♦ If you have the nerve to approach Anna Wintour at a public event and ask her an uncomfortable question, don't be the least bit surprised if tells you to get lost. [The Cut]
♦ Madonna's latest fashion faux-pas? A green Louis Vuitton dress by Marc Jacobs, which "looks as if someone poured a wheelbarrow of lawn clippings all over her," bitches fashion critic Hilary Alexander. "Just another horrific hiccup in the wardrobe of a woman of wealth, but no taste." [Telegraph]
♦ Karolina Kurkova is the world's sexiest woman, according to E!, belly button or no belly button. [Reuters]
♦ Yes, it's 30 degrees outside, so why not distract yourself by watching footage of Brazil's Clara Rio Summer event, including Natalia Vodianova and Byrdie Bell showing off on the dance floor? [Vogue UK]

Conde Nast is folding DNR, the men's fashion trade magazine. It's also shuttering its website, DNRNews.com. The feeble spin is that WWD will pick up the slack by launching "comprehensive, round-the-clock men’s fashion and retail coverage." [#2 of the ">four ways to kill a magazine, for those keeping track]. Points to the PR department for attempting to create an upside. But it's clear that this is evidence of weakness in the fashion category specifically, and more momentum for the scary Great Magazine Die-off in general. The company hasn't announced how many layoffs will go along with DNR's death, but departing staffers with more details can email us.

♦ Julia Restoin Roitfeld might call herself a designer, but apparently the fat fees from modeling are hard to resist: She's been cast in the new Mango campaign along with celebuspawn Dakota Johnson Griffith. [WWD]
♦ PR maven Kelly Cutrone may play a hard-nosed bitch on The Hills, but in real life she's all heart: After reading about Marie Conde, who fought with three muggers who snatched her purse, Cutrone collected gifts for the 26-year-old nurse's aide, including Longchamp purses, jewelry, and dinner at the SoHo Grand. [NYP]
♦ During an interview conducted, of course, lying down in a hotel room at Claridge's in London, Diane von Furstenberg is expansive on matters personal (such as her first and only female lover), her "naughtiness" during the seventies, and her political opinions: Barack Obama is "so intelligent and very detached... It gives him perspective." [Telegraph]

Isaac Mizrahi gave this talk at TED—the annual conference for elites from technology and design—back in February, but the video was only posted this week. If you have some time today, you can listen along as he explains his insomniac lifestyle, how he occasionally follows random people around New York, and why he's obsessed with men who happen to be named Eric. [TED.com]

♦ The Marc Jacobs bribery scandal has finally been resolved. Earlier this year, it was alleged that an employee of the Armory was paid off so that Jacobs' company could secure the venue for runway shows. Now the company has paid $1 million to settle the matter. In happier news, Jacobs says he's eager to make an honest man of his boyfriend Lorenzo Martone: "If I can get him to marry me, I would." [NYP, The Cut]
♦ The Scientologist wears Miu Miu? Katie Holmes is rumored to the new face of Prada's hipper, younger sister. [Fashionologie]
♦ Miuccia Prada's non-sartorial items are diversifying at a dizzying pace: Here's a handy guide to Prada's phones, trinkets, and even cars. [SassyBella]

The name Candy Pratts Price won't be familiar to the average person in the street, but the executive fashion director of Style.com has been one of the most important people in the fashion biz for several years now, as the hyperbolic testimonies gathered by the Transom at the party for her book American Fashion Accessories make clear. Zac Posen certainly doesn't mince his words: "It's serious, my love for Candy. There's exuberance, and joy...it's fierce." Neither does Francisco Costa: "She's an icon. She has this love of fashion and that's so apropos, it's so right for right now, to have Candy be celebrated."

♦ It's a horrifying mystery that will weigh heavily on all of our minds until it's solved: Where on earth is Karolina Kurkova's belly button? [Telegraph, Daily Mail]
♦ Diane von Furstenberg confirmed last night that she has submitted sketches for Michelle Obama's inaugural ball gown: "Well, they asked me to. Of course, everybody has." [The Cut]
♦ Best outfit worn to the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards last night: Agyness Deyn's tux-style black suit with Marc Jacobs hat and red platforms. Absolute worst: Blake Lively's hideous Vena Cava dress, which we can only imagine was chosen to fulfill a contractual obligation to expose her boobs at all times. [stylefile, Teen Vogue]

Before Devil Wears Prada was filmed, before Project Runway made its reality television debut, before fashion grew beyond even the prominent role she had envisioned for it, Anna Wintour was compared in the Times to George W. Bush. It was one of Maureen Dowd's absurdly tortured analogies, but one of the rare ones that today sounds less ridiculous: If Page Six's source is to be believed, the Vogue editor is, like Bush, about to step away from the monster she's created, leaving to a more glamorous successor the job of revival. There is plenty to be done:

♦ Heidi Klum, Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Karolina Kurkova were just a few of the models who took to the stage in Miami this weekend for the Victoria's Secret show where the company unveiled its latest publicity stunt at the celeb-packed event, the $5 million Black Diamond Fantasy Miracle Bra by jeweler Martin Katz. [Vogue UK, E!, ABC]
♦ Prada is gamely adapting to the economy by launching a new line of purses that are all—gasp—under $1,000. [Nylon]
♦ As if today's tiny fashion victims don't have enough to choose from, Jean Paul Gaultier has inked a licensing deal to make children's clothes. [WWD]
♦ Vanity Fair's fashion department tried to go on a $150,000 shopping spree à la Sarah Palin and discovered it's actually kind of hard to blow that kind of cash. [VF]

Paris wears the same dresses as Vanessa Hudgens, Vanessa Minnillo [NYDN]

CNN plans to air a documentary on Diane von Furstenberg the day after tomorrow. But it seems the network is having some trouble finding someone who owns one of her wrap dresses from 30 years ago to gush about it on camera: "If you own a wrap dress from the 1970s, write to CNN and tell them where and when you bought it, and what it means to you. Your quote or photo could then be featured on the show. Email revealed@cnn.com." [DVF]

What could be a nicer way to ease into the week than seeing Chace Crawford's adorable face pout in pseudo-concentration as he applies himself to a fashion quiz put to him by a kindly patronizing lady from Grazia magazine? Chace doesn't get many of the questions—Which are the world's fashion capitals? What is the difference between a wedge and a stiletto? Who is Alexander Wang?—right, which should establish his heterosexuality once and for all. Even if the snugness of his t-shirt and the prettiness of his bangs might beg to differ.

There you were thinking that seeing celebrities with ten-piece sets of Louis Vuitton luggage, or people with more money than style attired in outfits emblazoned with Versace medusa heads, was merely an assault on one's fashion sensibilities. But it turns out that fashion emblems may be worming their way into our consciousness and influencing our behavior without us even knowing about it. Rob Walker reports on a study in which subjects were more likely to choose a certain brand of bottled water after being shown photos of people drinking it, even though they weren't aware of having noticed the brand.

♦ One of the recession's teeny silver linings: In an unprecedented move, luxury brands like Chanel and Louis Vuitton are cutting prices for US customers. [WSJ]
♦ Supermodels—they're just like us! Helena Christensen braved the crowds in London yesterday to grab a polka-dot Comme des Garçons cardigan from H&M, and proudly wore it out that night. [Grazia]
♦ Does Agyness Deyn care about the fate of fluffy animals or not? On Wednesday, she DJed at the Humane Society's Cool vs. Cruel ceremony with boyfriend Albert Hammond Jr. But she's apparently not averse to wearing fur on the runway or to non-animal rights events. [Fashionologie]

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.

Have you ever looked at a Barbie doll and wished you could replicate the look for yourself? You'll be able to do just that in a few short months. Mattel is now planning to turn Barbie into an "adult fashion brand"—something the company has already done in Asia—and partnerships are already in place with Bloomingdale's, Vera Wang, and Jeremy Scott. Mattel has also negotiated a pact with the CFDA whereby the trade group will help the company locate 50 designers willing to "produce life-size outfits inspired by Barbie" in exchange for a big, fat wad of cash, and Barbie's first runway show will take place during Fashion Week in February. But there's more to come: Mattel is also launching a line of beauty products, one of which bears the very appropriate name "Plastic Smooth." [WWD, The Cut]

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]

You know what's really important to up-and-coming young entrepreneurs these days? What you wear! More important than, for example, economics. This is why older people run all the real businesses, while younger people spend their time talking to WSJ columnists for unintentionally hilarious and depressing features on how kids avoid going "corporate" by buying the correct name brands. Is your CEO "urban" or a "surfer?"

"I thought she should leave it on and start a whole new fashion phenom, but she dutifully reversed it." [Michael Musto]