French Vogue Editor Dismisses Labels

For celeb designers like Timberlake, recession means hard times for fashion lines

(NEWSER) - The latest casualty of the economic crisis: celebrity clothing lines. “Every D-level celebrity who thought they could make a quick buck by designing a handbag or whatever is going to disappear,” Vogue editor Anna Wintour tells the Wall Street Journal. “And I think that's a good thing.” Wannabe-designers including Jennifer Lopez, Lauren Conrad, Heidi Montag, and Nicky Hilton have had to call it quits on their collections due to disappointing sales. More»

Wintour rumored new French ambassador

(NEWSER) - Rumors are flying that Vogue editor Anna Wintour will become ambassador to France, the New York Post reports. Wintour's rumored replacement at the pinnacle of fashion journalism would be Carine Roitfeld, editor of French Vogue. But is the scuttlebutt, which appears to have originated with the Fashion Week Daily website, true? Barack Obama’s transition team responds: “No comment.” More»

Floral prints? Baby doll dresses? No way, say today's stylists

(NEWSER) - Women are starting to turn their backs on girly pastels, floral prints, and strappy heels in favor of a more aggressive, tough-but-sexy look. “It’s not cool to be demure,” one stylist, who prefers big T-shirts over ripped jeans, tells the New York Times . The trend toward a more utilitarian look is partially a response to the struggling economy: “So-called luxury—people are tired of it,” says a boutique owner. More»

Column blaming the thin trend on society's obesity gets lots of attention

(NEWSER) - Robin Givhan's recent Washington Post piece attempting to explain why models are so skinny—"the fatter the general population, the thinner the idealized woman," she wrote—spawned a number of responses in varying degrees of outrage. Read on for a sample:

• "'The culture' isn't insisting on emaciated models and greeting larger ones with hostility; the fashion industry is, and as such, it seems increasingly out of touch with consumer demands," writes Sady Doyle in Salon.

Designers are tamed by recession fears

(NEWSER) - Thanks to the recession, “disciplined good taste” reigned on the Paris runways this week, leading Bloomingdale’s fashion director to dub the season “terrific, from a commercial point of view, but not so much so that it’s safe and boring.” Guy Trebay begs to differ. “If success is measured by distance traveled, then this has been the Paris season that ran the gamut—as Dorothy Parker once famously sniped about Katharine Hepburn's acting range—from A to B,” he writes in the New York Times. More»