McQueen Loses Design Award To Inanimate Object; Lady Gaga Wears Glasses For Third Eye

By Jenna Sauers | March 19, 2010 | 3:30pm

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Alexander McQueen‘s spring 2010 collection won the fashion category at the Brit Insurance Design of the Year Awards, but lost out overall to a plug that folds flat. A plug. That folds flat. [Vogue UK]
Lady Gaga wore helmet sunglasses made by a German company while on tour. The model is named after Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, and the glasses are advertised as offering protection from microwaves for the third eye. [ASVOF]
Kelly Cutrone‘s If You Have To Cry, Go Outside is number 21 on the New York Times nonfiction best-seller list. [Racked]
The North Face and Polo Ralph Lauren have teamed up to file a lawsuit against more than 130 Chinese-based websites that sell counterfeit goods to American consumers via convincing-looking, but fake, domains like polo4sale.com, outletnorthface.com, and northfaceoutdoor.com. The two American brands claim that the websites are all part of a network orchestrated by the operators of B2BSharing.com, Fujian Sharing Import & Export Ltd., which is listed as a defendant of unknown address in China. Sounds like the lawsuit, and collecting any eventual judgment, might pose some…difficulties. [WWD]
Coco Rocha Tweeted yesterday that she was meeting with Zac Posen to discuss designs for her wedding dress. [@OhSoCoCo]
Rocha‘s friend and fellow model, Behati Prinsloo, announced over her Twitter that she is designing a line for Victoria’s Secret Pink, a brand she frequently works for. It’ll include swimsuits and cover-ups. [@BeePrinsloo]
Jason Wu is on The View today; he taped the episode the day his nomination for the Council of Fashion Designers of America‘s Swarovski Award for women’s wear was announced. [Style.com]
Of all the nominees for the Swarovski Award, Cathy Horyn suggests keeping an eye on Joseph Altuzarra. Also, watch what she does here in comparing the nominees for the main women’s wear award: “[Marc Jacobs‘] fall collection of beautiful and modest clothes makes him deserving. Ditto Donna Karan who has sharpened up her collections in recent seasons. And Alexander Wang is fast building a brand.” That’s some faint praise for young Alex. [OnTheRunway]
“I thought I have to be in a wheelchair hooked up to a respirator to get this,” quipped Michael Kors, after learning he had would be getting the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award come June. [WWD]
Meanwhile, the British Fashion Council is supporting emerging designers by holding a three-day showroom for 21 of them in New York. The BFC set up a similar showroom in Paris this season; the goal is to increase British designers’ profile overseas, and introduce their work to editors and buyers on their home turf. [Telegraph]
Decadestwo, the pricey Los Angeles vintage consignment store, is having a four-day pop-up store in New York. There’s a rack of Alexander McQueen, and on the last day, all the shoes will be marked down to $150. (Limit three.) [VF]
Tomorrow, Anthropologie is launching its first international website, at anthropologie.co.uk. It’ll carry the same assortment of products as the brand’s London stores, but priced in a variety of world currencies, and it will ship internationally. [WWD]
Alberta Ferretti is adding e-commerce to her site, too. [WWD]
Scientists say they have created a light-bending cloak that is capable of rendering objects beneath it totally invisible from any angle. So far the objects have been minuscule, but they want to work on making larger things invisible, too. Harry Potter, eat your heart out. [NYP]