We know why you're not accepted in the fashion world: because you don't know how to pronounce the names of all those foreign designers. Don't be ashamed. Many people pronounce "Dolce & Gabbana" like uncouth Americans. Youtube can help!
You do know how to pronounce Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci, don't you? You're not one of those people who pronounces Hermès as "Her-meees," are you? In case you've been having trouble with the names of foreign fashion designers, the Imperial Hotel Management College in Vancouver has uploaded clips to YouTube to demonstrate how it's done. As The Moment points out, though, the school "seems to conflate the house's proper pronunciation with the accent of its country of origin." (In other words, follow the school's instructions and you may end up sounding dumb and/or incredibly pompous.) Worse still: A couple of the clips featuring the names of French designers sound as if they were recorded by French-Canadians, which may very well be a crime graver than the one committed against the House of Versace by Elizabeth Berkley's character in Showgirls. [The Moment via Gawker]
This summer, when you spot yet another New Yorker vamping around in a pair of perfectly round glasses these are the people you should blame for turning our city into a perpetual Harry Potter lookalike contest: Malian photographer Malick Sidibé, John Lennon and the cast of Hair. At least those are the suspects Eric Wilson IDs in a typically absurdist, slightly loveable Styles section story about why Marc Jacobs, Proenza Schouler, Ralph Lauren, Zegna, Lanvin and others have suddenly started pushing sunglasses your dad thought were cool circa 1968.
• Courtney Love may be incapable of paying her AmEx bill, but that isn't stopping her from launching her own clothing line. Coming soon: "cotton ribbed body suits" and "cashmere harem pants." [Grazia, SW]
• Emma Watson is the new face of Burberry. [Vogue]
• Bee Shaffer may be attending posh parties at the Venice Biennale right now, but she's also job hunting at the moment, in case you weren't aware. Then again, she's also interested in studying acting, so she may just do that instead. [FWD]
• Five months after he was kicked to the curb, Fabien Baron is returning to Interview as the mag's editorial director. [WWD, FWD]
• Now's the time to hit up Save Fashion; the festivities end on Friday. [Pipeline]
The first stretch of the High Line may have opened yesterday, but you didn't think Diane von Furstenberg was going to sit back and relax with two more sections left to renovate, did you? She's now offering a limited-edition "large plush beach towel celebrating the opening of the High Line" both online and at her meatpacking store for $75, and a "percentage of the proceeds will go to the Friends of the High Line conservancy." [DVF]
If you have some free time this afternoon and you've always been curious about where it is that Richie Rich hails from (California, it turns out, not outer space); what his childhood years were like (football wasn't his thing, not surprisingly, but he did excel at figure skating); and what's going in personal life (he got married to his boyfriend recently inside a gingerbread house in Vienna), Richie sits down with ObsessedTV today to talk about all that and more. [ObsessedTV]
• Here's a sign that people are shopping again (or else Victoria Beckham has gone on another shopping spree): Hermès says it's experiencing such "massive over-demand" for its handbags, it's been forced to set up its own crocodile breeding operation in Australia just to keep up. [Reuters via Cut]
• Esteban Cortazar appears to be parting ways with Emanuel Ungaro. It appears he plans to sue Ungaro, too. [WWD]
• Do you control a major luxury brand? Are you a fan of Chloe Sevigny? If you answered yes to both questions, give her a ring. She's willing to talk. [SF]
• A "couture" tattoo shop has opened in the Flatiron district. [W]
• The DKNY mural at Houston and Broadway is officially gone. [BB]
• Versace CEO Giancarlo di Risio is expected to hand in his resignation tomorrow. He's leaving after reportedly clashing with Donatella Versace "over her lavish lifestyle," not surprisingly. [NYT]
• The second season of The City has started filming inside Elle's offices. [WWD]
• Rosa Cha has launched a line of bathing suits that sell for as much as $3,200 apiece. And you can't even get them wet. But that isn't stopping women from buying them, supposedly. [NYP]
• If that bathing suit sounds appealing, you're probably the sort of person who'd also be interested in buying these $340 Hermès cotton boxer shorts for your husband. [FWD]
• Karl Lagerfeld is hitting the big screen. Or his voice is, at least. He'll be playing a villain in an animated French movie. [Fashionista]
• Photos of Sacha Baron Cohen (as Brüno) and Alessandra Ambrosio from the new issue of British Marie Claire are now online, if you're interested. Or, if you prefer, you can take a gander at a nude Bar Refaeli on the cover of Esquire. [Marie Claire, Esquire]
• After many months of hemming and hawing, it looks like Roberto Cavalli has finally decided to sell a stake in his company. [WSJ]
• Vogue's André Leon Talley reports Anna Wintour was "thrilled" with how her "fabulous" 60 Minutes profile turned out a couple of weeks ago, you'll ubdoubtedly be pleased to hear. [FBNY]
• It's been a year since Barneys started looking for a CEO, which may be one reason why the company has had so many trouble as of late. [WSJ]
• Rihanna seemed to have a lock on an upcoming Vogue cover. But that was before nude pics of her appeared online and now Anna Wintour won't return her phone calls. At least that's the rumor that is now circulating with the tabloids. [The Insider]
• Pics of the fashion set at Saturday's polo match on Governors Island. [WWD, Vogue UK, Marie Claire]
• Karl Lagerfeld headed to Moscow last week. He wasn't impressed by the food or the men, although he did find Naomi Campbell's beau "quite stunning." [Cut]
• Bid farewell to the giant DKNY billboard on Broadway and Houston. [Racked]
• The giant Burberry sign was illuminated atop its new HQ last night, and a big party at the Palace Hotel followed. [WWD, SF, FWD, NYM, Fashionista]
• Calvin Klein is launching a new scent called "Free," which it most certainly will not be. And Kate Moss also has a new fragrance planned. [WWD, Grazia]
• A company is making "tan through" swimwear! "The fabric allows 80% of sunlight through the bathing suit, so you don't get tan lines." [Cut]
• Forbes's annual list of the highest-paid models is online and poor Gisele Bundchen has taken a blow: She's only made $25 million over the past year, down from $35 million the year before. Heidi Klum and Kate Moss were both up for the year, however, so it isn't all bad news, thank goodness. [Forbes]
• Speaking of Gisele, she is not pregnant, at least according to husband Tom Brady. [Us]
• Christian Lacroix's fashion house filed for bankruptcy in Paris today. [NYT]
• Project Runway will be the same show it's always been when it finally returns to the air later this summer. [Cut]
High-end fashion houses selling the most unnecessary of luxury products at outrageous prices: might the collapse of the global economy give them some troubles? Yes, it turns out. Bad troubles.
• The new H&M at 86th Street and Lexington opens at noon tomorrow. [AFB, Racked]
• Scarlett Johansson is replacing Penélope Cruz as the face of Mango. [WWD, SF]
• For the first time, the CFDA is tacking on a "Popular Vote Award" to this year's show. As the name implies, it will allow the public to weigh in, shockingly. [WWD]
• What's Kate Moss's novel going to be about? "A young model's life as she goes from a nobody to an A-list star." Sounds familiar, no? [NYDN]
• Marc Jacobs hosted a 30th birthday party for fiancé Lorenzo Martone last night at the not-yet-open Avenue. Julia Restoin Roitfeld and Genevieve Jones (above) were among the 150 people on hand for the occasion. [W]
If you don't follow the denim industry closely you could be forgiven for thinking that world has gone crazy. Levi's, the Americanest jeans you can possibly buy without a flag sewn on them somewhere, is publicly endorsing gay marriage. The gays have literally wrapped themselves around George W. Bush's butt!
• Mayor Bloomberg has declared Thursday to be "Burberry Day" in honor of the lighting of the Burberry logo atop the company's new HQ at 444 Madison Avenue. [FWD]
• It looks like the Gianni Versace CEO Giancarlo Di Risio will be departing the company after going head to head with Donatella Versace. [WSJ]
• Italian officials have accused Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana of tax evasion, and have threatened the duo with a $1+ billion fine. [Cut]
• You may want to think twice before you try and squeeze into a pair of skinny jeans. They've been known to cause a nerve condition called "meralgia paresthetica," otherwise known as "tingling thigh syndrome." [MSNBC]
The Real Housewives of New York City concluded its season a couple of weeks ago, but if you're thirsting for more of Kelly Bensimon, Obsessed TV has you covered. Kelly rambles on for close to 30 minutes with host Samantha Ettus and explains, among other things, how she's really responsible for making her ex-husband, Gilles Bensimon, the famed photographer he is today; attributes the demise of her marriage to "political infighting" at Elle and the "success" of her 2004 book American Style (which, she says, changed the fashion industry forever); and explains that her ex-boyfriend—the one that she allegedly assaulted—is just "a boy that needs a lot of love." At least her doing a decent job in the parenting department: When one of her kids tells her that she's famous, she explains that she's "infamous for my antics, but not famous." [ObsessedTV.com]
