Jezebel: wsj

Marc To Marry In Provincetown; Madonna (But No Jesus) For Louis Vuitton

TatianaTheAnonymousModel — Fri, 01 May 2009 11:30:00 EDT

Marc Jacobs and his Brazilian fiancé, Lorenzo Martone, are set to marry next month in Provincetown. Also, Jacobs is taking the artists John Currin and Rachel Feinstein, plus Madonna, to the Met ball. [FWD]

But Jesus Luz won't be in his fall Louis Vuitton campaign. "Why is everyone asking me about him? He's not modeling for me. I don't do menswear," said the designer. He did say, however, that Madonna and Steven Meisel are shooting the campaign right now, right here in New York. "She's the ultimate professional and she and Steven are amazing. I love working with her. There's no one better." [The Cut]
Steven Alan, on this one time he opened a barbershop: "My mom was getting her haircut at this hairdresser's in the East Village, and the lady told her she was interested in opening her own salon, so my mom goes, 'Oh you should talk to my son!' And I'm like, 'Mom, I'm not opening a hair salon.' And she goes, well you should meet her anyway. So I met her and I was like, 'If I open anything it's going to be a barber shop,' and she was like, 'Ok, I can cut guys' hair.'" [Fashionista]
Lanvin's Alber Elbaz — who seemed talented, fretful and difficult in Ariel Levy's recent New Yorker profile — is questioned by Stephanie Seymour in the new issue of Interview. "We really started from scratch eight years ago at Lanvin. It's the oldest couture house in the world, but when I came onboard, it was a great name without much in it. We slowly moved in. I love coffee, but I always say not everything has to be instant. We took the time. It took eight years to move from 15 accounts to 400 accounts. What's important is to maintain it as a family business. It's very much like Interview, which you don't talk about as a group-it's a family. The nature of fashion is family. You see that at almost every house-it was owned first by a family. It wasn't owned by a bank. In fact, the bankers went into fashion later...And look what happened to fashion!" [Interview]
Alexander Wang, last year's Vogue CFDA fashion fund award-winner, is teaming up with the Gap. And unlike in previous years, where the CFDA designers re-imagined the retailer's white shirt — with mixed results — Wang has done something that sounds kind of exciting. Says Gap designer Patrick Robinson: "This year it's with khaki. He did this incredible motorcycle jacket in khaki that's going to be under $100. It's coming out on June 16th, so get ready!" [Fashionologie]
Thinker of deep thoughts Michael Kors wishes there were some kind of Spanx for men. It exists, Michael! [The Cut]
All that lobbying from the First Lady's favorite designers must have worked: a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House has reintroduced a modified version of the design piracy bill. [WWD]
The ever-humble Isaac Mizrahi: "I just love women in dresses. Last night I was at an event at the Pier [in New York] and everyone looked just ugh ... except those wearing my clothes." [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Soon, there will be Jessica Simpson lingerie. And sleepwear. Fantastic. [WWD]
And Paris Hilton is doing sunglasses. [PopDirt]
Anne Hathaway may not be doing the next Marc Jacobs campaign — but she looks good in her new ad for Lancôme perfume. [E! Online]
WSJ. took Hilary Rhoda to Miami to shoot swimsuits, and shot this nifty behind-the-scenes video. No amount of overdubbed music can hide the fact that modeling is generally about making odd positions look natural. [WSJ]
This list of the top 20 fashion Twitterers covers all the bases, but all you really need to know is: Fake. Karl. [Times of London]
In a similar vein, Rachel Roy held a press conference via Twitter. She answered such hard-hitting lines of inquiry as, "Rachel, you absolutely glow! How do you stay confident through tough times?" Oh, the vaunted democracy of the Internet. [WWD]
Revlon is launching a new mascara, and adding two items to its ColorStay product range. [WWD]
Henri Bendel, the department store founded in 1895, is no longer going to sell clothes. The retailer will shrink its New York flagship by one floor, and concentrate only on selling accessories, beauty products, and gift items that leverage its brand and signature colors. Eight percent of its 250-strong workforce will be laid off. [NY Times]
Timberland's profits declined 12% in the first quarter of this year. [WWD]
Breaking: Tiffany & Co. has bought the bankrupt Lambertson Truex handbag brand from Samsonite. [WWD]
Abercrombie & Fitch, meanwhile, is in its second round of layoffs this year. After making fifty workers at its Columbus, Ohio, headquarters in January, the company is letting go an addition 170 this week. [The Street]
Joe's Jeans actually rose slightly in its sales and earnings for the first quarter. [WWD]
The Gap is recalling 22,000 toggle coats for babies, up to size 24 months. The toggles can come off, and pose a choking risk. [Babble]

Kitty Field

Anna — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:45:00 EDT

"...the only place you'll find a quicker ladies room is at a Rush concert — I know from experience." - Julia Stiles in a well-informed WSJ piece about her beloved NY Mets' new ballpark. [WSJ]

English "Rape Alarm" Does Little To Attract Attention

Maria — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:30:00 EDT

A new rape alarm called the "Ila Dusk" is set to go on sale in the UK in a month, and it claims to be more effective than previous alarms because, instead of a siren, the alarm emits the sound of a "woman screaming." Thing is, it isn't that effective, as the Guardian's Emine Saner discovered when she decided to test the alarm out in the streets of London. Most people passed her by and/or looked annoyed since the Ila sounds less like a woman screaming and more like an animal dying (or, as one man thought, a kid playing). Maybe instead of buying rape alarms, women should be getting self-defense lessons? Clip above.

New Rape Alarm Mimics Woman's Screams [The Guardian]
Teaching Women Self-Defense [WSJ]

The "Baby Doll" Trend: Are You OVER IT?

Jessica — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 11:30:00 EST

In an article about marketing non-dowager clothes to middle aged women, Wall Street Journal fashion writer Teri Agins reviews Bloomingdales' foray into the boomer market, called "Quotation," a line that wants to "appeal to mature women as well as 20-year-olds." This alone is unremarkable, but what did catch my eye was what Agins ended up buying at her local Westchester Bloomies: "What finally convinced me to try on a blue print nylon mesh baby doll top — a teen trend I had already rejected — was a knowledgeable sales woman, who acted more like a personal shopper than a cashier. I was thrilled the top showed that I had a waistline." Really? it showed that you have a waistline? Because usually "baby doll" tops — the gauzy, billowy things that they are — make women look at least four months up the stick. Anyone with boobs to speak of looks vaguely pregnant in the nursery-inspired looks that are clogging up the racks at most department stores and are you not OVER IT?

Seriously though. We thought the fitted/preppy look was in for this fall, but ladies are still wearing all of this beribboned, shapeless bullshit. Maybe women in their 40s are trying to look younger, but isn't it time to just start dressing like a grown up... Or at least not like a cabbage patch doll?

Boomer Balancing Act [Wall Street Journal]

Finance Roundup: We Scan The Biz Pages So As To Stop Hating Ourselves

Moe — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 14:06:12 EDT

Sick of celebs — of the non Money Honey neo-P. Keaton variety — yet? Good, cause it's time for finance roundup, that thing we're doing so we don't lose all our neurons to the silicon-silicone vortex. (Get that? Please?) Basically the big news today is that the Fed Chief, who is no longer Alan Greenspan so we really don't trust him, has called a recession "unlikely" despite all the bad news for the housing market, meaning you may actually be able to afford those babydoll dresses and lumberjack flannels along with your rent this time around. But probably not. Because economic health is for rich people.

The WSJ blogs about The New Republic writing about how Freakonomics has ruined Economics. Steven Levitt's response is incredibly thorough and well put — NOT! We'd side with TNR on this one because we hated the 2.7 chapters we read of Freakonomics, but we can't really hate on economists for being "addicted to cleverness" when we're so addicted to... oh yeah, carbohydrates. [WSJ]

Macy's beats out Microsoft for the M ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange. This is fucking retarded, as far as we're concerned, namely because Bill Gates is practically Angelina when it comes to giving away money, and Federated Department Stores' name has only been "Macy's" for about five seconds, and well basically because Macys'. Totally. Sucks. [WSJ]

Chick-food hating Burger King does a solid for chicks, proverbial and actual, vowing to buy pork and eggs only from suppliers who vow not to keep their animals in crates and cages. [NYT]