Michelle Obama may have been photographed for Vogue yesterday, and maybe it was for the cover. A team from the magazine was spied moving cameras and suitcases full of designer clothes into the White House yesterday morning. Word is Annie Leibovitz is the photographer and the shoot is for the March issue. The Washingtonian notes “the President’s public schedule is clear for the day, which could indicate he may be involved in the photography session.” The First Lady also covered the March, 2009, issue of Vogue. [Washingtonian]
Lanvin’s spring campaign features Karlie Kloss, Saskia de Brauw, and Daria Strokous. Alber Elbaz couldn’t make it to Steven Meisel’s New York studio because of Hurricane Sandy, so he Skyped in to observe the proceedings. Someone screengrabbed the Lanvin designer’s reactions and the brand will release the video on its YouTube page. [WWD]
Stella McCartney’s latest campaign stars Natalia Vodianova — again — and was shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott — again. [WWD]
Tomas Maier talks about Bottega Veneta’s spring ads in this behind-the-scenes video. Starring Freja Beha Erichsen. The photographer was Peter Lindbergh. [Fashionista]
Kate Spade is launching a new perfume called Live Colorfully. Katie Fogarty was shot be Sebastian Kim for the campaign. [WWD]
Free People’s new catalog stars…Charlie from Girls. [Free People]
Somebody should plot this graph illustrating the rising price of one of Manolo Blahnik’s classic pumps against the rate of inflation and figure out just how badly brands are bilking luxury consumers. [Racked]
Occupy Wall Street is planning to demonstrate outside New York, London, and Paris fashion weeks to raise awareness of unfair labor practices in the fashion industry — notably, the industry’s reliance on unpaid internships. [Buzzfeed]
W magazine is cutting back to 10 issues per year. [WWD]
A USA Today reporter who visited Oscar de la Renta’s studio for a perfume launch spotted disgraced designer John Galliano working there. De la Renta invited the former Dior designer to join him in the lead up to New York fashion week. Galliano was reportedly “smiling and confident, like he owned the place.” [USAToday]
“When you go places, there are paparazzi and cameras; you can only do so much to avoid it,” says Kim Kardashian, whose professed avoidance of paparazzi and/or cameras has never been documented. “But I can do what I can to just not have my child on TV.” Kardashian is promoting her sixth perfume. [WWD]
“I didn’t want it to be another bullshit celebrity fragrance that I was hocking, that I didn’t believe in,” says Adam Levine, who is launching a men’s and a women’s fragrance this week. [WWD]
This juicy story about fashion bloggers who buy expensive designer goods and then claim the items were gifts — just to show off how great their brand relationships are — has two blind items:
One marketing exec, who wished to speak off the record, recalls a time when one fairly popular blogger (with one of those food-lifestyle-fashion blog titles) walked into the West Village store of a popular handbag brand. She asked for a free bucket bag, but the manager said she wouldn’t be able to give her one, so she bought it herself. As she left the store, she tweeted/instagramed/tumbled a big thanks to the brand for the purse.
Another blogger — who writes about life in NYC — is so wildly known for doing this that she’s become sort of a joke amongst the blogger “cool crowd.”
1. Rhymes with Mupcakes and Mashmere? 2. ??? [Fashionista]
Riccardo Tisci has reportedly signed another three-year contract with Givenchy. [WWD]
“Not a lot of people know what happens in the fashion world, and what it even means,” says Kate Upton, who apparently requires not one but two publicists to sit in on her phoners. [The Cut]
Unions and the labor-rights group Our Wal-Mart, comprised of current and former employees of the world’s largest (and arguably shittiest) retailer, have agreed to stop picketing Wal-Mart stores to demand better working conditions for 60 days. Wal-Mart complained to the National Labor Relations board that the unions’ efforts were unlawfully disrupting its business operations. As part of a settlement, the groups will stop the demonstrations, without admitting any wrongdoing. [WWD]
Fashion industry people are reportedly freaking out about the nasty flu and that norovirus that’s going around. The cheek kiss — the tribe’s traditional form of greeting — may be a casualty. [NYTimes]
Net profits at the world’s largest luxury conglomerate, Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, rose year-on-year by 12% in 2012, to $4.4 billion. C.E.O. Bernard Arnault also says that the company created 2,000 jobs in France last year. [WWD]
LVMH-owned Sephora, meanwhile, just opened its largest store in Asia. It’s in Shanghai, and it is 54,000 square feet. [WWD]
Sales at Salvatore Ferragamo rose year-on-year by 17%, to $1.47 billion, in 2012. [WWD]
And now, a moment with Prabal Gurung. Gurung’s first runway show was the last held at Bryant Park. Prabal, how’d you manage to swing that?
“I was at the infamous Boom Boom Room and Fern Mallis was there, and after my second presentation she said to me, ‘So what is your plan?’ And I said to her, ‘Ever since I came to New York, I’ve always wanted to do a show, to be part of the Bryant Park community and to be part of that history, and it’s the last season.’ And then I said to her, “I think it would do you good if you give me the space for free.” Then she looked at me, she kept looking at me and she ordered a drink and she said, ‘You know, you have some guts. Consider it done.'”
