• 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]

• Model Lara Stone, size 4: "I don't want to be the fat one anymore, so, I have just started doing Pilates every morning, then going to the gym, running, and swimming." [ElleUK]

• BlackBook: "Given all of the hope Stone has offered in terms of representing the fashion industry eventually widening its narrow vision of what body type women should have, the comments are disappointing. Are Crystal Renn and Lizzie Miller our only hope?" We repeat: she was a size 4. [BlackBook]
• Model Erin O'Connor, vice chair of the British Fashion Council, came up with the all-sizes All Walks show. "It celebrates diversity and explores ethnicity, ageism, and body size in fashion." But...not size 4, surely? [The Sun]
• Jimmy Choo for H&M is officially visible. Our take? Not sure we want stilettos that high to be made on a budget! [Sassybella]>
• The two biggest teen target retailer demos are, according to a report by Euro RSCG, "jockettes" and "young metrosexuals." Don't forget confirmed bachelors! [BrandWeek]
• Teen retailers, in any case, are playing to the ones who pay the bills - even widening aisles to accommodate strollers. [WSJ]
• College students, meanwhile, are spending more on gadgets than threads. Beer, we presume, has stayed steady.[WWD]
• So now that she's preggers and not walking in London, how's 19-year-old Jourdan Dunn spending her time? "I've been watching a lot of daytime telly and eating a lot!" Yeah, sounds like our fashion week. [FWD]
• Designing sisters Savannah and Sienna Miller seem to have an Obama-boring great relationship. "Yeah, I guess we are really lucky to have a great relationship where we can work together," says Sienna. Cat fight fail. [People]
• Detroit tries to change its fortunes with a young fashion week. Sound counterintuitive? "They may seem like wildly different industries, but cars and clothes have elements in common, Detroit fashion insiders say. The city's industrial history gives it a unique design sensibility, and its manufacturing capabilities play well to a growing demand for garments that are made in America." [CNN via New York]
• Want Megan Fox's Transformers costume? Us neither, but if you're looking for a leather jacket drenched in sexxxy and stupid soundbytes, it'll be up for auction next month. [Yahoo]
• Christopher Bailey's Burberry collection won raves from the legions of celebs packing the front row. Despite the fact that the brand seeks to sever its ties with "Chav" culture, Victoria Beckham, who seeks the same thing, declared that "I've had a lot of fun." [Telegraph]
• In honor of London Fashion Week, the multimedia "SHOWstudio: Fashion Revolution" exhibition has opened at Somerset House. It involves "a giant suspended polystyrene statue" of Naomi Campbell. Who declared the exhibit "fabulous." [WWD]
• Despite market challenges, Tom Ford's seeking backers to move into women's fashion. If anyone can do it, it's a man with a Gucci tractor. [Reuters]
• Speaking of defying the odds - Justin Timberlake's William Rast line, which is expected to turn a profit, will be getting its own Los Angeles store. Bringing sexy back, indeed. [WWD]
• The good news: Vogue creative director Grace Coddington wrote a book. The bad news: Grace: Thirty Years of Fashion at Vogue costs $700... used. [Observer]
• Calvin Klein's teaming up with the Guggenheim to create "The Rob Pruitt Presents: The First Annual Art Awards" next month. The awards will "celebrate contemporary artists in a Hollywood-style ceremony," and for some reason James Franco is a presenter. [WWD]
• What ended Zac Posen's operatic dreams? "Opera I ended because I became a bari-tenor. And to be a baritone, you know, it's decent for musical theater, but for opera it's like THE END. So the last thing I sang was Aeneas in Purcell." [New York]
• French courts have found that there's no evidence to prove photographer François-Marie Banier gigoloed L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt via "exploitation of weakness." But Bettencourt's granddaughter is pursuing the case. [WWD]
• J. Crew and the Gap are going strong, in defiance of prognosticators' expectations. [The Street]
• We're not sure this is the route to high-fashion cred, but Britney Spears is soliciting fans' tee designs to sell on her website. [Sassybella]
• Twiggy's nemesis? Woody Allen, whom she's long-since consigned to the Academy of the Overrated. "There was one person who wasn't so nice - a young comic called Woody Allen and he was to interview me for a documentary. His first question was. 'Who's your favourite philosopher?' My heart sank. I wanted to run off and burst into tears. I didn't know any philosophers. And he probably knew I didn't. When I said so, he replied, 'Oh come on, everyone has a favourite philosopher.' It was such a cruel thing to do to a young girl." [Daily Express]

• Kylie Minogue was in Jean Paul Gaultier's front row yesterday because she's looking for outfits for her American tour, which kicks off in October. Might we suggest this? [Elle UK]

• In the 1930s aesthetic of some of the couture shows — especially Gaultier's — some observers see the influence of our current economic crisis. We'd argue that anyone who saw Jean Paul Gaultier's crocodile overalls and furs and thought "This is the new frugality!" is blind, but whatever. [Reuters]
• Marc Jacobs is extending his reach in the West Village of Manhattan. The designer already has five stores in a radius of as many blocks, but he still expects to open a sixth in the neighborhood next February. The space, at the corner of Bleecker and West 11th Sts., has been occupied by the Biography Book Shop for over 20 years. "The space is now worth eight times what the Biography Book Shop was paying," said building owner Alexander Brodsky, who added that Marc Jacobs would be paying more than $400/sq. ft. The fate of the book store is unknown. [WWD]
• And here's Jacobs on those bunny ears Madonna wore to the Met ball, which she also sports in the fall Louis Vuitton ad campaign: "There's a girl who works for us, Lucy, she's on the design team, and Adrian, one of the boys, was tying a little bit of fabric around and it reminded me of bunny. We were thinking of all these different things like can-can dancers, and I saw this piece of fabric wrapped around Lucy's head and said, 'Bunny ears, that's what we need to finish this look.' So we made all these radzimir bunny ears and that's how it happened. I like the kind of Playboy, French coquette aspect to it." Jacobs also referred obliquely to the extensive use of Photoshop — "The solarization that they're doing to the pictures is going to give a really dramatic effect" — and confirmed that the painter Tamara de Lempicka had been a reference. [Fashionologie]
• Celebrity fashion lines are not faring well in the market downturn. A round-up of those that have closed: Mandy Moore's Mblem, Heidi Montag's Heidiwood, and Jennifer Lopez's Sweetface and JLO by Jennifer Lopez. Paris Hilton also closed her unsuccessful line with Dollhouse, and Lauren Conrad put her clothing line "on hiatus" (although she did hit back with a lower-priced range for Kohl's). Interestingly, lines where the celeb doesn't have the star branding role — Justin Timberlake's William Rast, Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B., Jay-Z's Rocawear — are proving more resilient. [WWD]
• That doesn't mean fashion houses don't still believe celebs can move product. Marion Cotillard is in another new ad for Dior's Lady Dior handbag. [GlamChic]
• Diane von Furstenberg totally wishes Brüno had crashed one of her shows. [WWD]
• New York bumped into prominent couture consumer Daphne Guinness on the street, and asked her about her outfit. Guinness was wearing a fitted black dress by L'Wren Scott, black scarves, asymmetrical cat-eyed sunglasses, and 7" red platform Mary-Jane heels. [The Cut]
• An exhibit at the Museum at FIT, which opened Tuesday, explores fashion's relationship with politics. Included is everything from white suits worn by suffragettes to Jean-Charles de Castelbajac's sequined dress with Obama's face. Of course, also still open at the Museum at FIT is the Isabel Toledo retrospective that features Michelle Obama's inauguration day outfit. [WWD]
• We've officially found the limits of Mrs. Obama's fashion appeal: Russia, apparently, is immune to the charms of her sheath dresses and belts. "Her clothes are modest and neutral," said local designer Denis Simachev. A Russian fashion historian attributed the cool reaction to a difference in taste, the Russian being somewhat more outré: "A lot of Russians think that when something shines, it's beautiful." [WWD]
• Meanwhile, the White House is locked in a war of words with an Italian luxury goods brand over a clutch purse. VBH claims that Michelle Obama carried its black crocodile envelope clutch, sticker price $5,950, during a meet-and-greet with President Medvedev and his wife Svetlana. The White House says the purse was a black patent clutch that cost $875. Please let the Obamas not be stupid enough to lie about something so minor and so easily disproven. [NYDN]
• Everybody's favorite pervy photographer, Terry Richardson, is being immortalized in a 7.5" action figure. [Slamxhype]
• The Wall Street Journal road-tested some vegan shoes, and found that faux leather and suede are getting realer looking by the minute. Pity two of their four offerings cost over $150, and one costs over $1,200. [WSJ]
• Isaac Mizrahi curated a summer show at the Julie Saul Gallery in Chelsea, which opens tonight. The busy designer modestly says the principal theme is just "work I like by people I like," but Mizrahi goes on to explain how his famous sense of color has been informed by his favorite artists over the years. "Every time I think about color I refer to Julia Sherman," says Mizrahi. "Those Julia Sherman reds next to pale, pale pink, my Spring collection is going to be all about that. I feel like people are really open to color now. When I launched in ‘87 and I did super-bright colors, they loved it, but they didn't buy it. They'd shoot it, they'd laud it, but they'd wind up buying black. I'm talking about New York, now. The South is a different story-that's always been a haven for me. But here in the city, these days-it's nuts, color is what flies off the rack. My own line, and Liz Claiborne, too. More color sells better."
  [Style.com]
• Shoe designer Jimmy Choo says you should wash your feet in warm, salted water every night before you go to bed. Also he says that Malaysia is beautiful and you should visit. [Daily Mail]
• In case you're not already reading BryanBoy, plus Susie Bubble, the Sartorialist, Jak & Jil, and Fashion Toast, here are a few reasons why you might want to.
  [TDB]
• Once upon a time, Kira Plastinina was just another teenaged Russian orange juice heiress with a love for pink clothes. Then Kira wanted a fashion chain, so her dad bought her one. The stores did well enough in her home country and in Ukraine, but Plastinina had her her eyes set on a higher prize: the American market. So her dad agreed to pay for Kira Plastinina stores all over the East and West coasts, and threw a launch party/16th birthday where he paid Paris Hilton and Usher to show up. Within seven months, the whole hot-pink operation had been shuttered, and Kira's U.S. vehicle, the K.P. Clothing Co., was in Chapter 7 liquidation with debts of over $54 million. Which outcome, one might think, would put paid to little Kira's notions of world chain store domination — but no! Cleverly disguised under a new business name (Pink Square) and a new brand (K. Plastinina), the teenaged tycoon reopened two of her former Los Angeles locations. Which is where protesters from a building company that did $2.5 million worth of unpaid work went to go find her yesterday. "The point of all this is that there are still people suffering because of what [the company] did," says Aaron Rectenwald, who built Kira eight of her original American stores. "We haven't gotten the attention of management yet so we'll be coming back until we do." [WWD]
• The 17 workers suing New York-based retailer Scoop for allegedly giving them bogus promotions to salaried positions to avoid paying them overtime staged a protest outside Scoop's SoHo store yesterday. The former employees, most of whom are from West Africa, also allege that Scoop fired people who were in fact legal residents for supposed immigration violations. Scoop's current owners released a statement that read, "Although these allegations are against Scoop's previous management, we've conducted an internal audit to insure the company is in compliance with local, state and federal wage and hour laws. Scoop's current wage and hour practices are conducted in accordance with all state, local and federal laws." The chain's founding owners had no comment. [WWD]
• Gap Inc. expects to expand into Thailand by next Spring. The company as a whole will, however, close more stores than it will open in the next fiscal year — 100 compared to just 50. [WSJ]
• Over 3,000 pairs of Charles by Charles David high heeled shoes sold at Nordstrom Rack from April to June of this year are being recalled. The recall affects various colors and styles of shoe, and was put into effect because the heels of the shoes can easily detach while the wearer is walking. If you're affected, you can take yours back to the store for a full refund. [UPI]

• Here we have it, the first official glimpse of Kanye West's Louis Vuitton sneakers, aka THE BEST SNEAKERS KNOWN TO MANKIND EVER. The $700+ kicks were inspired by the movie Dune, and Kanye's own mind-blowing genius. [Racked]

• Former supermodel Karen Mulder has been arrested in Paris for allegedly making death threats to her plastic surgeon. When she quit modeling, Mulder alleged that executives at Elite had used her and other models as sex slaves offered to politicians, influential media figures, and other officials. Mulder then was admitted into a psychiatric facility; Gerald Marie, the head of Elite Paris and one of the men she accused of abusing her, paid for her treatment. Marie was earlier the focus of a BBC sting operation that filmed him offering a woman posing as a 15-year-old model 300 pounds for sex, and talking of his desire to seduce as many of the teenaged contestants in the Elite Model Look competition, which was how Mulder originally shot to fame, as he could. Marie remains the head of Elite Paris. [Telegraph]
• Twiggy is back as the face of Olay — a company she first modeled for in 1985. [Daily Mail]
• Blake Lively would like you all to know that getting dressed is something she manages to do all by herself. "It would probably help if I had a stylist, but I don't," the actress said. Taking sole responsibility for that Met Ball monstrosity really is kind of ballsy. [WWD]
• Levi's is touting its button-fly 501s with a new America-themed, Ryan McGinley-shot advertising campaign. [NYTimes]
• Man cleavage: Is there a limit to how much you can take? Glamour wants to know. [Glamour]
• Lovebirds Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone have had to push their nuptials back to August, because of the former's work schedule. They still plan to tie the knot in Provincetown, where Robert Duffy has a home. [WWD]
• Rejoice, "older" women, you have nothing to lose but your chains! Herein we dispense with the notion that women of a certain age "can't" wear florals, short skirts, bikinis, dresses that show cleavage, especially "pufftastic" cleavage such as older woman Liz Hurley's, and tops that reveal bare arms, and then we append a series of limits and guidelines on how, precisely, such items should be worn. The rules to dressing are dead. Long live the rules to dressing! [ToL]
• Ginger Spice Geri Halliwell was seen on the premises of Topshop HQ, and that must mean she is in talks to design a namesake clothing line with the British retailer. [Mirror]
• Bulgari's new scent, Blu II, is inspired by "a modern vision of the color blue" and advertised by Laetitia Casta. [NST]
• Michael Kors' Fall 2009 ad campaign stars...Carmen Kass and Noah Mills. Add Kors to the list of designers sticking with the tried-and-true this recession, then. [WWD]
• Hartmarx has lost three top executives. The bankrupt company, which was just bought by the private equity fund Emerisque, just had its senior vice president and CFO, the president of its women's wear division, and the group president of luxury. Emerisque takes control of the company on July 7. [ChicagoSunTimes]
• Johan Lindeberg, the founder of J. Lindeberg, has reluctantly left his label over creative differences with Proventus, the Swedish investment firm which has owned the business since 2007. Proventus hired a new design director without seeking Lindeberg's input, and the women's wear line which was supposed to relaunch under the direction of his wife, Marcella, never materialized. The partners have designed Justin Timberlake's William Rast line for the past three seasons and earned plaudits for it from the fashion press — but rather than make William Rast their sole creative outlet, the Lindebergs plan to launch a new line, called Paris68. It'll feature made-to-measure tailoring for men, dresses for women, and high-end denim and leather jackets for both sexes. [WWD]
• Children's wear retailer Best & Co. has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection. [Crain's]
• The Met is screening three fashion-themed movies as part of its "Model as Muse" exhibit. And even better than the films are the people the museum has arranged to discuss them: model Carmen Dell'Orefice will be on hand for Funny Face on July 10, Qui Etes-Vous, Polly Maggoo? will be discussed by its title actress, Dorothy McGowan, and Isaac Mizrahi will talk about the 1995 documentary that features him, Unzipped. Tickets are just $10. [Met]
• Mizrahi is also curating an art exhibit at Manhattan's Julie Saul gallery. The summer group show features works from Maira Kalman, Julia Sherman, Wayne Thiebaud, Donna Chung and Jane Freilicher, and it's open until September 12. [WWD]

• Detroit milliner Luke Song has received more than 5,000 orders for the spring (pink! cream!) versions of the Aretha Franklin Presidential Inauguration Hat. The original's going to the Smithsonian. [IHT]

• "Which aging supermodel is planning a fake lesbian romance to get the tabloids interested again in her flagging career?" If it's not Janice Dickinson, we don't care. [BlindGossip]
• Shepherd Fairey, designer of the iconic Obama "hope" poster, is making a limited edition tote for Saks Fifth Avenue. The best part? It's only $20. [LA Times]
• American Apparel has signed a financing agreement with London-based private equity firm Lion Capital. [WWD]
• The jersey-mongers were in danger of defaulting on $16 million of debt. [NY Times]
• Perhaps in response, the company's latest ad bears the weirdly earnest, "American Apparel is ... Jobs." As AdRants describes it, "this crucial message is illustrated by a muscly bald dude who appears to be in the stock room" rather than some barely-legal porn spread. [AdRants]
• Spotted: Katie Holmes in stirrup leggings on the red carpet. Let us speak no more of this. [E]
• Sotheby's London has recreated Versace's incredibly garish Lake Como house for a sale of his equally garish furnishings. [WWD]
• "Versace's sister Donatella writes in Sotheby's publications describing the sale that her brother meticulously picked each item to create a sensual and glamorous environment: a fantasy 19th-century villa built on the water's edge by the eccentric English lover of all things Italian, Lord Charles Currie." [WSJ]
• Said the late designer himself, "The house in Moltrasio is a Proust house, whereas the ones in Milano and Miami are more Batman...It is the house that really belongs to me, reflecting a mirror image of all that I am, for better or worse." [Telegraph]
• Phoebe Philo is rolling out her Celine collection earlier than expected, to the undoubted delight of fashionistas everywhere. [VogueUK]
• The biggest challenges of being a designer, according to Andre Benjamin? "First, he said, being an African-American was a challenge, as there's a perception out there that "hip-hop stars will just throw their names on anything." Then he added, "I'm not a gay man." Says Canadian columnist Shinan Govani: "Basically the OutKast star says his challenges included a) being black, and b) not being gay." [New York Post]
• Andre will either be gratified or pleased, then, that Pharrell Williams is collaborating with Bionic Yarn to produce fabrics made from recycled plastic bottles. [IHT]
• And that the also-vehemently-not-gay Kanye West's Louis Vuitton sneakers are going to sell for like a grand a pop. [Nicekicks.com]
• This European couple is heading the creative aspect of J.Tim's William Rast. "He's sporting the sort of vintage motorcycle jacket that would be a once-in-a-decade find at the Rose Bowl Flea Market, styled with paint-splattered jeans, an Ann Demeulemeester necklace and a bushy beard easily mistaken for the latest in hipster affect, except that he's worn his for two years. She has the look that starlets often attempt, with varying degrees of success: a black peak-lapel blazer, loose T-shirt, leggings and leather ankle boots covered with black fringe. The kicks are from William Rast, though the brand has yet to release its footwear collection." [LA Times]
• "Which model made Karl Lagerfeld so angry at the end of last season that he told her she couldn't walk Chanel ever again, even though she used to walk all of his shows?" [Fashionista]
• We're guessing not Kate Moss, to whom he's apparently joined at the hip. [Fashionologie]
• Eva Longoria's in a Nike ad, for some reason. "It features Eva Longoria, in best Desperate Housewives mode, throwing real life husband Tony Parker's trainers off the balcony of their high rise flat and then his triumph in revenge." Great. [Mirror]

• Valentino ex-chairman Matteo Marzotti has bought the house of Vionnet. Madeleine Vionnet invented the bias cut in 1922, making John Galliano's life immeasurably easier. Let's hope this revival is more Balenciaga and less Halston. [WWD]

• Wow, guys! A Hollywood entertainer likes Obama. No way was Justin Timberlake voting for that other guy. [WWD]
• New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn, who has her history with Armani, invited the designer to be a fashion week guest writer on her blog. ("He will go down in history as the man who taught Hollywood how to dress" seems like a weak introduction in light of their troubled relationship, but however these two want to air-kiss and make up is their business, I suppose.) So far, Armani is here to tell us that we Americans overcook our pasta, tolerate poor service in restaurants too frequently, and, when he went to a nightclub, "I noticed that the crowd was dressed in a rather basic way." [The Moment]
• Mais non! Carine Roitfeld says the rumor she's starting a teen French Vogue is false. [The Cut]
• L'Oreal's profits for 2008 fell 26.6% on the previous year's, or some $2.87 billion. [WWD]
• Perhaps not coincidentally, the company — formerly one of the biggest Academy Award advertisers — isn't running a single spot during this year's ceremony. [NY Post]
• Laura Ashley company founder Bernard Ashley died at age 82. He had a seat on the company board until 1998, but the Ashely family cut its ties with the business in 2001. [USA Today]
• The company announced yesterday that its profits for this year would fall by more than 50%, and shares fell 14%. [Financial Times]
• Lindsay Lohan has also heard about this thing called The Economy and she thinks it wants her to produce cut-rate leggings. Something which she, purveyor of doubleplusgood quality legwear, refuses to do! "I'm not going to compromise my line and what I do for girls to wear on their legs for what the price is and what's going on in the economy," she said at a fashion week party. Soldier on, you pretty, pretty girl. [The Cut]
• Oh, isn't that considerate. Spanx would like everyone to know everything about its super-special relationship with Kate Winslet. Including the kind of underwear she had on for the Golden Globes. [WWD]
• Heidi Klum stars as fashion superhero the Kluminator in a web series called Spiked Heel where she has to save global designer fashion from a gay man with a ray gun and an inexplicable hatred of fabulousness. Coco Rocha is also in it. I don't know what this is, but it's hilarious. [Modelinia]
• Tim Gunn would like a word with Meryl Streep. "The message she's sending is, I'm too smart for this and it doesn't matter to me what I'm wearing. I want to say to her that it should matter to you," says Gunn. Given Streep's curious red carpet habit of looking like your bachelorette aunt who lives in Berkeley and believes in the power of crystals, I'm with Tim on this one. [E! Online]
• Designer Maria Cornejo has some righteous barnstorming feminist caterwauling ire over sky-high heels. "It's boys dressing women. I'm sorry — they don't have to wear the fucking shoes. It's quite abusive. Because, you know what? We have to run around and walk, and nobody has a chauffeur waiting for them outside. And it really pisses me off and makes me really angry because it's that boys thing about making women into victims. You know, it's not nice." I completely agree, but for the fact that a lot of women designers — Cornejo excepted — also style their runway looks with giant heels. Cough Prada cough. [The Cut]
• The Gap is going to open some stores, operated by franchisees, in Israel. [WWD]
• Things aren't looking good for Marc Ecko. The company closed its showroom and warehouse on 20th St. and 6th Ave. earlier this month, and has just broken its lease on the three-storey commercial space that was to become its Times Square flagship. Ecko had been paying rent on the Times Square location for 4.5 years but never opened a store. [Racked]
• There can only be one Afghanistan's next top model! The central Asian country is going to do its own version of a competitive modeling TV show. Contestants include men and women, and the judges are a fitness expert, a film director, and a fashion designer. [Yahoo News]

• 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]

• Katie Holmes is the new face of Miu Miu. Srsly? [New York Magazine]
• Marc Jacobs' company has been accused of bribing a state official so the designer "could get a desirable venue for his fashion show." They're paying $1 million in fines. [TMZ]
• In happier news, Marc is open to marriage! Even if California isn't. “I refuse to let anyone tell me who I can and cannot marry, and who I can and cannot love. That’s just bullshit...Wherever we’d have to go. If he’s up for it, I’m up for it.” [New York Magazine]
• Are women overreacting about American Apparel's latest ads? Reverse Cowgirl's Susannah Breslin thinks so. Personally, I just hate leggings as pants! Seriously, we're talking blouses tucked into leggings, kids. [Reverse Cowgirl]
• Jessica Biel is not, we repeat, not, designing handbags for William Rast. [Fashionista via People]

• Steve & Barry's files for bankruptcy for second time. [WWD]
• Leighton Meester continues the strange Gossip Girl cast-sneaker trend as she becomes the new face of Reebok. [Fashionista]
• Karl Lagerfeld just designed a piece of French currency. "The limited-edition collector’s coin, which features Chanel’s signature quilted pattern on one side and the head of Coco Chanel on the other, was created to commemorate the 125th anniversary of Ms. Chanel’s birthday." [WSJ]
• Celeb spawn Julia Restoin-Roitfeld and Dakota Johnson Griffith are the new models for Mango. [WWD]
• Diane Von Furstenberg: "My mission is to make women feel more confident. I do it through fashion. I do it through philanthropy. I do it through everything I do. I didn't know what I wanted to do when I grew up, but I knew the kind of woman I wanted to become and I became that woman: an independent woman who was in the driving-seat. Because I am in fashion I have given other women tools to become that also." [Telegraph]
• In a rather less vague example of this, Eileen Fisher gives out this year's Business Grants: “With the credit market tightening and small businesses finding it increasingly difficult to secure financing, it is important to support woman entrepreneurs more than ever." [WWD]
• PETA comes down hard on "bunny butcher" Donna Karan. [Racked]
• George David, the ahem "colorful" head of Marks & Spencer's Per Una brand, steps down. [Guardian]
• In other M&S news: this affordable bespoke shirt idea seems genius. [Telegraph]
• Sarah Palin sports wrist corsage to Alaska's birthday party. From her date?! [LA Times]
• Meanwhile at his own birthday party, Christian Siriano — "pausing for impromptu dance-offs with friends and later, grinning over platters of cupcakes festooned with sparklers" — was feted by the MisShapes. [Observer]
• Many are boycotting Australian wool because of a "barbaric" process designed to prevent maggots; wool producers say there's no alternative. [Reuters]
• Naomi Campbell to host Miami photo retrospective...of herself. [Yahoo]
• The Limited experiences major net fall. [WSJ]
• How to accessorize your Prada phone? The Prada Link, of course — "a braceletlike leather and metal timepiece that alerts Prada phone users to calls and SMS messages." [WWD]
• Proenza Schouler designer Lazaro Hernandez raises his own turkeys, which for some reason, makes sense. [New York]
• Recycled soda can lingerie. Green? Sure. Cool? Very. Comfy? Yeah, not so much. [InventorSpot]
• On the Sonia Rykiel retrospective: "She did conceptualism before the conceptualists, Japanese before the Japanese, minimalism before the minimalists. So in a way she smoothed the way for all movements in contemporary fashion." Well, il faut pas exaggerer! [Guardian]

• Rumor has it that Jessica Biel's gonna be designing bags for squeeze Justin Timberlake's William Rast line. "Sources say she has already started sketching designs for a limited edition collection. Isn't it a coincidence how much hidden design talent there is in Hollywood? [Daily Express]
• "In times of uncertainty, I think the wrap dress becomes an even more important friend. It's flattering. And wrapping is a reassuring thing." Why yes, it is, Diane Von Furstenberg! [Newsweek]
• Naomi Campbell is doing a duet and music video with Indian star Ashkay Kumar - in Hindi. [VogueUK]
• Apparently Manolo Blahnik can take or leave Sex And The City. He's never seen it! [New York Post]

• Karl Lagerfeld unveiled the Christmas windows of Paris store Printemps, which feature "a fantasy troupe of articulated puppets named Coco frolicking in a garden of golden flowers." [WWD]
• "Each puppet is stylishly attired in a modern, almost space age take on the classic quilted Chanel suit and every puppet has Mademoiselle Chanel's iconic blunt fringed bob." [ElleUK]
• Speaking of moddles named Coco: "Not so long ago, Rocha was just your average Irish-dancing, nature-loving Canadian teenager." [WWD]
• "The first order of business for the new president will no doubt be to get America to hitch up its pants and give the economy a kick-start. It will be interesting to see if he can also get America to hitch up its pants, period." [NY Times]
• Breaking! "This week has seen Agyness Deyn on a fashion rollercoaster channelling a different trend or decade every day." [ElleUK]
• Cosmetics company Carol's Daughter will help address the severe shortage of celeb fragrances with "My Life by Mary J Blige." [WWD]
• Following K-Mart's example, Sears brings back layaway. Which, sadly, requires far too much foresight for the average holiday shopper.[AdAge]
• L'Oreal announces winners for the 11th annual L’Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science. [WWD]
• Oscar de la Renta's house is really nice. [Style.com]
• Jennifer Vendetti may be the one to discover the rest of us! "The New York casting director is known in the industry for her rare eye for finding the imperfect, but captivating, beauty in everyday people." [W]
• Check it: Hayden Hartnett's line for Target. Dig the umbrella. [Racked]
• Rachel Bilson's "style obsessions" apparently include Kobo candles, her own line. [Cosmopolitan]
• These "just douche it" ads are intended/likely to piss off Nike. [AdRants]
• Fashion darlings Rodarte win Swiss textile award. [WWD]
• Feminists, Catholics aren't thrilled about Boston College's Victoria's Secret collaboration. [UPI]
• Newsweek discovers that redefining our fashion priorities, recessionista-style, could be a good thing. [Newsweek]
• Modelinia, the new all-moddles-all-the-time site, is gearing up. [Fashionista]
• More on Helmut Lang's bizarre collaboration with Absolut, which is allegedly about "experiencing art" in new ways. Drunk? [BlackBook]
• New book on secret rebel Geoffrey Beene. "On the outside, the bespectacled, bow-tied Southerner appeared uptight and WASPy, but he was an enthusiastic early adapter of cheap chic (launching his lower-priced Beene Bag sportswear collection in 1971) and the promise of the Internet." We do like our contradictions! [Los Angeles Times]
• Kohl's and Nordstrom pessimistically cut their outlooks. [Reuters]
• Ouch, and Abercrombie's really hurting. [The Street]
• Get me Demarchelier! The legendary lensman started small: "I was 17 and living in Le Havre when my stepfather offered me a camera. I got hooked instantly. I learned the art of photography working in a small shop there, taking passport and wedding photos." [WSJ]
• Jay McCarroll hates the spotlight. Kinda. "But I guess the more I stand there and the more someone notices and writes, then I can have a beach house...I’m going to get to drinking now, okay?" [Observer]
• Apparently the hemline index is still relevant in Morocco! [Global Voices]

• Poor Rachel Zoe! "I thought: I've done blood, sweat and tears for 15 years — why am I the victim here? I have had the nastiest things said about me! I don't understand." [NY Post]
• Shockingly, the CFDA's "Health Booth" (which educates fashionistas about eating) is deserted. [NY Mag]
• You already knew Sean Lennon was an ass: Spotted at Fashion Week, the modelizer "wore a magisterial women's coat with gold buttons and a top hat decorated with Native American bands. His girlfriend, Charlotte Kemp Muhl, wore a coyote headdress." [NY Mag]
• Justin Timberlake brings pissy back at his William Rast show. [WWD]
• Punk legend Malcolm McLaren accuses son and Agent Provocateur founder Joe Corre of counterfeiting punk duds. "I think my son actually used – maybe – the original labels, because we didn't use them all up...There'd be a roll of ribbon around in the workroom and maybe my son got a hold of those. I think he did this before he set up Agent Provocateur. Or in order to set up Agent Provocateur and fund it, he made a number of these fake clothes and sold them to dealers in Japan." [Independent]

• Speaking of Agent Provocateur: there's a new ad campaign! "Chanelling the gothic decadence of Hogarth, Caravaggio, Rubens and Delaroche’s Execution of Lady Jane Grey, it is a seething orgiastic scene of girls on top, girls on girls and boys and beasts. Peaches (Geldof) and Daisy Lowe, the bad girls du jour, both star, as does the flame-haired American actress Paz de la Huerta, who holds court over a sacrifice of a topless virgin, accompanied by two male cohorts — David Bailey’s Byronesque son, Fenton, and a 21-year-old albino boy named Alex." [Times of London]
• Intrepid fashionistas weather the storm at Fashion Week; Tory Burch even went barefoot! [NY Mag]
• Um, ex-squeeze us? Lifetime, the Project Runway-stealer, is delaying the premiere of the show's sixth season until January 2009. Resentment mounting. [Yahoo]
• Are we the only ones who are totally sick of hockey player/budding fashionista Sean Avery? Now he's decorated some booth at hot spot Beatrice Inn with sunflowers. [Style.com]
• Apparently lacking creativity, designers start predicting trends via computer programs. [NY Times]
• Knockoff jeans even bigger than knockoff bags! [UPI]
• The political tee market is also booming. Yes, Obama's outselling Mac. [NPR]
• The Mulleavy sisters keep their Rodarte label personal and awesome. "In 2005, to introduce themselves to the fashion world, the Mulleavy sisters sent out 30 handmade paper dolls, each with a paper armoire containing seven paper dresses. 'I was inspired by Zelda Fitzgerald’s paper dolls,' explains Kate, who, like Fitzgerald, drew extensively accessorized wardrobes." [NY Times]
• Dolce and Gabbana take their inspiration from Queen Elizabeth: "In place of riotous floral and animal prints, hour-glass corsetry and itsy-bitsy skirts came Argyle knits, oversized kilts that fall to mid-calf, printed silk headscarves and sensible footwear." We are not amused. [The Independent]
• Almost all the shoes we wear are imported, "yet the U.S. still imposes a tax on imported shoes that can reach as high as 67%." [WSJ]
• More PR for Ivory Coast fashion, as Patricia De Medeiros reinvents traditional motifs in her line, Tradition Mode. [Reuters]
• Pat Field's collaboration with British frump-monger Marks and Spencer is a gamble. [Independent]
• Iconic model Veruschka releases coffee table tome: “'I can’t say that I have any favorite photographs,' she said. 'Though I do have some favorite memories of the days they were taken. Working with Avedon, for example, was always a joy. But then it was all joy because that was a joyous time.'” [Style.com]
• Scandal-plagued model Jodie Kidd comes by it naturally: her grandfather tried to bribe Winston Churchill. [This Is London]
• PETA crashes DKNY, does nothing. [NY Mag]
• Following a lackluster start, Halston feels the heat. [WSJ]
• YSL has reformulated (we're guessing this means butch packaging) its Touche Eclat concealer for the metrosexual set. Zac Efron rejoices! [Telegraph]
• The fashionistas heave a sigh of relief that both potential first ladies dig clothes. [Reuters]
• DKNY, CK, battle it out at their runway shows for "most New York" designer. Doesn't Karan automatically win by having "New York" in her name? [Guardian]
• Struggling to define itself, Old Navy shops ad agencies. Remember how cool it was when it opened? Can't they just rehire whoever did that? [AdWeek]

• I know this is why I go to the British Museum: to see a life-sized Kate Moss rendered in pure gold. "A solid gold sculpture of the model, thought to be the world's largest gold statue built since the time of ancient Egypt, was given its first showing yesterday." [Independent]
• Working to combat any taint of elitism, Anna Wintour and Sarah Jessica Parker are hosting a fashion show to raise funds for the Obama campaign. "The Sept. 9 shindig at the Charles Nolan Studio will feature designs from Beyoncé and Tina Knowles for House of Dereon, Diane Von Furstenberg, Marc Jacobs, Zac Posen, Juicy Couture, Narciso Rodriguez and Proenza Schouler, among others." [E]
• Meanwhile on the left coast, "Michelle Obama will get her chance to meet fashion and entertainment types in Los Angeles." Tom Ford is one of the hosts. [WWD]

• Armani joins the ranks of fashion designers inexplicably designing luxury residences. "The Armani Residences in Marassi, Egypt will offer palatial villas (of 2,500 to 5,400 square feet) furnished by, of course, Armani Casa. The resort includes a boardwalk lounge, health club, reflective pool, resort club, screening room, swimming pools, pool deck, and retail outlets." [Fashion Week Daily]
• Whether she's selling the label or not, Jil Sander is launching swimwear. [WWD]
• Despite a makeover, Vogue.com won't be getting its own site; it's still under Style.com's banner. [WWD]
• There's a book coming out on the 2002 rape and murder of fashion writer Christa Worthington. Some are crying poor taste. [NYT]
• Several retailers — Chico's and American Eagle among them — do better than expected. [NYT]
• Esprit shares plunge. [Reuters]
• Miami is scandalized by billboards: "Shot by Michael Thompson, model Hana Soukupova appears wearing only Wolford fishnet stockings. Perhaps it was their open weave that led the city to reject the banners, which usually run on major arteries, arguing they could cause traffic accidents." [WWD]
• Retailers bank on familiarity, hire old-school supermodels. "There's Linda Evangelista, with her trademark haughty sneer, wearing Prada's new austere lace look, Naomi Campbell shaking a waist-long mane of hair in an Yves Saint Laurent dress, and a black-bobbed Claudia Schiffer posing in front of a shabby-chic door for Chanel." [The Guardian]
• Sheryl Crowe, who's clothing line was already inexplicable, is moving into shoes. [WWD]
• Half the charges have been dropped against accused rapist and designer Anand Jon; that still leaves ten accusers. [LAT]
• Justin Timerlake (as William Rast, of course)'s cinematic ads are here! [FabSugar]
• Nina Garcia goes pretty easy on Hillary: "You know, I thought that what she wore was almost like sending us a message that she doesn't really care what we think." [New York]
• Oh, the challenges of costume design: "I'm the luckiest costume designer in Hollywood, for sure," The Telegraph reported Zophres said. "But getting George and Brad to look like ordinary guys? Even cheap suits look better on Brad." [UPI]
• Mulberry may be a luxury brand, but their factory still sounds like hell on earth. [Telegraph]
• Valentino has no problem playing favorites: "When asked to name the actresses who stood out for him, the designer said: "I have to be very sincere, the person that makes me feel very happy, also because (she) chose vintage, was Julia Roberts, when she got the Academy Award... I was very excited to see her when she appeared with my dress."" [The Star]
• Don't worry! "Style.com, the online home of Vogue, is introducing an iPhone application designed to enable dedicated followers of fashion to watch runway shows during New York Fashion Week." [NYT]
• Tommy Hilfiger's fashion week invitation features...a bare-assed model. [Nylon]
• Yes, indeedy. "I Am Queen" is in the works. Perfume or cologne? Diddy has yet to say! [NYT]

Okay, this is not an ad. This is a shot from an editorial in Bazaar. But look: Toplessness is what's NEXT!

This woman is shilling shoes and handbags, but she has no blouse.

Here she is again without a chemise. It went on like this for pages. Same model, different accessories, bare boobs.

Another young lady who would love for you to buy a handbag. Except she's not pictured actually touching a handbag. In fact, the handbag appears on the opposite page.

Perhaps her pale, shimmering skin is supposed to make you want to buy that pale, shimmering bag. Perhaps there's a shirt for her inside that bag. Perhaps they should rethink having a nekkid chick in an ad for a brand that sounds so much like a herpes medication.

Aww, look, equal opportunity. This man is also topless, because a topless man is just like a topless woman. They can both be seen in parks and at suburban pools and on family TV and stuff. Oh! And the man gets luggage instead of a handbag because men are bigger and stronger and can lug heavier things. Plus, men have places to go.

Rock And Republic: Fur! Studs! Jeans! Boobs!

Seeing Kate Moss topless is like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs: Cute, but you've seen it before.

Watch out, lady, Justin Timberlake is lurking behind you, hoping to get a glance of your tatas!

Dammit. Naomi makes it look easy. Normal. Should we all just throw away our camisoles right now?

And the winner. For toplessness. Goes to: Loree Rodkin. Shilling jewelry on this wretched green, lace-printed model. Do you want to buy a diamond-encrusted dragonfly chain right now? Me neither. Medic! Send Dramamine.

Earlier: Big Hair Is Sexy, Cigarettes Whiten Teeth, Not Having Cellulite Is Awesome
Advertising Taking Cues From Porn: What Is The World Cumming To?

• You, too, can look just like Kim Kardashian! The professional rich person, TV personality and cattle-driver is auctioning off a personal styling session to benefit Russell Simmons' Art for Life philanthropic event. Which is very laudable and all — but does nothing to explain why Kim's fashion savvy has already fetched a bid of $1,000! [LA Times]
• Justin Timberlake, reluctant muse, didn't want to be the face of William Rast. Unless, you know, he was in character. Says a Rast creative director: "We came up with this idea for him to play a role as this guy named William Rast. So it isn't meant to be Justin, it's Justin playing a role, as an actor. When we explained the idea, he instantly loved it and got really into building the profile of this character." [WWD]
• Correction! Kitson says that rumors that Victoria Beckham's men's denim line has been pushed back are 100% false and that the collection will appear at holiday time as originally scheduled. [New York Magazine]

• Naomi Campbell: "I'm not a bad person...I'm blessed to be able to do charitable work and good things but no one focuses on that because I don't throw it in people's faces." [E!]
• Naomi's also doing another bizarre SoBe Life Water ad. This time dancing to "Black Magic Woman." [Fashion Week Daily]
• Is Bravo deliberately sabotaging Project Runway? Folks have been noting that the normally ubiquitous posters have been MIA in the run-up to the show's final season before departing for the dowdier waters of Lifetime. Bravo execs say it's to preserve contestants' "anonymity" but such scruples have certainly never troubled them before...[Fabsugar]
• We have to wait a endless day for Project Runway to start. But the Australian version has already begun! As one of the commenters puts it, "the one guy with the hair reminded me of a smaller, nicer, less irritating Bobby Trendy." True, true. [Oh No They Didn't]
• eBay bests Tiffany in landmark ruling over counterfeit-policing responsibilities. [WWD]
• As Scott said, the rich are different from you and me. "Like the husbands who pay the bills — anything from £50,000 to £150,000 for an elaborately jewelled creation — these women don’t give tuppence for the avant-garde. They want a waist where God intended; they don’t want flashes in embarrassing places and are bemused by garments with three sleeves. They want everything just as it always has been — at least, since the 1950s. And Paris couture survives by meeting their needs." [The Times]
• More about Dubai's new "Fashion Island", aka "Hell." [MyrtusWe recessionistas like consignment shopping! Despite its "stigma." [Star Tribune]
• In case you were wondering: Jessica Stam, the 22-year-old model known for dating both Flea and DJ AM, has now hooked up with Huey Lewis' son, Austin Cregg. [Oh No They Didn't]
• Stock upgrade dramatically boosts Macy's shares. [WWD]
• Converse debuts the video for its much-hyped Julian Casablancas-Pharrell Williams-Santogold single, "My Drive Thru." The Times of London calls the song "a three-headed Frankenstein's monster of coolness." I'm keeping mum. [Brand Week]
• Wanna predict the market? Watch the runway shows. "Although designers always dismiss the correlation between skirt lengths and financial markets as a fashion historian's fantasy, the parallels are striking. Up went hemlines to dizzying heights in the financial and social whirl of the roaring 1920s - revealing women's legs for the first time in recorded history. Then came the bear market and bare was out - except for low backs on the floor-length gowns that dropped hemlines just before the 1929 Wall Street crash." Is it a coincidence that designers are quite literally tightening belts for fall? [IHT]
• Liberty prints take the high street. [ElleUK]
• It happened on this date: 1997, Gianni Versace murdered. [US News]
• Claudia Schiffer for Ferragamo. [Models.com]
• And for Dolce and Gabbana! [fashionista]
• Lauren Conrad on snubbing Marc Jacobs: "I met Marc Jacobs when we were filming and I got so nervous when I saw him that I didn’t really know what to do. I was trying to act cool, but I didn’t even stand up to shake his hand. I actually came off a little bit too cold, like I didn’t really care and I felt kind of bad. I get really starstruck over really random people and designers." [New York Magazine]
• British biker label Belstaff to outfit Batman. [ElleUK]

• Who is Tory Burch's elusive 23-year old stepdaughter Pookie? On Mondays, Pookie interns for Bruce Weber, and the rest of the week she works as the assistant to the president of Carolina Herrera, and she was (allegedly) responsible for the magical pairing of New York's leading faux-WASP ice princess with Princess Coldstare, but alas, we have scoured the Google and cannot find a picture of her. So this will have to do. [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• M.I.A has designed her own eponymous clothing line, which is really brightly colored so that, "if you lose it or someone steals it, you can see it from miles away and you can be like, 'Oy! Give me my shirt back!'" Oy is right! [WWD, 3rd item]
  
• Tinsley Mortimer, you see, is not a bad designer of handbags, it's just that she made the mistake of trying to sell them in Japan. "Japanese girls have no use for clutches because they just go to the clubs right after work. They are so different from New York. Stylewise, colorwise, stylewise. It's very youth-oriented. I'm designing for women between the ages of 20 and 40... But in Japan, after 25, it's like, basically, you're dead." [NYMag]

• "Now that I've been modeling some, I can actually stand in high heels—at least for a night." Oh, Hagyness. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Meanwhile, poor Erin Wasson broke her foot running in stilettos while shooting the ad campaign for Justin Timberlake's clothing line, William Rast. Doctors say her bones were fragile due to the amount of time she has spent in her life in heels. Ouch. [NYMag]
• Are you ready for Tuesday night's Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala? [Is that a trick question? -Moe] The theme is superheroes because "the superhero is the overarching metaphor for fashion, because both share this obsession with the body, identity and transformation." [WWD, sub req'd]
• No actually, explains Diane Von Furstenberg, superheroes are just super-trendy right now. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Poor Nicole Fahri was mugged at knifepoint outside her home! [Mirror UK]
• "My wife and I had a great time just sitting and going through things and working on what we liked the best...I would love to see her have a fragrance, and us to have one together — a unisex fragrance. That would be wonderful. She's a lot more expensive than I am." Tim McGraw on his new eponymous fragrance and his oft-PhotoShopped wife, Faith Hill. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Virtual Christian Siriano prom dresses? We're confused. Explain this to us, please. [Gaia]
• Oscar de la Renta shot his Fall/WInter 2008 ad campaign at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego. Which is, um, really random and has nothing to do with polio? [WWD, sub req'd]
• Is former Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane doing a line for Diesel? Eh, probs. [WWD, 3rd item]
• Naomi Watts is the new face of Thierry Mugler's Angel fragrance. We are so happy for her. [WWD, 2nd item]
• Martin Margiela is trying to go mainstream. Have you never heard of him? Well, that's cause he's so not mainstream. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Chuck Close, Jeff Koons, Marilyn Minter, Kiki Smith, Cai Guo-Qiang, Barbara Kruger, Ashley Bickerton, Kenny Scharf, Glenn Ligon, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Kerry James Marshall, Hanna Liden and Sarah Sze are all collaborating with the Gap on a series of t-shirts. [WWD, sub req'd]
• And Elie Tahari is collaborating with artist Kenny Scharf, too. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Alice Temperely: Showing in London come September for the first time in six seasons. Buh-bye, New York. [Vogue UK]
• Colin McDowell, fashion editor of The Sunday Times of London, is leaving the paper to become creative editor-at-large of Net-a-Porter and spearhead its original editorial content. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Revlon: In debt. But less so now than before. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Elizabeth Arden: Profits are down. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Same goes for Bebe. [WWD, sub req'd]
• And Steve Madden! Hmmm, I wonder what it all means? [Crain's]