♦ 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]

♦ Following reports in July that Tory Burch was offering a 30 percent stake in her hugely successful womenswear and accessories label, she now says that the company is not for sale. Also, she says the economy has had an impact on her designs: "I don't think women want to be over-the-top anymore. They want something that's chic and elegant, but not such a big statement." [WWD]
♦ If you've noticed slightly fewer giraffe-like teens with unplaceable accents on the streets of Manhattan, it's because in a sobering indicator of just how bad things are, Elite has slashed 60 models from its roster. [Fashionista]