>>  Alex Kuczynski was reporting on Abercrombie, haven of ever-so-wonderfully-original-clothes-that-are-absolutely-not-overpriced-for-what-you-are-getting that it is, for the Thursday Styles section of the NY Times, when she tried to talk to a sales clerk.  When the clerk couldn't hear her, because Erasure's "Oh L'Amour" was blasting over the loudspeakers, Ms. Kuczynski got fed up.  She was so mad, in fact, she came back with a decibel meter.  She wanted to make sure those good-for-nothing Abercrombie clerks would have no ears left by the time they were 20.  When she came back, she finally got a clerk to talk to her.  The clerk said (while looking at Ms. Kuczynski's hand-held decibel meter):  "Dude.  That is the weirdest looking phone I have ever seen."

**source:  nytimes

>>  Not one to forgo jumping on the bandwagon, Sienna Miller is following a long line of celebrities launching clothing lines.  At least she has the help of her sister Savannah (both girls left), who was trained at Central St. Martin's (same college Stella McCartney graduated from), but hasn't really done much since.  A source told the magazine: "Sienna has great fashion sense but Savannah is the one with the real design talent. She was a star pupil at college and the label's bound to be successful."  The collection is scheduled to launch in Spring 2007.

I'm skeptical about this -- celebrity clothes lines have always proven to be a bad idea.  And Sienna's track record isn't looking so good lately -- fashion icon, my tush.  I found a picture of her modeling one Savannah's creations from a while back...  if the collection turns out to look anything like this, it will be entertaining, if nothing else.  Especially if that flamingo leg look becomes their trademark.

**source: telegraph, femalefirst