♦ Given that one obvious way to fill up stores despite the recession is to sell hyped, cheap designer clothes, it's no surprise that H&M has announced another high-end collaboration: British designer Matthew Williamson (left) will launch a line next spring. [Elle UK]
♦ Sad: Upper East Side retailer Linda Dresner, who introduced the likes Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des Garçons, Ann Demeulemeester, and Martin Margiela to New York, is closing at the end of the year. [WWD]
♦ Not so sad: Imitation of Christ, the overpriced and gimmicky label founded by Tara Subkoff and sold last year to Sass & Bide's former CEO Josh Sparks, is no more. [Racked]

"Apparently the gays raided H&M for the limited edition Cavalli line," says a reader. "I mean reallly? Cavalli's pretty ugly. It's for meth users who like Versace." Apparently, the scenes this week were a total freakshow: Sheer pandemonium in the name of sheer animal print crap!

• Madonna's line for H&M greeted with enthusiasm, but not exactly mass hysteria, in New York. [Shophound]
  

• Us Weekly editor Janice Min vs. celeb blogger Perez Hilton. GO! [FishbowlNY]
  

• Madonna signs a deal with H&M, under which she and all of her crew will be outfitted with a complete H&M wardrobe for when they're off-stage. You know, when no one will actually cares what they're wearing. [AP]
• Harry Potter mastermind JK Rowling has been named the greatest living British writer in a UK magazine poll. Huh? We expected this sort of outcome from Americans, but not the Brits. Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, Ian McEwan cry into their pillows. [BBC]
• Just in time for summer, surf's up at the Williamsburg waterfront! Don't forget your syringes! [YouTube via Curbed]
• Fader magazine releases its entire issue on podcast. Paper — and reading, for that matter — is so provincial. [Fader]
• The Times' Kate Aurthur flees the coop, joins the LA Times as its new television editor. [LA Observed]
• Microsoft hires Demetri Martin for its upcoming campaign. Poor guy. [SPI via The Apiary]
• Angelina Jolie actually understands latitudes and longitudes. Good for her. [Us Weekly]
• Useful advice on how NOT to get murdered when thrown out of a club. [Clublife]

• On the website for NBC's The Office, there's a cutesy little feature which allows users to upload original photos documenting their own office torture sessions. Someone posted the picture at right with the following caption: "Art Director of a major magazine busy at work with some fashion samples for Holiday Gift Guide." Alright, kittens, IDENTIFY THIS MAN. Who is he? We know you know! [The Office]
• It was inevitable: James Frey faces a class-action lawsuit regarding the false claims in A Million Little Pieces. [HND]
• Urban Outfitters liked online retailer Johnny Cupcake's t-shirt designs, so they asked for a sample to be considered for placement with the retailer. For whatever reason, a deal wasn't worked out — presumably because Urban realized they could save cash by stealing the designs and making the t-shirts themselves. [Consumerist]
• What does your H&M location say about you? Personally, ours says "poor and desperate." [VV via Curbed]
• How to write Gay. [MBToolbox]

Oh, were you looking to pick up some of Stella McCartney's new line at H&M? Tough shit. At right, an image of the fray at one of H&M's Soho outposts. Writes one reader:

Not one week after supermodel Kate Moss was busted by the UK's Daily Mirror for indulging in some beefy lines of coke, cheap-chic retail chain H&M has decided to drop supermodel Kate Moss from its upcoming campaign. This comes as a complete 180 from yesterday, when the company publically stated to be "giving [Moss] a second chance." Apparently they needed to sleep on it one more night, because that second chance lasted about 24 hours, according to an H&M spokeswoman: