Lady Gaga has used her latest column in V magazine to go after New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn and institutionalized critics in general. She'd much rather all the bloggers of the world be judging fashion instead of, you know, the professionals.
• Not only is Karl Lagerfeld not planning on retiring, he tells Cathy Horyn that he's staying at Chanel until he dies. Also: He says the blogger who started the rumor that he's stepping down "is an idiot." [NYT]
• The Jackson clan all wore Versace to the memorial service today, in case you were wondering. [InStyle]
• Roberto Cavalli is launching a made-to-measure service that will offer handmade dresses at prices starting at $41,000. But only 35 pieces will be produced. Act fast! [WWD]
• There's uncertainty in the world of haute couture these days. Shocker. [NYT]
• W catches up with the Rodarte ladies. [W]
• The super-successful Saks saleswoman who lined her own pockets via fake refunds and store credits was sentenced to three months in prison. [NYP]
• Several ex-employees of Scoop are suing the chain for labor violations. [CNY]
• The Calvin Klein Jeans billboard on Houston is now even less risqué. [BB]
• Gwyneth Paltrow is planning to give up her contract with Estée Lauder so she can focus on her website Goop.com, per the ever-reliable Daily Mail. More troubling: The paper says her plan is to "become an Oprah Winfrey-like lifestyle guru." [DM]
• Michelle Obama returned to NYC today. She attended the reopening of a wing at the Met (where she wore a coat by Isaac Mizrahi coat and sat next to Ralph Lauren, Iman, and Anna Wintour). Then it was over to opening night at the American Ballet Theater. [WWD, NYT]
• An excerpt from Lauren Conrad's debut novel has been posted online, in case you feel up to tackling some heavy literature. [Teen Vogue]
• Valentino, diplomat of fashion: "I saw the pictures of the Metropolitan gala evening last week and I never saw something more ugly." [Guardian]
• Speaking of Valentino, Time Out's current issue tests out self-tanners. [TONY]
• Stephanie Seymour and Peter Brant will meet in Greenwich divorce court for the first time today. Expect some fireworks: Brant has already filed a motion demanding Seymour "undergo drug and alcohol testing"; for her part, Seymour is accusing Brant of "hostile, threatening and intimidating behavior." [NYP]
• Now that he's split from his wife, Sean Penn is supposedly dating Natalie Portman (again), since she "stimulates him in ways no other person has." [Star]
• Rumor has it Madonna and Jesus Luz are planning some sort of commitment ceremony at the Kabbalah Center sometime soon. [NYDN]
• Luke Russert was either the "It" boy at the White House Correspondents' dinner on Saturday night, or has been a major disappointment for MSNBC, depending on who you talk to. [NYDN, P6]
• Speaking of nepotism, Meghan McCain reportedly "lost it" and acted like an "insolent child" when a guard told her she couldn't bring two friends into the Correspondents dinner on Saturday. [NYDN]
Cartier celebrated its 100th anniversary in New York last night with a big bash inside its Fifth Avenue store. The celeb-heavy crowd included Elton John, Kate Hudson, Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake, Anne Hathaway, Rachel Weisz, Demi Moore, Eva Mendez, Ashley Olsen, Zac Posen, Martha Stewart, Graydon Carter, Jeff Zucker, Robbie Myers, Patti Smith, Russell Simmons and Julie Henderson, Tory Burch, Thakoon Panichgul, Erin Fetherston, Nanette Lepore, Phillip Lim, Coco Rocha, Hilary Rhoda, Daniel Boulud, Eli Weisel, Bruce Weber, Henrik Lundqvist, Ingrid Sischy, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Cornelia Guest, Susan Fales-Hill, Marjorie Gubelmann, Thora Birch, Chiara Clemente, Alexis Bryan, Dylan Lauren, Kelly Klein, and Cartier chief Frederic De Narp. [PMc, Wireimage, WWD]
Topshop hosted a private dinner at Balthazar last night to celebrate the opening of its new store in Soho. Attendees included Karolina Kurkova and Georgina Chapman (left), Harvey Weinstein, Jay-Z, Jimmy Fallon and Nancy Juvonen, Zach Braff, Amy Sacco, Mark Ronson, Ann Dexter-Jones, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Andrew Saffir, Theodora Richards, Steve Stoute, Cathy Horyn, Stefano Tonchi, Sally Singer, Amy Astley, Eva Amurri, Greg K., Leigh Lezark, Jessica Joffe, Michelle Trachtenberg, Taylor Momsen, Le Call, Jonathan Saunders, Sue Stemp, Steven Kolb, Christopher Kane, Brent Bolthouse, Emily Mortimer, Emma Roberts, Cecilia Dean, Meredith Melling Burke, Nikolai Fraiture, Santigold, Steve Aoki, Benny Shabtai, Michelle Monaghan, and Topshop's very own Sir Philip Green, along with his wife Tina and daughter Chloe. [PMc, Wireimage, Getty, Paper]
• At long last, Karl Lagerfeld has his very own Ken doll "complete with matching black suit, high white collar, white ponytail, silver leather gloves." The doll-like photo to your left? That's the genuine article. [Racked]
• Either Adele suddenly dropped a ton of weight before her Annie Leibovitz photo shoot or Vogue's art department has been working overtime. [Jezebel]
• French officials are considering a law that would require magazines to disclose the fact they've manipulated a photo. That sound you just heard was Pascal Dangin shudder with disgust. [BI]
• The fashion world has "slowed down and sobered up," but "the recession could turn out to make designers better designers," says Cathy Horyn. [NYT]
Remember back in January when Times fashion queen Cathy Horyn tore Vogue to shreds, calling it "stale and predictable," among other things? Well, if you should happen to ask Vogue's Sally Singer what she thought of the piece, keep in mind she has an airtight excuse that will allow her to duck out of answering the question. "I was in India when Cathy's piece came out, so I didn't read it at the time." Good one! Oh, and if you're wondering what it's really like to work for Anna Wintour, Sally will have you know that it really is a bed of roses. "She's fantastic because she's clear. The thing about Anna that's so good to work for is she knows what she wants." And here we were thinking Anna was a timid, cautious woman full of self-doubt!
Lycée Français de New York honored Dior president Sidney Toledano at its 10th annual gala at 7 World Trade Center on Friday night. The event, which was co-chaired in part by by Olivier Sarkozy and his wife Charlotte, attracted Eric and Sandra Ripert (left), Robbie Myers, Bernard Aidan, Bettina Zilkha, Catherine Malandrino Glenda Bailey, Cathy Horyn, Kassy and Liya Kebede, Delphine and Reed Krakoff, Susan Fales-Hill, Yannick Noah, Virginia Smith, Alejandra and Jeffrey Kluger, Stacey Bronfman, Assouline and Martine Prosper, Fabrizio and Maryane Freda, and Veronica Bulgari. [PMc, FWD, WWD, NYSD]
It's been a rough few weeks for Vogue editor Anna Wintour. There were the rumors that Condé Nast chief Si Newhouse was thinking of replacing her with Carine Roitfeld, the editor of French Vogue. Then there was more concrete evidence of Vogue's fading relevance: The number of ad pages in the magazine tumbled by nearly 10 percent in 2008, a decline more substantial than most of Vogue's competitors. Yesterday, the Times' Cathy Horyn, one of the few fashion writers daring enough to take on the industry's most powerful figure, laid out some of the magazine's problems with a piece entitled "What's Wrong with Vogue?"
Before she picks apart Barack Obama's wardrobe, perhaps Times fashion critic should reevaluate some of her own questionable fashion choices? The new issue of the Daily Mini reports on Horyn's love of the jort, an item she's been wearing with alarming frequency to runway shows as of late. "Of course, Cathy is not the first to be seduced: Jorts have a long and storied history. The Dukes of Hazzard's Catherine Bach turned "Daisy Dukes" into a pop-culture icon. (Jessica Simpson revived the trend in the 2005 remake.) brave starlets like Nicole Richie, Lindsay Lohan and Kate Moss have also dared to bare thigh, though they tend to do so with a bit of irony." The cover of the November issue is below.
Yesterday Times fashion writer Cathy Horyn gently rebuked Barack Obama's sartorial tastes, implying his "dad jeans" made him look like a sitcom character from the 1990s. ("When he wears them with white sneakers and a windbreaker, one could almost say he had stolen the look from Jerry Seinfeld's character on the television series.") The criticism isn't likely to convince Obama to break out the baggy jeans. As the President-elect made clear a few months ago, he's no fan of the belted-around-the-thighs look style favored by many young black men: "Brothers should pull up their pants," he told MTV viewers in a pre-election appearance. "You are walking by your mother, your grandmother, your underwear is showing... Some people might not want to see your underwear. I'm one of them."
♦ Did you attempt to get your hands on some Comme des Garçons for H&M today? You're braver than us. [Racked]
♦ Cathy Horyn provides a clear-eyed assessment of Barack Obama's sartorial style, pointing out that "his jeans are the loose, jingle-the-change-in-your-pocket type. He belts them at the waist, and when he wears them with white sneakers and a windbreaker, one could almost say he had stolen the look from Jerry Seinfeld's character on the television series." [NYT]
♦ At Diane von Furstenberg's party for Financial Times editor Vanessa Friedman, André Leon Talley broadcast his delight over Obama's victory in the most appropriate way: The back of his coat was emblazoned with "The New American Dream" in crystals. [WWD]
♦ Also gushing about the Obamas? Donna Karan, who says: "I'm hoping to get to work with them—it would be my dream. They are so committed to ideals that are much in alignment with mine." [WWD]
Fashion Group International hosted its "Night of the Stars" gala at Cipriani Wall Street last night, where Kate Bosworth, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, Prince, Karl Lagerfeld, Ashley Olsen, Anna Wintour, Isaac Mizrahi, Donatella Versace, Allegra Versace, Georgina Chapman and Harvey Weinstein (left), Debra Messing, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, Francisco Costa, André Leon Talley, Stephanie Seymour, Stefano Tonchi, Blake Lively, Penn Badgley, Alexander Wang, Bobbi Brown, Lindsay Price, Tom Florio, Christopher Bailey, Behnaz Sarafpour, Zani Gugelmann, Chanel Iman, Cindi Leive, Julianna Margulies, Christian Louboutin, Peter Som, Philippe Starck, Nina Garcia, Roopal Patel, Glenda Bailey, Tim Gunn, Jonathan Adler and Simon Doonan, Ruben Toledo and Isabel Toledo, Justine and Jeff Koons, Jonathan Newhouse, John Varvatos, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Patrick Demarchelier, Linda Fargo, Phillip Lim, Leigh Lezark and Max Minghella, Mary Alice Stephenson, and Mamie Gummer celebrated the industry. [InStyle, Wireimage, PMc]
♦ Do Sam Ronson and Lindsay Lohan ever actually stay in one city for more than five minutes? Today they're in Tokyo for Charlotte Ronson's runway show, and to the delight of the audience, LiLo made an appearance. [The Cut]
♦ Don't knock the Real Housewives of Atlanta, pleads Simon Doonan: "Despite the jarringly superficial materialism exhibited throughout this show, Nene and Co. are performing a profound and vital function: It's called consumer confidence." [NYO]
♦ One benefit of the recession? Plentiful sample sales, like Betsey Johnson and Castle Starr. [Missbehave, Fashionista]
♦ Diane von Furstenberg has not only designed a collection inspired by Wonder Woman, she's also authored a comic book featuring superheroines Diva, Viva and Fifa. [WWD, DVF]
♦ Backstage at Marc Jacobs' Louis Vuitton Paris show, the models flipped up their skirts to show Cathy Horyn an important detail: lace underwear monogrammed with LV. [On the Runway]
♦ Jessica Stam's East Village apartment, designed by Rafael de Cardenas, is sickeningly fabulous for a 22-year-old. [Jezebel]
