Karl Lagerfeld Says DSK Is "A Sweet Guy — As Long As You're Not A Woman"

Karl Lagerfeld says he sent flowers to Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his wife when they returned to France after the Manhattan district attorney dropped the rape charges made against him by a cleaner at a hotel. “Even in America, Clinton survived his blow job,” says Lagerfeld. “But there was not a lot of doubt that that was consensual,” interjected the interviewer. Lagerfeld replied, “They all do it in the political world. They get horny from politics, from power. And he had unbelievable charms. He is really charming. He’s fun, he’s great. He’s a sweet guy — as long as you’re not a woman. That’s the problem.” As Erin put it this morning, “That’s like saying someone is an awesome driver, as long as you’re not a pedestrian.” [Style.com]

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Lady Gaga was apparently photographed “basically barefaced” for the new Harper’s Bazaar. But “I don’t really view it as ‘natural,'” says Gaga. “I think that artifice is the new reality.” [HB]

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Stella Tennant practices extreme corsetry and planking in the new cover editorial from Vogue Italia. [FGR]

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Model Sojourner Morell’s parents named her after Sojourner Truth. And if you’ve ever wondered why runway models walk, you know, like that, she says, “Some of the runway heels aren’t so stable so you can’t really put a lot of weight on them or they’ll snap. So you have to sort of tiptoe.” This is true! Sample shoes are often crap. Once at an Edun show, we saw a sample heel snap during a model’s second or third footfall. She walked the whole way down and back with the heel dangling from the sole of the shoe. [WWD]

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Here is a $4,000 Halston dress that glows in the dark. [TLF]

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• Tom Ford says he’s finished writing his next film. And the famously Botox-happy designer has this to say on aging: “My mother doesn’t like me saying this but she’s in her late seventies and her boyfriend’s in his late sixties. The point is she’s active and looks amazing, and yet we’ve taught ourselves to think that ageing’s embarrassing. That’s why I left all the wrinkles in the story shot for French Vogue of an old couple having sex.” [Telegraph]
• The Council of Fashion Designers of America notified designers of its official guideline against hiring models under 16 for runway work, which has long been the industry group’s position. This season, the CFDA even suggested designers might card models at castings, and all of New York City’s major modeling agencies pledged not to include girls under 16 in the seasonal “show packages” they use to promote their runway models. But there are 15-year-olds and even one 14-year-old who we’ve noticed in show packages, and now 14-year-old Kylie Jenner is slated to walk in Avril Lavigne’s fashion show. Should she? CFDA executive director Steven Kolb says, “We are not in a position to police or enforce these recommendations. We can only hope that they are followed.” [Fashionista]
• Casting director Andrew Weir, who is casting Thakoon, Rebecca Taylor, Jen Kao, and Rachel Zoe this season, says “I think they all just lie about their age now. I think they’re all still 14!” [Fashionista]
• Unsurprisingly, PETA is not happy that Victoria Beckham makes handbags out of leather and exotic skins, even though her company says that all the hides it sources are harvested in accordance with the international treaties that govern the trade in hides like crocodile and certain types of lizard. [NYDN]
• Kanye West was rumored to be showing at New York fashion week, but now tongues are wagging that he’s picked Paris to debut his first collection. He’s said to have enlisted a “major stylist.” [Fashionologie]
• If you, like most of us, aren’t invited to fashion week, here’s a handy roundup of all the shows you can watch live online. [The Cut]
• Aéropostale, Forever 21, Claire’s, American Eagle, Saks, Gap Inc., Hot Topic, and Target all sold jewelry containing unsafe levels of cadmium, a carcinogenic metal that can also cause kidney damage upon exposure. They have now agreed to a court settlement that requires the payment of a $1 million fine (which is almost laughably paltry) and limits the use of cadmium in all new jewelry sold. [WWD]
• Last December, 30 garment workers died when they were trapped inside a burning factory where they had made clothes for famous t-shirt maker J.C. Penney, Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap Inc., and Target, among other brands, so that Westerners can continue paying artificially low prices for their clothing. The fire was found to have been preventable had the factory observed minimum safety standards. In January, all of the companies who counted the factory as a supplier agreed to compensate the victims and their families — but now J.C. Penney has reportedly reneged on that commitment. They probably thought nobody would notice! What’s 30 dead Bangladeshi garment workers to J.C. Penney, anyway? [Babble]
• Meanwhile, a Bangladeshi garment worker employed at a factory in Jordan alleges that her Sri Lankan boss raped her repeatedly. The factory, Classic, Jordan’s largest garment exporter to the U.S. and does about $125 million in business annually producing Hanes clothing for Target and filling orders for Wal-Mart, Macy’s, Kohl’s and Lands’ End. The Institute for Labour and Global Human Rights says that “at least 300 workers have been raped by Classic managers since 2007. It also accuses managers of beating workers, forcing them to work long shifts with few breaks, refusing to pay their salaries and intimidating the women into silence by threatening to have them deported.” [AP]
• Project Runway is getting a spin-off called Project Accessory and supermodel Molly Sims will host. [L&S]
• There was a rumor that Kate Moss had bought a vineyard in the south of France on the advice of Johnny Depp; sadly, this rumor is false. [Vogue UK]
• Lara Stone won the Best Woman of the Year award from GQ U.K. [Vogue UK]
• Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor, who co-founded Juicy Couture but left the company after it was acquired by Liz Claiborne, are launching a new label. It will be called Skaist-Taylor, and they plan to show it at New York fashion week in February. [WWD]
• Designer Stacey Bendet of Alice + Olivia says she survives fashion week thanks to tequila. [Marie Claire]
• The Council of Fashion Designers of America and Tommy Hilfiger are underwriting ten U.S.-based designers to show their collections at showroom appointments in Paris this season. Congratulations to Prabal Gurung, Sophie Theallet, Simon Spurr, Billy Reid, Eddie Borgo, Monique Péan, Ohne Titel, George Esquivel, Gregory Parkinson and Pamela Love. [WWD]
• Roland Mouret designed a dress inspired by Wallis Simpson. How come? “As a fashion designer, how can you not be interested in her? It was so interesting to me to learn about her life. What you see on the outside isn’t always what you see on the inside. She was one of the first women in history to fight against the establishment, to grow in society. She was one of the first to really use her tools as a woman to fight for something — even if it did end up being for nothing.” No, but really how come? “Physically, she was very skinny.” Ah, that’s it. [Vogue UK]
• Talbot’s, which has been struggling to right itself since the onset of the recession, today announced that it lost $37.3 million during the second quarter of this year. The company has fired its creative director. [WWD]
• Richemont, which owns Cartier, Chloé, and Dunhill, among other brands, saw sales jump by 29% year-on-year during the five months to August 31. [WWD]