Kim Kardashian Sues Old Navy Over Doppelgänger Model

By Jenna Sauers | July 21, 2011 | 4:40pm

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Kim Kardashian is suing Old Navy for up to $20 million. Why? Kardashian alleges that the chain purposefully cast a model who looks just like her in its new ads, with the intention of misleading customers into thinking that the chief Sister K was somehow affiliated with the brand. And it just so happens that the model, Melissa Molinaro, is also dating Kim’s ex, Reggie Bush. (Guess he has a type.) Molinaro is pictured here on the right; Kim’s on the left. Old Navy has been enjoying the publicity: the ad has been viewed over 1.7 million times on YouTube. [Daily Mail]

Hailee Steinfeld doesn’t think that at 14 she is too young to be the face of a major luxury brand, Miu Miu. She points out that before she earned her role in True Grit, she did a lot of “print” work, which is what people who are primarily actors call modeling in ads. She was even in a Guess campaign in 2007 (pictured) — but we’d point out that the difference is there she was depicted as a kid, and for Miu Miu Steinfeld’s supposed to be the avatar of a grown-up. “I think the best part about this collection and the campaign is the fact that it’s so sophisticated,” Steinfeld says. “It’s timeless. And I think for younger girls like me it works. It feels appropriate.” Steinfeld reportedly “spent most of the evening” at Miu Miu’s recent party in Los Angeles talking with Tavi Gevinson, who we’re guessing was probably the only other teenager around. [Fashionista]
Fashion writer Mary H.K. Choi is nonetheless troubled by Steinfeld’s Miu Miu ads — though she’s not particularly concerned for models who regularly work for major luxury brands and magazines in their early and mid-teens: “I do also know that there are models a scant year older that routinely grace magazine covers and trot down runways for all the world to see in undoubtedly gorgeous but skimpy outfits. But, and maybe this is just me, models are SUCH phenotypic anomalies that they sort of have nothing to do with regular, young, female, girls.” She thinks Steinfeld sets a bad example precisely because she is presumably more relatable than models are: “My point is this. I just feel like the platonic ideal of beauty these days seems a little screwy and is quickly becoming more bonkers…My concern is that I don’t want 12-year-olds to know about $500-$1,200 ballet flats. I don’t want them to get it twisted that they have to dress in the demure gown that a 50-year-old who had to endure four divorces to claw her way to a specific tax bracket would also wear.” [MTV Style]

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Speaking of Tavi, she’s working on a book with one of our favorite authors, Marisa Meltzer! The two are shopping a proposal for a book tentatively titled Diary, which will be about “the state of being a teenager.” Women’s Wear Daily reports that the work will be “one part make-your-own scrapbook, one part feminist manifesto for girls and one part celebrity memento collage, featuring art made by Miranda July or Rodarte’s Mulleavy sisters when they were young. It will also include plenty of less heady material: instructions on ‘how to make a friendship bracelet,’ entries on ‘why crushes are so essentially teenage’ and perhaps a page to design your own tote bag or ‘dream pizza.’” [WWD]

Drew Barrymore stars in some “Old Hollywood”-themed Neiman Marcus ads. [WWD]

The first photo and two sketches of Karl Lagerfeld’s fall Macy’s collection have appeared. The 45-piece line will retail from $50 to $170, and the floral print dress pictured here costs $109. The Macy’s line will be limited to 6-8 weeks in stores, but Lagerfeld is also prepping for the relaunch of his eponymous collection, which he suspended last September. The new Karl Lagerfeld brand will be about what he calls “mass elitism,” and it will be sold primarily online. [Fashionologie, WWD]

Photographer Russell James is Tweeting behind-the-scenes shots from the Victoria’s Secret holiday catalog. Naturally, Kanye stopped by the shoot. [@Russell_James]

Sasha Pivovarova sports a bleached blonde ‘do in the fall Armani campaign. [WWD]

“I think old people should just be old and go away,” says Nicola Formichetti, the stylist who doesn’t work with “fat people.” To be fair, it seems more like Formichetti is frustrated by the fashion industry’s old guard, and less like he hates your grandma: “It’s not about being in the industry for ten years anymore: it’s about good ideas,” he says. “Gaga doesn’t know she is cool. She knows she is a superstar but the fashion industry is completely different for an outsider. Even in her position, even on top of her game, she still feels like an outsider. It [fashion] still has this elitist feeling — it’s really scary.” Formichetti, we see your point about people who feel like their seniority or experience — as opposed to the quality of their ideas — entitles them to some kind of power. But we’re just going to leave this here. [Daily Mail]
Meanwhile, Rihanna offers Lady Gaga only the most backhanded of compliments: “I don’t think I could walk down the street wearing bubbles or a dress made of ham, [but] what Lady GaGa has done has been kind of amazing. I am the opposite. I wear clothes I would wear on the street. I’m all about a real look.” As we all know, the dress was not made of ham. It was made of the prime rib of freedom, Ri-Ri. Get it straight, sheesh. [DigitalSpy]
Freida Pinto was spotted leaving a shoot, rumored to be for American Vogue, in Los Angeles. [Celebrity Gossip]
Vogue‘s September ad pages are up 9% this year over last. [WWD]
We went to Claudia Schiffer‘s website to look at pictures of her new cashmere line but CLAUDIA SCHIFFER’S IS THE MOST CONFUSING WEBSITE EVER so we left. Sorry, Claudia. [Claudia Schiffer]
Following a two-month public pressure campaign, largely conducted online — the official company Facebook was inundated with comments asking it to “STOP THE KILLER JEANS” — Versace has agreed to stop sandblasting its jeans. Sandblasting has been linked to lung disease and death in garments workers. [WWD]
Swizz Beatz is doing a collab’ with Reebok, but thinks he’s Karl Lagerfeld. Or Marc Jacobs. Or something. “Reebok is definitely back. I am happy to be the creative director globally that puts me up there with the Marc Jacobs and Karl Lagerfelds. To have that position coming from the South Bronx…I tell everyone that the sky is not the limit, it’s just the view.” Swizz Beatz lives in SoHo with Alicia Keys, not the South Bronx. [MissInfo]
Florence Brudenell-Brice, the model who is rumored to be dating Prince Harry, did a lookbook shoot for the British brand Anonymous by Ross+Bute. The Daily Mail marvels that “the look is a far cry from Florence’s laid-back Boho look.” Yes. She is a model. That’s kind of the point. [Daily Mail]
Steven Kolb, who has been the executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America for five years, has a new title: C.E.O. He will still report to President Diane von Furstenberg and the board. (This seems as good a time as any to pimp Kolb’s Twitter: he’s funny, insightful, and worth following even if you aren’t a fashion obsessive — but definitely if you are.) [WWD]
W editor Stefano Tonchi and his husband David Maupin have welcomed twin baby girls, born by a surrogate. [HuffPo]
More than 500,000 people have visited the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. If you haven’t gone yet, and you are able to get to New York City, you should. [@WorldMcQueen]
The effort to restore six of Vivien Leigh‘s costumes from Gone With The Wind is encountering difficulties: the green curtain dress, for example, is now streaked with “brown mustard” colored fading, probably because it was sprayed with a disinfectant like Lysol at one point. Over the years, the costumes have passed through many museums, traveled the country, and been exhibited in department stores; they have been in storage since the 1980s. The curator who is preparing the dresses for display — the film’s 75th anniversary is in 2014 — says the green dress in particular “will never be the same. We do not add color back. That would be me, this lone individual in the 21st century, deciding what that was going to look like 75 years ago. It’s unethical. You just don’t do that. This is part of its history. We honor the history and we honor the piece.” [AP]