- Hark, watchers of the court of Karl Lagerfeld: doubleplustop prettyboy Brad Koenig is out. Model Baptiste Giabiconi is in. This is just like when Louis XV replaced Madame de Pompadour with Marie-Louise O’Murphy! [The Cut]
- Police in Berlin have been told not to wear clothes by the labels Fred Perry, Ben Sherman, ACAB, Alpha Industries, Consdaple, Lonsdale, Pit Bull, Outlaw, Troublemaker, and Thor Steinar while on duty. The reason? Higher-ups consider these brands to be popular among right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis, and understandably, German authorities are at pains to be dissociated from such ideologies. The labels involved — with the exception of Thor Steinar, which apparently embraces neo-Nazi-ism — are concerned because being put on the official neo-Nazi uniform list makes for terrible press. (Some of the companies have taken particular care to distance themselves from extremist political views and tried to restrict their sales outlets to combat the right-wing perception.) The police union also objected to the ban, because they think it could harm undercover officers’ ability to blend in with the groups they are infiltrating. [WWD]
- Those fish pedicures? Not legal in 14 states. The downsized fish in one New Hampshire salon now swim around a decorative tank, eating fish food “or each other if they get too hungry.” Why did we think having live fish chew the dead flesh off our toes was a good idea, again? (Remember when Diane Sawyer did it?) [WSJ]
- Diane von Furstenberg is keen, in her role as president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, to clarify the purpose of New York fashion week, and distinguish between trade events and consumer events. She’s interested in seeing more consumer shows. As for her own line, no men’s wear and no children’s wear is in the cards. [WWD]
- Kate Moss is supposedly coming to New York on April 1 or the supposed opening of the first American Top Shop. We’ve had our Top Shopping hearts broken by these exact wolf cries before, so, we’re not getting our hopes up. [P6]
- Robin Givhan, fashion critic for the Washington Post, is not cheered by the thought of a return to the time when everyone’s ass was in acid wash. On the 80s revival theme prevalent this season — perhaps most notably in Marc Jacobs‘ collection — Givhan says, “I think that it’s just a lack of imagination whenever so many people latch on to something like that … And I think I would feel differently if I thought it was sort of lovingly being done well and with a certain panache. But I don’t think the world needs MC Hammer pants ever, ever again. Michael Jackson is back and he wants his clothes … I mean, acid-wash jeans, hello? Hasn’t everyone had some horrible run in with acid-wash jeans?” [The Cut]
- French daily Le Monde has launched a new style magazine — kinda like the New York Times‘ T. Why do we say that? Partly because it’s called M. Audrey Marnay is on the cover, and there’s a neat Matthias Vriens editorial inside. [Fashionologie]
- DSW, the discount shoe retailer, lost $7.5 million last quarter. [WSJ]
- Selling briskly by comparison is anything to do with that sparkly vampire abstinence movie. [WWD]
- Dov Charney, founder and CEO of American Apparel, bought $2.67 million worth of shares in his own company. It boosted the stock price, which hit a low of $1.26 on March 10, just before a crucial refinancing deal saved the company from bankruptcy, to $3.38. Charney had made personal loans to American Apparel before, but never made a large direct purchase of company stock. [WSJ]
- Clarins is hoping to boost sales by opening mini-salons, and targeting Hispanic customers, within department stores in the U.S. Maybe they could try putting some women of color in their beauty campaigns? [WSJ]
- A raft of business executives and fashion operatives, including John Varvatos, Stephen I. Sadove, and Wal-Mart chief merchandising officer John Fleming will speak at this year’s Global Retailing Conference at the University of Arizona’s Lundgren Center. This is of course assuming they don’t decide to just hold each other and weep. [WWD]
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