Uma Thurman wears Donna Karan dress on the October 2009 cover of W magazine.

A takeback to the 90s, Donna Karen puts on the runway what we think was ’so last season.’ A bit much for my take, there seems to be a large gap between Donna Karen collection and DKNY (guess I always except a Marc Jacobs vs Marc by Marc ratio).

People are always looking for the next Donna, the next Ralph, or the next Calvin. (sorry Tommy, we never consider you a fashion designer) but no one ever acknowledge that there may not be a next big fashion business bearing a designer’s name. Consider this: after the big 3, name another designer with his/her business over 1 billion dollars. The answer is: 0. It’s very typical of fashion to prefer the system to remain unchanged.

Let’s look at new york. Marc? His business is tiny comparing to Louis Vuitton. Micheal Kors? Those old Tommy business guys, Lawrence and Silas, brought Kors 6 years ago and proclaimed it will be a billion dollar business. They are stuck at the middle. Our personal favorite: Narciso Rodriguez? Liz Claiborne brought 50% for a mere 10 million, then return it back to the designer late last year. We assume for much less. Then we have those wunderkind kids one after another; remember Zack? What about Jeffery Chow? It’s ok, because now we have the Wangs and the Wus. But would they be like Calvin?

Yes, some designers would claim that they would like to remain small and ‘intimate’. Fine, but you should also know that we are some of the most egotistical creatures. We want fame, money, and sway, in that order. To drive any real influence, one will need to reach the mass (say hi to Issac Mizrahi). To do that, you need cold hard cash. A billion of it.

What companies blew up so big in the part 10 years? Juicy. Sven. Zara. H&M.

Can we see a pattern and the future here?

Written by (angry) deacon on Next.FashionIndie

Donna Karen, the Bunny Butcher of Forest Hills, has decided to go fur-free for all future collections. Don’t you know this is how it starts Donna?!? You give them this and next their pushing for same sex dolphin marriages and days off for Martin Lemur King Day.

Sonia Rykiel, who is celebrating 40 years in business with a runway blowout and party on Oct. 1 in Paris, has enlisted some high-profile fashion folk to help celebrate. Rumor has it Rykiel’s daughter, Nathalie, has asked a host of international designers, including Karl Lagerfeld, Donna Karan and Jean Paul Gaultier, to design an outfit in the spirit of Rykiel to pay homage to the sweater queen as part of her jubilee.

Thanks WWD

The new Harper’s Bazaar features some of the most renowned designers playing out their deepest fantasies, channeling their inner idols, the fun spread is a must-have.  Elbaz of Lanvin is working the Hollywood producer. Michael Kors, Karl Lagerfeld, Donna Karan, Donatella Versace, Alessandra Facchinetti, Giorgio Armani, Alber Elbaz, Rodarte’s Laura and Kate Mulleavy and Roberto Cavalli were all asked to get into character as something other than a designer.

The men took to the silver screen for inspiration, while others channeled forces of nature, animals and royalty. Armani played the role of Fred Astaire, Kors took on James Stewart’s L.B. Jeffries character from Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, Elbaz reinvented himself as a Hollywood producer with James Bond flair and Cavalli went Gone with the Wind as Rhett Butler; he was shot embracing Coca Rocha as Scarlett O’Hara.

Thanks Fashion Week Daily

Anyone remember the “Feed Kate Moss” campaign? I do. About sixteen years ago, when pre pregnant Kate, the original waif, starred as a CK model, some journos planted a spoof in papers with her photo, asking for donations, as in “Feed the Children” infomercials.

Fast forward, this evening and a panel of fashion designers including Donna Karan, Nicole Miller, Doo-Ri Chung, fugly shoe designer Tory Burch, and Francisco Costa — the healthier modern Calvin Klein — will meet a MIlk Studios in the West Village to discuss model health, how to encourage these gals to fatten up! Hmmmn, maybe it’s me, but who are we kidding?

Think of the upwardly mobile model rush. To dress up in gorgeous clothes, skinny enough to project a long lean line underneath, pliable enough to morph into positions, then to go home with a sack of chic rags. To wind down with some champagne post shoot, a few tapas here and there, a shower, a party, so much love from so many friends, admirers offering lines of coke. To be buzzed, warm, fizzy like fresh soda poured. To be so ecstatic that all you want to do is dance the night away, and you do. Maybe someone will love you till morning. Maybe someone won’t, but tomorrow’s a new adventure, a plane trip, a beach, a drug rush of attention.

Written by Susan Kirschbaum