Earlier today we told you how oft-sued American Apparel chief Dov Charney is being sued again—this time by Roberto Hernandez, an ex-AA employee who says he was fired from his IT job in 2006 after he refused Dov Charney's request to cook the books to make the company look more financially attractive. His complaint also includes descriptions of AA as a pervy workplace where Charney held staff meetings in the nude. But there's a new development: a source at AA has just sent us a statement that they say Hernandez himself wrote in August, 2006 defending Dov Charney from an earlier lawsuit, contradicting some of same allegations that Hernandez himself is now making: According to our source, Hernandez wrote this statement in 2006—just three months before he was fired—to counter the allegations of Mary Nelson, who sued Dov claiming sexual harassment. Hernandez defends the work environment at AA:

♦ Barneys unveiled its '60s-themed holiday windows this morning, which Simon Doonan was quick to point out only borrow from "the cheery, upbeat aspects of the '60s! No overdoses, assassinations." [NYO]
♦ Downtown is being totally discriminated against by H&M: Only four stores are getting the Comme des Garçons line tomorrow: 51st and Fifth, 59th and Lex, 34th and Broadway, and 34th and Seventh. [Racked]

Oh Dov Charney, when will you stop being sued for various sexual and financial shenanigans? The pervy, pacing American Apparel boss has been sued yet again. Just last month he was dealing with a sexual harassment case from an old employee; now, another former employee says that Dov tried to get him to inflate the company's books in order to draw in outside investors. Just your average financial fraud allegation, until Dov trotted out his accuser's old "lover":

♦ At yesterday's Fashion Group International panel on fashion retail, Simon Doonan chatted with Sally Singer, Bloomingdale's fashion director Stephanie Solomon, and InStyle's beauty director Amy Synnott about the pervasive doom and gloom in the retail industry. Doonan's take: "It's really terrifying. But I think my job is to sustain the idea that fashion is exciting and glamorous. We really need to do our best even if sales are plunging." [WWD]
♦ When deciding who should front its next campaign, did Louis Vuitton go for someone fresh, edgy, and exciting? Nope, it's supposedly Madonna. [stylefile]
♦ Because now every article on Michelle Obama's person must be identified, priced, and judged: She wore Maria Pinto to the White House, and those dangly earrings she wore on election night? White gold with diamonds, priced at $11,000, and designed by Loree Rodkin. [WSJ, The Cut]

It's such a dilemma: You want to acquire several new designer handbags, but in the current economic climate, will it be seen as tacky, insensitive wealth flaunting? As marketing strategist James Chung tells Forbes: "We're way beyond the days of conspicuous consumption," which means it's more essential than ever to know the brands to buy so it doesn't seem like you're showing off.

Listen up, voters: It was not Sarah Palin's idea to try and fool you by wearing fancy clothes she would not normally have anything to do with! The Republican National Committee bought an opulent $150,000 wardrobe for her and seven family members before she even showed up at the convention, the former vice presidential nominee told Fox News Channel's Greta Von Susteren Tuesday night. The legendary MAVERICK was just "goin' with the flow... if that's the way they do this." She's never even been to a Saks or Neiman Marcus. Why on earth is she telling everyone this now?

♦ Kate Moss is joining honorary chair Marc Jacobs as co-chair of the next Costume Institute Gala Benefit at the Met, along with Anna Wintour and Justin Timberlake. [Telegraph]
♦ Jacobs will also be hosting Housing Works Fashion for Action auction on November 13th. And it's not just his karma bank that's overflowing: He just signed a five year deal with Staff International SpA to produce a men's collection. [Fashionista, WWD]
♦ Mark your calendars: On November 25th, Sarah Jessica Parker's familiar voice will be the one you hear when you take the audio tour of the "Costume: The Art of Dress" exhibit at the Costume Institute. [The Pipeline]

Remember that pretty, red dress that the adorable Malia Obama wore on Tuesday night when her dad took the podium in front of 125,000 adoring supporters in Chicago's Grant Park? It didn't take long for the Oakland-based company that manufactured the dress, Biscotti Inc., to be besieged with callers interested in purchasing the red silk, bubble-hemmed number that retails for $110. Unfortunately, the company didn't have any more in stock and said they didn't even have the fabric in stock to make more. They've since figured out a solution. They located just enough fabric to make 200 more of them, says Biscotti's co-owner Bernadette Reiss, and they company will have them completed in three weeks, just in time for the holidays. How can she guarantee such a quick turnaround? They'll be made in Vietnam, naturally. [WSJ]

♦ The first looks from Thakoon's Target collection are online, and they're very Talitha Getty. [Nylon]
♦ Stay far away from 52nd and Fifth this evening, unless you want to catch the desire to wear candy-colored velour: Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor are throwing a launch party for Juicy Couture's new store. [Page Six]
♦ It's not only Lindsay Lohan who has seen the potential in leggings: The spring lines from labels like Rodarte and Threeasfour feature printed, cut-out or slashed leggings. [stylefile]
♦ Fashion designer Lisa Perry, lover of all things '60s (and wife of hedge funder Richard), is opening a store in SoHo tomorrow. [The Daily]

Affluent urban professionals are so happy that Obama is our next president! They're educated and urbane and liberal and they are simply in love with our elected leader, for a change! But now that they've finally gotten over their election night party hangovers, they're starting to realize: whoa, these Democrats might not be so good for our beloved Fashion/ Advertising/ PR/ Entertainment industries, which give us affluent urban professionals our paychecks! After the jump, we take a brief look at how these industries of liberal elites really feel about the prospects of an Obama presidency:

Middling designer Kenneth Cole is well known for writing his own pun-tastic advertising copy after only seconds of thought, and he hasn't lost his razor-sharp mind. Yesterday there was already a Kenneth Cole billboard up for Obama's election: "A precedent we can be proud of.—Kenneth Cole." He had one ready for a McCain election, too: "Out with the old...In with the older.—Kenneth Cole." In case of a third party victory, he could have gone with: "OMG I'm so surprised I didn't even think one up! Well okay how about like, 'Third is the word.' Yea, I like that because it has, like, different levels. Raoul, send that one over to the billboard people.—Kenneth Cole." [NYT]

Jesus Christ, while you weren't paying attention Disney has been busy insinuating itself into every niche of your consumer lifestyle. Do you consider yourself a fashionable person with fancy urban tastes who would never be caught dead wearing the winking Goofy sweatshirts and Tinkerbell baby-tees that are so popular in America at large? Better check your labels. Disney is determined to be included in your style, at all costs! The Death Star-like company is branching out, launching "exclusive" fashion lines that are only sold at upscale stores, home furnishings, and other products designed not for those people who love Mickey Mouse. Repeat: you may own a Disney product that does not have Mickey Mouse on it.

People tend to write off the Times Thursday Style section as frivolous and surreal. But today it exposed an unjust annoyance inflicted mercilessly on the entitled rich: fashion magazines showing clothing with prices available "upon request," when in fact that very clothing cannot be purchased at all, because it doesn't exist as a product! Vogue, for example, strongly implied one could buy a Roberto Cavalli goat-fur coat with a bit of shopping, but that was terrible lie. The Times' investigative journalism:

♦ Henri Bendel updated its window display this morning to account for the results of the election: "The cocktail-dress-wearing mannequins have been moved over to the blue polling booth, someone cracked a bottle of champagne (and drank it, leaving an empty bottle and glass), and there's a strange, lipstick-edged cake on the floor." [Racked]
♦ While most of the country was consumed by election fever, some fashionistas were all ready en route to support an equally important issue: Brazilian swimwear! The Claro Rio Summer show kicks off in Rio today, and Zani Gugelmann, Amy Sacco, Fiona Scarry, Natalia Vodianova and Justin Portman, and Michael Roberts are all there. [CR, CR, stylefile]

The black-and-red Narciso Rodriguez dress that Michelle Obama wore in Chicago last night? A good deal of the reaction online has been negative ("just short of hideous"), although some critics have applauded the boldness of her choice and the apparent symbolism ("patriotic red bursting out of black like a firecracker out of the night sky.") At the very least, though, it should provide a nice boost for Rodriguez, who has struggled to build a business in recent years and parted ways with Liz Claiborne several weeks ago after the two sides had "creative differences." Take heart, Narciso: Maria Pinto, the Chicago-based designer who dressed Michelle for several campaign events, says she's seen retail orders increase 45 percent over the last year.

♦ Unlike the Marc Jacobs store window in LA, which is mocking Sarah Palin, Henri Bendel's display is bipartisan, with mannequins flanked by red and blue polling booths. In more other Marc news, you can add his "Rock and Roll Circus" holiday party to the list of festivites that have been cancelled due to the economic downturn. [WWD, WWD]
♦ Madison Avenue is "pockmarked" with vacant storefronts, reflecting "sky-high rents and how cautious and dollar-conscious European and American brands have become in their expansion plans." [WWD]
♦ Donna Karan is opting not to spend money shooting an ad campaign for spring '09; instead, the company will just use images from the runway show. If this is going to be a trend, models and photographers might want to consider a side job. [The Cut]

Oprah has been busy planning what to wear to Barack Obama's inauguration. In fact, she says she's been making her plans since she met up with Michelle Obama, Caroline Kennedy, and Maria Shriver back in February: "I created a vision board. I had never had a vision board before. I came home, I got me a board and put Barack Obama's picture on it and I put a picture of my dress I want to wear to the inauguration." [Stylewatch]

Barack Obama did an interview with yesterday with Sway, MTV's official friendly ambassador from the land of hip hop. A viewer asked him about towns that try to pass laws banning baggy pants. First Obama said those laws are a "waste of time." But then he added, "brothers should pull up your pants!" Is Barack Obama a fashion icon, or your grumpy old dad—or is he both?!?! [UPDATE: Clip of the interview below!]:

Sometimes it's fascinating to just sit back and watch an ad campaign get progressively farther and farther away from any intelligible sales pitch, as the ad masterminds behind it become more and more convinced that they are artists, damn it. Wrangler somehow got itself tangled up with French admen for its truly vapid "We Are Animals" campaign, currently underway. First those guys made some existentialist tripe about life and death to sell Wranglers, for chrissake. But at least that had some "concept" behind it. Now they're just showing a crawling baby. That's it. LOLwhut:

"Thin ties. Well-turned-out men. No sloppiness." [Times]