(Click on any image to begin the gallery)

Images via Telegraph

• Rumored brat Peaches Geldof — sister of model Pixie — can add designer to her resume of insta-careers. "Designing for PPQ has been fun and inspiring. I've always loved their clothes, the way Amy can pull off the perfect arty dress over and over again. I love that my collection came out exactly as I wanted, blending new romanticisim with gothic undertones," quoth the VJ-bride-rich-person-It-Girl. [VogueUK]
• Displaying their usual impeccable taste and penchant for dated trends, American Apparel suggests a bloodied Monica Seles costume. [American Apparel]
• According to one manufacturer, Obama tees are outselling McCain 54.1 to 45.9 percent. [SeattlePI]
• The crucial fashion designer demographic is, at least, solidly for Change. [WWD]
• After punching, groping pilot, Hermes heir is allowed to fly. Well, after posting an additional mil in bail. [New York Magazine]

• Ryan Gosling DJ'd at the Burberry Store Opening. Hey, don't ask me! [VogueUK]
• Louis Vuitton cleans up in latest counterfeit lawsuit. [WWD]
• New Banana Republic creative director unveils his first collection. It sounds...exactly like every other BR line. "For spring, Simon Kneen will be building on the Banana Republic brand DNA, focusing on the polished urban work wear aesthetic we have come to know and love." [ElleUK]
• Designers' 'breast cancer awareness' (read: pink stuff) isn't purely altruistic? Surely you jest! [Forbes]
• Armani says founding designers need to let their companies go. "It is painful but you need to have the courage that, once it is done - not to have any claims over it." But, oh yeah, he's not going anywhere. [Reuters]
• Some fashionista's "frugal fashion" tips: "Ms. Borissova, who is also a personal stylist, is updating her look with higher-quality designer pieces, such as a Balmain tweed jacket and Preen blouse, as well as vintage clothes including a Halston animal-print dress and a Thierry Mugler jacket. Not only are such styles likely to last longer than cheaper clothes; they also are investments that might have resale value." [WSJ]
• The recent bid for Pacific Swimwear might be kind of shady. [NY Times]
• Sigerson-Morrison (well, Sigerson) on how they got into designing (awesome, expensive) shoes: "I was 14, living in Omaha, Nebraska, and my Dad sent me a course catalogue for classes at FIT. I think I thought there was something exotic about shoe design. Clothing was relatively easy to understand how they were made and put together, but shoes??!! Shoes were a mystery; only the coolest people knew how shoes were made!" [The Fashion Informer]
• Topshop defies the market with a record year; owner credits Kate Moss. [Daily Mail]
• 1,500 Chinese dogs, bred for their raccoon-like fur, die from tainted feed. [Breitbart]
• Twiggy reunited with a dress she designed in the 60s; apparently she had been unable to track one down! [Daily Express]
• Lanvin tries to change the latex image: "Usually, latex evokes sex and S&M," says Nicolas Ghesquière, "but I didn't want to say that at all. The rubber is not intended to touch the skin, there is silk in between. It's a softer image, not about fetishism at all." [Independent]
• Vivienne Westwood's photographer son is staging a controversial photo shoot of "slaves." "The "chain gang" will include models and activists from the Consenting Adult Action Network (CAAN) who will be bound and gagged in a visual protest, in what campaigners believe restricts adults' sexual choices." [Telegraph]
• Aliens, astronauts loom large at India's fashion week. [Yahoo]
• Coach profits fall in first quarter. [Crains]
• Want to see a really ugly shoe?! [ElleUK]
• Donatella Versace's being honored; Prince and J.Lo will be there. [WWD]
• Murakami's being honored, too, by Pratt. But Prince won't be there. [WWD]

• Would Rachel Zoe support Code Pink? Here's her response: "I’m embarking on a big initiative this year for ovarian cancer—that’s next. But if I lived in the ’70s, I would have been right in John Lennon’s bed with him and Yoko. God, I wish he were alive." We'll take that as a...maybe? [BlackBook]
• Anand Jon: Rapist, or simply a creep? [Radar]
• Despite rumors, Pixie Geldof isn't designing for New Look. She's modeling for them! [ElleUK]
• Finnish designer Ivana Helsinki based her knits line for Topshop on "the champagne state of drunkenness." Sign us up! [VogueUK]

• H&M feels the pinch. Don't we all. [WWD]
• Is Alessandra Facchinetti getting the pink slip at Valentino? [Fashion Week Daily]
• At the end of the day, fashion's a business. Albeit a ridiculous one. [Independent]
• Which is why Lanvin might be selling a stake to a Qatar investor. [IHT]
• Posh's new boots: ugly, of course, but are they equally uncomfortable?! [Guardian]
• Apparently Paris fashion week is sucking far less than did New York's. [Fashionista]
• This new hand-held scanner can tell if a garment's a fake -so you don't have to send your clothes to a lab, like you were doing before! [IHT]
• Foot Locker's buying skateboard apparel maker CCS. It's currently owned by Delia's. [WSJ]
• Model Sarah Murdoch says "In fashion ... there is an unhealthy body image for young women." No shit. [News.com.au]
• Balenciaga show apparently bites. [NYT]

• Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian are auctioning some stuff, including a Gucci tote, a Dior purse and an Herve Leger dress. A percentage goes to the Dream Foundation, which grants wishes to terminally-ill adults — but the price is high: As People ominously puts it, "Now you can look as good as Kim, Khloe and Kourtney." [People]
• Capitalizing on the key fashionista/teenage boy demographic, Nintendo introduces POP CUTIE!, the "street-style" video game that lets you make like the sartorialist from your own home. "Players will buzz through virtual streets in Tokyo, New York, and Paris picking out their favorite 'trends.'" An insidious plan to force fashion types to put on weight?! [fashionista]
• Finally women's education gets some serious funding: Victoria's Secret goes to college! "VS Pink Collegiate Collection," which cobrands with universities across the country, will carry sweatpants, hoodies, panties, T-shirts and totes and will retail in campus bookstores. [WWD]

• "Kooky" Donna Karan loves astrology, "berry juice." [Telegraph]
• Midwestern retailers 'flooded' by record rainfall. [WWD]
• America's FIRST TOPSHOP reveals fall line! [New York Magazine]
• Designer "borrowing" for the rest of us: the latest thing? (And I do mean borrowing. The quotes don't denote theft in this case.) [WWD]
• Cute, pricey "pin-up" safety pins coordinate with your clothes. [fabsugar]
• The headline "Agyness To Move To Women" made this sound juicier than it is, but still apparently no small potatoes: is she following a booker to a new agency? "A source just spilled that Agyness is leaving DNA — home to Natalia, Snejana, Raquel and Doutzen, among others — and headed over to Women — home to Carmen Kass, Jourdan Dunn, Heather Marks and Isabeli Fontana, among more." [fashionista]
• Nyakio Grieco expands her scent line. [WWD]
• The problem that dare not speak its name: Fixes for "stinky summer feet." [fabsugar]
• Diesel launches jewelry line. Europeans, 2002, cheer. [WWD]
• Elle Macpherson's "bedroom secrets" apparently not secret: She reveals all in a new memoir. [News.com.au]
• Wal-Mart attempting image turnaround. Perhaps they should consult with Britney? [WWD]

• Ladies, start your engines: Kate Moss has a new Top Shop line! “Two hundred of the coveted red pansy dresses were sold in the first hour and a half,” writes the Telegraph's Hilary Alexander. For the love of God RUN, don’t walk, and buy everything you can right now. This is the 'Sex and the City' of clothes, people! [Telegraph]
• Never a dull moment for Marc Jacobs, who is channeling Andy Warhol for an upcoming cover of Interview magazine. Page Six reports that he got Andy’s actual wig flown in for the occasion, as he should, because Marc Jacobs can do anything! He’s a superhero! [NY Post]
• Jennifer Lopez and Ashley Olsen drooled at Francisco Costa; Donatella received a "Superstar Award" from Fashion Group International (they couldn’t think of a better name?) and Angelina Jolie loves Nike. [WWD]
• This just in: Savannah, GA is awesome! Follow up to yesterday’s story about designer John Galliano calling in sick to SCAD’s graduation: As it turns out, designers the school and Galliano is often flaky. “Savannah is the physical jewel of the south,” adds Vogue editor Andre Leon Talley. [WWD]

• Ew, this Dov Charney video is weird. It’s cartoon of either people making fun of him or him making fun of him (probably the former) but either way it gave me douche chills. [Adgabber]

• Anonymous New York model is suing a jewelry company for using her hot, writhing, naked, orgasmic image without consent. Methinks she will win said suite.[Newsday]
• Rihanna may be in talk to team up with Victoria’s Secret to create her own line, because if there’s one thing really young pop singers know how to do, it’s panties. [Elle Girl]
• The company that owns American Sporting Goods wants Kelly Ripa’s face to help boost sales. That'll work! (I’m not being sarcastic. Everyone loves this chick, including me). They’re gonna launch a Kelly Ripa line of apparel and footwear in the fall, and Ripa has been helping with the designs; “When I was traveling, I found a kimono fabric I loved and a Mayan symbol from Mexico that I thought would be great." Wait, I just said I loved her? [WWD]
• UK’s Next Up Model finalist Leanne Nagle says she was made fun of when she was a wee young thing. Who wasn't? [Telegraph]
• Accessories designer Elizabeth Muir goes to a third world country, rips off Afghani goat-rearing gypsies, and creates a new clothing line. Well, some call it ripping off. She calls it “inspiration.” [Yahoo]
• Wet Seal is going bonkers. Besides hiring Ashlee Simpson, the retailer is starting an interactive website. [Fabsugar]
• The company that owns Bill Blass, Athlete’s Foot, some ice cream chain no one’s ever heard of, and a bunch of those stands you see at the mall (Pretzel Time? Great American Cookies?) is going out of business, the New York Times reports. [New York Times]
• This fascinating article is about the copper rivets on blue jeans and how one lucky man owned the patent instead of Levi Strauss, who couldn’t afford to buy it from him. [Wired]
• Lace is looking like it’s going to be pretty important in 2009 as designers glom on this vintage inspired, ever-so-romantic fabric. Call me Madonna from the Like A Virgin video and sign me the fuck up! [WWD]
• Here’s a good project for an 8th grade economics class: try to come up with an original name for a brand. Turns out everyone will fail, as coming up with an unused brand name is proving almost impossible. Fisher Price never had it so good. [LA Times]

• After much consideration I have decided that I do not care at all what the personal footwear choices of the Sex and the City stars say about their personalities. [LA Times]
  
• Speaking of Sex and the City, Sarah Jessica Parker says that her son only wears his older cousin's hand-me-downs and has never been given new clothes, other than shoes. [US Weekly]
  
• Another day, more people fired from ELLE. This time, on the dot-com side. Maybe Nina will give them jobs over at Marie Claire? [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Rachel Zoe does not want to talk about being disinvited from the Met Costume Institute Gala thankyouverymuch. [US Weekly]
  
• In case you were wondering, Cindy Crawford will be celebrating Mother's Day with breakfast in bed. [Reuters]

• Christy Turlington, however, thinks that Mother's Day should be about activism and used as a platform for taking action against the AIDS crisis. [HuffPo]
• Hilary Duff just loves being old: "I am so excited that I'm finally at an age where they want me on the cover!" says Duff regarding her turn in Allure. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Lancome and Uma Thurman: Suing one another. Good times in the cosmetics industry. [AP]
• Chanel is opening an "ephemeral" boutique on London's Dover Street. Says Krazy Karl Lagerfeld, "The tone is at the same time post-modern and romantic. It integrates a delicate punk sophistication." [Vogue UK]
• Rachel Zoe loves expensive shit. [NYDailyNews]
• I don't care that she landed Johnny Depp, I still love Vanessa Paradis. [Sassybella]
• Camper shoes; Now for the ladies. [Times of London]
• Ginger Spice: Wears clothes from Topshop. [The Sun UK]

• Stella McCartney calls dibs on bride-to-be Scarlett Johansson: "I'm definitely doing her wedding dress. She doesn't know it yet." Awkward. [People]
  
• Says Marc Jacobs on the bride-to-be, "I'm really happy for her. She's a great girl. I just think Scarlett is great and I hope she is very, very happy. She's super funny. I love a smart, ballsy, New Yorker and that's what she is. I wish her the best." And by "the best" he clearly means, "Do why didn't that bitch ask me to design her wedding dress?" [Vogue UK]
  
• Chris "Mr. Big" Noth has some strong feelings about Victoria's Secret, "I'm not into Victoria's Secret so much. I find it over the top. I like subtlety and I like elegance. I think their things are gaudy and they are really trying too hard. If I could make a fashion statement, I think that Victoria's Secret looks to me like somebody who is putting on too much make-up. It's too gaudy, man. I mean, come on take it easy, you don't have to have a fuckin' bouquet of flowers on your underwear. Sorry Victoria's Secret; I hope they're not one of our sponsors!" [Oh No They Didn't]
  
• "You can get diamonds cheap," says Heidi Klum, which is why she's going to start sewing them into the pockets of her Jordache jeans line. Clearly, she has not seen Blood Diamond. [WWD, 9th item]

• Good for you, Adidas, for winning your lawsuit against Payless shoes for their blasphemous thievery of what is clearly a design that only you own: Stripes. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Seriously, Suri Cruise does not need custom-made Roger Vivier shoes. I, however, do. [WWD, 1st item]
• So what did More editor-in-chief Lesley Jane Seymour do Monday night in lieu of attending the Met Costume Institute Gala? (She wasn't invited.) "I dressed up in my best Versace and barbecued on the my outside deck in the suburbs! Only kidding about the Versace! I wore Prada." [Fashion Week Daily]
• Oh also, Christina Ricci left the Costume Institute Gala in a huff after realizing upon entering that she and her boyfriend had not been seated together. [Page Six]
• If only I had been trapped in an elevator with Giorgio Armani yesterday. [Wowowow]
• So Gwyneth Paltrow is all, "I don't get why there's this big fuss about my S&M footwear fetish." [USA Today]
• Video footage of Gemma Ward trying to slay Liv Tyler: Here. [Fashionista]
• Video footage of Karlie Kloss doing ballet: Here. [NY Mag]
• Model and sometimes di Caprio girlfriend Bar Rafaeli sorta needs to pony up and serve in the Israeli Army already. [UPI]
• Oh of course Jimmy Choo is trying to usurp as much press and glory as they can from the opening of the Sex and the City movie. [Vogue UK]
• Ksube + Kanye = Pretty cool. [Sassybella]
• Diet Coke + Patricia Field = Pretty random. [Sassybella]
• OMG why did The Sartorialist get fired from the new Gap ads as a model already?! Why?! Why?! [Fashionista]
• Beth Ditto will be entertaining guests at the opening of the Alexander McQueen store in L.A. next week. [Fashion Week Daily]
• In the midst of economic downturn Barneys New York and Target seem to be entering into one of those "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship" sorta things. [WWD, sub req'd]
• And young design bad-ass Danielle Scutt is designing for Topshop. Seeing a theme here? [WWD, 8th item]
• The Turks? Love them some Dior. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Just what you needed: How to dress like celebrities, made easy. And a little stalker-ish. [TechCrunch]

• How did Christina Ricci respond when someone from Interview magazine asked how she likes being the face of Louis Vuitton? "Well, I'm not anymore. I was one of four actresses that they used in a campaign once and it was really fun. I liked it. I would like to be the face of Louis Vuitton. I am not, however. You know who is? Scarlett Johansson is the face of Louis Vuitton. Wrong interview." Awkward. [WWD, 4th item]
  
• Back in 2007, Harvey Weinstein said of NBC Universal top dog Jeff Zucker (who is, you know, now suing Weinstein for taking Project Runway from Bravo to Lifetime), "You can only have in your life five true friends, and I consider you one of my five friends." All together now, once more, with feeling: Awkward. [Page Six]
  
• We're guessing that Nina Garcia is turning down that editor-at-large gig at Elle since she was seen eating lunch yesterday at Bergdorf Goodman. Working fashion editors don't eat. [Page Six]
  
• How surprising: Prada isn't going public come June, as previously announced. (Actually, no one's surprised about this at all.) [NYT]

• Simon Doonan on why he loves Amy Winehouse: "I strongly disagree with her drug taking — I mean it's insane — but when I was that age I was a mess, too. I think she's triggering a whole movement of eccentricity where people don't want to look like everyone else. She says it's groovy to look completely different and insane; she pulled that beehive out of no where and has her own look. She should be applauded. Because everyone was getting the Kelly Clarkson makeover, everyone ended up looking like pop princesses. What's that about?" [FabSugar]
• The blueprints have been revealed at last for the new Prada art museum in Milan. Miuccia+Rem 4Eva. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Aw, Vicky Beckham: "I'm still a mom and a wife and I must be up at seven in the morning to get my boys ready for school!" [Fashion Week Daily]
• "It's got to be English — we're not going to give it an American twist," says Sir Philip Green of the soon-to-open first-ever American branch of Topshop. Does this mean they'll be taking pounds instead of dollars? [WWD, 7th item]
• I'm obsessed with Ginnifer Goodwin on Big Love so I'm happy enough, I guess, to hear that she's being honored with MaxMara's Women in Film Face of the Future award. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Chanel: Wants you to wear gold makeup for fall. Dear Chanel: how about you just give us some gold instead? [WWD, sub req'd]
• Stella McCartney: Now doing sunglasses. [Vogue UK]
• Balenciaga: Opening its first e-commerce site on May 15. A new place to impulse-buy expensive shit from the comfort of your own home while drunk! [WWD, 1st item]
• Oh! Gucci and Giorgio Armani are also upping their web presences. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Hubert de Givenchy, Roberto Cavalli, Giorgio Armani, Gianfranco Ferré, Alberta Ferretti, Antonio Marras, Emilio Pucci and Sonia Rykiel have all donated items from their personal closets for a charity auction to benefit children with leprosy in India. It's just. So. Fashion. [WWD, 4th item]
• The shareholders at Escada think the new CEO is being paid way too much. Yawn. [WWD, sub req'd]]

• Holy fuck: George Clooney, fashion designer?! [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• No: Just a prank pulled by some douchey Italians. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Says Clooney: "This is a hoax. I have no connection whatsoever with any clothing line bearing my name, and more specifically GC Exclusive by George Clooney." Ok,ay well now we know. [Vogue UK]
  
• And how did Vivienne Westwood celebrate Easter? By marching for nuclear disarmament, of course. [Vogue UK]
  
• Whoah: they serve cake every Friday at the H&M design offices?! [WWD]
  
• The Banana Republic green line is, um, literally green. [Nylon]
  
• Nicole Richie is starting a jewelry line. Which is only a bit less offensive than starting a handbag line. [Off The Rack]

• I can't tell if it makes me happy or sad that Topshop is going to be featuring Helmut Newton photos in their stores. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Mazel tov to Saks Fifth Avenue for having the first-ever video catalog. Because now it's easier and more visually exciting to have expensive shit shilled at you! [MediaPost]
• New York Fashion Week: Moving to to the Port Authority, probs. [NYMag]
• Breaking news: Proctor & Gamble just bought Frederic Fekkai. [WSJ]
• India Fashion Week brought all the boys to the yard. [WWD, sub req'd]
• DSquared2: Doing eyewear. [Vogue UK]
• Perry Ellis: Doing a bed and bath line. [MediaPost]
• Versace helicopters! [Chic Report]
• No money for beauty treatments because of the recession? Just wipe some aspirin across your face. [BellaSugar]
• Leaping lizards, Batman! A smiling model! [Sassybella]
• I would actually wear a bra if I had a Twin Peaks Bra. [UPI]

• Breaking news! Karl Lagerfeld changed his uniform. He's now rocking a gray suit and a bow tie, in contrast to the black suit and a skinny tie of yore. This is akin to the time Jay-Z announced he had stopped wearing sports jerseys, and you can expect its effects to be felt on the Karl Lagerfeld figurine industry and the Karl Lagerfeld party impersonator industry soonest. [FabSugar UK]
  
• "I told them, 'I'll only do it if you make me a guitar case with the logo on it,' " says Keith Richards, of what made him agree to be the new face of Louis Vuitton. Way to haggle, Keith! [USA Today]
  
• Barneys Creative Director/general master of awesomeness Simon Doonan's memoir of his childhood, Nasty is being turned into a TV show called Beautiful People thanks to the producer of The Office and Asbolutely Fabulous. "It's a low-rent Madame Bovary," he says. We may just be watching this. [WWD, 2nd item]
  
• Speaking of which, says Donatella Versace of Doonan, after their stint parading in the Barneys windows together: "I think Simon actually wants to be a mannequin." [WWD, sub req'd]

• Is the push-up bra the greatest fashion invention of all time? Because we were thinking that inflatable bra you can carry a bottle of wine around in was kind of cooler. [Daily Mail]
• Brooks Brothers signed 21-year-old LPGA golfer Taylor Leon as its first female spokeswoman. I'm sure it's because she's really exotic-looking and has an innate sense of style but I don't really know/care who she is. [WWD, 4th item]
• English Misshapes-y celebutante Peaches Geldof is designing a clothing line. You know, every time I think, "I have just about had it with psudo celebrity endorsement deal whatevers," something like this happens, and I wonder, "is it time to excise the 'just about' from that statement"? Is this really the final straw? But you can't waste the final straw on fucking PEACHES GELDOF. Anyway, still deciding; carry on. [WWD, 2nd item]
• The rumors are true: A Rem Koolhaas-Miuccia Prada art museum is on. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Banana Republic: Now in the UK. [Vogue UK]
• But uh-oh: Are Banana Republic's wares being made by workers in India who are being forced to work 70-hour weeks for less than minimum wage? How ever could a nice company like Banana Republic allow something like that to happen? [Guardian]
• Also in the UK, illustrator Will Broome for Topshop, who says of his work, "Like a Care Bear that is beyond caring; My Little Pony on a trip to the glue factory; Paddington on the psychiatrist's couch." [Vogue UK]
• Despite sucky economy, Guess is doing really, really well and opening up a shitload of new stores. And somewhere in Heaven, Anna Nicole smiles that woozy faraway smile of hers. [WWD, sub req'd]
• The economy may be in trouble, but don't worry about Nike! They're making money hand over fist! [Reuters]
• A new "life coaching" book called What Would Jackie Do? Uh, besides smile through years of emotional abuse and pathological infidelity? Do I really want to know? [FabSugar]
• Smelly razors = bad idea. [BellaSugar]

L to R: 1) Isn't this the smock Cinderella used to clean up before the fashion intervention happened? 2) Um, hello Grandma! 3) I can just feel the fabric deteriorating.

L to R: 1) Was this one of Keri Russell's costumes in Waitress? 2) Unflattering waist and see though! Fun! 3) For when you bring your maid with you to Ibiza.

L to R: 1) Kate Moss for Topshop: The poor man's American Apparel. 2) This is the ugliest thing I think I have ever seen. 3) A favorite of the ladies of the Emperor's Club.

L to R: 1) So very slutty tween. 2) Good to mop the floors with. 3) So very WTF?!

L to R: 1) For a funeral. 2) For a lounge singer. 3) For a flamenco dancer.

Kate Moss = Topshop [Topshop]

• Kate Moss's fifth collection for Topshop launches today. It's inspired by "travel." Oh, bite me. [Vogue UK]
  
• Spanx bras — to flatten your back fat, of course — in stores now! [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• You will be so proud of Eva Mendes! She overcame that whole nasty rehab debacle to be chosen as the face of Calvin Klein underwear. Yay Eva! And yay Calvin Klein for taking a chance on a star who is trying to overcome adversity. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Pussycat Dolls founder Robin Antin has extended her evil empire to include a lingerie line (entitled, sickeningly, "Pussycat Dolls...shhh") and a costume jewelry line. [WWD, 3rd item]
  
• Nicole Richie doing a maternity line? Why, God, why? [LATimes]

• Marc Jacobs and his histrionic boyfriend Jason Preston are fighting again. [Page Six]
• "I feel like Beyoncé is a very good image for what I do. She's the woman that I present. I adore women with curves," says designer Elie Saab. We remain skeptical. [Fashion Week Daily]
• I know I'll sleep better tonight knowing that Lord & Taylor has achieved its life-long dream of stocking Juicy Couture. [IHT]
• Also, knowing Victoria Beckham owns ten different Hermes Birkin bags, all in different colors. [Sunday Mirror]
• Evangeline Lilly is the face of Davidoff Cool Water Women. [WWD, 2nd item]
• Bindi Irwin's children's clothing line on sale everywhere... well, in Australia. [News.com.au]
• Paris Hilton: Inspiration to Indian fashion designers. [Reuters]
• Gap has once again commissioned supercool designers to design limited-edition white shirts for the chain. 3.1 Phillip Lim, Band of Outsiders, Michael Bastian, Philip Crangi and Threeasfour have all signed on for the project, sponsored by Vogue and the CFDA. It seems like only yesterday they were doing this for the very first time! I have only written approximately 3.1 x 10²⁹ words on this site since then. [WWD, sub req'd]
• No, light-up packaging scares me. [BellaSugar]
• Our favorite model-blogger Erin O'Connor is now preparing to make a documentary about the fashion industry. $10 says everyone comes off looking ethical and well-groomed. [Daily Mail]

• Agyness Deyn's mom Lorraine Collins is as amazed as we are that someone as FAT as Agyness could ever make it in fashion: "She has wonderful curves and a bit of meat on her. When she's home, she eats everything." [Mirror]
  
• Poor chivalrous BF-of-Marc-Jacobs Jason Preston! When he tried to stand up for a girl who got a drink thrown at her at a club, Preston got something worse thrown at him: a punch in the face. $10 says Marc incorporates a black eye makeup look into the Spring 2009 collection. [Page Six]
  
• Richard Chai is the latest designer to do a Target collection! [Who is Richard Chai? I asked Jennie. He's "very respected." And Asian. Okay. -Moe] [Nylon]
  
• But even more exciting: Alice McCall is designing for Topshop. [Who is...meh, forget it. I'm not the one reading the fashion news roundup.] [Sassybella]
  
• While we buy that Barack would smell like bergamot and musk, no way in hell is Hillary Clinton a "delicate floral." [BellaSugar]

• L'Oreal is honoring women for scientific achievements. No really! And not even, like, achievements related to wrinkle "therapy", but real achievements like discovering a new class of RNA molecules, although we're sure there is an anti-aging angle in there somewhere. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Louis Vuitton and Murakami are once again collaborating with a new print, "monoflage," which will make its debut when the Murakami retrospective opens at the Brooklyn Museum of Art on April 3rd. Because what the world really needs is another Vuitton-Murakami bag showing up everywhere. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Dries Van Noten's response when Diane von Furstenberg called him to tell him he would be receiving this year's CFDA International Award? "I don't know what to say! We're in a bad storm in Antwerp and I don't know whether or not we're going to have a house!'" Oy. [Chic Report]
• DKNY Jeans has recruited comic book artist Paul Pope to collaborate with the brand on a new line. Which should be really exciting for skater geeks who worship Tim Gunn? [Nylon]
• For the first time since Stella McCartney and Adidas joined forces together, they are not introducing a new fitness category for the collaborative brand for the Spring 2008 season. We guess that once you've differentiated "running" from "trail running" there really aren't any sports left. [WWD, 1st item]
• After 2010, New York Fashion Week is out of Bryant Park and moves over to...the 10th Avenue Rail Yards? Delightful! [Gatecrasher]
• Japan Fashion Week was, well, big in Japan. [Reuters]
• Will Coach buy Burberry? And if so, can Coach get a firm grasp on the devastatingly complex details of selling logo-ed accessories at accessibly outrageous prices? We bet they can! [Independent]
• Meanwhile, Coach is going to replace its own president with the COO of Victoria's Secret. Um, there's a track record we wouldn't be so quick to acquire, but okay. [WSJ]
• Anna Sui president Michael Pellegrino has announced his retirement. With a 65th birthday coming up, he wants to travel and volunteer with Meals on Wheels. And they say fashion has no heart. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Claudia Schiffer: The latest fashion star to judge London's Graduate Fashion Week. [Vogue UK]
• Coldwater Creek: In the throes of existential crisis. [MediaPost]
• American Eagle: Also not doing so well. [Reuters]

And yet while these poor fools went rambling through the stores hallowed walls, the staff were left to wallow in a different sort of misery. Tsk-tsked one salesgirl:

Customers knock over mannequins, take them off their stands and just drop them, strip them of their clothes.

They will know within 20 seconds whether a person is up to no good. There's no shoplifting stereotype. As far as we're concerned, anyone is a potential thief. It's the body language — the eyes, the signs that people give off — that give it away.

Usually we try to empty the sorting room by the end of the day. But today . . .

Shop Till We Drop [Times of London]

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

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

• Designer Vivienne Westwood is switching party allegiances from the (liberal) Labour to the (conservative) Tory, and will even be the keynote speaker at her new political party's Christmas party. Warns Westwood: "I'm going to take the opportunity to put them right on a few things. They're not going to get what they bargained for." [Vogue UK]
  
• "Russians have started to learn that less bling is better, that more sophistication is in. The women here learn this slower than the rest of world, but they're learning for sure." Donatella Versace, folks. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Heidi Montag of The Hills is designing clothing line for the label Anchor Blue. See, it happened in one of those brainstorming sessions where an Anchor Blue executive was like, "Who can we get that would actually be less qualified to design a clothing line than L.C. from The Hills?" [Sassybella]
  
• Cory Kennedy is the new face of Urban Decay. Which is kind of cute, because she's the age we were when we thought Urban Decay — the nail polish, the societal phenomenon, etc.— were cool. [Fashionista]

• B.U.M. Equipment is back. And starting a line called B.U.M. Organics. Way to beat the old, played-out, trendhumping image that killed your clothing line in the eighties and stay true to your authentic brand identity, guys! [WWD, sub req'd]
• OMG: Elle Macpherson and Bryan Adams are dating! Dude, we can't even remember the last time we heard about Bryan Adams. [Daily Mail UK]
• Model Erin O'Connor is all totally swoony for Antonio Banderas. [Daily Express]
• First New York, then the Blue States! After TopShop opens in Manhattan in September, the company plans to open additional locations on both coasts. [MediaPost]
• Model Hana Soukupova on when she "first felt beautiful": "I guess when I went into fashion. You know, I'm from a small town in Czech Republic, and I never thought I could do this, you know?" Profound. [BellaSugar]
• Hillary Clinton: Likes hats! [WWD, 2nd item]
• Badgley Mischka: Dressing the Alvin Ailey company's principal dancers! [WWD, 3rd item]
• Would you like a Vivienne Tam-designed MP3 player? [Fashion Week Daily]

L: Such innocence! Such purity! What "heroin chic"? Kate looks wholesome and pure and amazingly Twiggy-like on the cover of Vogue UK.
R: On the cover of W Kate embodies the girl next door. And by that I mean the sly seductress who will steal your man away without even trying.

L: You know how on Top Model Tyra is always telling the girls that there is a way to do sexy that actually comforts women, instead of making them feel terrified and insufficient? Case in point.
R: The aforementioned sexy that makes me feel way threatened and way way insufficient.

L: I just see this and think, I want this girl to baby-sit my children!
R: I just see this and think, Yeah — I would turn Lezebel for that!

L: Otherworldly.
R: Salt of the earth.

L: No one owns that Eve-esque combo of innocence and guilt quite like Kate.
R: And no one owns that femme fatale vibe quite like Kate, either.

A chronological sampling of Kate Moss's magazine covers from 1992 to now. Prepare to be blown away. [OhNoTheyDidn't]

• Paris Hilton showed up at the Victoria's Secret fashion show earlier this month and demanded to be cast in the show, according to model Miranda Kerr. And then — and here's where it gets really classy — she stole an outfit from the show to wear herself. [Sassybella]
  
• On being asked who designed the dress she wore to a party for actor Ewan MacGregor's new book, Helena Bonham Carter replied, "I can't remember, I can't remember anything." [WWD, 9th item]
  
• Venus Williams is inspired "as an athlete and as a designer" by Madonna. [WSJ]
  
• Model Gemma Ward: "surprisingly impressive" in her acting debut. [Sassybella]

• Adidas is partnering with Diesel to do a denim line, because what the world needs now is... that's right! Another denim line. [Vogue UK]
• Fresh from their H&M collection, Viktor & Rolf are designing a line of luggage for Samsonite. [IHT]
• Pierre Hardy for Gap shoes: Coming stateside soon! [WWD, 4th item]
• Model Natalia Vodianova and a bunch of "celebrities" we've never heard of are designing t-shirts for the Buddhist Punk label to benefit Al Gore's The Climate Project. And I guess it's understandable for Al to be tired of winning awards and ready to just party with models for once, but seriously, I am tired of the whole "designing" T-shirts for charity trend. [Vogue UK]
• Steve and Barry's is really (really!) a helluva lot more than just the place to buy Sarah Jessica Parker's "Bitten" line. Did you know they bought 3.5 million square feet of retails space in U.S. malls last year? We're not even sure what 3.5 million square feet looks like. [Business Week]
• Topshop is going to China! OMG just like this cycle's contestants on America's Next Top Model! We hope to see Heather at the first store opening. [Reuters]

We know that, sadly, ads are deceptive because 1) clothes tend to always look good on a professional model and 2) un, Photoshopping, anyone? But seriously - these girls look sophisticated and chic and we really want that dress that Moss herself is wearing. We could do without the fedora (isn't that over already? And if it isn't, why not?) and we're not really sure what to make of the sheer number with the embroidery (and the prominent nipple display), but the rest looks smart. Even the snarksters at The Telegraph agree:

She was spot-on. Heavy on black - which, as every girl and woman knows is THE most flattering colour - the clothes mixed 1920's flapper, Biba and disco diva influences in a manner that was both sassy and sophisticated. Great mini-dresses - which also worked as tunics over wide trousers and leggings - were embellished with fine black sequins and beads. Long, 'hippie' dresses were bias-cut and patchworked in floral and black lace.

• Anne Hathaway: Possible next face of Lancome, a brand already endorsed by "such luminaries as" Kate Winslet and Clive Owen. Wait, Clive Owen? Why can't they splash him all over our perfume advertisements? [WWD, 1st item]
  
• And in other face-of-campaign news, Jennifer Connelly will be fronting Balenciaga for spring and the rumor mill is already going that Victoria Beckham is to be the face of Marc Jacobs. But Marc has already worked so tirelessly to alienate himself to the fashion community! [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Speaking of Posh, did you think we were done hearing about Victoria Beckham's denim line, dVb? Ha ha ha, not a chance! For spring we have glitter denim headed our way! [WWD, 2nd item]

• And still speaking of Posh, omg! Tonight at midnight, the Victoria's Secret website will be selling a limited number of the new Spice Girls album, which will be available only at the lingerie chain because all the music retailers went into liquidation. [Fashion Week Daily]
• How precious: Sofia Coppola's 11-month old daughter played with all the shoes while the grown-ups looked at the private presentation Azzedine Alaia'c collection yesterday. We suppose a pile of Louboutins isn't all that different from the My Little Ponies of our youth. [WWD, 3rd item]
• The CW network attempts to atone for canceling "Veronica Mars" with a new — scripted — drama featuring Isaac Mizrahi. It's called "The Collection," and will recount his experiences as a designer/famewhore or something. [FabSugar]
• Uh-oh: Kate Moss for TopShop holiday line is available in the UK starting October 25. Which means stateside we can "look forward" to the flapper dresses and goth girl looks shortly thereafter. Will anyone care this time around? [Vogue UK]
• Confirmation for anyone who ever suspected fashion design is a load of crap: Marchesa designer Keren Craig on her design partner (and Harvey Weinstein lady love) Georgina Chapman's design process: "George will call me up and say 'I'm in a taxi and I'm thinking, light boxes, tulle' - and suddenly a dress appears from nowhere!" [Vogue UK]
• We like to eat fish. We are not sure yet if we would want to wear fish. Though we would if it just meant we would avoid agreeing with pain-in-the-ass Alice+Olivia designer Stacy Bendet. [NY Post]

• Holy shit! It's a match made in both gay and straight man Heaven: The Spice Girls will play the Victoria's Secret show in Los Angeles. [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• 15-year old Mick & Jerryspawn Georgia Jagger becomes (shock!) a model. And by shock we mean what exactly took her so long? [Sassybella]
  
• Israeli model/DiCaprio girlfriend Bar Rafeli swears she didn't talk shit about Israel and get married to get out of her military service. [WWD, 2nd item]
  
• Does Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour not have air conditioning in her NYC townhouse? Her guests apparently panted and sweated through the party she threw for this year's CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund nominees. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Harper's Bazaar is 140 this year and wants us to believe that it's more relevant and important than ever. LOL! [WWD, sub req'd]

• We thought on this, and decided: Fashion houses staging art exhibits annoys us. And Hermes setting up shop in Paris' Centre Pompidou? Not an exception! [WWD, 2nd item]
• Someone else getting a fragrance: British milliner Stephen Jones. In collaboration with Comme des Garcons. Really, this has to stop. [Vogue UK]
• The guy who was hired by Jimmy Choo founder Tamara Mellon's ex-husband to spy on her has been jailed. You just know his prison bitch name is going to be "Stiletto" or something. [Vogue UK]
• Kate Moss for TopShop Holiday collection: Peruse here. [FabSugar]

• The inevitable happened and TopShop gave model Agyness Deyn her own clothing line, because she dresses totally '80s and that is so edgy! [Vogue UK]
  
• Designer Yves Saint Laurent is very sick. Pray for him. [NY Post]
  
• No one can pronounce Badgley Mischka correctly, which would give us pause about the future of American civilization if half the country wasn't still saying "nuclear" wrong. [NY Post]
  
• Former Jane editor-in-chief Brandon Holley is spending her unemployment mentoring underprivileged girls and teaching them photography, which, if you'll excuse us, is just "So Brandon!" [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• Oh Hova: House of Dereon does prom-wear. This would be a clothing line affiliated with Beyonce's family. [WWD, sub req'd]

• Our favorite least-favorite fashion blogger Lauren Goldstein Crowe - gasp! - agrees with us. The new Louis Vuitton bags are dumb. And she points out that she only saw 3 people the whole time she was in Paris sporting their freebies: Elle editor-in-chief Roberta Myers, The Guardian's Jess-Carter Morley (who 'dat?), and Vuitton stylist Katie Grand, which we're pretty sure doesn't count. Draw your own conclusions. [Portfolio]
• Levi's profits jumped by 23.6% in the second quarter. They say it's because of low interest rates. OMG, you mean it wasn't that groundbreaking collaboration with Damien Hirst? [WWD, sub req'd]
• So our pals across the pond are doing this crazy gala performance thingy for the Prince's Trust which is matching different musicians with different fashion houses, yielding the following pairings: Lily Allen - Chanel, Alicia Keys - Armani, Joss Stone - Calvin Klein, Timbaland - Dolce & Gabbana, Shirley Bassey - Marchesa, and Iggy Pop - Versace. [Vogue UK]
• Owns Gucci, knocked up Salma Hayek, and now owns a big ol' apartment in a former "women's hotel": Francois Pinault has it all! [NY Mag]
• Preview the David Lynch-shot Gucci fragrance commercial! [Sassybella]
• The interim president of Banana Republic is going to be named as the full-time president of the company. Making him, uh, the Dick Cheney of fashion? [WSJ]

• Holy fucking shit: Bruce Weber shot Michael Jackson for the upcoming issue of L'Uomo Vogue. (The combination works because their taste in boys is totally different) It's the first time Jackson has been formally photographed in 16 years, so he makes up for all the lost time with a 20-page spread. All to celebrate the 25th anniversary of "Thriller." This is going to be some freak shit. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• The upcoming exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute to include a "blog bar." Um. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• In a poll of specially targeted "young adults" regarding their feelings about buying American-made versus foreign-made products, one respondent said, "American Apparel is a good example of a Los Angeles company that doesn't use sweatshop labor." We couldn't find a joke the Onion didn't already use. [WWD, sub req'd]

• The Gucci Group CEO's daughter is 22-years old and is thinking she might want a career in fashion. Quaint! This makes us not like her. So she shows up at a Bottega Veneta show after daddy gets her on the list. Yeah, still don't like her. And what did she wear? Topshop. Wait, maybe we like her! [WWD, 2nd item]
• Someone named Princess Yabshi Pan Rinzinwangmo is making the rounds at the Milan shows decked out in insane outfits. Do we smell a JT Leroy? [WWD, 5th item]
• Nan Kemper's wardrobe to be auctioned off at Christie's for cancer research. [Vogue UK]
• Seriously are we expected to rationalize why we wear black???? [FabSugar]
• Mischa Barton, whom we inexplicably hate, is the face of the fall Iceberg campaign. Look at images (and hate on Mischa) here. [Sassybella]
• Liz Claiborne sells off 4 brands. [Crain's]

The Good:
Doru Lolwu makes us have 50's nostalgia; Paul Smith Woman finds a moment of Calvin Klein in a sea of nouveau prep; and and Marios Schwab keeps things tailored.
Luella Bartley makes sex look classy; Peter Jensen channels Jean Seberg; and TopShop keep everything crisp and clean.


The Bad:
Danielle Scutt went for the leopard / bondage look (Liza Minnelli on a bad day?); Louise Goldin took knitwear somewhere knitwear just shouldn't have gone; and Christopher Kane got lost in ruffles.


The Ugly:
Gareth Pugh. Wow: This just screams ready-to-wear to us, doesn't it?

[All images except TopShop via ELLE.com; TopShop images via Style.com.]

• Would you like a limited-edition carrying case with your ninety-pound September Vogue? Yeah, sorry, you only get one of you're an "FOV" — which we think is sort of like being an "SOB." [The Fashion Informer]
  
• Did you know Sting named his daughter "Fuschia"? She just mutilated her Dior gown. "Galliano would kill me," she says. Oh, we'd so happily do it for him. [WWD, 3rd item]
  
• Sean "Diddy" Combs will be airing the launch of his newest fragrance live on YouTube on Wednesday night. And yes: there will be liveblogging. [WWD, 4th item]
  
• Cavalli For H&M pix here. [Sassybella]

• Seventeen is going to do a whole special makeover section with women who have survived breast cancer. Which we think is really cool, but like: their readers are mostly thirteen, right? Um. [WWD, final item]
• More breast cancer-beautifying joint-venturing; buy a bra, cure the disease. [FabSugar]
• Did TopShop head honcho Philiip Greene really manage to make La Wintour laugh? During a fashion show? Eyewitness report, please. [Vogue UK]
• Please do us a favor: Will you read this interview with Elle Macpherson and tell us if it also seems to you that English is not her native tongue? [GlamChic]
• The Gap of France, Zadig & Voltaire, is suing Gap France, saying that they have stolen their designs. Such as: the T-shirt. Good lord. [WWD, sub req'd]

• It is with just a twinge of resignation that we give to you....[sigh] images from Lauren Conrad's clothing collection. [FabSugar]
  
• Designer Philip Lim says that he frequently finds inspiration from "[p]rivate moments in the restroom. It's all about that intimacy that allows you to reflect." Uh, we thought the restroom was for tapping your feet three times and cruising for anonymous sodomy but, okay. [The Fashion Informer]
  
• Portfolio fashion blogger/Jezebel obsession Lauren Goldstein Crowe finally got the budget to have a real photo taken of her for Portfolio.com. [Portfolio.com]

• Wal-Mart and Ocean Pacific inked a really confusing deal we think means Ocean Pacific has no soul. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Tommy Hilfiger's new book, coming out in November, chronicles images that represent "Iconic America." Because he's an icon of pitiful American Ralph Lauren envy. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Oh this one is going to be good: Burberry is suing megabrand holder Iconix, saying that their London Fog has usurped Burberry's signature check. Love. It. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Fuck Kate Moss: We want Preen for Topshop. Baaaaad. [Vogue UK]
• Lulu Guinness is making limited edition rubber duckies to benefit cancer research. Natch! [Vogue UK]
• Lord & Taylor's parent company, NRDC Equity Partners, might be doing the money tango with designer Peter Som. If this happens, this would make for a strange and rare situation wherein a retailer would be investing directly in a label. And what makes this even more intriguing? Lord & Taylor doesn't even carry Peter Som. Hmmm. [WSJ]
• Tweezers, with lights in them! Whoah. [People]