• "No one wants to see curvy women," says Karl Lagerfeld, who has struggled with his weight. "You've got fat mothers with their bags of chips sitting in front of the television and saying that thin models are ugly." [News.com.au]

• Meanwhile, Christian Louboutin gave Barbie a much-needed slimming treatment. The three dolls the designer is releasing will have an all-new morphology, because the shoe man "found her ankles were too fat," reports a spokesperson. [WWD]
• Heidi Klum says becoming a Barbie was "a dream come true." There's a horror movie in that somewhere. [People]
• Tom Cruise says sweet, underminey things to Katie Holmes about her clothes, like, "I think that dress might be wearing you." The only question remaining is: Is he responsible for Suri's clothing choices? [NYDN]
• Trovata and Forever 21 have settled their copyright infringement lawsuit, just days before a second trial was to begin. The terms are confidential. Despite being sued more than 50 times, Forever 21 had never faced a jury prior to the Trovata case; Trovata had sought a multi-million-dollar judgment against Forever 21 for knocking off its shirts, but the first trial in May ended in a mistrial when six jurors sided with Trovata and one sided with Forever 21. [WWD]
• The Daily Mail did a hilarious write-around on Dov Charney, The Sleazy Sexual Predator Behind High Street Store American Apparel. Wait till they realize that the "model" in the lace bodysuit ad they hold up for particular condemnation — "it is the kind of photograph which would send shivers down the spine of anyone with a teenage daughter" — is in fact an actual porn star named Faye Valentine. We can't wait for the blistering, "exclusive" follow-up. [Daily Mail]
• Marc Jacobs: "I think the idea of people being exposed, whether it's stylists who have their reality shows or whatever, is just the way of the world. It's every chef, every stylist, every hairdresser, everybody who's doing plastic surgery. We're in a period where people are entertained by what they consider to be the real lives of people in different professions, etc. And fashion has also reached this kind of proportion like football or sport, you know — a spectator sport." [WWD]
• W magazine is reducing its frequency from 12 to 6 issues per year. This is fueling rumors that Condé Nast might be interested in buying American Elle. [FWD]
• Ugg Australia is releasing a "limited-edition" kids collection as a tie-in for the Where The Wild Things Are movie. Half the proceeds will go to St. Jude's Research Hospital. Which means half will go to making more ugly Uggs. [WWD]
• Levi's is snapping up young(ish), hip(ish) artists of both coasts in the scramble for sales: after having Ryan McGinley shoot its new ad campaign, the company has announced that printmaker extraordinaire Shepard Fairey will have a capsule collection in stores by the end of this month under the label Obey x Levi's. [WWD]
• Turns out that with the move to selling exclusively at J.C. Penney, Liz Claiborne isn't closing the Claiborne by John Bartlett line — it's just firing two-time CFDA-winner John Bartlett less than halfway into his three-year contract. [WWD]
• Meanwhile, the Upper East Side has hatched another fashion label. Two people who really need the money — socialites Gigi Mortimer and Courtney Moss — want us to buy $199 rabbit fur neck warmers and $315 fox fur gloves. Oh, look: Kelly Killoren Bensimon is all over their website! [WWD]
• Women's Wear Daily puts on its thinking cap to investigate this question for the ages: Has fashion lost its mystique? Is it the reality television? Is it the Internet? Is it Marc Jacobs inviting reporters to work out with him? The story quotes an Internet commenter, and Valentino. [WWD]
• Diane von Furstenberg is mounting an exhibition of her life's work in Moscow later this month. It will include garments she designed, artifacts, and portraits of her by artists including Warhol and Horst. [WWD]

Because it is just so not fair that Deckers Outdoor Corp., the California-based company that manufactures the vile sheepskin boots (as well the Teva sandal) should be sitting pretty at a time when genuine fashion talents are scrambling to stay afloat. Overstocked major retailers are discounting so deeply that smaller, less nimble stores may not survive, financial backers are beating a retreat, and barely a day goes by without the news of store closures, label discontinuation, or outright bankruptcy. Obedient Sons and Daughters: gone. Peter Som: working hard to even put together a show next month. Macy's: shuttering 10 stores that together employed over 960 people. Badgley Mischka: permanently lowering prices. In the midst of all these threats to talents both established and emerging, would it be too much to ask for a little clearing of the dead wood?

And for that, might I nominate Uggs? Uggs should be prime candidates for demolition in this scorched-earth retail environment. Uggs flatter nobody. Though made of sheepskin, they are not waterproof or suitable for cold climates. (They come from Australia, and their international popularity epicenter is southern California, after all.) They are overpriced, costing well above $100 for what is a glorified pair of slippers. They were a trend eight years ago, and should, according to the laws of trend fashion, have matured into something the hip set would be embarrassed to be seen in by now. They make feet look like pastel sausages. They get so steamy inside that athlete's foot can be a concern. And they take only the merest provocation to roll a wearer's ankle.

And yet they persist. Last November, Ugg opened its first standalone store in Europe, inside a West London luxury mall. The Chicago Tribune reported on December 22 that an area Nordstrom was entirely quiet, except for the shoe department, where Uggs are sold. Racked snapped a picture of shoppers lined up outside the SoHo store on December 24, waiting for it to open. Although initially investors nervous about the retail sector let share prices for Deckers Outdoor Corp. fall to less than $50 in late November, the company's performance has been stellar by every other measure. Earnings and revenues are up from 2007. People are still buying the damn things.

This must stop. If ever there were a brand marked for total annihilation in these straitened times, it would be the uncomfortable, unsupporting, ugly footwear choice of megatanned B-list celebrities shuffling towards gas station convenience stores at 11:30 in the morning. The whole point of this recession was to throw a little cold water on overheated consumer culture so that people would no longer line up in the December pre-dawn freeze to pay too much charging so-called status items on their Visas; instead of blindly following trends, we were going to think about fit and flattering cuts and durability and wearability and whether buying non-waterproof boots with flimsy soles in shades of show-dirt beige is actually a sensible thing to do. Instead, we're abandoning CDFA award nominees and driving small retailers out of business. And I was so hoping for a silver lining.

Related: These Uggs Aren't Made For Walking [Independent]
Why Uggs Won't Be Feeling The Pinch [Telegraph]
A Shopper's Cold Toes Lead Her To A Warm Pair Of Uggs [Chicago Tribune]
Ugg in Soho Undaunted By the Recession, Christmas [Racked]
Ugg, Teva Maker Bucking The Recession? [BloggingStocks]