• Zoe Kravitz, negotiating the transition from Famous Daughter to Celebrity, has committed the necessary act of being photographed by Bruce Weber for a perfume campaign. Vera Wang was the lucky partner in fame-chasing. Shall we expect a reality show? [People]

• Judge Richard Goldstone, who authored a U.N. report about Israel's war crimes, now has the honor of his name, embroidered in Arabic by local women, being used to sell scarves in Gaza. Shop owners say the scarves are selling out. [UPN]
• That rumor we mentioned yesterday about Georgia Jagger proved true. She will be the face of Versace's spring campaign. [WWD]
• Barbara Orbison, widow of Roy, has launched a perfume named for her late husband's best-known song: Pretty Woman. [WWD]
• Lily Cole: "I'm very good at making salads, which probably sounds rather meek and model-like, but they're fancy salads. I add things like figs, blue cheese and pine nuts. I never follow a recipe –- I even make cakes by guessing what is the right amount of flour and the right number of eggs." Jesus, Cole, do you fly planes and mentally calculate pi to the 100th decimal and cure cancer, too? [Telegraph]
• The Kimberley Process was set up in 2002 as an international regulatory body for the diamond trade. Incorporating governments, businesses, and NGOs and civilian groups, the goal was to end the trade in blood diamonds, which has destabilized the continent for decades. But at the group's annual meeting in Namibia, it failed to expel Zimbabwe from membership, despite a Kimberley fact-finding mission in June that discovered that Zimbabwean diamond miners are subject to constant government harassment, and that over 100 had been killed in the past year. The income from the mines, an estimated $1 million a month, is used by Robert Mugabe to prop up his regime. But Zimbabwe can't be expelled because the Kimberley group's own rules require unanimity before such a step is taken. (Looks like Kimberley might be the League of Nations of the gem trade.) The Women's Wear Daily journalist reports a mine owner said "it was up to consumers whether they should buy diamonds, when doing so could fund tribal warfare, genocide and terrorism." When the C.E.O. of a mining company tells you not to buy diamonds... [WWD]
• Mulberry is doing a line of laptop bags with Apple. [Elle UK]
• Justin Timberlake's William Rast is expanding. The company opened three stores in California this month, and plans another 40-50 by 2012. [WWD]
• Zac Efron says he wore his favorite jeans every day for eight weeks to get them to look perfectly lived-in. [WWD]
• Nicole Ritchie will be doing a House of Harlow 1960 collaboration with Bebe. The range will cost $38-$98, and one bracelet, for $25, will have "a portion" of its sales donated to the Ritchie-Madden Children's Foundation. The collection will hit stores on November 12. [People]
• Vogue editor Lauren Santo-Domingo says that the office normally celebrates birthday parties with pizza and cupcakes — but that the question of whether or not to surprise Anna Wintour with a cake with 60 candles was obviated by her being in Washington, D.C., on the big day. "She's in Washington right now being anointed. She's being knighted by President Obama — I think that's a pretty good 60th-birthday present," said Santo-Domingo. Actually, she was appointed to a White House committee. [The Cut]
• Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen had a beauty line at Wal-Mart called mary-kateandashley. Who knew? Now you can't buy it anymore, because it's dead. [WWD]
• Here's Rosie O'Donnell's account, given on her radio show, of a conversation she had with designer Eileen Fisher: "I see [her] and say, ‘I love you, and you have helped me. You can't imagine how much stress I had in my life because of clothing but once I found you three years ago everything changed. On behalf of every plus-sized woman in the world, I just want to thank you. And I want to ask you why do you only have the [plus] sizes down in SoHo?'" Fisher responded, "That's not really our demographic…you know, we sell a lot of size two." O'Donnell quipped, "Oh yeah, the plus-size two?" Fisher said, "No, the regular size two." O'Donnell leaped to the obvious conclusion. "So, you're trying to design for everyone and you don't really want the association with the plus-size people?" Fisher's response? "Well, it's just not the image that we're going for." Ouch. "It was like someone stabbed me in the heart. I was like, ‘OK, Eileen, we're broken up. I am wearing Donna Karan from now on.'" Sometimes meeting your idols is a terrible idea. But if Eileen Fisher is serious about passing over her established audience of professional women of means and age (a demographic which is severely under-served by the rest of the fashion industry) in favor of young things who want to wear leggings, then Fisher will probably get her comeuppance in the marketplace, won't she? [WWD]
• Madonna donated a pair of Christian Dior shoes to a charity working to end discrimination against Roma people, and the shoes fetched $16,600 at auction. [SB]
• Helena Rubinstein is coming back to the U.S. market with a new perfume, and Demi Moore as its face. [WWD]
  [WWD]
• If you live in New York, and somehow lack for opportunities to see men in strange outfits, you could go to Miss J's book signing next Tuesday at the TriBeCa Barnes & Noble. He wrote a tome entitled, Follow The Model: Miss J's Guide To Unleashing Presence, Poise, and Power. [Barnes & Noble]
• If you wanna chain-smoke your downtown fashion people-spotting, Carine Roitfeld is rumored to be coming to New York next Monday for an art opening. (Only semi-related: we saw Olivier Zahm at the Tracey Emin opening last night. Outside the dusky confines of the [late, lamented] Beatrice Inn, we had the revelation that the Purple Fashion editor looks exactly like Rick Moranis. Or Booger from Revenge of the Nerds; we couldn't decide. Snap poll?) [P6]
• Michael Kors says he enjoyed his Utah vacation. He went horse-riding, which he liked, and for a ride in a hot-air balloon, which left him "freaked out." "Face your fears!" says the designer. [WWD]
• Sanjana Jon, sister of rapist designer Anand, showed her new fashion collection in Delhi. It's "inspired" by her brother. [NYPost]
• Bankrupt German fashion house Escada has been bought by a daughter-in-law of Lakshmi Mittal, the Indian steel baron. [NYTimes]

• Pictures of the new Kate Moss Topshop collection are out — and they prominently display the supermodel's breasts, which she just recently up and grew, like she's some kind of experimental woman built by science, or something. [Telegraph]

• Seeing the Alexander McQueen runway shoes side-by-side with a normal 4.5" pair of stilettos, it becomes apparent just how otherworldly those 12"-tall creatures really are. We still want to a cross-sectional view, because we're having a hard time imagining where the feet go once they're inside. [UK Vogue]
• Marc Ecko sold a controlling 51% share of his brand to Iconix. Just last month, he told a reporter on the record that he would never give up control of the trademark he'd spent 16 years building. [NYPost]
• Roberto Cavalli was dining with a tableful of models at Serafina, an Italian joint, when he was overcome by the desire for Mexican food. So he ordered in from the place next door. Vittorio Assaf, who happens to own both the restaurants, says, "Roberto loves his guacamole. Sometimes he comes in alone in the afternoon to sit in the back and order it. At Serafina we let him have the Mexican food delivered, but we don't tell our chef — he would walk out." Letting him know by reading it all over the Internet is surely the kinder move. You should recommend it to HR! [The Cut]
• Meanwhile, fellow Italian designer Giorgio Armani, who earlier this year battled hepatitis, is mulling succession. "I'm already organizing staff who will continue my work," he said in Moscow. "Of course I am not eternal, there comes a time when you must hand it over." Perhaps he'll take that Senator For Life gig in his twilight years? [Reuters]
• Finally, an explanation of the Olsenboye brand-name: it is, apparently, the Olsens' ancestral Norwegian surname. [NYPost]
• Cindy Crawford says it: "I would not have become a supermodel in 2009. I look too healthy." She told a German magazine called Bunte, bodies "with big breasts, normal thighs and toned upper arms" do not currently interest the industry. [Telegraph]
• Dutch Elle, in truly groundbreaking territory, ran a cover featuring a naked model. Can you imagine! Her name is Lonneke Engel. [IMG]
• Yves Saint Laurent has been named, by Forbes (who else?) the top-earning dead celebrity. [Reuters]
• Tamara Mellon's Jimmy Choo is launching a limited edition accessories collection. Part of the proceeds will go to the Elton John AIDS foundation to fund post-exposure prophylaxis drugs for rape victims in Cape Town, since taking the drugs within 72 hours can reduce the rates of HIV transmission by up to 79%. Mellon has worked with Sir Elton John before, and traveled to see the medical center in Cape Town, where she met victims of rape and incest. "One woman at the Simelela centre was sexually abused by a male relation from the age of 13," says Mellon. "She told me how the centre had given her the strength to get her life back. These women are dealing with AIDS, they are dealing with rape, they are dealing with incest. But it really hits you when you see where the money [we've raised] has gone. It's real, it's in front of you and it's a success. It's given me great hope." [Telegraph]
• Ivanka Trump's wedding dress, by Vera Wang, consisted of three different layers of lace — including Lyon and Chantilly — and took about a month to make. It was partly based on Grace Kelly's marital attire. It also was not strapless — something Cathy Horyn says, "made a fresh statement." [On The Runway]
• Thierry Mugler is looking to re-launch itself as a brand, with designer Rosemary Rodriguez at the helm. Although the collection is being shown at Moscow's fashion week this season, rumors are flying that the next step will be Paris. [FWD]
• Sarah Mower is looking back on the spring 2010 collections and seeing women designers on top of their game, from Rodarte to Phoebe Philo to Isabel Marant. [Telegraph]
• Joe Zee wants your boyfriend. For a makeover! He says, on Facebook, "Do you have a style-challenged boyfriend, husband or brother? Is that guy in your life screaming "untapped potential"? Is his hair more Don King than Don Juan? Then I want to make him over for my column. Let me give him my A to Zee treatment. Email me a picture of yourself with this fashion-clueless guy to AtoZee@hfmus.com by Nov 2nd." [Facebook]
• Trouble already for Naomi Campbell's new perfume deal — a fragrance partner with whom the supermodel inked a deal in 1998 is suing her for breach of contract. [NYPost]
• H&M, which already has 169 stores in the United States, would like to expand — especially in the South, where it is under-represented. [WWD]
• Jones Apparel Group is reporting an 11% year-on-year increase in third-quarterly profit, to just over $30 million. Jones owns Nine West and Jones New York. [TS]
• Versace, which recently shut its Japanese stores after nearly 20 years in the market, is now cutting 350 jobs. [WSJ]

• The Kardashian sisters are going to put on their thinking kaps and hopefully kome up with a kollection for Bebe. [Kim Kardashian]
• Which makes about as much sense as Jermaine Jackson's rumored clothing line. [Times Of India]

• Megan Fox has been gunning for her just-announced Armani campaign, for which she was paid a rumored $2 million, for years — or approximately as long as she's been famous. She has worn Armani to events and finally met the designer at his couture show this summer. [AP]
• After missing the opportunity to release a Sarah Jessica Parker scent to coincide with the Sex And The City movie, Coty, the clever clogs company behing the actress' perfume deal, vowed to be prepared next time around. And lo, SJP NYC, a cute little pink thing in a beveled bottle, will launch next May, just in time for Sex And The City 2: Electric Boogaloo. [WWD]
• Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas has signed a perfume deal with Avon, the preferred perfume partner of Reese Witherspoon, Courteney Cox, and Patrick Dempsey. [WWD]
• See how Selena Gomez's new clothing line, Dream Out Loud, stacks up against the luminaries of tween clothing collections past: the Olsen twins' Wal-Mart line, Miley Cyrus and Max Azria's concatenation of sequins, and the criminally God-awful Stuff By Hilary Duff. [Refinery29]
• Yeohlee Teng has been honored by the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. She says, "Fashion is so often about the Eighties, about the Seventies, but not about original thinking." Teng's preferred design philosophy? "Construct a cube, then put it on the body and watch the body activate it." Check out her current show at the Crow Collection of Asian Art in downtown Dallas. [DN]
• In some kind of grand, music-fashion-industry circle jerk, Michael Stipe will give an award to Renzo Rosso, Jon Bon Jovi will present something to Kenneth Cole, Oscar de la Renta will receive a prize from Grace Coddington, and Dita Von Teese will bestow something on Stephen Jones. In fashion, everyone's a winner. [WWD]
• Coach creative director Reed Krakoff is not only getting an eponymous fashion line, but a New York Fashion Week debut. Expect to see Krakoff on the schedule for February. [FWD]
• When I, like the Italian luxury — luxury as in $30,000 suits — label Brioni, turn 65, remind me to celebrate by releasing a limited-edition perfume and selling each of my 7,000 bottles for $399 (100 ml) r $830 (300 ml). Then, inexplicably, I'll invite Bryan Ferry to the launch. [WWD]
• Nitrolicious was given a free pair of Steve Madden's "Seryna" booties — the alleged knock-off Alexander McQueen is suing Steve Madden over — and posted an understandably glowing review, with photos. But with praise like, "These are really a good copy of the original boots but cost a fraction of the price," not to mention the fact that posts like these serve as timestamped evidence that Steve Madden is continuing to promote the product, could the company only end up developing Alexander McQueen's case? [Nitrolicious]
• We know Vera Wang won't be on the next season of Dancing With The Stars, but is it because the producers wouldn't let her design her own costumes? [FWD]
• Wang's president of creative direction, Constance Darrow, announced her resignation from the company yesterday. The designer is understood to have offered Darrow a promotion to stay. The senior vice president of worldwide marketing and communications, Elizabeth Musmanno, left Vera Wang last week. These developments could be related either to Wang's rumored reality television show, or to the arrival of new company president Mario Grauso, who starts work today. [WWD]
• Thus says model Liya Kebede: "Mothers are the world's best stimulus package because they invest in their families and their communities. When a mother dies, her children are up to 10 times more likely to die within two years. They are less likely to be immunized, more likely to be malnourished, more likely to contract HIV, and more likely to be exploited. When a mother lives, her children are fed, attend school, and know that someone exists who will do absolutely anything to make their lives better." [TDB]
• The American launch of A*Muse, Richie Rich and Pamela Anderson's eco-friendly swimwear line, sounds much like the international launch, at New Zealand Fashion Week in September. Even down to Richie's rollerskates. (I'm beginning to feel bad for the models who have to wear the samples, no doubt well-rubbed with body makeup and other people's sweat, by now.) [People]
• Ruffian's new collection for Anthropologie, Mise en Scene, is out. It's less whimsical than the retailer's typical fare, though the connection to vintage fashion is still obvious. [WWD]

• Lindsay Lohan, finally addressing her disastrously received first Ungaro collection, says, "I am learning." But she will be back in Paris for the next show! "It's already in January. I thought it was in March." January? January means couture.

Could Mounir Moufarrige seriously be reviving Ungaro's couture division — which was shuttered in 2004 — with Lohan at the helm? God help us. Lohan also denies any responsibility for, or foreknowledge of, those ridiculous sparkly heart pasties that the Ungaro models purposefully flashed during the show that just walked in Paris. [People]

• Selena Gomez is launching a fashion line, called Selena Gomez Dream Out Loud. Something called Cynosure Holdings is responsible for the collection, which seems appropriate, somehow. It's not coming out till fall 2010, so if the economy gets worse, there's still time for it the whole idea to slink quietly away, like Pastelle. [WWD]
• Here are some first looks from Rodarte's Target collection, due out on December 20. It includes a lot of leopard print, lace, sequins, and tulle. [Seventeen and A Tiny Machine]
• Carmen Marc Valvo focuses on the positive: "I've survived in this business for over 20 years. And I've survived colon cancer; so a little dip in the world economy isn't enough to keep me down." [Houston Chronicle]
• Badgley Mischka are doing a lower-priced line, called Mark & James. [WWD]
• Ordinary New Yorkers speak out on Filippa Hamilton, the Ralph Lauren face who was fired for being too fat, at size 4: "It makes me angry," says Alexandria Blackwell, 15, of the Bronx. "They always want skinnier." Dr. Robyn Silverman, a child and teen development expert, says, "If a stunning size 4 model is too overweight to look good in their clothes, then they need to change their clothes, not the model." Revolutionary! [NYDN]
• Delia Ephron, on clothes and life: "Clothes have special power. I'll always remember the raspberry colored v-necked silk sweater I was wearing on my husband and my first date. If I hadn't been wearing that sweater that night, would any of it have happened?" Nora says dressing well becomes more important as women age. "Of course it does, because looking good is so easy when you're young. For openers, you're young, and that looks good." [Glamour]
• Linda Evangelista, on doing a shoot for W with chickens: "I grew up in Canada, in an area where everyone had chickens. I mean, we weren't supposed to have chickens — it was a residential area, but we did. Also, when I went back to Italy with my parents where they grew up, there were chickens. So you can say I know a lot about chickens." [W]
• Marie Claire editor Joanna Coles' limited vocabulary drew the attention of Fashion Week Daily, which provided a handy summary of Coles' questions for Hilary Swank, with every repetition of the word "assume" highlighted. [FWD]
• Crocs is opening a flagship store in Boulder, Colorado. [UPI]
• Someone, somewhere, "officially" named Ines de la Fressange the most chic woman in Paris. Carla Bruni, eat your heart out! [Telegraph]
• "I'm excited to go to Olympics in Vancouver," says former figure skater Vera Wang. "I'm definitely going. I always try to go anytime the Olympics come close to our continent!" She still thinks about her former sport. "Skating became a different sport with the magnification of television. And certainly a few exciting things happened in between, like knee clubbing and scandals to raise the sport's profile. But in the end, it's one of the most beautiful spectator sports that you can watch. It's not just about being insanely athletic; it's all being expressive and artistic. There's no other sport that combines spinning, jumping, choreography, costumes, music all in one- it's a full on press." [FWD]
• When she moved on to being an editor at Vogue, Wang had a few hairy moments. "There was a time where I put all of the furs on a Vogue shoot with Deborah Turbeville into the water, and the entire fur industry wanted to sue me," the designer recalled. "Another time we ruined a Frank Stella painting…we were shooting at night and I remember watching a model jumping up and down in front of a work of art that fell apart. It's hard to put a number on it, but that work of art was worth a quarter of a million 35 years ago. That's probably $3 billion now." [WWD]
• Vera Wang popped in to Karolina Kurkova's baby shower, which was also attended by Adriana Lima, Michelle Monaghan, Rachel Roy. Lima, who is also pregnant, compared bellies with Kurkova. [P6]
• Heidi Klum says she's not going to try and lose the baby weight just to be in this year's Victoria's Secret show. [People]
• Jason Wu is greeting his adoring public in Taiwan this week. [WWD]
• Zac Posen is dipping his toe in the churning waters of advertising. Coco Rocha stars and Ellen von Unwerth shot. [Fashionista]
• "Being fierce is a state of being, not something you can become. It's a high point of being a certain persona. Ferosh is a downgraded version of being fierce." — Leading ferocity expert Christian Siriano. [Star-Trib]
• The Gap is bringing back television advertising, after two years without. The chain will also open a flagship in China next year, but overall the company plans to reduce its retail space by 10% over the next five years. Its September same-store sales were down a relatively modest 1%. [TS]
• H&M's same-store sales slid 8% in September. [WSJ]

This ethereal Undine in her jeweled bib gives a good sense of the spirit of the collection.


This ethereal dogwood print was all over the collection, a soft nod to the aggressive florals trend.


The fairy rebel!


This Little Black Riding Hood looks determined to make it to Grandma's. Grandma wears vintage Schiaparelli.


This model seems to be in a perpetual state of stupefaction, but I'd be shocked too if I found myself in a bejeweled Fred Flintstone costume.


Odille lovely, for the evil twin princess with impeccable chic.


Who would think "romper and bib" could look so completely adult and so totally elegant?


Even the oversized menswear trend goes gauzy and ethereal!


Steely determination and feathers: the swan princess's business attire.

[Images via Getty]

• "Designer" Anand Jon has been sentenced to 59 years in prison for multiple rapes. [Times of India]
• Seems Naomi Campbell would, in fact, rather wear fur than go naked: the one-time PETA campaigner models furs for Dennis Basso. [Daily Mail]

• The judge who sentenced Anand Jon declares that the designer, who apparently lured dozens of young girls with promises of photo shoots and exposure, "shows no remorse." Said one accuser: "I was 14. You took my adolescence, my trust, my dream and completely manipulated them for your sexual desires...It sickens me that a grown man can do such a thing to a girl, a girl who was naive and had the belief that all people were good. And you took that to your advantage." [<MSNBC]
• Al Roker is starting a clothing line. Don't worry: it's rain gear! [WWD]
• The long-awaited Jimmy Choo-H&M collab images have leaked, and...well. Barbarella will be pleased. [Racked]
• The WTO has weighed in on the US-Brazil cotton dispute, saying Brazil can "target U.S. goods and services for punitive sanctions approaching $295 million." [WWD]
• In the new "Celebration" video, Madonna sports Balmain. This is all. [Telegraph]
• Rodarte, the movie? The Sisters Mulleavy have signed with William Morris Endeavor, to "advise the label on opportunities in publishing and film and identify potential strategic partnerships and sponsorships." We're seeing a lot of intricate deconstruction. [WWD]
• And...blind item! "Courtney Love was so enamored with which design team that she wrote them an "inspiration check" for $25,000 within a few minutes of meeting them?" [Fashionista]
• Speaking of acting (?) here's Daisy Lowe: "
  I just did a cool film for the band Noah and the Whale. It's really f—-ing great, excuse my language. It's for their new album, and I play the main love interest who breaks the guy's heart. It was my first taste of acting, and I really did enjoy it. I don't know if I'll ever just act though; honestly, I think I'll always do a lot of things because I'd get bored otherwise." [W]
• Coco Rocha's contribution to Fashion's Night Out: jigging. [Sassybella]
• Levi's pays tribute to Ted Kennedy, with an ad bearing a quote from the senator and the words "Let us continue his legacy of faith in the people and faith in the work that has yet to be done." [AdRants]
• Speaking of good works: Venus Williams will be vedning a "green" tee at the US Open designed to combine her passions of "tennis, fashion and the environment." Some profits go to Unisphere Inc., which maintains the area surrounding Arthur Ashe. [WWD]
• PayLess is expanding to Russia. Unclear if this is a victory for the West, or if, somewhere, Lenin is laughing. [WSJ]
• Will the new L.L.Bean Signature line be the revolution the staid retailer hopes? Although designer Alex Carleton has an impressive resume, the company's description of the new line - "You can dress it up and you can dress it down. It will be for men and women: apparel, footwear, some accessories, a couple of outerwear pieces" - is so incredibly vague that it's impossible to know much. [NPR]
• After trying that non-traditional venues thing everyone did at the last Fashion Week, Vera Wang decided she wanted back into the tents. But they were all full! Oh noes! [WWD]
• And speaking of NYFW, Narciso Rodriguez is getting this year's "Mercedes-Benz Presents" honor. [WWD]
• And noted journalist Peaches Geldof will be covering things for GMTV, so. [The Sun]
• Also Whitney Port - who we thought was an "intern" - will be launching her collection, "Whitney Eve," at the tents. Maybe that's why Vera couldn't get in? [New York]
• If you spend upwards of $150 on accessories at SoCal Bloomies, you can - maybe - get into this private screening of The September Issue, where one assumes you'll be thoughtfully prevented from buying popcorn like the masses. [BrandFreak]
• Liz Smith pronounces the documentary "a work of modern art." Salt, anyone? [Variety]
• The movie had the 5th best opening of any documentary, ever. [IndieWire]
• Justin Timberlake on his fashion icons: "Early Elvis — not the Elvis of onesies, but with the pomaded hair and big collar, the rockabilly stuff. Also, Sinatra. Johnny Cash. My stepfather was one of my style icons growing up. He was a banker, and I used to love to watch the routine he would go through. He would lay out his suit and the power tie he wanted to wear the night before. I used to watch him tie his own ties in the morning before going to school. When you go through the ritual of buttoning a collar, tying a tie, spraying on a scent, and picking out the right socks — you walk out a little more confident." Talk about bringing sexy back. [Out.com]
• Wednesday sees the kick-off of Lara Stone's September curation of new online avant-boutique Not Just a Label. Looks like it'll be a nice virtual (window) shop! [Fashionista]
• Whoa. Barneys, which has been losing dosh of late, is trying to break with the Dubai-based company that bought it in 2007, via bankruptcy Filing or debt restructure. Brace yourselves. [NYT]
• More on Daniel Vosovic's capsule collection. Trust: even if you think Korto was robbed, this is good stuff. [Fabsugar]
• LVMH continues its crackdown on counterfeiters, winning $32.4 million from a web vendor. [FT]
• The Sartorialist, Scott Schuman, has made waves by posting the photo of a homeless man. Says the blogger, "I don't usually shoot homeless people. I don't find it romantic or appealing like a lot of street photographers, and if you asked homeless people they are probably not to happy about their situation either."But! "In my quick shot I had noticed his pale blue boots, what I hadn't noticed at first were the matching blue socks, blue trimmed gloves, and blue framed glasses. This shot isn't about fashion-but about someone who, while down on his luck, hasn't lost his need to communicate and express himself through style." What say you? [BlackBook]

I must say, I'm wondering at the significance of Anna Wintour's vaguely ethnic prints - although my instinct is to go with "none."


Sienna Miller and Anna Wintour are clinging together in half these shots - as two women victimized irrationally by the dislike of other women? Perhaps. The truth is, Sienna may be a victim of hype, but man, can the dame work an outfit. And I like to imagine this frock's a tribute to the best of John Hughes.


Look, we all get that Thom Browne's doing carefree subversive preppy here, but that doesn't mean it can't also look awful, absurd, vaguely disturbing.


Do you know what I love best about Georgina Chapman's dress? It's like "Franciscan Monk goes to Studio 54," and even one of these elements would have been a recipe for awesome.


It's so unfair. If most of us wore this, we'd be dismissed as "nerd whose Little House stage has lasted a weirdly long time." Whereas, Alexa Chung is protected by the auspices of high fashion!


I'm very eager to hear people's take on Renee Zellweger's choice, since she, flaming June orange and draped open panelling are all polarizing things. Note, please, that Renee has bravely bucked the gratuitously aggressive shoe trend, two days in a row, by sporting near-nudes.


I love how Cassie has become this Prince-inflected fashion star. Does this send me? No. Would I have done something a little more interesting than the usual jumpsuit-and-drag-heels? Probably. But she still manages to be essentially fab at all times.


Carolina Herrera is an ongoing argument for the efficacy of the uniform. I remember an essay she did in Vogue a few years ago extolling the virtues of the white blouse, which she claimed had "literally saved (her) life." The life-saving in question involved losing her luggage before a Chicago gala and finding a nice blouse at Banana Republic.


Anne V's shirt reads "Fashion's Night Out, September 10, 2009." So, you know, brace yourselves for that.


This Tyrolean smoking jacket situation was probably the inevitable evolution of Zac Posen's recent devotion to "shrunken dandy." He's trying to do for shrugging what Beau Brummel did for "moving your neck."


Okay, this is a lot going on. If idle hands are indeed the devil's playground, then Hilary Rhoda's incredibly busy outfit is in absolutely no danger of falling prey to the temptations of Old Nick.


See, the difference between Jessica White and the rest of the world is that when she chooses to break up her length with a lot of unflattering, harsh lines, she's still tall and willowy. The rest of us would be cut down to approximately microscopic size.


See, when, like Cynthia Rowley, her whole thing has always kinda been "girly downtown lunatic," one can only revel in her consistency.


Man, the amount of jewel-toned satin here is starting to give me that claustrophobic David's Bridal feeling - I'll save you the bad modern fiction image of the lines of dead gowns in their shrouds or whatever. And if you think I'm avoiding discussing Tory Burch's dress because I'm having a really hard time overcoming my instinctive, infantile aversion to its color (and the fact that she appears to have scalped Beaker to make her bag) well, you're right.


Vera Wang has officially discovered the most uncomfortable red-carpet pose in the world's history. It's called "Cat-on-a-Hot-Tin-Headlight."


Wow, the fun never stops at the Trump house!


Here's one thing I've wondered: has kilt-wearing taken off since Marc Jacobs started doing it exclusively? And I don't mean his entourage who obviously probably feel pressured to toss all their pants.

[Images via Getty]

• They said it would never happen, but a judge ordered that Google reveal Liskula Cohen's anonymous online tormentor. The model sued Google to find out who was behind a hate-blog about her, in order to file a defamation suit. [NYPost]

• Marc Jacobs does not "enjoy", "look forward to," or anticipate seeing any shows besides his own at New York Fashion Week. "Enjoy?" said the designer, at a party in the Hamptons, "Enjoy is a weird word. It's work — work is more what it's about." So it's not fun? "No." In addition to his two collections to show, Jacobs has a wedding pull together just now — his nuptuals with partner Lorenzo Martone will take place privately in Provincetown, Massachussetts, "soon." [The Cut]
• Hopefully Jacobs was put in slightly better humor by a visit from Miss Piggy. She needed a dress for a red carpet affair in Chicago, and the designer was happy to oblige, so the porcine starlet popped in for a fitting. [WWD]
• Keira Knightley and a strategically arranged suspender star in the newest ad for Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle perfume. [Egotastic]
• Sass & Bide, the Australian denim label which generally shows internationally in New York, has announced it is joining the thundering horde heading to London Fashion Week this season. A raft of British designers have made special arrangements to return to London to show in this, London Fashion Week's 25th anniversary year, and even Anna Wintour — who normally drops the city from her fashion calendar — will be showing up. [Telegraph]
• The cast of the next season of Dancing With The Stars has been announced, and Vera Wang's name is not there. Kelly Osbourne, Melissa Joan Hart, and an Ultimate Fighting Champion might not make the best company, anyway, and Wang has a company to run, so we're not that surprised. [Us]
• Elettra Weidemann, Isabella Rossellini's daughter, scored another fall campaign, for G Star. Anton Corbijn, who directed the Joy Division movie Control, and has photographed U2 for years, was the photographer. [Fashionista]
• Eugenia Kim's diffusion line for Urban Outfitters, branded Eek!, includes a nice looking cloche, and some potentially interesting headbands and fascinators. For $28-$48, as opposed to Kim's main line's $200-$300 pricepoint, this line looks like a winner. [FabSugar]
• Speaking of Urban Outfitters, is there any other chain you would expect to take up the noble cause of saving Polaroid from obsolescence? [Elle UK]
• Hermès is reissuing one of its classic scarf designs to benefit the International Federation of Human Rights. The blue-green scarf will be sold on fidh.org for 215 Euros, starting early next month. [WWD]
• Fashion blind item! "WHICH rising American model has stopped getting snapped backstage by photographers? She's dated so many of them (and their important friends) that now they refuse to give her any exposure!" [Fashionista]
• Wal-Mart is expanding its reach into the tween market. In addition to having Taylor Swift design dresses for L.E.I., and selling Miley Cyrus's line with Max Azria, the world's largest retailer has inked a deal with Nickelodeon to partner with the young stars of a show called True Jackson. [WWD]
• Presumably in order to give Toby Keith a run for his money, Kenny Chesney is launching a fashion line. [People]
• Zara is expanding its outlet chain, Leftie's, into France, after successfully opening the super-budget stores in Portugal and Mexico. This is clearly something we need stateside, stat. [WWD]
• Saks' net loss in the second quarter widened to $54.5 million, an increase from the $32.7 million loss the company experienced during the same period last year. However, Saks actually beat analysts' expectations. [WWD]

• Helena Christensen is one of the many hailing British Vogue's Alexandra Shulman. "Obviously I am of the same belief," said the supermodel photographer. "Aren't we in a business that is supposed to explore all kinds of shapes and silhouettes?" [WWD]

• H&M is famous for its sought-after designer collaborations. Matthew Williamson's of this summer being just the latest in a long, mostly successful, line. But the Swedish fast-fashion giant has never brought a high-profile shoe maker on board — until now. Behold: Jimmy Choo for H&M. Jimmy Choo accessories collections for women and men will be in 200 stores November 14. [Reuters]
• Designer Malcolm Harris, of the label Mal Sirrah, hung up on Angelina Jolie when she rang to inquire about one of his dresses. Twice. Harris thought it was a prank; Jolie still bought three of them for $225 apiece. [P6]
• So how did designer Zac Posen get ready for the CFDAs? "I was on Perez Hilton all day." [The Cut]
• Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy are getting hitched, and, no surprises here, Danes is choosing her favorite designer (and CFDA date) Narciso Rodriguez to make her wedding dress. The actress says the process is "intimate" and often makes her "weepy." [People]
• Rodriguez even whipped out a needle and thread to repair the train of Danes' dress at the CFDAs after a fellow guest stepped on it and it ripped. [NYDN]
• Kanye West went on a $5,000 spending spree at a Chicago store called Deliciously Vintage. With no lady in sight while he shopped, speculation is rife as to who'll get the haul. Amber Rose? Kanye himself in the privacy of his own multi-million dollar home? Rife, we say. [TMZ]
• Vera Wang was unwilling to confirm that she would be on the next season of Dancing With The Stars at the CFDAs. "They approach a lot of people, not just me," said the designer. As for going on the show, "We haven't decided. They haven't and I haven't." [The Cut]
• Esteban Cortazar, the young Colombian designer who has helmed the troubled house of Ungaro since 2007, says he is still at the company. Despite rumors of an acrimonious split, and a lawsuit on the part of Cortazar, at the CFDAs he told journalists "I am still there," but admitted, "We are trying to work things out. We have had some differences but hopefully things will work out for the best, whether I am there or not." [WWD]
• Agyness Deyn, says an anonymous friend, is considering quitting modelling and moving back to London to pursue roles in British indie films. [Mirror]
• Karl Lagerfeld made his transition into film — assuming we're not counting the excellent doc Lagerfeld Confidential — by providing the voice for an animated kid's movie villain. The designer apparently worked hard through take and re-take, bringing his famous perfectionism to bear on the character of a bitter ex-model who kidnaps people in order to "fabulous" them, or turn them into his own image. "He was very serious about it and very open to criticism," said his spokesperson. [WWD]
• Super-stylist Nicola Formichetti: "I hate the whole idea of celebrity in America. It's so boring — all fake smiles and big business. It seems like you can sell crap if you put a famous name on it. America's crazy, you know?" [The Cut]
• Eddie Van Halen's held a copyright on the famous red, black and white striped pattern of his Frankenstein guitar since 2001. So how did it end up adorning the soles of a bunch of Nikes? The rocker's lawyers sure wanna find out. [WWD]
• Sales are so bad at the Gap that the company might use a different advertising agency for its holiday campaign, after a seven-year unbroken streak with the same house. [AdAge]
• Also agency shopping: Zappos. [BrandWeek]
• Check out the new Isabel Toledo exhibit at the Museum at FIT on video. Ms. Toledo and her husband are on hand to talk about their history in fashion, and that dress that Michelle Obama wore that one time on the Mall. [The Cut]
• Aeropostale, one of the mall chains whose business isn't hanging by a thread during the recession, plans to launch P.S., a new line for 7-12-year-olds. [WWD]
• MTV VJ Alexa Chung once said of her retirement, "Modelling gave me a distorted body image. As soon as I stopped, I realised how ridiculous it all was. I went on about it because I was really fed up with modelling –- it's like I was saying negative things to reinforce in my mind that I had to get out. I never say or think those things now. I've used up all that neurosis –- there's none left. It's just really boring. I'd rather have a bigger brain than smaller bones." Apparently, Chung still models — when the project suits her. She's turned up in the look book for quirky L.A. label Wren. [Fashionista]
• A worker at London's Oxford St. Topshop flagship has a confirmed case of the H1N1 swine flu virus. The store reportedly sees over 200,000 visitors a week. Topshop has no plans to close it. [Racked]
• Giorgio Armani is set to unveil his latest scent, Idole d'Armani, next month. Polish actress Kasia Smutniak will be the face of the brand. [Reuters]
• Calvin Klein designers Italo Zucchelli and Francisco Costa defend their racy billboard against the pearl-clutchers of SoHo. (Or something.) Said Costa, "There was no intention of making that controversial. Just make beautiful ads. And they're beautiful ads. And I think, you know, we're such a forward society, but we tend to be a little prudish sometimes. It's New York City! It's the 21st century! Honey, we have to move on!" Zucchelli called the ad "In the best tradition of Calvin Klein," and said, "It's my favorite campaign ever! ...Everyone needs to be scandalized and screaming. That is what we want." [The Cut]
• The economy goes one way, shoplifting statistics go another. [WWD]
• Sophia Kokosalaki is moving to helm Diesel's Black Gold line. [WWD]
• After the hash-up of a bankruptcy auction, eventual owners of the Filene's Basement chain, Syms and Vornado Realty, say they want to proceed with their purchase as quickly as possible. [WWD]

• Michelle Obama wore French-born Brooklyn-based designer Sophie Theallet to unveil a bust of Sojourner Truth at Emancipation Hall yesterday. Naturally, journalistically, WWD asked the designer to specify the First Lady's measurements. Theallet declined. [WWD]

• Michael Kors, on the now-solved problem of women becoming socially invisible as they age: "I used to hear women saying, ‘Oh, I hate my arms, I hate my thighs' when they got older, but now they don't. They're in the gym or doing yoga, or getting what they don't like fixed. Sigourney Weaver's 60, Michelle Pfeiffer's 50. Michelle Obama is showing older women that you can be serious without looking stiff, and showing younger women that you don't have to dress like a hoochy mama to be modern. It's all different. Everyone is refusing to age." [Times of London]
• Christopher Kane is tackling a wider range of items than ever in his next season's Topshop range. Expect bags, knitwear, and shoes, in addition to the clothes. [Grazia]
• Fellow Brit Stella McCartney made the Time 100, the only fashion designer represented. Gwyneth Paltrow, her BFF, did the profile. [WWD]
• Vera Wang bedazzled a BlackBerry for a breast cancer charity raffle. Elizabeth Hurley will do the honors. [WWD]
• Now this is a match made in heaven: showmen fashion designers Viktor & Rolf are turning their talents to opera. For a German production of Der Freischütz, the duo made costumes with over a million crystals. That, Vera, is how you do bling. [Elle UK]
• The Payless shoes on Christian Siriano's runway back in February were kind of hideous; the ones likely to make it into stores this August are kind of boring. Let's hope he can even out his aesthetic at some point during his multi-year contract. [Racked]
• Alexa Chung, the British ex-model, moved to New York to further her television career — and was hotly rumored to be exploring options with MTV. That opportunity seems to have come to fruition: Chung will host a daily show on the network, something like TRL, only with Twitter. [Yahoo! News]
• The September Issue Director R.J. Cutler, on how his subject, Anna Wintour, communicates: "It's mostly in silences, gestures, and the occasional use of language. It's more than enough and she always gets her way. When she's not getting her way, she's happy to speak at greater length. In her work environment, that's how she communicates with everyone. Some people see the film and say, she seems so closed. She's a closed gal. That's who she is. But the times that she does open up in her life are the times that you see her open in the film — when she's with Bee, when she's talking about her dad, talking about her siblings. It's family." [MakingOf]
• The SoHo Hogan store is closing, and looking for a space uptown. [Racked]
• Australian Fashion Week, like fashion weeks everywhere, was smaller this season than before the recession. There were 15% fewer shows, and two catwalks inside the venue, compared to last August's three. Fewer buyers attended, and, barring any case of Aussie economic exceptionalism, the orders they place will prove smaller. Organizers say they expect things will be much better next season, because organizers have to say things like that. At least in public. [Reuters]
• As for the designers who did bother showing, half of them seemed to be phoning in 80s nostalgia and Balmain shoulderpads, and one, Ant!podium, well, they really, really like Beth Ditto. So they found a proudly non-model-sized tattooed artist named Tokio Pink to walk in their show. Such is their commitment to diversity. [News.com.au]
• Max Azria, on the other hand, isn't predicting any great improvement in business conditions during the rest of this year. [WWD]
• Jones Apparel Group, owner of the brands Anne Klein, Nine West, and Jones New York, handily beat analysts' expectations in their quarterly profit announcement. Although revenue still fell 9%, Jones shares rose 10% in response to the good news. [Reuters]
• Prada's profits fell 22% in 2008. [WWD]
• The opening of Forever 21's first store in Japan was a bit of a madhouse, apparently. It isn't hard to imagine why. [WWD]

The shit will not stop. Much of the recent crap has been handily complied into The New York Times' "The Opinionator" column by Eric Etheridge. Though Michelle Obama was well-received in Europe last week, some designers (Vera Wang, Donna Karan) are bent out of shape that she hasn't worn their clothes. (Most notably, Oscar de la Renta said, "You don't go to Buckingham Palace in a sweater"; Simon Doonan criticized Ms. Obama's Junya Watanabe cardigan as well.) Luckily, Dmitcha, a former model and a diarist at Daily Kos, had the presence of mind to point out that if Michelle Obama is snubbing certain designers — and there is no proof that she is, only that she's (gasp!) wearing what she likes — these same certain designers are the ones who barely use any models of color on their runways. Burn!

But perhaps the most annoying and irritating "problem" some people seem to have with Michelle Obama is that she doesn't (or won't) conform to "any of the predefined stereotypes available to her: she's not a 'mammy' nor a 'good, middle class Negress.'" Writes blogger Zora at We Are Respectable Negroes:

She's statuesque, confident, self-defined, beautiful and black… Folks are still struggling to understand her (and to define her) because she is so unlike any other Black woman on the national and international stage… If Michelle were overweight and outwardly insecure about her Negritude (ala Oprah Winfrey), America would likely embrace her more affectionately as our own… The problem is that she does not confirm the WASP woman as an ideal - neither by fitting into the stereotype of the loud, overweight black woman nor by being the good, middle-class Negress who conforms to the norms of white women.

Come on. Do we still have this problem? Do we still see a successful, confident black woman and say to ourselves, "Does not compute" ? Didn't we solve all this twenty-five years ago when The Cosby Show premiered? Kidding. Sort of. But when it comes to Michelle Obama, is there anything else to talk about besides her fashion and her blackness?

On the upside (?), that Tablots dress from the cover of Essence is now a best-seller.

Michelle Ma Belle [The Opinionator]
Another Michelle Obama Fashion Stimulus Package [E!]
Simon Doonan Laments MObama's Junya Watanabe Cardigan [New York Mag]

• Could Anne Hathaway be taking Posh's gig as Marc Jacobs' favored campaign model? [Daily Mail]

• Derek Lam, like Rodarte and Zac Posen, just shot his first advertising campaign. For fall, expect to see Solve Sundsbo shots of Karmen Pedaru wearing Lam's wares, walking down a beach. [WWD]
• Retailers hoping for a boost in sales, or even just foot traffic, courtesy of the Topshop opening weekend melee, were disappointed. SoHo businesses found that while people were willing to line up for almost two hours to enter Topshop, once they'd achieved that goal, they didn't feel moved to shop anywhere else. [Crain's]
• Miranda July, the filmmaker and writer, will get married in a specially-made Rodarte dress. Which I am already coveting, even in absence of any photos. [WWD]
• Could Olivier Theyskens — who was essentially fired from both Rochas and Nina Ricci for making clothes that were intricate and critically successful but didn't actually sell — be on his way to Halston? American sportswear seems a less than likely berth after being found "too editorial" for Paris. But Halston needs a designer, and some people are saying that the talented Belgian gothic visionary...no, this is just too ridiculous. [Hint]
• Not only will Roberto Cavalli smile and make nice with Ittierre, the Italian licensee that the designer savaged after its move into receivership forced him to cancel his Just Cavalli fall show, for the remainder of their contract — Cavalli is reportedly close to extending that contract another five years, to 2015. Cavalli is in talks to sell a minority stake in his business, and a trouble-free relationship with his diffusion line's licensee might make such an interest more attractive to potential buyers. [WWD]
• Ann Taylor isn't the picture of financial health just now. The company lost $334 million last year, its revenues shrank by 9%, and 160 of its stores are to close. At its head offices, 19% of the staff has already been laid off. Same-store sales were down 29% in the fourth quarter, and its stock price hit a 52-week low last month. So clearly it's the right time for CEO Kay Krill to receive a 14% pay raise, to $7.84 million. [Crain's]
• The retail sector as a whole rose 5.8% in last week's stock trading; some experts hope this means the worst is over. [WWD]
• Stores giving away money: officially a thing now. [WWD]
• Alexa Chung, who is a former model and a current British TV presenter, is moving to New York to further her television career. Last time this happened, it didn't go so well, but Chung can actually write, so I say, fuck the haters. Welcome to Brooklyn! [Grazia]
• Snotty designers like Vera Wang, Donna Karan, and Oscar de la Renta complained to WWD about how Michelle Obama isn't wearing their clothes. "You don't go to Buckingham Palace in a sweater," said de la Renta. [WWD]

• Geithner's proposed new regulatory framework buoyed retail stocks by 4.4% yesterday. Saks' shares rose 15%, Ann Taylor was up 18%, Macy's climbed 10.2%, and Liz Claiborne rose 16.2%. Finally, some good fashion economic news! [WWD]

• But it isn't all rosy on the business side. H&M's profits have fallen for the first time in five years. Their first-quarter net profit was down by 12%, which was worse than analysts had expected. [WSJ]
• Marc Ecko Enterprises owes business partners $170 million. $100 million of that is due to Li & Fung, the global sourcing giants, who announced just yesterday that their net was down 21%. [NY Post]
• Hugo Boss lost $20.6 million in the fourth quarter of 08. That's a decline in net of 27%. for the year. [WWD]
• Thom Browne, whom the New York Post reported was close to bankruptcy yesterday, denies the charge in WWD. The men's wear designer says he is looking for a financial backer to grow his company — but has been slow in his search because the relationship is a crucial one and he doesn't want to sell a majority stake in his business. [WWD]
• The Telegraph takes a tour of the Chanel handbag factory outside Paris, and finds 340 people working very slowly and carefully to complete the 180 steps in the making of a 2.55 purse. [Telegraph]
• Simply Vera by Vera Wang's spring line is out at Kohl's. I agree with this reviewer that it looks basically cute — but one word of advice? Do not ever imitate a runway or lookbook outfit head-to-toe. It's snoozeville. [Fabsugar]
• Last winter, Peacock Holdings LLC — a men's shirt concern, apparently — bought the Bill Blass brand from NexCen, the company which fired Peter Som and 60 Bill Blass employees without severance. At the time, Peacock said it planned to revive the ready-to-wear division within the year; they are just now looking for a creative director. [WWD]
• Kérastase is discontinuing ten products, including their Bain Après-Soleil shampoo. You can mourn them by buying the last little pottles of goodness at 30% off online with the code VIP30. [Kérastase Paris]
• Jane Whitfield, a designer at Louis Vuitton who shares the distinction, with fellow Briton Peter Copping, of being commonly described as "Marc Jacobs Right-Hand [Pronoun]" (or who perhaps doesn't have to share it anymore, following Copping's departure to Nina Ricci), lives in a charming centuries-old cottage near Versailles with her husband and kids. This story is entirely about her apparent knack for interiors and contains no other insight into her design work or experience. [Telegraph]
• In China, Clinique and Sony banded together to create a 40-episode web series that just happens to feature an awful lot of Clinique and Sony products. [WSJ]
• If you want to buy a punk outfit from Bergdorf, it will cost you $3000. [Blogue]

[Beverly Hills, March 23. Image via INFDaily.]

• Yes, it's fashion week, yes, there are better things to talk about, and yes, we'll get to them after the jump, but first: Toby Keith's clothing line debuted. It's worse than we thought. [TMZ]

• London's fashion week, small but mighty as always, starts today and only runs for four days. It's a strange paradox of British fashion that, while some of the top designers — McQueen, Galliano — are from the UK, and London's Central St. Martins is acknowledged as one of the best fashion schools in the world, London fashion week has never quite managed the automatic prestige of New York's, Milan's, or Paris's (which is, not incidentally, where Galliano and McQueen both show). [Reuters]
• André Leon Talley went nuts for Vera Wang's show in her new downtown store. [The Cut]
• Who invited Julia Allison to Philip Lim? He doesn't make pink clothes. [Observer]
• WWD gets its own loving spoof! Worldwide Womenswear Digest, or WWWD has stories like "THE PARENT TRAP: Bee Shaffer shocked to learn most parents don't have yearly hug limits" and "Diane von Furstenberg Debuts Controversial Spinach Wrap Dress." Awesome. [The Cut]
• Leanne Marshall, who won this show called Project Runway this one time, completed a cross-country move and finished her entire fall collection in a few weeks. She says the only thing that's hard about designing from her Brooklyn apartment is keeping her cat out of her sewing. [People]
• Bravo's replacement for their lost treasure, to be called The Fashion Show, will be hosted by Isaac Mizrahi, Fern Mallis...and Kelly Rowland. [Variety]
• In the front row at Calvin yesterday afternoon, Eva Mendes explains the concept of a fashion show to newbie Kate Beckinsale: "It's a little like going to a museum and seeing a beautiful exhibit, except it's emotion." Did she mean, "in motion"? [WWD]
• SIR — Thank you for your measured post considering the economic value of the fashion industry. I'll resist the temptation to call any of the economists who would argue that "creative innovation that matters is somebody in a lab at MIT coming up with a more efficient battery or solar cell. It is somebody at Stanford coming up with a way to make computers smarter or cancer more preventable. I just can't get excited about some frou-frou fashion designers and the magazines that feature their creations" pointy-headed misogynist assholes (who probably dress poorly and were made fun of for it in high school). [The Economist]
• There is justice! Crocs lost $33 million last quarter. [WWD]
• The three shareholders in De Beers — a mining company, the government of Botswana, and the family of company chairman Nicky Oppenheimer — have together loaned the diamond company $500 million as sales have softened because of the economy. The loan is interest-free for two years. De Beers had record sales in the first three quarters of 2008, but the last quarter was flat, and analysts expect 2009 to be even worse. [Reuters]
• Wholesale prices of US-made apparel rose in the month of January, despite concerns about deflation. [WWD]
• Brazilian designer Alexandre Herchcovitz is able to afford to show in New York partly because of his home country's lavish support of the arts. This season's show cost $170,000, around $70,000 of which came from the Brazilian government. I'm always mystified by the huge numbers some designers give as their budget costs for models — Herchcovitz claims he spent $90,000 on models a year ago — and I have to wonder, are they counting the "cost" of the trade they offer as payment to the girls who work the show? Because as far as I can recall, Herchcovitz is one of the many to "pay" in clothes. Not that giving away clothes isn't a cost to a designer, but I don't think it's unreasonable to recognize that providing some of your product for free is a different class of cost than actual out-of-pocket expenditures. [NY Times]
• Versace is dipping a nervous toe into the turbid waters of internet retail. [WWD]
• And Celine Dion wants you to smell Chic like her this April. [WWD]
• After Victoria Beckham agreed to sell her upscale line of dresses exclusively through Bergdorf's, Saks, which had been among the first to support her dVb by Victoria Beckham denim line, decided to drop the pants. Kitson and Henri Bendel stopped restocking dVb last year because of poor sales. [NY Post]

• The first images from Katie Holmes' campaign for Miu Miu have arrived... [Vogue UK]
• ...and she looks a lot like her BFF Victoria Beckham, whose ads for Emporio Armani are just out as well. [Telegraph]

• Lindsay Lohan's latest campaign, for Fornarina, has debuted. She looks a little like a hard-partying LA star who woke up in a strange mansion wondering, 'Why?' Must have been a stretch. [People]
• One reason J Crew's chief exec may have been so confident the era of the $800 shoe was over yesterday is because he knew the era of the $300 shoe was over, too: the retailer, for the first time in its history, has so much unsold stock that it's been forced to contract with a sample sale operator just to move the units. The brand's own network of factory stores could not absorb the overruns. Fellow retailer Calypso recently took the same move, and one industry consultant says another "high-end retailer" is planning a first-time warehouse sale. J Crew's sale starts next Tuesday in Manhattan, and stock will be discounted up to 70%. [Crain's]
• Barnes and Noble, being booksellers, probably should know a thing or two about copyright and intellectual property, no? Unfortunately, the megastore is pimping a bookbag (with a lifetime guarantee!) that bears a striking resemblance to a Louis Vuitton resort collection canvas tote from 2005. Down to the very buckles, and the striped webbing handles. Someone's gonna get fired for this. [Fashionista]
• Valentino has been fined for tax evasion in Italy. His longtime business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti, is also cited, and together they owe some $39 million. Valentino retired from his label last year, and officially moved his residence back to Italy, which is how they got him. The two claim it's all a misunderstanding. [WWD]
• Second bankruptcy of the week: Retailer Gottschalks is in Chapter 11, trying to get a reorganization plan approved. [AP]
• Kenneth Cole is forecasting a fourth quarter operations loss and 11% reduction in same-store sales. Share prices are near 52-week lows. [Crain's]
• Decidedly not floundering is Swatch. The watchmaker plans to open 15 stores in Hong Kong alone this year. [WSJ]
• Vera Wang, who founded her line after failing to male the U.S. Olympic figure skating team, is being inducted into the sport's hall of fame for her costume designs. How sweet. [WWD]
• I kind of love it when the mainstream press covers fashion; they always think they have discovered some massive, important story about how industry conditions are changing, or something, and then they go and drop a line like "Linda Evangelista, the current face of fashion giant Prada" and I get my hackles all up like BITCH, THAT NEW CAMPAIGN DROPPED TWO WEEKS AGO, and it stars Ymre Steikema, Anna Jagodzinska, Giedre Dukauskaite, Katrin Thormann, Nimue Smit, Sigrid Agren, Toni Garrn, and Viktoriya Sasonkina. And then I discount everything the esteemed Daily Telegraph has to tell me about models getting "curvier" (ha, ha, ha!) or whatever. [Daily Telegraph]
• Peter Som is in a state of uncertainty after the departure of his financial backer and the cancellation of his fashion week show. The talented designer is putting out feelers to do a diffusion line for Target or H&M. He doesn't care which. [The Cut]
• And...Opening Ceremony for Uniqlo! Shazam. [Refinery29]
• Designers are also creating t-shirts and totes in support of our president-elect. The sales of the items, by talents like Alexander Wang, Diane von Furstenberg, and, er, House of Dereon, will help pay for the inauguration. [WWD]
• The USA Today has some standard-issue rules for inauguration outfits, including such headscratchers as keeping your gown 1-1.5" off the floor since "that way, you're not going to step on it" and "High heels may look great, but they're not always comfortable." Revolutionary. [USATODAY]
• Time talked to Vivienne Westwood, and she said awesome things like, "I just think people buy too many clothes, whether they love fashion or whether they just want 12 T shirts, all different colors, and 12 pairs of jeans all the same. People look a mess because they're buying too many clothes; they're not thinking. If you do buy something new, if you've got the money to afford it, then buy a beautiful piece." Read it. [Time]
• Now it makes sense. The reason Niki Taylor was replaced by Australian model Nicole Trunfio on Make Me A Supermodel: she's pregnant again. She wanted to share the news with ET, naturally. [ETonline]
• Now, ladies, let Diane von Furstenberg explain how to do a mariage blanc: "Barry respects me so much," she said of husband Diller. "We don't live together during the week, although we go out together. I live on top of my shop; he lives at the Carlyle hotel. It doesn't feel strange at all. I just need a little bit of space. If I can't be alone a little bit, then I lose myself — and I cannot lose myself." Actually sounds pretty giddy. [Racked]

• Olivier Theyskens is holding true to the fundamentals. “When the economy changes, it’s not like you want to start eating bad-tasting chocolate,” he said, after showing his pre-fall collection for Nina Ricci. [WWD]

• Serial rapist Anand Jon, the former celebrity designer, is scheduled to be sentenced today. The penalty for his 16 counts of sexual abuse against models, including 7 counts of forcible rape of women aged 14-21 is a mandatory life sentence, with earliest parole eligibility in 2075. Regardless, his mother was apparently overheard approaching wealthy guests at a hotel in Chennai, India, asking for money for an appeal. Jon's website greeting page opens with a quote from Gandhi: "Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth." [NY Post]
• Nixonite dirty trickster Roger Stone — subject of an excellent Jeffrey Toobin profile last year — apparently thinks himself a fashion maven. Taking up the mantle of the deceased Mr. Blackwell, Stone inaugurated a new annual feature on his website, a worst- and best-dressed list. Though occasionally wacky ("Lobbyists are the only elegant men left in America"), his advice isn't all off the mark: Obama and Carla Bruni tops the men's and women's lists, respectively, and he says Tom Wolfe "looks like he's a cross-dressing character in a lesser Dickens novel." [The Stone Zone]
• Designer Vivienne Tam held a fashion show in Beijing to raise money to save the panda habitat destroyed in last year's Sichuan earthquake. The five one-off outfits she auctioned featured panda motifs. Adorable. [Reuters]
• As part of his prize for winning the 2008 CDFA/Vogue Fashion Fund award, Alexander Wang gets one year of professional mentoring from none other than Diane von Furstenberg. Runners-up Vena Cava and Albertus Swanepoel are to be mentored by Patrick Robinson and Andrew Rosen, and Andy and Kate Spade, respectively. [WWD]
• Ellen Tracy has inked a licensing deal for intimate apparel. Expect to see "sleepwear, at-homewear, robes, foundations, shapewear and lingerie" everywhere Ellen Tracy is sold as soon as this fall. [WWD]
• WWD has a good round-up of the status of designers' venue preparations for New York Fashion Week, just one month away. IMG is not introducing a fourth, off-site presentation venue this season, as had been floated, meaning rental at the Bryant Park Tents proper will cost $28,000-$48,000. Many designers are opting for cheaper locales. Calvin Klein is moving its show to the ground floor of the company headquarters, Vera Wang is holding hers in her new SoHo store, smaller labels are banding together for shared shows, and others, like Thakoon and Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti, are showing in Chelsea gallery spaces. Meanwhile, Tommy Hilfiger is back to the tents after a multi-season absence. Marc Jacobs, as usual, intends to use the Lexington Avenue Armory. [WWD]
• Sass & Bide are down for the count entirely. Although they intended to return to fashion week this season, co-founder Sarah Jane Clark's third pregnancy means the Australian duo will stay home. What a happy event to spur such a sad occurrence. [Fashionista]
• High dudgeon at a retail bigwig confab: J. Crew's chief executive Mickey Drexler reportedly took Neiman Marcus' chief executive Burt Tansky to task over luxury markups. Drexler told Tansky the days of the $800 high heel are over. “Wall Street is over,” he continued, and “more wealth has been created on non-productive [financial] transactions” than ever before. When the market comes back, Drexler said, consumers will not be tricked into paying department store margins again. “There’s a whole reset button that has been pushed," he said. Tansky responded by saying “It’s premature to start denigrating what the affluent customer will want.” This fight sounds like it was awesome and very, very awkward. [WSJ]
• The man behind the "Save Anna" t-shirt has a new thing for you to wear: A Rachel Zoe "bananas" shirt with a Warhol-esque screenprint of the stylist-approved fruit and the phrase "I die. Bananas." underneath. Eating disorder, tanning club card, and giant hippie dress optional. [The Cut]
• NY Mag has a sweet video of Marc Jacobs in bed talking about the Stephen Sprouse graffiti collection, which was recently relaunched. "I have a lot of Stephen's clothes and the thing is every time I look at them, they never feel old-fashioned to me, they never look out-of-date. I don't originate or create anything, I'm just here putting things together or re-putting things together, and I like it that way," says Jacobs. [The Cut]
• Wait, what? Stephen Alan for Uniqlo? Please let this not be like that time Amy Winehouse said she was doing a clothing line. [The Cut]
• Dolce & Gabbana's new campaign, shot by Steven Klein, is being proudly trumpeted as a potential source of controversy. Inspired by the Visconti film The Leopard, about a Sicilian aristocratic family at the time of Italian unification, the ads will feature images of male models praying. "For sure they will say we are offending religion," sighed either Domenico or Stefano, reports Reuters. "Instead it could be read as a return to values. And there is a need for that at this time." Yes. For "values," and, presumably, for valuable clothes. [Reuters]
• Remember how Domenico Vacca and John Varvatos both claimed to have dressed Jeremy Piven for the Golden Globes? Turns out it was a tie. The actor's publicist says he wore a Domenico Vacca jacket and John Varvatos pants. Which might be true, or it might be her trying to stay on both companies' good sides after pledging separately to each to wear its clothes and screwing that up royally. How much you want to bet pissed reps for both labels are poring over photos trying to tell their lapel notches from the competitor's as we speak? [WSJ]
• Nonetheless, expect more of the same as award season wears on through the grim retail market. The thin consumer dollar means designers are even more eager to get their gears on a red carpet. Katie Holmes' Golden Globes stylist even received personal phone calls from several solicitous designers. "That never happened before," said the stylist, "usually I just hear from their publicists." And cows walk upright and eat manburgers in this strange opposite world! [WSJ]

• Nastia Liukin's long-awaited and appropriately bendy BCBG ad is the business! [Popcrunch]

• Now that stars have inaugural balls to shop for, they're "totally over" the frivolity of dressing for awards shows. Celebs "are taking the registry very seriously — no one wants to be the Laura Bush of this inauguration." [MSNBC]
• Justin Timberlake's line, William Rast, is making its Bryant Park debut next month. "And for those who might anticipate a concert, there won’t be one." [WWD]
• Oh no she didn't! Did Michelle Obama insult Vera Wang's taste?! Um, no, she didn't, TMZ. [TMZ]
• Menswear designer Thom Browne, known for "avant-garde antics and perverse, themed spectacles" brings the pain to Europe. [WWD]
• Thakoon's new "Addition" line is good. Really good. [Style.com]
• Badgley Mischka is lowering their prices. We're guessing from "exorbitant" to "extravagant." [WSJ]
• Ferragamo goes green: "The collection, entitled Eco Ferragamo, feature five day bags in the Italian label's signature style - think chic, soft leather in classic shapes. The difference? These bags have undergone a tanning process that uses natural products instead of the the usual, environmental unfriendly metal elements, making the leather biodegradable and water-resistant." Sadly, they're ugly. [ElleUK]
• Big news: Claire McCardell’s mid-century classic, What Shall I Wear, is being reissued! [Fashionista]
• Was Valentino one of Madoff's many victims? [New York]
• Valentino says no! [WWD]
• Uniqlo introduces "interactive reviews." Which is great, if Uniqlo clothes don't make you look like a frumpy teenager. [BlackBook]
• Even though Michelle Obama wore one of her dresses, reporters seem surprised that designer Maria Pinto is, um, still living and working normally. [IHT]
• Not exactly peace in the Middle East, but a start: Following security closures, Benetton reopens its Tehran locations. [WWD]
• Oy. Macy's is closing 10 stores. [WSJ]
• Want to feel inadequate all day long? The new Anna Wintour ringtone dispenses fashion advice! Alternatively, Andre Leon Talley dispenses "career advice." Cause that's not gonna get you mugged on the bus! [New York]
• Would Anna find those sporting "Save Anna" shirts to be, how you say, losers? [Gawker]
• Only the good die young: Husband and wife rad-clothing-line Obedient Sons and Daughters is an economic casualty. [Fashionista]

The Good:
Weird? Yes. But kinda digging Kate's graphic exercise in structure. The hair? Not so much...


Anne Hathaway never looks comfy in her own skin, and so doesn't really work anything, but I do like this sleek mod suit with Barbarella hair. Imagine how good this would look were she relaxed!


Shannon Ferber and Zoe O'Grady (who must be either flower girls or kid versions of Kate and Anne, right?) get points just for dressing like little girls, being cute.




The Bad:
Anna Madigan: Peaches 'n Cream Barbie called. She wants her dress back. So she can go to an ice cream social. Yes, it's formal.


I kind of like when people like Vera Wang are all, yes I can design amazing gowns if I want, and if I choose to dress like a shlep on my own time, I can.


So, if Luann Delesseps were on the Project runway, you just know these random strings would elicit a serious "unfinished" from one Nina Garcia.


I fear Carley Roney's frock is a)ill-fitting b)not pretty.




The Ugly:
Don't get me wrong, I think we're totally due for a rad 90's revival. But unlike Tara Subkoff, I'm thinking more Reality Bites than Joe Pesci in With Honors.


Ginger Kroll : does it count as a scroll-down when the top is this bad?

[Images via Getty]

• Zooey to Topshop: "...you have a choice every day when you put on your clothes to present yourself to the world...Also, my first love was musicals like 'Singing in the Rain' and 'The Sound of Music'." [TopShop]

• It's confirmed: Kate Moss will do another line for TopShop. Runners, to your marks! [WWD]
• Alice Cooper, celebrity designer. We're predicting a lot of batwing sleeves. [WWD]
• Vera Wang on her scaled-back Fashion Week: “It seems relevant today. I don’t want to seem irrelevant or unaware of what’s going on in the rest of the world — not just the fashion world...I finally made the decision last night based on many, many things. The intimacy of a smaller show feels much more appropriate for these times. I say that as a business owner, as a designer and as a person.” [WWD]
• Donna Karan and Francisco Costa are "desperately" trying to scale down, too. [New York]
• Stella McCartney, for her part, goes mobile: you can view her collections, use a store locator, cry from the comfort of your own home! [Fashion Week Daily]
• Will New York impose a luxury tax on items over $20 grand? Ooh, that'll hurt.[WWD]
• The luxury downturn is, however, bad news for beaver trappers. [Reuters]
• Mascara sales still up. Again: we're guessing the waterproof formula. [AdAge]
• If like us you're inexplicably intrigued by other people's playlists: here's Rachel Roy. [Elle]
• Did US Weekly rip off a WWD story? Shouldn't WWD be flattered? Maybe if it had been Vogue... [WWD]
• While this video is dedicated to Debbie Harry reminiscing about Stephen Sprouse, it's really hard to move beyond her tee shirt. [New York]
• The foundering U.S. textile industry makes its recommendations to Obama, hoping to cut down on imports. [WWD]
• Elle Macpherson's sister might be bankrupt. Hope not, for her sake. [News.com.au]
• Menswear designers are turning increasingly to womenswear. [WWD]
• Conde Nast may have pulled the plug on holiday festivity, but damned if Vogue will be denied its party! They held a private (read: no underlings) soiree at the Oak Room; Anna "stayed nearly the entire time." [Fashion Week Daily]
• Isaac Mizrahi narrates a new Peter and the Wolf. Quoth the designer: “I’m such a ham, I just love doing this stuff!” [StyleFile]
• Levi's sticks open flies all over NYC taxis. XYZ! [AdAge]