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• Does Jay-Z reference Anna Wintour in his song "Empire State of Mind"? The line in question is: "caught up in the in crowd/now you're in-style/and in the winter gets cold en vogue with your skin out." [Fashion Week Daily]

• Earlier today it was reported that Michael Vick had resigned with Nike two years after the company dropped him when he was sent to prison for dogfighting. His agent said, "Mike has a long-standing, great relationship with Nike, and he looks forward to continuing that relationship." But, now Nike has released a statement saying it has not "contractual relationship" with Vick and it merely, "agreed to supply product to Michael Vick as we do a number of athletes who are not under contract with Nike." [AP]
• Michel Phan of the ESSEC Business School, which runs the world's only luxury brand management MBA program, says luxury retailers in Asia need to focus more on service. He explains: "It's not enough to say 'Our brand is expensive, or known'. You have to make customers connect with your brand, especially during this crisis, when they're more reluctant to buy on the spur of the moment. You have to give people a good reason to buy." [Reuters]
• Peter Copping, the new designer of Nina Ricci, says Ricci's romantic designs are in line with his personal taste and belief that customers want feminine clothes. In his previous job at Louis Vuitton, he says, "whenever we did more feminine-based collections, the sales were always incredible in the stores as opposed to the more austere or hard-edged things... Obviously, one has to find a way to make that contemporary, modern and fashionable." [WWD]
• On Tuesday, Giles Deacon received an award from France's National Association for the Development of the Fashion Arts along with a grant of $233,470 that will finance his spring fashion show in Paris. [WWD]
• Timberland has collaborated with Wyclef Jean to design a line of 16 boots. For every pair sold $2 will be donated to Yéle Haiti Foundation to support reforestation in Haiti. [WWD]
• At the D&G runway show in Milan, the chief executives of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Bergdorf Goodman were put in the second and third rows while the chief executive of Yoox.com was in the front row. Bloggers have been invited to New York shows for a few seasons, but Europe is just warming to fashion bloggers who write for sites like Bryanboy.com, JakandJil.com, and GaranceDore.fr. [WSJ]
• Artist Brian Einersen created a Lady Gaga comic book that's selling at Marc Jacobs stores for $2. [Fashionista]
• Gareth Pugh is considering doing a fast-fashion line. He says: "I have considered it. The offers have come in, and every time we get an offer, I mull it over. I'd like more people to have access to my clothes, but the timing hasn't been right, or the project hasn't been right, or some combination of both those things. The first time I was approached, I wasn't even producing the garments I was showing on the runway. I didn't have a factory. Everything I was making, I was making by hand. Doing a fast-fashion collection seemed a little premature." He says companies should, "Keep asking. And I'll keep thinking." [N.Y. Magazine]
• Robert Lee Morris had to create toned down versions of his jewelry in during the recession in the early '90s, but now his more showy creations are becoming popular again. They were featured in several runway shows this fall and Henri Bendel will open a Robert Lee Morris boutique tomorrow. [N.Y. Times]
• At a party celebrating Sundance Channel's new show Man Shops Globe about Anthropologie buyer at large, Keith Johnson introduced guests to his partner Glen Senk, who fell in love with him in grade school. "I moved next door to him, at age 9, and the first day I saw him, I fell in love with him," Senk said. "It was otherworldly. I felt sparks all over my body. Literally, I saw stars. He was the kindest, sweetest, most wonderful person. I feel like that 44 years later." Johnson said, "It took a few years to convince me... He didn't convince me until I was 12." [N.Y. Times]
• Paolo Colonna, a partner in Permira, the European private equity firm that bought the Valentino Fashion Group, said that though the fund usually exits its private equity investments after four or five years, but, "The various [economic] crises will delay our exit. Still, we are patient money. This is a long-term deal for us. I don't see any urgency to sell at these low valuations." [NY Times]
• Giorgio Armani has reorganized his company, expanding the board of directors and delegating more power to non-family members. He's been suffering with a bout of hepatitis for months and says his illness was worsened by working long hours for decades. The reorganization is raising questions about whether the brand can outlive Armani. [WSJ]
• Pam Grier says, "I'm hoping the Smithsonian will call me for the dress from Foxy Brown. The blue one with the ruffles. I'm holding onto it. Call me, Smithsonian!" [Village Voice]

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• Kate Moss was shot by Mario Testino for the September cover of British Vogue. That trench coat looks very Gisele photoshop-gate/neighborhood flasher, no? [Design Scene]

• Speaking of Gisele, she has signed on to voice a series of web cartoons intended to educate children about the environment, finance, and science. The supermodel will record the role of Gigi, a supermodel who doubles as an environmental superhero. [UK Elle]
• Another image from Victoria Beckham's Armani campaign has dropped. [Daily Mail]
• Transformers director Michael Bay shot the Victoria's Secret holiday commercial. [P6]
• For some reason, Lady GaGa apparently told the News Of The World that she spends all her money on clothes. "Every single dollar that I've earned I put into my tour. Mainly into my crazy outfits. My performance is my life. And I'm not that great with money. I've gone bankrupt four times already." Um, hire a financial planner? Or a stylist who can pull Jean-Charles de Castelbajac Kermit coats for free? [NOTW]
• "My fashion wisdom comes from gardening. This is a difficult time for many, but I am not in crisis mode. Like the seasons of gardening, there is a time to plant and a time to harvest, and now is a time to weed. This will pass." Oscar de la Renta, like everyone else, is hoping he has green thumbs. [WWD]
• Mid-size fashion businesses, those who expanded in the boom years to $7-$10 million in annual sales, are at a greater risk in this recession than any other tranche of the industry, so Oscar will in fact probably be safe. But not so designers like Peter Som and Jane Mayle. As retailers continue to contend with falling consumer spending by cutting inventory and ditching labels that don't move swiftly from the racks, more designer bankruptcies over the coming season are likely. [WWD]
• Zandra Rhodes, on her style icon: "Me! Otherwise what am I designing for?" [Independent]
• We are not sure why this story, which has no news about Alexis Bledel and her projects, but several large photos of the actress wearing a leotard with incredibly teased hair, exists. But it does. Also, Alexis Bledel is not Rory Gilmore in real life. Who knew? [WWD]
• John Varvatos, who in the past has chosen rock stars like Iggy Pop as models, this year selected ZZ Top for his fall campaign. The group was shot against a diorama of water buffalo at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History. [WWD]
• The British Fashion Council is moving its headquarters — and its largest event, fashion week — to historic Somerset House. This September, London Fashion Week is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and British designers from Matthew Williamson to Gareth Pugh have vowed to show in the city. [Telegraph]
• Bobbi Brown and Lauren Bush are co-launching a FEED makeup bag. The model's charity project supports the U.N. World Food Program. The makeup pouch will cost $50, including three Bobbi Brown lip glosses, and Bush says the cost will support 10 women in the UNWFP's Food for Work program. [WWD]
• Alexander Wang's e-commerce venture is now live. When it asks for a password, type in AWSTYLE.COM. [AlexanderWang]
• Ciara supports not texting while driving. [WWD]
• Lela Rose may be on to something as an ice cream cook. When asked her favorite flavor, the designer replied, "My own homemade ice cream called Brown Bread. It's an almond base, with bread crumbs that have been baked in butter and brown sugar with almonds. It's just delicious." [WWD]
• Roland Mouret, on quitting smoking: "I read Allen Carr books. I was hypnotised. I am now a non-smoker, and I smoked for 20 years. It's over." [Guardian]
• Catherine Deneuve and L'Oréal principal shareholder Liliane Bettencourt are among those inducted this year into the International Best-Dressed List Hall of Fame; that, in case anyone's wondering, is Vanity Fair's made-up list of well-dressed people. [VF]
• Following the news that leather suppliers were selling skins from cattle involved in illegal deforestation of the Amazon, Clarks, Timberland, Adidas, and Nike have asked that their suppliers stop that. Seems a little weak. [Guardian]
• Tom Ford's directorial debut, "A Single Man," an adaptation of the Christopher Isherwood novel that stars Colin Firth and Julianne Moore, will take place at the Venice Film Festival this September. [WWD]
• Fast-fashion chain Peacocks is making its own très Chanel-inspired quilted rain boots. Maybe they heard Audrey Tautou's endorsement of the real thing? [Guardian]
• Instead of having to pay back 100 million Euros this month, and another 350 million Euros next July, Prada has won a loan extension until 2012. [WWD]
• Uniqlo's same-store sales for the month of July fell 4.2%. [WWD]

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• Fran Drescher is launching a skincare line — called FranBrand — this fall on HSN. The products are organic and paraben-free, because, as Drescher puts it, "Women are schmearing stuff on their décolleté, wondering why we're all getting breast cancer..."

• "...Once you wake up and smell the coffee, it's hard to go back to sleep. So I'm sounding the alarm." Drescher, a survivor of uterine cancer, founded the organization Cancer Schmancer. (And she also taught us to love Loehmann's.) [The Cut]
• As we learned yesterday, London Fog confirmed Gisele Bundchen's pregnancy by the roundabout way of announcing it had airbrushed her 5-6 month belly out of its latest campaign "to protect her privacy." But the outerwear brand also released a behind-the-scenes video of the shoot, which includes footage of the raw, unretouched shots as they appear on the computer monitor. A side-by-side comparison reveals exactly what London Fog thought wouldn't move units this fall. [SassyBella]
• Bar Refaeli is allegedly seeing Israeli multi-millionaire Teddy Sagi. Sagi owns a company that makes software for Internet gambling sites, and the nicest thing the Daily Mail can say about him is that he "has a lovely smile." The supermodel's relationship with Leonardo Di Caprio ended earlier this year. [Daily Mail]
• Liya Kebede addressed the UN Secretary-General's Forum on the topic of maternal health. Writes the supermodel, "In times of economic crisis, it is tempting to turn inward, to ignore or postpone the problems of the outside world and focus on ourselves. But, if we hope to thrive once again, we must realize that there are no outside problems in today's interwoven, globalized world. Each mother who dies leaves behind a devastated family and weakened community that will eventually, somehow, affect each of us. Each mother who dies deepens the financial and social strain on our world and puts economic recovery further away. Mothers are our best stimulus package because they invest in their families and in our collective future." [HuffPo]
• SassyBella unearthed footage of Karen Mulder hosting an E! special in 1999. The Dutch model encounters a new girl, who, when she introduces herself, turns out to be an 18-year-old Adriana Lima. [SassyBella]
• The first pictures of Rad by Rad Hourani, the Canadian designer's diffusion line, are looking pretty good, at least for those who were already fans of Hourani's unisex, pared-down rocker aesthetic. "This is exactly the same thing," as his main line, Hourani confirmed. Only instead of costing thousands of dollars it costs hundreds. We need more of this. [WWD]
• The writer of the sometimes entertaining, sometimes savage, always fascinating fashion blog The Emperor's Old Clothes has revealed himself — as New York designer Eric Gaskins. Gaskins, after 22 years in business, was this week forced to close his doors because of the economy. [NYTimes]
• And in September, Daphne Guinness is releasing a signature scent with Comme des Garçons. Only unlike most celebrity perfumes lines, this is actually the distinctive fragrance Guinness has, herself, been mixing for years. "I'll be in airports or in a taxi and the driver will say, ‘What are you wearing?'" reports the heiress. [WWD]
• Designer Hussein Chalayan is "weirded out" by models with clothing lines, like Kate Moss, Amber Valetta, Erin Wasson, and Elle MacPherson: "If you have a really strong sense of style and people want to aspire to being like you, I can understand that. But if you really are doing it just because you think of yourself as a brand and you haven't had the training and you know nothing about clothes, it kind of demeans all the training that designers have had." Chalayan thought Kate Moss's line for Topshop was a poor effort. "I don't think it represented her, and I didn't think she worked hard enough. I even told her to her face." How did la Moss respond? "She said, ‘Oh, I'm just trying to do a light thing; I'm not trying to do anything serious.' But I said, ‘That's not the point.'" [WWD]
• In which case, add Jessica Stam to the list of models who've raised Chalayan's ire. The Canadian just announced a collaboration with Rag & Bone. [Style.com]
• Vogue's Lauren Santo Domingo, on being told her boss Anna Wintour had worn flats to a party in the Hamptons: "I wonder if that means we can wear flats to the office now?" [The Cut]
• Fashion blind item: "Which fantastical designer has a new man? She's ditched her long term fiance for an artist with prime real estate." We're with the commenters on this: signs point to Erin Fetherston, who hasn't been photographed in public with her longtime fiancé, Hedi Ferjani, since late April. [Fashionista]
• Ali Wise, the Dolce & Gabbana publicist who was arrested for hacking into the voicemail of a woman who was dating Wise's ex boyfriend, is no longer a Dolce & Gabbana employee. Which must seem like the least of her problems: Wise is facing felony charges of computer trespass and eavesdropping. [WWD]
• A well-written parsing of W magazine's cover story on model Lara Stone: "The fashion industry — and, in turn, the fashion media — have such a warped concept of slimness that a model like Lara Stone is so much larger than her contemporaries that they feel the need to explain her presence. If Stone's body is such an outlier, what does that say about the rest of us? Worse, the magazine saw fit to issue the disclaimer that Stone 'is, it should be noted, a very lithe five foot ten.' Why, yes, do note that! As if there's the slightest chance someone is going to look at these photos and think Stone needs to, like, slow down on the Cheetos." [GlossedOver]
• Lagardère, the French publishing company that owns Hachette Filipacchi Media, which owns the U.S. edition of Elle magazine, has denied that it is in talks to sell the title to rival Hearst, as had been reported in yesterday's New York Post. [WWD]
• Scott Nylund, Beyoncé's design director, comes from Owatonna, Minnesota. Which is where you can see an exhibit that spans his earliest childhood sketches of women in dresses, to his college fashion collection, to his creations for Beyoncé. [StarTrib]
• Freja Beha Erichsen says Karl Lagerfeld's house in Vermont — which recently served as the setting for the fall Chanel campaign she starred in with Heidi Mount — is a serious farm. With horses and chickens and — spitting llamas. Erichsen also praised Chanel for providing food backstage at its runway shows, which a lot of brands don't manage to do. [W]
• Fashion Meets Finance, the terrible event for douchebags and gold-diggers, is back. It's happening August 6th in — where else? — Murray Hill. [FMF]
• Will Ferrell has a Nike sneaker coming out in Japan. It's inspired by Anchorman's Ron Burgundy, that lovable asshole we met, uh, five years ago. [HighSnobiety]
• Timberland lost $19.2 million in the last quarter, a worse-than-expected result that came off the back of a 14% drop in sales, to $179.7 million. [WWD]
• Shiseido was even worse off — its profits declined 57.8%. [WWD]
• Likewise Hugo Boss, which lost $21.17 million in the last quarter. [WWD]
• Bare Escentuals profits also slid 20% in the same period. [WWD]
• Competitor Avon's profits fell 64.3% on revenues that shrank by 9.7%. Revlon's sales fell 12.2%, and its total profits declined to just $200,000, from $19.9 million one year earlier. [WWD]
• Bucking this downward trend is Tod's — the Italian leather brand reported a 3.4% increase in sales for this first six months of this year. [WWD]
• Ann Taylor wants to cut $30 to $40 million in costs by "right-sizing" its organization. No word yet on the number of people who will be laid off. [WWD]
• Three members of a multi-million-dollar New York counterfeiting ring received prison sentences, and a fourth was sentenced to probation by a federal judge. Michael Chu, the group's leader, was in 2005 ordered to pay $7 million in damages stemming from an unrelated counterfeiting case involving North Face jackets. This time, Chu, who imported fake Nike, Chanel and Burberry products, was sentenced to prison for just over 8 years. [WWD]

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• Stella McCartney's fall ad campaign makes a Bambijoke out of all that nature imagery that suddenly became hip over the past few years. For everyone who's ever considered an ironic taxidermy at a bar and concluded, "Why?" [WWD]

• Joshua Walter, the 20-year-old male model whose clients included Hugo Boss, has confessed to a series of armed robberies in Queens, and is currently being held in a prison barge moored off the Bronx. Walter, who pistol-whipped one victim during a heist, last came to police attention in May, when he pleaded guilty to punching and choking his girlfriend, 37-year-old former teacher Gina Salamino. (Salamino, who taught second grade, was fired after her relationship with Walter, by whom she has a child, was discovered.) Walter insisted to a New York Post reporter that he is still modeling — how he's doing that from behind bars, after failing to make $550,000 in bail, is unclear. [Gothamist]
• Naomi Campbell is one of the celebrities donating a Birkin for charity to Hermès' annual vintage auction. Campbell's green alligator Birkin will be sold to raise money for the White Ribbon Alliance, which works to reduce the number of women who suffer preventable pregnancy complications every year worldwide. Also for sale on November 10 will be one of Grace Kelly's handbags, donated by her daughter, Princess Stephanie of Monaco. [UK Elle]
• WWD is already referring to the Beatrice Inn as "the former hipster hotspot." Ouch. Also, Lissy Trullie is going to be the fall face of Hervé Leger by Max Azria. [WWD]
• Prada's Seoul building, the Rem Koolhaas-designed Transformer, is changing its appearance once again. The elements of the structure, which are covered in a membrane, are designed to be shifted around to accommodate entirely different uses for the interior space. Opening in April to house a fashion exhibition before becoming a temporary movie theater, the Transformer is now becoming a contemporary art museum. "I want fashion for fashion and art for art," says Miuccia Prada. "So the Transformer concept was not for a generic space, but to be very specific, with all things separate in one building." [NYTimes]
• Meanwhile in Paris, Prada opened a more traditional kind of temporary structure: a pop-up store. Naturally, among the items sold will be an "exclusive," "limited-edition" gray handbag. Uniqlo also just opened a pop-up in Paris, intended to operate until its flagship in the city opens this fall, and Comme des Garçons' Black line currently has a pop-up in the Marais. [WWD]
• Perhaps not realizing that the coal mining scene in Zoolander was a parody, cult Paris shop Colette is releasing a limited edition collaboration with Timberland boots. Forty pairs of pre-distressed Timbs with blue trim will go on sale at the boutique this September, for 235 Euros. [Refinery 29]
• Some designers support the proposed Design Piracy Protection Act, which would offer limited copyright protection to fashion designers, while others either don't mind the knock-offs, or think the DPPA's proposed solution unwieldy. Maria Cornejo, who designs Zero +Maria Cornejo and has had her work ripped off, thinks the proposed law is a sound one. Makers of knock offs are "basically putting their hand in my head, which is my bank, and stealing ideas. It's basically robbery." Isabel and Ruben Toledo, fashion designer and illustrator, respectively, disagree strongly. "The American fashion system is all levels of value," says Ruben. "A woman knows when she's buying champagne and when she's buying soda-pop. It's two different markets. But why shouldn't a woman have the right to drink Coca-Cola when she feels like it and champagne when she wants to? That's the American way." Europe and Japan already extend copyright protection to clothing designs, but in the U.S., only a graphic of print used for a piece of clothing can be copyrighted, not the garment as a whole. [Reuters]
• Jason Wu covers some familiar territory — Michelle Obama, the loveliness of having pet cats — and some that's out of left field — sleeping pills! — in this sweet diary for the Times of London. The designer complimented a woman he saw wearing his clothes on the street, and, like a sartorial Secret Santa, didn't even tell her he had made it. [ToL]
• Some designers had standard-issue summer jobs for the fashionably-inclined, like working at a fabric store or a vintage shop, or being a doorman at a hip Manhattan club. (Wu, for his part, was a waiter at a BBQ restaurant in Taiwan during the summers when he was growing up.) Angela Donhauser and Adi Gil of Threeasfour worked for Buena Vista, touring Germany dressed as characters from the Lion King. [Style.com]
• Diane von Furstenberg hangs upside down from a swing in her Meatpacking District office. Diane von Furstenberg runs a business with 155 employees, 97% of whom are women. Diane von Furstenberg is 62, and she looks like a minx, like a dangerous, business-minded, fashionable minx, when photographed curled up elegantly on her desk. Diane von Furstenberg compares staying solvent in this economy to being "on a surfing board in the middle of a tsunami," and, if there were one woman who could pull off that totally sick stand up barrel, by God, after reading this profile, we believe it to be her. [NYTimes]
• Italian Vogue is re-releasing last July's iconic issue, which featured only black models. Because it's Barbie's 50th birthday year, the re-released magazine will come with a supplement dedicated to black Barbie. [British Vogue]
• Karl Lagerfeld shot press images for his pre-spring collection on the Rue Royale with Lara Stone and Baptiste Giabiconi — and a customized low rider motorcycle, which Chanel will, remarkably, not sell. [WWD]
• London's Estorick Gallery is holding an exhibition that pairs Italian Futurist paintings with the clothes designed by Ottavio and Rosita Missoni in the 1960s and 70s. Looks like a perfect match. [NYTimes]
• Celebrity hairstylist Ted Gibson is replacing Nick Arrojo, the hair makeover consultant on What Not To Wear. Arrojo, said network executives, was not "fresh" anymore, after six seasons. [WWD]
• There have been numerous stories about the possibility that the company that makes Crocs might go bankrupt — including one in the Washington Post last week. Even the company's auditor has raised doubts about its ability to meet its debt obligations. Unsurprisingly, the C.E.O. says everything's fine and dandy. [WWD]
• The new owners of the bankrupt Eddie Bauer brand say that most of its 370 stores will remain open. San Francisco investment firm Golden Gate Capital Management bought Eddie Bauer at auction for some $286 million. [UPI]

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• "I'm not a designer," says Emma Watson. "If someone asked me to do something that was beneficial to a cause, then maybe I'd consider it, but not just ‘Look at me! I've got my own line!'" And as for perfume:

• "[It's] gotten so ridiculous," continues the actress. "The idea of making my own perfume makes me want to vomit." There's a joke about Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans in here somewhere. [WWD]
• The Cut did this awesome thing where they analyzed couture week by the numbers. Ever wondered how many feathers Jean Paul Gaultier uses in his couture collection? (Approximately 10,000.) Or the length of the train on Lara Stone's Chanel couture wedding dress? (200 meters.) Or the number of false eyelashes used for the Maison Martin Margiela eyelash vest? (275.) Well, now you can know all that — and much more. [The Cut]
• Madonna's back-up dancers wear Brooks Brothers. Who knew? [WWD]
• Simon Cowell and Sir Philip Green are forming an entertainment company together that'll span music, television, and fashion and other merchandising — and rumor has it they've signed Kate Moss to be a figurehead for the fashion division, and to act as a talent scout for new musical artists. [Daily Mail]
• Karolina Kurkova and her documentarian ex-Marine boyfriend are expecting their first child together. Blahopřejeme! [P6]
• Anthropologie is collaborating with the estate of print designer Vera Neumann, who started her business just after WWII by using surplus parachute silk for fabric and whose stated goal was to make one new print design every day of her life (she died with some 7,000 to her name). In addition to reproducing plates, bedding, and other homewares with Neumann's distinctive designs, Anthropologie is doing a book about Neumann, out next March. [W]
• Now this is just weird. For her Fall '09 campaign, Donna Karan decided to use runway photographs — all fine and good. But her creative team obviously Photoshopped the head of her chosen campaign model, Toni Garrn, onto the bodies of Sasha Pivovarova and Anya Kazakova. Anya and Sasha were in the show, had their pictures taken on the runway, and as Fashionologie's side-by-side shots prove, they now have both been digitally replaced from the neck up by Toni Garrn. (From the looks of things, Karlie Kloss was also Photoshopped into the background of the campaign images.) If Karan hasn't paid Kazakova, Pivovarova and Kloss for being featured in the campaign, their agencies have an awfully good case to make. [Fashionologie]
• Vivienne Westwood: "Take the tablecloth if it's beautiful and even take a towel if it's good enough, or the curtains or anything, and put things together yourself. Take things from your husband or your boyfriend, like boxer shorts or whatever — and you can take a beautiful thing as well and put it with a bit of rubbish. Don't spend money, just take what you can find. Take your old things, keep on wearing them. Don't buy much fashion anymore, but if you do buy it, choose really well, wear it for a long time, till it sort of drops off your back, it'll get even more wonderful, maybe. Even if it's horrible, if you wear it for ages it'll probably look better. Forget all this business with the washing machine and buying all these clothes. Choose well, if it's dirty, don't bother. Dirt is patina. It's patina." "Dirt is patina" is totally our new catchphrase. [WoW]
• Christian Audigier has denied that he is working on a line of kids' clothing with Jon Gosselin. [UPI]
• Of course there would be a product tie-in. Kooba is producing bags named after the female characters in NYC Prep. They're brightly colored and have gold-toned hardware, which is to say that they look like Kooba bags — and they cost $595. [Luxist]
• Balmain is said to be starting a handbag business. Buyers in Paris are being shown pre-collection samples in a half-dozen styles. We imagine anything in studded, black fringed leather, done in Christophe Decarnin's hot-right-now style, would sell like the proverbial hot cakes. [WWD]
• Oh, Jesus. What is this? Lara Stone is not a U.S. Size 6. (And by no method of conversion is a U.K. Size 8 a U.S. Size 6!) Pull the other one. Have you ever seen Lara Stone? Don't be distracted by her (awesome) boobies: she has a small frame and strikingly narrow hips. Certain fashion writers may long for that brief early 90s interregnum when certain models could be a Size 6, but the way to get back there is not to seize upon a buxom Size 2 girl and insert her into your Procrustean narrative. [The Cut]
• If you speak Italian, maybe you might want to watch this Italian television segment about Terry Richardson's Pirelli Calendar shoot in Bahia, Brazil. Given the nature of the Pirelli Calendar, it is NSFW. [BlackBook]
• Come this September, for $39, you will be able to buy a "limited edition" biscuit tin, printed with an Erin Fetherston fashion sketch and filled with six packets of LU cookies. This was totally one of those partnerships finalized before the recession. [WWD]
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized over 800 items of counterfeit Izod, Old Navy, and Gap denim items at a port in Charleston, South Carolina. The haul had an estimated value of over $727,000. [WWD]
• After having to expensively back out of a Fifth Avenue lease for a planned flagship store, and after announcing the need to refinance some $170 million in debt this spring, Marc Ecko is putting his company's 275,000 sq. ft. 23rd St. headquarters on the market. If anyone needs an office with a half basketball court, now's your time — the price is "negotiable." [Crain's via CityFile, which has pictures]
• Gene McCarthy is leaving his position as co-president of Timberland, effective the end of this week. The company would not explain the departure. [WWD]

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• Marc Jacobs and his Brazilian fiancé, Lorenzo Martone, are set to marry next month in Provincetown. Also, Jacobs is taking the artists John Currin and Rachel Feinstein, plus Madonna, to the Met ball. [FWD]

• But Jesus Luz won't be in his fall Louis Vuitton campaign. "Why is everyone asking me about him? He's not modeling for me. I don't do menswear," said the designer. He did say, however, that Madonna and Steven Meisel are shooting the campaign right now, right here in New York. "She's the ultimate professional and she and Steven are amazing. I love working with her. There's no one better." [The Cut]
• Steven Alan, on this one time he opened a barbershop: "My mom was getting her haircut at this hairdresser's in the East Village, and the lady told her she was interested in opening her own salon, so my mom goes, 'Oh you should talk to my son!' And I'm like, 'Mom, I'm not opening a hair salon.' And she goes, well you should meet her anyway. So I met her and I was like, 'If I open anything it's going to be a barber shop,' and she was like, 'Ok, I can cut guys' hair.'" [Fashionista]
• Lanvin's Alber Elbaz — who seemed talented, fretful and difficult in Ariel Levy's recent New Yorker profile — is questioned by Stephanie Seymour in the new issue of Interview. "We really started from scratch eight years ago at Lanvin. It's the oldest couture house in the world, but when I came onboard, it was a great name without much in it. We slowly moved in. I love coffee, but I always say not everything has to be instant. We took the time. It took eight years to move from 15 accounts to 400 accounts. What's important is to maintain it as a family business. It's very much like Interview, which you don't talk about as a group-it's a family. The nature of fashion is family. You see that at almost every house-it was owned first by a family. It wasn't owned by a bank. In fact, the bankers went into fashion later...And look what happened to fashion!" [Interview]
• Alexander Wang, last year's Vogue CFDA fashion fund award-winner, is teaming up with the Gap. And unlike in previous years, where the CFDA designers re-imagined the retailer's white shirt — with mixed results — Wang has done something that sounds kind of exciting. Says Gap designer Patrick Robinson: "This year it's with khaki. He did this incredible motorcycle jacket in khaki that's going to be under $100. It's coming out on June 16th, so get ready!" [Fashionologie]
• Thinker of deep thoughts Michael Kors wishes there were some kind of Spanx for men. It exists, Michael! [The Cut]
• All that lobbying from the First Lady's favorite designers must have worked: a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House has reintroduced a modified version of the design piracy bill. [WWD]
• The ever-humble Isaac Mizrahi: "I just love women in dresses. Last night I was at an event at the Pier [in New York] and everyone looked just ugh ... except those wearing my clothes." [Philadelphia Inquirer]
• Soon, there will be Jessica Simpson lingerie. And sleepwear. Fantastic. [WWD]
• And Paris Hilton is doing sunglasses. [PopDirt]
• Anne Hathaway may not be doing the next Marc Jacobs campaign — but she looks good in her new ad for Lancôme perfume. [E! Online]
• WSJ. took Hilary Rhoda to Miami to shoot swimsuits, and shot this nifty behind-the-scenes video. No amount of overdubbed music can hide the fact that modeling is generally about making odd positions look natural. [WSJ]
• This list of the top 20 fashion Twitterers covers all the bases, but all you really need to know is: Fake. Karl. [Times of London]
• In a similar vein, Rachel Roy held a press conference via Twitter. She answered such hard-hitting lines of inquiry as, "Rachel, you absolutely glow! How do you stay confident through tough times?" Oh, the vaunted democracy of the Internet. [WWD]
• Revlon is launching a new mascara, and adding two items to its ColorStay product range. [WWD]
• Henri Bendel, the department store founded in 1895, is no longer going to sell clothes. The retailer will shrink its New York flagship by one floor, and concentrate only on selling accessories, beauty products, and gift items that leverage its brand and signature colors. Eight percent of its 250-strong workforce will be laid off. [NY Times]
• Timberland's profits declined 12% in the first quarter of this year. [WWD]
• Breaking: Tiffany & Co. has bought the bankrupt Lambertson Truex handbag brand from Samsonite. [WWD]
• Abercrombie & Fitch, meanwhile, is in its second round of layoffs this year. After making fifty workers at its Columbus, Ohio, headquarters in January, the company is letting go an addition 170 this week. [The Street]
• Joe's Jeans actually rose slightly in its sales and earnings for the first quarter. [WWD]
• The Gap is recalling 22,000 toggle coats for babies, up to size 24 months. The toggles can come off, and pose a choking risk. [Babble]

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• After Palin names Escada as her fave brand, the creative director is gracious: "If she does wear Escada because she likes it, I mean, I’m honored actually. It’s not politics; it’s clothing, after all. No? She’s an attractive woman, so why not?" [New York Mag]
• Fashion's totally in the tank for Obama — but we knew that. [WWD]
• Halloween update: Blake Lively was Cleopatra, Martha Stewart was Medusa. [Sassybella]
• Andre Leon Talley: "Fashion may not be the most important thing in life, but it definitely helps you get through it," [Philadelphia Inquirer]

• Adidas launching high-end SLVR line. It'll include sportswear, accessories and shoes — but no activewear. [WWD]
• Stella McCartney introduces kid-friendly windows. "Using just colouring pencils, Gary Card will create over-layered drawings of animals, dinosaurs, superheros and fantasy inspired characters on children's wardrobes in his typically naive and charming signature style." Just what you want to see on your six-year-old's Christmas list! [VogueUK]
• SJP's new "Twilight" perfume: just a coinci-dink that it jibes with the teen vampire flick? Synergy! [Fashionista]
• Georgia May Jagger's "style" includes derby hats, shiny leggings. [ElleUK]
• Prada's costume jewelry is gorgeous, as expensive as real jewelry. [Fabsugar]
• Goodwill tries to change its image for the recession; but why? [NY Times]
• Not shockingly, Anand Jon's defense lawyer says he's innocent. [Breitbart]
• Suits make the man. [Forbes]
• Timberland moves into video blogging to woo young men, who allegedly like that sort of thing. [Business Week]
• The first YSL retrospective is kicking off in San Francisco and sounds amazing: "The clothes, displayed in a gallery with low lighting and the feel of a giant walk-in closet, are stunningly beautiful: A 1988 Van Gogh "Irises" jacket embroidered with 40 pounds of sequins and beads. A 1997 garden party of a gown with a thicket of pink and green organza flowers, leaves, semiprecious stones and satin ribbons. A 1990 coat flocked with flame-colored rooster, pheasant and vulture feathers. The black wool dress with satin collar and cuffs worn by Catherine Deneuve in the 1967 film "Belle de Jour."" [LA Times]
• Supermoddle Jacquetta Wheeler comes from a huge Tory clan! [Daily Mail]
• These descriptions of the Australia costumes are totally overcoming our initial resolve not to see it: "Ms. Martin did extensive research for the costumes. She studied archival images and newspapers from 1930s and ’40s Australia and interviewed descendants of the original ranchers around Darwin. 'Whether an indigenous stockman'— or drover — 'wore socks with his boots when he rode a horse, that’s something you either get through a snapshot,' Ms. Martin said, 'or something you have to go talk to the people who lived there about.'" [NY Times]
• The new Chanel Unlimited bags, in a "glossy gray canvas material," sound grotesque. Opines Fashionista: These are totally Karl's answer to Prada's nylon bags. But worse, because they're plastered in not just one, but many logos." [Fashionista]
• Yeah it's barely past Halloween, but if you have "questions" about Holiday attire, The Washington Post will help you out. [Washington Post]
• Rosetta Getty expands her line, beloved of her celeb friends. Nice work if you can get it! [WWD]
• Is it just us, or are these new Helena Christensen ads for Agent Provocateur really unsexy? (Oh yeah, prolly NSFW.) [Daily Mail]
• Rochas names Marco Zanini creative director; he'll show his first collection for the the fall/winter 2009 season. [WWD]
• Princess Di's threads go under the hammer for charity. [VogueUK]

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