Kate Upton swears she has “no idea” if she’s going to be on the cover of American Vogue in June, as rumored. “I have no idea what’s happening,” she says. “I feel like it’s easier to deal with my schedule just one day at a time.” You know, we forget a lot of things — keys, sex partners, certain moments from the summers of 2008 and 2009 — but we are pretty sure we’d remember doing a Vogue cover shoot. It just seems like the kind of thing that, having done it, you wouldn’t forget. It’s worth mentioning that Upton was speaking at a Samsung event; in an interview pitch sent to numerous blogs, a Samsung publicist last week volunteered that the model could speak about “her upcoming Vogue cover in June.” [Esquire]
The Kardashians have a line of self-tanning products. Check out their artificially colored and flavored advertisement. [WWD]
- Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is being charged with taking advantage of France’s richest woman and one of the richest women in the fashion and beauty industries, the elderly L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt. Bettencourt’s $30 billion fortune has been put under scrutiny by the courts in recent years after she started giving lavish gifts to younger friends, including the photographer François-Marie Banier, to whom she gave a total of €1 billion. Banier was charged with abus de faiblesse, or taking pecuniary advantage of a person not in full control of his or her faculties. The case was resolved when Bettencourt and her adult daughter came to an agreement that protected the daughter’s inheritance. Sarkozy is charged with the same offense in relation to donations he allegedly received from Bettencourt for his 2007 presidential campaign. Sarkozy denies the allegations. [WaPo]
- As rumored, the world’s second-largest luxury conglomerate, PPR, is changing its name to Kering. François-Henri Pinault announced the change, along with the new motto “Empowering Imagination” (cringe), at a press conference. [WWD]
- This new Lara Stone spread in i-D makes us feel strange. [i-D]
- Women’s Wear Daily takes note of the alphabetical trend in cosmetics and, as the trade paper puts it, the new vogue for products “which tend to sound more like bond ratings than beauty offerings.” BB (beauty balm) creams begat CC (complexion correction) creams, and now we’re getting DD (disguise and diminish) creams. [WWD]
- How many people does it take to name 12 new OPI nail polish shades? “Six crazy people from Marketing, Susan from Purchasing, and Elaine from Customer Service,” and eight hours of brainstorming, according to C.E.O. Suzi Weiss Fischmann. [Fashionista]
- Cambodia, where apparel manufacturing is the biggest sector of the economy, raised its minimum wage for the second time this year. The new wage will be $75/month, up from $61/month. A living wage in Phnom Penh, where the garment industry is centered, is $124/month, according to government figures. [WWD]
- The online boutique Nasty Gal is testing out free overnight shipping on orders over $150. [TC]
- Armani Exchange has named Patrick Robinson its new creative director. Robinson was the creative director of Gap until he was fired in 2010, and previously worked for Paco Rabanne and Perry Ellis. And his Kickstarter fashion line was so close to coming to fruition… [WWD]
- Stylist Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele, upon learning that some people think Uggs are, well, ugly:
- “I don’t care! I love these things. Nothing for me is démodé in the world. I do my own thing, I don’t care what people think.”
- De Dudzeele pairs her Uggs with a Chanel bag, trackpants, and a Prada coat. [Fashionista]
- Mulberry issued a warning that its profits for fiscal 2012 would be below the company’s projections, and its stock price fell 17%. [WWD]
- Profits at Salvatore Ferragamo rose by 30% from 2011 to 2012, to $135.7 million. [WWD]
- Net income at Tiffany’s rose year-on-year by 0.7%, to $179.6 million, during the quarter just ended. [WWD]
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