- Naomi Campbell taped an episode of Oprah. It must be tremendously comforting to be able to confess one’s blood-diamond-mongering sins with warlords to Oprah’s stern-but-spiritual countenance. Oprah also extracted from Campbell a pledge to stop throwing phones. [WWD]
- Victoria Beckham offered up a platitude-heavy introduction for her friend, Marc Jacobs, who was named in Time‘s 100 list this year. Her opener: “Marc Jacobs is undoubtedly one of the most influential designers of all time.” [DFR]
- Apparently the “cougar effect” — whereby middle-aged women are permitted to feel desirable, at least within certain narrow parameters, is spurring lingerie sales in the U.K. Rrrowr. [Reuters]
- Yves Saint Laurent‘s home with Pierre Bergé is now on the market. Last year, the designer’s surviving partner auctioned off the collection of art, furniture, and other household goods the two had amassed together over the course of 40 years; now, the 11-room duplex they owned on Paris’s left bank is for sale for $31.5 million. [NYTimes]
- Since nobody could very well wear khaki basics to the Met Ball, this year’s sponsor, Gap Inc., had its talented designer Patrick Robinson “collaborate” with other young designers on eight dresses for VIPs. M.I.A. and Zoë Kravitz will thus attend in Alexander Wang for Gap; Kirsten Dunst and Jamie Bochert are set to wear Rodarte for Gap; Kerry Washington and Riley Keough get Thakoon for Gap, and Jessica Alba and Vera Farmiga will each wear Sophie Théallet for Gap. The dresses will be auctioned off online after the ball, with proceeds benefiting the Costume Institute. You can also see them at a Gap pop-up store in New York two days after the big night. [WWD]
- Meanwhile, a model named Laura Bailey will wear Stella McCartney. [Vogue UK]
- Today at 2 p.m. Eastern time, Business of Fashion blogger Imran Amed will interview Jefferson Hack. It’ll be livecast online, and questions will be taken via the Twitter and all those new technological thingees. [JCReport]
- Eva Longoria Parker says that, although she has been allergic to fragrances her entire life, you should buy her perfume because it’s what she would wear, if perfumes didn’t make her a sneezing, runny-eyed mess. [People]
- André Leon Talley has a crucial message about the wearing of caftans: “Very important! Very important! The caftan was so popular in the ’70s with Halston. Women are just bringing back the caftan in beautiful ways. And you know, you wear a caftan and it’s as sexy as wearing a Marilyn Monroe silhouette. You pull it off with gorgeous jewelry. You just make sure you’ve got a dramatic thing at the neck and at the wrists, so when you use your hands, your hands become music to the caftan. Preferably it should be in chiffon too. Over pants.” [The Gloss]
- Fern Mallis, who is basically the godmother of fashion week in New York City, has announced she is leaving her position at IMG. She will go into independent consulting, and wishes to write a book. Fern Mallis LLC also signed up its first client: IMG. So we expect she’ll have some role come September at Lincoln Center. [WWD]
- Rodarte is rumored to have recently enlisted photographer Catherine Opie to shoot…something. Is the brand beginning to advertise itself? [Hint]
- “As a child of the ’70s, whose tastes were formed during that time, I think Halston represented everything that was right and was wrong with that time,” says Whitney Sudler-Smith, who made a documentary about the designer that premieres tomorrow at the Tribeca Film Festival. [NYTimes]
- RuPaul says Iman inspired him to coin the phrase, “You better work.” [WWD]
- Jil Sander has decided to continue her role at Uniqlo “indefinitely.” She creative-directs a covetable, minimalist, and basically dirt-cheap line, +J, with the Japanese chain. Also we totally have the winged-collar men’s white shirt with the covered placket she’s wearing in that picture. Yay. [WWD]
- And, um, Yasmin le Bon is continuing her somewhat less heralded collaboration with the British High Street chain Wallis. The summer collection hits stores in May. [Telegraph]
- Blind item! “Recently, a doyenne of the New York fashion scene was pitched by a big box to do a diffusion line. After a two-hour long presentation by the store, the designer simply said, ‘How much?’ The store offered $1 million. Her response? ‘Eh, it’s just not me.’ We guess for those at the top, it’s not worth risking your brand’s image over seven figures.” Diane von Furstenberg? Carolina Herrera? We rule out Donna Karan because she already lets LVMH run DKNY and Anna Sui because she did Target already. [Fashionista]
- This fall, all of the major fashion houses, save for Dolce & Gabbana, opted for models over celebrities in their main campaigns. We would guess this is because even supermodels come cheaper than Madonna, but Karl Lagerfeld explains it thusly: Celebrities’ “overexposure in ‘people’ magazines also makes it that one may be a little tired of celebrities and the red carpet. I love models and there are great ones for the moment. A change was needed. Celebrities want to do their own lines, their fragrances, which sometimes works for a short time.” For a short time. Consider yourself on notice, Fergie/Kings of Leon/Madonna/Kardashians/Faith Hill/Insert-Star-Here. [WWD]
- Still, though: Having Charlize Theron on retainer to say things like, “Dior is Dior — it’s one of the greatest houses that’s ever existed,” must be priceless. [People]
- Departing Neiman Marcus C.E.O. Burt Tansky negotiated for himself a deal where he’ll attend up to four board meetings a year, and get paid $37,500 for each. [WWD]
- Alice + Olivia‘s take on Keds will set you back $88. And they don’t come with laces. [NYTimes]
- Fashion is a business of margins. And it’s a psychological game of What Will People Pay?. Turns out those $550 Band of Outsiders chinos only cost $110 to make. [NYTimes]
- Style.com got a long interview with the men behind Ksubi — and they managed to get through it without breathing the words “bankruptcy,” “troubles,” or “finances.” Weaksauce. The Australian denim brand went into administration — the equivalent of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection — in January, and had to be extensively restructured. Might have been timely and relevant to ask how they did? [Style.com]
- Here is a dose of the wisdom of BryanBoy. Today’s topic: Dealing with fans. It’s hard to be a famous fashion blogger: “Last night, I had a very unpleasant experience with a reader at an event I hosted. When he asked to take a photo with me, I obliged. Like what I said, it’s fun. When he started doing these crazy poses I was like ‘oh wow, he sure is werqing it whatevs’ so I just stood there and let him bask in his “ferociousness”. I’m not selfish; I’m all for letting other people enjoy their moment. A few seconds later, lo and behold he grabbed my face with his hand — and he’s no small guy — he grabbed my face and then he pulled me towards his cheek and his ear. I escaped by politely telling him “excuse me”, then I walked to an acquaintance who I last saw two years ago. I thought it was horrible. Now I know why celebrities have security. They need to be protected from all the loonies and cray cray kids! I can’t even imagine what REAL celebrities had to deal with on a day to day basis. Que horror!” [BryanBoy]
- McQ by Alexander McQueen‘s grungy, excessively 90s fall collection lookbook is out. [Refinery29]
- Look, we feel this is pretty simple. If you want to buy a $5,000 dress, and you can afford a $5,000 dress, then you’ll buy a $5,000 dress. If you want to kick a donation over to the Museum of Modern Art, and you can afford to, then you’ll donate money to the MoMA. Why mix the two, Saks? The same people who can afford a dress that could feed a family for six months can afford to donate to institutions, and probably would be a little more generous than the 10%-of-purchase-price you’re so generously offering to give. [NYTimes]
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