Posh Revels In Talk Of Frocks; What Celebrities Really Get Paid To Be At Fashion Shows

By Jenna Sauers  |  February 4, 2010 | 5:30pm
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  • “I’m just happy to have someone who wants to talk to me [about fashion],” says Victoria in LOVE. “Normally, David’s like, ‘Stop it, I don’t want to talk about clothes anymore! I want to talk about motorbikes and tattoos.” [WWD]
  • Eva Longoria and Tony Parker appear magically the same size in their London Fog campaign, thanks to an apple box. Advertising is full of trickery! [People]
  • Some new shots from Britney‘s Candie’s campaign have hit the Internet. Did Annie Leibovitz really shoot these? [ONTD]
  • Apparently, it can cost up to $100,000 to get Rihanna to sit front row at your fashion show. But an America’s Next Top Model winner will do it for free. [Fashionista]
  • And yet, the stars who seem to move the most product are people like Sandra Bullock — and, some sources expect Gabourey Sidibe‘s awards season choices will also set trends. Hamish Bowles of Vogue says Sidibe is “an alternate paradigm for the red carpet, but she can carry these very strong colors.” [WSJ]
  • Alexander McQueen took to Twitter to announce that his mother, Joyce McQueen, died on Monday. [Fashionologie]
  • Turns out we weren’t the only ones to dislike Valentino’s latest couture collection, by the designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli. Giancarlo Giammetti, Valentino Garavani‘s business and life partner, wrote on his Facebook page that he was left “just speechless” by the grab-bag of a collection. He clarified, “not sad…just surprised.…We have always supported the new designers and we love them, but this time we have to distance ourselves from this ridiculous circus,” before deleting the comments. He clarified to Women’s Wear Daily that although he and Valentino don’t necessarily like everything the new designers do, they support them. [WWD]
  • If you want to own $25,000 worth of diamonds for a bargain basement price, there’s a Barbie adorned with that much jewelry going for just over $4,000 on eBay right now. [Racked]
  • Nathan Jenden, the creative director of Diane von Furstenberg, has announced that the fall collection to be presented on the 14th of this month will be his last with the company. He wants to spend more time concentrating on his own line, which he founded in 2006. [Elle UK]
  • “Don’t hate me fur people, but I had a designer coat made at wholesale and used a tip that my mother gave me: have it lined with zippers. Now, I can zipper off layers and have a 3-in-1 jacket….When the opportunity strikes to buy more than one of something, I can’t resist. Hard to find pumps show up at Barneys in two colors…I take two. Extra soft cashmere sweater in slightly different shades of pink? Two, in case something happens to the first. And maybe a third to leave in the Hamptons.” — Surprisingly down-to-earth Fashion PR Alison Brod. [MadisonAvenueSpy]
  • Two words: Pajama Jeans. [Racked]
  • 15-year-old Lindsey Wixson asked for a bra to wear under a sheer shirt during a shoot for W magazine. The magazine obliged. Good. Next we should get to the stage where any stylist automatically offers models under the age of 18 clothing that covers their nipples. [W]
  • Speaking of young women in the fashion industry, Sarah Mower broke off in the middle of her review of the pre-fall collections to tell readers of the “sick lurch” she felt when she discovered Tavi Gevinson, a 13 (or 14?)-year-old blogger from Chicago in her midst. “As a mother of a 14-year-old, my first thought was, ‘Hang on, isn’t it term-time in America, too?’ Had I not been so busy trying to attract [John] Galliano’s attention, I would have asked Mr. Gevinson why he thought it was right to take his daughter out of school to go to haute couture shows, where she would be treated like a celebrity by paparazzi? Or why he thought it OK for her to model for Pop and Love magazines last year?” What we find odd about the Gevinson brouhaha is that if anybody in fashion ever thinks “But she should be in school!” when a 5’10” 14-year-old from Russia is traveling internationally (generally without her parents) and modeling for magazines, they certainly don’t express it. (It’s not in the interests of someone like Sarah Mower — who frequently contributes to Vogue — to investigate the exploitative possibilities inherent in that kind of underaged labor.) But when it’s an adolescent taking a few days off from school to experience couture week as a writer, that becomes somehow suspect — and hostility masquerades as concern. Gevinson pointed out on her Twitter feed — which she protects, but permitted us in this instance to quote — “If I was a dude? With a traveling sports team? NOBODY WOULD CARE.” We tend to agree. [Telegraph]
  • Speaking of Gevinson, she just reviewed Jezebel pal Marisa Meltzer‘s book Girl Power. Her piece concludes, “The day after I finished, I proposed the idea of a feminists’ club to our grade principal, and after writing up a formal proposal I hope it gets going.” [Style Rookie]
  • Milan fashion week will be about 3 1/2 days long this season. [WWD]
  • Jon Caramanica, Critically Shopping American Eagle, gives a generally lukewarm review. He writes of a $70 distressed denim jacket, “for the price, scouring eBay for something with actual scrapes seemed preferable.” [NYTimes]
  • Creative Artists Agency has partnered with two other entities to buy a majority stake in J Brand jeans for a rumored $50 million. [WWD]
  • Ralph Lauren‘s expansion into Asia — the company has hired 700 people in Hong Kong alone since opening a headquarters there last year — is hurting its earnings by an estimated 8-10c a share, which upsets investors. [WSJ]