Gossip Girl a Fashion Force

Not interested in fashion? Check out the falling models

(NEWSER) - Wondering what you’ve missed so far from Fashion Week? We’ve rounded up five trends to keep your eye on—check out examples of each in the gallery:

• Wearability: Designers from Derek Lam and Vera Wang to, yes, even Marc Jacobs and Rodarte are offering clothes the average person might actually wear, reports the Wall Street Journal .
• Comedic interlude: Models are falling.

Though many fear its demise, it still has a few tricks up its sleeve

(NEWSER) - The death knell is ringing once again for haute couture, as it does every decade or so—but don’t count it out yet, writes Amy Fine Collins in Vanity Fair. Though the house of Lacroix recently filed for bankruptcy and Yves Saint Laurent is gone, haute couture has survived much worse. “So long as the house of Chanel exists, couture exists,” Karl Lagerfeld says. More»

Slams products of

(NEWSER) - Eric Gaskins has had some success in the fashion industry, but he’s never been a big-name designer. His alter ego, on the other hand, has made waves, the New York Times reports. Now that Gaskins’ shop is closing, the “nice guy” has revealed himself as Fluff Chance, the man behind a blog that blasts a “perverted” fashion industry he says has become “a game.” More»

What recession? Some styles cost $775 or more

(NEWSER) - Men’s shorts, once the outfit of choice for working outside or lounging around the house, are the new fancy dress pants—or so designers are trying to convince the world. And the new generation of shorts has the price tag to match, the New York Times reports, with high-end stores charging as much as $775 for drawstring shorts or $1,495 for a man-skort. More»

'There is no controversy,' he declares as he flouts industry standards

(NEWSER) - Designer Marc Jacobs is flouting fashion industry recommendations by sending 14-year-old models down his catwalk. “I do the show the way I think it should be, not the way somebody tells me it should be,” Jacobs told the New York Times after his Manhattan presentation. "There is no controversy." Health initiative guidelines set by the Council of Fashion Designers of America—which includes Jacobs on its board—recommend that runway models be at least 16 years old . The age limit has been touted as a sign of progress in an industry plagued by anorexia. "The industry's hiring of prepubescent-appearing teenage girls as models of adult clothing sets an unrealistic standard; the curves that define the female figure are absent," said council president Diane von Furstenburg. Models who attempt to maintain a child's body into adulthood "run the risk of eating disorders," she warned. More»