Andrej Pejic's Uterus Hat Causes Scandal in Australia

Andrej Pejic, when asked about the outfit he planned to wear to go to the races in Melbourne, Australia, replied that he would wear a hat by local milliner Kerrie Stanley that he described as “a tribute” to Princess Beatrice’s infamous Philip Treacy royal wedding day uterus-hat. But Treacy himself is the “International Style Ambassador” for the event, and he would be attending personally. Would he be offended? What was this “tribute” hat, anyway? Was it in good taste? The organizers were suddenly very concerned about Andrej Pejic’s hat! Within hours of the news breaking, the organizers reached out to Pejic, his agents, and the sponsors of the pavilion that had invited the male model to put the kibosh on the planned hat. It wouldn’t be appropriate, organizers feared. They asked Pejic to wear a different hat.

So Pejic wore a different hat. And everything was okay that day; horses trotted, ladies mingled, jockeys wore funny shirts, money was wagered, lost, and won — and all around Melbourne town life went on much as it had been before. That is actually the end of this story, every stage of which was chronicled breathlessly by the Australian press. (Also, Australian press? Not really cool to call someone “Femiman” in a headline, but having done it, extra uncool just as a matter of, like, syntax/word repetition to again use “femiman” in your frigging lede.) Here is a picture of Pejic, the backup hat, and his mum. [The Age, @Andrej_Pejic]

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Theory and Uniqlo are collaborating on a line of down coats to be sold under the label T Down. [Style.com]

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Tyra Banks is on the cover of Arise magazine. [DS]

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• Salma Hayek is adding nail polish to the array of products made by her cosmetics company, Nuance. The actress said she got the idea from her daughter, Valentina. “She’s obsessed with nails and nail colors. I wanted to get [the formula] so it wasn’t very toxic and so you can put it on your children.” [WWD]
• It feels just last week we learned about “BB creams,” those all-in-one supposed wünderproducten that are like foundation (but lighter!) and moisturizer (but not greasy!) and blah, blah, blah. Well, now the cosmetics industry would like to sell you a thing called “CC cream” — Color Correction or Complexion Control cream, depending on whom you ask. CC cream is apparently just like BB cream, only better. We think we’ll wait for creams DD-ZZ and then make a truly informed choice. [WWD]
• Fashionista asked some of the models in the Victoria’s Secret fashion show who they wished could “see them now.” Karlie Kloss wishes it was that boy she asked out in 6th grade:
• “I asked a boy out, I remember, in 6th grade, and I had the biggest crush on this boy. And that’s bold! Like, for a girl to ask the boy, that takes guts! I put my heart on the line, I put myself out there, and he shot me down! So yeah, I hope he’s watching the show and says ‘well dang, I should’ve dated her in the 6th grade!'”
• Jourdan Dunn:
• “Um, everyone! I want everyone from my school, from high school, who called me ‘chicken legs.’“
• Those answers are almost as petty as our response to the same question would be; how refreshingly unpolitic. [Fashionista]
• Justin Bieber, who performed during the show’s taping, apparently spent the day hitting on the models and asking for their numbers. His efforts yielded little in the way of results. Why wouldn’t any of the Victoria’s Secret models just take a chance? Now they’ll never ever ever know. Seriously, they could be chillin’ by the fire while we eatin’ fondue. (Okay, we’ll stop now.) [P6]
• Guess is launching a new perfume called Girl. [WWD]
• Public-relations executive Lynn Tesoro has filed a lawsuit against Marie-José Susskind-Jalou, the publisher of Jalouse and L’Officiel, and her daughters Jennifer Eymere and Vanessa Bellugeon, in connection with that incident in September where Eymere slapped Tesoro over seating arrangements at the Zac Posen show. Fire marshals had removed 60 seats from the show just before guests began to arrive, leaving the designer’s front-of-house crew scrambling to reseat all the invited guests. Eymere told the press the next day:
• “It was a small slap. It was not strong. I didn’t hurt her, it was just to humiliate her. She humiliated my mom, and I humiliated her in front of her crew. Voilà. I just said at the end, ‘Now you know you don’t fuck with French people.’“
• Tesoro’s suit includes charges of battery, libel, assault, and slander. [WWD]
• Karl Lagerfeld said the following at a party for a photography book dedicated to the black Chanel jacket:
• “Black is a very becoming color on most people, always elegant,” he said, winking behind his velvety black sunglasses. “Black is beautiful, as they used to say in America.”
• Karl Lagerfeld is actually just trolling us all. Oh, and don’t ask Haider Ackermann whether he is in talks to take over at Balenciaga — please:
• “No, please, please, please,” he winced. “I’m enjoying Karl tonight.”
• [WWD]
• Lagerfeld wasn’t above speculating about Nicolas Ghesquière‘s departure, however. “Perhaps Nicolas wants to have his own label, which is not a bad idea,” the designer told the press, before addressing the rumor that Ghesquière might be in talks with Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy to back him. “It would not be a bad idea if somebody such as Bernard Arnault would invest in a new label because there are so many old labels [within the LVMH group].” LVMH is a major rival of PPR, the luxury conglomerate that owns Balenciaga. [Reuters]
• Other names tossed in the hat for the Balenciaga gig include Natacha Ramsay, Ghesquière’s longtime second-in-command. And Christopher Kane. [Guardian]
• Women’s Wear Daily talks to Goga Ashkenazi, the Kazakhistan-born London socialite/investor who has taken over the (recently relaunched) house of Vionnet. “I’m pouring money, heart and soul into Vionnet,” says Ashkenazi, who was the longtime mistress of the Kazakh dictator’s oil-baron son-in-law (and bore him a child). “It’s my passion; I’m the first in in the morning and the last to leave in the evening, I’m entirely hands-on. I’m at my happiest now. I’ve always wanted to work in fashion and now the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place.” Ashkenazi is the creative director of the brand in addition to running the business; she has a design team working under her, and she intends the company to grow by a “humble” 35-40% each year. [WWD]
• H&M remains the world’s largest buyer of organic cotton. In 2011, the company nearly doubled its use of organic cotton. [Ecouterre]
• Model Dree Hemingway has a lead role in the new indie film Starlet. She plays a young porn actress who develops a friendship with her 85-year-old neighbor. Hemingway says she doesn’t like porn. “I feel very awkward trying to watch it,” she says, although she shadowed some porn performers to prepare to play the part. “I was really surprised by them being so normal. They taught me we shouldn’t judge people by who they are or what they are.” [WWD]
• Senator Claire McCaskill‘s daughters Maddie and Lily, who earned notice from the fashion press and the Twittersphere for their election-night outfits (which included, variously, a crown braid, red lips, a multi-colored sweater, a buttoned-to-the-top shirt, green-and-yellow nail art, and a taupe dress), seem happy about and a little bemused by the attention paid their style. “I like dressing like a boy most of the time,” says Lily. “There is nothing that can’t be improved with a bold lip,” adds Maddie. When asked about the ultimate icons of sisterly political style known as Sasha and Malia Obama, the two demur. “The Obama girls are flawless and way much cooler than we are,” says Lily. Maddie says, “I’d like to think that someday I could be as cool as the Obama girls.” [The Cut]
• EBay is reentering the Chinese market in partnership with the company Xiu.com. The domain name will likely be ebay.xiu.com. From 2003-2007, eBay spent around $250 million trying to gain a foothold in China, but was ultimately unsuccessful. [WWD]
• J.C. Penney had another rotten quarter. The company lost $123 million, down slightly year-on-year from $143 million. Overall sales, same-store sales, and online sales all fell significantly, by 26.6%, 26.1%, and 37.3%, respectively. Newish C.E.O. Ron Johnson is still preaching his pricing strategy, which entailed storewide price cuts and an end to permanent “sales.” [WWD]
• Richemont, which owns Cartier and Azzedine Alaïa, among other luxury brands, saw its profits rise year-on-year during the last two quarters by 52.4%, to $1.37 billion. [WWD]