Australian model Robyn Lawley — Vogue Italia covergirl, Vogue Australia pioneer, and the first plus-size face of Ralph Lauren — landed a swimwear editorial in Australian Cosmopolitan. And in it Lawley looks predictably gorgeous.
Lawley recently tactfully declined to reveal her weight on Good Morning America. (This came just after the host had mentioned Lawley "dabbled in eating disorders" as a straight-size model in her teens. Asking someone in recovery from an eating disorder ringe doesn't even begin to cover it.) Lawley is around a U.S. size 12; she's also 6' tall.
Is this a sign we'll see more diversity in casting in mainstream fashion magazines? Let's hope so.

Amy Adams appears in the fall lookbook — shot on Polaroid, as always — for Boy by Band of Outsiders. What was the actress thinking about while she shot these pictures? The '90s one hit wonder by Paula Cole, "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?" [Vogue.com]

• Solange Knowles is not interested in starting a fashion line. "Honestly, I would never do anything like that," she tells The Cut. "There's so many talented designers that have such a massive skill and have been working on it for so long." We happened to be at the same event and chatted with Knowles about her (awesome) new video for "Losing You," the first single off her forthcoming album. It turns out Knowles read Tracie's post about the video (and the comments!), and since some of you asked, she clarified that although sapeur culture originated in the Congo, all the well-dressed sapeurs in the video were Cape Town locals (not counting one who came from London). [The Cut]
• Women's Wear Daily covered Steven Colbert's book launch and asked whether the comedian did, in fact, ever go to Long John Silver's with Anna Wintour (as the editor promised during her recent appearance on his show). "We haven't gone yet, but I still hope," replied Colbert. [WWD]
• Another day, another random celebrity pregnancy rumor. This time it's Victoria Beckham's turn. [Telegraph]
• Jennifer Aniston has reportedly signed an endorsement deal with the haircare brand Living Proof. No word yet on how much she was paid. [WWD]
• Taylor Swift, meanwhile, has inked a three-year deal with Keds. Insert own sneakers/bleachers joke. [WWD]
• Hot new personal-care product ingredient: snail mucin, otherwise known as snail slime. Some dermatologists believe the mucin speeds skin's healing process and helps reduce the appearance of scars, such as those from acne. On the one hand, it's slime from the ass of a snail. On the other, have you ever seen an old-looking snail? [Fashionista]
• Celebrity stylist and E! Fashion Police co-host George Kotsiopoulos is now a brand ambassador for the luxury discounter Century 21. [WWD]
• Fashion publicist and America's Next Top Model host Kelly Cutrone set off a sensor while she was leaving an Urban Outfitters store with her daughter and became upset when the store security guard asked her to go back to the register to check for misplaced security tags. Then she Tweeted about it and threatened to denounce the store employees to company head Richard Hayne. [Fashionista]
• Sears is turning part of Times Square into a faux campsite today to promote its newish private-label brand Outdoor Life. [WWD]
• W magazine, along with the International Center of Photography, is launching an annual photography competition aimed at identifying and supporting emerging photographers. [NYTimes]
• Valentino was just named a Commandeur de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. [WWD]
• If you have a spare £2,500 and you smell bad, maybe you're the intended market for a comically oversized 900 ml bottle of Prada's Candy perfume? [Vogue UK]
• Thailand appears primed to become a major market for luxury goods in the coming years, according to the folks who study such things. [WWD]
• Former head of New York fashion week Fern Mallis is launching a jewelry line on HSN. [DFR]
• As the company had warned, sales growth slowed significantly at Burberry during the second quarter. Revenue grew year-on-year by 2.6%, to $751 million. In the previous two quarters, sales increased by 11.2% and 16.1%, respectively. [WWD]
• Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo, posted strong annual results but still missed its earnings targets. Net profit in the year to August 31 rose 31.8%, to $909.96 million — but the company had forecast $1 billion in profit. [WWD]
• Harry Brant, the teenaged son of Stephanie Seymour and Peter M. Brant, thinks he has to prove himself more than someone from a town in the middle of Ohio. "I think I have to prove myself more than if I was, for example, from a town in the middle of Ohio," says Brant. "Because then people would be excited for me that I was doing all these things. But because I'm not, I have to fight that as much as I can." [The Cut]
• And now, a moment with Manolo Blahnik. Manolo, how has outsourcing and the loss of high-end apparel and textile manufacturing jobs in Europe and the U.S. affected your business?

  "Oh God, it's tough. For instance, let's say in Paris you go to Lesage. Monsieur Lesage passed away last year, but in the past, you would go to him and say, "Do you think this is feasible? How is it going to be priced?" He would always come up with a solution. That kind of thing is now going to India. You can't even see the drawings. It takes two or three days by DHL or Federal Express. Some of the people are just gone. It's strange. A buckle place near Milan that I used to work with very closely, they are going to close everything and move somewhere outside Hong Kong. I find it very difficult to deal with this, all the more because the priorities, the necessities of rich people, God bless them, is to be interested in what we do. But it's sad. If this situation is not resolved quickly, many people are going to suffer. The savoir-faire is going to go."

  [WWD]

Well, this is interesting: Carine Roitfeld, who was deposed as editor of Vogue Paris in late 2010, has taken a position at Harper's Bazaar. Roitfeld, who just published the first issue of her new project CR Fashion Book, will be the Vogue competitor's "global fashion director."

Roitfeld will apparently be working closely with Stephen Gan, the creative director of American Harper's Bazaar. This makes sense not only because Roitfeld and Gan are close friends, but because Gan is also Roitfeld's business partner on CR Fashion Book. Gan is the head of Fashion Media Group LLC, which publishes CR Fashion Book, V, Visionaire, and VMan.

At the time of Roitfeld's departure from Vogue Paris, where she had been editor-in-chief for a decade, the rumor was that she was fired after big advertisers (including the luxury conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) were aghast at the content of the last issue she edited, the "Age" issue, which included the infamous spread featuring child models dressed up in women's clothing. Roitfeld has always publicly claimed she resigned. Her relationship with Condé Nast, which publishes Vogue, and with her former deputy and best friend (now successor) Emmanuelle Alt has been very frosty; in interviews Roitfeld has called Condé Nast "a golden cage." The Times even speculated that Condé Nast timed its recent announcement of its intention to found a French edition of Vanity Fair to steal Roitfeld's thunder at the time of CR Fashion Book's launch. Whether or not it was Roitfeld's top goal in signing with Harper's Bazaar, which is published by Hearst, it's a career move that is bound to stick in Condé's craw. Get it, gurl.

Carine Roitfeld Joins Harper's Bazaar [TDB]

It sure sounds like Alexa Chung had some things to get off her chest about fashion, body image, and self-esteem. The British former model and television presenter had to temporarily shut down her Instagram in April after her followers started commenting obsessively about her body in ways almost anyone would find distressing — people regularly called her body "disgusting," "ugly," "gross," and worse, and others said that simply posting pictures of herself going about her daily business was tantamount to promoting thinspo. (Apparently taking a picture with your mum wearing sunglasses and a shirt dress is now thinspo!) In a new interview, Chung says:

"I think it's about time people stopped judging women on their appearance and more on their intellect. Like you can appreciate my style without having to appreciate my weight. It's not actually mutually exclusive. I just get frustrated because just because I exist in this shape doesn't mean that I'm like advocating it."

Oh — and as for getting recognition for her style, it's not like Chung professes any feelings of entitlement to that, either. She says the whole thing is "really weird":

"I modeled for so long and didn't get any results from that so then it was like, really? I've been dragging my ass around castings for years without anyone saying, oh you've got unique style. I think it was very much a case of being in the right place in the right time. I've really just been ripping off Jane Birkin. Sorry, has no one else seen a picture of Françoise Hardy? Look it up. I'm just the middle man."

On the topic of body image, Chung continued:

"I just think that whole culture of hatred, and also feeling like it's your right to judge people when you don't know them is really fucked up. So I'm pleased I experienced that side of it, so I can learn to be a better person on the other side of it. I'm sure in the past I've been judgmental too...Self esteem, that's something you got to work on yourself. I know for me it's different day to day."

She's fucking right on. This culture of publicly policing women's bodies hurts us all. [Fashionista]

• Oh, and right on cue, here's Karl Lagerfeld to mansplain anorexia:

  "I'm sorry to say that it's a subject I consider ridiculous for several reasons; the story with the anorexic girls — nobody works with anorexic girls, that's nothing to do with fashion. People who have that [anorexia] have problems to do with family and things like that...There are less than 1 per cent of anorexic girls, but there more than 30 per cent of girls in France — I don't know about England — that are much, much overweight. And it is much more dangerous and very bad for the health. So I think today with the junk food in front of the TV it's something dangerous for the health of the girl."

  Sigh. [Telegraph]

• Annie Leibovitz confirmed she shot back-to-back covers of American Vogue — Rihanna for November and Anne Hathaway for December. Rihanna already Tweeted about her cover, too. [Fashionista]
• In his monthly email to J.C. Penney customers, C.E.O. Ron Johnson included a discount code entitling recipients to $10 off any purchase of $10 or more at a J.C. Penney store. That's interesting because it sounds suspiciously like, well, a discount — and Johnson's entire strategy since taking over the retailer has been to cut prices overall but get rid of coupons, discounts, and scheduled sales. The company says it is not changing strategy, just offering customers a one-off freebie. [WWD]
• J. Crew head Mickey Drexler went to Hong Kong to fete the retailer's entry into the market, via the department store Lane Crawford. [WWD]
• Vintage dealer Cameron Silver was also unimpressed by Hedi Slimane's Yves Saint Laurent collection. "If you're going to present yourself as the messiah then you better deliver the 11th commandment," said Silver, who called the collection "too referential." [The Cut]
• Fashionista asks the question, "Why are so many editors leaving magazines for retail brands?" For the money, duh. [Fashionista]
• Around 60 people at Condé Nast just lost their jobs. The layoffs hit publications including Self, Brides, and GQ, as well as the corporate communications department. [WWD]
• Brian Atwood opened his first store in New York City. [WWD]

Rihanna is on the November cover of Vogue. The singer was shot by Annie Leibovitz. The cover line "I LOVE TO HAVE FUN" seems like an under-statement given Rihanna's well-publicized proclivities (which have recently included table-dancing and kissing Chris Brown). We are also excited to see an excerpt from Grace Coddington's highly anticipated memoir teased on the cover. Inside, Rihanna's relationship with Brown is a major part of the profile:

"To the world, I feel like there's no closure," she says. "There's some obsession that's continued even throughout when we weren't friends or couldn't be friends at all. Hated each other. The world hasn't let go. They haven't seen any progress in our friendship, because they don't see anything, really." [...] "So now it's a bit of a fascination, I guess," she says. "I don't know if people will stop soon, but I feel like as soon as they have closure to it, they will." She doesn't expect she will win everyone's understanding. "But they're not on the inside. They can't see what I see, unless they're sitting in my point of view. I guess I'll learn to accept that."

Rihanna says she is very, very single and would love to go on a date because she is surrounded by "too many vaginas":

She says she is single. "I have not been on a date in forever," she says. "Like two years. Haven't gone to the movies, to dinner. Zero."

Come on. If someone wanted to go on a date with you—

"I would love to go on a date," she says. "You don't think that? I'm a woman. A young woman, vibrant, and I love to have fun. And I have too many vaginas around me at this point."

She takes a sip of wine. "Seriously, all I want is a guy to take me out and make me laugh for a good hour and take my ass back home. He doesn't even have to come up. All I want is a conversation for an hour."

So what gives?

"No one asks. Trust me on that. I'm waiting for the man who's ballsy enough to deal with me. I'm going to wait, though. You always find the wrong shit when you go looking."

[Vogue]

"It's not a journey. Every journey ends. We go on. The world turns and we turn with it. Plans disappear. Dreams take over. But wherever I go, there you are: My luck. My Fate. My Fortune. Chanel No.5, Inevitable."

With 40 words at $7 million, Pitt earned about $175,000 every time he opened his mouth. [YouTube]

• Tyra Banks has sold a T.V. show concept called Fivehead to ABC Family. The show will focus on Banks' experiences in high school and rise to the top of the modeling world. [Deadline]
• Henry Holland would like reporters not to use the word "fun" in reference to his clothing anymore, because he is all grown up:

  "Don't say the F word!" designer Henry Holland shouts, en route to our shoot with his friend Pixie Geldof. "If the headline on this article is 'House of Fun', I will be sending it back to you — once I've shredded it — in a Ziploc bag." [...]

  "It's two different things, isn't it, to be serious and to be taken seriously," the 29-year-old continues. "It doesn't keep me up at night, but I would like to be taken more seriously. That's what the new collection was about – trying to show that there is growth and development, and that you don't have to use the word fun every time you talk about my clothes. I'm so over the word fun. But we've said it now, haven't we?"

  [Independent]

• Production of NBC's show Fashion Star has been shut down due to a dispute with the International Association of Theatrical and Stage Employees, the union that represents stagehands and production crew members. About 70 people picketed the set and a judging panel taping was cancelled. The show is currently a non-union production that employs mostly unionized staff, but in the absence of a union contract those people aren't getting health insurance or pension benefits. [THR]
• The dispute between Hermès and Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy over the latter's acquisition of some 22.3% of the former's shares is the subject of a preliminary investigation by the Paris prosecutor's office. Hermès accuses the luxury conglomerate of insider trading, collusion, and manipulating stock prices. LVMH has counter-sued the target of its hostile takeover for "slander, blackmail and unfair competition." [WWD]
• Tory Burch sold her mansion in the Hamptons for $11 million. This has shocked — shocked — her neighbors, who include Calvin Klein, David Koch, Rachael Ray, and Leon Black, because when Burch bought the house from her ex-husband Chris in 2006 she paid $22.5 million. That kind of price drop might affect their home values. [NYPost]
• The Los Angeles Times takes a look at the fashion industry's attempts to become more sustainable. Gucci and Stella McCartney are exploring biodegradable plastics. And as reported last week, Puma is introducing a new line of products that can be returned to Puma stores for recycling once they have reached the end of their usefulness. Bio-plastics, vegetable-tanned leather, recycled polyester — are these the materials of the future? [LATimes]
• Probably not. The clothing of the future will instead be designed by Kylie and Kendall Jenner, who just got a clothing line deal. [WWD]
• Derek Lam says his favorite client will always be his mom.

  "Whenever I see my mother wear my clothes it make me feel so happy. She's close to 70 and still loves fashion. I'm always so pleasantly surprised when I see that she is happy enough with the work that I do to wear it."

  He's also enjoying the new Zadie Smith book. [Grazia]

• HMX is facing a liquidity crisis that could lead to the men's wear company filing for bankruptcy for the second time in four years. Reports Women's Wear Daily, "The liquidity constraints are due to a lack of funding from its corporate parent, Mumbai-based S. Kumars Nationwide Ltd." Several companies, including Iconix, are interested in acquiring the company. HMX is the largest remaining manufacturer of men's suits in the U.S. [WWD]
• Swedish style blogger Elin Kling's new collection for Guess retails for $58 to $898. Is anyone really going to spend $900 on some leather pants from Guess? Kling says she did the first 14 sketches in just two days. Women's Wear Daily didn't ask Kling any questions about the details of her company Now Manifest's recent acquisition by Fairchild Fashion Media, a division of Condé Nast. Details of the deal and its value were never disclosed. FFM publishes WWD. [WWD]
• Ahead of the vote on Washington state's marriage equality law, which must be confirmed by a popular referendum, Nordstrom released a letter affirming that

  It is our belief that our gay and lesbian employees are entitled to the same rights and protections marriage provides under the law as all other employees.

  [AP]

• The late hair stylist Vidal Sassoon was remembered at a memorial service at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Guests included Jeremy Irons, Zaha Hadid, John Frieda, Michael Caine, Anish Kapoor, Zandra Rhodes, Louise Wilson, and Ashley and Allegra Hicks. [WWD]

Oprah Winfrey was shot by Terry Richardson for Harper's Bazaar. She high-fives the reporter a lot and talks about starting OWN, her love of bathing, and how she's been reading all the 50 Shades books:

"I've got all the Shades, for the time I can take some guilty pleasure and just read. But I'm thinking, Stop with the story, get to the juicy part!"

Then, perhaps afraid she hasn't gotten her point across, she calls the reporter back while on location acting in The Butler for Lee Daniels:

"I'm in the middle of nowhere, in Louisiana, in a cornfield," she says, "the exact opposite of wearing a red coat for Bazaar. I've been thinking, What am I hungry for? Well, I'm hungry to awaken and open people's hearts. And you know how I told you how exhausting acting is? It's equally exhilarating. But I was so tired from shooting a funeral scene that I passed out on my bed with the lights on. Anyway, that's all! Oh, and I really love that red coat. Bye!"

[HB]

• Karl Lagerfeld will retire when he's dead, everyone.

  "Why should I stop working? If I do, I'll die and it'll all be finished...There's something boring about people who have to go to an office for a living. I wanted to do this job since I was a child. I love fashion. I'm lucky to work in the most perfect of conditions. I can do what I want in all kinds of areas. The expenses are not expenses. I would be stupid to stop that. Work is making a living out of being bored."

  [Vogue UK]

• Ann Romney wore a dress by Diane von Furstenberg, the prominent Democratic fundraiser. (Von Furstenberg is on record expressing equivocal feelings about the notion of her clothing being sullied by a Romney.) The company's PR team will only say, "we're actually not quite sure how Ann obtained the dress." [BuzzFeed]
• Supermarket magnate (who hates being called that) Ron Burkle is apparently interested in acquiring HMX, the troubled men's wear company. The workers who manufacture for HMX brands like Hickey Freeman and Hart Schaffner Marx are mostly U.S.-based and unionized, and Burkle's working relationships with organized labor have always been strong. [WWD]
• Yves Saint Laurent has filed a request to drop its counter-suit against Christian Louboutin in the recently resolved (mostly in Louboutin's favor) intellectual-property dispute over the use of red soles in footwear. [The Cut]
• Levi's is launching a new line of clothing it says is more sustainable because it's made with fabric partly made of recycled plastic bottles and food trays. Levi's named its collection Waste<Less and says each garment will include at least 20% post-consumer material, or around eight plastic bottles in each pair of jeans. The jeans will retail for $69 to $128 and hit stores in January. [WWD]
• Erin Wasson consults a "spiritual healer" for facials and uses soap that has been blessed by shamans. Of course. [Into The Gloss]
• Burberry is taking its perfume business in-house. The Telegraph reports, breathlessly, "Burberry goes where no luxury brand has gone for over ten years by starting up its own fragrance management." That's not true. Oscar de la Renta bought took its fragrance business in-house by buying back its perfume license just this past February. [Telegraph]
• Also with perfume on the mind? The boy band One Direction, which is set to launch its first licensed fragrance next summer. [Marie Claire UK]
• Sales at Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy rose year-on-year by 14.8%, to $8.63 billion, during the quarter just ended. [WWD]
  
• Chanel has acquired a Scottish knitwear supplier called Barrie Knitwear that was in financial trouble. Barrie employs 176 people. [WWD]

Marie Claire columnist and blogger Nicolette Mason used the latest episode of her YouTube show to call out Marc Jacobs for failing to follow through on the company's promised plus-size line.

Mason, who writes the "Big Girl in a Skinny World" column for the magazine, was responding to reader questions about shopping for plus-size clothes and accessories. When one reader asked about high-end designers who serve the plus-size market, Mason said:

"Robert Duffy, Marc Jacobs C.E.O., if you're out there, this is my chance to call you out again. Because two years ago you promised us a plus-size line from Marc Jacobs. Where is it? I want it. I would be your customer, and you know it."

The comments about Jacobs start at around 3:23 in the video.

In August of 2010, Duffy Tweeted that developing a Marc Jacobs plus-size line was a top priority for him. "We gotta do larger sizes," he wrote. "I'm with you. As soon as I get back to NY. I'm on it! It will take me about a year. But stay with us." He later mentioned that he was "in the very beginning stages" of taking meetings about the line — but it has yet to materialize. What gives?

Victoria's Secret model Erin Heatherton was asked about her feelings about Photoshop. How does digital retouching impact her work? How does she feel about the increased public scrutiny of retouching? Her answer was surprisingly direct:

"I think it's people's own prerogative to be able to look at something and know the difference between ‘this is what someone looks like with makeup on' and ‘this is what they look like in real life.' This is what happens when you do a photo shoot; retouching is an essential part of our job, you know. We're not selling reality; we're selling a story. It's all about creating this fantasy. And I don't think people should confuse fantasy and reality because no one is perfect–we all know that, and I think people should embrace themselves and not really focus on where people are depicted as perfect and where they're not."

Heatherton compared Photoshop to movie special effects; something obviously unreal that enhances the story:

"I think we're all intelligent enough to know the difference between what's real and what's not. I think that's something that children should be taught by their parents, it should be taught in schools. Healthy body image is not something that you're going to learn from fashion magazines."

That's true — but it's pretty hard to develop healthy body image in a visual culture where virtually every single photograph of a woman in advertising or in magazines has been digitally "perfected" in ways that are intentionally invisible. Maybe one day we will have an instinctual understanding that fashion pictures aren't "real" in the same way that movie explosions aren't, but we aren't there yet. [Fashionista]

• Uniqlo has announced it will donate over $127 million to various children's charities over the next decade. [WWD]
• Paris Hilton and her perfume licensee, Parlux, are suing the International Perfume Palace Inc. over the latter's "Paris Paris" perfume, which the heiress argues is confusingly similar in its design and packaging to her own namesake fragrance. [WWD]
• Victoria's Secret accidentally included a still photo of Alessandra Ambrosio wearing the magical diamond bra of destiny in that video of VS angels talking about "seduction" last week — thereby revealing that Ambrosio was going to have the honor of wearing said bra during this year's show. VS also recently (and apparently accidentally) uploaded unretouched photographs of Doutzen Kroes to its Web site. Oops. [P6]
• Rachel Zoe is working on developing a half-hour scripted comedy based on her life for NBC. In addition to that half-hour scripted comedy she does for Bravo. [THR]
• Fashion Star and its crew members have reached an agreement about their union dispute and production of the show will resume tomorrow. [LATimes]
• "22% of Companies Still Lack Social Media Plan." That should work out well! [WWD]
• Billy Reid's collection for eBay launches on November 14, is priced at $50-$100, and includes items for women. [Racked]
• The Canadian department-store chain Hudon's Bay Company has filed for an initial public offering on the Toronto stock exchange. Hudson's owns the Bay and Lord & Taylor. [WWD]
• Piazza Sempione is for sale. We were not previously aware that "Piazza Sempione is controlled by a Luxemburg-based holding company, owned by L Capital, the private equity arm of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton." [WWD]
• And now, a moment with the Financial Times' Vanessa Friedman, one of our favorite voices in the fashion industry today:

  "To me, clothes are about identity — sociopolitical identity — and fashion gives you a chance every six months to rethink what that means."

  [The Cut]

Ben Stiller has delivered his first new material in character as Derek Zoolander in 11 years. Stiller took the stage to film a segment for Comedy Central's big autism fundraiser, the Night of Too Many Stars, and did a monologue about how 2012 is "the last year of the Maya Rudolph calendar" leading him to introduce his very own "Derek Zoolander end of syphilisation calendar" for the few surviving humans of 2013.

Meanwhile, the long-awaited Zoolander sequel has an IMDB page, a director attached (Justin Theroux), and a projected release date of 2014.

kroBack in August, Victoria's Secret accidentally published a set of two dozen raw, unretouched images from a photo shoot with supermodel Doutzen Kroes. Although we had to take down the unretouched images from our post after some kind of legal crap from VS, we knew the publication of the retouched versions in the brand's catalog was only a matter of time. And now we can show you all the images, both before and after the VS airbrush job.

Many of the differences between the retouched and raw photographs are not terribly shocking. There aren't any missing limbs, or drastic alterations to the shape of Kroes' body — she's a supermodel, after all, and the woman sure knows how to pose. This is, to be honest, mostly pretty subtle, "good" Photoshop. The biggest change by far is that Victoria's Secret brightened up the colors and corrected for lighting conditions that had some of the raw shots looking a little washed-out or dull. Now, it comes as no great surprise that a company should want its products to be seen in the best light possible, even if that is the magical, golden light of Photoshop. An advertiser using lies to make a product seem more alluring than it really is? Well, I never!

But it's still interesting to see exactly what changed — and what didn't — during Victoria's Secret's post-production process. The retouching of women's bodies in advertising is normally intended to be invisible: it takes advantage of the presumed objectivity of photography but instead gives us an image that has been highly manipulated. The standards to which images are edited vary from brand to brand and magazine to magazine, and in a world where virtually every image of a woman we ever see (outside, perhaps, of news photos) has been manipulated and "perfected," whatever information can be gleaned about these standards helps foster media and body literacy.

It's easy to forget just how very recent the advent of Photoshop was in our visual culture. Images have always been retouched in the darkroom, sure, but the cost and time-intensiveness of darkroom retouching often meant that magazines and brands simply didn't have the time to "fix" everything. When digital retouching became the norm in the late 90s/early 2000s, our bodily ideal for women began to change, too. A lot of the things that got Photoshopped out of these Victoria's Secret images — folds of skin visible at Kroes' side when she thrusts out a hip, expression lines, traces of body hair, the texture of her skin — were visible in ad campaigns for global brands and on fashion magazine covers even as recently as the 1990s. We did not use to think of the place where the pectoral muscle meets the armpit as something "ugly" in need of "fixing." We did not use to think that it looked "bad" for a woman to squint slightly in the sun.

So let's take a look, shall we? Scroll through the images at top to see how your gorgeous sausage gets made; click the bottom right of any image to enlarge.

Left: the unretouched original. Right: the final Photoshopped image. Changing the colors of garments in post-production (1) is one of the most common image edits. The photograph's colors were brightened in general (2) and lighting errors were corrected. Part of Kroes' back below her armpit has also been removed, (3), as have the expression lines on her face (4). The hemline of the swimsuit bottoms has also been redrawn (50.

Left: the unretouched original. Right: the final Photoshopped image. Again, expression lines have been removed (1), and skin folds created by the exaggerated position of Kroes' hip have been smoothed (2) along with part of her back below her armpit (3). Aside from the overall color (4), the biggest change of all between the unretouched and retouched images is the removal of her swimsuit strap (5). That's one way to get the cleavage of a standard swimsuit top in a bandeau: Photoshop.

Two new lawsuits are rocking the New York modeling industry today. First, a model named Louisa Raske (not pictured) is the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against a sheaf of New York City's top modeling agencies that alleges agencies conspired to defraud their model clients. The suit alleges that agencies regularly give inaccurate financial statements, conceal funds received intended for models, and improperly used money that belonged to models. Raske's suit puts the total value of New York models' losses to their agencies at $20 million.

Meanwhile, the Ford agency is suing two top models, Karolina Waz and Alanna Zimmer, for leaving their contracts and going to the competing agency Women. Ford is also suing Women for allegedly offering Zimmer and Waz improper enticements. Ford is seeking $1 million each in damages from Waz and Zimmer and $2 million from Women. Nearly all lawsuits over the contract disputes arising from agency switches are settled out of court or dismissed.

The class-action suit is a little different. In a statement, Fordham law professor and expert in the field of fashion law Susan Scafidi called Raske's suit "quite dramatic" in its scope. "Many models have raised concerns about lack of financial transparency," said Scafidi. "In the long term, this case has the potential to change industry accounting practices. Models' bodies are in effect small businesses — with the potential for big profits — and should be managed accordingly." A class-action lawsuit against New York agencies filed in the 1990s over accounting standards was eventually resolved in the models' favor in 2005 — but the $22 million in damages the models won went mostly unclaimed. After the claim period had expired, a judge ordered that the remaining millions be donated to an eating-disorder charity. This story is developing. [NYPost, Vogue UK]

• Martha Stewart paints the soles of her Christian Louboutin shoes black. "I don't like them red, even though they're his trademark," she says. "But he doesn't mind. He said it's okay if I do that — I asked him!" [InStyle]
• Kate Gosselin says she hasn't had a facelift, she just ages backwards. "I am probably one of the rare few who de-age," she told Andy Cohen. [E!]
• A lot has been written in recent years about the Garment District of Manhattan as the city and private developers consider its future. Some context: while the fashion industry employs more than 170,000 people in New York City, only 7,100 of those jobs are in the Garment District proper. The Garment District contributes around $2 billion a year to the local economy; the fashion industry overall, $9 billion. According to a new three-year study by the Design Trust for Public Space, "unleashing the neighborhood's real estate value" would have "an incremental annual economic impact of $340 million." This latest report is the usual mix of boring-but-meaningful urban planning recommendations (tax incentives for manufacturers, wider sidewalks, dedicated vehicular lanes for fashion-related delivery traffic to improve traffic) and headline-grabbing fun stuff (holding runway shows on city streets, making loading docks into locations for pop-up stores, roof gardens). [WWD]
• Newlywed Agyness Deyn is officially retired from modeling. [Independent]
• The Hudson Bay Co. IPO could value it at $2.55 billion and raise nearly $400 million for company. HBC's biggest U.S. holding is the Lord & Taylor department store chain. [WWD]
• Prada forced a McDonalds store out of the tony Milanese arcade the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (that's the fancy one next to the Duomo) and now McDonalds — which had been in the location for more than 20 years — is suing the city of Milan for allowing it to happen. McDonalds says it was the only business in the mall to not be given first right of refusal on a new lease. Prada opened its very first store in the Galleria in 1913. Why it decided it needs a second is anyone's guess. [Vogue UK]
• Macy's knows that you Millennials have an estimated $65 billion annual spending power for products at Macy's price point and it wants a piece of your money, okay? This fall and spring, the department store plans to launch 13 new brands and expand another 10 in order to court shoppers ages 13-30. [WWD]
• Poppy Delevingne says she wants to try her hand at acting and will move to Los Angeles. [Daily Mail]
• WSJ. has named Deborah Needleman's successor — and it's an internal promotion. Ruth Altchek, formerly the editor of Journal's Saturday style section, is now in the newly created position of editorial director of WSJ Weekend, where she will oversee both WSJ. the magazine and the style section. Kristina O'Neill, executive editor of Harper's Bazaar, has been named editor of WSJ. and will report to Altchek. As for who interviewed and didn't get the job, both Elle's Kate Lanphear and Anne Slowey plus Glamour's Anne Christensen are on the list. [WWD]
• Robyn Lawley:

  "That heroin chic look isn't my cup of tea. It isn't for a lot of people out of the fashion world. That starvation look isn't for everybody, why not have someone who is a little bit bigger?"

  [Radaronline]
  

• Richemont has acquired the luxury mall below the St. Regis hotel in Manhattan for $375 million. The property last changed hands in 2009 for just $117 million. [WWD]
• Christian Dior is opening a new boutique in Dallas, its first in Texas. [WWD]
• And now, a moment with J. Crew's Mickey Drexler. Mickey, how do you personally feel about the world?

  "My personal opinion about the world is that it's homogenized," he said. Drexler said he just returned from an overseas trip and found the "same look, the same goods and the same brands" everywhere. The "ubiquity" of products throughout the world means nothing is special anymore. "Today, there's no aspiration because every high school kid has it."

  Drexler furthermore claimed, reports WWD, that because he believes "good taste should never cost more," he does everything he can to keep prices affordable at J. Crew. HA! Mickey "the customer will pay more" Drexler got that bullshit into the rag trade paper of record. You old jokester, you! [WWD]

In the course of an age-discrimination lawsuit brought against Abercrombie & Fitch by a former pilot, the weirdly specific rules governing the care and feeding of C.E.O. Michael Jeffries while on his private jet have become public. And it sure is interesting.

The Abercrombie & Fitch "Aircraft Standards" manual is more than 40 pages long, and lays down rules for the pilots and the flight crew — four strapping young Abercrombie types whose labor is contracted via a company called Cosmopolitan Management LLC that says it specializes in finding actors and models "with just the right look and personality" for temp jobs, like events. The manual governs what the staff can wear, how they should address Jeffries and his partner, Matthew Smith, and the songs that should be played inflight. The manual even gives detailed contingency plans for the seating of Jeffries' and Smith's dogs Ruby, Trouble, and Sammy, depending on which pets were traveling.

Jeffries, in case you are planning on serving him in the near future, prefers Assam tea in the morning. Like any civilized man should. But he requires Darjeeling after 2 p.m. Tea should in all instances be "served on a small tray with a small tray liner." Black gloves are used when handling silverware, and white gloves are used when setting the table.

The rest of the time, the uniform for the flight crew and pilots consists of an Abercrombie polo shirt, Abercrombie jeans, Abercrombie flip-flops, and an Abercrombie sweatshirt. For men, add Abercrombie boxer briefs, an Abercrombie belt, and a "spritz" of Abercrombie cologne. The document specifies that all male staffers must be clean-shaven. When the temperature dipped below 50 degrees, flight crew could wear Abercrombie jackets, provided they popped the collars. They could not change out of their Abercrombie flip-flops.

Meanwhile, anytime Jeffries and Smith were flying back to their home in Ohio, where the company is headquartered, the manual specified that the song "Take Me Home" had to be played.

And Jeffries had special rules for how he should be spoken to:

When Michael, Matthew, or a guest make a request, respond by saying ‘No Problem.' This should be used in place of phrases like, ‘Sure' or, ‘Just a minute.'

A private jet as stinky as an Abercrombie store, filled with white-gloved, hardbodied models with really cold toes murmuring, "No problem," over and over while Phil Collins plays on the sound system. Sounds like quite the way to travel.

These details came to light in a lawsuit brought by Michael Stephen Bustin, a pilot who flew Jeffries' corporate private jet and alleges he was terminated because of age discrimination. It's not the first time Abercrombie and its C.E.O. have had to defend a discrimination lawsuit: in 2004, the retailer settled three lawsuits that alleged pervasive racial discrimination in its hiring practices at a cost of nearly $50 million. Abercrombie's lawyers say Bustin's suit is without merit.

Models on Abercrombie Jet Had Rules on Proper Underwear [Bloomberg]

Halle Berry is looking pretty damn fine on the cover of the new T and in the editorial spread inside. Though the interview is pegged to Berry's turn in Cloud Atlas, the reporter — noting restraining-ordered David Justice, terminally unfaithful Eric Benét, and moocher Gabriel Aubry — asked the actress why she has such bad taste in men. She replied, allegedly with a laugh, "My picker's broken. God just wanted to mix up my life. Maybe he was thinking, ‘This girl can't get everything! I'm going to give her a broken picker.' " [T]

• With Hickey Freeman and Hart Schaffner Marx parent company HMX in trouble again, the union that represents the more than 1000 garment workers employed in the U.S. by HMX is warning that it will fight any effort to sell the brand's assets in bankruptcy and move production overseas. HMX is the largest manufacturer of men's suits still extant in the U.S. In 2009, when the company last changed hands, the union successfully fought a high-profile campaign to keep production domestic. New liquidity problems have the company mulling a voluntary bankruptcy filing. [WWD]
• The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts has a new show featuring 40-some items from Katharine Hepburn's wardrobe. Up through January. [NYPL]
• Banana Republic is doing a third Mad Men-inspired collection for spring. [WWD]
• Chanel's Métiers d'Art show will take place this year in Scotland. [Vogue UK]
• Jordin Sparks' next perfume will be called Ambition. [WWD]
• Kristen McMenamy says that when she started modeling, she didn't have an easy rise to the top. "I got rejected by everyone," she says. "But I was obsessed! It was the only thing I wanted to do and I wanted it so badly. I was like a bulldog, hanging on by my teeth." At first when her daughter Lily wanted to try modeling, McMenamy didn't agree. "But then I thought to myself — I can't say that, it would make me a hypocrite, so now I'm supporting her. She had a wonderful time in Paris. And now she's gone to L.A with Hedi Slimane." But still, she says, "Lily might not make it because she hasn't got that drive. She's interested in too many other things besides modelling." [Elle]
• Sally Singer, who last month was ousted as the editor of T, is returning to Vogue, the magazine she left in order to join the New York Times company. Singer will be the magazine's digital creative director. [WWD]
• Aéropostale is betting that teens will want to shop at new stores with high-tech touches including, according to Women's Wear Daily, "a modern jukebox where teens can vote for the music played in the store, iPods in fitting rooms to indulge personal tastes in music and Apple desktops and iPads for scanning products and reading reviews." [WWD]
• Gilt is selling Jetsetter. The online retailer has been trimming its less- and un-profitable holdings in what is widely seen as preparation for an initial public offering. [WSJ]
• Melania Trump, not one to be the only Trump without a random assortment of branded products licensed to her name, is getting a skin-care line. It's got caviar in it. [WWD]
• Last night, WSJ. magazine named Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen its Innovators of the Year in the category of fashion. [Jezebel Inbox]
• Here's one person who apparently has no reservations about Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire benevolent dictator of New York City: Donna Karan. Karan invited him to a party to give him an award that she made up and gushed of Bloomberg, "Our mayor, our father, our caretaker.…He could take care of the world if he just would." [WWD]
• French Marie Claire asked Karl Lagerfeld what he thinks of François Hollande. Never one to hide his light under a bushel, Lagerfeld replied, "This idiot will be as disastrous as Zapatero was." [Reuters]
• Area Man Still Believes In Existence Of American Dream: "A lot of people say the American dream is not alive any more. I completely disagree. It totally exists. If you really want something and you work hard, it's going to happen." Dmitry Sholokhov just won Project Runway. [WWD]
• Macy's head Terry Lundgren just sold $20.3 million worth of company stock. In unrelated news, we found 63 cents in our couch today. [WWD]

Grace Coddington's forthcoming memoir is excerpted in this month's Vogue. The passage is full of anecdotes about London and Paris in the 1950s and 60s — the life of a struggling newbie model, an engagement ended by an affair, flights over the channel with a pilot boyfriend who liked to do loop-the-loops, "snotty French bloody-mindedness" and nude photo shoots with Norman Parkinson — but this particular story stood out to me. This, friends, is how Grace Coddington learned what a condom was:

A man called Tinker Patterson was often a customer at the Stockpot, the bistro where I worked as a waitress; he was tall and very good-looking, with a pale complexion, sandy hair, and freckles. He was a London painter as well as an in-demand part-time model, and although he already had a girlfriend, he was to become my very first affair.

Tinker invited me to spend the weekend in his delightful little rose-covered cottage in Kent. I could hardly contain my excitement at the prospect of getting out of town for a few days. We drove there on a Friday evening, chugging through the countryside in his little Austin 7, a compact British car from the 1930s that had become popular again in the economy-conscious 1950s and contained so little legroom, it would make a Mini seem spacious. When we arrived, he cooked a beautiful candlelit dinner for two, after which I was shown up to what I thought was the guest bedroom.

I undressed, put on my nightie, pulled down the top sheet, and there, neatly laid out on the pillow like one of those little chocolate mints you find in boutique hotels nowadays, was a condom. "What is this?" I wondered. I really hadn't a clue. Moments later, to my surprise, I was joined by Tinker carrying a steaming cup of cocoa and looking adorable in his stripy cotton pajamas. But his air was not that of someone about to read me a bedtime story.

Grace Notes: An Excerpt from Grace Coddington's Memoir [Vogue.com]

Kate Upton scored a solo editorial in Vogue. That's a coup for any model, but perhaps especially so for a model whose curvy physique and propensity for posing in swimwear has led some in the world of high fashion to give her some side-eye. (And some in the world of, well, not-so-high fashion, too: c.f. that time Victoria's Secret's casting director said publicly of Upton, "She's like a footballer's wife, with the too-blond hair and that kind of face that anyone with enough money can go out and buy.")
I'm conflicted, personally, about Vogue's embrace of Upton. For one thing, it's a transparent move to avoid criticism for promoting a body type that cannot be healthily achieved by most people by hiring someone who is just ever-so-slightly beyond those parameters. Woop-di-fucking-do.

The New Girl [Visual Optimism]

Victoria Beckham was shot by Karl Lagerfeld in Coco Chanel's former apartment for French Elle. She tells the magazine, "I'm very different than what people write in the tabloids. That's the first thing that people tell me when they meet me. It's true that I appear kind of reserved in photos, but who cares if I smile or not for pictures? I work hard, I love my family, I'm trying to be the best mother and the best woman I can. It's been a long time since I cared what other people think of me." [Elle.fr]

• HMX Group, the largest remaining manufacturer of men's suits in the U.S., has filed for bankruptcy for the second time in four years. HMX, which employs around 1100 garment workers alone, filed Chapter 11 and listed assets of $50,000 and liabilities of $50-$100 million. Authentic Brands is interested in acquiring HMX and says a plan is in place to keep factory jobs in the U.S. [WWD]
• Tory Burch talked to NBC about the fashion label she and ex-husband Chris Burch founded and Chris Burch's latest venture, C. Wonder. "I have seen the stuff, and some of it is too referential," said Tory Burch. "And I think that he's going to be changing that." Tory Burch is currently facing a lawsuit from her ex for allegedly interfering with his new business and breach of contract. [Fashionista]
• Gilles Mendel dressed six actresses for the Emmy Awards, including Kat Dennings, Jessica Lange, and Anna Gunn. The designer offers his explanation for his label's red-carpet popularity:

  "I chalk it up to a combination of things: we are one of the design houses in America that is very conscious of Old Hollywood glamour — the old world. We're not trendy. The red carpet is very much reflective of that world. Women want to wear dresses that flatter their bodies, but are also light and comfortable. I'm making everything lighter — but there is still corsetting in these dresses, there is still shape. Also, we are proactive about dressing stars. I will send them sketches, I work with them, I really enjoy collaborating with them and their stylists. If they have particular needs and ideas, then we have a real dialogue."

  Mendel adds, "The red carpet had taught me a lot — and a dress being seen in three dimensions, how the camera sees it and lights it up — it taught me that's it's very necessary for the woman feel comfortable in it." [THR]

• Alessandra Ambrosio says that shooting the Victoria's Secret holiday catalog two months after she gave birth this spring had its upsides (nursing cleavage) and its downsides (she was nervous about showing her stomach on camera). "Oh my god, are you kidding? I was like four times bigger than normal," remembers Ambrosio, who will be wearing the bra with $2.5 million worth of diamonds on it at this year's Victoria's Secret show. [The Cut]
• Carolyn Murphy talked about her love for Honey Boo Boo at Bergdorf Goodman's 111th birthday party:

  "Something did recently catch my interest…What is this Honey Boo Boo show? It's quite intriguing. I don't know how classy it is, but I'm intrigued."

  [Fashionista]

• According to a new study by Visa, 90% of people who use the Internet at least once per week have shopped online recently, up from 67% one year ago. Fashion is the second most common category for online purchases (37%) after books and DVDs (45%). [WWD]
• Vera Wang says she spends a good portion of her day in a van that sounds more like a mobile office:

  I have two drivers, one for the first eight hours and another for the next eight. The van is my moving office. I have everything: a tiny pharmacy, a fridge, water, Swedish Fish, blankets and pillows, a sketchbook so I can draw. I always joke that if it had a toilet I could live in it. Everyone laughs and says it's ugly, but I don't care. I call it my jet, because I don't have a private jet.

  [...]Once, after a dinner for Hillary Clinton, there were two vans outside. I jumped in one, and three of the handsomest guys I ever saw drew guns. I said, "Oops, wrong van!" But that's how Hillary rolls too.

  [Fashionista]

• Marc Jacobs booked just one model, Ruby Jean Williams, for his spring campaign. Juergen Teller shot the ads, as per usual. [WWD]
• Lourdes had a summer job in the wardrobe department of her mother's MDNA tour. She says:

  "Being in the wardrobe department meant me and a few other girls dressed the dancers during the show when they had quick changes. Thirty seconds to totally dress a sweaty dancer can be insane and provoke mucho anxiety. Doing this night after night was pretty cray, but I loved every minute of it."

  [People]

• Paraguayan officials working in collaboration with U.S. Homeland Security officials seized a shipment of counterfeit watches believed to be bound for the U.S. The fake watches were branded Hublot, Tag Heuer, Bulgari and Patek Philippe and would have been worth over $34 million had they been real. [WWD]
• American model Louise Parker was an exclusive for the Saint Laurent show in Paris. She says after Hedi Slimane saw a video of her, she met with Slimane's casting director in New York. Then she was summoned to Paris for a meeting, with no promise of work:

  "I just went in and I walked for them, and they put me in the Saint Laurent shoes, which were crazy. I don't have much experience walking in heels, and these were difficult to walk in. Hedi told me that I had a pretty bad walk, and that I needed to work on it, but he was really nice about it - he said, "Oh you're great, you'll work for me, but your walk really needs some help." And then I started working with them three days later."

  [The Cut]

• Karl Lagerfeld will present an award to Haider Ackermann at this week's Fashion Group International awards. [WWD]
• By the way, Lagerfeld says he totally did not call the French president "an idiot." [The Cut]
• Versace is opening a new boutique in New York City. The gimmick: the brand picks a succession of "curators" who, according to Women's Wear Daily, "will offer their personal visions or interpretations of the brand through a collection of limited-edition products." Christopher Kane is the first curator, and while one might argue that as the company's co-creative director everything Versace does already reflects Kane's "personal visions or interpretations of the brand," but no matter: apparently Kane dug deep and came up with Versace t-shirts, "golden earphones embellished with the brand's iconic Medusa head," and even a board game called "Medusa & Greca." [WWD]
• Jean Paul Gaultier is ending his relationship with Aeffe, the Italian sourcing and production concern that has manufactured Gaultier's namesake line since the mid-1990s. [WWD]

This, ladies, is the just-announced Fujitsu Floral Kiss, a laptop for women. How do you know it's for women? It does all kinds of lady stuff. Like daily horoscopes. And scrapbooking software. (I'm surprised there's no recipe-sharing app, but perhaps that's coming with the first update?) Maybe if you're very good, you could ask your husband to buy you one for Christmas!

The press release copy just doesn't quit:

The top casing has been constructed with an elegant and refined gradation with gold trim, and it features a flip latch that can easily open the display — even by users with long fingernails. The power button is adorned with a pearl-like accent, and the power status LED and Caps Lock key are decorated with diamond-cut stone for a sophisticated look. An exquisite gold ring frames each key on the transparent keyboard, highlighting its elegant style. In addition, the outtake and intake vents all feature a floral motif design.

The number of words Fujitsu's press release devotes to the technical specifications of the laptop: 19.

The number of words Fujitsu's press release devotes to just a few of the laptop's special lady touches, including its three available colors (Feminine Pink, Elegant White, and Luxury Brown), its "zirconia adornments" and convenient, lady-sized external mouse: 167

The number of words Fujitsu's press release devotes to the Floral Kiss's accessories collaboration with the Japanese brand Agete, which has resulted in Agete-branded carry cases in bronze pleather (which comes with a matching pouch which you could use for makeup!): 134

Women are not some special subclass of humanity with totally unique needs in laptop computers (and a bizarre and unshakable preference for the color pink). Laptops are unisex, and the talents of the vague "team of female engineers" who were tasked with designing this monstrosity would be put to better use improving the user experience of all Fujitsu's existing female customers. If it's really such a problem for your female users to open and shut your laptops without chipping their manicures, Fujitsu, maybe the latch needs a redesign? Building a special, pink laptop Just For Women! is insulting. And I'm betting nobody male or female wants to own a computer in "Luxury Brown."

Fujitsu Announces New "Floral Kiss" Brand of FMV Personal Computers for Women [Fujitsu]

The last presidential debate was held last night, and both the FLOTUS and the would-be FLOTUS looked very nice. But Fox news has an important question: is Anna Wintour secretly pressuring fashion designers to steer clear of Ann Romney? The obvious and correct answer is, well, no. But here's Fox's reasoning:

Over the past year, the Vogue matriarch — who many say has enough power to make or break fashion careers – has become one of President Obama's leading financiers. Wintour has raised over half a million dollars for the incumbent, hosted numerous lavish dinners in his name and even enlisted designer pals like Marc Jacobs and Thakoon Panichgul to design pro-Obama products...And according to fashion industry pros we talked to, no one wants to risk annoying Wintour.

Well, duh. Of course nobody wants to piss off Anna Wintour. But that doesn't mean fashion's reluctance to embrace Romney — few brands and designers are willing to go on the record about her even to take credit for her outfits, with the notable exception of her favorite designer, Boston-born Alfred Fiandaca — is due to Wintour reigning over the industry with some kind of cobalt blue gloved iron fist of politics. Occam's razor suggests that more than anything, fashion is probably regarding Ann Romney with a measure of polite skepticism for reasons much shallower than politics — like Michelle Obama's relative youth and the way she has distinguished herself through her style. Given Michelle Obama's reputation for elegance and glamour, it's no wonder that people in fashion are just generally way more excited by the thought of dressing her than they are by the thought of Ann Romney. (Romney's dress last night, by the way, was by Oscar de la Renta. Michelle Obama's was Thom Browne.)

"It is just that Michelle brings such a unique, vibrant and youthful style and the average woman can see herself wearing many of her outfits, so designers want everyone to know that she is wearing their clothes," explained entertainment/lifestyle commentator Valerie Greenberg. "And even though Anna Wintour has a reputation for being tough, I don't think she would let her political views dictate the designers she chooses to feature in the pages of Vogue."

Ding, ding, ding. [Fox]

"that you just don't do around guys — like how I do my hair if a guy's watching, how to make the process glamorous, so it doesn't look crazy. I won't go around with the hot rollers and all the clips in front of a guy that I'm dating, so, I know how to curl my hair with a curling iron, and use duckbill clips so it looks nice when I'm doing it. Or, I would never let a guy see me while I'm dyeing my hair — except for my ex-husband, who used to see me dye my hair because I would dye his hair, too. We would have black hair-dyeing parties. [Laughs] That was the only exception. But there are certain things to be discreet about during the seduction process. Men like to watch you get ready, but I kind of tailor things a little bit for when they're watching. My beauty book is going to be totally different from what's out there. I'm going to tell you that you have to pluck the nipple hairs off your nipples before a date."

[Into The Gloss]

• Chanel C.E.O. Bruno Pavlovsky says the company may consider beginning to maybe possibly sell or think about selling its clothing and accessories online. In 3-5 years. "Perhaps two years, three years, five years from now, we will start to sell [clothing] online," he says, adding that the brand does sell cosmetics and perfume online. [BoF]
• Meanwhile, Karl Lagerfeld is shooting the spring Chanel campaign this week in New York. His cast: Stella Tennant and 15-year-old model Ondria Hardin, whose career — Hardin has been working essentially full-time since the age of 13, when she booked a Prada campaign — has been controversial because of her extreme youth. Organizations including the Council of Fashion Designers of America recommend that companies not hire models under the age of 16 for runway work, and Vogue has a stated policy against hiring children under 16 for editorial work, either. "She doesn't look 15," says Lagerfeld. "She looks 18 or 19." Well, in that case... [WWD]
• Grace Coddington, on how she picks her assistants: "The most important final question I ask them is ‘Do you like cats?' because if they don't they're not in my life." [Fashionista]
• That dude from The Mentalist scored a Givenchy fragrance campaign. Huh. [WWD]
• Model Chrissy Teigen says she and John Legend haven't really planned their wedding yet beyond the guest list, but she has picked out a dress: "I'm doing Vera [Wang]. There's nothing like putting on a Vera. The difference is so amazing. You feel like a princess." [Us]
• The latest in the HMX bankruptcy: Ron Burkle's company is interested in acquiring both the brands HMX owns (Hickey Freeman and Hart Schaffner Marx) and the factories that make HMX the largest remaining maker of men's suits in North America, with a workforce of around 1100 unionized garment workers in the U.S. and Canada. Interestingly, both Obama and Romney wear HMX suits: Obama favors Hart Shaffner Marx, Romney Hickey Freeman. [WWD]
• Dries van Noten:

  "I don't design for myself. I design something keeping in mind that it has to please a lot of women. I always compare my job with a good baker, someone who can make very good cakes. You can make the most beautiful cakes imaginable and many of them. But when it's not really so delicious and people aren't eating them, there's no sense baking them. It's the same thing with my job. If people aren't buying, it's not just about the financials; there's no sense in making those things. At the end, we are fashion designers; we are making clothes. We are not making a kind of illusion. Of course, other people are creating an illusion because the money comes from the perfume, the lipstick, the handbags and shoes. We are more than 90 per cent clothes. For most brands, it's 30 per cent clothes, 30 per cent accessories and all those things. And [our] 93 to 94 per cent are clothes and things that I showed on the catwalk. It's not like I have the other pre-collections and the jeans line. For us, this is the collection we make and this is the collection we sell."

  [Globe & Mail]

• Meanwhile, suppliers are concerned about the rising cost of labor in China (not to mention inflation) and the purported lack of skilled garment workers. Minimum wages have been rising sharply in China, by 45% in Beijing (to $2,140) and by 32% in Shanghai (to $2,440) in the last two years. [WWD]
• Style.com failed to get to the bottom of who's making those "Ballinciaga" and "Giraunchy" t-shirts that people in fashion were wearing around the shows this season. The makers would prefer to remain anonymous because they work in fashion and are worried about how their t-shirts will be perceived. [Style.com]
• NBC says there was a reason that its piece on Tory Burch, Chris Burch, and C. Wonder, which aired this weekend, didn't include any specific comments from either ex about the lawsuit they are currently embroiled in: taping wrapped on September 14 and Chris Burch filed suit on October 2. "We went back to both of them for a comment," says reporter Harry Smith. "Neither of them wanted to touch it." Chris Burch, who still owns a significant share in the company that he founded with his then-wife, is suing Tory Burch for allegedly interfering with his new business. Tory Burch is rumored to be considering a lawsuit against Chris Burch over the similarities between the two companies. [WWD]
• Liberty Ross filmed a short video for Alexander Wang, the designer in whose show she recently walked. Ross says vague things about how this year included "the end of some things and the beginning of something else. Beginnings and ending are always really exciting." [Style.com]
• Mulberry cut its guidance for the year and its stock price fell 25%. [WWD]
• In case you have ever wondered about Mario Testino's sexuality:

  "I've never wanted to call myself any sexuality, because I hate the idea of taking freedom away from you, and I think we all can be everything. I understand that at moments you have to define it, but my sexuality has been so wide and open, and that's what's influenced my way of working. I think it's given me freedom, my sexuality."

  Testino also says once Anna Wintour summoned him to shoot her passport photo. [Guardian]

• The New York boutique Kirna Zabête is collaborating on a limited-edition collection with Nine West. The shoes will hit stores in February and retail for $49-$169. [WWD]
• And now, a moment with Sessilee Lopez. Lopez walked in Philip Treacy's millinery show, which was styled with items from Michael Jackson's wardrobe. Lopez got the "Thriller" jacket:

  "At one point, I was standing in the lineup and felt someone caress my back. At first I thought it was somebody from wardrobe, but I turn around, and it's frickin' Lady Gaga. She was like, 'Oh, my god, you're wearing "Thriller" — can I try it on?' I was like, 'No. I am keeping this on as long as humanly possible.'"

  Lopez also says she is about to start filming her first movie, which she describes as "like "Mahogany" meets "Boyz in the Hood." It's really cool, and there are a lot of great actors in it." [WWD]

In the latest episode of Vice's excellent online series Fashion Week Internationale, which skips the traditional JFK-LHR-MXP-CDG flightpath for more off-beat fashion weeks like Brazil's, Cambodia's, and Pakistan's, the show takes a look at fashion week in Seoul. Host Charlet Duboc explores the uneasy balance between the marginal high fashion industry, the mainstream culture of K-Pop, and a conservative Korean society where premarital sex and any hint of drug use is still officially taboo. And she meets some plastic surgeons who specialize in blepharoplasty.

America's Next Top Model judge (and rumored sex partner of Tyra Banks) Rob Evans is now a wanted fugitive. Evans, who was a boxer before turning to modeling, is charged with felony assault with a dangerous weapon in connection with a March incident that involved one other man. According to TMZ — so pass the salt — Evans beat the alleged victim so badly that he "ended up in the hospital with serious injuries." Evans reportedly cooperated with the police investigation at first but recently stopped, leading a Beverly Hills judge to issue a bench warrant for his arrest. [TMZ]

• Barneys New York released a statement regarding the Change.org petition — currently signed by over 133,000 people — criticizing the retailer and Disney for redrawing Minnie Mouse as a rail-thin runway model for its holiday ad campaign. The statement is totally sensitive to the petitioners' concerns about the message a super-skinny Minnie sends about body image and beauty, especially to the children who comprise Disney's fan base and — just kidding. The statement starts off, "We are saddened that activists have repeatedly tried to distort a lighthearted holiday project in order to draw media attention to themselves." Oh boy. It continues:

  They have deliberately ignored previously released information clearly stating this promotion is a three-minute 'moving art' video featuring traditional Minnie Mouse in a dreamlike sequence set in Paris where she briefly walks the runway as a model and then happily awakens as her normal self wearing the very same designer dress from the fashion show.

  Barneys creative director Dennis Freedman previously copped to being the one to insist on Minnie, Goofy, and Mickey losing half their body mass. When he told the animators, says Freedman, "There was a moment of silence, because these characters don't change. I said, 'If we're going to make this work, we have to have a 5-foot-11 Minnie,' and they agreed...the standard Minnie Mouse will not look so good in a Lanvin dress." [Racked]

• Prada C.E.O. Patrizio Bertelli says he believes in Italian manufacturing and is proud to pay Italian workers. "The average wages in our group are 30% higher than the average pays in the country," he told La Repubblica. Bertelli added that he recently negotiated an agreement with his workers' union to allow workers to give up five annual vacation days in exchange for an extra $533 in pay. He says Prada has "no intention to move know-how and production in low-cost countries." [WWD]
• Meanwhile, an Italian prosecutor has opened an investigation into Guess Inc.'s Italian operation and has levied a $12 million bill for back taxes against the company. Guess says it will "vigorously contest" the taxes. [WWD]
• Gel manicures: turns out they're totally bad for you and your nails. First, repeated exposure to those U.V. lights that are used to cure the gel definitely increases your risk of skin cancer. According to Dr. Heidi Waldorf, Director of Laser and Cosmetic Dermatology at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York:

  "There are two reported cases of skin cancers of the hand that were associated with regular UV nail dryer use...The problem is that UV damage is cumulative. So if you use the UV dryers now and again, it may not add up to much. However, if you start with them on a regular basis in your 20′s or 30′s and continue, the risk will be higher."

  And the pure acetone that you have to use to weaken the gel enough in order to scrape it off — that's tough on your nails, too, and leads to dry, brittle, flaking, breaking fingernails. [Fashionista]

• Ideeli is getting out of the travel business, the children's wear business, and the men's wear business. It will focus on its women's wear business. [WWD]
• That HBO-produced documentary about Vogue fashion editors called The Editor's Eye will air on December 6. [Vogue UK]
• Although yesterday was one long crap-fest on Wall Street, Coach shares gained in value by 7.4%, to $58.15, after the company announced it had (just barely) beaten quarterly projections. Net income rose by 2% year-on-year to $221.4 million, and net sales grew 10.6% to $1.16 billion. [WWD]
• Hedi Slimane may design tour costumes for the Rolling Stones. [Elle]
• Iconix is buying the brand Umbro from Nike for a cool $225 million. [WWD]
• Braving the wrath of prominent Democratic fundraiser Anna Wintour, Isaac Mizrahi says the unthinkable: "I would love to see Ann Romney in more of my clothes." [Hollywood Life]
• Robert Duffy confirms in a new interview that Marc Jacobs was indeed offered the job of creative director at Christian Dior. Duffy claims that Jacobs, who already designs Louis Vuitton for luxury conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, didn't want the job and the two even had "a big fight" about it:

  "We went through a lot of stuff back and forth when they wanted Marc to do Dior and, I mean, he was asked but said no...I was asked if I thought he could do it, and I said ‘yes.' It was really complicated because he didn't really want to do it and they were really happy with the choice that they made, so everything came out great. Marc really wanted to stay at Louis Vuitton and I just want him to do whatever makes him happy...I think that he felt that because when I was asked if I thought that he was capable of doing that and I said ‘yes,' he thought that meant I wanted him to do it, and that's not what I meant at all, but we straightened it all out in the end and it worked out just fine. But, I know it sounds so silly now, we had a big fight over it."

  [Port Magazine]

• Jean Paul Gaultier, who just ended a decade-plus-long relationship with Aeffe, has signed a manufacturing and distribution deal with the Italian company Gibò S.p.A. [WWD]