- Finally, an explanation as to why there was an empty front-row seat for Matt Damon at the L.A.M.B. show! It was all because of a crasher. Some dude talked his way into the show by pretending to be Damon’s agent. The empty seat caused an all-runway media pile-up the likes of which we have not seen since the Spitzer hooker got seated at Yigal Azrouël. Throngs of photographers and reporters crowded the empty seat, rumors were started (for a time, it was believed that the seat was not for Matt Damon but for Matt Dillon) and then corrected (this was clearly disinformation intended only to weed out those who lacked the conviction necessary to pursue front-row reporting); things just got more mysterious when it was said that backstage, someone had asked Gwen Stefani about why Matt Damon should be at her fashion show, and Stefani had replied that she didn’t even know Matt Damon. It turns out that a man who took the wrong moral lesson from Six Degrees of Separation was the cause of all this consternation. Peter Gianquinto goes to events and pretends to be the manager of someone famous, essentially. Dylan Bernstein, the son of the Beatles manager, has experience with the smooth-talker. “He befriended himself to our family as Peter Mellon of the Mellon banking family,” says Bernstein. “It is ironic that Peter used Matt Damon‘s name when Peter himself reminds me of a harmless Talented Mr. Ripley.” [P6]
- Sarah Jessica Parker skipped the Halston show at New York fashion week — but turned up at a trade show called Fashion Coterie to man the Halston booth, model samples, and talk to buyers. [P6]
- Artist Marc Quinn — best known for his sculptures Alison Lapper Pregnant, which was installed in Trafalgar Square, and Siren, a life-sized gold statue of Kate Moss with her legs behind her ears — says that Akris used some of his prints without his permission in its spring collection. “To take someone’s copyright material and turn it into a commercial product without their permission is completely unacceptable,” says Quinn. Akris admits its creative director, Albert Kreimler, was inspired by a trip to a gallery, but says “Within his design process Albert too [sic] this as inspiration — adding his own creativity and artwork.” [Vogue UK]
- Calvin Klein went out for dinner with his pretty, pretty boyfriend, Nick Gruber, and was so distracted that he left his credit card behind. [P6]
- There’s a new campaign out for CK1, starring models Abbey Lee Kershaw, Alice Dellal, Pixie Geldof, Fei Fei Sun, Ruby Aldridge, and Lara Stone…and singer Sky Ferreira. The TV ads are, like, really exciting and hip with all these jump cuts and stuff. [WWD]
- Carolyn Murphy, Gisele Bündchen, Karen Elson, Guinevere van Seenus, Isabeli Fontana, Jamie Bochert, Malgosia Bela, and Natasha Poly scored a cover apiece of the new Muse magazine. [MDX]
- “McQueen’s work fits easily in the discourse of art. He can be considered no less than a great artist,” said Metropolitan Museum of Art director Thomas P. Campbell. Alexander McQueen is the subject of this year’s Met Costume Institute show, and Campbell, curator Andrew Bolton, Samantha Cameron, and Anna Wintour held a press conference in London yesterday to drum up publicity for the show. [Vogue UK]
- Yet another reason to hate the fake-ass distressed denim trend: sandblasting, one of the techniques used to achieve the look, causes fatal lung disease in garment workers. H&M and Levi’s have voluntarily agreed to stop using sandblasting on their denim. Particulate from the silica sand used to distress denim can enter the lungs and cause a disease known as silicosis. [WWD]
- Allegedly, Mary-Kate Olsen is dating Seth Campbell, the shoe designer. [PopEater]
- According to “an impeccable source,” Kate Middleton has retained the services of milliner Philip Treacy for her wedding. [Daily Mail]
- An anonymous fashion editor could “really imagine” Erdem Moralioglu designing Kate Middleton‘s wedding dress. Or, you know, someone else. [Vogue UK]
- Meanwhile, at the Erdem show, a very thin Swedish model — current Marc Jacobs face Chloe Memisevic — walked the runway, and front-row guest Samantha Cameron kind of pulled a face. [Daily Mail]
- Pippa Middleton was a no-show at the Issa show. Kate Middleton spurred global interest in the label after wearing a blue jersey wrap dress by the brand. [IHT]
- Tom Ford‘s show was so private, even the newspapers could only determine with confidence that it was held “somewhere in London.” [Guardian]
- A lot of celebrities attended the Burberry show. Fashion people Tweeted that they didn’t care. [Telegraph, @SHOWstudio]
- News from the textile industry: cotton is being blended with linen, viscose, synthetics, silks, wool, Lyocell, Tencel, Modal — anything, just anything, really, to try and keep costs down now that cotton is selling at historically high prices. [WWD]
- Juicy Couture is suing a brand called Jesus Juice Coature for trademark infringement. The Liz Claiborne-owned brand says Jesus Juice Coature is copying its proprietary Gothic-style logo font. [SheFinds]
- Mulberry held two shows, back-to-back. At the first was the usual front-row crowd — actresses without current projects, people who used to date slightly famous people, et cetera — and at the second, were a lot of dogs. [WWD]
- Moncler is said to be planning an initial public offering on the Milan stock exchange. [WWD]
- Model Julia Nobis: “Fashion Week parties are really stupid.” Instead of going out after her workday, Nobis has to go back to an agency apartment and rip approximately 90lbs of hair extensions from her scalp. (Been there! Not fun.) [The Cut]
- Now that his former stylist and creative consultant, Emmanuelle Alt, is the editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris, Christophe Decarnin of Balmain has found a new right-hand lady in Melanie Ward. [WWD]
- Oh yes, that nice, big picture of an ass crack really sells those American Apparel fingerless gloves. [Copyranter]
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