- Alexa Chung hates: “Bad manners,” “When people talk about The Wire beyond season one,” and “That I have a far-from-pretty voice. This, coupled with the fact that karaoke is basically my favorite activity, makes for some very sad evenings.” [Blackbookmag]
- Stella McCartney launched her second collection for GapKids in London. [WWD]
- The Council of Fashion Designers of America last night announced the nominees for its 2010 awards. Up for the women’s wear designer of the year are Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs, and Alexander Wang; Men’s designer of the year is Rag & Bone, Michael Bastian, and Tom Ford. The accessories nominations went to Proenza Schouler, Marc Jacobs, and Alexis Bittar, and Alexander McQueen is to receive a posthumous special award. [On The Runway]
- The CFDA also voted to give president Diane von Furstenberg a third, two-year term, even though the CFDA has a by-law restricting the presidency to two terms. See what you’ve done, Bloomberg? [WWD]
- The Queen threw a party at Buckingham Palace for 350 fashion industry peeps, including Erin O’Connor, Stella McCartney, and David Bailey, and Christopher Kane. It is unknown whether Prince Philip, who spent the night mingling, managed to grievously insult anyone. [Elle UK]
- Macy’s sold $3 million worth of Beyoncé‘s perfume Heat in the month since it launched. When Beyoncé herself signed autographs at Macy’s Herald Square flagship, sales spiked to 72,000 in just one hour. [WWD]
- The company also just launched a new men’s wear collection with its own store-within-a-store, called Threads & Heirs. It’s partly designed by Ruffian‘s Brian Wolk and Claude Morais. [WWD]
- Anna Wintour will make a rare public appearance when she gives a guest lecture at the Pratt Institute on April 19. However, Hamish Bowles will field the audience questions. Let’s not get carried away — her eminence has better things to do than hang around for the Q&A. [FWD]
- Speaking of Ms. Wintour, someone claiming to be her daughter, Bee Shaffer, has registered a WordPress blog called “New York Notebook.” We think it’s fake, because not only is she engaging with the Fake Anna Wintour — my God, our heads hurt just thinking about the fakeness of one fake persona accusing another fake persona of being fake — but lines like “I’m sure all of you also aware with the fact that a lot of people wants to have the life of a famous person,” don’t just seem like typos, they seem like the agreement errors of a non-native speaker. [NewYorkNotebook]
- And here we have it: a Vogue spokesperson says Shaffer does not tweet or blog. [P6]
- Leigh Lezark stars in Henry Holland‘s spring 2010 Levi’s collection. Which, can we just say, is totally hideous. [Catwalk Queen]
- A Helmut Newton photograph of Carla Bruni wearing no pants will be auctioned off in London. It is valued at up to $7,500, but last time one went up for sale, it fetched $91,000, more than 20 times the expected price. However, when a print of that same image, by Michel Comte, was auctioned off last year, it only raised 6,000 Euros. So the market for naked photos of Carla Bruni is clearly not robust. [NYP]
- We’ve already drawn your attention to Third And Delaware, the amazing blog dedicated to cataloging the fashions of Roseanne, but did you know there was one called Should Be On The Nanny, too? Most of Davidelfin and Rochas fall 2010 looks like it could have sprung fully-formed from the wardrobe of Fran. [Refinery29]
- Maria Pinto, the Chicago designer who made the turquoise dress Michelle Obama famously wore at the Democratic National Convention, is liquidating the last of her stock at her boutique. The designer had previously announced the closure of her business, because of falling wholesale orders. “I just need to take a break,” said Pinto. “I will be in fashion for sure, but in some new facet. I think the whole industry’s changing.” [CBS]
- Benetton is firing its C.E.O. after just less than three years in charge of the Italian retailer. Net profits at the company fell to €122 million in the year 2009, from €155 million in 2008. During the same period, sales fell 3.7%. [WSJ]