswear: "The fashion world is filled with pairings of creative souls and bean counters, the yin and yang of the industry, but this is one of the most pronounced cases of opposites attracting with the mission of reviving a withered American brand." [Washington Post]
• Is Agyness forgetting the little(ish) people? Designer Henry Holland: 'Now Agyness is hugely successful and I'm so pleased for her. I just hope I can get her to fly back for my show.' [Daily Mail]
• Gott in himmel! People are wearing rolled-up jeans. "The puffy, peg-leg '80s profile we never thought would come back is with us again." [Los Angeles Times]
• Yet another self-described "first supermodel", Penelope Tree. [Guardian]
• Lanvin's tres chic new denim: "Miles away from the navel-grazing, hip-hugging, utilitarian image of jeans in America, this is denim like you've never seen it before — sophisticated, feminine and utterly French." [Los Angeles Times]
• Yeah, yeah, we've heard: Man Men inspired fall fashions. [AdAge]
• High-tech fabrics — self-cleaning! — morph from sportswear to runway. [Financial Times]
• Graphic novelist Adrian Tomine designs pretty nifty tote for the Strand bookstore, which is just nerdy and awesome in so many ways. [MediaBistro]
• Betsey Johson turns 30! (You know what I mean; she's obviously 60-something.) Says her business partner, "The first show, I sat everyone, and then I modeled, and the next day I went to the showroom and sold it, and then I paid the bills, and Betsey did the patterns." [Yahoo]
• New chairman for luxury behemoth LVMH. [WWD]
• Japanese shoe-removal conventions lead to sock anxiety. "Many Japanese will sympathize with (expat) Tanahashi - we all know how Bad Socks Days can be. On the other hand, wearing great socks is a good way to boost morale. By great socks the Japanese mean they must be functional, lovingly made, attractive and comfortable." [IHT]
• Also from VF's 'fashion issue: seriously freaky London models spread. [Vanity Fair]
• Another one bites the dust: Boscov's chain files for Chapter 11. [WWD]
• The age-old question: do those creepy dry shampoos work? [ElleUK]

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