Armani Replaces Megan Fox With Rihanna

Rihanna will replace Megan Fox as the global face of Emporio Armani underwear and Armani Jeans. Fox’s deal with Armani was announced in October of 2009, and her first ads appeared in January of 2010. She was said to have commanded a $2 million fee; there’s no word yet on what Rihanna, who was previously a face of Gucci, might have been paid. [WWD]

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In the new W, Tilda Swinton poses for an extraordinary Tim Walker editorial, and talks about her style influences: David Bowie — especially circa The Man Who Fell To Earth — and her father, Maj. Gen. Sir John Swinton. Swinton calls them “my aesthetic North Stars…the individuals with whom I share the same planetary DNA.” The actress also expressed some frustrations about how androgyny is discussed in contemporary culture. “People talk about androgyny in all sorts of dull ways.”
Her father was a commander of the Queen’s Household Division. “From childhood, I remember more about his black patent, gold livery, scarlet-striped legs, and medal ribbons than I do of my mother’s evening dresses,” says Swinton. “I would rather be handsome, as he is, for an hour than pretty for a week.” [W]

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Philip Treacy is still defending the fascinator he made for Princess Beatrice. “I didn’t give a fuck about 140,000 bloggers. In the future, we’ll look back and think she looked wild.” [Guardian]

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Santigold and Spankrock dance around in this new ad for T by Alexander Wang. [YouTube]

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When we look at this human-hair jewelry by artist Kerry Howell, we are seized by a sudden desire to scratch all over. [Fashionista]

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Heidi Klum has run 93.77 miles since June 20th. She’s jogged with Miranda Kerr, Michael Kors, Coco Rocha, and Brooklyn Decker. [Heidi Klum]

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Joan Smalls, Abbey Lee Kershaw, Sigrid Agren, and Emily Baker are in the new Gucci campaign. [Fashionologie]

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Here’s Jon Kortajarena in the new campaign for Jean Paul Gaultier‘s fragrance Kokorico. [OhLaLa]

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Topshop has removed this image of Australian model Codie Young from its web site after eating disorder awareness groups criticized it. The mother of a teenager with anorexia told the Daily Mail, “This is absolutely outrageous in 2011, seeing models this thin. She clearly looks like a size zero,” and said Young’s picture could cause her daughter to relapse. She added, “The girl looks ill. I dread to think how she looks under her clothes.” (The latter comment has since been edited out of the Mail‘s article, but commentary on Young’s “bony fingers” and “sunken eyes” remains.) An anorexia researcher said, “For girls to see pictures of models who are this thin suggests that it’s okay to be like that but it’s clearly not.” Young was upset by the comments, and wrote on her blog that it was enraging to be talked about “as if I’m not a real person (like I’m just a model used for them to prove some point).” She says she is naturally thin. “I am very happy with my body and how I look because its apart of who I am! Throughout my entire childhood I was called anorexic and people would ask if I was bulimic. And it was really hard sometimes for me to deal with as I have always been this way.” [Daily Mail]

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• Lady Gaga‘s latest V column is in the form of a memorandum. Conceptual! It’s directed to STEPHEN GAN, from M†SS.GAGA, subject “Re: I DON’T SPEAK GERMAN BUT I CAN IF YOU LIKE” with CCs to MRS. VREELAND, HAUS OF GAGa, V COLLECTIVE, LITTLE MONSTERS, THE WORLD, FASHION-SEXUALS, PHILIP TReACY, MY LIVER, MY MOLE, MY PEARLS, MY WIGS, MY TOBACCO CIGS, and MY FIGS. It begins, “Art is a lie. And every day I kill to make it true. It is my destiny to exist halfway between reality and fantasy at all times. They call me ‘theatrical,’ but I posit profusely that I am theatre, and that theatre is me. I am a show with no intermission.” Profusely. [V]
• Hugh Laurie is now a face of L’Oréal. Please Mr. Music, will you play? [People]
• Lindsay Lohan is no longer being sued for allegedly stealing the formula for her Sevin Nyne self-tanner. A Florida judge threw out the lawsuit, citing lack of jurisdiction, and the fact that Sevin Nyne was developed by a company of which Lohan had only indirect ownership. [WWD]
• Kate Moss got a pair of snakeskin heels with “Fuck You” and “Fuck Me” spelled out on each sole for her wedding. [Telegraph]
• Humberto Leon and Carol Lim, the pair behind the cult hipster-friendly boutique Opening Ceremony, have been named the new co-creative directors of LVMH brand Kenzo. This is interesting for two reasons: one, Lim and Leon have no formal design training. And two, Kenzo already had a creative director, Antonio Marras, who was earning good reviews and consistent sales. (Although Women’s Wear Daily reports that the brand’s sales had “ebbed” in “traditional” markets, they were growing under Marras’ creative direction in Russia and China. The Kenzo brand sells around $1 billion worth of clothing, accessories, and perfumes per annum.) [WWD]
• Naturally, this has led to speculation that Marras may have gotten bumped so that he could become the next creative director of Christian Dior, which is also an LVMH brand. [Telegraph]
• “I wish I knew who exactly was determining the size of plus-size models. Whenever I ask a brand, they tell me the agencies don’t have high-caliber bigger models. When I speak to agencies, they tell me that the clients are calling for smaller models, so I’m not exactly sure what is going on. All I know is that I can’t get a clear answer from anyone.” The editor of Plus Model Magazine vents an ongoing frustration. [Refinery29]
• The European debt crisis is taking its toll on luxury stock prices. Unemployment remains high, consumer spending is weak, and the risk of default in Greece and Portugal has investors running scared. In Monday’s trading, Marcolin SpA fell 7.6%, Aeffe SpA dropped 6%, Tod’s SpA fell 5.4%, just-floated Salvatore Ferragamo SpA dropped 4.7%, and in France, PPR declined 2.4%, Hermès International fell 2.3%, and LVMH was down 2.2%. [WWD]
• Meanwhile in Cornwall, things are heating up at the seaside. In a crackdown on public drunkenness and inappropriate behavior, police were forced to confiscate a garment described as a “Borat-style mankini.” Don’t panic: the offending scrap of cloth has already been served with an ASBO. [Telegraph]
• “Going to a couturier is like going to a psychologist. You can tell them everything,” says Sylvia Venturini Fendi. [Vogue UK]
• Model Luisa Bianchin says she was in disbelief when she found out she’d be opening the Marc Jacobs show. “We had a rehearsal 30 minutes before and I saw I was the first girl on the lineup on the table. Like every model gets a number and the Marc Jacobs woman was like, you have number one. I was like, ‘No, you can’t be serious.’ After that, I was so nervous. I was just sitting and thinking, ‘Be cool. If you do well, after this maybe everything will change.'” [WWD]
• Jean Paul Gaultier has designed a swim wear collection for Agent Provocateur. [Vogue UK]
• Macy’s has been fined $750,000 for knowingly selling children’s clothing with drawstrings at the neck, which was outlawed as a choking hazard in 2008. [WWD]
• Kate Middleton‘s wedding has allegedly inspired a 200% uptick in wedding-related horse-and-carriage rentals, according to a survey by Brides magazine. Presumably, 100% of these respondents are unaware that Kate Middleton did not ride in a horse-drawn carriage to her wedding. [Fashionista]