- Model Coco Rocha, 21, has announced her engagement to boyfriend James Conran, a 29-year-old muralist and interior designer. We wish them the warmest congratulations. [OhSoCoco]
- Rocha‘s first ad for Rimmel is out. It involves…vibrant blue eyeshadow. [SB]
- And Rocha was interviewed for a piece in the New York Times that had nothing to do with her weight, her health, or which clients will and won’t book her. It was all about how she grew up flying a lot, because her parents and stepmother all worked for the airlines, and before September 11th, when her flight attendant mother couldn’t get childcare, she’d bring the young Mikhaila on long-haul flights and put her to sleep in the cockpit. Rocha still regards flight crews as a kind of extended family. [NYTimes]
- Roberto Cavalli, whom we have always believed was separated at birth from Christian Audigier, closed out Milan’s foreshortened fashion week with a party. Courtney Love was imbricated in the proceedings, as was a lady in a muumuu. [FWD]
- Buyers at the Milan shows were pleased that many of the designers sent out collections that, in their opinion, targeted customers who were actual grown-ups. [WWD]
- Cathy Horyn on the other hand let forth a screed of a review that has us quaking and glancing at the screen nervously, in fear she might have some revulsion left over to release in our direction. Milan was “An eternity of bad clothes crammed into four days with editors raging like shut-ins about the lack of fun (‘Help, I need a drink!’) and the blogger Bryanboy announcing on Twitter that he had scored a free fur jacket from Dolce & Gabbana.” It goes on: “40-watt personalities.” “Maybe this is as good as it gets.” “It seems in many ways a country of reduced expectations.” “Promoting new talent is only effective when there is something genuinely relevant behind it.” And she seems to be angling for another disinvitation to Giorgio Armani, although given what she wrote, perhaps not sitting through another of his shows would be the true gift: “Big houses like Giorgio Armani can’t expect to reach around the globe, putting down hotels with little GA soaps and towels, without more thrust than yesterday’s understated pantsuit.” Read the rest. Someone in Paris, please get that woman a drink. [NYTimes]
- In what has to be the most unusual celebrity-designer pairing we’ve ever heard tell of, Lutz & Patmos tapped the Archbishop Desmond Tutu to design a sweater for its spring collection. It comes in three colors, includes a matching beaded necklace made by workers at the Hillcrest AIDS Center Trust, and costs $425. $40 of that goes to Tutu’s Peace Center, and $30 to the AIDS center. [Refinery29]
- Lady Gaga, Sharon Osbourne, and Cyndi Lauper crossed the Atlantic to launch their M.A.C. Viva Glam lipstick/charity campaign in London. “Seventy-two percent of sexually active women in the United Kingdom have never been tested for HIV,” said Lady Gaga. “Don’t be a knucklehead,” said Lauper. [WWD]
- After claiming just last week that he and Grace Coddington were united in their opposition to Twitter and blogging, the Vogue editor who will not have lunch in a car, André Leon Talley, has joined the digital moil. Diane von Furstenberg confirmed @OfficialALT is the work of the man himself, although it should be noted that in some of his tweets, Talley is referred to in the third person. Today he says he’s helping style Lee Daniels and his daughter for the Academy Awards. [@OfficialALT]
- The private equity firm that owns Tommy Hilfiger, Apax, may be looking to sell its investment. Although Apax has long intended to float Hilfiger in an IPO — preparations were postponed two years ago because of the economy — rumor has it that it may sell instead to Philips-Van Heusen Corp., which owns Calvin Klein. [WWD]
- For some reason, Avril Lavigne has seen fit to add a dash of Alice In Wonderland to her atrocious juniors’ line. “I went through binders of images from the film to get inspiration for the clothing. We ended up using a lot of the floral prints, which were the flowers with the faces, and the verbiage [like] ‘Shrink me.’ It was kind of like anything and everything.” The astoundingly creative result? “My favorite is the white T-shirt with the rabbit stopwatch on it because it’s the iconic stopwatch.” The iconic stopwatch. Or, pocket watch. You know, it’s all the same to her — so long as the royalty checks roll in. [People]
- Two things about this link: “Quizzically” is used as though it were a synonym for “puzzlingly” (although we do love the image of Alessandra Ambrosio walking Prada while haughtily quizzing the front row); Victoria’s Secret is launching a new sub-brand of its Body by Victoria’s Secret range, to be called Love Your Body. [StyleList]
- In other news-with-malapropisms, this story includes the phrase, “cut muster.” O.J. Simpson has offered to donate the suit he was wearing when he was acquitted of murdering Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman to the Smithsonian. Museum officials say they would be highly unlikely to accept it. [TMZ]
- Martin Margiela‘s clothing will be the focus of an exhibition this summer at Somerset House in London. [DazedDigital]
- Rumor has it that Vogue editor Anna Wintour is looking to wield her kingmaker powers on behalf of Christopher Kane. The designer is young and British — two things Wintour likes — and already snagged a gig as creative director of Versace‘s relaunched Versus lower-priced line thanks to an introduction from Wintour. What could she have in mind for him now? [Fashionista]
- Lanvin opened its second U.S. store, and it is in Las Vegas. [WWD]
- A superbowl ad for Hyundai that featured a group of men playing basketball with a brown ball stamped with a pattern that resembled the famous — and trademarked — Louis Vuitton monogram has become a source of controversy. Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy is now suing the Korean automaker. [BW]
- Liya Kebede and Lily Donaldson are featured in an editorial in this month’s V, allegedly re-enacting some of Salt ‘n’ Pepa‘s greatest fashion moments. We’ll wait for the reunion tour. [Refinery29]
- Two brothers who choked designer Nicole Farhi into unconsciousness during a mugging spree, and robbed her of jewelry and an heirloom Rolex watch, have been ordered by a judge to pay reparations of £560,000 to their victims. Given that the robberies were done to fund the purchase of crack cocaine, this seems awfully hopeful. One of the pair received a life sentence, the other an indeterminate sentence with a 9-year mandatory minimum. [Guardian]
- Kenneth Cole Reaction is launching a new sportswear sub-brand that will be sold exclusively at Macy’s. [WWD]
- An utterly inconsequential bit of scuttlebutt has Rachel Zoe intervening to get security to remove her former assistant, Taylor Jacobsen, from the Standard Hotel’s Boom Boom Room last weekend when the two stylists each turned up there at the same time. [Fox]
- The ad for Akoo jeans that implied fellatio was imminent between the two models pictured, having earned its quote of free publicity and generated the entirely predictable public outrage, is going to be taken down. [AP]
- Printemps is opening a pop-up store this summer in Paris that will heavily feature the department store’s favorite shade of red. It will sell versions of the same high-margin luxury accessories you might find at the regular Printemps, only they will be red, too. [WWD]
- Although Uniqlo‘s same-store sales fell 7.8% on last year during the month of January, February’s numbers indicate a rise of 1.8%. [WWD]
- A salon has opened in L.A. that offers only blow-outs. No cuts. No colors. Just blow-outs. [LATimes]
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