First Lady Michelle Obama will be featured on the cover of the March Vogue, photographed by (sigh) Annie Leibovitz. Because she's a new fashion icon, of sorts.

• Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabanna are playing priests in Rob Marshall's new movie, Nine. Yes, that's right, priests. [WWD]
• McDonald's is the official coffee of Fashion Week. Yes, that's right, McDonald's. Free espresso all week, folks! [AdAge]
• Did Saks screw up retail forever when it slashed prices last November? Possibly. [WSJ]
• Istithmar says it has no plans to sell Barneys. [NYT]
• Vera Wang plans to branch out to footwear this spring. [WWD]
• Henry Holland's Grammy dress for MIA earned him tons of attention last night; he's now gearing up for London Fashion Week. [Telegraph, Independent]
• Jason Wu talks about what he has planned for Fashion Week. [NYDN]
• Alexander Wang is introducing limited-edition condoms. They'll be sold at Thompson Hotels and the proceeds go to Planned Parenthood. [NYM]

We'd love to believe Vogue's editor personally styled singer Adele for the Grammys out of the goodness of her heart (humor us). But Anna Wintour is nothing if not strategic.

• Natalia Vodianova is collaborating with Etam on a lingerie and swimwear line. [Racked]
• Following in the footsteps of Marc Jacobs, DKNY has decided to cut down its Fashion Week guest list from 1,000 people to 400. [Fashionista]
• Diane von Furstenberg appears in fishnets on the new cover of the new issue of Purple. [DVF]
• Profits were flat for LVMH in 2008. [WSJ]
• A long list of reasons why women love to hate Gwyneth Paltrow. [NYP]
• Sarah Jessica Parker wears Uggs, items from her Bitten line. [HB]
• Rachel Zoe has trademarked "Bananas" and "I die," believe it or not. [NYM]

Will Michelle Obama go to fashion week? Designers certainly hope so! And she certainly won't!

Just as you knew would happen, those innocent Christian "EX-MASTURBATOR" and "EX-HOMOSEXUAL" t-shirts have spawned knockoffs. Liberals and their "memes" are so predictable:

• Your prayers have been answered: Hilary Duff is now designing a line of jeans. [FS]
• Estée Lauder is slashing 2,000 jobs. [WWD]
• Fortunoff has filed for bankruptcy. [WWD]
• A Q&A with Alexander McQueen. [NYM]
• Doo-Ri Chung celebrated the launch of her new line, Under.Ligne, last night. [FWD]
• Four places you can drink wine/coffee and get a haircut while you shop. [Pipeline]
• Meet the woman with the biggest breast implants in world. [NYDN]

You're not the only having a tough time these days. Celebrities are suffering amid the economic downturn, too, especially the ones signed lucrative deals to lend their names to lines of clothing, perfume and accessories. AdAge reports that Sarah Jessica Parker's Bitten line is now homeless, the result of Steve & Barry's bankruptcy last November. (The chain's implosion has also mucked up lines by Amanda Bynes, Venus Williams, and surfer Laird Hamilton.) As for Daisy Fuentes, who is pictured here at an event for Carson Kressley's QVC clothing line, she's suffered the shame of having her line downgraded from Kohl's to Walmart. Is there no justice in the world? On the bright side, AdAge describes her as a "Latina lifestyle icon," which should count for something, we imagine.

Were you aware that not so long ago, young corporate lawyers sometimes had the audacity to dress in casual clothes, even, gasp, Uggs and jeans? Well, if the recession has done anything positive, it's put an end to such wantonly inappropriate behavior, reports the Wall Street Journal's Christina Binkley. Yes, formal power dressing is apparently back with a vengeance, which for men means white-collared colored dress shirts with ties, expensive dark suits, and shiny shoes; basically the only way anyone in a law firm's office should be able to tell that it's not actually the eighties is by the presence of Blackberries. "I think people expect high-powered lawyers to look like high-powered lawyers," sniffs Bill Brewer of the law firm Bickel & Brewer. "Anything else is sending the wrong signal." Like the possibility of paying less than exorbitant billable rates in a recession, presumably.

• Jason Wu's Fashion Week show will be the second-hottest ticket in town right behind Marc Jacobs. [NYO]
• Isaac Mizrahi's debut collection for Liz Claiborne is now online and up for sale. [Fashionista]
• Not everyone is excited about Fashion Week moving to Lincoln Center. Like Anna Sui. [NYM]
• Anna Wintour is styling Adele for the Grammys. [NYM]
• Football player Stewart Bradley is interning at Elle. [Fashionista]
• Eric Wilson explains the difference between Hello Kitty and Barbie. [NYT]

Oh yes, these shirts are really for sale. And they didn't forget you, Ex-Homosexuals and Ex-Fornicators! Guaranteed to get you laid by a Christian. [P4CM.Com]. UPDATE: Oh good, an explanatory video:

Macy's announced plans earlier this week to lay off 7,000 workers as well as cut back on employees' retirement benefits. Last month, the struggling retail chain said it would shutter 11 of its 850 stores in the U.S. But the cutbacks don't appear to be impinging on company chief Terry Lundgren's jet-set lifestyle. Although Lundgren took a $2.5 million pay cut last year, the board helped make up for it by granting him a larger chunk of stock. (He earned a total of $14.4 million in compensation.) And despite Lundgren's claim to the press this week that "this is a time when nothing should be considered a sacred cow," his perks continue to cost the company a small fortune.

Cold-eyed Hipsterwood blowjob recipient and woman-threatener Vincent Gallo is going to be appearing in some ads for H&M! A perfect fit, in Bizarro World. And, under "Too Good To Check": he calls bloggers GAY:

Leave it to fashion-obsessed Japanese youth to find a way of responding to the recession that involves looking like an entrant in a kiddie beauty contest. "Hime-kei" girls, apparently inspired by Sofia Coppola's (widely-derided) film about Marie Antoinette (it's also been suggested that the local idolization of Tinsree has played its part), dress like very warped versions of 18th century princesses with frilly dresses, fur, ringlets and flowers, a style they happily spend thousands of dollar a month maintaining. It's a phenomenon, says academic Takatoshi Imada, that's "rooted in a rejection of the goals of advancement through hard work in an ailing market economy." And isn't that something we can all relate to right now?

Some people in California need answers! Did they actually buy a rare painting of Barack Obama from before he was famous? Or just an ugly painting of a random black guy in a garish shirt?

We're guessing Hud Morgan was not among the lucky few to survive the collapse of Men's Vogue; as questionable as his fashion choices have historically been, they have somehow deteriorated further.

• Retail on Madison Avenue is a mess, in case you haven't noticed. More than two dozen spaces are currently on the market. [NYT]
• The plan to move Fashion Week to Lincoln Center beginning in 2010 is a done deal. [WWD]
• Jason Wu has postponed plans to launch a fur collection this fall. The Humane Society is very pleased, unsurprisingly. [WWD, WSJ]
• Liz Claiborne is cutting 725 jobs. [MW]
• Giorgio Armani has stirred up scandal with his comments about Italy's fashion scene, and his suggestion that Paris is where it's at. [Reuters]
• Scandal! Scarlett Johansson is now a brunette. [SW]

Word is spreading around the office that layoffs are coming any moment. What should you wear for the big day? Ben Widdicombe, who found out in January that his "contract with a national magazine" (otherwise known as Star) was not being renewed, explains: "The perfect termination outfit should feature professionalism and employability as the top note, but with accents of confidence and an aftertaste that leaving the premises means moving on up. A sober suit with a bright shirt is perfect." One other bit of advice: "It is also important, when anticipating bad news, not to wear a favorite piece of clothing, which will forever be associated with an unpleasant memory." [NYT/The Moment]

Yesterday, the Observer shared the news that former Fashion Week Daily reporter Jim Shi had landed a gig at Marie Claire, where he would be "covering Fashion Week shows and working on a new fashion news page on the Marie Claire website." The official response from the magazine was curiously tepid: "He is working on a limited amount of freelance for Marie Claire on the website only, on a trial basis," a spokesperson told the paper. Limited amount? Freelance? Trial basis? That sure doesn't sound like the job description Shi sent out to his colleagues in a mass email. Shi's grand plans to take over a section of the magazine, start a new blog, and coordinate his Fashion Week schedule in concert with Nina Garcia after the jump.

"Mr. Lagerfeld said he cut the VIP section to create 'equality in an unfair world.'"