• Kim Kardashian, has, obviously, created a perfume. "The fragrance really captures who I am," she says ominously. [WWD]
• Heather Mills continues her controversial career, launching a line of recycled, re-modelled, animal-friendly (good!) clothes (bad. Very, very bad.) [DailyMail]

• Oh, this is good. Philip Simon Footwear Group has teamed up with, um, the U.S. Army, to launch a line of shoes and bags, presumably aimed at Army-strong youngsters. Says the company, seemingly without irony, "We want to create a footwear line that expresses and conveys the ideals of the U.S. Army, but in a fashionable way... The patriotic homage combined with bright accent colors and cool styles will appeal to consumers across the board." [WWD]
• Gisele Bundchen's on the cover of September's Vogue India, and appears in a series of ensembles by Indian designers. Quoth the Brazilian bathing-suit queen, "I like the combination of traditional Indian clothing with an edge — and the fabrics and colours are beautiful." [ONTD]
• Talking about covers, find Lily Allen on British Elle's October issue. We'd have given her September. Okay, maybe not. [Sassybella]
• From WWD: "David Gandy's sculpted torso has joined Scarlett Johansson's voluptuous flesh in Dolce & Gabbana's beauty ads. Four athletic men in their skivvies are shooting hoops around model Stella Tennant in Saks Fifth Avenue's fall campaign. And the muscular limbs of Andrés Velencoso are peeking out from behind Christy Turlington's black leather wardrobe in Yves Saint Laurent's spots. Is it too soon to declare the return of the "himbo"?" Yes. It's always too soon. In fact, I prefer to believe that word doesn't exist. [WWD]
• And he's back! Private equity group Permira Advisers LLP has written down its stake in Valentino Fashion Group - again. Out of the Valentino Red? [WWD]
• Liberty of London is staying defiantly high-end: the iconic London store is teaming up with Hermès, who's running a six-week pop-up scarf and tie shop on the premises. [Telegraph]
• Hopefully this is win-win; Hermès' quarterly earnings fell below expectation. [FT]
• But! J. Crew's crew of adorable kids has done the trick: the prepsters beat Wall Street estimates for the quarter and only see things getting better. [The Street]
• Contrary to rumor, lovable hair-meister Chris March is not suing Beyonce for ripping him off - just Thierry Mugler and Tancrede Prinz LLC, who apparently kept the March-intended monies Beyonce paid them for costume services rendered. "Chris continues to be a fan and great admirer of Beyonce who looks beautiful in everything she wears, especially Chris's costumes." [Blogging Project Runway]
• Speaking of Project Runway: Daniel Vosovic launches a capsule collection in February, inspired by his love of gymnastics. "There is a whole fashion group of gays that go. For at least an hour and a half it's my therapy. When you see the 6-year-old girls walking by with their six-packs and chiseled triceps, it makes you want to be even better." [New York]
• And speaking of exercise: trainer to Madge and Gwynnie, Tracy Anderson, will be giving some kind of rareified, Goop-approved (presumably) exercise demo during Fashion's Night Out, so. [New York]
• Donatella Versace has brought Versus back form the dead, and the resurrected brand will premiere at Milan Fashion Week. Prediction: she will be tanned. [WWD]
• As you already knew, Tim Gunn is a superhero! Marvel is introducing Loaded Gunn, a comic set at the "New York Museum of Fashion." [WWD]

• Gwyneth Paltrow has tired of the cosmetics contract gravy train; no longer shall the actress concentrate on embodying the qualities of the Estée Lauder brand. Instead, she'll be the new, white Oprah! [Daily Mail]

• Nanette Lepore has added her voice to the save the garment center chorus. [HuffPo]
• According to Jesus Luz's Brazilian agent, Sergio Mattos, Luz was paid $100 for the two-day Steven Klein shoot with Madonna that ended up in W. Let me say this one more time: that kind of pay is entirely standard for an editorial shoot, no matter one's modeling experience or industry status. [NY Post]
• Christina Aguilera looks, um, Photoshopped to high hell in the new Stephen Webster jewelry campaign. [Sun]
• Jerry Hall got a $750,000 advance from HarperCollins to write a memoir that would include full details on her life with Mick Jagger. But the manuscript Hall rendered proved too tame and cagey on the subject of Jagger for the publisher's taste; the supermodel has agreed to return the advance. (Side note: how many times do you get to read a word like "priapic" in the Daily Mail?) [Daily Mail]
• Terry Richardson just shot next year's Pirelli calendar in Trancoso, Bahia, Brazil. Georgina Stojiljkovic, Catherine McNeil, Abbey Lee Kershaw, and Daisy Lowe are purported to be featured, along with actual Brazilians Gracie Carvalho and Ana Beatriz Barros. Glamurama got a NSFW snap of Richardson in action, shooting a topless McNeil on a white horse. [Glamurama via Fashionologie]
• Supposedly, Zac Posen is in the early stages of producing a scripted series for the CW network about the equestrian world. Might be a wise move to diversify, as we keep hearing wild rumors that his label is in trouble. [The Cut]
• Erin Fetherston is also shooting a short film this week, starring Juliette Lewis, and her fall collection. Music is by Damon Dash. Her husband also confirmed that the designer will launch a line for home-shopping giant QVC this fall, probably during fashion week. [WWD]
• Stacey Bendet Eisner — yes, last year she married the son of that Eisner — is the designer behind Alice + Olivia. And she says there are exciting things to come for the brand, including an expanded line of embellished t-shirts, a jewelry line with Erickson Beamon coming out this November, and a possible cosmetics deal. [Blackbook]
• Macy's says not to expect deep markdowns this season — but it does want a lower-priced outlet store bearing its name, since Saks and Nordstrom both have them. [WWD]
• Douglas Reker, one of the bracingly new designers I'm personally most excited about, has just been picked up for fall by Barneys Coop. [Crain's]
• Now that Lakshmi Menon — two-time Indian Vogue covergirl — has had her only-girl editorial debut in American Vogue, industry commentators wonder aloud: Why has it taken so long for a South Asian supermodel to emerge? Sarah Doukas of London mega-agency Storm says it's because Indians are culturally conservative and don't want their daughters modeling; Menon says agencies don't have scouting networks on the subcontinent, and if you don't look for something, of course you won't find it. [Independent]
• England's National Trust is in talks to buy the home of the late designer Laura Ashley. [Telegraph]
• Leigh Lezark, who is a member of this preposterous thing called the MisShapes, but who nonetheless finds time in her busy schedule to "model", might be Matthew Williamson's new muse. Because a perpetually black-clad stony-stared New Yorker would be the perfect match for his exuberant tastes. [Fashionista]
• Rosa Chá, which is just about the best-looking and best-fitting swimwear out there, barring perhaps Norma Kamali, and therefore heartbreaking for its extravagant price, is losing its founding designer, Amir Slama. Slama, who launched Rosa Chá over two decades ago, is going to start a namesake swim collection. Brazilian Alexandre Herchcovitz will take over at Rosa Chá. [WWD]
• Diego Della Valle, the head of Italian leather goods brand Tod's, has doubled his investment stake in Saks Fifth Avenue, to 5.9%. [WWD]
• Alberta Ferretti, Moschino, and Pollini are all lowering their prices. Their parent company, Italy's Aeffe SpA, experienced steep losses in the first quarter of this year, and has thus formulated a cost-cutting plan that is intended to save $13.6 million over the course of 2010. In addition to lowering prices, Aeffe is shrinking its collections and planning layoffs. [WWD]

"But now everyone wants to be part of fashion and so you've got Bollywood types in dark sunglasses and dumpy housewives showing up wearing 14-year-old sandals."

Thanks, Bandana Tewari, fashion features director of Vogue India, for reminding us all of the rank assholery and sneering classism that finds easy quarters in the minds of far too many people in this industry. Most genuinely nasty fashion folks soon learn to hide it — a skill I'm sure Tewari will come to master. Look, what should anyone expect from a magazine that puts a $100 Fendi bib on an impoverished toddler?

Fashion Finds A New And Bigger Role In India [NY Times]

Earlier:
Vogue India Puts Fendi Bib On Impoverished Child; Critics Freak

Photo via Diane Pernet

[Image via Splash.]

• Blake Lively's being sued by a Brooklyn tailor who did $500 worth of alterations on her Teen Choice Awards frock. While the Gossip Girl star was apparently "extremely kind" during the fitting, she's yet to pay up. Now Blake's people say the tailor screwed up the dress and they're only willing to pay half. Sounds like a job for Judge Judy! [TMZ]
• Heidi's peeps are saying Heidiwood wasn't discontinued; rather, the contract was only for one year! "We just felt that the one year was a great year for both of us, and we're looking into other options...We really found that we want to explore … what style really means to our girl … and that doesn't necessarily mean a celebrity brand. It really means fashion and comfort, and we can really accomplish that with our own brand." [New York Mag]
• LiLo walks in sorta-sis-in-law Charlotte Ronson's Japan show. [New York Mag]

• Obama's favorite Hartmax suit has become a bestseller. Being six feet plus helps, fellas. [UPI]
• Vivienne Westwood's son the erotic photographer staged that protest "featuring bound-and-gagged models in fetish clothing" at the House of Commons. It has to do with protecting extreme pornography. [VogueUK]
• APC introduces awesome denim recycling: trade in an old pair of the pricey raw denim, and get half off a new one. They'll fix up the old ones and sell them to those who want "re-worked" jeans. [BlackBook]
• What to get the dictator who has everything? The new $154 bullet-proof pocket handkerchief! [UPI]
• Tommy Hilfiger goes ever higher-end; sells exclusively to department stores. [Business Week]
• Gucci "spy scandal?" Well, they're being investigated. [WWD]
• Apparently traditional wedding gowns are so 20th century. Now spendthrift brides are doing three changes per wedding, celeb-style! [New York Post]
• Payless brings it with lines by Lela Rose, Alice + Olivia. [Dallas Morning News]
• The online look book for H&M's Comme des Garcons line makes it look waaay more wearable than the initial high fashion approach! [Racked]
• In this economy, who doesn't want to sepnd thousands of pounds on a photo of Gisele in a war bonnet? [VogueUK]
• Mia Farrow auctions a bunch of outfits from A Dandy In Aspic to help the children of Darfur. Guess they don't rate Rosemary's Baby. [WWD]
• Fashion bigwigs meet in London for "Susatainable Fashion" summit. The extremely vague objective? To "articulate beauty, style beyond fashion, a new definition of luxury, considered design and a revolutionary and hence more sustainable approach to fashion." [ElleUK]
• Maison Moschino, the fashion house's new boutique hotel, has bedspreads that look like they were made from Snuffalufagus' pelt. [Dazed Digital]

• Like everyone in Fashion, Vogue Editor at XL Andre Leon Talley has many opinions, feels they should be heard. "Asked how Americans can still look fabulous despite the recession, Talley said, 'Wear something old that you love' until Election Day. 'Then, vote for Barack Obama, who'll fix the economy.'" [NY Daily News]
• Most depressing/embarrassing WSJ video ever. "Guy" reporter goes to the Mall of America and interviews people about Republican style. [WSJ]
• Beloved former Chloe brain Phoebe Philo snapped up by Celine! [WWD]
• Nastia Liukin is so over gymnastics. The gold medalist, who's gonna be front and center at Fashion Week, is launching a line. "The five foot three athlete is working with Vanilla Star jeans on launching Nastia Liukin Gold jeans and tops for holiday sales. She is also in talks to design a line of activewear for GK, the company that makes her leotards, which she designs with her mom." [NY Mag]

• Chanel boycotts Russia because of Georgian situation...?! Oh, wait, no, the conflict just meant they couldn't get the venue they wanted. "A Chanel spokeswoman said the decision to nix Moscow was made in July before the crisis in Georgia as the company could not secure the venue it wanted in the Russian capital." [WWD]
• Crasher alert! "A man calling himself "Tom Klein" has been infiltrating chic soirees, claiming he works for Women's Wear Daily. This Klein character got caught when he tried to get on the list for last night's Gossip Girl party at the Empire Hotel, hosted by Dior Beauty, a source said. The crasher, claiming to be a senior editor at Fairchild Media, sends e-mails from a fake address. A WWD spokeswoman told Page Six, 'He is not an employee of Fairchild or Condé Nast.'" [P6]
• Here's how to deal with the recession: Meet the new status phones! "Constructed of precious metals, studded with diamonds and other jewels, and wrapped in exotic leathers, they have struck a chord among the small group of people who can afford them—namely, millionaires and celebrities." [BusinessWeek]
• Banana Republic courts Details readers...or the other way around? Are they different? "Beginning Wednesday through Sept. 17, each retail location will have extensive in-store magazine branding with "look cards," store displays, signage and fitting room signs. Bananarepublic.com will host a microsite with more style tips from Details and special offers from the retailer." [WWD]
• Stefano Pilati's beautiful YSL fashion look book being ignored because it's in a free tote. "When the news hit the fashion blogs last week, it was all about the cute bag, not the amazing images of Naomi Campbell, photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. To think, a real ‘It’ bag, for free, considering a Muse starts around $1,395. And, on the handout, the YSL logo is fetchingly printed upside down." [NYT]
• For those of us who already can't afford Tracy Reese, the news of her new, high-end line will not come as a joyful surprise. [WWD]
• Uniqlo might be bringing its cheap cashmere to India, Russia. [WSJ]
• What recession? H&M expands. Says the CEO, "Our strategy is based on the concept of fashion and quality at the best price...It helps us stay balanced even during economic downturns." [Business Week]
• Apparently, fashionistas have no qualms about fast fashion! Reports a Racked spy,"I was in the Forever21 in Soho and heard the one of the managers tell her staff in a meeting to 'look out' and 'be prepared' for stylists, editors and celebrities coming this week for Fashion Week." [Racked]
• Todd Oldham admits his show Top Design kind of blows. Okay, not really. "I would not want to be a contestant on this show at all," he says. "It's just too brutal. I said it before, but this is the only show I know on TV that is a thousand times harder than what it looks. It was way, way harder than what it looked like." [Breitbart]
• Designer and glamorous eccentric Isabel Toledo feted by the fashion elite: "A drag queen performed a cabaret homage to Ms. Toledo—"Isabel, you've chaaaaanged!"—which featured the word "motherfucker." Then Emcee Simon Doonan, of Barney's...narrated a slideshow of Ms. Toledo's life, from 'the Cuban Revolution to this incredibly un-Communist luncheon.'" [Observer]
• The Hef effect? "At New York fashion week, which kicks off Friday, designers including Phillip Lim, Michael Bastian and Tim Hamilton are expected to show a number of pajama-inspired clothes that are meant to be worn in broad daylight. The looks include colored piping on jackets and shirts, spread-open pajama collars, soft, unpadded jackets that hang loosely off the shoulders — and, of course, voluminous drawstring pants." [WSJ]
• Jonathan Saunders for Target might be awesome. Why must they tempt us with their fast fashion?! [Fabsugar]
• "With casual sweaters and sharp suits in shades of black, white and grey, Ji Wenbo became the first Chinese designer to showcase a collection at Japan's Fashion Week in a bid to woo customers in fashion-savvy Tokyo." [Reuters]
• With fashion in transition, we lack a Savior: "Still, there is no world-beater. There are no names that suggest clear-cut potential both to reshape fashion and somehow with it the global culture of style. There is no one, to take the obvious example, likely to replace Yves Saint Laurent, who died in June and seemingly took with him not merely a genius for conjuring glamour from whole cloth, but also for draping his designs to suit the mood of his time." [NYT]
• The New York Observer throws its pink hat into the fashion-glossy ring with Observer Style, "a semiannual magazine due to make its debut Nov. 16 and focused on the local fashion scene." [WWD]
• Carlos Miele is expecting a baby. "Insiders" say it's a boy called Leonardo. The item is titled, "stork to bring stylish baby." [P6]

Columnist Kanika Gahlaut called the editorial spread "not just tacky but downright distasteful." But it's coming from a magazine which had a blonde wedged between two brown women on its debut cover. It's a Western-owned fashion magazine in a country that values Western beauty, where skin lightening is big business. But, you're thinking, when people are destitute, why photograph them holding an Hermès bag? Says Vogue India editor Priya Tanna: "Lighten up." Her argument: "You have to remember with fashion, you can’t take it that seriously."

The Times points out that around 456 million Indians live on less than $1.25 a day. But there is an emerging market in India; there are women who shop, love luxury brands and read magazines. So. What kind of editorial photo shoots should Vogue India have? Only the kind with gorgeous, languid model indifferent to the designer duds she is sporting? Should "real" Indian people not be pictured in the magazine?

Not to be jaded, but it's tough to get outraged when we live in a country where Vogue has a history of being offensive. Fashion is about exclusivity, which means it's almost always inherently about how you, the fashionable, are "better." To be better, you must have an "other" to be better than. And so exclusivity means someone is being excluded. And Vogue has no problem shilling a $64,300 24K-gold mink coat — like the bib, by Fendi! — in a country where 37 million people live in poverty. True, they didn't shoot the coat on a woman from Ziebach County, South Dakota, but maybe doing so would alert readers to the fact that Ziebach County, South Dakota is the poorest county in the U.S.? In any case, the number of Americans who can afford the coat is marginal, and it doesn't matter; it's a business mired in advertiser relationships and fantasy. Most magazines have problems with "real people" and luxury goods. Even Marie Claire used a Bhutanese man to "model" a $395 hat. It would be great if Indian Vogue, American Vogue and lots of other ladymags could figure out how to entertain women who are interested in fashion without offending, alienating or exploiting people. India has a tumultuous history of poverty, exploitation and colonialization, and a poor kid in a Fendi bib doesn't exactly help heal wounds. Maybe the real question is: Should Vogue India even exist?

Vogue’s Fashion Photos Spark Debate in India [NY Times]
Earlier: Using A Woman Of Color As The "Background" In A Photo Shoot: It's Not Okay
Free People: Someone Watched The Darjeeling Limited Before Booking This Photo Shoot
Vogue India Debuts With Australian Blonde On Front, Bleeding Heart Inside?
MagHag India
'White Beauty' Has An Ugly Message
Dear Anna: I'm Outsourcing Your Job To Vogue India. 8 Pictures That Explain Why…
Is Vogue's "LeBron Kong" Cover Offensive?
Marie Claire & The 75-Year-Old Bhutanese Model

• Prestige magazine has the "world exclusive" of the new Agent Provocateur campaign starring Kate Moss. Note the black models featured also in the shoot! They are slightly less prominent, but no worse fed. [Prestige HK]
  
• And look her! The notoriously tight-lipped Kate Moss granted an actual interview to the Guardian! Does she have anything to say for herself? "After a long pause," the story reveals..."Not really." [Guardian]
  
• More "authenticity" from the trailers of the upcoming Sex & The City movie: It was like being in [NY department stores] Bergdorf Goodman and Saks combined. There was an overwhelming amount of branded product...The characters were defined via their wardrobes and the products they used: Carrie, for example, was a creative, fashion-obsessed writer type, so she used an Apple Mac because of its design value and wore all these crazy clothes.... [FT]
  
• "China is about brand, brand, brand." [NYT]
  
• India "is a fast growing economy and with consumption so robust and with incomes rising, it's a fertile ground for the print media." And all the crap Vogue and GQ would like to sell to them! [Reuters]

• Barney's "plans to grow helter-skelter in a bunch of countries." [WSJ]
• "There may be a global economic slowdown, but Valentino is stepping up the pace of its expansion." [WWD]
• Abercrombie & Fitch's flagship store in London grosses sales of $50 million. Holy fuck that is insane. [Fashion Week Daily]
• There's a new book out tracing Estee Lauder spokesmodels, from one who was "picked from more than a thousand faces on the grounds that she possessed 'that indefinable air known as class'" to Aerin Lauder herself. Who possesses a slightly more palpable sort of class. [Telegraph]
• Portfolio calculates "back of the envelope" that Chanel is worth between $10.3 billion and $14.8 billion. This is meaningful, to someone, not us. [Portfolio]

So what does it all mean? Well, not much to the estimated 300 million Indians living on 50p a day; not much to the 64 per cent of the population of Bihar who can't read; not much to the rural communities in the state of Madhya Pradesh suffering because there are no roads. They will not be interested in the news that Thierry Mugler's Parfum Coffret contains 'human sweat and even sperm'. 'There is still immense poverty - I mean immense,' [art director Meera] Kumari says.

'Sixteen per cent of people in Bombay are living in the slums,' [features editor Bandana] Tewari says. 'You are meandering in your beautiful car through all the little gullies, on the mobile phone talking about über-chic labels as you pass slums kids with snotty noses. Our lives are a contradiction, but we have a choice - you can rejoice in it or you can be a pessimist.

'My husband is from Melbourne, but it's a Barbie doll existence - where is the struggle? Where is the angst? There is comfort in chaos, conformity brings too many rules - here there is a strange sense of freedom that you can only understand if you live here. I have a five-year-old daughter [named Mai-rah after Gore Vidal's Myra Breckinridge]. I think it is important for her to know that this is the environment that she is growing up in. I am not going to shelter her from the dirt and the filth - but then I also bring her to the Vogue office.

And yeah also: sperm perfume... I guess we should order that.

Jewel In The Crown [Telegraph]
There's A Chic New Addition To The Vogue Family Today [Vogue UK]

• Yup, we're still bitter about not being at London Fashion Week. The Stella McCartney for Adidas show was held at an amusement park at which the models and guests frolicked, playing mini-golf and eating hot dogs. [Vogue UK]
  
• OMG. David Beckham is rumored to be designing the costumes for the Spice Girl Tour. OMG. [Vogue UK]
  
• Snaps to ELLE.com for recognizing that the fashion industry is just like high school. And even bestowing the superlatives to go along with it. And it's even almost bitchy! Just like high school should be! [Elle.com]
  
• At age 80 Eartha Kitt is the face of the new MAC line "Smoke Signals." And at age 80 she has better legs than we ever will too. Purrrrrrfect. [WWD, sub req'd]

• Louis Vuitton is showcasing the works of Moscow artists in its Paris store. Just like Sherri Shepherd (and Tom Friedman) told us, the world is flat. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Paul Smith introduces his first women's fragrance, Paul Smith Rose, which is inspired by the, uh, Sir Paul Smith Rose that his wife had named for him. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Aretha Franklin does PR speak about Sean "Diddy" Combs new fragrance "Unforgivable for Women": "I like [Unforgivable for Women] because it's sexy and refreshing and has a lot of really good elements to it." [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Meanwhile Combs has posted the video advertisement for Unforgivable for Women that was banned from TV on his MySpace page "I feel strongly that this movie needs to be viewed and judged by the public and not executives." Dude - it's an ad for perfume not Do The Right Thing. [Vogue UK]
  
• Want your own Versace-and-Liz-Hurley-esque black safety pin dress? London department store Harrods now says it will whip you up a custom version. For about $22,000 that is. [Sassybella]
  
• Virtual Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen dolls. For reals. [Fashion Week Daily]