- YSL‘s Stefano Pilati thinks John Galliano pretty much ruined drugs for everyone. [Styleite]

- Well, this happened. Anna Wintour in the subway. Note the look of complete and utter fear on her usually emotionless face. [The Cut]

- You could help Oscar de la Renta design his resort collection. [WSJ]

- Beyoncé is reportedly planning two albums next year. Because nine months of pregnancy left her with far too much time on her hands. [LA Times]

- 95-year-old club kid Zelda Kaplan passed away today. Luckily, she was sitting front row at a fashion show, perhaps the most fitting and fabulous way to go. R.I.P. Miss Girl. [NY Post]

SD: I saw you sitting front row next to Anna Wintour at Fashion Week. Genius! Such a fabulous couple. What was going through your thoughts?

NM: Yes! I was screaming out loud inside my head. Me sitting next to the Queen of Vogue! It was such a strange experience. I felt like I was dreaming. And I thought she would be snobby or something. But she was so incredibly sweet to me.

I bet she was, Nicki. I bet. She. Was. [Paper]

- Stella McCartney has a new video for PETA that Cathy Horyn thinks is worth watching. Let me know, will ya. [NYT]

- Much like every diffusion line worth its salt, Jason Wu for Target sold out in, like, a day. [Racked]

- But this isn’t Target’s first time at the rodeo and the retailer is restocking their online shelves later this week. [InStyle]

- During the final three minutes of the Super Bowl there was an average of 10,000 tweets per second. That’s a lot of hashtalk. [TechCrunch]

- Vogue and Anna Wintour let Madonna have their logo free of charge for her half time show and as a result had the biggest bang for the smallest advertising buck of any of the big game’s blockbuster commercials. [WWD]

- Gisele can drop as many effing F-bombs as she effin’ likes since she’s the highest effing paid supermodel in the effing world. Dammit. [Modelinia]

- It’s no “The Boy Is Mine” but Brandy and Monica‘s new duet, “It All Belongs to Me,” is here. Sadly there’s no lyrical weave-snatching this time around. [Rap Up]

- Apparently yesterday was “Gossip Girl Day” in New York. Which explains why everyone was making half-assed literary references and plotting against everyone in Brooklyn. [Gawker]

- Parisian couturier Jean Luc Amsler dug up Jerry Hall from whatever velvet-lined crypt she’s been sleeping in and paraded her down his catwalk. [Telegraph]

- Céline has opened their first freestanding boutique in New York. So far, no Kanye West sightings. [Racked]

- She. Died. Rachel Zoe dressed up like a vampire for LOVE Magazine. Or maybe someone just caught her without a stitch of makeup. Either way, terrifying/fabulous. [Stylecaster]

- Go behind the scenes of Alexis Bittar‘s new campaign starring the Absolutely Fabulous Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone, aka the divine Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley.

The major fashion titles were generally up in advertising from last year with W posting the greatest  gain at 25%  or 41 pages — though at a total of 204 pages, it is still only fifth in the rankings. InStyle had its biggest ad count since stomping onto the newsstand 18 years ago with 344 pages — a 13 % (39 pages) increase — bringing it in at number 2. And this is how the rest of the list shakes out:

1. Vogue — 442.74 pages, up 3.7%

2. InStyle — 344 pages, up 13% (39 pages)

3. Elle — 319 pages, up 2% (6 psges)

4. Harper’s Bazaar — 271 pages, up 16% (37 pages)

5. W — 204 pages, up 25% (41 pages)

Meanwhile, what really matters in this story is that the March issue of Vogue will feature one Ms. Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, which — just saying — will be a marked improvement from the current Grammy gal gracing the February issue.

[Humor Chic]

Photo: Vogue.com

Wintour and Vogue have reportedly been “instrumental” in coercing assembling the 22 designers, including Marc Jacobs, Diane von Furstenberg, Tory Burch, Alexander Wang, Tracy Reese, Joseph Altuzarra, Rachel Roy, Narciso Rodriguez, Rag & Bone and Jason Wu. Wary of alienating Republican voters from their brands, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton initially nixed their labels from participating in Runway to Win, but Marc Jacobs — of which LVMH owns a majority stake — designed his T-shirt anyway, “following pressure from the magazine,” according to WWD.

On the other hand, Donna Karan, also owned by LVMH, did not bow to Wintour and is therefore not participating in the fundraising effort. And therefore won’t be seen in Vogue anytime soon…Kidding!…Not really.

Runway to Win’s e-commerce site, runwaytowin.com, officially launches on Thursday, but Wintour’s re-election campaign is not stopping there. She will also co-host an Obama fundraiser with actress Scarlett Johansson in February — which I’m taking as a sign that ScarJo will be on the cover around that time. See, kids, and you thought fashion and politics had nothing in common. They both require a steely nerve, a willingness to compromise and the ability to turn a blind eye to corruption. The blatant abuse of power doesn’t hurt either. [WWD]

If the talks prove succesful, Nicki Minaj would — correct me if I’m wrong — be the first rapper on the cover of Vogue. Although god knows Gwyneth Paltrow‘s been known to drop a hot verse in her day.

What do you think, Indies? Are you excited for a Nicki Minaj Vogue cover or has Anna finally gone over the deep-end?

If memory serves, Kanye had adopted CSM professor Louise Wilson as his mentor and even utilized students as interns. Undaunted by the (dis)likes of Anna Wintour, West plans to stick with the Brits and will reportedly show again in Paris come Fashion Week. Kudos to you, Kanye, for putting your enormous ego aside and not letting reason or common sense get in the way of your fashion dreams. Take notes, kids. This is how you buck convention. And Ye is bucking shit up. [Vogue UK]

Link Love: WWD

Several designers have been requested to create special outfits for cover consideration in size 14 and 16 — Adele’s size — for the March 2012 Vogue issue.  The magazine declined to comment on the speculation, which is sure to be a bit embarrassing if it turns out that Ms. Wintour isn’t actually considering the songstress and just wanted extra material for draping.

-Anna Wintour‘s biannual HJ to the industry, Fashion’s Night Out, will make an uncalled-for return next year to once again haunt the sartorial streets. [WWD]

-  Jonathan Saunders, Mary Katrantzou, Marios Schwab and Nicholas Kirkwood are among the finalists for next year’s British Fashion Council/Vogue Fashion Fund. [Vogue UK]

- Michael Kors IPO is listed at $20/share, which will probably be the least you’ll ever pay for a Michael Kors anything from here on out. [WWD]

- The First Family posed for a new family portrait and while it’s all cute and familial, we can clearly see Michelle‘s roots and homegirl could use a touch-up. [Just Jared]

- Vera Wang is getting in touch with her inner dude by outfitting some real dudes. While brides will wear her doomed David’s Bridal gowns to their weddings, their grooms will wear her new Men’s Warehouse tuxedos. And then everyone will go to the Olive Garden and cap the night off with a few PBRs. [WWD]

- While Vera slums it in the discount wholesale bin, Levi’s is classing their game up. The jeans giant will show at New York Fashion Week for the first time come February. Hopefully the CFDA will have cut whatever day said show is by then. [WWD]

In this video of the interview, we get a look at the first cover from 1892 and the journey from Gibson Girl illustrations to Art Deco motifs; from the first cover in color from 1932 to the supermodels of the 70s and 80s and pulling in for a landing at today’s celebrity-rich covers. All while promoting the new Vogue digital archive, which costs nearly $1600 for a year. However, in 2012 Vogue subscribers will get limited access to the archive, thus finally providing incentive to renew that long-gestating subscription. [CBS]

Streep is pretty much a shoe-in for her 17th Academy Award nomination — and that’s no hyperbole — for The Iron Lady, a biopic on English prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.

In the film, Meryl plays Margaret from age 49 to 85, an experience that certainly took its toll both physically — ”We were on a tiny budget, we had very long days and there was no rest. Standing for 12 hours at a time was very painful and all I wanted was a great masseur” — and emotionally –  ”With something like It’s Complicated, I really left it at the set. But this I carried with me more, because it was more personal,” Streep said referring to her 2009 romantic comedy starring noted frequent flier, Alec Baldwin.

Meanwhile, in her Vogue story, Streep puts aside her Lady pains to loll in a few jokes about age. Now 62, Meryl claims that she’s the “oldest person” to land the mag’s cover and reminisces about being offered three roles as witches after turning 40. Taking it to mean that women her age were “grotesque on some level,” she then turned to her husband and said, “It’s over.” That Streep’s done some of her best work in those resulting 22 years proved that not only was it not over, but really just beginning. [Telegraph]

Oh, and check out the trailer for The Iron Lady, out in in wide release January 5th:

“I remember getting quite a bit of criticism for my first Madonna cover,” Wintour said of the May 1989 issue. “And you know, ‘She’ll never sell.’ And it was a little bit risky. And it was up something extraordinary, like 40 percent on newsstands. So that was an eye-opener to all of us.”

This was just a year after Wintour had taken over at Vogue, and her word was not yet law. There was even some doubt surrounding her first cover from November 1988, featuring model Michaela Bercu in (a stunning Christian Lacroix top and) a pair of regular old blue jeans, of all things: “To me, it just said, ‘This is something new. This is something different.’ And I remember the printers called us up because they thought we’d made a mistake. Just wanting to check that that actually was the cover.”

Wintour  has always followed her instincts, for better or worse, and claims she doesn’t care much for market research. “Sometimes they’re successful and obviously sometimes they’re not. But you have to, I think, remain true to what you believe in.” Not a bad philosophy to live by. [WWD]

Then under the buzzer, this happens. By referencing/recycling that eight-year-old cover and giving it their own spin, Alt and co. end the year on a decidedly high note.  Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott capture Moss in glam rock Ziggy Stardust regalia for FrenchVogue‘s December/January 2012 issue. Freak out, this moonage daydream’s so chic.

Photo: Design Scene

Starring  as a series of deadly and devilish balloons, the devil has apparently moved on from wearing Prada to rubber.  Best wishes for a speedy recovery, aleXsandro and for another wonderfully inappropriate portrait.

Photo: Fashion Gone Rogue

This is Kloss’ eighth international Vogue cover, though she has yet to score that grand daddy of covers — American Vogue. However, the S.S. Karlie is blasting into outer-space considering her recent strut down the Victoria’s Secret runway.

And then there’s the guaranteed seal of supermodel approval – the not-at-all-creepy attentions of noted supermodelizer Leonardo DiCaprio.  Come 2012 — mark my words —  Anna Wintour will render her in some disappointing cover story shot by default photogs, Mario Testino or Annie Leibovitz.

From there, next stop: world domination.

The Fashion Fund, created by the CFDA and Vogue to aid young and emerging designers, includes a mentorship program and a cash prize. Altuzarra took home $300,000 while runners-up Pamela Love of Pamela Love Jewelry and Shane Gabier and Chris Peters of Creatures of the Wind walked away with $100,000 each.

Those that went home empty-handed were Suno’s Erin Beatty and Max Osterweis; Carlos Campos; Antonio Azzuolo of A.A. Antonio Azzuolo; Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs of Cushnie et Ochs; Ohne Titel’s Alexa Adams and Flora Gill; Fenton/Fallon’s Dana Lorenz, and Soraya Silchenstedt of Finn Jewelry.

This year’s selection committee included Vogue’s editrix-in-chic Anna Wintour, CFDA prez Diane von Furstenberg and CEO Steven Kolb, Theory‘s Andrew Rosen, Coach‘s Reed Krakoff, J. Crew‘s Jenna Lyons, and past Fund winners — Proenza Schouler‘s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. [WWD]

On Coco Chanel:

“No one wanted to be told by an old lady that miniskirts and jeans weren’t chic. The result was that she lost her power and in the end no one cared about what she did.”

On Yves Saint Laurent:

“He is very middle-of-the-road French-very pied-noir, very provincial.”

On Anna Wintour:

“People I’m really friendly with have faxes. Anna Wintour has one. We speak via fax.”

On Emmanuelle Alt:

“Her style is her big shoulders, long legs, tight jeans, sleeves up to the elbow, one hip out. I personally like her.”

On Carine Roitfeld:

“It would have been difficult to have an ugly daughter.”

On Andy Warhol:

“I shouldn’t say this, but physically he was quite repulsive.”

On Heidi Klum:

“I don’t know Heidi Klum. She was never known in France. Claudia Schiffer also doesn’t know who she is.”

On Kate Moss:

Kate Moss has a lot of courage in the way she throws her life away in a very dangerous way, but that makes her so touching.”

On Jessica Simpson:

“Ecch. I’m not that impressed. I’m not that interested. I’m not that impressed.”

On ex-muse Inès de la Fressange:

“I wish her all the luck in the world, just so long as I don’t have to see her anymore or hear her spoken about.”

On Carla Bruni:

“She was one of the ten supermodels… She has a great education and speaks many languages. She’s perfect for the job of first lady. I even photographed her naked… but they were elegant and she had nothing against it. She couldn’t care less. She’s very cool like that. The photo is beautiful. I can show you the nude of her. I did it for Visionaire in 1998. ”

On Kate Middleton:

“For the royals, apparently the royal blood is not in demand any longer.”

On the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen:

‘”They don’t have a strong enough image. They still have to make the movie that everybody remembers.”

On himself:

“I have no human feelings.” – Uncle Karl, will you adopt me?

On children:

“If I were interested in children, I would be a godfather.” – Well-played, sir. Well-played.

Link Love: Vogue UK / Oh No They Didn’t!  / Photo: Vogue UK

Karachi Fashion Week

One must also consider the undeniable impact of the internet and blogs, bringing the latest and greatest in fashion to anyone with a decent internet connection. Now a teenager in Ohio can gasp at the fantastical creations from Beijing Fashion Week as a blogger in Thailand livestreams the latest Marc Jacobs runway show. But with this democratization of the fashion industry comes its inevitable oversaturation. “Every other city is doing a fashion week. I think there can be only one market in the U.S., and that’s New York,” Kolb opines. So fashion weeks in Moscow, Karachi, Berlin, Zurich, Huston, Dubai, Portland, Rochester, Islamabad and Tel Aviv won’t garner the kind of respect or attention paid to London and Paris; clothes from its runways won’t land in Elle or W – nor might they ever be worn outside of their respective countries. However, Glenda Bailey’s or Anna Wintour‘s is not the only eye foreign designers hope to capture.

For participants in Islamabad Fashion Week, fashion is a new form of expression that further immerses them in the global culture of the 21st century. When filming Fashion Week Internationale for Vice.com, hostess Charlet Duboc was surprised at the presence of women in full Burkas volunteering backstage:  “I couldn’t quite believe it. How does that work? How can you look at that and admire it and yet know you can’t wear it? But they were there, they were appreciating it and it didn’t feel like there was a divide. Like, ‘You do your thing, I do my thing’ and everyone got along.” Fashion transcends more than just clothing to become a force for cultural change. And a force for economic change. Speaking with the Wall Street Journal, Zurain Imam observed,  ”Fashion in Pakistan for a long time has been an entertainment sport; at [Karachi Fashion Week], we are trying to really make it about the business of fashion.”

While Kolb concedes that smaller fashion weeks can be good training ground for prospective designers, some bigger names are flocking abroad to show their collections. There probably is no hotter designer in America than Singapore-born, Nepalese-raised Prabal Gurung, whose last two presentations at New York Fashion Week met with near universal acclaim. Even he is considering showing his wares abroad in Moscow, Turkey, London and his native Singapore, saying, “There are so many emerging markets that we want to in some way be a part of, and I would love to showcase my collection in a more global way.” With a crowded and contentious calendar, Glenda Bailey won’t likely end up in Richmond, VA, but who’s to say that she won’t be stomping through a Singaporean jungle for the latest in spring ready-to-wear?

Role Call: Yolanda Sacristan, Spain (seated), Kirstie Clements, Australia (middle), Anaita Adajania, India (back), Christiane Arp, Germany (seated), Angelica Cheung, China (standing), Franca Sozzani, Italy (seated), Mitsuko Watanabe, Japan (standing), Anna Wintour, America (seated), Emmanuelle Alt, France (reclining), Alexandra Shulman, Britain (seated), Victoria Davydova, Russia (standing), Anna Harvey, representing Brazil and Greece (seated), Seda Domanic, Turkey (seated), Myung Hee Lee, Korea (seated), Rosalie Huang, Taiwan (standing), Eva Hughes, Mexico and Latin America (standing), Paula Mateus, Portugal (seated)

[NYT]

Editors, we salute you.

There’s an André Leon Talley-esque character, clad in a Louis Vuitton cloak and a fairy godmother bearing a striking resemblance to Isaac Mizrahi in Swarovski crystal wings. I would assume Anna Wintour would be cast in the role of some sort of wicked witch, but Florio Kasouf’s memories of her are actually rather fond. The author recalls having her first lunch with the editrix at age 10:

“She asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said, ‘I’m going to take your job.’ Apparently she had said the same thing early on in her life, so she thought it was cute.”

Yeah, Wintour thought it was real cute. Next thing Kelly knew she was being sent off to live with seven queens who looked for diamonds all day and ended up fighting for her young life after Anna, disguised in Yohji Yamamoto, fed her a poisoned stick of gum.

Anyhoo, The Adventures of Sophie will be sold exclusively at Barneys — naturally — but it being the future and all, there will also be an app for it. And they all lived fiercely ever after. [WWD]

To an audience including Vogue‘s own Anna Wintour, no topic was off limits. Growing up in the same Bronx neighborhood as Ralph Lauren, Klein admitted that his childhood was “actually kind of a wonderful experience.” And while he knew Lauren from the “peculiar way” he dressed, they weren’t really friends: “[Lauren] was older than I. I grew up in a very Jewish kind of intellectual environment.”

The designer also tells of his early days in fashion and how he got started, though he only narrowly avoided a career in the supermarket business. His friend and business partner Barry Schwartz had inherited his father’s grocery store and Schwartz wanted he and Klein to “become the next A&P.” Conflicted over his love for fashion and a future of assured security he consulted his parents:

My dad said, “You know, I never knew exactly what you studied all these years, but I have a feeling if you don’t see it through, even though this is a great opportunity your best friend is offering, I think you will be unhappy all your life. You have to go through with it.” I left their apartment on cloud nine. That did it for me. It was the best advice I ever got.

Klein also spoke openly about his struggle with addiciton, referencing a very public meltdown at Madison Square Garden in 2003:

That was really a shameful, horrible moment. It had nothing to do with work. I’ve done enough therapy and enough work on myself. Addiction is not caused by stress on the job, even though lots of people in the fashion industry have suffered from the same problem. It’s not about the work. It has more to do with your childhood and lots of other things. You’re always in recovery. You’re always aware that this is something you don’t want to do, whether it’s drugs, sex, food. There are lots of addictions.

While he was married — twice — to women, Klein revealed that he is happy in his life now, which includes a young man who takes him paragliding.  Through it all, he’s learned that family and friends are really “what completes life.” Of course creating a multi-billion dollar empire couldn’t have hurt either. [WWD, sub req'd]

For more information on The Fund, visit Vogue.com.

Gwen Stefani back in the day when she rocked that classic cotton candy hair.

By juxtaposing Schiaparelli’s and Prada’s viewpoints on these topics, museum curators Andrew Bolton and Harold Koda hope to create a dialogue between the designers:

“If we can play with that idea of what Schiap would say, with her real words, and what Miuccia would say, in her real words, on a variety of issues,” Koda explained, “we could end up with something that was a mind-teaser for the audience, and would allow people to see Schiap with increased relevance and Miuccia with a different kind of understanding than they perhaps already have. We want it to be serious in content but playful in its approach.”

This approach will certainly be playful considering who the Met has in charge of the production and design: no other than that master of the spectacular spectacle, Baz Luhrmann. According to Koda, the exhibit will have “a very high-tech aspect” so as to bring the past to life.

On Fashion will run from May 10th to Aug, 19th and will include some 80 designs by Schiaparelli from the late Twenties through the early Fifties and by Prada from the late Eighties through today. The annual Gala — my ticket to which is clearly already be in the mail — will be chaired by Anna Wintour, Miuccia herself and Carey Mulligan — a Prada and Vogue fave as well as the star of Luhrmann’s upcoming adaptation of The Great Gatsby. Hello, multi-brand tie-in.

Amazon.com, who along with Condé Nast is underwriting the exhibit, will serve as the Gala’s honorary chair. [WWD, sub req'd]

Photos: WWD

Photo: Roxanne Lewitt / Obsession Photo

Ostroff will be Condé’s first president of entertainment as it hopes to ween the Nast off the teet of advertisers and start rolling in that Hollywood dough. Though projects like The September Issue and America’s Next Top Model, featuring a be-caped André Leon Talley, already give CN a multi-media presence, the publisher’s not getting any money from it. Which is where Ostroff comes in.

“This is all content that Condé Nast should be able to build a library with in some way — even if it’s in partnership with other companies,” said Ostroff. “It could mean films, it could mean documentaries, it could mean television shows, it could mean digital series or digital content, it could be digital channels. And it could be across all platforms: Cable channels, cable broadcast networks. It ranges across the board.”

In that case, allow me to pitch my first — of many — Condé Nast-themed shows. Picture it, The Golden Gossip Girls, starring Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington as Blair Waldorf and Serena Vanderwoodsen, respectively (naturally)…50 years in the future. It’s got Emmy written all over it…or at least People’s Choice Award scribbled somewhere on its side. [NYT, WWD]

Photo: Trendland

Italian designers are forming a united front to decide on their own dates, out of the three following options: 1.) move to July; 2.) show before New York in September; or 3.) leave things the way they are, which could mean an overlap between Milan and London.

Condé Nast, for its part, is not having any of this. In a letter to Mario Boselli, head of the Italian Chamber of Fashion ”obtained”  – *cough* stolen *cough*– by WWD, CEO Jonathan Newhouse writes that Vogue editors “like the schedule the way it is presently organized. We at Condé Nast do not want the schedule to be changed. We very much oppose moving the Milan shows earlier so that they overlap or conflict with the London fashion shows — or with the New York fashion shows or those of any market.”

Newhouse then goes on to basically threaten a boycott by all Vogue editors — American, British, French and Italian — of Milan shows, stating matter-of-factly that “they will not under any circumstances abandon the London or New York shows if the Milan shows are moved earlier.”

The root of the conflict stems from a pact in 2008 when all four cities agreed to kick-off the fashion weeks on the second Thursday of February and September. Boselli claims that the agreement was only for three years while the CFDA‘s Steven Kolb and the British Fashion Council‘s Caroline Rush contend that it was indeed a permanent arrangement.

As for the fromage standing alone, Paris is expected to side with Milan. However, Didier Grumbach, head of the Chambre Syndicale, would rather come to a compromise and wants everyone to just chill the eff out: “When planning our schedules we have to factor in the time constraints of houses such as Jean Paul Gaultier or Givenchy that deliver couture, men’s and women’s shows with one designer. In any case, these things can’t be improvised. We have our locations. To move dates on venues like the Grand Palais cannot be improvised. Those dates are decided months and months in advance. If [anyone wants to] move dates for 2013, why not, we have the time to talk about it, to arrange it.”

Frankly, it’s a little odd that London is siding with New York considering the hubbub over model castings earlier this season, with London designers blaming New York for hogging all the best girls and the general feeling that LFW was being squeezed out. Now it seems Milan is feeling the crunch and are going to have to come to a decision soon or face the wrath of Wintour. [WWD, sub req'd]

Still from "The Black and White Maze of the Painted Zebra"

Guinness is no neophyte to the cinematic world, having executive produced the Oscar-nominated short, Cashback by the extrememly photogenic Sean Ellis and producing and starring in The Black and White Maze of the Painted Zebra, co-starring professional pretty person, Tyson Ballou. The latter, as described by IMDb, is “an intense psychological portrait of a baseball legend who has gone over the brink and whose insanity spreads like a virus.”

Which sounds right up Guinness’ alley. Her tastes, however, skew more to the classics, and ”French films of Marguerite Duras … Jean Seberg and Gene Tierney and Hollywood films of the golden era.” As my favorite film since I was 8 years old has been 1940′s The Philadelphia Story, I smell a movie night! Daph and I can totes do each other’s hair and pretend to eat marshmallows and make prank phone calls to Anna Wintour. [Page Six]

Photo: NYT

According to Style File: “The Traina sisters reportedly jumped when they heard the first crack, others found themselves flat on the floor after the benches, supporting the likes of Mario Testino, Catherine Deneuve, Carine Roitfeld, and Style.com’s Nicole Phelps, broke.”

Everyone stood their ground, however — note Vogue‘s Hamish Bowles, Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington dutifully in the front row — and the reaction was favorable with Anna Dello Russo remarking via Twitter that it was an “amazing” show and likening the experience to church.

Amen, fashion. [Style File]

From Le Figaro via The Cut:

From the first model on the runway, we are struck by what resembles an out-of-style Gucci collection from ten years ago. The fussy complications of the cuts (drawstrings, shirring, high-waisted skirts, leg-of-lamb sleeves), the disheveled hairstyle of a girl barely back from happy hour, and the overdone makeup… Overload is the key word of the show… The laced shoe? An ersatz model of an Alaïa. The jogging shorts in black leather? Already seen last year in Céline‘s cruise collection, as were the sandals with bracelet straps (here, encrusted with rhinestones). The coat bristling with raffia? A pale version of those in Yves Saint Laurent‘s spring 1967 collection.

And then shit gets personal:

At the end of this inventory suited to Kim Kardashian, Tom Ford appears. He advances. And he remains there, in the central area, asking people to stand up. Perhaps [people would do so] out of distress, or sympathy, or because all of this is supposed to be festive after all. But everybody just looks at their feet. The music does not stop. Ford tries to speak above the noise, louder. We can’t hear a thing. We just see this baby-faced man trying desperately to clear the air. He throw[s] himself upon his companion, Richard Buckley, and hugs him (Ralph Lauren often hugs his companion Ricky at the end of his shows, but then he returns backstage). But here everyone stays put. So Tom Ford retreats toward Anna Wintour and now it’s she whom he decides to embrace. Troubling.

A.) That comparison to Kim Kardashian is verging on out-of-line. B.) I’m pretty sure Mouzat called Ford fat with that “baby-faced” comment. And  C.) I think the most “troubling” part is that he reportedly had the cajones to publicly embrace Anna Wintour. People have died for less.

This isn’t the first time Ford has weathered bad press as noted sassbag Cathy Horyn referred to Ford’s spring 2001 Gucci show as “not just truly ugly, but also…completely at odds with his reputation as a designer who loves women.” And then there was that reporter at the Guardian, Jess Cartner-Morley, who also had some choice words for Ford’s latest collection.

So, is it a case of sour grapes, or has Tom Ford simply made an unfashionable misstep? Well, you’ll have to wait to form your own opinions when the photos come out, but everyone’s allowed a mistake every now and then. Hell, we keep Jean Paul Gaultier around and when’s the last time he did anything passably good? Oh, right. [The Cut]

Testino has long been a close friend of the royal family and was considered Princess Diana‘s favorite photographer. He shot the late princess with the wee princes William and Harry for their 1994 Christmas portraits and was the last person to photograph her, for Vanity Fair in 1997.

Of course, Testino also shot William and Kate’s official engagement photos, a by-product of which appeared on the July issue of Vanity Fair. Anna is seeking to exploit this relationship to convince the Duchess to sit for Vogue, but she’ll have to go through the Queen first. A source speaking to the New York Post says that “the Palace must approve it, and they are very protective of Kate.”

Vogue UK‘s Alexandra Shulman tried to snag Kate for her cover before the royal wedding, but Middleton declined. Diana herself appeared on the cover of British Vogue three times — in 1981, 1991 and 1994 with a posthumous cover in 1997 — so if Kate does decide to be a cover girl, she might do the nationalistic thing and follow in those iconic footsteps. [Telegraph]

“I am disgusted. I have no other words. I am disgusted and embarrassed: How can Italy tolerate Silvio Berlusconi and his bevy of girls?” Wintour admonished before going on to call Berlusconi a dictator and hoping that women protest against him during Milan Fashion Week.

Anna Wintour, revolutionary. Next thing you know, she and Franca Sozzani will get all Fidel Castro and Che Guevara — respectively — on Berlusconi and overthrow the Italian government themselves, appointing Miuccia Prada as their titular figurehead.

Vogue‘s HBIC also lauded Italy’s incomparable craftsmanship while criticizing its “compromised” political climate and wondering how people can “tolerate all this?” Well, it’s amazing what people can put up with under the iron thumb of a “dictator.” Just ask any Vogue staffer. [WWD]

Photos: Fashion Gone Rogue

The idea was that of madame editrix, Anna Wintour, who is secretly hilarious — in that incredibly dry and mocking British way:

I had to read the e-mail from the editor in chief several times to be quite sure. There, buried like a time bomb in a bouquet, was this chilling sentence: “I have signed you up to compete in The X Factor…You can sing,” says Anna…”This will be easy for you.” Her enthusiasm buoys me along, until a moment over dinner at the Metropolitan Opera…when she insouciantly announces that she is, in fact, completely tone deaf.  

Months of vocal training along with a word or two of advice from Liza Miinnelli :

“Just kinda talk through it and then sing the last bit real pretty, so that’s what they’ll remember,” she counseled, doing just that by way of example. “And remember to sing every song as if it’s the last time you are ever going to sing it!”*

And Bowles traveled to Newark, NJ — which was surprisingly the biggest indignity of the entire production — to take the stage.

Under the guise of Leo Mercuré (a character from a Noël Coward play, natch) — a  hairdresser who “once gave Anna Wintour a blow-out” —  Bowles crooned out a “hip-swinging” rendition of  Britney Spears‘ classic ode to lost innocence, “Oops!…I Did It Again” to the delight of the judges and a studio audience of 4,000 vultures.

Sadly, Bowles did not make it to the next stage of competition, but he was at least spared Cowell’s trademark brutality and Paula Abdul even said she wanted to hang out with him. And really, isn’t the prospect of doing karaoke with that glorious train-wreck to “Opposites Attract” reward enough? [Vogue]

*Which for Liza, it very well may be.

- Lindsay Lohan continues to be employable, if only by German fashion houses you’ve never heard of/care about. This can’t go well, particularly considering the first sentence of the press release announcing Lilo’s participation in Philipp Plein‘s spring campaign: “Lindsay is a beautiful, highly acclaimed actress and model.” Who are we lying to Philipp Plein? [Styleite]

- Frida Gustavsson is GORGEOUS on Paolo Roversi‘s cover of Vogue Italia‘s Couture Supplement, giving us a little flapper chic and some serious face. [Fashion Gone Rogue]

- Designer Alice Temperley thinks London Fashion Week is better than New York Fashion Week and should be longer. Meanwhile, preaching to the choir, girlfriend. [Telegraph]

- Girls fall on the runway every season and, honestly, it’s always a highlight. But turns out taking a catwalk misstep could land a girl face down in unemployment. [Daily Mail]

- Which is why they should take a cue from the pros, like Liu Wen and Jourdan Dunn, who reveal how they traveresed the trricky runways of Jason Wu and Alexander Wang, respectively. [The Cut]

- The Mulleavy sisters realize their own style is boring and thus don’t design Rodarte for themselves. [Fashionista]

- Zach Galifianakis put down the bong long enough to design a handbag. Or maybe he just put the bong in the handbag. [Fashionista]

- Tom Ford‘s secretive spring 2012 show took place Sunday and while we have to wait for the photos to pop up — in a welcome change — at least one reporter’s not seeing the emperor’s new clothes. [The Cut]

- Among Franca Sozzani‘s many (?) fans: Anna Wintour, who claims Sozzani “completely and utterly understands that Vogue is about much more than editing a magazine every month.” [Time]

- Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis want you to know there were no dicks in a box — or boxes — between the two of them. [Just Jared]

- Away from the “chiffon trenches of fashion,” André Leon Talley finds solace upstate in Hastings-on-Hudson where his favorite store is The Container Store, in which he shops for paper “to wrap Whoopi Goldberg’s presents.” A normal life if there ever was one. [NYT]

For more great NYFW pics hop on over to Guaty Galleries on Lookbooks! And we recently convinced Richard to whore himself out via  Twitter and Tumblr, so make sure to follow him @RichardGuaty and guatygalleries.tumblr.com, respectively.

I mean, it’s got to be better than this. And for more kickass photos such as this, visit The Guaty Galleries featuring photos from fashion photographer and certified hottie Richard Guaty.

- Hilfiger’s son is “really sad” about his profile in The New York Observer :-( In other news, people now know he exists. [Stylelite]

- Nicki Minaj did it (on ‘em) again—she was spotted sitting next to Anna Wintour at Carolina Herrera. [Fashionista]

- We were pleased to learn that J.D. Salinger was also a queen bitch. A sublimely passive-aggressive note he wrote to his maid is now selling for $50K . [Refinery 29]

- Apparently they let anyone into shows these days. [The Cut]

- Missoni might actually be more affordable than Missoni for Target. [Refinery 29]

Annie Leibovitz – fresh off a tour in KardashianLand — shot the cover in anticipation of Michelle’s movie, My Week with Marilyn, coming to theaters November 4th. The movie documents the tense relationship between Monroe and co-star Sir Laurence Olivier during the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl. Those two kids did not get along at all, mostly due to Monroe’s boozing, pill-popping and constant lateness, so clearly Anna Wintour heard Oscar’s bells ringing for Michelle this third time around. [Design Scene]

- Franca Sozzani, editrix-in-chief of Vogue Italia and all-around bad bitch thinks Dior should just hire back Galliano. And as usual, she’s right. [Daily Beast]

- In Saudi Arabia, hands off the girls. Men are now outlawed from selling lingerie. [Styleite]

- Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have partnered with Steve Madden to become creative directors of Superga, an upscale version of which will be launched with The Row‘s spring 2012 collection. [Fashionologie]

- The next generation of It girls is pretty much fucked. [Styleite]

- Anna Wintour‘s been in a great mood this Fashion Week. Something awful is about to happen, isn’t it? [Refinery29]