H&M just announced it’ll be selling a Dragon Tattoo movie tie-in limited-edition clothing collection, in case you hadn’t already assembled all the items necessary for your Lisbeth Salander Halloween costume from your local Hot Topic. Designed by the American film adaptation’s costume designer, Trish Summerville, it’ll hit stores on December 14 — one week before the release of the movie. “It was really great that H&M is a strong company that can afford and wanted to do some sort of collaboration with us, because it is a very controversial book,” said Summerville. “They were just like, ‘Yeah, she’s Swedish, she’s amazing, and we want to be a part of this.’ And that was so great to hear, because America has a little bit of a harder time with those kinds of issues. I mean, Americans are fine with violence but they’re like, ‘Oh — sex? Strong women? We’re not so sure about that.’” The most expensive item from the collection will be a $199 leather jacket. [WWD]
Speaking of collaborations, Lindsay Wixson runs backwards on a life-sized hamster wheel in the ad for Versace’s H&M collection. [YouTube]
W published an American football-inspired editorial. Meh. Mikael Jansson did it better a few years ago for Vogue Paris. [Models.com]
In case you were wondering, yes — it did take a lot of work to cover up Rico “Zombie Boy” Genest’s full-body tattoos for that concealer ad. [YouTube]
Bottega Veneta, continuing its tradition of commissioning artists to do its seasonal campaigns, tapped Brazilian photographer Mona Kuhn to shoot its Resort ads. [WWD]
Léa Seydoux, the French actress and former American Apparel model, is the face of Prada‘s Resort campaign. [Fashionista]
The Huffington Post noticed that there have been a lot of magazine covers that feature armpits recently. We find this slideshow instructive in how it shows different titles’ approaches to Photoshopping pits, though. [HuffPo]
This Valentino pump, according to 35,000 people on the Internet who voted in a poll, is the year’s sexiest shoe. [WWD]
- Ralph Lauren says that early in his career, he actually chose not to sell his first batch of ties — Lauren began by making ties — to Bloomingdale’s, which wanted to buy them. The store wanted to replace the Ralph Lauren label with its own. Says the designer, “I was 26 years old and just married, and I really was starting my career, and here I was closing the bag and saying, ‘I am not going to sell you.’ Six months later they came back and bought the ties.” [WWD]
- From the department of No Shit Studies comes this survey, which shows that wearing high heels makes it more likely that you will trip and/or fall over. This seems true, although perhaps slightly exaggerated, given the survey was sponsored by a company that makes boring old sneakers. [Guardian]
- Adele is going to be on the December cover of Cosmopolitan. [WWD]
- Doo-Ri Chung says that she had to tone things down for her upcoming Macy’s collaboration. “The Macy’s people were really helpful with that. I had to cut things much more conservatively. They were like, ‘It has to have sleeves!’ Also, everything had to be longer — the skirts had to come to the knee at least.” [The Cut]
- Carine Roitfeld is styling next season’s Chanel campaign, too. [WWD]
- A bustier from Madonna‘s Who’s That Girl? tour fetched $72,000 at auction. And it’s not even Gaultier. [HuffPo]
- Paula Deen has licensed her name to a clothing line. [Styleite]
- Nicole Sherzinger is going to be the face of London Fog. Previous faces include Gisele Bündchen and Christina Hendricks, which makes this announcement all the more random. [WWD]
- Another place where women’s plus-size clothing offerings are lacking in, well, options other than the tent dress? India. Reports the magazine Open, “Plus size fashion in India is virtually non-existent. For a retail market that sees an international brand enter the country every month, fashionable plus-size clothing is conspicuous by its absence. And it is a woman’s problem. Men, however metrosexual they may get, are hardly ever judged by their size.” Sources quoted in the piece blame — surprise, surprise — high fashion, and India’s importation of the restrictive 34″-24″-34″ beauty standard set by the international modeling industry. But Vogue India’s fashion director disagrees: “I think India is actually the best place for plus size women — you can get a tailor-made outfit for affordable rates. And why just talk about plus-sized people? Even petite people don’t get their sizes. But now you can also shop online. Vogue has always celebrated all shapes and sizes. It’s a market that’s growing.” Sigh. [Open]
- Wal-Mart is closing its New York apparel office, at a cost of 275 jobs. The retailer’s foray into slightly more fashionable offerings has been judged unsuccessful; the chain is focusing on basics from now on, which can be done out of Bentonville, Arkansas. [WWD]
- Garance Doré and Scott Schuman of the Sartorialist are looking for an ad sales director to serve their two sites. [Fashionista]
- Anya Hindmarch more than doubled 2010 profits, from £246,000 ($381,000) to £550,000 ($853,000). This was on the back of a 12.3% rise in sales. [WWD]
- And now, a moment with Cathy Horyn. The Times critic goes on a studio visit at Alexander McQueen in this short video. Sarah Burton also shares some insightful comments, but Horyn has this advice for young would-be fashion writers:
- “I tell young people that, you know, you can be a really good reporter. And Paris is a small world. You don’t need to go to the shows, per se, you can see them online. But start talking to people. And find out what’s going on in the houses. And be a really good Bob Woodward of the fashion world. And you know, they wonder, well what if I don’t get invited to the show? And it’s not about that. You want to be able to have information that nobody else has. Those are reporting skills.”
- [Nowness]
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