Rihanna, Woman Of The Year, Gets Sued For Plagiarism

Vogue Italia has named Rihanna its Woman of the Year. The mag calls the singer “currently the undisputed best contender to the role of queen of pop. You might wonder — wasn’t that supposed to be Lady Gaga‘s title?” Yes, we were wondering exactly that! What about Gaga, Vogue Italia? “In terms of popularity and fame, as of now Rihanna has stolen Lady Gaga’s Facebook fan-collector crown outsmarting the blond rival by a staggering one hundred-thousand fans.” Outsmarted. Staggering. “Per aspera ad astra,” says Vogue Italia, which then mentions Chris Brown‘s domestic violence and Robyn Rihanna Fenty’s crack-smoking dad. Also, sticks and stones may break Rihanna’s bones, but chains and whips excite her. [Vogue.it]

---

Meanwhile, The first ladymag September issue is here, and it’s Glamour. It prominently features Rihanna‘s sequined ass. [ONTD]

---

And in yet more news of Rihanna, David LaChapelle‘s copyright infringement lawsuit against her has a date for its first hearing: August 10 in New York City. The photographer alleges that Rihanna’s video for “S&M” plagiarizes its “composition, total concept, feel, tone, mood, theme, colours, props, settings, decors, wardrobe and lighting” directly from some of his most famous photographs. LaChapelle says he’s a fan of Rihanna, and the suit is “not personal, it’s strictly business. Musicians commonly pay to sample music or use someone’s beats and there should be no difference when sampling an artist’s visuals.” [Telegraph]

---

Elle Fanning is crying on the new cover of LOVE. [Models.com]

---

Have we mentioned that Marc Jacobs‘ fall ads are genius? On the women’s side, Helena Bonham Carter drew spots all over her skin and pulled faces at Juergen Teller‘s camera; on the men’s side, artist Cerith Wyn Evans cavorts pantslessly, and in one memorable shot, ties a bunch of balloons to his penis. This is fucking hilarious. [Marc Jacobs]

---

Solange Knowles looks better in 100 degree city heat than any human being has a right to look. [Fashionista]

---

Tao Okamoto is styled to look like Freja Beha Erichsen for the new Vogue China Beauty supplement. The cover story is called “Handsome Girl.” [Models.com]

---

“Wood is such a beautiful, clean and versatile material,” says the designer of a collection of wooden hats. [Vogue UK]

---

• Alexander McQueen left £50,000 of his £16 million fortune for the care of his pet dogs. The late designer also instructed in his will that £50,000 be left to each of his two housekeepers, one of whom discovered his body after he took his own life in February of 2010. Large sums also go to members of his family and to four charities he supported, but the bulk of his money will go to McQueen’s own Sarabande foundation, to fund scholarships for Central St. Martins fashion design students. [Independent]
• “Sources” allege that Kim Kardashian filed her $20 million lawsuit against Old Navy for hiringa model who looks just like her not out of jealousy that said model is now dating Kardashian’s ex, Reggie Bush, as the tabloids had surmised, but at the urging of Sears. The Kardashians have a licensed collection of clothing and bedding set to launch exclusively at Sears in a little over a month, and the corporation was allegedly concerned that customers might be confused by the Old Navy lookalike. [TMZ]
• Nicki Minaj and Ricky Martin are replacing Lady Gaga and Cindi Lauper as the faces of MAC Viva Glam lipstick. (The only lipstick that raises money for AIDS!) David LaChapelle shot the two in Miami yesterday. [WWD]
• Grace Coddington has sold her memoir to Random House in a deal rumored to be worth $1.2 million. Vogue writer Michael Roberts will reportedly be her co-writer. [NYObs]
• “Green nail polish may be hot this summer, but ‘it makes me think about nail infections,’ says dermatologist Cynthia Bailey.” Dermatologist Cynthia Bailey sure sounds like a barrel of laughs! Green nail polish makes us think of Sally Bowles. So there. [USAToday]
• Surprise, surprise. As it turns out, two out of the three “fashion buyers” who are set to judge would-be designers on NBC’s forthcoming reality show Fashion Star only play buyers on TV. They are in fact marketing and PR execs at their respective companies, Saks and H&M. [WWD]
• Steven Klein just shot Rihanna and Rafael Nadal for the new Emporio Armani ads. And, with Amber Valletta, he did his first editorial for W under recently-installed editor Stefano Tonchi. “It’s the story of a woman. She starts out at 20 years old and we went up to 120,” said the photographer. [WWD]
• Jewelry designers Monique Péan and Eddie Borgo just won $150,000 and $100,000 grants from the Council of Fashion Designers of America/Vogue Fashion Fund, sponsored by Tiffany & Co. [WWD]
• Alexis Bittar, known for his chunky lucite baubles, says he is working on a fine jewelry collection — and some kind of collaboration with Iris Apfel. (Hope that goes better than the last time Apfel got near jewelry.) [Refinery29]
• American Apparel is launching a store portal on eBay. Although its target audience of customers is young and tech-savvy (among, well, other things), online sales have never been the focus of the company’s expansion, and currently comprise less than 10% of its total revenues. “There are more than 30,000 searches for American Apparel on eBay each month,” says Dov Charney. That’s both good and bad, of course: on eBay, the brand will have to compete directly with people who may be selling its same garments at lower prices. [WWD]
• As rumored, former BCBG Max Azria president Ben Malka has joined Halston, which recently shed its celebrity face and biggest investor (Sarah Jessica Parker), other biggest investor (Harvey Weinstein), and creative mind (Marios Schwab), in one fell swoop. [WWD]