- Isaac Mizrahi video-blogged his excitement over Michelle Obama‘s decision to wear one of his dresses to the SOTU. “She was saying, ‘not let, nor right,’ it was kind of like a bipartisan dress,” said the designer. [IsaacMizrahyNY]
- The dress retails for $1,850. [WWD]
- And then, Michelle Obama brought out the Spring 2008 Alexander McQueen, in the form of a very becoming wide pin-striped pant suit, to be precise. In fact, it’s one of her favorite suits, and she wore it frequently on the campaign trail. [Mrs O]
- Hiring Apple‘s postering agency to plaster the city with your advertising doesn’t meet the usual definition of “guerilla marketing,” Alex Wang. It sounds rather like, um, regular marketing. But good luck? [WWD]
- Kirsten McMenamy and Daria Werbowy also nabbed covers of Love. Fashionologie speculates that given the issue’s release date, February 8, the magazine may have even more covers yet to release. [Fashionologie]
- Helmut Lang is donating 205 head-to-toe looks, including accessories, to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the Kyoto Costume Institute. [WWD]
- Rihanna has been wearing a lot of Jean-Paul Gaultier lately, which makes sense because she can pull it off. (And doesn’t have to pay for it.) We mere mortals will check out the Target collection. [People]
- Gaultier cast Miss France 2009, Chloé Mortaud, in his couture show earlier this week. Apparently the designer noticed her while he was judging the 2010 competition. [Style.com]
- Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor, the duo behind Juicy Couture, are stepping down from day-to-day operations at the company they founded. Instead, they will spend the remaining year of their three-year contract with label owners Liz Claiborne as creative consultants. The C.E.O. of Liz claims this was always the plan when Juicy Couture was acquired; the Post says the designers have frequently clashed with Liz executives over the direction of the brand. [NYP, Fashionista]
- According to some anonymous sources, Ron Burkle and his company are indeed angling to take over Barneys. The Wall Street Journal saw a December 11 letter from Burkle to the then chief executive of Istithmar World Capital, the troubled department store chain’s current owners, offering to take his investment in Barneys to 80% of its common equity. Burkle, a supermarket billionaire perhaps best known for flying around on a private jet called Air Fuck One and sometimes taking Bill Clinton along for the ride, has no discernible interest in fashion (we don’t count modelizing). What interests him is money: and if he thinks there’s money in department stores, it probably means he thinks the recession has bottomed out. [WSJ]
- Narciso Rodriguez will launch the sale of a secondary line, priced at $75-$350, via eBay. [WWD]
- Jimmy Choo has added low- and high-top snakeskin and suede sneakers to its pre-fall collection, at a cost of £295-£395. Between this and the collaboration with Ugg, we’re a little dismayed. [Elle UK]
- Versace‘s restructuring plan has been approved by the Versace family, the banks that hold the company’s debt, its shareholders, and the unions. In its aim to return to profitability by 2011, Versace will cut 25% of its worldwide workforce, or 350 jobs. Versace is also launching a new, lower-priced women’s line, called Versace Collection, which will be produced mainly in countries with lower wages, like Croatia. [WWD]