- Michelle Obama wore Donna Karan to the $10,000-a-head fundraiser Karan threw her. PETA protested the event, because Karan uses fur, and PETA will do anything for a headline. "She is gorgeous and smart," said guest Diane von Furstenberg. [WWD]
- Fashion's biggest wigs waited around 30 minutes to have their picture taken with Michelle Obama and Jill Biden. Along with von Furstenberg, Harvey Weinstein, Georgina Chapman, André Leon Talley, Isaac Mizrahi, Michael Kors and Tory Burch were all in attendance. [P6]
- Speaking of Michael Kors, he recorded a video for the It Gets Better project. [YouTube]
- At a later fundraiser that night, the First Lady said, "For so many people, change has not come fast enough, and believe me, it hasn't come fast enough for Barack either." The events raised around $1 million for Democratic candidates. [NYDN]
- Jamie Hince and Kate Moss may have exchanged rings and blessings this summer in Sicily, but they were not legally married, sources say. [This is London]
- Moss's ex Pete Doherty has a jewelry line called Albion Trinketry. [Guardian]
- Alexa Chung has an interesting problem: She gets sent lots of free stuff. "I get sent a fair amount of stuff — but it's not all things that I'd have chosen. It makes you question your own taste sometimes. Do I even like this? My house is tiny and I can't fit things in. So if my mum or my friends don't want it, I send it back or give it to a charity shop. It's worrying to think how much those things are worth. When you get it for free it's like, 'Oh, this thing,' and then you see it in a magazine and fucking hell, it's £2,000! Meanwhile you've been scrabbling around in festival mud in it." [Elle UK via Racked]
- "There are certain designers who are all about the body. Others make an easy fit. You might need to look at other designers that focus less on the body." That was Simon Doonan's explanation to a Post reporter who couldn't fit into the largest size dress Barneys New York carries. [NYPost]
- Marion Cotillard is (still) the face of Dior's Lady Dior handbag line. [WWD]
- Katy Perry has a nail polish collection with OPI coming out this January. One shade is called "Teenage Dream," but perhaps most interesting is "Black Shatter," a top coat that dries to a crackle effect. Weird. [Bella Sugar]
- Nike may not have been able to hammer out a deal with Alexander Wang, but its highly anticipated collaboration with the cult Japanese label Undercover looks very promising indeed. [WWD]
- Kelsey Martinovich — the girl who was told on live television that she'd won Australia's Next Top Model, only to have the host take it back — has landed a presenting gig on Australian MTV. [SMH]
- Trade digest Footwear News apparently held an online poll to determine, scientifically, the Sexiest Shoe. The slipper duly crowned, with the lion's share of the 8,000 votes, is a peep-toe pump covered in crystals that follow a vaguely zebra-stripe pattern. [FN]
- Designer labels like Gucci, Fendi, and Stella McCartney are expanding into children's lines — which means that some people, somewhere, are (stupid enough to be) buying $400 pants their toddlers will grow out of in three months. [NYTimes]
- Speaking of Gucci's kids' line: "sources" tell Women's Wear Daily that the first campaign will feature J.Lo and Marc Anthony's twins, Max and Emme. [WWD]
- Gap is going into the Chinese market in a big way, and it hired Paper contributor and blogger Julia Frakes as the face of its first Chinese ad campaign. [Refinery29]
- U.K. mass-market chain AllSaints just opened its sixth U.S. store, in Los Angeles. Its U.S. retail roll-out should total 50 stores by 2015. [Blackbook]
- Abercrombie & Fitch is opening a store in Paris. Poor Paris. [Oh La La Mag]
- New Zealand designers, despite their innate awesomeness, often find it difficult to crack the U.S. market. The reason? Logistics, mainly: "You are generally looking, for anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, at a 300 percent markup at retail; from transportation, taxes and the cost of the structure of operating in a foreign market," says one industry observer. Which is why aside from Karen Walker, who has taken to showing at New York Fashion Week, many consumers are unable to buy goods from hip labels like Zambesi, Stolen Girlfriends Club, and Alexandra Owen. [WWD]
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